scholarly journals Meta-analysis of Cryogenian through modern quartz microtextures reveals sediment transport histories

2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (9) ◽  
pp. 929-944
Author(s):  
Jocelyn N. Reahl ◽  
Marjorie D. Cantine ◽  
Julia Wilcots ◽  
Tyler J. Mackey ◽  
Kristin D. Bergmann

ABSTRACT Quantitative analysis of quartz microtextures by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) can reveal the transport histories of modern and ancient sediments. However, because workers identify and count microtextures differently, it is difficult to directly compare quantitative microtextural data analyzed by different workers. As a result, the defining microtextures of certain transport modes and their probabilities of occurrence are not well constrained. We used principal-component analysis (PCA) to directly compare modern and ancient aeolian, fluvial, and glacial samples from the literature with nine new samples from active aeolian and glacial environments. Our results demonstrate that PCA can group microtextural samples by transport mode and differentiate between aeolian transport and fluvial and glacial transport across studies. The PCA ordination indicates that aeolian samples are distinct from fluvial and glacial samples, which are in turn difficult to disambiguate from each other. Ancient and modern sediments are also shown to have quantitatively similar microtextural relationships. Therefore, PCA may be a useful tool to constrain the ambiguous transport histories of some ancient sediment grains. As a case study, we analyzed two samples with ambiguous transport histories from the Cryogenian Bråvika Member (Svalbard). Integrating PCA with field observations, we find evidence that the Bråvika Member facies investigated here includes aeolian deposition and may be analogous to syn-glacial Marinoan aeolian units including the Bakoye Formation in Mali and the Whyalla Sandstone in South Australia.

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Ioele ◽  
Michele De Luca ◽  
Fedora Grande ◽  
Giacomina Durante ◽  
Raffaella Trozzo ◽  
...  

The water vulnerability of the Crati river (Calabria, Italy), was assessed by applying chemometric methods on a large number of analytical parameters. This study was applied to a data set collected in the years 2015–2016, recording 30 physical–chemical and geological parameters at 25 sampling points, measured both for water and for sediments. The processing of the data by principal component analysis (PCA) allowed for highlighting the influence of the components most responsible for pollution. The accumulation of heavy metals in the water was detected only in two samples near the source of the river. On the contrary, their concentration values in the sediments exceeded the legal limit in several sites, probably due to their proximity to urban areas. In this case, high concentrations of chromium, mercury and nickel were detected both at the mouth of the river and along the valley. Lead was only detected in one sediment sample. The multivariate analysis techniques proved to be very useful to completely characterize the areas surrounding a river course and facilitate the development of a risk map to monitor health risks to the local population.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Reid ◽  
Marnie Forster ◽  
Wolfgang Preiss ◽  
Alicia Caruso ◽  
Stacey Curtis ◽  
...  

Abstract. Low metamorphic grade rocks contain both detrital minerals and minerals newly grown or partly recrystallised during diagenesis and metamorphism. However, rocks such as these typically yield complex 40Ar/39Ar age spectra that can be difficult to interpret. In this study, we have analysed a suite of variably deformed rocks from a region of low metamorphic grade within the c. 514–490 Ma Delamerian Orogen, South Australia. The samples analysed range from siltstone and shale to phyllite and all contain either muscovite or phengite determined by hyperspectral mineralogical characterisation. Furnace step heating 40Ar/39Ar analysis produced complex apparent age spectra with multiple age components. Using the concept of asymptotes that define minimum and maximum ages for different components, we interpret the age spectra to preserve a range of detrital mineral ages, along with younger components related to either cooling or deformation- induced recrystallisation. Two samples contain Mesoproterozoic detrital age components, up to c. 1170 Ma, while the c. 515 Ma Heatherdale Shale which has both c. 566 Ma and c. 530 Ma detrital components. All samples contain younger lower (younger) asymptotes in the age spectra defined from multiple heating steps that range from c. 476 to c. 460 Ma. One interpretation of these younger ages is that they are caused by post-metamorphic cooling. However, the shape of the age spectra and the degree of deformation in the phyllites suggest the ages may record recrystallisation of detrital minerals and/or new mica growth during deformation. Potentially these c. 476 to c. 460 Ma ages suggest deformation in the upper portion of the orogen was facilitated by movement along regional faults and shear zones up to around 20 million years after the cessation of deformation in the high-metamorphic grade regions of the Delamerian Orogen.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hartmann

Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns (SLODR) with regard to age was tested in two different databases from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The first database consisted of 6,980 boys and girls aged 12–16 from the 1997 cohort ( NLSY 1997 ). The subjects were tested with a computer-administered adaptive format (CAT) of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) consisting of 12 subtests. The second database consisted of 11,448 male and female subjects aged 15–24 from the 1979 cohort ( NLSY 1979 ). These subjects were tested with the older 10-subtest version of the ASVAB. The hypothesis was tested by dividing the sample into Young and Old age groups while keeping IQ fairly constant by a method similar to the one developed and employed by Deary et al. (1996) . The different age groups were subsequently factor-analyzed separately. The eigenvalue of the first principal component (PC1) and the first principal axis factor (PAF1), and the average intercorrelation of the subtests were used as estimates of the g saturation and compared across groups. There were no significant differences in the g saturation across age groups for any of the two samples, thereby pointing to no support for this aspect of Spearman's “Law of Diminishing Returns.”


