Spatial distribution of crustaceans associated with shallow soft‐bottom habitats in a coral reef lagoon

The ecology and diversity of the shallow soft‐bottom areas adjacent to coral reefs are still poorly known. To date, the few studies conducted in these habitats dealing with macroinvertebrate fauna have focused on their abundance spatial patterns at high taxonomic levels. Thus, some aspects important to evaluate the importance and vulnerability of these habitats, such as species diversity or the degree of habitat specialization, have often been overlooked. In this study we compared the crustacean assemblages present in four different habitats at Magoodhoo Island coral reef lagoon (Maldives): coral rubble, sandy areas and two different seagrass species (Thalassia hemprichii and Cymodocea sp.). Forty‐two different crustacean species belonging to 30 families and four orders were found. ‘Site’ was a significant factor in all of the statistical analyses, indicating that tropical soft‐bottom habitats can be highly heterogeneous, even at a spatial scale between tens and hundreds of meters. Although traditionally it has been considered that seagrass beds host greater species diversity and abundance of organisms than adjacent unvegetated habitats, no differences in the univariate measures of fauna (abundance of organisms, number of species and Shannon diversity) were observed among habitats. However, sandy areas, coral rubble and seagrass beds exhibited different species composition of crustacean communities. The percentage of taxa considered as potential habitat specialists was 27% and the number of species exclusively occurring in one habitat was especially high in seagrass beds. Thus, degradation of this vegetated habitat would result in a great loss of biodiversity in tropical shallow soft‐bottom habitats.     

Recent and Late Holocene environments on the southeastern shelf of the Laptev Sea as inferred from microfossil data

The study of diatoms and benthic foraminifers from the southeastern shelf of the Laptev Sea shows that their most diverse and abundant recent assemblages populate the peripheral underwater part of the Lena River delta representing the marginal filter of the sea. This area is characterized by an intense interaction between the fresh waters of the Siberian rivers and the basin seawater, the Atlantic one included. Local Late Holocene (～last 2300 years) environments reflect the main regional and global paleoclimatic changes, the Medieval Warm Period (～600–1100 years B.P.) and the Little Ice Age (～100–600 years B.P.) inclusive. In addition, the composition and distribution of planktonic foraminifers implies a strong influence of the Atlantic water during the Holocene optimum ～5100–6200 years B.P.     

APPLICATION OF A HILBERT TRANSFORM METHOD TO THE INTERPRETATION OF SURFACE-VEHICLE MAGNETIC DATA*

The development of an alkali vapour vehicle borne magnetometer providing very high resolution and a high sampling rate has called for reconsideration of interpretation procedures. With continuous profiling at ground level, the close proximity to near surface structures requires that the precise interpretation of geological boundaries be of paramount importance. Rapid digital recording also demands efficient data processing. Both these requirements can be met by the method described. Essentially the method reduces to a simple Hilbert transform of the magnetic profile. The calculation provides an extremely well defined position of the contact and accurate specification of the dip, strike, depth of overburden, and magnetic susceptibility parameters. Particular advantages are tolerance to high frequency noise, independence from a predetermined origin and baseline, and freedom from subjective judgements.     

Architecture of coastal and alluvial deposits in an extensional basin: the Carboniferous Joggins Formation of eastern Canada

