Drivers of soil water repellency after wildfires: case study in the south-central Appalachian Mountains, US

<p>Increasing frequency of wildfire in humid hardwood forests make it necessary to understand the occurrence and origin of soil water repellency in these systems, as wildfire-induced soil water repellency has been observed to severely impact many biophysical processes in other forest types. In this project, we studied two sites in the Appalachian Mountains, United States, (at Mount Pleasant Wildlife Refuge, Virginia, and Chimney Rock State Park, North Carolina) where wildfires occurred in late 2016. In each site, burned and unburned soils were evaluated for actual (in the field) and potential (in the laboratory) water repellency using the water drop penetration time method. In addition, samples were analyzed for organic carbon content (measured using C/N analyzer), hydrophobic functional groups (using Fourier transform infrared, FTIR), and their rank correlations (r<sub>s</sub>) based on multiple samples collected one year after the fires. We found that soil water repellency was substantial greater in burned soils in the first months after the fire, and persisted for the entire year in the more severely burned soils. We also determined that potential water repellency was much greater than actual water repellency, and that organic carbon content and hydrophobic functional groups were significantly correlated to potential water repellency (p < 0.0001). Correlations were stronger at Mount Pleasant (0.77 < r<sub>s</sub> <0.91) than at Chimney Rock (0.06 < r<sub>s</sub> < 0.70). For actual water repellency only had significant correlations with soil organic content at Mount Pleasant (p < 0.0001), and with hydrophobic functional groups (p < 0.0001) at both sites except the unburned soils at Chimney Rock. However, these correlations were weaker than with potential water repellency, likely due to the influence of soil water content. Altogether, this study provides new insight into the influence of soil organic matter and its composition on post-wildfire soil water repellency.</p>

Mount Pleasant Community Centre

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Mount Pleasant Community Centre

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Tempo of a Mega-henge: A New Chronology for Mount Pleasant, Dorchester, Dorset

Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian chronological modelling have provided precise new dating for the henge monument of Mount Pleasant in Dorset, excavated in 1970–1. A total of 59 radiocarbon dates are now available for the site and modelling of these has provided a revised sequence for the henge enclosure and its various constituent parts: the timber palisaded enclosure, the Conquer Barrow, and the ditch surrounding Site IV, a concentric timber and stone monument. This suggests that the henge was probably built in the 26th century cal bc, shortly followed by the timber palisade and Site IV ditch. These major construction events took place in the late Neolithic over a relatively short timespan, probably lasting 35–125 years. The principal results are discussed for each element of the site, including comparison with similar monument types elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, and wider implications for late Neolithic connections and later activity at the site associated with Beaker pottery are explored.

Timing of magmatic crystallization and Sn–W–Mo greisen vein formation within the Mount Douglas Granite, New Brunswick, Canada

U–Pb geochronology was applied to a combination of magmatic and hydrothermal minerals to help constrain the timing of emplacement of three units in the Mount Douglas Granite (MDG) and reveal their association with a complex mineralized hydrothermal system containing endogranitic Sn–W–Mo–Zn–Bi–U-bearing greisen/sheeted veins within the pluton. Magmatic monazite and zircon U–Pb ages obtained by LA–ICP–MS overlap at 368 Ma, recording a Late Devonian crystallization age for the MDG. Although discrimination, outside analytical error, of sequential pulses of magmatism is beyond the resolution of LA–ICP–MS U–Pb geochronology, geochemical variations of monazite accompanied by previous whole-rock geochemical analyses support a progressive fractional crystallization process starting from a parental magma (Dmd1), leading to the generation of Dmd2, and finally Dmd3 as the most fractionated unit. Hydrothermal uraninite, cassiterite, and monazite, collected from endogranitic greisen/sheeted veins, reveal evidence for syn-magmatic-related mineralization and a longer-lived post-magmatic hydrothermal system. The first stage is recorded by concordant uraninite dates at 367 ± 3 Ma and by an inverse isochron lower intercept of 362 ± 8 Ma for cassiterite. In contrast, hydrothermal monazite crystallized over a wider range of ages from 368 to 344 Ma, demonstrating post-magmatic hydrothermal activity within the MDG. These magmatic and hydrothermal ages combined with the geochemical signature of the MDG are similar to those documented for the nearby Mount Pleasant Sn–W–Mo–Bi–In granite-related deposit, which suggests that the two mineralizing systems occur at different levels of the same magmatic system.

An IoT Based Efficient Waste Collection System with Smart Bins

<div>Waste collection and management is an integrated</div><div>part of both city and village life. Lack of optimized and efficient waste collection system vastly affect public health and costs more. The prevailing traditional waste collection system is neither optimized nor efficient. Internet of Things (IoT) has been playing a great role in making human life easier by making systems smart, adequate and self sufficient. Thus, this paper proposes an IoT based efficient waste collection system with smart bins. It does real-time monitoring of the waste bins and determines which bins are to emptied in every cycle of waste collection. The system</div><div>also presents an enhanced navigation system that shows the best route to collect wastes from the selected bins. Four waste bins are assumed in the city of Mount Pleasant, Michigan at random location. The proposed system decreases the travel distance by 30.76% on an average in the assumed scenario, compared to the traditional waste collection system. Thus it reduces the fuel cost and human labor making the system optimized and efficient by enabling real-time monitoring and enhanced navigation.</div>

An IoT Based Efficient Waste Collection System with Smart Bins

<div>Waste collection and management is an integrated</div><div>part of both city and village life. Lack of optimized and efficient waste collection system vastly affect public health and costs more. The prevailing traditional waste collection system is neither optimized nor efficient. Internet of Things (IoT) has been playing a great role in making human life easier by making systems smart, adequate and self sufficient. Thus, this paper proposes an IoT based efficient waste collection system with smart bins. It does real-time monitoring of the waste bins and determines which bins are to emptied in every cycle of waste collection. The system</div><div>also presents an enhanced navigation system that shows the best route to collect wastes from the selected bins. Four waste bins are assumed in the city of Mount Pleasant, Michigan at random location. The proposed system decreases the travel distance by 30.76% on an average in the assumed scenario, compared to the traditional waste collection system. Thus it reduces the fuel cost and human labor making the system optimized and efficient by enabling real-time monitoring and enhanced navigation.</div>