North-East Land Research Articles

Cropland redistribution to marginal lands undermines environmental sustainability.

ABSTRACTCropland redistribution to marginal land has been reported worldwide; however, the resulting impacts on environmental sustainability have not been investigated sufficiently. Here we investigated the environmental impacts of cropland redistribution in China. As a result of urbanization-induced loss of high-quality croplands in south China (∼8.5 t ha–1), croplands expanded to marginal lands in northeast (∼4.5 t ha–1) and northwest China (∼2.9 t ha–1) during 1990–2015 to pursue food security. However, the reclamation in these low-yield and ecologically vulnerable zones considerably undermined local environmental sustainability, for example increasing wind erosion (+3.47%), irrigation water consumption (+34.42%), fertilizer use (+20.02%) and decreasing natural habitats (−3.11%). Forecasts show that further reclamation in marginal lands per current policies would exacerbate environmental costs by 2050. The future cropland security risk will be remarkably intensified because of the conflict between food production and environmental sustainability. Our research suggests that globally emerging reclamation of marginal lands should be restricted and crop yield boost should be encouraged for both food security and environmental benefits.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CYANOPROKARYOTES FLORAS OF EUROPEAN POLAR DESERT AND TUNDRA ZONES

A comparative analysis of the floras of cyanoprokaryotes at European high latitudes was carried out. The analysis relied on information from the literature and data from own longterm research in the polar desert of the Svalbard archipelago. We sampled cyanobacteria in four sites of the North-East Land Island. Both original and published data on biodiversity were used in the analysis. The data were uploaded to the CYANOpro database (http://kpabg.ru/cyanopro/). The studied cyanoprokaryotes flora of European polar deserts has 176 taxa and is characterized by low diversity. The flora of the southerner tundra zone comprises 437 species. The similarity of the floras of European polar deserts and tundras is as low as 44 %. The causes of the low biodiversity are extreme ecological conditions – low temperatures, short growing season are limiting factors for the growth of most species. The studied floras of the North-East Land Island share much of their species composition. Differences between these floras are mainly due to the variation of geological conditions. Cyanoprokaryotes in Arctic ecosystems occupy a wide range of habitats. A notable reduction in the species diversity of typical aquatic cyanoprokaryotes from south to north is one of the main features of freshwater ecosystems at high latitudes. In polar desert conditions, the species composition and biomass of planktic and benthic cyanoprokaryotes are very poor. The cyanoprokaryotes diversity in the tundra zone increases markedly. There is a tendency for a reduction in the species diversity of the subaerophytic and aerophytic groups, but the areas occupied by cyanobacterial communities, on the contrary, increase, owing to a lower competition.

Нефтегазоносность Путоранского свода и сопредельных территорий на северо-востоке Курейской синеклизы

Нефтегазоносность Путоранского свода и сопредельных территорий на северо-востоке Курейской синеклизы

Diversity of the Cyanoprokaryota in polar deserts of Innvika cove North-East Land (Nordaustlandet) Island, Spitsbergen

The study of polar deserts cyanoprokaryotes up to now is few. Foremost this is connected with difficulty visiting of the area. The paper presents the results of a study of сyanoprokaryota on the southern coast of Innvika cove (Fotherbyfjorden bay, North-East Land Island, Spitsbergen archipelago). A total of 74 taxa were observed in various habitats of investigated area. Nine species are reported for the first time for Spitsbergen flora. Gloeocapsopsis magma (20 observations), Nostoc commune (19), Microcoleus autumnalis (17) were the most common species in the investigated samples. The most number of species (42) was found on wet rocks. The similarity Sorensen index between wet rock species, seepage species and pools species is very high. It can mean that for many species the only necessary preference in habitat is a rock substrate and wetting. Most similar are the flora of the Innvika area and flora of the west part of Oscar II Land (61%).

