theoretical investigation of the oceanic inverted barometer response dynamic tidal theory is generalized in order to predict the oceanic response to atmospheric pressure variations the oceans are found to exhibit distinct dynamic behavior when forced at periods less than 1 week depending on the harmonic type of forcing the amplitude of the response can differ by 20 or more from the static response even at roughly 2 months the traditional inverted barometer may not be sufficiently accurate for applications in which detection of long term sea level trends or vertical crustal motion is the goal for forcing at periods of order 1 year the oceanic response differs by at most a few percent from the static not the inverted barometer response thus calculations of meteorological excitation of the annual and chandler wobbles can employ the static approximation without reservation

long period perturbations in starlette orbit and tide solution continuous and dynamically consistent orbits have been computed using satellite laser ranging slr data to starlette for a one year period during 1976 and 1977 and the three year period from 1983 through 1985 a low degree and order ocean tide solution consisting of a total of 66 tidal parameters from 14 tidal constituents was obtained in a combined solution using both the one and three year starlette orbits an enhanced model of the schwiderski 1980 tide solution was used both as the a priori and the background tide model the model contains 368 tidal coefficients from 21 tidal constituents yearly values for the second degree annual tides sa which produce seasonal variations on the starlette node were obtained also these variations were found to have year to year fluctuations of more than 25 about the mean value and produced significant long period perturbations in the starlette orbit the starlette tide solution is in good agreement with the schwiderski tide solutions and with other satellite solutions including multi satellite tide solutions the average uncertainties are approximately 0 1 cm for the estimated semidiurnal and diurnal tides and 0 4 cm for the long period tides the discrepancies of effective k2 inferred from the starlette tide solution and other tide solutions are less than 0 01 the tide solutions were evaluated using orbit fits of a three year lageos and a one year starlette long arc the results indicate that the starlette tide solution produces significantly improved orbit fits for both lageos and starlette the uncertainties for the estimated tide model coefficients were used to predict tidal errors for the lageos orbit and were found to be consistent with the apparent tidal errors present in this orbit the computed secular change in the moon s mean motion due to tidal dissipation is 24 8 0 8 arc second century2 which is in good agreement with the results obtained from other investigations

topographic forcing of the atmosphere and a rapid change in the length of day during june to september 1992 a special campaign was held to measure rapid changes in earth s rotation rate and to relate these measurements to variations in the atmosphere s angular momentum due principally to changes in zonal winds a strong rise in both length of day and atmospheric momentum during a particular 6 day subperiod is documented and this example of a short period perturbation is identified with a specific regional coupling mechanism mountain torques within the southern tropics appear to account for most of the rapid momentum transfer between the solid earth and atmosphere with those across south america especially important

estimation of water conductivity of the natural flood channels on the tisza flood plain the great hungarian plain abstract the rapidly subsiding central part of the pannonian basin the flood plain system of the tisza river is analyzed natural flood conducting channels that were functioning prior to the construction of the water control measures of the 19th century have been identified and mapped by now these channels have mostly disappeared only small traces of them can be found on modern maps the identification of these channels was achieved by studying historical maps of the region and by geomorphologic studies drawing the outline of the channels and the estimation of their initial meander size was supported by elevation models and satellite imagery eight flood breakout points and five independent channel systems were identified the flood conveying capacity of each channel was also estimated based on meander wavelengths the reliability of this estimation is discussed the channels functioned as anabranches conducting the floods of the tisza to its tributary the koros river the efficiency of the flood control system could be increased by regeneration of these natural channels the summarized water conveying capacity of the abandoned channels is estimated as 1000 m 3 s a value that is slightly under a half of the flood discharge of the tisza river

geochronology paleogeography and archaeology of the acheulian locality of evron landfill in the western galilee israel a multidisciplinary study was conducted in a newly discovered paleolithic locality named evron landfill this locality is a part of the lower paleolithic complex of evron located at the western galilee israel examination of artifacts has enabled the cultural attribution of evron landfill to the early acheulian while detailed paleomagnetic stratigraphy places the hominin occupations near the brunhes matuyama transition 0 77 ma this age is constrained by cosmogenic isotope burial dating of the sediments overlying the paleolithic finds providing a minimum age of 0 66 0 11 ma for hominin activity at the site these results are further supported by the biochronological information derived from the faunal assemblage comparative analyses of faunal remains and lithic artifacts from evron landfill demonstrate similarities to the assemblages from the early acheulian site of evron quarry located 300 m to the south pedo sedimentological analyses indicate that hominin activity took place in a marsh environment in proximity to the mediterranean coast which probably fluctuated in both space and time with a fluvial environment in addition this study provides important data about ancient coastal activity during the early to middle pleistocene

revised predictions of long period ocean tidal effects on earth s rotation rate the rotational response of earth to long period tidal forces embodied in a zonal response function can be expected to vary with frequency because of variable contributions by the oceans mantle and core the zonal response function has been estimated from 9 years of international radio interferometric surveying iris universal time ut1 data and compared with theoretical predictions using a spherical harmonic tide model to compute the oceans dynamic response at semiannual monthly fortnightly and 9 day lunisolar tidal frequencies different amounts of mantle anelasticity have been considered for both the oceanic and solid earth responses predictions have been made assuming axial core mantle coupling which is either complete or absent additionally an extensive recalibration of the ocean model s frictional parameters was performed using constraints derived in part from space92 polar motion data zonal response function predictions have also been made employing this recalibrated ocean tide model our results indicate that any amount of core coupling can be ruled out at a fortnightly period and probably at a 9 day period but not at a monthly period our results also suggest that the mantle responds purely elastically at a 9 day period but may behave increasingly anelastically at longer periods a simple dispersive rule is postulated for periods ranging up to the 14 month chandler wobble period

new data from ambrona closing the hunting versus scavenging debate abstract this paper presents a taphonomic analysis of the faunal assemblages from the 1993 1999 excavations at ambrona spain directed by santonja and perez gonzalez the purpose of the new excavations was to achieve a better understanding of the stratigraphic sequence general geology sedimentary context and processes of accumulation of materials our objectives are to evaluate the opposing interpretations of the hominid subsistence activities at the site proposed by freeman and binford the faunal and lithic remains are found in different sedimentary contexts an alluvial fan lacustrine muds fluviatile clay sands and channel deposits faunal remains in the lacustrine muds are often but not always in primary context remains of elephant and deer carcasses may be found in partial articulation or proximity and represent natural occurrences without any clear evidence of hominid intervention in other contexts the faunal remains are occurrences of single anatomical elements either displaced by water or left isolated in situ there are no carnivore marks bones and stone artifacts show varying degrees of mechanical abrasion due to water transport limited evidence of human action on bones is provided by a few sem verified cutmarks and some anthropic fractures they document butchery of various animals including elephants we cannot prove hunting but we can definitely reject binford s idea of marginal scavenging of medium size ungulates from carnivore kills ambrona is a complex mix of natural and human components the remnant of a natural landscape regularly visited by hominids who transported some artifacts from nonlocal raw material sources and had an organized approach to meat acquisition however strong evidence of elephant hunting is provided only by sites younger than ambrona

the clactonian elephant butchery site at southfleet road ebbsfleet uk archaeological excavations at southfleet road ebbsfleet kent have revealed a complex sequence of fossiliferous middle pleistocene sediments containing lithic artefacts an incomplete skeleton of straight tusked elephant palaeoloxodon antiquus was found in lacustrine sediments in close association with a cluster of mint condition cores flakes and notched flake tools some with evidence of use damage these finds appear to reflect in situ tool production and butchery of the elephant carcass a far larger concentration of similar artefacts again in mint condition occurred nearby in the same horizon these finds were overlain by a fluvial gravel containing abundant handaxes some also in mint condition a range of fossils including pollen molluscs and small vertebrates indicates temperate conditions with local woodland coeval with the elephant butchery the sediments appear to have formed during the early part of an interglacial almost certainly mis 11 as well as providing rare undisturbed evidence of human behaviour the site supports the existence of a distinctive non handaxe clactonian core flake tool industry in southeast england at this period copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

an analysis of tidal variations in the length of day observations of the length of day lod corrected for the effects of variations in the angular momentum due to changes in wind velocity and atmospheric pressure ocean tide heights and currents and solid earth zonal tides were analyzed the apparent effect of atmospheric angular momentum aam on the astronomically determined lod is found to be much less at the highest frequencies than at lower frequencies for periods shorter than ten days there appears to be essentially no correlation between aam and lod the international earth rotation service iers standards 1992 model for the effects of zonal tides on the earth s rotation which includes ocean tidal effects adequately accounts for the observations of the variations in the length of day with periods between five and 180 days at the present level of accuracy a currently unexplained semi annual variation in the length of day remains but this may be due to the unmodeled effects of stratospheric winds the power spectrum of the remaining variations with periods less than twenty days is essentially that of a white noise process the amplitudes of the remaining unexplained variations in length of day are less than thirty microseconds this paper has been accepted by geophysical journal international for publication

