White Cliff Research Articles

Hydromass in Natural-Territorial Complexes in the Upper- and High-Mountain Landscapes of the Ialno Ridge

The study of hydromass in natural-territorial complexes in the upper-mountain and high-mountain landscapes of the Ialno Ridge is based on the analysis spatial-temporal concept of natural-territorial complexes (NTCs), which was developed by Prof. Nikoloz Beruchashvili. This question allows analyzing and evaluating the following issues: moisture circulation and soil hydromasses in different NTCs. The study is based on the long-term field work conducted by the staff of Martkopi physical-geographical station. On the basis of the research some peculiarities of the territorial distribution of soil hydromasses were revealed. The maximum amount of the soil hydromasses (1733 t/ha) is registerd in the facies of the northern exposition and moderately slanting slopes with beech forest and litterfall, whereas the mean value is 1421 t/ha. In the soils of the facies spread at the top of the Ialno Ridge the maximum hydromass amount is 1173 t/ha and the mean value is 887 t/ha. But in the soils of the slanting tops with southern exposition presented as mixed grass meadows the maximum hydromass amount is 676 t/ha and the mean value is 633 t/ha. The research shows that in the NTCs with of the high-mountain subalpine and upper-mountain forest landscapes the hydromass amounts depend on humidity and pedomass amount in separate geohorizons of the soils. Besides, hydromass amount in soil is influenced by the following factors: exposition and declination of the slope, the thickness of the soil profile, behaviour of moisturizing, projection vegetation cover and facies, nano-forms of the relief. High amount of hydromasses is characteristic of the gorges on the southern exposition slopes (more than 2000 t/ha). The hydromass amount is also high (1500-2000 t/ha) in the beech forests in the natural-territorial complexes of the northern and southern exposition slopes. The amount of hydromasses is low (500-1000 t/ha) at the top of the Ialno Ridge and the subalpine meadows in the natural-territorial complexes of the southern exposition slopes. The same hydromass amount is observed in the vegetation semi-associations in the natural-territorial complexes of the slopes of the White Cliff. The hydromass amount is the least (less than 500 t/ha) in rocky natural-territorial complexes.

Structural development of Maglevandsfald: a key to understanding the glaciotectonic architecture of Møns Klint, SE Denmark

The Møns Klint Glaciotectonic Complex (Fig. 1) exposed in the N–S-trending chalk cliff on the east coast of the island of Møn in south-east Denmark is one of the most famous glaciotectonic geosites in the world. People of all nationalities are attracted to the site, which has more than 300 000 visitors per year. Many of them may not realise the uniqueness of the glaciotectonic framework, and are probably more fascinated by the spectacular view of the white cliff and chalk peaks separated by the deep green gorges. However, without the glaciotectonic deformation the cliffs would never have formed. Instead the Cretaceous chalk would still have been resting horizontally below the seabed, covered by glaciofluvial sand, glaciolacustrine clay and clayey till.

On the paleoclimate of Jordan during the last glacial maximum

The uppermost Pleistocene in the Jordan Valley is represented by two closed lakes: the Lisan Lake (and hence the Lisan Formation 63 to 16–15 ka) and the Damya Lake (Damya Formation 16–15 to 12 ka). The Lisan Formation in the central Jordan Valley consists mainly of varved sediments, is capped by a conspicuous white cliff containing abundant gypsum lamina and is overlain by evaporite-free Damya Formation. The white cliff sediments, thus, represent the driest period of the Lidan–Damya times (63–12 ka). This cold, dry period extended from 23–22 to 16–15 ka BP, which corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) world-wide and ended by the demise of Lake Lisan. We believe that the cold, dry climate of the Jordan Valley during the LGM, supported by other workers, records a rather similar paleoclimatic trend with the monsoon-affected North African Sahara, Arabia and SE Asia where cold climatic times are associated with drier, low precipitation, and expansion of desert conditions. Consequently, this might indicate a good possibility of the monsoon rains reaching the interior southern Levant during the warm, wet periods.

