title: Organic chemical signatures of New Zealand carbonate concretions and calcite fracture fills as potential fluid migration indicators

authors: Pearson, Michael J.

subjects: calcite

abstract: Macroscopic calcite crystals are common in sedimenta¬ry strata, occurring both as tectonic veins and also filling one or more generations of septarian rupture or later brittle fractures in calcareous concretions. Traces of hydrocarbons are frequently present in calcite crystals, especially near active petroleum systems, and are routinely the object of fluid inclusion studies linking source and migration pathway. Such calcites are shown here also to contain fatty acids in widely varying amounts ranging from 0.2 to more than 5 μg/g. Vein calcites examined are typically near the lower figure, close to analytical blank levels, and this is also true of some concretionary fracture fill calcites, notably those from the Palaeocene Moeraki ‘boulders’. Other concretionary fracture fill calcites (Jurassic, Scotland; Eocene, Waikato Coal Measures and associated marine strata) have much higher fatty acid contents, especially those filling later brittle style fractures. Although usually less abundant than the fatty acids in the concretions themselves, they lack the long chain n-acids derived from terrestrial vegetation and are commonly dominated by dioic acids. Exceptionally, in the calcitic septarian fill of a sideritic Coal Measures concretion, their abundance far exceeds that of concretion body fatty acids. They appear to be fluid transported, probably in aqueous solution, and have molecular signatures potentially distinctive of maturing organic matter sources from which the fluids derived.

text: Organic chemical signatures of New Zealand carbonate concretions and calcite fracture fills as potential fluid migration indicators Macroscopic calcite crystals are common in sedimenta¬ry strata, occurring both as tectonic veins and also filling one or more generations of septarian rupture or later brittle fractures in calcareous concretions. Traces of hydrocarbons are frequently present in calcite crystals, especially near active petroleum systems, and are routinely the object of fluid inclusion studies linking source and migration pathway. Such calcites are shown here also to contain fatty acids in widely varying amounts ranging from 0.2 to more than 5 μg/g. Vein calcites examined are typically near the lower figure, close to analytical blank levels, and this is also true of some concretionary fracture fill calcites, notably those from the Palaeocene Moeraki ‘boulders’. Other concretionary fracture fill calcites (Jurassic, Scotland; Eocene, Waikato Coal Measures and associated marine strata) have much higher fatty acid contents, especially those filling later brittle style fractures. Although usually less abundant than the fatty acids in the concretions themselves, they lack the long chain n-acids derived from terrestrial vegetation and are commonly dominated by dioic acids. Exceptionally, in the calcitic septarian fill of a sideritic Coal Measures concretion, their abundance far exceeds that of concretion body fatty acids. They appear to be fluid transported, probably in aqueous solution, and have molecular signatures potentially distinctive of maturing organic matter sources from which the fluids derived.

year: 2006

title: Reflexive audiencing practices for couple relationships-in-action

authors: Talbot, Wendy

subjects: Relationships

abstract: This doctoral study offers couples opportunities to be audiences to their own lives as a couple.  It does this on the premise that a reflexive, recursive, process of acting and reviewing and acting enhances relationship possibilities.  The study researches what couples say about their experiences of the effects of a process that offers them opportunities to go beyond readily available, perhaps at times rather limited, understandings of coupledom.  In going beyond what is readily available, the study investigates what couples’ value in the unique and original ways two people reflexively select to live out their lives and relationships.  This study is located in poststructural and social constructionist theoretical landscapes.  It constructs and then investigates reflexive audiencing practices.  

Reflexive audiencing draws from diverse but related theoretical perspectives such as narrative therapy, relational language-making conversations, positioning theory, deconstruction, reflexivity, performance and Appreciative Inquiry.  Video, a facilitated process of preparation, and inquiry guides provide a scaffold for partners to take up and investigate relationship conversations as couples.  The video/audio technology provides layers of positions from which to speak, view, re-view and review their relationship conversations as spect-actors – actors, audience and critics to their relationship performances.  Through these reflexive audiencing processes, couples identify discursive practices that shape their relationships.  They deconstruct these practices and reconstruct them on terms that take into account their preferences, purposes and unique relationship contexts.     

