An inexpensive and portable drill rig for bedrock groundwater studies in headwater catchments

Bedrock groundwater dynamics in headwater catchments are poorly understood and poorly characterized. Here, we present an inexpensive and portable bedrock drilling system designed for use in remote locations. Our system is capable of drilling bedrock wells up to 11 m deep and 38 mm in diameter in a wide range of bedrock types. The drill consists of a lawn mower engine adapted to rotate a diamond tipped coring bit, a small water pump to cool and flush the drill bit and a scaffolding platform for stable footing on steep slopes. The complete drilling assembly costs under $ 2000 USD. Here, we show proof‐of‐concept of our approach with 40 successful wells drilled in different geological substrates, including a conglomerate at the Maimai experimental catchment in New Zealand, volcanic breccias at the HJ Andrews experimental watershed in Oregon, USA, sandstone and siltstone at the Alsea watershed in Oregon, USA, and basalt at the Los Gavilanes experimental watershed in Veracruz, Mexico. We also present a transparent comparison between our design and other portable bedrock drilling systems and outline the strengths and weaknesses of each system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of soil moisture dynamics on slope failure at Hyrum Reservior,Utah

Field observations of shoreline conditions at Hyrum Reservoir, Utah, were conducted during the summers of 1991 to 1993. A process of bluff retreat is described for a multiple-layered bluff environment of sand and clay layers. Failure is initiated by wetting and drying of clay sediments, which produces horizontal cracks within bluff material. These cracks appear to penetrate to a depth of approximately 100-150 mm before initiating vertical cracking in the sediments. The vertical cracks are propagated by continued drying of the surface sediment, ultimately leading to failure of the bluff material. The physical dimensions of sediment blocks succumbing to this mechanism range from a few hundred millimetres up to 3 m on a side, with a depth of approximately 100-150 mm. The mechanism described here appears to operate optimally when the supply of subsurface moisture is abundant and nearly continuous throughout the spring and early summer. Reservoir draw-down, large capillary fringe effects in the bluff and periodic wetting from upslope undrained hollows are the dominant moisture controls at this site. Moisture delivery to the face is strongly influenced by anisotropy of saturated hydraulic conductivity in the alternating clay and sand layers and related differences in sediment texture.     

Unravelling the mystery of the M31 bar

The inclination of M31 is too close to edge-on for a bar component to be easily recognized and is not sufficiently edge-on for a boxy/peanut bulge to protrude clearly out of the equatorial plane. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of clues allow us to argue that this galaxy is barred. We use fully self-consistent N -body simulations of barred galaxies and compare them with both photometric and kinematic observational data for M31. In particular, we rely on the near-infrared photometry presented in a companion paper. We compare isodensity contours to isophotal contours and the light profile along cuts parallel to the galaxy major axis and offset towards the north, or the south, to mass profiles along similar cuts on the model. All these comparisons, as well as position–velocity diagrams for the gaseous component, give us strong arguments that M31 is barred. We compare four fiducial N -body models to the data and thus set constraints on the parameters of the M31 bar, as its strength, length and orientation. Our 'best' models, although not meant to be exact models of M31, reproduce in a very satisfactory way the main relevant observations. We present arguments that M31 has both a classical and a boxy/peanut bulge. Its pseudo-ring-like structure at roughly 50 arcmin is near the outer Lindblad resonance of the bar and could thus be an outer ring, as often observed in barred galaxies. The shape of the isophotes also argues that the vertically thin part of the M31 bar extends considerably further out than its boxy bulge, that is, that the boxy bulge is only part of the bar, thus confirming predictions from orbital structure studies and from previous N -body simulations. It seems very likely that the backbone of M31's boxy bulge is families of periodic orbits, members of the x₁-tree and bifurcating from the x₁ family at its higher order vertical resonances, such as the x1v3 or x1v4 families.     

Using species traits to guide conservation actions under climate change

Few assessments of species vulnerability to climate change used to inform conservation management consider the intrinsic traits that shape species’ capacity to respond to climate change. This omission is problematic as it may result in management actions that are not optimised for the long-term persistence of species as climates shift. We present a tool for explicitly linking data on plant species’ life history traits and range characteristics to appropriate management actions that maximise their capacity to respond to climate change. We deliberately target data on easily measured and widely available traits (e.g. dispersal syndrome, height, longevity) and range characteristics (e.g. range size, climatic/soil niche breadth), to allow for rapid comparison across many species. We test this framework on 1237 plants, categorising species on the basis of their potential climate change risk as related to four factors affecting their response capacity: reproduction, movement capability, abiotic niche specialisation and spatial coverage. Based on these four factors, species were allocated risk scores, and these were used to test the hypothesis that the current protection status under national legislation and related management actions capture species response capacity to climate change. Our results indicate that 20% of the plant species analysed (242 species) are likely to have a low capacity to respond to climate change based on the traits assessed, and are therefore at high risk. Of the 242 high risk species, only 10% (24 species) are currently listed for protection under conservation legislation. Importantly, many management plans for these listed species fail to address the capacity of species to respond to climate change with appropriate actions: 70% of approved management plans do not include crucial actions which may improve species’ ability to adapt to climate change. We illustrate how the use of easily attainable traits associated with ecological and evolutionary responses to changing environmental conditions can inform conservation actions for plant species globally.     

