River Ranch Research Articles

A comparison of the Nzi, Horse Pal® and Bite-Lite® H-traps and selected baits for the collection of adult Tabanidae in Florida and North Carolina.

Despite the veterinary and medical importance of horse flies, deer flies, and yellow flies, only a few trap types have been evaluated to monitor adult population dynamics. Currently, three trap types are being utilized (H-trap, Horse Pal® (HP), and Nzi trap), but no head-to-head comparisons have been reported. Thus, we conducted comparative trapping studies in Florida and North Carolina. At two study sites in Florida, the efficacy of all three trap types was compared, but only the H-trap and HP were compared in North Carolina. Although trap type was significant at all sites, the trap type which caught the most specimens was not the same. In Florida at the Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge (LSWR) site, the H-trap caught the most specimens (2,006), followed in decreasing order by Nzi (938) and HP (541). At the Cedar Ridge Ranch site, the Nzi caught significantly more specimens (1,439) than the H-trap (215) and HP (161), which were not significantly different from each other. In North Carolina, the H-trap caught approximately twice as many specimens as the HP (1,458 vs 720). These trap comparison studies were followed up by a study on the efficacy of various bait combinations: (No Bait (NB), dry ice only (DI), Trap Tech Lure (TTL) only, and DI + TTL), which was conducted only at the two Florida sites with H-traps. At both sites, bait combinations significantly affected trap collections. One pattern (DI +TTL > DI > TTL > NB) was recorded at the LSWR, while at the Cedar River Ranch the pattern was DI > DI +TTL > TTL > NB. Our data showed that trap type and bait combination significantly influence overall adult tabanid abundance as well as individual species composition.

Benefits of disease-specific summer camps: Results from quantitative and qualitative studies at Roundup River Ranch

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to examine the benefits of disease-specific summer camps (DSSC) for children with chronic and/or life-threatening illnesses. MethodsParticipants were children (11–17 years) attending DSSC during summer 2015. The quantitative study evaluated positive affect, meaning/purpose, and peer relationships at three time points (before camp, one week after camp, and three months after camp). Linear mixed models assessed changes in outcomes before and after camp for new and returning campers. The qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with questions about camper mood, goals, and peer interactions, both at camp and at home. A two-phase thematic analysis was utilized with operational definitions of themes derived from Social Comparison Theory and Psychosocial Development Theory. ResultsCampers reported more positive affect, greater meaning and purpose, and improvement in quality of peer relationships one week after camp; however, changes were not maintained three months after camp. The most common benefit of DSSC identified in the interviews was self-efficacy, followed by emotional support and positive mood. Social comparisons were made by 74% of campers. Acceptance (i.e., by peers, of self, of illness) was the most common benefit maintained after camp. ConclusionsStudy results provide greater insight into the social, emotional, and developmental benefits of attending DSSC, and highlight avenues for future intervention or program development (e.g., community-based camp events, school/peer education programs). Further, results can be used to assist camp directors and planners with age and disease-specific programming as well as support fundraising efforts for DSSC.

Tracking sources of selected diamonds from Southern Africa based on carbon isotopic and chemical impurities

