Armed with drones, helicopters and military-grade software, a British photographer has developed a new way to remember glaciers

The landscape of Banks Island in the far north of Canada is being reshaped by global warming-triggered land slumps, and the situation is set to get much worse

No matter how deep we dig, life has always found a way to survive. The remarkable story of these impossible microbes can teach us about how life evolved

An emotional and intellectual voyage into an underground mythical world imagined by the Sami people reveals truths about our collective future

A valley longer than the Grand Canyon hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet may carry running water. How quickly it flows may affect how the ice melts

Melting and refreezing is turning the absorbent surface snow of Greenland into solid ice, an effect that could contribute to sea level rises

A combination of cold weather and just the right amount of wave motion has caused strange frozen spheres to cover a Finnish beach

To find subjects to photograph, Kacper Kowalski takes to the air in a paramotor or gyrocopter, barely steering to allow the wind to dictate the direction

This week, catch the last few days of an art show that gives mothers their due, explore a land of orchids and discover how loving maths makes us better people

NASA on Thursday selected space firms SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics to build lunar landing systems that can carry astronauts to the moon by 2024, the White House's accelerated deadline under the space agency's moon-to-Mars campaign. Jillian Kitchener has more.

South Africa's central bank has temporarily prohibited the use of debt issued by the Land Bank as collateral after the state agricultural lender was downgraded deeper into junk status and missed $2.7 billion in loan repayments.

With MLS players starting to return to their teams' respective training facilities, the league is considering a resumption of the season in June or July, with the possibility of all games in Orlando at the outset, the Washington Post reported.

Hurricane Irma’s deadly tear through the Caribbean will hobble the region’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry for months, just as hotels, airlines, and cruises were gearing up for the region’s peak winter season.

NASA has awarded $967 million to three space flight companies – Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX – to build lunar landers that will be part of the Artemis programme to send humans to the moon by 2024

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic

New Zealand is on track to eliminate covid-19 altogether, but keeping the virus out for good will be a challenge, and the economic impacts are likely to hurt

The Bank of England says the UK faces its worst slump in 300 years, but on Thursday held off from any moves on rates or bond buying. Julian Satterthwaite reports.

Much like other areas of cybercrime, attackers only refine and grow their skillset for infecting ATM systems from year-to-year. So what does the ATM landscape look like as of 2020? Let’s take a look.

Field evidence shows that emplacement of Devonian granites in northern England overlaps in space and time with the end of the supposed Acadian deformation in their country rocks. The age of this Acadian event in England and Wales is in need of review because of revised Rb-Sr and K-Ar decay constants and recently acquired radiometric ages on the granites.

Published K-Ar and Ar-Ar cleavage ages recalculated to the new decay constants range from 404 to 394 Ma (Emsian, Early Devonian). Emplacement of the Skiddaw and Weardale granites at 398.8 ± 0.4 and 399.3 ± 0.7 Ma respectively is indicated by U-Pb zircon ages, and is compatible with the field evidence. However, emplacement of the Shap Granite at a Re-Os molybdenite age of 405.2 ± 1.8 Ma and at the youngest U-Pb zircon age of 403 ± 8 Ma matches the field evidence less well. The apparent paradox in these ages is resolved if the K-Ar ages record only the end of millions of years of cleavage formation. An earlier cluster of K-Ar and Ar-Ar cleavage ages at 426–420 Ma (Ludlow to Přídolí, late Silurian) dates a pre-Acadian resetting event soon after Iapetus closure, an event of uncertain significance.

Ion microprobe U-Pb zircon ages for the Shap Granite have a mean of 415.6 ± 1.4 Ma but a range of 428–403 Ma, compatible with a long magmatic history. Thermal considerations suggest that this history was not at the upper crustal emplacement site but in a mid-crustal mush zone, now preserved at about 10 km depth as a component of the Lake District and North Pennine batholiths.

