An investigation of rare-earth mobility: Fenitized quartzites,Borralan complex,N.W. Scotland

Examples of fenitization of pure quartzites provide valuable insight into the relative mobility of elements. This investigation of fenites from the Borralan complex shows that rare-earth elements are mobile and added during fenitization of quartzite. The resulting normalized patterns are distinctive in their enrichment of the light rare earths and steep drops in the interval Nd-Eu. In terms of rare-earth geochemistry, no difference can be found between the sodic and the potassic trends of fenitization at Borralan. Concentrations of mobile elements define straight-line plots through the origin, heretofore considered a criterion indicative of a fractional crystallization process.Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montreal, Que. H3A 2A7, Canada     

Induction of abnormal polychaete larvae by heavy metals

A little known observation that exposure to sublethal concentrations of detergent cause fatal abnormalities in the second generation of a polychaete has been followed up and similar abnormalities have been observed in the first or second generation of larvae exposed to sublethal concentrations of copper and zinc. Few toxicity tests extend beyond the responses of the exposed individuals. The discovery of a delayed reaction to sublethal concentrations of common contaminants of the sea has unknown but potentially important ecological implications.     

9. Beitrag Das kalte pazifische Jahr 1955

Zusammenfassung Das Jahr 1955 zeichnete sich im Pazifischen Ozean durch eine negative Anomalie des Oberflächenwassers von ungeheurer Ausdehnung und großer Beharrlichkeit aus. Ihre räumliche Anordnung und zeitliche Entwicklung wird in großen Zügen beschrieben.

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The cooling of the surface waters in the Pacific Ocean in 1955

Summary In 1955, the surface waters in the Pacific were characterized by a negative anomaly of immense extension and strong persistency. Its distribution in space and its development in time are roughly outlined.

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Le refroidissement des eaux de surface de l'Océan Pacifique en 1955

Résumé En 1955, les eaux de surface du Pacifique étaient caractérisées par une anomalie négative d'immense étendue et de forte persistance. On décrit en grandes lignes sa distribution dans l'espace et son développement dans le temps.

     

8. Beitrag Die Temperaturen der pazifischen Küstengewässer Nordamerikas von 1920 bis 1955

Zusammenfassung Es werden neue Jahrfünftmittel der Oberflächentemperatur für die pazifische Küste Nordamerikas mitgeteilt, die den Zeitraum von mindestens dreißig Jahren (bis einschließlich 1955) umfassen. Die fortschreitenden Jahrfünftmittel lassen Fluktuationen, aber keinen säkularen Trend erkennen. Die seit dem Maximum von 1941 allgemein aufgetretene Abkühlung machte die letzten zehn Jahre 1946–55 zu den durchschnittlich kältesten seit Beginn der zwanziger Jahre. Der Tiefpunkt scheint jedoch bei den meisten Stationen überschritten zu sein. Einzelne besonders ausgeprägte Warmwasser- (und Kaltwasser-) Jahre erstrecken sich offensichtlich über die gesamte Küste von Kalifornien bis Alaska. An dem Beispiel von 1926 wird gezeigt, daß hier eine globale atmosphärische Zirkulationsanomalie ursächlich war, die in ganz ähnlicher Weise auch eine starke Wassererwärmung im östlichen subtropischen Nordatlantik gezeitigt hatte.

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Temperatures of surface waters on the Pacific coast of North America, 1920–1955

Summary This paper presents recent five-year mean values of sea-surface temperatures from the Pacific coast of North America for a period of at least thirty years (including the year 1955). The five-year running means reveal the occurrence of fluctuations rather than the existence of a secular trend. Decreasing temperatures which have been generally observed since the maximum of sea temperature in 1941 made the last ten years from 1946 to 1955 the coldest years since the beginning of the twenties of this century. It seems, however, that at most stations, temperatures already exceeded the minimum. Throughout separate years, a pronounced warming (or a pronounced cooling) of sea-surface water obviously extended over the whole length of the Pacific coast from California to Alaska. The example of 1926 shows that in this case the high temperatures are caused by a worldwide atmospheric circulation anomaly which, in a similar way, accounts for the high values of sea-surface temperatures in the eastern subtropical part of the North Atlantic Ocean.

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Les températures superficielles des eaux côtières pacifiques de l'Amérique du Nord de 1920 à 1955

Résumé Pour une période de trente années (y compris l'anné de 1955) le travail actuel présente de récentes valeurs moyennes de cinq années des températures de surface mesurées sur la côte Pacifique de l'Amérique du Nord. Les moyennes progressives de cinq années montrent la présence des variations plutôt que l'existence d'un trend séculaire. Causé par le refroidissement des eaux de surface qui s'est produit partout depuis le maximum de la température en 1941, les derniers dix ans de 1946 à 1955 ont été au moyen les plus froids dès le début de la décade de 1920 à 1930. Il semble, cependant, qu'auprès de la plupart des stations, les températures aient déjà dépassé le minimum. Pendant plusieurs années isolées, un échauffement prononcé (ou un refroidissement prononcé) des eaux de surface s'étend tout le long de la côte Pacifique de la Californie jusqu'à l'Alaska. L'exemple de 1926 montre que dans ce cas les températures élevées furent causées par une anomalie universelle de la circulation atmosphérique qui, d'une manière analogue, provoqua également un échauffement des eaux de surface dans la région orientale subtropicale de l'Atlantique du Nord.

