Master of Science / Granular activated carbon (GAC) is a treatment technology commonly used in drinking water treatment. Recently, a maximum contaminant limit (MCL) has been proposed for a group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of chemicals that have been used in many consumer products and industrial applications. GAC is capable of the treatment of PFAS below the MCL, but in many water sources competing contaminants are present that are also removed by GAC, reducing the capacity for PFAS removal. This requires more frequent replacement of the carbon media and greatly increases the cost of the treatment. Surface modification can be performed to increase the removal capacity and specificity of the GAC, allowing more of its removal capacity to be used for PFAS. Surface modification is performed by coating the GAC in a chemical that is then immobilized on the carbon through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. As GAC and many micropollutants treated by GAC, including the regulated PFAS, are negative, performing surface modification using a positive chemical increases the removal capacity of the carbon. Bench-scale tests using fully exhausted carbon showed PFAS removal following up-flow and influent addition surface modification.

<p>This thesis documents the development and application of a unique database orientated software package, BugsCEP, for environmental and climatic reconstruction from fossil beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages. The software tools are described, and the incorporated statistical methods discussed and evaluated with respect to both published modern and fossil data, as well as the author’s own investigations.</p><p>BugsCEP consists of a reference database of ecology and distribution data for over 5 800 taxa, and includes temperature tolerance data for 436 species. It also contains abundance and summary data for almost 700 sites - the majority of the known Quaternary fossil coleopteran record of Europe. Sample based dating evidence is stored for a large number of these sites, and the data are supported by a bibliography of over 3 300 sources. Through the use of built in statistical methods, employing a specially developed habitat classification system (Bugs EcoCodes), semi-quantitative environmental reconstructions can be undertaken, and output graphically, to aid in the interpretation of sites. A number of built in searching and reporting functions also increase the efficiency with which analyses can be undertaken, including the facility to list the fossil record of species found by searching the ecology and distribution data. The existing Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) climate reconstruction method is implemented and improved upon in BugsCEP, as BugsMCR, which includes predictive modelling and the output of graphs and climate space maps.</p><p>The evaluation of the software demonstrates good performance when compared to existing interpretations. The standardization method employed in habitat reconstructions, designed to enable the inter-comparison of samples and sites without the interference of differing numbers of species and individuals, also appears to be robust and effective. Quantitative climate reconstructions can be easily undertaken from within the software, as well as an amount of predictive modelling. The use of jackknifing variants as an aid to the interpretation of climate reconstructions is discussed, and suggested as a potential indicator of reliability. The combination of the BugStats statistical system with an enhanced MCR facility could be extremely useful in increasing our understanding of not only past environmental and climate change, but also the biogeography and ecology of insect populations in general.</p><p>BugsCEP is the only available software package integrating modern and fossil coleopteran data, and the included reconstruction and analysis tools provide a powerful resource for research and teaching in palaeo-environmental science. The use of modern reference data also makes the package potentially useful in the study of present day insect faunas, and the effects of climate and environmental change on their distributions. The reconstruction methods could thus be inverted, and used as predictive tools in the study of biodiversity and the implications of sustainable development policies on present day habitats.</p><p>BugsCEP can be downloaded from http://www.bugscep.com</p>

<p>Three long sediment cores (BDP-98 – 600 m, BDP-96 – 200 m and BDP-93 – 100 m) drilled in Lake Baikal (Siberia) have been studied with the aims of establishing an absolute chronology and reconstructing paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in the region. The location of the lake at relatively high latitude and continental interior and a thick continuous sedimentary archive that developed in a rift system tectonic setting provide unique material for this investigation. The cosmogenic isotope ¹⁰Be was used for dating and the results indicate time spans of 8 (+0.8\-0.6) Myr for BDP-98, 5.5 (±0.13) Myr for BDP-96 and >0.7 Myr for BDP-93. Two major sedimentary facies (deltaic and hemipelagic) are distinguished by textural geochemical and mineralogical data. Detrital mineral composition suggests negligible change in provenance during the period studied. Formation of authigenic minerals, such as framboidal pyrite, vivianite and siderite, reflects variable environmental conditions in the lake and climate change in the region. Biogenic silica content shows climatic influence, which is modified by the supply of detrital material and postdepositional alterations. ¹⁰Be dating, combined with lithological analysis of the sediments, makes it possible to place temporal constrains on climate cooling at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (5 Myr ago) and at the Early/Late Pliocene boundary (3.6 Myr ago) as well as the beginning of the northern hemisphere glaciation at about 2.5–2.6 Myr ago. The regional east-west tectonic extension of south-east Asia, related to Tibetan Plateau uplift, was confined in the Baikal area to between about 7 and 5 Myr ago, with a rifting rate calculated at 7 mm year^-1. Furthermore, the ¹⁰Be data suggest that geomagnetic field intensity strengthened around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary.</p>

