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Article Reference A 1500-year record of North Atlantic storm flooding from lacustrine sediments, Shetland Islands (UK)
Severe storm flooding poses a major hazard to the coasts of north-western Europe. However, the long-term recurrence patterns of extreme coastal flooding and their governing factors are poorly understood. Therefore, high-resolution sedimentary records of past North Atlantic storm flooding are required. This multi-proxy study reconstructs storm-induced overwash processes from coastal lake sediments on the Shetland Islands using grain-size and geochemical data, and the re-analysis of historical data. The chronostratigraphy is based on Bayesian age–depth modelling using accelerator mass spectrometry 14C and 137Cs data. A high XRF-based Si/Ti ratio and the unimodal grain-size distribution link the sand layers to the beach and thus storm-induced overwash events. Periods with more frequent storm flooding occurred 980–1050, 1150–1300, 1450–1550, 1820–1900 and 1950–2000 ce, which is largely consistent with a positive North Atlantic Oscillation mode. The Little Ice Age (1400–1850 ce) shows a gap of major sand layers suggesting a southward shift of storm tracks and a seasonal variance with more storm floods in spring and autumn. Warmer phases shifted winter storm tracks towards the north-east Atlantic, indicating a possible trend for future storm-track changes and increased storm flooding in the northern North Sea region.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference No difference between critical and sprint swimming speeds for two galaxiid species
Researchers have used laboratory experiments to examine how fish might be affected by anthropogenic alterations and conclude how best to adjust fish passage and culvert remediation designs in response. A common way to document swimming performance for this purpose is measuring fish critical swimming speed (Ucrit). Nonetheless, the Ucrit protocol as defined by Brett [(1964) Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 21, 1183–1226] may be inappropriate for studying swimming performance and determining how it relates to upstream migration in benthic fish, as they may not actively swim throughout the entire Ucrit test. An alternative method to estimate swimming performance is sprint swimming speed (Usprint), which is suggested to be a measure of the burst speed of fish rather than maximum sustained swimming speed. The authors conducted comparative swimming performance experiments to evaluate whether Usprint can be used to compare swimming performance of benthic species to that of pelagic, actively swimming species. They measured individual swimming speeds of īnanga (Galaxias maculatus), an actively swimming pelagic species, and banded kōkopu (Galaxias fasciatus), a fish that exhibits benthic station-holding behaviour, using both the Usprint and Ucrit test. Experiments revealed that no significant statistical difference between swimming speeds was estimated using the Ucrit and Usprint test protocols for both G. maculatus and G. fasciatus. The result of this study suggests that fish swimming speeds obtained using these two methods are comparable for the species used in this study. By using Usprint for benthic-associated fish and Ucrit for pelagic fish, we may be able to compare a broader range of species' swimming abilities for use in a fish passage context.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Sedimentary evidence of the Late Holocene tsunami in the Shetland Islands (UK) at Loch Flugarth, northern Mainland
Tsunami deposits around the North Sea basin are needed to assess the long-term hazard of tsunamis. Here, we present sedimentary evidence of the youngest tsunami on the Shetland Islands from Loch Flugarth, a coastal lake on northern Mainland. Three gravity cores show organic-rich background sedimentation with many sub-centimetre-scale sand layers, reflecting recurring storm overwash and a sediment source limited to the active beach and uppermost subtidal zone. A basal 13-cm-thick sand layer, dated to 426–787 cal. a CE based on 14C, 137Cs and Bayesian age–depth modelling, was found in all cores. High-resolution grain-size analysis identified four normally graded or massive sublayers with inversely graded traction carpets at the base of two sublayers. A thin organic-rich ‘mud’ drape and a ‘mud’ cap cover the two uppermost sublayers, which also contain small rip-up clasts. Grain-size distributions show a difference between the basal sand layer and the coarser and better sorted storm layers above. Multivariate statistical analysis of X-ray fluorescence core scanning data also distinguishes both sand units: Zr, Fe and Ti dominate the thick basal sand, while the thin storm layers are high in K and Si. Enriched Zr and Ti in the basal sand layer, in combination with increased magnetic susceptibility, may be related to higher heavy mineral content reflecting an additional marine sediment source below the storm-wave base that is activated by a tsunami. Based on reinterpretation of chronological data from two different published sites and the chronostratigraphy of the present study, the tsunami seems to date to c. 1400 cal. a BP. Although the source of the tsunami remains unclear, the lack of evidence for this event outside of the Shetland Islands suggests that it had a local source and was smaller than the older Storegga tsunami (8.15 cal. ka BP), which affected most of the North Sea basin.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Microbiomes of aquatic animals
