Fine mesh screening of midden material and the recovery of fish bone: The development of flotation and deflocculation techniques for an efficient and effective procedure     

Anne Ross  Ryan Duffy 《Geoarchaeology》2000,15(1):21-41

The absence of fish remains in archaeological sites in Moreton Bay, southeast Queensland, Australia, may be a function of recovery techniques, rather than a reflection of resource paucity and late onset of occupation, as has been posited in archaeological literature. An excavation on Peel Island in Moreton Bay was devised, in part, to test this proposition, and a 1‐mm mesh screen was used to enhance recovery. But sorting this fine fraction took 20 h. In this article we outline experiments to find a more efficient and effective technique for sieving and sorting fine fraction archaeological deposits, using methods borrowed from soil science. We show how sorting time can be reduced to 2 h 30 min per 100 g sample and argue that the vast increase in knowledge about the site occurring as a result of using the very fine mesh sieve warrants the continued application of these laboratory methods. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  相似文献   

Enstatite meteorite clasts in Almahata Sitta and other polymict ureilites: Implications for the formation of asteroid 2008 TC3 and the history of enstatite meteorite parent asteroids     

Cyrena Anne Goodrich  Hilary Downes  Richard Greenwood  Aidan J. Ross  Anna Maria Fioretti  Louise Alexander  Noriko T. Kita  Jon Butler  Michael J. Jercinovic  Peter Jenniskens  Muawia H. Shaddad 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2024,59(4):719-753

The anomalous polymict ureilite Almahata Sitta (AhS) fell in 2008 when asteroid 2008 TC₃ disintegrated over Sudan and formed a strewn field of disaggregated clasts of various ureilitic and chondritic types. We studied the petrology and oxygen isotope compositions of enstatite meteorite samples from the University of Khartoum (UoK) collection of AhS. In addition, we describe the first bona fide (3.5 mm-sized) clast of an enstatite chondrite (EC) in a typical polymict ureilite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 10657. We evaluate whether 2008 TC₃ and typical polymict ureilites have a common origin, and examine implications for the history of enstatite meteorite asteroids in the solar system. Based on mineralogy, mineral compositions, and textures, the seven AhS EC clasts studied comprise one EH_a3 (S151), one EL_b3 (AhS 1002), two EH_b4-5 (AhS 2012, AhS 26), two EH_b5-6 or possibly impact melt rocks (AhS 609, AhS 41), and one EL_b6-7 (AhS 17), while the EC clast in NWA 10657 is EH_a3. Oxygen isotope compositions analyzed for five of these are similar to those of EC from non-UoK collections of AhS, and within the range of individual EC meteorites. There are no correlations of oxygen isotope composition with chemical group or subgroup. The EC clasts from the UoK collection show the same large range of types as those from non-UoK collections of AhS. The enstatite achondrite, AhS 60, is a unique type (not known as an individual meteorite) that has also been found among non-UoK AhS samples. EC are the most abundant non-ureilitic clasts in AhS but previously were thought to be absent in typical polymict ureilites, necessitating a distinct origin for AhS. The discovery of an EC in NWA 10657 changes this. We argue that the types of materials in AhS and typical polymict ureilites are essentially similar, indicating a common origin. We elaborate on a model in which AhS and typical polymict ureilites formed in the same regolith on a ureilitic daughter body. Most non-ureilitic clasts are remnants of impactors implanted at ~50–60 Myr after CAI. Differences in abundances can be explained by the stochastic nature of impactor addition. There is no significant difference between the chemical/petrologic types of EC in polymict ureilites and individual EC meteorites. This implies that fragments of the same populations of EC parent bodies were available as impactors at ~50–60 Myr after CAI and recently. This can be explained if materials excavated from various depths on EC bodies at ~50–60 Myr after CAI were reassembled into mixed layers, leaving relatively large bodies intact to survive 4 billion years. Polymict ureilites record a critical timestep in the collisional and dynamical evolution of the solar system, showing that asteroids that may have accreted at distant locations had migrated to within proximity of one another by 50–60 Myr after CAI, and providing constraints on the dynamical processes that could have caused such migrations.  相似文献   

