Anthropic selection and the habitability of planets orbiting M and K dwarfs

The Earth may have untypical characteristics which were necessary preconditions for the emergence of life and, ultimately, intelligent observers. This paper presents a rigorous procedure for quantifying such “anthropic selection” effects by comparing Earth’s properties to those of exoplanets. The hypothesis that there is anthropic selection for stellar mass (i.e. planets orbiting stars with masses within a particular range are more favourable for the emergence of observers) is then tested. The results rule out the expected strong selection for low mass stars which would result, all else being equal, if the typical timescale for the emergence of intelligent observers is very long. This indicates that the habitable zone of small stars may be less hospitable for intelligent life than the habitable zone of solar-mass stars. Additional planetary properties can also be analyzed, using the approach introduced here, once relatively complete and unbiased statistics are made available by current and planned exoplanet characterization projects.     

Thermal regime at the Upper Stillwater dam site, Uinta mountains, Utah: Implications for terrain, microclimate and structural corrections in heat flow studies

A detailed study of the subsurface thermal regime at the Upper Stillwater dam site, Uinta Mountains, northeast Utah, has been made. Temperature measurements were made in 36 drillholes located within a 1 km² area and ranging in depth from 20 to 97 m. Holes less than about 40 m deep were used only to obtain information about spatial variations in mean annual surface temperature. Several holes in or near talus slopes at the sides of the canyons have temperature minima approaching 0°C between 10 and 20 m indicating the presence of year-round ice at the base of the talus. Another set of holes show transient thermal effects of surface warming resulting from clearing of a construction site 3.5 years prior to our measurements. Most of the remaining holes show conductive behavior and have gradients ranging from 13° to 17°C km⁻¹. Measurements made on 44 core samples yield a thermal conductivity of 5.6 (std. dev. 0.35) W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ for the Precambrian quartzite present. Surface heat flow estimates for these holes range from 70 to 100 mW m⁻². However, the local disturbance of the thermal field by topography and microclimate is considerable. A finite difference method used to model these effects yielded a locally corrected Upper Stillwater heat flow of about 75 mW m⁻². A final correction to account for the effects of refraction of heat from the low conductivity sedimentary rocks in the Uinta Basin into the high conductivity quartzite at the dam site, produced a regionally corrected Upper Stillwater heat flow between 60 and 65 mW m⁻². This value is consistent with the observed heat flow of 60 mW m⁻² in the Green River Basin to the north and the Uinta Basin to the south.     

Book review

Geotechnical Aspects of Coastal and Offshore Structures. Edited by Yudhair and A. S. Balasubramaniam. Proceedings of the Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Coastal and Offshore Structures, Bangkok, December 14–18,1981. Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema, 1983. 280 pp. $40.00.

The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Nature Study at the Seashore. Written and illustrated by D. A. Coulombe. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1984. 246 pp. $12.95.

Ichnology, Trace Fossils in Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. By A. A. Ekdale, R. G. Bromley, and S. G. Pemberton. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Short Course No. 15. Tulsa, Okla.: S.E.P.M., 1984. 317 pp. S.E.P.M. members, $16.00; non‐members, $20.00.     

The Pelona–Orocopia–Rand and related schists of southern California: a review of the best-known archive of shallow subduction on the planet

