Soil organic carbon storage and soil properties for 50 soil profiles in the Lena River Delta including land form description and map

To project the future development of the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in permafrost environments, the spatial and vertical distribution of key soil properties and their landscape controls needs to be understood. This article reports findings from the Arctic Lena River Delta where we sampled 50 soil pedons. These were classified according to the U.S.D.A. Soil Taxonomy and fall mostly into the Gelisol soil order used for permafrost-affected soils. Soil profiles have been sampled for the active layer (mean depth 58±10 cm) and the upper permafrost to one meter depth. We analyze SOC stocks and key soil properties, i.e. C%, N%, C/N, bulk density, visible ice and water content. These are compared for different landscape groupings of pedons according to geomorphology, soil and land cover and for different vertical depth increments. High vertical resolution plots are used to understand soil development. These show that SOC storage can be highly variable with depth. We recommend the treatment of permafrost-affected soils according to subdivisions into: the surface organic layer, mineral subsoil in the active layer, organic enriched cryoturbated or buried horizons and the mineral subsoil in the permafrost. The major geomorphological units of a subregion of the Lena River Delta were mapped with a land form classification using a data-fusion approach of optical satellite imagery and digital elevation data to upscale SOC storage. Landscape mean SOC storage is estimated to 19.2±2.0 kg C/m**2. Our results show that the geomorphological setting explains more soil variability than soil taxonomy classes or vegetation cover. The soils from the oldest, Pleistocene aged, unit of the delta store the highest amount of SOC per m**2 followed by the Holocene river terrace. The Pleistocene terrace affected by thermal-degradation, the recent floodplain and bare alluvial sediments store considerably less SOC in descending order.

(Table 1) Description and tetrapyrrole-pigment yield at DSDP Leg 58 Holes

Nineteen core samples from the Shikoku Basin and the Daito Ridge and Basin province of the northwest Philippine Sea, obtained from DSDP Leg 58, were examined for products of chlorophyll diagenesis; we aimed at gaining a better understanding of the very early diagenetic history of sedimentary chlorophyll. We choose samples which, a priori, would allow isolation of tetrapyrrole pigments characteristic of (destructive) diagenesis modes. Studies of Japan Trench sediments (Louda et al., 1980; Baker and Louda, 1980) showed well the interplay of two main diagenesis schemes: anoxic preservation and oxic destruction. The results reported herein are a product of a preliminary investigation on sediments of scant organic matter content, which yielded limited tetrapyrrole pigment.

Description and analyses of manganese nodules from the South-Western Pacific

Manganese nodules from the Campbell Plateau and Macquarie Ridge have been chemically analysed and their compositions compared with other Pacific nodules. No significant differences in composition are apparent. Foraminifera from nodule nucleii are late Tertiary or Quaternary, indicating the late geological formation of manganese nodules in this region. Nodule formation may be related to late Tertiary or Quaternary submarine volcanism.

New Observations of Balmer Continuum Flux in Solar Flares:Instrument Description and First Results

Increase in the Balmer continuum radiation during solar flares was predicted by various authors, but has never been firmly confirmed observationally using ground-based slit spectrographs. Here we describe a new post-focal instrument, the image selector, with which the Balmer continuum flux can be measured from the whole flare area, in analogy to successful detections of flaring dMe stars. The system was developed and put into operation at the horizontal solar telescope HSFA2 of the Ondřejov Observatory. We measure the total flux by a fast spectrometer from a limited but well-defined region on the solar disk. Using a system of diaphragms, the disturbing contribution of a bright solar disk can be eliminated as much as possible. Light curves of the measured flux in the spectral range 350 – 440 nm are processed, together with the Hα images of the flaring area delimited by the appropriate diaphragm. The spectral flux data are flat-fielded, calibrated, and processed to be compared with model predictions. Our analysis of the data proves that the described device is sufficiently sensitive to detect variations in the Balmer continuum during solar flares. Assuming that the Balmer-continuum kernels have at least a similar size as those visible in Hα, we find the flux increase in the Balmer continuum to reach 230 – 550 % of the quiet continuum during the observed X-class flare. We also found temporal changes in the Balmer continuum flux starting well before the onset of the flare in Hα.

Genom Norra Amerikas Fèorenta Stater. Reseskildringar af P. Waldenstrèom.

http://www.archive.org/details/genomnorramer00waldrich

California life illustrated / by William Taylor, of the California Conference.

http://www.archive.org/details/calilifeillustrated00taylrich

Niagara Parks Commision Records 1947-1990, n.d. (non-inclusive)

Ontario Editorial Bureau (O.E.B.)