Diversity of the Cyanoprokaryota in polar deserts of Rijpfjorden east coast, North-East Land (Nordaustlandet) Island, Spitsbergen

Diversity of the Cyanoprokaryota in polar deserts of Rijpfjorden east coast, North-East Land (Nordaustlandet) Island, Spitsbergen

Agricultural Science Graduate Student Education and Public Scholarship

Public scholarship is central to the mission of land–grant universities and colleges of agriculture. Changes in the socioeconomic and political context of higher education signify that the future of public higher education institutions increasingly will depend on strong institutional commitment to engagement with the community. Changes in the global food system make such engagement particularly relevant for colleges of agriculture and future faculty will need to be prepared accordingly. While research on public scholarship has become more prevalent, this scholarship rarely considers the preparation of graduate students for future careers as public scholars. This study describes the extent to which graduate students at a Northeast land–grant college of agriculture are knowledgeable about and involved in promoting the land–grant mission of public scholarship. In spring 2007, graduate students were surveyed about their graduate education programs. Graduate students in life science programs were significantly less likely to know about the land–grant mission, as well as significantly less likely to participate in extension and outreach activities, than graduate students in social science programs. Our results highlight the importance of expanding the notion of graduate education to provide all graduate students with competencies necessary for building partnerships beyond the campus.

Chemical and Morphological Variation in the Cetraria islandica Complex in Iceland

A study of collective lichen species Cetraria (L.) Ach. based upon some 3,000 individuals from 100 localities in Iceland shows that extreme morphological variation is not correlated with chemical variation (presence or absence of fumarprotocetraric acid). This is in striking contrast to high correlation of chemical and morphological characters in this species complex on European mainland, which serves there as basis for separation of C. sens. str. and C. ericetorum Opiz. Differences in geographical distribution of chemical characters, fertility, and range of morphological variability indicate that there are two ecological races in Iceland: 1) fumarprotocetraric acid-producing, nonfertile race with rather narrow morphological variability, mainly distributed along coasts and in more oceanic southern part of country, and 2) morphologically and chemically variable race (with or without fumarprotocetraric acid), frequently fertile, and distributed throughout Central Highlands and northern Iceland. In latter race, frequent occurrence of both chemical types within same morpho-phenotype at individual localities indicates that gene exchange may occur between fumarprotocetraric acid-producing and fumarprotocetraric acid-lacking plants. The related species Cetraria (L.) Ach. and C. ericetorum Opiz have long been considered distinct in Europe. Originally they were distinguished by morphological characters only, C. having broad, flat to involute lobes with numerous white pseudocyphellae all over lower side, and C. ericetorum having narrow, almost tubular lobes and lacking pseudocyphellae on lower side except along revolute edge. After thallus spot test with p-phenylendiamine (PD) was introduced, specific distinction of these taxa was strengthened by fact that all specimens of C. showed PD+ medullary reaction and all specimens of C. ericetorum PDreaction. But as later became apparent, this situation prevails only in Europe. Lynge (1921) considered C. ericetorum (then called C. crispa) a proper species, well separated from C. islandica after he studied lichen flora of Norway. His opinion changed, however, after experience with these taxa in Arctic. In his work on Greenland (1932) he wrote the specific difference is much less distinct in Arctic than in southern regions. After testing all of his specimens of C. 1 This study was supported by Grant No. GB-6041X from National Science Foundation. I thank Dr. William Louis Culberson for valuable suggestions and aid in preparing this paper and Dr. Chicita F. Culberson for help with chemistry. 2 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.45 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 04:46:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1969] KRISTINSSON: CETRARIA ISLANDICA IN ICELAND 345 complex from Spitsbergen and North-East Land with PD, he said (Lynge, 1938): ... well known morphological characters are so confluent, that they do not warrant reliable identification alone. We might, perhaps, quite as well unite . . . [C. and C. ericetorum] into one species with two types which are distinct chemically. Imshaug (1957) commented upon distinctness of variation in C. complex in Europe and confusing variation in it outside Europe and discussed possible history of group. Ahti (1964) pointed out that delimitation based upon chemical characters alone leads to very unnatural species grouping in this complex and suggested that separation based on morphological and ecological grounds may be possible-even though this would lead to inclusion of different chemical races within each species. Krog (1968) recorded different chemical constituents in C. specimens from Alaska, variation not only with regard to presence or absence of fumarprotocetraric acid but also with regard to rangiformic acid. The purpose of present paper is to analyze morphological and chemical variation in Cetraria group in Iceland. It is part of broad study of total lichen flora of that country.

