Temperate Humid Zone Research Articles

Sedimentary indicators of lake-level changes in the humid temperate zone: a critical review

Evidence for lake-level changes derived from stratigraphic sequences in cores from littoral zones is reviewed in the context of lake sedimentation processes. These are illustrated with published case-studies which have used multiple-core data. Possible approaches for choosing optimum sites are examined. Sedimentation controls which may change over time are also considered; these include, wind strength and frequency, wind exposure, water depth and underwater slopes, sediment type and littoral vegetation. A final section discusses how lake-level studies can be optimised so that results can be used with confidence in paleoclimatic and paleohydrological reconstructions. Sedimentary data showing shifts in littoral vegetation along shallow underwater gradients in sheltered margins, and transitions between sediment compositions linked to specific hydrological conditions give the strongest lines of evidence.

Biogeochemistry of trace metals

Trace Metals in the Environment: Retrospect and Prospect (Brian E. Davies). Trace Element Concentrations in Soils and Plants of Western Europe (M. Angelone and C. Bini). Background Levels and Environmental Influences on Trace Metals in Soils of the Temperate Humid Zone of Europe (Alina Kabata-Pendias, Stanislaw Dudka, Anna Chlopecka, and Teresa Gawinowska). Metal Contamination of Flooded Soils, Rice Plants and Surface Waters in Asia (Zueng-Sang Chen). The Transfer of Cadmium from Agricultural Soils to the Human Food Chain (Andrew P. Jackson and Brian J. Alloway). Long-Term Application of Sewage Sludge and Its Effect on Metal Uptake by Crops (C. Juste and M. Mench). Fate of Trace Metals in Compost Sewage Sludge (C.L. Henry and R.B. Harrison). Long-Term Behavior of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils: A Simple Analytical Model (Karl Harmsen). Atmospheric Deposition of Metals to Agricultural Surfaces (P.M. Haygarth and K.C. Jones). Uptake and Accumulation of Metals in Bacteria and Fungi (Nicholas W. Lepp). Metals in Invertebrate Animals of a Forest Ecosystem (Mechthild Roth-Holzapfel). Metal Tolerance in Plants: Signal Transduction and Acclimation Mechanisms (Jonathan R. Cumming and A. Brian Tomsett). Dissipation of Soil Selenium by Microbial Volatilization (W.T. Frankenberger, Jr. and U. Karlson). Mechanism of Manganese Adsorption on Soil Constituents (Riaz A. Khattak and A.L. Page). Multi-Element Analysis in Plant Materials-Analytical Tools and Biological Questions (Bernd Markert). Metal-Humic Substance Complexes in the Environment. Molecular and Mechanistic Aspects by Multiple Spectroscopic Approach (Nicola Senesi).

Die Strandlinggesellschaften (Littorelletea Br-Bl. et Tx. 43) der Niederlande, in europäischem Rahmen gefaßt

The class Littorelletea includes amphiphyte communities on sites with alternating water level in meso- to oligotrophic, stagnant or slowly running, not or hardly polluted, mostly weakly buffered water. The communities are bound to a mineral soil which is not or hardly covered by organic material. They show a simple structure, in which the isoetid growth form predominates; their species number is rather low. The area of the class includes the humid temperate zone of the northern hemisphere; in Europe the communities concentrate in the atlantic, boreo-atlantic and subatlantic regions (...)

Atmospheric corrections for remotely-sensed thermal data in a cool humid temperate zone

Abstract This research emphasizes the necessity of carrying out atmospheric corrections in order to obtain accurate absolute temperature values for terrestrial objects, from remotely-sensed data. Satellite data were available for thermal band 6 on Landsat-5. They were complemented by simultaneously-acquired airborne and ground-truth data. Radiosonde data were fed into the computer program LOWTRAN 6. The ground-based data indicated that the use of the LOWTRAN 6 model applied to low-level airborne measurements was very satisfactory (variations of only 0·01-0·61 deg K being noted). However, for the satellite-borne detector the results were much less satisfactory (variations of 0·26-2·05 deg K), because of lower radiometric and spatial resolving power.

日本地理学会河成・海岸平野地形作業(研究)グループの活動経過

The working group on “Geomorphology of River and Coastal Plains” of the Association ofJapanese Geographers was founded in 1979. Its members have presented 85 studies during the last 10 years. The main features of these studies can be summarized as follows: 1) Almost all of the studies have been based on geomorphological land classification. 2) We have paid attention not only to the geomorphology of alluvial plains but also to the overallcondition of drainage basins. In particular we have discussed the influence of catchmentcharacteristics on the topography of alluvial plains. Most notable is the major influence of anintermontane depression in the upper reaches on an alluvial plain in the lower reaches. 3) We have paid attention to the relationships between micro-topography of the plains andarchaeological sites such as shell mounds, etc. 4) The coasts of Japan have been divided into several groups on the basis of environmentalcharacteristics such as landforms, vegetation, hydraulic conditions, and climate. 5) Applied geographical studies have been carried out using geomorphological land classificationmaps. These maps have been used in the identification of areas subject to inundation and soilliquefaction due to earthquakes. 6) Integrated regional studies have been carried out in contrasting climatic zones such as theGkhotsk sea coastal plain, in the subpolar zone and the outer zone of S. W. Japan in the humidtemperate zone. 7) We have compared the research on alluvial plains carried out in the stable continental zones ofother cuntries - for example, the Korean Peninsula and the Central Plain of Thailand - withthat on Japanese plains. We have planned this special publication on “The Geomorphology of River and Coastal Plains inJapan” based on the evidence collected in these studies.

