147 research outputs found
NAISH, JOHN (JACK) (1923 - 1963), author and playwright
No full text[Extract] John Naish was born on 24 April 1923 in Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, the third of four children of William John Frederick Naish, a carpenter, and his wife Sarah Ann (née Griffiths), a teacher. His siblings were older brothers William and Edward, and younger sister Lilian (Lily).
He was educated at Eastern Primary School and Port Talbot Secondary School. He was keen on sport throughout his life, and represented his school at both rugby and cricket. However, the predominant interests in his life were literature and the dramatic arts, in which his talents were nurtured at school by Philip Henry Burton, a teacher who inspired some of his pupils to pursue a career in the dramatic arts - most notably Richard Burton - and others to study literature at university level as John's sister Lily did at Aberystwyth University
NAISH, JOHN (JACK) (1923 - 1963), author and playwright
No full text[Extract] John Naish was born on 24 April 1923 in Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, the third of four children of William John Frederick Naish, a carpenter, and his wife Sarah Ann (née Griffiths), a teacher. His siblings were older brothers William and Edward, and younger sister Lilian (Lily).
He was educated at Eastern Primary School and Port Talbot Secondary School. He was keen on sport throughout his life, and represented his school at both rugby and cricket. However, the predominant interests in his life were literature and the dramatic arts, in which his talents were nurtured at school by Philip Henry Burton, a teacher who inspired some of his pupils to pursue a career in the dramatic arts - most notably Richard Burton - and others to study literature at university level as John's sister Lily did at Aberystwyth University
Book review: 1996 and the end of history by David Stubbs
No full textIn 1996 and The End of History, journalist and author David Stubbs examines a year – 1996 – that marked the pinnacle of a decade, not just in politics but across music, entertainment and sport. Tying together the political and cultural landscapes of mid-nineties Britain, this is a valuable addition to the current critical reassessment of a period that seemed to promise sunnier times ahead. But, asks Stephen Lee Naish, could it ever last
Book review and author interview: island story: journeys around unfamiliar Britain by J.D. Taylor
No full textWhat is life really like for those who inhabit the island we call the UK? Island Story: Journeys Around Unfamiliar Britain presents J.D. Taylor‘s attempt to find out. Accompanied by a tent and travelling on a rusty bike, Taylor travelled around Britain, meeting strangers and talking to people in his attempt to capture a sense of modern-day Britain at a time of ostensible malaise, cynicism and alienation. Stephen Lee Naish praises this poetic mixture of travelogue, class polemic, fable and myth for drawing out the UK’s complexities and contradictions, and speaks to Taylor about the impetus behind his illuminating ‘journey around unfamiliar Britain’
Pliocene-Pleistocene marine cyclothems, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand: a lithostratigraphic framework
No full textThe Rangitikei River valley between Mangaweka and Vinegar Hill and the surrounding Ohingaiti region in eastern Wanganui Basin contains a late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (c. 2.6-1.7 Ma), c. 1100 m thick, southward-dipping (4-9deg.), marine cyclothemic succession. Twenty sedimentary cycles occur within the succession, each of which contains coarse-grained (siliciclastic sandstone and coquina) and fine-grained (siliciclastic siltstone) units. Nineteen of the cycles are assigned to the Rangitikei Group (new). Six new formations are defined within the Rangitikei Group, and their distribution in the Ohingaiti region is represented in a new geologic map. The new formations are named: Mangarere, Tikapu, Makohine, Orangipongo, Mangaonoho, and Vinegar Hill. Each formation comprises one or more cyclothems and includes a previously described and named distinctive basal horizon. Discrete sandstones, siltstones, and coquinas within formations are assigned member status and correspond to systems tracts in sequence stratigraphic nomenclature. The members provide the link between the new formational lithostratigraphy and the sequence stratigraphy of the Rangitikei Group. Base of cycle coquina members accumulated during episodes of sediment starvation associated with stratigraphic condensation on an open marine shelf during sea-level transgressions. Siltstone members accumulated in mid-shelf environments (50-100 m water depth) during sea-level highstands, whereas the overlying sandstone members are ascribed to inner shelf and shoreface environments (0-50 m water depth) and accumulated during falling eustatic sea-level conditions. Repetitive changes in water depth of 50-100 m magnitude are consistent with a glacio-eustatic origin for the cyclothems, which correspond to an interval of Earth history when successive glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere are known to have occurred. Moreover, the chronology of the Rangitikei River section indicates that Rangitikei Group cyclothems accumulated during short duration, 41 ka cycles in continental ice volume attributed to the dominance of the Milankovitch obliquity orbital parameter.
