The quaternary glacial history of the Lahul Himalaya,northern India

This paper presents the first glacial chronology for the Lahul Himalaya, Northern India. The oldest glaciation, the Chandra Glacial Stage, is represented by glacially eroded benches at altitudes greater than 4300 m above sea-level. This glaciation was probably of a broad valley type. The second glaciation, the Batal Glacial Stage, is represented by highly weathered and dissected lateral moraines, which are present along the Chandra valley and some of its tributaries. This was an extensive valley glaciation. The third major glaciation, the Kulti Glacial Stage, is represented by well-preserved moraines in the main tributary valleys of the Chandra valley. This represents a less extensive valley glaciation. Two minor glacial advances, the Sonapani I and II, are represented by small sharp-crested moraines, which are within a few hundred metres or few kilometres of the present-day glaciers. The change in style and extent of glaciation is attributed to an increase in aridity throughout the Quaternary, due either to global climatic change or uplift of the Pir Panjal mountains to the south of Lahul, which restricted the northward penetration of the south Asian summer monsoon. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market access,population density,and socioeconomic development explain diversity and functional group biomass of coral reef fish assemblages

There is overwhelming evidence that many local-scale human activities (e.g. fishing) have a deleterious effect on coral reef fish assemblages. Our understanding of how broad social phenomena (e.g. socioeconomic development) affect the diversity and function of coral reef fish assemblages however, is still poor. Here, we use structural equation models to reveal how human population density, socioeconomic development, and market access affect fishing pressure and coral cover to, in turn, explain the diversity and biomass of key functional groups of reef fish assemblages within Solomon Islands. Fishing pressure is predominantly driven by both market access and local population density, and has a clear negative effect on the diversity and function of coral reef fishes. The strong positive effect of market access on fishing pressure makes clear the importance of understanding social-ecological linkages in the context of increasingly connected societies. This study highlights the need to address broad social phenomena rather than focusing on proximate threats such as fishing pressure, to ensure the continued flow of coral reef goods and services in this time of rapid global social and environmental change.     

Multifractal behaviour of long‐term karstic discharge fluctuations

Karstic watersheds are highly complex hydrogeological systems that are characterized by a multiscale behaviour corresponding to the different pathways of water in these systems. The main issue of karstic spring discharge fluctuations consists in the presence and the identification of characteristic time scales in the discharge time series. To identify and characterize these dynamics, we acquired, for many years at the outlet of two karstic watersheds in South of France, discharge data at 3‐mn, 30‐mn and daily sampling rate. These hydrological records constitute to our knowledge the longest uninterrupted discharge time series available at these sampling rates. The analysis of the hydrological records at different levels of detail leads to a natural scale analysis of these time series in a multifractal framework. From a universal class of multifractal models based on cascade multiplicative processes, the time series first highlights two cut‐off scales around 1 and 16 h that correspond to distinct responses of the aquifer drainage system. Then we provide estimates of the multifractal parameters α and C₁ and the moment of divergence q_D corresponding to the behaviour of karstic systems. These results constitute the first estimates of the multifractal characteristics of karstic spingflows based on 10 years of high‐resolution discharge time series and should lead to several improvements in rainfall‐karstic springflow simulation models. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A skeletal assemblage classification system for non-tropical carbonate deposits based on New Zealand Cenozoic limestones

Cenozoic limestones in New Zealand are mainly skeletal grainstones and packstones formed under non-tropical climatic conditions in open marine shelf or ramp environments. Following petrographic analysis of the nature and abundance of the skeletal components in nearly 500 samples of these limestones, a complete linkage cluster analysis identified seven major skeletal assemblages that may be regarded as subdivisions of the single foramol skeletal association defined by Lees and Buller (1972) for temperate-region carbonate deposits. The seven assemblages are given contracted names, as follows: (a) BARNAMOL = barnacle/bivalve-dominated; (b) BIMOL = bivalve-dominated; (c) BRYOMOL = bryozoan/bivalve-dominated; (d) ECHINOFOR = echinoderm/benthic foraminiferal-dominated; (e) NANNOFOR = nannofossil/planktonic foraminiferal-dominated; (f) RHODALGAL = calcareous red algal-dominated; and (g) RHODECHFOR = calcareous red algal/echinoderm/benthic foraminiferal-dominated. A composite triangular classification diagram has been devised for naming the skeletal assemblage of an unknown sample on the basis of its three main skeletal components. The diagram successfully characterises more than 85% of the New Zealand Cenozoic limestone samples and also appears to be applicable for the skeletal assemblage designation of many overseas examples of non-tropical carbonate deposits. Limitations relate mainly to locally common skeletal types (e.g. serpulids, brachiopods) that are presently not incorporated into the New Zealand-based scheme. The general ecological preferences of the main skeletal contributors in each of the seven skeletal assemblages form a basis for relating the assemblages to broad shelf habitats. Consequently, as well as the benefits of providing a more consistent skeletal assemblage terminology for comparative studies between different workers, the scheme can assist with the paleoenvironmental interpretation of non-tropical skeletal carbonate facies.     

Sedimentological,geomorphological and dynamic context of debris-mantled glaciers,Mount Everest (Sagarmatha) region,Nepal

This paper presents the sediment, landform and dynamic context of four avalanche-fed valley glaciers (Khumbu, Imja, Lhotse and Chukhung) in the Mount Everest (Sagarmatha) region of Nepal. All four glaciers have a mantle of debris dominated by sandy boulder-gravel that suppresses melting to an increasing degree towards the snout, leading to a progressive reduction in the overall slope of their longitudinal profile. Prominent lateral–terminal moraine complexes, also comprising sandy bouldergravel, enclose the glaciers. These terminal moraines originally grew by accretion of multiple sedimentary facies of basal glacial and supraglacial origin, probably by folding and thrusting when the glaciers were more dynamic during the Little Ice Age. The four glaciers are in various stages of recession, and demonstrate a range of scenarios from down-wasting of the glacier tongue, through morainedammed lake development, to post-moraine-dam breaching. Khumbu Glacier is at the earliest stage of supraglacial pond formation and shows no sign yet of developing a major lake, although one is likely to develop behind its >250 m high composite terminal moraine. Imja Glacier terminates in a substantial body of water behind a partially ice-cored moraine dam (as determined from geophysical surveys), but morphologically appears unlikely to be an immediate threat. Chukhung Glacier already has a breached moraine and a connected debris fan, and therefore no longer poses a threat. Lhotse Glacier has an inclined, free-draining tongue that precludes hazardous lake development. From the data assembled, a conceptual model, applicable to other Himalayan glaciers, is proposed to explain the development of large, lateral-terminal moraine complexes and associated potentially hazardous moraine dams. – 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Scaling fluctuation analysis and statistical hypothesis testing of anthropogenic warming

Although current global warming may have a large anthropogenic component, its quantification relies primarily on complex General Circulation Models (GCM’s) assumptions and codes; it is desirable to complement this with empirically based methodologies. Previous attempts to use the recent climate record have concentrated on “fingerprinting” or otherwise comparing the record with GCM outputs. By using CO₂ radiative forcings as a linear surrogate for all anthropogenic effects we estimate the total anthropogenic warming and (effective) climate sensitivity finding: ΔT _anth  = 0.87 ± 0.11 K, $\uplambda_{{2{\text{x}}{\text{CO}}_{2} ,{\text{eff}}}} = 3.08 \pm 0.58\,{\text{K}}$ . These are close the IPPC AR5 values ΔT _anth  = 0.85 ± 0.20 K and $\uplambda_{{2{\text{x}}{\text{CO}}_{2} }} = 1.5\!-\!4.5\,{\text{K}}$ (equilibrium) climate sensitivity and are independent of GCM models, radiative transfer calculations and emission histories. We statistically formulate the hypothesis of warming through natural variability by using centennial scale probabilities of natural fluctuations estimated using scaling, fluctuation analysis on multiproxy data. We take into account two nonclassical statistical features—long range statistical dependencies and “fat tailed” probability distributions (both of which greatly amplify the probability of extremes). Even in the most unfavourable cases, we may reject the natural variability hypothesis at confidence levels >99 %.