A celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG)

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Briant ◽  
David R. Bridgland ◽  
Stephane Cordier ◽  
Gilles Rixhon ◽  
Ronald van Balen
Keyword(s):  
Research Group ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Research Association ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
Multiple Timescales ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Fluvial Archives ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary

The Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) was founded in 1996 to bring together researchers looking at the development of fluvial systems over multiple timescales and global spatial scales. Fluvial archives of various types are important not just because they provide insights into past landscape dynamics, e.g., driven by climate or crustal processes, but also because they frequently contain fossil or archaeological material for which they provide stratigraphic control. Since 1996, FLAG has evolved from a research group of the British Quaternary Research Association into an organisation with around 500 members in over 20 countries. The research group held 12 biennial meetings, comprising both presentations and field excursions, as well as multiple themed sessions at international conferences. These had resulted by 2017 in 19 journal special issues, all fully detailed by Cordier et al. (2017). The goals of FLAG are: provision of a community for discussion of key issues concerning fluvial archives, including organising the aforementioned biennial discussion/field meetings, sessions at relevant international conferences, and special issues of journals; continued promotion of the value of fluvial archives by means of readily accessible published information; and coordination of activity with other research groupings with overlapping interests, e.g., by co-convening sessions and collaborating on publications.

scholarly journals MODELLING LANDSCAPE MORPHODYNAMICS BY TERRESTRIAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY: AN APPLICATION TO BEACH AND FLUVIAL SYSTEMS

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B8 ◽  
pp. 1175-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Sánchez-García ◽  
A. Balaguer-Beser ◽  
R. Taborda ◽  
J. E. Pardo-Pascual
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
3D Point Clouds ◽  
Pilot Channel ◽  
Terrestrial Photogrammetry

Beach and fluvial systems are highly dynamic environments, being constantly modified by the action of different natural and anthropic phenomena. To understand their behaviour and to support a sustainable management of these fragile environments, it is very important to have access to cost-effective tools. These methods should be supported on cutting-edge technologies that allow monitoring the dynamics of the natural systems with high periodicity and repeatability at different temporal and spatial scales instead the tedious and expensive field-work that has been carried out up to date. The work herein presented analyses the potential of terrestrial photogrammetry to describe beach morphology. Data processing and generation of high resolution 3D point clouds and derived DEMs is supported by the commercial Agisoft PhotoScan. Model validation is done by comparison of the differences in the elevation among the photogrammetric point cloud and the GPS data along different beach profiles. Results obtained denote the potential that the photogrammetry 3D modelling has to monitor morphological changes and natural events getting differences between 6 and 25 cm. Furthermore, the usefulness of these techniques to control the layout of a fluvial system is tested by the performance of some modeling essays in a hydraulic pilot channel.

Imprint of landscape dynamics in the luminescence signal of fluvial sediments (Rangitikei River, NZ)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Guyez ◽  
Stephane Bonnet ◽  
Tony Reimann ◽  
Sébastien Carretier ◽  
Jakob Wallinga
Keyword(s):  
Light Exposure ◽  
Experimental Testing ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Fluvial Sediments ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
The Earth ◽  
New Information ◽  
Landscape Response ◽  
Minimum Age

