Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

2010

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Australia

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

'The Falling Sky': Symbolic And Cosmological Associations Of The Mt William Greenstone Axe Quarry, Central Victoria, Australia, Adam R. Brumm Jan 2010

'The Falling Sky': Symbolic And Cosmological Associations Of The Mt William Greenstone Axe Quarry, Central Victoria, Australia, Adam R. Brumm

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

This article examines the roles of socio-symbolic practices and cosmological beliefs in the production and exchange of stone artefacts in an ethnohistorically documented context in Australia. Isabel McBryde's petrological and ethnohistorical analysis of greenstone axe distribution patterns in central Victoria provides a key example of social factors overriding technological concerns in the production and exchange of lithic artefacts. Her research shows that greenstone axes from Mt William quarry were distributed further than axes from equivalent sources. This suggests that Mt William stone axes had symbolic values that cannot be appreciated from straightforward economic perspectives - the aim of this article …


Evidence Of Solar And Tropical-Ocean Forcing Of Hydroclimate Cycles In Southeastern Australia For The Past 6500 Years, Hamish A. Mcgowan, Samuel K. Marx, Joshua Soderholm, John Denholm Jan 2010

Evidence Of Solar And Tropical-Ocean Forcing Of Hydroclimate Cycles In Southeastern Australia For The Past 6500 Years, Hamish A. Mcgowan, Samuel K. Marx, Joshua Soderholm, John Denholm

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Evidence of solar and tropical‐ocean forcing of climate cycles has been found in numerous palaeoclimate records. Numerical modelling studies show physical mechanisms by which direct and indirect solar forcing may affect climate, while there is mounting evidence of solar forcing of tropical ocean‐atmosphere teleconnections. This study has developed a 6500 year record of dust deposition, a proxy for regional hydroclimate variability for the Snowy Mountains region of Australia. Spectral analysis of the record provides evidence of statistically significant cycles in dust deposition of 35–43 years, 62–73 years, 161 years and 2200 years. These correlate with variability in solar irradiance and …


Age And Origin Of Alluvial Sediments Within And Flanking The Mt Lofty Ranges, Southern South Australia: A Late Quaternary Archive Of Climate And Environmental Change, D Banerjee, N F. Alley, R P. Bourman, S Buckman, J R. Prescott Jan 2010

Age And Origin Of Alluvial Sediments Within And Flanking The Mt Lofty Ranges, Southern South Australia: A Late Quaternary Archive Of Climate And Environmental Change, D Banerjee, N F. Alley, R P. Bourman, S Buckman, J R. Prescott

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.


Formaldehyde And Nitrogen Dioxide In Smoke Plumes From Australia's Black Saturday Fires, Emma Young, Clare Paton-Walsh Jan 2010

Formaldehyde And Nitrogen Dioxide In Smoke Plumes From Australia's Black Saturday Fires, Emma Young, Clare Paton-Walsh

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The ‘Black Saturday’ fires were a series of devastating bushfires that burned across Victoria, Australia, during February 2009. The smoke plume from Saturday the 7th February, the worst day of the fires, separated from subsequent emissions and persisted for several weeks, providing the opportunity to track the changing composition of the smoke plume as it aged. In this study we have used satellite data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) to characterise the emissions of formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide from the fires. Emission ratios with respect to carbon monoxide are determined for formaldehyde (0.017 …


Spatial Variability Of Cadmium, Copper, Manganese, Nickel And Zinc In The Port Curtis Estuary, Queensland, Australia, Brad M. Angel, Leigh T. Hales, Stuart L. Simpson, Simon C. Apte, Anthony A. Chariton, Damon A. Shearer, Dianne F. Jolley Jan 2010

Spatial Variability Of Cadmium, Copper, Manganese, Nickel And Zinc In The Port Curtis Estuary, Queensland, Australia, Brad M. Angel, Leigh T. Hales, Stuart L. Simpson, Simon C. Apte, Anthony A. Chariton, Damon A. Shearer, Dianne F. Jolley

