Lone Pine Research Articles

GSeisRT: A Continental BDS/GNSS Point Positioning Engine for Wide-Area Seismic Monitoring in Real Time

Precise coseismic displacements in earthquake/tsunamic early warning are necessary to characterize earthquakes in real time in order to enable decision-makers to issue alerts for public safety. Real-time global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) have been a valuable tool in monitoring seismic motions, allowing permanent displacement computation to be unambiguously achieved. As a valuable tool presented to the seismic community, the GSeisRT software developed by Wuhan University (China) can realize multi-GNSS precise point positioning with ambiguity resolution (PPP-AR) and achieve centimeter-level to sub-centimeter-level precision in real time. While the stable maintenance of a global precise point positioning (PPP) service is challenging, this software is capable of estimating satellite clocks and phase biases in real time using a regional GNSS network. This capability makes GSeisRT especially suitable for proprietary GNSS networks and, more importantly, the highest possible positioning precision and reliability can be obtained. According to real-time results from the Network of the Americas, the mean root mean square (RMS) errors of kinematic PPP-AR over a 24 h span are as low as 1.2, 1.3, and 3.0 cm in the east, north, and up components, respectively. Within the few minutes that span a typical seismic event, a horizontal displacement precision of 4 mm can be achieved. The positioning precision of the GSeisRT regional PPP/PPP-AR is 30%–40% higher than that of the global PPP/PPP-AR. Since 2019, GSeisRT has successfully recorded the static, dynamic, and peak ground displacements for the 2020 Oaxaca, Mexico moment magnitude (Mw) 7.4 event; the 2020 Lone Pine, California Mw 5.8 event; and the 2021 Qinghai, China Mw 7.3 event in real time. The resulting immediate magnitude estimates have an error of around 0.1 only. The GSeisRT software is open to the scientific community and has been applied by the China Earthquake Networks Center, the EarthScope Consortium of the United States, the National Seismological Center of Chile, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS Science Te Pū Ao) of New Zealand, and the Geospatial Information Agency of Indonesia.

Investment law v. supply-side climate policies: insights from Rockhopper v. Italy and Lone Pine v. Canada

AbstractNew fossil fuel developments are inconsistent with keeping global warming below 1.5 °C, and while most climate policies focus on reducing demand for fossil fuels, an emerging transversal consensus promotes efforts to simultaneously reduce supply. In this article, we discuss the obstacles to effective supply-side climate policies posed by international investment treaties that protect corporations against state interventions through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). We focus on two recently concluded ISDS cases (Rockhopper v Italy and Lone Pine v Canada) that concern prohibitions on fossil fuel development in ecologically sensitive areas. Italy was ordered to pay a British firm approximately € 250 million in compensation for a ban on offshore oil developments along the coastline, whereas Canada successfully defended Québec’s ban on gas development in the St. Lawrence River. Arbitrators in both cases reasoned that investors should be compensated when oil and gas exploration permits are revoked (even if such a remedy is not available under domestic law) and expressed antipathy towards civic engagement in the policy process. As companies can seek lost future profits through ISDS, these cases show that the system can engender material costs for states enacting supply-side policies. The threat of ISDS can generate a chilling effect, limiting the potential for supply-side initiatives, particularly in the Global South. Initiators of global efforts to limit further fossil fuel developments must consider the obstacles posed by international investment treaties, support efforts to abolish ISDS, and as an interim measure, promote the interpretation of treaty protections in line with climate objectives.

Lone Pine Resources v Canada Award: Steps towards a Recognition of Sustainable Development Principles in Energy Investment Arbitrations

Lone Pine Resources Inc. v. The Government of Canada 1 is the first investment arbitration case in the oil and gas sector in which the host state has taken measures to enforce its domestic sustainable development laws and regulations. In this case, the Canadian government prohibited fracking in the St. Lawrence River basin in Quebec, despite having previously issued a permit, by placing the precautionary principle, which is a principle of sustainable development, as the criterion. The tribunal did not find the host government's action to be a violation of the investor's rights, although it was unable to answer the question of whether the implementation of the precautionary principle constitutes a public purpose according to the NAFTA expropriation standard. However, it is notable that in the submissions of the parties and amicus curiae, reference has been made to the precautionary principle on the basis of applicable domestic and international law. Another feature of this case is that the arbitral tribunal decided to grant the request for participation of amicus curiae by an environmental NGO, and in distinct sections of the final award, it mentioned the views of the environmental group. The implementation of sustainable development is crucial in the field of petroleum arbitrations, given the extent of environmental degradation caused by these projects. Even though this case pertains to North America, it may mark the beginning of a global transformation that affects the petroleum producing countries throughout the world. Additionally, it may open a door for arbitration tribunals to establish compatibility between the standards of investor protection and sustainable development principles such as precaution and public participation.

