shock capturing boussinesq model for irregular wave propagation abstract in this paper a shock capturing numerical model based on the combined solution of boussinesq and nonlinear shallow water equations is validated with respect to the transformation breaking and runup of irregular waves boussinesq equations are applied where dispersive and nonlinear effects are both relevant assuring an appropriate description of wave propagation from intermediate to shallow waters nonlinear shallow water equations are used where dispersion is negligible their shock capturing features exploited by the application of the finite volume method enable an intrinsic representation of wave breaking and swash zone oscillations no case by case calibration or tracking algorithms are required comparisons with experimental data show that the model is able to simulate wave height variations mean water level setup wave runup and the generation of nearshore currents accurately

simulating wave setup and runup during storm conditions on a complex barred beach abstract the purpose of this study is to assess the ability of the swash model to reproduce wave setup and runup in highly dissipative stormy conditions to proceed we use data collected during the ecors truc vert 08 experiment especially during the johanna storm in the winter of 2007 008 wave setup under hs 8 2 m and tp 18 3 s and runup under 6 4 m and peak period up to 16 4 s we test different model settings 1d and 2d mode and model forcing spectral and parametric to reproduce sensor measured wave setup at several locations in the nearshore area and video measured runup on two beach profiles for the whole tested configurations the wave setup is reproduced accurately results considering all the sensor locations in the near shore area in 1d and 2d are significantly correlated to the observations with respectively 0 66 and 0 81 rmse 0 13 m and 0 08 m without any significant bias observations and simulations of runup are investigated in terms of spectra and statistic component 1d simulations produces an overall overestimation and no significant improvement is obtained by modifying the breaking parameters the results for 2d simulations are fairly satisfactory reproducing significant swash height s but are significantly improved with spectral forcing than parametric with respectively 0 73 and 0 71 rmse 0 19 m and 0 43 m generally the model reproduces accurately the infragravity component but tends to overestimate the incident component leading to an overestimation of the energy density for moderate wave conditions and more accurate results for higher energy wave conditions results in 2d with spectral forcing show a saturation of the infragravity component with a threshold around hs 4 to 5 m which is comparable to the observations collected at truc vert beach as regards the conventional statistical parameter for runup estimation r2 three methods are applied to derive the 2 exceedence value for runup from observed and simulated shoreline vertical elevation time series when r2 is based on the sum of wave setup and half of the significant swash height results provided by the model are close or even better than estimations provided by empirical formulas from the bibliography defining r2 as the exceeded 2 values of the time derived considering the cumulative distribution function of the entire water level time series also provide fairly good results results using only runup maxima time series are less satisfactory in the two last cases r2 is slightly underestimated for moderate wave conditions hs

paleogeographic reconstruction of the eocene idaho river north american cordillera eocene lake gosiute in southwestern wyo ming was progressively fi lled in by volcani clastic sediment between 49 6 and 47 0 ma the source of this material has long been thought to have been the absaroka volcanic province immediately north of the greater green river basin lead isotope compositions of sandstone from this interval however are consistent with derivation from the challis volcanic fi eld the 40 ar 39 ar ages of single de trital k feldspar crystals from greater green river basin sandstones are nearly identical to 40 ar 39 ar eruptive ages for volcanic rocks of the challis volcanic fi eld 49 8 45 5 ma but we also identify mesozoic and proterozoic crystals that are consistent with cooling ages for rocks that were likely exposed in the idaho segment of the north american cordillera during the eocene most of these rocks are traversed by or are up gradient of a major eocene paleovalley in central idaho the sud den appearance of challis derived sediment in the greater green river basin indicates that a major river here named the idaho river connected the interior of the north american cordillera to the greater green river basin this connection requires 500 km to reach from central idaho to the greater green river ba sin the idaho river probably carried detritus that was stripped from distant uplifted moun tains above the active challis volcanic fi eld as far south as the piceance creek basin suggest ing a total length of at least 1000 km middle eocene metamorphic core complexes in the northern cordillera likely produced a major highland in the headwaters of the idaho river which generated river systems that drained both eastward into the wyoming foreland and westward into the oregon coast ranges

