Use of the frozen flux approximation in the interpretation of archaeomagnetic and palaeomagnetic data

Summary. The frozen flux approximation of Roberts & Scott is a constraint on the core field that can be used to aid interpretation of the very sparse datasets that palaeomagnetism and archaeomagnetism provide. It gives bounds on the size of the components of the magnetic field at a point, of the Gauss coefficients, and, if valid over such long time periods, limits the shape of the field during transitions between normal and reversed polarities. The maximum intensity at a point, consistent with the present flux, is 281 μT or 4 times the maximum field observed today. The present dipole is about 50 per cent of its upper bound. Polarity reversal is impossible if the transition field is purely axisymmetric. None of the measurements we consider violate the frozen flux approximation.     

Spatial Concentration in Australian Regional Development,Exogenous Shocks and Regional Demographic Outcomes: a South Australian case study

ABSTRACT

As a tribute to the massive contribution of our friend and colleague Graeme Hugo to the population and settlement geography of Australian rural areas, this paper presents a longitudinal study from his home State. It forms part of a wider study of the long-term demographic relationships between Australia’s rapidly growing regional cities and their surrounding functional regions. Of particular interest is the question of what effect the accelerating concentration of population and economic activity into a given regional city will have for the longer term demographic sustainability of its functional region as a whole. Taking the case of Port Lincoln, regional capital of most of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, it examines the nature of change in the functional region over the period 1947–2011, and investigates the forces feeding, and partly counteracting, the population concentration process, informed by concepts of evolutionary economic geography. In particular it traces the demographic impact (particularly differential migration and ageing trends) of exogenous shocks to the region’s essentially primary productive economic base during the period of major change from 1981 to 2011.     

The strengthening East Australian Current, its eddies and biological effects — an introduction and overview

The poleward flowing East Australian Current (EAC) is characterised by its separation from the coast, 100-200 nautical miles north of Sydney, to form the eastward flowing Tasman Front and a southward flowing eddy field. The separation zone greatly influences coastal ecosystems for the relatively narrow continental shelf (only 15-50 km wide), particularly between 32-34°S. In this region the continental shelf has a marked shift in the seasonal temperature-salinity relationship and elevated surface nitrate concentrations. This current parallels the portion of the coast where Australia’s population is concentrated and has a long history of scientific research. However, understanding of physical and biological processes driven by the EAC, particularly in linking circulation to ecosystems, is limited. In this special issue of 16 papers on the EAC, we examine the effects of climatic wind-stress forced ocean dynamics on EAC transport variability and coastal sea level, from ENSO to multi-decadal time scales; eddy formation and structure; fine scale connectivity and larval retention. Comparisons with the poleward-flowing Leeuwin Current on Australia’s west coast show differences in ecosystem productivity that can be attributed to the underlying physics in each region. On average there is double the chlorophyll a concentration on the east coast than the west. In comparison to the Leeuwin, the EAC may have less local retention of larvae and act as a partial barrier to onshore transport, which may also be related to the local spawning and early life history of small pelagic fish on each coast. Inter-annual variations in the EAC transport produce a detectable sea-level signal in Sydney Harbour, which could provide a useful fisheries index as does the Fremantle sea level and Leeuwin Current relationship. The EAC’s eddy structure and formation by the EAC are examined. A particular cold-core eddy is shown to have a “tilt” towards the coast, and that during a rotation the flow of particles may rise up to the euphotic zone and then down beneath. In a warm-core eddy, surface flooding is shown to produce a new shallower surface mixed layer and promote algal growth. An assessment of plankton data from 1938-1942 showed that the local, synoptic conditions had to be incorporated before any comparison with the present. There are useful relationships of water mass characteristics in the Tasman Sea and separation zone with larval fish diversity and abundance, as well as with long-line fisheries. These fisheries-pelagic habitat relationships are invaluable for fisheries management, as well as for climate change assessments.There is further need to examine the EAC influence on rainfall, storm activity, dust deposition, and on the movements by fish, sharks and whales. The Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) has provided new infrastructure to determine the changing behaviour of the EAC and its bio-physical interaction with the coasts and estuaries. The forecasting and hindcasting capability developed under the Bluelink project has provided a new tool for data synthesis and dynamical analysis. The impact of a strengthening EAC and how it influences the livelihoods of over half the Australian population, from Brisbane to Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne, is just being realised.     

