Paleoenvironmental reconstructions from cave sediments of the Moravian Karst, Czech Republic / by Pavel Sroubek.

This thesis presents a paleoclimatic/paleoenvironmental study conducted on clastic cave sediments of the Moravian Karst, Czech Republic. The study is based on environmental magnetic techniques, yet a wide range of other scientific methods was used to obtain a clearer picture of the Quaternary climate. My thesis also presents an overview of the significance of cave deposits for paleoclimatic reconstructions, explains basic environmental magnetic techniques and offers background information on the study area – a famous karst region in Central Europe with a rich history. In Kulna Cave magnetic susceptibility variations and in particular variations in pedogenic susceptibility yield a detailed record of the palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Last Glacial Stage. The Kulna long-term climatic trends agree with the deep-sea SPECMAP record, while the short-term oscillations correlate with rapid changes in the North Atlantic sea surface temperatures. Kulna Cave sediments reflect the intensity of pedogenesis controlled by short-term warmer events and precipitation over the mid-continent and provide a link between continental European climate and sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic during the Last Glacial Stage. Given the number of independent climate proxies determined from the entrance facies of the cave and their high resolution, Kulna is an extremely important site for studying Late Pleistocene climate. In the interior of Spiralka Cave, a five meter high section of fine grained sediments deposited during floods yields information on the climatic and environmental conditions of the last millenium. In the upper 1.5 meters of this profile, mineral magnetic and other non-magnetic data indicate that susceptibility variations are controlled by the concentration of magnetite and its magnetic grain size. Comparison of our susceptibility record to the instrumental record of winter temperature anomalies shows a remarkable correlation. This correlation is explained by coupling of the flooding events, cultivation of land and pedogenetic processes in the cave catchment area. A combination of mineral magnetic and geochemical proxies yields a detail picture of the rapidly evolving climate of the near past and tracks both natural and human induced environmental changes taking place in the broader region.

Controlling electronic and magnetic properties of ultra narrow multilayered nanowires

Interest in the study of magnetic/non-magnetic multilayered structures took a giant leap since Grünberg and his group established that the interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) is a function of the non-magnetic spacer width. This interest was further fuelled by the discovery of the phenomenal Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) effect. In fact, in 2007 Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to the discovery of GMR. GMR is the key property that is being used in the read-head of the present day computer hard drive as it requires a high sensitivity in the detection of magnetic field. The recent increase in demand for device miniaturization encouraged researchers to look for GMR in nanoscale multilayered structures. In this context, one dimensional(1-D) multilayerd nanowire structure has shown tremendous promise as a viable candidate for ultra sensitive read head sensors. In fact, the phenomenal giant magnetoresistance(GMR) effect, which is the novel feature of the currently used multilayered thin film, has already been observed in multilayered nanowire systems at ambient temperature. Geometrical confinement of the supper lattice along the 2-dimensions (2-D) to construct the 1-D multilayered nanowire prohibits the minimization of magnetic interaction- offering a rich variety of magnetic properties in nanowire that can be exploited for novel functionality. In addition, introduction of non-magnetic spacer between the magnetic layers presents additional advantage in controlling magnetic properties via tuning the interlayer magnetic interaction. Despite of a large volume of theoretical works devoted towards the understanding of GMR and IEC in super lattice structures, limited theoretical calculations are reported in 1-D multilayered systems. Thus to gauge their potential application in new generation magneto-electronic devices, in this thesis, I have discussed the usage of first principles density functional theory (DFT) in predicting the equilibrium structure, stability as well as electronic and magnetic properties of one dimensional multilayered nanowires. Particularly, I have focused on the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe/Pt multilayered nanowire structures and the role of non-magnetic Pt spacer in modulating the magnetic properties of the wire. It is found that the average magnetic moment per atom in the nanowire increases monotonically with an ~1/(N(Fe)) dependance, where N(Fe) is the number of iron layers in the nanowire. A simple model based upon the interfacial structure is given to explain the 1/(N(Fe)) trend in magnetic moment obtained from the first principle calculations. A new mechanism, based upon spin flip with in the layer and multistep electron transfer between the layers, is proposed to elucidate the enhancement of magnetic moment of Iron atom at the Platinum interface. The calculated IEC in the Fe/Pt multilayered nanowire is found to switch sign as the width of the non-magnetic spacer varies. The competition among short and long range direct exchange and the super exchange has been found to play a key role for the non-monotonous sign in IEC depending upon the width of the Platinum spacer layer. The calculated magnetoresistance from Julliere's model also exhibit similar switching behavior as that of IEC. The universality of the behavior of exchange coupling has also been looked into by introducing different non-magnetic spacers like Palladium, Copper, Silver, and Gold in between magnetic Iron layers. The nature of hybridization between Fe and other non-magnetic spacer is found to dictate the inter layer magnetic interaction. For example, in Fe/Pd nanowire the d-p hybridization in two spacer layer case favors anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) configuration over ferromagnetic (FM) configuration. However, the hybridization between half-filled Fe(d) and filled Cu(p) state in Fe/Cu nanowire favors FM coupling in the 2-spacer system.

Effects of management on native and exotic plant communities in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Ecological disturbances may be caused by a range of biotic and abiotic factors. Among these are disturbances that result from human activities such as the introduction of exotic plants and land management activities. This dissertation addresses both of these types of disturbance in ecosystems in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Invasive plants are a significant cause of disturbance at Pictured Rocks Natural Lakeshore. Management of invasive plants is dependent on understanding what areas are at risk of being invaded, what the consequences of an invasion are on native plant communities and how effective different tools are for managing the invasive species. A series of risk models are described that predict three stages of invasion (introduction, establishment and spread) for eight invasive plant species at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. These models are specific to this location and include species for which models have not previously been produced. The models were tested by collecting point data throughout the park to demonstrate their effectiveness for future detection of invasive plants in the park. Work to describe the impacts and management of invasive plants focused on spotted knapweed in the sensitive Grand Sable Dunes area of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Impacts of spotted knapweed were assessed by comparing vegetation communities in areas with varying amounts of spotted knapweed. This work showed significant increases in species diversity in areas invaded by knapweed, apparently as a result of the presence of a number of non-dune species that have become established in spotted knapweed invaded areas. An experiment was carried out to compare annual spot application of two herbicides, Milestone® and Transline® to target spotted knapweed. This included an assessment of impacts of this type of treatment on non-target species. There was no difference in the effectiveness of the two herbicides, and both significantly reduced the density of spotted knapweed during the course of the study. Areas treated with herbicide developed a higher percent cover of grasses during the study, and suffered limited negative impacts on some sensitive dune species such as beach pea and dune stitchwort, and on some other non-dune species such as hawkweed. The use of these herbicides to reduce the density of spotted knapweed appears to be feasible over large scales.