Northwest New Research Articles

Vanishing and Returning Heroes: Ambiguity and Persistent Hope in an Unea Island Legend

Abstract: Throughout Melanesia, there are stories of creative heroes who leave their people. The tale of Mataluangi is told in Unea, an island in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The legend of the snake hero is related to its ethnographic context and the story is analyzed to show its conformity to a type of origin myth, vuvumu, that is prevalent in Unea. It is suggested that the structure of this well-known legend and other vuvumu stories influence contemporary politics in Unea as well as how Islanders perceive their history and possible future.Throughout Melanesia, there are stories of creative heroes who leave their people. Peter Lawrence (1964, 1988) traced the development of such stories in Northeastern New Guinea and investigated the political implications of the persistent belief that their heroes will return. This article follows Lawrence in exploring the story of a hero who left and who, like Manup and Kilibob in Lawrence's (1964) account, became the focus of millenarian beliefs. The hero is Mataluangi and his former home is the island of Unea, the most densely populated of the Vitu Islands, a group located northwest of the Willaumez Peninsula in Northwest New Guinea. The article briefly describes the island and local ideas about the cosmos so that the story can be placed in a wider epistemological context. Then it discusses a type of legend, vuvumu, and analyzes the story of Mataluangi, a representative of this narrative type. I suggest that through their local connotations, structural patterns and symbolic significance, legends act as templates on which the Islanders construct versions of their past and future.The Island and Its PeopleUnea is a rugged island approximately six miles in diameter. Three mountains, Kumbu, Tamongone and Kumburi, rise from within an encircling crater wall. The steep upper slopes of Kumbu and Tamongone are covered with primary forest, but the population has risen rapidly in the past 30 years and gardens and coconut plantations now cover Kumburi and encroach on the upper slopes of the other mountains. At lower elevations, the soil is fertile but there are also cliffs, precipitous slopes and lava flows that cannot be cultivated. Stones and boulders protrude from the undergrowth, stand beside paths and adorn settlements.The principal garden crop is the yam, but bananas are important and in the past taro was grown. Before the extensive planting of coconuts and cocoa led to a seasonal dependency on imported rice, plentiful tree crops supplied food for the lean period preceding the yam harvest and provided dietary variety. Unea Islanders are nostalgic about the fruit trees, not only because they provided food but because they distinguished Unea from the mainland which, they claim, is covered with useless trees. Despite the size of the island, there was once a division between seaboard people who specialized in fishing and inland people who hunted wild pig. There was both formal and informal exchange of these specialties. Now the distinction between fishermen and hunters is blurred, because most people catch fish occasionally and there are no more wild pigs.Before contact, Unea was divided into four or more regions, each consisting of several seaboard and inland parishes linked by intermarriage. Parishes were divided into hamlets occupied predominantly by patrilateral extended families. This settlement pattern changed when the Australian administration insisted that large villages be built, but families are now returning to old settlement sites. Women usually move to their husband's residence on marriage but descent is cognatic, so children do not lose their rights in maternal land. The majority of men are locally affiliated with their father's groups, but some use their mother's land and most give labour to both parental groups.Unea lineages are between six and sixteen generations deep. An individual claims membership in several, tracing relationships through all four grandparents. …

Geochemical anomalies at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary, northwest New Mexico

A high-resolution section of 64 carbonates and calcareous shales from northwest New Mexico, spanning the Cenomanian-Turonian (C—T) boundary, is examined for selected elemental concentrations as well as carbon isotopic and molecular distributions. Spatial and temporal sampling resolutions for the entire sample set are 1 spl/19 cm and 1 spl/33 ka, respectively. In proximity to the C—T boundary, respective spatial and temporal resolutions increase to 1 spl/10 cm and 1 spl/17 ka. Results show the occurrence of several geochemical anomalies, all with coincident maxima at about 0.5 m below the C—T boundary. Stable carbon isotope ratios of the kerogen and the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon fractions increase by approximately 4% within 20 m of the boundary; this entire C—T boundary event isotope anomaly occured over approximately 2.5 Ma. A 5-fold increase in the concentrations of U and Th occurs synchronous with the isotope excursion, although this [U + Th] spike occurs over a period of only 0.2–0.3 Ma. Elevated U and Th concentrations at this spike co-occur with (a) the highest 20S/(20S + 20R) sterane epimer ratios, (b) C 27/C 27–30 sterane homolog ratios and (c) the lowest n-alkane yields in kerogen pyrolyzates. These observations suggest an effect of radiogenic heat production on the organic matter in the section. The origin of the carbon isotope excursion is attributed, as in previous studies, to atmospheric CO 2 drawdown in latest Cenomanian time, caused by rapid burial of organic matter due to a global marine transgression. The U and Th spike is probably secondary, perhaps resulting from adsorption of these elements onto clays concentrated at the C—T boundary. Although the occurrence of coeval maxima for these isotopic and elemental anomalies suggests a common cause, extrapolation of the CO 2 drawdown model to explain the [U + Th] anomaly is unwarranted at this time. Ongoing mineralogical analysis of clays and carbonates close to the C—T boundary in the Red Wash section may ultimately explain the occurrence of this U and Th spike.

