Radiocarbon deficiencies of US Gulf Coast lakes compromise paleo-hurricane records

Radiocarbon assays of sediments from Lake Shelby, US Gulf Coast, exhibit substantial ¹⁴C deficiencies of 9.3% and 4.7% for the limnic sapropel and associated fresh-water clams Rangia cuneata, respectively. Measured radiocarbon dates from the sapropel and clams require corrections of 785 ± 80 and 365 ± 90 ¹⁴C yr (1σ), respectively, in order to achieve consistency with the radiocarbon time scale. Lake sediments of the US Gulf Coast serve as unique repositories of pre-historic hurricane strikes. Previously unrecognized radiocarbon deficiencies likely render compromised chronologies of the paleo-hurricane records, and erroneous estimates of return period and landfall probability that are derived from the storm chronologies. The recalculated severe hurricane chronologies suggest that the annual landfall probabilities of the last millennium on the US Gulf Coast are equal to, or higher than, the preceding three millennia.     

A comparison of average rates of alluvial erosion between the south‐western and south‐eastern United States

Alluvial channel bed incision and bank widening have been reported in both the south‐western and south‐eastern US throughout the past century. Distinct regional differences in climate and landscape properties likely influence the rate of erosion. This study discusses regional differences in hydraulic driving forces and substrate resistance and tests the hypothesis that regional differences exist in average rates of channel incision, bank erosion, and knickpoint retreat. Specifically, we hypothesize that erosion rates are higher in south‐western US streams and reason that this is because of greater flood magnitudes and limited substrate resistance. A review of the literature documenting incision, bank erosion, and knickpoint retreat, however, indicates that intra‐regional differences are larger than inter‐regional differences and that average rates in the south‐western US are either statistically similar or less than the rates in parts of the south‐eastern US. This could either be a result of strong intra‐regional hydroclimatic and substrate variability or because average erosion rate may not be an appropriate metric for inter‐regional comparisons because of the variability between case studies associated with the field methods to measure erosion, duration of study period, and time since disturbance to the channel. Nevertheless, these findings provide a basis for future evaluations of the relative importance of different controls on driving and resisting forces in these and other landscapes characterized by rapid channel incision and arroyo formation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

加拿大入境美国旅游流的地域对接分析

加拿大游客入境美国旅游是北美最大的国际旅游流。依据2006～2007年的有关统计资料,采用游客到访率、市场占有率和二维矩阵模型等,分析了加拿大10个省到美国22个州旅游流的0-D对接关系。结果发现:加拿大游客入境美国旅游,多以北部边界、五大湖区,沿环美高速铁路分东西两线流向美国南部;从加拿大各省到美国各州旅游流,遵循以"三择原理"为特征的0-D对接关系。其中,东部各省游客主要分布在五大湖区和东部沿海,中部各省游客分布在相邻的边界各州,西部各省游客主要分布在美国西部沿海,受趋"阳光性"影响沿环美高铁可抵达南部的佛罗里达。加拿大各省游客在美国各州的分布,主要受距离衰减原理、沿高铁和航空线分布、以及顶极旅游资源吸引的控制。这个研究拓展了旅游流0-D对接中的多源对多汇,为我国沿边省区与周边国家开展跨国旅游合作提供借鉴。     

遗迹学的可持续发展:第4届国际遗迹学大会综述*

第4届国际遗迹学大会于2016年5月6日—9日在葡萄牙新伊达尼亚世界地质公园召开。从会议报告、展板、论文摘要集和野外地质考察可以看出:遗迹化石与沉积环境分析及遗迹化石的系统古生物学是当前遗迹学研究的热门领域,新概念和跨学科的研究方法将是未来遗迹学发展的重要推动力。对比表明,中国学者在遗迹化石的系统分类学、陆相遗迹化石以及新遗迹学领域研究较为薄弱。笔者认为,注重遗迹化石在地质突变期中的分析、发展新遗迹学、加强四足动物及鸟类足迹的研究,将是近期国内遗迹学的主要研究方向。     

Collaborative fisheries management in the Northeast US: Emerging initiatives and future directions

The nature of participation by fishing organizations in fisheries management in the Northeast US is changing. Evidence of this is the number of groups that are actively seeking opportunities for group governance of marine resources. This article explores emerging collaborative or co-management arrangements in this region (a process whereby decision-making is shared between federal/council level and fishery stakeholder groups) and the shift towards an ecosystem-based approach to the management of marine fisheries.This research suggests that it is an opportune time for the development of a regional policy in the Northeast that provides an enabling environment in support of decentralized governance of federally managed marine fisheries. It also suggests that these initiatives can play a key role in operationalizing ecosystem-based management.     

Early Diagenesis of Plant Pigments in Hudson River Sediments

Plant pigment concentrations were measured using high performance liquid chromatography in Hudson River sediments. Sedimentation rates and mixing characteristics were determined from depth profiles of the naturally occurring radionuclides ⁷Be, ²¹⁰Pb. Previous estimates of the mean-lives (1/λ) of plant pigments (chlorophylls a and b, fucoxanthin) from laboratory experiments, indicate a range of c. 20-40 days. However, in the field, we observed that these pigments decreased less rapidly with depth and penetrated deeper than ⁷Be (mean-life 77 days) in Hudson sediments 95% of the time. Assuming similar mixing processes for particles carrying ⁷Be and pigments, this indicates that pigment decay rates in the field are slower than the 0·013 day^-1 decay rate of ⁷Be, hence, more than 2-fold slower than the derived laboratory rates. We believe that high inputs of vascular plant detritus in the Hudson may increase the complexation of humic substances with pigments resulting in slower decay rates.While most pigments showed an exponential decrease with sediment depth, lutein concentrations generally increased with depth. This pattern of decay resistance is in agreement with laboratory experiments which show that lutein is the most decay resistant among dominant pigments. These data along with other studies demonstrate that the carotenoids lacking the 5,6-epoxide group (i.e., lutein) are more decay resistant than pigments that contain it (i.e., fucoxanthin).     