40ar 39ar geochronology of the eocene green river formation wyoming the deposits of eocene lake gosiute that constitute the green river formation of wyoming contain numerous tuff beds that represent isochronous correlatable stratigraphic markers tuff beds selected for 40ar 39ar analysis occur within laminated mudstone are matrix supported and lack evidence of reworking these tuffs contain 2 15 euhedral phenocrysts of quartz plagioclase sanidine biotite and minor amphibole pyroxene and zircon encased in a matrix of altered glassy ash air abrasion and handpicking under refractive index oils were required to obtain clean unaltered phenocrysts of sanidine 40ar 39ar age determinations from single crystal and 1 mg multigrain aliquots of sanidine and biotite allowed the identification and exclusion of xenocrystic contamination laser fusion experiments on phenocrysts from the rife firehole c bed grey main sixth and analcite tuff beds from the tipton wilkins peak and laney members yielded weighted mean ages 2 analytical uncertainties of 51 25 0 31 ma 50 70 0 14 ma 50 56 0 26 ma 50 39 0 13 ma 49 96 0 08 ma 49 70 0 10 ma and 48 94 0 12 ma respectively ages for sanidine and biotite from the main tuff are indistinguishable when presumably xenocrystic contaminants are excluded from the age calculation moreover the 40ar 39ar ages are consistent with the stratigraphic order of the tuff beds and with provenance in the absaroka and challis volcanic fields our 40ar 39ar based age model indicates that sediment accumulated three times more rapidly 327 86 m yr during the evaporative wilkins peak phase than the freshwater to saline tipton 88 34 m yr and laney 104 18 m yr phases the much lower accumulation rates for the tipton and laney members are permissive of an annual origin for 1 mm thick laminae and precessional forcing of 1 3 m thick depositional cycles in these units however previously described cycles in the wilkins peak member have average durations that are significantly shorter than the 19 23 k y precessional modes the green river formation encompasses an 5 m y period between ca 53 5 and 48 5 ma spanning magnetic chrons 24n through 21r the green river formation was therefore deposited during the warmest period of the cenozoic corresponding to the early eocene climatic optimum as defined by the global marine o isotope record deposition of bedded evaporites trona of the wilkins peak member began at ca 51 ma or 2 m y after the onset of the highest inferred temperatures of the climatic optimum the bridgerian wasatchian faunal turnover occurred subsequently during wilkins peak time at ca 50 6 ma thus our 40ar 39ar ages strongly suggest that wilkins peak evaporite deposition and the turnover from wasatchian to bridgerian fauna were not directly caused by the initiation of maximum greenhouse conditions

geomorphic controls on lacustrine isotopic compositions evidence from the laney member green river formation wyoming oxygen isotope values from lacustrine carbonate in the laney member of the green river formation wyoming exhibit a sudden basinwide 6 upsection decrease in 18 o at ca 49 ma 40 ar 39 ar geochronology constrains the duration of the isotopic shift to 200 000 years this change coincides with a sudden change in lake type from balancedfi lled in the lower laclede bed to overfi lled in the upper laclede bed as well as an increase in the proportion of calcitic 80 calcite out of total carbonate by x ray diffraction xrd samples from 32 to 73 the 18 o shift is correlatable through several locations across the greater green river basin and also coincides with a previously observed shift to less radiogenic 87

swash oscillations on a natural beach run up swash oscillations were measured on a gently sloping beach face for a variety of incident wave conditions run up energy spectra at wind wave frequencies show an 3 dependence and energy levels that are independent of incident wave height this suggests saturation in contrast run up energy at surf beat periods increase approximately linearly with increasing incident wave energy thus in the inner surf zone where wave breaking limits the energy at wind wave frequencies the principal manifestation of large incident wind waves is energetic surf beat

simulation and prediction of swash oscillations on a steep beach this paper presents numerical simulations and analytical predictions of key aspects of swash oscillations on a steep beach simulations of the shoreline displacement based on bore run up theory are found to give excellent agreement with recent experimental data for regular waves wave groups and random waves the theory is used to derive parameters that predict the onset of swash saturation and the spectral characteristics of the saturated shoreline motion these parameters are again in good agreement with the measured laboratory data and are also consistent with previous experimental data simulation of irregular wave run up using a series of overlapping monochromatic swash events is found to reproduce typical features of swash oscillations and can accurately describe both the low and high frequency spectral characteristics of the swash zone in particular the low frequency components of the run up can be modelled directly using a sequence of incident short wave bores with no direct long wave input to the numerical simulations this suggests that wave groupiness must be accounted for when modelling shoreline oscillations

extreme value statistics for wave run up on a natural beach abstract statistics of wave run up maxima have been calculated for 149 35 minutes data runs from a natural beach during the experiment incident wave height varied from 0 4 to 4 0 m incident wave period from 6 to 16 s and beach face slope from 0 07 to 0 20 four extreme statistics were calculated the maximum run up height during each run the 2 exceedence level of shoreline elevation the 2 exceedence height for individual run up peaks and the 2 exceedence level for swash height as determined by the zero upcrossing method these statistics were best parameterized when normalized by the incident significant wave height and plotted against the iribarren number h l 0 1 2 the swash data with set up removed showed less scatter than total run up with set up included for iribarren number greater than 1 5 the run up was dominated by the incident frequencies for lower iribarren number longer period motions dominated the swash a reasonable value of wave steepness for a fully developed storm sea is 0 025 so that a storm iribarren number can be estimated as 6 3 times the beach slope using this and an offshore design wave height the included graphs may provide guidance in determining a design run up height

a mesozoic time scale we present an integrated geomagnetic polarity and stratigraphic time scale for the triassic jurassic and cretaceous periods of the mesozoic era with age estimates and uncertainty limits for stage boundaries the time scale uses a suite of 324 radiomenc dates including high resolution 40 ar 39 ar age estimates this framework involves the observed ties between 1 radiometric dates biozones and stage boundaries and 2 between biozones and magnetic reversals on the seafloor and in sediments interpolation techniques include maximum likelihood estimation smoothing cubic spline fitting and magnetochronology