Monitoring agricultural cropping patterns across the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin using MODIS-NDVI data     

Ross S. Lunetta  Yang Shao  Jayantha Ediriwickrema  John G. Lyon 《International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation》2010

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) 16-day composite data product (MOD12Q) was used to develop annual cropland and crop-specific map products (corn, soybeans, and wheat) for the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin (GLB). The crop area distributions and changes in crop rotations were characterized by comparing annual crop map products for 2005, 2006, and 2007. The total acreages for corn and soybeans were relatively balanced for calendar years 2005 (31,462 km² and 31,283 km², respectively) and 2006 (30,766 km² and 30,972 km², respectively). Conversely, corn acreage increased approximately 21% from 2006 to 2007, while soybean and wheat acreage decreased approximately 9% and 21%, respectively. Two-year crop rotational change analyses were conducted for the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 time periods. The large increase in corn acreages for 2007 introduced crop rotation changes across the GLB. Compared to 2005–2006, crop rotation patterns for 2006–2007 resulted in increased corn–corn, soybean–corn, and wheat–corn rotations. The increased corn acreages could have potential negative impacts on nutrient loadings, pesticide exposures, and sediment-mediated habitat degradation. Increased in US corn acreages in 2007 were related to new biofuel mandates, while Canadian increases were attributed to higher world-wide corn prices. Additional study is needed to determine the potential impacts of increases in corn-based ethanol agricultural production on watershed ecosystems and receiving waters.  相似文献   

Event-based classification for global study of river flood generating processes     

Lina Stein  Francesca Pianosi  Ross Woods 《水文研究》2020,34(7):1514-1529

Better understanding of which processes generate floods in a catchment can improve flood frequency analysis and potentially climate change impacts assessment. However, current flood classification methods are either not transferable across locations or do not provide event-based information. We therefore developed a location-independent, event-based flood classification methodology that is applicable in different climates and returns a classification of all flood events, including extreme ones. We use precipitation time series and very simply modelled soil moisture and snowmelt as inputs for a decision tree. A total of 113,635 events in 4155 catchments worldwide were classified into one of five hydro-climatological flood generating processes: short rain, long rain, excess rainfall, snowmelt and a combination of rain and snow. The new classification was tested for its robustness and evaluated with available information; these two tests are often lacking in current flood classification approaches. According to the evaluation, the classification is mostly successful and indicates excess rainfall as the most common dominant process. However, the dominant process is not very informative in most catchments, as there is a high at-site variability in flood generating processes. This is particularly relevant for the estimation of extreme floods which diverge from their usual flood generation pattern, especially in the United Kingdom, Northern France, Southeastern United States, and India.  相似文献   

A GIS-based multi-proxy analysis of the evolution of subglacial dynamics of the Quebec–Labrador ice dome,northeastern Quebec,Canada     

J.M. Rice  M. Ross  R.C. Paulen  S.E. Kelley  J.P. Briner 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2020,45(13):3155-3177

