Paleomagnetism of the western Cape Fold belt, South Africa, and its bearing on the Paleozoic apparent polar wander path for Gondwana

In order to test two different proposals for the poorly defined African Paleozoic apparent polar wander path (APWP), a paleomagnetic study was carried out on Ordovician through Carboniferous clastic sediments from the Cape Fold belt, west of the 22nd meridian. One proposal involves a relatively simple APWP connecting the Ordovician Gondwana poles in North Africa with the Late Paleozoic poles to the east of South Africa in a more or less straight line crossing the present equator in the Devonian. The other proposal adds a loop to this path, connecting Ordovician poles in North Africa with poles to the southwest of South Africa and then returning to central Africa. This loop would occur mainly in Silurian time. New results reported herein yield paleopoles in northern and central Africa for Ordovician to lowermost Silurian and Lower to Middle Devonian formations. The best determined paleopole of our study is for the Early Ordovician Graafwater Formation and falls at 28°N, 14°E (k = 25, α₉₅ = 8.8°, N = 28 samples). The other paleopoles are not based on sufficient numbers of samples, but can help to constrain the apparent polar wander path for Gondwana. Our results give only paleopoles well to the north of South Africa and we observe no directions within the proposed loop. Hence, if the loop is real, it must have been of relatively short duration (60–70 Ma) and be essentially of Silurian/Early Devonian age, implying very high drift velocities for Gondwana (with respect to the pole) during that interval.     

Magnetic stratigraphy of Lake Michigan sediments obtained from cores of lacustrine clay

Postglacial and lacustrine sediments from Lake Michigan have been paleomagnetically investigated. The primary goal was to test the feasibility of correlation between several cores in terms of their magnetic signatures. After alternating field and thermal demagnetizations, inclination and relative declination values were obtained that show characteristic short-term fluctuations. Major features, including changes in the magnetic intensity of the samples, correlate well in three of the longer cores, in good agreement with independent lithostratigraphic determinations. In addition, we have been able to detect local disconformities that appear as interruptions of the magnetic record. A continuous record of normal polarity has been found, extending from the present day to 13,000 ¹⁴C vears BP. No reversals were recorded, though at two stratigraphic levels shallow inclinations, together with declination swings and low intensities of magnetization, may indicate rapid geomagnetic excursions. The magnetic record was attained at the time of deposition or shortly thereafter, and can be used for a wide range of applications.     

Phreatic eruption clouds: the activity of la Soufrière de Guadeloupe,F.W.I., August — October, 1976

From August to October, 1976, La Soufrière de Guadeloupe was observed, and recorded with an automated sequence camera and numerous handheld cameras. During the period of observation, the nature of volcanic activity ranged from mild steam emission to moderately energetic phreatic eruptions. Background fumarolic activity (steam emission) was characterized by the emission of generally tephra-free steam clouds 50 to 150 m above the summit. The clouds rose buoyantly above the vent and were blown downwind at prevailing wind velocities. Phreatic eruptions were well-documented on September 22, October 2, and October 4. In the latter two eruptions, small bursts of tephra-laden steam erupted at intervals of 30 to 45 min, and rose from 350 to 500 m above the summit. In the largest observed eruption, that of October 2, the steam and tephra cloud rose to a maximum height of 600 to 650 m in 20 min. A white vapor cloud and a medium gray, tephra-laden cloud were erupted simultaneously from the summit vent and both were surrounded by a vapor collar: the clouds were thoroughly mixed within 1 km downwind of the summit. The concurrent growth of clouds from separate vents (summit and flank) implies a common source. Simultaneous eruption of tephra-free and tephra-laden clouds from the same vent is puzzling and implies: (i) lateral changes in the degree of alteration of dome rocks along the elongate vent, hence erodability of the dome lavas, or (ii) differences in the gas velocities. These «mixed» clouds moved westward, downwind and downslope as a density current, along the watersheds of the R. Noire and R. des Pères with an approximate velocity of 10 to 25 m/sec. Upon reaching the sea the clouds continued to move forward, but at a decreased velocity, and spread laterally, having left behind the restrictions of valley walls. A thin gray veneer of moist tephra, ranging from several cm thick near the dome to less than 1 mm thick several km downwind, was deposited along a narrow corridor southwest of the summit. Tephra from the phreatic eruptions consisted mostly of hydrothermally altered lithic, mineral, and glass fragments derived from dome lavas; no fresh (juvenile) pyroclasts were present in the tephra. Absence of juvenile tephra at La Soufrière supports the view that activity was due to groundwater circulating in a vapor-dominated geothermal system, probably driven by a shallow heat source. At La Soufrière, most vapor-dominated systems are located in elevated areas of groundwater recharge where groundwater movement is downward and outward. The sporadic phreatic eruptions may be related to the rate of recharge of meteoric waters within the dome, the decrease in pore pressure during fortnightly tidal minimums or both. Whatever the triggering mechanism, vapor-dominated fluids eroded vent walls during phreatic eruptions and carried out fine-grained, hydrothermally altered, pre-existing dome material as tephra.     