Oil residues occur as solid bitumen in mineralized zones within the Devonian Weardale Granite of the northern Pennines, northern England. Comparable residues are present in the overlying Mississippian rocks and were probably derived from a Carboniferous source, i.e. during later mineralization of the granite. The bitumen was already solidified during fluorite mineralization, which does not contain oil inclusions. The residues do not show the high thermal maturity of organic matter in the region altered by the earliest Permian Whin Sill. Like the sulphide-fluorite mineralization, oil emplacement post-dated intrusion of the sill. Pyrite associated with the oil residues is enriched in trace elements including lead, silver, gold, selenium and tellurium, which suggests that mineralizing fluids at least shared pathways with migrating hydrocarbons and possibly also suggests undiscovered valuable metal resources.

In a nod to the people who came before them — and those who still live among them — the Minnesota Public Health Association is acknowledging ancestral lands.

A number of partial articulated specimens of Cheiracanthus peachi nov. sp. have been collected from the Mey Flagstone Formation and Rousay Flagstone Formation within the Orcadian Basin of northern Scotland. The new, robust-bodied species is mainly distinguished by the scale ornament of radiating grooves rather than ridges. Compared to other Cheiracanthus species in the Orcadian Basin, C. peachi nov. sp. has quite a short range making it a useful zone fossil. As well as describing the general morphology of the specimens, we have also described and figured SEM images of scales and histological sections of all elements, enabling identification of other, isolated remains. Of particular biological interest is the identification of relatively robust, tooth-like gill rakers. Finally, the species has also been identified from isolated scales in Belarus, where it appears earlier and has a longer stratigraphical range, implying the species evolved in the marine deposits of the east and migrated west into the Orcadian Basin via the river systems.

We describe two large convergent multi-fluted glacigenic deposits in the NW Highlands, Scotland, and point out their resemblance to a number of landforms emerging from presently deglaciating areas of Greenland and Antarctica. We suggest that they all result from locally sourced sediment being deposited by local ice-flow, which was laterally confined by the margins of much larger adjacent glaciers or ice-streams. The NW Highlands features thus seem likely to be the result of processes active during the latter part of the Devensian Glaciation. One of these deposits, on the peninsula between Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom, is evidently sourced from the west-facing Coire Dearg of Beinn Ghobhlach, but was emplaced in a WNW direction rather than along the WSW fall-line. This suggests that the ice that emplaced it was confined by the margins of large glaciers then occupying the adjacent valleys of Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom. The second much larger and more prominent deposit, in Applecross, is composed of bouldery Torridonian sandstone till emplaced on to glacially scoured bedrock; the only feasible source location for this material is about 12 km distant, which requires that the deposit was carried by ice across the trough of Strath Maol Chalum and emplaced while active ice-streams confined it laterally to its present-day location. This, in turn, requires that ice lay in the Inner Sound between Applecross and Skye to an elevation 400–500 m above present-day sea-level. The Wester Ross Re-advance of 15–14 ka left a fragment of lateral moraine against the most easterly flute and buried the distal end of the flutes with hummocky moraine. We hypothesize that the fluted deposits reflect the locations of the ice-stream margins that constrained deposition of locally derived ice-transported sediment, rather than the flow-lines of the ice-stream itself.

Scotland is committed to be a carbon-neutral society by 2040 and has achieved the important initial step of decarbonizing power production. However, more ambitious measures are required to fully decarbonize all of the electricity, transport and heating sectors.

We explore the potential to use low-carbon GeoEnergy resources and bioenergy combined with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the Midland Valley area to decarbonize the Scottish economy and society. The Midland Valley has a long history of geological resource extraction and, as a result, the geology of the region is well characterized.