Abstract The Joggins Formation was deposited in the Cumberland Basin, which experienced rapid mid‐Carboniferous subsidence on bounding faults. A 600 m measured section of coastal and alluvial plain strata comprises cycles tens to hundreds of metres thick. The cycles commence with coal and fossiliferous limestone/siltstone intervals, interpreted as widespread flooding events. These intervals are overlain by coarsening‐upward successions capped by planar‐based sandstone mounds, up to 100 m in width that represent the progradation of small, river‐generated delta lobes into a standing body of open water developed during transgression. The overlying strata contain sand‐rich heterolithic packages, 1–8 m thick, that are associated with channel bodies 2–3 m thick and 10–50 m wide. Drifted plant debris, Calamites groves and erect lycopsid trees are preserved within these predominantly green‐grey heterolithic sediments, which were deposited on a coastal wetland or deltaic plain traversed by channel systems. The cycles conclude with red siltstones, containing calcareous nodules, that are interbedded with thin sandstones and associated with both single‐storey channel bodies (1–1·5 m thick and 2–3 m wide) and larger, multistorey channels (3–6 m thick) with incised margins. Numerous channel bodies at the same level suggest that multiple‐channel, anastomosed river systems were developed on a well‐drained floodplain. Many minor flooding surfaces divide the strata into parasequences with dominantly progradational and aggradational stacking patterns. Multistorey channel bodies are relatively thin, fine grained and modestly incised, and palaeosols are immature and cumulative. The abundance and prominence of flooding surfaces suggests that base‐level rise was enhanced, whereas the lack of evidence for abrupt basinward stepping of facies belts, coupled with the absence of strong fluvial incision and mature palaeosols, suggests that base‐level fall was suppressed. These architectural features are considered to reflect a tectonic architectural signature, in accordance with the high‐subsidence basinal setting. Evidence for restricted marine influence and variation in floral assemblages suggests modulation by eustatic and climatic effects, although their relative importance is uncertain.     

Sub-surface dynamics and eruptive styles of maars in the Colli Albani Volcanic District, Central Italy

Eruptive scenarios associated with the possible reactivation of maar-forming events in the Quaternary, ultrapotassic Colli Albani Volcanic District (CAVD) provides implications for volcanic hazard assessment in the densely populated area near Rome. Based on detailed stratigraphy, grain size, componentry, ash morphoscopy and petro-chemical analyses of maar eruption products, along with textural analysis of cored juvenile clasts, we attempt to reconstruct the eruptive dynamics of the Prata Porci and Albano maars, as related to pre- and syn-eruptive interactions between trachybasaltic to K-foiditic feeder magmas and carbonate–silicoclastic and subvolcanic country rocks. Magma volumes in the order of 0.5–3.1 × 10⁸ m³ were erupted during the monogenetic Prata Porci maar activity and the three eruptive cycles of the Albano multiple maar, originating loose to strongly lithified, wet and dry pyroclastic surge deposits, Strombolian scoria fall horizons and lithic-rich explosion breccias. These deposits contain a wide range of accessory and accidental lithic clasts, with significant vertical stratigraphic variations in the lithic types and abundances. The two maar study cases hold a record of repeated transitions between magmatic (i.e, Strombolian fallout) and hydromagmatic (wet and dry pyroclastic surges) activity styles. Evidence of phreatic explosions, a common precursor of explosive volcanic activity, is only found at the base of the Prata Porci eruptive succession. The quantitative evaluation of the proportions of the different eruptive styles in the stratigraphic record of the two maars, based on magma vs. lithic volume estimates, reveals a prevailing magmatic character in terms of erupted magma volumes despite the hydromagmatic footprint. Different degrees of explosive magma–water interaction were apparently controlled by the different hydrogeological and geological–structural settings. In the Prata Porci case, shifts in the depth of magma fragmentation are proposed to have accompanied eruption style changes. In the Albano case, a deeply dissected geothermal aquifer in peri-caldera setting and variable mass eruption rates were the main controlling factors of repeated shifts in the eruptive style. Finally, textural evidence from cored juvenile clasts and analytical modeling of melt–solid heat transfer indicate that the interacting substrate in the Prata Porci case was at low, uniform temperature (~ 100 °C) as compared to the highly variable temperatures (up to 700–800 °C) inferred for the geothermal system beneath Albano.     

A 2000-yr reconstruction of air temperature in the Great Basin of the United States with specific reference to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly

A sediment core representing the past two millennia was recovered from Stella Lake in the Snake Range of the central Great Basin in Nevada. The core was analyzed for sub-fossil chironomids and sediment organic content. A quantitative reconstruction of mean July air temperature (MJAT) was developed using a regional training set and a chironomid-based WA-PLS inference model (r²_jack = 0.55, RMSEP = 0.9°C). The chironomid-based MJAT reconstruction suggests that the interval between AD 900 and AD 1300, corresponding to the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), was characterized by MJAT elevated 1.0°C above the subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA), but likely not as warm as recent conditions. Comparison of the Stella Lake temperature reconstruction to previously published paleoclimate records from this region indicates that the temperature fluctuations inferred to have occurred at Stella Lake between AD 900 and AD 1300 correspond to regional records documenting hydroclimate variability during the MCA interval. The Stella Lake record provides evidence that elevated summer temperature contributed to the increased aridity that characterized the western United States during the MCA.     

Ice-Sheet Glaciation of the Puget lowland, Washington, during the Vashon Stade (late pleistocene)

During the Vashon Stade of the Fraser Glaciation, about 15,000–13,000 yr B.P., a lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet occupied the Puget lowland of western Washington. At its maximum extent about 14,000 yr ago, the ice sheet extended across the Puget lowland between the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains and terminated about 80 km south of Seattle. Meltwater streams drained southwest to the Pacific Ocean and built broad outwash trains south of the ice margin. Reconstructed longitudinal profiles for the Puget lobe at its maximum extent are similar to the modern profile of Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, suggesting that the ice sheet may have been in a near-equilibrium state at the glacial maximum. Progressive northward retreat from the terminal zone was accompanied by the development of ice-marginal streams and proglacial lakes that drained southward during initial retreat, but northward during late Vashon time. Relatively rapid retreat of the Juan de Fuca lobe may have contributed to partial stagnation of the northwestern part of the Puget lobe. Final destruction of the Puget lobe occurred when the ice retreated north of Admiralty Inlet. The sea entered the Puget lowland at this time, allowing the deposition of glacial-marine sediments which now occur as high as 50 m altitude. These deposits, together with ice-marginal meltwater channels presumed to have formed above sea level during deglaciation, suggest that a significant amount of postglacial isostatic and(or) tectonic deformation has occurred in the Puget lowland since deglaciation.     

Re‐establishment of soil water repellency after destruction by intense burning in a Mediterranean heathland (SW Spain)

Soil water repellency has been conventionally considered as a fire‐induced effect, but an increasing number of studies have suggested that natural background repellency occurs in many soil types, and many of them have suggested that water repellency can be re‐established over time after being destroyed. An experimental fire was conducted to study changes of the soil surface during the first 18 months following intense burning. The main objectives of this paper are as follows: (1) to investigate in situ water repellency changes at three soil depths (0, 2 and 4 cm) immediately after burning; (2) to evaluate the medium‐term evolution of water repellency under field conditions; and (3) to outline the main hydrological consequences of these changes. Also, different water repellency tests (water drop penetration time, ethanol percentage test (EPT) and contact angle (CA) between water drops and the soil surface) were carried out for comparison purposes. Field experiments showed that soil water repellency was partly destroyed after intense burning. Changes were relatively strong at the soil surface, but diminished progressively with depth. Levels of water repellency were practically re‐established 18 months after burning. This suggests that water repellency in the studied area is not necessarily a consequence of fire, but can instead be a natural attribute. Finally, although limited in time, destruction of soil water repellency has important consequences for runoff flow generation and soil loss rates, and, indirectly, for water quality. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A SuperWASP search for additional transiting planets in 24 known systems

We present results from a search for additional transiting planets in 24 systems already known to contain a transiting planet. We model the transits due to the known planet in each system and subtract these models from light curves obtained with the SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) survey instruments. These residual light curves are then searched for evidence of additional periodic transit events. Although we do not find any evidence for additional planets in any of the planetary systems studied, we are able to characterize our ability to find such planets by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Artificially generated transit signals corresponding to planets with a range of sizes and orbital periods were injected into the SuperWASP photometry and the resulting light curves searched for planets. As a result, the detection efficiency as a function of both the radius and orbital period of any second planet is calculated. We determine that there is a good (>50 per cent) chance of detecting additional, Saturn-sized planets in   P ∼  10 d orbits around planet-hosting stars that have several seasons of SuperWASP photometry. Additionally, we confirm previous evidence of the rotational stellar variability of WASP-10, and refine the period of rotation. We find that the period of the rotation is  11.91 ± 0.05  d, and the false alarm probability for this period is extremely low  (∼10⁻¹³)  .