The Ohingaiti region has simple postdepositional structure. The late Pliocene formations dip generally to the SSW between 4deg. and 9deg.. Discernible discordances of c. 1deg. between successively younger formations are attributed to synsedimentary tilting of the shelf concomitant with migration of the tectonic hingeline southward into the basin. The outcrop distribution of the Rangitikei Group is strongly influenced by this regional tilt and also by three major northeast-southwest oriented, high-angle reverse faults (Rauoterangi, Pakihikura, and Rangitikei Faults)
Book review: deconstructing Dirty Dancing by Stephen Lee Naish
No full textIn Deconstructing Dirty Dancing, Stephen Lee Naish unpacks the enduring popularity of the film Dirty Dancing, released to mixed reviews in 1987 before going on to become a global hit. Offering a comparative study of the film with David Lynch’s Blue Velvet before a scene-by-scene analysis and reflections on the film’s personal resonance for the author, the book is an idiosyncratic and accessible take on this cultural phenomenon, finds Penny Montague
(Table 2) Summary of lithofacies associations recognised in sediment core CRP-3
No full text(Table 2) Summary of lithofacies associations recognised in sediment core CRP-
The Eocene-Oligocene boundary climate transition: an Antarctic perspective
No full textAntarctica underwent a complex evolution over the course of the Cenozoic, which influenced the history of the Earth’s climate system. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary is a divide of this history when the ice-free ‘greenhouse world’ transitioned to the ‘icehouse’ with the glaciation of Antarctica.
Prior to this, Antarctica experienced warm climates, peaking during Early Eocene when tropical-like conditions existed at the margins of the continent where geological evidence is present. Climate signals in the geological record show that the climate then cooled, but not enough to allow the existence of significant ice until the latest Eocene. Glacial deposits from several areas around the continental margin indicate that ice was present by the earliest Oligocene. This matches the major oxygen isotope positive shift captured by marine records. On land, vegetation was able to persist, but the thermophylic plants of the Eocene were replaced by shrubby vegetation with the southern beech Nothofagus, mosses and ferns, which survived in tundra-like conditions. Coupled climate–ice sheet modelling indicates that changing levels of atmospheric CO2 controlled Antarctica’s climate and the onset of glaciation. Factors such as mountain uplift, vegetation changes, ocean gateway opening and orbital forcing all played a part in cooling the polar climate, but only when CO2 levels reached critical thresholds was Antarctica tipped into an icy glacial world
Sequence Stratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Zircon Geochronology of the CIROS-1 Drill Core, Ross Sea, Antarctica: Implications for Cenozoic Glacial and Tectonic Evolution
No full textAntarctica plays a central role in the global climate system. Understanding the continent's past climate interactions is key to predicting its future response to, and influence on, global climate change. In recent decades, sediment cores drilled on the Antarctic continental margin have provided direct evidence of past climatic and tectonic events. Drilled in 1986 from sea ice in western McMurdo Sound, the pioneering 702 m-long CIROS-1 core extended back to the Late Eocene and provided some of the first evidence of the antiquity and history of the Antarctic ice sheets. The CIROS-1 drill core recovered a depositional history of the western margin of the Victoria Land Basin adjacent to the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. It was located directly offshore from where the Ferrar Glacier, which drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, discharges into the Ross Sea. Consequently CIROS-1 contains a record of both the glacial and tectonic Cenozoic evolution of the Antarctic margin. This thesis provides a timely re-evaluation of the CIROS-1 core with new analysis techniques that enable further insights into the glacial and tectonic history of the western Ross Sea region, and includes three key objectives:
(1) Re-examine CIROS-1 sedimentology and stratigraphy and provide a new facies and sequence stratigraphic analysis using modern methods developed from recent drilling projects (e.g. CRP, ANDRILL).
