Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland ice sheet

In West Greenland, early and mid Holocene relative sea level (RSL) fall was replaced by late Holocene RSL rise during the Neoglacial, after 4–3 cal. ka BP (thousand calibrated years before present). Here we present the results of an isolation basin RSL study completed near to the coastal town of Sisimiut, in central West Greenland. RSL fell from 14 m above sea level at 5.7 cal. ka BP to reach a lowstand of ?4.0 m at 2.3–1.2 cal. ka BP, before rising by an equivalent amount to present. Differences in the timing and magnitude of the RSL lowstand between this and other sites in West and South Greenland record the varied interplay of local and non‐Greenland RSL processes, notably the reloading of the Earth's crust caused by a Neoglacial expansion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and the subsidence associated with the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet forebulge. This means that the timing of the sea level lowstand cannot be used to infer directly when the GIS advanced during the Neoglacial. The rise in Late Holocene RSL is contrary to recently reported bedrock uplift in the Sisimiut area, based on repeat GPS surveys. This indicates that a belt of peripheral subsidence around the current ice sheet margin was more extensive in the late Holocene, and that there has been a switch from subsidence to uplift at some point in the last thousand years or so. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The hydrochemistry of a semi-arid pan basin case study: Sua Pan,Makgadikgadi, Botswana

This study presents results on the fluid and salt chemistry for the Makgadikgadi, a substantial continental basin in the semi-arid Kalahari. The aims of the study are to improve understanding of the hydrology of such a system and to identify the sources of the solutes and the controls on their cycling within pans. Sampling took place against the backdrop of unusually severe flooding as well as significant anthropogenic extraction of subsurface brines. This paper examines in particular the relationship between the chemistry of soil leachates, fresh stream water, salty lake water, surface salts and subsurface brines at Sua Pan, Botswana with the aim of improving the understanding of the system’s hydrology. Occasionally during the short wet season (December–March) surface water enters the saline environment and precipitates mostly calcite and halite, as well as dolomite and traces of other salts associated with the desiccation of the lake. The hypersaline subsurface brine (up to TDS 190,000 mg/L) is homogenous with minor variations due to pumping by BotAsh mine (Botswana Ash (Pty) Ltd.), which extracts 2400 m³ of brine/h from a depth of 38 m. Notable is the decrease in TDS as the pumping rate increases which may be indicative of subsurface recharge by less saline water. Isotope chemistry for Sr (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr average 0.722087) and S (δ³⁴S average 34.35) suggests subsurface brines have been subject to a lithological contribution of undetermined origin. Recharge of the subsurface brine from surface water including the Nata River appears to be negligible.     

Mineralogical sources of the buffer capacity in a granite catchment determined by strontium isotopes

The role of different minerals in base cation release and thus the increase of buffering capacity of groundwater against acid deposition is controversially discussed in the literature. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and base cation concentration were investigated in whole rock leachates, mineral separates, precipitation, soil solution, groundwater and stream water samples in the Lehstenbach catchment (Germany) to identify the weathering sequence of the granite bedrock. Three different approaches were followed in parallel. It was assumed that the contribution of different minerals to base cation supply of the groundwater with increasing weathering intensity would be observed by investigating (1) unweathered rock leachates, deep groundwater and shallow groundwater, (2) groundwater samples from new groundwater wells, reflecting the initial weathering of the drilled bedrock, and groundwater from wells that were drilled in 1988, (3) stream water during baseflow, dominated by deep groundwater, and stream water during high flow, being predominantly shallow groundwater. Whereas the first approach yielded consistent patterns, there was some evidence that groundwater from the new wells initially reflected contamination by the filter gravel rather than cation release in an initial stage of weathering. Time series samples of stream water and groundwater solute concentrations and isotope ratios turned out to reflect varying fractions of soil water and precipitation water at baseflow and high flow conditions rather than varying contributions of different minerals that prevail at different stages of granite weathering.     

The Messinian Sicilian stratigraphy revisited: new insights for the Messinian salinity crisis

Controversies around the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) are because of the difficulties in establishing genetic and stratigraphic relationships between its deep and shallow‐water record. Actually, the Sicilian foreland basin shows both shallow and deep‐water Messinian records, thus offering the chance to reconstruct comprehensive MSC scenarios. The Lower Gypsum of Sicily comprises primary and resedimented evaporites separated in space and time by the intra‐Messinian unconformity. A composite unit including halite, resedimented gypsum and Calcare di Base accumulated between 5.6 and 5.55 Ma in the main depocentres; it records the acme of the Messinian Salinity Crisis during a tectonic phase coupled with sea‐level falls at glacials TG14‐TG12. These deposits fully post‐date primary gypsum, which precipitated in shallow‐water wedge‐top and foreland ramp basins between 5.96 and 5.6 Ma. This new stratigraphic framework results in a three‐stage MSC scenario characterized by different primary evaporite associations: selenite in the first and third stages, carbonate, halite and potash salt in the second one associated with hybrid resedimented evaporites.     

