Erosion and natural revegetation associated with surface land drains in upland peatlands

Open cut drains are the most frequently used drainage technique in peatlands and are common throughout the world. Land drains increase the drainage density and promote enhanced coupling of hillslope sediment sources with streams. They may be major sources of fine sediment to peatland stream systems but data on drain sediment production in peatlands are rare. Many drains are now being dammed by humans, yet some revegetate naturally. This paper presents a survey of the erosion and natural revegetation of peat drains related to variables such as slope, drainage area and shading. The paper also provides measured comparison of sediment flux from open drains, drains that have been blocked by peat dams, undisturbed subcatchments, and the catchment outlet. Natural infilling of drains was often found to occur on gentle slopes <4°. Drains on slopes <2° were rarely eroded, while drains on slopes >4° were rarely infilled. Nick‐point retreat at the confluence of drains was often observed. Revegetation of drains was uncommon where drains have been cut or incised into the underlying mineral substrate. Where the drain floor was peat‐based, revegetation was much more common. Revegetation of drain floors was affected by overhanging vegetation, which provided shading. Drain floors with less than 60% shading tended to have a greater vegetation cover than drains with 60–90% shading. However, drains that were almost totally shaded (>90%) had the greatest floor vegetation. The intact drains were found to be major sources of suspended sediment within the survey catchments, with 18·3% of the sediment originating from the unblocked drains which drained 7·3% of the area. The winter quarter of the year was more important than other seasons for producing suspended sediment, even though precipitation totals were not greatest during this period. Drains which had been dammed at intervals along their length using peat blocks had very low sediment yields. Even poorly dammed drains, where water could still flow along the full course of the drain, had 54 times less suspended sediment production than unblocked drains. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pulling apart: new perspectives on the spatial dimensions of neighbourhood income disparities in Canadian cities

Journal of Geographical Systems - The spatial configurations of changes in the distribution of incomes within Canada’s eight largest metropolitan areas are examined using a new approach based...     

Upholding labour productivity under climate change: an assessment of adaptation options

Changes in labour productivity feed through directly to national income. An external shock, like climate change, which may substantially reduce the productivity of workers is therefore a macroeconomic concern. The biophysical impact of higher temperatures on human performance is well documented. Less well understood are the wider effects of higher temperatures on the aggregate productivity of modern, diversified economies, where economic output is produced in contexts ranging from outdoor agriculture to work in air-conditioned buildings. Working conditions are at least to some extent the result of societal choices, which means that the labour productivity effects of heat can be alleviated through careful adaptation. A range of technical, regulatory/infrastructural and behavioural options are available to individuals, businesses and governments. The importance of local contexts prevents a general ranking of the available measures, but many appear cost-effective. Promising options include the optimization of working hours and passive cooling mechanisms. Climate-smart urban planning and adjustments to building design are most suitable to respond to high base temperature, while air conditioning can respond flexibly to short temperature peaks if there is sufficient cheap, reliable and clean electricity.

Key policy insights

• The effect of heat stress on labour productivity is a key economic impact of climate change, which could affect national output and workers’ income.

• Effective adaptation options exist, such as shifting working hours and cool roofs, but they require policy intervention and forward planning.

• Strategic interventions, such as climate-smart municipal design, are as important as reactive or project-level adaptations.

• Adaptation solutions to heat stress are highly context specific and need to be assessed accordingly. For example, shifting working hours could be an effective way of reducing the effect of peak temperatures, but only if there is sufficient flexibility in working patterns.

     

Lode–gold mineralization in the Tanami region, northern Australia

The Tanami region of northern Australia has emerged over the last two decades as the largest gold-producing region in the Northern Territory. Gold is hosted by epigenetic quartz veins in sedimentary and mafic rocks, and by sulfide-rich replacement zones within iron formation. Although limited, geochronological data suggest that most mineralization occurred at about 1,805–1,790 Ma, during a period of extensive granite intrusion, although structural relationships suggest that some deposits predate this period. There are three main goldfields in the Tanami region: the Dead Bullock Soak goldfield, which hosts the world-class Callie deposit; The Granites goldfield; and the Tanami goldfield. In the Dead Bullock Soak goldfield, deposits are hosted by carbonaceous siltstone and iron formation where a late (D₅) structural corridor intersects an early F₁ anticlinorium. In The Granites goldfield, deposits are hosted by highly sheared iron formation and are interpreted to predate D₅. The Tanami goldfield consists of a large number of small, mostly basalt-hosted deposits that probably formed at a high structural level during D₅. The D₅ structures that host most deposits formed in a convergent structural regime with σ ₁ oriented between E–W and ENE–WSW. Structures active during D₅ include NE-trending oblique thrust (dextral) faults and ESE-trending (sinistral) faults that curve into N- to NNW-trending reverse faults localized in supracrustal belts between and around granite complexes. Granite intrusions also locally perturbed the stress field, possibly localizing structures and deposits. Forward modeling and preliminary interpretations of reflection seismic data indicate that all faults extend into the mid-crust. In areas characterized by the N- to NW-trending faults, orebodies also tend to be N- to NW-trending, localized in dilational jogs or in fractured, competent rock units. In areas characterized by ESE-trending faults, the orebodies and veins tend to strike broadly east at an angle consistent with tensional fractures opened during E–W- to ENE–WSW-directed transpression. Many of these deposits are hosted by reactive rock units such as carbonaceous siltstone and iron formation. Ore deposition occurred at depths ranging from 1.5 to 11 km from generally low to moderate salinity carbonic fluids with temperatures from 200 to 430°C, similar to lode–gold fluids elsewhere in the world. These fluids are interpreted as the product of metamorphic dewatering caused by enhanced heat flow, although it is also possible that the fluids were derived from coeval granites. Lead isotope data suggest that lead in the ore fluids had multiple sources. Hydrogen and oxygen isotope data are consistent with both metamorphic and magmatic origins for ore fluids. Gold deposition is interpreted to be caused by fluid unmixing and sulfidation of host rocks. Fluid unmixing is caused by three different processes: (1) CO₂ unmixing caused by interaction of ore fluids with carbonaceous siltstone; (2) depressurization caused by pressure cycling in shear zones; and (3) boiling as ore fluids move to shallow levels. Deposits in the Tanami region may illustrate the continuum model of lode–gold deposition suggested by Groves (Mineralium Deposita 28:366–374, 1993) for Archean districts.     