ambiguities in human and elephant interactions stories of bones sand and water from castel di guido italy geoarchaeological and taphonomical studies have been carried out on the sequence and on the faunal remains of castel di guido central italy a middle pleistocene site with acheulean industry and faunas including elephas palaeoloxodon antiquus bos primigenius equus ferus and other taxa investigation focused on remains accumulated on the bottom of a depressed area probably an ephemeral stream channel sometimes acting as a seep the assemblage resulted prevalently from human activity as shown by the selection of the faunas by the thorough fracturing of the bones and by the occurrence of abundant chipped stone industry and bone bifaces it is still a matter of debate whether the animals were hunted or scavenged the present day distribution of the remains does not represent exactly their original configuration as in most sites of this type and age more likely the objects are partly in their original position and partly reworked and lie within a complex palimpsest of several phases of fluvial transport and human activity with the addition of external inputs of reworked bones and artefacts

oceanic tidal angular momentum and earth s rotation variations abstract luni solar tides affect earth s rotation in a variety of ways we give an overview of the physics and focus on the excitation of earth rotational variations by ocean tides under the conservation of angular momentum various models for diurnal and semidiurnal tidal height and tidal current fields have been derived following a legacy of a number of theoretical tide models from the topex poseidon t p ocean altimetry data we review the oceanic tidal angular momenta otam predicted by these t p models for the eight major tides q1 o1 p1 k1 n2 m2 s2 k2 and their excitations on both earth s rotational speed variation in terms of length of day or ut1 and polar motion prograde diurnal semidiurnal components and retrograde semidiurnal components these small high frequency effects have been unambiguously observed in recent years by precise earth rotation measurements via space geodetic techniques here we review the comparison of the very long baseline interferometry vlbi data with the t p otam predictions the agreement is good with discrepancies typically within 1 2 microseconds for ut1 and 10 30 microarcseconds for polar motion the eight tides collectively explain the majority of subdaily earth rotation variance during the intensive vlbi campaign cont94 this establishes the dominant role of otam in exciting the diurnal semidiurnal polar motion and paves the way for detailed studies of short period non otam excitations such as atmospheric and oceanic angular momentum variations earthquakes the atmospheric thermal tides earth librations and the response of the mantle lateral inhomogeneities to tidal forcing these studies await further improvements in tide models and earth rotation measurements

micromorphological indications on the nature of the late quaternary paleosols in the southern coastal plain of israel abstract the nature of alternating layers of clayey soil material and calcareous soil material in the desert fringe area is discussed in earlier work by other researchers these soil materials were considered as representing different climatic environments the clayey layers a wet period and the calcareous layers a dry period based on a pedogenic approach supported by micromorphological indications however it is concluded that the clayey layers together with the calcareous layers form a single pedogenic unit developed in the same climatic environment the calcareous layers are in fact calcic horizons accumulated from the overlying leached clayey material and their appearance is similar to the modern brown grumusolic soils that occur in the semiarid area of the coastal plain a sequence of four superimposed brown grumusolic paleosols developed during the last glacial period was recognized in the western part of the coastal plain quartzic brown soils and husmas soils which developed on sand dunes occur the former has an argilic horizon with a calcic horizon below microcalcites of eolian dust origin are homogeneously distributed in the plasma the soil representing a monogenetic soil type developed during a semiarid climate the latter is a reddish brown mediterranean polygenetic soil with leached soil material in which the calcic horizon accumulated from a loessial soil cover that settled during a drier climate both soils also developed during the last glacial period in the eastern coastal plain older paleosols which developed on sand dunes occur below the brown grumusolic soils one type is a polygenetic leached quartzic gray brown paleosol not recognized in previous studies which overlies a red hamra soil sandy red mediterranean soil

new aspects of the equilibrium pole tide summary we have developed a new spherical harmonic algorithm for the calculation of the loading and self gravitating equilibrium pole tide based on a suggestion of dahlen this approach minimizes the distortions in tide height caused by an incomplete representation of the ocean function with slight modification our approach easily could be used to compute self gravitating and loading luni solar tides as well using our algorithm we have compared the static pole tide with tide observations at a variety of locations around the world we find statistically significant evidence for pole tide enhancements in mid ocean as well as the shallow seas we have also re investigated the effect of the static tide on the chandler wobble period the difference between the wobble period of an oceanless elastic earth with a fluid core smith dahlen and the period of an earth minus static oceans yields a 7 4 day discrepancy we conclude from tide observations that much of the discrepancy can probably be accounted for by non equilibrium pole tide behaviour in the deep oceans

towards a mechanical model for the formation of the pannonian basin abstract new maps showing crustal and lithospheric thickness variations in the pannonian basin and the surrounding east alpine carpathian and dinaric mountains have been prepared on the basis of recent seismic seismologic and electromagnetic data a map presenting miocene faults of regional significance has been also constructed for the same region by using a wealth of recently available national and or more local studies it is suggested that observed crustal and lithospheric structural contrasts have been controlled primarily by neogene kinematic history of the region kinematic history is characterized by the following main patterns 1 1 indentation by adria and large scale backthrusting in the southern alps 2 2 eastward escape and extension of the eastern alps 3 3 extensional collapse in the pannonian basin area 4 4 formation of broad wrench fault systems along strike in the dinarides and southern carpathians and the western carpathians with dextral and sinistral shear respectively 5 5 compression and accretion of the external thrust and fold belt in the eastern carpathians these kinematic patterns are thought to be interrelated and all are manifestations of the late stage evolution of an overthickened orogenic wedge in order to arrive at a better understanding of the mechanism of extension which formed the pannonian basin deep crustal seismic profiles hydrocarbon exploration reflection lines and borehole data have been analyzed in the little hungarian plain this plain represents the transition zone between the alps and the pannonian lowlands and the results are illustrated by eight interpreted cross sections one result of regional importance is the clear recognition that the transdanubian central range at the southeastern flank of the little hungarian plain is composed of alpine pre senonian thrust sheets this finding marks the end of a century of debate the allochthony of the substrata of the pannonian basin can be now considered proven another result of more general interest is that these cross sections document the mode of lithospheric extension preexisting compressional detachment planes reactivate as low angle normal faults and lead to tectonic unroofing of deeply buried metamorphic terranes characterized by ductile flow along subhorizontal lineation

new fossil remains of elephas from the southern levant implications for the evolutionary history of the asian elephant abstract we describe new fossil remains of elephant elephas cf hysudricus from archaeological sites in the levant ma ayan baruch israel and ain soda jordan both sites date to the middle pleistocene based on stone artefacts typical of levantine late acheulian assemblages the elephant remains show primitive dental features reminiscent of e hysudricus from the plio pleistocene of the siwaliks northern india the species thought to be ancestral to asian elephant e maximus regionally the new fossils are chronologically intermediate between an earlier ca 1 ma record of elephas sp from evron quarry israel and holocene remains of e maximus from archaeological sites in nw syria turkey iraq and iran it is unclear at present whether this represents continuity of occupation or more plausibly independent westward expansions

recycling bones in the middle pleistocene some reflections from gran dolina td10 1 spain bolomor cave spain and qesem cave israel abstract archaeologists can use different kinds of data to identify recycling however most approaches to recycling are based on lithic artefact attributes especially on surface alterations suggesting a period of discard between different events recycling can also be approached by means of faunal remains based on bone damage characteristics bone breakage processes aimed at maximizing the nutritional value of consumed animals generate a high number of small and large sized fragments which are eventually discarded some of these are morphologically suitable for human use it is necessary to distinguish between the use of bone as raw material from pre existing very large sized carcasses such as elephants in cases where it is not certain if these had a nutritional purpose and the recycling of fragments resulting from bone marrow extraction of smaller mammals that were obtained and consumed by human groups in the first case when the bones of a pre existing elephant including natural deaths are exploited for tool making the bones can be considered raw material very similar to collecting stones as raw material for the lithic industry in the second case the bones of smaller mammals are selected to be used in a subsequent life cycle after being broken for nutritional purposes and discarded here we present some early cases of recycled bones from the middle pleistocene sites of gran dolina td10 1 and bolomor cave in spain and qesem cave in israel the studied elements appear to have been part of a previous faunal processing sequence nutritional in nature which were later discarded and then used or modified for purposes other than the original ones these fragments are dated to mis 9 and show damage produced by use retouched and unmodified soft retouchers or shaped forms bone artefacts this study is an attempt to provide new data on recycling activities of faunal remains in the middle pleistocene and discuss the origin of this behaviour

the moon and el nino regional climates around the world display cycles corresponding to the 18 61 year maximum lunar declination mld periodicity we suggest that these cycles are created by a relationship between mld and el nino southern oscillation enso both equatorial pacific sea surface temperature and south pacific atmospheric pressure significantly correlate with maximum lunar declination low mlds are associated with warmer equatorial pacific sea surface temperatures and negative values of the southern oscillation index a lunar influenced change in the pacific gyre circulation presents a viable physical mechanism for explaining these relationships we suggest that the gyre is enhanced by tidal forces under high mlds inducing cold water advection into the equatorial region but is restricted by the weak tidal forcing of low mlds thereby favoring el nino episodes an astronomical model utilizing this relationship produces a forecast of increased non el nino either la nina or neutral activity for the early part of this decade

