Soil genesis in south-west Dyfed, Wales

A study of soil genesis in a small area of south-west Wales is presented. The soil-forming factors are considered first in the context of time. The evolution of the factors and the importance of past environments and conditions in affecting these factors, and hence less directly the present-day soils, is emphasised. The soil-forming factors are also examined in the spatial dimension. Two of these factors - "topo-drainage" and "parent material" - are particularly important as determinants of soil type and are plotted on the Pedogenetic Map. The Pedogenetic Map is a map of the soil-forming environment and not of soils as such. Its relationship to the soils of the study area is discussed, however. Soil types are also described according to the new classification (Avery, 1973) of the Soil Survey of England and Wales, and selected properties are examined. The second part of the thesis concerns itself principally with the soil sand fraction. The lithological composition of the sand fraction is investigated, and it is shown that the coarsest sand fraction {2,000pm - 1,200pm) can be used as an indicator of the provenance of the soil "parent material". Contamination of finer sand fractions is also encountered and this is pursued in the analysis of detailed size distributions of the soil sand fractions. These studies also suggest a mechanism of weathering by surface granular disaggregation of sand-sized red silt- stone fragments in the soils. Additional evidence is given for this mechanism from scanning electron microscopy, followed by a brief discussion of the theory of grain size distributions. Finally, the different sources of information are drawn together in an attempt to effect a reconstruction of the environment that has influenced soil genesis in the area.

Ueber krystallisirtes Xanthin und Guanin.

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Copano Bay: Assessing the Accountability of Spatial/Temporal Variability in Benthic Molluscan Paleocommunities

Increasing attention has been directed towards paleoecolological studies in understanding the relationship between modern live communities and death assemblages as a means of better understanding fossil assemblages preserved in the rock record. In order to study this relationship, benthic molluscan live and dead assemblages are being collected from an ongoing time series and a spatial transect from Copano Bay, Texas. Previous work on this time series transect has demonstrated that death assemblages are more dynamic than previously recognized, and that they reflect short-term fluctuations in their living community counterpart. The spatial transect, collected in June 2007, and the time series transect are considered here to further assess this relationship as well as estimate the full range of variation in the site locality and identify any significant change through time. Results show that richness corrected for sample size and evenness are highly variable for the live communities and has been considerably variable for the death assemblages for new samples added to the time series. Furthermore, cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations indicate a compositional shift in the new data (last seven samples) for the living community, and a compositional rebound toward samples collected 22-years ago for the death assemblages. In addition, additive partitioning of evenness on the spatial transect does not indicate any detectable gradient at the time of collection

Dispute about Determinism 1TI Microphysice and Operationism

The article presents the stance taken by the creator of operationism P. W. Bridgman in a dispute about a possibility of Interpreting deterministically the results of quantum mechanics. A natural consequence of a gnoseological view created by Bridgman and called operationism is recognition that the indeterministic Copenhagen interpretation of the results of quantum mechanics, called "orthodox" by Bridgman, is the only possible interpretation at the present state of physics. Only new empirical facts, if they are discovered, may - according to Bridgman - pave the way for deterministic description of phenomena occurring in the microworld. This thesis of Bridgman is questioned by the author who tends to share a view that it is rather the appearance of a new theoretical concept that may allow for a new deterministic interpretation of empirical facts known for a long time.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę