The Carboniferous is characterized by drastic climatic and environmental fluctuations, which include multiple phases of glaciation resulting in an icehouse climate. Additionally, dynamic continental ...reconfigurations forced the contraction of the Rheic Ocean resulting in the closure of the Rheic–Tethyan Gateway, which precluded further faunal exchanges between the North American and Eurasian marine realms. Interestingly, cartilaginous fishes seem to be relatively immune to these drastic climatic and environmental changes. The Eurasian fossil record of Paleozoic sharks is strongly biased towards intensively sampled localities from England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Russian Platform. Here we present rare dental material from the Serpukhovian (early Carboniferous) of Austria, adding new information to the paleogeographic distribution of ctenacanthiform sharks. The new material revealed the first record of the genus Saivodus in Central Europe and allowed us to recognize a new species, Cladodus gailensis sp. nov., and a remnant of fossilized cartilage. In an attempt to identify possible linkages between climatic or environmental fluctuations on shark diversity throughout the Carboniferous, we provide a synopsis of the distribution and diversity of elasmobranchs based on primary literature. This preliminary assessment at genus level indicates two pronounced events of extinction, with the first one occurring during the latest Mississippian and the second one towards the end of the Pennsylvanian. The first extinction event distinctly correlates with the known diversity decline of other marine inhabitants and the second occurred during an unstable period of multiple phases of glaciation.
An ongoing investigation of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin continues to show that it contains an extremely rich assemblage of angiosperm taxa. The Fagales to ...Rosales pollen record documented here contains 34 different taxa belonging to the Betulaceae (Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya), Fagaceae (Castanea, Fagus, Quercus Groups Cerris, Ilex, Cyclobalanopsis, Quercus/Lobatae), Juglandaceae (Engelhardioideae, Carya, Juglans, Pterocarya), Myricaceae (Morrella vel Myrica), Cannabaceae (Celtis), Elaeagnaceae (Elaeagnus), Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae (Prunus) and Ulmaceae (Cedrelospermum, Ulmus, Zelkova). Two of the pollen types represent extinct genera, Trigonobalanopsis and Cedrelospermum, and are also reported for the first time from the Lavanttal Basin along with pollen of Rhamnaceae and Prunus. The different types of Quercus pollen are now affiliated with Groups Cerris, Cyclobalanopsis, Ilex and Quercus/Lobatae based on sculpturing elements observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Köppen signatures of potential modern analogues of the fossil Fagales and Rosales suggest a subtropical (Cfa, Cwa) climate at lower elevation and subsequent subtropical to temperate climate with altitudinal succession (Cfa → Cfb/Dfa→ Dfb; Cwa → Cwb → Dwb) in the Lavanttal area during accumulation of the palynoflora. Most of the fossil taxa have potential modern analogues that can be grouped as nemoral and/or merido-nemoral vegetation elements, and the diversity of Fagales indicates a varying landscape with a high variety of niches.
This study presents a detailed mineralogical and chemical characterization of a chromium contamination in alluvial deposits underlying a leather tannery in Austria. Drill cores revealed that the ...contamination is represented by a black layer that exhibits sharp boundaries with adjacent brown alluvial sediments. This black layer is located below the groundwater table and begins at the source of the contamination. The black layer thickens with increasing distance from the source and the depth of the upper boundary remains at the same level relative to the surface. Mineralogical and chemical investigations showed that the black layer contains reduced Cr phases, a Cr(III) hydroxide and a Cr(III)-Ca-containing hydrocalcite, which are present as discrete grains, in vein-like pore spaces and/or as a coating around mineral grains. Cr(VI) is nearly only present above the groundwater table. Our 2-D model predicts a longitudinal spread of the black layer of approximately 37 m downgradient from the source and a maximum transversal spread of approximately 10 m. This study shows that, if the source of the contamination is not eliminated, the plume will increase continuously farther downgradient.
Display omitted
•A striking black layer contains Cr(III) hydroxide and Cr(III)-Ca-hydrocalcite.•Hexavalent chromium is found in alluvial sediments above the black layer.•The shape of the Cr(tot) plume reveals the source of the contamination: a soakaway.•A certain depth and associated reducing strength is needed to develop the black layer.•A 2-D model predicts lateral extents of ∼37 m (longitudinal) and ∼10 m (transversal) of the black layer.
At the northwestern margin of the Gurktal Alps (Eastern Alps), Eoalpine (Cretaceous) thrusting of carbonaceous material (CM) bearing metasediments formed a very low- to low-grade metamorphic nappe ...stack above higher-grade metamorphic basement nappes. Sedimentary burial as well as progressive metamorphism transformed the enclosed CM to anthracite, metaanthracite and semigraphite. In a kinematically well-constrained section at the northwestern frontal margin of the nappe stack, this transformation has been investigated by vitrinite reflectance measurements and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous materials (RSCM). Automated, interactive fitting of Raman spectra estimates the metamorphic peak temperatures in a complete section through the upper part of the Upper Austroalpine unit. A RSCM trend indicates a temperature profile of ca. 250–600 °C. The top part of the gradient is reconstructed by one-dimensional thermal modeling. The certainty of ca. ± 25 °C at a confidence level of 0.9 resembles the data variability within a sample location. Due to the large calibration range, the method is able to reconstruct a thermal crustal profile in space and time. The study highlights the versatility of RSCM, which characterizes almost 250 Ma of a complex and polyphase tectonic history. RSCM data characterize the Variscan metamorphic grade in nappes now imbricated in the Eoalpine nappe stack. They additionally constrain a numerical model which emphasizes the significance of an increased thermal gradient in a continental margin towards the western Neotethyan ocean during Permo-Triassic lithospheric extension. It finally characterizes the Eoalpine metamorphic gradient during nappe stacking and a significant metamorphic jump related to exhumation and normal faulting.
