Depositional and post‐depositional history of warm stage deposits at Knocknacran,Co. Monaghan,Ireland: implications for preservation of Irish last interglacial deposits

Organic‐rich deposits, uncovered during overburden removal from mantled gypsum karst at Knocknacran opencast gypsum mine, Co. Monaghan, are the best candidate to date for a last interglacial record in Ireland. The two till and organic‐rich deposits (preserved at different quarry elevations) were emplaced on to a Tertiary dolerite surface during high‐energy flood events and subsequently folded and faulted by movement towards sinkholes in underlying gypsum. Uranium–thorium disequilibrium dating suggests that the organic‐rich deposits in the upper section were hydrologically isolated at ca. 41 ka and those in the lower section at ca. 86 ka. Interpretation of the pollen content, although tentative because of the depositional and post‐depositional history of the material, suggests that the organic material originated in a warm stage possibly warmer than the post‐Eemian interstadials. The unusual setting of preservation may indicate that in situ, last interglacial deposits have generally been removed by erosion in Ireland. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River sediments,great floods and centennial‐scale Holocene climate change

A new analysis of all 346 published ¹⁴C dated Holocene alluvial units in Britain offers a unique insight into the regional impacts of global change and shows how surprisingly sensitive British rivers have been to relatively modest but repeated changes in climate. Fourteen major but probably brief periods of flooding are identified bracketed within the periods 400–1070, 1940–3940, 7520–8100 and at ca. 10 420 cal. yr BP. There is a strong correspondence between climatic deteriorations inferred from mire wet shifts and major periods of flooding, especially at ca. 8000 cal. yr BP and since ca. 4000 cal. yr BP. The unusually long and complete British record also demonstrates that alterations in land cover have resulted in a step change in river basin sensitivity to variations in climate. This has very important implications for assessing and mitigating the impact of increasing severe flooding. In small and medium‐sized river basins land use is likely to play a key role in either moderating or amplifying the climatic signal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new stereo‐analytical method for determination of removal blocks in discontinuous rock masses

The paper provides a new stereo‐analytical method, which is a combination of the stereographic method and analytical methods, to separate finite removable blocks from the infinite and tapered blocks in discontinuous rock masses. The methodology has applicability to both convex and concave blocks. Application of the methodology is illustrated through examples. Addition of this method to the existing block theory procedures available in the literature improves the capability of block theory in solving practical problems in rock engineering. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast iterative solution of large undrained soil‐structure interaction problems

In view of rapid developments in iterative solvers, it is timely to re‐examine the merits of using mixed formulation for incompressible problems. This paper presents extensive numerical studies to compare the accuracy of undrained solutions resulting from the standard displacement formulation with a penalty term and the two‐field mixed formulation. The standard displacement and two‐field mixed formulations are solved using both direct and iterative approaches to assess if it is cost‐effective to achieve more accurate solutions. Numerical studies of a simple footing problem show that the mixed formulation is able to solve the incompressible problem ‘exactly’, does not create pressure and stress instabilities, and obviate the need for an ad hoc penalty number. In addition, for large‐scale problems where it is not possible to perform direct solutions entirely within available random access memory, it turns out that the larger system of equations from mixed formulation also can be solved much more efficiently than the smaller system of equations arising from standard formulation by using the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual (SQMR) method with the generalized Jacobi (GJ) preconditioner. Iterative solution by SQMR with GJ preconditioning also is more elegant, faster, and more accurate than the popular Uzawa method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical solutions of one‐dimensional infiltration before and after ponding

This paper is a continuation of previous research, which obtained a convenient solution for arbitrary surface fluxes before ponding. By means of Fourier Transformation this has been extended to derive analytical solutions of a linearized Richards' equation for arbitrary input fluxes after surface saturation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sea‐surface temperature and salinity changes in the northwest Pacific since the Last Glacial Maximum

