Essays in Industrial Organization and Finance

This dissertation consists of two essays on the behavior of traders in opaque financial markets and one on the behavior of firms while they are learning to use a new technology

The million-year evolution of the glacial trimline in the southernmost Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica

An elevated erosional trimline in the heart of West Antarctica in the Ellsworth Mountains tells of thicker ice in the past and represents an important yet ambiguous stage in the evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Here we analyse the geomorphology of massifs in the southernmost Heritage Range where the surfaces associated with the trimline are overlain by surficial deposits that have the potential to be dated through cosmogenic nuclide analysis. Analysis of 100 rock samples reveals that some clasts have been exposed on glacially moulded surfaces for 1.4 Ma and perhaps more than 3.5 Ma, while others reflect fluctuations in thickness during Quaternary glacial cycles. Modelling the age of the glacially moulded bedrock surface based on cosmogenic 10Be, 26Al and 21Ne concentrations from a depth-profile indicates a minimum exposure age of 2.1–2.6 Ma. We conclude that the glacially eroded surfaces adjacent to the trimline predate the Last Glacial Maximum and indeed the Quaternary. Since erosion was by warm-based ice near an ice-sheet upper margin, we suggest it first occurred during the early glaciations of Antarctica before the stepped cooling of the mid-Miocene at ∼14 Ma. This was a time when the interior Antarctic continent had summers warm enough for tundra vegetation to grow and for mountain glaciers to consist of ice at the pressure melting point. During these milder conditions, and subsequently, erosion of glacial troughs is likely to have lowered the ice-sheet surface in relation to the mountains. This means that the range of orbitally induced cyclic fluctuations in ice thickness have progressively been confined to lower elevations

The Evidence for Climatic Change from Antarctica?

The stratigraphic record of the Antarctic continent records a history compatible and comparable with that of any of the other continents: a Pre-Cambrian basement truncated by a major erosion surface, a sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments, and finally a Cenozoic record dominated by glacial deposits. Two major geologic provinces are recognized: East Antarctica, a typical continental shield or stable platform consisting of older igneous and metamorphic rocks overlain by younger, mainly flat-lying stratified sedimentary and igneous rocks; West Antarctica is composed mainly of younger rocks that are deformed and metamorphosed-abundant intrusive and extrusive rocks are present and volcanic activity continues in some areas. The Pre-Cenozoic stratigraphic record must be carefully studied before making any guesses as to climatic change. It is necessary to recognize the fact that the stratigraphic record at a given locality may yield temperature information that could be grossly misleading if interpreted as a record of worldwide climatic change. Localized glacial deposits may reflect only a topographic effect, not a worldwide climatic change, and the differences between the features characteristic of hot or cold deserts are not well understood. A second confusion factor is the geographic location. The recent revolution in earth sciences and the general acceptance of the mobility of continents make it difficult to interpret the ancient record. If We assume no major shifts in the axis of rotation, etc., then one might well expect a record of a cold climate in deposits formed in polar regions. What becomes difficult is the reconstruction of the paleogeography to allow one to make paleo-climatic inferences

Minnesota Farm Business Notes No. 192

Farm Income in Minnesota; Minnesota farmers' response to price in production of potatoes; Agriculture and trade agreements; Minnesota farm prices for November 193

Minnesota Farm Business Notes No. 213

Community Livestock Auction Markets in Minnesota, Consumption of Linseed Oil; Settler relocation in Minnesota; Minnesota farm prices for August 194