observations of swash under highly dissipative conditions video measurements of swash were made at the low sloping beach of the multiple bar system at terschelling netherlands the majority of the measurements were conducted under highly dissipative conditions with iribarren numbers 0 the ratio of beach slope to the square root of offshore wave steepness less than 0 2 infragravity 0 004 0 05 hz waves dominated the swash with an average ratio of infragravity and total swash height rig r of 0 85 using linear regression we investigated the dependence of swash parameters on environmental conditions such as short wave height period and local beach slope on average rig was about 30 of the offshore wave height h0 the slope in the linear h0 dependence of rig amounted to only 0 18 considerably smaller than that observed on steeper beaches the data set shows evidence for saturation of the higher infragravity frequencies for 0 less than roughly 0 27 in our opinion this saturation caused the constant of proportionality in the linear relationship between rig h0 and 0 to be significantly larger than that observed under higher iribarren number regimes the saturated tails of the swash spectra had an approximate f 3 roll off where f is frequency whereas in general the nonsaturated parts were white this lack of significant peaks casts doubt on the causality between infragravity waves and nearshore bars

unravelling dates through the ages geochronology of the scottish metamorphic complexes the paper by giletti et al 1961 is seen as a major landmark in the evolution of dating techniques in polymetamorphic terrains we consider certain critical issues from each of the main complexes of the scottish highlands studied by giletti et al to illustrate how subsequent developments in geochronological methodology have influenced our understanding of metamorphic belts lewisian examples focus on the formation of archaean crust and the age of the main high grade metamorphism and the scourie dyke swarm the antiquity of moinian sedimentation its relationship to the torridonian sandstones and the timing of precambrian metamorphism have been controversial issues the timing and nature of caledonian orogenesis most clearly expressed in the dalradian complex have been the focal points for the refinement of radiometric investigation these complexes have been subject to successive developments in methodology with ever tighter constraints from rb sr and k ar mineral dating through rb sr and pb pb whole rock studies u pb dating of bulk zircon fractions and sm nd whole rock and mineral investigation up to the latest technologies of single grain zircon and ion microprobe analysis the rocks have released their secrets reluctantly and many of the questions posed in 1961 have still not been definitively answered however the hope of unambiguous solution leads towards greater efforts ever more reliable data and a clearer evolutionary picture

isotopic dating in metamorphic belts isotopic dating in metamorphic rocks is concerned with the timing of processes whose operation is controlled by continually changing physical conditions of these temperature has a pervasive influence and the use of physical models to elucidate the ways in which temperature is likely to vary is briefly reviewed the central concept of closure temperature is critically discussed and quantitative estimates for biotite and hornblende are evaluated in order to illustrate the factors which control closure temperatures and limit their application in practice the possibility of dating crystallization using minerals which crystallize below their respective closure temperatures is examined taking examples involving k ar rb sr sm nd and u pb analyses the indirect dating of metamorphism via structurally dated plutons is briefly considered and the problems of interpreting both discordant u pb zircon ages and rb sr whole rock isochrons in metamorphosed granites are discussed the value of near concordant zircon ages is emphasized the extent of isotopic equilibration during metamorphism specifically of sr isotopes in metasediments is shown not to be a simple function of metamorphic grade the flow of fluids produced by metamorphic reactions appears to be crucial and there is a potential for dating metamorphism using whole rock samples where such flow can he demonstrated independently the concluding discussion briefly examines existing data for the dalradian and indicates the potential for further progress using both well established and novel approaches

effect of wave frequency and directional spread on shoreline runup 1 wave breaking across the surf zone elevates the mean water level at the shoreline setup and drives fluctuations about the mean runup runup often is divided into sea swell 0 04 0 3 hz and lower frequency infragravity 0 00 0 04 hz components with energetic incident waves runup is dominated by infragravity frequencies and total water levels combined setup and runup can exceed 3 m significantly contributing to coastal flooding and erosion setup and runup observations on sandy beaches are scattered about empirical parameterizations based on near shoreline beach slope and deep water wave height and wavelength accurate parameterizations are needed to determine flooding and erosion risk to coastal ecosystems and communities here numerical simulations with the boussinesq wave model funwavec are shown to statistically reproduce typical empirical setup and runup parameterizations furthermore the model infragravity runuprs ig strongly depends on the incident wave directional and frequency spread about the mean direction and peak frequency realistic directional spread variations change rs ig equivalent to a factor of two variation in incident wave height the modeled rs ig is shown to vary systematically with a new non dimensional spreading parameter that involves peak frequency frequency spread and directional spread this suggests a new parameterization forrs ig potentially useful to predict coastal flooding and erosion