Apatite as a paleoenvironmental indicator in the Precambrian-mesozoic clastic sequence of the Middle East

Apatite, either detrital or authigenic, or both, occurs in the Precambrian arkoses and Cambrian subarkoses, grits and quartz-arenites in Israel, Sinai, southern Jordan and northwest Arabia. However, no apatite is found in the sandstones that overlie the sub-Carboniferous unconformity (often superceded by a sub-Cretaceous unconformity) throughout the Middle East. Within the Precambrian-Cambrian sequence, apatite distribution is not uniform and varies between 0–80% of transparent heavy minerals. The detrital apatite was derived from the acid igneous terrain that supplied the sands. Authigenic apatite was formed by recrystallization of the detrital apatite. Until its abrupt stratigraphic termination, apatite accompanies the ultrastable minerals zircon-tourmalinerutile without displaying, like the semi- and nonstable heavy minerals, vertical trends of gradual disappearnce. Therefore its disappearance cannot be explained by repeated reworking and transportation which, by themselves, are not known to result in the complete elimination of a heavy mineral from an assemblage. Numerous heavy-mineral studies, and especially the experimental work of Nickel ( Contr. Sedimentol. 1, 1–68, 1973) have shown that apatite dissolves under conditions of low (< 6) pH, which may develop in well-leached humic soils, pedalfers and laterosols, but which are not known in intrastratal groundwaters. The apatite distribution suggests, together with clay-mineral indications, that pedogenesis of this type developed with the spread of terrestrial floras over the Arabo-Nubian land surfaces during the Late Paleozoic. Various lines of evidence, including paleomagnetic data, indicate that the present-day Near East area was in a temperate-humid zone during the Cambrian. After drifting through subpolar latitudes during the Ordovician-Silurian-Devonian, it moved again into a tropical-humid zone toward the Late Paleozoic. This coincided with the appearance of plant fossils in the clastic section, and the disappearance of apatite. Since the dissolution of apatite is inhibited in the presence of carbonate or Ca 2+ ions, its removal must already have been completed before the Permian, when carbonate deposition became gradually dominant.

Formation of gibbsite in soils and saprolites of temperate-humid zones

AbstractAnalysis of the distribution of gibbsite in soils and saprolites of Galicia, NW Spain, leads to the conclusion that this mineral is mostly formed by inorganic mechanisms in open, well-drained and desaturated systems in the initial stages of weathering of various aluminosilicates, especially plagioclases. No evidence has been found to support the hypothesis that it is a feature inherited from hotter climates, as it has not been identified to date either in ancient sediments or in the most evolved and weathered soils. The role of organic matter and the possibility ofa biogeochemical origin is also discussed: it is considered that this mechanism is only important during podsolic soil development.

Potential effects of acid precipitation on soils in the humid temperate zone

Unmanaged soils in the northeast United States generally tend toward increasing acidity which results from several natural processes in the soil. Possible effects of acid precipitation on these processes may be caused by hydrogen ions associated with excess anions in the precipitation and, in addition, the anions may also have specific effects. This is especially true for N and S both of which have important biological implications. It is likely that direct effects of the H ion will be modest. As an example, the acidity in 114 cm of rainfall per year (Connecticut's average) with a pH of 4.3 would require 28.5 kg ha −1 of limestone for neutralization. By contrast agronomic practice in Connecticut frequently dictates limestone additions as high as several thousand kg ha−1 to neutralize acidity generated by a combination of natural processes and fertilizer amendments. Studies of rainfall composition in Connecticut from 1929 to 1948 showed no clear trends with time and indicated levels of sulfate and nitrate in rainwater similar to those reported today. In a 10 yr lysimeter study in Connecticut in which tobacco was grown using conventional fertilization techniques, soil pH decreased from 5.4 to 5.0 and both gains and losses of soil cations were recorded. Thus it appears that changes in unmanaged soils induced by acid precipitation alone will be modest and subtle and probably cannot be expressed completely by measuring changes in soil pH value.

Alternating Pleistocene Morphogenetic Systems

AbstractAlternation of morphogenetic systems conditioned by wide swinging of climatic belts equatorward and poleward has been used to explain otherwise puzzling relict forms in many regions. A characteristic finely dissected landscape relief prevalent in some middle-latitude regions is in strong contrast with smoothed, coarse-textured, whalebacked, relatively featureless relief in others, notably western Europe, which are now in the humid-temperate zone. This latter is believed to be relict from the periglacial regimes of Pleistocene ice ages. In New Zealand where the former landscape type is typically developed, there has also been quite strong “periglaciation”, and in Europe running-water erosion cannot but have operated to some extent in interglacial ages. It appears that the periglacial smoothing has been pushed to the extreme limit in Europe but that its effects have been neutralized in New Zealand by the vigour of dissection in the alternating warm ages. Periglacial smothering, or “fossilization”, of fine-textured relief, which has been followed by renewed fine dissection, is very common at Wellington, New Zealand. The reasons are not clear why running water should have been (and should still be) more efficient in dissecting the New Zealand landscape than that of Europe, so that the relict periglacial landscape remains intact in the latter region.