Spatial variations in the salinity of pore waters in northern deep water Gulf of Mexico sediments: implications for pathways and mechanisms of solute transport

Spatial variations in the salinity of pore waters in sedimentary basins can provide important insight into basin-scale hydrogeologic processes. Although there have been numerous studies of brine seeps in the deep water Gulf of Mexico, much less is known about porewater salinities in the vast areas between seeps. A study has been made of spatial variation in pore water salinities in sediments in an approximately 500 km by 200 km area of the northern deep water (water depth >500 m) Gulf of Mexico sedimentary basin (GOM) to provide insight into pathways and mechanisms of solute transport in this portion of the basin. A second objective was to document salinities in the upper 500 m of the sedimentary section, the approximate depth to which methane hydrates, a potential future energy resource, may be stable. Elevated salinities would reduce the P – T stability range of hydrates. Salinities were calculated from borehole logs using a dual electrical conductivity model. Even though much of the northern GOM is underlain by allochthonous salt most of the undisturbed shallow sedimentary section has not been permeated by hypersaline waters. These waters are limited to areas near brine seeps. Hypersaline waters having salinities in excess of 100 g l⁻¹ become more common at subseafloor depths of 2 km and greater. A field study at Green Canyon 65 and published numerical simulations of fluid flow above tabular salt bodies suggest that brines produced by salt dissolution migrate laterally and pond above salt and/or within minibasins and that the dominant mechanism of vertical solute transport is a combination of compaction-driven advection and diffusion, not large-scale thermohaline overturn. Superimposed on this diffuse upward flux of dissolved salt is the more focused and localized expulsion of saline fluids up faults.     

The study of collector variability in the transition to sedentary food producers in northern Colombia

Human adaptation to the tropics by populations of collectors has been a longtanding issue of debate, especially with regard to the role that collectors may have played in pathways toward sedentism and food production. In this essay, I examine significant differences in strategies developed for estuarine environments versus the inland environments of the transitional savannas of northern Colombia to analyze how these two adaptations articulate with the processes which led toward sedentism and food production in neotropical northern Colombia. Contrary to the received wisdom, I argue that the exploitation of rich estuarine environments is not necessarily a prelude to food production; seed exploitation early in the sixth millennium B.P. in the northern Colombian transitional savanna zone provides a second and arguably more probable model.     

South African palaeoenvironments during marine oxygen isotope stage 4: a context for the Howiesons Poort and Still Bay industries

Spanning the period from ∼74–58 ka, and being broadly coeval with marine oxygen isotope stage 4 (MIS 4), the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort industries represent important phases in the development of the material culture of early modern humans. How and why these industries occurred when they did, however, remain matters for speculation. A key element of this debate has been the question of what role environmental change during the early stages of the last glacial period may have had on influencing human activity. Unfortunately, well-dated palaeoenvironmental evidence from this period is limited, and the debate has, out of necessity, been driven by the application of conceptual models of environmental change, many of which associate colder and warmer global climates with increased aridity and humidity respectively. In this paper, the regional marine and terrestrial evidence is synthesised to create an evidence-based palaeoenvironmental context. Based on the information available to date, it appears that rather than being characterised by dry conditions, MIS 4 was a period of relatively cool, moist climates, the ubiquity of which transcends the modern regional climate boundaries. It is suggested that orbital parameters at this time created greater interaction between tropical and temperate circulation systems, bringing more moisture to the subcontinent. These findings highlight the distinct nature of southern African climate systems, and caution against the application extra-regional conceptual models or inferring linear relationships with polar records.     

