Enhancing understanding of breakdown and collapse in the Yorkshire Dales using ground penetrating radar on cave sediments

Historical evidence shows block breakdown and collapse are actively occurring in large fault aligned caverns in the Yorkshire Dales karst. Deployment of ground penetrating radar at two such sites has provided detailed images of the sedimentary sequences below the present day cavern floor but no large blocks are imaged within the sediments. Solutional processes must be removing limestone from the sediment to allow continued cavern growth. Possible mechanisms to account for the lack of large blocks within the sediment fill are discussed.     

Long-term recovery of a Louisiana brackish marsh plant community from oil-spill impact: vegetation response and mitigating effects of marsh surface elevation

Oil spills can have significant, short-term, negative impacts on coastal marshes, but the long-term effects and eventual recovery are not well documented, particularly in brackish marshes. The goals of this investigation were to: (1) document the long-term recovery of a Louisiana brackish marsh plant community impacted by a 1985 oil spill; (2) separate the effect of the oil spill on marsh deterioration from ambient rates of marsh deterioration; and (3) assess the relative importance of residual oil in the sediment and decreased marsh surface elevation in the failure of certain areas to recover. A total of 68 permanent plots previously established in 1985 were re-surveyed for plant and soil recovery in the fall of 1989. Although substantial (and near total) vegetative recovery was evident by significant increases in live and total vegetative cover, many of the plots that were initially heavily impacted by oil still displayed elevated levels of total saturated hydrocarbons in the soil. August 1990 measurements of plant photosynthetic response and edaphic variables revealed no significant differences between control plots and plots heavily impacted by oil that displayed vegetative regrowth. Rates of wetland land loss in the oiled marsh during an 8-year period that bracketed the time of the spill were within the historical range measured for this site and similar to the land loss rates of adjacent reference marshes. Results from a manipulative field transplant experiment indicated that the long-term failure of certain small areas to revegetate was primarily due to a decrease of marsh surface elevation (increased flooding stress), not a residual oil effect.     

Phytoremediation of small-scale oil spills in fresh marsh environments: a mesocosm simulation

Research was conducted to assess the impact of oiling on fresh-marsh plant communities and to test the efficacy of techniques that may be used to enhance the bioremediation of crude oil spills in these environments while minimizing secondary anthropogenic impacts. To emulate field conditions, a mesocosm facility was used that houses 120 mesocosm vessels, each of 200-1 capacity. A five-way factorial treatment arrangement was used that included two substrates (inorganic, organic), two nutrient regimes (fertilized, not fertilized), two aeration levels (substrate aeration, no aeration), three oiling concentrations (0-, 5-, 10-1 m(-2) of South Louisiana Sweet Crude oil), and four vascular plant species (Alternanthera philoxeroides, Panicum hemitomon, Phragmites australis, Sagittaria lancifolia, and an unplanted control). Under the 5- and 10-1 m(-2) oiling concentrations, S. lancifolia displayed a short-term response of increased productivity, whereas P. hemitomon had the highest biomass production and photosynthetic rates at the end of the 18-month experiment. Overall plant growth and productivity, as well as oil degradation, were significantly higher in the inorganic substrate, indicating that biodegradation of oil spills in organic substrates may require a longer time period. Time-released fertilizer also stimulated plant productivity and resulted in higher soil respiratory quotients, suggestive of greater microbial activity, particularly in aerated mesocosms. The amount of oil remaining after 18 months was lowest in aerated and fertilized mesocosms containing either P. hemitomon or S. lancifolia and a substrate of low organic matter content.     

Macropores as preferential flow paths in meander bends

Macropores are subsurface connected void spaces caused by processes such as fracture of soils, micro‐erosion, and fauna burrows. They are common near streams (e.g. hyporheic and riparian zones) and may act as preferential flow paths between surface and groundwaters, affecting hydrologic and biogeochemical processes. We tested the hydrologic function of macropores by constructing an artificial macropore within the saturated zone of a meander bend (open macropore, ‘OM’) and later filling its upstream end (partially filled macropore, ‘PFM’). For each treatment, we injected saline tracer at an upgradient monitoring well within the meander and monitored downgradient hydraulics and tracer transport. Pressure transducers in monitoring wells indicated hydraulic gradients within the meander were 32% higher perpendicular to and 6% higher parallel to the macropore for the OM than for the PFM. Additionally, hydraulic conductivities measured via falling head tests were 29 to 550 times higher along the macropore than in nearby sediment. We used electrical conductivity probes in wells and electrical resistivity imaging to track solute transport. Transport velocities through the meander were on average 9 and 21% higher (per temporal moment analysis and observed tracer peak, respectively) for the OM than for the PFM. Furthermore, temporal moments of tracer breakthrough analysis indicated downgradient longitudinal dispersion and breakthrough tracer curve tailing were on average 234% and 182% higher for the OM, respectively. This suggests the OM enabled solute transport at overall shorter timescales than the matrix but also increased tailing. Our results demonstrate the importance of macropores to meander bend hydrology and solute transport. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrical resistivity imaging of hydrologic flow through surface coal mine valley fills with comparison to other landforms