Rubidium–strontium Ages from North-East Land (Spitsbergen)

Hamilton, Harland and Miller1 have shown that igneous and metamorphic rocks from West Spitsbergen indicate Caledonian ages, which are consistent writh stratigraphic, structural and petrological evidence. A vast thickness, probably more than 15 km, of Precambrian to Lower Palaeozoic sediments (Hecla Hoek) are consistent with a picture of a geosyncline2. Less than 20 miles to the east the adjacent island of North-East Land (Nordauslandet) consists of undeformed crystalline basement overlain by only 4–5 km of Hecla Hoek sediments. In some areas deeper parts of the basement are exposed in anticlines, while the adjacent synclines contain folded sediments. Sandford3,4 concluded from stratigraphical and structural evidence that an unconformity is present between the sediments and the basement, and that intrusive granodiorites occur in the lower part of the sediments. Either an unconformity exists between the Hecla Hoek sediments and the crystalline basement or there has been continuous deposition to the Lower Palaeozoic (compare with ref. 5), in which igneous activity is only related to the deeper part of the sedimentary pile.

Problems of radiocarbon dating of raised beaches, based on experience in Spitsbergen1

During The summers of 1957 and 1958 the junior author served as glacial geologist with the Swedish Glaciological Expedition to Nordaustlandet (North-East Land), Spitsbergen (Fig. 1). One of the main objectives was to establish an absolute chronology of events leading to the partial deglaciation of this island.

The stratigraphy and structure of the Hecla Hoek formation and its relationship to a subjacent metamorphic complex in North-East Land (Spitsbergen)

Summary The stratigraphical succession of the lower part of the Hecla Hoek Formation in North-East Land, previously known in regions separated one from another, is co-ordinated. The geology of Prins Oscars Land (Rrjps Peninsula), where A, E. Nordenskiöld made observations nearly a hundred years ago, is described and interpreted for the first time. Except for eastward thinning out of basal volcanic and pyroclastic rocks, and their replacement by argillaceous beds, there are few facies changes; thicknesses remain fairly consistent across the strike for some sixty miles. The upper part of the formation is present only in north-western part of North-East Land and beneath the West Ice. The sediments are thrown into successive plunging folds, which end in the east against a newly identified fracture belt, here called the Dove Bay fault, with strike parallel to the fold axes. The structure of the metamorphic complex beneath the Hecla Hoek Formation is totally at variance with that of the overlying sediments, and the Dove Bay fault cuts the complex transversely. Verification of the disjunctive relationship of the Hecla Hoek sediments to the surface of the metamorphic complex, described in an earlier paper, is evident. The stratigraphical and structural relationships of the unmetamorphosed Pre-Cambrian-Lower Palaeozoic Hecla Hoek with the metamorphic complex of the Barents Shield in North-East Land present analogies with those known in Norway and Great Britain, but the subject is not elaborated here.

The Geology of Isis Point, North-East Land (Spitsbergen)

Summary Isis Point, a rocky island-promontory among the ice-cliffs forming the east coast of North-East Land, consists entirely of igneous and metamorphic rocks. On the north coast, as already known, metamorphosed sediments are intimately invaded by a grey granite; at Isis Point amphibolites are prominent among the metamorphic rocks and the stressed grey granite occurs. Quartz-diorites, scarcely known elsewhere in North-East Land, occur as dykes and veins in the complex and are younger than it. Granodiorites, the now wellknown red and pink “granites” of North-East Land, have field relations similar to those of the diorites; aplite and pegmatite associated with the granodiorites cut the diorites. The granodiorites are younger than, or in part coeval with, the diorites; both are usually unstressed. Evidence based on morainic material from Isis Point suggests that Upper Carboniferous rocks rest directly on the igneous and metamorphic complex nearby, overstepping the sediments of the Hecla Hoek Formation from west to east. Some of the rocks of Isis Point outcrop on the coast farther north and in Great Island and White Island to the north-east; it is logical to associate them with the “Archaean” basement of Barents Shelf. Eastward, the Upper Carboniferous sediments occur in Victoria Island. The paper is a sequel to that by the author published in 1950. I. Introduction Two earlier papers describe rocks collected at Isis Point (Sandford 1926, 1950). The first mentions (p. 620) an isolated diorite, of which a specimen was brought back by a member of the 1924 Oxford expedition (Binney

