Implications of the relationship between catchment vegetation type and the variability of annual runoff

The impact of changing catchment vegetation type on mean annual runoff has been known for some time, however, the impact on the variability of annual runoff has been established only recently. Differences in annual actual evapotranspiration between vegetation types and the potential effect of changing vegetation type on mean annual runoff and the variability of annual runoff are briefly reviewed. The magnitude of any change in the variability of annual runoff owing to a change in catchment vegetation type is related to the pre‐ and post‐change vegetation types and the seasonality of precipitation, assuming that the variability of annual precipitation remains constant throughout. Significant implications of the relationship between vegetation type and the variability of annual runoff are presented and discussed for water resource management, stream ecology and fluvial geomorphology. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distribution and relative density of cetaceans in the Hauraki Gulf,New Zealand

Understanding species distributions, and how they change in space and time, is vital when prioritising conservation or management initiatives. We assessed the distribution and density patterns of common dolphins (Delphinus sp.), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni) in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Dedicated boat-based surveys were conducted in the inner Hauraki Gulf (IHG) and off Great Barrier Island (GBI) during 2010–2012. Generalised linear models were used to investigate temporal changes in relative densities and kernel density estimation was implemented to examine spatial trends. Common dolphins were widely distributed during all seasons, with higher densities observed during winter and spring in the IHG but during autumn off GBI. There was inter-annual variation in Bryde’s whale distribution, with high densities recorded off GBI in 2011. Bottlenose dolphins were infrequently sighted in the IHG but regularly encountered off GBI, with the highest densities during spring and summer.     

A deep seismic profile of 800 km length recorded in southern Queensland, Australia

Summary. In 1984, the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources and the Geological Survey of Queensland recorded a regional seismic reflection profile of over 800 km length from the eastern part of the Eromanga Basin to the Beenleigh Block east of the Clarence Moreton Basin. A relatively transparent upper crustal basement with an underlying, more reflective lower crust is characteristic of much of the region. Prominent westerly dipping reflectors occur well below the sediments of the eastern margin of the Clarence Moreton Basin and the adjacent Beenleigh Block, and provide some of the most interesting features of the entire survey. A wide angle reflection/refraction survey of 192 km length and an expanding reflection spread of 25 km length were recorded across the Nebine Ridge. The only clear deep reflectors are interpreted as P-to-SV or SV-to-P converted reflections from a mid-crustal boundary at a depth of about 17 km. The combined Nebine Ridge data provide well-constrained P and S wave velocity models of the upper crust, and suggest a crustal structure quite different from that beneath the adjacent Mesozoic basins.     

Lower crustal involvement in upper crustal thrusting

Summary. Basement structures mapped in the Devonian Adavale Basin, eastern Australia, indicate two styles of lower-crustal involvement in the formation of upper-crustal structures. The first style is typified by thrust features in the upper-crustal sedimentary section and basement, a response to lower-crustal shortening over a wide area. The second style includes lower-crustal thrusting and thickening in a limited region, with associated uplift of the upper crust. These two styles suggest that the upper and lower crust were mechanically decoupled during Palaeozoic compressive episodes.     

Woolshed Creek fossil site: a key part of Canberra’s scientific and cultural heritage

The Woolshed Creek fossil site near the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Canberra, contains brachiopods Atrypa duntroonensis (early Homerian, early Silurian, ca 430.5?Ma) within a mudstone of the Canberra Formation. Their discovery in 1844 by the Reverend William B. Clarke (“the Father of Australian Geology”), and subsequent comparison with other fossil collections from around the world, contributed significantly to the nineteenth century debate about the oldest rocks in Australia. The fossil site is now on the ACT Government Heritage List and recent site improvements make it readily accessible via a pathway from the sports grounds of the Royal Military College.     

Mussel reefs on soft sediments: a severely reduced but important habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes in New Zealand

Green-lipped mussels (Perna canaliculus) formed extensive reefs on soft sediments in sheltered embayments around northern New Zealand until overfishing and/or increased sediment input caused their virtual disappearance by 1980. To determine the role of mussel reefs as habitat for other animals, we located remnant soft-sediment reefs in five locations and compared the density, biomass, productivity and composition of mobile macroinvertebrate communities, and the density of small fishes associated with mussels, with fauna in the surrounding soft sediments. The mussel reefs had a distinct assemblage of macroinvertebrates, which had 3.5 times the density, 3.4 times the biomass and 3.5 times the productivity of surrounding areas. The density of small fishes was 13.7 times higher than in surrounding areas. These results show that soft-sediment mussel reefs support an abundant and productive fauna, highlighting the probable large loss of productivity associated with the historical decline in mussel habitat and the consequent desirability of restoration efforts.     

磁相变与地壳地球物理异常

我们曾提出过一种可能导致地磁和地壳电导率异常的来源：地壳中的二级磁相变,即居里（尼尔）深度附近磁化率的显著提高.这一现象能很好地解释一些来源不明的地磁异常.本文总结了在中地壳深度处、薄且高磁导率异常体的一维和多维大地电磁特征.高磁导率层引起的异常与高电导率层导致的异常相比,大小上可相比拟,但符号相反.无论在什么情况下,经典的大地电磁解释容易导致一个不真实的极厚高阻层,并且在地磁异常附近有与之对应的空间波长,二级磁相变也被认为是这一现象的可能解释.尽管在地壳中是否存在二级磁相变还有一定争议,但最近的一些固体物理实验结果进一步表明它可能是地壳各种地球物理异常的来源之一.     

