A bird's eye view :examining Haussmann era aerial paintings of Paris

Baron Haussmann was named Prefect of the Seine Department in France by Napoleon III in 1853, and he began transforming Paris into a modern city. He created parks for recreation and large public squares and markets, lined streets with gas street lights to make the city more pedestrian friendly, and implemented an architectural model that gave Paris a unified look. His transformation of the city literally changed the map. As city workers were mapping out the new city, artists were also looking down upon the new areas of Paris and recording what they saw. By looking at aerial paintings from the mid and late 19th century, this thesis explores the effects of the modernized city on the population of Paris. Paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, and Gustave Caillebotte demonstrate how each artist's personal viewpoints informed their images of the Parisian urban landscape.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?

Pecten as a new substrate for IcPD dating : the Quaternary raised beaches in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Intra-crystalline protein diagenesis (IcPD), a recent development of amino acid racemization dating (AAR), is now established as a reliable geochronological tool for the Quaternary. However, extending the method to new biominerals requires extensive testing in order to provide evidence for the closed-system behaviour of the intra-crystalline proteins and to assess the temporal span that can be covered. Here we present results from high-temperature experiments on the IcPD of the bivalve Pecten, demonstrating that a fraction of proteins can be isolated from a bleach-resistant mineral matrix, which effectively operates as a closed system under conditions of accelerated diagenesis in the laboratory. Analyses of Pecten from the well-dated terrace system of the Gulf of Corinth (Greece) provided a pilot test for the integrity of the intra-crystalline fraction in subfossil shells. The small sample sizes in this preliminary study preclude a full assessment of the aminostratigraphic power of Pecten IcPD, but a concordance is observed between the extent of IcPD and sites dating from between MIS 5 and MIS 11. We conclude that Pecten is a potentially good substrate for IcPD dating in the Mediterranean, and that the temporal limit of the technique in this area lies beyond MIS 11

Air-ground temperature coupling and subsurface propagation of annual temperature signals

Borehole-based reconstructions of ground surface temperature (GST) have been widely used as indicators of paleoclimate. These reconstructions assume that heat transport within the subsurface is conductive. Climatic interpretations of GST reconstructions also assume that GST is strongly coupled to surface air temperature (SAT) on timescales of decades and longer. We examine these two assumptions using records of SAT and subsurface temperature time series from Fargo, North Dakota; Prague, Czech Republic; Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware; and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. The characteristics of downward propagating annual temperature signals at each site clearly indicate that heat transport can be described as one-dimensional conduction in a homogeneous medium. Extrapolations of subsurface observations to the ground surface yield estimates of annual GST signals and allow comparisons to annual SAT signals. All annual GST signals are modestly attenuated and negligibly phase shifted relative to SAT. The four sites collectively demonstrate that differences between annual GST and SAT signals arise in both summer and winter seasons, in amounts dependent on the climatic setting of each site

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

To elucidate the Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of south-central England, we report the stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeoecology and geochronology of some deposits near the foot of the Chiltern Hills scarp at Marsworth, Buckinghamshire. The Marsworth site is important because its sedimentary sequences contain a rich record of warm stages and cold stages, and it lies close to the Anglian glacial limit. Critical to its history are the origin and age of a brown pebbly silty clay (diamicton) previously interpreted as weathered till. The deposits described infill a river channel incised into chalk bedrock. They comprise clayey, silty and gravelly sediments, many containing locally derived chalk and some with molluscan, ostracod and vertebrate remains. Most of the deposits are readily attributed to periglacial and fluvial processes, and some are dated by optically stimulated luminescence to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Although our sedimentological data do not discriminate between a glacial or periglacial interpretation of the diamicton, amino-acid dating of three molluscan taxa from beneath it indicates that it is younger than MIS 9 and older than MIS 5e. This makes a glacial interpretation unlikely, and we interpret the diamicton as a periglacial slope deposit. The Pleistocene history reconstructed for Marsworth identifies four key elements: (1) Anglian glaciation during MIS 12 closely approached Marsworth, introducing far-travelled pebbles such as Rhaxella chert and possibly some fine sand minerals into the area. (2) Interglacial environments inferred from fluvial sediments during MIS 7 varied from fully interglacial conditions during sub-stages 7e and 7c, cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7b or 7a, temperate conditions similar to those today in central England towards the end of the interglacial, and cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7a. (3) Periglacial activity during MIS 6 involved thermal contraction cracking, permafrost development, fracturing of chalk bedrock, fluvial activity, slopewash, mass movement and deposition of loess and coversand. (4) Fully interglacial conditions during sub-stage 5e led to renewed fluvial activity, soil formation and acidic weathering

Molluscan aminostratigraphy of the US Mid-Atlantic Quaternary coastal system: Implications for onshore-offshore correlation, paleochannel and barrier island evolution, and local late Quaternary sea-level history

