How a New Paradigm Explains Topographic Map Drainage System and Erosional Landform Evidence in the Fremont County Royal Gorge Area, Colorado, USA

A new Cenozoic geologic and glacial history paradigm (new paradigm) describes massive and prolonged continental ice sheet meltwater floods that eroded the Colorado Royal Gorge area and surrounding regions and which were diverted in east, northeast, and even north directions as uplift of a thick ice sheet created deep “hole” rim gradually occurred (the thick ice sheet was located where North American ice sheets are usually recognized to have existed). A deep “hole” rim segment followed what is now the northern and central Colorado east-west continental divide southward to the Arkansas River headwaters area and then continued south along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains crestline to at least the Purgatoire River-Canadian River drainage divide and may have continued east from that point along a less well-defined zone beginning with what is now the Purgatoire River-Canadian River drainage divide. Diverging and converging valley complexes, barbed tributaries, and Arkansas River and other drainage route direction changes (easily seen on United States Geological Survey detailed topographic maps) are interpreted to have developed as the south-oriented floodwaters first flowed across the rising deep “hole” rim to reach the south- and southeast-oriented Rio Grande River drainage basin and were subsequently blocked by deep “hole” rim uplift and diverted to flow in east, northeast, and north directions. The accepted Cenozoic geologic and glacial history paradigm (accepted paradigm) has to date been unable to satisfactorily explain the detailed topographic map drainage system and erosional landform evidence and the new and accepted paradigms are incommensurable and lead to quite different Cenozoic geologic and glacial histories.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Journal of Geography and Geology, Vol. 13, No. 2

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Journal of Geography and Geology, Vol. 13, No. 2

Evaluation of Accessibility to Public Services in the City of Aqaba Using Geographic Information Systems

In this study, we identify methods of measuring accessibility to public services in the city of Aqaba. Accessibility is an indicator of the efficiency of their spatial distribution in relation to residential neighborhoods in the city. Administrative, commercial, educational, health and entertainment services were selected for a case study because they are the most important services. We used spatial analysis tools in Arc Map within the geographic information systems (GIS) environment to measure direct distances between neighborhood centres and public services and to determine the number of services within specific ranges (1,000 m, 500 m, 200 m), using the three most common methods of measuring accessibility: the distance to the nearest service, the number of services within a certain distance or time, and the average distance for all services. The results of this research indicate that educational services have the highest degree of accessibility, followed by slight differences among recreational, administrative, and commercial services. Health services lag further behind.

Requiem for the American CBD: The Impact of COVID-19 and a Dispersed Workforce

Digital communication technologies have rendered the American Central Business District (CBD) obsolete, and one can expect the corporate headquarters function to be removed in varying degrees from the CBD as this decade further unfolds.  The COVID-19 pandemic forced corporate America to widely embrace a dispersed workforce model. We argue that corporations will continue to embrace this model for profit driven reasons, while employees will also demand its continuance for another set of reasons: some monetarily based with others rooted in flexibility and the ability to reside anywhere.  In the meantime, the public will perceive such moves as environmentally friendly and enhancing worker safety.  The traditional CBDs and their adjoining sports/entertainment districts will likely face significant near-term fiscal challenges, which for some cities will be magnified by poor public policy decisions and increasing crime. 

The Inner Navigation in First Nine Hundred (Northern Italy): Editorial and Geographical Aspects

A brief excursion on the theme of inland navigation in the early twentieth century, resumed mainly by editorial references present both in the writ and in the appendices. The bibliographic indications, along with text, consent to frame the different facets of the matter. The titles reported, whose purpose is to corroborate (remark) what affirmed in the text, are grouped in consideration of content and type of publication.

Environmental Change and Livelihood Activities in Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands of Yobe State, North East Nigeria

The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands is an extensive area of flood plains located in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of north east Nigeria. The population rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods. In recent years, climatic vagaries, increasing populations and unregulated livelihood activities have significantly affected water and other resources availability and communities are faced with constant struggle of survival under a declining resource base. This study assessed the adverse effects of environmental change on resource users and how this influences their livelihood options. Understanding the perceptions, knowledge and practices of local resource users and what shapes their livelihood options is an area of critical importance that is currently under-researched in the area. This paper argues that to effectively influence policy and practice that support sustainable use of natural resources, it is important to not only understand resource user's knowledge and choices about their changing environment but how they utilize this knowledge in their actions and the overall impact on the environment. Mixed methods consisting of semi-structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) based on two Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools (Village Timeline and Contextual Change) were utilized to solicit primary data. Environmental change in the area is accelerated by human activities and people have developed several local mechanisms of adapting to change. These adaptive measures could further be explored for developing policies and programs aimed at tackling the challenges of environmental change and resource decline.

Cemetery Mapping and Digital Data Analysis: A Case Study in Minnesota, USA

This study examines how geospatial technologies can be used in the aid of local-level cemetery management with limited resources using a case study in Woodland Hills Memorial Park Cemetery, Minnesota, USA. The hard-copy records in a handwritten ledger were manually transferred into an Excel table. The spatial data of the gravesites were collected using a Trimble Geo 7X unit with a Zephyr antenna and a Laser Rangefinder sensor over the summer of 2017. A geodatabase was constructed by joining the Excel table with the GPS data in GIS. A procedure was also developed to map the spatial distributions of plots and analyze the demographic data. It was demonstrated that a very high locational accuracy could be achieved based on carefully designed GPS data collection strategies. In addition, the data analysis results revealed that there were 12,190 plots in total, approximately half of which were still available for purchase. Among the 5,906 inhabitants buried at the Woodland Hills, many were ethnically German and Scandinavian, of whom 9.7% were veterans and nearly half were from the Greatest Generation (born between 1901 and 1927). The birth, death, and age distributions are significantly different between the nonveteran and veteran groups. Clustered patterns were identified for the filled plots and all the Generation categories. Such results will be beneficial to local cemetery managers to plan for further development as well as to future historians or individuals interested in the local culture and history. The proposed methods can greatly facilitate local-level cemetery data collection, mapping, query, and analysis.

