An Interdisciplinary Methodology for the Characterization and Visualization of the Heritage of Roadway Corridors

Roads, particularly since the advent of motorized traffic, have hugely impacted contemporary landscapes. Although their significance was noted in the 1980s, specific roadway‐heritage studies are scarce. Research in different disciplines has identified certain features of roads, but an integrated approach to roadway heritage or a consensus on what this constitutes are lacking. This article proposes an interdisciplinary methodology to assess roadway heritage. Roadways are interpreted within the framework of semantic openness that currently characterizes heritage studies, territory being the basic element of interpretation. Rather than a fragmented approach to conservation, the research defines integrated heritage configurations where natural, cultural, and historical features combine to produce a cohesive form of heritage. GIS (Geographical information systems) technology is used with an online database to assess the complexity of roadway heritage. ICT (Information and communications technology) strategies to raise public awareness are outlined. The methodology is applied to assess the historical N‐340 Mediterranean roadway corridor in Spain.     

Uncertainty-based multi-criteria calibration of rainfall-runoff models: a comparative study

This study compares formal Bayesian inference to the informal generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) approach for uncertainty-based calibration of rainfall-runoff models in a multi-criteria context. Bayesian inference is accomplished through Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling based on an auto-regressive multi-criteria likelihood formulation. Non-converged MCMC sampling is also considered as an alternative method. These methods are compared along multiple comparative measures calculated over the calibration and validation periods of two case studies. Results demonstrate that there can be considerable differences in hydrograph prediction intervals generated by formal and informal strategies for uncertainty-based multi-criteria calibration. Also, the formal approach generates definitely preferable validation period results compared to GLUE (i.e., tighter prediction intervals that show higher reliability) considering identical computational budgets. Moreover, non-converged MCMC (based on the standard Gelman–Rubin metric) performance is reasonably consistent with those given by a formal and fully-converged Bayesian approach even though fully-converged results requires significantly larger number of samples (model evaluations) for the two case studies. Therefore, research to define alternative and more practical convergence criteria for MCMC applications to computationally intensive hydrologic models may be warranted.     

A metasomatic setting,the Russian River Arch,and gravitational emplacement in the history of eclogites at the classic eclogite locality of Jenner,California, USA

ABSTRACT

Blocks of metamorphic rock designated as ‘high-grade’ blocks, commonly less than 100 m in diameter, consisting of garnet-glaucophane- and hornblende-schists and gneisses and rare eclogite, are widely distributed within mélanges of the Franciscan (accretionary) Complex of California. Eclogite-glaucophane schist blocks present at Jenner, California, have been studied for petrographic, geochemical, structural, and age characteristics, but their relationship to associated Franciscan rocks is poorly understood. The studied blocks are not in situ, but rather occur in landslide deposits and beach sands. The landslide deposits overlie the low to middle slope exposures of sandstone-rich broken formations of the Franciscan Complex that are not known to contain high-grade blocks. Geochemical studies suggest a serpentinite host for the blocks. Upslope, a serpentinite-matrix mélange contains numerous high-grade blocks, including rare retrograded eclogite, and is the likely block source. The Jenner terrain as a whole was uplifted relative to rocks to the north and south near Annapolis and Freestone, respectively, by uplift along the post-Pliocene Russian River (anticlinal) Arch, as indicated by the regional distribution of arching, wave-cut, post-Franciscan surfaces with overlying Miocene/Pliocene marine sedimentary rocks. Local uplift increased landsliding and colluvial downslope movement of the blocks. In addition, local, wave-influenced transportation of smaller blocks, together with the downslope mass movements, brought the high-grade blocks to their present positions. The high-grade blocks are thus displaced from upslope exposures of the original serpentinite-matrix mélange host, in which the blocks likely experienced the metasomatism that converted eclogite to glaucophane schist. In general, the relationship of blocks to the original serpentinite host is a critical element of subduction zone architecture related to subduction zone processes and history, and should be analysed, in any studies that seek to explain the architecture and history of any accretionary complex with similar high-grade blocks.     

Geoarchaeological context of late Pleistocene and early Holocene occupation at the Cooper's Ferry site,western Idaho,USA

Archaeological excavations at the Cooper's Ferry site (10IH73), located in the lower Salmon River canyon of western Idaho, revealed a stratified sequence of cultural occupations that included a pit feature containing stemmed points. However, radiocarbon ages determined on charcoal and bone in the pit feature range between ca. 12,000 yr B.P. and 7300 yr B.P. By considering the effects of postdepositional processes on dated samples, and by comparing the lithostratigraphy, pedostratigraphy, and stable isotope geochemistry of pedogenic carbonates from Cooper's Ferry with other well‐dated stratigraphic sections in the canyon, site geochronology is clarified. Based on the presence of key radiocarbon ages and distinctive stratigraphic criteria, we argue that the initial occupation and interment of lithic artifacts in a pit feature at Cooper's Ferry occurred during the late Pleistocene, between ca. 11,410 and 11,370 yr B.P., and not during the early Holocene. Records of geomorphic change and paleoenvironmental proxy data from the site reveal that early occupation in the lower Salmon River canyon corresponds with evolving riparian ecosystems, which must be considered as a contextual aspect of local prehistoric cultural ecology. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Proposed GSSP for the base of Cambrian Stage 9, coinciding with the first appearance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Agnostotes orientalis</Emphasis>, at Duibian,Zhejiang, China

Exposed in natural outcrops near the Duibian Village, Jiangshan County, Zhejiang Province, China, the Duibian B section is proposed as the boundary stratotype for the base of an unnamed stage termed provisionally Cambrian Stage 9. The proposed position of the GSSP is 108.12 m above the base of the Huayansi Formation, at a horizon coinciding with the first appearance of the cosmopolitan agnostoid trilobite Agnostotes orientalis. This horizon coincides also with the first appearance of the cosmopolitan polymerid trilobite Irvingella angustilimbata. The section fulfills all the requirements for a GSSP, and the horizon can be constrained not only by the primary stratigraphic marker (A. orientalis) but also with secondary biostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic, and sequence-stratigraphic correlation tools. The first appearance of A. orientalis is one of the most readily recognizable levels in Cambrian, and can be correlated with precision to all paleocontinents. Supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-122), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant Nos. 2006FY120300, 2006CB806400), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40072003, 40023002, 40332018, 40672023, 40602002), and the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant No. EAR-0106883)     

Computer-Assisted Reduction of Photographic Two-Colour Diagrams Application to Field Stars Near IC 348

A computer programme is described which derives amounts of reddening and distances of stars from UBV photometry. I t is based on analytical expressions for the normal line in the two-colour diagram and for the absolute magnitude as a fucction of the intrinsic colour (Eqns. (I) and (3)). The programme was applied to photographic UBV data of two fields of stars in the vicinity of the galactic cluster IC 348. It is shown that the interstellar dust is concentrated there in a thin slab situated a t about zoo pc to 300 pc distance and giving rise to amounts of reddening, E(B - V ), of about 0.4 mag. and 0.8 mag. for the two fields, resp.     

Interstellar reddening in a high-latitude field around omega bootis

Photoelectric UBV observations of stars show the existence of an interstellar dust cloud of 0.2 mag. visual extinction and 1.5 pc diameter at 60°.5 galactic latitude. Properties of the cloud and the interstellar polarization in the region are being discussed.