Beaver dam analogues drive heterogeneous groundwater–surface water interactions

Beaver dam analogues (BDAs) are a cost-effective stream restoration approach that leverages the recognized environmental benefits of natural beaver dams on channel stability and local hydrology. Although natural beaver dams are known to exert considerable influence on the hydrologic conditions of a stream system by mediating geomorphic processes, nutrient cycling, and groundwater–surface water interactions, the impacts of beaver-derived restoration methods on groundwater–surface water exchange are poorly characterized. To address this deficit, we monitored hyporheic exchange fluxes and streambed porewater biogeochemistry across a sequence of BDAs installed along a central Wyoming stream during the summer of 2019. Streambed fluxes were quantified by heat tracing methods and vertical hydraulic gradients. Biogeochemical activity was evaluated using major ion porewater chemistry and principal component analysis. Vertical fluxes of approximately 1.0 m/day were observed around the BDAs, as was the development of spatially heterogeneous zones of nitrate production, groundwater upwelling, and anaerobic reduction. Strong contrasts in hyporheic zone processes were observed across BDAs of differing sizes. This suggests that structures may function with size-dependent behaviour, only altering groundwater–surface water interactions after a threshold hydraulic step height is exceeded. Patterns of hyporheic exchange and biogeochemical cycling around the studied BDAs resemble those around natural beaver dams, suggesting that BDAs may provide comparable benefits to channel complexity and near-stream function over a 1-year period.     

Observations of SN1988A with the faint object spectrograph on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope

We present two spectra of the supernova SN1988A in M58 (NGC4579) over the wavelength range 4000–9700 Å, as recorded by the Faint Object Spectrograph on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. We conclude that SN1988A was a type II supernova.     

Observations of SN1988e: A mature supernova

We present the spectrum of the supernova SN1988e over the wavelength range 4750–9000 Å as recorded on 11 February, 1988. The spectrum was taken in one 2000 s exposure using the Faint Object Spectrograph on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos.We conclude that SN1988e was a type I supernova, and that at the time of observation it had faded 7.5 mag from its predicted magnitude at maximum light. Spectra taken at such late stages in the light curve are comparatively rare, and are made possible only with the application of modern instrumentation.     

Simulations of deep pencil-beam redshift surveys

We create mock pencil-beam redshift surveys from very large cosmological N -body simulations of two cold dark matter (CDM) cosmogonies, an Einstein–de Sitter model ( τ CDM) and a flat model with Ω₀=0.3 and a cosmological constant (ΛCDM). We use these to assess the significance of the apparent periodicity discovered by Broadhurst et al. Simulation particles are tagged as 'galaxies' so as to reproduce observed present-day correlations. They are then identified along the past light-cones of hypothetical observers to create mock catalogues with the geometry and the distance distribution of the Broadhurst et al. data. We produce 1936 (2625) quasi-independent catalogues from our τ CDM (ΛCDM) simulation. A couple of large clumps in a catalogue can produce a high peak at low wavenumbers in the corresponding one-dimensional power spectrum, without any apparent large-scale periodicity in the original redshift histogram. Although the simulated redshift histograms frequently display regularly spaced clumps, the spacing of these clumps varies between catalogues and there is no 'preferred' period over our many realizations. We find only a 0.72 (0.49) per cent chance that the highest peak in the power spectrum of a τ CDM (ΛCDM) catalogue has a peak-to-noise ratio higher than that in the Broadhurst et al. data. None of the simulated catalogues with such high peaks shows coherently spaced clumps with a significance as high as that of the real data. We conclude that in CDM universes, the regularity on a scale of ∼130  h ⁻¹ Mpc observed by Broadhurst et al. has a priori probability well below 10⁻³.     

Observations of the supernova 1985F with a new spectrograph

We present the spectrum of the supernova 1985F over the wavelength range 4600 to 10000 Å as recorded in one 200 s exposure on 16 May, 1985, when its age was estimated to bet240 days. This wideband measurement with a resolution of 20 Å was made with the new Faint Object Spectrograph on the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. Broad line features were observed for the ionsOi,Oii, andOiii, Caii, and Nai although broad H was noteably absent. This suggests type I rather than type II properties but Filippenko and Sargent (1985c) have concluded this object to be of neither type and of a new peculiar class. We have observed the Caii infra-red triplet at 8600 Å which has not been previously reported in the spectrum of SN1985F and alsoCi] at 9800 Å.     

Shock waves and type II radiobursts in the interplanetary medium

The planetary radio astronomy experiment on the Voyager spacecraft observed several type II solar radiobursts at frequencies below 1.3 MHz; these correspond to shock waves at distances between 20R and 1 AU from the Sun. We study the characteristics of these bursts and discuss the information that they give on shock waves in the interplanetary medium and on the origin of the high energy electrons which give rise to the radioemission. The relatively frequent occurence of type II bursts at large distances from the Sun favors the hypothesis of the emission by a longitudinal shockwave. The observed spectral characteristics reveal that the source of emission is restricted to only a small portion of the shock. From the relation between type II bursts, type III bursts and optical flares, we suggest that some of the type II bursts could be excited by type III burst fast electrons which catch up the shock and are then trapped.     

Hidden melting signatures recorded in the Troodos ophiolite plutonic suite: evidence for widespread generation of depleted melts and intra-crustal melt aggregation

The main plutonic complex of the Troodos ophiolite, north of the Arakapas Fault Zone, has been re-examined both from field and geochemical perspectives. Ion microprobe analyses of clinopyroxene crystal cores show that the range of melt compositions added to the lower crust far exceeds that of published lavas in the main Troodos massif. This suggests that the lower crust acted as a filter into which a large range of melt compositions were added and out of which a homogenised (and generally fractionated) derivative was extracted. This crustal-level aggregation homogenised diverse melt fractions from a broad range of degrees of melting. Depleted melts with U-shaped rare earth element (REE) patterns were a significant component of the melts added to the crust, but because of their low incompatible element abundances, mixing with less depleted melts prior to eruption masked their signature in the lavas. The discovery that highly depleted melts constituted a significant component of the melts added to the Troodos crust, but not of the lavas, demonstrates that the spatial distribution of lava-types is not necessarily a good indicator of where different parental melt compositions are generated within the mantle. Compared with normal mid-ocean ridge basalts, the Troodos parental melts were (1) generally depleted in immobile incompatible trace elements, (2) less depleted in light REE (LREE) than would be expected for the concomitant depletion in middle and heavy REE, (3) enriched in Sr with respect to the LREE and (4) more oxidised. Modelling of these characteristics suggests a mantle source that had previously lost a significant melt fraction under relatively reducing conditions. This was followed by remelting under more oxidising conditions in an environment in which Sr and LREE were added to the source consistent with previous models of a supra-subduction zone setting.