Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, in- cluding those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering

Background
The scoping review has become an increasingly popular approach for synthesizing research evidence. It is a relatively new approach for which a universal study definition or definitive procedure has not been established. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of scoping reviews in the literature.

Methods
A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework. A search was conducted in four bibliographic databases and the gray literature to identify scoping review studies. Review selection and characterization were performed by two independent reviewers using pretested forms.

Results
The search identified 344 scoping reviews published from 1999 to October 2012. The reviews varied in terms of purpose, methodology, and detail of reporting. Nearly three-quarter of reviews (74.1%) addressed a health topic. Study completion times varied from 2 weeks to 20 months, and 51% utilized a published methodological framework. Quality assessment of included studies was infrequently performed (22.38%).

Conclusions
Scoping reviews are a relatively new but increasingly common approach for mapping broad topics. Because of variability in their conduct, there is a need for their methodological standardization to ensure the utility and strength of evidence. © 2014 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jrsm.1123

A scoping review of scoping reviews: advancing the approach and enhancing the consistency

Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Runoff, erosion and delivery to the coastal ocean 3. Temporal variations 4. Human impacts Appendices. Global River Database: Appendix A: North and Central America Appendix B: South America Appendix C: Europe Appendix D: Africa Appendix E: Eurasia Appendix F: Asia Appendix G: Oceania References Index.

/pdf/river-discharge-to-the-coastal-ocean-a-global-synthesis-571z1g19ts.pdf

River Discharge to the Coastal Ocean: A Global Synthesis

This introductory text on the design and analysis of sample surveys emphasizes the practical aspects of survey problems. It begins with brief chapters on the role of sample surveys in the modern world. Thereafter, each chapter introduces a sample survey design or estimation procedure by describing the pertinent practical problem. The authors describe the methodology proposed for solving the problem and provide the details of the estimation procedure, including a compact presentation of the formulas needed to complete the analysis. Then, a practical example is worked out in complete detail. At the end of each chapter, a wealth of exercises gives students ample opportunity to practice the techniques and stretch their grasp of ideas.

Elementary Survey Sampling

Prefaces Acknowledgements 1. Mountains and their climatological study 2. Geographical controls of mountain meteorological elements 3. Circulation systems related to orography 4. Climatic characteristics of mountains 5. Regional case studies 6. Mountain bioclimatology 7. Changes in mountain climates Appendix General index Author index.

Mountain Weather and Climate

The African Erosion Surface: A Continental-scale Synthesis of Geomorphology, Tectonics, and Environmental Change over the Past 180 Million Years

South Asia is rich in Lower Paleolithic Acheulian sites. These have been attributed to the Middle Pleistocene on the basis of a small number of dates, with a few older but disputed age estimates. Here, we report new ages from the excavated site of Attirampakkam, where paleomagnetic measurements and direct 26Al/10Be burial dating of stone artifacts now position the earliest Acheulian levels as no younger than 1.07 million years ago (Ma), with a pooled average age of 1.51 ± 0.07 Ma. These results reveal that, during the Early Pleistocene, India was already occupied by hominins fully conversant with an Acheulian technology including handaxes and cleavers among other artifacts. This implies that a spread of bifacial technologies across Asia occurred earlier than previously accepted.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/331/6024/1596.full.pdf

Early Pleistocene presence of Acheulian hominins in South India.

http://geomorphology.sese.asu.edu/Papers/Thouret_etal_EPSL2007.pdf

Geochronologic and stratigraphic constraints on canyon incision and Miocene uplift of the Central Andes in Peru

The 1500-km-long Western Ghats mountain barrier of peninsular India interacts with the southwest monsoon in a manner which bears heavily on the exceptionally varied climate pattern of the Deccan. Karnataka Province alone concentrates five of the six major climate types of the entire Indian Union. This review explores the interactions between atmospheric structure over South Asia and relief and discusses the efficiency with which the passive margin uplift, second only to the Himalayan barrier, acts as a climatic gatekeeper to the subcontinent. Particular attention is given to rainfall patterns and regimes. These are revealed by a variety of statistical classification and mapping techniques, and the analysis is guided by the steep environmental gradient observed on the immediate backslope of the Ghats, where annual totals can drop from 6000 to 600 mm in ca. 80 km. This is strongly reflected in the landform, soil, vegetation and cropping patterns and raises the question of the relationship between the uplift history of the mountain barrier at geological time-scales, the history of the South Asian monsoon circulation and the stability and diversity of the climatic pattern as seen today. The tightly arranged suite of bioclimatic regions also provides a unique geographical backdrop to the agricultural diversity of South India, rarely found on such a scale in other monsoon contexts of the Tropics. © 1997 The Royal Meteorological Society.

Relief and climate in South Asia: the influence of the western ghats on the current climate pattern of peninsular India

http://www.mantleplumes.org/WebDocuments/gunnelletal2003.pdf

Denudation history of the continental margin of western peninsular India since the early Mesozoic - reconciling apatite fission-track data with geomorphology

Yanni Gunnell

Papers

The African Erosion Surface: A Continental-scale Synthesis of Geomorphology, Tectonics, and Environmental Change over the Past 180 Million Years

Early Pleistocene presence of Acheulian hominins in South India.

Geochronologic and stratigraphic constraints on canyon incision and Miocene uplift of the Central Andes in Peru

Relief and climate in South Asia: the influence of the western ghats on the current climate pattern of peninsular India

Denudation history of the continental margin of western peninsular India since the early Mesozoic - reconciling apatite fission-track data with geomorphology