ABSTRACT

The Pelona–Orocopia–Rand and related schists of southern California are an archetypal example of an exhumed shallow subduction complex. ‘The schist’ comprises mainly trench materials underthust beneath continental arc rocks during Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic collision of one or more oceanic plateaux with southern California. The arc-on-trench relationship, without intervening mantle or lowermost crust, implies that significant subduction erosion accompanied shallow subduction. Upsection increases in metamorphic grade (~150 ± 100°C/km) and spatial variations in age and peak temperature provide an ~50 million year long record of tectonic underplating within a cooling system. Evidence for palaeoseismic events in earliest formed and hottest (locally transitional granulite grade) schists provides a possible field-based record of episodic tremor and slow slip events such as detected in several modern shallow subduction zones. Structural ascent of the schist was achieved in distinct Late Cretaceous–early Eocene and late Oligocene–early Miocene extensional pulses, the first during collapse of gravitationally unstable upper plate assemblages and accompanied by trench-directed (top-NE) lower plate extrusion and the second corresponding temporally, spatially, and in character with core complex formation in the SW United States. The line between schist and core complex belts is blurred by the recent discovery of schist within 40 km of the nearest core complex and containing synkinematic Miocene intrusions, a hallmark of SW U.S. core complexes. The history of schist assembly, metamorphism, and exhumation provides the most complete field-based record of thermo-mechanical processes, subduction erosion and tectonic underplating in particular, that operated during a shallow subduction event. Future cross-disciplinary investigations of, and comparisons between, the schist and other possible ancient (e.g. Swakane gneiss, Sanbagawa belt, Qiangtang terrane) and modern (e.g. Cascadia, SW Japan, central Mexico, Chile) shallow subduction zones will yield new insights into the tectonic and petrologic processes that operate within such systems.     

Preliminary Evidence for Iodate Reduction in Bottom Waters of the Gulf of Mexico During an Hypoxic Event

The distributions of iodate and total inorganic iodine concentrations in the waters on the Texas?CLouisiana shelf in April, June, and August 2004 are described. Iodine?Csalinity graphs show three-end-member mixing involving onshore and offshore surface waters and deep offshore water. The April survey showed simple mixing on the surface, but in the later surveys, iodate concentrations were often much lower than predicted by the mixing curve while those for total inorganic iodine were higher. This demonstrated both iodate reduction in the water and iodide addition, although individual samples did not show equivalent speciation changes. Hydrographically, the system consists of the estuaries of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers as they spill onto the shelf. The waters are stratified seasonally by a robust halocline, leading to hypoxia in the bottom waters from the combined effect of restricted downward diffusion of oxygen and the sinking of the luxuriant growth of phytoplankton induced by riverine nutrient supply. The distributions of iodate and total inorganic iodine are, therefore, interpreted in terms of water?Csediment interaction as the shelf shoals to the north.     

Production of biosurfactant by Nocardia otitidiscaviarum and its role in biodegradation of crude oil

Nocardia otitidiscaviarum microbial type cultural collection 6471 isolated from oil contaminated Alang India seawater was examined for production of surface active compound. Isolate shows halos and α-heamolysis on cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and blood agar respectively indicating the production of biosurfactant. Biosurfactant was extracted by precipitation and was partially purified. Partially purified product was characterized by thin layer chromatography and Infra-red spectroscopy and was identified as glycolipid. Sugar present in glycolipid was rhamnose and hence, biosurfactant was quantified as rhamnose equivalent. Role of cell-surface hydrophobicity and emulsification activity in correlation with biosurfactant production was examined. Correlation between biosurfactant production, growth and crude oil degradation was also examined and showed positive correlation at significant level 0.001 and 0.01 respectively. Thus, this is a first report on a marine strain of Nocardia otitidiscaviarum microbial type culture collection 6471, which can be a potential candidate for restoration of oil contaminated marine environment.     

Analysis of photosynthetic picoeukaryote community structure along an extended Ellett Line transect in the northern North Atlantic reveals a dominance of novel prymnesiophyte and prasinophyte phylotypes

Photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs) of a size <3 ??m can contribute significantly to primary production. Here, PPE community structure was analysed along an extended Ellett Line transect, an area in the North Atlantic well studied by physical oceanographers but largely neglected in the field of microalgal ecology. Distribution patterns of specific PPE classes were determined using dot-blot hybridization analysis, while the taxonomic composition of specific PPE classes was revealed by phylogenetic analysis of plastid 16S rRNA gene sequences. In addition, we performed fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of seawater samples collected along the transect to provide a PCR-independent survey of class level PPE distribution patterns. We found the PPE community was dominated by members of the Prymnesiophyceae, Prasinophyceae and Mamiellophyceae. Interestingly, phylogenetic analysis revealed several novel Prymnesiophyceae and Prasinophyceae phylotypes (with only 85-96% identity to neighbouring sequences) within lineages for which cultured counterparts are unknown.