IV.—Pebble Ridges

1876 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 360-361
Author(s):  
T. Mellard Reade

As a contribution to our knowledge of the formation of these very interesting “natural embankments of the sea,” I may point to a little bay in Anglesea, immediately westward of the Bryn Ddu Limestone quarries on the north-east coast of Anglesea, about two miles and a half westward of Puffin Island. This little bay is not more than about a furlong across, and may be roughly described as semicircular in form, lying nearly due west to east from point to point. From being in miniature as it were, the ridge can be readily studied, and it is very striking to see how, commencing in the westward as a beach, it gradually rises into a ridge having very steep sides. No less remarkable is the way in which the stones increase in size as the ridge does in height. At the west end it may be described as composed of Limestone pebbles, with here and there a boulder, while at the east end it is built up almost entirely of large limestone boulders and blocks, many containing from one to two cubic feet and some more. Intermixed there are boulders from the size of the closed hand and upwards. The larger blocks are sub-angular and rounded, and no doubt get gradually worn down smaller and rounder, until they become “boulders.” by being moved about, by the sea; but some on the other hand, being thrown over on to the back of the bank, cannot be further affected by the waves. In this ridge, as I have pointed out is the case with the Chesil Bank, the stones follow the law of the bank itself, the largest being collected to form the highest part of the bank, which in both occurs where the wave-action is most intense.

Toxins ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Tasoulis ◽  
Anjana Silva ◽  
Punnam Chander Veerati ◽  
Mark Baker ◽  
Wayne C. Hodgson ◽  
...  

Intra-specific venom variation has the potential to provide important insights into the evolution of snake venom, but remains a relatively neglected aspect of snake venom studies. We investigated the venom from 13 individual coastal taipans Oxyuranus scutellatus from four localities on the north-east coast of Australia, spanning a distance of 2000 km. The intra-specific variation in taipan venom was considerably less than the inter-specific variation between it and the other Australian elapids to which it was compared. The electrophoretic venom profile of O. scutellatus was visually different to six other genera of Australian elapids, but not to its congener inland taipan O. microlepidotus. There was minimal geographical variation in taipan venom, as the intra-population variation exceeded the inter-population variation for enzymatic activity, procoagulant activity, and the abundance of neurotoxins. The pre-synaptic neurotoxin (taipoxin) was more abundant than the post-synaptic neurotoxins (3FTx), with a median of 11.0% (interquartile range (IQR): 9.7% to 18.3%; range: 6.7% to 23.6%) vs. a median of 3.4% (IQR: 0.4% to 6.7%; range: 0% to 8.1%). Three taipan individuals almost completely lacked post-synaptic neurotoxins, which was not associated with geography and occurred within two populations. We found no evidence of sexual dimorphism in taipan venom. Our study provides a basis for evaluating the significance of intra-specific venom variation within a phylogenetic context by comparing it to the inter-specific and inter-generic variation. The considerable intra-population variation we observed supports the use of several unpooled individuals from each population when making inter-specific comparisons.


1853 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-217
Author(s):  
James D. Forbes

The following remarks, being the result of a careful examination of a small district of country characteristic of the relations of the trap formations, are perhaps worthy of being recorded; although the general features of the county of Roxburgh have been very clearly stated in a paper by Mr Milne, published in the 15th volume of the Edinburgh Transactions.The outburst of porphyritic trap forming the conspicuous small group of the Eildon Hills, may be stated to be surrounded by the characteristic greywacke of the south of Scotland. It forms an elongated patch on the map, extending from the west end of Bowden Muir in the direction of the town of Selkirk, and running from west-south-west to east-north-east (true) towards Bemerside Hill, on the north bank of the Tweed. The breadth is variable, probably less than is generally supposed; but it cannot be accurately ascertained, owing to the accumulated diluvium which covers the whole south-eastern slope of this elevated ridge. On this account, my observations on the contact of rocks have been almost entirely confined to the northern and western boundaries of the trap, although the other side was examined with equal care.