     

Upward-thickening patterns and lateral continuity of Permian sand-rich turbidite channel fills, Laingsburg Karoo, South Africa

Abstract Analysis of extensive exposures of the Permian Laingsburg Formation, Karoo basin, South Africa, have enabled a detailed reconstruction of the base of slope stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in a deep-water system characterized by a very narrow grain-size range (fine sandstone). The deposits include an ≈ 4 km wide and 80 m thick channel complex, fringed by sandy sheet deposits that extend laterally for at least 6 km across depositional strike. Within the channel complex, individual channel fills are marked by shallow basal erosion surfaces draped by thin, parallel-stratified beds of very fine sandstone and siltstone, interpreted as flow tails to largely bypassing flows. These thin beds are overlain by 0·4 to 5 m thick beds of structureless, fine-grained sandstone that represent the majority of the channel fills. The basal packages may be partially to completely removed by localized scour in the axial zone of the channel complex but can be mapped laterally into overbank areas where they thicken and are dominated by rippled fine sandstones with intercalated siltstones. Axial confinement resulted from subtle topography on the basin floor, whereby the lower, dense parts of the initially erosive and bypassing flows were partially confined in the lows and the more dilute, slower moving upper parts of the flows deposited sheet-like successions across slightly elevated overbank areas. The narrow grain-size distribution prohibited the formation ofcoarse-grained residual bypass deposits during the initial phases of channel formation. With decreasing magnitude, later flows became more depositional, filling remaining axial depressions with thick-bedded structureless sandstone. The smaller volumes of late-stage sediment were more axially focused, producing local scour-and-fill features and starvation of the overbank areas. Resulting grain-size vertical profiles are complex. The basal flow tail packages and overlying massive deposits form a thickening and slightly coarsening-upward trend in the channel fills. The overbank deposits show a thinning- and fining-upward profile as a result of less bypass plus late-stage starvation of sand. Application of traditional deep-water facies models could therefore potentially lead to erroneous interpretations of the channel complex as a prograding lobe and the overbank sheets as channel-fills.     

Stability Analysis of the Climate-Vegetation System in the Northern High Latitudes

The stability of the climate-vegetation system in the northern high latitudesis analysed with three climate system models of different complexity: A comprehensive 3-dimensional model of the climate system, GENESIS-IBIS, and two Earth system models of intermediate complexity (EMICs), CLIMBER-2 andMoBidiC. The biogeophysical feedback in the latitudinal belt 60–70° N, although positive, is not strong enough to support multiple steady states: A unique equilibriumin the climate-vegetation system is simulated by all the models on a zonal scale for present-day climate and doubled CO₂ climate.EMIC simulations with decreased insolation also reveal a unique steady state. However, the climate sensitivity to tree cover, T_F, exhibits non-linear behaviour within the models. For GENESIS-IBIS and CLIMBER-2, T_F islower for doubled CO₂ climate than for present-day climate due to a shorter snow season and increased relative significance ofthe hydrological effect of forest cover. For the EMICs, T_F is higher for low tree fraction than for high treefraction, mainly due to a time shift in spring snow melt in response to changes in tree cover. The climate sensitivity to tree coveris reduced when thermohaline circulation feedbacks are accounted for in the EMIC simulations. Simpler parameterizations of oceanic processes have opposite effects on T_F: T_F is lower in simulations with fixed SSTs and higher in simulations with mixed layer oceans. Experiments with transient CO₂ forcing show climate and vegetation not in equilibrium in the northern high latitudes at the end of the 20thcentury. The delayed response of vegetation and accelerated global warming lead to rather abrupt changes in northern vegetation cover in the first halfof the 21st century, when vegetation cover changes at double the present day rate.     

Simulation of Surface Air Temperature by GCMs,Statistical Downscaling and Weather Generator: Higher-Order Statistical Moments

The third and fourth statistical moments, that is, skewness and kurtosis, are compared for daily maximum temperature in summer and daily minimum temperature in winter between observations, outputs of two global climate models, four versions of statistical downscaling, and weather generator. The comparison is performed at six stations in central Europe. None of the simulation models can be considered as superior to the others. Causes of a good correspondence with and differences from observations are identified e.g. in the treatment of physics in the models, imperfections in physical parameterizations, or a linear transfer of properties from predictors onto predictands in statistical downscaling.     

The most-cited works in Geomorphology

We conducted a review and analysis of the references cited in articles published (1995–2004) in the journal Geomorphology and also solicited comments from the authors of the most-cited works on their major influences. Of the 31,696 unique works cited in the journal, only 22 were referenced at least 20 times, with the vast majority (92%) cited only once or twice. We divided the citations into the 10 most-cited books (i.e., complete volumes) and 10 most-cited papers (i.e., journal articles, book chapters, reports). A total of 23 different researchers were responsible for the 20 works, with one (Wolman) being an author or co-author of a quarter of them. Seven of the ten most-cited papers were based on work in the USGS in the mid-twentieth century, indicating a particularly fruitful time of geomorphic research and a particularly important cohort of scientists. Based on our citation analysis and author commentaries, we suggest that classic works in geomorphology are most likely to be those that provide useful knowledge and those that incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives.