The nature of publishing and assessment in Geography and Environmental Studies: evidence from the Research Assessment Exercise 2008

We present a summary of the kinds of outputs submitted to the Geography and Environmental Studies sub-panel (H-32) for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and examine the relationships between the peer assessment of research quality that the RAE process has typified, and alternative modes of assessment based on bibliometrics. This comparison is effected using (in aggregate form) some of the results from the RAE, together with citation data gathered after completion of the RAE assessment, specifically for the purpose of this paper. We conclude that, if it continues to be necessary and desirable to assess, in some measure and however imprecisely, research quality, then peer assessment cannot be replaced by bibliometrics. Bibliometrics permit measurement of something that may be linked to quality but is essentially a different phenomenon – a measure of 'impact', for example.     

The significance of rainstorm variations to shallow translational hillslope failure

Landsliding in eastern Scotland results from high-magnitude rainstorms generated under either cyclonic or anticyclonic conditions, particularly during the summer. Data from Aviemore indicated that cyclonic storms produce higher rainfall totals than anticyclonic storms, as well as being of longer duration and lower intensity. The distribution of rain during individual storms also varies with the synoptic conditions under which the storms are produced. These different rainfall characteristics produce different geomorphic responses, which can be investigated in detail using physical based modelling. In this paper, a physically based coupled hydrology–stability model is used to assess the significance of these rainfall characteristics to soil moisture response and slope instability for mature podsols. The results provide evidence that rainstorms of different synoptic origin produce varying hydrological response, involving both the extent and the timing of moisture content change. This affects the depth and timing of slope failure, with anticyclonic storms promoting a large, rapid response in the factor of safety at shallow depths within the soil. Cyclonic storms produce a more gradual response, with the region of probable failure being deeper. Futhermore, each of these storm types is associated with different rainfall distributions, and this is also shown to have a significant effect on the timing and depth of slope instability.     

Contrasting sorption behaviours affecting groundwater arsenic concentration in Kandal Province,Cambodia

Natural arsenic(As)contamination of groundwater which provides drinking water and/or irrigation supplies remains a major public health issue,particularly in South and Southeast Asia.A number of studies have evaluated various aspects of the biogeochemical controls on As mobilization in aquifers typical to this region,however many are predicated on the assumption that key biogeochemical processes may be deduced by sampled water chemistry.The validity of this assumption has not been clearly established even though the role of sorption/desorption of As and other heavy metals onto Fe/Mn(hydr)oxides is an important control in As mobilization.Here,selective chemical extractions of sand-rich and clay-rich sediments from an As-affected aquifer in Kandal Province,Cambodia,were undertaken to explore the potential role of partial re-equilibrium through sorption/desorption reactions of As and related solutes(Fe,Mn and P)between groundwater and the associated solid aquifer matrix.In general,groundwater As is strongly affected by both pH and Eh throughout the study area.However,contrasting sorption behaviour is observed in two distinct sand-dominated(T-Sand)and clay dominated(T-Clay)transects,and plausibly attributed to differing dominant lithologies,biogeochemical and/or hydrogeological conditions.Sorption/desorption processes appear to be re-setting groundwater As concentrations in both transects,but to varying extents and in different ways.In T-Sand,which is typically highly reducing,correlations suggest that dissolved As may be sequestered by sorption/re-adsorption to Fe-bearing mineral phases and/or sedimentary organic matter;in T-Clay Eh is a major control on As mobilization although binding/occlusion of Fe-bearing minerals to sedimentary organic matter may also occur.Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with groups categorised by transect and by Eh,and the output correlations support the contrasting sorption behaviours encountered in this study area.Irrespective of transect,however,the key biogeochemical processes which initially control As mobilization in such aquifers,may be "masked" by the re-setting of As concentrations through in-aquifer sorption/desorption processes.     

Construction and Testing of a Durable Platinum Wire Eh Electrode for In Situ Redox Measurements in the Subsurface

We have developed a rugged, durable platinum wire Eh electrode for application in subsurface environments. The electrode design is described in detail and its performance under aerobic and anaerobic steady-state and transient conditions is assessed. The electrode consists of a 0.5-mm-diameter platinum wire (99.99% purity) cast in a glass fiber-reinforced epoxy jacket. The construction allowed installation through direct insertion into sandy media to depths up to several meters. Data collection was through connection to a datalogger with high impedance input; data points were collected every 10 seconds and averaged and stored once an hour. The electrodes functioned in situ for periods of more than three years and gave reliable readings during oxic, anoxic, and transitional conditions. Performance testing and examination of electrodes recovered after three years in situ indicated that they were not impacted by corrosion, dissolution, or poisoning.     

Wide-scale detection of earthquake waveform doublets and further evidence for inner core super-rotation

We report on more than 100 earthquake waveform doublets in five subduction zones, including an earthquake nest in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Each doublet is presumed to be a pair of earthquakes that repeat at essentially the same location. These doublets are important for studying earthquake physics, as well as temporal changes of the inner core. Particularly, our observation from one South Sandwich Islands (SSI) doublet recorded at station INK in Canada shows an inner core traveltime change of ∼0.1 s over ∼6 yr, confirming the inner-core differential motion occurring beneath Central America. Observations from one Aleutian Islands doublet, recorded at station BOSA in South Africa, and from one Kuril Islands doublet, recorded at station BDFB in Brazil, show an apparent inner core traveltime change of ∼0.1 s over ∼7 yr and ∼6 yr, respectively, providing evidence for the temporal change of inner core properties beneath Central Asia and Canada, respectively. On the other hand, observations from one Tonga–Fiji–Solomon Islands doublet, recorded at station PTGA in Brazil, and from one Bucaramanga doublet, recorded at station WRAB in Australia and station CHTO in Thailand, show no/little temporal change (no more than 0.005 s yr⁻¹, if any) of inner core traveltimes for the three corresponding ray paths for which the path in the inner core is nearly parallel to the equatorial plane. Such a pattern of observations showing both presence and possible absence of inner-core traveltime change can be explained by the geometry and relative directions of ray path, lateral velocity gradient and inner-core particle motion due to an eastward super-rotation of a few tenths of a degree per year.     

The genesis of Pb‐Zn sulphide occurrences in the Lower Devonian Buchan Group,Victoria

Six minor sulphide occurrences hosted by the Lower Devonian Buchan Group have been investigated. Sulphide minerals and associated phases are hosted by both dolostone and limestone lithologies along stylolitized bedding planes, cross‐cutting fractures, low angle minor faults and in cavities. Mineralization was closely associated with minor structures of inferred Tabberabberan age (Middle Devonian), which it appears to have post‐dated, but was largely strata‐bound in nature. The mineralogy of the occurrences is simple and characterized by the following generalized paragenesis which reflects the increasing oxidation state and pH of the mineralizing fluids: pyrite (pseudomorphous after marcasite)‐galena ± sphalerite ± pyrite‐dolomite ± barite‐calcite ± fluorite ± dolomite.

The sulphur isotope composition of sulphide minerals varies from ‐32.1 to +4.1‰, with iron and base metal sulphide minerals forming two distinct populations around ‐25‰ and 0‰, respectively. A single barite sample gives a sulphur isotope composition of +22.4‰, which is similar to that estimated for Early Devonian seawater. Fluid inclusions in fluorite and calcite homogenize at temperatures in the range 160 to 212° C and have average salinities of approximately 10 wt% NaCI eq. Sphalerite contains up to 1.81 wt% iron which correlates with colour, and up to 1.43 wt% cadmium. The Pb isotopic pattern of galena suggests a source region with U/Pb(= μ) lower than the crustal average, and a high Th/U.

A genetic hypothesis is proposed which involves the circulation of saline fluids through the Snowy River Volcanics, which directly underlie the Buchan Group, during or at some time after the Tabberabberan Orogeny. Although the Buchan occurrences show features characteristic of both Mississippi Valley‐type and stratiform ore deposits, they are most directly comparable to the epigenetic zones of Irish carbonate‐hosted base‐metal deposits. However, Pb‐Zn sulphide mineralization at Buchan appears to have been associated with minor compressional structures, suggesting that a simple correlation with the Irish deposits is not directly applicable.     