<p>Enlightenment of sediments pathways and storage patterns within river systems is critical to apprehend sediment transfer at the Earth’s surface and landscape response to tectonics and climate. Because direct tracing methods (painted, fluorescent or magnetic sediments) are of limited use in terms of their analytical resolution in time and space, alternative physico-chemical methods suitable for larger spatial-temporal scales have been developed (e.g. cosmogenic isotope, detrital thermochronology, isotopic geochemistry, etc). The study of the natural luminescence of sediment particles is emerging for this purpose and seems promising for providing new information complementary to existing methods. This method is based on the quartz/feldspar grains ability to store energy while buried below the Earth’s surface and to emit lumen with light exposure. Some recent studies have used this property to solve geomorphological questions regarding particle fluxes in soil or fluvial systems (Reimann et al., 2017; Sawakuchi et al., 2018) and to quantify rock exhumation (e.g. Herman et al., 2010). Here, we present an experimental testing of an innovative single-grain luminescence-based approach on feldspars. Focusing alongstream the Rangitikei River (RR), New Zealand, we carried out analysis on both modern sediment and Holocene terraces deposits.</p><p>We based our analysis on two complementarians proxies, the paleodose estimated using the bootstrapped minimum age model (Cunningham and Wallinga, 2012) and the percentage of grains eroded from bedrock and re-deposited in the river without signal resetting, i.e. saturated grains. We document changes in the luminescence signature of fluvial sediments while the RR evolves in response to uplift and climate change; from a late Pleistocene-early Holocene braided system to a Holocene incising canyon that subsequently widen.  This allows us to appraise temporal changes in the alongstream contribution of canyon flanks landsides to sediment supply to the river. Overall, we show that distinct landscape dynamics gives distinct luminescence signatures.</p>

Topographic disequilibrium, landscape dynamics and active tectonics: an example from the Bhutan Himalayas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Simoes ◽  
Timothée Sassolas-Serrayet ◽  
Rodolphe Cattin ◽  
Romain Le Roux-Mallouf ◽  
Matthieu Ferry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Active Tectonics ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Equilibrium Conditions ◽  
Longitudinal Band ◽  
Active Tectonic

<p>The quantification of active tectonics from geomorphological and morphometric approaches most often implies that erosion and tectonics have reached a certain balance. Such equilibrium conditions may however be seldom found in nature, in particular because drainage basins may be quite dynamic even though tectonic and climatic conditions remain constant. Here, we document this drainage dynamics from the particular case example of the Bhutan Himalayas. Evidence for out-of-equilibrium morphologies have for long been noticed in Bhutan, from major (> 1 km high) river knickpoints and from the existence of high-altitude low-relief regions within the mountain hinterland. These peculiar morphologies were generally interpreted as representing a recent change in climatic and/or tectonic conditions. To further characterize these morphologies and their dynamics, and from there discuss their origin and meaning, we perform field observations and a detailed quantitative morphometric analysis using Chi plots and Gilbert metrics of drainages over various spatial scales, from major Himalayan rivers to local streams draining the low-relief regions. We first find that the river network is highly dynamic and unstable. Our results emphasize that the morphology of Bhutan does not result from a general wave of incision propagating upstream, as expected from most previous interpretations. Also, the specific spatial organization in which all major knickpoints and low-relief regions are located along a longitudinal band in the Bhutan hinterland, whatever their spatial scale and the dimensions of the associated drainage basins, calls for a common local supporting mechanism most probably related to active tectonic uplift. Our results emphasize the need for a precise documentation of landscape dynamics and disequilibrium over various spatial scales as a first-order step in morpho-tectonic studies of active landscapes.</p>

Considering the Water Poverty Index in the context of poverty alleviation

Water Policy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 513-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Sullivan ◽  
Jeremy Meigh
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Poverty Index ◽  
Water Poverty Index ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Technical Issues

The Water Poverty Index (WPI), introduced by Sullivan, is an inter-disciplinary tool that integrates the key issues relating to water resources, combining physical, social, economic and environmental information associated with people's ability to get access to water and to use water for productive purposes. It is most relevant at the community or sub-basin scales. This paper is concerned not with the development or underlying methodology of the index, but with how it can best be applied in practice to generate useful data, and then how these data may be used to generate benefits, especially for poor people who suffer from inadequate access to water. WPI values would need to be generated over wide areas, and this would require substantial institutional development. To do this, the use of existing census procedures and the needs for simplified data collection are considered, and the idea of widespread data collection through schools is examined. A number of technical issues relating to implementation of the WPI are discussed, particularly how the different spatial scales inter-relate and how the assessment of the physical resource and the collection of social and economic data may be made compatible. Finally, we discuss how the WPI value can be used in practice, and some of the issues and problems that this presents.