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem K.B. Hofstee ◽  
Dick P.H. Barelds ◽  
Jos M.F. Ten Berge

Hofstee and Ten Berge (2004a) have proposed a new look at personality assessment data, based on a bipolar proportional (-1, .. . 0, .. . +1) scale, a corresponding coefficient of raw-scores likeness L = ΢XY/N, and raw-scores principal component analysis. In a normal sample, the approach resulted in a structure dominated by a first principal component, according to which most people are faintly to mildly socially desirable. We hypothesized that a more differentiated structure would arise in a clinical sample. We analyzed the scores of 775 psychiatric clients on the 132 items of the Dutch Personality Questionnaire (NPV). In comparison to a normative sample (N = 3140), the eigenvalue for the first principal component appeared to be 1.7 times as small, indicating that such clients have less personality (social desirability) in common. Still, the match between the structures in the two samples was excellent after oblique rotation of the loadings. We applied the abridged m-dimensional circumplex design, by which persons are typed by their two highest scores on the principal components, to the scores on the first four principal components. We identified five types: Indignant (1-), Resilient (1-2+), Nervous (1-2-), Obsessive-Compulsive (1-3-), and Introverted (1-4-), covering 40% of the psychiatric sample. Some 26% of the individuals had negligible scores on all type vectors. We discuss the potential and the limitations of our approach in a clinical context.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 683
Author(s):  
Birte Moser ◽  
Meruyert Beknazarova ◽  
Harriet Whiley ◽  
Thilini Piushani Keerthirathne ◽  
Nikki Harrington ◽  
...  

Iron-related clogging of boreholes, pumps and dripper lines is a significant and costly problem for irrigators worldwide. The primary cause of iron-related clogging is still debated. Previous studies have described complex interactions between biological clogging and inorganic iron/manganese oxide precipitation. This case study examined groundwater bores used for viticulture irrigation in the Limestone Coast region, a highly productive wine growing area in the SE of South Australia. Iron clogging of bore screens, pumps and dripper systems has been a persistent problem in the region and the issue is perceived to be growing, with irrigators suggesting the widespread introduction of iron-related bacteria (IRB) through drilling equipment to be the root cause of the problem. Analysis of the groundwater microbiology and inorganic chemistry found no apparent correlation between the presence of IRB and the clogging status of wells. In fact, IRB proved to be widespread throughout the limestone aquifer. However, a clear correlation could be found between clogging affected bores and the redox potential of the groundwater with the most severely affected bores strongly oversaturated in respect to iron oxide minerals. Elevated dissolved concentrations of Fe(II) thereby tended to be found in deeper bores, which also were generally more recently drilled. Following decades of less than average rainfall, a tendency to deepen bores in response to widespread declines in water levels has been documented for the SE of South Australia. The gradually widening clogging problem in the region is postulated to be related to the changes in climate in the region, with irrigators increasingly driven to rely on deeper, anoxic iron-rich groundwater resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Isabel Iñiguez-Luna ◽  
Jorge Cadena-Iñiguez ◽  
Ramón Marcos Soto-Hernández ◽  
Francisco Javier Morales-Flores ◽  
Moisés Cortes-Cruz ◽  
...  

AbstractBioprospecting identifies new sources of compounds with actual or potential economic value that come from biodiversity. An analysis was performed regarding bioprospecting purposes in ten genotypes of Sechium spp., through a meta-analysis of 20 information sources considering different variables: five morphological, 19 biochemical, anti-proliferative activity of extracts on five malignant cell lines, and 188 polymorphic bands of amplified fragment length polymorphisms, were used in order to identify the most relevant variables for the design of genetic interbreeding. Significant relationships between morphological and biochemical characters and anti-proliferative activity in cell lines were obtained, with five principal components for principal component analysis (SAS/ETS); variables were identified with a statistical significance (< 0.7 and Pearson values ≥ 0.7), with 80.81% of the accumulation of genetic variation and 110 genetic bands. Thirty-nine (39) variables were recovered using NTSYSpc software where 30 showed a Pearson correlation (> 0.5) and nine variables (< 0.05), Finally, using a cladistics analysis approach highlighted 65 genetic bands, in addition to color of the fruit, presence of thorns, bitter flavor, piriform and oblong shape, and also content of chlorophylls a and b, presence of cucurbitacins, and the IC50 effect of chayote extracts on the four cell lines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2719
Author(s):  
Nicodemo Abate ◽  
Alessia Frisetti ◽  
Federico Marazzi ◽  
Nicola Masini ◽  
Rosa Lasaponara

Unmanned aerial vehicles are currently the most used solution for cultural heritage in the field of close range and low altitude acquisitions. This work shows data acquired by multitemporal and multispectral aerial surveys in the archaeological site of San Vincenzo al Volturno (Molise, Italy). The site is one of the most important medieval archaeological sites in the world. It is a monastic settlement that was particularly rich during the early Middle Ages, and is famous for its two full-frescoed crypts which represent a milestone in the history of medieval art. Thanks to the use of multispectral aerial photography at different times of the year, an area not accessible to archaeological excavation has been investigated. To avoid redundancy of information and reduce the number of data to be analysed, a method based on spectral and radiometric enhancement techniques combined with a selective principal component analysis was used for the identification of useful information. The combination of already published archaeological data and new remote sensing discoveries, has allowed to better define the situation of the abbey during the building phases of the 8th/9th century and 11th century, confirming and adding new data to the assumptions made by archaeologists.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document