Nutrient (P, N) dynamics in the southwestern Kattegat, Scandinavia: sedimentation and resuspension effects

 The yearly nutrient supply from land and atmosphere to the study area in SW Kattegat is 10 900 tons of N and 365 tons of P. This is only few percent of the supply from adjacent marine areas, as the yearly transport through the study area is 218 000 tons of N and 18 250 tons of P. Yearly net deposition makes up 1340 tons of N (on average 2.5 g m^–2 yr^–1) and 477 ton of P (on average 0.9 g m^–2 yr^–1). Shallow-water parts of the study area have no net deposition because of frequent (>35% of the year) resuspension. Resuspension frequency in deep water is <1% of the year. Resuspension rates, as averages for the study area, are 10–17 times higher than net deposition rates. Because of resuspension, shallow-water sediments are coarse lag deposits with small amounts of organic matter (1.1%) and nutrients (0.04% N and 0.02% P). Deep-water sediments, in contrast, are fine grained with high levels of organic matter (11.7%) and nutrients (0.43% N and 0.15% P). Laboratory studies showed that resuspension changes the diffusive sediment water fluxes of nutrients, oxygen consumption, and penetration into the sediment. Fluxes of dissolved reactive phosphate from sediment to water after resuspension were negative in organic-rich sediments (13.2% organic matter) with low porosity (56) and close to zero in coarse sediments with a low organic matter content (2.3%) and high porosity (73). Fluxes of inorganic N after resuspension were reduced to 70% and 0–20% in relation to the rates before resuspension, respectively. Received: 10 July 1995 · Accepted: 19 January 1996     

Geo–ecology and management of sensitive montane landscapes

Montane (alpine) areas are generally of high value for nature conservation. Such environments and the habitats they support are dynamic and often fragile. They are vulnerable to disturbance from a range of human activities and are responsive to climate changes over short and long timescales. Biodiversity and conservation values are closely linked to geological history, geomorphological processes and soils, and it is crucial that management systems are based on understanding these links.
There are many similarities between the Cairngorm Mountains (Scotland), the Giant Mountains (Czech Republic) and Abisko Mountains (Sweden) in terms of geology, geomorphology, ecology, links with biodiversity and high conservation importance. Comparable pressures and management issues involve, to varying degrees, a history of human use and impacts from deforestation, pasturing, grazing, recreation and atmospheric pollution. Landscape change therefore involves a complex interplay between natural and anthropogenic factors. Managing such change requires better understanding of the geo–ecological processes involved and the factors that determine landscape sensitivity. This is illustrated through a simple framework and examples from the three areas. Comparison of landscape sensitivity between similar montane areas, but in different geographic locations and climatic environments, should allow more informed management planning and a precautionary approach in advance of further changes in human activity and from predicted global warming scenarios.     

Identification of geomorphic process units in Kärkevagge, northern Sweden, by remote sensing and digital terrain analysis

Sediment transport processes in the Kärkevagge are investigated concerning their spatial and temporal characteristics due to long–term monitoring. Within this study remote sensing techniques and GIS modelling in connection with geomorphic mapping are applied for identification and characterization of geomorphic process units. Relationships between geomorphometric parameters and slope processes like solifluction, talus creep and rockfall have been analysed. Multitemporal Landsat–TM5 scenes are used as source for landcover characteristics (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) after preprocessing involving orthorectification and topographic normalization in order to remove possible terrain–induced effects. Additionally, a digital elevation model with a resolution of 20 m for the Kärkevagge catchment is developed and parameters like slope gradient, slope aspect and profile curvature are extracted as input for the analysis of the sediment transport system. The combination of landcover information, geomorphometrical and topological features allows the definition of areas for single process activities. They show specific sediment displacement characteristics depending on material conditions, topological and geometrical features. Geomorphic process units, which show a homogenous composition, are extracted from these available layers.     