G.R. Snaith, Naval Architect, Head of Marine Systems Division, British Ship Research Association, Head of Headquarters Research Group, British Shipbuilders Plc

2013 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Research Group ◽  
Research Association ◽  
Shipbuilding Industry ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Naval Architect

Interview with G.R. Snaith, Naval Architect, Head of Marine Systems Division, British Ship Research Association, Head of Headquarters Research Group, British Shipbuilders Plc. Details experience working with British Shipbuilding Industry Officials.

scholarly journals Mining and biodiversity: key issues and research needs in conservation science

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1892) ◽  
pp. 20181926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Sonter ◽  
Saleem H. Ali ◽  
James E. M. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Strategic Assessment ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Conservation Organizations

Mining poses serious and highly specific threats to biodiversity. However, mining can also be a means for financing alternative livelihood paths that, over the long-term, may prevent biodiversity loss. Complex and controversial issues associated with mining and biodiversity conservation are often simplified within a narrow frame oriented towards the negative impacts of mining at the site of extraction, rather than posed as a series of challenges for the conservation science community to embrace. Here, we synthesize core issues that, if better understood, may ensure coexistence between mining and conservation agendas. We illustrate how mining impacts biodiversity through diverse pathways and across spatial scales. We argue that traditional, site-based conservation approaches will have limited effect in preventing biodiversity loss against an increasing mining footprint, but opportunities to improve outcomes (e.g. through long-term strategic assessment and planning) do exist. While future mineral supply is uncertain, projections suggest demand will grow for many metals and shift mining operations towards more dispersed and biodiverse areas. Initiating dialogue between mining companies, policy-makers and conservation organizations is urgent, given the suite of international agendas simultaneously requiring more minerals but less biodiversity loss.

scholarly journals MODELLING LANDSCAPE MORPHODYNAMICS BY TERRESTRIAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY: AN APPLICATION TO BEACH AND FLUVIAL SYSTEMS

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B8 ◽  
pp. 1175-1182
Author(s):  
E. Sánchez-García ◽  
A. Balaguer-Beser ◽  
R. Taborda ◽  
J. E. Pardo-Pascual
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
3D Point Clouds ◽  
Pilot Channel ◽  
Terrestrial Photogrammetry

Beach and fluvial systems are highly dynamic environments, being constantly modified by the action of different natural and anthropic phenomena. To understand their behaviour and to support a sustainable management of these fragile environments, it is very important to have access to cost-effective tools. These methods should be supported on cutting-edge technologies that allow monitoring the dynamics of the natural systems with high periodicity and repeatability at different temporal and spatial scales instead the tedious and expensive field-work that has been carried out up to date. The work herein presented analyses the potential of terrestrial photogrammetry to describe beach morphology. Data processing and generation of high resolution 3D point clouds and derived DEMs is supported by the commercial Agisoft PhotoScan. Model validation is done by comparison of the differences in the elevation among the photogrammetric point cloud and the GPS data along different beach profiles. Results obtained denote the potential that the photogrammetry 3D modelling has to monitor morphological changes and natural events getting differences between 6 and 25 cm. Furthermore, the usefulness of these techniques to control the layout of a fluvial system is tested by the performance of some modeling essays in a hydraulic pilot channel.

scholarly journals Specifying the External Impact on Fluvial Lowland Evolution: The Last Glacial Tisza (Tisa) Catchment in Hungary and Serbia

Quaternary ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jef Vandenberghe ◽  
Cornelis Kasse ◽  
Dragan Popov ◽  
Slobodan Markovic ◽  
Dimitri Vandenberghe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pannonian Basin ◽  
Frozen Soil ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
External Impact ◽  
Fluvial Response ◽  
Fluvial Archives ◽  
The Last Glacial

