346 research outputs found
Integrating demographic and Landsat (TM) data at a watershed scale
Recurrent calls for integrated resource management urge that an understanding of human activities and populations be incorporated into natural resource research, management, and protection efforts. In this paper, we hypothesize that watersheds can be a valuable geography for organizing an inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment, and we present a framework for conducting such efforts. The framework is grounded in the emerging field of landscape ecology and incorporates demographic theory and data. Demography has been advanced by technological capabilities associated with the 1990 Census. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, we couple Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) land cover data with census-derived housing density data to demonstrate the operation of our framework and its utility for better understanding human-landscape interactions. In our investigation of the Kickapoo Watershed and two subwatersheds, located in southwestern Wisconsin, we identify relationships between landscape composition and the distribution and social structure of human populations. Our findings offer insight into the interplay between people and biophysical systems.
Recurrent calls for integrated resource management urge that an understanding of human activities and populations be incorporated into natural resource research, management, and protection efforts. In this paper, we hypothesize that watersheds can be a valuable geography for organizing an inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment, and we present a framework for conducting such efforts. The framework is grounded in the emerging field of landscape ecology and incorporates demographic theory and data. Demography has been advanced by technological capabilities associated with the 1990 Census. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, we couple Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) land cover data with census-derived housing density data to demonstrate the operation of our framework and its utility for better understanding human-landscape interactions. In our investigation of the Kickapoo Watershed and two sub-watersheds, located in southwestern Wisconsin, we identify relationships between landscape composition and the distribution and social structure of human populations. Our findings offer insight into the interplay between people and biophysical systems
Dissolution experiments in halite cores: comparisons in cavity shape and controls between brine and seawater experiments
There is an increasing need for underground storage of
natural gas (and potentially hydrogen) to meet the UKās
energy demands and ensure its energy security. In addition,
the growth of renewable energy technologies, such as wind
power, will be facilitated by the development of grid-scale
energy storage facilities to balance grid demand. One solution
lies in creating large-scale compressed-air energy storage
(CAES) facilities underground. Whilst a number of
lithologies offer storage potential, only three operational
CAES facilities exist in the UK. They are constructed in
specifically designed solution-mined salt (halite) caverns,
similar to those currently used for natural gas storage. The
influences exerted on salt dissolution by petrology, structure
and fabric during cavern construction are not fully
understood, with some occurences of caverns with noncircular
cross-sections being less than optimum for gas
storage and especially CAES
High-resolution wetness index mapping: A useful tool for regional scale wetland management
Wetland ecosystems are key habitats for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and ecosystem services, yet in many they localities have been subject to modification or damage. In recent years, there has been increasing focus on effective management and, where possible, restoration of wetlands. Whilst this is highly laudable, practical implementation is limited by the high costs and unpredictable rates of success. Accordingly, there is a need for spatial information to guide restoration, ideally at the regional scale that land managers operate. In this study, we use high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived elevation, in conjunction with regional soil and land cover maps, to model the wetness potential of an area of conservation importance in north-west England. We use the Compound Topographic Index (CTI) as a measure for the site-specific wetness and potential to be receptive to wetland restoration. The resulting model is in agreement with the regional-scale distribution of wetlands and is clearly influenced by the topographic and soil parameters. An assessment of three representative case studies highlights the small scale features that determine the potential wetness of an area. For each site, the model results conform to the expected patterns of wetness, highlighting restoration and management activity. Furthermore, areas showing high potential wetness that may be suitable for wetland habitat creation, are highlighted. The increasing availability of LiDAR data at regional and national scales will allow studies of this nature to be undertaken at previously unobtainable resolutions. Simple models, such as implemented here, benefit from explainability and relatability and have clear potential for use by managers and conservation agencies involved in wetland restoration
Retention of chlorine-36 by a cementitious backfill
