Reducing the bias of multitaper spectrum estimates

The power spectral density of geophysical signals provides information about the processes that generated them. We present a new approach to determine power spectra based on Thomson's multitaper analysis method. Our method reduces the bias due to the curvature of the spectrum close to the frequency of interest. Even while maintaining the same resolution bandwidth, bias is reduced in areas where the power spectrum is significantly quadratic. No additional sidelobe leakage is introduced. In addition, our methodology reliably estimates the derivatives (slope and curvature) of the spectrum. The extra information gleaned from the signal is useful for parameter estimation or to compare different signals.     

Long-term modeling of soil C erosion and sequestration at the small watershed scale

The soil C balance is determined by the difference between inputs (e.g., plant litter, organic amendments, depositional C) and outputs (e.g., soil respiration, dissolved organic C leaching, and eroded C). There is a need to improve our understanding of whether soil erosion is a sink or a source of atmospheric CO₂. The objective of this paper is to discover the long-term influence of soil erosion on the C cycle of managed watersheds near Coshocton, OH. We hypothesize that the amount of eroded C that is deposited in or out of a watershed compares in magnitude to the soil C changes induced via microbial respiration. We applied the erosion productivity impact calculator (EPIC) model to evaluate the role of erosion–deposition processes on the C balance of three small watersheds (∼1 ha). Experimental records from the USDA North Appalachian Experimental Watershed facility north of Coshocton, OH were used in the study. Soils are predominantly silt loam and have developed from loess-like deposits over residual bedrock. Management practices in the three watersheds have changed over time. Currently, watershed 118 (W118) is under a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) no till rotation, W128 is under conventional till continuous corn, and W188 is under no till continuous corn. Simulations of a comprehensive set of ecosystem processes including plant growth, runoff, and water erosion were used to quantify sediment C yields. A simulated sediment C yield of 43 ± 22 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ compared favorably against the observed 31 ± 12 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in W118. EPIC overestimated the soil C stock in the top 30-cm soil depth in W118 by 21% of the measured value (36.8 Mg C ha⁻¹). Simulations of soil C stocks in the other two watersheds (42.3 Mg C ha⁻¹ in W128 and 50.4 Mg C ha⁻¹ in W188) were off by <1 Mg C ha⁻¹. Simulated eroded C re-deposited inside (30–212 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) or outside (73–179 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹) watershed boundaries compared in magnitude to a simulated soil C sequestration rate of 225 kg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ and to literature values. An analysis of net ecosystem carbon balance revealed that the watershed currently under a plow till system (W128) was a source of C to the atmosphere while the watersheds currently under a no till system (W118 and W188) behaved as C sinks of atmospheric CO₂. Our results demonstrate a clear need for documenting and modeling the proportion of eroded soil C that is transported outside watershed boundaries and the proportion that evolves as CO₂ to the atmosphere.     

End-point contributions to synthetic seismograms

Summary . Synthetic seismograms represented by integrals generally display signals associated with the limits of integration. Sometimes these 'end-point' contributions are spurious (e.g. in the WKBJ seismogram) and sometimes they are the main physical interest (e.g. the Kirchhoff integral for an edge). The end-point contributions may be asymptotically approximated using integration by parts or Laplace's method and it may then be possible to reduce them if desired. We describe examples in the WKBJ seism ogram for reflected or transmitted waves in homogeneous layers and for turning waves. We also study signals due to discontinuities in reflection coefficients, by partitioning the real slowness integral so that the discontinuities lie at end points. Examples are the head wave, which is a physically correct signal, and spurious diffractions caused by using plane-wave coefficients for grazing rays in the WKBJ seismogram.     

