Early Holocene environment on Bjørnøya (Svalbard) inferred from multidisciplinary lake sediment studies

Bjørnøya, a small (178 km²) island situated between the mainland of Norway and southern Spitsbergen, provides the opportunity for the reconstruction of early Holocene terrestrial and limnic palaeoenvironments in the southwestern Barents Sea. The AMS ¹⁴C dating technique, geochemical, mineral magnetic, micro and macrofossil analyses were applied to sediments recovered from lake Stevatnet and the results are interpreted in terms of palaeoenvironmental conditions between 9800 and 8300 ¹⁴C bp. After the disappearance of local glaciers before ca 9800¹⁴C BP, the lake productivity increased rapidly at the same time as pioneer plant communities developed on soils which gradually became more stable. Insect data indicates that strong seasonal contrasts with mean July temperatures around 9°C and mean January temperatures around −12°C prevailed between 9500 and 8300 ¹⁴C BP. These high summer temperatures, possibly as much as 4-5°C higher than the present, favoured the development of a flora including Dryas and Angelica cf. archangelica . The enhanced freeze/thaw processes led to an increased erosion of minerogenic and organic material. After 8000 ¹⁴C BP the temperatures may have gradually declined. The environmental reconstruction derived from our data set supports the conceptual insolation model which proposes maximum Holocene seasonality for the Northern Hemisphere at ca 9000 ¹⁴C BP.     

Berm development on a monsoon-influenced microtidal beach

The mechanisms of berm development along a microtidal-high energy beach is examined. Such a beach with medium-sized sand and monsoon wave-controlled profile at Valiathura, south-west coast of India, is selected for this study. The waves which very rarely fall below 1 m, often exceed 4 m during the monsoon period of May to October. The erosion-accretion pattern of the beach shows a cyclicity and the berm development is mainly due to the onshore migration and welding of longshore bars on to the beach following the monsoon rough season. The stages of berm development in the present microtidal beach are more or less similar to the model presented by Hine for a mesotidal case, except for the following intermediate additional stages. The longshore bar develops due to the erosion of beach when the wave steepness was above 0·04, gets flattened when it falls below 0·04, and then reforms nearer to the shoreline as a swash bar. This reformed bar gets divided and the inner bar gets welded on to the beach, followed by the outer bar developing the berm. During the onshore migration of the longshore bar and berm development the beach face becomes partially reflective with the surf scaling parameter, ε_b between 2·5 and 33. The inshore is dissipative with the inshore surf scaling parameter, ε_s?33. The offshore side of the longshore bar is partially reflective with its surf scaling parameter, ε_bar between 2·5 and 33. The breakers are spilling or plunging. Vertical growth of the berm is mainly due to the changes in swash-limit caused by the variations in wave steepness, breaker height and type. Vertical growth stops when the beach-face attains equilibrium with the grain size-wave energy relationship, and a wave steepness below 0·02 helps to sustain this state.     

Petrology of Biotite-Cordierite-Garnet Gneiss of the McCullough Range, Nevada I. Evidence for Proterozoic Low-Pressure Fluid-Absent Granulite Grade Metamorphism in the Southern Cordillera

Proterozoic migmatitic paragneisses exposed in the McCulloughRange, southern Nevada, consist of cordierite+almanditic garnet+biotite+sillimanite+plagioclase+K-feldspar+quartz+ilmenite+hercynite.This assemblage is indicative of a low-pressure fades seriesat hornblende-granulite grade. Textures record a single metamorphicevent involving crystallization of cordierite at the expenseof biotite and sillimanite. Thermobarometry utilizing cation exchange between garnet, biotite,cordierite, hercynite, and plagioclase yields a preferred temperaturerange of 590–750?C and a pressure range of 3–4 kb.Equilibrium among biotite, sillimanite, quartz, garnet, andK-feldspar records a_H2O between 0?03 and 0?26. The low a_H2Otogetherwith low f_O2 (QFM) and optical properties of cordierite indicatemetamorphism under fluid-absent conditions. Preserved mineralcompositions are not consistent with equilibrium with a meltphase. Earlier limited partial melting was apparently extensiveenough to cause desiccation of the pelitic assemblage. The relatively low pressures attending high-grade metamorphismof the McCullough Range paragneisses allies this terrane withbiotite-cordierite-garnet granulites in other orogenic belts.aosure pressures and temperatures require a transient apparentthermal gradient ofat least 50?C/km during part of this Proterozoicevent in the southern Cordillera. ^*Present address: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1567     