1964 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. C. van Someren ◽  
M. Furlong

Descriptions are given of 24-hour biting catches, made in and around Faza, a village on Pate Island, off the north-east coast of Kenya, East Africa.Aedes pembaensis Theo. was the predominant mosquito in these catches but fair numbers of Aedes mombasaensis Mattingly were also taken; the biting cycles of these two are discussed. Six other species were taken in small numbers.For Ae. pembaensis, biting cycles calculated on catches grouped for site, moon phases, neap tides and spring tides show that both moon and tide and light intensity influence the biting behaviour. Different but recurring patterns occur with various combinations of these factors.For Ae. mombasaensis, the cycles have a very constant biphasic pattern. Catches grouped for moon phases, tides and catch sites, as for Ae. pembaensis, show that more biting females are taken at neap tides than at spring tides. Two patterns of behaviour occur, one associated with spring tides and the other with neap tides. An even level of biting activity occurs during the night with intense and prolonged moonlight; otherwise moon-phase cycles have little effect on biting behaviour.It is felt that 24-hour biting catches can give useful information on behaviour patterns but it is desirable to have a long series of catches to analyse. For the purpose of calculating biting cycles, the results of catches showing similar modifications in behaviour should be treated separately.


1759 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 38-40

About four o’clock on Thursday afternoon, July 13th 1758. a short but severe thunder-storm, with lightning, fell upon the top of an house standing alone, and belonging to a common garden, on the causeway near Sandling's ferry, in the city of Norwich; struck off the tiles of the roof at the east end, to the space of a yard or two 5 burnt a very small hole in the middle of a lath, in piercing into the chamber, and then darted to the north-east; ript off the top of an old chair, without throwing it down; snapt the two heads of the bed-posts, rent the curtains, drove against the wall (the front of the house stands due north-east), forced out an upright of a window frame a yard long, three inches broad, and two thick; smote it in a right line into an opposite ditch, ten or twelve yards distant; then struck down on the wall of the chamber, paring off half a foot s breadth of its plaistered covering quite down to the floor, listed up a board of the floor, and leaving an hole of half an inch diameter, pierced thro’ by the side of the main beam into the kitchen, towards the west end of a pewter- shelf; traversed the whole shelf to the east, and melted superficially to the breadth of a shilling six pewter dishes, two plates, and a pewter bason, all standing touching one another: two of the dishes were thrown down, the rest not displaced.


Author(s):  
J. W. Horwood ◽  
J. H. Nichols ◽  
Ruth Harrop

INTRODUCTIONIn 1976 the Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft, carried out 13 plankton sampling cruises off the north-east coast of England. They spanned the months February-November. From these cruises Harding et al. (1978) described the distributions of surface chlorophyll and nutrients and the production offish eggs and larvae. Reynolds (1978) described in more detail the distributions of chlorophyll and phaeopigments throughout the year, and Horwood (1982) detailed the distribution of zooplankton biomass. This study presents the species composition of the algae from a small region of the survey area illustrated in Fig. 1.


Polar Record ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 11 (73) ◽  
pp. 423-430
Author(s):  
G. P. D. Hall

In response to pressure from the Colonial Office and whaling interests for improvement of the Admiralty charts of South Georgia, the Hydrographer of the Navy despatched a surveying ship to operate there during the 1960–61 summer season. Priority was given to a thorough survey of the waters surrounding the western extremities of the island in order to facilitate the shortest passage between the whaling grounds in the west and the whaling stations on the north-east coast. Other commitments were the landing of scientists in co-operation with the Administration and, as opportunity offered, general improvement of the existing charts with particular reference to the coastal shipping routes.


2003 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-802
Author(s):  
Malcom D Evans ◽  
JG Merrills

On 17 December 2002 the International Court gave its judgment in a dispute over two small islands in the Celebes Sea claimed by both Indonesia and Malaysia. The islands in question, Ligitan and Sipadan, are located off the north-east coast of Borneo and lie approximately 15.5 nautical miles apart. Both are very small and Ligitan is uninhabited; Sipadan, on the other hand, was developed by Malaysia into a tourist resort for scuba diving in the 1980s. In 1998 Indonesia and Malaysia referred the dispute to the Court by means of a Special Agreement, asking for a decision ‘on the basis of the treaties, agreements and any other evidence furnished by the Parties’ on whether sovereignty over the islands belonged to Indonesia or to Malaysia.


