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Transatlantic connections and diasporic dimensions: association football, the Scots, and North American men’s soccer, c. 1870s-1921
Get PDFFrom the 1870s, the new game of association football increasingly became a hegemonic sports culture in Scotland, reaching a level of social significance unparalleled by any other sporting pastime. Within a matter of decades, the game’s global presence was also growing, often instigated and assisted by Scottish transnational and diasporic agency. Although increasingly acknowledged in celebratory terms, a rigorous assessment of the Scottish factor with regards to the emergence and development of association football in certain locations, as well as the game’s meaning and place in the lives of the Scottish diaspora in context, has largely been absent. Consequently, the following study begins to critically explore some of the more prominent transatlantic connections and diasporic dimensions that existed between association football, the Scots, and North American men’s soccer between 1876 and 1921.
This study historically contextualises the Scots’ relationship to both Canada and the United States, including the overlooked importance and changing nature of sport to this dynamic. The relatively late emergence of association football as a specific sporting, social, and cultural phenomenon, but the game’s early Scottish aspects (both nationally and globally), demonstrates the proactive and living nature of Scottish diasporic and transnational culture during this period, as opposed to something that was typically romantic and/or anachronistic.
Nevertheless, the continued prominence of the Scottish (and wider British) factor within early Canadian and US soccer also hindered the game’s national place in both countries, especially when compared to other increasingly nationalistic sports cultures, like baseball, ice hockey, and gridiron football. Initially, the game was largely perceived (and implicitly constructed) as one for “British Protestants”, but like British Protestantism itself, association football had four nation underpinnings. As rigorous case studies into four ethnically named Scottish soccer clubs reveal, the game could act as an important and varied repository of Scottish diasporic content, albeit one that was rarely counter-cultural or radical. Moreover, although never treated as notable Scottish societies in North America’s major Scottish diasporic publications, such clubs can undoubtedly assist in better understanding the Scots in Canada and the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
As further demonstrated, there was also wider substance to the Scots’ early engagement with soccer in North America beyond the game’s origins and ethnically named Scottish clubs. This included continued individual awareness of association football in Scotland, and the reality of transatlantic tours. Indeed, whilst being cautious of a degree of sport-orientated hyperbole, it is perhaps not too farfetched to suggest that in both group and individual capacities, association football may have become (and remained) one of the most prominent secular areas through which Scottish transnational and diasporic activity continually asserted itself globally, at least between the 1870s and the 1920s. As this study demonstrates, this was very much the case with regards to Canada and the United States prior to 1921
Sustaining the Post-Agreement Peace – Galkayo, Somalia
Get PDFThis policy brief draws on a forthcoming article which examines the dynamics of ‘post-agreement peace’ in Galkayo, Somalia, following the signing of the Galkayo ‘local’ agreement in 2017. It draws on previous research by the same study team, initially focused on the 2017 agreement and then on the conditions concerning its implementation. The brief draws attention to the need for adaptive, trans-scalar mediation work in relation to peacebuilding in multilayered conflicts, where peace must be continuously renegotiated across local, regional, and national arenas. It further situates Galkayo within Somalia’s broader political economy of peace and conflict, offering broader insights on the sustainability of peace in fragmented environments
Class-based interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour: exploring the impact on children’s physical activity, educational, and psychological outcomes
No full textSchools play a vital role in promoting healthy lifestyles, but the predominantly sedentary nature of classroom settings contributes to high levels of inactivity in children. Traditional school-based physical activity interventions usually involve additional time for physical activity outside of academic class hours, which can be difficult to implement considering children’s competing priorities. In the last decade, there has been a growing focus on interventions which integrate physical activity into the curriculum in school settings. With the development of technology, a growing number of interventions have applied wearable activity trackers in physical activity promotion among children. Previous research suggested that pedometer-based integrated curriculum interventions effectively increase physical activity in school-aged children. However, there is a lack of investigation into psychological and educational outcomes and participant experiences, indicating a need for comprehensive future studies to understand the full impact and mechanisms of interventions. This PhD project reviewed the existing literature on classroom-based physical activity and sedentary behaviour intervention studies and explored the feasibility, participants’ experiences and perceptions, and the effects of the Datafit project, a multi-component integrated-curriculum pedometer intervention. This PhD thesis consisted of three studies.
The first study was a meta-analysis and systematic review which examined the influence of classroom-based physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions on children’s classroom behaviour, academic achievement, and cognitive abilities. The current review included randomised controlled studies conducted in the classroom during school hours among typically developing school-age children (5-18 years). The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018107809). Eight electronic literature databases were searched, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, SCOPUS, ASSIA, and Web of Science. The final database search was conducted in August 2023. Meta-analyses were conducted using the Comprehensive Meta-analysis software, version 2.2.06. Random effects models were used to calculate the effect sizes. The risk of bias was assessed using the ‘Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies’ developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project in 1998. In total, 20 studies were included in the systematic review and 15 in the meta-analysis. A significant positive effect was observed on the following outcomes: on-task behaviour, maths performance, spelling performance, reading performance, inhibition, and moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). There was no significant effect on cognitive flexibility, verbal memory, visual-spatial memory, and sedentary behaviour. Results of the moderator analysis indicated that shorter-term interventions (< 6 months) had a better effect on children’s on-task behaviour and verbal memory than longer-term interventions (≥ 6 months). Meanwhile, intervention type could be a potential moderator, with classroom activity breaks showing a better effect on children’s inhibition than physically active lessons. This review found that classroom-based physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions had a positive impact on children’s classroom behaviour, academic achievement, inhibition, and physical activity levels. These findings supported policy initiatives encouraging the integration of physical activity into the classroom and a need to further explore feasible and acceptable intervention designs.
Study 2 was a feasibility study which explored the feasibility and effect of the Datafit project, a multi-component integrated-curriculum pedometer intervention. The Datafit project was a health intervention aimed at promoting physical activity and data literacy among young people through a wearable activity tracker (i.e. Moki). It engaged children in physical activity while educating them on maths and data literacy through step count feedback and reports. During the 4-week intervention, pupils (n=20, mean age 10.2 ± 0.4 years old, 10 males) were encouraged to take more steps by comparing the daily feedback on step counts, setting personal and group challenges, and reading the weekly report graphs. Meanwhile, the teacher taught pupils about data literacy using numbers and graphs from the Moki band data. This study explored the feasibility of the Datafit project, the effect of the intervention on children’s psychological determinants of physical activity and academic outcomes, and the teacher’s and pupils’ perceptions and experience of the project. This research took a mixed-methods approach. For the quantitative part, a pre- and post-design was adopted to examine the effect of the intervention. For the qualitative part, focus groups among pupils and an interview with the teacher were conducted, and thematic analysis was used to explore their experiences and perceptions of the project. Twenty pupils from a primary six (P6) class in a primary school in Edinburgh, Scotland, participated in this study. Overall, the intervention showed good feasibility in the school environment among P6 pupils. Pupils and the teacher enjoyed the project and found it helpful in promoting physical activity and enhancing maths and data literacy learning. Statistical analysis showed significant changes in introjected and intrinsic regulation, classroom behaviour, and learning content. Feedback from focus groups and the interview suggested a broader positive impact on physical activity, psychological determinants of physical activity, and educational outcomes. This study demonstrated the feasibility and potential benefits of the Datafit project. The next study was therefore designed to further explore the effects and experiences of the intervention using a more robust controlled design.
Study 3 was a cluster-randomised controlled trial. It investigated the effect of the Datafit project on pupils’ physical activity, psychological determinants of physical activity, cognitive abilities, and learning outcomes, explored pupils’ and the teacher’s experience and perceptions, explored the mechanism of the intervention, and made suggestions for future research. Similar to Study 2, this study also took a mixed-methods design. For the quantitative part, a cluster-randomised controlled design was adopted, and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) were used to examine the effect. For the qualitative part, two focus groups among pupils and an interview with the teacher were arranged to explore their experience and perception of the project and the mechanism of the intervention. Fifty-three pupils (mean age 10.60 ± 0.27 years old, 24 males) from two primary six classes in a primary school in Edinburgh, Scotland, participated in this study. Analysis revealed a significant positive intervention effect on children’s self-reported and objectively measured physical activity level, whereas no significant effect was found on psychological determinants of physical activity, cognitive abilities, and learning outcomes. However, evidence from the teacher interview and pupils’ focus groups indicated the intervention helped in promoting physical activity and the learning of maths and data literacy. Pupils and the teacher generally had a positive experience with the Datafit project. The qualitative analysis also revealed components that might be effective in the current intervention. This study demonstrated the potential of a creative approach to integrating physical activity into the academic curriculum. This intervention increased children’s physical activity levels without negatively influencing children’s educational outcomes and cognitive abilities, thereby alleviating educators’ concerns and facilitating the dissemination of such interventions.