AbstractThe morphological, chemical impurities and carbon isotope properties of diamonds may reveal subtle details of their mantle source and growth characteristics, supporting efforts towards identifying their original place of harvesting. Here we investigate the mantle carbon and nitrogen sources and growth patterns from selected diamonds mined from four kimberlites: macro-sized diamonds from River Ranch kimberlite in Zimbabwe and the Swartruggens and Klipspringer kimberlitic deposits from South Africa, and micro-sized diamonds from the Klipspringer and Premier kimberlite intrusions in South Africa. Type IaAB diamonds are found in all the samples; Type IaB diamonds only occur in samples from the Swartruggens, River Ranch and Premier kimberlites. A single Type II diamond (nitrogen below the detection limit) was also observed in the River Ranch and Premier kimberlites. Both the micro- and macro-sized diamonds from Klipspringer have similar nitrogen contents. Based on the % B-defect, the diamonds from Klipspringer are grouped into low- and high-nitrogen aggregates (i.e. % of B-defect <40% and >56%, respectively) that likely represent two different diamond forming episodes. Time averaged mantle storage temperatures for Type IaAB diamonds are calculated to have been: 1060°C for Swartruggens; 1190°C for River Ranch; 1100°C (low aggregated); and 1170°C (highly aggregated) for Klipspringer, and 1210°C for Premier diamonds. The CL-images of the River Ranch, Klipspringer and Premier diamonds reveal multi-oscillatory growth zones. The carbon isotopic analyses on the diamonds reveal an average δ13CVPDB value of: -4.5‰ for Swartruggens; -4.7‰ for River Ranch; -4.5‰ for Klipspringer; and -3‰ for Premier. With the exception of the diamond from Premier, the average δ13C value of the diamonds are similar to the average δ13C value of the mantle (-5‰), which is similar to the occurrence of diamonds in the other kimberlites. The internal carbon isotopic variation of individual diamonds from Swartruggens, Klipspringer and Premier are less than 4‰, which is similar to the variability of most other diamond occurrences reported from elsewhere in the world. Up to 6.7‰ internal carbon isotopic variation was observed in a single diamond from River Ranch. The internal carbon isotopic studies of the diamonds reveal that the primary carbon in the Swartruggens and Klipspringer was derived from an oxidation of CH4-bearing fluid, whereas in the River Ranch the primary carbon was derived from the reduction of carbonate-or CO2-bearing fluids. The Swartruggens diamonds also reveal a secondary carbon sourced from a reduction of CO2- or carbonate-rich fluid or melt. Diamonds from Klipspringer exhibit a cyclic change in δ13C values that reflects fluctuation in a complex mantle perturbation system or periodic change in fugacity of the mantle. Based on this study, we conclude that, in principle, a selected range of diamond signatures might be used to fingerprint their origins; especially when linked to their other physical properties such as a low temperature magnetic signature.

"Dyin' ain't much of a livin'": The Ethics of Rebellion in The Outlaw Josey Wales

"Dyin' ain't much of a livin'":The Ethics of Rebellion in The Outlaw Josey Wales Erika Behrisch Elce (bio) Clint eastwood's role as the sympathetic outlaw Josey Wales (1976) presents students in my first-year literature classes at the Royal Military College of Canada with an ethical conundrum. The film and its eponymous hero underscore the slippery nature of morality in a time of war as well as the ethics of rebellion. The film dramatizes a scenario that may well become reality for some rmcc cadets, all of whom have dedicated at least a portion of their professional lives to upholding national values in a military context and have committed themselves to being potentially "lawfully ordered into harm's way under conditions that could lead to the loss of their lives" against people who might be much like Wales himself: disenfranchised, dispossessed, angry, and armed (Duty 26). In the film, Wales fights his nation's government; in the present day, my students have taken an oath to defend theirs, and yet Wales's antistatism is understandable, even admirable. This tension between personal and professional loyalties lies at the centre of student discussions of the film: How can Wales be a sympathetic character while defying the very system rmcc's officer cadets represent? Many critics have described The Outlaw Josey Wales as exclusively antistatist, particularly in its connection with the novel that inspired it: [End Page 65] "arch segregationist" Forrest (Asa) Carter's 1972 Gone to Texas is just one book in a series of fictional works that acted as platforms for Carter's consistent and "vehement political criticism" (Clayton 20, 21). Carter's true identity as a white supremacist was allegedly unknown "until just after the film was released," but nevertheless the film, like the book, on one level "portrays a valorized image of the victimized white American who wreaks havoc on an authoritarian state" (Lowndes 239, 238). Certainly, Wales spends most of the film evading capture by Union forces, and his several escapes from both Union and state-sponsored bounty hunters support this antistatist interpretation, implying as they do that happiness (and indeed, life) is achievable only beyond state jurisdiction. "Antistatist" may describe a significant part of the film's social comment, but not all of it; I would argue instead that, even in its hostility to the imposition of an organized state, the film is still decisively positive about the practice of ethical government. The film's portrayal of Wales at the centre of a new community—the Crooked River Ranch at Santa Rio—shows that he is not an anarchist but that he envisions and practises a style of governance that is simply (but profoundly) different from the destructive national policy he experiences at the hands of postwar Unionists. Two philosophical positions enrich our classroom discussion of Wales's moral standing by offering alternative perspectives on how to view his profoundly antisocial behaviour, showing it to be, although officially rebellious, deeply ethical. The first is the Canadian professional military ethos as articulated in Duty with Honour: The Profession of Arms in Canada (2003), a manual that all members of the Canadian Forces, including my students, are required to read and by which they must abide. Duty with Honour calls attention to the necessary direct correlation between national values and military action; officers and non-commissioned members alike "are dedicated to the national values of the country they are sworn to defend," values grounded in democracy and the rule of law (Duty 21). The government portrayed in Josey Wales, however, represents the destruction of the family unit, and, in rebelling against a system that destroys both his home and his livelihood, Wales does only what is necessary to ensure his own survival and that of others who eventually find themselves under his care. In this context, The Outlaw Josey Wales belongs to a rich tradition of ethical antistatism from Robin Hood to The Hunger Games, in which lone characters take on a hostile state in order to improve the lives of others. Wales's experience of government as a dehumanizing force (even after the war it continues to hunt him down) leads to the second...

