A Parcel Shape Index for Use in Land Consolidation Planning

Area shape analysis has been a subject of focus for research in geography and other disciplines for many years. However, existing area shape indices present significant weaknesses for the analysis of land parcels in an agricultural context as they do not measure shape in an appropriate, reliable or explicit manner. This article presents a new parcel shape index (PSI) which integrates six geometric parameters through multi‐attribute decision‐making, combined with value functions for parameter standardization. The superior performance of the new PSI in relation to three existing indices is demonstrated through a case study area in Cyprus. The methodology can be applied in other contexts aimed at assessing the quality of a particular shape compared to an optimum.     

VASCULAR PLANTS OF MOUNTAIN TALUS SLOPES,MT. RAE AREA,ALBERTA, CANADA

The vascular flora of talus slopes in the Mt. Rae area, Canadian Rocky Mountain Front Ranges, is discussed in the context of edaphic and geomorphic conditions. Thirteen talus slopes were sampled systematically for the presence of vegetation, and vascular plants were identified to the species level. Such talus slopes are generally considered relatively sterile and too unstable for the development of distinctive flora. The presence of vegetation is usually taken as an indicator of slope stability. A total of 77 species with boreal and arctic affinities was identified. Most plants display growth forms suitable to the unstable and xeric talus substrate with Schroeter's Schuttstrecker and Schuttdecker forms being most common. Although areal coverage by plants is sparse, a large number of species with morphological characteristics suitable for the talus environment suggests that the presence of plants should not be regarded as an absolute indicator of slope stability. Rather, these plants may represent a long-term equilibrium assemblage characteristic of active talus slopes in a mountain environment.     

SOIL DEVELOPMENT AND SPATIAL VARIABILITY ON GEOMORPHIC SURFACES OF DIFFERENT AGE

Twenty-four soil pedons on each of four sandy lake terraces in northwestern lower Michigan that ranged in age from 3000 to 11,000 years BP were studied to assess trends in soil morphological variability with time. After verifying the general uniformity of parent materials within and between the four surfaces, we examined temporal trends in the spatial variability of soil color, cementation, horizon thickness and development. E horizons attained high color values (lightness) by 3000 years and changed little after that time, whereas B horizons continued to get darker with time. Cementation within B horizons increased in strength and amount with time, as did B horizon thickness. Soils ≥4000 years old had deeper eluvial zones but much greater variabilities in the thickness of that zone than did younger soils. Soil development increased with time, but spatial variability in degree of development also increased with time. These patterns are best explained by invoking spatially random soil mixing upon a surface that is otherwise undergoing podzolization. [Key words: podzolization, chronofunction, Michigan, soil variability, soil genesis.]     

The impact of African aridity on the isotopic signature of Atlantic deep waters across the Middle Pleistocene Transition

A high resolution analysis of benthic foraminifera as well as of aeolian terrigenous proxies extracted from a 37 m-long marine core located off the Mauritanian margin spanning the last ~ 1.2 Ma, documents the possible link between major continental environmental changes with a shift in the isotopic signature of deep waters around 1.0–0.9 Ma, within the so-called Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) time period. The increase in the oxygen isotopic composition of deep waters, as seen through the benthic foraminifera δ¹⁸O values, is consistent with the growth of larger ice sheets known to have occurred during this transition. Deep-water mass δ¹³C changes, also estimated from benthic foraminifera, show a strong depletion for the same time interval. This drastic change in δ¹³C values is concomitant with a worldwide 0.3‰ decrease observed in the major deep oceanic waters for the MPT time period. The phase relationship between aeolian terrigeneous signal increase and this δ¹³C decrease in our record, as well as in other paleorecords, supports the hypothesis of a global aridification amongst others processes to explain the deep-water masses isotopic signature changes during the MPT. In any case, the isotopic shifts imply major changes in the end-member δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values of deep waters.     

Strengthened East Asian summer monsoons during a period of high-latitude warmth? Isotopic evidence from Mio-Pliocene fossil mammals and soil carbonates from northern China

The East Asian monsoons have fluctuated in concert with high-latitude warmth during the past several hundred thousand years, with humid summer monsoon-dominant climates characterizing warm intervals, including interglacials and interstadials, and arid winter monsoon-dominant climates characterizing cool intervals, including glacials and stadials. Of the states comprising the mid-Pleistocene to recent climatic regime, interglacials are most similar in terms of high latitude ice volumes and temperatures to those extant during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Thus, an important question is whether Mio-Pliocene climates in northern China were analogous to a hypothetical ‘prolonged interglacial state,’ with increased summer monsoon precipitation and expansion of forest and steppe environments at the expense of desert environments.We utilize new and previously published carbon isotopic data from fossil teeth and soil carbonates to place constraints on paleovegetation distributions and to help infer the behavior of the monsoon system between ～ 7 and 4 Ma. We find that plants using the C₄ photosynthetic pathway—which today are largely grasses found in regions with warm season precipitation—were present in northern China by late Miocene time, demonstrating that the C₄ expansion in China was not significantly delayed compared to the global C₄ event. During the late Miocene–early Pliocene interval, soil carbonate and tooth enamel δ¹³C data indicate: 1) that nearly pure C₃-plant ecosystems existed in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), and therefore ecosystems there were dominated by woody dicot, herbaceous dicot, or cool-season grass vegetation (or a combination of these), and 2) that the CLP was characterized by a pattern of northward-increasing C₄ vegetation and aridity. Utilizing a broadened conceptual model for interpreting δ¹³C data, and citing independent faunal, floral, and lithostratgraphic data, we suggest that these patterns reflect northward expansion of forest and steppe ecosystems and relatively humid monsoon climates during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. An important implication of this interpretation is that the forcing mechanism illuminated by the temporal correlation during the Pleistocene between warm high latitudes and strong East Asian summer monsoons is a robust feature of the Eurasian tectonic–climatic system that predates the Plio-Pleistocene climatic reorganization.     

