Oxygen fugacity constraints on the southern African lithosphere

Oxygen fugacities are calculated for olivine—spinel ±orthopyroxene assemblages recovered from diamonds and the concentrate of the Dokolwayo kimberlite, Swaziland. In addition thermobarometric oxygen fugacities are obtained for chrome spinel-garnet peridotites and diamonds from several other southern African kimberlites. The southern African lithosphere appears to be laterally homogeneous with respect to oxygen fugacity. Vertically the oxygen fugacity of the lithospheric upper mantle decreases with an increase in pressure. Locally, oxygen fugacities calculated for Dokolwayo mineral assemblages are indicative of an upper mantle characterised by diverse redox conditions within the range FMQ-IW. Reduced oxygen fugacities, calculated for the majority of the Dokolwayo samples, suggest that CH₄ may be the dominant carbon volatile species in the lower lithosphere. These reduced conditions also suggest that the Dokolwayo kimberlite is unlikely to be a product of redox melting, but may be the product of a thermal anomaly. Calculated equilibrium temperatures for olivine-spinel pairs from Dokolwayo diamonds and concentrate indicate that the upper mantle in the vicinity of Dokolwayo was characterised by cool subsolidus conditions.     

The distribution, speciation and geochemical cycling of selenium in a sedimentary environment, Kesterson Reservoir, California, U.S.A.

The well-defined and intensively studied episode of Se contamination at Kesterson Reservoir (Merced County, California, U.S.A.) provided a unique opportunity to describe the distribution, speciation and geochemical transformations of Se in a variety of geochemical and ecological settings, ranging from permanent ponds to semi-arid grasslands and salt flats. Kesterson Reservoir comprises 500 ha of land contaminated with Se from agricultural drain water. In most places. Se was concentrated in surficial organic detritus and the surficial decimeter of mineral soil. At dry sites, selenate ion predominated below 20 cm depth. Elemental selenium (Se⁰) also was prominent. The amount of zero-valent Se increased slowly with time. Although selenate is thermodynamically stable in the vadose zone in the presence of oxygen, Se⁰ is an additional, metastable product of the mineralization of organic selenium. Thiols and inorganic sulfides dramatically increase the solubility of Se⁰. Decreasing pH inhibits the reaction, explaining the observed decrease in solubility and biological availability of Se in soil and aquatic systems at low pH. Adding thiols or methionine to soil increases the emission of volatile Se compounds several-fold, suggesting that thiols play a major role in the microbial cycling of Se in soil.     

Robust methods for the decomposition and interpretation of compound dunes applied to a complex hydromorphological setting

Underwater dunes are a morphological feature that are explored by marine scientists and coastal engineers alike. This study presents new methodologies in order to simplify bedform identification and morphodynamic analyses. Specifically, subaqueous compound dunes are decomposed with a simple yet extensive tracking algorithm, which relies on a repeated evaluation of unfiltered bed elevation profiles according to five predefined length classes. In a second step, morphological trends are assessed in the form of bed migration rates, bed slope asymmetries and net sediment changes, in which all parameters are referred to equidistant sections of the examined fairway stretch. This integrated approach not only avoids the challenges in weighting the varying size and abundance of dunes of different scales but also ensures comparability between dune-specific and areal parameters, which significantly improves the interpretation of the morphological setting as a whole. The developed methods are applied to the Outer Jade fairway, an anthropogenically influenced and regularly maintained waterway in the German Bight, and allow scrutiny of spatio-temporal trends in this region. Based on a unique data set of 100 sequential high-quality echo-sounding surveys, various types of bedforms are identified, comprising large-scale primary as well as superimposing secondary dunes that are assumed to interfere with each other. Temporal trends show a long-term rise of the troughs of major bedforms and constant maximum crest elevations near the official maintenance depth, which matches the observed long-term aggradation of sediments. The spatial distribution of integrated morphodynamic parameters reflects a previously described zone of primary dune convergence and facilitates the precise localization of this geophysical singularity. The presented findings both confirm the robustness of the proposed methodologies and, in return, enhance the understanding of morphological processes in the Outer Jade. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