(2) Develop a new integrated chronostratigraphic model through an assessment and compilation of previous studies, which provides a context for the interpretation of detrital zircon data, climate and tectonic history.
(3) Undertake a detailed examination of the provenance of CIROS-1 sediments using cutting edge in situ analysis techniques of detrital zircons (U-Pb and trace element analysis using LA-ICP-MS).
Glaciomarine sequence stratigraphic analysis identifies 14 unconformity-bound sequences occurring in two distinctive stratigraphic motifs. The four sequences located beneath the 342 mbsf unconformity contain relatively complete vertical facies succession. They were deposited in shallow marine, fluvio-deltaic conditions with distal glaciers terminating on land, and possibly calving into the ocean in adjacent valleys as evidenced by occasional ice-rafted debris. The ten sequences located above ~342 mbsf have a fundamentally different architecture. They are incomplete (top-truncated), contain subglacial and ice proximal facies grading upsequence into distal glaciomarine and shelf conditions. Top truncation of these sequences represents overriding of the CIROS-1 site by the paleo-Ferrar Glacier during glacial phases.
A revised age model for CIROS-1 is presented that utilises new calibrations for Antarctic diatom zones and compiles three previously published age models for different sections of the core (Roberts et al., 2003; Wilson et al., 1998; Hannah et al., 1997). The new age model allows correlation of Late Oligocene cycles with coeval cycles in CRP-2/2A, 80 km to the north. A fundamental orbital control on the dynamics of these East Antarctic Ice Sheet outlet glaciers is evident from this comparison. Both glacier systems respond in-phase to longer-period orbital components (e.g. eccentricity 100 kyr and 400 kyr), but differ in their sensitivity to precession (20 kyr). It appears that during the Late Oligocene the Ferrar catchment responded to 20 kyr precession cycles, whilst the larger MacKay Glacier, which is more directly connected to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, responded to longer duration 125 kyr (eccentricity) forcing.
CIROS-1 zircons group into four distinct geochemical suites. Zircons formed in felsic igneous environments dominate the CIROS-1 population, with 89 % of zircons analysed showing geochemical characteristics inherent to granitic/rhyolitic zircons. Approximately 7 % of CIROS-1 zircons have a highly trace element enriched igneous provenance and were most probably sourced from enriched enclaves in granitic/rhyolitic units or from pegmatites. Approximately 3 % of CIROS-1 zircons show a metamorphic geochemical signature, and ~1 % formed in trace element depleted igneous environments. The zircons were sourced from the local basement (Koettlitz, Granite Harbour Groups), the Beacon Supergroup, and potentially, lithologies of the East Antarctic Craton located under the ice, or components of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains located under the current baseline of geologic exposure.