John Edminster letter, July 19, 1850

John Edminster was a Baptist missionary born in Cato, New York, in 1820. He was ordained a Pastor in Birmingham, PA, in 1842. He served as Pastor in White Deer, Clinton, Muncy, Derry, Moreland, and Madison, PA. In 1850, he moved to Oregon, Illinois, and established two churches there. He later served at several churches in Iowa, eventually becoming Pastor at Stillman Valley Church and residing at Hale, Ogle Co., Illinois.

La demostració d'una unitat comarcal [Ressenya del llibre La Selva: una comarca serena d'Oriol Mach i Hugo Capellà]

Ressenya del llibre La Selva: una comarca serena d'Oriol Mach i Hugo Capellà. L'estudi és un exemple d'anàlisi territorial que mostra la heterogeneïtat i alhora la unitat de la comarca de La Selva

Mongòlia: un paradís inhòspit?

Aquest article l'escrivim des del record. Des d'un record llunyà, l'estiu de 1994, un referent constant cada vegada que mencionem les societats tradicionals i de manera especial els pobles nómades. De fet, el motiu principal del viatge va ser precisament el de conviure amb homes i dones que viuen en un marc social, polític i econòmic molt diferent al nostre: el marc de les societats preindustrials, el qual configura i configurarà per molt temps Mongólia. El punt de partida d'aquest viatge és Beijin (Pequín), des d'on iniciem un periple incert però que finalment ens deixa un bon gusc de boca. El mitjà per arribar a la capital de Mongòlia, Ulaan Bator, és el tren -el transmongolià que va des de la capital de Xina fins a Moscou i que actualment és utilitzat per molts xinesos que hi van a fer petits negocis

Pakistan, una realitat desdibuixada

Ja feia anys que ens ballava pel cap d'anar a Pakistan per fer la ruta del Karakorum, la carretera més alta del món, vorejada per pics imponents i rius de gran cabal. Un trajecte que connecta el Pakistan amb la Xina i ressegueix una part de la famosa ruta de la seda. Tot un seguit de fets inesperats afavoriren que el viatge inicialment previst ampliés el seu centre d'atenció amb la visita al poble de Kalash, l'últim reducte animista del país, i els camps de refugiats afganesos de Peshawar. La nostra arribada al Pakistan és, en termes tant metafòrics com reals, tempestuosa. L'endarreriment en l'enllaç Barcelona-Londres ens impedeix d'agafar l'avió que ens havia de portar cap a Islamabad i ens obliga a quedar-nos durant un dia a la capital britànica

El Paisatge

El paisatge de l’Alta Garrotxa ha sofert canvis radicals al llarg del temps i molt especial a les darreres dècades. Es proporcionen dades estadístiques sobre bosc, bosquina, pastura, conreu, vegetació de cinglera i zona estèril (roca nua, etc.)

La fascinació del país de les piràmides

Descripció del viatge a Egipte, així com de les impressions que van provocar l’autora els indrets que va visitar com ara les piràmides de la vall de Giza, Memfis, Sakkara i Dashur entre altres

De Llagostera a Romanyà de la Selva

Descripció del viatge entre Llagostera i Romanyà de la Selva realitzat per l’autora un dia de tardor

Gathering for God : George Brown in Oceania

Combining 'the gathering of artefacts with the gathering of souls', George Brown was a key figure in the Christian, and especially the Wesleyan Methodist, history of nineteenth-century Oceania. Using his life as a case study, Helen Bethea Gardner examines the role of Christian missionaries in the Pacific Islands. Brown's career (1860-1908) spanned one of the most tumultuous political periods in the South Pacific, as one by one islands were colonised by imperial nations. He was one of the most politically engaged of all missionaries, encouraging colonial rule in the Pacific by America, Britain, Germany and, eventually, Australia and New Zealand. Originally from the north of England, he worked as a missionary in Samoa from 1860, moving to the Bismarck Archipelago (now Papua New Guinea) in 1875. From the 1880s until his retirement in 1907, he worked in Sydney as the general secretary of the Australasian Methodist Overseas Mission. Gathering for God examines Brown's missionary letters, journals and journalism, exploring how he attracted Pacific Islanders to Christian teachings, analysing his leadership during an armed attack on New Britain villages accused of cannibalism, and looking at his work in the new discipline of anthropology. He was a major collector of artefacts (his collection is now in the Osaka Museum) and photographer of Pacific peoples (his collection is in the Australian Museum).