ALBERT

Description: The following is a partial list of samples of archaeological interest processed between February 1981 and October 1985 at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. The list contains samples from west-central Illinois that were related to projects conducted by current or former researchers at the Center for American Archeology (CAA) (formerly Foundation for Illinois Archaeology) and Northwestern University, Department of Anthropology, or, as noted, by colleagues from other institutions. Although some of the samples reported here came from non-cultural contexts and are primarily of geological significance, all were from or related to archaeological investigations.

Description: The paper reports the results for six factorial experiments carried out over a period of 3 years, and designed to measure the effects of nitrogen, phosphate and potash on the yield of dry matter and to determine the effect of nitrogen on the phosphate and potash requirements of grass being cut five times per annum for conservation.Heavy dressings of nitrogen reduced the percentage of dry matter in the fresh herbage, but produced a very large increase in the yield of dry matter. There were quite large variations in the response to this plant food, but 348 lb. N per acre per annum practically doubled the yield and generally the response curves were substantially linear.The response to nitrogen depended on an adequate supply of potash and at five of the centres there were very large interactions between these two nutrients. The need for potash was greatest at the highest nitrogen rate and was much greater in the second and third than in the first year of the experiments.At the highest nitrogen rate some of the responses to potash were very large. The yields of dry matter showed no large or consistent differences between applying 336 lb. K2O in one dressing during the winter months or applying this amount in five equal dressings, one for each cut. The results demonstrated the ability of the soils to supply potash and showed that the regular cutting and removal of herbage, especially if heavy dressings of nitrogen were applied, exhausted the potash reserves in the soil.Phosphate had practically no effect on the yield of dry matter either in the presence or absence of nitrogen.With adequate potash the production of dry matter per lb. of fertilizer nitrogen was practically independent of rate and the overall mean results are between 14·0 and 15·7 lb. In the absence of fertilizer potash there was a very large effect of rate: 15·0 lb. dry matter per acre was produced per lb. N with the 87 lb. N per annum treatment, 13·7 lb. with 174 lb. N and 10·0 lb. with the 348 lb. N treatment.Approximately 70–75% of the annual production was obtained before the end of July. Thus 1 lb. of fertilizer nitrogen produced considerably more dry matter per acre during May, June and July than later in the season.

Description: SUMMARYSixty-four multiparous Friesian cows were given one of eight diets from weeks 4–20 of lactation at the former National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading in 1983–84. The diets consisted of 13·5 kg/day of experimental concentrates plus hay at 4·5 kg/day (fixed) or ad libitum. Concentrates were high-starch (S) based on cereal grains and cassava, high-fibre (F) based on highquality by-products, and two intermediate types containing 2:1 (SF) and 1:2 (FS) starch:fibre, all with a crude protein concentration of c. 180 g/kg DM. The diets were designed to provide similar intakes of digestible energy and crude protein at fixed hay intakes.With ad libitum feeding, hay intake was lowest on S concentrates. With increasing fibre in the concentrates, the yields of milk, protein and lactose fell but fat concentration and yield were increased. These changes were linear and were unaffected by hay intake. Increasing hay intake to ad libitum had no effect on milk yield but increased the concentrations and yields of fat and protein. It also changed a net liveweight loss on fixed intakes to a gain on ad libitum intakes.Diet digestibility was measured using sheep at about maintenance and cows at production intakes. Digestibility was higher in the sheep, probably because of the difference in level of intake. In the cows, increasing fibre in the concentrates reduced the digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, energy and nitrogen but increased the digestibility of fibre fractions and ether extract. Level of hay intake had variable effects on mean digestibility and on the relationship with concentrate type.Increasing the fibre in the concentrates increased the molar proportions of acetate and n-butyrate in the rumen and reduced the proportions of propionate, n-valerate and n-caproate.It is concluded that, with mixed diets of hay and relatively high proportions of concentrates, changes in the starch:fibre ratio of the concentrates by substitution of high quality by-products for starchy ingredients can induce linear changes in the yields of milk and the principal solids constituents and in milk fat concentration. Since changes in yields of fat and protein went in opposite directions, the optimal concentrate composition depends on the milk composition required by the market. These conclusions may not apply if poorer quality by-products are used.

Description: SUMMARYA multifactorial experiment sown to winter wheat cv. Hustler in autumn 1978 tested the effects of combinations of the following eight factors, each at two levels: drill type, sowing date, amount of nitrogen, division of nitrogen, irrigation, autumn pesticide (aldicarb), summer aphicide (pirimicarb), and fungicide (carbendazim, maneb and tridemorph).The mean grain yield of all plots was 9·7 t/ha and the best eight-plot treatment mean was 11·3 t/ha. The factors that had the greatest effect on yield were aphicide and fungicide, mainly from the control of Metopolophium dirhodum and Septoria spp. respectively. Both factors increased grain size and their effects were more than additive and greater with 250 than with 160 kg N/ha. Aphicide and fungicide also temporarily decreased the numbers of microbes on the developing ears. Autumn pesticide gave good control of aphids in the winter and some control in the summer: it also decreased nematode populations and slightly increased yields.Precision sowing compared with random distribution of seeds along the row had little effect on growth or yield. Sowing on 21 September compared with 13 October greatly increased growth early in the season but had less effect after anthesis; it was the only factor that increased yield when aphicide and fungicide were applied. There was negligible infection by barley yellow dwarf virus in crops sown on either date. The amount and division of N fertilizer affected N uptake early in the season and had small effects on the production and survival of tillers. Three N applications instead of one slightly increased grain yields but did not affect total N uptake by grains plus straw, which averaged 190 kg N/ha. The larger amount of N always increased N uptake but decreased yield in the absence of aphicide and fungicide. Irrigation slightly decreased yield despite prolonging the duration of green leaf area.