Radial diffusion experiments have been carried out to assess the migration of 36Cl, as chloride, through a cementitious backfill material. Further experiments in the presence of cellulose degradation products were performed to assess the effect of organic ligands on the extent and rate of chloride diffusion. Results show that breakthrough of 36Cl is dependent on chloride concentration: as the carrier concentration increases, both breakthrough time and the quantity retained by the cement matrix decreases. Experiments in the presence of cellulose degradation products also show a decrease in time to initial breakthrough. However, uptake at various carrier concentrations in the presence of organic ligands converges at 45% of the initial concentration as equilibrium is reached. The results are consistent with organic ligands blocking sites on the cement that would otherwise be available for chloride binding, though further work is required to confirm that this is the case. Post-experimental digital autoradiographs of the cement cylinders, and elemental mapping showed evidence of increased 36Cl activity associated with black ash-like particles in the matrix, believed to correspond to partially hydrated glassy calcium-silicate-sulfate-rich clinker
Petrology of column experiments on the interaction of young cement leachate with silicate host rock in a geological disposal facility
Unusual morphologies and the occurrence of pseudomorphs after ikaite (CaCO3ā¢6H2O) in fast growing, hyperalkaline speleothem
Unusual speleothem, associated with hyperalkaline (pH>12) groundwaters have formed within a shallow, abandoned railway tunnel at Peak Dale, Derbyshire, UK. The hyperalkaline groundwaters are produced by the leaching of a thin layer (<2 m) of old lime kiln waste above the soil-bedrock surface above the tunnel by rainwater. This results in a different reaction and chemical process to that more commonly associated with the formation of calcium carbonate speleothems from Ca-HCO3-type groundwaters and degassing of CO2. Stalagmites within the Peak Dale tunnel have grown rapidly (averaging 33 mm y-1), following the closure of the tunnel 70 years ago. They have an unusual morphology comprising a central sub-horizontally-laminated column of micro- to nano-crystalline calcium carbonate encompassed by an outer sub-vertical assymetric ripple laminated layer. The stalagmites are largely composed of secondary calcite forming pseudomorphs (<1 mm) which we believe to be predominantly after the ācold climateā calcium carbonate polymorph, ikaite (calcium carbonate hexahydrate: CaCO3ā¢6H2O), with minor volumes of small (<5 Ī¼m) pseudomorphs after vaterite. The tunnel has a near constant temperature of 8-9Ā°C which is slightly above the previously published crystallisation temperatures for ikaite (<6Ā°C). Analysis of a stalagmite actively growing at the time of sampling, and preserved immediately within a dry nitrogen cryogenic vessel, indicates that following crystallisation of ikaite, decomposition to calcite occurs rapidly, if not instantaneously. We believe this is the first occurrence of this calcium carbonate polymorph observed within speleothem
Second-order corrections to neutrino two-flavor oscillation parameters in the wave packet approach
We report about an analytic study involving the {\em intermediate} wave
packet formalism for quantifying the physically relevant information which
appear in the neutrino two-flavor conversion formula and help us to obtain more
precise limits and ranges for neutrino flavor oscillation. By following the
sequence of analytic approximations where we assume a strictly peaked momentum
distribution and consider the second-order corrections in a power series
expansion of the energy, we point out a {\em residual} time-dependent phase
which, coupled with the {\em spreading/slippage} effects, can subtly modify the
neutrino oscillation parameters and limits. Such second-order effects are
usually ignored in the relativistic wave packet treatment, but they present an
evident dependence on the propagation regime so that some small modifications
to the oscillation pattern, even in the ultra-relativistic limit, can be
quantified. These modifications are implemented in the confront with the
neutrino oscillation parameter range (mass-squared difference \Delta m^{\2}
and the mixing-angle ) where we assume the same wave packet parameters
previously noticed in the literature in a kind of {\em toy model} for some
reactor experiments. Generically speaking, our analysis parallels the recent
experimental purposes which concern with higher precision parameter
measurements. To summarize, we show that the effectiveness of a more accurate
determination of \Delta m^{\2} and depends on the wave packet width
and on the averaged propagating energy flux which still
correspond to open variables for some classes of experiments. \Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Interactions between Simulant Vitrified Nuclear Wastes and high pH solutions: A Natural Analogue Approach
This study details the characterization of a glass sample exposed to hyperalkaline water and calcium-rich sediment for an extended time period (estimated as 2-70 years) at a lime (CaO) waste site in the UK. We introduce this site, known as Peak Dale, in reference to its use as a natural analogue for nuclear waste glass dissolution in the high pH environment of a cementitious engineered barrier of a geological disposal facility. In particular, a preliminary assessment of alteration layer chemistry and morphology is described and the initiation of a long-term durability assessment is outlined
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