1959 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 283-283
Author(s):  
Sinclair Hood

What seemed to be the covering slabs of a tomb were noticed by the School's foreman, Manoli Markoyiannakis, exposed in the low field bank which forms the southern continuation of the high bank with the Geometric tombs dug by Hogarth and Payne, a couple of metres north of the path running eastwards across the base of the Kefala ridge past the Hellenic tower (BSA 52 (1957) 244ff.). During the course of the School's excavation of the early Christian building on the neighbouring Sanatorium site in 1953 Dr. N. Platon, Ephor of Antiquities for Crete, kindly gave me permission to examine the slabs, which were found to cover a grave roughly rectangular in shape and measuring 1·60 × 0·70 at the bottom (Fig. 1). The grave's floor was only 1·15 at the west end and 1·60 at the east below the modern surface of the rock; but the surface here must have once stood much higher, and have worn away owing to erosion.The three large slabs over the grave were blocks of dressed limestone. That at the east end (A) had a ‘branch’ sign (L. 0·25, max. W. 0·13), boldly carved with broad shallow V-shaped grooves, on the upper exposed face in the north-east corner (Fig. 1, Plate 66d). The joints between the three slabs were carefully wedged with small stones. In the grave below them was a clean fill of kouskouras, the soft white chalky rock of the area, containing a few nondescript Minoan sherds. The cover slabs with the smaller stones wedged in the joints between them seemed to be in place; but the earth below contained small lumps of rock, as if the grave had been deliberately filled before the cover slabs were laid in position. This agrees with what has been observed in the case of other Minoan shaft-graves in the Gypsades cemetery (see p. 219). At the bottom of the grave were the scanty remains of a skeleton, lying on its back with the knees flexed and originally perhaps raised in the usual manner (see p. 218). Although the cover slabs appeared to be in position, and the grave undisturbed, nothing was found with the skeleton. The grave is, however, like other similar shaft-graves at Knossos, presumably Late Minoan, and perhaps early rather than late in the period. The cover slabs may well be old building blocks, and they and the ‘branch’ sign carved on one of them may therefore be considerably earlier than the grave.


1973 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 87-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. R. Desborough

This cist tomb was uncovered in 1959 during the excavation of the House of Sphinxes,2 and it lay at a distance of only 2 m. from tomb PG 606 (see fig. I and BSA li. 114 fig. 5).It was built on the rock where there was a natural angle and a fairly sharp slope from west to east. The floor of the tomb was in fact for the most part the rock itself, but at the east end a number of small stones, overlying Mycenaean debris, were used. It was of rectangular shape, and orientated W.-E. The west and south walls of the tomb were provided by the rock; two large worked slabs, set upright, formed the north-east corner, and for the rest natural stones were used to line the tomb. There was no evidence of any roofing slabs, nor can one see how such could have been fixed. The inner dimensions were 1·78 × 0·68 m., and the two walling slabs had a height of 0·60 m.


Author(s):  
K. Hiscock ◽  
S. Hiscock ◽  
J. M. Baker

During surveys of rocky shores in Shetland, the Australasian barnacle Elminius modestus was found at 3 out of 42 transect sites and at 6 out of 11 shores searched for its presence. Large populations were present only in Vidlin Voe with a few individuals present at other sites including Lerwick Harbour. These observations extend the northern recorded limit of distribution of E. modestus by approximately 450 km.The spread of the Australasian barnacle Elminius modestus Darwin along the coasts of the British Isles has been followed with interest by marine biologists since the animal was first found in the region of Portsmouth in 1946. Crisp (1958) describes the spread of Elminius up to 1957 and reviews the factors which are important in encouraging or restricting the spread of the species. On the west coast of Scotland, Elminius is common in the Clyde and a few individuals have been recorded on settling panels in Dunstaffnage Bay near Oban (Barnes & Stone, 1972). On the east coast of Scotland, Elminius is known to be common in the Firth of Forth and a few individuals have been recorded from the Tay Estuary (Jones, 1961). Thus, the previous recorded northern limit of distribution of Elminius modestus lies at about 56° 30′ N. Our brief report describes how Elminius has now been found in the northernmost part of the British Isles.As a part of the programme designed to monitor the effects of the oil terminal now being built at Sullom Voe on the north-east coast of the Shetland mainland, we have been concerned with the survey of plant and animal populations on rocky shores.


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