Description: Investigations of the March Gravels of Northam Pit, Eye, Cambridgeshire, have provided previously undescribed molluscan, ostracod and foraminiferal faunas together with pollen spectra, which enable a detailed palaeoenvironmental synthesis to be developed. The sediments were laid down in brackish-water conditions and a temperate environment, during a Late Pleistocene temperate stage.

Description: SummaryLate Triassic Radiolaria have been recovered from a bedded chert collected early in 1977 in the South Orkney islands. This is the first reliable palaeontological evidence for the age of the so-called basement complex that forms most of the exposed rock of a microcontinent on the southern limb of the Scotia Ridge. The fossils place a lower limit on the age of deformation of at least part of the complex as post-Karnian or Norian. The basement is overlain by undeformed Jurassic to Cretaceous conglomerates, which suggests this event took place during the early Mesozoic Gondwanian orogeny.The new data are consistent with the interpretation that the basement complex of the South Orkney Islands represents part of a subduction complex and was accreted to the Pacific margin of Gondwanaland during the late Triassic or early Jurassic time.

Description: There is at present a need to develop a better technique for measuring the rate of icing on structures such as, for example, overhead transmission lines. For aircraft and helicopter icing, the most widely used method of measurement is the rotating cylinder. However, for measuring the icing of structures, this method is difficult to apply and also less accurate due to lower wind velocities. Different approaches are now being developed using fixed cylinders.Icing tests were conducted with fixed and rotating cylinders in a wind tunnel. The rate of icing was obtained through measurements of volume, accretion cross-section and time of deposition. Tests were made using five different liquid water contents and droplet diameter spectra, and four cylinder diameters, keeping the wind velocity and temperature constant. The rate of icing is presented as a function of the diameters of the fixed and rotating cylinders for each of the liquid water contents tested. Results indicate that at lower wind velocities the accretion rate is overestimated for the smaller rotating cylinders. This difference is probably due to the variation of the collection efficiency with diameter. From these results it is suggested that the rate of ice accretion on structures should be based on at least two fixed cylinders of different small sizes in order to take into account the effect of the collection efficiency.

Description: There is at present a need to develop a better technique for measuring the rate of icing on structures such as, for example, overhead transmission lines. For aircraft and helicopter icing, the most widely used method of measurement is the rotating cylinder. However, for measuring the icing of structures, this method is difficult to apply and also less accurate due to lower wind velocities. Different approaches are now being developed using fixed cylinders. Icing tests were conducted with fixed and rotating cylinders in a wind tunnel. The rate of icing was obtained through measurements of volume, accretion cross-section and time of deposition. Tests were made using five different liquid water contents and droplet diameter spectra, and four cylinder diameters, keeping the wind velocity and temperature constant. The rate of icing is presented as a function of the diameters of the fixed and rotating cylinders for each of the liquid water contents tested. Results indicate that at lower wind velocities the accretion rate is overestimated for the smaller rotating cylinders. This difference is probably due to the variation of the collection efficiency with diameter. From these results it is suggested that the rate of ice accretion on structures should be based on at least two fixed cylinders of different small sizes in order to take into account the effect of the collection efficiency.

Description: Groundwater samples were collected from several different depths in Illinois glacial deposits at a site in east-central Illinois. Dissolved gases were extracted from many of the water samples, measured volumetrically, and analyze by gas chromatography. The DIC was precipitated as barium carbonate and analyzed for both δ13C and 14C. Due to the formation of microbial CH4, some of the DIC had unusually heavy δ13C values of −3 to −1‰. The standard groundwate 14C-age correction models were developed to account for carbonate dissolution as the primary carbon input beneath the soil zone. If the heavy δ13C values observed in this study are used in readily available groundwater dating models without accounting for the effect of microbial methane formation, many of the resultant calculated ages are negaitive (future ages) mathematically unsolvable. Isotopic and analytical result show a positive correlation (r2 = 0.90) between the δ13C of the DIC and the concentration of methane in the groundwater. With this correlation, we were able to correct the δ13C values of the DIC which were altered due to microbial CH4 formation. This adjustment of δ13C values, along with estimation of dead carbon input from the redox processes, allowed us to calculate 14C ages using standard groundwater age correction models.

Description: 14C and 13C enrichment values are reported for a series of surface soil profiles which represent the progressive transition from mor to mull humus induced by birch (Betula pendula) colonization.Variations in Δ and δ13C, which range between 85 to 154‰ modern and −28.1 to −25.3‰ (PDB), respectively, reflect changes in the rate and mode of organic decomposition. The most marked alterations in soil character occur over the first few decades following the introduction of birch, with clear isotopic evidence for the deeper penetration and accelerated mineralization of organic material.