Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway,with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region

Krüger, L. C., Paus, A., Svendsen, J. I. & Bjune, A. E. 2011: Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway, with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00213.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Two sediment sequences from Sunnmøre, northern W Norway, were pollen‐analytically studied to reconstruct the Lateglacial vegetation history and climate. The coastal Dimnamyra was deglaciated around 15.3 ka BP, whereas Løkjingsmyra, further inland, became ice‐free around 14 ka BP. The pioneer vegetation dominated by snow‐bed communities was gradually replaced by grassland and sparse heath vegetation. A pronounced peak in Poaceae around 12.9 ka BP may reflect warmer and/or drier conditions. The Younger Dryas (YD) cooling phase shows increasing snow‐bed vegetation and the local establishment of Artemisia norvegica. A subsequent vegetation closure from grassland to heath signals the Holocene warming. Birch forests were established 500–600 years after the YD–Holocene transition. This development follows the pattern of the Sunnmøre region, which is clearly different from the Empetrum dominance in the Lateglacial interstadial further south in W Norway. The Lateglacial oscillations GI‐1d (Older Dryas) and GI‐1b (Gerzensee) are hardly traceable in the north, in contrast to southern W Norway. The southern vegetation was probably closer to an ecotone and more susceptible to climate changes.     

Time‐transgressive tunnel‐valley infill revealed by a three‐dimensional sedimentary model,Hamburg, north‐west Germany

Deep, elongated incisions, often referred to as tunnel valleys, are among the most characteristic landforms of formerly glaciated terrains. It is commonly thought that tunnel valleys were formed by meltwater flowing underneath large ice sheets. The sedimentary infill of these features is often highly intricate and therefore difficult to predict. This study intends to improve the comprehension of the sedimentology and to establish a conceptual model of tunnel‐valley infill, which can be used as a predictive tool. To this end, the densely sampled, Pleistocene tunnel valleys in Hamburg (north‐west Germany) were investigated using a dataset of 1057 deep wells containing lithological and geophysical data. The stratigraphic correlations and the resulting three‐dimensional lithological model were used to assess the spatial lithological distributions and sedimentary architecture. The sedimentary succession filling the Hamburg area tunnel valleys can be subdivided into three distinct units, which are distinguished by their inferred depositional proximity to the ice margin. The overall trend of the succession shows a progressive decrease in transport energy and glacial influence through time. The rate of glacial recession appears to have been an important control on the sedimentary architecture of the tunnel‐valley fill. During periods of stagnation, thick ice‐proximal deposits accumulated at the ice margin, while during rapid recession, only a thin veneer of such coarse‐grained sediments was deposited. Ice‐distal and non‐glaciogenic deposits (i.e. lacustrine, marine and terrestrial) fill the remaining part of the incision. The infill architecture suggests formation and subsequent infill of the tunnel valleys at the outer margin of the Elsterian ice sheet during its punctuated northwards recession. The proposed model shows how the history of ice‐sheet recession determines the position of coarse‐grained depocentres, while the post‐glacial history controls the deposition of fines through a progressive infill of remnant depressions.     

Intercomparison of the total storage deficit index (TSDI) over two Canadian Prairie catchments

Retrieval of the terrestrial moisture storage dataset from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite remote sensing system is possible when the catchment of interest is of large spatial scale. These dataset are of paramount importance for the estimation of the total storage deficit index (TSDI), which enables the characterization of a particular drought event from the perspective of the terrestrial moisture storage over that catchment. Incidentally, the GRACE gravity signal over the 13,000 km² Upper Assiniboine River Basin on the drought-prone Canadian Prairie is so poor therefore making the computation of the total storage deficit index for this basin infeasible. Consequently, the estimation of the terrestrial moisture storage from other reliable sources becomes imperative in order to enable the computation of the TSDI over this basin.This study explores the utilization of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, a physically based, spatially distributed hydrologic model to simulate the total moisture storage over the Upper Assiniboine River Basin which was then employed in the estimation of the TSDI over this basin for subsequent characterization of the recent Prairie-wide drought. Interestingly, the temporal patterns in the computed TSDI from the VIC model reveal a strong resemblance with the same drought characterization undertaken over the larger adjacent Saskatchewan River Basin, which was accomplished utilizing terrestrial moisture storage from the GRACE-based approach. Additionally, these independent techniques employed in the characterization of the last Prairie drought over the two adjacently situated basins resulted in similar drought severity classification from the standpoint of the total moisture storage deficits over these basins. This study has therefore shown that in the computation of the total storage deficit index over small-scale catchments during anomalous climatic conditions that propagate extreme dryness through the terrestrial hydrologic systems, simulations of the total water storage from a structurally sound model such as the VIC model could be resourceful for the computation of the monthly total storage deficit index if no constraint is placed on the availability of accurate meteorological forcing.     

Optimal estimation of catch by the continuous underway fish egg sampler based on a model of the vertical distribution of American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) eggs

When this article was originally published, a     

Towards closing the vertical water balance in Canadian atmospheric models: Coupling of the land surface scheme class with the distributed hydrological model watflood

Abstract

Second generation land surface schemes are the subject of much development activity among atmospheric modellers. This work is aimed at, among other things, improving the representation of the soil water balance in order to simulate, more properly, exchanges with the atmosphere and to permit the use of model output to generate streamflow for model validation. The Canadian development program is centred on CLASS, the Canadian Land Surface Scheme, developed at Environment Canada. This paper focuses on the improvement of hydrology in CLASS. This was accomplished by designing a two‐way interface to WATFLOOD, a distributed hydrologic model developed at the University of Waterloo. The two models share many features, which facilitated the coupling procedure.

