Pleistocene glaciation of Fenland, England, and its implications for evolution of the region.

Detailed investigation of landforms and their underlying deposits on the eastern margin of Fenland, East Anglia, demonstrated that they represent a series of glaciofluvial delta-fan and related sediments. Associated with these deposits are glacially dislocated sediments including tills, meltwater and pre-existing fluvial sediments. These 'Skertchly Line' deposits occur in the context of a substantial ice lobe that entered Fenland from the N to NE, dammed the streams entering the basin and caused glacial lakes to form in the valleys on the margins. Bulldozing by the ice lobe caused a series of ice-pushed ridges to form at the dynamic margin, especially at the ice maximum and during its retreat phases. Meltwater formed a series of marginal fans that coalesced into marginal accumulations in the SE of the basin. The ice lobe is named the Tottenhill glaciation. Further investigations of the Fenland margin have revealed the extent of the Tottenhill glaciation in the Fenland Basin, to the south and west, in sufficient detail to demonstrate the nature of the Tottenhill ice lobe and the landscape left on deglaciation. The ice lobe is likely to have been prone to surging. This is indicated by the low gradient of the ice lobe, the presence of underlying ductile Mesozoic clays, the evidence of ice-marginal flooding and the presence of arcuate glaciotectonic push moraines. Regional correlation, supported by independent numerical geochronology, indicates that the glaciation occurred ca 160 ka, i.e. during the late Middle Pleistocene, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6, the Wolstonian Stage. Comparison and correlation across the southern North Sea Basin confirms that the glaciation is the equivalent of that during the Late Saalian Drenthe Stadial in The Netherlands. The implications of this correlation are presented. Before the glaciation occurred, the Fenland Basin did not exist. It appears to have been initiated by a subglacial tunnel valley system beneath the Anglian (=Elsterian, MIS 12) ice sheet. During the subsequent Hoxnian (=Holsteinian; approx. MIS 11) interglacial, the sea invaded the drainage system inherited following the glacial retreat. The evolution through the subsequent ca 200 ka Early to Middle Wolstonian substages, the interval between the Hoxnian (Holsteinian) temperate Stage and the Wolstonian glaciation, represents a period during which fluvial and periglacial activity modified the landscape under cold climates, and organic sediments were laid down during a warmer event. Palaeolithic humans were also periodically present during this interval, their artefacts having been reworked by the subsequent glaciation. The deglaciation was followed by re-establishment of the rivers associated with the deposition of Late Wolstonian (Warthe Stadial) gravels and sands, and later, deposits of the Ipswichian interglacial (=Eemian, approx. MIS 5e) including freshwater, then estuarine sediments. Subsequent evolution of the basin occurred during the Devensian Stage (=Weichselian, MIS 5d-2) under predominantly cold, periglacial conditions.

Coherent control of Forster energy transfer in nanoparticle molecules: energy nanogates and plasmonic heat pulses.

We study how Forster energy transfer from a semiconductor quantum dot to a metallic nanoparticle can be gated using quantum coherence in quantum dots. We show this allows us to use a laser field to open the flow of the energy transfer for a given period of time (on-state) before it is switched off to about zero. Utilizing such an energy gating process it is shown that quantum-dot-metallic-nanoparticle systems (meta-molecules) can act as functional nanoheaters capable of generating heat pulses with temporal widths determined by their environmental and physical parameters. We discuss the physics behind the energy nanogates using molecular states of such meta-molecules and the resonance fluorescence of the quantum dots.

Photo-induced suppression of plasmonic emission enhancement of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots.

Emission of semiconductor quantum dots can be increased via two fundamentally different processes: (i) surface plasmon resonances (plasmonic emission enhancement) and (ii) irradiation with light (photo-induced fluorescence enhancement). In this paper we theoretically and experimentally study the mutual impacts of these processes on each other in quantum dot solids. We show that when thin films of colloidal quantum dots are placed in the vicinity of Au nano-islands, the plasmonic enhancement of the radiative decay rates of quantum dots and Forster energy transfer can hinder the photo-induced fluorescence enhancement of these films. This in turn leads to significant suppression of their plasmonic emission enhancement when they are irradiated with a laser beam. We investigate the impact of the sizes and shapes of the metallic nanoparticles in this process and theoretically analyze how plasmons and energy transfer can hinder the electrostatic barrier responsible for photo-induced fluorescence enhancement.

An orbital period of 0.94 days for the hot-Jupiter planet WASP-18b.

The 'hot Jupiters' that abound in lists of known extrasolar planets are thought to have formed far from their host stars, but migrate inwards through interactions with the proto-planetary disk from which they were born, or by an alternative mechanism such as planet-planet scattering. The hot Jupiters closest to their parent stars, at orbital distances of only approximately 0.02 astronomical units, have strong tidal interactions, and systems such as OGLE-TR-56 have been suggested as tests of tidal dissipation theory. Here we report the discovery of planet WASP-18b with an orbital period of 0.94 days and a mass of ten Jupiter masses (10 M(Jup)), resulting in a tidal interaction an order of magnitude stronger than that of planet OGLE-TR-56b. Under the assumption that the tidal-dissipation parameter Q of the host star is of the order of 10(6), as measured for Solar System bodies and binary stars and as often applied to extrasolar planets, WASP-18b will be spiralling inwards on a timescale less than a thousandth that of the lifetime of its host star. Therefore either WASP-18 is in a rare, exceptionally short-lived state, or the tidal dissipation in this system (and possibly other hot-Jupiter systems) must be much weaker than in the Solar System.

Late pleistocene deposits at Wretton, Norfolk. I. Ipswichian interglacial deposits.

Interglacial deposits found in the low terrace at Wretton, Norfolk, were formed in the zones II and III of the Ipswichian interglacial. The variety of sediments found is associated with the fluviatile environments of a meandering river. During zone II there was a regional mixed oak forest, with the local development of alder carr, fen, reedswamp and open water communities. During zone III the regional vegetation was more open and Carpinus became an important woodland tree. Locally, fen, reedswamp and open-water communities persisted, but alder carr was absent. The plants give some indication that the climate may have been more continental than at present, a number of species occurring which are not native to the British post-glacial flora but which have a wide distribution on the Continent. A brief comparison of the vegetational history is made with that of other Ipswichian interglacial sites in England and with the correlative Eemian interglacial on the Continent. The interglacial sections at Wretton form one of the richest Ipswichian sites for non-marine Mollusca so far found in England. The presence of a few more southern or more continental species, not now living in England, confirms that the climate was probably slightly warmer than at present, at least in summer. Numbers are large enough for satisfactory analysis in almost all sections, so that the environmental conclusion they suggest can be checked against those deduced from the plants. In general, these conclusions match and indicate a series of deposits laid down by a plant-rich Fenland river, a true ancestor of the present river Wissey, in its channel and neighbouring parts of its floodplain. The occurrence of brackish water species of Mollusca allows levels of marine influence to be clearly integrated with the vegetational history. Brackish horizons occur between - 1.95 m and +0.45 m O.D. in zone II b deposits, giving an indication of sea-level at this stage. The zone III deposits, although at a lower level, show no trace of brackish influences and a possible oscillation of sea-level is inferred.