shallow water single and multichannel seismic profiling in a riverine environment collection of high resolution seismic data from inland rivers in deltas and in tidal areas is needed for many reasons

modelling the pole tide and its effect on the earth s rotation summary the pole tide is the response of the ocean to incremental centrifugal forces associated with the chandler wobble the tide has a potentially important effect on the period and damping of the wobble but it is at present not well constrained by observations here we construct both analytical and numerical models for the pole tide the analytical models consider the tide first in a global ocean and then in an enclosed basin on a beta plane the results are found to approach equilibrium linearly with decreasing frequency and inversely with increasing basin depth the numerical models solve laplace s tidal equations over the world s oceans using realistic continental boundaries and bottom topography the results indicate that the effects of the non equilibrium portion of the deep ocean tide on the chandler wobble period and damping are negligible

dynamics of the long period tides abstract the long period tides are a tool for understanding oceanic motions at low frequencies and large scales here we review observations and theory of the fortnightly monthly and pole tide constitutents observations have been plagued by low signal to noise ratios and theory by the complex lateral geometry and great sensitivity to bottom slopes a new spectral element model is used to compute the oceanic response to tidal forcing at 2 week and monthly periods the general response is that of a heavily damped q 5 system with both the energy input from the moon and the dissipation strongly localized in space the high dissipation result is probably generally applicable to all low frequency barotropic oceanic motions over much of the ocean the response has both the character of a large scale and a superposed rossby wave like character thus vindicating two apparently conflicting earlier interpretations to the extent that free waves are excited they are consistent with their being dominated by rossby and topographic rossby wave components although gravity modes are also necessarily excited to some degree in general a modal representation is not very helpful the most active regions are the southern ocean and the western and northern north atlantic these results are stable to changes in geometry topography and tide period on a global average basis the dynamical response of mm is closer to equilibrium than is mf

experiments in tidal mass conservation summary a common feature of theoretical ocean tide models is their failure to conserve mass over the oceans this failure distorts the tidal solution and imparts ambiguity to the calculation of tidal effects on gravity crustal loading and earth rotation for example predicted effects of long period tides on rotation could be uncertain by up to 50 per cent in magnitude and 100 per cent in phase using the spherical harmonic tide theory developed by dickman 1989 the influence of various global conservation constraints on the tidal solution is explored an ocean wide mass conservation constraint implemented using lagrange multipliers produces a realistic and significantly more accurate and unambiguous tidal solution

constraints on q at long periods from earth s rotation in this work we assess constant q and frequency dependent q models of mantle anelasticity our assessment uses the degree 2 love numbers we had inferred previously from a comparison of observed and predicted changes in the length of day at monthly fortnightly and nine day lunar tidal periods the comparison accounted for variable contributions to the tidal signals by dynamic oceans and allowed for axial core mantle coupling that was either complete or absent the love number derived from an earlier analysis of the period of the chandler wobble is also employed we find that the similarity of the degree 2 love number inferred at a nine day period to that at seismic frequencies combined with the significant amount of relaxation at the chandler period together imply that q models operating within the seismic band cannot extend all the way to long tidal periods our analysis of q also allows us to refine estimates of the love number at fortnightly and monthly periods

ongoing research at the late middle pleistocene site of la polledrara di cecanibbio central italy with emphasis on human elephant relationships abstract the site of la polledrara di cecanibbio latium italy is related to deposits of the pg6 sequence middle pleistocene aurelia formation mis 10 and 9 the sediments are mainly volcaniclastic in composition and constitute the filling of incised valleys mainly characterized by fluvial deposits at the base passing upward to fluvio lacustrine and palustrine deposits containing abundant fossil mammal remains and artifacts the arrangement of the specimens and taphonomic observations suggest that most of the transport of the bones occurred during flooding events followed by progressive swampy phases resulting in the formation of areas with stagnant and muddy waters where some elephants became trapped as indicated by remains in partial anatomical articulation recent excavations carried out at the site permit a better definition of the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction already partially outlined in previous publications in particular an area showing a close correlation between the skeleton of an elephant and human activity allows documentation and better understanding of some aspects of human elephant interaction probably mainly represented by scavenging activity

the effect of ocean tides on the earth s rotation as predicted by the results of an ocean tide model the published ocean tidal angular momentum results of seiler 1991 are used to predict the effects of the most important semidiurnal m2 s2 n2 diurnal k1 o1 p1 and long period mf mf mm and ssa ocean tides on the earth s rotation the separate as well as combined effects of ocean tidal currents and sea level height changes on the length of day ut1 and polar motion are computed the predicted polar motion results reported here account for the presence of the free core nutation and are given in terms of the motion within the rotating body fixed terrestrial reference frame of the celestial ephemeris pole so that they can be compared directly to the results of observations outside the retrograde diurnal tidal band the summed effect of the semidiurnal and diurnal ocean tides studied here predict peak to peak polar motion amplitudes as large as 2 mas within the retrograde diurnal tidal band the resonant enhancement caused by the free core nutation leads to predicted polar motion or equivalently nutation amplitudes as large as 9 mas at the unobservable retrograde k1 tidal frequency

polar motion and earth rotation during the period from 1979 through 1982 polar motion and earth rotation activity centered on the development of new observation techniques and the investigations of the relation between the observed motions and geophysical phenomena determinations of polar motion through classical techniques continued but the number of united states observing sites was reduced however significant advances in alternate methods for polar motion and earth rotation determination were achieved regular polar motion and length of day determinations are being reported now by groups analyzing satellite doppler laser ranging and very long baseline interferometry vlbi data and preliminary determinations of ut1 by these methods are now being reported

tertiary evolution of the intra carpathian area a model abstract the outer carpathian flysch nappes encircle an intra carpathian domain which can be divided into two megatectonic units north pannonian and tisza mostly on the basis of contrasting mesozoic and palaeogene facies development we see two major kinematic problems to be solved 1 1 the present distribution of the mesozoic and palaeogene facies is mosaic like and some belts form exotic bodies within realms of austroalpine affinity 2 2 late eocene palinspastic reconstruction of the outer carpathian flysch nappes suggest that the entire intra carpathian area must have been located several hundreds of kilometres to the south and to the west of its present position neogene extension can account for shortening in the external carpathian nappes but is unable to explain mesozoic facies anomalies and offsets of palaeogene formations we suggest that evolution of the intra carpathian area involved first late palaeogene early miocene juxtaposition of the north pannonian and tisza megatectonic units accompanied by the closure of the external carpathian flysch troughs thereafter extension of this amalgamated unit occurred which was compensated by thrusting of flysch nappes onto the european foreland and formation of molasse foredeeps eastward escape of the north pannonian unit from the alpine collisional belt involved left lateral shear along the pieniny klippen belt and right lateral shear along the mid hungarian zone parts of the late palaeogene basin and an early miocene volcanic edifice were dissected offset and elongated by several 100 kms the driving mechanism of the eastward escape of the intra carpathian area can be related to the collision of apulia and europe and the subduction of the external carpathian crust under the pannonian units the escape ceased gradually in the early miocene when oblique collision between the north pannonian unit and european continent occurred neogene extension of the pannonian region was an areal deformation the extension at locally variable rate resulted in the break up of the heterogenous floor of the neogene basin the driving mechanism of basin extension and contemporaneous compressional deformation of the external carpathians is thought to be related to ongoing subduction involving the marginal part of the attenuated european continental crust tectonic activity in the carpathians and basin subsidence and volcanism shifted in time and in unison from the west toward the east southeast

iris s extending geodetic very long baseline interferometry observations to the southern hemisphere high accuracy geodetic very long baseline interferometry measurements between the african eurasian and north american plates have been analyzed to determine the terrestrial coordinates of the hartebeesthoek observatory to better than 10 cm to determine the celestial coordinates of eight southern hemisphere radio sources with milliarc second mas accuracy and to derive quasi independent polar motion utl and nutation time series comparison of the earth orientation time series with ongoing international radio interferometric surveying project values shows agreement at about the 1 mas of arc level in polar motion and nutation and 0 1 ms of time in utl given the independence of the observing sessions and the unlikeliness of common systematic error sources this level of agreement serves to bound the total errors in both measurement series