Reevaluation of the lake-sediment chronology in the Dead Sea basin, Israel, based on new [formula omitted] dates

The Dead Sea is surrounded by chemical and detrital sediments that were deposited in its larger precursor lakes, Lake Samra and Lake Lisan. The sedimentary history of these lakes was recon-structed by means of 230Th 234U ages of 30 samples, mostly of argonite laminae, from 8 columnar sections up to 110 km apart. The general validity of the ages was demonstrated by subjecting them to tests of internal isotopic consistency, agreement with stratigraphic order, and concordance with 14C ages. In the south, only the part of the Samra Formation older than 170,000 yr is exposed, while the aragonite-detritus rhythmites found in the central and northern region are generally younger than 120,000 yr. The Lisan Formation started accumulating about 63,000 yr B.P., with the clay and aragonite beds in the south-central area reflecting a rise in water level to at least −280 m. The upper part of the Lisan Formation, the aragonite-rich White Cliff Member, started accumulating about 36,000 yr B.P. The lake probably reached its highest level sometime after this, based on the ages of Lisan sediments preserved in the southernmost reaches of the basin.

Cosmic rays and gamma radiation from the shell of SN1987A

Detection of high-energy gamma rays from young supernovae shells1,2 can directly prove the hypothesis that the main sources of cosmic rays (CR) in our Galaxy are supernovae. This radiation is produced in nuclear collisions of accelerated protons and nuclei, through the decay of pions. On 13 April 1987 an attempt was made to measure the gamma radiation from SN1987A between 50 and 500 MeV in energy by an international team from Australia, UK, FRG and USA (R. Stauberg, personal communication). Spark chamber measurements from a balloon gave a preliminary upper limit to the flux of jγ< 3 x 10−4 cm−2 s−1. The search for high-energy gamma rays is also possible using the ground-based Cerenkov-light detectors at Potchefstroom (S. Africa) and White Cliff station (Australia) for Eγ ≳ 1 TeV, and by means of the extensive air shower (EAS) array at Buckland Park (Australia) for Eγ≳ 106 GeV. Such observations, we show here, can discover CR in the SN1987A shell if they are produced inside the shell with luminosity down to Lp ∼ 1039 erg s−1. This can support or reject a very wide class of the models of CR production by supernovae. We argue that such measurements for SN1987A will be possible during the next 1–2 years, enough time to move Cerenkov detectors from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere.

A List of Tennessee Ferns (Continued)

Syn. Dicksonia punctilobula (Michx.) Gray. Cold Springs Knob, Greene County, June 23, 1928, Anderson and Jennison, 1137. Near Top of Gregory's Bald, Cades Cove, Blount County, July 6, 1928, Anderson, 1378. Foot of Gregory's Bald, Cades Cove, Blount County, June 14, 1928, Anderson, 969. Roaring Fork, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, June 10, 1928, Anderson, 947. Mt. Le Conte, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, Oct. 2, 1927, Anderson, 610. Elkmont, Sevier County, Aug., 1921, A. R. Bechtel. White Cliff Springs, Monroe County, June 29, 1890, Scribner. Frog Mountain, summit, Polk County, , 1878, Gattinger. Mts. of East Tennessee, head of Piney River, Rhea County, , 1887, Mrs. Bennett (in Gattinger's collection).

The Limestone Hills of the Kinta Valley Tinfield, Federated Malay States: their Geology and Physiographic Origin

The limestone hills of the Kinta Valley, standing up with white cliff faces from an almost level plain, form a prominent and picturesque feature of this prolific tinfield, and attract attention and present a varying scene as viewed from different points in the valley of the Kinta River. Their mode of origin has been the subject of marked divergence of opinion amongst geologists acquainted with them, as has also their age in relation to the series of metamorphic sediments found in the same valley.

On the Beds at Headon Hill and Colwell Bay in the Isle of Wight

I. I ntroduction . In a recent; communication laid before the Society the opinion was expressed that a serious error had been made by almost all previous writers in regarding the marine beds at Colwell Bay and Headon Hill as on the same geological horizon ; we read:—“We shall now demonstrate that the Colwell-Bay marine beds are not, as has been hitherto supposed, the equivalent of those of Headon Hill and Hordwell Cliff, but that they occupy a distinct and much higher horizon.” Upon the correction of this supposed error a new classification and nomenclature for the Upper Eocene formation of Britain was proposed. The author further, after a review of the palæontological evidence, arrived at the conclusion that, on the one hand, the fossils in the Headon Hill and Hordwell Cliffs were identical, while, in the second place, those of Colwell Bay, White Cliff, and Brockenburst presented the closest agreement among themselves. Then, comparing the former two localities, taken together, with the latter three, taken together, he considered (1) that the fauna of the first group was largely estuarine, and that of the second group marine; (2) that less than half the forms found in the former occur in the latter; (3) that the fauna of the former approximated more to that of the Barton beds, having about one third in common with them, while not more than one fifth of those from the latter three localities occur at Barton; (4) that the fauna of the former two agreed with that