Geology and geomorphology in Southern Nordaustlandet (North-East Land), Spitsbergen

The paper is a detailed analysis of 150 sq. mi. of an Arctic island. Some new data concerning the Carbo-Permian and Triassic rocks are presented and evidence is submitted, which points to the dolerite intrusions being sills. Raised beaches up to 400 ft. above sea level are described and various types of shoreline are differentiated. Comments are made on glacial geomorphology and the ice-margin is shown to have fluctuated in recent years. The glacier-caps in the interior of the island are now all but stagnant.

Observations on the geology of the northern part of North-East Land (Spitsbergen)

From Mr. P. E. Fairbairn :— Dr. Sandford's demonstration that in North-East Land a gneissic-granitic core is older than the Cape Hansteen Formation will come as a considerable relief to those Spitsbergen workers who have never felt quite comfortable about deriving all metamorphic types in the archipelago from the Hecla Hoek sediments by dynamic metamorphism and granitiz-ation. During my brief visit to the upper portion of the Lomme Bay Glacier in 1932 I was struck by the same point that Dr. G. W. Tyrrell has raised in his contribution to the discussion (p. 491) on Dr. Sandford's paper: namely the close proximity (two miles) of the eastern sedimentary to the western metamorphic rocks without any sign of transition. It was tantalizing to find that, for as far north as I was able to search for it, the contact zone was effectively concealed by the glacier. Evidence in favour of a transitional relationship in this area rests on Odell's observations in the neighbourhood of Mt. Irvine, which agree with those of Fleming and Edmonds on the Gullfaxe Glacier, 30 miles to the north. That metamorphosed representatives of the Hecla Hoek sediments do occur is proved beyond doubt, but I agree with Dr. Tyrrell that until further detailed work has been carried out in the upper part of the Lomme Bay Glacier, and until continuity of structure along the west wall of the glacier has been proved, we are safer in assuming a faulted or unconformable contact there. I wonder whether Dr.

Observations on the geology of the northern part of North-East Land (Spitsbergen)

Summary The paper describes the geology of the northern part of North-East Land, between 80° 30' N. and 80° N. and from 20° E. to 28° E., and refers also to rock outcrops on the east coast. The greater part of the interior is covered with land-ice. Oskar Kulling described the isoclinally folded succession of Hecla Hoek sediments in the north-west region, in which he found Lower Palaeozoic brachiopods near the top and a tillite below them, regarded as Eo-Cambrian. The subjacent beds are referred to the Pre-Cambrian and the succession known so far is more than 4000 metres thick; there are no strong unconformities. There was, therefore, Pre-Cambrian-Lower Palaeozoic continuity of deposition in the arctic part of the " Caledonian geosyncline ". The Hecla Hoek sediments are traced eastward in a pitching syncline between two anticlines, and the lowest divisions are identified. Fine-bedded shales and some other beds alternate with arenaceous rocks laid down in shallow water : some of the latter, low in the succession, bear ripple-marks and problematic impressions, some possibly of organic origin. Some of the shales display rhythmic bedding. The sediments as a whole accumulated in a neritic zone of a subsiding sea-floor, and the relative altitude of the land varied from time to time. The geosynclinal nature of the sea is evident, especially in the mountains of western Spitsbergen, built from its deposits at some time during the Lower Palaeozoic, and it is thought that the continental zone lay in the east, with its Archaean basement. In the mountains of Spitsbergen some rock-groups have arisen from the regional metamorphism of Hecla Hoek sediments, and they have been traced one into the other, notably by Fleming and Edmonds in Ny Friesland (North-East Spitsbergen). Granitization has also been invoked by Orvin and others. In North-East Land the lowest Hecla Hoek sediments are substantially without metamorphic grade. Beneath them lies a crystalline complex of schists and gneisses invaded by grey granites here regarded as granites sensu stricto , to be distinguished from pink-red granites—here recognized as felsic granodiorites—which penetrate not only the schists, gneisses and grey granites but at least the lower part of the Hecla Hoek sediments. The granodiorites are certainly pre-Upper Carboniferous; diorites may be associated with them, in addition to pegmatites and quartz veins. A broad classification and sequence of the igneous and metamorphic rocks is established. Thus it seems that in North-East Land the unaltered sediments are unconformable on the crystalline complex, from which rocks of low-grade metamorphism had previously been removed : the underlying rocks are, then, a core of greater age. An analogous core might have been present in Ny Friesland and have induced by its resistance to the stress of Lower Palaeozoic mountain-building the progressive grade of regional metamorphism in the adjacent Hecla Hoek sediments. There may thus be some comparison with structures in East Greenland. Obviously, not all metamorphic rocks in western Spitsbergen are Archaean, but consideration should be given to some dynamic function of already modified Archaean rocks in the Lower Palaeozoic (" Caledonian ") fold systems.