Digging for Diamonds, Wielding New Words: A Linguistic Perspective on Zimbabwe's ‘Blood Diamonds’

The history of diamond mining in Africa is long, complex and heterogeneous. In post-colonial Zimbabwe, before 2006, two diamond mines operated, at River Ranch in Beitbridge and at Murowa in Zvishavane, which both had Kimberley Process Certification. However, the 2006 discovery of diamonds at Chiadzwa in Marange, near Mutare, brought about a dramatic change to Zimbabwe's mining landscape. Propelled by Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis, soon after this discovery of diamonds was made public, the Chiadzwa diamond fields were invaded by an avalanche of illegal diamond miners from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Chiadzwa became a dynamic site of struggle where new cultural and social identities, languages and consumption patterns emerged in a remarkably short space of time. This study delineates and explicates the new linguistic terms and expressions that rapidly developed among this new, transient community of illegal diamond panners at Chiadzwa, in order to describe their activities, experiences and interactions. The study focuses on the period 2006 to 2008 when the Zimbabwean crisis was at its worst, and the diamond rush was at its peak. Its aim is to analyse the linguistic strategies involved in these illegal miners' emergent ‘language’, and its socio-economic and political functions in the milieu of Chiadzwa. The article shows that as the illegal diamond miners at Chiadzwa were ‘digging for diamonds’ they were also, ‘wielding new words’, suggesting these phenomena are explicable through notions of ‘antilanguages’ and ‘antistructure’. By triangulating a phenomenological approach with interviews and observations, the study explores how Chiadzwa became a highly contested but hugely creative space in which a rich new ‘vocabulary’ was forged, that reflected the vagaries and complexities of life in the midst of a diamond rush, even as Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis worsened deeply around it.

Michael Seeger (1933-2009)

Michael Seeger (1933-2009) Neil V. Rosenberg Mike Seeger was born in 1933, the first of Ruth Crawford and Charles Seeger's four children. The Seegers, who were prominent avant-garde composers, had recently discovered folk music, and when Seeger was young, Saturday night folk singing had become a regular activity in their family. Raised in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., Seeger later spoke of learning "Barbara Allen" at the age of five. When his parents began transcribing music for John and Alan Lomax's Our Singing Country (1941), his home was filled with the sound of Library of Congress field recordings. Musical siblings Pete and Peggy shared in this journey. The Seeger housekeeper, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotton, gave him firsthand experience with what he would later call "Music from True Vine—the home music made by American southerners before the media age" (Seeger n.d.). In his late teens, Seeger taught himself to play string instruments and began meeting other young people who shared his musical interests. Some, like Hazel Dickens, came from families that had migrated from Appalachia to work in the capital region. Seeger and Dickens, who is now best known as a songwriter, were drawn to bluegrass, part of a group of young people who frequented country music parks, like New River Ranch in Rising Sun, Maryland, to hear shows by Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers. Seeger began taping these performances with a portable recorder, and he brought new friends like Ralph Rinzler, whom he met at the Swarthmore Folk Festival, to hear them. In 1956, Folkways Records' Moe Asch encouraged Seeger to record this music. The result, American Banjo Scruggs Style (1956), was the first of over twenty documentary albums, mainly field recordings, that Seeger produced for Asch in the next fifteen years. Many of these have been reissued by Smithsonian Folkways. In 1958, Seeger and a group of like-minded musicians founded The New Lost City Ramblers. Inspired by Harry Smith's 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, this group re-created music recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. They performed widely in the 1960s, making over twenty albums. As Seeger located and began playing with master musicians like Doc Boggs, who had made those old recordings, the focus of the The New Lost City Ramblers opened to embrace a broad spectrum of southern rural musics. They became leading advocates for the American old-time music movement. The New Lost City Ramblers continued to perform, albeit less frequently, until 2009. In later years, Seeger usually recorded and performed on his own or with musician friends, including Elizabeth Cotton, Doc Boggs, and the many others whose work he documented. He was a three-time Grammy nominee. From the 1970s on, awards and grants from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Guggenheim Foundation supported Seeger's research, and he worked as a consultant and board member for a variety of cultural organizations, particularly festivals. Recognition for his work came from the Society for American Music, the Rex Foundation, and others. He was a visiting scholar at California State University (Fresno) and the Smithsonian. Shortly after his death, the NEA gave Seeger the 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award, a prize that "recognize[s] an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage" (National Endowment for the Arts n.d.). Mike Seeger's metaphor of True Vine aptly describes his own Barbara Allen-like intertwining of study and performance. He inspired scholars and musicians alike (see, for example, Dylan 2004: 69-72). He used his keen intellect [End Page 329] and musical charisma to advocate generously for the understanding and preservation of the music cultures he knew and loved. Neil V. Rosenberg Memorial University Works Cited Dylan, Bob. 2004. Chronicles. Vol. 1. New York: Simon & Schuster. Google Scholar Lomax, John A., and Alan Lomax, eds. 1941. Our Singing Country: Folksongs and Ballads. New York: Macmillan. Google Scholar National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Recipients. http://www.arts.gov/news/news09/2009-NEA-Heritage-Fellows-Announced.html, accessed October 17, 2009. Seeger, Michael. n...

