Sequential biomolecular, macrofossil, and microfossil extraction from coprolites for reconstructing past behavior and environments

The study of macroscopic, microscopic, and biomolecular remains recovered from coprolites can provide a wide range of information on past human and animal behavior and environments. In earlier studies, research tended to focus on one or two proxies, but multiproxy approaches combining data from all remains within coprolites are becoming more common. Multiproxy analyses have demonstrated value for strengthening our understanding of the past and reducing equifinality. Here we present a sequential biomolecular, macrofossil, and microfossil extraction protocol that separates all different coprolite components and is intended as a best-practice guideline for coprolite analysis. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this method by applying it to an assemblage of coprolites from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, USA. By combining a wide range of proxies, this study provides important information on the taxonomy and behavior of organisms in the past as well as the paleoecological context of behavior

Event trees and epistemic uncertainty in long‐term volcanic hazard assessment of Rift Volcanoes: the example of Aluto (Central Ethiopia)

Aluto is a peralkaline rhyolitic caldera located in a highly populated area in central Ethiopia. Its postcaldera eruptive activity has mainly consisted of self‐similar, pumice‐cone‐building eruptions of varying size and vent location. These eruptions are explosive, generating hazardous phenomena that could impact proximal to distal areas from the vent. Volcanic hazard assessments in Ethiopia and the East African Rift are still limited in number. In this study, we develop an event tree model for Aluto volcano. The event tree is doubly useful: It facilitates the design of a conceptual model for the volcano and provides a framework to quantify volcanic hazard. We combine volcanological data from past and recent research at Aluto, and from a tool to objectively derive analog volcanoes (VOLCANS), to parameterize the event tree, including estimates of the substantial epistemic uncertainty. Results indicate that the probability of a silicic eruption in the next 50 years is highly uncertain, ranging from 2% to 35%. This epistemic uncertainty has a critical influence on event‐tree estimates for other volcanic events, like the probability of occurrence of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) in the next 50 years. The 90% credible interval for the latter is 5–16%, considering only the epistemic uncertainty in conditional eruption size and PDC occurrence, but 2–23% when adding the epistemic uncertainty in the probability of eruption in 50 years. Despite some anticipated challenges, we envisage that our event tree could be translated to other rift volcanoes, making it an important tool to quantify volcanic hazard in Ethiopia and elsewhere

Earthquakes, Volcanoes and God: Comparative Perspectives from Christianity and Islam

This paper asserts that both Christian and Islamic traditions of faith affect the ways in which people both try to make sense of, and respond to, disasters. This contention is supported by the results of empirical research, which demonstrates that differing Islamic and Christian perspectives on human suffering caused by disasters are neither as diverse, nor are they so intractable, as is commonly supposed. Today pastoral convergence between the two traditions may also be discerned, together with a general acceptance of the policies of both State agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which are concerned with hazard relief and the propagation of policies of disaster risk reduction (DRR). Indeed some important disaster relief NGOs have emerged from Islamic and Christian faith communities and are supported by charitable donations

Volcano fatalities - lessons from the historical record

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