Interannual Variability in Pollen Dispersal and Deposition on the Tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap*

Pollen collected from snow samples on the Quelccaya Ice Cap in 2000 and 2001 reveals significant interannual variability in pollen assemblage, concentration, and provenance. Samples from 2000, a La Niña year, contain high pollen concentrations and resemble samples from the Andean forests (Yungas) to the east. Samples from 2001, an El Niño year, contain fewer pollen and resemble those from the Altiplano. We suggest that varying wind patterns under different El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions may affect the processes of pollen transport over the Altiplano and on the ice cap, although confounding variables such as flowering phenology and sublimation should also be considered     

Denitrification rates measured along a salinity gradient in the eutrophic Neuse River estuary, North Carolina, USA

Denitrification rates along a salinity gradient in the eutrophic Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, were quantified using membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) within short-term batch incubations. Denitrification rates within the system were highly variable, ranging from 0 to 275 μmol N m⁻² h⁻¹. Intrasite variability increased with salinity, but no significant differences were observed across the salinity gradient. Denitrification rates were positively correlated with sediment oxygen demand at the upstream sampling site where sediment organic carbon levels were lowest. This relationship was not observed in the more saline sampling sites. Denitrification rates were highest during winter. On an annual basis, denitrification accounted for 26% of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen and 12% of the total nitrogen supplied to the system.     

Analysis of rock structure stability in coal mines

In this paper, the theory of limit point instability is used to analyse the stability of rock structures in coal mines. A general method of analysing stability of rock structures is put forward and a uniform instability condition of rock structures is set up. Some instability phenomena, such as rock bursts in circular roadways, pillars and long walls, and the outburst of coal and gas from circular roadways, are discussed analytically. At a later stage, the critical point of rock structure instability is determined. The influence of relative parameters (such as the mechanical properties of rock, coal, and the geometric sizes) on the stability of the rock structures is carefully analysed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fracture mechanics analysis of multiple cracks in anisotropic media

This paper presents a single‐domain boundary element method (BEM) for linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis in the two‐dimensional anisotropic material. In this formulation, the displacement integral equation is collocated on the un‐cracked boundary only, and the traction integral equation is collocated on one side of the crack surface only. A special crack‐tip element was introduced to capture exactly the crack‐tip behavior. A computer program with the FORTRAN language has been developed to effectively calculate the stress intensity factors of an anisotropic material. This BEM program has been verified having a good accuracy with the previous researches. Furthermore, by analyzing the different anisotropic degree cracks in a finite plate, we found that the stress intensity factors of crack tips had apparent influence by the geometry forms of cracks and media with different anisotropic degrees. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The use of the exponent K(q) function to delimit homogeneous regions in regional frequency analysis of extreme annual daily rainfall

The regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data is a useful methodology in hydrology to obtain certain quantile values when no long data series are available. The most crucial step in the analysis is the grouping of sites into homogeneous regions. This work presents a new grouping criterion based on some multifractal properties of rainfall data. For this purpose, a regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data from the Maule Region (Chile) has been performed. Daily rainfall data series of 53 available stations have been studied, and their empirical moments scaling exponent functions K(q) have been obtained. Two characteristics parameters of the K(q) functions (γ_max and K(0)) have been used to group the stations into three homogeneous regions. Only five sites have not been possible to include into any homogenous regions, being the local frequency analysis of extreme daily rainfall the most appropriate method to be used at these locations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fossil wood

Plants have been making wood (secondary xylem) for more than 370 million years. This familiar material is one of the keys to their massive success. Wood allows plants to attain breathtaking heights and maximize the capture of sunlight for growth. By creating complex, multi‐layered forests, the evolution of wood, has done more to shape life on land than almost any other innovation. Wood is one of the most common terrestrial fossils encountered in the geological record. Whether preserved as huge petrified logs or as minute chunks of charcoal, fossil wood is abundant in rocks of Late Devonian age and younger. It is of enormous scientific importance, shedding light on the identity and stature of ancient trees. As a record of growth over a sustained period, it also tells us much about the climates and environments in which those trees lived. In this article, I explain some aspects of the origin, evolution, preservation, and identification of fossil wood, and emphasise its great significance for geology.     

The lateglacial Quercus expansion in the southern European Alps: rapid vegetation response to a late Allerød climate warming?