Optimizing a layered and laterally constrained 2D inversion of resistivity data using Broyden's update and 1D derivatives

Dense profile-oriented resistivity data allows for 2D and 3D inversions. However, huge amounts of data make it practically impossible to do full 2D or 3D inversions on a routine basis. Therefore, a number of approximations have been suggested over the years to speed up computations. We suggest using a combination of Broyden's update on the Jacobian matrix with derivatives calculated using a 1D formulation on a parameterized 2D model of locally 1D layered models. The approximations bring down the effective number of 2D forward responses to a minimum, which again gives us the ability to invert very large sections. Broyden's update is not as useful with a parameterized problem as is the case with a smooth minimum structure problem that has been the usual application. 1D derivatives, however, seem to be very effective when initiating a full 2D solution with Broyden's update. We compare the different methods using two different kinds of data on two synthetic models and on two field examples. The most effective and reliable optimization combines 1D derivatives with a full 2D solution and Broyden's update. When using Broyden's update the Jacobian matrix needs to be reset every once in a while. We do this whenever the difference in data residual from the previous iteration is less than 5%. This combined inversion method reduces the computation time approximately a factor of 3 without losing model resolution.     

Origins and evolution of rhyolitic magmas in the central Snake River Plain: insights from coupled high-precision geochronology,oxygen isotope,and hafnium isotope analyses of zircon

We present new high-precision CA-ID-TIMS and in situ U–Pb ages together with Hf and O isotopic analyses (analyses performed all on the same grains) from four tuffs from the 15?10 Ma Bruneau–Jarbidge center of the Snake River Plain and from three rhyolitic units from the Kimberly borehole in the neighboring 10?6 Ma Twin Falls volcanic center. We find significant intrasample diversity in zircon ages (ranges of up to 3 Myr) and in δ¹⁸O (ranges of up to 6‰) and ε_Hf (ranges of up to 24 ε units) values. Zircon rims are also more homogeneous than the associated cores, and we show that zircon rim growth occurs faster than the resolution of in situ dating techniques. CA-ID-TIMS dating of a subset of zircon grains from the Twin Falls samples reveals complex crystallization histories spanning 10⁴–10⁶ years prior to some eruptions, suggesting that magma genesis was characterized by the cyclic remelting of buried volcanic rocks and intrusions associated with previous magmatic episodes. Age-dependent trends in zircon isotopic compositions show that rhyolite production in the Yellowstone hotspot track is driven by the mixing of mantle-derived melts (normal δ¹⁸O and ε_Hf) and a combination of Precambrian basement rock (normal δ¹⁸O and ε_Hf down to ??60) and shallow Mesozoic and Cenozoic age rocks, some of which are hydrothermally altered (to low δ¹⁸O values) by earlier stages of Snake River Plain magmatism. These crustal melts hybridize with juvenile basalts and rhyolites to produce the erupted rhyolites. We also observe that the Precambrian basement rock is only an important component in the erupted magmas in the first eruption at each caldera center, suggesting that the accumulation of new intrusions quickly builds an upper crustal intrusive body which is isolated from the Precambrian basement and evolves towards more isotopically juvenile and lower-δ¹⁸O compositions over time.     

Settling-velocity distributions and sorting processes on a longitudinal dune: A case study

The processes acting on a longitudinal dune are inferred from the response in the area size-sorting characteristics of the sediment of the active layer. The sediment size distributions are determined by settling and are best described by a log-hyperbolic model which provides the most information on size-sorting processes. Size-sorting characteristics are markedly different across the low round-crested part of the dune from cross-sections of the high more sharp-crested part. This results in changes in textural parameters along the lee-side consistent with changes in the lee-side separation vortex. This is the first time that the effect of wind speed up on the lee-side is observed to be reflected in the sediment; it can only be detected with the very sensitive log-hyperbolic parameters.     

Emission of nitric oxide from soils and termite nests in a Trachypogon savanna of the Orinoco basin

Nitric oxide fluxes from soils in the Trachypogon savanna of the Orinoco basin were determined during the dry season using the static chamber method. The emission from dry soils fluctuated from 0.4 to 3 ng N m^–2 s^–1 and increased up to 25 ng N m^–2 s^–1 after moderate watering or light rain-falls (1 to 5 mm). The mean emission values are up to 6 times lower than one observed earlier at the Chaguaramas site, but up to 10 times higher than one recorded at the Guri site, indicating an important spatial variability in NO fluxes of the Venezuelan savanna region. The changes observed after the addition of nitrogen to the soil, in the form of ammonium and/or nitrate, indicate a high denitrification potential in this acidic soil. Burning of the surface vegetation produced an increase by a factor of 10 in the emission rate of NO, but the effect was relatively short in time, about 5 days. It was estimated for the savanna region that burning increases the total NO soil emission during the dry season by 15% compared to the unburnt case. Soils with termite nests emit 10 times more NO than soil without nests, but the contribution from this source is less than 2% of the total savanna soil flux.     