The glacial records of the inner-core regions of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) document complex yet coherent patterns reflecting ice-sheet change (e.g. ice-divide migration), providing unique insights into past glacial conditions. This study develops a conceptual model of subglacial dynamics evolution within a major ice-dispersal centre of the LIS in northeastern Quebec, Canada using a GIS-based analysis of the surficial geologic record. Multiple proxies of subglacial conditions (subglacial streamlined landforms, lake density and lake area over thin drift/bedrock) were analysed through grid-overlay techniques and then classified based on different proxy variables ranging from highly mobile warm-based to immobile cold-based conditions. An additional proxy (till blanket) was used to identify areas of thick till deposition, but with few proxies (few lake or landform metrics). Based on local ice-flow reconstructions, the most ‘relict’ glacial terrain zone (GTZ1) has warm-based conditions over 66% of its area and is remarkably well preserved, suggesting laterally extensive warm-based conditions during the oldest identified ice-flow phase. This relict glacial terrain is partially overprinted by two subsequent ice-flow phases in spatially restricted zones in the northeast (73% warm-based), east-central (41% warm-based), and northwest (33% warm-based) of the study area. A zone of more sluggish conditions (only 3% warm-based) was identified in the highlands at the centre of the study area, characterized by thin till cover, few landforms, yet with large patches of relatively abundant small lakes, indicative of areal scouring. No clear evidence of sustained cold-based conditions (i.e. high chemical index of alteration values or high ¹⁰Be abundances) was found in the study area. These results suggest that warm-based conditions (active erosion and/or deposition) were uniformly widespread during the earliest ice-flow phase, later becoming more spatially restricted with broader sluggish ice conditions. These spatially restricted regions of warm-based subglacial regimes were likely controlled by surrounding and down-flow ice streaming. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd  相似文献   

An Open,Object-Based Framework for Generating Anisotropy in Sedimentary Subsurface Models     

Jeremy P. Bennett  Claus P. Haslauer  Martin Ross  Olaf A. Cirpka 《Ground water》2019,57(3):420-429

The spatial distribution of hydraulic properties in the subsurface controls groundwater flow and solute transport. However, many approaches to modeling these distributions do not produce geologically realistic results and/or do not model the anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity caused by bedding structures in sedimentary deposits. We have developed a flexible object-based package for simulating hydraulic properties in the subsurface—the Hydrogeological Virtual Realities (HyVR) simulation package. This implements a hierarchical modeling framework that takes into account geological rules about stratigraphic bounding surfaces and the geometry of specific sedimentary structures to generate realistic aquifer models, including full hydraulic-conductivity tensors. The HyVR simulation package can create outputs suitable for standard groundwater modeling tools (e.g., MODFLOW), is written in Python, an open-source programming language, and is openly available at an online repository. This paper presents an overview of the underlying modeling principles and computational methods, as well as an example simulation based on the Macrodispersion Experiment site in Columbus, Mississippi. Our simulation package can currently simulate porous media that mimic geological conceptual models in fluvial depositional environments, and that include fine-scale heterogeneity in distributed hydraulic parameter fields. The simulation results allow qualitative geological conceptual models to be converted into digital subsurface models that can be used in quantitative numerical flow-and-transport simulations, with the aim of improving our understanding of the influence of geological realism on groundwater flow and solute transport.  相似文献   

Distribution of organic carbon in bed sediments of Manoa Stream,Oahu, Hawaii     

Ross A. Sutherland 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1999,24(7):571-583

Organic carbon (OC) associated with fluvial bed sediment plays an important role in biotic and abiotic processes operating within drainage basins. Increasingly, there is a need to characterize storage and spatial distributions of OC in aquatic sediments, particularly under-sampled areas like tropical streams. The objectives of this study were to examine in detail the variation of OC concentration with bed sediment grain size, to characterize the influence of grain size variation on relative OC mass storage, and to compare weighted OC values to those in other aquatic sediments worldwide. The study area selected was a third-order dendritic drainage basin developed in a basaltic complex. Bed sediments along a 6 km section of Manoa Stream were systematically sampled every 50 m for a total of 113 sample site locations. Sediments were partitioned into six size fractions (< 2·0 mm) and OC was determined by dry combustion. Data indicate that the OC concentration increases with decreasing grain size, with the greatest values in the < 0·063 mm (silt + clay) fraction, approximately 4·6 times greater than the very coarse sand fraction (1·00–2·00 mm). Robust smoothing techniques illustrated a general decrease in OC concentration downstream for the size fractions < 0·25 mm. Bed sediments were dominated by size fractions coarser than 0·5 mm (80 per cent of the total distribution) and only about 2 per cent in the fractions less than 0·13 mm. Combining information on OC concentration per size fraction and the mass contribution of each fraction to the whole sample, it was observed that fractions coarser than 0·5 mm had eight to 12 times the storage of OC per kilogram of bed sediments than the fractions finer than 0·13 mm. Weighted OC values for Manoa Stream were on average 6·7 g-OC kg−1, and these were similar to those reported in the literature for a variety of sediments in aquatic environments, both freshwater and marine. These data provide important information on the relative mass storage of OC in bed sediments and their longitudinal patterns in a tropical fluvial environment. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Direct dating indicates a Mid‐Holocene Age for archaic rock engravings in arid Central Australia     

