Search

Fossil records from sites overridden by or adjacent to the Laurentide Ice Sheet indicate that the climate of the last interglaciation (Oxygen-Isotope Substage 5e, ca. 130-116 ka) was warmer than today. Following the last interglaciation, the Laurentide Ice Sheet first developed during Stage 5 over Keewatin, Quebec and Baffin Island. Along its northern margin, the ice sheet reached its maximum extent of the last glaciation during Stage 5. The ice sheet advanced across Baffin Island onto the continental shelf early during Stage 5 (5d?), whereas the advance into the western Canadian Arctic occurred late during Stage 5 (5b?). The ice sheet also may have advanced into the St Lawrence Lowland during Substage 5b, although this event may be younger (Stage 4). The Hudson Bay lowland became ice-free during Substage 5a. Retreat of the ice sheet on Baffin Island occurred during late Stage 5, probably Substage 5a. The exact timing of retreat from the western Canadian Arctic is unknown, but it occurred before 48 ka. The southern sector, including the St Lawrence Lowland, was ice-free during late Stage 5. The Hudson Bay lowland may have remained ice free through Stage 4 and much of Stage 3. Because of conflicting chronologies, however, it is more likely that this area was glaciated throughout Stage 3 and perhaps Stage 4. Nevertheless, the data demonstrate that the lowland was ice-free during part of the last glaciation. An independent ice cap developed over the Appalachian Uplands and advanced across Nova Scotia during Stage 4, perhaps as far as the edge of the continental shelf. The ice cap remained active over Nova Scotia as a setellite to the Laurentide Ice Sheet throughout the remainder of the last glaciation. The ice sheet advanced into the St Lawrence Lowland during Stage 4 and subsequently overwhelmed the local ice cap in the Appalachian Uplands, advancing perhaps into northern New England, but not farther south. The Lowland remained covered by the ice sheet until late Stage 2. The ice sheet may also have advanced into the Lake Ontario basin during Stage 4. The position of the northern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during Stage 4 is not known, but it remained an unknown distance behind its maximum position reached during Stage 5. Cores from Baffin Bay indicate a substantial decrease in high-latitude glaciation during Stage 4. Following retreat, the Keewatin sector of the ice sheet may have remained over much of northwestern Canada as a quasi-stable ice mass until it readvanced during Stage 2. Similarly, the Baffin Island sector of the ice sheet may have remained largely intact. The southern margin of the ice sheet may have advanced into the Lake Ontario basin and upper Mississippi Valley during the middle of Stage 3 (ca. 50 ka), reaching its maximum extent of the last glaciation during Stage 2 (ca. 18–21 ka). Advance of the northern margin was younger (ca. 8–13 ka) than that of the southern margin; this advance was less extensive than the penultimate advance (Stage 5). Paleoenvironmental records indicate that the last interglaciation in areas covered by and near the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was as warm as, or warmer than, present. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet appears to have developed during Stage 5 or 4. At that time, it advanced over southern British Columbia and into the northern Puget Lowland. There is no record of this event in northern areas that were later covered by the ice sheet. The ice sheet disappeared before 59 ka, at the beginning of a lengthy nonglacial interval. Paleoenvironmental records indicate that climate was similar to the present during part of this interval. The ice sheet was absent, and glaciers probably were confined to mountain areas, throughout Stage 3. Climatic deterioration marking the end of this nonglacial interval may have begun as early as 29 ka. By 14–15 ka, the ice sheet had achieved its maximum extent of the last glaciation. Because there are few suitable dating methods capable of resolving events beyond the radiocarbon limit and because sites that preserve a record of events from the last glaciation are spatially restricted, we consider this synthesis as tentative and subject to significant revision as dating methods improve. Nevertheless, this perspective of the North American ice sheets through the last glaciation demonstrates their complex and dynamic behavior and attendant rapid fluctuations in ice volume.

Clathrin, the major structural protein associated with both coated pits and coated vesicles, has been implicated in the dynamics of various endocytotic processes. In an attempt to define the mechanisms involved in the transition from uncoated membranes to clathrin-coated pits and then to coated vesicles, we investigated by infrared spectroscopy the lipid perturbations arising from the interactions of the clathrin coat with the bilayers of intact membrane assemblies. A comparison of the lipid acyl chain symmetric methylene stretching modes at approximately 2850 cm-1 for isolated clathrin-coated vesicles, uncoated vesicles, and synaptic membranes at 21, 38, and 50 degrees C indicated that clathrin significantly increases the number of gauche chain conformers in the bilayer matrix of the coated vesicle system. The increase in lipid disorder at 21 degrees C, accompanying the observed 0.44-cm-1 frequency increase for coated vesicles compared to uncoated vesicles, is approximately equivalent to the intrachain disorder incurred in heating liquid crystalline dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine multilayers by approximately 10 degrees C. The implications of these results on coated vesicle formation are discussed.

The differential cross section for elastic scattering of 42 MeV α-particles from 3 He has been measured between 20° and 160° c.m. A phenomenological description of the elastic scattering data is given by an optical-model calculation. To reproduce the shape of the differential cross section it was found that the absorptive potential was required to extend radially beyond the real potential. Including a small spin-orbit potential in the calculation improves the agreement with the experiment and predicts a polarization which is consistent with one measurement at a nearby energy. The reaction cross section given by the optical-model calculation is close to a lower limit estimated from integration of inelastic events observed. The two-body reactions 3 He(α, p) 6 Li ground and first excited state, were measured between 20° and 160° c.m. Optical potentials determined from elastic scattering data were used in a distorted wave Born approximation prediction for these cross sections. Qualitative agreement was obtained assuming only the 3 He stripping mode.

The differential cross sections for inelastic alpha particle scattering to large angles from 3+ states in 24Mg and 26Mg at 42 MeV show a clear diffraction type of pattern and pronounced enhancement compared with forward angles.

A facility for the continuous production of iodine-123 by spallation of elemental caesium by 482 MeV protons has been in operation at a TRIUMF beam dump for about 2 years. Radioxenon from the target is efficiently trapped on alumina which is subsequently used to remove the121Te decay product. The yield is 100 mCi/h from a 20 gm/cm2 target at 10 μA. Impurities are125I