The Completed Map of North East Land

ALTHOUGH North East Land, the most easterly island of the Spitsbergen group, was known to the seventeenth-century whalers, it was relatively unexplored until some twenty years ago, except for an attempt by A. E. Nordenskjöld in 1873. The modern survey, begun by the Oxford University Expedition of 1924, was virtually completed by the Oxford Expedition of 1935-36, though some important work was done by the Swedish-Norwegian Expedition of 1931. The map published in the Geographical Journal of October 1937 is now revised in some minor and one major point by a new map in the Geographical Journal of October 1941 (A. R. Glen, “The Latest Map of North East Land”). This map makes use of the Norwegian aerial surveys of North East Land in 1938 which are not now accessible, and it shows one remarkable change. In the south a great lobe of the South Ice has overridden the coast on a thirteen-mile front and pushed ten miles out to sea. Recent investigations show that the ice of North East Land is in the main in retreat: small ice-free areas have been found on the east coast. This advance is probably purely local, and Mr. Glen suggests that it may be due to a tectonic disturbance or some internal glacial cataclysm. The whole surface of the ice lobe is heavily crevassed.

Hecla Hoek Rocks of New Friesland (Spitsbergen)

(I) In each of the areas examined the transition zone between the Hecla Hoek rocks of Eastern New Friesland and the more highly metamorphosed belt has been observed and the evidence points to a gradual increase in metamorphism westwards with the same general series of rocks involved. The rocks have been isoclinally folded and repetition occurs more especially on the east flank of the intensely metamorphosed zone. Usually only the Lower Murchison Bay Formation appears in the more highly folded belt, but it may well be that in the Stubendorff Mountains other rocks are also included.In the northern area, west of Treurenberg Bay, Blomstrand's recognition of a central core of granitic gneiss giving way on both sides to less highly metamorphosed types still stands as the most important contribution to the interpretation of the structure. Recent examination has revealed that the sequence of events has been a folding of the Lower Murchison Bay Formation followed shortly by igneous intrusion and metamorphism of the whole.In the Gullfaxe area isoclinally folded rocks of the Lower Murchison Bay Formation are associated with a quartz-felspargneiss. We have not been able to decide what this rock was originally. It may be either a metamorphosed igneous rock or an altered arkose. It appears to be concordant with the adjacent altered sedimentaries, but may be igneous material in some way related to the large granitic intrusion which lies farther west in this latitude.In the Lomme Bay area Odell observed the transition zone.(2) In the less altered zone to the east of the Duner Glacier we have been able to recognize the members of the Murchison Bay Formation as defined by Kulling, and the correlation is set out in Table I. The least satisfactory identification is of the Salodd and Raudstup Series. According to Kulling these Series have different characteristics in the Lomme Bay area from those which they show in North-East Land, and it may be that throughout New Friesland they attain neidier the thickness nor the distinctive character which is theirs in the type area. The presence of the other members of the Murchison Bay Formation and of the remarkable Sveanor Formation is well established.

