Tackling Strategies for Thriving Geoscience Departments

Special sessions on thriving geosciences departments and on cyberinfrastructure in the geosciences highlighted the recent 5th AGU Meeting of Heads and Chairs of Earth and Space Science Departments. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 14th meeting of the Heads and Chairs of Programs in Atmospheric, Oceanic, Hydrologic and Related Sciences, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society (AMS),and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). “From Surviving to Thriving: Strategies for Advancing University Geoscience Programs in Times of Change” was a topic that drew intense interest. This panel discussion, led by Don Wuebbles (University of Illinois), included panelists Eric Betterton (University of Arizona), Judy Curry (Georgia Institute of Technology), Heather MacDonald (College of William and Mary), and Jim Kirkpatrick (University of Illinois)

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug [Halyomorpha halys (Stal)]

This fact sheet describes the brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive insect pest from eastern Asia. It includes a description of where it is found in Utah, host plants, crop injury and plant damage, general description of life stages, agricultural risks, monitoring, management, insecticides, and what to do if you find it

Synsedimentary tectonics and sedimentation in the Tertiary Piedmont Basin, Northwestern Italy

The Late Oligocene/Early Miocene tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the eastern sector of the Langhe Sub-Basin (Tertiary Piedmont Basin) is proposed and discussed. The area is located between the villages of Roccaverano and Mombaldone, along the western side of the Bormida di Spigno River Valley (see attached geologic map). Synsedimentary tectonics strongly influenced the geologic evolution of the region during the time span examined, being particularly evident at three specific "times" that were chosen as models. During "Time 1" (Late Oligocene) gentle anticlines, aligned WNW-ESE and NW-SE, started to form, affecting only hemipelagic mudstones and creating structural highs that controlled the areal distribution of both turbidites (i.e. T. Ovrano High) and a thick pelitic slump sheet (i.e. M. Pisone High). During "Time 2" (Aquitanian) the C. Mazzurini Half-Graben developed, separated by W-E and WNW-ESE growth faults from the M. Ovrano High to the north and gradually connecting, through a gently sloping ramp, with the Rocchetta High to the south. Turbidity currents and debris flows were channeled into the half-graben, while hemipelagic limestones were deposited onto the adjacent higher areas. During "Time 3" (Early Burdigalian) the depocenter of the depression shifted southward, while the half-graben evolved into a wide trough (Piantivello Trough) characterized by turbidites. Subsequently, the strongly irregular topography was progressively leveled to the quite homogeneous landscape on which the Cortemilia Formation (Late Burdigalian) was deposited

Geology of the San Colombano hill, a Quaternary isolated tectonic relief in the Po Plain of Lombardy (Italy)

The 1:10,000 geological map of the San Colombano hill covers 60 km 2 in the Po Plain, south of Milan. The new and the historical surface geological data-sets are managed by a GeoDB aiming to contribute to re-interpret the Quaternary evolution at the Po Plain-Northern Apennine border. On the hill, the Calabrian shallow marine San Colombano Fm. unconformably overlies the truncated deeper-marine Miocene formations, up-thrusted by the external fronts of the Apennine Emilian Arc during Mio-Pliocene. Late Pleistocene alluvial units rest in unconformity above the marine succession both on the uplifted hilltop and on the surrounding plain. Fault-related offset of Late Pleistocene units, stratigraphic and morpho- structural evidences (facets, relic surfaces and drainage patterns), document the Quaternary tectonic history. Early to Middle Pleistocene ongoing thrust-folding at the northernmost buried reaches of the Emilian Arc was followed by Latest Pleistocene-Holocene transtension, possibly relating to the NNE striking Pavia-Casteggio lateral ramp

Age and synchronicity of planktonic foraminiferal bioevents across the Cenomanian – Turonian boundary interval (Late Cretaceous)

The upper Cenomanian – lower Turonian is a key-stratigraphic interval, as it encompasses the Late Cretaceous supergreenhouse and a major perturbation of the global carbon cycle (i. e., Oceanic Anoxic Event 2) as evidenced by a global positive carbon isotope excursion and by the nearly world-wide deposition of organic-rich marine facies. A turnover in planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and in other marine organisms is documented across this stratigraphic interval, but reconstruction of the timing and identification of the cause and effect relationships between environmental perturbations and organism response require a highly-resolved stratigraphic framework. The appearance and extinction levels of planktonic foraminiferal species generally allow accurate intra- and supra-basinal correlations. However, bioevents cannot be assumed to be globally synchronous, because the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of species is modulated by ecological preferences exhibited by each taxon and controlled by oceanic circulation, often resulting in earlier or delayed events in certain geographic areas (i. e., diachronous datums). The aim of this study is to test the synchronicity of the planktonic foraminiferal bioevents recognized across the C/T boundary and to provide the most reliable sequence of events for correlation of low to mid-latitude localities. For this purpose, we have compiled a highly-resolved biostratigraphic analysis of the European reference section for the C/T boundary at Eastbourne, Gun Gardens (UK), and core S57 (Tarfaya, Morocco), and correlated the sequence of bioevents identified with those recorded in other coeval sections available in the literature, including the GSSP section for the base of the Turonian Stage at Rock Canyon, Pueblo (Colorado), where we calculated reliable estimates of planktonic foraminiferal events that are well-constrained by radioisotopically and astrochronologically dated bentonite layers. Results indicate that the extinctions of Thalmanninella deeckei, Thalmanninella greenhornensis, Rotalipora cushmani and "Globigerinelloides" bentonensis in the latest Cenomanian are reliable bioevents for correlation. In addition, our analysis highlights other promising lowest occurrences (LOs) that need to be better constrained by bio- and chemostratigraphy, including the LO of Marginotruncana schneegansi falling close to the C/T boundary. By contrast, the appearance of Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica and of some Dicarinella species, the extinction of anaticinellids and the onset of the "Heterohelix" shift are likely diachronous across low to mid-latitude localities. Finally, our study suggests that different species concepts among authors, different sample size and sampling resolution, as well as species paleoecology are important factors that control the stratigraphic position at which bioevents are identified

Testing the robustness of primary production models in shallow coastal areas: a case study

In this paper we investigate the robustness of a dynamic model, which describes the dynamic of the seagrass Zostera marina, with respect to the inter-annual variability of the two main forcing functions of primary production models in eutrophicated environments. The model was previously applied to simulate the seasonal evolution of this species in the Lagoon of Venice during a specific year and calibrated against time series of field data. In the this paper, we present and discuss the results which were obtained by forcing the model using time series of site-specific daily values concerning the solar radiation intensity and water temperature. The latter was estimated by means of a regression model, whose input variable was a site-specific time series of the air temperature. The regression model was calibrated using a year-long time series of hourly observations. The Z marina model was first partially recalibrated against the same data set that was used in the original paper. Subsequently, the model was forced using a 7-year-long time series of the driving functions, in order to check the reliability of its long-term predictions. Even though the calibration gave satisfactory results, the multi-annual trends of the output variables were found to be in contrast with the observed evolution of the seagrass biomasses. Since detailed information about the air temperature and solar radiation are often available, these findings suggest that the testing of the ecological consistency of the evolution of primary production models in the long term would provide additional confidence in their results, particularly in those cases in which the scarcity of field data does not allow one to perform a formal corroboration/validation of these models