Search results for " environment"

The Chevroches zodiacal cap and its Burgundy relations

2009

AbstractThe excavation of an unexplored secondary agglomeration in Chevroches (France), from 2001 to 2002 has led to the discovery of a bronze dome of a type unknown in the Ancient world. It is inscribed with three lines in Greek transcribing Egyptian and Roman months, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac. This paper presents the first observations and some other finds from similar objects in Burgundy.

Interpolation par régressions locales : application aux précipitations en France

2009

Interpolation by local regressions applied to precipitation in France. Two interpolation methods are presented. The global one operates by means of a regression processing applied on the complete data set and the local one consists in a regression processing applied individually to many local sets made of recording stations each. The procedure is applied to the amount of precipitation in France. The local interpolation provides better results than the global one. The contradictory effects between crest lines and plains close below which are drier are well shown by the local model. This one allows other indicators from the regressions which interpretation provides keys for understanding how …

An improved understanding of the Alaska Coastal Current: the application of a bivalve growth-temperature model to reconstruct freshwater-influenced p…

2011

Shells of intertidal bivalve mollusks contain sub-seasonally to interannually resolved records of temperature and salinity variations in coastal settings. Such data are essential to understand changing land-sea interactions through time, specifically atmospheric (precipitation rate, glacial meltwater, river discharge) and oceanographic circulation patterns; however, independent temperature and salinity proxies are currently not available. We established a model for reconstructing daily water temperatures with an average standard error of ∼1.3 °C based on variations in the width of lunar daily growth increments of Saxidomus gigantea from southwestern Alaska, United States. Temperature explai…

2017

Abstract. Mollusks record valuable information in their hard parts that reflect ambient environmental conditions. For this reason, shells can serve as excellent archives to reconstruct past climate and environmental variability. However, animal physiology and biomineralization, which are often poorly understood, can make the decoding of environmental signals a challenging task. Many of the routinely used shell-based proxies are sensitive to multiple different environmental and physiological variables. Therefore, the identification and interpretation of individual environmental signals (e.g., water temperature) often is particularly difficult. Additional proxies not influenced by multiple en…

Warm season precipitation signal in δ 2 H values of wood lignin methoxyl groups from high elevation larch trees in Switzerland

2017

RATIONALE In this study, we tested stable hydrogen isotope ratios of wood lignin methoxyl groups (δ 2Hmethoxyl values) as a palaeoclimate proxy in dendrochronology. This is a quite new method in the field of dendrochronology and the sample preparation is much simpler than the methods used before to measure δ2H values from wood. METHODS We measured δ 2Hmethoxyl values in high elevation larch trees (Larix decidua Mill.) from Simplon Valley (southern Switzerland). Thirty-seven larch trees were sampled and five individuals analysed for their δ 2Hmethoxyl values at annual (1971-2009) and pentadal resolution (1746-2009). The δ 2Hmethoxyl values were measured as CH3I released upon treatment of the…

Biological and microclimatic monitoring for conservation of cultural heritage: a case study at the De Rossi room of the Palatina library in Parma

2019

Biological particles in heritage-related indoor environments (museums, libraries, archives) represent a hazard to artifacts (biodeteriogenic action), operators and visitors’ health. The aim of the study was to evaluate environmental biological contamination and microclimate conditions in different periods of the year in De Rossi room of the historical Palatina Library in Parma. Microclimatic measurements were recorded continuously for a period ranging from 11 to 17 days in: January–February, May and September 2017. Monitoring of bacterial and fungal contamination was performed for air by active and passive sampling and by nitrocellulose membranes on shelves and manuscripts. Microorganisms w…

Was climatic cooling during the earliest Carboniferous driven by expansion of seed plants?

2021

Abstract The expansion of land plants is considered to have played a key role in triggering the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), but evidence linking climatic events to terrestrial floral changes is limited. Here, we generated bulk carbonate δ13C, conodont δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr profiles from the lowermost Carboniferous of South China and Vietnam in order to investigate their relationship to contemporaneous land plant evolution. Climatic cooling in the mid-Tournaisian coincided with large perturbations to the global carbon cycle and continental weathering regimes as well as with a major diversification episode among seed plants. These relationships are consistent with terrestrial floral changes t…

Methane production and oxidation potentials in relation to water table fluctuations in two boreal mires

1999

We studied the response of methane production and oxidation potentials in a minerotrophic and an ombrotrophic mire to water table fluctuations. In profiles where water table had not varied, the water-saturated layers showed significant potentials while the unsaturated layers did not. The production potentials in the saturated layers below water level ranged from 0.1 to 2.4 m gC H4 h ˇ1 (g d.w.) ˇ 1 and oxidation potentials (first order reaction rate constants) betweenˇ0.010 andˇ0.120 h ˇ1 (g d.w.) ˇ 1 . In profiles with constant water level, the maximal production potential occurred 20 cm and maximal oxidation potential 10 cm below water level. When water table varied only a little, product…

A sugar biomarker proxy for assessing terrestrial versus aquatic sedimentary input

2016

Abstract One of the most important and at the same time most challenging issues in paleolimnological research is the differentiation between terrestrial and aquatic sedimentary organic matter (OM). We therefore investigated the relative abundance of the sugars fucose (fuc), arabinose (ara) and xylose (xyl) from various terrestrial and aquatic plants, as well as from algal samples. Algae were characterized by a higher abundance of fucose than vascular plants. Our results and a compilation of data from the literature suggest that fuc/(ara + xyl) and (fuc + xyl)/ara ratios may serve as complementary proxies in paleolimnological studies for distinguishing between terrestrial and aquatic sedimen…

Estimating Profit, Price, and Productivity Changes in Water Industry Using Bennet-Bowley Indicator

2019

AbstractThe assessment of profit, productivity, and price change over time is valuable for regulators and companies when setting tariffs. This paper innovates by comparing profit, price, and produc...