Latest Quaternary slip rates of the San Bernardino strand of the San Andreas fault, southern California, from Cajon Creek to Badger Canyon

Abstract Four new latest Pleistocene slip rates from two sites along the northwestern half of the San Bernardino strand of the San Andreas fault suggest the slip rate decreases southeastward as slip transfers from the Mojave section of the San Andreas fault onto the northern San Jacinto fault zone. At Badger Canyon, offsets coupled with radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages provide three independent slip rates (with 95% confidence intervals): (1) the apex of the oldest dated alluvial fan (ca. 30–28 ka) is right-laterally offset ~300–400 m yielding a slip rate of 13.5 +2.2/−2.5 mm/yr; (2) a terrace riser incised into the northwestern side of this alluvial fan is offset ~280–290 m and was abandoned ca. 23 ka, yielding a slip rate of 11.9 +0.9/−1.2 mm/yr; and (3) a younger alluvial fan (13–15 ka) has been offset 120–200 m from the same source canyon, yielding a slip rate of 11.8 +4.2/−3.5 mm/yr. These rates are all consistent and result in a preferred, time-averaged rate for the past ~28 k.y. of 12.8 +5.3/−4.7 mm/yr (95% confidence interval), with an 84% confidence interval of 10–16 mm/yr. At Matthews Ranch, in Pitman Canyon, ~13 km northwest of Badger Canyon, a landslide offset ~650 m with a 10Be age of ca. 47 ka yields a slip rate of 14.5 +9.9/−6.2 mm/yr (95% confidence interval). All of these slip rates for the San Bernardino strand are significantly slower than a previously published rate of 24.5 ± 3.5 mm/yr at the southern end of the Mojave section of the San Andreas fault (Weldon and Sieh, 1985), suggesting that ~12 mm/yr of slip transfers from the Mojave section of the San Andreas fault to the northern San Jacinto fault zone (and other faults) between Lone Pine Canyon and Badger Canyon, with most (if not all) of this slip transfer happening near Cajon Creek. This has been a consistent behavior of the fault for at least the past ~47 k.y.

The Normal-Faulting 2020 Mw 5.8 Lone Pine, Eastern California, Earthquake Sequence

AbstractThe 2020 Mw 5.8 Lone Pine earthquake, the largest earthquake on the Owens Valley fault zone, eastern California, since the nineteenth century, ruptured an extensional stepover in that fault. Owens Valley separates two normal-faulting regimes, the western margin of the Great basin and the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada, forming a complex seismotectonic zone, and a possible nascent plate boundary. Foreshocks began on 22 June 2020; the largest Mw 4.7 foreshock occurred at ∼6 km depth, with primarily normal faulting, followed ∼40 hr later on 24 June 2020 by an Mw 5.8 mainshock at ∼7 km depth. The sequence caused overlapping ruptures across a ∼0.25 km2 area, extended to ∼4 km2, and culminated in an ∼25 km2 aftershock area. The mainshock was predominantly normal faulting, with a strike of 330° (north-northwest), dipping 60°–65° to the east-northeast. Comparison of background seismicity and 2020 Ridgecrest aftershock rates showed that this earthquake was not an aftershock of the Ridgecrest mainshock. The Mw–mB relationship and distribution of ground motions suggest typical rupture speeds. The aftershocks form a north-northwest-trending, north-northeast-dipping, 5 km long distribution, consistent with the rupture length estimated from analysis of regional waveform data. No surface rupture was reported along the 1872 scarps from the 2020 Mw 5.8 mainshock, although, the dipping rupture zone of the Mw 5.8 mainshock projects to the surface in the general area. The mainshock seismic energy triggered rockfalls at high elevations (>3.0 km) in the Sierra Nevada, at distances of 8–20 km, and liquefaction along the western edge of Owens Lake. Because there were ∼30% fewer aftershocks than for an average southern California sequence, the aftershock forecast probabilities were lower than expected. ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system, provided first warning within 9.9 s, as well as subsequent updates.

