Geomorphic Controls on Landslide Activity in Champlain Sea Clays along Green’s Creek, Eastern Ontario, Canada

Landslides in Champlain Sea clays have played an important role in shaping Eastern Ontario’s landscape. Despite extensive research, there is a limited understanding of the relations between landslide activity, climatic controls, and the geomorphic evolution of river valleys in Champlain Sea clay deposits. With these issues in mind, a study was undertaken to determine the controls on the spatio-temporal distribution of contemporary landslide activity in valley slopes composed of Champlain Sea clay. The study area was the Green’s Creek valley located in the east end of Ottawa, Ontario. Observations and measurements indicate that landslide activity is closely related to valley development. An inventory of landslide activity from 73 years of aerial photographs revealed that landslides occurred preferentially in slopes located on the outside of meander bends, and that they often recurred in the same slope after a period of ripening. The largest and highest density of landslides occurred along a major tributary valley where geomorphic features such as knickpoints, V-shaped valley profiles and bedrock depth-to-slope height ratios reflect an unstable phase of valley development. A small number of landslides incurred successive failures along the slopes of the backscarp for several years-to-decades after the initial failure. Correlation analysis showed that the temporal distribution of landslide activity has fluctuated in response to decadal-scale changes in the amount of precipitation.Les glissements de terrain qui se sont produits dans les vallées creusées dans les argiles de la Mer de Champlain ont joué un rôle déterminant dans la formation du paysage de l’est de l’Ontario. Malgré de nombreuses recherches, les relations entre les glissements de terrain, le climat et le creusement des vallées fluviales de la région demeurent peu connues. La présente étude a pour but d’identifier les mécanismes qui régissent la distribution spatio-temporelle des glissements de terrain contemporains dans les vallées de la région d’Ottawa, en Ontario, et plus particulièrement dans la vallée de Green’s Creek. Des observations et des mesures de terrain ont permis de démontrer que les occurrences de glissements de terrain étaient fortement tributaires des phases de développement de la vallée. Un inventaire des glissements de terrain réalisé à l’aide de photographies aériennes couvrant une période de 73 ans démontre que ceux-ci se produisent sur la berge externe des méandres et qu’ils ont tendance à se répéter aux mêmes endroits. Les plus grandes densité et diversité de glissements ont été observées le long d’un ruisseau tributaire présentant de nombreuses ruptures de pente, un profil transversal en V et un rapport profondeur de la roche-mère/ hauteur de la pente indiquant que la vallée passe par une phase instable de son développement. Quelques glissements de nature régressive sont demeurés actifs plusieurs années après leur formation. Une analyse de corrélation entre la fréquence des glissements de terrain et la quantité des précipitations indique que la répartition temporelle des glissements est étroitement liée aux variations de précipitations à l’échelle de la décennie

Ground state properties and excitation spectra of non-Galilean invariant interacting Bose systems

We study the ground state properties and the excitation spectrum of bosons which, in addition to a short-range repulsive two body potential, interact through the exchange of some dispersionless bosonic modes. The latter induces a time dependent (retarded) boson-boson interaction which is attractive in the static limit. Moreover the coupling with dispersionless modes introduces a reference frame for the moving boson system and hence breaks the Galilean invariance of this system. The ground state of such a system is depleted {\it linearly} in the boson density due to the zero point fluctuations driven by the retarded part of the interaction. Both quasiparticle (microscopic) and compressional (macroscopic) sound velocities of the system are studied. The microscopic sound velocity is calculated up the second order in the effective two body interaction in a perturbative treatment, similar to that of Beliaev for the dilute weakly interacting Bose gas. The hydrodynamic equations are used to obtain the macroscopic sound velocity. We show that these velocities are identical within our perturbative approach. We present analytical results for them in terms of two dimensional parameters -- an effective interaction strength and an adiabaticity parameter -- which characterize the system. We find that due the presence of several competing effects, which determine the speed of the sound of the system, three qualitatively different regimes can be in principle realized in the parameter space and discuss them on physical grounds.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Renormalization Effects in a Dilute Bose Gas

The low-density expansion for a homogeneous interacting Bose gas at zero temperature can be formulated as an expansion in powers of $\sqrt{\rho a^3}$, where $\rho$ is the number density and $a$ is the S-wave scattering length. Logarithms of $\rho a^3$ appear in the coefficients of the expansion. We show that these logarithms are determined by the renormalization properties of the effective field theory that describes the scattering of atoms at zero density. The leading logarithm is determined by the renormalization of the pointlike $3 \to 3$ scattering amplitude.Comment: 10 pages, 1 postscript figure, LaTe

Timescale Dependence of Aeolian Sand Flux Observations Under Atmospheric Turbulence

The transport of sand in saltation is driven by the persistently unsteady stresses exerted by turbulent winds. Based on coupled high-frequency observations of wind velocity and sand flux on a desert dune during intermittent saltation, we show here how observations of saltation by natural winds depend significantly on the timescale and method used for determining shear stress and sand flux. The correlation between sand flux and excess shear stress (stress above a threshold value) systematically improves for longer averaging timescale, T, and is better for stress determined by the law-of-the-wall versus the Reynolds stress method. Fitting parameters for the stress-flux relationship do not converge with increasing T, which may be explained by the nonstationary nature of wind velocity statistics. We show how it may be possible, based on the scale-dependent statistics of stress fluctuations, to rescale saltation flux predictions for wind observations made at different timescales. However, our observations indicate hysteresis and time lags in thresholds for initiation and cessation of saltation, which complicate threshold-based approaches to predicting sediment transport at different timescales