Surface coal mining has altered land cover, near‐surface geologic structure, and hydrologic processes of large areas in central Appalachia, USA. These alterations are associated with changes in water quality such as elevated total‐dissolved solids, which is usually measured via its surrogate, specific conductance (SC). The SC of valley fill effluent streams is a function of fill construction methods, materials, and age; yet hydrologic studies that relate these variables to water quality are sparse due to the difficulty of conducting traditional hydrologic studies in mined landscapes. We used electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) to visualize the subsurface geologic structure and hydrologic flow paths within a valley fill. ERI is a noninvasive geophysical technique that maps spatiotemporal changes in resistivity of the subsurface. We paired ERI with artificial rainfall experiments to track infiltrated water as it moved through the valley fill. Results indicate that ERI can be used to identify subsurface geologic structure and track advancing wetting fronts or preferential flow paths. Our results suggest that the upper portion of the fill contains significant fines, whereas the deeper profile is primarily large rocks and void spaces. Water tended to pond on the surface of compacted areas until it reached preferential flow paths, where it appeared to infiltrate quickly down to >15 m depth in 75 min. ERI applications can improve understanding of how fill construction techniques influence subsurface water movement, and in turn may aid in the development of valley fill construction methods to reduce water quality effects.     

Branch migration and the international dispersal of families

This paper discusses the dispersal of facilities where family members migrate to different destination countries. Terminology for internationally dispersed families is proposed, and the term branch migration is suggested for the migration of related people from the same source country to different destination countries. Data from two 1993 surveys of senior secondary students show that 22% of Sydney students and 20% of Hong Kong students have relatives in two or more other countries. The data suggest that many Asian migrant families have branched between the US, Canada, Australia and other migrant-receiving nations. The causes and implications of the international dispersal of families are discussed.     

Interactive effects of hydrology and salinity on oligohaline plant species productivity: Implications of relative sea-level rise

Sea-level rise is anticipated to alter hydrologic and salinity regimes of coastal wetlands. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to determine species-level responses to 12 sea-level rise scenarios. Both hydrologic regime (−10, +5, and +20 cm flooding depth) and salinity level (fresh, 2‰, 4‰ and 6‰) were interactively manipulated. Within these various sea-level rise scenarios, we sought to determine the effects of hydrologic regime, salinity level, and the interaction of these two stresses on the productivity ofPanicum hemitomon, Sagittaria lancifolia, andSpartina patens, which are dominant macrophytes of fresh, intermediate, and brackish marsh types, respectively, in coastal Louisiana and the southeastern coastal plain. We found that altered hydrologic regimes and increased salinity levels differentially affected edaphic conditions and species-level productivity. Increases in flooding depth were most detrimental toS. patens. Salinity levels greater than 4‰ resulted in mortality ofP. hemitomon, and salinity levels of 6‰ resulted in reduced growth and eventual death, ofS. lancifolia. The effects of elevated salinity levels onP. hemitomon andS. lancifolia were exacerbated when coupled with increased flooding levels. Although soil organic matter was shown to increase in all vegetative conditions, increases were dependent upon the productivity of the species under the different hydrologic regimes and salinity levels withP. hemitomon displaying tremendous potential to increase soil organic matter under fresh conditions, especially when coupled with moderate flooding. The results of this study indicate that as plant communities are subjected to long-term changes in hydrology and salinity levels, community productivity and sustainability ulimately will be determined by species-level tolerances in conjunction with species interactions.     

The Landscape of GIScience Publications 1997–2007: An Empirical Investigation with Latent Semantic Analysis

This article reports on an empirical study of the trends and patterns of research activities in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) during the years 1997–2007. The GIScience research priorities identified by the University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) were used as guidelines to examine the 985 research articles published in six well‐recognized academic journals. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) was employed to investigate the association among the different GIScience research themes. The spatial and temporal patterns of the association between the publications and the different GIScience themes were examined to show the development of GIScience research during the study period. Furthermore, correlation analyses between the publications were conducted following the LSA results to reveal GIScience research networks, including the networks of the published articles and those formed by the research places. In this article, we applied an approach that was developed within information science to depict what GIS research activities were conducted when and where and how they connect to each other through sharing common research themes. The related findings pave the way for future efforts to describe the paradigm of GIScience as well as the pattern of GIScience research.