Provenance of Pennsylvanian–Permian sedimentary rocks associated with the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny in southwestern Laurentia: Implications for continental-scale Laurentian sediment transport systems

AbstractThe Ancestral Rocky Mountains system consists of a series of basement-cored uplifts and associated sedimentary basins that formed in southwestern Laurentia during Early Pennsylvanian–middle Permian time. This system was originally recognized by aprons of coarse, arkosic sandstone and conglomerate within the Paradox, Eagle, and Denver Basins, which surround the Front Range and Uncompahgre basement uplifts. However, substantial portions of Ancestral Rocky Mountain–adjacent basins are filled with carbonate or fine-grained quartzose material that is distinct from proximal arkosic rocks, and detrital zircon data from basins adjacent to the Ancestral Rocky Mountains have been interpreted to indicate that a substantial proportion of their clastic sediment was sourced from the Appalachian and/or Arctic orogenic belts and transported over long distances across Laurentia into Ancestral Rocky Mountain basins. In this study, we present new U-Pb detrital zircon data from 72 samples from strata within the Denver Basin, Eagle Basin, Paradox Basin, northern Arizona shelf, Pedregosa Basin, and Keeler–Lone Pine Basin spanning ∼50 m.y. and compare these to published data from 241 samples from across Laurentia. Traditional visual comparison and inverse modeling methods map sediment transport pathways within the Ancestral Rocky Mountains system and indicate that proximal basins were filled with detritus eroded from nearby basement uplifts, whereas distal portions of these basins were filled with a mix of local sediment and sediment derived from marginal Laurentian sources including the Arctic Ellesmerian orogen and possibly the northern Appalachian orogen. This sediment was transported to southwestern Laurentia via a ca. 2,000-km-long longshore and aeolian system analogous to the modern Namibian coast. Deformation of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains slowed in Permian time, reducing basinal accommodation and allowing marginal clastic sources to overwhelm the system.

Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language by Nimachia Howe

Reviewed by: Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language by Nimachia Howe Peter Bakker Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language. nimachia howe. Louisville, Colo.: Utah State University Press, an imprint of University Press of Colorado, 2019. Pp. xv + 161. Price: $22.95 (paper). The young Blackfoot scholar Nimachia Howe, curator and archivist in Montana, has published a remarkable study about the stories of the Blackfoot trickster Naapi. The language referred to in her title is, of course, Blackfoot, or Siksika as it is called by its speakers. (The nickname Blackfoot or Blackfeet supposedly comes from the fact that their moccasins were often black because they would walk in places where fires had burned the prairie grass.) “Language” here can probably also be interpreted metaphorically. According to the biographical blurb on the back cover, the author is “an Indigenous philosopher and educator who specializes in environmental philosophy and landscape literature.” With the word “language” in the title, a linguist would hope to get a linguistic analysis as well. The book is an intellectual tour de force. The author has studied all the available printed sources of trickster stories of the Blackfoot, and also manuscripts, as well as the analyses of them by indigenous and nonindigenous observers—scholars, missionaries, tribal leaders, and short-term visitors. The book is written in a decorative style, intellectual yet intelligible, accessible yet flowery. Her writing style is amazing, and her choice of vocabulary wide-ranging. I read her book with interest, pleasure, and awe for her broad knowledge and intelligent observations. As a linguist, however, I was somewhat disappointed. The four chapters of the book are rather abstract. The author states that the text was intended to be an introduction to an anthology of Blackfoot trickster stories. If one does not know the genre of trickster stories, I would recommend that readers start with the six-page appendix, which contains five brief trickster stories: Naapi flees his enemies, and changes himself into a rock that can still be seen; Naapi meets a woman, he ties a bell to her dress, and she helps him shoot bison, but later she discovers that he has no eyes; Naapi, when rejected by women, turns into a lone pine tree. Many of the stories are connected to certain locations, such as a place near Red Deer River where Naapi slid down a hill with his toboggan. One of the storytellers said, “Napioa [Naapi] is the Secondary Creator of the Indians. There are two kinds of stories told concerning him. One class reveals him in the character of a good man, and the other class as a bad man. He is not, however, a man, but a supernatural being, able to perform deeds which no human could perform” (p. 135). The first chapter deals with the language background as well as the semiotic background; the author connects the Blackfoot language with Plains Indian Sign Language and the meanings of animal tracks as signs. The second chapter deals with the name of the trickster, including the loss of a final syllable through time (as above: Napioa to Naapi). Chapter 3 deals with traditional and untraditional interpretations of Naapi stories, and chapter 4 provides a new view of the stories. Reading the book, one gets the impression that the author is privileged as an indigenous person, in that she better understands the deeper background of the trickster stories than an outsider would. She criticizes several approaches, and proposes her own complex analysis of the wider meaning of the stories. She has one foot in indigenous [End Page 192] philosophy, but she also has a good grasp of modern Western, perhaps also postmodern, science. On the one hand, she links the Naapi stories to similar narrations in other North American Indian traditions, most often of the Algonquian groups. A reader who does not know anything about the Blackfoot language, or Algonquian languages, or the diversity of languages of the world, will find that the remarks about Blackfoot in this book provide a very exotic image of the language. For a typologist, however, the exotic traits constitute just another solution among the range of structural and grammatical choices: special, yes, but far from unique. Blackfoot is...