milankovitch scale multi proxy records from fluvial sediments of the last 2 6 ma pannonian basin hungary abstract the continuous cores of two nearly 500 m deep boreholes cutting pleistocene fluvial sequences in the eastern part of the pannonian basin hungary have been studied magnetostratigraphy indicates that the sediment sequences span the last 2 6 ma without significant hiatuses comparison of systematic variations in magnetic susceptibility with changes in grain size distribution revealed milankovitch scale cyclicity in sedimentation of 40 and 100 kyr cyclicity which also shows a correspondence with the 18o variations of the odp 677 site comparison of pollen and gastropod paleoecological data with the magnetic susceptibility proxies suggests that climate was a major allogenic control on the cyclicity zones of high magnetic susceptibility correspond closely with sandy and coarse silty parts of the borehole successions which largely coincide with pollen and molluscs indicating a warm climate on the contrary zones with low magnetic susceptibility correspond to silts and clays and in most cases coincide with cold climate indicator pollen and molluscs heavy mineral and xrd studies revealed that magnetic susceptibility reflects the absolute amount of detrital fe oxide minerals mostly magnetite variations in the amount of magnetite are related to changes in heavy mineral content which arise primarily from changes in sediment supply to the basin by rivers the depositional model for the pleistocene fluvial sediments suggests that sediment flux increased towards the basin during interglacials due to the increased discharge and transport capacity of the rivers while a decreased sediment supply to the distal parts of the basin occurred during glacials a delay between erosion and storage of weathering products near to the source area and subsequent transportation and re deposition of sediments in the basin interior setting is an important cause of this effect

daily earth rotation determinations from iris very long baseline interferometry classical optical determinations of earth rotation ut1 require several weeks of observations to achieve an accuracy of 1 5 ms of time whereas modern techniques have demonstrated an accuracy of 0 7 0 9 ms on timescales of 1 5 days l 2 here we have probed the limits of the accuracy and time resolution of very long baseline inteferometry vlbi determinations of ut1 by conducting a series of 1 h observing sessions using only one baseline comparison of the results from the 1 h sessions with corresponding determinations from 24 h multi baseline sessions establishes that the accuracy of the 1 h determinations is close to 0 1 ms of time these observations were scheduled as part of the project merit monitor earth rotation and intercompare techniques of observation and analysis3 intensive observing campaign

palaeoloxodon exploitation at the middle pleistocene site of la polledrara di cecanibbio rome italy the site of la polledrara di cecanibbio rome central italy clearly documents a close connection between elephant remains and the subsistence strategies of human beings a carcass of a straight tusked elephant was recently discovered in sediments that represent the edge of a former swampy area some limbs are still in anatomical connection and the skeleton is associated with a lithic industry that according to taphonomic data was produced in situ the spatial distribution of elephant bones exceptionally well preserved because of the characteristics of the sediment allows hypothesizing the dynamics of death and burial the almost complete articulated skeleton lies gently bent on its left side though the anterior and posterior limbs maintain a nearly standing position the forelimbs are pointing slightly downward the left hind limb is stretched while the knee of the right one is bent downward with the foot sole facing up the anatomical connection of the bones association excludes any fluvial transport even though some skeletal elements such as vertebrae ribs pelvis and scapulae are missing the carcass belongs to an adult palaeoloxodon antiquus as suggested by the morphological and biometric characteristics of molariform teeth and long bones a large quantity of lithic tools was recovered around the carcass mainly along its right side the presence of more than six hundred lithic implements cores tools flakes and working debris some of them presenting wear traces indicating their use on soft animal tissues meat and hide and associated with the elephant skeleton documents human activity related to the exploitation of the carcass by scavenging the lithic industry on small flint pebbles was produced at the site as indicated by the refitting and by the presence of working debris and indicates very simple chaines operatoires traces of intentional fracturing on the femurs evidence the exploitation on the elephant carcass by humans a marrow extraction and the procurement of raw material for the production of bone tools are also documented by various remains found in sediments deposited during both fluvial and palustrine phases

zonal assessment of environmental driven settlement abandonment in the trans tisza region central europe during the early phase of the little ice age abstract this investigation focuses on the transformation of the settlement pattern of a lowland landscape as a social response to the hydrological challenges emerging in the late 13th century c overture of the little ice age lia results of the applied zonal analysis suggested a strong spatial connection between the geomorphological conditions the agro ecological suitability good excellent medium and low and the stability or instability of settlement patterns the elevation means of archaeological sites in the deserted zones proved significantly lower than those in zones with permanent settlement pattern brunner munzel test p 0 01 n 377 additionally the late medieval 14th mid 16th centuries site group was situated on average significantly higher than the high medieval late 10th 13th centuries site group within the permanent zones brunner munzel test p 0 01 n 219 these outcomes statistically confirm that not only did low lying inhabited areas shrink significantly but they also displaced vertically in the first phase of the lia when analysing the relation of settlement pattern to soil conditions the proportion of areas with good excellent agro ecological suitability proved 1 5 2 times higher in the permanent zones than in the deserted and uninhabited settlement suitability zones using the linear model different regression coefficients appeared between the extension of the high and medium agro ecological suitability zones and the number of high and late medieval settlements the different coefficients in the studied two periods suggest that the issue of agroecological suitability in the high middle ages did not bear such importance as in the late middle ages the findings of the paper may contribute to answering the question why the relatively dense settlement pattern of the deserted zones was abandoned almost completely by the end of the 13th c in areas where flood proneness and weak agro ecological suitability both meant a serious risk for human communities finally we presumed that if hydro climatic changes increased water levels they must have changed the plant composition of the studied landscape as well chi squared test of macrofossil plant remains narchaeological site 55 ntaxon 330 shows that the second part of the 13th c saw the ratio of species from humid habitat types grow 7 81 df 1 p 0 02 comparison of the two studied processes indicates a broad synchronism between the shrinkage of inhabited areas and the increasing proportion of plants with humid environment tolerance during the second part of the 13th c the reconstructed transformations in the composition of plant remains and settlement structure signal not a mere transitional change but a longue duree structural transformation of the landscape

long period tidal variations in the length of day a new model of long period tidal variations in length of day is developed the model comprises 80 spectral lines with periods between 18 6 years and 4 7 days and it consistently includes effects of mantle anelasticity and dynamic ocean tides for all lines the anelastic properties follow wahr and bergen experimental confirmation for their results now exists at the fortnightly period but there remains uncertainty when extrapolating to the longest periods the ocean modeling builds on recent work with the fortnightly constituent which suggests that oceanic tidal angular momentum can be reliably predicted at these periods without data assimilation this is a critical property when modeling most long period tides for which little observational data exist dynamic ocean effects are quite pronounced at shortest periods as out of phase rotation components become nearly as large as in phase components the model is tested against a 20 year time series of space geodetic measurements of length of day the current international standard model is shown to leave significant residual tidal energy and the new model is found to mostly eliminate that energy with especially large variance reduction for constituents sa ssa mf and mt

early and middle pleistocene faunal and hominins dispersals through southwestern asia abstract this review summarizes the paleoecology of the early and middle pleistocene of southwestern asia based on both flora and fauna retrieved from a series of windows provided by the excavated sites the incomplete chrono stratigraphy of this vast region does not allow to accept the direct chronological correlation between the available sites and events of faunal and hominin dispersals from africa it also demonstrates that hominins survived in a mixed landscape of open parkland with forested surrounding hills in addition the prevailing environmental conditions are not sufficient to explain successful adaptations to new ecological niches away from the african savanna of the bearers of core and flake and the acheulian industries the differences in knapping and secondary shaping of stone artifacts probably reflect the learned traditions of different groups of hominins the current distribution of lithic industries across eurasia is undoubtedly incomplete due to lack of cultural continuities as well as paucity of field research in several sub regions this observation supports the contention that what we view as a constant stream of migrants was actually interrupted many times the continuous occupation of southwestern asia by the makers of the acheulian is in contrast with neighboring regions such as the iranian plateau and eastern europe a more complex model is required to explain the recorded eurasian archaeological cultural mosaic

the rotation of the earth earth rotation studies are reviewed for the 1987 1990 time period it is noted that the emphasis in these studies has shifted from improvements in the observational techniques to interpreting and gaining greater understanding of the variations of the earth rotations there have been progressive improvements in the accuracy and the temporal resolution of earth rotation measurements

a complete spherical harmonic approach to luni solar tides summary in this work a spherical harmonic theory of ocean tides is presented the theory is based on laplace tide equations modified to include turbulence with constant eddy viscosity linearized bottom friction and oceanic loading and self gravitation variable bathymetry is also treated in harmonic terms and no flow boundary conditions are applied at continental coastlines the tide and boundary constraint equations are reduced to matrix form and solved by a weighted least squares procedure five zonal luni solar tides ranging in period from 14 days to 18 6 yr are investigated using the theory such tides have typically been difficult to compute using traditional numerical approaches the polar motion and changes in the length of day induced by these long period tides are calculated tidal solutions are compared extensively with results from other tidal theories and from recent satellite and sea level observations the greatest limitation to accurate prediction of zonal tides for any theory appears to be the marginal failure of all tide theories to conserve mass globally the use of additional mass constraints may be warranted

elephants at the middle pleistocene acheulian open air site of revadim quarry israel abstract lower paleolithic faunal and lithic assemblages serve as a major source of information on the behavior and capabilities of early and middle pleistocene hominins the multi layered late acheulian site of revadim quarry provides a rare opportunity to study hominin elephant interactions during the late lower paleolithic period in the levant a large proportion of this open air site was excavated ca 250 m 2 and yielded a wealth of lithic and faunal remains in this paper the proboscideans from revadim are presented for the first time within the broader geomorphological stratigraphic and archaeological context in order to allow a better understanding of elephants within the acheulian in the southern levant the unprecedented quantity of elephant remains at the site is accompanied by large and rich lithic assemblages of special interest are several elephant bones with cut marks and the earliest appearance in the southern levant of bones that seem to have been shaped to resemble tools the site bears testimony to complex exploitation of proboscideans