Nuutauniq (Moves in Inuit Life): Arctic Transformations and the Politics of Urban Inuit Mobility

ABSTRACT

Today, one in four Inuit live outside of Inuit Nunangat, the Arctic territory incorporating the four northern Inuit land claims regions. With the majority of those Inuit living in cities, the issue of urban Inuit populations is becoming a more prominent focus for policy debate. In this article, I argue that urban Inuit mobility is a historically complex and multilayered phenomenon embedded in, not detached from, the major processes of social transformation affecting Inuit across the Canadian Arctic from the mid-twentieth century on. I use this analysis to explore the diverse formulation of Inuit-specific policy initiatives in Montreal, a task that, I show, is made easier by the Montreal Inuit radio show called Nipivut.     

Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic Coastlines of Greece and the Aegean

Abstract

Reconstructions of the late Quaternary paleogeography of Greece and the Aegean show that at 18,000 years B.P. the northern Aegean and northern Adriatic formed large coastal plains traversed by many rivers. Broad plains also existed off the coast of Elis and the present Gulf of Korinth, and along the Anatolian coast. Many islands, such as Kerkira, Euboea, and the northern Sporadhes, were connected with the mainland, and most of the Cycladic islands were joined together in a Cycladic semi-peninsula. The post-glacial rise of sea level beginning ca. 15,000 B.P. restored around 9,000 B.P. the coastal geography to approximately its present configuration. The late Quaternary paleogeography and its subsequent changes have many archeological implications that are worth serious consideration. The well-watered northern coastal plains may have furnished subsistence for a plains population quite independent of the resources of the northern mountain regions, and they constituted easy access to the Greek peninsula from the NE and NW. Loss of coastal plain land during the post-glacial rise of sea level drastically changed the resource base in many areas. The island of Melos, known source of obsidian for toolmaking since at least 10,000 B.P., may have been discovered considerably earlier when access to the island was largely over land.     

The taphonomy of fallow deer (Dama dama) skeletons from Denmark and its bearing on the pre-Weichselian occupation of northern Europe by humans

The ecological tolerances of Neandertals, their ability to subsist in the dense forests of full interglacials, and their capacity to colonize northern latitudes are the subject of ongoing debate. The site of Hollerup (northern Denmark) lies at the northern extreme of the Neandertal range. Dated by various techniques to the Eemian interglacial (MIS 5e), this site has yielded the remains of several purportedly butchered fallow deer (Dama dama). Taphonomic reanalysis of the remains from Hollerup and a handful of other Eemian-aged fallow deer skeletons cast doubt on the interpretation that they were humanly modified. We place this revised conclusion into the wider context of human settlement of southern Scandinavia during the Eemian. Other claims of Neandertal presence in the region rest on candidate Middle Paleolithic artifacts, all of which derive from surface contexts. With the fallow deer material removed as a secure indicator of Neandertal settlement of Denmark during the last interglacial, this lithic material must be viewed with renewed skepticism. While ecological and/or topographic factors may have played an important role in preventing Neandertals from penetrating into peninsular Scandinavia, we caution that geological, taphonomic, research-historical, and demographic factors may have significantly distorted our picture of their occupation in this region.     

THE CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY OF A PHOENICIAN MUSHROOM-LIPPED JUG

Summary.   This paper is the biography of a single piece of pottery found in a tomb in Sardinia. The form is one that is common in Levantine sites in the Mediterranean in the Early Iron Age, but this single vessel, its history, context, and form, allows a greater story to be told: it points to a second wave of Levantine exploration and colonization – probably Tyrian – that built upon a Euboean–northern Phoenician initial phase in the eighth century BC.     

EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SAMPLE PREPARATION METHODS ON STABLE CARBON AND OXYGEN ISOTOPE VALUES OF BONE APATITE: A COMPARISON OF TWO TREATMENT PROTOCOLS*

Researchers have long debated the appropriateness of stable isotope analysis of bone apatite to reconstruct the diets of ancient animals. The debate has centred, in part, on diagenesis of bone mineral from interaction with the burial environment. A number of acetic acid treatments are used to remove diagenetic carbonates from samples; however, less is known on how different protocols alter stable isotope values. We compare two common acetic acid solution treatments (0.1 M versus 1.0 M-buffered) to examine the effects on carbon and oxygen isotope values and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra in human bone from different burial contexts. Results indicate that both treatments have a similar effect on isotope values and FTIR spectra in bone apatite.     