A pollen‐inferred vegetation shift, from pioneer birch–pine woodland to mixed pine–summergreen oak forests, in the southern Alpine forelands, is commonly attributed to a centennial‐scale warming that occurred between the Gerzensee Oscillation (GO) and the Younger Dryas. Two microtephra layers bracketing the Younger Dryas onset (the Laacher See Tephra and the Vedde Ash) improve the chronology at Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (northern Italy) and allowed accurate correlation with Central European records where the GO is clearly detected. We used pollen percentages, pollen accumulation rates (PARs) and plant macrofossils to assess the population dynamics of Quercus, and leaf‐cuticle analysis for a better taxonomic identification of Quercus. Our results indicate that the species that was locally present was probably Quercus robur. PARs suggest that the population expansion started as early as the Bølling and followed an exponential increase through time. We attribute this gradual shift to increasing summer temperatures and longer growing seasons which contrast with a gradually decreasing temperature trend as recorded in Greenland ice cores and in Central Europe. Breaks or set‐backs in the PAR record may indicate the biotic response to minor Lateglacial cooling events of different life‐history stages in the Quercus population. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid generation and evolution during exhumation of deeply subducted UHP continental crust: Petrogenesis of composite granite–quartz veins in the Sulu belt,China

Composite granite–quartz veins occur in retrogressed ultrahigh pressure (UHP) eclogite enclosed in gneiss at General's Hill in the central Sulu belt, eastern China. The granite in the veins has a high‐pressure (HP) mineral assemblage of dominantly quartz+phengite+allanite/epidote+garnet that yields pressures of 2.5–2.1 GPa (Si‐in‐phengite barometry) and temperatures of 850–780°C (Ti‐in‐zircon thermometry) at 2.5 GPa (~20°C lower at 2.1 GPa). Zircon overgrowths on inherited cores and new grains of zircon from both components of the composite veins crystallized at c. 221 Ma. This age overlaps the timing of HP retrograde recrystallization dated at 225–215 Ma from multiple localities in the Sulu belt, consistent with the HP conditions retrieved from the granite. The ε_Hf(t) values of new zircon from both components of the composite veins and the Sr–Nd isotope compositions of the granite consistently lie between values for gneiss and eclogite, whereas δ¹⁸O values of new zircon are similar in the veins and the crustal rocks. These data are consistent with zircon growth from a blended fluid generated internally within the gneiss and the eclogite, without any ingress of fluid from an external source. However, at the peak metamorphic pressure, which could have reached 7 GPa, the rocks were likely fluid absent. During initial exhumation under UHP conditions, exsolution of H₂O from nominally anhydrous minerals generated a grain boundary supercritical fluid in both gneiss and eclogite. As exhumation progressed, the volume of fluid increased allowing it to migrate by diffusing porous flow from grain boundaries into channels and drain from the dominant gneiss through the subordinate eclogite. This produced a blended fluid intermediate in its isotope composition between the two end‐members, as recorded by the composite veins. During exhumation from UHP (coesite) eclogite to HP (quartz) eclogite facies conditions, the supercritical fluid evolved by dissolution of the silicate mineral matrix, becoming increasingly solute‐rich, more ‘granitic’ and more viscous until it became trapped. As crystallization began by diffusive loss of H₂O to the host eclogite concomitant with ongoing exhumation of the crust, the trapped supercritical fluid intersected the solvus for the granite–H₂O system, allowing phase separation and formation of the composite granite–quartz veins. Subsequently, during the transition from HP eclogite to amphibolite facies conditions, minor phengite breakdown melting is recorded in both the granite and the gneiss by K‐feldspar+plagioclase+biotite aggregates located around phengite and by K‐feldspar veinlets along grain boundaries. Phase equilibria modelling of the granite indicates that this late‐stage melting records P–T conditions towards the end of the exhumation, with the subsolidus assemblage yielding 0.7–1.1 GPa at <670°C. Thus, the composite granite–quartz veins represent a rare example of a natural system recording how the fluid phase evolved during exhumation of continental crust. The successive availability of different fluid phases attending retrograde metamorphism from UHP eclogite to amphibolite facies conditions will affect the transport of trace elements through the continental crust and the role of these fluids as metasomatic agents interacting with the mantle wedge in the subduction channel.     

Urban stormwater thermal gene expression models for protection of sensitive receiving streams

Thermal impact of typical high‐density residential, industrial, and commercial land uses is a major concern for the health of aquatic life in urban watersheds, especially in smaller, cold, and cool‐water streams. This is the first study of its kind that provides simple easy‐to‐use equations, developed using gene expression programming (GEP) that can guide the assessment and the design of urban stormwater management systems to protect thermally sensitive receiving streams. We developed 3 GEP models using data collected during 3 years (2009–2011) from 4 urban catchments; the first GEP model predicts event mean temperature at the inlet of the pond; the second model predicts the stormwater temperature at the outlet of the pond; and the third model predicts the temperature of the stormwater after flowing through a cooling trench and before discharging to the receiving stream. The new models have high correlation coefficients of 0.90–0.94 and low prediction uncertainty of less than 4% of the median value of the predicted runoff temperatures. Sensitivity analysis shows that climatic factors have the highest influence on the thermal enrichment followed by the catchment characteristics and the key design variables of the stormwater pond and the cooling trench. The general method presented here is easily transferable to other regions of the world (but not necessarily the exact equations developed here); also through sensitivity and parametric analysis, we gained insight on the key factors and their relative importance in modelling thermal enrichment of urban stromwater runoff.