A LATE PLEISTOCENE INTERTIDAL BOULDER PAVEMENT FROM AN ISOSTATICALLY EMERGENT COAST,DUNDALK BAY,EASTERN IRELAND

Late Pleistocene sequences around Dundalk Bay, eastern Ireland, record glaciomarine sedimentation near the margin of a grounded ice lobe around 15 ka BP. A coastal exposure at Cooley Point consists of four major facies deposited outside this ice limit. (1) A basal mud facies deposited from sediment plumes accumulated following the initial ice marginal retreat inland. It contains a well-preserved Arctic microfauna dominated by the foram Elphidium clavatum and the ostracod Roundstonia globulifera. (2) A flat to undulating boulder facies (pavement), mostly one clast thick, is found pressed into the mud and is characterized by bevelled and striated upper clast surfaces. Pavement attributes are a result of intertidal activity in a cold climate. The boulder source is due to rafting by ice floes from glacigenic debris deposited during an ice advance. (3) Laminated sand facies drape the pavement and are a result of variable current activity. (4) The overlying gravel facies is separated from the sand facies by a marine erosion surface. The gravel facies is subaqueous, channelized and is overlain by late glacial raised beach ridges. Locally the gravels have been deformed by ice pressure from partially floating ice floes. Facies changes record terrestrial submergence and provide evidence for changes in relative sea level during part of the last deglacial cycle. The boulder pavement and deformed gravel facies suggest that ice floes and sea ice effects may be more common within stratigraphies along emergent coasts than previously thought, though they have a low preservation potential. Extreme conditions during the deglacial favoured opportunistic microfaunas during mud deposition. This event may be related to a major meltwater event within the Irish Sea Basin.     

A cryptic species of Mytilus (Mollusca: Bivalvia) on the west coast of South Africa

A biochemical genetic study of the mussels Perna perna and Choromytilus meridionalis on the west coast of South Africa revealed the presence of an unreported mytilid mussel that had previously been mistaken, because of its shell colour polymorphism, for either P. perna or a hybrid between P. perna and C. meridionalis. The gene products of 19 protein-coding loci in P. perna. C. meridionalis and in the newly recognized mussel were examined by means of horizontal starch-gel electrophoresis. The results showed that there was no allele-frequency overlap between any of these mussel taxa, thus implying little or no genetic relatedness between them. A morphological examination showed that the previously unreported mytilid has a pitted resilial ridge (similar to that of Perna), an anterior adductor muscle (unlike either Perna or Choromytilus), and an undivided posterior foot retractor-muscle scar (unlike Perna). Such features are diagnostic of the genus Mytilus. The South African Mytilus has morphological traits that are more characteristic of M. galloprovincialis of the Mediterranean Sea than of the more cosmopolitan M. edulis. which occurs in the northern and southern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. A large heterozygosity in Mytilus sp. argues against a recent dispersal from the Mediterranean Sea via a small founder population. Rather, the presence of Mytilus sp. in South Africa may represent a relict population of a wider geographic distribution of M. galloprovincialis resulting from Pleistocene cooling. However, the warmer water at lower latitudes could have still prevented dispersal of M. edulis, a species adapted to colder waters.     

Rate-of-Change Maps

Mapping spatial change is a fundamental theme in geography. The analytical and numerical application of differential calculus to continuous geographic data produces first-derivative distributions that can be mapped to show gradient magnitude and gradient direction, and second-derivative measures that can be mapped to show the form (convexity, concavity) of the geographic surface. When these differential measures are obtained for spatially distributed temporal data, a velocity/acceleration change map can be constructed. Cartographic applications of the methodology presented in this paper include slope and curvature landform mapping, derivative trend-surface mapping of urban housing value gradients and the velocity/acceleration mapping of mobile-home residency in the United States from 1950 to 1980.     

Retracing the Past: Recovering 19th Century Benchmarks to Measure Shoreline Change Along the Outer Shore of Cape Cod,Massachusetts

Between 1887 and 1888, Henry L. Marindin, Assistant Topographer of the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, conducted a detailed survey of the outer shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, providing an important base line for future comparisons, “which will be of value to geologists and others who study the changes in the coast-line”. In 2007, the Land-Sea Interaction Program of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies began a project to resurvey Marindin's profiles and cross-sections to quantify changes to landforms and the nearshore environment that have occurred over the past century for use in estimating future conditions in the context of climate change and sea level rise. In order to facilitate reliable, quantitative shoreline comparisons, the translation of historical spatial data to contemporary horizontal (e.g., NAD83) and vertical (e.g., NAVD88) reference systems is paramount. With historical transects translated to NAD83 using methods developed as part of a previous study, the goal of this work is to develop an accurate estimate of the relationship between Marindin's elevation data and NAVD88. Recognizing that the physical and social landscape had changed significantly over the past 120+ years, a historical base map was prepared to assist with the recovery of 19th century benchmarks. Using the base map, five Coast survey benchmarks were recovered and resurveyed. Based on the results of this work, the local mean sea level datum of Marindin's survey is estimated to be 1.13 feet (0.34 meters) below the NAVD88 plane of reference.     