TOWARDS A BETTER FORECAST FOR RESERVOIR SLOPE SLIDING

The siltation of reservoir causes many problems of management and environmental disturbances that are important to minimize. Solving these problems requires in particular a good knowledge of mud bank instabilities. In partnership with the Laboratoire National d'Hydraulique (LNH), a subsidiary of Electricite de France (E.D.F.), authors realize a study of soft soils sliding entailed by reservoir emptying. Using a geotechnical flat sliding mechanism, the theoretical formulation of the safety factor can be established when the sediment mass is submerged and emergent. The measurement campaign carried out makes it possible to obtain bathymetric and topographic surveys and a geotechnical characterization of the soil for the whole reservoir of Grangent dam, located on the Loire (France). The proposed model appears to agree satisfactorily with the instability of the zones emerged because of the emptying and with the stability of the profile after emptying. The use of this model within the framework of forecasts     

Geochemical Evolution of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc

The geochemical evolution of Montserrat provides an importantbackground to understanding the current activity of this islandarc volcano. Here we present major and trace element, and U-,Th- and O-isotope data for rocks generated in the last 300 kyrthat provide constraints on the magmatic processes occurringbeneath the volcano. Samples range from low- to medium-K calc-alkalinebasalts to dacites. Three suites can be distinguished on thebasis of major and trace element compositions: the South SoufrièreHills suite; the Soufrière Hills suite, including thelava from the current eruption; and the mafic inclusions. Magmaticdifferentiation of the magma that crystallized to form the maficinclusions appears to have been governed by closed-system processes,modelled by fractional crystallization (F     

Seasonal and interannual variability of Siberian river discharge in the Laptev Sea inferred from stable isotopes in modern bivalves

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope profiles from modern bivalve shells were investigated in order to reconstruct short-term hydrographical changes in the river-shelf system of the Laptev Sea. Oxygen isotopic profiles obtained from the aragonitic species Astarte borealis exhibit amplitude cycles interpreted as annual hydrographical cycles. These records reflect the strong contrast between summer and winter bottom water conditions in the Laptev Sea. The seasonal variations in δ¹⁸O are mainly controlled by the riverine freshwater discharge during summer with 0.5‰ per salinity unit. Corrected for a defined species-dependent fractionation offset of -0.37‰, time-dependent salinity records were reconstructed from these δ¹⁸O profiles. They indicate a good correspondence to seasonal hydrographic changes and synoptical data. Persistent trends with shell growth towards more negative δ¹³C values are observed in all specimens and appear to be related to metabolic changes of the bivalves during ontogeny. In contrast, short-term fluctuations are likely linked to seasonal variabilities of the river water outflow patterns and enhanced phytoplankton productivity during summer. This is corroborated by a clear watermass-related distinction of the various δ¹³C records made on the basis of water depth and distance from the riverine source.     

Mineral Chemistry of Mildly Alkalic Basalts from the 25 Ma Mont Crozier Section, Kerguelen Archipelago: Constraints on Phenocryst Crystallization Environments

Phenocryst compositions and mineral–melt equilibria inthe mildly alkalic basalts from the 25 Ma Mont Crozier sectionon the Kerguelen Archipelago are used to estimate the depthsat which magmas stalled and crystallized and to constrain therole of crustal structure in the evolution of magmas producedby the Kerguelen mantle plume. The Crozier section, of nearly1000 m height, consists of variably porphyritic flows (up to21 vol. % phenocrysts), dominated by plagioclase ± clinopyroxene± olivine ± Fe–Ti oxides. Feldspars showan extreme range of compositions from high-Ca plagioclase (An₈₈)to sanidine and variable textures that are related to extensivefractionation, degassing, and mixing in relatively low-pressure(sub-volcanic) magma chambers. Although clinopyroxene is a minorphenocryst type (0–3 vol. %), its non-quadrilateral components,principally Al (1·9–8·6 wt % Al₂O₃), varywidely. The results of clinopyroxene–liquid thermobarometryand clinopyroxene structural barometry indicate that the Croziermagmas crystallized at pressures ranging from     

A Mainly Crustal Origin for Tonalitic Granitoid Rocks, Superior Province, Canada: Implications for Late Archean Tectonomagmatic Processes

The central Wabigoon subprovince of the Superior Province, likemost plutonic domains within Archean cratons, is dominated bygranitoid rocks of the tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite(TTG) series. Heterogeneous <2·83–2·74Ga tonalite gneisses and foliated tonalite to granodiorite units,emplaced at 2·722–2·709 Ga, exhibit initial     

SOCIAL CAPITAL,DEVELOPMENT, AND INDIGENOUS POLITICS IN ECUADORIAN AMAZONIA*

ABSTRACT. This article examines the formation of social capital—defined as the norms of trust and reciprocity integral to social relations—and the ways in which it may help rural people's organizations gain access to rights and resources. The formation of social capital must be viewed within the context of the symbolic systems, or cultural capital, that imbues social relations with meaning. The concept of social capital provides a valuable conceptual framework for analyzing the multiscale processes of environmental management, rural development, and resource conflicts with which many rural social movements are involved. The role played by social capital is illustrated through a detailed case study of an indigenous political and cultural organization in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The organizational history of a lowland Quichua federation and the successes and problems it has had in managing development projects and achieving political objectives provide insight into the importance of social capital in the development of the region.