Geothermal energy and subsurface energy storage have the potential to be implemented. Some of them, such as gravity and heat storage, could re-use the redundant mining infrastructure to decrease investment costs. Hydrogen storage could be of particular interest as the Midland Valley offers the required caprock–reservoir assemblages. BECCS is also a promising option to reduce overall CO₂ emissions by between 1.10 and 4.40 MtCO₂ a^–1. The Midland Valley has enough space to grow the necessary crops, but CO₂ storage will most likely be implemented in North Sea saline aquifers. The studied aspects suggest that the Midland Valley represents a viable option in Scotland for the exploitation of the majority of low-carbon GeoEnergy resources.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Recent earthquakes involving complex multi-fault rupture have increased our appreciation of the variety of rupture geometries and fault interactions that occur within the short duration of coseismic slip. Geometrical complexities are intrinsically linked with spatially heterogeneous slip and stress drop distributions, and hence need incorporating into seismic hazard analysis. Studies of exhumed ancient fault zones facilitate investigation of rupture processes in the context of lithology and structure at seismogenic depths. In the Gairloch Shear Zone, NW Scotland, foliated amphibolites host pseudotachylytes that record rupture geometries of ancient low-magnitude (≤M_W 3) seismicity. Pseudotachylyte faults are commonly foliation parallel, indicating exploitation of foliation planes as weak interfaces for seismic rupture. Discordance and complexity are introduced by fault segmentation, stepovers, branching and brecciated dilational volumes. Pseudotachylyte geometries indicate that slip nucleation initiated simultaneously across several parallel foliation planes with millimetre and centimetre separations, leading to progressive interaction and ultimately linkage of adjacent segments and branches within a single earthquake. Interacting with this structural control, a lithological influence of abundant low disequilibrium melting-point amphibole facilitated coseismic melting, with relatively high coseismic melt pressure encouraging transient dilational sites. These faults elucidate controls and processes that may upscale to large active fault zones hosting major earthquake activity.

Supplementary material: Supplementary Figures 1 and 2, unannotated versions of field photographs displayed in Figures 4a and 5 respectively, are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4573256

Thematic collection: This article is part of the SJG Collection on Early-Career Research available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 10 to 20% of breast cancer, with chemotherapy as its mainstay of treatment due to lack of well-defined targets, and recent genomic sequencing studies have revealed a paucity of TNBC-specific mutations. Recurrent gene fusions comprise a class of viable genetic targets in solid tumors;...

Vanessa Corby-Harris, Megan E. Deeter, Lucy Snyder, Charlotte Meador, Ashley C. Welchert, Amelia Hoffman, and Bethany T. Obernesser

Recent widespread honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony loss is attributed to a variety of stressors, including parasites, pathogens, pesticides and poor nutrition. In principle, we can reduce stress-induced declines in colony health by either removing the stressor or increasing the bees' tolerance to the stressor. This latter option requires a better understanding than we currently have of how honey bees respond to stress. Here, we investigated how octopamine, a stress-induced hormone that mediates invertebrate physiology and behavior, influences the health of young nurse-aged bees. Specifically, we asked whether octopamine induces abdominal lipid and hypopharyngeal gland (HG) degradation, two physiological traits of stressed nurse bees. Nurse-aged workers were treated topically with octopamine and their abdominal lipid content, HG size and HG autophagic gene expression were measured. Hemolymph lipid titer was measured to determine whether tissue degradation was associated with the release of nutrients from these tissues into the hemolymph. The HGs of octopamine-treated bees were smaller than control bees and had higher levels of HG autophagy gene expression. Octopamine-treated bees also had higher levels of hemolymph lipid compared with control bees. Abdominal lipids did not change in response to octopamine. Our findings support the hypothesis that the HGs are a rich source of stored energy that can be mobilized during periods of stress.

Brian K. McNab and Kerry A. Weston

The thermal physiology of the endangered New Zealand rockwren (Xenicus gilviventris) is examined. It is a member of the Acanthisittidae, a family unique to New Zealand. This family, derived from Gondwana, is thought to be the sister taxon to all other passerines. Rockwrens permanently reside above the climatic timberline at altitudes from 1,000 to 2,900 meters in the mountains of South Island. They feed on invertebrates and in winter face ambient temperatures far below freezing and deep deposits of snow. Their body temperature and rate of metabolism are highly variable. Rockwrens regulate body temperature at ca. 36.4°C, which in one individual decreased to 33.1°C at an ambient temperature of 9.4°C. Its rate of metabolism decreased by 30%; body temperature spontaneously returned to 36°C. The rate of metabolism in a second individual twice decreased by 35%, nearly to the basal rate expected from mass without a decrease in body temperature. The New Zealand rockwren's food habits, entrance into torpor, and continuous residence in a thermally demanding environment suggest that it may hibernate. For that conclusion to be accepted, evidence of its use of torpor for extended periods is required. Those data are not presently available. Acanthisittids are distinguished from other passerines by the combination of their permanent temperate distribution, thermal flexibility, and a propensity to evolve a flightless condition. These characteristics may principally reflect their geographical isolation in a temperate environment isolated from Gondwana for 82 million years in the absence of mammalian predators.