Change Blindness in Animated Choropleth Maps: An Empirical Study

Animated choropleth maps enable cartographers to visualize time-series data in a way that congruently depicts change over time. However, users have difficulty apprehending information encoded within these displays, and often fail to detect important changes between adjacent scenes. Failures of visual experience, such as change blindness, threaten the effectiveness of dynamic geovisual displays, in which several important changes can occur simultaneously throughout the display. Animated choropleth maps require viewers not only to notice changes but also understand symbolic meanings encoded in rapid transitions between scenes. Graphic interpolation between key frames, also known as “in-betweening” or “tweening”, smoothes transitions and lengthens the duration of the transition between scenes in a dynamic sequence. Previous cartographic literature suggests tweening could be a potential solution for change blindness in the cartographic context. This article examines this issue of change blindness in the cartographic context and reports on a human subjects investigation designed to evaluate the influence of cartographic design variables on map readers' change detection abilities. Our results indicate that 1) map readers have difficulty detecting changes in animated choropleth maps, 2) map readers over-estimate their own change detection abilities, and 3) tweening influences the legibility of change in animated choropleth maps.     

Toward a Differential Calculus for Temporal Map Analysis

Investigators in many fields are analyzing temporal change in spatial data. Such analyses are typically conducted by comparing the value of some metric (e. g., area, contagion, or diversity indices) measured at time T₁ with the value of the same metric measured at time T₂ . These comparisons typically include the use of simple interpolation models to estimate the value of the metric of interest at points in time between observations, followed by applications of differential calculus to investigate the rates at which the metric is changing. Unfortunately, these techniques treat the values of the metrics being analyzed as if they were observed values, when in fact the metrics are derived from more fundamental spatial data. The consequence of treating metrics as observed values is a significant reduction in the degrees of freedom in spatial change over time. This results in an oversimplified view of spatio-temporal change. A more accurate view can be produced by (1) applying temporal interpolation models to observed spatial data rather than derived spatial metrics; (2) expanding the metric of interest's computational equation by replacing the terms relating to the observed spatial data with their temporal interpolation equations; and (3) differentiating the expanded computational equation. This alternative, three-step spatio-temporal analysis technique will be described and justified. The alternative technique will be compared to the conventional approach using common metrics and a sample data set.     

The Development of Analytical Cartography: A Personal Note

Creating dot maps to show changes in racial and Hispanic population distributions between two census periods can be an effective way to examine one of the most important dimensions of change within any metropolitan area. Using dots of one color to show population increase and dots of a second color to show population decrease vividly reveals where changes have occurred within a larger total population. We prepared such maps for the book Changing Faces, Changing Places: Mapping Southern Californians, the text of which analyzes and interprets the population shifts evident on the maps. The maps show the expansion and contraction of racial and Hispanic populations in specific neighborhoods so that community leaders and residents alike can easily relate general trends to their localities. In this article we describe the preparation of these dot maps and explain major problems encountered in linking the 1990 and 2000 census population counts at the tract level. We explain our solutions, which we believe made possible more accurate mapping of neighborhood change.     

Procedures used in South Africa for the automatic photometric determination of micronutrients in seawater

Analytical methods for the automatic determination of micronutrients in seawater based on the TECHNICON Auto Analyzer (AAII) principles are described. The methods are adaptations and modifications of existing photometric methods already described in the literature. Automated methods are presented for the determination of the different forms of nitrogen available to plant life, namely nitrite, nitrate, ammonia and total nitrogen, as well as for phosphate-phosphorus and silicate-silicon. All these methods are in routine use by the Sea Fisheries Research Institute.     

Unclassed Animated Choropleth Maps

Abstract

The potential of unclassed animated choropleth maps as a solution to false patterns of geographic change arising from data classification is investigated. Old concerns about unclassed choropleth maps may be mitigated through map interactivity that offers four advantages over traditional data legends, and previous insights from testing static choropleth maps do not necessarily translate to animated cartography. Data from user testing revealed unclassed animated choropleth maps neither help nor hurt the ability of map readers to understand patterns of geographic change. However, the unclassed map (1) appeared 'less jumpy' to participants and was perceived to run at a slower pace (despite running at the same number of frames per second), and (2) subtle geographic shifts (e.g., seasonal unemployment cycles) were more readily noticed on the unclassed maps. Preliminary results also suggest classed data emphasise stability over time – while their unclassed counterparts improve our ability to see changes. This paper also outlines animated simultaneous contrast as a new perceptual issue in the creation of animated choropleth maps.     

A Transition in Improving Maps: The ColorBrewer Example

Many map makers seek to share their map design efforts by distributing styles, fonts, templates, software, tips, and other sorts of instructions. For example, <www.mapsymbols.com> offers links to a variety of symbol and font design efforts by mapmakers who use ESRI's GIS products. In this article, I will reflect on the format for offering map design assistance that I have used in ColorBrewer (Figure 1). ColorBrewer <www.ColorBrewer.org> is a web tool for selecting color schemes for thematic maps. It has elicited a trickle of enthusiastic e-mail from pleased users who tell me that their maps are improved, and they are relieved to save time on a design challenge for which they are not confident of their skills. ColorBrewer is described in detail in two papers (Harrower and Brewer, in press; Brewer et al. 2003). It is described briefly here to provide context for my reflections on a transition in cartography toward assisting people who want to represent their information spatially but who have little or no training in the conventions and principles of map design and data representation.