美国机构养老社区空间人本化构建及经验借鉴

中国老龄化正在加速发展,面临一系列严峻挑战,特别是机构养老社区的人本化构建。本文通过系统化梳理和分析美国先进案例和实践经验,甄别出其机构养老社区空间发展的四个新动向：①在区位选择上,趋向于分布在气候舒适和景观宜人的地方;②在空间融合上,趋向于嵌入具有高城市性(urbanity)的大型养老社区;③在内部规划上,趋向于功能分区弹性化和适老设计人本化;④在投融资模式上,趋向于投资多元化特别是PPP为主体的公私合营化。借鉴美国机构养老社区的空间发展新动向,提出了相应的政策响应和学术启示,以期为中国机构养老事业的优化发展提供新思路。     

“Of outstanding universal value”: The challenge of scale in applying the World Heritage Convention at national parks in the US

This paper explores the operation of the international World Heritage Convention in the national context of the United States. Although an early advocate of the national park idea and among the earliest proponents of the Convention, the US has shown increasing ambivalence towards the World Heritage Program since the mid-1990s. Through in-depth interviews with expert informants and a questionnaire survey of 406 visitors at four US World Heritage Sites, this study considers whether combining national and international conservation designations provides valuable reinforcement of conservation goals, or leads to unnecessary overlap and even challenges to sovereignty. The majority of my expert informants were supportive of the Convention, related to philosophical and practical benefits that they believed to be associated with the World Heritage label, although most identified few tangible influences of the World Heritage Program itself. Several noted hostility to the Program from a nationalist fringe, which fears international involvement in land use decisions. Such concerns were reflected in questionnaire responses, which revealed some distrust of the Convention and misunderstandings of its operation. I conclude that the scalar mismatch of implementing an international convention at the national scale inevitably involves challenges, but that country-specific factors are important in explaining why the Convention has been particularly controversial in the US. Education is integral to addressing these challenges, as well as reengagement with the Program by both the National Park Service and the federal administration. Intangible values associated with World Heritage mean that the Convention still enjoys considerable support in the US, providing a solid foundation for such a reengagement.     

Geologic factors controlling CO2 storage capacity and permanence: case studies based on experience with heterogeneity in oil and gas reservoirs applied to CO2 storage

A variety of structural and stratigraphic factors control geological heterogeneity, inferred to influence both sequestration capacity and effectiveness, as well as seal capacity. Structural heterogeneity factors include faults, folds, and fracture intensity. Stratigraphic heterogeneity is primarily controlled by the geometry of depositional facies and sandbody continuity, which controls permeability structure. The permeability structure, in turn, has implications for CO₂ injectivity and near-term migration pathways, whereas the long-term sequestration capacity can be inferred from the production history. Examples of Gulf Coast oil and gas reservoirs with differing styles of stratigraphic heterogeneity demonstrate the impact of facies variability on fluid flow and CO₂ sequestration potential. Beach and barrier-island deposits in West Ranch field in southeast Texas are homogeneous and continuous. In contrast, Seeligson and Stratton fields in south Texas, examples of major heterogeneity in fluvial systems, are composed of discontinuous, channel-fill sandstones confined to narrow, sinuous belts. These heterogeneous deposits contain limited compartments for potential CO₂ storage, although CO₂ sequestration effectiveness may be enhanced by the high number of intraformational shale beds. These field examples demonstrate that areas for CO₂ storage can be optimized by assessing sites for enhanced oil and gas recovery in mature hydrocarbon provinces.     

Evaluating five remote sensing based single-source surface energy balance models for estimating daily evapotranspiration in a humid subtropical climate

In the last two decades, a number of single-source surface energy balance (SEB) models have been proposed for mapping evapotranspiration (ET); however, there is no clear guidance on which models are preferable under different conditions. In this paper, we tested five models-Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping ET at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index (S-SEBI), Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS), and operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop)—to identify the single-source SEB models most appropriate for use in the humid southeastern United States. ET predictions from these models were compared with measured ET at four sites (marsh, grass, and citrus surfaces) for 149 cloud-free Landsat image acquisition days between 2000 and 2010. The overall model evaluation statistics showed that SEBS generally outperformed the other models in terms of estimating daily ET from different land covers (e.g., the root mean squared error (RMSE) was 0.74 mm day⁻¹). SSEBop was consistently the worst performing model and overestimated ET at all sites (RMSE = 1.67 mm day⁻¹), while the other models typically fell in between SSEBop and SEBS. However, for short grass conditions, SEBAL, METRIC, and S-SEBI appear to work much better than SEBS. Overall, our study suggests that SEBS may be the best SEB model in humid regions, although it may require modifications to work better over short vegetation.