Three long sediment cores (BDP-98 – 600 m, BDP-96 – 200 m and BDP-93 – 100 m) drilled in Lake Baikal (Siberia) have been studied with the aims of establishing an absolute chronology and reconstructing paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in the region. The location of the lake at relatively high latitude and continental interior and a thick continuous sedimentary archive that developed in a rift system tectonic setting provide unique material for this investigation. The cosmogenic isotope 10Be was used for dating and the results indicate time spans of 8 (+0.8\-0.6) Myr for BDP-98, 5.5 (±0.13) Myr for BDP-96 and &gt;0.7 Myr for BDP-93. Two major sedimentary facies (deltaic and hemipelagic) are distinguished by textural geochemical and mineralogical data. Detrital mineral composition suggests negligible change in provenance during the period studied. Formation of authigenic minerals, such as framboidal pyrite, vivianite and siderite, reflects variable environmental conditions in the lake and climate change in the region. Biogenic silica content shows climatic influence, which is modified by the supply of detrital material and postdepositional alterations. 10Be dating, combined with lithological analysis of the sediments, makes it possible to place temporal constrains on climate cooling at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (5 Myr ago) and at the Early/Late Pliocene boundary (3.6 Myr ago) as well as the beginning of the northern hemisphere glaciation at about 2.5–2.6 Myr ago. The regional east-west tectonic extension of south-east Asia, related to Tibetan Plateau uplift, was confined in the Baikal area to between about 7 and 5 Myr ago, with a rifting rate calculated at 7 mm year-1. Furthermore, the 10Be data suggest that geomagnetic field intensity strengthened around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary.

Numerous flights of Quaternary marine terraces are present around the island of Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean. These terraces are a result of the global eustatic sea-level curve and local tectonism. Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 through MIS 13 terraces are identified, mapped and dated. Palaeoshoreline elevation, an excellent indicator for a past sea–level, and new numerical geochronology are used to calculate an Upper Pleistocene uplift rate for various coastal sectors. Southwestern Cyprus presents the highest uplift rates of 0.35-0.65 mm/year with other sections suggesting uplift of 0.07-0.15 mm/year. This Upper Pleistocene tectonic signal is attributed to an active offshore subduction/collision system to the southwest of Cyprus, evidenced from the seismic activity offshore and the surface expression of a blind thrust fault in the Pafos region. Soil chronosequences and geology in southwestern Cyprus are studied in order to understand the Quaternary development on this uplifting landscape. Soil profile properties are used to calculate a profile development index (PDI), a method often applied to geomorphic surfaces as a relative dating method. Well-developed red and clayey soils occur in the coastal sector, on broad and low-angle surfaces, specifically on marine terraces and alluvial fans. Higher elevations of steep slopes consisting of carbonate and ophiolite lithologies host poorly developed soils. Results show variable PDI's on uplifted terraces, obscured by transported materials, active alluvial fan buildup and hillslope erosion. Calcium carbonate build-up in soil profiles in the form of nodular and laminar accumulations are used as another relative dating method. Geochronology of marine terraces is used as an age range approximation for carbonate stages. Geomorphologic mapping focuses on the southeastern part of the Pafos thrust fault, the only point on the landscape where this otherwise blind fault is exposed on the surface. This is the location of Palaipafos, an important Ancient polity, today the site of the village of Kouklia. Geoarchaeological study suggests little landscape change over the last 4000 years in the vicinity of the urban core of Palaipafos, this being attributed to bedrock and landscape resistance of its location, a plateau at 80 m amsl. Copper deposits in the Palaipafos hinterland had provided a valuable resource at one time. Soil and water resources continue to sustain agriculture.Tectonic uplift in this part of the Pafos thrust fault is estimated to be 2.1mm/year, considered, together with Late Holocene sea-level change responsible for the shifting locations and eventual abandonment of the Palaipafos harbor in the coastal lowlands. / Graduation date: 2013