M. A. Smith  A. Watchman  J. Ross 《Geoarchaeology》2009,24(2):191-203

Archaic rock engravings are found widely across the arid interior of Australia and are thought to represent an early pan‐continental tradition. A late Pleistocene age is assumed because of extensive weathering, but attempts to test this by direct dating have been unsuccessful. We use AMS ¹⁴C dating of calcium oxalate skins covering archaic engravings at two rock shelter sites in Central Australia (Wanga East and Puritjarra), constrained by ¹⁴C dates of charcoal in sedimentary layers beneath the same engraved slabs, to show this rock art is mid‐Holocene in age. Despite a limited range of simple geometric designs and uniformity across the arid interior, this corpus of rock art is not associated with the initial peopling of the Australian desert, but is a later development reflecting the dynamics of established desert societies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.  相似文献   

A review of the National Oceanic Satellite System (NOSS) and prospects for ocean remote sensing in the near future     

Ross N. Williams 《Marine Geodesy》2013,36(1):83-91

Abstract

The concept of sensing oceanic parameters from space has been clearly demonstrated by the data from NASA's SEASAT. As the next step, a triagency team from NASA, NOAA, and DOD developed a program for a national system, the National Oceanic Satellite System (NOSS). The NOSS was to be an end‐to‐end system, a five‐year quasi‐operational demonstration to satisfy the most critical of the user agencies (NOAA and Navy) requirements for oceanographic data. Unfortunately, NOSS became an early victim of the Administration's efforts to reduce the Federal budget. The search for less costly (less capable) alternatives continues. In the meantime, the accuracy of our operational forecasts suffers and critical requirements go unsatisfied.  相似文献   

Land‐use impacts and water quality targets in the intensive dairying catchment of the Toenepi Stream,New Zealand     

Robert J. Wilcock  Ross M. Monaghan  John M. Quinn  Alan M. Campbell  Bruce S. Thorrold  Maurice J. Duncan 《新西兰海洋与淡水研究杂志》2013,47(1):123-140

Water quality monitoring in Toenepi Stream, New Zealand, started in 1995 in a study of dairy farming influences on lowland stream quality and has continued since then with brief interruptions. Surveys have provided information about changes in farm and soil management practices as they relate to environmental sustainability. Although average water quality in Toenepi Stream has changed little during 1995–2004, there have been some notable improvements. Water clarity measured by black disc has improved from 0.6m to 1.5m, and median ammonia‐N and nitrate‐N concentrations have declined by 70% and 57%, respectively. The frequency and magnitude of extreme concentrations have declined—most notably for nitrogen (N) forms, which also had decreased mean values. Specific yields for suspended solids (SS) and phosphorus (P) forms in 2002–04 were 47–67% of 1995–97 values, mainly because of lower water yields. Reduced specific yields for N forms in 2002–04 (34–37% of 1995–97 yields) were also attributable to lower mean concentrations in stream water. Faecal bacteria concentrations have not abated and are on average 2–3 times recommended guideline values for contact recreation. Fewer dairy farms and an increased proportion irrigating dairyshed effluent to land, rather than discharging it to the stream via two‐pond systems, were likely causes of improvement in water quality. Water quality targets were developed for Toenepi Stream to achieve contact recreation criteria for the Piako River (downstream) and for intrinsic habitat values for Toenepi Stream. A range of mitigation measures has been formulated to meet these targets, but substantial uptake of sustainable farming practices is needed to improve water quality in Toenepi Stream.  相似文献