a new late cretaceous paleomagnetic pole from the adel mountains west central montana north america s apparent polar wander path has been poorly defined between the mid cretaceous and paleocene reference pole positions existing data allowed 13 of apparent polar motion over about 22 m y 87 65 ma roughly coinciding with the beginning of laramide deformation 80 ma we report on a paleomagnetic study of the adel mountain volcanic rocks to refine the north american apparent polar wander path for this interval the shonkinite rocks of the adel mountain volcanic field are on the eastern edge of the cretaceous paleocene fold and thrust belt some of these structures disturb the western edge of the volcanic pile we obtained two new k ar dates from the adel rocks one date on biotite from a shonkinite dike that crosscuts most of the volcanic rocks is 71 2 2 7 ma the other a whole rock date from a flow deep in the volcanic pile is 81 1 3 5 ma we collected six to nine paleomagnetic samples from each of 34 sites in roadcuts and natural outcrops of flows dikes and laccoliths positive fold and conglomerate tests along with alternating field and thermal demagnetization indicate that our characteristic remanent directions are primary magnetizations acquired before late cretaceous to paleocene thrust belt deformation averaging the virtual geomagnetic poles from 26 reliable sites all of normal polarity yields a paleopole at 82 2 n 209 9 e 95 6 80 k 18 38 this pole is concordant with the paleocene reference pole 82 0 n 170 2 e 95 3 5 k 18 6 diehl et al 1983 and is 11 6 from the globerman and irving 1988 mid cretaceous pole at 71 n 196 e the youngest information in the cretaceous stillstand pole is from the niobrara formation shive and frerichs 1974 at about 85 89 ma if we take the average age of the adel mountain volcanics to be 76 ma then 12 of apparent polar motion occurred between 87 ma and 76 ma thus rapid apparent polar motion correlates well with the onset of laramide deformation

controls on sr isotopic evolution in lacustrine systems eocene green river formation wyoming abstract strontium isotopes from lacustrine carbonates record detailed weathering histories of exposed bedrocks and thus are potentially useful for understanding interactions between tectonics and climate that may be driven by local or regional factors in basin scale hydrologic systems we combine extensive 87 sr 86 sr and 18 o datasets from the green river formation in order to identify environmental factors driving the evolution of sr concentration and isotopic composition in lacustrine systems through the use of sr mass balance modeling two models are developed the first tests the effect of drainage capture that drove a constant volume lake from balance filled to overfilled conditions and is applied to the laney member of the green river formation the second model focuses on lacustrine evolution in response to changing the concentration composition and mass of water influx in a variable size sr reservoir lake this model is applied to the wilkins peak member of the green river formation 87 sr 86 sr ratios are correlated with 18 o values only during the laney member when both are readily explained by a common forcing mechanism drainage capture modeling of sr isotope compositions and concentrations indicates a short residence time for sr 10 3 10 4 years or less in both balance overfilled and underfilled phases of the green river formation lacustrine system this in turn suggests that paleo lacustrine sediments in most lakes can preserve sr isotope records with high resolution 10 2 years timescales rates of sr sequestration in carbonate are shown to have a strong influence on lacustrine sr concentration and high sr concentrations of lacustrine carbonate consistent with high salinity are observed in the underfilled wilkins peak member and the balance filled tipton and lower laney members in the laney member 87 sr 86 sr mass balance modeling results provide additional support for previous interpretations that the introduction of a large drainage system produced an isotopic shift across the lower laclede upper laclede boundary major drainage reorganization is not required to drive high variability in 87 sr 86 sr ratios however modeling shows that variability in 87 sr 86 sr ratios of 0 004 observed in the wilkins peak member can be explained by change in the characteristics of intrabasinal water sources during highstand vs lowstand conditions

elevated mixed layers and associated severe thunderstorm environments in south and north america abstractthis study presents a climatological and composite analysis of elevated mixed layers emls in south and north america derived from the ncep climate forecast system reanalysis the emls are identified based on objective criteria applied to the reanalysis data composite analyses of synoptic scale conditions and severe weather parameters associated with spring eml cases are presented emls are more frequent immediately to the east of the andes and the rockies the north american emls form by surface heating over the higher terrain of the rockies with peak frequency occurring in spring and summer emls in south america are generated by differential temperature advection due to ageostrophic circulations east of the andes as indicated by the temperature lapse rate tendency equation which relates to the higher frequency of emls during the cold season in south america emls over north america are about 100 hpa lower than over south america due to the lower height of the rockies in comparison to the a

time vs composition trends of magmatism at sunlight volcano absaroka volcanic province wyoming sunlight volcano is a dissected but well preserved eruptive center in the eastern high k belt of the absaroka volcanic province on the basis of high precision 40ar 39ar ages magmatism at the volcano commenced prior to 49 6 ma and continued until ca 48 1 ma stratigraphic relationships along with geochemical and 40ar 39ar data distinguish three principal stages of effusive volcanism that are interpreted to reflect the inception climax and decay of a crustal magmatic system related to three major pulses of basalt and high eruptive rates during the first two stages shoshonitic and latitic lavas with small but distinct compositional ranges accumulated the third stage included eruption of picritic basaltic lavas and intrusion and solidification of magmas in the volcanic edifice as this stage produced magmas compositionally more evolved and diverse basalts to trachytes than in previous stages it likely represents the terminal pulse of basalt to the system followed by cooling protracted differentiation and cessation of eruptive activity petrographic geochemical and sr and nd isotope data for sunlight igneous rocks indicate that crystallization differentiation was the dominant magma evolution process although phenocryst accumulation and crustal contamination also occurred evidence for phenocryst accumulation is most pronounced in final stage rocks this relationship is interpreted to reflect recharge of late magmas into mature chambers laden with crystals deposited during earlier stages the importance of crystallization differentiation at sunlight volcano contrasts with recent petrogenetic models for calc alkaline magmas in the absaroka volcanic province which require a more important role for early magma mixing the results presented here indicate that across strike increases in k2o contents of rocks in the field derive from variations in the conditions of crustal differentiation rather than from mantle processes involving a subducting slab