The Latest Map of North East Land

IN the summer of I938 the Norges Svalbard og Ishavs-Undersokelser carried out an aerial survey of North East Land, basing this on the triangulations of the Russo-Swedish Expedition of 190o and of the Oxford University Arctic Expedition of I935-36. The war has made it impossible to obtain all the results of the 1938 expedition, although, while on a visit to Oslo in I939, I was given copies of many of the photographs. I also learnt that Dr. Gunnar Horn and Dr. Orvin were engaged in plotting the survey itself. A more recent visit to Spitsbergen however has resulted in my obtaining a copy of the first map embodying this survey, that of Dr. Orvin, the outline of which has been used in the map reproduced in this paper. It will be seen that, except in three localities, the north. coast remains exactly as mapped in 1935-36 by J. W. Wright. These exceptions all occur on the east side of Dove Bay, where bad weather had seriously interrupted Wright's work, and where his plane-table results were plotted in dotted lines as being tentative and subject to error. Instead of one, two glaciers from the East Ice should be shown as reaching the bay, the second being found at the very head of the inlet immediately to the east of Mount Louise Richard. The second correction is that the small inlet

A Sub-Arctic Glacier Cap: The West Ice of North East Land (Continued)

A Sub-Arctic Glacier Cap: The West Ice of North East Land (Continued)

A Sub-Arctic Glacier Cap: The West Ice of North East Land

T' ^HE glaciological research of the Oxford University Arctic Expedition 1935?36 was mainly concentrated on the West Ice of North East Land, but subsidiary observations were also made on other glacier caps. Part of the results have already been published. The object of this paper is to bring together the whole and to give a detailed description of the West Ice alone. In this way a picture can be given of what is believed to be a characteristic glacier cap. A tribute must be paid to the value of the previous work in this area, in 1924 by Dr. K. S. Sandford and in 1931 by Professor Ahlmann. Without the knowledge which was derived from their work, the 1935-36 programme could not have been carried out. The studies of Mr. Gerald Seligman on Alpine Glaciers have also been of the utmost value, and to each one of the above the 1935-36 expedition is greatly indebted for his unstinting assistance. The greater part of the physical research in North East Land was done at the central West Ice station by Mr. Moss, but useful information on marginal conditions, on glacial drainage, and on the geomorphology of the area was collected by Mr. J. W. Wright, and by Mr. A. Dunlop-Mackenzie. So many glacier classifications have been put forward during late years that the primary need would now seem to be the adoption of one system as a standard. Professor Ahlmann in 1933 suggested a dual system of classifica? tion, Physical and Morphological, which will be followed in this paper.1 His classification of physical types, Temperate, High-Arctic, arid glaciers, will be amended in one particular. Ahlmann makes no mention of ice bands in his description of glaciers, therefore it is suggested that: Sub-Arctic glaciers consist, at least in their accumulation areas, of crystalline firn, with intermittent ice bands, down to some considerable

Royal Geographical Society Awards

THE King has approved the award of the Royal Medals of the Royal Geographical Society as follows: Founder's Medal to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Ingrams, for their exploration, travel, and studies in the Hadhramaut; Patron's Medal to Lieutenant Alexander R. Glen, for his expeditions in Spitsbergen and North-East Land. The Council has made the following awards: Victoria Medal to Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, for his archaeological maps prepared for the Ordnance Survey and his work on the Tabula Imperil Romani; Murchison Grant to Mr. Peter Mott, for his surveys in West Greenland; Back Grant to Mr. Gerald Seligman, for his glacier studies on the Jungfraujoch; Cuthbert Peek Grant to Mr. John Hanbury-Tracy, for his work in south-eastern Tibet with Mr. Kaulback and his journey in the north of South America; Gill Memorial to Mr. Alexander King, for his work in Jan Mayen in 1938.