Fluid source and thermal history of an epithermal vein deposit,Owen Lake,central British Columbia: evidence from bitumen and fluid inclusions

Fluid source and thermal history are determined for the barite and bitumen-bearing, early Eocene (ca. 50 Ma) polymetallic, epithermal veins of the Owen Lake deposit, central British Columbia, Canada. Carbon isotopic values for the bitumen are highly negative (δ ¹³ C ca −29%) indicating a probable terrigenous source, which may be 1 no older than Late Cretaceous or, 2 Eocene plant-fossil-bearing units stratigraphically above the Owen Lake deposit. Heat generated by suspected magmatic activity resulted in downflow of meteoric water and upflow of hydrothermal water, mixing at the site of deposition. Aqueous and hydrocarbon fluid inclusions occur within barite; Th of both types of inclusions indicate a temperature range of approximately 100° to 180 °C. Tm(ice) of aqueous inclusions range from −4.5 to −0.2 °C indicating a range of 7.2 to 0.4 equivalent weight percent NaCl. Parageneticaly younger bitumen has a vitrinite reflectance of 0.6% indicating maturation level in the temperature range of 80° to 120 °C, strongly suggesting a cooling thermal regime during barite and bitumen deposition, consistent with a late stage paragenesis.     

Early organic diagenesis: The significance of progressive subsurface oxidation fronts in pelagic sediments

Porewater and solid phase geochemical data at two contrasting NE Atlantic stations are reported. Station 10552, on the Cape Verde abyssal plain, is a site of slow pelagic accumulation (ca. 0.4 cm kyr^?1). Molecular oxygen is present in the sediment column to at least 2 m, and probably much deeper, labile organic-carbon is almost totally consumed in the upper few centimetres of the sediment. By contrast, at station 10554 on the Madeira abyssal plain, the pelagic sequence has been interrupted by the occasional deposition of organic-rich turbidites. Porewater oxygen and nitrate profiles show that subsurface organic metabolism of the organic-carbon associated with the uppermost turbidite layer is a significant fraction of the overall metabolism in the sediment column. This metabolism occurs at a relatively thin reaction front which progresses deeper into the turbidite with time. This phenomenon exerts a controlling influence on the present nutrient profile and redox succession.In a less extreme form, substrate distributions of this latter type are not uncommon in Atlantic sediments. A model has been developed which is controlled by both oxygen and nitrate data. This model permits a vertical profile of metabolic activity to be derived, and also gives estimates of the reaction rate constants and solid phase mixing rates at these two contrasting stations. About 30% of the total activity at station 10554 is located within the turbidite at the deepening reaction front; this is a non-steady-state condition. In fact, it is found that the integrated metabolic activity at the two stations is not dissimilar (ca. $\text{1–2 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?13}}\text{moles cm}{}^{\mathrm{?2}}\text{sec}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$). The striking differences in redox profile are therefore primarily attributable to differences in the distribution of metabolic activity within the column.     

Recurrent uranium relocations in distal turbidites emplaced in pelagic conditions

The sediments of the Madeira Abyssal Plain, east of Great Meteor Seamount, are dominated by distal turbidite deposition. While the turbidites exhibit a wide compositional range (25–80% CaCO₃), individual examples can be correlated over a wide area and are relatively homogenous. Organic C oxidation, by bottom water oxygen, proceeds from the turbidite tops downwards after emplacement in pelagic conditions, and the progress of this oxidation front is marked by a sharp colour contrast in the sediments (Wilsonet al., 1985). In turbidites with C_org ? 0.5%, redistribution of authigenic U occurs to form a concentration peak (4–9 ppm U), just below the oxidation front or colour change. Several tens μg U/cm² may be mobilised, and in all examples studied ?60% of the remobilised U is relocated into the peak. Following burial by subsequent turbidites, such U concentration peaks are persistent as relict indicators of their extinct oxidation fronts for at least 2 × 10⁵ years. In the case of thin turbidites where labile C_org is almost exhausted, the U peaks may be located in underlying sedimentary units because of their relationship to the oxidation front. A redox mechanism for U peak formation is suggested from these data rather than a complexation with organic matter.