No description available.

A field campaign was conducted in March and April 2015 in the Kananaskis Valley of Alberta to investigate the formation and characteristics of ice crystals and solid precipitation particles in the lee of the Rocky Mountains. This thesis examines data from 11 storms producing mainly light precipitation within generally sub-saturated surface and near-surface conditions. Instruments utilized include soundings, radar images, and surface observations, but the focus is on the analysis of 1,183 microphotographic images of precipitation particles. The particles (diameters up to 24 mm) were placed into 12 categories with rimed irregular snow particles being most common. Unrimed and rimed particles were commonly (14% of images) observed simultaneously and 62% of particles were rimed. Rimed, dense particles were less likely to sublimate before reaching the surface in the dry sub-cloud region that was at least partially a result of the air aloft being directed mainly towards the east and ‘downslope’. / February 2017

We investigated the climatic sensitivity of oak species across a wide elevation range in the southern Appalachian Mountains, an area where greater knowledge of oak sensitivity is desired. We developed three tree-ring chronologies for climatic analyses from oak cores taken from the Jefferson National Forest, Virginia, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. We statistically compared the three chronologies with monthly climatic data from 1930 to 2005. The results of our analyses suggest that oak species in the southern Appalachian Mountains require a cool, moist summer for above average-growth to occur. The climate signal increased in duration from high to low elevational and latitudinal gradients, indicating a strong moisture-preconditioning signal during the previous fall at our lowest elevation site. A notable finding of this research was the degree of responsiveness in oaks that are growing in forest interior locations where strong climate sensitivity would not be expected because of the effects of internal stand dynamics. Furthermore, the relationships between evapotranspiration rates and the geographic factors of elevation, latitude, and aspect influence the climate signals at the three sites. Our research suggests that oaks located in a warm and xeric climate experience more physiological stress and put forth a more varied climatic response.

Title: The project of educational cycling trails in Protected Landscape Area of Eagle mountains  Objective The aim of this work is to create prject of three cycling trails, with three degrees of difficulty in eagle mountains area. The trails will be shown in information brochure with photos and information about this area. The brochure will be available in tourist information centre and online on some web page. Methods Analyzes of existing trails in this area, searching for information about interesting places, history and geografical points. Consulting and verifying this information with people from Eagle mountains PLA (Protected Landscepe Area) organization and interviewing locals about this area. Verifying trails by group of cyclists. Results The result of this thesis is a brochure with three bicycle educational trails in eagle mountains. The brochure contains maps, photos, cultural stops and other informatin about this area. Key words: Eagle mountains, educational trail, bicycling Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Title: The project of educational cycling trails in Protected Landscape Area of Eagle mountains Objective The aim of this work is to create prject of three cycling trails, with three degrees of difficulty in eagle mountains area. The trails will be shown in information brochure with photos and information about this area. The brochure will be available in tourist information centre and on ČD (Czech railways ) and CHKO (www.chko.cz) web pages for free download. Methods Analyzes of existing trails in this area, searching for information about interesting places, history and geografical points. Consulting and verifying this information with people from Eagle mountains PLA (Protected Landscepe Area) organization and interviewing locals about this area. Verifying trails by group of cyclists. Results The result is a brochure with three bicycle educational tracks in eagle mountains. The brochure contains maps, photos, cultural stops and other informatin about this area. Key words: Eagle mountains, bicycle track, protected area, bicysle trail, Educational trail

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2015. / Mountains are one of the most important and yet environmentally sensitive habitats in the world, they act as reservoirs of species, and have frequently served as refugia for organisms during periods of climate change and provided subsequent sources for speciation. As temperatures increase due to global climate change, species are shifting to higher altitudes to escape the effects of warming at lower altitudes. The spatial distribution and diversity of alpine vegetation is strongly influenced by environmental factors such as snow cover, solar radiation, soil moisture, humidity, and air/ground temperature. Snow cover is one of the most important factors controlling ground level microclimate and alpine plant growth. My study was undertaken near Kotisephola Pass at ca. 3300 m.a.s.l. in eastern Lesotho. Three zones were identified namely, upper, middle and lower zones at the site, as a result of vegetation differences that were observed along a 30 m transect from the rock scarp to the tussock grasses. The environmental variables of temperature, soil moisture, solar radiation, snow depth and humidity were measured over a period of 17 months using i-Buttons, Hobo and Tinytag data loggers, probes, solar radiation and temperature data loggers. Vegetation sampling was undertaken to determine aerial cover, and species composition, richness and diversity during the summer growing season of January and February 2013. The study site portrays strong fine-scale botanical micro-zonation owing to ground level microclimatic differentiation as a consequence of topographic (i.e rock scarp) shading and snow capture. Temperatures were >5 °C warmer in the upper zone from July – September 2012 due to the deep (1 m) snow cover which lasted for two months longer than in the middle zone, and only lasted for 36 hours in the lower zone. Accordingly, the upper zone had the lowest solar radiation throughout the data collection period due to the continuous snow cover and shading from the rock scarp. Three botanical zones were identified as characterised by different Helichrysum species. The upper zone (21 species) was more species rich than the the middle (19) and lower (18) zones. The vegetation is dominated by grasses which cover >35% of the study site, whilst herbs and shrubs cover only ca. 6% with an average of 12.3% bare ground. The strong zonation in plant species composition is a response to the fine spatial-scale changes in the environment, resulting from snow cover acting in ameliorating the harsh iii alpine conditions in winter. More detailed research on a larger scale is still required to fully comprehend phenology and morphology of the plants at the study region.