Extremely depleted lithospheric mantle and diamonds beneath the southern Zimbabwe Craton

Inclusion-bearing diamonds, mantle xenoliths, and kimberlite concentrates from the Cambrian-aged Murowa and Sese kimberlites have been studied to characterise the nature of the lithospheric mantle beneath the southern Zimbabwe Craton. The diamonds are mostly octahedral, moderately rich in nitrogen with moderate to high aggregation, and contain mainly dunite–harzburgite mineral inclusions. Similarly, dunite xenoliths predominate over harzburgite and lherzolite and carry olivines with Mg/Mg + Fe (Mg#) values of 0.92–0.95, spanning the average signatures for Kaapvaal Craton peridotites. Eclogitic xenoliths are extremely rare, in contrast to the Kaapvaal mantle lithosphere. The Zimbabwe mantle assemblage has been only slightly affected by later silicic metasomatism and re-fertilisation with re-introduction of pyroxenes in contrast to the Kaapvaal and many cratonic lithospheric blocks elsewhere where strong metasomatism and re-fertilisation is widespread. Pyroxene, garnet and spinel thermobarometry suggests an ambient 40 mW m − 2 geotherm, with the lithosphere extending down to 210 km at the time of kimberlite eruption. Whole rock peridotite Re–Os isotope analyses yield T RD model ages of 2.7 to 2.9 Ga, providing minimum estimates of the time of melt depletion, are slightly younger in age than the basement greenstone formation. These model ages coincide with the mean T RD age of > 200 analyses of Kaapvaal Craton peridotites, whereas the average Re–Os model age for the Zimbabwe peridotites is 3.2 Ga. The Os data and low Yb n /Lu n ratios suggest a model whereby thick lithospheric mantle was stabilised during the early stages of crustal development by shallow peridotite melting required for formation of residues with sufficiently high Cr/Al to stabilise chromite which then transforms to low Ca, high Cr garnet. Sulphide inclusions in diamond produce minimum T RD model ages of 3.4 Ga indicating that parts of the lithosphere were present at the earliest stages of crust formation in this area. Published mineral analyses for mantle xenoliths, diamonds and concentrate macrocrysts from the Venetia, River Ranch, Mwenezi and Chingwizi pipes which intrude the Limpopo Mobile Belt show strongly depleted peridotitic mantle signatures matching with the mantle beneath southern Zimbabwe. Published seismic velocity imagery suggests the presence of a deep lithospheric mantle keel beneath the Limpopo Mobile Belt today and Re–Os analyses of peridotite xenoliths from Venetia have previously yielded an Archean age. The Limpopo Mobile Belt is therefore interpreted as a product of thin skin crustal tectonics with the underlying lithospheric mantle linked to that of the southern Zimbabwe Craton and unaffected by the overlying crustal events.