A comparison of wetness indices for the prediction of observed connected saturated areas under contrasting conditions

For lack of other widely available spatial information, topography is often used to predict water fluxes and water quality in mesoscale watersheds. Such data have however proven to be misleading in many environments where large and flat valley bottoms and/or highly conducive soil covers determine water storage and water transport mechanisms. Also, the focus is generally on the prediction of saturation areas regardless of whether they are connected to the catchment hydrographic network or rather present in isolated topographic depressions. Here soil information was coupled with terrain data towards the targeted prediction of connected saturated areas. The focus was on the 30 km² Girnock catchment (Cairngorm Mountains, northeast Scotland) and its 3 km² sub‐catchment, Bruntland Burn in which seven field surveys were done to capture actual maps of connected saturated areas in both dry and humid conditions. The 1 km² resolution UK Hydrology of Soil Types (HOST) classification was used to extract relevant, spatially variable, soil parameters. Results show that connected saturated areas were fairly well predicted by wetness indices but only in wet conditions when they covered more than 30% of the whole catchment area. Geomorphic indices including information on terrain shape, steepness, aspect, soil texture and soil depth showed potential but generally performed poorly. Indices based on soil and topographic data did not have more predictive power than those based on topographic information only: this was attributed to the coarse resolution of the HOST classification. Nevertheless, analyses provided interesting insights into the scale‐dependent water storage and transport mechanisms in both study catchments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial Sciences on Ice: 50 years of Australian activities on the Amery Ice Shelf,East Antarctica

The Antarctic climate system involves many complex interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and ice and is sensitive to variations in these components. Ice shelves represent the ice–ocean–atmosphere interface of the Antarctic continent and are therefore very important indicators of climate change in the region. The Amery Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf in East Antarctica and has been the focus of many scientific research projects over the past 50 years. This paper presents a history of the use of spatial science techniques from basic survey equipment to satellite systems in Australian research projects based on the Amery Ice Shelf (and surrounding glaciers) since 1955. The application of these spatial data to projects based primarily in the fields of geodesy, glaciology, climatology, and oceanography has allowed the measurement and monitoring of the physical, dynamic and environmental characteristics of this large and remote region. This new information provides scientists with a better understanding of the ice shelf/ocean/atmosphere system allowing future monitoring to observe the effects of global climate change.     

Sediment transport on the Freiston Shore managed realignment site: An investigation using environmental magnetism

This paper presents the first attempt to use environmental magnetism to quantify sediment provenance on a managed realignment (MR) site. MR is one technique for creating/restoring intertidal habitats and improving the standard of coastal flood protection. Monitoring of MR sites is essential for determining how successful they are at achieving these aims, and normally includes measurement of sedimentation rates through the use of accretion plates and sediment erosion tables (SETs). One limitation of this technique is that the provenance of sediment accreting on realigned surfaces cannot readily be quantified. Our results demonstrate that magnetics-based fingerprinting can successfully apportion sediment source contributions to created/restored coastal saltmarshes with an efficiency similar to that of existing un-mixing models applied to other habitats (82.87%). Analysis of mineral magnetic properties (χ_FD, IRM_soft and SIRM) demonstrated that the majority of sediment accreting on the Freiston Shore MR Site (Lincolnshire, UK) is derived from established saltmarshes seaward of the breached embankment. This indicates that the MR site may be growing at the expense of neighbouring saltmarshes—thereby undermining the habitat-creation objectives used to justify MR. It is recommended that future MR monitoring programmes consider the provenance of post-breach deposits to help identify any adverse impacts that wetland creation/restoration may have on existing habitats. Further testing of environmental magnetism in coastal saltmarshes and MR sites is necessary to validate wider use of the technique.     

Improving conveyance of uncertainties in the findings of the IPCC

Authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) received guidance on reporting understanding, certainty and/or confidence in findings using a common language, to better communicate with decision makers. However, a review of the IPCC conducted by the InterAcademy Council (2010) found that “the guidance was not consistently followed in AR4, leading to unnecessary errors . . . the guidance was often applied to statements that are so vague they cannot be falsified. In these cases the impression was often left, quite incorrectly, that a substantive finding was being presented.” Our comprehensive and quantitative analysis of findings and associated uncertainty in the AR4 supports the IAC findings and suggests opportunities for improvement in future assessments.     

Spatial variation in fluid flow and geochemical fluxes across the sediment-seawater interface at the Carlos Ribeiro mud volcano (Gulf of Cadiz)

Submarine mud volcanism is an important pathway for transfer of deep-sourced fluids enriched in hydrocarbons and other elements into the ocean. Numerous mud volcanoes (MVs) have been discovered along oceanic plate margins, and integrated elemental fluxes are potentially significant for oceanic chemical budgets. Here, we present the first detailed study of the spatial variation in fluid and chemical fluxes at the Carlos Ribeiro MV in the Gulf of Cadiz. To this end, we combine analyses of the chemical composition of pore fluids with a 1-D transport-reaction model to quantify fluid fluxes, and fluxes of boron, lithium and methane, across the sediment-seawater interface. The pore fluids are significantly depleted in chloride, but enriched in lithium, boron and hydrocarbons, relative to seawater. Pore water profiles of sulphate, hydrogen sulphide and total alkalinity indicate that anaerobic oxidation of methane occurs at 34-180 cm depth below seafloor. Clay mineral dehydration, and in particular the transformation of smectite to illite, produces pore fluids that are depleted in chloride and potassium. Profiles of boron, lithium and potassium are closely related, which suggests that lithium and boron are released from the sediments during this transformation. Pore fluids are expelled into the water column by advection; fluid flow velocities are 4 cm yr⁻¹ at the apex of the MV but they rapidly decrease to 0.4 cm yr⁻¹ at the periphery. The associated fluxes of boron, lithium and methane vary between 7-301, 0.5-6 and 0-806 mmol m⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively. We demonstrate that fluxes of Li and B due to mud volcanism may be important on a global scale, however, release of methane into the overlying water column is suppressed by microbial methanotrophy.