The thesis argues that through reflexive audiencing, couples can reposition themselves to look at, and hear, and speak their relationship conversations-in-action.  It proposes that reflexive audiencing makes practices such as relations of gender/power, humour, meaning-making, and understanding, visible and audible in ways that extend couples’ discursive repertoires.  It conceptualises these practices of couple relationship as complex, dynamic, situated and dialogic, and shows that reflexive audiencing practices have benefits for a couple’s conversations. 

The study also provides an illustration of researcher reflexive-practice-in-action and shows the work of reflexive audiencing processes unfold in a doctoral research supervision relationship.  It argues that reflexive audiencing practices have possibilities for contexts outside coupledom, such as therapy, supervision and research.

text: Reflexive audiencing practices for couple relationships-in-action This doctoral study offers couples opportunities to be audiences to their own lives as a couple.  It does this on the premise that a reflexive, recursive, process of acting and reviewing and acting enhances relationship possibilities.  The study researches what couples say about their experiences of the effects of a process that offers them opportunities to go beyond readily available, perhaps at times rather limited, understandings of coupledom.  In going beyond what is readily available, the study investigates what couples’ value in the unique and original ways two people reflexively select to live out their lives and relationships.  This study is located in poststructural and social constructionist theoretical landscapes.  It constructs and then investigates reflexive audiencing practices.  

Reflexive audiencing draws from diverse but related theoretical perspectives such as narrative therapy, relational language-making conversations, positioning theory, deconstruction, reflexivity, performance and Appreciative Inquiry.  Video, a facilitated process of preparation, and inquiry guides provide a scaffold for partners to take up and investigate relationship conversations as couples.  The video/audio technology provides layers of positions from which to speak, view, re-view and review their relationship conversations as spect-actors – actors, audience and critics to their relationship performances.  Through these reflexive audiencing processes, couples identify discursive practices that shape their relationships.  They deconstruct these practices and reconstruct them on terms that take into account their preferences, purposes and unique relationship contexts.     

The thesis argues that through reflexive audiencing, couples can reposition themselves to look at, and hear, and speak their relationship conversations-in-action.  It proposes that reflexive audiencing makes practices such as relations of gender/power, humour, meaning-making, and understanding, visible and audible in ways that extend couples’ discursive repertoires.  It conceptualises these practices of couple relationship as complex, dynamic, situated and dialogic, and shows that reflexive audiencing practices have benefits for a couple’s conversations. 

The study also provides an illustration of researcher reflexive-practice-in-action and shows the work of reflexive audiencing processes unfold in a doctoral research supervision relationship.  It argues that reflexive audiencing practices have possibilities for contexts outside coupledom, such as therapy, supervision and research.

year: 2012

title: Growth out of loss: The urban discourses of literatures of the Native American and Māori literary renaissance

authors: Waterman, Jason

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: The seeds of the Native American and Māori Renaissance eras germinated amid sweeping changes in the years immediately following World War II, a time when urbanization and the consequent separation of indigenous peoples from community networks represented a major threat to culturally embedded certainties and destabilized romanticized notions of the past. This article explores parallels between the ways in which Native American and Māori literatures reflect the impact of urbanization at the height of this era and the contribution the authors make to the positive cultural growth that defines their respective renaissance periods.

text: Growth out of loss: The urban discourses of literatures of the Native American and Māori literary renaissance The seeds of the Native American and Māori Renaissance eras germinated amid sweeping changes in the years immediately following World War II, a time when urbanization and the consequent separation of indigenous peoples from community networks represented a major threat to culturally embedded certainties and destabilized romanticized notions of the past. This article explores parallels between the ways in which Native American and Māori literatures reflect the impact of urbanization at the height of this era and the contribution the authors make to the positive cultural growth that defines their respective renaissance periods.

year: 2009-09