organization and structure of clouds and precipitation on the mid atlantic coast of the united states part vii diagnosis of a nonconvective rainband associated with a cold front aloft abstract a numerical simulation using the pennsylvania state university national center for atmospheric research fifth generation mesoscale model mm5 was run on a rainband associated with a cold front aloft cfa in a warm occluded structure on the u s east coast the storm originally developed in the lee of the rocky mountains as a pacific cold front overtook a rocky mountain lee trough this formed a warm type occluded structure that was essentially maintained as the storm proceeded to the east coast the cfa was a thermal front and therefore dynamically active the prominence of the cfa in the equivalent potential temperature field was due primarily to the strong upward transport of water vapor from lower levels in the updraft associated with the cfa the baroclinic zone was characterized by a tipped forward lower region where the cfa coincided with a maximum in potential temperature and a tipped backward upper region where the cfa coincided with the leading warm side edge of a zone of enhance

paleomagnetism of 122 ma plutons in new england and the mid cretaceous paleomagnetic field in north america true polar wander or large scale differential mantle motion a paleomagnetic study of cretaceous white mountains plutonic complexes in new hampshire and vermont yields high unblocking temperature dual polarity magnetizations in different types of igneous rocks the resulting pole position for three plutons 71 9 n 187 4 e a95 6 9 age 122 5 ma agrees with previously published mid cretaceous poles for north america which together give a mid cretaceous standstill reference pole slightly revised from globerman and irving 1988 at 71 2 n 194 1 e a95 3 7 n 5 studies we argue on the basis of the wide geographic distribution of these studies the variety in tectonic settings and rock types positive reversal tests and an overall reversal pattern consistent with geomagnetic polarity time scales that this mean pole represents the north american mid cretaceous reference field for nominally 36 m y 124 to 88 ma the standstill pole limits to within 4 the motion of the north american plate relative to the earth s spin axis during the same mid cretaceous interval the new england hotspot track 124 ma monteregian hills 122 5 ma cretaceous white mountains and 103 to 84 ma new england seamounts requires 11 4 of north poleward motion of north america in direct conflict with the paleomagnetic standstill a similar 13 discrepancy is independently demonstrated between the spin axis and the tristan da cunha hotspot track on the african plate during the mid cretaceous interval the hotspot spin axis discrepancies ended by 90 ma when it is shown that both atlantic hotspots agree with north american and african dipole paleolatitudes and present day locations nondipole fields are an unlikely explanation of the uniform motion of these two widely separated hotspots with respect to the spin axis leaving as possible interpretations true polar wander and large scale but differential mantle motion the southerly motion of the mid cretaceous louisville hotspot relative to the spin axis is ostensively at odds with what would be predicted under the true polar wander interpretation and points to differential mantle kinematics the motions of the three widely separated mid cretaceous hotspots with respect to the spin axis may be related to the recently proposed increase in global oceanic lithosphere production rates which gave rise to the mid cretaceous superplume

transverse ageostrophic circulations associated with elevated mixed layers abstract an elevated mixed layer is a principal component of the conceptual model recently proposed by carlson and others to explain the evolution of a severe storm environment over the southern plains of the united states during springtime elevated mixed layers are most likely to be found downwind of strongly heated arid land areas often plateaus which favor the growth of a deep mixing layer with high potential temperature the lower and lateral boundaries of elevated mixed layers are distinctly defined respectively by a statically stable layer referred to as a lid inversion and a midlevel front these boundaries mark the zonesof transition between the airstream defining the elevated mixed layer and other airstreams of differing geographical origin and consequently thermodynamic properties in this study the sawyer eliassen secondary circulation equation is used to diagnose the transverse ageostrophic circulations that are associated with the dynamical forcing implied by the above conceptual mod

40ar 39ar geochronology and paleomagnetism of independence volcano absaroka volcanic supergroup beartooth mountains montana independence volcano is a major volcanic complex in the lower part of the absaroka volcanic supergroup avs of montana and wyoming recently reported rb sr mineral dates from the complex give apparent ages of 91 and 84 ma whereas field relationships and the physical and compositional similarity of the rocks with other dated parts of the avs indicate an early to middle eocene age for eruption and deposition to resolve the conflict between age assignments based on stratigraphic correlations and rb sr dates we report new paleomagnetic data and 40ar 39ar dates for independence volcano paleomagnetic data for the stock and an andesite plug that cuts the stock are well grouped of reverse polarity and yield a virtual geomagnetic pole that is essentially identical to late cretaceous and tertiary reference poles the reverse polarity indicates that the magnetization of these rocks is probably younger than the cretaceous normal superchron or less than about 83 5 ma hornblende from a volcanic breccia near th

