Soil erosion and flooding on the eastern South Downs, southern England, 1976–2001

The South Downs in southern England have been farmed for 5000 years: the initial loess cover is now a thin, stony remnant as a result of erosion. During the 1980s, field monitoring of erosion events in an area of 36 km² showed that average rates of erosion are low (0.5–5.0 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), but that occasional storms result in losses of over 200 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ on individual fields. On soils that are only 15 cm thick, such rates pose a threat to future farming. Almost all recent erosion has been on fields of winter cereals, which are bare in the wet autumn period. Of greater significance in the short term are the effects of soil-laden runoff (or muddy floods) on urban areas. Flood damage to property has been a regular event since the conversion of this area to winter cereals in the 1970s. Soil conservation measures have been negligible and flood protection has consisted mainly of engineering works and limited land-use change at sites where property damage has occurred. Conversion to grass under the Set Aside, and an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme, could be an effective soil conservation and flood protection approach. In the longer term, increasing stoniness of soils, the economic incentives for arable farming in marginal areas, and the success of legal proceedings relating to flood damage, will determine the future of erosion on the South Downs. Current farming systems clearly are unsustainable and would become more so under future climates without substantial site-targeted land use change.     

The distribution and morphometry of lakes and reservoirs in British Columbia: a provincial inventory

An inventory of provincial lakes and reservoirs has been developed to characterise and assess the distribution and morphometry of standing water bodies in British Columbia. In the province, there are over 241,500 lakes and reservoirs greater than 1,000 m ² in size. These water bodies cover 2.37 percent of the province area and contain an estimated 521 km ³ of water (312 km ³ in natural lakes and 209 km ³ in reservoirs). A hypsometric relation suitable for order-of-magnitude estimates of lake volume from lake area is presented. Based on the distribution and morphometric attributes of lakes, several distinctive limnologic regions were identified, including the northeastern Alberta Plateau (highest proportion of circular lakes), the southwestern Alberta Plateau (lowest lake density/coverage and highest proportion of irregularly shaped lakes) and the Milbanke Strandflat (highest density of lakes). Observed regional and scale-related patterns in lake distribution/morphometry appear to be largely related to geomorphic controls, particularly tectonic and glacial history. Large-scale hydrologic implications of these standing water bodies and potential ecosystem/water resource management applications of the provincial inventory are also discussed.     

Heterogeneity effects on possible salinity-driven free convection in low-permeability strata

Although studies of free convection commonly focus on highly permeable strata, but numerical analyses indicate that density-driven free convection may also occur in heterogeneous low-permeability strata. Traditional Rayleigh number criteria are overly conservative in predicting thermohaline convection in these systems; so, numerical models are used to make inferences on the process. Simulations with stochastic realizations of permeability fields show that dense plumes can take preferential pathways to sink through generally low-permeability strata; patch analysis using percolation theory shows that the threshold permeability for the onset of free convection can be as low as 10⁻¹⁶ m² even with a mean permeability of 10⁻¹⁸ m². Threshold permeability for the percolation pathways decreases with increasing concentration gradient, vertical correlation length and the mean and variance of the permeability. The connectedness of relatively high-permeability zones is important in initiating and controlling plume fingers of free convection in both single-layer and sand-shale sequence models. Permeable units above and below are conducive to free convection through intervening low-permeability strata if buoyancy gradients exist. This heterogeneity is on scales that are difficult to sample by drilling and too localized to be simulated in regional models but may be significant in solute transport in these systems.     

PURPLE-DYE PRODUCTION IN LYCIA – RESULTS OF AN ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL FIELD SURVEY IN ANDRIAKE (SOUTH-WEST TURKEY)

Summary.   In 2003 a substantial deposit of heavily fragmented shells of purple snails was by chance located at the site of Andriake, the ancient port of the Lycian city of Myra near Demre, in southern Turkey. The archaeozoological and archaeological record of a survey project in 2004 proved the identification of a large installation for the production of purple dye. Adjacent to a well preserved Hadrianic granary and partly superimposing the remains of a U-shaped building, the deposit is wrapped around three sides of a subterranean cistern. Apparently dating to the sixth century AD, the deposit contains approximately 300 m³ of shell debris. The unique chance of examining an undisturbed and well preserved manufacturing place for purple dye provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the processual particularities as well as the ecological impact of purple-dye production in antiquity.     