External impact on the development of fluvial systems is generally exerted by changes in sea level, climate and tectonic movements. In this study, it is shown that a regional to local differentiation of fluvial response may be caused by semi-direct effects of climate change and tectonic movement; for example, vegetation cover, frozen soil, snow cover and longitudinal gradient. Such semi-direct effects may be responsible for specific fluvial activity resulting in specific drainage patterns, sedimentation series and erosion–accumulation rates. These conclusions are exemplified by the study of the fluvial archives of the Tis(z)a catchment in the Pannonian Basin in Hungary and Serbia from the middle of the last glacial to the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Previous investigations in that catchment are supplemented here by new geomorphological–sedimentological data and OSL-dating. Specific characteristics of this catchment in comparison with other regions are the preponderance of meandering systems during the last glacial and the presence of very large meanders in given time intervals.

scholarly journals Topographic disequilibrium, landscape dynamics and active tectonics: an example from the Bhutan Himalayas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Simoes ◽  
Timothée Sassolas-Serrayet ◽  
Rodolphe Cattin ◽  
Romain Le Roux-Mallouf ◽  
Matthieu Ferry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Active Tectonics ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Landscape Dynamics ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Equilibrium Conditions ◽  
Longitudinal Band ◽  
Active Tectonic

Abstract. The quantification of active tectonics from geomorphological and morphometric approaches most often implies that erosion and tectonics have reached a certain balance. Such equilibrium conditions may however be seldom found in nature, as questioned and documented by recent theoretical studies, in particular because drainage basins may be quite dynamic even though tectonic and climatic conditions remain constant. Here, we document this drainage dynamics from the particular case example of the Bhutan Himalayas. Evidence for out-of-equilibrium morphologies have for long been noticed in Bhutan, from major (> 1 km high) river knickpoints and from the existence of high-altitude low-relief regions within the mountain hinterland. These peculiar morphologies were generally interpreted as representing a recent change in climatic and/or tectonic conditions. To further characterize these morphologies and their dynamics, and from there discuss their origin and meaning, we perform field observations and a detailed quantitative morphometric analysis using Chi plots and Gilbert metrics of drainages over various spatial scales, from major Himalayan rivers to local streams draining the low-relief regions. We first find that the river network is highly dynamic and unstable. Our results emphasize that the morphology of Bhutan does not result from a general wave of incision propagating upstream, as expected from most previous interpretations. Also, the specific spatial organization in which all major knickpoints and low-relief regions are located along a longitudinal band in the Bhutan hinterland, whatever their spatial scale and the dimensions of the associated drainage basins, calls for a common local supporting mechanism most probably related to active tectonic uplift. From there, we discuss previous interpretations of the observed landscape in Bhutan. Our results emphasize the need for a precise documentation of landscape dynamics and disequilibrium over various spatial scales as a first-order step in morpho-tectonic studies of active landscapes.

Konzepte und Leitthemen einer ökologischen Modernisierung der Wirtschaftsgeographie

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Braun ◽  
Christian Schulz ◽  
Dietrich Soyez
Keyword(s):  
Economic Geography ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Environmental Knowledge ◽  
International Regulation ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Ecological Modernisation ◽  
Micro Level

Concepts and key issues of an ecological modernisation of economic geography. To date, economic geographers have addressed ecological problems only very hesitatingly despite the fact that an “ecologically modernised” economic geography could offer a double chance to the entire discipline. First, because there is a good opportunity to add new value to older, established approaches within the discipline. Second, because there is considerable demand for applied environmental knowledge in politics, economy and society. In our paper we will discuss several new approaches and concepts from within and from outside (economic) geography in order to present a conceptual framework for further research. In particular, we try to outline research topics and questions regarding different but fundamentally inter-connected spatial scales, namely at the macro level (national and international regulation, environmental governance), at the meso level (environmental protection in regional context) and at the micro level (environmental performance of firms).

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