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Background: Graphical materials can be effective communication tools, and maps in particular are a potentially powerful means of conveying spatial information. Previous reviews have provided insights on the application of cartographic best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and considerations related to risk perception and communication, but none has reviewed primary studies of the effectiveness or utility of maps to users, nor have they addressed the issue from the perspective of health literacy, environmental health literacy, or public health ethics. Objectives: To systematically identify and review the literature pertaining to evaluation of maps in general, or specific map features, as environmental exposure and health risk communication tools; to formulate best-practice recommendations; and to identify future research priorities. Methods: A health science librarian searched the literature for commentaries, reviews, and primary studies. Titles, abstracts, and full-text papers were screened for inclusion, and details of methods and results were extracted from 4 reviews and commentaries and 18 primary studies. This was supplemented by one additional review and 13 additional primary studies pertaining to use of maps for communication about wildfires and floods. One additional paper was identified by reviewing reference lists of all relevant papers. Results: and Discussion: While there are significant gaps in the evidence, we formulated best practice recommendations highlighting the perspectives of health literacy and environmental health literacy. Key recommendations include: understanding the map developer's societal role and mental model underlying map design; defining, understanding and iteratively engaging with map users; informing map design using key theoretical constructs; account

Sedimentary rocks along the southern margin of Australia host an important record of the break-up history of east Gondwana, as well as fragments of a deeper geological history, which collectively help inform the geological evolution of a vast and largely underexplored region. New drilling through Cenozoic cover has allowed examination of the Cretaceous rift-related Madura Shelf sequence (Bight Basin), and identification of two new stratigraphic units beneath the shelf; the possibly Proterozoic Shanes Dam Conglomerate and the interpreted Palaeozoic southern Officer Basin unit, the Decoration Sandstone. Recognition of these new units indicates an earlier basinal history than previously known. Lithostratigraphy of the new drillcore has been integrated with that published from onshore and offshore cores to present isopach maps of sedimentary cover on the Madura Shelf. New palynological data demonstrate progression from more localised freshwater-brackish fluvio-lacustrine clastics in the early Cretaceous (Foraminisporis wonthaggiensis – Valanginian to Barremian) to widespread topography-blanketing, fully marine, glauconitic mudrocks in the mid Cretaceous (Endoceratium ludbrookiae – Albian). Geochronology and Hf-isotope geochemistry show detrital zircon populations from the Madura Shelf are comparable to those from the southern Officer Basin, as well as Cenozoic shoreline and palaeovalley sediments in the region. The detrital zircon population from the Shanes Dam Conglomerate is defined by a unimodal ~1400 Ma peak, which correlates with directly underlying crystalline basement of the Madura Province. Peak ages of ~1150 Ma and ~1650 Ma dominate the age spectra of all other samples, indicating a stable sediment reservoir through much of the Phanerozoic, with sediments largely sourced from the Albany-Fraser Orogen and Musgrave Province (directly and via multiple recycling events). The Madura Shelf detrital zircon population differs from published data for the Upper Cretaceou

© 2017 A regional tectonic model is presented for the formation and evolution of Paleoproterozoic basins over the northern Yilgarn Craton, integrating new and published regional geological, geochronological, geochemical and geophysical data. The basins formed as a response to both extensional and compressional processes in the early Paleoproterozoic along the craton margin. Early rifting and basin formation coincided with the Ophthalmia Orogeny, the result of the convergence and accretion of the Archean to Proterozoic Glenburgh Terrane with the Pilbara Craton, and led to the formation of the Yerrida Basin at c. 2180 Ma as a single sub-basin containing the Windplain Group. This led to the eventual development of the Bryah and Mooloogool Sub-basins of the Yerrida Basin at c. 2030 Ma, and voluminous extrusion and intrusion of mafic rocks. The depth and nature of the Bryah Sub-basin suggests formation in response to rifting, with its orientation corresponding to the rift axis. Continued rifting along the northern Yilgarn margin resulted in subduction of the Yilgarn Craton beneath the composite Glenburgh–Pilbara craton. Eventual collision was marked by cessation of volcanism and rift-sediment deposition in the Bryah and Mooloogool Sub-basins, the onset of a pro-foreland basin (Padbury Basin) in the west, and approximately NE–SW rifting further east (the Earaheedy Basin), all at c. 2000 Ma. Banded iron-formation and granular iron-formation (Robinson Range and Frere Formations) was deposited much later (c. 1890 Ma) in a large basin that deepened from east to west, spanning the Earaheedy and Yerrida Basins. The deepest parts of this basin coincide with the Bryah Sub-basin, which was the most rifted portion of the Yilgarn Craton in this region. Deposition in all basins probably ceased with onset of the Capricorn Orogeny at c. 1820 Ma.