a shallow water model of the diurnal dryline this study explores the diurnal variation in the movement and structure of the dryline using a one dimensional shallow water model the model is adapted to test some common theories of dryline motion including the diurnal variation in surface friction static stability inversion erosion and momentum mixing aloft these mechanisms of diurnal variation are first studied individually and then in unison a diurnal variation in the surface friction produces a model dryline that moves westward during the day in disagreement with observations and has a southerly wind maximum near midnight a diurnal variation in the static stability produces a model dryline that steepens in slope and moves eastward during the day and then surges westward at night with a southerly wind maximum 6 to 9 h after the minimum stability inversion erosion during the day produces a nearly vertical model dry front that moves eastward during the day with surface southwesterlies at sunset the model dryline surges westward with a southerly wind maximum before midnight a diurnal variation of the momentum mixing aloft has no significant effect on the model dryline results show that the combined case with a diurnal variation of surface friction inversion erosion and static stability with terrain most accurately describes the observed dryline system the westward surge depicted in the model is compared to the flow evolution of the corresponding dam break problem for a rotating fluid

impact of the winter 2013 2014 series of severe western europe storms on a double barred sandy coast beach and dune erosion and megacusp embayments abstract the winter of 2013 2014 was characterized by a striking pattern of temporal and spatial extreme storm wave clustering in western europe the 110 km long gironde coast sw france was exposed to the most energetic wave conditions over the last 18 years the period was outstanding in terms of the available energy to move sediment and cause large scale erosion with the 2 month average significant wave height hs exceeding 3 6 m just below the 0 95 quantile and 4 distinct 10 year return period storms with hs 9 m these storm waves caused unprecedented beach and dune erosion along the gironde coast including severely damaged sea defences at the coastal towns at the end of the winter dune erosion scarp height was highly variable alongshore and often exceeded 10 m megacusp embayments were observed along the gironde coast with an average alongshore spacing of 1000 m in the south progressively decreasing to 500 m in the north with an average cross shore amplitude of 20 m while beach megacusps were previously observed to systematically couple to the inner bar along the gironde coast during low to moderate energy wave conditions severe storm driven megacusp embayments cutting the dune were found to be enforced and coupled to the outer crescentic bar a detailed inspection of the 1500 m long bimonthly topographic surveys of truc vert beach shows that in early january 2014 the outstanding shore normal incident storm swell hercules with hs and peak wave period tp peaking at 9 6 m and 22 s respectively triggered the formation of a localized megacusp embayment with the erosion scarp height exceeding 6 m in its centre where the dune retreat reached 30 m the subsequent storms progressively smoothed the megacusp by the end of the winter mostly through severe erosion of the megacusp horns because of the very long period 16 s

the synoptic regulation of dryline intensity abstract to investigate the role of synoptic scale processes in regulating the strength of the dryline a dataset is constructed of all drylines occurring within the west texas mesonet wtm during april may and june of 2004 and 2005 in addition dewpoint and wind data were collected from stations on the western morton mort and eastern paducah padu periphery of the wtm domain 230 km across generally oriented east west across the typical location of the dryline in west texas drylines were characterized by two variables the difference in dewpoint between mort and padu hereafter dryline intensity and the difference in the eastward component of the wind between mort and padu hereafter dryline confluence a high degree of correlation existed between the two variables consistent with a strong role for dryline confluence in determining dryline intensity some cases departing from the strong correlation between these variables represent synoptically quiescent drylines whose strength is likely

