The Trzciniec Cultural Circle barrow from Nieciecz Włościańska in the Southern Podlasie

The societies of the Trzciniec Cultural Circle (TCC) were characterized by a complex and unique funeral rite. Despite its multidimensionality, it is possible to identify a number of patterns repeated in the ritual activity of these populations. This especially concerns barrow cemeteries erected during the classical phase of TCC development. To date, these types of structures are known from the southern (upland) provinces of this cultural formation. However, the barrow from Nieciecz Włościańska in Southern Podlasie that is comprehensively described here is the first richly equipped monument discovered in the northeastern (lowland) province of the TCC. The aim of this article is the complex characterization of the barrow and the interpretation of remains associated with the funeral rite. The authors apply standard archaeological methods supported by typochronological and radiocarbon analyzes to establish the chronology of this feature. The presented data is essential and crucial for understanding the northerneastern area of the TCC, which remains insufficiently recognized to date.

A Decisionmaking Model for Managing or Regenerating Southern Upland Hardwood Forests

A decisionmaking model was developed to assist hardwood resource managers in determining the management potential, for sawlog production, of southern upland hardwood stands within the Cumberland Plateau, Western Highland Rim, and Upper Coastal Plain physiographic provinces. The model determines stands to be either manageable (using intermediate stand management) or in need of regeneration. Stand index values were established for even-aged stands using stocking guidelines, individual tree characteristics, and tree class. Threshold index values for continued stand management were established for four sawtimber management objectives in the Cumberland Plateau and three sawtimber management objectives in the Western Highland Rim and Upper Coastal Plain. Stand index values above or below the threshold value returned a decision to continue to manage or initiate regeneration methods for a stand, respectively. In the Cumberland Plateau and Western Highland Rim provinces, a similarity of percentage between model decisions and decisions from an expert panel of hardwood silviculturists was calculated to assist in determining model effectiveness. The overall agreement between the model and experts was 71%.

The nature and regional significance of structures in the Gala Group of the Southern Uplands terrane, Berwickshire coast, southeastern Scotland

Structures deforming Llandovery turbidites of the Gala Group in the Southern Uplands terrane are spectacularly exposed in the Berwickshire coastal section, southeastern Scotland. The upward-facing, upright to NW-vergent folds and associated structures appear to record a single regional phase of subhorizontal NW–SE contractional deformation, with a steeply dipping direction of bulk finite extension. These structures are markedly different from those developed in rocks correlated with the Upper Llandovery Hawick Group exposed some 5 km to the south in the Eyemouth–Burnmouth coastal section. Here a highly domainal system of sinistral transpressional strain occurs, with zones of steeply plunging curvilinear folds, clockwise cleavage transection and bedding-parallel sinistral detachment faults. The markedly different bulk strain patterns in the Berwickshire coastal sections are thought to reflect the regionally diachronous nature of transpressional deformation in the Southern Uplands terrane. There are striking similarities in the structures recognized in the Berwickshire coastal sections and those developed in stratigraphically equivalent units along strike in southwestern Scotland and Northern Ireland. This confirms the lateral structural continuity and correlation of tracts and tract boundaries along the entire length of the Southern Uplands terrane. The regional structure suggests that a phase of top-to-the-NW backthrusting and backfolding associated with the southern margin of the Gala Group outcrop marks the transition from orthogonal contraction to sinistral transpression in the Southern Upland thrust wedge during late Llandovery times.

The Siluro-Devonian evolution of the southern Midland Valley of Scotland

Geological studies along the southern margin of the Midland Valley of Scotland, together with previously published work, suggest a strike-slip model for its evolution during Silurian and Devonian times. The data emphasize the ‘older Caledonian’ influence and persistent, albeit intermittent, transcurrent activity along the Southern Upland Fault which is the boundary between the Midland Valley and Southern Upland terranes. A comparison of the geological characteristics of the Silurian and Devonian rocks in the southern Midland Valley with characteristics from strike-slip basins elsewhere suggests that the Midland Valley rocks were deposited and locally deformed under sinistral strike-slip regimes with two main episodes of transtension — the first acting in Llandovery—Wenlock times and the second in Lower Old Red Sandstone times. A strike-slip model involving transpression may explain why there is a strong unconformity between the Llandovery—Wenlock and the Lower Old Red Sandstone strata in the Pentland Hills and Girvan inliers but only a marked change in sedimentary facies at the equivalent horizon in the inliers of the central Midland Valley. The Lower Old Red Sandstone was probably deposited in a transtensional regime, but the succession is complicated by the widespread Lower Old Red Sandstone calc-alkaline magmatic event. The mid- Devonian deformation is also variable in its effects and the more easterly trend of theen echelonfold axes relative to the Southern Upland Fault trend is indicative of sinistral transpression. Carboniferous and older rocks were affected by smaller dextral movements on the Southern Upland Fault and related faults which started during Namurian times when a change to an overall dextral regime took place.

Assessing the Feasibility and Profitability of Cable Logging in Southern Upland Hardwood Forests

Procedures developed to assess available timber supplies from upland hardwood forest statistics reported by the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis unit were modified to assess the feasibility and profitability of cable logging in southern upland hardwood forests. Depending on the harvest system and yarding distance used, cable logging can be profitable in as much as 14% of the area of upland hardwood forests on slopes that are 30% or greater. These slopes contain up to one-quarter of the board-foot volume in the 14-state area that was considered. The majority of the reported inventory that is profitable to log is on private and forest-industry land and would best be harvested by a medium-size yarder such as the Ecologger I. As the average slope yarding distance and yarder size increase, the available inventory that is profitable to log decreases. To achieve profitability with medium-size yarders at an average slope yarding distance of 500 ft, loggers must harvest trees that average at least 13.4 in. in dbh with a volume of at least 9200 bd ft/ac(2,300 ft3/ac). South J. Appl. For. 19(2):97-102.