On quarries at Beer, in Devonshire, and some of their fossils

The few typical specimens which I have now the pleasure of forwarding to the Geological Society, Edinburgh, and which I beg they will do me the honour to accept, are from some cretaceous beds in a quarry at Beer, in Devonshire. On reference to a geological map, a triangular patch of chalk will be observed at the eastern end of the county, extending from near Gatcombe on the north, to the coast at ‶Beerhead,″ a headland facing the south; and from ‶White Cliff,″ near Seaton on the east, to Branscombe mouth and the neighbourhood on the west. In a vale running towards the centre of this area is the quaint little village of Beer, and about a mile west of this, on the road to Branscombe, are the Beer quarries. The whole surface of this area is very uneven, and there are various evidences of its having been subjected to great geological disturbance. Sir Henry de la Beche, alluding to the depression at Beer, states that this ‶may have been due to disturbance subsequently to the formation of the chalk and green sand, or that these may have filled up inequalities in the older rocks.″ The relative position, however, of some of the strata, seems to favour the former opinion rather than the latter. The Beer quarries have been worked for many centuries. Polwhele, a writer of the latter part of the last century, in his ‶History of Devonshire,″ gives an account of them, also of others in the same

White Cliff [Leaf?] cross

White Cliff [Leaf?] cross

On the Tertiary or Supracretaceous Formations of the Isle of Wight as exhibited in the Sections at Alum Bay and White Cliff Bay

In the London tertiary district there are but few good sections of the middle and upper Eocene strata; and there is no part of it in which the order of superposition is so well shown, or can be so conveniently studied, as in the coast sections of Hampshire and of the Isle of Wight. Owing to this better and more permanent stratigraphical evidence, it may be desirable, before treating of the London tertiaries, to fix the subdivisions of the contemporaneous Hampshire series, in order that they may serve as types and points of reference. I therefore beg to submit to the Society the following observations made in the autumn of 1839, which I should have brought forward at an earlier period, had I not hoped to have rendered them more complete by a further examination of the district, which however I have not had leisure since to resume. The general details of this subject are well known. I will briefly note the results obtained by former observers, and then examine in succession the development and nature of the organic remains, conjointly with the changes of lithological characters and of dip, and I hope these may tend to remove some of the uncertainty and doubt which seem still to exist, particularly on the continent, on the subject of the fauna of these strata, and on the period of the disturbance by which they have been affected. Their age and synchronism with the Paris groups also require, I think, some material revision.

XIV.—On the London and Plastic Clay Formations of the Isle of Wight.

Early in June 1838, in company with my friend Mr. White, I visited White Cliff and Alum Bays, for the purpose of examining the London and Plastic Clay Formations, and of determining, if possible, by a careful examination of their fossils, how far the great mass of the London clay and the beds of coloured clays and sands beneath it are entitled to be considered as separate formations*. We were induced to visit them with this view, from having some years since, in company with Mr. Morris, carefully examined the sandy beds between the London clay and the chalk at Herne Bay; and having been forcibly struck by the great similarity which the fossils procured from these sands bore to several of the species found in the London clay, we were induced to believe that the two formations which had hitherto been considered as distinct, might possibly, by a careful examination, be proved to be only the upper and lower portions of one great deposit. We commenced with a close examination of White Cliff Bay, and found the following to be the order of succession of the strata, beginning at the chalk and ending with the lower portion of the freshwater beds:— Beyond this point, the freshwater strata, abounding in Potamides and other characteristic shells, occupy the remainder of the space represented in the diagram. The result of this examination is, that we find a complete alternation of the London and plastic clay formations throughout the whole space of 525