Quantifying Turbulence Heterogeneity in a Vineyard Using Eddy-Covariance and Scintillometer Measurements

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Scintillometry is a non-invasive measurement technique for acquiring spatially-averaged surface heat and moisture fluxes in areas where setting up arrays of instruments...     

Effect of Roughness on Surface Boundary Conditions for Large-Eddy Simulation

An important parameterization in large-eddy simulations (LESs) of high- Reynolds-number boundary layers, such as the atmospheric boundary layer, is the specification of the surface boundary condition. Typical boundary conditions compute the fluctuating surface shear stress as a function of the resolved (filtered) velocity at the lowest grid points based on similarity theory. However, these approaches are questionable because they use instantaneous (filtered) variables, while similarity theory is only valid for mean quantities. Three of these formulations are implemented in simulations of a neutral atmospheric boundary layer with different aerodynamic surface roughness. Our results show unrealistic influence of surface roughness on the mean profile, variance and spectra of the resolved velocity near the ground, in contradiction of similarity theory. In addition to similarity-based surface boundary conditions, a recent model developed from an a priori experimental study is tested and it is shown to yield more realistic independence of the results to changes in surface roughness. The optimum value of the model parameter found in our simulations matches well the value reported in the a priori wind-tunnel study.     

Multi-year predictability in a coupled general circulation model

Multi-year to decadal variability in a 100-year integration of a BMRC coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) is examined. The fractional contribution made by the decadal component generally increases with depth and latitude away from surface waters in the equatorial Indo-Pacific Ocean. The relative importance of decadal variability is enhanced in off-equatorial “wings” in the subtropical eastern Pacific. The model and observations exhibit “ENSO-like” decadal patterns. Analytic results are derived, which show that the patterns can, in theory, occur in the absence of any predictability beyond ENSO time-scales. In practice, however, modification to this stochastic view is needed to account for robust differences between ENSO-like decadal patterns and their interannual counterparts. An analysis of variability in the CGCM, a wind-forced shallow water model, and a simple mixed layer model together with existing and new theoretical results are used to improve upon this stochastic paradigm and to provide a new theory for the origin of decadal ENSO-like patterns like the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation. In this theory, ENSO-driven wind-stress variability forces internal equatorially-trapped Kelvin waves that propagate towards the eastern boundary. Kelvin waves can excite reflected internal westward propagating equatorially-trapped Rossby waves (RWs) and coastally-trapped waves (CTWs). CTWs have no impact on the off-equatorial sub-surface ocean outside the coastal wave guide, whereas the RWs do. If the frequency of the incident wave is too high, then only CTWs are excited. At lower frequencies, both CTWs and RWs can be excited. The lower the frequency, the greater the fraction of energy transmitted to RWs. This lowers the characteristic frequency (reddens the spectrum) of variability off the equator relative to its equatorial counterpart. At low frequencies, dissipation acts as an additional low pass filter that becomes more effective, as latitude increases. At the same time, ENSO-driven off-equatorial surface heating anomalies drive mixed layer temperature responses in both hemispheres. Both the eastern boundary interactions and the accumulation of surface heat fluxes by the surface mixed layer act to low pass filter the ENSO-forcing. The resulting off-equatorial variability is therefore more coherent with low pass filtered (decadal) ENSO indices [e.g. NINO3 sea-surface temperature (SST)] than with unfiltered ENSO indices. Consequently large correlations between variability and NINO3 extend further poleward on decadal time-scales than they do on interannual time-scales. This explains why decadal ENSO-like patterns have a broader meridional structure than their interannual counterparts. This difference in appearance can occur even if ENSO indices do not have any predictability beyond interannual time-scales. The wings around 15–20°S, and sub-surface variability at many other locations are predictable on interannual and multi-year time-scales. This includes westward propagating internal RWs within about 25° of the equator. The slowest of these take up to 4 years to reach the western boundary. This sub-surface predictability has significant oceanographic interest. However, it is linked to only low levels of SST variability. Consequently, extrapolation of delayed action oscillator theory to decadal time-scales might not be justified.     

Whither Parity? The Need for a Comprehensive Curriculum in Human‐Environment Geography

If human‐environment geography is central to the discipline, then human‐environment courses should be a sizable segment of the undergraduate curriculum. Undergraduate educational offerings are inadequate, however, meaning that geography departments are shortchanging their majors, missing opportunities to attract and inform the general student body, and failing to meet the needs of future K–12 educators. Unless geography provides satisfactory human‐environment education, it will likely have much less impact on twenty‐first‐century environmental science.