synoptic reconstruction of a major ancient lake system eocene green river formation western united states numerous 40ar 39ar experiments on sanidine and biotite from 22 ash beds and 3 volcaniclastic sand beds from the greater green river piceance creek and uinta basins of wyoming colorado and utah constrain 8 m y of the eocene epoch multiple analyses were conducted per sample using laser fusion and incremental heating techniques to differentiate inheritance 40ar loss and 39ar recoil when considered in conjunction with existing radioisotopic ages and lithostratigraphy biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy these new age determinations facilitate temporal correlation of linked eocene lake basins in the laramide rocky mountain region at a significantly increased level of precision to compare our results to the geomagnetic polarity time scale and the regional volcanic record the ages of eocene magnetic anomalies c24 through c20 were recalibrated using seven 40ar 39ar ages overall the ages obtained for this study are consistent with the isochroneity of north american land mammal ages throughout the study area and provide precise radioisotopic constraints on several important biostratigraphic boundaries applying these new ages average sediment accumulation rates in the greater green river basin wyoming were approximately three times faster at the center of the basin versus its ramp like northern margin during deposition of the underfilled wilkins peak member in contrast sediment accumulation occurred faster at the edge of the basin during deposition of the balanced filled to overfilled tipton and laney members sediment accumulation patterns thus reflect basin center focused accumulation rates when the basin was underfilled and supply limited accumulation when the basin was balanced filled to overfilled sediment accumulation in the uinta basin at indian canyon utah was relatively constant at 150 mm k y during deposition of over 5 m y of both evaporative and fluctuating profundal facies which likely reflects the basin margin position of the measured section the most rapid sediment accumulation for the entire system 1 m k y occurred between 49 0 and 47 5 ma when volcaniclastic materials from the absaroka and or challis volcanic fields entered the green river formation lakes from the north our new ages combined with existing paleomagnetic and biostratigraphic control permit the first detailed synoptic comparison of lacustrine depositional environments in all the green river formation basins coupled with previously published paleocurrent observations our detailed correlations show that relatively freshwater lakes commonly drained into more saline downstream lakes the overall character of eocene lake deposits was therefore governed in part by the geomorphic evolution of drainage patterns in the surrounding laramide landscape freshwater overfilled lakes were initially dominant 53 5 52 0 ma possibly related to high erosion rates of remnant cretaceous strata on adjacent uplifts expansion of balanced fill lakes first occurred in all green river formation basins at 52 0 51 3 ma and again between 49 6 and 48 5 ma evaporative underfilled lakes occurred in various basins between 51 3 and 45 1 ma coincident with the end of the early eocene climatic optima and subsequent onset of global cooling defined from marine record however evaporite intervals in the different depocenters were deposited at different times rather than being confined to a single episode of arid climate evaporative terminal sinks were initially located in the greater green river and piceance creek basins 51 3 48 9 ma then gradually migrated southward to the uinta basin 47 1 45 2 ma this history is likely related to progressive southward construction of the absaroka volcanic province which constituted a major topographic and thermal anomaly that contributed to a regional north to south hydrologic gradient the greater green river and piceance creek basins were eventually filled from north to south with absarokaderived detritus at sedimentation rates 1 2 orders of magnitude greater than the underlying lake deposits

convective initiation at the dryline a modeling study abstract a nonhydrostatic three dimensional version of the colorado state university regional atmospheric modeling system csu rams is used to deduce the processes responsible for the formation of drylines and the subsequent initiation of deep moist dryline convection a range of cumuliform cloud types are explicitly simulated along drylines on 15 16 and 26 may 1991 in accordance with observations in the simulations narrow convergence bands along the dryline provide the lift to initiate deep moist convection the thermally direct secondary convective boundary layer cbl circulations along the dryline are frontogenetic and solenoidally forced maximum updrafts reach 5 m s 1 and the bands are 3 9 km wide and 10 100 km or more in length the updrafts penetrate and are decelerated by the overlying stable air above the cbl reaching depths of about 2000 m in the cases studied moisture convergence along the mesoscale updraft bands destabilizes the local sounding to deep convection while simultaneously

paleomagnetism of the late cretaceous early tertiary north central montana alkalic province paleomagnetic results have been obtained from the late cretaceous early tertiary igneous complexes of the north central montana alkalic province data from 94 sites in eocene volcanic and intrusive rocks give a paleomagnetic pole located at 82 0 n 170 2 e a95 3 5 k 18 6 while 36 sites in paleocene intrusions yield a paleomagnetic pole at 81 8 n 181 4 e a95 5 4 k 20 2 these poles differ by only 1 6 and are not significantly different statistically the 130 site virtual geomagnetic poles show no significant elongation and suggest no significant apparent polar wander apw during the period of magnetization of the igneous centers postmagnetization structural complications in these rocks are minimal the presence of a single predominant polarity in these intrusive complexes reinforces the radiometric age data that suggest that igneous activity within individual centers was of short duration the northcentral montana data together with other early tertiary cretaceous and mid tertiary paleomagnetic results require modification of our earlier apw chronology diehl et al 1980 it now appears that apw relative to north america since the early cretaceous consists of a polar still stand during much of the cretaceous 120 75 m y b p a period of rapid movement in latest cretaceous time 75 65 m y b p and a period of slow polar movement thereafter the onset of this period of rapid apw correlates well with a major change in plate motions at 80 m y and the beginning of the laramide orogeny

setup and swash on a natural beach wave setup and swash statistics were calculated from 154 runup time series measured on a moderately steep beach under incident waves varying from 0 4 to 4 0 m significant wave height when scaled by the incident wave height setup swash height and total runup the sum of setup and half the swash height were found to vary linearly with the surf zone similarity parameter 0 h0 l0 1 2 the foreshore slope appeared the appropriate value for the calculation of 0 although the setup data showed some influence of an offshore bar at low tide for low irribaren numbers the swash height in the incident frequency band becomes saturated while for high irribaren numbers no such signs of saturations were seen thus the infragravity band appears to become dominant in the swash below some value of 0 for these data that value is approximately 1 75 although there is considerable scatter associated with that estimate