The interface retains the three‐layer vertical moisture budget representation in CLASS but adds three horizontal runoff possibilities. Runoff from the surface water follows Manning's equation for overland flow. Interflow is generated from the near‐surface soil layer using a parametrization of Richard's equation and base flow is produced by Darcian flow from the bottom of layer 3. An approximation of the internal topography of grid elements is used to supply horizontal gradients for the runoff components.

Tests are in progress in four Canadian study areas. Initial results are presented for the summer of 1993 for the Saugeen River in southwestern Ontario. The new scheme produces realistic hydrographs, whereas the old scheme did not. Bare ground evaporation is reduced by about 17% as a consequence of reduced water availability in layer 1. Evapotranspiration is not affected because the rooting depth extends into layer 3, in which soil moisture does not change appreciably with the new scheme. These results suggest that the new scheme improves the representation of streamflow in WATFLOOD/CLASS and of the soil moisture budget in CLASS. Work is in progress to validate this result over basins, such as the BOREAS study watersheds, where both runoff and evapotranspiration measurements are available.     

Petrography,mineralogy, and geochemistry of lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 300

Abstract— We report here the petrography, mineralogy, and geochemistry of lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 300 (SaU 300). SaU 300 is dominated by a fine‐grained crystalline matrix surrounding mineral fragments (plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine, and ilmenite) and lithic clasts (mainly feldspathic to noritic). Mare basalt and KREEPy rocks are absent. Glass melt veins and impact melts are present, indicating that the rock has been subjected to a second impact event. FeNi metal and troilite grains were observed in the matrix. Major element concentrations of SaU 300 (Al₂O₃ 21.6 wt% and FeO 8.16 wt%) are very similar to those of two basalt‐bearing feldspathic regolith breccias: Calcalong Creek and Yamato (Y‐) 983885. However, the rare earth element (REE) abundances and pattern of SaU 300 resemble the patterns of feldspathic highlands meteorites (e.g., Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 93069 and Dar al Gani (DaG) 400), and the average lunar highlands crust. It has a relatively LREE‐enriched (7 to 10 x CI) pattern with a positive Eu anomaly (?11 x CI). Values of Fe/Mn ratios of olivine, pyroxene, and the bulk sample are essentially consistent with a lunar origin. SaU 300 also contains high siderophile abundances with a chondritic Ni/Ir ratio. SaU 300 has experienced moderate terrestrial weathering as its bulk Sr concentration is elevated compared to other lunar meteorites and Apollo and Luna samples. Mineral chemistry and trace element abundances of SaU 300 fall within the ranges of lunar feldspathic meteorites and FAN rocks. SaU 300 is a feldspathic impact‐melt breccia predominantly composed of feldspathic highlands rocks with a small amount of mafic component. With a bulk Mg# of 0.67, it is the most mafic of the feldspathic meteorites and represents a lunar surface composition distinct from any other known lunar meteorites. On the basis of its low Th concentration (0.46 ppm) and its lack of KREEPy and mare basaltic components, the source region of SaU 300 could have been within a highland terrain, a great distance from the Imbrium impact basin, probably on the far side of the Moon.     

Inflationary solution in higher dimensions

In this Letter the five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein cosmological model is studied in the presence of a massless scalar field, whose potential has a flat part. By use of the polynomial relation between the two scale factors, inflationary solutions are obtained. The results show that the scale factor corresponding to the extra dimension is either constant or varies inversely as some power of the usual scale factor.     

Propagators and ridge jumps in a back‐arc basin,the West Philippine Basin

We explore the tectono‐magmatic processes in the western West Philippine Basin, Philippine Sea Plate, using bathymetric data acquired in 2003 and 2004. The northwestern part of the basin formed through a series of northwestward propagating rifts. We identify at least five sequences of propagating rifts, probably triggered by mantle flow away from the mantle thermal anomaly that is responsible for the origin of the Benham and Urdenata plateaus. Gravitational forces caused by along‐axis topographic gradient and a ～30° ridge reorientation appear to also be driving the rift propagations. The along‐axis mantle flow appears to be reduced and deflected along the Luzon‐Okinawa fracture zone, because the spreading system remained stable west of this major fault zone. North‐east of the Benham plateau, a left‐lateral fracture zone has turned into a NE–SW‐trending spreading axis. As a result, a microplate developed at the triple junction.     

The Ritland impact structure,southwestern Norway

Abstract– The Ritland structure is a newly discovered impact structure, which is located in southwestern Norway. The structure is the remnant of a simple crater 2.5 km in diameter and 350 m deep, which was excavated in Precambrian gneissic rocks. The crater was filled by sediments in Cambrian times and covered by thrust nappes of the Caledonian orogen in the Silurian–Devonian. Several succeeding events of uplift, erosion, and finally the Pleistocene glaciations, disclosed this well‐preserved structure. The erosion has exposed brecciated rocks of the original crater floor overlain by a thin layer of melt‐bearing rocks and postimpact crater‐filling breccias, sandstones, and shales. Quartz grains with planar deformation features occur frequently within the melt‐bearing unit, confirming the impact origin of the structure. The good exposures of infilling sediments have allowed a detailed reconstruction of the original crater morphology and its infilling history based on geological field mapping.