stress induced late stage subsidence anomalies in the pannonian basin abstract subsidence sedimentation and tectonic quiescence of the pannonian basin was interrupted a few million years ago by tectonic reactivation this recent activity has manifested itself in uplift of the western and eastern flanks and continuing subsidence of the central part of the pannonian basin low to medium magnitude earthquakes of the carpathian pannonian region are generated mostly in the upper crust by reverse and wrench fault mechanisms there is no evidence for earthquakes of extensional origin 2 d model calculation of the subsidence history shows that a recent increase in magnitude of horizontal compressional intraplate stress can explain fairly well the observed quaternary uplift and subsidence pattern we propose that this stress increase is caused by the overall europe africa convergence in late pliocene consumption of subductible lithosphere at the eastern margin of the pannonian basin was completed and the lithosphere underlying the pannonian basin became locked in a stable continental frame consequently extensional basin formation has come to an end and compressional inversion of the pannonian basin is in progress

determination of oceanic dynamic barometer corrections to atmospheric excitation of earth rotation the excitation of earth s rotation by atmospheric pressure fluctuations on timescales from days to years is modified by the oceanic response to the pressure load that response has often been approximated as a static inverted barometer ib change in sea level but evidence from theory and both tide gauge and altimetric data suggests that the ib poorly models the sea level response at short periods static models also fail to account for the currents induced by the pressure loading the actual dynamic response of the oceans to barometric loads depends on frequency and on the spatial structure of the loading this work presents a green s function approach to determining the rotational effects of that oceanic response the green s functions characterize the rotational effects of the oceanic response to pressure loads described spatially by individual spherical harmonics for each harmonic of forcing they were computed at nine periods ranging from 4 days to 18 years and interpolated at intermediate periods computations were based on solutions to the author s dynamic spherical harmonic ocean tide model the effects on rotation of the dynamic barometer oceanic response are obtained by a convolution type combination of the green s functions with actual atmospheric pressure data results for data spanning the past decade will be illustrated using harmonically decomposed national center for environmental prediction ncep and european centre for medium range weather forecasts ecmwf pressure fields

the evolution of the great hungarian plain fluvial system fluvial processes in a subsiding area from the beginning of the weichselian abstract in the great hungarian plain ghp one of the most complex fluvial systems of europe developed through tectonic and climatic factors and vegetation change the aim of the present study is to summarise these controlling factors and to describe the evolution of the ghp special attention is paid to the latest results on late weichselian and holocene development in the tisza river and their effects on the river s largest tributary the maros river several tectonically active subsiding basins existing in the ghp have determined the direction of river courses and erosional accumulational fluvial processes as a result of uneven subsidence the river s flow routes have shifted frequently for example the danube and the tisza shifted 80 100 km abandoning their alluvial fans where extensive aeolian processes started upstream from the subsiding areas incision propagated headward which resulted in the development of floodplain levels and terraces though climate and vegetation changes also simultaneously influenced the rivers hydro morphology channel pattern changes were found just along the margin of the plain and only meandering paleo channels remained in the center of the ghp during dry and cold periods braided patterns appeared in the alluvial fans most likely the result of abundant sediment supply and due to the inability of sparse riparian vegetation to stabilise the banks effectively based on paleo discharge calculations by the end of the pleistocene the rivers of the ghp produced three to eight times more discharge than they do currently and discharge levels continuously decreased during the holocene however due to the long length of the rivers there is a considerable time lag between the response rates of the different river sections which makes creating paleo hydrological reconstructions even more difficult

birth life and death of the pannonian lake abstract the miocene pliocene pannonian lake formed in an extensional basin system behind the compressional arc of the carpathians its size and depth were comparable to those of the caspian sea subsidence began in middle miocene times forming deep pelagic basins separated by reef bearing ridges clastic influx filled the marginal basins during middle miocene time prograding deltas dissected the lake and completed the infilling of the basin system by the end of the pliocene basin plain prodelta delta front delta plain beach fluviatile and marsh environments can be recognized terminal miocene uplift of the carpathians isolated the pannonian region from the rest of paratethys the subsequent decrease of salinity resulted in the evolution of an endemic freshwater mollusc fauna rich nutrient influx from rivers supported high organic productivity dinoflagellates diatoms nannoplankton foraminifers ostracods etc yielding organic rich sediments preservation of organic matter was helped by a stratified water column and oxygen deficient bottom conditions deep burial continuing subsidence and high geothermal flux due to an extremely thin crust led to the formation of commercially exploitable oil and gas accumulations shallow lacustrine zones of basin margins provided suitable environments for a rich congeria melanopsis mollusc fauna wave action on beaches produced commercially exploitable pure quartz sand deposits taxodium and alnus forests flourished around the lake producing enormous lignite deposits besides a rich land snail and mammal fauna prehominids lived in the forests there was a warm temperate climate with probably frostfree winters basaltic volcanoes overlooked the landscape and maars hosted minor lakes with rich algal flora forming oil shale the catchment area included most of the carpathians and parts of the apls and dinarides the positive water balance resulted in a supposed overflow in the southern margin supplying exotic fauna to the south carpathian and dacian basins of the eastern paratethys the pannonian lake was completely filled by the end of pliocene recent lakes in the carpathian basin are not descendants of it

inversion of earth s changing shape to weigh sea level in static equilibrium with surface mass redistribution 1 we develop a spectral inversion method for mass redistribution on the earth s surface given geodetic measurements of the solid earth s geometrical shape using the elastic load love numbers first spectral coefficients are geodetically estimated to some degree spatial inversion then finds the continental surface mass distribution that would force geographic variations in relative sea level such that it is self consistent with an equipotential top surface and the deformed ocean bottom surface and such that the total ocean plus continental mass load has the same estimated spectral coefficients applying this theory we calculate the contribution of seasonal interhemispheric degree 1 mass transfer to variation in global mean sea level and nonsteric static ocean topography using published gps results for seasonal degree 1 surface loading from the global igs network our inversion yields ocean continent mass exchange with annual amplitude 2 92 0 14 1015 kg and maximum ocean mass on 25 august 3 days after correction for the annual variation in global mean vertical deformation of the ocean floor 0 4 mm amplitude we find geocentric sea level has an amplitude of 7 6 0 4 mm consistent with topex poseidon results minus steric effects the seasonal variation in sea level at a point strongly depends on location ranging from 3 to 19 mm the largest being around antarctica in mid august seasonal gradients in static topography have amplitudes of up to 10 mm over 5000 km which may be misinterpreted as dynamic topography peak continental loads occur at high latitudes in late winter at the water equivalent level of 100 200 mm

the self consistent dynamic pole tide in non global oceans summary fluid dynamic theories of the pole tide are in conflict with pole tide observations the former predict that the oceanic response to the chandler wobble should be nearly static while the latter reveal the tide to possess significant non equilibrium characteristics resolution of the conflict would determine whether mantle anelasticity or non equilibrium oceans is responsible for a measurable contribution to the chandler period it is possible that resolution might be achieved through a more exact mathematical investigation of pole tide fluid dynamics than theories have carried out to date the theories have also neglected to consider a unique property of the pole tide its ability to lengthen the period of its own forcing function this property implies that the pole tide characteristics and effects on wobble cannot be correctly determined unless the tide and wobble equations are jointly solved this work constitutes a first attempt to determine accurately and self consistently the nature of the pole tide and its effects on the chandler wobble the laplace tidal equations modified by the addition of bottom friction but with no simplifying approximations are employed together with the liouville equations to elucidate pole tide characteristics this work is a first attempt because the earth model chosen is a crude one consisting of global oceans of uniform depth overlying a rigid mantle with a fluid core results for this model suggest that departures of the pole tide from equilibrium may indeed be minimal the relevance of these results to the actual pole tide however must await the application of our self consistent and more exact dynamical theory to the situation of realistic oceans

a sustainable review of the middle pleistocene benchmark sites including the ailuropoda stegodon faunal complex the proboscidean point of view abstract the different ecologies times of extinction and last stand of both elephas and stegodon in south east asia cover almost two million years in the middle pleistocene both taxa belong to the complex ailuropoda stegodon this regional complex is considered to have a chronological significance and further palaeoecological palaeobiogeographical or biochronological studies use this assemblage as a benchmark nevertheless such studies do not provide sufficient information regarding site formation and duration to be consistent enough to do so at an appropriate resolution mis timescale focussing attention on the occurrence of proboscideans a critical review of the robustness of the geological taphonomical and chronological data of middle pleistocene faunal assemblages suggests the necessity to undertake a deep reappraisal of this biochronological benchmark recommendations were provided in the 1980s not to use mixtures of faunal assemblages and progress in geochronology for two decades is available nevertheless a review of proboscideans suggests the necessity of a severe revision leading to scepticism concerning the use of the ailuropoda stegodon complex as an ecological marker extended to other taxa this review casts serious doubts on former and current paleoecological modellings and studies

