Morphology and Significance of Transverse Ridges (De Geer Moraines) Adjacent to the Moray Firth,NE Scotland

Abstract

High-resolution NEXTMap digital surface models and aerial photographs are used to map suites of transverse ridges at Tarbat Ness and to the west of Elgin, along the margins of the Moray Firth in northeast Scotland. Based on their morphology, configuration and location, interpret these landforms as De Geer moraines which formed at or near former grounding line positions of the Moray Firth palaeo-ice stream. The Tarbat Ness De Geer moraines almost certainly formed at a marine margin. Reaching altitudes of 55 m above present OD, these landforms may provide one of the highest geomorphological indicators for former relative sea level in mainland Britain. Evidence from surrounding landforms and sediments suggest that the ridges formed between c. 15 000–18 000 cal yrs BP, indicating that a significant fall in relative sea level may have taken place prior to an ice margin re-advance in the Moray Firth, known as the Ardersier Oscillation.     

The difference that place makes to methodology: uncovering the ‘lived space’ of young people's spatial practices

While it has been argued that conventional methodological resources are incapable of effectively representing ‘everyday social practice’ (see Latham 2003 Latham, A. 2003. Research, performance, and doing human geography: Some reflections on the diary-photograph, diary-interview method. Environment and Planning A, 35: 1993–2017. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar], Environment and Planning A, 35, 1993), this paper posits that a consideration of the ‘where’ of methodology can go some way to taking social practices seriously. Drawing on research into young people's spatial practices, conventional interview techniques were adopted in a range of different sites: a classroom, a school store-cupboard, and in teenage ‘hang outs’. Through discussion of these emplaced techniques, the paper demonstrates the difference the where of method makes to research. It will argue that, if harnessed appropriately, emplaced methodology can enhance social science's capacity to access the range of intelligences that constitute everyday social practice.     

Re‐phasing Neoliberalism: New Labour and Britain's Crisis of Street Homelessness

In this paper we continue the task of fleshing out understandings of "actually existing neoliberalism". More specifically, drawing on the work of Tom Ling, we suggest that Peck and Tickell's recent distinction between periods of roll‐back/roll‐out neoliberalisation can usefully be supplemented by the identification of a second, more powerful moment of roll‐out neoliberalism—described by Ling in terms of the shift from a system of governance to one of "governmentality". Illustrating our argument with an analysis of changing central government responses to a crisis of street homelessness in 1990s Britain, however, we draw attention to the uneven and often contrary effects of recent government policy in this field. The paper therefore concludes with a warning of the need to temper a reading of the juggernaut of roll‐out neoliberalism with an awareness of the incomplete and plain "messy" character of actually existing neoliberalisation.     

Human impacts on ancient shellfish: a 10,000 year record from San Miguel Island,California

We use measurements of more than 11,000 marine shells from 41 archaeological components to construct a 10,000 year record of human impacts on ancient mussel and abalone stocks on San Miguel Island, California. General reductions in the mean size of mussel and abalone shells gathered through time are attributed to growing human population and predation pressure. Based on comparison with historically documented changes in shellfish communities caused by the local extinction of sea otters in the 19th century, changes in mean shell size and the abundance of other shellfish species may have been facilitated by Native American predation on sea otters as early as 7500 years ago. Despite having measurable impacts on local ecosystems, Native Americans on San Miguel harvested huge quantities of shellfish throughout the Holocene. Such long-term harvests appear to have been sustained by an early emphasis on fishing at lower trophic levels, by periodically shifting village locations, and by intensifying the use of finfish and sea mammals through time. This pattern of “fishing up the food web” contrasts with many modern fisheries, suggesting that the study of ancient fisheries can help us better manage our own endangered coastal ecosystems.