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Port Curtis is a rapidly growing industrialised and urbanised harbour in Central Queensland, Australia. Water sampling surveys were undertaken in late 2003 and 2004, accompanied by additional sediment sampling to investigate the sources and behaviour of trace metals, and the effects of pH on metal partitioning between dissolved and particulate forms. Sampling and analyses of trace metals in waters and suspended particulates were undertaken along axial transects extending away from possible point-sources within the harbour. Additional sampling was undertaken in selected inlets and major freshwater sources to Port Curtis, including the Fitzroy River. Most dissolved metal concentrations were significantly elevated …


Train-Borne Measurements Of Tropical Methane Enhancements From Ephemeral Wetlands In Australia, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T Griffith, Clare Paton-Walsh, Rittick Borah Jan 2010

Train-Borne Measurements Of Tropical Methane Enhancements From Ephemeral Wetlands In Australia, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T Griffith, Clare Paton-Walsh, Rittick Borah

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We report greenhouse gas concentrations measured on a train covering a north-south transect through central Australia from north to south coast. During the monsoonal wet season we found significant enhancements in methane that correlate well with changing area of wetland inundation in Australian tropical savanna regions. We used a meteorological and air pollution model to quantify the ephemeral wetland fluxes necessary to cause the observed enhancements and estimate the constant Australian tropical wetland emissions. Annual Australian tropical ephemeral wetland fluxes are estimated at 0.4 +/- 0.2 Tg CH4, with permanent wetlands contributing a similar amount, 0.5 +/- 0.2 Tg CH4.


Mapping Same-Sex Couple Family Households In Australia, Andrew W. Gorman-Murray, Christopher R. Brennan-Horley, Kirsten Mclean, Gordon R. Waitt, Christopher R. Gibson Jan 2010

Mapping Same-Sex Couple Family Households In Australia, Andrew W. Gorman-Murray, Christopher R. Brennan-Horley, Kirsten Mclean, Gordon R. Waitt, Christopher R. Gibson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The map (1:1,218,987) accompanying this report is the first to depict the distribution of same-sex couple family households across Australia. The map and the report contribute to emerging scholarship combining critical geographies of sexualities with quantitative techniques and GIS in order to advance the political claims of sexual minorities. The data were collected through the 2006 Census and obtained via consultation with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These data included the number of same-sex couple family households for all Statistical Divisions across Australia and for Statistical Sub-Divisions within metropolitan capital cities. Geographical concentrations of same-sex couple family households were determined …


Patterns Of Demography For Rocky-Shore, Intertidal Invertebrates Approaching Their Geographical Range Limits: Tests Of The Abundant-Centre Hypothesis In South-Eastern Australia, Eszter Z. Hidas, David J. Ayre, Todd E. Minchinton Jan 2010

Patterns Of Demography For Rocky-Shore, Intertidal Invertebrates Approaching Their Geographical Range Limits: Tests Of The Abundant-Centre Hypothesis In South-Eastern Australia, Eszter Z. Hidas, David J. Ayre, Todd E. Minchinton

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The abundant-centre hypothesis predicts that species' abundances peak at the centre of their geographical ranges and decline gradually towards their range limits. We tested predictions of this hypothesis for three rocky-shore, intertidal invertebrates with planktonic larvae (the whelk, Morula marginalba, the snail, Afrolittorina pyramidalis, and the barnacle, Tesseropora rosea) by quantifying their patterns of abundance and size, and inferring pulses of recruitment from size-frequency distributions, at multiple spatial scales spanning a 600-km region in south-eastern Australia and encompassing roughly the southern third of their geographical ranges. At the regional scale, abundances for all species were, as predicted, dramatically lower at …


Managing The Ground Parrot In Its Fiery Habitat In South-Eastern Australia, Jack Baker, Robert J. Whelan, Lyn Evans, Stephen Moore, Melinda Norton Jan 2010

Managing The Ground Parrot In Its Fiery Habitat In South-Eastern Australia, Jack Baker, Robert J. Whelan, Lyn Evans, Stephen Moore, Melinda Norton