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Automated curve fitting and unsupervised clustering of manganese oxide Raman responses
Natural manganese oxides characterization represents a challenge due to the broad variety of their structures and geochemical compositions along with a frequent poor crystallinity. This characterization requires the ability to conduct both a phase separation and a phase association operation. In this paper, the Raman spectra acquired on a selection of natural manganese oxide minerals are first processed with an automated curve-fitting model called MnOx. The adjustment of convolution envelope is realized, thanks to the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm applied on a set of randomly generated seed pseudo-Voigt curves. The application conditions of the automated curve-fitting and, in particular, the number of seed curves are investigated with regards to the risk of overfitting. The MnOx model outputs are in a second step treated by data mining techniques and in particular by unsupervised clustering methods. This data processing shows promising results in terms of phase separation when the number of clusters is equivalent to the number of phases. By contrast, the decrease of number of clusters leads to a phase association which reflects spectral affinities between phases. This result shows the existence of 6 to 7 vibrational bands in Mn oxides Raman spectra, with contrasting behaviours between clustering. Thereby, vibrational bands located in the low wave number domain (<510 cm−1) are more mobile and therefore more sensitive to structural modifications, while bands with higher wave number are less affected by structural changes. Besides these results, Raman responses collected during this study provide new refinement regarding the spectral content of some Mn oxides in particular todorokite, nsutite, and chalcophanite.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Inproceedings Reference PSI analysis of multi-sensor archive data for urban geohazard risk management: a case-study from Brussels
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Inproceedings Reference Subsidence Related To Groundwater Pumping For Breweries in Belgium
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Inproceedings Reference Assessing Vertical Elevation Changes of Coastal Areas in Southern Chile to Improve The Understanding of Their Paleotsunami Sedimentary Records
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference Collagen stable isotopes provide insights into the end of the mammoth steppe in the central East European plains during the Epigravettian
Higher δ15N values in bone collagen of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) compared with coeval large herbivores is a classic trait of the mammoth steppe. An exception applies to the Epigravettian site of Mezhyrich (ca. 18–17.4 ka cal BP) in the central East European plains, where mammoth bones have δ15N values equivalent to or in a lower range than those of horse specimens (Equus sp.). We expanded our preliminary dataset to a larger sampling size of mammoth, other large herbivores, and carnivores from contemporaneous and nearby sites of Buzhanka 2, Eliseevichi, and Yudinovo. The unusual low mammoth δ15N values were confirmed at Buzhanka 2 and for some specimens from Eliseevichi, while most individuals from Yudinovo displayed the expected high δ15N values, meaning similar to those of the large canids. The possibility of a contrast in migration pattern is not supported since the δ34S values, a marker of mobility, do not correlate with the δ15N values of mammoth bone collagen. No clear chronological tendency could be revealed, at least not at the scale of radiocarbon dating. The low range in δ15N values is likely to reflect a change in the specific niche of the mammoth in the southern part of its distribution.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Relation between mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity, mutation rate and mitochondrial genome evolution in Melarhaphe neritoides (Gastropoda: Littorinidae) and other Caenogastropoda
Mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity is primarily caused by high mutation rates (µ) and has potential implications for mitogenome architecture and evolution. In the hyperdiverse mtDNA of Melarhaphe neritoides (Gastropoda: Littorinidae), high mutational pressure generates unusually large amounts of synonymous variation, which is expected to (1) promote changes in synonymous codon usage, (2) reflect selection at synonymous sites, (3) increase mtDNA recombination and gene rearrangement, and (4) be correlated with high mtDNA substitution rates. The mitogenome of M. neritoides was sequenced, compared to closely related littorinids and put in the phylogenetic context of Caenogastropoda, to assess the influence of mtDNA hyperdiversity and high µ on gene content and gene order. Most mitogenome features are in line with the trend in Mollusca, except for the atypical secondary structure of the methionine transfer RNA lacking the TΨC-loop. Therefore, mtDNA hyperdiversity and high µ in M. neritoides do not seem to affect its mitogenome architecture. Synonymous sites are under positive selection, which adds to the growing evidence of non-neutral evolution at synonymous sites. Under such non-neutrality, substitution rate involves neutral and non-neutral substitutions, and high µ is not necessarily associated with high substitution rate, thus explaining that, unlike high µ, a high substitution rate is associated with gene order rearrangement.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018