Sedimentary and drainage evolution of the Condamine Valley Transition Zone (eastern Australia)

The basal succession of the Condamine Valley, which overlays the boundary between the Surat and Clarence-Moreton basins (eastern Australia), contains a clay-rich horizon ‘the Transition Zone’ that marks a pronounced unconformity between the Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures and the Quaternary Condamine Alluvium. This paper provides insights into the tectonic and drainage evolution of the Condamine Valley through integrated analysis of U–Pb ages of detrital zircon from three samples (494 concordant analyses), stable oxygen isotope analysis on eight authigenic clay samples, X-ray fluorescence of primary and trace elements, and hyperspectral mineral analysis from two drill cores (Lone Pine 17 and Daandine 164). The Transition Zone is interpreted to consist of both weathered Jurassic sediments and Cenozoic clay deposits. Two sequential cycles of erosion, deposition and pedogenesis, related to geomorphological and climatic conditions are recognised. Distinctive oxygen isotope signatures of the two weathering fronts demonstrated an initial Early Cretaceous phase (δ18O = 11.9–15.7‰ VSMOW) associated with laterisation and possible uplift, followed by Paleogene (δ18O = 16.4–17.3‰ VSMOW) silcretisation of reworked Jurassic sediments. Detrital zircon geochronology yielded Jurassic maximum constraints for the age of deposition of three samples that are indistinguishable within error, the oldest of which (163 ± 8 Ma from the lateritic profile) corresponds to the age of the underlying Walloon Coal Measures. The two overlaying samples from a silcrete profile and granular alluvium yielded overlapping yet younger ages of 150 ± 6 Ma and 156 ± 9 Ma, respectively. Vitrinite reflectance used as a proxy for the thermal condition of the coal strata enabled an estimated 2–3 km of burial and subsequent (likely Early Cretaceous) uplift. Geochemical insights from the Condamine Valley correspond to broad-scale climatic and tectonic conditions, suggesting that ‘transition zone equivalents’ and corresponding groundwater dynamics may occur in similar sedimentary settings throughout eastern Australia.

Information and settlement: Empirical evidence on Daubert rulings and settlement rates

In 1993, the Supreme Court established a new standard for the admissibility of expert evidence with its decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Although whether Daubert actually has increased the reliability of expert evidence remains an open question, empirical research generally suggests that Daubert has increased the judicial role in expert testimony as the number of challenges has increased. An unexplored topic to date is how Daubert outcomes impact litigation outcomes. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining how Daubert outcomes in federal district court affect the likelihood and timing of settlement. This paper also fits into the larger empirical literature that explores how information flows impact settlement. The sample of 2127 Daubert motions made in 1017 private cases from 91 federal district courts, spanning from 2003–2014, and involving 57 different causes of action provides the most comprehensive overview of Daubert practice in federal courts to date. The main empirical results suggest that defendant Daubert wins (plaintiff wins) are associated with a reduction (increase) in the likelihood of settlement. Results from duration analysis suggest that longer pendency time for Daubert motions are associated with lower settlement rates (a 4–7% reduction in the rate of settlement for every month that a Daubert motion goes undecided). Decomposition finds that the indirect effect of Daubert pendency (delay due to the reduction in communication between parties while Daubert motions pend before the court) accounts for the majority (70%) of the measured reduction in the settlement rate. One way that courts might reduce the cost of litigation if they were to adopt “Lone Pine”-type procedures that structure expert discovery and concomitant Daubert motions early, especially when expert testimony is required to prove certain elements of a claim.

