The earliest stage of Izu rear‐arc volcanism revealed by drilling at Site U1437, International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 350

The International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 350 drilled between two Izu rear‐arc seamount chains at Site U1437 and recovered the first complete succession of rear‐arc rocks. The drilling reached 1806.5 m below seafloor. In situ hyaloclastites, which had erupted before the rear‐arc seamounts came into existence at this site, were recovered in the deepest part of the hole (～15–16 Ma). Here it is found that the composition of the oldest rocks recovered does not have rear‐arc seamount chain geochemical signatures, but instead shows affinities with volcanic front or some of the extensional zone basalts between the present volcanic front and the rear‐arc seamount chains. It is suggested that following the opening of the Shikoku back‐arc Basin, Site U1437 was a volcanic front or a rifting zone just behind the volcanic front, and was followed at ~ 9 Ma by the start of rear‐arc seamount chains volcanism. This geochemical change records variations in the subduction components with time, which might have followed eastward moving of hot fingers in the mantle wedge and deepening of the subducting slab below Site U1437 after the cessation of Shikoku back‐arc Basin opening.     

Storm response of a mixed sand gravel beach ridge plain under falling relative sea levels: A stratigraphic investigation using ground penetrating radar

Beach ridge stratigraphy can provide an important record of both sustained coastal progradation and responses to events such as extreme storms, as well as evidence of earthquake induced sediment pulses. This study is a stratigraphic investigation of the late Holocene mixed sand gravel (MSG) beach ridge plain on the Canterbury coast, New Zealand. The subsurface was imaged along a 370 m shore-normal transect using 100 and 200 MHz ground penetrating radar (GPR) antennae, and cored to sample sediment textures. Results show that, seaward of a back-barrier lagoon, the Pegasus Bay beach ridge plain prograded almost uniformly, under conditions of relatively stable sea level. Nearshore sediment supply appears to have created a sustained sediment surplus, perhaps as a result of post-seismic sediment pulses, resulting in a flat, morphologically featureless beach ridge plain. Evidence of a high magnitude storm provides an exception, with an estimated event return period in excess of 100 years. Evidence from the GPR sequence combined with modern process observations from MSG beaches indicates that a palaeo-storm initially created a washover fan into the back-barrier lagoon, with a large amount of sediment simultaneously moved off the beach face into the nearshore. This erosion event resulted in a topographic depression still evident today. In the subsequent recovery period, sediment was reworked by swash onto the beach as a sequence of berm deposit laminations, creating an elevated beach ridge that also has a modern-day topographic signature. As sediment supply returned to normal, and under conditions of falling sea level, a beach ridge progradation sequence accumulated seaward of the storm feature out to the modern-day beach as a large flat, uniform progradation plain. This study highlights the importance of extreme storm events and earthquake pulses on MSG coastlines in triggering high volume beach ridge formation during the subsequent recovery period. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ecohydrologic feedbacks controlling sizes of cypress wetlands in a patterned karst landscape

Many landforms on Earth are profoundly influenced by biota. In particular, biota play a significant role in creating karst biogeomorphology, through biogenic CO₂ accelerating calcite weathering. In this study, we explore the ecohydrologic feedback mechanisms that have created isolated depressional wetlands on exposed limestone bedrock in South Florida – Big Cypress National Preserve –as a case study for karst biogeomorphic processes giving rise to regularly patterned landscapes. Specifically, we are interested in: (1) whether cypress depressions on the landscape have reached (or will reach) equilibrium size; (2) if so, what feedback mechanisms stabilize the size of depressions; and (3) what distal interactions among depressions give rise to the even distribution of depressions in the landscape. We hypothesize three feedback mechanisms controlling the evolution of depressions and build a numerical model to evaluate the relative importance of each mechanism. We show that a soil cover feedback (i.e. a smaller fraction of CO₂ reaches the bedrock surface for weathering as soil cover thickens) is the major feedback stabilizing depressions, followed by a biomass feedback (i.e. inhibited biomass growth with deepening standing water and extended inundation period as depressions expand in volume). Strong local positive feedback between the volume of depressions and rate of volume expansion and distal negative feedback between depressions competing for water likely lead to the regular patterning at the landscape scale. The individual depressions, however, are not yet in steady state but would be in ~0.2–0.4 million years. This represents the first study to demonstrate the decoupling of landscape-scale self-organization and the self-organization of its constituent agents. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using qPCR Assays to Predict Rates of Cometabolism of TCE in Aerobic Groundwater

