The geological setting of tourmalinite at Rum Jungle,N.T., Australia — genetic and economic implications

Tourmalinite is a common rock type associated with Proterozoic strata-bound mineral deposits. Although common, it is often difficult to recognise in the field, leading to misidentification. It occurs as a conformable banded quartz-tourmaline lithological unit comprising at least 15% and as much as 50% of the rock. At Rum Jungle, tourmalinite occurs within the oldest sediments (arenites and magnesites) as distinct lenses, as facies equivalents of quartz-magnetite units and mafic schists (tuffs?) and distal equivalents of polymetallic sulfides. Distinct layering, slump folding, rip-up clasts and the association with diagenetic pyrite suggest a sedimentary environment. Enechelon fracturing of the fine-grained, light green tourmaline crystals spectacularly supports pre-deformation formation. The crystals are optically and chemically zoned parallel to the c axis, with irregular growth lamellae width — which supports a pre-regional metamorphic origin. Analyses show the tourmaline to be the Mg-rich variety “dravite”. Most tourmalinites are interpreted as subaqueous marine deposits. It is more likely that they form in lacustrine, shallow water, evaporitic environments, particularly continental rifts. Suitable B-bearing fluids can be generated by hotspring activity and mobilized by CO₂-rich fluids. Association with chemical sediments suggests tourmalinites also have a chemical sediment precursor. Ample evidence at Rum Jungle supports the notion of a continental rift environment, which was the site of deposition of fluvial arenites and alkaline, evaporitic lake sediments. Localised hot-spring activity contributed B-bearing fluids which precipitated chemical sediments according to the pertaining pH, temperature etc. Diagenetic alteration produced the tourmalinite now present. These tourmalinites are comparable to those of similar age elsewhere e.g. Sullivan, Broken Hill. They can be genetically modelled upon Recent borate concentrations, all of which occur in continental rift environments.     

Competition may mediate recovery from damage in an encrusting bryozoan

Disturbance is a ubiquitous feature of ecosystems, and the ability of a species to persist in a habitat with frequent disturbance is largely determined by the ways in which individual organisms respond. In modular species, indeterminate growth by module addition allows recovery from colony damage through disturbance, and the number of modules – colony size – is a good predictor of colony success. A growing body of evidence suggests that the recovery capacity of a modular animal is related not only to its size, an important indicator of likely survivorship and reproductive potential, but also to the age structure of its component modules. We tested whether the age structure of modules altered the recovery capacity of colonies of the encrusting bryozoan Parasmittina delicatula at two sites in South‐eastern Australia that differed in their levels of cover by competing sessile invertebrates. Damage incurred at different colony regions had a negligible effect on the subsequent growth of colonies at both sites, but for different reasons. At one site, where competition from neighbouring sessile invertebrates was low, growth rates were very similar across colonies, regardless of colony size and amount of damage to the colony edge. At the second site, neighbouring sessile invertebrates were abundant, and competitive interactions were more important in determining a colony’s success than any history of damage. Colonies that were overgrown once or more had lower growth rates and lower numbers of embryos at the final census than those that were never overgrown. These results imply that the importance of the age structure of modules to a colony’s recovery rate is reduced in the presence of natural competition, and that these factors need to be considered when predicting the responses of modular animals to disturbance.     

An epeiric ramp: low-energy, cool-water carbonate facies in a Tertiary inland sea, Murray Basin, South Australia

The Murray Supergroup records temperate‐water carbonate deposition within a shallow, mesotrophic, Oligo‐Miocene inland sea protected from high‐energy waves and swells of the open ocean by a granitic archipelago at its southern margin. Rocks are very well preserved and exposed in nearly continuous outcrop along the River Murray in South Australia. Most facies are rich in carbonate silt, contain a background assemblage of gastropods (especially turritellids) and infaunal bivalves, and are packaged on a decimetre‐scale defined by firmground and hardground omission surfaces. Bioturbation is pervasive and overprinted, resulting in rare preservation of physical sedimentary structures. Facies are grouped into four associations (large foraminiferan–bryozoan, echinoid–bryozoan, mollusc and clay facies) interpreted to represent shallow‐water (<50 m) deposition under progressively higher trophic resource levels (from low mesotrophy to eutrophy), and restricted marine conditions from relatively offshore to nearshore regions. A large‐scale shift from high‐ to low‐mesotrophic conditions within lower Miocene strata reflects a change in climate from wet to seasonally dry conditions and highlights the influence terrestrially derived nutrients had upon this shallow, land‐locked sea. Overall, low trophic resource levels during periods of seasonally dry climate resulted in a deepening of the euphotic zone, a widespread proliferation of foraminiferan photozoan fauna and a relatively high carbonate productivity. Inshore, heterozoan facies became progressively muddier and restricted towards the shoreline. In contrast, periods of wet climate led to rising trophic resource levels, resulting in a shallowing of the euphotic zone, a decrease in epifaunal and seagrass cover and widespread development of a mostly heterozoan biota dominated by infaunal echinoids. Rates of carbonate production and accumulation were relatively low. The Murray Basin is best described as an epeiric ramp. Wide facies belts developed in a shallow sea on a low‐angled slope reaching many hundreds of kilometres in length. Grainy shoal and back‐barrier facies were absent. Internally generated waves impinged the sea floor in offshore regions and, because of friction along a wide and shallow sea floor, created a low‐energy expanse of waters across the proximal ramp. Storms were the dominating depositional process capable of disrupting the entire sea floor.     

Solar Irradiance Models and Measurements: A Comparison in the 220–240?nm wavelength band

Solar irradiance models that assume solar irradiance variations to be due to changes in the solar surface magnetic flux have been successfully used to reconstruct total solar irradiance on rotational as well as cyclical and secular time scales. Modelling spectral solar irradiance is not yet as advanced, and also suffers from a lack of comparison data, in particular on solar cycle time scales. Here, we compare solar irradiance in the 220–240?nm band as modelled with SATIRE-S and measured by different instruments on the UARS and SORCE satellites. We find good agreement between the model and measurements on rotational time scales. The long-term trends, however, show significant differences. Both SORCE instruments, in particular, show a much steeper gradient over the decaying part of cycle 23 than the modelled irradiance or that measured by UARS/SUSIM.     

Transforming management of tropical coastal seas to cope with challenges of the 21st century

Over 1.3 billion people live on tropical coasts, primarily in developing countries. Many depend on adjacent coastal seas for food, and livelihoods. We show how trends in demography and in several local and global anthropogenic stressors are progressively degrading capacity of coastal waters to sustain these people. Far more effective approaches to environmental management are needed if the loss in provision of ecosystem goods and services is to be stemmed. We propose expanded use of marine spatial planning as a framework for more effective, pragmatic management based on ocean zones to accommodate conflicting uses. This would force the holistic, regional-scale reconciliation of food security, livelihoods, and conservation that is needed. Transforming how countries manage coastal resources will require major change in policy and politics, implemented with sufficient flexibility to accommodate societal variations. Achieving this change is a major challenge – one that affects the lives of one fifth of humanity.     

High resolution mapping and classification of oyster habitats in nearshore Louisiana using sidescan sonar

Sidescan sonar holds great promise as a tool to quantitatively depict the distribution and extent of benthic habitats in Louisiana’s turbid estuaries. In this study, we describe an effective protocol for acoustic sampling in this environment. We also compared three methods of classification in detail: mean-based thresholding, supervised, and unsupervised techniques to classify sidescan imagery into categories of mud and shell. Classification results were compared to ground truth results using quadrat and dredge sampling. Supervised classification gave the best overall result (kappa=75%) when compared to quadrat results. Classification accuracy was less robust when compared to all dredge samples (kappa=21–56%), but increased greatly (90–100%) when only dredge samples taken from acoustically homogeneous areas were considered. Sidescan sonar when combined with ground truth sampling at an appropriate scale can be effectively used to establish an accurate substrate base map for both research applications and shellfish management. The sidescan imagery presented here also provides, for the first time, a detailed presentation of oyster habitat patchiness and scale in a productive oyster growing area.     

Distribution of clay minerals in surface sediments of the Aegean Sea: a compilation

Extensive published data sets and some new data on the clay mineral composition of surface sediments in the Aegean Sea, northeastern Mediterranean Sea, have been compiled in order to map the distribution patterns of clay mineral assemblages and to decipher source areas and transport paths. We distinguished six provinces, a Northwest Aegean Province, a Marmara-Dardanelles Province, a West Turkey Province, a Southeast Aegean Province, a Kithira Province and a Central Aegean Province. The clay mineral assemblages in the coastal and shelf areas carry the signature of the riverine sediment discharge from southeast Europe and Turkey, respectively. The southern Aegean Sea is probably influenced by the River Nile discharge and transport of clay minerals by surface currents. The clay minerals in the central Aegean Sea form a mixed assemblage comprising components of the other assemblages. A dispersion and dilution of clay minerals by surface currents is obvious.     

Acid-base activity of live bacteria: Implications for quantifying cell wall charge

To distinguish the buffering capacity associated with functional groups in the cell wall from that resulting from metabolic processes, base or acid consumption by live and dead cells of the Gram-negative bacterium Shewanella putrefaciens was measured in a pH stat system. Live cells exhibited fast consumption of acid (pH 4) or base (pH 7, 8, 9, and 10) during the first few minutes of the experiments. At pH 5.5, no acid or base was required to maintain the initial pH constant. The initial amounts of acid or base consumed by the live cells at pH 4, 8, and 10 were of comparable magnitudes as those neutralized at the same pHs by intact cells killed by exposure to gamma radiation or ethanol. Cells disrupted in a French press required higher amounts of acid or base, due to additional buffering by intracellular constituents. At pH 4, acid neutralization by suspensions of live cells stopped after 50 min, because of loss of viability. In contrast, under neutral and alkaline conditions, base consumption continued for the entire duration of the experiments (5 h). This long-term base neutralization was, at least partly, due to active respiration by the cells, as indicated by the build-up of succinate in solution. Qualitatively, the acid-base activity of live cells of the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis resembled that of S. putrefaciens. The pH-dependent charging of ionizable functional groups in the cell walls of the live bacteria was estimated from the initial amounts of acid or base consumed in the pH stat experiments. From pH 4 to 10, the cell wall charge increased from near-zero values to about −4 × 10⁻¹⁶ mol cell⁻¹ and −6.5 × 10⁻¹⁶ mol cell⁻¹ for S. putrefaciens and B. subtilis, respectively. The similar cell wall charging of the two bacterial strains is consistent with the inferred low contribution of lipopolysaccharides to the buffering capacity of the Gram-negative cell wall (of the order of 10%).     

Acid–base activity of microorganisms

In order to distinguish the buffering capacity associated with functional groups in the cell wall from that resulting from metabolic processes, the base or acid consumption of live and dead cells of the Gram-negative bacterium Shewanella putrefaciens was measured as a function of time in a pH stat system. Under neutral (pH 7) to basic (pH 8 and 10) conditions, base neutralization by suspensions of live bacteria beyond 1 h was clearly due to respiratory activity. At pH 4, however, proton neutralization ceased after 50 min due to cell death. Dead cells only produced or consumed protons during the very first minutes after exposure to pH 4, 8 or 10. From the time-dependent acid and base consumption curves of live cells, and the comparison of the acid–base activity of live and dead cells, the charging of ionizable groups in the cell wall was derived. From pH 4 to 10, cell wall charge increases from 0 to about − 4 × 10^− 16 mol cell^− 1.     

A Temporal Variant‐Invariant Validation Approach for Agent‐based Models of Landscape Dynamics

Agent‐based modeling provides a means for addressing the way human and natural systems interact to change landscapes over time. Until recently, evaluation of simulation models has focused on map comparison techniques that evaluate the degree to which predictions match real‐world observations. However, methods that change the focus of evaluation from patterns to processes have begun to surface; that is, rather than asking if a model simulates a correct pattern, models are evaluated on their ability to simulate a process of interest. We build on an existing agent‐based modeling validation method in order to present a temporal variant‐invariant analysis (TVIA). The enhanced method, which focuses on analyzing the uncertainty in simulation results, examines the degree to which outcomes from multiple model runs match some reference to how land use parcels make the transition from one land use class to another over time. We apply TVIA to results from an agent‐based model that simulates the relationships between landowner decisions and wildfire risk in the wildland‐urban interface of the southern Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. The TVIA approach demonstrates a novel ability to examine uncertainty across time to provide an understanding of how the model emulates the system of interest.