observations on elephant mortality and bones in water holes an unusually severe drought in 1982 led to a temporary die off of elephants at a natural water source in hwange national park zimbabwe compared to living populations the age structure of the animals killed by drought is strongly biased toward 2 to 8 year old animals however the fresh carcasses of these young elephants were commingled with weathered remains of adults that had died earlier creating a mixed skeletal sample whose age structure was much closer to that of living populations observations of elephant bones that have accumulated due to natural mortality at water holes might provide analogs for paleoecological interpretations of fossil proboscidean assemblages

late quaternary dynamics of the tisza river evidence of climatic and tectonic controls abstract the focus of this study is to understand a dramatic avulsion event on the tisza river during the late pleistocene the river course switched by about 80 km from the east to west of the great hungarian plain ghp through the zahony bend to its present meander belt the aim of this study is to date this zahony avulsion based upon radiocarbon and pollen samples from six cores in the polgar study area situated in the west of the ghp at the middle course of the tisza river in addition a grain size composition and heavy mineral analysis has been performed the results of these analyses reveal a sequence of paleochannels and have been plotted on a high resolution digital elevation model illustrating the paleochannel form and age relationships the study suggests that the age of this major avulsion event is significantly older than it was previously supposed instead of 10 to 11 ka it is according to our new data 16 18 ka and definitely predates the last glacial maximum lgm the river cut into the previous contiguous surface and formed at least one climatic terrace then drifted gradually westward as a response to a tilt or the differential subsidence of tectonic origin

another look at north sea pole tide dynamics summary in this research note we re evaluate the mechanism proposed by wunsch to explain pole tide observations in the north sea that mechanism included bottom topography and bottom friction with a constant drag coefficient and the sea shallowing to the south the dynamics yielded an eastward intensification of the tide height reminiscent of observations errors subsequently brought to light have left the proposal with uncertain status we have found that a general solution to the tide equations is possible without approximation after slight modification of wunsch s model the unknown coefficients of the solution are determined through a boundary condition at the open edge of the sea which corresponds to forcing by a non equilibrium pole tide in the adjacent atlantic however although the boundary condition is physically plausible as a constraint for these tide equations it allows multiple determination of the coefficients in every case dissipation by the tidal currents greatly exceeds the total dissipation of chandler wobble energy the extreme dissipation and the solution non uniqueness both reflect the inability of the solution to satisfy the open boundary condition and imply that the original tidal equations themselves provide an inadequate description of north sea dynamics the nature of the difficulties suggests an analogy with stokes paradox and implies that resolution of the problem may be achieved by inclusion of inertial terms in the tidal equations

the faunal remains from evron quarry in relation to other lower paleolithic hominid sites in the southern levant abstract the mammalian assemblage and archaeological finds from the lower palaeolithic hominid site of evron quarry situated on the northern coastal plain of israel are described and discussed in their lithic and faunal composition the sites of latamne qfiii latamne formation orontes syria and sitt markho nahr elkebir syria resemble evron and are probably contemporaneous it is suggested here based on their lithic and faunal composition that these sites may be chronologically closer to the site of ubeidiya ubeidiya formation jordan valley israel 1 4 myr than to the sites of gesher benot ya akov dated as

evidence for 18 6 year mn signal in temperature and drought conditions in north america since ad 1800 evidence for the 18 6 year lunar nodal mn term in air temperature is found at 30 stations in eastern north america since ad 1800 the mean discrepancy in epoch between maxima in temperature and maxima in the drought area index dai for the western united states vis a vis the maxima in the mn tide is 0 9 and 0 1 yr respectively also a cluster of 9 stations in western canada yields the 18 6 yr term which is out of phase with stations in eastern north america and is indicative of a standing tidal wave in the atmosphere this suggests that enhanced drought conditions in the western united states are neither recurrent nor rhythmic on a time scale of 20 yr but rather periodic with a period of 18 6 yr finally the rocky mountain system is seen as an influence for atmospheric tidal phenomena at epochs of maximum in the mn tide as well as for maxima in the temperature records and the dai

some results of heterogeneous data inversions for oceanic tides many different instruments directly or indirectly observe the oceanic tidal movements among them we consider here the coastal tide gauge and deep sea pressure recorder which provide at least the principal spectral constituents of the tidal height the gravimeter which indirectly observes the oceanic tides through the gravitational effect generated by the deformation of the solid earth under the ocean tidal mass load and the satellite altimeter which samples the tides in the time domain and over the nearly whole ocean our present paper deals with an empirical method for the recovery of the oceanic tides by inversion of heterogeneous data sets the aim is to take advantage of the different kinds of information coming from the measurement instruments in order to complete more accurate empirical solutions first tide gauge and gravity loading data are separately and jointly inverted to provide global charts of the major semidiurnal m2 wave the results prove that the tide gauge data have a major contribution in the tidal mapping but also suggest that the gravity loading data distort the information this is certainly due to unmodelled geophysical phenomena and instrumental errors second tide gauge and satellite altimeter data are considered in a separate and a joint inversion computation to provide tidal estimations along a predefined geographical line in the north atlantic the results are accurate enough to make provision for the boundary conditions of an hydrodynamical tidal model as an intrinsic advantage of the inversion method a posteriori standard deviations and error covariances for all the solutions displayed are provided and analyzed

the relative movement of the north american and pacific plates in 1984 1985 detected by the pacific vlbi network heki k takahashi y kondo t kawaguchi n takahashi f and kawano n 1987 the relative movement of the north american and pacific plates in 1984 1985 detected by the pacific vlbi network in r l wesson mechanics of earthquake faulting tectonophysics 144 151 158 very long basline interferomet vlbi experiments from stations on the north american and pacific plates in the period 1984 1985 revealed that the interplate baselines have undergone changes by several centimeters which are consistent with the values expected from the model of present plate kinematics it was also clarified that the intraplate baseline lengths are almost stationary in this period these results demonstrate that the relative movement of these two plates in the last two years is similar to the plate motion observed on a geological time scale say a few millions of years

taphonomy of two last glacial maximum mammoth sites in the central great plains of north america a preliminary report on la sena and lovewell abstract two mammoth sites from the central great plains of north america each containing one adult columbian mammoth mammuthus columbi were excavated from last glacial maximum lgm loess and fine grained alluvial deposits respectively taphonomic data from both sites indicate that the mammoth skeletons exhibit numerous spirally fractured limb elements dynamic loading points are present on midshafts of large limb bones bone flakes produced from the partial thickness of thick cortical bone are also present hypotheses of carnivore activity mammoth trampling and human induced fracturing are evaluated as possible causes of the fractured limb bone testing the hypotheses using modern data from actualistic taphonomic studies of elephant skeletons paleontological data from two proboscidean natural death sites experimental data from elephant bone fracturing and archaeologically derived data concerning late pleistocene human modification of mammoth limb bone indicates that the first two hypotheses can be rejected while the third hypothesis is supported

a comparison of geodetic and seismic estimates of inner core rotation seismological observations suggest the inner core has been rotating faster than the mantle during the past 30 50 years differential rotation can produce large gravitational torques on the mantle which if not balanced by other torques would be detectable as changes in the rotation rate of the mantle length of day or lod we compare seismological estimates of inner core rotation with estimates derived by inverting lod observations using models of gravitational coupling model predictions depend on several parameters but for the expected range of parameter values the seismological estimates of relative rotation are at least an order of magnitude larger than those predicted by the lod data furthermore the lod data predict oscillation in the angular alignment of the inner core and mantle during the past 30 50 years while the seismological data seem to require a component of steady rotation we show that steady rotation of the inner core implies a steady torque on the mantle this torque is not accelerating the rotation rate of the mantle so it must be opposed by another torque the required torque is consistent with a frictional electromagnetic stress on the base of the mantle due to a westward flow at the top of the core

tidal variations of earth rotation we have rederived the periodic variations of the earth s rotation due to the tidal deformation of the earth by the sun and moon and included all terms with amplitudes 0 002 milliseconds 1 mm this series applies to the mantle plus crust and oceans which rotate together for characteristic tidal periods the parameter which scales the rotational series is k c where k is that fraction of the love number which causes the tidal variation in the moment of inertia of the coupled mantle and oceans while c is the dimensionless polar moment of inertia of the coupled units if the whole earth minus oceans were coupled rotationally then k 0 30 and c 0 33 ocean tides increase k by 0 04 decoupling of the fluid core from the mantle decreases k by 0 06 while c cmantle 0 29 since neither pressure viscous nor hydromagnetic coupling locks the fluid to the mantle for periods less than 5 to 25 years from the analysis of lunar laser ranging data we find that k c at monthly and fortnightly frequencies equals 0 99 0 15 and 0 99 0 20 as compared with a theoretical value of 0 94 0 04 in addition we have estimated theoretically the effects of ocean tides on earth rotation nutation and polar motion using models based on the laplace tidal equations