A Reconnainsances Study to Delianate Conductive Groundwater Zone Using Resistivity Sounding in Some Part of Kwara State North-Central, Nigeria

From the results, three to four electrostratigraphic layers with resistivity value ranging from 44 to 997 ohm/m and thickness ranging from 0.5 to 39.7 m were observed in the study area. The top loose rocks, the weathered conductive zone, the fractured basement rock and the fresh basement rock of older granite suite were encountered respectively. From this research, it can be deduce that, the thicker top soil and deeper weathered basement rock at the depth of 30 to 45 meters within this area produce a productive site for sitting future borehole. Insufficient groundwater supply in some places leading to scarcity is noticed in VES 10, VES 12 and VES 13. H, I, and A curve types are generally the most common in the area and are typical of basement complex area. Geographical Positioning System tool (model: GPSmap 76CSx), was used to locate the VES points. Fifteen VES points with electrode spacing [AB/2] of 100 meters separation around Ndanaku and environs were undertaken using Schlumberger configuration. IPI 2 Win [1990-2003] Geosoft resistivity sounding software was used to model the field curves from the measured data on the field. Groundwater in the area is regarded as poor due to localized nature of the aquifer and the study aimed at addressing this scarcity of water within the area by studying the conductive zone and knows the aquifer types through resistivity sounding techniques for future drilling.

North Platte River-South Platte River Confluence Area Drainage System History as Determined by Topographic Map Interpretation: Western Nebraska, USA

Detailed topographic maps of the western Nebraska North Platte River-South Platte River confluence area show a low relief and gently sloping southeast-oriented upland surface, asymmetrical drainage divides, nearly adjacent and parallel east-oriented North and South Platte River valley segments, barbed tributaries, and shallow divide crossings (low points along drainage divides) in a region south of the Nebraska Sand Hills and at the Nebraska loess region’s western margin. Published interpretations of North and South Platte River confluence area landforms (referred to as the accepted paradigm) do not explain most drainage features and are compared with a new paradigm’s interpretations to determine which of the two paradigms explains the regional drainage history and related surface features in a simple and consistent manner. New paradigm interpretations require large sheets of slowly-moving southeast-oriented water to have flowed toward what was probably an actively eroding Republican River valley and to have shaped the upland surface while the Platte and North and South Platte River valleys eroded headward into and across the region so as to create the asymmetric drainage divides, barbed tributaries, and shallow divide crossings. These new paradigm interpretations are consistent with each other and with recently published new paradigm interpretations of upstream North and South Platte River drainage system history. New paradigm interpretations also suggest the adjacent Nebraska Sand Hills developed on a large flood deposited delta (typical of sand dune areas on former glacial lake deltas further to the north) and the slowly-moving sheets of water may have been responsible for some or all of Nebraska’s loess deposits, although the new paradigm leads to a fundamentally different middle and late Cenozoic regional geologic and glacial history than what workers using the accepted paradigm have described.

Predicted Responses of Beaches, Bays, and Inner-Shelf Sand Supplies to Potential Sea Level Rise (0.5-1.0 m) in Three Small Littoral Subcells in the High-Wave-Energy Northern Oregon Coast, USA

Three small subcells (Nehalem, Tillamook, and Netarts) totaling ~55 km shoreline length in the high-wave energy northern Oregon coast are evaluated for potential beach sand loss from sea level rise (SLR) of 0.5–1.0 m during the next century. The predicted erosion is based on beach sand displacement from the narrow beaches (average ~120 m width) to increased submarine accommodation spaces in the innermost-shelf (to 30 m water depth) and in the subcell estuaries (Tillamook Bay, Netarts Bay, and Nehalem Bay), following predicted near-future SLR. Beach sand sources from local rivers, paleo-shelf deposits, and/or sea cliff retreat are discriminated by distinctive heavy-mineral tracers. Modern beach sands in the study area are derived from river sand (~75 %) and paleo-shelf sand (~25 %). The supplies of paleo-shelf sand to the beaches have largely diminished in late-Holocene time. The river-enriched beach sands have been transported offshore to the inner-shelf (0–50 m water depth) to fill increasing accommodation space in the inner-shelf during latest-Holocene conditions of relative SLR (1.0 m ka-1). To evaluate the beach sand response to future SLR, representative beach profiles (n=17) and intervening beach segment distances were compiled to yield beach sand volumes above mean lower low water (MLLW) or shallower wave-cut platforms ‘bedrock’. Across-shore cross-sectional areas, as averaged for each subcell, are as follows; Cannon Beach (304 m2), Tillamook (683 m2), and Netarts (227 m2). Littoral sand displacements to the adjacent innermost-shelf (to 30 m water depth) and the marine-dominated areas of the three estuaries are based on assumed vertical sand accretion rates of 1.0 m per century and a conservative value of 0.5 m per century. The filling of such submarine accommodation spaces will displace all active-beach sand reserves in all three subcells for either the 1.0 m or 0.5 m thickness accommodation space scenarios. Large beach sand deficits, primarily from the filling of offshore accommodation spaces, could cause further retreat of soft-shorelines, including barrier spit and beach plain/dune deposits, in the Tillamook subcell (150-280 m) and in the southern half of the Netarts subcell (370-770 m). The accommodation space approach used to predict beach sand volume loss from future SLR should have broad applicability in complex littoral systems worldwide.