The encouraging findings from the meta-analysis indicated the need for the development and investigation of interventions which integrate physical activity into the curriculum in school settings. The following two studies explored the effect and participants’ experience of a multi-component integrated-curriculum pedometer intervention. To our knowledge, this is the first study exploring the effect of such intervention on children’s physical activity levels, psychological determinants of physical activity, educational outcomes, and cognitive abilities. This series of studies has showcased the potential of a creative approach to integrating physical activity into the academic curriculum, thus providing information for educators and future research
Mapping the world’s dry tropical biomes: a structural and functional approach using remote sensing
No full textDry tropical biomes cover 40 – 50% of the tropical regions of the world, but are both
highly threatened and poorly mapped. Mapping dry tropical biomes is challenging
because the key biomes of savanna and dry forest are often both structurally overlapping
and heterogenous. Biomes are units occupying a large geographical area, at
the global scale, that have distinct ecosystem functioning. Past biome mapping has
been based upon climate data and expert opinion. However, climate is not suitable
for defining biomes existing in the same climatic space, and work based on opinion
is inherently subjective. It is now generally accepted that ecosystem function
based mapping is an appropriate method for biome mapping, with remote sensing
approaches providing a key role in producing wall-to-wall biome maps.
This work makes progress towards an ecologically meaningful map of the global dry
tropics, which has many applications, for example in mapping threats facing these
ecosystems, accurately mapping land use/cover change, and improving understanding
of global relationships between different types of dry tropical vegetation. I use
vegetation structural, phenological and disturbance parameters, determined using
remote sensing, to map dry tropical vegetation, and understand various aspects of
their ecology. By working from a base of measuring vegetation rather than a preconceived
idea of dry tropical biomes, we are able to establish a quantitative and
objective approach to biome mapping.
The work comprised three chapters, scaling up in geographical area to answer specific
research questions. First, vegetation in North-East Brazil was mapped, establishing
the method in a highly heterogeneous region, and understanding the potential
utility of this method for aligning with and operationalizing the new IUCN Global
Ecosystem Typology (GET). The GET aims to map biomes based upon ecosystem
function, but does not yet comprise a spatially explicit map. Six vegetation structural
groups were found in the region, matched to ‘Ecosystem Functional Groups’
as identified by the GET. Secondly, I produced a global map of the dry tropics, in
order to inform global mapping efforts of the IUCN GET, and understand continental
differences within the vegetation structural groups, and the drivers of vegetation
structural group. Five global vegetation structural groups were found, with soil pH
being the most important determinant of vegetation structural group in every tropical
continent. Thirdly, I mapped the distribution of vegetation types in southern Africa,
and compared the identified structural vegetation types to groups based upon floristic
information established using the SEOSAW network of vegetation plot data. I found
that vegetation structural groups do not directly align to floristic composition, and
discuss the implications of the relationship between vegetation structure and floristic
composition on functional biome mapping of southern Africa.
Overall, this body of work contributes to our understanding of the spatial distribution
of dry tropical biomes at various geographical scales, and their function. The inclusion
of a range of remotely sensed parameters as opposed to previous work which often
relies solely upon canopy cover data allows a more nuanced dry tropical map to be
established
Making sugar and slate: a labour history of the Pennant estates in Jamaica and North Wales 1765 - c.1900
No full textFor over a hundred years, the Pennant family owned both sugar plantations in Jamaica and a slate quarry in North Wales. In 1765, when the family’s ownership of these disparate sites of labour first merged, their sugar plantations in Jamaica were well-established centres of industrial capitalism, while slate production on the Penrhyn estate in North Wales was emerging and capital poor. By the turn of the twentieth century, Penrhyn Quarry had become one of the largest slate quarries in the world, poised to cement its place in British industrial history with the three-year Penrhyn Lock Out. Meanwhile, the family’s sugar plantations had transitioned from enslaved and apprenticed labour to indentured and waged labour.