The Carboniferous Bowland Shale Formation of the UK is a proven hydrocarbon source rock and currently a target for shale gas exploration. Most existing analysis details lithofacies and geochemical assessment of a small number of boreholes. Given a paucity of relevant borehole cores, surface samples provide a valuable contribution to the assessment of this unconventional gas source. This study reviews existing literature on the formation's hydrocarbon geochemistry and provides new lithological descriptions of seven lithofacies, XRD mineralogy and hydrocarbon-specific geochemical data for 32 outcrop localities within the Craven and Edale basins, respectively in the northern and southern parts of the resource area. Low oxygen indices suggest that the majority of samples are relatively unaltered (in terms of hydrocarbon geochemistry), and therefore suitable for the characterization of the shale organic character. Total organic carbon (TOC) ranges from 0.7 to 6.5 wt%, with highest values associated with maximum flooding surfaces. Mean T_max values of 447 and 441°C for the Edale and Craven basins, respectively, suggest that nearly all the samples were too immature to have generated appreciable amounts of dry gas. The oil saturation index is consistently below the >100 mg g^–1 TOC benchmark, suggesting that they are not prospective for shale oil.

Supplementary material: A table summarizing the location, geological description and age of all of the samples in this paper is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4444589

Detailed interpretation of a 3D seismic data volume reveals the detrimental effect that post-depositional tectonic deformation has had on buried Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian–Namurian) shales and its consequences for shale gas exploration in the SW part (Fylde area) of the Craven Basin in NW England. The structural styles primarily result from Devono-Carboniferous (syn-sedimentary) extension, post-rift subsidence and Variscan inversion, a renewed phase of Permo-Triassic extension, and Cenozoic uplift and basin exhumation. In contrast to the shallow dips and bedding continuity that characterizes productive shale gas plays in other basins (e.g. in the USA and Argentina), our mapping shows that the area is affected by deformation that results in the Bowland Shale Formation targets being folded and dissected into fault-bound compartments defined by SW–NE striking (Lower Carboniferous and Variscan) reverse faults and SSW–NNE to N–S striking (Permo-Triassic) normal faults. The fault networks and the misalignment between the elongate compartments they contain and the present-day minimum horizontal stress orientation limit the length over which long lateral boreholes can remain in a productive horizon, placing an important constraint on optimal well positioning, reducing the size of the shale gas resource and affecting well productivity. Our subsurface mapping using this high-fidelity dataset provides an accurate picture of the Upper Palaeozoic structure and demonstrates that faulting is denser and more complex than apparent from geological mapping of the surface outcrop. That structural complexity has direct and significant consequences for: the location of well pads; the lateral continuity of target shale gas horizons; the evaluation of the risk of inducing seismicity on seismically resolvable (large displacement) fault planes prior to drilling; and the likelihood of faults with small throws (below seismic resolution) being present.

The Larne and Portpatrick basins, located in the North Channel between SW Scotland and Northern Ireland, have been the target of a small programme of petroleum exploration activities since 1971. A total of five hydrocarbon exploration wells have been drilled within the two basins, although as of yet no commercial discoveries have been made. The presence of hydrocarbon shows alongside the discovery of two good-quality reservoir–seal couplets within Triassic and underlying Permian strata has encouraged exploration within the region. The focus of this study is to evaluate the geology and hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Portpatrick Basin and the offshore section of the Larne Basin. This is achieved through the use of seismic reflection data, and gravity and aeromagnetic data, alongside sedimentological, petrophysical and additional available datasets from both onshore and offshore wells, boreholes and previously published studies. The primary reservoir interval, the Lower–Middle Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group (c. 600–900 m gross thickness), is distributed across both basins and shows good to excellent porosity (10–25%) and permeability (10–1000 mD) within the Larne Basin. The Middle–Late Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group should provide an excellent top seal where present due to the presence of thick regionally extensive halite deposits, although differential erosion has removed this seal from the margins of the Larne and Portpatrick basins. The Carboniferous, which has been postulated to contain organic-rich source-rock horizons, as inferred from their presence in adjacent basins, has not yet been penetrated within the depocentre of either basin. There is, therefore, some degree of uncertainty regarding the quality and distribution of a potential source rock. The interpretation of seismic reflection profiles presented here, alongside the occurrence of hydrocarbon shows, indicates the presence of organic-rich pre-Permian sedimentary rocks within both basins. 1D petroleum system modelling of the Larne-2 borehole shows that the timing of hydrocarbon generation and migration within the basins is a significant risk, with many traps post-dating the primary hydrocarbon charge. Well-failure analysis has revealed that trap breach associated with kilometre-scale uplift events, and the drilling of wells off-structure due to a lack of good-quality subsurface data, have contributed to the lack of discoveries. While the Larne and Portpatrick basins have many elements required for a working petroleum system, along with supporting hydrocarbon shows, the high risks coupled with the small scale of potential discoveries makes the Portpatrick Basin and offshore section of the Larne Basin poorly prospective for oil and gas discovery.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the Under-explored plays and frontier basins of the UK continental shelf collection available at: http://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/under-explored-plays-and-frontier-basins-of-the-uk-continental-shelf

Discovery of the Breagh gas field in the Southern North Sea (SNS) has demonstrated the potential that the Lower Carboniferous (Visean, 346.7–330.9 Ma) Farne Group reservoirs have to contribute to the UK's future energy mix. New biostratigraphic correlations provide a basis to compare Asbian and Brigantian sedimentary cores from the Breagh Field and age-equivalent sediments exposed on the Northumberland Coast, which has proved critical in gaining an understanding of exploration and development opportunities. Thirteen facies associations characterize the mixed carbonate–siliciclastic system, grouped into: marine, delta front, delta shoreface, lower delta plain and upper delta plain gross depositional environments. The facies associations are interpreted as depositing in a mixed carbonate and siliciclastic fluvio-deltaic environment, and are arranged into coarsening- and cleaning-upward cycles (parasequences) bounded by flooding surfaces. Most cycles are characterized by mouth bars, distributary channels, interdistributary bays and common braided rivers, interpreted as river-dominated deltaic deposits. Some cycles include rare shoreface and tidally-influenced deposits, interpreted as river-dominated and wave- or tide-influenced deltaic deposits. The depositional processes that formed each cycle have important implications for the reservoir net/gross ratio (where this ratio indicates the proportion of sandstone beds in a cycle), thickness and lateral extent. The deltaic deposits were controlled by a combination of tectonic and eustatic (allocyclic) events and delta avulsion (autocyclic) processes, and are likely to reflect a changing tectonic regime, from extension within elongate fault-bounded basins (synrift) to passive regional thermal subsidence (post-rift). Deep incision by the Base Permian Unconformity across the Breagh Field has removed the Westphalian, Namurian and upper Visean, to leave the more prospective thicker clastic reservoirs within closure.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the Under-explored plays and frontier basins of the UK continental shelf collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/under-explored-plays-and-frontier-basins-of-the-uk-continental-shelf

The Dukla Nappe in the Skrzydlna area exposes two types of mélange reflecting two different phases of basinal and tectonic evolution of the Outer West Carpathian orogen in its Polish sector. The Oligocene-age sedimentary mélange (olistostrome) is related to growth of the accretionary wedge, whereas the Miocene-age diapiric mélange postdates the orogenic thrusting. Textural and structural features of the very coarse-grained sedimentary mélange suggest non-cohesive debris flows and high-density turbidity currents as predominant emplacement mechanisms. Growth strata, associated with progressive unconformities, and facies contrast between the underlying fine-grained unit and the overlying olistostrome reflect a considerable uplift of the source area and rotation of the adjacent part of the basin floor. The olistostrome and the overlying turbidite succession form a retrogressive sequence interpreted as a submarine canyon infill grading to a small submarine fan. The diapiric mélange, injected into the Oligocene-age succession of the Dukla Nappe, contains the Early and Late Cretaceous-age blocks and matrix derived from the underlying Silesian Nappe. The features reflecting diapiric emplacement include matrix proportion increase and block content decrease towards the mélange margins, scaly fabric and shear zones. Both mélanges, interpreted in the past as chaotic bodies, upon detailed examination reveal genesis-related subtle internal organization.

Laterites preserved on both sides of the Western Ghats Escarpment of Peninsular India have formed by long-term lateritic weathering essentially after India–Seychelles continental break-up following Deccan Traps emplacement (c. 63 myr ago). Supergene manganese ores of the Western Ghats were formed on Late Archean manganese protores. Among Mn oxides composing the ores, cryptomelane (K-rich Mn oxide) was characterized and dated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology. Measured ages complement those previously obtained in other South Indian manganese ores from the hinterland plateau and further document three major weathering periods, c. 53–44, c. 39–22 and c. 14–10 Ma, the last being documented for the first time in India. These periods coincide with global palaeoclimatic proxies and date the lateritic weathering of three successive palaeolandscapes of the Western Ghats that evolved under slow denudation (c. 8 m Ma^–1) over the last 44 myr and were mostly incised during the Neogene (<22 Ma). This indicates that the Western Ghats are a relict of a South Indian plateau preserved at the headwaters of very long east-flowing river systems and above the Western Ghats Escarpment. Topography and denudation history of this landscape do not require Neogene tilt of the Peninsula as recently proposed.

Supplementary material: Full details of field and sample description, methods and analytical data including electron probe microanalyses of cryptomelane, and isotopic analyses and degassing spectra of irradiated cryptomelane grains are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4726661

Mechanical heterogeneity of a sedimentary sequence exerts a primary control on the geometry of fault zones and the proportion of offset accommodated by folding. The Wildensbuch Fault Zone in the Swiss Molasse Basin, with a maximum throw of 40 m, intersects a Mesozoic section containing a thick (120 m) clay-dominated unit (Opalinus Clay) over- and underlain by more competent limestone units. Interpretation of a 3D seismic reflection survey indicates that the fault zone formed by upward propagation of an east–west-trending basement structure, through the Mesozoic section, in response to NE–SW Miocene extension. This configuration formed an array of left-stepping normal fault segments above and below the Opalinus Clay. In cross-section a broad monoclinal fold is observed in the Opalinus Clay. Folding, however, is not ubiquitous and occurs in the Opalinus Clay where fault segments above and below are oblique to one another; where they are parallel the fault passes through the Opalinus Clay with little folding. These observations demonstrate that, even in strongly heterogeneous sequences, here a four-fold difference in both Young's modulus and cohesion between layers, the occurrence of folding may depend on the local relationship between fault geometry and applied stress field rather than rheological properties alone.

Transportation infrastructure owners manage an array of different asset types such as bridges, road pavements, earthworks and drainage. Currently, most organization management procedures are siloed by asset type; however, there are important interactions between these asset groups that need to be managed in a cross-asset way. Although these interactions are known, there is little or no quantification of these interactions. For the first time, this paper quantifies that 74% of Highways England's earthwork failures are a result of drainage-related problems, either the lack of drainage infrastructure or the poor performance of it. The analysis undertaken is an important first step not only in moving towards more connected asset management planning for earthworks and drainage, but to also provide guidance for other owners of earthwork infrastructure assets to improve their strategic asset management procedures.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the Ground-related risk to transportation infrastructure collection available at https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/Ground-related-risk-to-transportation-infrastructure

South Africa is a mineral-rich country with a diverse geology and a long history of mining. The rich history of mining activities includes the extraction of coal from the Ecca Group Sediments of the Karoo Supergroup (250 Ma), gold and uranium from the Witwatersrand Supergroup (2900 Ma), as well as platinum, uranium, tin and lead from the layered Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) (2150 Ma). The extraction of gold, copper, tin, lead and rare earth minerals also took place in the Archean rocks of Swazium age (3500–3000 Ma). The historical mining records have either not been accurately recorded or have been lost over time. This has resulted in significant geohazard risk during infrastructure development, especially in and around historical mining towns, such as Johannesburg and Ermelo. These geohazard risks require careful appraisal and quantification prior to any infrastructure design or construction.

This case study aims to set out the development aspects of the Multi-Faceted Geophysical Modelling Systems approach, which was used by the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL) during an investigation of undermined ground for the historical coal-mining town of Ermelo in South Africa. The N11/N2 ring road was planned to go around Ermelo to ensure mobility between major routes, whilst still maintaining town access.