Information & Settlement: Empirical Evidence on Daubert Rulings and Case Outcomes

In 1993, the Supreme Court established a new standard for the admissibility of expert evidence with its decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Although whether Daubert actually has increased the reliability of expert evidence remains an open question, empirical research generally suggests that Daubert has increased the judicial role in expert testimony as the number of challenges has increased. An unexplored topic to date is how Daubert outcomes impact litigation outcomes. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining how Daubert outcomes in federal district court affect the likelihood and timing of settlement. This paper also fits into the larger empirical literature that explores how information flows impact settlement. The sample of 2,127 Daubert motions made in 1,017 private cases from 91 federal district courts, spanning from 2003-2014, and involving 57 different causes of action provides the most comprehensive overview of Daubert practice in federal courts to date. The main empirical results suggest that defendant Daubert wins (plaintiff wins) are associated with a reduction (increase) in the likelihood of settlement. Results from duration analysis suggest that longer pendency time for Daubert motions are associated with lower settlement rates (a 4-7 percent reduction in the rate of settlement for every month that a Daubert motion goes undecided). Decomposition finds that the indirect effect of Daubert pendency (delay due to the reduction in communication between parties while Daubert motions pend before the court) may account for the majority of the measured reduction in the settlement rate. These results suggest that courts might reduce the cost of litigation if they were to adopt “Lone Pine”-type procedures that structure expert discovery and concomitant Daubert motions early, especially when expert testimony is required to prove certain elements of a claim.

“Face to face” or “side by side”?: Eroticized Friendship in Malcolm Saville’s Lone Pine Series

This article analyzes Malcolm Saville’s popular mid-twentieth-century Lone Pine series, reflecting on what is at stake in Saville’s attempts to secure a mixed-gender readership by tempering the boy’s-own-adventure trappings of the stories with a quieter attentiveness to emotional nuance. It charts the precarious balancing act involved in the representation of adolescent desire for a pre-adolescent readership, examining how Saville’s novels sought to satisfy the demands of the erotic within a form (children’s adventure-story series fiction) that cannot accommodate the gratification of desire, or at least can accommodate it only as a finale.

Tellurium resources in New Mexico

Tellurium (Te) is one of the least abundant elements in the crust and tends to form minerals associated with gold, silver, bismuth, copper, lead, and zinc sulfide deposits. There are no primary tellurium mines in the world; most tellurium production comes from the anode slimes generated in metal refining, primarily from copper porphyry deposits. Tellurium is used as an alloying agent in iron and steel, as catalysts, and in the chemical industry. However, future demand and production could increase because tellurium is progressively used in thin film cadmium-tellurium solar panels and some electronic devices. In New Mexico, anomalous amounts of tellurium are found associated with porphyry copper deposits, as well as with gold-silver vein deposits, but were not considered important exploration targets in the past. The only tellurium production from New Mexico has been from the Lone Pine deposit (Wilcox district) in the Mogollon Mountains, where approximately 5 tons of tellurium ore were produced. Gold-tellurides are found with gold, silver, pyrite, and fluorite in fracture-filling veins in rhyolite at Lone Pine, with reported assays as much as 5,000 ppm Te. Tellurium-bearing deposits also are found in the Organ Mountains, Sylvanite, Tierra Blanca, Grandview Canyon, and Hillsboro districts. Additional detailed sampling and geologic mapping are required of the New Mexico deposits to fully understand the mineralogy and economic potential of tellurium.

5. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Disputes

In 2015, an important decision was issued under Chapter 11 of NAFTA in the case of Clayton/Bilcon v Government of Canada. This decision received a substantial amount of publicity as a result of its potential impact on the future implementation and application of environmental regulations by NAFTA states. Details of this decision are set out in the second section of this review. Although the notice of arbitration filed against Canada in 2014 in the case of JML Heirs LLC and J.M. Longyear LLC v Government of Canada was withdrawn in 2015, other cases that consider the question as to whether, and when, regulations that are allegedly introduced by states to protect environmental goods or aims can fall foul of the provisions of Chapter 11 of NAFTA, continue to progress. In particular, there were procedural developments in the cases of Lone Pine Resources Inc. v Government of Canada, Windstream Energy LLC v Government of Canada, Mercer International Inc. v Government of Canada, and Mesa Power Group LLC v Government of Canada. There were also developments in the long-running dispute of Mobil Investments Inc. and Murphy Oil Corporation v the Government of Canada. These developments are discussed further in the third section of this review.