A least-squares method for determining the best-fit point maximum, great circle, and small circle to nondirectional orientation data

Given a set of nondirectional orientation data (fold axes, lineations, dip and dip direction of bedding, universal stage readings of crystallographic axes, etc.),the best-fit line (point maximum),plane (great circle),or cone (small circle)can be determined by minimizing the sum of the squares of the angular residuals using a simplex convergence technique. Stereoplots of the angular deviation over the complete lower hemisphere for these distributions may also be generated when consideration of the constraint on the best-fit position is important; for example in comparing different data sets of the same structural element. The routines are available as a FORTRAN coded computer program.     

Regional metamorphism of some Dalradian pelites in the Buchan area,N.E. Scotland

Regional metamorphic zones, based on mineral assemblages in pelites, are presented for the Dalradian rocks of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire, in the type area of Buchan metamorphism; electron microprobe analyses of cordierite (C), staurolite (S), chlorite (Chl), biotite (B) and white mica (Ms) are reported for rocks from the classic sections of the Banffshire coast and the valley of the Ythan.A low grade biotite zone, separates two NE-SW trending sets of higher grade zones, in which the sequence s defined by the entry of cordierite, andalusite (A) and (in the west only) staurolite. The zones are characterised by the assemblages (with quartz and muscovite) B-Chl, C-B-Chl, A-C-B and S-A-B.The western sequence contains a transition towards higher pressure, Barrovian type, metamorphism. The isograds arise from continuous reactions affecting rocks of restricted bulk composition (M/FM). With increasing grade, there is a regular trend towards more magnesian ranges of composition for the assemblages C-B-Chl, A-C-B and finally (as P increases in the west), S-A-B. The isograds form when these assemblages intersect the most Fe⁺⁺-rich rock compositions present which occurs in each case when the biotite M/FM=40. A complex of divariant equilibria, derived for the system KFMASH, is used to model the natural reactions.     

Visualising 30 Years of Population Density Change in Australia’s Major Capital Cities

ABSTRACT

This study uses a novel spatial approach to compare population density change across cities and over time. It examines spatio-temporal change in Australia’s five most populated capital cities from 1981 to 2011, and documents the established and emerging patterns of population distribution. The settlement patterns of Australian cities have changed substantially in the last 30 years. From the doughnut cities of the 1980s, programs of consolidation, renewal and densification have changed and concentrated population in our cities. Australian cities in the 1980s were characterised by sparsely populated, low density centres with growth concentrated to the suburban fringes. ‘Smart Growth’ and the ‘New Urbanism’ movements in the 1990s advocated higher dwelling density living and the inner cities re-emerged, inner areas were redeveloped, and the population distribution shifted towards increased inner city population densities. Policies aimed at re-populating the inner city dominated and the resultant changes are now visible in Australia’s five most populated capital cities. While this pattern has been reported in a number of studies, questions remain regarding the extent of these changes and how to analyse and visualise them across urban space. This paper reports on a spatial method which addresses the limitations of changing statistical boundaries to identify the changing patterns in Australian cities over time and space.     

Composition of jovian dust stream particles

The Cassini spacecraft encountered Jupiter in late 2000. Within more than 1 AU of the gas giant the Cosmic Dust Analyser onboard the spacecraft recorded the first ever mass spectra of jovian stream particles. To determine the chemical composition of particles, a comprehensive statistical analysis of the dataset was performed. Our results imply that the vast majority (>95%) of the observed stream particles originate from the volcanic active jovian satellite Io from where they are sprinkled out far into the Solar System. Sodium chloride (NaCl) was identified as the major particle constituent, accompanied by sulphurous as well as potassium bearing components. This is in contrast to observations of gas in the ionian atmosphere, its co-rotating plasma torus, and the neutral cloud, where sulphur species are dominant while alkali and chlorine species are only minor components. Io has the largest active volcanoes of the Solar System with plumes reaching heights of more than 400 km above the moons surface. Our in situ measurements indicate that alkaline salt condensation of volcanic gases inside those plumes could be the dominant formation process for particles reaching the ionian exosphere.