Lower Pliocene temperate carbonates exhibit landward-downlapping beds at the southern margin of the Carboneras Basin in south-eastern Spain. This rarely documented stratal geometry resulted from the accumulation of bedded bioclastic carbonate sand and gravel by longshore currents along a spit platform located a few hundred metres from the palaeoshoreline. The top of the spit platform was covere...

Canadian oil sands are unconsolidated sand deposits that are impregnated with heavy, viscous petroleum, normally referred to as bitumen. The total bitumen in place in Alberta is estimated at 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels and is clearly massive by world standards. Presently, 25% of the Canadian energy needs are derived from upgraded bitumen from mined oil sands. The oil sands are a complex mixture...

A compilation of 54 sets of geoacoustic measurements of marine sediments was reviewed in order to bound estimates of parameters for use in Buckingham's grain shearing (GS) theory of acoustic propagation. These data, for unconsolidated sands (siliciclastic and carbonate) with grain sizes between 0.0156 mm and 0.57 mm, were all made in shallow water (maximum depth of 60 m) sites at diverse locale...

Fundamental changes in seawater carbonate chemistry and sea surface temperatures associated with the ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 are accelerating, but investigations of the susceptibility of biogeochemical processes to the simultaneous occurrence of multiple components of climate change are uncommon. Here, we quantify how concurrent changes in enhanced temperature and atmospheric pCO2, co...

Mediterranean temporary ponds on Doñana’s aeolian sands form an extensive system of small dynamic water bodies, dependent on precipitation and groundwater, of considerable importance for biodiversity conservation. Different areas of the aeolian sands have received different levels of environmental protection since 1969, and this has influenced the degree of conservation and the flooding dynamic...

The mechanical properties of calcium carbonate minerals formed by enzyme-induced precipitation (EICP) were studied using nanoindentation. Two types precipitates considered: (i) a “baseline” precipitate, synthesized via urea hydrolysis in an aqueous solution urease enzyme, urea, and chloride; (ii) “modified” from similar solution, but with the inclusion nonfat dry milk. While both predominantly ...

Optical ages for eolian sands from the Nebraska Sand Hills indicate periods of extensive eolian activity at ca 115725, 840770, 23007240, and 35607340 a. Activity was also noted at single sampling locations at ca 61807370, 84307510 and 131107800 a. Many of these ages are similar to those noted by earlier authors. Optical ages from samples collected within paleosols indicate shorter and possibly ...

Culturable enterococci and a suite of environmental variables were collected during a predominantly dry summer at a beach impacted by nonpoint source pollution. These data were used to evaluate sands as a source of enterococci to nearshore waters, and to assess the relationship between environmental factors and dry-weather enterococci abundance. Best-fit multiple linear regressions used environ...

We quantified the wholesale transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Contrary to claims made in the media, peatland destroyed by open-pit mining will not be restored. Current plans dictate its replacement with upland forest and tailings storage lakes, amounting to the destruction of over 29...