“Making Sugar and Slate” considers both locations of commodity production together
to reveal the bidirectional exchange of ideas and practices between these sites of labour owned by the same family. Thematic in structure, this thesis demonstrates that contestations over land, labour, family, debt, and freedom occurred in an interdependent dynamic between the Caribbean and Britain. Labour management ideas and practices crossed the Atlantic in both directions, and labourers’ struggles in one context influenced the Pennants’ actions in another. The material and the ideological connected the Pennants’ dual management position and the labouring communities of these disparate sites of labour. Separated by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pennant family’s estates in Jamaica and North Wales were constitutive elements of the labour history of racial capitalism
A coronaviridae ‘utility belt’: identification, characterisation and evolutionary analysis of coronavirus N-encoded accessory genes
Get PDFCoronaviruses (CoV) are a group of positive sense, single stranded RNA viruses that cause disease in birds and mammals. In the last 12 years, three highly pathogenic human coronaviruses have emerged, responsible for SARS, MERS and COVID-19 diseases, respectively. The latter turned into a global pandemic, leading to more than 770 million cases and seven million deaths. CoV genomes encode a variable number of accessory genes, potentially involved in pathogenicity and adaptation to new hosts. The Nucleocapsid (N) gene of several medically and economically important CoVs are known to encode an overlapping accessory gene in their second reading frame, with some evidence of functional importance. However, it is not clear how widespread such N-encoded accessory genes is amongst the four CoV genera, and their function and evolutionary history remains obscure.
Work in this thesis investigated the N gene coding capacity of 113 CoV species across all genera using a bioinformatic pipeline that examined all 3 positive sense reading frames. The analysis considered open reading frame (ORF) lengths, genomic coordinates, and likelihood of translational initiation. Results showed that the 2nd reading frame of the N gene of β-, δ- and certain α-coronaviruses acts as a reservoir for accessory genes. At the sub-genus level, accessory gene translation initiation and termination sites in the 2nd frame of the N gene are conserved among related viruses, but introduction of premature Stop codons is a common cause of accessory gene variability. Human-infecting coronaviruses MERS-CoV and HCoVs OC43, NL63 and 229E have truncated ORFs compared to other sub-genus members, but temporal phylogenetic analyses of MERS-CoV showed that its accessory gene may be evolving back towards an ancestral longer form conserved in other merbecoviruses. Transient expression of merbecovirus N genes in human cells largely confirmed expression of their respective candidate accessory proteins. Functional characterisation of these proteins showed that they localise to mitochondria, similarly to related sarbecovirus N-encoded accessory genes. Lastly, expression of both merbeco- and sarbecoviruses accessory genes led to the production of multiple polypeptide species, directed by AUGs found downstream of their primary start site. Functional characterisation of the ‘truncated’ accessory proteins isoforms in SARS-CoV-2 indicated partial functional conservation.
Overall, this thesis shows that a functional overlapping ORF in the N gene is a widespread feature of β- and δ-Covs that may have evolved after a split from an α-CoV ancestor. Additionally, these results suggest mitochondrial targeting is a conserved functional strategy of β-CoVN -encoded accessory genes. Finally, redundant functionality among accessory protein isoforms suggests this could be a viral strategy to maintain expression of functional proteins while simultaneously allowing for evolutionary flexibility in N
The colours of God: colourful imagery of the divine in Late Antique Latin poetry
No full textThis thesis explores the meaning and role of colour and light effects in the divine
imagery of Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius, three of the most successful fourth-century
Latin poets.
A long line of scholarship, starting with J. Fontaine and I. Gualandri’s seminal work, has
highlighted visual varietas as one of the typical features of late antique Latin poetry. Recent
scholarship has also emphasised the similarity – at least in its formal features – between
poetry dealing with traditional, classical themes and Christian poetry. This thesis focuses on
the important stylistic feature of colour and on the topic at the centre of the debate between
traditionalist and Christian authors, the treatment of the divine. In bringing together these
two themes, I aim to explore whether traditional and Christian perspectives on the divine
result in different realisations at the level of visual style.