The marriage plot and the plot against the Union: Irish Home Rule and endangered alliances in Henry James's “The Modern Warning”

By the period of the Irish Home Rule crisis – in which Catholics and liberal Anglicans lobbied for limited self-government while northern Presbyterians campaigned to keep Ulster wholly within the Union between Ireland and Great Britain of 1800 – certain of those of pre-Famine northern Irish Protestant origins (the “Scots-” or “Scotch-Irish”) identified with the position of their Presbyterian brethren in Ulster. This identifiably Ulster Protestant engagement with the Home Rule debate is detectable (and generally overlooked) in the Scots-Irish Henry James story “The Modern Warning”. Moreover, equally discounted is the fact that James's story deploys the Irish literary convention of the marriage plot as metaphor for political union in order to grapple with a moment in which that alliance is – in the unionists' view – in danger. This article concludes that the political-union-as-marriage trope still sporadically returns at moments of political crisis in the British Isles, as occurred during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum debate.     

Talking the talk: Debating debate in northern Afghanistan

The ethnographic focus of this article is on the ways in which Afghan families who lived in northern Pakistan as refugees are currently reflecting upon to their complex experiences of return to their country through a rich and complex culture of debate, as well as the deployment of other verbal and peformative skills, especially imitation. More broadly, it argues that the comparative study of situated practices of debate offers unique insights for the anthropological analysis of Islam, which an expanding body of work on the ways in which piety minded Muslims embody and cultivate ethical and moral values has thus far overlooked.     

A comprehensive review of hydrocarbons and genetic model of the sandstone‐hosted Dongsheng uranium deposit,Ordos Basin,China

The Dongsheng uranium deposit, the largest in situ leach uranium mine in the Ordos Basin, geometrically forms a roll‐front type deposit that is hosted in the Middle Jurassic Zhiluo Formation. The genesis of the mineralization, however, has long been a topic of great debate. Regional faults, epigenetic alterations in surface outcrops, natural oil seeps, and experimental findings support a reducing microenvironment during ore genesis. The bulk of the mineralization is coffinite. Based on thin‐section petrography, some of the coffinite is intimately intergrown with authigenic pyrite (ore‐stage pyrite) and is commonly juxtaposed with some late diagenetic sparry calcite (ore‐stage calcite) in primary pores, suggesting simultaneous precipitation. Measured homogenization temperatures of greater than 100°C from fluid inclusions indicate circulation of low‐temperature hydrothermal fluids in the ore zone. The carbon isotopic compositions of late calcite cement (δ¹³C_VPDB = ?31.0 to ?1.4‰) suggest that they were partly derived from sedimentary organic carbon, possibly from deep‐seated petroleum fluids emanating from nearby faults. Hydrogen and oxygen isotope data from kaolinite cement (δD = ?133 to ?116‰ and δ¹⁸O_SMOW = 12.6–13.8‰) indicate that the mineralizing fluids differed from magmatic and metamorphic fluids and were more depleted in D (²H) than modern regional meteoric waters. Such a strongly negative hydrogen isotopic signature suggests that there has been selective modification of δD by CH₄±H₂S±H₂ fluids. Ore‐stage pyrite lies within a very wide range of δ³⁴S (?39.2 to 26.9‰), suggesting that the pyrite has a complex origin and that bacterially mediated sulfate reduction cannot be precluded. Hydrocarbon migration and its role in uranium reduction and precipitation have here been unequivocally defined. Thus, a unifying model for uranium mineralization can be established: Early coupled bacterial uranium mineralization and hydrocarbon oxidation were followed by later recrystallization of ore phases in association with low‐temperature hydrothermal solutions under hydrocarbon‐induced reducing conditions.     