Lock the Gate: Fracking, Investor-State Dispute Settlement, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership

There has been much debate about the relationship between international trade, the environment, biodiversity protection, and climate change.The Obama Administration has pushed such issues into sharp relief, with its advocacy for sweeping international trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. There has been much public concern about the impact of the mega-trade deals upon the protection of the environment. In particular, there has been a debate about whether the Trans-Pacific Partnership will promote dirty fracking. Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership transform the Pacific Rim into a Gasland?There has been a particular focus upon investor-state dispute settlement being used by unconventional mining companies. Investor-state dispute settlement is a mechanism which enables foreign investors to seek compensation from national governments at international arbitration tribunals. In her prescient 2009 book, The Expropriation of Environmental Governance, Kyla Tienhaara foresaw the rise of investor-state dispute resolution of environmental matters. She observed:'Over the last decade there has been an explosive increase of cases investment arbitration. This is significant in terms of not only the number of disputes that have arisen and the number of states that have been involved, but also the novel types of dispute that have emerged. Rather than solely involving straightforward incidences of nationalization or breach of contract, modern disputes often revolve around public policy measures and implicate sensitive issues such as access to drinking water, development on sacred indigenous sites and the protection of biodiversity.'In her study, Kyla Tienhaara observed that investment agreements, foreign investment contracts and investment arbitration had significant implications for the protection for the protection of the environment. She concluded that ‘arbitrators have made it clear that they can, and will, award compensation to investors that claim to have been harmed by environmental regulation.’ She also found that ‘some of the cases suggest that the mere threat of arbitration is sufficient to chill environmental policy development.’ Tienhaara was equally concerned by the ‘possibility that a government may use the threat of arbitration as an excuse or cover for its failure to improve environmental regulation.’ In her view, ‘it is evident that arbitrators have expropriated certain fundamental aspects of environmental governance from states.’ Tienhaara held: ‘As a result, environmental regulation has become riskier, more expensive, and less democratic, especially in developing countries.’ This article provides a comparative analysis of the battles over fracking, investment, trade, and the environment in a number of key jurisdictions – including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Part 1 focuses upon the United States. Part 2 examines the dispute between the Lone Pine Resources Inc. and the Government of Canada over a fracking moratorium in Quebec. Part 3 charts the rise of the Lock the Gate Alliance in Australia, and its demands for a moratorium in respect of coal seam gas and unconventional mining. Part 4 focuses upon parallel developments in New Zealand. This article concludes that Pacific Rim countries should withdraw from investor-state dispute settlement procedures, because of the threat posed to environmental regulation in respect of air, land, and water.

Characterization of Lone Pine, California, tremolite asbestos and preparation of research material.

Well-characterized amphibole asbestos mineral samples are required for use as analytical standards and in future research projects. Currently, the National Institute for Standards and Technology Standard Reference Material samples of asbestos are listed as 'Discontinued'. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a goal under the Asbestos Roadmap of locating and characterizing research materials for future use. Where an initial characterization analysis determines that a collected material is appropriate for use as a research material in terms of composition and asbestiform habit, sufficient amounts of the material will be collected to make it publicly available. An abandoned mine near Lone Pine, California, contains a vein of tremolite asbestos, which was the probable source of a reference material that has been available for the past 17 years from the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) in the UK. Newly collected fibrous vein material from this mine was analyzed at Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) with some additional analysis by the US Geological Survey's Denver Microbeam Laboratory. The analysis at RTI International included: (i) polarized light microscopy (PLM) with a determination of principal optical properties; (ii) X-ray diffraction; (iii) transmission electron microscopy, including energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected-area electron diffraction; and (iv) spindle stage analysis using PLM to determine whether individual fibers and bundles of the samples were polycrystalline or single-crystal cleavage fragments. The overall findings of the study indicated that the material is tremolite asbestos with characteristics substantially similar to the earlier distributed HSL reference material. A larger quantity of material was prepared by sorting, acid-washing and mixing for sub-division into vials of ~10g each. These vials have been transferred from NIOSH to RTI International, from where they can be obtained on request.

