Changing climate and outbreaks of forest pest insects in a cold northern country, Finland

201

Assessing the geochemical variability of oil shale in the Attarat Um Ghudran deposit, Jordan

The Cretaceous to Palaeogene oil shale (OS) of Jordan is predominantly calcareous mudstone with intervals of mostly siliceous minerals, quartz and cristobalite–tridymite. Oil shale is rich in organic sulphur and trace elements. According to preliminary micropalaeontological data, the OS succession of the studied area, the south-central part of the Attarat Um Ghudran (AUG) deposit in central Jordan, is of Maastrichtian age. A representative collection of 392 samples from 9 drill cores reliably characterizes the sequence of the OS seam, on average 70 m thick. The composition of AUG OS varies significantly. The major compounds CaO and SiO2 range within 3–70 wt% and 10–50 wt%, respectively, and also the contents of organic matter, MgO, P2O5, Al2O3 and S change. The concentrations of metals (especially Zn, V, Cr, Ni and Mo) change many dozens of times in the cross section. The aim of our statistical analysis was to determine the most significant OS types and their positions in the OS sequence. Two multivariate statistical analysis methods, principal components analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering of PCA groups, gave an interpretable result. Four principal components account for 88.6% of data variability. Variation in six main chemical components or groups of components is reflected in parameters of the four principal components. The component PC1 accounts for 47% of the data variance, expressing the highest correlation with organic matter, S, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Mo, and PC2 accounts for 22.82% of the data variability, being strongly correlated with TiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, SiO2 and K2O and negatively correlated with CaO. The next two significant component groups express covariance with CaO and MgO. The applied statistical analysis proves to be a powerful tool for the interpretation of the chemically variable structure of the OS unit when using a representative enough sample collection. In the complex study of the OS unit, variation in the chemical composition is of interest, especially in the context of genetic and mining aspects

Centimetre-scale variability of redox-sensitive elements in Tremadocian black shales from the eastern Baltic Palaeobasin

The high-resolution study of vertical geochemical variability of shallow-water Tremadocian black shales of the Türisalu Formation targeted two drill core sections from Suur-Pakri Island, NW Estonia. Altogether 374 samples from 4.6 m thick shale were analysed by XRF. The metalliferous and organic-rich black shales revealed significant centimetre-scale variation in the concentration of redox-sensitive trace metals – U, Mo and V. The V profiles show cyclic variations in half a metre- to metre-scale and the strongest correlation with loss on ignition (LOI) 500 °C (interpreted to reflect organic matter abundance). The abundance of Mo presents high values near the lower and upper contacts of black shale and otherwise moderate covariance with LOI. The distribution of U is not coupled with LOI, being characterized by irregular local enrichment anomalies in the profiles of both sections. This suggests that sequestration of U may have been time-dependent and possibly favoured by dissimilatory U-reduction at the sediment–water interface under iron-reducing conditions. Significant depositional variability of the studied organic-rich muds apparently supported dynamic physicochemical and biological microenvironments at the sediment–water interface and thus temporally and spatially diversified the paths and efficiency of synsedimentary redox-sensitive trace element enrichment

Emotional experiences and psychological well-being in 51 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to psychological well-being, but how can we predict when people suffer or cope during sustained stress? Here, we test the prediction that specific types of momentary emotional experiences are differently linked to psychological well-being during the pandemic. Study 1 used survey data collected from 24,221 participants in 51 countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. We show that, across countries, well-being is linked to individuals' recent emotional experiences, including calm, hope, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness. Consistent results are found in two age, sex, and ethnicity-representative samples in the United Kingdom (n = 971) and the United States (n = 961) with preregistered analyses (Study 2). A prospective 30-day daily diary study conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 110) confirms the key role of these five emotions and demonstrates that emotional experiences precede changes in well-being (Study 3). Our findings highlight differential relationships between specific types of momentary emotional experiences and well-being and point to the cultivation of calm and hope as candidate routes for well-being interventions during periods of sustained stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Range expansion of the small spruce bark beetle Ips amitinus: a newcomer in northern Europe

201