The Debate in the House of Lords on 'No Peace without Spain', 7 December 1711: A New Source

The debate in the house of lords on 'No Peace without Spain' in December 1711 was the first test of the strength of the administration of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, in the upper House. Though there are more sources for this debate than is normal for proceedings in the Lords, few can claim to be by eyewitnesses. A newly 'discovered' anonymous letter from an eyewitness found in the papers of the lord great chamberlain's office in the Parliamentary Archives gives a detailed account of this important debate.     

'WHY THEY CAME'; THE COLONIZATION OF THE COAST OF WESTERN SWEDEN AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIATION

Summary.   In this paper we will bring into view new aspects of Late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic research on the west coast of Sweden. In doing so, we make use of oceanography and tidal modelling, in conjunction with basic research in the fields of archaeology and palynology. The focus of research concerns the Hensbacka culture group in central Bohuslän, a group of hunter-gatherers which visited the area between c.10,300–9300 bp (10,200/10,000–8500 cal BC). Recent investigations indicate that the frequency of Hensbacka sites in the archipelago of central Bohuslän, which at that time had a total land area of c.500 sq km, might well represent the highest site density area in northern Europe during a c.1000-year period of time at the close of the Late Glacial and beginning of the early Post Glacial. In the pages that follow, we will discuss how, and why, this 'seasonal colonization' was possible.     

The “golden age” of synesthesia inquiry in the late nineteenth century (1876–1895)

ABSTRACT

Synesthesia is a rare neurological trait that causes unusual, often cross-sensory, experiences (e.g., seeing colors when listening to music). This article traces the history of synesthesia in the period 1876 to 1895. In this period, there was considerable debate over the nature of synesthesia, its causes, and how it should be named. The issue also attracted the leading thinkers of the time and, within a few years, the number of reported cases of synesthesia jumped from around ten to more than 100. For this reason, this period can be regarded as the “golden age” for synesthesia research in the nineteenth century. In this time, scientists debated whether synesthesia was a form of pathology or an alternative manifestation of intelligence. The differing roles of heredity and environment were contested, and there were several explanations proposed as to its neural basis. These enquiries went to the heart of the debate as to whether synesthetic experiences are special in any way or, instead, a more vivid manifestation of a more general capacity for forming associations.     

Prosperity,power, and change: Modeling maize at Postclassic Xaltocan,Mexico

Documenting the relationship between agriculture and political economy occupies the center of much research and debate in anthropological archaeology. This study examines this issue by focusing on maize at Xaltocan, a Postclassic community located in the northern Basin of Mexico. We consider how different mechanisms of distribution, circulation, and production can influence maize variation. We analyze maize variability through time at Xaltocan and the community’s chinampa system and interpret patterns of variation in relation to its historical trajectory. This methodological and interpretive approach offers an innovative means to understand how agricultural practices transformed in relation to changing conditions of prosperity and power, especially the links between tribute, market exchange, conflict, and regional demography. Our study also speaks to broader, dichotomous perspectives that model the organization of agricultural systems, revealing that the strategies of both agriculturalists and the state often converge at local levels.     

Salt production in pre-Funan Vietnam: archaeomagnetic reorientation of briquetage fragments

Bronze to Iron Age briquetage found in the northern Mekong Delta has an appearance similar to analogous material from Europe and Asia; however, the orientation in which the briquetage was employed during the production of salt is still under debate. As a consequence of the heating and subsequent cooling of the briquetage during the evaporative recovery of salt, the magnetic mineral particles within the ceramic formed a stable thermoremanent magnetization in alignment with the Earth's magnetic field. It thus becomes possible to find the orientation in which the ceramics were last fired by aligning their recorded archaeomagnetic signal with estimates of the Earth's ancient field direction in Vietnam. The archaeomagnetic directions obtained from 22 samples taken from five different briquetage artefacts are somewhat scattered, but they reveal a consistent orientation and thus the mode in which the briquetage was employed can be reconstructed.     