Centring on non-nobles in the Duchies of Styria, Carniola and Carinthia, this paper addresses dispute settlement in Inner Austria, following the Imperial prohibition of feud in 1495 and the ...Habsburgs' local consolidation of power earlier in the century. These developments are said to have brought about an end to feuding in the duchies in the 1500s, but by focusing on the concept of enmity, which articulated the same state of social relations, this article presents ample evidence that among all social classes dispute settlement retained much of the traditional practices well into the 1700s. Their survival was instrumentally underpinned by various courts of law and local authorities, regarding them as an indispensable element of keeping social cohesion and peace.
River engineering structures, such as bank protection or bed sills, act as constraints on the hydromorphology of rivers and limit morphodynamic processes. Accordingly, the deviations of a river's ...morphology from a natural reference condition have been attributed to the degree of artificiality in the observed river section and river restoration works mainly aimed at reducing artificial constraints within the river reach. Less attention has been drawn to alterations of the sediment continuum between sediment production in the river's catchment and downstream river reaches. However, the sediment supply from upstream is strongly reflected in the morphodynamics such as bar formation or the reworking of the riverbed. Any alteration of sediment supply may affect the morphological appearance of a reach and determine its deviation from an undisturbed condition.
We introduce the Hydromorphological Evaluation Tool (HYMET), which accounts in a hierarchical procedure for sediment supply and sediment transfer as catchment and river network based preconditions for sustainable morphodynamics in river reaches. At the reach scale, artificiality and the sediment budget are assessed. In contrast to existing evaluation methods for assessing hydromorphological state, no reference condition is needed for determining hydro-morphological alterations. Here, with re-established sediment supply and reduced artificiality, a river reach is expected to develop morphodynamics that approach a morphodynamically and ecologically sustainable condition.
Application to the Drau River showed that the alteration of sediment supply strongly affects the hydromorphological condition and thus the evaluation result of a restored reach, indicating the remaining potential for the re-initiation/re-establishment of morphodynamics through catchment-wide restoration plans.
•Evaluation method managing without the definition of a reference condition.•Hierarchical procedure ensures consideration of sediment connectivity and transfer.•Budgeting of sediment transfer links reach's trajectory to upstream alterations.•HYMET indicates remaining potential for morphodynamics in already restored reaches.
Health care accessibility studies are well established in the US but lacking in Austria, even though both experience high costs and have hospital care as the largest contributor to health care ...spending. This study aims to examine multiscale spatial accessibility to acute hospitals in Carinthia, Austria. Using the most recent data at census block and 250 meter grid levels, we refine proximity and generalized two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) methods while accounting for the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) and edge effects. For census blocks and 250 meter grids, the mean travel times to the nearest acute hospitals are 16 and 21 min, respectively, covering 58.8% and 76.2% of the population, which, however, increases to 25 and 31 min to the three nearest hospitals with similar populations. People bypassing the nearest hospital to seek hospitals at a longer distance, termed “bypass behavior”, is more influential, as 20% more of the population living in mountainous or rural areas need to travel 30 min longer. The G2SFCA method with a more pronounced distance decay results in a more decentralized polycentric structure of accessibility and identifies poorer access areas. While urban advantage is most evident in Klagenfurt and Villach, not all areas near hospitals enjoy the highest accessibility. A combination of the proximity and G2SFCA methods identifies less accessible areas. The MAUP overestimates accessibility at a coarse level and in less populous areas. Edge effects occur at the border when using proximity only, but they are more sensitive when considering bypass behavior or a weak distance decay effect. This study contributes to our understanding of acute hospitals’ accessibility in Carinthia and highlights the need to improve low-accessible areas in addition to universal health coverage. Cautions need to be exercised when using different geographic units or considering edge effects for health care planning and management.
The polyphased Kačák Episode near the Eifelian-Givetian boundary (Middle Devonian), well documented globally, resembles other global biotic extinction events driven by climate change. High-resolution ...conodont biodiversity patterns from shallow marine, slope and pelagic bathymetric settings within the same basin from the Carnic Alps show that while conodonts experienced diversification during the latest Eifelian ensensis Biozone, assemblages suffered extinction during the early Givetian hemiansatus Biozone. Although a similar general pattern is observed in different bathymetric settings there is a changed taxonomic composition of conodont assemblages across the stage boundary. Based on microfacies analysis this change is contemporaneous with changes in palaeoenvironmental conditions in the earliest Givetian.
Display omitted
•The polyphased Kačák Episode is traced in different bathymetric settings of the same basin.•Conodont biodiversity significantly influenced by global Middle Devonian Kačák Episode.•Conodont biodiversity reaches a maximum shortly before the Eifelian-Givetian boundary.•Diversity-decline contemporaneous with facies change during the earliest Givetian.
PDF
