Bibliography: leaves 97-100. / This dissertation forms part of a process which began when DANCED initiated the first stages of a project aimed at aiding the Namibian Government in the development of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management _Plan for the coastline of the Erongo Region. DANCED requested the assistance of the MPhil students, from the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science of the University of Cape Town, in the compilation of a baseline report for the region. The first step involved the collection and synthesis of baseline data on all environmental factors (natural and social) pertaining to the Erongo Region. This was followed by individual research dissertations by each member of the class. After review of the Baseline Report, the greater Walvis Bay 'bay area ' was identified as a priority area in terms of coastal zone management of the Erongo Region. The aim of this dissertation is thus to provide an environmental overview of the Walvis Bay ' bay area' that can assist planners and relevant authorities in the effective management the area. Firstly, the importance of the study area as a conservation area is established. It is noted that the Walvis Bay wetland is one of the top five most important wetland areas in Africa. Secondly, there is little co-ordination and communication between the authorities that have jurisdiction over portions of the study area and this has led to ineffective management of the area. Thirdly, the study area is defined and the major human activities operating within the study area are identified and described.

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A unique opportunity to study both benthic microbial mats and modern stromatolites from a common niche is presented by the hypersaline environment of Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Australia. However, prior to this study, the microbial mat communities have not been well characterised. To investigate the taxonomic and functional diversity of Hamelin Pool pustular and smooth mats, and their similarity to Hamelin Pool stromatolites, culturing, culture-independent, and lipid analysis methods were employed. The cultured isolates obtained included heterotrophic bacteria similar to those obtained from other hypersaline environments, and 19 strains of cyanobacteria including potentially novel species. For the first time archaeal isolates were obtained from the pustular and smooth mats, and further characterisation of two strains indicated they might represent novel species of the genus Haloferax. Total DNA was extracted from the mats and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were generated targeting the bacteria, cyanobacteria, archaea and eukarya. Both the pustular and smooth mat bacterial clone libraries were highly diverse, with 11 bacterial divisions represented, and Chao1 estimates of total species richness indicating ~3000 ??? 6000 species. Cyanobacterial and archaeal clone libraries revealed unique phylotypes associated with sediments of differing morphology. Statistically significant differences between the mat populations and Hamelin Pool stromatolite communities were identified using !-LIBSHUFF, a program designed to compare two 16S rRNA gene libraries. Signature lipid biomarkers were assessed for the pustular and smooth mats and an intertidal stromatolite from Hamelin Pool. Fatty acids (as methyl esters), wax esters, hydrocarbons, ether-bound lipids, hopanoids and sterols indicated the presence of oxygenic phototrophs, anoxygenic phototrophs, sulfate-reducing bacteria, sulfur-oxidising bacteria, heterotrophic bacteria and archaea in each of the sediment types. Limited contributions from diatoms, bivalves and their dinoflagellate symbionts, and from higher plant aerosols were also detected. Significantly, 2-methyl hopanoids and eight pseudohomologous series of branched alkanes with quaternary carbon centers were identified in the mats and stromatolites. Although differing in lithification status and precise microbial composition, the pustular and smooth mats are excellent analogues for the extant stromatolites of Hamelin Pool, and by corollary, provide a fascinating link to Precambrian microbial communities.

Field archaeology is the study of surface features of archaeological sites (Crawford 1960: 36). It is concerned not only with the location of sites for excavation, but with their distributions and relationships in time and space. A sequence of field monuments in an area can be difficult to reconstruct, as the information necessary for dating of sites may be not be obtainable from interpretation of surface features alone. The landscape, on which human activities may leave visible traces, is palimpsestic (ibid: 51) : human activity may erase previous traces, or merely add to them. Superposition of remains, resulting from the continued occupation of a particular location, may not necessarily leave visible traces, and if it does, the traces may represent an accumulation of activities, or the remains of only the most recent. A landscape may include sites representing human occupation at different times in the past. The survival of traces of activity as archaeological surface features depends on the extent to which natural features of the landscape are permanently modified. The recognition of these traces depends on the ability of the field archaeologist to interpret the landscape. The geographical context of archaeological sites is the present-day landscape, but study of the site necessitates consideration both of this context and also of environmental features obtaining at the time the site was occupied. Reconstruction and interpretation of both landscape and site are necessary: the site, once the human activity leading to its recognition by the field archaeologist has ceased, is subject to the same agents of change as the landscape. The interpretation of archaeological sites rests chiefly on excavation. Once a type of site has been examined throughly by excavation, the resulting interpretations may be transferred to other similar, but unexcavated sites. Such inferences can be very specific, or quite general. Frequently the surface form of a site gives little indication of whether predictable or exceptional features will be found on excavation-- Chapter One.

Using the Jervis Bay nuclear power project as its centrepiece, this thesis examines the Australian Government’s attitudes and policies towards electric power generation using nuclear technology from the earliest beginnings as the technology was developed during the 1940s to the cancellation of the Jervis Bay project in 1971. It explores the key influences on this policy and examines the extent to which each had a direct influence in the planning of the Jervis Bay project, in particular: the demand for increased economic capacity, the possibility of a nuclear defence deterrent and the significance of Australia’s uranium reserves. The thesis interprets policy at a variety of levels, from the complex arena of diplomatic and strategic relations, to the responses of the public and the scientific community. / This thesis argues that the Jervis Bay project was end product of a long and detailed policy development process, spanning over twenty years. Though the influences which shaped this development varied, the centre of this bi-partisan support for peaceful nuclear technology was always the goal that Australia would one day have commercial nuclear power plant. However, it will also demonstrate that such lengthy preparations are no guarantee for success. The project would ultimately be cancelled as a series of technological, economic and political problems conspired to undermine those careful preparations. As Australians continue to debate the possibility of introducing nuclear power, this thesis not only highlights some potential challenges in the introduction of nuclear policy, but also the challenge of gaining and maintaining support for any major national technology or infrastructure project.

Graduation date: 1980

Physical sources of nutrient nitrogen for the Auke Bay, Alaska estuarine ecosystem were investigated. These sources included vertical dispersion, advection, and fresh water sources. Hydrographic circulation patterns for the bay, and a nutrient budget for the surface mixed layer were developed. Measurements of temperature, salinity, currents, wind velocity, rainfall and runoff from the major streams and river influencing Auke Bay were made during the spring and summer of 1971. initial hydrographic and nutrient data (total available nitrogen and nitrate) from early spring were taken during a cruise of R/V Cayuse. Nutrient concentration of nitrate and ammonia in Auke Bay and the fresh water sources entering Auke Bay were measured on a weekly basis from July to September. Vertical mixing rates of 0.42 cubic meters per day were calculated for those times wind mixing did not occur. Mixing rates of 1.2 cubic meters/day were calculated for wind mixed conditions. Vertical dispersion through the pycnocline provided the major source of nutrients for summer phytoplankton production. Fresh water sources provided negligible amounts of nutrients. Average vertical transport of nitrate and ammonia when wind mixing did not occur were 0.5 mg-at/m²/day and 0.3 mg-at/m²/day respectively. During wind mixing, 3.0 mg-at/m²/day for nitrate and 2.0 mg-at/m²/day for ammonia were supplied to the mixed layer. Estimate productivity based on these calculations ranges from an average 100 mgC/m²/day during non wind mixed conditions to 600 mgC/m²/day during wind mixed conditions. / Graduation date: 1973