Allergen of the Month—Western Dock

The genus Rumex contains around 200 species of temperate climate weeds widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. [1] Judd W.S. Campbell C.S. Kellogg E.A. Stevens P.F. Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA1999: 252-256 Google Scholar About two dozen species are found in North America: evenly divided between native and introduced. [2] Lewis W.H. Vinay P. Zenger V.E. Airborne and Allergenic Pollen of North America. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore1983: 167-171,234 Google Scholar Western dock, Rumex occidentalis (synonym R. aquaticus) is native to North America but is also found throughout Europe. It is found throughout most of Canada, and the western and northeastern United States. R. occidentalis prefers moist to wet meadows, stream-banks, shorelines, tide-flats and beaches, in elevations up to 3000 m. 2 Lewis W.H. Vinay P. Zenger V.E. Airborne and Allergenic Pollen of North America. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore1983: 167-171,234 Google Scholar , 3 Kershaw L. MacKinnon A. Pojar J. Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, AB, Canada1998: 260 Google Scholar , 4 Ells J. Rocky Mountain Flora. Colorado Mountain Club Press, Golden, CO2006: 214 Google Scholar , 5 Pojar J. MacKinnon A. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, AB, Canada1994: 130 Google Scholar , 6 Polunin O. Flowers of Europe: A Field Guide. Oxford University Press, London1969: 65-68 Google Scholar The leaves of docks are generally edible, though bitter due to tannins and oxalates. When grazed on in excess, docks may result in livestock loss, although poisoning has not been reported with humans. [7] Harrington H.D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque1967: 90-92 Google Scholar Dock roots have been used by Chippewa Indians in poultices for itching and skin eruptions. [8] Densmore F. How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts. Dover Publications, New York1974: 350-351 Google Scholar Several Rumex extracts show cancer inhibitory activity. [9] Lajter I. Zupkó I. Molnár J. et al. Antiproliferative activity of polygonaceae species from the Carpathian Basin against human cancer cell lines. Phytother Res. 2013; 27: 77-85 Crossref PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar

On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine: Archaeological Paradigms and the Chaco “Tree of Life“

AbstractThe great houses of Chaco Canyon (ca. A.D. 850–1150) are widely assumed to represent cosmological meaning through the orientation of walls and other features to celestial events. Archaeological models of such relationships are considered cosmographic. A prominent feature of these models is a lone pine tree at Pueblo Bonito that has been interpreted as a “tree of life” symbolically connecting the physical and heavenly worlds. This study suggests that this interpretation is inconsistent with contextual data and should be dismissed. Future cosmographic research in Chaco should endeavor to develop methods of independent verification that will strengthen inferences about cosmological symbolism in architecture.

A Tribute to Alexander Saxton, 1919–2012

Amerasia Journal is honored to publish tributes to UCLA History Professor Alexander Saxton (1912-2012), who passed away on August 20, 2012 in Lone Pine, California.

KOALAS' BELLOWS BOAST ABOUT SIZE

Koalas have a well-earned reputation for being dopey. Sleeping 19 h out of every 24 h, and feeding for 3 h of the remaining 5 h, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else in their lethargic lifestyle: that is until the mating season. Then the males begin bellowing. Benjamin Charlton from the University of Vienna, Austria, explains that they probably bellow to attract females and to intimidate other males. But what messages could these rumbling bellows communicate about their senders (p. 3414)?According to Charlton, they could be telling nearby listeners about their size. He explains that there was a possibility that koalas may be one of the few animals that have a descended larynx, which makes the vocal tract longer. Also, because all pipes – including vocal tracts – have frequencies where the air inside them vibrates naturally and amplifies sound, larger animals with longer vocal tracts produce lower resonances, giving their voices a more baritone quality. So, the longer vocal tracts of the largest koalas should produce deeper resonances to tell the listening koala audience just how big they are. Intrigued, Charlton, Tecumseh Fitch and their colleagues decided to find out whether male koalas have descended larynxes.Teaming up with Allan McKinnon at Moggill Koala Hospital and Gary Cowin and William Ellis at the University of Queensland, Australia, Charlton investigated the anatomy of the marsupial's vocal tract. Using MRI and post-mortem studies, the team found that the koala's larynx had descended to the level of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae, instead of being high in the throat. They were also surprised to find that the muscle that attaches the larynx to the sternum was anchored very deep in the thorax and they suggest that it could be involved in pulling the larynx even further down into the chest cavity.But what effect does the koala's deeply descended larynx have on the acoustics of their bellows? Travelling to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, home to 140 koalas, Charlton patiently recorded their rumbling bellows. He also measured the animals' head sizes, with the help of Jacqui Brumm and Karen Nilsson, as skull size is a good proxy for body size.Back in the lab, Charlton analysed the bellows' spectra and found that the largest males always had lower resonances than the smaller animals. More surprisingly, when Charlton calculated the koala's vocal tract length based on their acoustics, he was astonished to find that the koalas were able to make themselves sound as if they had 50-cm-long vocal tracts, nearly the entire length of the animal. In fact, the diminutive animals sound even larger than bison. Charlton suspects that koalas use the resonances of the oral and nasal tracts simultaneously to sound much larger than they are.So, koala males are able to communicate their size, with the largest animals producing the richest baritone bellows. Charlton also suspects that the males' boastful bellows could have driven the evolution of their descended larynxes. ‘Individuals that could elongate their vocal tracts by lowering the larynx may have gained advantages during sexual competition by sounding larger, and this would drive the evolution of laryngeal descent,’ he says.