The Quaternary record of the US Mid-Atlantic coastal system includes onshore emergent late Pleistocene shoreline deposits, offshore inner shelf and barrier island units, and paleovalleys formed during multiple glacial stage sea-level lowstands. The geochronology of this coastal system is based on uranium series, radiocarbon, amino acid racemization (AAR), and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) methods. We report over 600 mollusk AAR results from 93 sites between northeastern North Carolina and the central New Jersey shelf, representing samples from both onshore cores or outcrops, sub-barrier and offshore cores, and transported shells from barrier island beaches. AAR age estimates are constrained by paired 14C analyses on specific shells and associated U-series coral ages from onshore sites. AAR data from offshore cores are interpreted in the context of detailed seismic stratigraphy. The distribution of Pleistocene-age shells on the island beaches is linked to the distribution of inner shelf or sub-barrier source units. Age mixing over a range of time-scales (~1 ka to ~100 ka) is identified by AAR results from onshore, beach, and shelf collections, often contributing insights into the processes forming individual barrier islands. The regional aminostratigraphic framework identifies a widespread late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 5) aminozone, with isolated records of middle and early Pleistocene deposition. AAR results provide age estimates for the timing of formation of the three major paleochannels that underlie the Delmarva Peninsula: Persimmon Point paleochannel ≥800 ka; Exmore paleochannel ~400–500 ka (MIS 12); and Eastville paleochannel \u3e 125 ka (MIS 6). The results demonstrate the value of synthesizing abundant AAR chronologic data across various coastal environments, integrating multiple distinct geologic studies. The ages and elevations of the Quaternary units are important for current hypotheses about relative sea-level history and crustal dynamics in the region, which was likely influenced by the Laurentide ice sheet, the margin just ~400 km to the north

Quaternary sea-level history of the United States

In the past 30 years, there have been tremendous advances in our understanding of Quaternary sea-level history, due directly to developments in Quaternary dating methods, particularly uranium-series disequilibrium and amino acid racemization. Another reason for this progress is that coastline history can now be tied to the oxygen-isotope record of foraminifera in deep-sea cores. Furthermore, both records have been linked to climate change on the scale of glacial-interglacial cycles that are thought to be forced by changes in Earth-Sun geometry, or “orbital forcing” (Milankovitch, 1941)

Protein diagenesis in "Patella" shells: Implications for amino acid racemisation dating

Abstract: The inter- and intra-crystalline fractions of Patella vulgata limpets recovered from archaeological sites in Northern Spain (covering Neolithic, Mesolithic, Magdalenian, Solutrean, and Aurignacian periods) were examined for amino acid composition and racemisation over time. The calcitic apex and rim areas of the shells were found to probably be composed of similar proteins, as the D/L values and amino acids were comparable and varied in the same way with increasing age; however, the mineral structures present in these areas differed. The aragonitic intermediate part of the shell showed a distinctly different amino acid composition and mineral structure. The main protein leaching from the inter-crystalline fraction occurred within the first 6000 yr after the death of the organism. In contrast, the intra-crystalline fraction d comprised of a different protein composition than the inter-crystalline fraction d appeared to behave as a closed system for at least 34 ka, as reflected by the lack of a significant decrease in the amino acid content; however, changes in the amino acid percentages occurred during this period. The concentration of aspartic acid remained almost constant with age both in inter- and intra-crystalline proteins, and its contribution to the total amino acid content increased with age at the expense of other amino acids such as glutamic acid, serine, glycine and alanine. Temperature is thought to play a key role in the amino acid racemisation of P. vulgata and could explain why in the localities belonging to the Gravettian and Solutrean period, which formed during relatively cold conditions, D/L values were similar to those detected in shells from sites formed during the Magdalenian.This paper was made possible by funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation projects: HAR2010-22115-C02-01 “La respuesta humana al cambio climático global en una zona litoral: el caso del tránsito al Holoceno en la costa cantábrica (10000-5000 cal BC)”, and HAR2010-22115-C02-02 “Aplicación del análisis de sustancias orgánicas e inorgánicas a la reconstrucción paleoambiental, cronológica y tafonómica de yacimientos arqueológicos del Norte de España”

Sea level changes during the last and present interglacials in Sal Island (Cape Verde archipelago)

Last interglacial and Holocene deposits are particularly well developed in the southern parts of Sal Island (Cape Verde Archipelago). They primarily consist of low-elevation (≤2 m above sea level [a.s.l.]) marine deposits made of a basal conglomerate embedded in carbonate mud, passing upwards to calcarenites. All deposits contain an abundant fauna with corals, algae and molluscs with Strombus latus Gmelin and accompanying warm water species of the “Senegalese” fauna. Small scale geomorphological mapping with detailed morphosedimentary analysis revealed lateral facies changes and imbricate (offlapping) structures that suggest small-scale oscillations of paleo-sealevels during high sea stand intervals. U-series measurements (in coral fragments) allowed unequivocal identification of Marine Isotope Substage (MIS) 5.5 units, but were not precise enough to date the sea level oscillations of the interval. However, geomorphological data and sedimentary facies analysis suggest a double sea level highstand during the peak of the last interglacial. MIS 5.5 age deposits occur at Sal and the Canary Islands at low topographic elevations, between 1 and 2 masl. However, these values are lower than the elevations measured for the correlative terraces outcropping at the western tropical Atlantic islands, widely considered to be tectonically stable. Combining the results in this paper with earlier investigations of the “Senegalese” fauna distribution as far north as the Mediterranean basin, it is suggested that the last-interglacial oceanic temperatures in this basin, as well as the temperatures in other islands of the Eastern Atlantic and the coasts of Morocco, were warmer than modern temperatures

Daily, seasonal, and annual relationships between air and subsurface temperatures

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95285/1/jgrd11942.pd