Characteristics of deep groundwater flow in a basin marginal setting at Sellafield,Northwest England: Cl and halide evidence

A number of chemical and physical processes inside and outside a sedimentary basin (e.g. evaporite dissolution and topographic drive, respectively) affect groundwater flow near the basin’s margin. Contrasting formations at the margin, typically basinal sedimentary rocks and basement, are host to the interplay between these processes so that groundwater flows and compositions change within a relatively small volume. To interpret how groundwater flow and geochemistry have evolved, interactions between these processes must be understood. Such interactions were investigated near the margin of the East Irish Sea Basin in NW England, by sampling deep groundwaters (to 1500 m below sea level) from Ordovician volcanic basement rocks and Carboniferous to Triassic sedimentary cover rocks. Variable Br/Cl ratios and Cl concentrations in deep saline waters and brines indicate mixing patterns. Variations in ³⁶Cl/Cl constrain the timing of mixing. Relatively low Br/Cl ratios (ca. 1 × 10⁻³ by mass) characterise brine from the western sedimentary cover and reflect halite dissolution further west. Saline water with relatively high Br/Cl ratios (ca. 2 × 10⁻³ by mass) of uncertain origin occupies the eastern basement. These two waters mix across the area. However, mixing alone cannot explain variable ³⁶Cl/Cl ratios, which partly reflect differing in situ³⁶Cl production rates in different rock formations. Most ³⁶Cl/Cl ratios in groundwater sampled from the eastern metavolcanic basement (mean = 25 × 10⁻¹⁵) and western sedimentary cover (mean = 10 × 10⁻¹⁵) are at or close to equilibrium with in situ³⁶Cl production. These variations in ³⁶Cl/Cl across the site possibly took >1.5 Ma to be attained, implying that deep groundwater flow responded only slowly to the Quaternary glaciation of the site. Interplay between varied processes in basin marginal settings does not necessarily imply flow instability.     

A Study of Small Magnitude Seismic Events During 1961–1989 on and near the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan

—?Official Russian sources in 1996 and 1997 have stated that 340 underground nuclear tests (UNTs) were conducted during 1961–1989 at the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) in Eastern Kazakhstan. Only 271 of these nuclear tests appear to have been described with well-determined origin time, coordinates and magnitudes in the openly available technical literature. Thus, good open documentation has been lacking for 69 UNTs at STS.¶The main goal of our study was to provide detections, estimates of origin time and location, and magnitudes, for as many of these previously undocumented events as possible. We used data from temporary and permanent seismographic stations in the former USSR at distances from 500?km to about 1500?km from STS. As a result, we have been able to assign magnitude for eight previously located UNTs whose magnitude was not previously known. For 31 UNTs, we have estimated origin time an d assigned magnitude — and for 19 of these 31 we have obtained locations based on seismic signals. Of the remaining 30 poorly documented UNTs, 15 had announced yields that were less than one ton, and 13 occurred simultaneously with another test which was detected. There are only two UNTs, for which the announced yield exceeds one ton and we have been unable to find seismic signals.¶Most of the newly detected and located events were sub-kiloton. Their magnitudes range from 2.7 up to 5.1 (a multi-kiloton event on 1965 Feb. 4 that was often obscured at teleseismic stations by signals from an earthquake swarm in the Aleutians).¶For 17 small UNTs at STS, we compare the locations (with their uncertainties) that we had earlier determined in 1994 from analysis of regional seismic waves, with ground-truth information obtained in 1998. The average error of the seismically-determined locations is only about 5?km. The ground-truth location is almost alw ays within the predicted small uncertainty of the seismically-determined location.¶Seismically-determined yield estimates are in good agreement with the announced total annual yield of nuclear tests, for each year from 1964 to 1989 at Semipalatinsk.¶We also report the origin time, location, and seismic magnitude of 29 chemical explosions and a few earthquakes on or near STS during the years 1961–1989.¶Our new documentation of STS explosions is important for evaluating the detection, location, and identification capabilities of teleseismic and regional arrays and stations; and how these capabilities have changed with time.     

Shellfish-associated enteric virus illness in the United States, 1934–1984

The regulation of shellfish and their growing waters is based on total and fecal coliform standards. Application of these standards has reduced the incidence of shellfish-borne bacterial illnesses in humans, but outbreaks of viral diseases, such as hepatitis A, Norwalk illness, and viral gastroenteritis, prevail. Hepatitis A virus contributed to 1,395 cases of shellfish-associated illness since 1961. An additional 6,049 cases of shellfish-associated gastroenteritis were reported over the past 50 years, 75% of which (4,609 cases) occurred since 1980. The alarming rate of disease outbreaks during the past 5 years may further increase as better reporting practices are initiated by health professionals and state and federal agencies. Actions necessary to reduce the incidence of shellfish-associated viral illness include development of methods for detecting viral pathogens in shellfish and harvest waters, correlation of levels of viral pathogens with potential viral and bacterial indicators, and acceleration of field monitoring and enforcement efforts.