Monitored natural attenuation (MNA) is commonly used as a remedy for trichloroethene (TCE) in anaerobic groundwater; however, MNA has not been applied to TCE contamination in aerobic groundwater. Under aerobic conditions, bacteria initiate the degradation of many organic substances with oxygenase enzymes. Several of these enzymes are known to degrade TCE through a fortuitous reaction known as cometabolism. There are commercially available qPCR assays that can determine the number of gene copies of these enzymes. If the qPCR assay could be used to predict the first-order rate constant for cometabolism of TCE, the qPCR assay could be used to screen sites to determine whether MNA was a plausible remedy for TCE contamination. This study reevaluated data from water samples that were collected from 19 wells on five sites in Minnesota, New York, and Utah. Data had previously been published on the rate constant for cometabolism of TCE in the water samples as determined by a ¹⁴C-assay and the abundance of gene copies for five enzymes that cometabolize TCE as determined using a qPCR assay. The Michaelis-Menten (Haldane) kinetic parameters for cometabolism of TCE and the abundance of DNA for the five oxygenase enzymes were used to predict the rate constant for cometabolism of TCE. The predicted rate constants were evaluated and validated by comparing them to the rate constants derived from the ¹⁴C-assay. For predicted rate constants greater than 0.003 per year, the predicted rate constants agreed with the measured rate constants within a factor of three. The qPCR assay serves as a convenient screening tool to determine whether MNA is a plausible remedy for an aerobic plume of TCE.     

Guidelines on the use of structure-from-motion photogrammetry in geomorphic research

As a topographic modelling technique, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry combines the utility of digital photogrammetry with a flexibility and ease of use derived from multi-view computer vision methods. In conjunction with the rapidly increasing availability of imagery, particularly from unmanned aerial vehicles, SfM photogrammetry represents a powerful tool for geomorphological research. However, to fully realize this potential, its application must be carefully underpinned by photogrammetric considerations, surveys should be reported in sufficient detail to be repeatable (if practical) and results appropriately assessed to understand fully the potential errors involved. To deliver these goals, robust survey and reporting must be supported through (i) using appropriate survey design, (ii) applying suitable statistics to identify systematic error (bias) and to estimate precision within results, and (iii) propagating uncertainty estimates into the final data products. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydraulic redistribution and hydrological controls on aspen transpiration and establishment in peatlands following wildfire

In the sub‐humid Western Boreal Plains of Alberta, where evapotranspiration often exceeds precipitation, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) uplands often depend on adjacent peatlands for water supply through hydraulic redistribution. Wildfire is common in the Boreal Plains, so the resilience of the transfer of water from peatlands to uplands through roots immediately following wildfire may have implications for aspen succession. The objective of this research was to characterize post‐fire peatland‐upland hydraulic connectivity and assess controls on aspen transpiration (as a measure of stress and productivity) among landscape topographic positions. In May 2011, a wildfire affected 90,000 ha of north central Alberta, including the Utikuma Region Study Area (URSA). Portions of an URSA glacio‐fluval outwash lake catchment were burned, which included forests and a small peatland. Within 1 year after the fire, aspen were found to be growing in both the interior and margins of this peatland. Across recovering land units, transpiration varied along a topographic gradient of upland midslope (0.42 mm hr^?1) > upland hilltop (0.29 mm hr^?1) > margin (0.23 mm hr^?1) > peatland (0.10 mm hr^?1); similar trends were observed with leaf area and stem heights. Although volumetric water content was below field capacity, P. tremuloides were sustained through roots present, likely before fire, in peatland margins through hydraulic redistribution. Evidence for this was observed through the analysis of oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (δ²H) isotopes where upland xylem and peat core signatures were ?10.0‰ and ?117.8‰ and ?9.2‰ and ?114.0‰, respectively. This research highlights the potential importance of hydraulic redistribution to forest sustainability and recovery, in which the continued delivery of water may result in the encroachment of aspen into peatlands. As such, we suggest that through altering ecosystem services, peatland margins following fire may be at risk to aspen colonization during succession.     

Radiocarbon Ages and Environments of Deposition of the Wono and Trego Hot Springs Tephra Layers in the Pyramid Lake Subbasin, Nevada

Uncalibrated radiocarbon data from core PLC92B taken from Wizards Cove in the Pyramid Lake subbasin indicate that the Trego Hot Springs and Wono tephra layers were deposited 23,200 ± 300 and 27,300 ± 300¹⁴C yr B.P. (uncorrected for reservoir effect). Sedimentological data from sites in the Pyramid Lake and Smoke Creek–Black Rock Desert subbasins indicate that the Trego Hot Springs tephra layer was deposited during a relatively dry period when Pyramid Lake was at or below its spill point (1177 m) to the Winnemucca Lake subbasin. The Wono tephra layer was deposited when lake depth was controlled by spill across Emerson Pass sill (1207 m) to the Smoke Creek–Black Rock Desert subbasin.¹⁸O data from core PLC92B also support the concept that the Trego Hot Springs tephra fell into a relatively shallow Pyramid Lake and that the Wono tephra fell into a deeper spilling lake.     

The fragmentation of expanding shells – I. Limitations of the thin-shell approximation

We investigate the gravitational fragmentation of expanding shells in the context of the linear thin-shell analysis. We make use of two very different numerical schemes; the flash adaptive mesh refinement code and a version of the Benz smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. We find that the agreement between the two codes is excellent. We use our numerical results to test the thin-shell approximation and we find that the external pressure applied to the shell has a strong effect on the fragmentation process. In cases where shells are not pressure-confined, the shells thicken as they expand and hydrodynamic flows perpendicular to the plane of the shell suppress fragmentation at short wavelengths. If the shells are pressure-confined internally and externally, so that their thickness remains approximately constant during their expansion, the agreement with the analytical solution is better.