On the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration in Cyanobacteria

The origin of oxygenic photosynthesis in Cyanobacteria led to the rise of oxygen on Earth ~2.3 billion years ago, profoundly altering the course of evolution by facilitating the development of aerobic respiration and complex multicellular life. Here we report the genomes of 41 uncultured organisms related to the photosynthetic Cyanobacteria (class Oxyphotobacteria), including members of the class Melainabacteria and a new class of Cyanobacteria (class Sericytochromatia) that is basal to the Melainabacteria and Oxyphotobacteria. All members of the Melainabacteria and Sericytochromatia lack photosynthetic machinery, indicating that phototrophy was not an ancestral feature of the Cyanobacteria and that Oxyphotobacteria acquired the genes for photosynthesis relatively late in cyanobacterial evolution. We show that all three classes independently acquired aerobic respiratory complexes, supporting the hypothesis that aerobic respiration evolved after oxygenic photosynthesis

Potential Aboriginal-Occupation-Induced Dune Activity, Elbow Sand Hills, Northern Great Plains, Canada

Geomorphological and archeological evidence indicates potential linkages between Plains aboriginal occupation and dune activity in the Elbow Sand Hills of southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Vegetation encroachment has rapidly outpaced migration of an active dune complex over the last 65 years. Optical ages of stabilized dune remnants indicate that dune activity predates Euro-Canadian settlement (ca. AD 1900). Early Euro-Canadian explorers observed local occupation and exploitation of the sand hills by aboriginal groups for herding and impounding bison. Mapping of archeological sites in relation to physiography reveals that sand dunes, in close proximity to permanent water resources, were preferred areas of occupation. Collectively, these results support the hypothesis that aboriginal occupation disturbance may have perpetuated dune activity in the Elbow Sand Hills until the late 19th century, and that Euro-Canadian settlement and land use emphasizing conservation may have encouraged recent stabilization. We propose that similar aboriginal occupation disturbances may have been responsible for perpetuating dune activity in other dune fields in the Great Plains. To this end, climatic variability should not be considered exclusive of other drivers of dune activity in semivegetated inland dune fields of the Great Plains

Aeolian dune field geomorphology modulates the stabilization rate imposed by climate

The activity of inland aeolian dune fields is typically related to the external forcing imposed by climate: active (bare) dunes are associated with windy and/or arid settings, and inactive (vegetated) dunes are associated with humid and/or calm environments. When a climate shifts the dune field reacts; however, the behavior, rate, and potential impact of diverse dune geomorphologies on these transitions are poorly understood. Here, we use a numerical model to systematically investigate the influence of dune field geomorphology (dune height, organization and collisions) on the time a dune field takes to stabilize. To generate diverse initial un-vegetated dune field geomorphologies under unidirectional winds, we varied pre-stabilization growth time and initial sediment thickness (termed equivalent sediment thickness: EST). Following dune field development from a flat bed, we introduced vegetation (simulating a climate shift) and transport-vegetation feedbacks slowly stabilized the dune fields. Qualitatively, very young and immature dune fields stabilized quickly, whereas older dune fields took longer. Dune fields with greater EST stabilized quicker than those with less EST. Larger dunes stabilized quicker because of low celerity, which facilitated higher vegetation growth rates. Extended stabilization times were associated with the extension of parabolic dunes. Dune-dune collisions resulted in premature stabilization; the frequency of collisions was related to dune spacing. Quantitatively comparing the distribution of deposition rates in a dune field to the deposition tolerance of vegetation provides a promising predictor of relative stabilization time. Dune fields with deposition rates dominantly above the deposition tolerance of vegetation advanced unimpeded and prolonged stabilization as parabolic dunes. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions or predictions of dune field activity should not assume that dune activity directly translates to climate, considerable lags to stabilizing climate shifts may exist in unidirectional dune forms.Ye

Predicting vegetation-stabilized dune field morphology

The activity of inland aeolian dune fields is typically related to the external forcing imposed by climate: active (bare) dunes are associated with windy and/or arid settings, and inactive (vegetated) dunes are associated with humid and/or calm environments. When a climate shifts the dune field reacts; however, the behavior, rate, and potential impact of diverse dune geomorphologies on these transitions are poorly understood. Here, we use a numerical model to systematically investigate the influence of dune field geomorphology (dune height, organization and collisions) on the time a dune field takes to stabilize. To generate diverse initial un-vegetated dune field geomorphologies under unidirectional winds, we varied pre-stabilization growth time and initial sediment thickness (termed equivalent sediment thickness: EST). Following dune field development from a flat bed, we introduced vegetation (simulating a climate shift) and transport-vegetation feedbacks slowly stabilized the dune fields. Qualitatively, very young and immature dune fields stabilized quickly, whereas older dune fields took longer. Dune fields with greater EST stabilized quicker than those with less EST. Larger dunes stabilized quicker because of low celerity, which facilitated higher vegetation growth rates. Extended stabilization times were associated with the extension of parabolic dunes. Dune-dune collisions resulted in premature stabilization; the frequency of collisions was related to dune spacing. Quantitatively comparing the distribution of deposition rates in a dune field to the deposition tolerance of vegetation provides a promising predictor of relative stabilization time. Dune fields with deposition rates dominantly above the deposition tolerance of vegetation advanced unimpeded and prolonged stabilization as parabolic dunes. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions or predictions of dune field activity should not assume that dune activity directly translates to climate, considerable lags to stabilizing climate shifts may exist in unidirectional dune forms.Ye