high resolution aeromagnetic mapping of volcanic terrain yellowstone national park high resolution aeromagnetic data acquired over yellowstone national park ynp show contrasting patterns reflecting differences in rock composition types and degree of alteration and crustal structures that mirror the variable geology of the yellowstone plateau the older eocene absaroka volcanic supergroup a series of mostly altered andesitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks partially exposed in mountains on the eastern margin of ynp produces high amplitude positive magnetic anomalies strongly contrasting with the less magnetic younger latest cenozoic yellowstone plateau group primarily a series of fresh and variably altered rhyolitic rocks covering most of ynp the yellowstone caldera is the centerpiece of the yellowstone plateau part of its boundary can be identified on the aeromagnetic map as a series of discontinuous negative magnetic anomalies that reflect faults or zones along which extensive hydrothermal alteration is localized the large volume rhyolitic ignimbrite deposits of the 0 63 ma lava creek tuff and the 2 1 ma huckleberry ridge tuff which are prominent lithologies peripheral to the yellowstone caldera produce insignificant magnetic signatures a zone of moderate amplitude positive anomalies coincides with the mapped extent of several post caldera rhyolitic lavas linear magnetic anomalies reflect the rectilinear fault systems characteristic of resurgent domes in the center of the caldera peripheral to the caldera the high resolution aeromagnetic map clearly delineates flow unit boundaries of pre and post caldera basalt flows which occur stratigraphically below the post caldera rhyolitic lavas and are not exposed extensively at the surface all of the hot spring and geyser basins such as norris upper and lower geyser basins west thumb and gibbon are associated with negative magnetic anomalies reflecting hydrothermal alteration that has destroyed the magnetic susceptibility of minerals in the volcanic rocks within yellowstone lake which is mostly within the yellowstone caldera aeromagnetic lows also are associated with known hydrothermal activity in the lake many of the magnetic lows extend beyond the areas of alteration and hot springs suggesting a more extensive currently active or fossil hydrothermal system than is currently mapped steep magnetic gradients suggesting faults or fractures bound the magnetic lows this implies that fractures localize the hot springs magnetic gradient trends reflect the mapped basin and range structural trends of north and northwest as well as northeasterly trends that parallel the regional trend of the snake river plain and the track of the yellowstone hot spot which follow the precambrian structural grain these trends are found both at small scales such as in hydrothermal basins and at more regional fault scales which suggests that the regional stress field and reactivated

late paleogene extensional collapse of the cordilleran foreland fold and thrust belt the cordilleran foreland fold and thrust belt collapsed and spread to the west during a middle eocene to early miocene ca 49 20 ma episode of crustal extension the sedimentary and structural record of this event is preserved in a network of half grabens that extends from southern canada to central utah extensional structures superposed on this allochthonous terrain are rooted to the physical stratigraphy structural relief and sole faults of preexisting thrust fold structures the sole faults dip 3 6 west above an undeformed precambrian crystalline basement and accommodated tectonic transport of a thick up to 20 km eastward tapering hanging wall during regimes of crustal shortening and extension the chronology of tectonism for the foreland fold and thrust belt is established here by dating latest thrusting and initial normal faulting and is best defined where thrusts and normal faults are linked by common detachment surfaces dated movement on two extensionally reactivated thrusts the lewis thrust of northwest montana and southeast british columbia and the medicine butte thrust of southwest wyoming and northeast utah suggests that the hiatus between the end of crustal shortening in the early or early middle eocene and the start of extension in the early middle eocene was brief lateral spreading and extensional basin formation in the cordilleran foreland fold and thrust belt were partly concurrent with formation of metamorphic core complexes and regional magmatism conceptually linking extensional processes that were simultaneously deforming both the hinterland and foreland of the late paleogene cordilleran orogenic wedge is accomplished by applying the extensional wedge coulomb critical taper model the rapid drop in north america pacific plate convergence rate and or steepening of the subducted oceanic slab at ca 50 ma resulted in a large reduction in east west horizontal compressive stress in the cordillera as a result the cordilleran orogenic wedge was left unsupported and it gravitationally collapsed and horizontally spread west until a new equilibrium was established at ca 20 ma subsequently crustal extension and magmatism during the basin and range event ca 17 0 ma overprinted much of this earlier phase of extension

paleomagnetic results from tertiary volcanic strata and intrusions absaroka volcanic supergroup yellowstone national park and vicinity contributions to the north american apparent polar wander path abstract we report paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data from volcanic volcaniclastic and intrusive rocks of the 55 44 ma absaroka volcanic supergroup avs exposed along the northeastern margin of yellowstone national park and adjacent areas demagnetization behavior and rock magnetic experiments indicate that the remanence in most samples is carried by low ti titanomagnetite although high coercivity phases are present in oxidized basalt flows paleomagnetic demagnetization and rock magnetic characteristics the presence of normal and reverse polarity sites consistency with previous results and positive conglomerate tests suggest that the observed remanences are primary thermoremanent magnetizations of eocene age c 50 ma an in situ grand mean for 22 individual site or cooling unit means from this study that yield acceptable data combined with published data from independence volcano yields a declination of 347 6 and inclination of 59 2 k 21 8 95 6 8 and a positive reversal test averaging 21 virtual geomagnetic poles vgps that are well grouped yields a mean at 137 1 e 82 5 n k 17 6 a95 7 8 similar to results previously obtained from published studies from the avs combining the vgps from our study with published data yields a combined avs pole at 146 3 e 83 1 n k 13 5 a95 6 2 n 42 vgps both poles are indistinguishable from c 50 ma cratonic and synthetic reference poles for north america and demonstrate the relative stability of this part of the cordillera with respect to the craton