Crustal structure under the Sydney Basin and Lachlan Fold Belt,determined from explosion seismic studies

The Lachlan Fold Belt has the velocity‐depth structure of continental crust, with a thickness exceeding 50 km under the region of highest topography in Australia, and in the range 41–44 km under the central Fold Belt and Sydney Basin. There is no evidence of high upper crustal velocities normally associated with marginal or back‐arc basin crustal rocks. The velocities in the lower crust are consistent with an overall increase in metamorphic grade and/or mafic mineral content with depth. Continuing tectonic development throughout the region and the negligible seismicity at depths greater than 30 km indicate that the lower crust is undergoing ductile deformation.

The upper crustal velocities below the Sydney Basin are in the range 5.75–5.9 km/s to about 8 km, increasing to 6.35–6.5 km/s at about 15–17 km depth, where there is a high‐velocity (7.0 km/s) zone for about 9 km evident in results from one direction. The lower crust is characterised by a velocity gradient from about 6.7 km/s at 25 km, to 7.7 km/s at 40–42 km, and a transition to an upper mantle velocity of 8.03–8.12 km/s at 41.5–43.5 km depth.

Across the central Lachlan Fold Belt, velocities generally increase from 5.6 km/s at the surface to 6.0 km/s at 14.5 km depth, with a higher‐velocity zone (5.95 km/s) in the depth range 2.5–7.0 km. In the lower crust, velocities increase from 6.3 km/s at 16 km depth to 7.2 km/s at 40 km depth, then increase to 7.95 km/s at 43 km. A steeper gradient is evident at 26.5–28 km depth, where the velocity is about 6.6—6.8 km/s. Under part of the area an upper mantle low‐velocity zone in the depth range 50–64 km is interpreted from strong events recorded at distances greater than 320 km.

There is no substantial difference in the Moho depth across the boundary between the Sydney Basin and the Lachlan Fold Belt, consistent with the Basin overlying part of the Fold Belt. Pre‐Ordovician rocks within the crust suggest fragmented continental‐type crust existed E of the Precambrian craton and that these contribute to the thick crustal section in SE Australia.     

Otway Continental Margin Transect: Crustal architecture from wide‐angle seismic profiling across Australia's southern margin

The Otway Basin in southeastern Australia formed on a triangular‐shaped area of extended continental lithosphere during two extensional episodes in Cretaceous to Miocene times. The extent of the offshore continental margin is highlighted by Seasat/Geosat satellite altimeter data. The crustal architecture and structural features across this southeast Australian margin have been interpreted from offshore‐onshore wide‐angle seismic profiling data along the Otway Continental Margin Transect extending from the onshore Lake Condah High, through the town of Portland, to the deep Southern Ocean. Along the Otway Continental Margin Transect, the onshore half‐graben geometry of Early Cretaceous deposition gives way offshore to a 5 km‐thick slope basin (P‐wave velocity 2.2–4.6 km/s) to at least 60 km from the shoreline. At 120 km from the nearest shore in a water depth of 4220 m, sonobuoy data indicate a 4–5 km sedimentary sequence overlying a 7 km thick basement above the Moho at 15 km depth. Major fault zones affect the thickness of basin sequences in the onshore area (Tartwaup Fault Zone and its southeast continuation) and at the seaward edge of the Mussel Platform (Mussel Fault). Upper crustal basement is interpreted to be attenuated and thinned Palaeozoic rocks of the Delamerian and Lachlan Orogens (intruded with Jurassic volcanics) that thin from 16 km onshore to about 3.5 km at 120 km from the nearest shore. Basement rocks comprise a 3 km section with velocity 5.5–5.7 km/s overlying a deeper basement unit with velocity 6.15–6.35 km/s. The Moho shallows from a depth of 30 km onshore to 15 km depth at 120 km from the nearest shore, and then to about 12 km in the deep ocean at the limits of the transect (water depth 5200 m). The continent‐ocean boundary is interpreted to be at a prominent topographic inflection point 170 km from shore at the bottom of the continental slope in 4800 m of water. P‐wave velocities in the lower crust are 6.4–6.8 km/s, overlying a thin transition zone to an upper mantle velocity of 8.05 km/s beneath the Moho. Outstandingly clear Moho reflections seen in deep‐marine profiling data at about 10.3 s two‐way time under the slope basin and continent‐ocean boundary place further strong controls on crustal thickness. There is no evidence of massive high velocity (>7 km/s) intrusives/underplate material in the lower crust nor any synrift or early post‐rift subaerial volcanics, indicating that the Otway continental margin can be considered a non‐volcanic margin, similar in many respects to some parts of the Atlantic Ocean margins e.g. the Nova Scotia ‐ Newfoundland margin off Canada and the Galicia Bank off the Iberian Peninsula. Using this analogue, the prominent gravity feature trending northwest‐southeast at the continent‐ocean boundary may indicate the presence of highly serpentinised mantle material beneath a thin crust, but this has yet to be tested by detailed work.     

Channel avulsion and river metamorphosis: The case of the Thomson River,Victoria, Australia

Channel avulsion occurred on the Thomson River in Victoria, Australia, in 1952 along a 12 km length of the valley. A comparison of the old and new channels reveals considerable differences in channel characteristics. The old channel was perched above the floodplain on an alluvial ridge such that when bankfull capacity was exceeded, floodwaters concentrated on the lowest part of the floodplain some distance away. This is where the new channel formed. It is an incised channel with larger capacity and longer meander wavelength than the old channel and is also shorter and steeper. The new channel is subject to larger floodflows and a more variable flood regime than the old course because of the differences in the channel/floodplain relationship and channel capacity. The resulting concentration of stream power along the new course is responsible for the contrast in channel characteristics and for the more rapid meander migration. This example shows that river metamorphosis can occur without major environmental changes. Measures of channel geometry such as gradient, sinuosity, and meander wavelength therefore cannot be used in palaeohydrological work to infer climatic or other environmental changes without independent supporting evidence. Differences in channel geometry can arise simply from changes in the relationship between the channel and its loodplain.