Art of Northwest New Guinea: From Geelvink Bay, Humboldt Bay and Lake Sentani.

Art of Northwest New Guinea: From Geelvink Bay, Humboldt Bay and Lake Sentani.

Archaeomagnetic Dating and the Bonito Phase Chronology

A method is presented for the reanalysis of a large archaeomagnetic data set from the Chaco Canyon region in northwest New Mexico, U.S.A., for which virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) position data have not been reported. Reanalysis based upon the archaeomagnetic curve model SWCV590-CSU resulted in large age ranges. The level of precision reported in the past was not reproducible given available data. The consistent lateness of archaeomagnetic dates reported by Robert DuBois is accounted for by recent research that has altered segments of the archaeomagnetic curve. Archaeomagnetic and tree-ring data from the Late Bonito phase Chacoan community of Bis sa'ani are used to contrast the results of two different methods of interpretation. Factors that have influenced the composition of the archaeomagnetic data base are identified. Recommendations are made for reporting archaeomagnetic dates.

Feedback linearizing excitation control on a full-scale power system model

A type of feedback linearizing excitation control is simulated on a very large (5000-bus) model of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council System. The control is implemented on two groups of machines, one in the New York City/Long Island area and one in the Lake Ontario area of New York State. A series of system faults is simulated, the most serious involving the loss of a very large portion of the transmission capacity from Northwest New York State to the New York City area, under extreme loading conditions. The nonlinear control prevents a breakup of the system which would otherwise result in a widespread blackout, at the expense of a rise in the system voltage at the Lake Ontario end. Simulations are also run with PSS/static exciter combinations on the same groups of generators, as a rough comparison of the performance of conventional vs. feedback linearizing control.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The Effect of Selenium on Soil Suitability as Root Zone Material at Navajo Mine, New Mexico

The root zone suitability limits for spoil Se at Navajo Mine in northwest New Mexico are currently 0.8 ppm total Se and 0.15 ppm hot-water soluble Se. These criteria were largely developed by the Office of Surface Mining using data from the Northern Great Plains. Applying these values, approximately 23% of the spoil volume and 47% of the spoil area sampled at Navajo Mine from 1985 to December 1993 were determined to be unsuitable as root zone material. Secondary Se accumulator plants (Atriplex canescens) growing in both undisturbed and reclaimed areas were randomly sampled for selenium from 1985 to December 1993. In most cases the undisturbed soil and reclaimed spoil at these plant sampling sites were sampled for both total and hot-water soluble Se. Selenium values for Atriplex canescens samples collected on the undisturbed sites averaged 0.64 ppm and ranged from 0.20 ppm to 2.5 ppm. Selenium values for the plants growing on spoil ranged from 0.02 ppm to 7.75 ppm and averaged 1.07 ppm. Total and hot-water Se values for spoil averaged 0.66 ppm and 0.06 ppm respectively, and ranged from 0.0 to 14.2 for total Se and 0.0 ppm to 0.72 ppm for hot-water soluble Se. The plantmore » Se values were poorly correlated to both total and hot-water soluble Se values for both soil and spoil. Therefore, predicting suitable guidelines using normal regression techniques was ineffective. Based on background Se levels in native soils, and levels found on reclaimed areas with Atriplex canescens, it is suggested that a total Se level of 2.0 ppm and a hot-water soluble Se level of 0.25 ppm should be used to represent the suitability limits for Se at Navajo Mine. If these Se values are used, it is estimated that less than 1% of the spoil volume would be unsuitable. This volume of spoil seems to be a more accurate estimate of the amount of spoil with unsuitable levels of Se than the estimated 23% using the current guidelines.« less

Effects of One and Two Seasons of Irrigation on Vegetal Response, Navajo Mine, Northwest New Mexico

Effects of One and Two Seasons of Irrigation on Vegetal Response, Navajo Mine, Northwest New Mexico

Evaluation of Desert Bloom Plus, Ion Moisture Film in Reclamation Efforts, Navajo Mine, Northwest New Mexico