This thesis documents the development and application of a unique database orientated software package, BugsCEP, for environmental and climatic reconstruction from fossil beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages. The software tools are described, and the incorporated statistical methods discussed and evaluated with respect to both published modern and fossil data, as well as the author’s own investigations. BugsCEP consists of a reference database of ecology and distribution data for over 5 800 taxa, and includes temperature tolerance data for 436 species. It also contains abundance and summary data for almost 700 sites - the majority of the known Quaternary fossil coleopteran record of Europe. Sample based dating evidence is stored for a large number of these sites, and the data are supported by a bibliography of over 3 300 sources. Through the use of built in statistical methods, employing a specially developed habitat classification system (Bugs EcoCodes), semi-quantitative environmental reconstructions can be undertaken, and output graphically, to aid in the interpretation of sites. A number of built in searching and reporting functions also increase the efficiency with which analyses can be undertaken, including the facility to list the fossil record of species found by searching the ecology and distribution data. The existing Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) climate reconstruction method is implemented and improved upon in BugsCEP, as BugsMCR, which includes predictive modelling and the output of graphs and climate space maps. The evaluation of the software demonstrates good performance when compared to existing interpretations. The standardization method employed in habitat reconstructions, designed to enable the inter-comparison of samples and sites without the interference of differing numbers of species and individuals, also appears to be robust and effective. Quantitative climate reconstructions can be easily undertaken from within the software, as well as an amount of predictive modelling. The use of jackknifing variants as an aid to the interpretation of climate reconstructions is discussed, and suggested as a potential indicator of reliability. The combination of the BugStats statistical system with an enhanced MCR facility could be extremely useful in increasing our understanding of not only past environmental and climate change, but also the biogeography and ecology of insect populations in general. BugsCEP is the only available software package integrating modern and fossil coleopteran data, and the included reconstruction and analysis tools provide a powerful resource for research and teaching in palaeo-environmental science. The use of modern reference data also makes the package potentially useful in the study of present day insect faunas, and the effects of climate and environmental change on their distributions. The reconstruction methods could thus be inverted, and used as predictive tools in the study of biodiversity and the implications of sustainable development policies on present day habitats. BugsCEP can be downloaded from http://www.bugscep.com

The application of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to desert sand dunes has allowed accumulation histories to be used as tools to infer past environmental change. In response to issues facing the interpretation of these records, two research questions are addressed in this thesis. (i) Are dune chronologies representative of dune stratigraphies? And (ii) how can we most appropriately interpret dune chronologies as records of Quaternary environmental conditions? Five dune profiles were sampled for OSL dating at two sites in the northeastern Rub’ al Khali in the southern Arabian Peninsula. The visible stratigraphy was used to guide sampling for three of the profiles and the effectiveness of this approach is assessed. A key finding is that bounding surfaces are not always identifiable as chronological hiatuses by OSL dating, given the level of precision that can be achieved. Using hierarchical relationships visible in two-dimensional exposures is therefore not guaranteed to identify the depositional units necessary to reconstruct dune histories. Comparison of the depositional records from three sampled profiles shows that there is significant variability in chronologies at both the dune and dunefield scales. In light of these findings, the use of ‘range-finder’ OSL dating was investigated as a method of increasing sample throughput in the laboratory. It is concluded that the use of partially prepared samples and shortened measurement techniques can be used to rapidly assess the chronological context of samples and target those units most useful in constructing dune profiles. A new method of presenting dunefield OSL datasets as net accumulation rates, incorporating accumulation thickness rather than relying on the frequency of ages, is presented. Within the last 30 ka, regional accumulation and preservation occurred at ~30-26, 22.5-18, 16-9, 6-2.7, 2.1-1.6, 1.1 and 0.7 ka. In conjunction with numerical model results and a review of other palaeoenvironmental archives, the regional aeolian record is interpreted as a response to changing forcing factors. High rates of net accumulation between ~16-9 ka are attributed to coeval increases in sediment supply and transport capacity. A hiatus in accumulation between ~9-6 ka is interpreted as a result of reduced sediment availability due to high moisture levels. The importance of both external forcing factors and local controls on dune accumulation processes is recognised, and therefore the importance of sampling at multiple locations to distinguish these factors is emphasised.

No description available.

Heinrich Events (HEs) define intervals of major ice rafting from the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) into the North Atlantic during that last glacial period. The discovery of potential European-sourced precursors to HEs suggest that the smaller, but climactically sensitive, European ice sheets (EIS) may have played a role in the triggering of HEs and their impact on global climates. Environmental magnetism has proved itself to be a useful, rapid and non-destructive tool in the identification and quantification of provenance in sediments from various depositional environments. In this work, environmental magnetic analyses are applied to marine sediment records from the European margin of the NE Atlantic and known to contain ice-rafted debris (IRD) from both LIS and EIS sources. The primary aim in the work of this thesis is to evaluate the methodology as a means of distinguishing IRD provenance. From the data obtained here it is possible to identify several magnetic events that correspond to the HEs and other layers of detrital material and which correlate well to previous standard petrological analyses performed on the same core materials. Magnetic signatures differ within the HEs, suggesting a changing balance of input from multiple sources as opposed to a single LIS source. The data suggest a phasing of these compositional differences through individual HEs. The potential of using environmental magnetic techniques in the identification of IRD provenance within marine sediments is discussed, as is the significance of the observed provenance variations within the cores studied.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Earth Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy