Os dados obtidos da topografia, da geomorfologia, do sensoriamento remoto para a região do Camacho, litoral sul de Santa Catarina, foram reunidos e integrados no SIG GRASS. Durante a ocupação desta região pela população pré-histórica, de aproximadamente 5000 anos Antes do Presente (anos AP) até 1000 anos AP, o nível médio marinho local caiu aproximadamente 2m. Como a região é muito plana, esta regressão implicou em uma grande alteração da extensão da laguna, e, portanto, da área para coleta de moluscos e para pesca. O tipo e o tamanho dos peixes capturados, cujos restos podem ser encontrados nos sítios arquológicos deixados por este povo, permitem concluir que provavelmente os antigos moradores possuiam tecnologia de pesca, como barcos e redes. Ao redor da laguna estão espalhados mais de 50 sambaquis, alguns com centenas de milhares de metros cúbicos de volume. Pesquisa em alguns destes sítios mostram que tinham a função de cemitérios. Alguns destes sambaquis são contemporâneos. Com o tempo, antigos sambaquis eram abandonados e novos começavam a ser construídos. O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir no entendimento desta ocupação através da relação espacial que os sambaquis mantinham entre si e com a paisagem ao seu redor. Com os dados da topografia foi possível construir o Modelo de Elevação Digital da região. As informações geomorfológicas, geológicas e topográficas, reunidas e integradas no SIG, permitem simular a movimentação do nível médio do mar (NMM) no período desde aproximadamente 5000 anos AP até o momento atual. Modelos desenvolvidos no GRASS mostram a lagoa como espaço principal de circulação deste povo. / Data from the Camacho region, southern coast of the Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, were collected and combined in the GIS GRASS. This region is a coastal plain, with many lagoons, and was occupied by a prehistoric population at least from c. 5,000 years before present (BP) to 1,000 years BP. In this period, the local mean sea level had fallen c. 2 m. As the region is very flat, this regression implied a reduction in the lagoon area, and consequently a reduction in the catchment area for these people. At the edges of the nowadays lagoons there are more than 50 shell mounds, some with volume greater than 100,000 m${}^3$, where the dead were buried. Some of that shell mounds are contemporary and were in use for thousand of years, but as the time passed, the ancient sites were abandoned and new sites began to be constructed. The objective of this work is to contribute to a better understanding of the spacial relationship between the shell mound and the landscape of the region. For this purpose the information about geology, geomorphology, topography, and datations were gathered and integrated in GRASS. A Digital Elevation Model was constructed and the movement of the mean sea level was simulated. The results are consistent with the occupation of the region. Other models, developed in GRASS, show that the lagoon was the main route of circulation of the prehistoric people.

In this thesis, a new computer model (tool) for the reliability-based design of rubble-mound coastal defense structures is developed in which design is carried out in a user frienly way giving outputs on time variant reliability for the predetermined lifetimes and damage levels. The model aims to perform the following steps: 1. Determine the sources of uncertainties in design parameters 2. Evaluate the damage risk of coastal structures which are at design stage and are recently constructed. 3. Study the sensitivity of limit state functions to the design parameters. Different from other reliability studies on coastal projects, a new design computer program is developed that can be easily used by everyone working in coastal engineering field.

A growing trend in Mississippian research in the archaeology of the southeastern United States stresses the need to shift away from categorizing generalizations (e.g., the concept of chiefdoms) that have been used to characterize Mississippi-period (A.D. 1000-1600) societies and advocates elucidating the unique occupational histories of Mississippian communities. This dissertation follows this trend with the goal of identifying and interpreting the particular historical and developmental trajectory of the Yon mound and village site (8Li2), a Fort Walton Mississippian site situated in the middle Apalachicola River valley, northwest Florida. Since its initial recording by Clarence Bloomfield Moore at the turn of the 20th century, Yon has been intermittently investigated by various researchers, but the data from these multiple investigations until now have been severely underreported or not reported at all. In this dissertation, these archaeological data from Yon are synthesized and used to identify the site's particular developmental history. The study proceeds through a careful examination of Yon's radiocarbon dates, artifact assemblage, platform mound construction, structural remains, and to a lesser extent, subsistence data, in an effort to tease apart its occupational components and contextualize them within the wider Fort Walton and Mississippian milieu. To this end, particular attention is given to the wider Fort Walton manifestation of the Apalachicola-lower Chattahoochee River valley and the Rood and later Lamar Mississippian regional variants that were located upriver from Yon in the upper reaches of the lower Chattahoochee River valley. This study demonstrates that Yon emerged rather precipitously as a Middle Fort Walton period center circa A.D.1200, a time marked by initial mound construction and the first intense village occupation at the site, which was preceded only by a very small, pre-Fort Walton, Swift Creek occupation there around A.D. 320. Probable antecedent events at a nearby Fort Walton mound center, Cayson (8Ca3), as well as contact with Rood Mississippian groups to the north are hypothesized as influencing Yon's Middle Fort Walton development and florescence. Evidence indicates that this initial Middle Fort Walton occupation was followed by an occupation of Lamar groups. Regional data and radiocarbon evidence from Yon suggest that this Lamar component likely began during protohistoric times (circa A.D. 1600) and continued into the late seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries. It is hypothesized that this Lamar occupation was the result of Lamar groups migrating down the lower Chattahoochee-Apalachicola River in the wake of European contact. As a whole, this study represents the most complete documentation of the occupational history of any Fort Walton mound center to date. As such, it can provide an important foundation for future studies of Fort Walton mound centers and sites in the Apalachicola-lower Chattahoochee River region.

University of South Florida field investigations in northwest Florida’s Apalachicola Valley have resulted in the relocation of some lost mounds from the Middle Woodland period (ca. A.D. 1 to 650) by trekking through the forest and consulting with avocationals and collectors. This thesis project was triggered by a collector’s donation of some Swift Creek pots and the attempt to relocate the mound from which they came. In the 1970s, Gardner and Nidy recorded this site, named Poplar Springs Mound, categorized as Middle Woodland due to its Swift Creek and Weeden Island pottery. The donated collection contained pottery of the Swift Creek Complicated-Stamped series, Weeden Island series, and a couple of anomalous Mississippian sherds. To see how this mound fit in with other Middle Woodland mounds of the valley, it was necessary to compile data for all of them and relocate as many mounds as possible through additional survey. Artifact types from these mounds, such as pottery, shell, bone, and exotic materials, and burial practices were tabulated and spatial distributions were plotted. The mounds are distributed along the banks of the main navigable waterways of the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers, on smaller streams and along the Gulf Coast. Nearly all have both Swift Creek and early Weeden Island ceramics, except for three with only Swift Creek types and a single site with only Weeden Island types. The artifact distributions show stone, bone, and shell tools clustering close to the coast and the main waterways. This is also the case for exotic (nonlocal) raw materials and artifacts made from these materials. Copper is distributed mainly along the coast, while other exotics (i.e. mica, galena, hematite) are located along the coast and close to the main rivers. The tabulation of these data, along with the documentation of the Poplar Springs Mound collection, will help archaeologists to see the manifestation of Middle Woodland ceremonial activity in the Apalachicola Valley.

During a volcanic eruption, the extrusion of lava onto surfaces destroys biological activity creating virgin land surfaces. Through time this new land will be subject to soil formation and colonisation under relatively similar climatic conditions and parent materials. Soils formed from volcanic deposits present a unique opportunity to study microbial community development. Soils at different developmental stages and differing in vegetation cover were selected from four locations on the slopes of Mount Etna, Sicily. Three main research objectives were determined in order to test the hypothesis that the microbial communities from soils at later stages of development would have a greater biomass, be more diverse, be more efficient at utilising carbon sources and recover from an environmental disturbance at a greater rate. A field experiment was conducted to ascertain the long term in situ catabolic abilities of the microbial communities in each soil and to establish the effects of litter mixing on decomposition rate. Litter bags containing either Genista aetnensis (Etnean Broom), Pinus nigra (Corsican Pine) or a mixture of the two were buried at each of the sites and their decomposition monitored over a 2.5 year period. PLFA diversity, community composition and function was assessed for each of the soils. The soils were also subject to a disturbance and the recovery of key community parameters was monitored over a six month period in order to establish each soil community’s resistance and resilience to disturbance. A laboratory experiment was conducted in order to investigate functional diversity and decomposition functions of each soil community using a range of simple and complex substrates. The relationship between PLFA diversity and functional diversity was also investigated. No correlation was found between soil C and N contents, microbial biomass or soil respiration and soil developmental stage and there was no detectable difference in litter bag mass loss between the soil types. No non- additive effects were noted in mixed litters. The more developed soil had a greater PLFA diversity and PLFA biomass however the more developed soil was not more resistant or resilient to disturbance. Developed soils showed greater catabolic diversity compared with less developed soils broadly correlating with PLFA diversity. Despite increased PLFA diversity and functional diversity in the more developed soils, residue decomposition in situ was unaffected. Reduced PLFA diversity and community complexity did not result in reduced function. Soils at different developmental stages had similar catabolic responses and were able to degrade simple and complex substrates to a similar degree. Microbial diversity in soil has the potential to be very high thus resulting in a high rate of functional redundancy i.e. many species within the same community which have the same functional role. It is possible that only a few key functional groups present within the soil community contribute to the main decomposition function within the soil and were able to maintain function during perturbation. Both Etna soils had similar PLFA’s present in similar concentrations and these groups in general were maintained during disturbance. This suggests that total microbial community diversity may not be as important to community function as the presence of key functional groups.