The central question that unites my analysis of Ausonius, Claudian and Prudentius’
divine images is how cultural innovations, specifically the rise of Christianity, reshape the use
of traditional motifs. Ausonius and Claudian use polychromatic imagery to reflect the vibrancy
of the divine world, adhering to traditional conventions. In contrast, Prudentius, writing as a
Christian poet, faces the challenge of addressing a classically educated audience while
adhering to monotheistic theological principles. His response is to focus on light and
brightness rather than on multiple colours to offer a symbolic representation of God. Through
their differing treatments of colour and light, Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius engage with
the tension between traditional and Christian cultural norms, contributing to the ongoing
transformation of Latin poetry during a period of significant religious and philosophical
change. In sum, this dissertation shows that the use of colour in 4th-century Latin poetry
expresses and negotiates the cultural dynamics of this time, and that visuality offers a valuable
lens through which to examine the nuances of late antique Latin poetry
Identifying proviral cellular proteins in chicken cells that can be exploited to better control avian endemic viruses
No full textIn the United Kingdom, infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and infectious bursal disease virus
(IBDV) pose a significant threat to the productivity of the poultry industry and food security.
Given the shared characteristics in their replication cycles, such as the possession of RNA
genomes, entry via endocytosis, and replication within the cytoplasm, the objective of this
project was to identify host proteins that commonly promote the host-virus interactions,
utilizing a genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (GeCKO) screen. The screening strategies
to investigate the level of IBV and IBDV infection, including flow cytometry-based and cell
survival-based screening, were developed and optimized for chicken fibroblast DF-1 cells, a
cell line that supports the replication of both viruses. Edited cells with a desired phenotype
(e.g. resistant to virus replication) were collected for DNA extraction and next-generation
sequencing (NGS). A list of potential host genes that promote IBV and IBDV infection was
identified and the results were compared to assess the concordance between different
selection strategies and between different viruses. Three high confidence hits (MDH1, CDH2
and IFITM3) were selected for downstream validation. DF-1 cells with knockout of target
genes were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and were used to assess viral
reproduction. CDH2 and MDH1 were confirmed as cellular proteins that promoted IBV and
IBDV replication in DF-1 cells, respectively. Pathway analysis performed on CDH2/MDH1-
related genes predicted with search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes/proteins
(STRING) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) on complete CRISPR screen datasets
predicted the TCA cycle and cell-cell adhesion as key processes for IBV and IBDV infection,
respectively. Overall, these findings improve our knowledge of the replication mechanisms of
IBV and IBDV, and the genes identified could potentially be exploited to produce virus-resistant chickens in the future
Decay and extinction of mass timber enclosure fires
No full textThe invention of engineered timber products such as cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber has enabled buildings to be entirely or partly made of timber, where the timber makes up the structural elements such as slabs, walls, columns and beams. This has created a new desire for the construction industry coupled with sustainability and climate policies to adopt more timber buildings in the wider building stock. Recognising the fire safety concerns of such buildings resulted in a decade of research into the fire behaviour of mass timber compartments. These research efforts were paramount in improving our understanding of how the presence of exposed timber surfaces influenced the compartment fire dynamics and outlined key challenges with such compartments – timber compartments burn for longer, are hotter, release more energy and may not burnout (or auto-extinguish) and continue to burn even after the consumption of the movable fuel load potentially resulting in structural collapse.
A review and meta-analysis were conducted on data from structural mass timber compartment fire experiments investigating temperature, heat release rate, auto-extinction and heat-induced delamination. The dissimilarities in the compartment geometry, ventilation, and exposed timber surfaces of these experiments resulted in poor correlation between the data. Two parameters and (applicable to near cubic, ventilation-controlled compartments) defined as the shape-modified ventilation factor and opening ratio were applied and after scaling, the correlation coefficient for the total heat release rate (HRR) with the area of timber for the large and medium scale data is 0.97 and 0.74, respectively, improving the initially computed r of 0.42 and 0.25. Similarly, the correlation of medium scale data for the contribution of timber to the heat release rate improved after scaling from 0.57 to 0.90. A statistical analysis revealed a higher probability for auto-extinction to occur for exposure levels below 20%. Beyond 20% exposure, the risk for sustained flaming and heat-induced delamination increase substantially. Auto-extinction was shown to depend strongly on heat-induced delamination with a 93% probability of occurrence given no heat-induced delamination. This review showed that various studies have attempted to quantify the conditions under which auto-extinction occurred on a compartment scale, however the occurrence of stochastic phenomena such as heat-induced delamination and encapsulation failure introduced additional complexities complicating these efforts.