The systems approach used a combination of airborne geophysics (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic System (VTEM^TM) and magnetics), generally used in mining exploration, land-based and borehole geophysics, borehole water testing, and ground-truthing. The approach was continuous and iterative, building on the data at hand and reducing unnecessary investigations while eliminating the possibility of anomalies being missed, as in the case of conventional discrete drilling. The investigation ensured that 100% of the route was comprehensively investigated with a high confidence in the geological and geophysical data, and concomitant mitigation of infrastructure risk.

The Multi-Faceted Geophysical Modelling Systems approach was successfully used to identify a previously unknown 1 x 1 m mining stope cavity at 90 m depth and a 3 x 5 m access tunnel at 24 m depth in a timely and cost-effective manner. Seven reverse-circulation percussion boreholes confirmed the structural integrity of these underground cavities, as well as the structural geology along the centreline. Based on the great success achieved in identifying shallow anomalies, this Multi-Faceted Geophysical Modelling Systems approach is now being considered for field trails on the dolomitic formations and the Wild Coast greenfields road project where there are large historical slumps and many fault lines.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the Ground-related risk to transportation infrastructure collection available at https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/Ground-related-risk-to-transportation-infrastructure

The presence of large palaeo-landslides can hinder the construction of railway lines if they cause an alteration of the natural balance of the slope, significantly increasing the cost of the project. During the construction works in a section of the Madrid–Asturias high-speed railway line (Spain), a large-scale hillside instability affected 460 m of the section. The ground movement began 10 months after the start of the excavations and remained active throughout the observation period (2008–2010). Data provided by fieldwork, boreholes and instrumental monitoring have allowed the investigation of the geological units involved, together with the geometry and the kinematics of the mass movement. This landslide involves a Paleozoic basement with an estimated volume of 4 400 000 m³. It shows low displacement rates (<45 mm a^–1) and was accommodated on a single surface of rupture, which reaches more than 60 m depth. The kinematics is favoured by structural and lithological conditions, there being a strong rheological contrast in the lower part of the mobilized ground. This movement is linked to a large palaeo-landslide that was partially reactivated when excavations undermined the lower slopes of the hillside. Technical solutions for the stabilization have already caused an additional cost of 17% over the initial budget.

In 2015, the M_w 7.8 Gorkha earthquake struck Nepal, triggering thousands of landslides across the central and eastern Himalayas. These landslides had many adverse effects, including causing widespread damage to low-grade transport routes (e.g. tracks, footpaths) in rural regions that depend on tourism for survival. Langtang Valley is a glacial–periglacial landscape located 60 km north of Kathmandu. It is one of the most popular trekking regions in Nepal and has been severely affected by Gorkha earthquake-triggered and monsoon-triggered landsliding. Here, qualitative and quantitative observations from fieldwork and remote sensing are used to describe the materials and geomorphology of the landslides across Langtang Valley, and to quantify the extent to which coseismic and monsoon-triggered landslides have affected Langtang's trekking infrastructure. The dominant bedrock materials involved within Langtang landslides are found to be a range of gneisses and intruded leucogranites. In total, 64 landslides are found to have intersected trekking paths across Langtang, with coseismic and monsoon-triggered landslides having an impact on c. 3 km and 0.8 km of path respectively. It is observed that the practice of reconstructing paths through unstable landslide deposits is leaving the trekking infrastructure across Langtang increasingly vulnerable to future failure.

ABSTRACTThe Standard Days Method (SDM), a modern fertility awareness-based family planning method, has been introduced in 30 countries since its development in 2001. It is still unclear to what extent the SDM was mainstreamed within the family planning method mix, particularly in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings, where the SDM had been introduced by donors and implementing partners. This review of implementation science publications on the SDM in LMICs first looked at community pilot studies of the SDM to determine the acceptability of the method; correct use and efficacy rates; demographics of users; and changes to contraceptive prevalence rates and family planning behaviors, especially among men and couples. Then, we examined the status of the SDM in the 16 countries that had attempted to scale up the method within national family planning protocols, training, and service delivery. At the community level, evidence demonstrated a high level of acceptability of the method; efficacy rates comparable to the initial clinical trials; diversity in demographic characteristics of users, including first-time or recently discontinued users of family planning; increased male engagement in family planning; and improved couple's communication. Nationally, few countries had scaled up the SDM due to uneven stakeholder engagement, lackluster political will, and competing resource priorities. Results of this review could help policy makers determine the added value of the SDM in the contraceptive method mix and identify potential barriers to its implementation moving forward.