An Early Cretaceous siliceous large igneous province (SLIP) that developed on the eastern margin of Gondwana produced some of the most voluminous siliceous volcaniclastic deposits known globally. We report U-Pb ages and trace-element and Hf-isotopic signatures of detrital zircons from the Madura Shelf (onshore Bight Basin), Western Australia. These zircons include a geochemically distinct 106 Ma component with age and Hf characteristics that match SLIP volcanics some 2300 km distant in eastern Australia. This young subpopulation shows limited grain abrasion, which contrasts with older detrital components that are stratigraphically persistent. Regional detrital zircon provenance demonstrates that sediment routing systems were disconnected in the eastern and western Bight Basin, negating terrestrial transport mechanisms as a possible vector of the zircons from the SLIP to their recovered position. Palynology indicates that the 106 Ma zircons are syn-depositional, and we interpret them as being significantly transported in an eruption plume. Given the grain size and distance from source, such distal zircon emplacement suggests previously undocumented 106 Ma super-eruptions. The 106 Ma zircons likely reflect Southern Hemisphere winter eruptions when tropospheric polar easterly winds would have been favored across southeastern Australia.

Here we report four high-resolution carbon isotope records in addition to trace element data for the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) boundary interval in the Lennard Shelf carbonate system of the Canning Basin, Western Australia. This region lacks the characteristic black shale horizons associated with the global Late Devonian Kellwasser extinction events, yet still exhibits a trend in carbon isotope character similar to what has been reported from elsewhere in the world (two positive δ13C excursions with ~ 3–4‰ amplitudes). Enrichments in select trace element ratios suggest that both excursions are related to periods of oxygen deprivation and perhaps increased biological productivity. Given the continuous and stratigraphically expanded nature of Lennard Shelf sections, together with high-density sampling constrained by both conodont biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy, we observe that the Upper Kellwasser isotope excursion (maximum δ13C values) and associated trace element enrichments occur distinctly lower than the F–F boundary level. These results have implications for the paleoenvironmental conditions leading up to the Late Devonian Mass Extinction in terms of ocean chemistry and circulation patterns. This data set allows for a rare, detailed look at the temporal relationship between the Kellwasser events and the F–F boundary and constrains the pattern of carbon isotope perturbations at the intra-zonal scale.

The Late Devonian was a time of major evolutionary change encompassing the fifth largest mass extinction, the Frasnian–Famennian event. In order to establish a chronological framework for global correlation before, during, and following the Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction, we carried out a coupled magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic study of two stratigraphic sections in the Upper Devonian carbonate reef complexes of the Lennard Shelf, in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Magnetostratigraphy from these rocks provides the first high-resolution definition of the Late Devonian magnetic polarity timescale. A 581-m-reference section and an 82-m overlapping section through the marginal slope facies (Napier Formation) of the Oscar Range as well as a 117-m section at Horse Spring (Virgin Hills Formation) were sampled at decimeter to meter scale for magnetostratigraphy. Conodont biostratigraphy was used to correlate both sections, and link magnetostratigraphic polarity zones to a globally established biostratigraphy. A stable, Characteristic Remanent Magnetization (ChRM) with dual polarities (NE, shallowly upward and SW, shallowly downward) is recovered from ∼60%∼60% of all samples, with magnetite inferred to be the chief magnetic carrier from thermal demagnetization characteristics. These directions define a geomagnetic pole at 49.5°S/285.8°E and α95=2.4α95=2.4 (n=501n=501), placing the Canning Basin at 9.9°S during the Late Devonian, consistent with carbonate reef development at this time.A conservative interpretation of the magnetostratigraphy shows the recovery of multiple reversals from both sections, not including possible cryptochrons and short duration magnetozones. Field tests for primary remanence include positive reversal tests and matching magnetozones from an overlapping section in the Oscar Range. A strong correlation was found between magnetic polarity stratigraphies of the Oscar Range and Horse Spring sections, and we correlate 12 magnetostratigr