elephants and extinct relatives as earth movers and ecosystem engineers abstract modern african elephants affect habitats and ecosystems in significant ways they push over trees to feed on upper branches and often peel large sections of bark to eat these destructive habits sometimes transform woody vegetation into grasslands systems of elephant trails may be used and re used for centuries and create incised features that extend for many kilometers on migration routes elephants digging in search of water or mineral sediments may remove several cubic meters of sediments in each excavation wallowing elephants may remove up to a cubic meter of pond sediments each time they visit water sources accumulations of elephant dung on frequented land surfaces may be over 2 kg per square meter elephant trampling digging and dust bathing may reverse stratigraphy at archeological localities this paper summarizes these types of effects on biotic geomorphic and paleontological features in modern day landscapes and also describes several fossil sites that indicate extinct proboscideans had very similar effects such as major sediment disturbances

long period tides observed with a superconducting gravimeter at syowa station antarctica and their implication to global ocean tide modeling abstract the long period tides mf and mm waves were analyzed with the 2 years data obtained with a superconducting gravimeter sg installed at syowa station 69 0 s 39 6 e antarctica the observed amplitudes phase lags and amplitude factors factors were 11 642 0 035 gal 0 12 0 17 and 1 1218 0 0034 for the mf wave and 6 143 0 058 gal 0 33 0 54 and 1 1205 0 0106 for the mm wave respectively 1 gal 10 8 m s 2 the ocean tide effects effects of the attraction and loading due to the ocean mass at the observation site were estimated using the five global ocean tide models equilibrium ocean tide model schwiderski model schwiderski e w 1980 on charting global ocean tides rev geophys space phys 18 243 268 dickman model dickman s r 1989 a complete spherical harmonic approach to luni solar tides geophys j int 99 457 468 csr model eanes r j 1995 private communication and desai and wahr model desai s h wahr j m 1995 empirical ocean tide models estimated from topex poseidon altimetry j geophys res 100 25205 25228 the averages of the five estimates are 0 433 gal and 0 244 gal in amplitude and 192 9 and 179 5 in phase for the mf and mm waves respectively the five estimates differ by a maximum of 0 104 gal in amplitude and 18 8 in phase for the mf wave and by 0 033 gal and 6 4 for the mm wave the estimated mm phases are nearly 180 for the five models and the variation of their values among the models is relatively small compared with that of the mf phases these indicate that the mm wave is much closer to an equilibrium tide than the mf wave due to the variation of the ocean tide corrections the corrected factors were scattered within the ranges of 1 158 to 1 169 for the mf wave and of 1 163 to 1 169 for the mm wave however it is noted that the mean factors of the five ocean models i e 1 162 0 023 for the mf wave and 1 165 0 014 for the mm wave prefer slightly larger value rather than those estimated from the theory of the elastic tide

paleoenvironmental context of the early neanderthals of poggetti vecchi for the late middle pleistocene of central italy work on thermal pools at poggetti vecchi in grosseto italy exposed an up to 3 meter thick succession of seven sedimentary units unit 2 in the lower portion of the succession contained vertebrate bones mostly of the straight tusked elephant palaeoloxodon antiquus commingled with stone bone and wooden tools thermal carbonates overlying unit 2 are radiometrically dated to the latter part of the middle pleistocene this time span indicates that early neanderthals produced the human artifacts from poggetti vecchi the elephant bones belong to seven individuals of different ages sedimentary facies analysis and paleoecological evidence suggest a narrow lacustrine palustrine embayment affected by water level fluctuations and at times by hydrothermal water cyclic lake level variations were predominantly forced by the rapid climatic fluctuations that occurred at marine isotope stage mis 6 7 transition and throughout the mis 6 possibly an abrupt intense and protracted cold episode during the onset of mis 6 led to the sudden death of the elephants which formed an unexpected food resource for the humans of the area the poggetti vecchi site adds new information on the behavioral plasticity and food procurement strategies that early neanderthals were able to develop in italy during the middle to the late pleistocene transition

martian precession and rotation from viking lander range data the spatial orientation of the martian pole of rotation and axial rotation parameters have been determined at a midpoint in the viking epoch january 1 1980 the mean obliquity e and node angles are e 25 1894 0 0001 35 4796 0 0002 2 the mean precession rate is o 7 83 0 30 arc sec yr 1 the corresponding moment estimate is c mre2 0 355 0 015 and covers two extreme theoretical estimates seasonal annual and semiannual variations in mars rotation angle have also been observed and are 279 100 and 311 100 milliarc second of angle mas respectively after correcting for a general relativity effect a simple model has been constructed for the main contribution involving seasonal mass exchange between the ice caps and atmosphere where the air pressure at the viking 1 lander site is a proxy for the global ice cap air pressure histories the annual term is about 190 mas smaller and differs in phase by 30 compared to the model prediction the semiannual term is 100 mas larger and also differs in phase by 30 compared to the model a combination of tidally driven rotation changes zonal winds polar motion and ice cap model deficiencies may account for any discrepancy the upcoming pathfinder lander and mars global surveyor missions carry ranging transponders which can dramatically improve our knowledge of mars interior through precise determination of the precession rate and detection of core and tidal effects we advocate that plans be developed for a coordinated campaign of simultaneous ranging and doppler tracking to each transponder

mineralogical and compositional changes in bones exposed on soil surfaces in amboseli national park kenya diagenetic mechanisms and the role of sediment pore fluids abstract bones exposed on tropical savannah grasslands of amboseli national park kenya undergo extensive post mortem alteration within 40 years a combined analytical approach involving tem microscopy trace metal analysis ftir spectroscopy and petrographic analysis has revealed a complex dynamic diagenetic environment operating within exposed bones driven by evaporative transport of soil water from the bone soil interface to the upper exposed surface of the bone this process results in extensive bone soil water interaction and is responsible for increases in the concentrations of trace elements such as ba and la of 100 1000 within 15 years the maximum and mean size of bone crystallites increases with continued exposure this change in mean crystallite length is correlated positively with increases in bone crystallinity which in turn is associated with degradation of the bone protein microbial decomposition is rarely observed in the amboseli bones but where present resulted in severe dissolution reprecipitation of bone mineral many bones showed extensive permineralization of the larger vascular spaces with calcite and barite and to a lesser extent crandallite permineralization of unburied bones may account for 95 reduction in macro micron millimeter scale porosity in the bone within 2 years of death we produce a model for pre burial diagenesis of bone in arid tropical environments that highlights extensive alteration of bone chemistry within 1 40 years post mortem

states of preservation of bones from prehistoric sites in the near east a survey abstract a survey of the states of preservation of organic material in 30 fossil bones from 16 different prehistoric sites in the near east shows that whereas almost all the bones have little or no collagen preserved they do with few exceptions contain non collagenous proteins these macromolecules therefore represent an important reservoir of indigenous fossil bone constituents

earthquakes and sea level space and terrestrial metrology on a changing planet the complacency with which man inhabits continent ocean margins or plate boundaries is based on the assumption that sea level rise and periodic seismicity are acceptable risks the forecast of future sea level or future seismicity is essential for informed assessment of these risks the historical data from which forecasts may be derived are in each case of limited antiquity and uneven spatial distribution developments in space geodesy and crustal deformation metrology in the past two decades offer the means to acquire a homogeneous global data set for monitoring relative vertical and horizontal motions of the earth s surface to within several millimeters these new tools are reviewed in terms of their application to forecasting trends in sea level rise and forecasting damaging earthquakes

the rotation of the earth studies of the earth s rotation provide one of the best means of probing the interactions of the atmosphere oceans and solid earth as well as the structure of the core and mantle since the last report of the u s national report to the iugg tapley 1983 two developments have led to significant improvement in the measurement of the rotation the upgrading of the laser network of the national aeronautics and space administration nasa and the expansion of vlbi observations coordinated by the national geodetic survey ngs with the support of nasa and the u s naval observatory both of these developments have been complemented by strong contributions from other countries the availability of more accurate measurements together with healthy research support in this field by federal agencies has also created a ripe environment for progress in theoretical studies of the rotation

gully erosion impacts factors and control gully erosion attracts increasing attention from scientists as reflected by two recent international meetings poesen and valentin eds catena 50 2 4 87 564 li et al 2004 gully erosion under global change sichuan science technology press chengu china 354 pp this growing interest is associated with the increasing concern over off site impacts caused by soil erosion at larger spatial scales than the cultivated plots the objective of this paper is to review recent studies on impacts factors and control of gully erosion and update the review on dgully erosion and environmental change importance and research needst poesen et al 2003 catena 50 2 4 91 134 for the farmers the development of gullies leads to a loss of crop yields and available land as well as an increase of workload i e labour necessary to cultivate the land gullies can also change the mosaic patterns between fallow and cultivated fields enhancing hillslope erosion in a feedback loop in addition gullies tend to enhance drainage and accelerate aridification processes in the semi arid zones fingerprinting the origin of sediments within catchments to determine the relative contributions of potential sediment sources has become essential to identify sources of potential pollution and to develop management strategies to combat soil erosion in this respect tracers such as carbon nitrogen the nuclear bomb derived radionuclide 137 cs magnetics and the strontium isotopic ratio are increasingly used to fingerprint sediment recent studies conducted in australia china ethiopia and usa showed that the major part of the sediment in reservoirs might have come from gully erosion gullies not only occur in marly badlands and mountainous or hilly regions but also more globally in soils subjected to soil crusting such as loess european belt chinese loess plateau north america and sandy soils sahelian zone north east thailand or in soils prone to piping and tunnelling such as dispersive soils most of the time the gullying processes are triggered by

