Crustal structure of the eastern Caribbean in the region of the lesser Antilles and Aves Ridge

The results of two marine gravity, magnetic and seismic reflection surveys in the eastern Caribbean are presented, the principal structures surveyed being the Venezuela Basin, Aves Ridge, Grenada Trough and Lesser Antilles island arc. The data are presented in the form of charts of bathymetry, free air anomalies, Bouguer anomalies and total field magnetic anomalies. The Venezuela Basin is a broad, extensive basin with a sediment thickness in excess of 1.5 km. At its eastern margin it exhibits small negative free air anomalies and is in approximate isostatic equilibrium. The Aves Ridge is an elevated linear volcanic prominence parallel to the Lesser Antilles characterised by positive free air anomalies. Its typical form is of two basement ridges marking its western and eastern flanks enclosing a sediment filled trough. The western ridges are shown to be more dense and less magnetic than the main body of the Aves Ridge and may represent a series of intrusive bodies. The Aves Ridge exhibits strong magnetic-gravity correlations. It is underlain by a root attributed to depression of the Moho and lowest crustal layer and exhibits negative isostatic anomalies. The Grenada Trough is a basin of subdued topography in the south and more rugged topography in the north. It contains a sediment thickness in excess of 2 km. and is characterised by predominantly negative free air anomalies. It is underlain by an elevated Moho and exhibits predominantly negative isostatic anomalies. The Lesser Antilles lie on a narrow elevated ridge rising abruptly out of the Grenada Trough. The island arc exhibits extreme free air gravity gradients. It is underlain by a root attributed to depression of the Moho and is the site of a linear belt of positive isostatic anomalies. Possible modes of origin of the Aves Ridge are discussed

(Mis)reading the gnat: truth and deception in the pseudo-Virgilian Culex

Recent reassessments of the Culex consider it self-consciously pseudepigraphic, overtly protesting its Virgilian authenticity yet simultaneously flaunting its impersonatory poetics. This paper develops this approach, exploring how the poem showcases themes of truth, falsity and deception through metapoetic gestures, narrative structure, and self-positioning within various literary traditions. In particular, it argues that a reconsideration of the gnat’s katabasis-narrative as an embedded ‘poem within a poem’ provides insight into how the Culex models processes of reading (or rather misreading) within the fiction, and thus how it prompts its own readers to approach it.AHRC (1493827

TWO ACROSTICS IN HORACE'S<i>SATIRES</i>(1.9.24–8, 2.1.7–10)

Hunters of acrostics have had little luck with Horace. Despite his manifest love of complex wordplay, virtuoso metrical tricks and even alphabet games, acrostics seem largely absent from Horace's poetry. The few that have been sniffed out in recent years are, with one notable exception, either fractured and incomplete—the postulatedPINN-inCarm.4.2.1–4 (pinnis?Pindarus?)—or disappointingly low-stakes; suggestions of acrostics are largely confined to theOdesalone. Besides diverging from the long-standing Roman obsession with literary acrostics, Horace's apparent lack of interest is especially surprising given that Virgil, his contemporary, friend and ‘poetic pace-maker’, was at the time conducting what seems to be a systematic adaptation of Hellenistic acrostic-poetics into Latin poetry.</jats:p

Growing garden-based educators

Garden-based learning (GBL) is resurging in popularity in reaction to a confluence of crises. These crises, involving social inequity, vast economic disparity, ecocide, and mass extinction, threaten human well-being and survivability of countless species. GBL is positioned by proponents as a means of empowering participants to mitigate and adapt. Often unprepared and unsupported, educators seek to sustain and scale success to enjoy the cornucopia of well documented GBL benefits. Through eight in depth interviews with diverse garden-based educators across three provinces and varied settings, we interrogated the meaning of success in the educational garden while mapping an ecosystem of current and imagined support. Cultivating joy, engaged learning, empowerment, and fostering healthy relationships within and between students and their community and environment were highlighted as the primary goals of gardenbased educators. Educators interviewed desired GBL-friendly policies including funding and infrastructure, curriculum-integrated GBL resources, training at all career stages, and community-based support. Consequently, Faculties of Education are uniquely positioned to cultivate and support a thriving GBL ecosystem. Ultimately, critical garden pedagogy adds to the transformation of education to promote the well-being of all humans and diverse life on Earth

The prevalence of Fabry disease in a statewide chronic kidney disease cohort – Outcomes of the aCQuiRE (Ckd.Qld fabRy Epidemiology) study

Background: Prevalence of Fabry disease amongst Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients on haemodialysis has been shown to be approximately 0.2%. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional study employing a cascade screening strategy for Fabry Disease amongst 3000 adult, male and female patients affected by CKD stage 1-5D/T at public, specialty renal practices within participating Queensland Hospital and Health Services from October 2017 to August 2019. A multi-tiered FD screening strategy, utilising a combination of dried blood spot (DBS) enzymatic testing, and if low, then lyso-GB3 testing and DNA sequencing, was used. Results: Mean (SD) age was 64.0 (15.8) years (n = 2992), and 57.9% were male. Eight participants withrew out of the 3000 who consented. Of 2992 screened, 6 (0.20%) received a diagnosis of FD, 2902 (96.99%) did not have FD, and 84 (2.81%) received inconclusive results. Of the patients diagnosed with FD, mean age was 48.5 years; 5 were male (0.29%) and 1 was female (0.08%); 4 were on kidney replacement therapy (2 dialysis and 2 transplant); 3 were new diagnoses. Conclusions: Estimated overall FD prevalence was 0.20%. Screening of the broader CKD population may be beneficial in identifying cases of FD. Trial registration: The aCQuiRE Study has been prospectively registered with the Queensland Health Database of Research Activity (DORA, https://dora.health.qld.gov.au) as pj09946 (Registered 3rd July 2017)