https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1167/thumbnail.jpg

The Little Drum Mountains represent a deeply eroded Eocene-Oligocene volcano, consisting of a vent complex which erupted mafic flows and flow breccias, accompanied by lahars. Flows are dominated by members of the shoshonite suite and contain up to 3.95 percent K2O, mainly occult in K-rich glass, with K2O/Na2O ratios greater than 1.0. In a few interbedded flows, apparently of the calc-alkaline series, pyroxene with varying amounts of plagioclase in a fine-grained groundmass of plagioclase, mafic minerals, and interstitial glass. An ash-flow tuff of the Oligocene Needles Range Formation unconformably overlies the volcanic sequence. Contemporaneous eruptions of calc-alkaline and shoshonitic lavas are possibly related to different depths of magna derivation corresponding to two mid-Cenozoic imbricate subduction zones beneath the western United States.

The northern slopes of the Uinta Mountains, Utah were previously glaciated and contain many landslides. The Tokewanna Landslide is very large and lacks Quaternary faults. Presumably, increased moisture was the failure trigger. A Quaternary climate record from a cored fen, developed in a small basin between hummocks, was reconstructed using sediment pyrolysis, biomass balance, and magnetic susceptibility. Pyrolysis is used to define Hydrogen Indices that are used to delineate wetter and drier conditions based on the kerogen type - Type III being drier, and Type II wetter. The data were matched to a time/depth curve and compared to other Uinta Mountains climate studies. Pyrolysis, biomass balance, and magnetic susceptibility results indicate drier to wetter conditions from ~11,027 to ~8,800 cal yr BP. This was followed by an increase in precipitation, peaking ~8,060 cal yr BP, and then decreasing. Drying conditions ensued after ~4,800 cal yr BP, and from ~1,700 cal yr BP to modern. Regional studies suggest mid-Holocene Epoch warming; some also indicate increased precipitation during those periods. A study at nearby Little Lyman Lake (Tingstad et al., 2011) displays a plankton percent record similar to the wetness record of the study fen. The fen core record does not indicate wet conditions at its base as expected. The record begins ~11,000 cal yr BP and likely represents an incomplete history of this Holocene fen, as the base of the wetland deposits was not reached.

Geologic mapping (1:24,000 scale) of the Ice Cave Peak quadrangle, Uintah and Duchesne Counties, Utah has produced a better understanding of the geologic structures present in the quadrangle and has increased our understanding of faulting in northeastern Utah. Map units in the quadrangle range in age from late Neoproterozoic to Quaternary and include good exposures of Paleozoic rocks (Mississippian to Permian), limited exposures of Mesozoic rocks, and good exposures of Tertiary strata (Duchesne River Formation and Bishop Conglomerate) deposited during uplift of the Uinta Mountains. Lower Mississippian strata along the south flank of the Uinta Mountains have typically been mapped as Madison Limestone. Our preliminary mapping suggested that the Madison could perhaps be subdivided into an upper unit equivalent to the Deseret Limestone, and a lower unit separated by a phosphatic interval equivalent to the Delle Phosphatic Member of the Deseret Limestone found farther west. Upon further investigation, we propose not extending the use of Deseret Limestone, with the equivalent to the Delle Phosphatic Member at its base, into the south-central Uinta Mountains. Microprobe analysis revealed no phosphorus in thin sections of this unit. Instead, the unit is composed almost entirely of calcite and dolomite. A zone of northwest-trending faults, called the Deep Creek fault zone, occurs mainly east of the Ice Cave Peak quadrangle. However, our mapping shows that this fault zone extends into the quadrangle. These faults are both strike-slip and normal/oblique faults as documented by mapping and kinematic indicators and cut the folded hanging-wall sedimentary rocks above the Uinta Basin-Mountain boundary thrust fault. These faults may be part of an en echelon fault system that is rooted in the Neoproterozoic and reactivated during Laramide deformation above a possible transfer zone between segments of the buried boundary thrust.