Effects of experimental uncertainty on the calculation of hillslope flow paths

Measurement uncertainty is a key hindrance to the quantification of water fluxes at all scales of investigation. Predictions of soil‐water flux rely on accurate or representative measurements of hydraulic gradients and field‐state hydraulic conductivity. We quantified the potential magnitude of errors associated with the parameters and variables used directly and indirectly within the Darcy – Buckingham soil‐water‐flux equation. These potential errors were applied to a field hydrometric data set collected from a forested hillslope in central Singapore, and their effect on flow pathway predictions was assessed. Potential errors in the hydraulic gradient calculations were small, approximately one order of magnitude less than the absolute magnitude of the hydraulic gradients. However, errors associated with field‐state hydraulic conductivity derivation were very large. Borehole (Guelph permeameter) and core‐based (Talsma ring permeameter) techniques were used to measure field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity. Measurements using these two approaches differed by up to 3\9 orders of magnitude, with the difference becoming increasingly marked within the B horizon. The sensitivity of the shape of the predicted unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve to ±5% moisture content error on the moisture release curve was also assessed. Applied moisture release curve error resulted in hydraulic conductivity predictions of less than ±0\2 orders of magnitude deviation from the apparent conductivity. The flow pathways derived from the borehole saturated hydraulic conductivity approach suggested a dominant near‐surface flow pathway, whereas pathways calculated from the core‐based measurements indicated vertical percolation to depth. Direct tracer evidence supported the latter flow pathway, although tracer velocities were approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than the Darcy predictions. We conclude that saturated hydraulic conductivity is the critical hillslope hydrological parameter, and there is an urgent need to address the issues regarding its measurement further. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Techniques for measuring rock weathering: application to a dated fan segment sequence in southern Tunisia

There are a number of techniques for estimating the amount of weathering a clast has undergone. These usually have the objective of establishing an ordinal chronology of geomorphological surfaces, or investigation of site-specific conditions affecting weathering rates. Three such techniques are applied to a dated sequence of alluvial fan segments in southern Tunisia. Two of these techniques depend on measuring surface roughness (the micro-roughness meter and a displacement approach) and one uses the structural weakening of the rock fabric (Schmidt hammer). The micro-roughness meter enables calculation of standard deviation of surface height variation, root mean square roughness and surface autocorrelation function. Of these techniques, Schmidt hammer rebound values, standard deviation, root mean square roughness and the displacement technique show systematic changes on the three fan segments which are statistically significant at the 0·05 level. However, the amount of variance in all datasets is very large, indicating the need for caution in application of these techniques for relative dating. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The issue of trust and its influence on risk communication during a volcanic crisis

This paper investigates trust in the scientists, government authorities and wider risk management team during the ongoing volcanic crisis in Montserrat, WI. Identifying the most trusted communicator and how trust in information can be enhanced are considered important for improving the efficacy of volcanic risk communication. Qualitative interviews, participant observations and a quantitative survey were utilised to investigate the views and attitudes of the public, authorities and scientists. Trust was found to be dynamic, influenced by political factors made more complex by the colonial nature of Montserrat’s governance and the changing level of volcanic activity. The scientists were viewed by the authorities as a highly trusted expert source of volcanic information. Mistrust among some of the local authorities towards the scientists and British Governor was founded in the uncertainty of the volcanic situation and influenced by differences in levels of acceptable risk and suspicions about integrity (e.g. as a consequence of employment by the British Government). The public viewed friends and relatives as the most trusted source for volcanic information. High trust in this source allowed competing messages to reinforce beliefs of lower risk than were officially being described. The scientists were the second most trusted group by the public and considered significantly more competent, reliable, caring, fair and open than the authorities. The world press was the least trusted, preceded closely by the British Governor’s Office and Montserratian Government officials. These results tally well with other empirical findings suggesting that government ministers and departments are typically distrusted as sources of risk-related information. These findings have implications for risk communication on Montserrat and other volcanic crises. The importance and potential effectiveness of scientists as communicators, because of, and despite, the existence of political, cultural and institutional barriers, is exemplified by this study.

Effects of atmospheric stability conditions on heat fluxes from small water surfaces in (semi-)arid regions

Atmospheric stability conditions over the water surface can affect the evaporative and convective heat fluxes from the water surface. Atmospheric instability occurred 72.5% of the time and resulted in 44.7 and 89.2% increases in the average and maximum estimated evaporation, respectively, when compared to the neutral condition for a small shallow lake (Binaba) in Ghana. The proposed approach is based on the bulk-aerodynamic transfer method and the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) using standard meteorological parameters measured over the surrounding land. For water surface temperature, a crucial parameter in heat flux estimation from water surfaces, an applicable method is proposed. This method was used to compute heat fluxes and compare them with observed heat fluxes. The heat flux model was validated using sensible heat fluxes measured with a 3-D sonic anemometer. The results show that an unstable atmospheric condition has a significant effect in enhancing evaporation alongside the sensible heat flux from water surfaces.