Supreme Court Activism in Economic Policy in the Waning Days of the New Deal: Interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1941–1946

Students of the Supreme Court universally agree that it made a dramatic shift in 1937. First, in West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish, ¹ it retreated from the unbridled use of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to invalidate state economic regulatory legislation. Then, in National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation , ² the Justices widened the reach of congressional power under the Commerce Clause. This looser reading of the Commerce Clause was solidified in 1941 with United States v. Darby Lumber Company ³ and Wickard v. Filburn. ⁴ So decisive were these cases in dividing what went before from what came afterward that Bernard Schwartz has said, "The 1937 reversal marked the accession of what may be considered the second Hughes Court—so different was its jurisprudence from that of the Hughes Court that had preceded it." ⁵ Whereas the defining jurisprudence of the former had been close supervision of economic policy, the latter refused to second guess the economic wisdom of congressional (and state) regulatory initiatives. Alpheus T. Mason summarized Justice Harlan Fisk Stone's approach, which was indicative of the entire Court of this era, as one that would not say that "no economic legislation would ever violate constitutional restraints, [but that] … in this area the court's role would be strictly confined." ⁶ Confirming this approach, between 1937 and 1957 the Supreme Court struck down only four federal statutes as unconstitutional, none of which were economic in nature. ⁷     

Permeability of the continental crust: dynamic variations inferred from seismicity and metamorphism

The variation of permeability with depth can be probed indirectly by various means, including hydrologic models that use geothermal data as constraints and the progress of metamorphic reactions driven by fluid flow. Geothermal and metamorphic data combine to indicate that mean permeability ( k ) of tectonically active continental crust decreases with depth ( z ) according to log  k  ≈ −14–3.2 log  z , where k is in m² and z in km. Other independently derived, crustal-scale k – z relations are generally similar to this power-law curve. Yet there is also substantial evidence for local-to-regional-scale, transient, permeability-generation events that entail permeabilities much higher than these mean k – z relations would suggest. Compilation of such data yields a fit to these elevated, transient values of log  k  ≈ −11.5–3.2 log  z , suggesting a functional form similar to that of tectonically active crust, but shifted to higher permeability at a given depth. In addition, it seems possible that, in the absence of active prograde metamorphism, permeability in the deeper crust will decay toward values below the mean k – z curves. Several lines of evidence suggest geologically rapid (years to 10³ years) decay of high-permeability transients toward background values. Crustal-scale k – z curves may reflect a dynamic competition between permeability creation by processes such as fluid sourcing and rock failure, and permeability destruction by processes such as compaction, hydrothermal alteration, and retrograde metamorphism.     

The seventh and eighth Belgian archaeological expeditions to ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, UAE)

The results of the 1993 and 1994 seasons by a Belgian team from Gent University at ed-Dur in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain are presented. The excavations concentrated on area BS, where a total of 2650 m² were excavated. This large exposure provided a vast amount of material of the late 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. Only some rare objects (from different areas) are presented.     

Managing the maritime heritage: the National Maritime Archaeological Museum and National Centre for Underwater Research, Cartagena, Spain

The rapid developmental work of the Museum-Centre and its policies within a limited budget are set in the context of world-wide problems of management and preservation of the underwater heritage in the face of accelerating threats to its survival. The impact of engineering projects and lack of official control or supervision of developer-funded maritime archaeological interventions is something of which governments are insufficiently aware. The construction of a marina at Mazarron has resulted in progressive denudation of the bay, exposure of two Phoenician wrecks and thousands of Phoenician potsherds, necessitating the annual resurvey of 70,000 m² of seabed. Among protective measures an iron 'strongbox' has been designed and successfully used on small wreck-sites. © 2000 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Modeling fluid flow in a heterogeneous, fault-controlled hydrothermal system

Previous studies have shown that most hydrothermal systems discharging at the land surface are associated with faulting, and that the location, temperature and rate of discharge of these systems are controlled by the geometry and style of the controlling fault(s). Unfortunately, the transport of heat and fluid in fault-controlled hydrothermal systems is difficult to model realistically; although heterogeneity and anisotropy are assumed to place important controls on flow in faults, few data or observations are available to constrain the distribution of hydraulic properties within active faults. Here, analytical and numerical models are combined with geostatistical models of spatially varying hydraulic properties to model the flow of heat and fluid in the Borax Lake fault of south-east Oregon, USA. A geometric mean permeability within the fault of 7 × 10⁻¹⁴ m² with 2× vertical/horizontal anisotropy in correlation length scale is shown to give the closest match to field observations. Furthermore, the simulations demonstrate that continuity of flow paths is an important factor in reproducing the observed behavior. In addition to providing some insight into possible spatial distributions of hydraulic properties at the Borax Lake site, the study highlights one potential avenue for integrating field observations with simulation results in order to gain greater understanding of fluid flow in faults and fault-controlled hydrothermal and petroleum reservoirs.     

Excavations at ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.) — Preliminary report on the sixth Belgian season (1992)

The results of six weeks'research in 1992 by a Belgian team from Gent University at ed-Dur in the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain are presented. The excavations concentrated on the areas BQ and BR, where a total of almost 2700 m² were excavated. Both areas contained mostly graves, all plundered, however, except for some plain earth-burials. These large exposures provided a vast amount of various objects and pottery and gave further information on burial practices of the 1st cent. A.D. in southeastern Arabia.     

Rates of retrograde metamorphism and their implications for crustal rheology

The rate of reaction of a natural hornblende garnet granulite with water under a range of mid- to lower crustal conditions has been investigated experimentally. In runs of between 7 and 84 days small but measurable amounts of water were consumed, and sheet silicates (300°C, 300 MPa and 400°C, 400 MPa) and/or secondary actinolite (400°C, 400 MPa and 500°C, 500 MPa) were observed to have grown. When normalized to the surface area of the starting materials, hydration rates were in the range of 2–5 × 10⁻⁸ g m⁻² sec⁻¹. These reaction rates imply that a film of water that infiltrated a planar crack with a half width of 100 μm would be completely consumed within c. 100 years. These results imply that where water infiltrates the crust along faults or underlying shear zones in response to a deformation, it will remain as a free phase for only a finite period of time, which in some cases will be less than the repeat time for major earthquakes in the fault system. Thus, the rheology of fault zones and shear zones is likely to be cyclical, with the zone becoming stronger with time as water is consumed, and then weakened by infiltration of water after each rupture.     

Mechanisms of strain-rate- and reaction-dependent permeability in the mid-crust of the Southern Alps: insight from three-dimensional mechanical models

We used three-dimensional mechanical modelling to explore the interplay of rheology, modes of permeability creation and fluid flow in the mid-crust of an oblique orogen. We used the central Southern Alps and the Otago Schist of New Zealand to constrain our models. We also compared our models with the magnetotelluric survey along the Rangitata–Whataroa rivers that imaged a U-shaped zone of high conductivity, interpreted as interconnected fluids, beneath the central Southern Alps. Modelling was carried out using the numerical code FLAC^3D. We used a number of simple assumptions: an initially homogeneous starting material, deformation boundary conditions based on the tectonics of the South Island, the capability of the modelled material to develop an anisotropic permeability structure, strain rate and reaction-induced permeability increases, initial saturation and lithostatic pore pressures as a basis for our models. The initial isotropic permeability was 10⁻¹⁸ m². We modelled two possible mechanisms of permeability increase: (i) strain-rate dependent and (ii) reaction dependent. For a strong mid-crust, the models showed enhanced permeability and hence fluid interconnectivity in a symmetric region beneath the model main divide, both ends were turned up towards the brittle–ductile transition and fluid flow was the greatest in the across strike direction. For a weak mid-crust, the region of enhanced permeability was asymmetric and turned up towards the brittle–ductile regime close to the Alpine Fault. The strong mid-crust model reproduces the features that are common to all interpretations of the MT soundings and is our preferred model for the central Southern Alps.     

Writing the First Draft of History: Anthony Lewis as Supreme Court Correspondent

The legendary Washington Bureau Chief and columnist of The New York Times , James Reston, with a push from Felix Frankfurter, decided that the paper of record would have its own correspondent specializing in the Supreme Court. ¹ With his eye for excellent young talent, ² Reston chose Anthony Lewis, already a Pulitzer-Prize winner before his thirtieth birthday, ³ and sent him to Harvard for the 1956–57 academic year as a Nieman Fellow to study law.     

The Exception That Defines the Rule: Marshall's Marbury Strategy and the Development of Supreme Court Doctrine

Analyzing the development of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Laurence Helfer and Anne-Marie Slaughter argue that in the early years of the court, ECJ justices "borrowed a leaf from Chief Justice John Marshall's book, edging principles forward while deciding for those most likely to oppose them in practice."¹ The most famous example of this paradox in Marshall's jurisprudence can be found, of course, in his seminal opinion in Marbury v. Madison. While asserting the right of the judicial branch to nullify legislation it deemed unconstitutional, Marshall used an implausible construction of the jurisdictional powers given to the Supreme Court in Article III of the Constitution² to deny the petitioner the remedy to which Marshall claimed he was otherwise entitled. While Marbury is generally portrayed as the fountainhead of judicial review in the United States (and therefore in liberal democracies in general), as Mark Graber points out, the decision was in fact a "strategic judicial retreat…in the face of threats by executive…power."³ In order to assert the power of judicial review, in other words, Marshall had to refrain from applying it in the case in question.     