BURNT KIMMERIDGIAN SHALE AT EARLY ROMAN SILCHESTER, SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND, AND THE ROMAN POOLE–PURBECK COMPLEX-AGGLOMERATED GEOMATERIALS INDUSTRY

Summary.   A wide range of geomaterials were worked at industrial settlements scattered over an area of c.225 km² in the Poole Harbour–Isle of Purbeck district of modern Dorset. These materials, more than one handled at some sites, included shale ('coal'), burnt shales (yellow, red) and cementstones from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic), Purbeck marble from the Purbeck Group (earliest Cretaceous), hard chalk from the Chalk Group (Upper Cretaceous), and potting clays and sands from the Bracklesham Group (Palaeogene), for South-east Dorset Black-burnished Pottery Category 1. There was also a salt industry, which could have used pottery for packaging. The industrial products are conterminously distributed in southern and central Britain and, in the case of pottery and shale items, reached as far as the northern frontiers. Raw material of red burnt shale was exported to Silchester ( Calleva Atrebatum ), where it was made into mosaic tesserae. Of proven Kimmeridgian age on the evidence of fossils, the mudstone used to make it had been collected and quarried on the coast of the Isle of Purbeck before being burnt. The decline in the demand for stone products, excepting shale, in the second century AD saw an expansion of the potting industry, which persisted into the fifth century. The term complex-agglomerative is introduced to describe this diverse and dispersed enterprise at this highest hierarchical level, examples of which occur elsewhere in the Roman world.     

Jean-Jacques Rousseau on women and citizenship

The aim of this article is to shed light on the eighteenth-century Italian reflection on luxury and consumption in a comparative perspective, clarifying, on the one hand, the complex significance that it assumed and, on the other, the specificity of the Italian context, marked by the immense political value of the debate on the subject. In particular this objective will be pursued through the analysis of specific cases among the many offered by the Italian context and through different research strands. These are: the debate on the evaluation of luxury; the transition from the notion of luxury to that of consumption; and the discussion on luxury and consumption in the revolutionary context. This article intends to outline the particular contribution made by Italian thought, which conveyed a multifaceted discourse of social reform, critique and understanding built on more even foundations, and at the same time to clarify what contribution can be made to current historiography by the study of this theme within eighteenth-century Italy.     

Normanising the North: The Evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian Sculpture

Abstract

This Study Probes the destruction of material culture to illuminate the introduction of Norman political authority into northern England. A brief overview of Norman destruction of churches provides the background to a review of the potential relationship of Anglo-Saxon monuments with memory and identity, in the context of recent discussions of monument reuse. Durham and York, the Anglo-Saxon monastic sites at Wearmouth/Jarrow, Lindisfarne and Jedburgh, and a selection of local churchyards provide case studies. It argues that some monuments seem to have been deliberately targeted, but a wider range of factors, all ultimately derived from changing political circumstances, can be identified that explain why sculpture was removed and reused. The paper serves as a platform for further debate about the significance of monuments in the Middle Ages, and as a contribution to the broader discourse within archaeology about their social meanings.     

Early Holocene land snail exploitation in northern spain: the case of La Fragua cave

Abstract

The question of the anthropic or natural origin of land snail deposits within the archaeological record is the subject of debate all over the world. In the Cantabrian region of northern Spain land snail middens are routinely identified in the early Holocene archaeological record. La Fragua Cave (Cantabria, Spain), which contains an early Holocene layer dated to 9600±140 BP (10,932±196 cal BP), offers the opportunity to address this debate through the examination of Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus) land snails recovered in direct association with mammal bones, charcoal, lithic artefacts and other materials. It is therefore believed that their presence at the site is clearly anthropic in origin. In addition, the exploitation patterns indicate an occasional collection and consumption of land snails, which confirms the complementary character of these resources in the diet of hunter-gatherers in Cantabrian Spain during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.