barranc de la boella catalonia spain an acheulean elephant butchering site from the european late early pleistocene evidence of late early pleistocene elephant butchery activity has been excavated in the pit 1 locality at barranc de la boella catalonia spain the fossil assemblage mainly comprises the remains of one prime adult individual of mammuthus meridionalis together with 125 lithic artefacts among which several refitting groups of chert have been identified the lithic assemblage from the pit 1 locality is composed of cobbles cores simple and retouched flakes together with a large well fashioned pick of hard wearing schist spatial zooarchaeological taphonomic technical and use wear analyses confirm that the occupation was devoted to butchery of the mammoth carcass the activity zone is in a fluvio deltaic area that incises the terrace t 60 of the lower francoli river basin 50 m a s l palaeomagnetic and cosmogenic analyses as well as microfaunal mimomys savini victoriamys chalinei and macrofaunal biostratigraphy mammuthus meridionalis support the timing of the occupation to the late matuyama chron these various lines of evidence point to barranc de la boella being the oldest early acheulean butchering site in europe ongoing excavations at several localities at barranc de la boella are yielding new data on the palaeoenvironmental geochronological and technological framework of these occupations finally the evidence is integrated into current understanding of the subsistence strategies practised by early pleistocene hominins

a 1 4 million year old bone handaxe from konso ethiopia shows advanced tool technology in the early acheulean in the past decade the early acheulean before 1 mya has been a focus of active research acheulean lithic assemblages have been shown to extend back to 1 75 mya and considerable advances in core reduction technologies are seen by 1 5 to 1 4 mya here we report a bifacially flaked bone fragment maximum dimension 13 cm of a hippopotamus femur from the 1 4 mya sediments of the konso formation in southern ethiopia the large number of flake scars and their distribution pattern together with the high frequency of cone fractures indicate anthropogenic flaking into handaxe like form use wear analyses show quasi continuous alternate microflake scars wear polish edge rounding and striae patches along an 5 cm long edge toward the handaxe tip the striae run predominantly oblique to the edge with some perpendicular on both the cortical and inner faces the combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions such as in cutting and or sawing this bone handaxe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the early pleistocene despite scarcity of well shaped bone tools its presence at konso shows that sophisticated flaking was practiced by 1 4 mya not only on a range of lithic materials but also occasionally on bone thus expanding the documented technological repertoire of african early pleistocene homo

ages of periods of sand movement in hungary determined through luminescence measurements abstract the late glacial and holocene climatic oscillations in hungary are manifested by changing fluvial and aeolian sand deposition as well as by intercalated soil formations the sand blown territories have special interest since the buried fossil soils provide detailed information about climate and environment changes during the past two decades the time of the sand moving periods was studied exclusively by radiocarbon age determination but by now thanks to the latest investigations these results have been controlled and completed by the thermoluminescence and infrared optically stimulated luminescence dating methods these techniques have been applied to provide a more detailed chronological framework for late pleistocene and holocene sand accumulation periods five aeolian sand accumulation periods can be recognized covering the late glacial and holocene time period at 14 0 2 3 12 0 1 9 9 2 1 7 6 0 0 5 and 0 6 0 07 ka the sand blown formations are intercalated by soil horizons the radiocarbon age estimates provide evidence for late glacial bolling allerod and lower atlantic soil forming periods

a global geodetic reference frame from lageos ranging sl5 1ap a summary of the results obtained for a new comprehensive geodetic parameter solution from the analysis of lageos laser ranging data for the period may 1976 to the end of 1982 is presented estimates of each component of the polar motion and earth rotation the station coordinates the value of the earth s gravitational constant gm and the elements of the lageos orbit comprise this sl5 1ap solution the results differ from previously published values primarily through incorporation of more rigorous dynamic models for the ocean and solid earth tides the precision of the geodetic parameters are on average 5 marc sec polar motion 0 2 ms length of day better than 5 cm center of mass geodetic positioning 3 cm global baselines and 2 cm regional baselines an assessment of the contribution of systematic errors in the interstation distance determination is presented

the variation with frequency of the long period tides the oceanic response to long period tidal forcing in closed basins approaches equilibrium for periods much longer than a month for moderate values of dissipation at a given frequency the response is closest to equilibrium near the eastern wall of the basin global calculations of the mf and mm tides made using a 2 2 grid are presented changes in the length of day have also been computed for these tides

influence of viscoelastic coupling on the axial rotation of the earth and its fluid core summary linear equations governing the axial rotation of the earth are dcveloped for a model with a maxwell homogeneous mantle and a homogeneous inviscid fluid core having a differential rotation relative to the mantle we find three eigenfrequencies for the axial perturbations in rotation the first one is relative to friction acting at the core mantle boundary and the others are relaxation modes associated with viscoelastic love numbers we point out the differential rotation of the core when the earth is submitted to zonal geophysical excitations like glaciation and deglaciation tidal torque or other processes occurring at the core mantle boundary cmb we show that the tidal deceleration involves an eastward drift of the core with respect to the mantle however for precise values of the mantle viscosity and of the frictional constant at the cmb we find that the last deglaciation involves a westward drift of the core with respect to the mantle which may be correlated with the observed westward drift of the geomagnetic field of the earth

timescales climate and river development abstract in the long term glacial interglacial sequences river development follows general climatic evolution however at the scale of one cold warm cycle it appears that the geomorphological effect of river activity is best expressed at times of climatic change such periods of pronounced fluvial action last only a short time in more detail the internal evolution in a drainage basin after a climatic event results in a delayed response of the morphology and sedimentation pattern finally on the shortest timescale local thresholds may play a decisive role in the reactions of river systems it is concluded that the relation between fluvial development and climate is not a simple one but is fundamentally dependant on the timescale

quaternary sedimentology and prehistory on the mediterranean coastal plain of israel abstract the coastal plain of israel is composed primarily of nile derived quartz sand carried northward in the nile littoral cell and partly windblown on land occasional clay and gravel deposits originated in the mountains to the east are confined to the eastern end of the plain the windblown sand was subsequently consolidated by caco3 probably supplied mainly by shell fragments carried with the sand intervals between episodes of sand deposition gave sometimes rise to pedogenic process coupled by the influx of atmospheric dust carrying silt clay particles from the west south and east normally mature reddish brown loams hamra soils were formed occasionally immature gray brown sandy soils of the regosol type have formed a few red brown hamra soils contain archaeological remains but cultural remains are absent from all sandy sediments or immature sandy soils the coastal plain consists of two distinct parts the eastern part is made of early and middle pleistocene deposits while the western part contains upper pleistocene and holocene deposits the western part is characterized by several elongated shore parallel aeolianite ridges distributed on and off shore such ridges are absent in the eastern part of the coastal plain on the other hand unconsolidated sands form a considerable volume of the deposits in the eastern part but hardly exist in the western part in the eastern part of the coastal plain there are numerous lower palaeolithic sites dated 1 2 0 2 my the western part includes sites stretching from the middle palaeolithic ca 200 ky ago to the chalcolithic period ca 5 ky ago the mount carmel coast is unique in the preservation of off shore sites dated between the 9th to the 5th millennia bp submerged between 12 m below sea level and the waterline human skeletal remains were not found on the coastal plain except in these submerged sites

reconstruction of a pleistocene meandering river in east hungary by vhr seismic images and its climatic implications abstract the upper 20 30 m of the pleistocene alluvial sequence on the tisza river hungary is investigated by 200 km of vhr single channel seismic sections frequent internal configurations such as 1 bundles of inclined reflections 2 trough shaped converging and 3 horizontal parallel reflections are interpreted respectively as lateral accretion of point bars abandoned channel fills and floodplain deposits the series of 5 8 m thick inclined strata sets occurring at the same depth throughout the area suggest the presence of a meandering river dated to about 43 47 ka in the late pleistocene according to osl data newly recorded quasi 3d seismic profiles reveal that each 1 3 km long inclined series correlates with an individual point bar continuously migrating in the same direction small deviations in the direction of migration are caused by natural wandering of the meander bend morphometric parameters of point bars are used to calculate ancient channel parameters width and depth of 200 500 m and 5 8 m respectively values imply a channel forming discharge of q 400 900 m 3 s these results imply a greater amount of runoff and supply in the basin during mis3 compared to the present day long lasting meandering indicates the role of local factors and a different fluvial environment compared to the commonly anastomosing systems in nw europe our data support the thesis of the three axis drainage system for the basin new evidence is provided for the antecedent existence of a temporally active third trunk river in addition to the ancestors of danube and tisza rivers contrary to the present day two axis drainage pattern