(Re)introducing Wiley Rutledge

With the rarest of exceptions, when Supreme Court Justices leave the Court, they are soon all but forgotten. ¹ Constitutional law is unrelentingly presentist, so closely intertwined with politics and society that sitting (or recently departed) Justices necessarily speak to the issues more directly than those from another era. If that were not enough, being forgotten is virtually inevitable for those whose careers are short. One of those men was Wiley Rutledge who served from February 1943 until his death at age 55 from a cerebral hemorrhage, six and a half years later. Until John M. Ferren's recently published and marvelously researched Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court , ² Rutledge even lacked a true biography. ³ That has been a shame, because the two dominant themes of Ferren's book show that Rutledge is worth knowing: He was a good man and a good judge. Indeed, on what probably was the most fractious Court in American history, ⁴ Rutledge was the sole member both personally liked and intellectually respected by every other member. ⁵     

Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall: What Kind of Constitution Shall We Have?

Although they were third cousins once removed—both descended from William Randolph of Turkey Island, one of the first settlers in Virginia—John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson had little familial affection for one another. During the disputed contest of 1800, the future Chief Justice felt "almost insuperable objection" to the man who eventually become the third President, declaring him "totally unfit for the chief magistracy of a nation which cannot indulge these prejudices without sustaining deep personal injury." ¹ For his part, Jefferson reciprocated, and his cousin became the embodiment of all he despised in the judiciary. He wrote of Marshall as a man of "lax lounging manners … and a profound hypocrisy." ²     

Get Your Tongue out of My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissin' You Goodbye: The Politics of Ideas

The seminal work of Derthick and Quirk (1985 ) argues that public policy changes when the intellectual debate of ideas establishes that policy options are legitimate and current policies are ineffective. ¹ Overlooked in their otherwise exceptional analysis is the role that country music plays in the politics of ideas. ² The thesis of this article is that country music is a crucial part of the politics of ideas, and, in fact, many policy debates are resolved in country music well before the intellectual community of policy analysts reaches a consensus. This article will recap some of the key policy debates in which country music set the agenda, ³ established the key policy alternatives, or resolved the policy debate and permitted the adoption of public policy ( Anderson, 1994 ). ⁴     

AN ANGLO-SAXON DISC BROOCH FROM BLETCHINGDON, OXFORDSHIRE, WITH STYLE II ANIMAL ART

Summary.   The brooch was found in 2003 near Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire. ¹ Its gilt Style II animal ornament and garnet setting indicate that it is a high status dress-fastener, datable to the period AD 575–610. Analysis of its form and ornament suggests that it was a local experiment in the application of a new animal style.     

The Development of the Supreme Court Practice of Calling for the Views of the Solicitor General

"When the Supreme Court invites you, that's the equivalent of a royal command. An invitation from the Supreme Court just can't be rejected." ¹ The guest most frequently invited to the Supreme Court is the Solicitor General. Even before the practice of the Supreme Court calling for the views of the Solicitor General process developed, the Court occasionally invited the Solicitor General to participate as amicus in important cases by submitting a brief and/or participating in oral arguments before the Court. ² As then–Solicitor General Simon E. Sobeloff remarked to then–Attorney General Herbert Brownell in a 1954 letter about the landmark school desegregation cases, "The Supreme Court has expressly extended an invitation to the United States to participate in the reargument. While this by no means compels participation, such an invitation is not to be lightly declined." ³     

STRUCTURAL DIMENSIONS IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF LOCATIONAL CONFLICTS

L ocational c onflict is a frequent by-product of efforts to change the physical structure of man-made environments. Within the geography discipline, theoretical and empirical interests in the conflict basis of public and private decisions on the use of land were stimulated in the early 1970s by the work of Julian Wolpert and his associates.¹ The resolution of conflicts over the locations of specific activities is seen as an important means of allocating benefits among locations² and has led to considerable variations in the distribution of necessary services and amenities among residents of the city.³ Indeed, irrespective of overt evidences of conflict occurrence, David Harvey has characterized the land-use pattern itself as an important indicator of the socio-political rules which direct urban development.⁴