First Report of Bean pod mottle virus in Soybean in Alabama.

During October 2003, soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) plants showing symptoms of delayed maturity of stems, or green stem, were observed in a soybean cultivar trial on Dee River Ranch in Pickens County, Alabama. Symptoms were characteristic of those caused by Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV). BPMV infections have been identified in other southern states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and neighboring Mississippi, but had not yet been identified in Alabama (1,2,3). In this study, a cultivar trial was established as a nonreplicated strip test to evaluate the performance of nongenetically modified soybean cultivars in high-pH soils. The trial consisted of 12 maturity group V cultivars planted side by side in 24-row plots approximately 1 km long. The cultivars consisted of Anand, Asgrow 5547, Asgrow 5944, Delta King 5995, Deltapine 4748, Deltapine 5110, Deltapine 5989, Essex, Hutcheson, Pioneer 9594, Pioneer 9597, and USG5601T. During the season, a known vector of BPMV, the bean leaf beetle (Cerotoma trifurcate Forster), was identified in the plots (4). On 10 October, the majority of plants in the trial had senesced; however, it was observed that plants of 6 of the 12 cultivars were showing symptoms of green stem typical of BPMV infection. A visual assessment was taken to determine incidence of green stem for Asgrow 5547, Delta King 5995, Deltapine 5110, Deltapine 5989, Pioneer 9594, and USG5601T. Incidence between 1 and 5% was observed for Delta King 5995, Deltapine 5989, and Pioneer 9594. Incidence of less than 1% was observed for Asgrow 5547, Deltapine 5110, and USG5601T. Twenty soybean plants showing symptoms of green stem and retaining green leaves were sampled from each of the six cultivars by collecting one trifoliate leaf near the top of the plant. All samples were tested for BPMV using double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) according to the manufacturer's instructions (Agdia, Inc., Elkart, IN). BPMV was detected in 30% of Deltapine 5989, 10% of Delta King 5995, and 45% of Pioneer 9594 plants. BPMV was not detected in Asgrow 5547, Deltapine 5110, and USG5601T. Ten of the samples shown to be infected with BPMV using DAS-ELISA were mechanically transferred to soybean seedlings in the greenhouse. These plants developed systemic mottle symptoms typical of those caused by BPMV and tested positive for the virus BPMV using DAS-ELISA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of BPMV in Alabama.

Subsidence breccias in kimberlite pipes—an application of fractal analysis

A particular variety of volcanogenic country rock breccia is described; a contact breccia that has been identified at Venetia, River Ranch and Wimbledon kimberlite pipes. The contact breccia is clast supported with no juvenile kimberlite component, has tightly packed, angular fragments (with occasional rounding of smaller particles), and has a shear-fabric dipping towards the center of each kimberlite pipe or volcanic event. Clasts have preferred orientations parallel to the fabric. Photographs of the breccia in the open pit face and measured data from drill core are analyzed specifically to quantify the clast size distributions and clast shapes by means of fractal analysis. The fractal dimension is one means of characterizing the breccia because the dimension can be specific to a fragmentation mechanism. Clast size distribution fractal dimensions in the coarser particles (greater than circa 3 cm) range from greater than 3 for nonsheared breccia, down to circa 2.3 for the sheared breccia. Breccia characterization based on this fractal analysis suggests that fragmentation occurred initially from confined high-energy explosions, followed by collapse and abrasion by subsequently gravity-induced rockmass subsidence. All studied contact breccias produced a distinctive fractal signature in the finer particles (<3 cm) of circa 1.6 that can be explained by a comminution fragmentation process in that particular particle size range. It is suggested that these subsidence breccias require a substantial volume deficit at depth within the volcanic pipe in order to explain their origin and size. The methodology used in this study could be used to characterize any other volcanic breccia and further model their origins.

Introduction to recent studies of geology in and around the Venetia kimberlite pipes, Limpopo Belt, South Africa.