Large-scale, systematic temporal trends in zircon characteristics have been divided into three distinct climatic periods: Zone 1 (702-366 mbsf, Late Eocene), Zone 2 (366-250 mbsf, Late Oligocene) and Zone 3 (< 250 mbsf, Late Oligocene and Early Miocene). Zircons deposited during these periods show unique properties. During Zone 1, Antarctica experienced a relatively warm temperate climate and alpine style glaciers flowed eastwards through the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Zircons in this zone contain a subtle record of unroofing of geochemically zoned Granite Harbour and Koettlitz units located in the Ferrar Valley. During Zone 2 deposition, glaciers flowed though the Trans-Antarctic Mountains draining a large and ephemeral EAIS, which oscillated on orbital time scales. Zircons in this interval show variable properties, high numbers and were most probably deposited as the paleo-Ferrar Glacier deeply incised the Ferrar Fiord. In contrast, Zone 3 is characterised by a flux of McMurdo Volcanic Complex derived sediments, together with systematic changes in zircon characteristics. These patterns indicate a Late Oligocene shift in ice flow to the site (above ~250 mbsf). Due to a cooling that culminated in the Mi-1 glaciation, ice flow to the site changed from an eastward to a northward flow, in response to an increased ice volume in the Ross embayment
Twentieth century climate change influences isotopic fractionation in Victoria Land ice cores, Antarctica
No full textIn this thesis, correlations amongst oxygen and hydrogen isotope (δ18O and δD) chronologies from coastal Antarctic ice cores and climatic time-series are used to infer climatic influences on isotopic fractionation in Victoria Land precipitation. New δ18O and δD measurements from the Victoria Lower Glacier (VLG) ice core and existing isotopic records from the Newall Glacier, Hercules Neve and Talos Dome ice cores are jointly examined to assess trends in Victoria Land isotopic variability. The isotopic records are also compared with variations in atmospheric greenhouse gas induced temperature change, solar irradiance, volcanic aerosols, the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Antarctic Oscillation Index to investigate possible climatic influences on isotopic fractionation.
During the austral summer of 2001/2002 a 182.4 m ice core was acquired from the VLG of the Dry Valleys. Measuring the δ18O, δD and tritium content of ice samples from the upper 8.5 m of the ice core, tuning δ18O variations to Scott Base mean summer temperature and adopting the decompaction age model of Bertler (2003) enabled the construction of Twentieth Century δ18O, δD and deuterium excess chronologies. δ18O and δD variability in the four Victoria Land ice cores was visually compared by plotting the time-series on a common graph with the opposing δ18O and δD axes aligned in accordance with the VLG meteoric water line (δD = 7.94 x δ18O - 0.38). These data were also compared to climate variability by using a qualitative visual approach, correlation coefficient calculations and spectral analyses. Coherent variability in the isotopic and climatic time-series was generally interpreted as indicating a natural association between the climate-forcing function of interest (e.g. SOI) and the local climate response (e.g. proxy such as δ18O). The coherent associations were then explored in more detail.
The El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and solar radiation flux and were found to be the main influences on isotopic variability. Volcanic activity and the Antarctic Oscillation may also have been contributors to climate change, but further research is needed for confirmation. Radiative forcing resulting from greenhouse gas emissions was found to have no apparent affect on Victoria Land climate dynamics. This suggests that the influence of global warming associated with greenhouse gas emissions was suppressed during the second half of the Twentieth Century as a result of regional cooling associated with an increase in El Niño phases of the ENSO (i.e. negative SOI values).
Solar irradiance appears to influence δ18O and δD variability in Victoria Land ice cores on Schwabe cycle (i.e. 11 yr cycle) and sun melody (i.e. cycles of ≥ 14 yrs) frequencies. The average power of the Dry Valleys δ18O Schwabe cycle harmonics are nearly three times greater than those of northern Victoria Land harmonics indicating regional contrasts in solar forcing amplitude. The low albedo of rocky terrains may amplify solar radiative forcing in the Dry Valleys, while the the high albedo of ice covered terrains may suppress solar radiative forcing in northern Victoria Land. The sun melody appears to covary with VLG δ18O with isotopic diffusion occurring during the interval of heightened solar irradiance (c. 1920 to 1955).
The ENSO contributes a high frequency variability (i.e. cycles of 2 to 7 yrs) in the δ18O, δD and deuterium excess records. Precipitation moisture source localities and transport pathways migrate under ENSO's influence, promoting changes in temperature and humidity during transport to and precipitation in Victoria Land. During La Niño phases when the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) is north of the Ross Ice Shelf, warm and moist air moves across the Ross Sea to the ice core sites producing higher δ18O and δD and lower deuterium excess in the ice core records. In contrast, during some El Niño phases when the ASL is north of Marie Byrd Land above the Amundsen Sea, cold and dry air ascends the West Antarctic Ice Sheet prior to moisture precipitation at the ice core sites. This effectively results in a lower δ18O and δD and a higher deuterium excess content in the glacier ice
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