A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of enclosure parameters (ventilation size, geometry and thermal properties of boundaries) on the decay, residual burning and extinction of mass timber compartments. The ventilation, geometry and thermal properties of the non-timber boundaries were systematically varied – six ventilation conditions and five boundary configurations were investigated. These experiments were designed to eliminate as much as possible the occurrence of stochastic phenomena such as heat-induced delamination and encapsulation failure and control the decay of the non-timber fuel. These experiments were highly instrumented to allow for the internal fire dynamics and energy losses from the enclosure to be quantified. A range of outcomes were observed including continued flaming, significant smouldering and complete extinction.
Analysis of the conditions within the compartment showed that flameout was still possible in the presence of a flammable mixture and where flameout occurred, char oxidation contributed approximately half of the mass loss rate with pyrolysis contributing the other half. Estimation of the heat losses from the enclosure revealed that these were dominated by convection accounting for up to 85% of the losses. This was followed by radiation accounting for a maximum of 28%. Conduction losses from the non-timber boundaries comprised between 0.4 and 8.3% of the total losses for most cases – although when steel linings were used, this increased to 32.4%. A simple set of relationships were developed to allow estimation of the energy terms based on a single characteristic temperature from thermocouples within the enclosure. The results showed good agreement – particularly for estimating convective and conductive losses during the fully involved and decay phases. The agreement was less good for estimating the heat release rate for burning timber. This considerably improved after accounting for the combustion efficiency and contribution of char oxidation.
The geometry and thermal properties of the non-timber enclosure linings were shown to significantly influence decay and residual burning. Following a scaling analysis, the residual burning was shown to scale with a characteristic time scale ((δ^2 ρc_p)⁄k) while the decay rate scaled with the thermal resistance of the linings (k⁄δ). Similarly, the residual burning was found to be inversely proportional to the available ventilation. Larger ventilations resulted in faster rates of decay. Two possible functional relationships combining the effect of the ventilation, thermal properties and geometry of the enclosure boundaries are presented
The Permo-Triassic mass extinction event and its environmental perturbations: new sedimentological and geochemical insights from the Arabian margin
No full textThe end of the Permian mass extinction (EPME), ~ 252 million years ago, is the
largest biological crisis of the Phanerozoic. The extinction event resulted from
cascades of environmental disturbances linked to greenhouse emissions during the
emplacement of the Siberian Trap Large Igneous Province. Marine mass extinction is
commonly associated with the expansion of oxygen-depleted water onto shallow
shelf waters, although there are remaining uncertainties as to the extent and intensity
of anoxic conditions due to spatiotemporal variations. Thus, it is still undefined as to
how the redox varies from oxic, dysoxic, suboxic, to anoxic in the water column
during EPME. In particular, there is limited data on the extent and intensity of ocean
anoxic conditions in the shallow shelf waters of the Neo-Tethys Ocean.
This work concerns description of unexplored sections across the EPME from the
Saiq Formation (Arabian Plate), Oman. These show a substantial and abrupt change
in depositional settings across the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB), shifting from
the drowning of the Lopingian mid-outer ramp platform rim to turbidite-like deposits
on an evolved slope setting.
We employed the iodine-to-calcium ratio and cerium anomalies to construct the
redox evolution across the PTB. The redox changes are integrated with
palaeontological data and comprehensively constructed stratigraphic and depositional
framework to evaluate the impact of reducing conditions on the biotic crises. The
study reveals that oceanic suboxic and dysoxic conditions prevailed at the platform
rim rather than the complete anoxia reported elsewhere. We infer that the expansion
of deoxygenation water, accompanied by the dramatic and rapid rise of sea levels,
was a key factor in the drowning of platforms on the Arabian Margin, the biotic
crisis, and shaping ecosystems after the EPME.
This study also reported the potential first discovery of early Triassic glendonites
(pseudomorphs after the precursor carbonate mineral ikaite). Ikaite precipitates in
near-freezing water, and their association with the EPME, which is characterised by
extreme and rapid global warming, creates a paradox. We suggest that the unusual
chemical state of the oceans associated with the mass extinction – elevated alkalinity with a pH >9, possibly accompanied by upwelling of cold, oxygen-depleted oceanic water - facilitated the formation of these unusual precipitates
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