Research Article| September 01, 2003 Introduction to recent studies of geology in and around the Venetia kimberlite pipes, Limpopo Belt, South Africa. Jay Barton; Jay Barton Department of Geology, RAU, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa, e-mail: jmb@na.rau.ac.za Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Reiner Klemd; Reiner Klemd Institute of Mineralogy, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany, e-mail: reiner.klemd@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Fred Brown Fred Brown DeBeers Consolidate Mines Ltd., Cornerstone Building, Private Bag X01, Southdale 2135, South Africa, e-mail: fred.brown@debeersgroup.com Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Jay Barton Department of Geology, RAU, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa, e-mail: jmb@na.rau.ac.za Reiner Klemd Institute of Mineralogy, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany, e-mail: reiner.klemd@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de Fred Brown DeBeers Consolidate Mines Ltd., Cornerstone Building, Private Bag X01, Southdale 2135, South Africa, e-mail: fred.brown@debeersgroup.com Publisher: Geological Society of South Africa First Online: 07 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1996-8590 Print ISSN: 1012-0750 © 2003 Geological Society of South Africa South African Journal of Geology (2003) 106 (2-3): 101–102. https://doi.org/10.2113/106.2-3.101 Article history First Online: 07 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Jay Barton, Reiner Klemd, Fred Brown; Introduction to recent studies of geology in and around the Venetia kimberlite pipes, Limpopo Belt, South Africa.. South African Journal of Geology 2003;; 106 (2-3): 101–102. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/106.2-3.101 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySouth African Journal of Geology Search Advanced Search Diamond bearing, kimberlite pipes in the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt, Limpopo Province, South Africa were discovered on the Farm Venetia in the late 1970’s. These ~530 to ~519 Ma pipes constitute a world class ore body, with a historic head grade (since 1992) varying between ~100 and ~135 carats/100 tonnes. They presently produce about ~40% of South Africa’s diamonds and hence ~6% of the total world’s. The position of these pipes within in the Central Zone, an ~2.04 to ~2.0 Ga assembly of various Archean and Proterozoic terranes between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Cratons, apparently defies one of... You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Mineral inclusions in diamonds from the River Ranch kimberlite, Zimbabwe

More than 99% of mineral inclusions in diamonds from the River Ranch pipe in the Late Archean Limpopo Mobile Belt (Zimbabwe), are phases of harzburgitic paragenesis, namely olivine (Fo92–93), orthopyroxene (Mg# = 93), G10 garnets and chromites. The diamond inclusion (DI) chemistry demonstrates a limited overlap with River Ranch kimberlite macrocrysts: the DI garnets are more Ca-undersaturated, and DI spinel and garnet are more Mg-rich. Most River Ranch diamond inclusions were equilibrated at T = 1080–1320 °C, P = 47–61 kbar, and fO2 between IW and WM buffers. The P/T profile beneath the Limpopo Mobile Belt (LMB) is consistent with a paleo-heat flow of 41–42 mW/m2, similar to calculations for Roberts Victor, but hotter than for the Finsch, Kimberley, Koffiefontein and Premier Mines. This is ascribed to the younger tectonothermal age of the LMB and its proximity to Late Archean oceans. Like diamond inclusions from all other kimberlites studied, the River Ranch DI have a lithospheric affinity and therefore indicate that an ancient, chemically depleted, thick (at least 200 km) mantle root existed beneath the Limpopo Mobile Belt 530–540 Ma ago. The mantle root might have developed beneath the continental Central Zone of the LMB as early as the Archean, and could be alien to the overthrust allochthonous sheet of the Limpopo Belt. Oxygen fugacity estimates for diamond inclusions at River Ranch are similar to other diamondiferous harzburgites beneath the Kaapvaal craton, indicating that the Kaapvaal mantle as a whole was well buffered and homogeneous with respect to fO2 at the time of peridotitic diamond crystallization.

The origin and significance of boxwork clay coatings on dune sand grains from the Nebraska Sand Hills, USA

Aeolian dune sands of Late Pleistocene to late Holocene age in the Nebraska Sand Hills are widely characterized by the development of partial clay coatings which form connected ridges and “boxwork” structures on the grain surfaces. The proportion of sand grains with clay coatings typically shows considerable variability with depth in any given section. Distinct bands of sand enriched in fines are quite common, especially just below the present, or buried, dune surfaces. The morphology, texture and mineralogical composition of clay coatings from two sites, the Merritt Reservoir megabarchan and the Dismal River Ranch section, have been investigated using a combination of SEM, X-ray microanalysis, XRD and Coulter-Multisizer analysis in order to determine their mode of formation and environmental significance. Based on the analytical results and field observations it is concluded that the boxwork clay coatings formed in the vadose zone mainly as a result of precipitation- and surface-runoff induced infiltration of clay and very fine silt from the dune surface. The main source of fines is concluded to be fine-grained allochthonous aeolian dust derived principally from the High Plains or more distal sources.