There are some empirical formulas used in the design of rubble mound breakwaters to find the weight of armour layer stone. The effect of wave grouping and spectral shape could not put into these design formulas since their effects are still under question. The influences of wave groups and spectral shape on the stability of rubble mound breakwaters have been investigated by several researchers up to now. However, results were not conclusive in these researches, where different wave grouping and spectral shape parameters were used. This study aims to investigate the influences of wave groups and spectral shape on the stability of rubble mound breakwaters by means of hydraulic model experiments. According to the result of the experiments, the damage to breakwater armour layer is almost same for different spectrum shapes and pronounced wave grouping, under the condition of similar wave statistics. Experiments also indicated that the wave trains with same significant wave height, H1/3, but with different distribution of the heights of extreme waves which were defined as wave heights higher than H1/3 in this study, cause different damage levels. Based on these results, extended experiments were conducted to observe the effect of heights of extreme waves in a wave train on the stability of rubble mound breakwaters. Results of the experiments showed that the higher the extreme waves are, the more destructive the wave train is. By carrying experimental results into design conditions, it was shown that a wave train with high extreme waves may affect the design weight of armour stone. Finally, in order to achieve more practical tools for engineering applications, occurrence probabilities of extreme waves under different spectral shapes were obtained by a numerical simulation. As a result, for different occurrence probabilities of extreme waves under the most widely used spectrums of PM and JONSWAP, necessary weight of armour stone was given in a range comparing with the formula of Meer. Moreover, it was noted that the spectral shape indirectly affects the stability not due to the wave grouping but due to the extreme waves in a wave train since the occurrence probability of the high extreme waves becomes higher as the spectral shape becomes narrower under same significant wave height condition.

Coastal defense structures have primary importance from obtainabilty of resources and benefits served by the coastal regions point of view. However, the construction of coastal defense structures demand a high amount of investment. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of collapse of these structures, model studies should be carried during the design process. In this study, model investigations were carried out on Eastern Black Sea Highway Project regarding the serviceability and damage thus stability parameters. 5 different models were constructed as berm type rubble-mound breakwaters using Van Der Meer&rsquo / s approach and berm design guidelines, with a scale of 1/31.08 and they were tested both for breaking and non-breaking waves. The experiments took place in the Coastal and Harbor Engineering Laboratory of the Middle East Technical University, Civil Engineering Department. The models were constructed and tested with different berm widths and armor stone sizes forming the back armor layer in order to examine the effect of these design parameters on the stability and serviceability of the coastal defense structure to obtain the optimum alternative cross-section. Cumulative damage was minimum for the cross-section constructed with berm width 15 m assigning the width of the prototype. Water spray and run-up values were also not significant. The test results were confirming with Van Der Meer design approach.

Experimental mechanical sieving methods are applied to samples of shellfish remains from three sites in southeast Queensland, Seven Mile Creek Mound, Sandstone Point and One-Tree, to test the efficacy of various recovery and quantification procedures commonly applied to shellfish assemblages in Australia. There has been considerable debate regarding the most appropriate sieve sizes and quantification methods that should be applied in the recovery of vertebrate faunal remains. Few studies, however, have addressed the impact of recovery and quantification methods on the interpretation of invertebrates, specifically shellfish remains. In this study, five shellfish taxa representing four bivalves (Anadara trapezia, Trichomya hirsutus, Saccostrea glomerata, Donax deltoides) and one gastropod (Pyrazus ebeninus) common in eastern Australian midden assemblages are sieved through 10mm, 6.3mm and 3.15mm mesh. Results are quantified using MNI, NISP and weight. Analyses indicate that different structural properties and pre- and postdepositional factors affect recovery rates. Fragile taxa (T. hirsutus) or those with foliated structure (S. glomerata) tend to be overrepresented by NISP measures in smaller sieve fractions, while more robust taxa (A. trapezia and P. ebeninus) tend to be overrepresented by weight measures. Results demonstrate that for all quantification methods tested a 3mm sieve should be used on all sites to allow for regional comparability and to effectively collect all available information about the shellfish remains.

Experimental mechanical sieving methods are applied to samples of shellfish remains from three sites in southeast Queensland, Seven Mile Creek Mound, Sandstone Point and One-Tree, to test the efficacy of various recovery and quantification procedures commonly applied to shellfish assemblages in Australia. There has been considerable debate regarding the most appropriate sieve sizes and quantification methods that should be applied in the recovery of vertebrate faunal remains. Few studies, however, have addressed the impact of recovery and quantification methods on the interpretation of invertebrates, specifically shellfish remains. In this study, five shellfish taxa representing four bivalves (Anadara trapezia, Trichomya hirsutus, Saccostrea glomerata, Donax deltoides) and one gastropod (Pyrazus ebeninus) common in eastern Australian midden assemblages are sieved through 10mm, 6.3mm and 3.15mm mesh. Results are quantified using MNI, NISP and weight. Analyses indicate that different structural properties and pre- and postdepositional factors affect recovery rates. Fragile taxa (T. hirsutus) or those with foliated structure (S. glomerata) tend to be overrepresented by NISP measures in smaller sieve fractions, while more robust taxa (A. trapezia and P. ebeninus) tend to be overrepresented by weight measures. Results demonstrate that for all quantification methods tested a 3mm sieve should be used on all sites to allow for regional comparability and to effectively collect all available information about the shellfish remains.

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 2000. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 4, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Frederick D. Drake (chair), Lawrence W. McBride, M. Paul Holsinger, L. Moody Simms. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-254) and abstract. Also available in print.