Observations of a fast burst of the deep western boundary undercurrent and sediment transport in South Wilmington Canyon from DSRVAlvin

On October 3 and 4, 1986, DSRVAlvin dives encountered a strong current at 2,300 m in South Wilmington Canyon. The current, estimated at 1 knot, transported surficial sediment and constructed and modified bedforms. It appears to have been constant in its direction of flow from 30 to 40°. The observed current was probably a burst of fast flow in a region of slow average currents in the Deep Western Boundary Undercurrent. Such episodic events may have a greater influence on the stratigraphic record than the temporally longer more tranquil flow conditions.     

Environmental overview of Eckernförde Bay,northern Germany

This environmental overview of Eckernförde Bay (northern Germany) summarizes the results of previous studies relevant to the Office of Naval Research's Coastal Benthic Boundary Layer (CBBL) Baltic field exercise conducted during 1993–1994. Significant environmental characteristics include the following: (1) surface sediment distribution is related to water depth, dictated primarily by hydrodynamic reworking of older glacial deposits; (2) the origin and characteristics of small-scale sedimentary structures depend on storm-generated waves and currents; (3) the proximity of the sea surface and sediment —water interface results in a pelagic—benthic coupling that drives biogeochemical processes and produces organicrich, acoustically turbid sediments; and (4) the bay floor is complicated topographically by pockmarks and manmade sedimentary structures.     

Colonization, succession, and nutrition of macrobenthic assemblages in a restored wetland at Tijuana Estuary, California

Modes of colonization, the successional trajectory, and trophic recovery of a macrofaunal community were analyzed over 19 months in the Friendship marsh, a 20-acre restored wetland in Tijuana Estuary, California. Traditional techniques for quantifying macrofaunal communities were combined with emerging stable isotopic approaches for evaluation of trophic recovery, making comparisons with a nearby natural Spartina foliosa habitat. Life history-based predictions successfully identified major colonization modes, although most taxa employed a variety of tactics for colonizing the restored marsh. The presence of S. foliosa did not seem to affect macrofaunal colonization or succession at the scale of this study. However, soil organic matter content in the restored marsh was positively correlated with insect densities, and high initial salinities may have limited the success of early colonists. Total macrofaunal densities recovered to natural marsh levels after 14 months and diversity, measured as species richness and the Shannon index (H′), was comparable to the natural marsh by 19 months. Some compositional disparities between the natural and created communities persisted after 19 months, including lower percentages of surface-feeding polychaetes (Polydora spp.) and higher percentages of dipteran insects and turbellarians in the Friendship marsh. As surficial structural similarity of infaunal communities between the Friendship and natural habitat was achieved, isotopic analyses revealed a simultaneous trajectory towards recovery of trophic structure. Enriched δ¹³C signatures of benthic microalgae and infauna, observed in the restored marsh shortly after establishment compared to natural Spartina habitat, recovered after 19 months. However, the depletion in δ¹⁵N signatures of macrofauna in the Friendship marsh indicated consumption of microalgae, particularly nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, while macroalgae and Spartina made a larger contribution to macrofaunal diets in the natural habitat. Future successional studies must continue to develop and employ novel combinations of techniques for evaluating structural and functional recovery of disturbed and created habitats.     

The impact of residential desegregation on social integration: Evidence from a South African neighbourhood

This paper analyses the potential for social integration in post-apartheid urban South Africa by examining the lives of those already living in desegregated spaces. The case study is a low-cost state-assisted housing project situated in the wealthy southern suburbs of Cape Town. In this social housing project, named Westlake village, coloured and Black African (alongside a handful of white and Indian) residents were awarded state housing in 1999 as replacement for their previous homes (informal and formal), which were demolished to make way for a mixed land-use development, of which their new homes form a small component. Westlake’s desegregation is found to extend beyond mere residential abode, affecting resident’s everyday lives to the extent that apartheid’s history and geography are superseded by other factors (such as proximity and affordability) in decision-making. Furthermore, integration at the everyday level of informal neighbourly mixing is prevalent. Although more formal cross-race friendships are rare, discussion reveals this as a consequence of Westlake’s specific socio-historic identity rather than racial divisions per se. Empirical evidence is used to propose a continuum of social integration experience. This continuum addresses the form of integration, for example greeting in the street, visiting homes, inter-marriage; and also the spaces of integration, for example physical space (shared neighbourhood), economic space (common employment-type), social space (cross-race friendship), political space (common involvement in civic organisations) and cultural space (shared sense of belonging).     

Beyond the impasse: the power of political ecology in Third World environmental research

Summary In the context of a deepening impasse in Third World environmental research, this paper suggests that researchers should adopt a political ecology perspective to ensure that research addresses the political and economic issues that underlie the Third World's environmental problems. Since an understanding of unequal power relations is central to political ecology, the paper considers how questions of power influence human-environmental interaction, before assessing briefly how research of this kind might contribute to a resolution of the Third World's environmental problems.