Deep-subsurface hot brines in northwest Poland, extracted through boreholes reaching 1.6 and 2.6 km below the ground surface, were microbiologically investigated using culture-independent and culture-dependent methods. The high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons showed a very low diversity of bacterial communities, which were dominated by phyla Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Bacterial genera potentially involved in sulfur oxidation and nitrate reduction (Halothiobacillus and Methylobacterium) prevailed in both waters over the sulfate reducers ("Candidatus Desulforudis" and Desulfotomaculum). Only one archaeal taxon, affiliated with the order Thermoplasmatales, was detected in analyzed samples. Bacterial isolates obtained from these deep hot brines were closely related to Bacillus paralicheniformis based on the 16S rRNA sequence similarity. However, genomic and physiological analyses made for one of the isolates, Bacillus paralicheniformis strain TS6, revealed the existence of more diverse metabolic pathways than those of its moderate-temperature counterpart. These specific traits may be associated with the ecological adaptations to the extreme habitat, which suggest that some lineages of B. paralicheniformis are halothermophilic.

IMPORTANCE Deep-subsurface aquifers, buried thousands of meters down the Earth’s crust, belong to the most underexplored microbial habitats. Although a few studies revealed the existence of microbial life at the depths, the knowledge about the microbial life in the deep hydrosphere is still scarce due to the limited access to such environments. Studying the subsurface microbiome provides unique information on microbial diversity, community structure, and geomicrobiological processes occurring under extreme conditions of the deep subsurface. Our study shows that low-diversity microbial assemblages in subsurface hot brines were dominated by the bacteria involved in biogeochemical cycles of sulfur and nitrogen. Based on genomic and physiological analyses, we found that the Bacillus paralicheniformis isolate obtained from the brine under study differed from the mesophilic species in the presence of specific adaptations to harsh environmental conditions. We indicate that some lineages of B. paralicheniformis are halothermophilic, which was not previously reported.

Chromosomal resistance islands containing the methicillin resistance gene mecD (McRI_mecD) have been reported in Macrococcus caseolyticus. Here, we identified novel macrolide resistance genes in Macrococcus canis on similar elements, called McRI_msr. These elements were also integrated into the 3' end of the 30S ribosomal protein S9 gene (rpsI), delimited by characteristic attachment (att) sites, and carried a related site-specific integrase gene (int) at the 5' end. They carried novel macrolide resistance genes belonging to the msr family of ABC subfamily F (ABC-F)-type ribosomal protection protein [msr(F) and msr(H)] and the macrolide efflux mef family [mef(D)]. Highly related mef(D)-msr(F) fragments were found on diverse McRI_msr elements in M. canis, M. caseolyticus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Another McRI_msr-like element identified in an M. canis strain lacked the classical att site at the 3' end and carried the msr(H) gene but no neighboring mef gene. The expression of the novel resistance genes in S. aureus resulted in a low-to-moderate increase in the MIC of erythromycin but not streptogramin B. In the mef(D)-msr(F) operon, the msr(F) gene was shown to be the crucial determinant for macrolide resistance. The detection of circular forms of McRI_msr and the mef(D)-msr(F) fragment suggested mobility of both the island and the resistance gene subunit. The discovery of McRI_msr in different Macrococcus species and S. aureus indicates that these islands have a potential for dissemination of antibiotic resistance within the Staphylococcaceae family.

Quality Improvement Success Stories are published by the American Diabetes Association in collaboration with the American College of Physicians, Inc. (ACP), and the National Diabetes Education Program. This series is intended to highlight best practices and strategies from programs and clinics that have successfully improved the quality of care for people with diabetes or related conditions. Each article in the series is reviewed and follows a standard format developed by the editors of Clinical Diabetes. The following article describes an initiative of the Cleveland Clinic’s internal medicine residents to improve diabetes care and outcomes within an underserved patient population at an East Cleveland, OH, health center.