Questions regarding heterogeneity and architecture of reefal carbonate platform systems may be resolved by well-constrained chronostratigraphic frameworks, developed from the integration of multiple independent signals in the rock record. This makes possible a meaningful comparison of coeval stratigraphy and facies in different settings. For the Canning Basin Chronostratigraphy Project (CBCP), key outcrop transects and shallow cores were logged for lithofacies and sampled at sub-meter scale for magnetostratigraphy, stable isotope chemostratigraphy, conodont-fish biostratigraphy, biomarker geochemistry, and elemental chemostratigraphy. The dataset entails nearly 4 km of measured stratigraphy and 6800 samples of Middle and Upper Devonian (Givetian, Frasnian and Famennian) carbonate platform-top, reef, foreslope, and basinal deposits along the Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Western Australia. The extracted rock signals were integrated in conjunction with sequence stratigraphic concepts to generate a multifacetted, regional chronostratigraphy and predictive lithofacies model across 250 km of the exposed Devonian reef complexes.Final results from the ongoing project will include: high-resolution, high-confidence correlations across different carbonate settings that were not achievable before using traditional biostratigraphy or sequence stratigraphic concepts; unprecedented examination of Lennard Shelf carbonate heterogeneity and architecture within the constrained framework; an integrated workflow for establishing robust chronostratigraphic frameworks that can be tailored for the subsurface; a magnetostratigraphic framework for parts of the Late Devonian (a period of uncertainty in the polarity reversal record), calibrated to biostratigraphic zones; and geochemical and elemental profiles that reflect sea level fluctuations, water column stratification/circulation, and biotic crises during deposition of the reef complexes. The integrated framework and predictive depositio

This study is to examine the changes in Cl volatilizations and chemical forms in NaCl-loaded Victorian brown coal during gasification in steam at 800°C using Cl K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The char samples were prepared in a novel one-stage fluidised-bed/fixed-bed quartz reactor at a fast heating rate. The samples were then collected and sealed in an argon-filled bag in order to minimise possible oxidation of char and Cl by air prior to analysis by XANES. Char-steam reactions were found to significantly affect the transformation of Cl, including the possible formation of chlorine-containing organic structures. On the other hand, volatile-char interactions during the gasification appeared to enhance the Cl retention and prevent the formation of organic chlorine compounds in chars.

The Palaeoproterozoic Earaheedy Basin is one of a series of basins that extend for about 700 km east-west and are part of the Capricorn Orogen, situated between the Archaean Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons. The Earaheedy Basin contains sedimentary rocks that were deposited on the northern passive continental margin of the Yilgarn Craton, probably as a result of continental breakup at 1.8 Ga. The sedimentary rocks of the Earaheedy Group are divided into two Subgroups, Toloo and Miningarra, each representing different depositional environments and aggregating about 3000 m in thickeness. The Tooloo Subgroup consists of basal siliciclastic with minor platform carbonates, overlain by a 600-m-thick succession of Fe-rich rocks (granular iron-formation and hematitic shales). The Miningarra Subgroup is predominantly siliciclastic, but includes stromatolite-bearing carbonate sequences and was deposited during a more active depositional regime. Far field tectonic events at 1.76 and 1.65 Ga resulted in the deformation of the sedimentary package with progressive intensity from north to south, forming the Stanley Fold Belt and giving and overall asymmetric structure to the Basin. These events were followed by a large meteorite impact (Shoemaker Impact Structure), probably in the Neoproterozoic. The Earaheedy Basin is well endowed with Fe resources, represented by the granular iron-formation (Frere Formation, Tooloo Subgroup), particularly in the Stanly Fold Belt, where there was secondary enrichement.