On-Going Galaxy Formation

We investigate the process of galaxy formation as can be observed in the only currently forming galaxies - the so-called Tidal Dwarf Galaxies, hereafter TDGs - through observations of the molecular gas detected via its CO (Carbon Monoxide) emission. These objects are formed of material torn off of the outer parts of a spiral disk due to tidal forces in a collision between two massive galaxies. Molecular gas is a key element in the galaxy formation process, providing the link between a cloud of gas and a bona fide galaxy. We have detected CO in 8 TDGs (Braine, Lisenfeld, Duc and Leon, 2000: Nature 403, 867; Braine, Duc, Lisenfeld, Charmandaris, Vallejo, Leon and Brinks: 2001, A&A 378, 51), with an overall detection rate of 80%, showing that molecular gas is abundant in TDGs, up to a few 10⁸ M _⊙. The CO emission coincides both spatially and kinematically with the HI emission, indicating that the molecular gas forms from the atomic hydrogen where the HI column density is high. A possible trend of more evolved TDGs having greater molecular gas masses is observed, in accord with the transformation of HI into H₂. Although TDGs share many of the properties of small irregulars, their CO luminosity is much greater (factor ∼ 100) than that of standard dwarf galaxies of comparable luminosity. This is most likely a consequence of the higher metallicity (≳sim 1/3 solar) of TDGs which makes CO a good tracer of molecular gas. This allows us to study star formation in environments ordinarily inaccessible due to the extreme difficulty of measuring the molecular gas mass. The star formation efficiency, measured by the CO luminosity per Hα flux, is the same in TDGs and full-sized spirals. CO is likely the best tracer of the dynamics of these objects because some fraction of the HI near the TDGs may be part of the tidal tail and not bound to the TDG. Although uncertainties are large for individual objects, as the geometry is unknown, our sample is now of eight detected objects and we find that the ‘dynamical’ masses of TDGs, estimated from the CO line widths, seem not to be greater than the ‘visible’ masses (HI + H₂ + a stellar component). Although higher spatial resolution CO (and HI) observations would help reduce the uncertainties, we find that TDGs require no dark matter, which would make them the only galaxy-sized systems where this is the case. Dark matter in spirals should then be in a halo and not a rotating disk. Most dwarf galaxies are dark matter-rich, implying that they are not of tidal origin. We provide strong evidence that TDGs are self-gravitating entities, implying that we are witnessing the ensemble of processes in galaxy formation: concentration of large amounts of gas in a bound object, condensation of the gas, which is atomic at this point, to form molecular gas and the subsequent star formation from the dense molecular component. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Relative Vulnerability of Public Supply Wells to VOC Contamination in Hydrologically Distinct Regional Aquifers

A process-based methodology was used to compare the vulnerability of public supply wells tapping seven study areas in four hydrologically distinct regional aquifers to volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination. This method considers (1) contributing areas and travel times of groundwater flowpaths converging at individual supply wells, (2) the oxic and/or anoxic conditions encountered along each flowpath, and (3) the combined effects of hydrodynamic dispersion and contaminant- and oxic/anoxic-specific biodegradation. Contributing areas and travel times were assessed using particle tracks generated from calibrated regional groundwater flow models. These results were then used to estimate VOC concentrations relative to an unspecified initial concentration (C/C₀) at individual public supply wells. The results show that the vulnerability of public supply wells to VOC contamination varies widely between different regional aquifers. Low-recharge rates, long travel times, and the predominantly oxic conditions characteristic of Basin and Range aquifers in the western United States leads to lower vulnerability to VOCs, particularly to petroleum hydrocarbons such as benzene and toluene. On the other hand, high recharge rates and short residence times characteristic of the glacial aquifers of the eastern United States leads to greater vulnerability to VOCs. These differences lead to distinct patterns of C/C₀ values estimated for public supply wells characteristic of each aquifer, information that can be used by resource managers to develop monitoring plans based on relative vulnerability, to locate new public supply wells, or to make land-use management decisions.