Reclamation practices at Navajo Mine involve the establishment of native vegetation on mined lands. Currently, this involves corporation of a grass hay mulch into the soil following seeding. The mulch retards moisture loss and impedes wind erosion. Reclamation areas are characteristically irrigated for two seasons. In 1992, management of Navajo Mine became interested in finding an alternative to the use of grass hay mulch that would be readily available year to year, be of consistent quality and cost, less expensive to apply, sterile, and as good as or better than hay mulch in its ability to maintain consistent soil moisture. A commercially available chemical product, Desert Bloom Plus, manufactured by Hydra-Soil International, is a possible replacement for mulch. A study implemented in June 1993, sought to compare vegetal performance using mulch and Desert Bloom (DBP) in irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. Test results indicate a significant positive response of mean total cover, mean perennial grass and mean annual forb cover to irrigation. There were no differences comparing DBP, Mulch, and DBP-Mulch in either irrigated or non-irrigated treatments. Mean total cover and annual forb cover values of DBP-Mulch treatments tend to be slightly higher than mean total cover and annual forb covermore » values of Mulch treatments in irrigated and non-irrigated treatments.« less

The application of spatial‐perceptual wilderness mapping to protected areas management in New Zealand

Abstract The paper examines the application of a spatial‐perceptual approach to the wilderness management issue of preserving natural ecological processes while also permitting appropriate wilderness use in protected areas. An approach to delimit the spatial extent of multiple perceptions of wilderness held by backcountry users is used—the wilderness perception mapping (WPM) methodology. The results obtained from employing the WPM.methodology are considered for the North West Nelson region of New Zealand. The map product provides new and useful information that has applicability to protected areas management. The role of WPM is discussed with reference to wilderness management in North West Nelson and New Zealand, and to protected areas management in general. The study demonstrates how a technology can be combined with a critical and sensible analysis of needs and procedures to give useful results, and highlights the value of applied interdisciplinary research.

Another tyrannosaurid dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Northwest New Mexico

In the November 1990 (Vol. 64, no. 6) issue of the Journal of Paleontology, Lehman and Carpenter described an Aublysodon, which at the time was believed to be the most complete Carnosaur known from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Shale of northwestern New Mexico. Recently, a more complete specimen, considered to be a tyrannosaurid dinosaur on the basis of a proximally constricted third metatarsal and a partial D-shaped (in cross section) premaxillary tooth (Molnar, 1990), has been brought to the attention of the Museum of Geology at Arizona State University by an amateur paleontologist who recognized its scientific importance after obtaining it from an individual in New Mexico. The remains of this dinosaur, collected in northwestern New Mexico sometime in late 1989 or early 1990 by unknown persons, include both cranial and skeletal material (Figure 1.1).

EVALUATION OF TWO DISEASE FORECASTING SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING EARLY BLIGHT ON TOMATO IN NEW JERSEY.

Two disease forecasting systems - FAST, Pennsylvania State University and CUFAST, Cornell University - were used to generate spray schedules for controlling Alternaria solani Ell. and Mart. on `Celebrity' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) at The Rutgers Snyder Research and Extension Farm in Northwest New Jersey. Disease control was compared to that obtained following standard weekly spray schedules. Chlorothalonil, 1.5 lb/A, was used for disease control for all treatments. Disease ratings of the FAST and CUFAST plots were significantly lower than that of the unsprayed control and were not significantly different from the plots sprayed according to standard spray schedules. A total of 10 fungicide applications were made following FAST recommendations; 7 applications were made following CUFAST recommendations; 13-15 applications were made following standard recommended schedules. Using CUFAST resulted in an estimated $200 per acre savings in spray costs. Chemical name used: tetrachloroisophtalonitrile (chlorothalonil).

Subsidence in New Orleans: A Photographic Case History of the Lakeview Subdivision

ABSTRACT The development of New Orleans' strategic location as the major port city on the lower Mississippi River required the drainage of extensive cypress swamps and marshes as well as protection from river flooding and hurricane storm surges. New Orleans overcame these natural barriers, grew rapidly and prospered during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, the early development of the city was confined largely to the higher ground of the broad natural levees along the Mississippi and to the smaller natural levees along Bayou Sauvage and Bayou Metairie. In order to accommodate expansion during the first decade of the twentieth century, a series of drainage canals were dredged, each equipped with a large, heavy duty electric pump. These canals drained large areas of cypress swamp in the central and northern part of the city. The Lakeview subdivision, located in northwest New Orleans, was built on drained cypress swamp land near Lake Pontchartrain. Land filling was begun in the early 1920's and continued through the 1930's. Most of the structures in the neighborhood are single family dwellings constructed during the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. The older homes were built on raised foundations supported by masonry pillars. When constructed on drained cypress swamp, they nearly always require periodic levelling and other foundation maintenance. Many of the later houses were built on concrete slab foundations. Some of the early slab foundations were poured directly on the ground, but this technique proved unsatisfactory, as the unsupported slabs quickly settled and cracked in the soft underlying swamp sediment. In order to stabilize slab foundations, a slab-on-piling foundation was developed, in which a concrete foundation cap is poured over a base of driven wooden foundation pilings. A series of photographs were taken over a 51 year span of time, during which a single family lived in the residence on Colbert Street in Lakeview. These photographs illustrate the periodic subsidence of the adjacent land relative to the house, which was constructed in 1941. The house, built using the slab-on-piling technique, is located near the center of Lakeview between the 17th Street Canal on the west and the Orleans Canal on the east. Subsidence rates documented in the photographs are related in time to modifications in the pumped drainage system. The series of photographs, dating from the construction of the house in 1941 to the present, document periods of incremental subsidence, which now totals 32 inches (81 cm). End_of_Record - Last_Page 857-------

A new genus of alonine chydorid cladocerans from athalassic saline waters of New South Wales, Australia

A new genus (Celsinotum) and three new species are described from intermittent athalassic saline waters in the Paroo region of northwest New South Wales, which have TDS varying from 2.8 to 14.0 g l-1. The species are large, thin, high-bodied, and have a pronounced keel on the shell but not on the head. The marginal armature of the postabdomen consists entirely of clusters of fine spinules. Most strikingly, the males have 12 terminal aesthetascs on the antennule, and in addition have 5 or 6 equally long accessory aesthetascs arising laterally. Alona taraporevalae from India presumably also has this character, but a comparison of the two species indicates they are not closely related. The taxa bear a general similarity to Alona diaphana from Australia, but a close comparison shows that they, too, are unrelated. A. diaphana has a prominent spine arising from the basal segment of the antennal exopod, the two IDL (= inner distal lobe) setae on trunklimb I have a much coarser setulation distally than in Celsinotum, and on the postabdomen the postanal portion is always considerably longer than the anal, and the marginal armament consists of single setae distally and clusters of only a few setae proximally. Besides, the species is smaller, the body is wider and less high, and the shell although weakly ridged is not keeled. The male has 9 terminal aesthetascs and no accessory lateral ones. In athalassic saline waters around the world the number of anomopod species declines negative exponentially in relation to salinity. Many of the freshwater species persist into the 3 to 10‰ range without any difficulty, some occur in abundance up to 30‰, and a few even extend into the hypersaline range. Chydorids, though, except for a very few species, do not tolerate salinities higher than about 15‰, and none of them seem adapted to these salinities and confined to them. Celsinotum, though, possibly is so adapted, as it did not occur in other basins of the region with lower salinities, and it is not presently known from other regions. Having different but closely related congeneric taxa in nearby lakes of the same region seems surprising. The three species of Celsinotum are very similar in most details of morphology, but they vary significantly in body proportions, the number of denticle clusters on the postanal portion of the postabdomen, and in such seemingly minor details as the amount of expansion of the labral plate. Such taxonomic differentiation, which has been observed in other groups of organisms as well, is believed to have arisen from the extreme temporal isolation of these waterbodies, those in the Paroo region normally containing water only once every 5 to 20 years.

A Sequence Stratigraphic Study of the Tangaroa Sandstone, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand: ABSTRACT

Seismic sequence interpretation of the Tangaroa Sandstone, combined with detailed biostratigraphic analysis, well log interpretation, and core descriptions, confirm the Tangaroa as a late Eocene-early Oligocene, sand-rich, submarine fan complex within the Taranaki basin of northwest New Zealand. The Tangaroa Sandstone is underlain by deep-water shales (Eocene Kaiata Formation) and overlain by a thick deep-water limestone (Oligocene Te Kuiti Formation), and typically consists of two, 25-150-m-thick vertically stacked sandstones, separated by a thin (8 m) limestone. Seismic isochron thickness maps of the Tangaroa interval display a fan-shaped geometry. Internal seismic facies are dominated by erosional channels and progradational wedges. The erosional channels, to 1-5 km wide and approximately 70-150 m thick, are interpreted as upper to mid-fan feeder channels. Thin progradational wedges are located basinward of the channels. Paleobathymetic data, based on micropaleontology, indicate a shelf-to-deep-water genesis of the Tangaroa. Conventional core data suggest that the Tangaroa comprises fine- to coarse-grained clastics that were deposited by debris flows, liquefied flows, and turbidites. Using seismic sequence techniques, verified by biostratigraphic control, the Tangaroa Sandstone is subdivided into two sequences: the Lower Tangaroa sequence and the Upper Tangaroa sequence, which formed during two distinct relative lowstands in sea level. The intervening limestonemore » and the overlying Te Kuiti Limestone, apparently were deposited during periods of relative highstands in sea level. The Eocene Oligocene boundary is located in the thin limestone of the Lower Tangaroa sequence.« less

Dinetah: A Reevaluation of Pre-Revolt Navajo Occupation in Northwest New Mexico

Dinetah: A Reevaluation of Pre-Revolt Navajo Occupation in Northwest New Mexico

Fluvial Sandstone Beds in Petrified Forest Member of Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, Northwest New Mexico and Northeast Arizona: ABSTRACT

Distribution, lithology, and fluvial style of sandstone and conglomerate beds in the upper part of the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation provide new interpretations of Chinle stratigraphy and environments of deposition. Newly described sandstone beds near Taaiylone, Mitchell Draw, and Crazy Woman Canyon in the Grants-Gallup region, lie, respectively, 60, 110, and 180 m stratigraphically above the top of the widespread Sonsela Sandstone Bed. The Correo Sandstone Bed, exposed on the south flank of Mesa Gigante, 75 km east-southeast of Grants, has been miscorrelated with the sandstone at Mitchell Draw. Subsurface data indicate that the Correo occurs stratigraphically above the other sandstone beds, near the top of the Petrified Forest Member.

Facies Architecture of Tocito Shelf Sandstone, Northwest New Mexico: ABSTRACT

Facies Architecture of Tocito Shelf Sandstone, Northwest New Mexico: ABSTRACT

A comparative study of the quality status of Condor Wheat grown in Northern Victoria and Southern New South Wales

Australian Wheat Board quality advisers had formed the opinion that Condor wheat (Trificum aestivum L.) grown in north-west Victoria possessed weaker dough properties than that grown in southern New South Wales, even at similar grain protein contents. Samples of commercially grown Condor wheat from north-west Victoria and southern New South Wales were collected by Australian Wheat Board field officers to objectively investigate this observation. Testing of these samples indicated Condor grown in north-west Victoria to have significantly weaker dough properties than that grown in southern New South Wales. Doughs were less tolerant to mixing in the farinograph and had reduced extensograph maximum resistance, even when there was no difference in protein content between the samples from the two regions. The reduced dough strength in the Victorian samples was associated with lower nitrogen: sulfur ratios and residue protein content and fewer rheologically important disuifide groups per 50 g of flour. These differences were presumed to have resulted from some aspect of the environment during plant growth and development.

Unfolding the Wadati-Benioff zone in the Kermadec-New Zealand region

As the deep seismic zones are associated with subducted oceanic crust, it is important to establish the extent and continuity of each of these zones, using consistent earthquake locations. Then the former oceanic crust can be restored to the surface of the Earth by unfolding the seismic zone about the trench. This unfolded crust should be used in plate reconstructions. This process has been carried out for the deep seismic zone in the Kermadec-New Zealand region, where the deep seismic zone is defined by a careful selection of I.S.C. hypocenters and the former oceanic crust is established by unfolding. Plate reconstructions using two sets of rotation poles show that the deepest parts of the observed seismic zone along its length were not subducted at the same time. Further the currently observable zone is not directly associated with earlier volcanism in northwest New Zealand between 6 and 20 Ma ago.

Hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater surrounding an earthen waste disposal pit for produced water in the Duncan oil field of New Mexico.

Samples of groundwater and soil were collected from test pits placed 25 m intervals on five axes extending from an earthen waste disposal pit for produced water near the San Juan River of northwest New Mexico. Samples were obtained at depths of 1.2 to 1.5 m and were analyzed using GC and GC/MS techniques for purgable hydrocarbons, including benzenes, and for solvent extractable organic compounds. Water samples from test pits down-gradient from the disposal pit contained purgable and extractable hydrocarbons that were similar to contents of the waste disposal pit. In contrast, water samples obtained from test pits up-gradient from the waste pit were free of detectable organic components. Major purgable components in the waste pit and in surrounding groundwater included saturated/unsaturated hydrocarbons and aromatic/alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons. Samples collected 25 m from the waste pit contained concentrations of all compounds greater than in samples taken at 50 m in distance on the same exis. Total concentration of purgable aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater from test plots ranged from a high of 200 ppb at 25 m, to a low of 12 ppb at 50 m on an axis through the plume center.