Approximately 13 km south of Gulf Shores, Alabama (United States), divers found in situ baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) stumps 18 m below the ocean surface. These trees could have only lived when sea level fell during the Pleistocene subaerially exposing the tectonically stable continental shelf. Here we investigate the geophysical properties along with microfossil and stratigraphical analyses of sediment cores to understand the factors that lead to this wood’s preservation. The stumps are exposed in an elongated depression (~100 m long, ~1 m deep) nested in a trough of the northwest–southeast trending Holocene sand ridges and troughs with 2–5 m vertical relief and ~0.5 km wavelength. Radiocarbon ages of the wood were infinite thus optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was used to constrain the site’s age. Below the Holocene sands (~0.1–4 m thick), separated by a regional erosional unconformity, are Late Pleistocene mud-peat (72±8 ka OSL), mud-sand (63±5, 73±6 ka OSL), and palaeosol (56±5 ka OSL) facies that grade laterally from west to east, respectively. Foraminiferal analysis reveals the location of the terrestrial-marine transitional layer above the Pleistocene facies in an interbedded sand and mud facies (3940±30 (1σ) 14C a BP), which is part of a lower shoreface or marine-dominated estuarine environment. The occurrence of palaeosol and swamp facies of broadly similar ages and elevation suggests the glacial landscape possessed topographic relief that allowed wood, mud and peats to be preserved for ~50 ka of subaerial exposure before transitioning to the modern marine environment. We hypothesize that rapid sea-level rise occurring ~60 or ~40 ka ago provided opportunities for local flood-plain aggradation to bury the swamp thus preserving the stumps and that other sites may exist in the northern Gulf of Mexico shelf. 相似文献
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has emerged as a promising climate change mitigation mechanism in developing countries. In order to identify the enabling conditions for achieving progress in the implementation of an effective, efficient and equitable REDD+, this paper examines national policy settings in a comparative analysis across 13 countries with a focus on both institutional context and the actual setting of the policy arena. The evaluation of REDD+ revealed that countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America are showing some progress, but some face backlashes in realizing the necessary transformational change to tackle deforestation and forest degradation. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) undertaken as part of the research project showed two enabling institutional configurations facilitating progress: (1) the presence of already initiated policy change; and (2) scarcity of forest resources combined with an absence of any effective forestry framework and policies. When these were analysed alongside policy arena conditions, the paper finds that the presence of powerful transformational coalitions combined with strong ownership and leadership, and performance-based funding, can both work as a strong incentive for achieving REDD+ goals.
Key policy insights
The positive push of already existing policy change, or the negative stress of resource scarcity together with lack of effective policies, represents institutional conditions that can support REDD+ progress.
Progress also requires the presence of powerful transformational coalitions and strong ownership and leadership. In the absence of these internal drivers, performance-based funding can work as a strong incentive.
When comparing three assessments (2012, 2014, 2016) of REDD+ enabling conditions, some progress in establishing processes of change can be observed over time; however, the overall fluctuation in progress of most countries reveals the difficulty in changing the deforestation trajectory away from business as usual.
A series of nearly daily ozone vertical profiles obtained at station T-3 on Fletcher's Ice Island (85°N, 90°W) during the period January-March 1971 shows several significant ozone intrusions into the troposphere. These intrusions are not only associated with enhanced ozone amounts in the stratosphere but also require tropopause folding events to transport ozone into the troposphere. These folds in the Arctic tropopause appear to be capable of contributing significantly to the ozone budget of the Arctic troposphere during the late winter and spring seasons. The importance of tropopause folding for bringing ozone into the troposphere seen in the daily ozone profiles confirms the results found in the Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program aircraft flights. 相似文献
14C has been measured in three North American and seven Antarctic meteorites with the Chalk River MP tandem accelerator. In most cases cosmogenic14C, which is tightly bound, was separated from absorbed atmospheric radiocarbon by stepwise heating extractions. Terrestrial ages obtained by comparing cosmogenic14C in the meteorite to that in Bruderheim are (7.2 ± 0.6) × 103 years for Yamato 7304, (11.6 ± 0.4) × 103 years for Estacado, and range from (32.7 ± 0.5) × 103 to (41.0 ± 0.8) × 103 years for six meteorites recovered at Allan Hills and its vicinity. The present upper limit to age determination by the accelerator method varies from 50 × 103 to 70 × 103 years depending upon mass and carbon content of the sample. The natural limit caused by cosmic ray production of14C in silicate rocks at 2000 m elevation is estimated to be (55 ± 5) × 103 years. “Weathering ages” were estimated for the Antarctic meteorites from the specific activity of loosely-bound CO2 considered to be absorbed from the terrestrial atmosphere on weathering. The accelerator measurements are in accordance with previous low-level counting measurements but have higher precision and sensitivity. 相似文献
Solvent extractions were done on the carbonaceous chondrites Murray, Murchison, Orgueil and Renazzo, using CCl4 and CH3OH. Between 2 and 10% of the total carbon in these meteorites is extractable by ordinary techniques, most of it in CH3OH. After demineralization with HF, perhaps as much as 30% of the total carbon in Murray may be extractable with CH3OH. The extracts from Renazzo have isotopic ratios which suggest that they are mainly terrestrial organic matter, with lesser contributions from indigenous organics. The CH3OH-soluble organic matter from Murchison and both untreated and HF-treated Murray has δ13C values of about +5 to + 10%. and δ15N values of about +90 to +100%., both of which are significantly higher than the bulk meteorite values. The Orgueil CH3OH-extract also has a δ15N value well above the value in residual organic matter. Values for δD of +300 to +500%. are found for the CH3OH-soluble organic matter. The combined data for C, H and N isotopes makes it highly unlikely that the CH3OH-soluble components are derivable from, or simply related to, the insoluble organic polymer found in the same meteorites. A relationship is suggested between the event that formed hydrous minerals in CI1 and CM2 meteorites and the introduction of water-soluble (methanol-soluble) organic compounds. Organic matter soluble in CCl4 has essentially no nitrogen, and δ3C and δD values are lower than for CH3OH-soluble phases. Either there are large isotopic fractionations for carbon and hydrogen between different soluble organic phases, or the less polar components are partially of terrestrial origin. 相似文献
Carbonate cementation in the surface layer of reefs and beachrock eliminates porosity and partially replaces detrital quartz grains. The uptake and release of CO2 by photosynthesis and respiration in reef communities cause a shift in the carbonate buffer system of seawater. Field studies and experimentation simulating the natural settings show minimum values of CO2 (1.9 mmoles 1?1) and HCO3? (2.4 meq 1?1) in association with maximum values of pH (9.8) and O2 (> 100% oxygen saturation) in waters covering corals and algae prior to sunset. The converse is true for these variables prior to sunrise, when minimum values of pH (7.6) and O2 (<66% oxygen saturation) occur with maximum values of CO2 (2.7 mmoles 1?1) and HCO3? (2.7 meq 1?1). Experimental tanks containing plain seawater showed almost no diurnal variability in pH (a constant 7.5–7.6) or O2 (80–90% oxygen saturation) measurements. Seawater adjacent to reef biomass, with elevated pH and supersaturated with calcium carbonate, is periodically pumped into the underlying reef and beach sediments due to pressure-buildups between the reef framework or algal zones and open waters. Carbonate precipitation and quartz dissolution follow. As the system equilibrates, pH values progressively decrease. 相似文献
We present a special model which is a caricature of the collinear three-body problem. Near triple-collision behavior for the model is governed by the collision manifold. We study the bifurcations of the dynamics on this manifold as we vary the ratio of masses. Both analytic and numerical results are presented.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献