The Man in the Black Coat Turns by Robert Bly

282 Western American Literature ship and L. A.’s decadence, she drives the freeway north to “River Ranch,” owned by her brother and his bizarre “share-holders.” But she refuses to join the gang, rejecting all interference in her life: “ ‘I am not into this. I feel like being by myself for a while. The meetings and common work and telling everybody else in the kingdom what to do, that I can’t handle.’” She heads to the river, where she finds a “simple pride, a satisfaction, and a kind of peace” in building her lean-to. On a remote bluff, she plants her own bean-field, a private marijuana crop, and tends to her writing. But Rose cannot escape involvement in the River Ranch escapades, nor, she discovers, does she want to. She takes part in debates, helps mediate conflicts about communal obligations, and instigates the climax, helping her bumbling non-violent brother play sheriff by running the bad guy “off the ranch.” Rose comes to accept her “share” in River Ranch by deciding to share, literally, her private pot patch, and, symbolically, her life. Through acknowledging her ties to her fledgling community, she discovers for the first time “how to act.” Home Ground is a funny, sharp, and satirical look at the lifestyles, values, and obsessions of a generation cut loose from traditional roots. And yet I was struck by the “rootedness” of Holland’s themes. Her “settlers,” like those before them, find that their new world is corruptible, that experi­ ence may really be preferable to innocence, that they possess conflicting desires for individual freedom and democratic action. Although succeeding generations of American rebels deny the relevance of the past, the old ques­ tions continue to crop up in new disguises. MELODY GRAULICH University of New Hampshire The Man in the Black Coat Turns. By Robert Bly. (New York: The Dial Press, 1981. 62 pages, $10.95.) Robert Bly’s new book of poems has three untitled sections, each with a loose stylistic unity. The first section includes poems that will be familiar to readers of The Light Around the Body (1967) and Bly’s eight other previous volumes. Thematically the section deals with blocked energies and institutional failure (“the Empire / dying in its provincial cities”), but there are also hope and “days that pass in / undivided tenderness.” An elegy for Pablo Neruda is included as well, perhaps Bly’s most touching, scrupulous poem. Throughout, Bly tries to release the numinous qualities of everyday things, and to bring into everyday consciousness the Jungian perspectives of oneiric space and time. The second section is comprised of six prose poems, and the longest and best of these is “Finding an Ant Mansion.” Here Bly’s spiritual alle­ Reviews 283 gorizing is starkest and most forceful, as he literally domesticates a natural object, a “vvood-chunk,” and in the process focusses his associative search for a “complete soul home.” After a careful, almost microscopic description, ecstatically heightened, he has the “mansion” harbor “the souls of the dead,” particularly those of his relatives and neighbors. While turning the wood into a memorial of human labor and destiny, he is also freed to see it as subject to natural forces, “still open to the rains and snows.” In many ways the poem epitomizes Bly’s work in the genre of the prose poem, where he has successfully joined the vigor of natural history to the ecstasies of desire and memory. The prose poems are to my mind Bly’s best work, because his ear is resistant to fixed measures and he works more comfortably with a prose rhythm that relies on an alternation of intensity and relaxation of stress and watchfulness. Many poets turn slack in the prose poem, becom­ ing indulgent in their use of imagery and too precious in their cadences. But Bly, having absorbed such French models as Ponge, finds in this genre just the right mixture of play and contemplative energy. In a sense we can see Bly at work in his prose poems; he has less need to hide the secret springs of his thought and feeling, and so puts us closer to the heart of his...

Oxygen isotope study of calcite and silicates of the River Ranch No. 1 well, Salton Sea geothermal field, California

The effect of temperature variation on isotope fractionation has been studied in rock samples from a well in the Salton Sea geothermal area. A vertical profile of oxygen isotopic composition of whole rock and separated minerals shows extensive exchange between hydrothermal solutions and the country rock. Carbonates and silicates have reached isotopic equilibrium at temperatures as low as 150 degrees and possibly down to 100 degrees C. In contrast to calcite, detrital quartz is remarkably resistant to isotopic exchange at temperatures as high as 340 degrees C. For the main Salton Sea geothermal reservoir, at depths of about 3000 to 6000 feet, the volumes of water and rock that have undergone exchange are roughly equal.