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) is a rare and iconic endemic of heathlands in southern Australia. It is threatened by frequent and widespreadfire. The species has been an integral element in the development of our understanding of the impacts offire regimes in heathlands and is an integral part of conservation management of thesefire-prone ecosystems. This long-term study documents the densities of Ground Parrots in three areas of long-unburnt habitat in southernNewSouth Wales. Using area searches and aural surveys, we estimated densities of Ground Parrots at Barren Grounds Nature Reserve–Budderoo National Park (1983–2009), Beecroft Weapons Range (1997–2008) and Nadgee Nature Reserve …


The Effect Of Fuel Age On The Spread Of Fire In Sclerophyll Forest In The Sydney Region Of Australia., Ross A. Bradstock, Owen F. Price Jan 2010

The Effect Of Fuel Age On The Spread Of Fire In Sclerophyll Forest In The Sydney Region Of Australia., Ross A. Bradstock, Owen F. Price

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We investigated the effect of fuel age on the truncation of spread of unplanned fires using a set of 1473 patches in the Sydney region of Australia. Twenty-two percent of patches derived from prescribed fire experienced a subsequent unplanned fire within 5 years, compared with 42% of patches derived from unplanned fires. Among those encounters, the subsequent unplanned fire stopped at the leading edge of 18% of prescribed patches and 11% of unplanned patches. In comparison, the subsequent fire stopped somewhere in the patch for 44% of both prescribed and unplanned fires. Overall, there was a 10% chance that a …


Management Of Amphibian Populations In Booderee National Park, South-Eastern Australia, Trent D. Penman, Traecey Brassil Jan 2010

Management Of Amphibian Populations In Booderee National Park, South-Eastern Australia, Trent D. Penman, Traecey Brassil

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Often land set aside for conservation becomes a multiple use area, which forces land managers to balance biodiversity values against competing needs. Booderee National Park is an important conservation reserve for a range of amphibian species in south-eastern Australia. The Park includes a number of townships, defence facilities, and recreation areas, as well as land for conservation. We examined amphibian communities in the area and related these to broad habitat features and identified potential threats to the long term viability of these populations. Two distinct assemblages occurred within the Park that could be related to broad habitat features of the …


Late Quaternary Aeolian And Fluvial Interactions On The Cooper Creek Fan And The Association Between Linear And Source-Bordering Dunes, Strzelecki Desert, Australia, Timothy J. Cohen, Gerald C. Nanson, Joshua R. Larsen, B. G. Jones, David M. Price, Maria Coleman, Tim Pietsch Jan 2010

Late Quaternary Aeolian And Fluvial Interactions On The Cooper Creek Fan And The Association Between Linear And Source-Bordering Dunes, Strzelecki Desert, Australia, Timothy J. Cohen, Gerald C. Nanson, Joshua R. Larsen, B. G. Jones, David M. Price, Maria Coleman, Tim Pietsch

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The Innamincka Dome and associated low-gradient fan in the Strzelecki Desert is the product of Cenozoic crustal warping that has aided formation of an extensive array of palaeochannels, source-bordering transverse dunes and superimposed linear dunes. These dunes have impeded the course of Cooper Creek and provided a repository of evidence for Quaternary climate change as well as the interactive processes between transverse and linear dune formation. At Turra, Gidgealpa and sites nearby are extensive fluvial and aeolian sand bodies that date from marine isotope stages (MIS) 8-3 and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and are now surrounded or buried by …


Book Review: "Troubled Waters: Confronting The Water Crisis In Australia's Cities" By Patrick Troy (Ed.), Leah M. Gibbs Jan 2010

Book Review: "Troubled Waters: Confronting The Water Crisis In Australia's Cities" By Patrick Troy (Ed.), Leah M. Gibbs

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Troubled Waters is a collection of essays edited by Patrick Troy, Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. The papers are contributed by a multidisciplinary group of authors, from the fields of economics, history, geography, environmental and social policy and law. As a result, the book does not present a single theoretical or methodological approach and in this regard it is refreshing. The book is published by the ANU E Press; a publisher that makes academic output from the ANU freely available from its website, as well as for purchase through …