Mary Austin and the American West (review)

Reviewed by: Mary Austin and the American West Karen S. Langlois Mary Austin and the American West. By Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. 344 pages, $29.95. This biography is a wonderful addition to scholarship on the writer Mary Hunter Austin (1868–1934). The biographical details add to the information that is available in Austin's autobiography, Earth Horizon (1932), and in two previous biographies. Beautifully written and wonderfully researched, it will prove indispensable to those who are familiar with Austin's work while also appealing to a wider audience. Austin is best remembered for writing the California classic The Land of Little Rain (1903). She has a vast oeuvre—thirty books in a wide variety of genres, including nature writing and long and short fiction, as well as articles, plays, and poetry. Her subjects range from her beloved desert landscapes and the people who inhabited them to the important issues of her day. Many readers are familiar with the general contours of her early life—her birth and youth in Carlinville, Illinois; her graduation from Blackburn College; her trip west at age twenty; her marriage to Stafford Wallace Austin. These are detailed in the biography's first chapter titled "Desert Places." Her years in California, which were the inspiration for many of her finest works, were also the period of two of her greatest heartbreaks: the realization that her only child was mentally disabled and the understanding that her married life would fail. The biography covers Austin's life in the high desert towns of Lone Pine, Independence, and Bishop; her move to the literary colony of Carmel, California, after her separation from her husband; and her travels to England and Italy. Later chapters consider her life in New York City and her eventual relocation to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lived until her death at age sixty-four. Goodman and Dawson examine her literary work and her association with important figures of her day, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lincoln Steffens, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Lou and Herbert Hoover. They also explore her activism in many of the important issues of her time, including the diversion of Owens Valley water to Los Angeles, women's rights, Native American rights, and the preservation of Native American and Spanish Colonial arts. In the last chapter, "The Accounting," they offer a summary of Austin's legacy. For all its merits, the biography does not displace Austin's engaging autobiography, which, though unwieldy, is poetic and insightful. It also does not negate the straightforward, no-nonsense insights of Austin's [End Page 104] first biographer, Augusta Fink, in I-Mary (1983). Furthermore, it does not attempt to ground Austin in American studies and feminist theory, the approach of Esther F. Lanigan in her critical biography, Mary Austin: Song of a Maverick (1989). Goodman and Dawson do offer more detailed information on Austin's life and times. Eventually, the book brings to mind a significant question. What genuine new insights are offered by this third biographical narrative of Austin's life? In that, the biography somewhat disappoints. In addition to her achievements, Austin is also distinctive for her theatrical, unconventional personality. For example, in Carmel, the thirty-eight-year-old Austin was noted for wearing flowing robes and writing in a tree house she called her "wickiup." In 1922, at a dinner in her honor at the New York City National Arts Club, she was escorted by a young Chickasaw artist, who was dressed in quill embroidered buckskin and wore a flamingo feather headdress and a necklace made out of alligator teeth. In addition to her eccentricities, Austin was known for being insufferably egotistical. She also had a well-earned reputation for exaggerating or disregarding facts. The challenge to biographers is to capture her complex persona. Scholars who are familiar with her correspondence know all too well that Austin could fly into a rage and hurl insults at her family, friends, and professional associates. Austin was, on various occasions, referred to as "the Priestess at Delphi" because of her know-it-all approach, "God's Mother-in-Law" because of her imperious attitude, and "Sitting Bull...