Newly recognized hosts for uranium in the Hanford Site vadose zone

Uranium contaminated sediments from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site have been investigated using electron microscopy. Six classes of solid hosts for uranium were identified. Preliminary sediment characterization was carried out using optical petrography, and electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) was used to locate materials that host uranium. All of the hosts are fine-grained and intergrown with other materials at spatial scales smaller than the analytical volume of the electron microprobe. A focused ion beam (FIB) was used to prepare electron-transparent specimens of each host for the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The hosts were identified as: (1) metatorbernite [Cu(UO₂)₂(PO₄)₂·8H₂O]; (2) coatings on sediment clasts comprised mainly of phyllosilicates; (3) an amorphous zirconium (oxyhydr)oxide found in clast coatings; (4) amorphous and poorly crystalline materials that line voids within basalt lithic fragments; (5) amorphous palagonite surrounding fragments of basaltic glass; and (6) Fe- and Mn-oxides. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining EMPA, FIB, and TEM to identify solid-phase contaminant hosts. Furthermore, they highlight the complexity of U geochemistry in the Hanford vadose zone, and illustrate the importance of microscopic transport in controlling the fate of contaminant metals in the environment.     

Hafnium Isotope Characteristics of Palaeoarchaean Zircon OG1/OGC from the Owens Gully Diorite,Pilbara Craton,Western Australia

We report Hf isotope data for 3467 Ma igneous zircons from the Owens Gully Diorite of the Pilbara Craton. These zircons, designated OG1 or OGC, have simple, well‐defined U‐Pb age systematics. Measurements obtained by single crystal dissolution yield a moderate range in ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf (mean 0.280633 ± 34) and ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf (mean 0.00119) that translate into initial (3467 Ma) ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf values that are equivalent within measurement uncertainty (mean 0.280554 ± 7, ε_Hf = +0.6 ± 0.2, 2s). Laser ablation analysis yielded clustered initial ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios (mean 0.280560 ± 20, 2s) indistinguishable from those obtained by solution analysis. The antiquity and moderately high ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf of these zircons result in significant corrections for radiogenic ingrowth of ¹⁷⁶Hf (to 6 ε_Hf units). Depth profiling by concurrent Pb‐Hf isotope determination reveals trends to lower ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb in several crystals, although these are not accompanied by shifts in ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf. We conclude that zircons from the Owens Gully Diorite are homogeneous for Hf isotopes at the scale of sampling and within the uncertainty limits of the measurement techniques employed. Zircon OG1/OGC would appear to be an ideal quality monitor for laser ablation Hf isotope determination in ancient zircons, and for laser ablation techniques where Hf isotope and age information are determined concurrently or simultaneously.     

Comparison between rocking analysis and kinematic analysis for the dynamic out‐of‐plane behavior of masonry walls

This paper provides a contribution to the rocking analysis of masonry walls by making a comparison with the kinematic analysis suggested by the Italian code. It is shown that the latter approach is generally over‐conservative and therefore potentially inappropriate for historic buildings, where rehabilitation can be expensive and can affect their cultural value. The equation of motion given by the Housner formulation, corresponding to the movement of a rigid block, is here modified to account for different boundary conditions at different heights of the wall. These boundary conditions or horizontal restraints can represent vaults, transverse walls, or retrofitting devices such as steel tie‐rods. A systemic analysis of walls having different dimensions and slenderness is performed, and the results from the Italian code and rocking analysis are compared. Finally, the improvement in the response offered by retrofitting devices is discussed in terms of reduction of amplitude ratio. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infrared observations of Saturn's rings by Cassini CIRS : Phase angle and local time dependence

Since the Saturn orbit insertion (SOI) of the Cassini spacecraft, in July 2004, the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) has obtained a large number of thermal infrared spectra of Saturn's rings. Over the two and a half years of observations to date, ring temperatures were retrieved for a large range of unique geometries, inaccessible from Earth. Understanding their dependencies with phase angle and local time is a clue to understanding the thermal properties and dynamics of Saturn's ring particles.Azimuthal scans of rings, which have been obtained by CIRS at constant radial distance from the planet, have been planned to measure ring temperature variations with local hour angle. Over 47 azimuthal scans for Saturn's main rings (A, B, C and Cassini Division) have been retrieved to date, on both lit and unlit sides, at different phase angles and spacecraft elevations. The first measurements of the transient thermal episode of eclipse cooling in the planetary shadow have also been obtained for all three rings.In this paper, we present an overview of all azimuthal scans obtained by the Cassini/CIRS instrument so far and the dependencies of the temperature and the filling factor with the phase angle and the local hour angle. The ring temperature varies with longitude as the input heating flux coming from Saturn and the Sun changes. The decrease in temperature with the increasing phase angle on both the lit and the unlit sides and for most of the local time also suggests the presence of slowly rotating particles. The crossing of the planet's shadow generates drastic azimuthal variations in temperature, up to 20 K in the C ring. The strong anisotropy of emission observed outside the shadow between low and high phase angles decreases when ring particles cross the shadow, suggesting that particles are almost isothermal in the shadow. This suggests a thermal inertia associated with a rotating rate of particles low enough to have a thermal contrast on their surface.The temperature in the B ring is less sensitive to the phase angle effect on the lit side, suggesting that particles are close enough to form a flat layer at a scale larger than the particle's radius. On the unlit side, particles in the B ring are less sensitive to the lack of solar input than in the C ring or in the A ring. Azimuthal variations of the filling factor in the A ring are also detected with changing ring local time. This effect might be created by the presence of gravitational instabilities (wakes).