Neoglacial gelifluction in the Jostedalsbreen Region,Western Norway: Evidence from dated buried palaeopodsols

Radiocarbon dating of thin palaeopodsols buried beneath turf-banked gelifluction lobes at four localities in the low alpine mountain zone in the Jostedalsbreen region, western Norway, show that gelifluction processes were initiated subsequent to the late Subboreal Chronozone. Although large age-depth gradients have been demonstrated from buried palaeosols in southern Norway, evidence is presented that the palaeosols in this study show only moderate age-depth gradients. The age estimates from these buried palaeosols give maximum dates of burial, but the error is not thought to be large. Gelifluction processes were probably initiated close to the time of the climatic deterioration, which led to the formation of the present glaciers during the Subatlantic Chronozone. The processes may have been most active during the peak of the Little Ice Age, during which a periglacial climate was established to low levels in this mountainous region.     

Deformation fabric and microstructures in ophiolitic chromitites and host ultramafics,Sultanate of Oman

Harzburgite and dunite from the Oman ophiolite display a strong olivine fabric and microstructures typical for high temperature mantle deformation. The syntectonic, magmatically formed, chromitites occurring throughout the mantle sequence vary from almost undeformed (resembling chromitite from stratiform complexes) to highly deformed. Usually the interstitial silicates in the deformed ore possess a fabric similar to those of the host rocks, whereas a weak or poikilitic fabric is observed on relatively undeformed deposits. Chromite grains are elongated and flattened, defining strong foliations and lineations, in disseminated ore, and pull-apart-like structures perpendicular to the lineation form in the coarser massive ore. No preferred crystallographic orientation of chromite has been detected with the X-ray-texture goniometer, and it is proposed that chromite mainly deforms by passive rotation in the weaker silicate matrix, cataclasis and diffusion creep.

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Zusammenfassung Die Dunite und Harzburgite, die im Ophiolit des Oman auftreten, zeigen ein Olivingefüge und Mikrostrukturen, die typisch sind für Manteldeformationen bei hohen Temperaturen. Die syntektonischen, magmatisch gebildeten Chromitite sind über die gesamte Abfolge der Mantelgesteine zu finden. Das Ausmaß der Deformation der Chromitite reicht von gering bis stark. Fast undeformierte Chromitite gleichen denen stratiformer Komplexe. Im deformierten Erz zeigen die in Zwickeln auftretenden Silikatminerale im allgemeinen ein ähnliches Gefüge wie das Wirtsgestein; in relativ undeformierten Vorkommen zeigen sie ein schwaches oder poikilitisches Gefüge. Die Chromitkörner haben einen plattigen Habitus und bilden im Sprenkelerz ein deutliches Flächen- und Lineargefüge. Im grobkörnigen Derberz entstehen hingegen Dehnungsstrukturen (pull-apart textures) senkrecht zur Lineation. Röntgentexturgoniometrische Untersuchungen ergaben keine Regelung des Chromits, und es wird daher angenommen, daß der Chromit aufgrund passiver Rotation in der schwächeren Silikatmatrix deformiert wurde, weiterhin kommen auch Kataklase und Diffusionsmechanismen in Frage.

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Résumé Les dunites et harzburgites du complexe ophiolitique d'Oman présentent une forte fabrique de l'olivine et des microstructures typiques de déformations mantelliques de haute température. Les chromitites, d'origine magmatique syntectomque, qui se trouvent le long de la séquence mantellique varient entre des termes presque non déformés (ressemblant aux chromitites des complexes stratiformes) jusqu'à des termes très déformés. Les silicates interstitiels du minerai déformé présentent fréquemment une fabrique semblable à celle des minéraux de la roche hôte alors que l'on observe une fabrique peu développée ou bien une texture poecilitique dans les minerais des gisements relativement peu déformés. Les cristaux de chromite sont allongés et aplatis, définissant une foliation et une linéation très marquées dans les minerais disséminés; des structures d'étirement (pull-apart) perpendiculaires à la linéation apparaissent dans les minerais plus massifs. Aucune orientation cristallographique préferentielle n'a pu être mise en évidence au goniomètre de texture; on propose donc que la chromite se déforme principalement par rotation passive dans une matrice silicatée plus fragile, par cataclase et par fluage-diffusion.

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