The oxygen isotope records of both benthic and planktonic Foraminifera in five piston cores, collected from the region between the Oyashio and Kuroshio Currents near Japan, clearly show the marked latitudinal shifts of these two currents during the past 25 kyr. Under the present hydrographic condition, a clear relationship between the sea‐surface temperature (SST) and oxygen isotope differences from benthic to planktonic Foraminifera is observed in this region. Using this relationship, we find decreased SSTs of 12–13°C (maximum 15°C) in the southernmost core site at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), indicating the Oyashio Current shifted southward. The SSTs at the southern two core sites abruptly increased more than 10°C at 10–11 ka, suggesting the Kuroshio Current shifted northward over these sites at 10–11 ka. In contrast, the northern two core sites have remained under the influence of the cold Oyashio Current for the past 25 kyr. With the reasonable estimate of bottom‐water temperature decrease of 2.5°C at the LGM, the SSTs estimated by this new method give exactly the same SST values calculated from Mg/Ca ratio of planktonic Foraminifera, allowing palaeosea‐surface salinities to be reconstructed. The result suggests that the ice volume effect was 1.0 ± 0.1‰ at the LGM. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The importance of oxygen isotope provenance in relation to solute content of bulk meltwaters at Imersuaq Glacier,West Greenland

Stable oxygen isotope analysis and measurement of several dissolved cations and anions of bulk meltwater samples have provided information about the hydrochemical environment of the glacial hydrological system at Imersuaq Glacier, an outlet tongue from the Greenland ice‐sheet, West Greenland. The samples were collected at frequent intervals during the period 20–28 July 2000 in a small (<20 L s^?1) englacial meltwater outlet at the glacier margin. The results document the following findings: (i) a marked diurnal variation of δ¹⁸O is related to the composition of oxygen isotope provenances, mainly near‐marginal local superimposed ice and basal up‐sheared ice further up‐glacier; (ii) a relationship is seen between all base cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), SO₄^2? and δ¹⁸O, indicating that solute acquisition is provided by solid–solution contact with the up‐sheared ice—as the relationship with Cl^? is weak the influence of seasalt‐derived solutes is small in the area; (iii) when the melt rate is high, two diurnal maxima of δ¹⁸O values and solute concentrations are measured, and it is suggested that a snow meltwater component is responsible for the second maximum of δ¹⁸O—a short residence time leads to a delayed decrease in ion concentrations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar‐forced climate shift

Accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives. Carbon‐14 wiggle‐match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early Holocene peat sequence from the Borchert (The Netherlands). Following the Younger Dryas–Preboreal transition, two climatic shifts could be inferred. Around 11 400 cal. yr BP the expansion of birch (Betula) forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation, coeval with the PBO (Preboreal Oscillation), as observed in the GRIP ice core. At 11 250 cal. yr BP a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred. This second change appears to be contemporaneous with: (i) a sharp increase of atmospheric ¹⁴C; (ii) a temporary decline of atmospheric CO₂; and (iii) an increase in the GRIP ¹⁰Be flux. The close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity, which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal. yr BP. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of macrophyte growth,typical of eutrophic conditions,on river flow velocities and turbulence production

The influence of emergent and submerged macrophytes on flow velocity and turbulence production is demonstrated in a 140 m reach of the River Blackwater in Farnborough, Hampshire, UK. Macrophyte growth occurs in patches and is dominated by Sparganium erectum and Sparganium emersum. In May 2001, patches of S. erectum were already established and occupied 18% of the channel area. The flow adjusted to these (predominantly lateral) patches by being channelled through a narrower cross‐section. The measured velocity profiles showed a logarithmic form, with deviations attributable to topographic control. The channel bed was the main source of turbulence. In September 2001, in‐stream macrophytes occupied 27% of the channel, and overhanging bank vegetation affected 32% of the area. Overall flow resistance, described by Manning's n, showed a threefold increase that could be attributed to the growth of S. emersum in the middle of the channel. Velocity profiles showed different characteristic forms depending on their position relative to plant stems and leaves. The overall velocity field had a three‐dimensional structure. Turbulence intensities were generally higher and turbulence profiles tended to mirror the velocity profiles. Evidence for the generation of coherent eddies was provided by ratios of the root mean square velocities. Spectral analysis identified deviations from the Kolmogorov ?5/3 power law and provided statistical evidence for a spectral short‐cut, indicative of additional turbulence production. This was most marked for the submerged vegetation and, in some instances, the overhanging bank vegetation. The long strap‐like leaves of S. emersum being aligned approximately parallel to the flow and the highly variable velocity field created by the patch arrangement of macrophytes suggest that the dominant mechanism for turbulence production is vortex shedding along shear zones. Wake production around individual stems of S. emersum close to the bed may also be important locally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.