Sedimentation record in the Konkan-Kerala Basin: implications for the evolution of the Western Ghats and the Western Indian passive margin

The Konkan and Kerala Basins constitute a major depocentre for sediment from the onshore hinterland of Western India and as such provide a valuable record of the timing and magnitude of Cenozoic denudation along the continental margin. This paper presents an analysis of sedimentation in the Konkan-Kerala Basin, coupledwith a mass balance study, and numerical modelling of flexural responses to onshore denudational unloading and o¡shore sediment loading in order to test competing conceptual models for the development of high-elevation passive margins. The Konkan-Kerala Basin contains an estimated 109,000 km&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;; of Cenozoic clastic sediment, a volume difficult to reconcile with the denudation of a downwarped rift flank onshore, and more consistent with denudation of an elevated rift flank. We infer from modelling of the isostatic response of the lithosphere to sediment loading offshore and denudation onshore that flexure is an important component in the development of the Western Indian Margin.There is evidence for two major pulses in sedimentation: an early phase in the Palaeocene, and a second beginning in the Pliocene. The Palaeocene increase in sedimentation can be interpreted in terms of a denudational response to the rifting between India and the Seychelles, whereas the mechanism responsible for the Pliocene pulse is more enigmatic

Morphotectonics of the central Muertos thrust belt and Muertos Trough (northeastern Caribbean)

Multibeam bathymetry data acquired during the 2005 Spanish R/V Hespérides cruise and reprocessed multichannel seismic profiles provide the basis for the analysis of the morphology and deformation in the central Muertos Trough and Muertos thrust belt. The Muertos Trough is an elongated basin developed where the Venezuelan Basin crust is thrusted under the Muertos fold-and-thrust belt. Structural variations along the Muertos Trough are suggested to be a consequence of the overburden of the asymmetrical thrust belt and by the variable nature of the Venezuelan Basin crust along the margin. The insular slope can be divided into three east–west trending slope provinces with high lateral variability which correspond to different accretion stages: 1) The lower slope is composed of an active sequence of imbricate thrust slices and closed fold axes, which form short and narrow accretionary ridges and elongated slope basins; 2) The middle slope shows a less active imbricate structure resulting in lower superficial deformation and bigger slope basins; 3) The upper slope comprises the talus region and extended terraces burying an island arc basement and an inactive imbricate structure. The talus region is characterized by a dense drainage network that transports turbidite flows from the islands and their surrounding carbonate platform areas to the slope basins and sometimes to the trough. In the survey area the accommodation of the ongoing east–west differential motion between the Hispaniola and the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands blocks takes place by means of diffuse deformation. The asymmetrical development of the thrust belt is not related to the geological conditions in the foreland, but rather may be caused by variations in the geometry and movement of the backstop. The map-view curves of the thrust belt and the symmetry of the recesses suggest a main north–south convergence along the Muertos margin. The western end of the Investigator Fault Zone comprises a broad band of active normal faults which result in high instability of the upper insular slope

A STEP fault in Central Betics, associated with lateral lithospheric tearing at the northern edge of the Gibraltar arc subduction system

We study the crustal and lithospheric mantle structure under central Betics in the westernmost Mediterranean region by migrating P-receiver functions along a dense seismic profile (∼2 km interstation distance). The profile, North–South oriented, probes the crustal structure of different geological units, from the Alboran domain in the south with metamorphic rocks, through the External Zones with sedimentary rocks to the Variscan terrains of the Iberian Massif in the north. From north to south, the Moho depth increases from ∼30 km to ∼46 km underneath the Guadix basin, due to the underthrusting of the Iberian crust below the Alboran crust, and suddenly shallows to ∼30 km underneath the Internal Zones with a step of 17 km. This sharp Moho step correlates well with a lithospheric step of ∼40 km, where the thickness of the lithosphere changes abruptly from ∼100 km in the north to ∼50 km in the south. We interpret this sharp and prominent lithospheric step as the termination of the Iberian lithosphere caused by a near-vertical STEP (Subduction-Transform-Edge-Propagator) fault that continues towards the surface as a positive flower tectonic structure of crustal scale. This STEP fault is located at the northern edge of the narrow Westernmost Mediterranean subduction system facilitating the slab rollback motion towards the west. The sharp termination of the Iberian lithosphere occurs under the contact between the Alpujarride and the Nevado-Filabride complexes of the Alboran domain in an ENE-WSW right-lateral transpressive shear zone. The thickest crust and lithosphere do not correlate with the highest topography along the profile suggesting that this high topography is a combined effect of the positive flower structure, and the push up of the asthenosphere produced by the removal of the Iberian lithosphere.This work was sup-ported by the projects: CGL2015-67130-C2-2-R, GCL2012-31472 (TRANSCORBE), HIRE (GFZ Potsdam) and PP2012-PIJD003 (Granada University). We acknowledge work on free softwares SAC and GMT