Distribution characteristics and factors influencing microbial communities in the core soils of a seawater intrusion area in Longkou City,China

Microbes live throughout the soil profile. Microbial communities in subsurface horizons are impacted by a saltwater–freshwater transition zone formed by seawater intrusion (SWI) in coastal regions. The main purpose of this study is to explore the changes in microbial communities within the soil profile because of SWI. The study characterizes the depth-dependent distributions of bacterial and archaeal communities through high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons by collecting surface soil and deep core samples at nine soil depths in Longkou City, China. The results showed that although microbial communities were considerably impacted by SWI in both horizontal and vertical domains, the extent of these effects was variable. The soil depth strongly influenced the microbial communities, and the microbial diversity and community structure were significantly different (p < 0.05) at various depths. Compared with SWI, soil depth was a greater influencing factor for microbial diversity and community structure. Furthermore, soil microbial community structure was closely related to the environmental conditions, among which the most significant environmental factors were soil depth, pH, organic carbon, and total nitrogen.

     

Shale Microstructure Extraction Based on Micro-CT and Permeability Inversion

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - A shale rock sample was scanned by micro-CT technology, tomographic images of the rock sample were obtained, and the three-dimensional structure was...     

Improvement of daily precipitation estimations using PRISM with inverse-distance weighting

Improved daily precipitation estimations were attempted using the parameter-elevation regressions on a parameter-elevation regression on independent slopes model (PRISM) with inverse-distance weighting (IDW) and a precipitation-masking algorithm for precipitation areas. The PRISM (PRISM_ORG) suffers two overestimation problems when the daily precipitation is estimated: overestimation of the precipitation intensity in mountainous regions and overestimation of the local precipitation areas. In order to solve the problem of overestimating the precipitation intensity, we used the IDW technique that employs the same input stations as those used in the PRISM regression (PRISM_IDW). A precipitation-masking algorithm that selectively masks the precipitation estimation grid points was additionally applied to the PRISM_IDW results (PRISM_MSK). For 6 months from March to August 2012, daily precipitation data were produced in a horizontal resolution of 1 km based on the above two experiments and PRISM_ORG. Afterwards, each experiment was evaluated for improvements. The monthly root mean squared errors (RMSEs) of PRISM_IDW and PRISM_MSK were reduced by 0.83 mm/day and 0.86 mm/day, respectively, compared to PRISM_ORG.     

The 2.9-4.2 micron spectrum of Saturn: Clouds and CH4, PH3, and NH3

We have used synthetic spectra to analyze a medium resolution 2.9-4.2 μm spectrum of Saturn's temperate region observed at UKIRT using CGS4. The synthetic spectra include CH₄, PH₃, and NH₃ lines, for which mixing ratios were adopted from recent Cassini results. The observed absorption features in the spectrum are well accounted for by lines of these molecular species formed 22 +/− 8 km above the 1 bar pressure level at ∼610 mbar. The influence of optically thin haze particles at higher altitudes on the spectrum is not pronounced, with higher spectral resolution probably required to constrain the effects of haze in this wavelength region. Fluorescent line emission by CH₄ in its ν₃ and ν₃+ν₄−ν₄ bands, detected in the 3.2-3.5 μm region, originates between 400 km (∼0.06 mbar) and 800 km (∼0.01 μbar) above the 1 bar level, with peak contributions from the two major contributing bands at 550 km (∼3 μbar) and 700 km (∼0.1 μbar), respectively.     

Effects of high-resolution land cover and topography on local circulations in two different coastal regions of Korea: a numerical modeling study

The effects of high-resolution land cover (LC) and topography (TP) on coastal wind circulations were evaluated in two different coastal regions of Korea (i.e. a southwestern coast (SWC), including a fairly complex coastline and a number of islands, and an eastern coast (EC), including a simple coastline with high mountains) during spring 2007. These analyses were performed based on a numerical modeling approach, using data sets with different resolutions, such as the LC and TP from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS-LC and USGS-TP: a 900-m resolution), the LC from the Environmental Geographic Information System (EGIS-LC: a 90-m), and the TP from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM-TP: a 90-m). The combined effects of the LC and TP on the spatial distributions of the coastal winds in the SWC region during the day were somewhat higher than those of the EC region, mainly due to the daytime land surface warming or the extension of the coastal area resulting from changes in the LC. At night, the effects of the EC region were more apparent along the coastline and adjacent sea. From the correlation analyses, the effect of the LC on the vertical wind distributions on land during the day was higher in the SWC region than in the EC region and vice versa for the effect of the TP. In particular, large effects of the LC and TP occurred in the EC region at night and at sea due to the differences in the surface conditions and elevations resulting from the changes in the LC and TP, respectively. In addition, the circulation of coastal winds from the near surface to the upper levels occurred at a relatively high elevation in the EC region (about 1,500?m) relative to the SWC region (about 600?m).     

Ternary forecast of heavy snowfall in the Honam area,Korea

The objective of this study is to improve the statistical modeling for the ternary forecast of heavy snowfall in the Honam area in Korea. The ternary forecast of heavy snowfall consists of one of three values, 0 for less than 50 mm, 1 for an advisory (50–150 mm), and 2 for a warning (more than 150 mm). For our study, the observed daily snow amounts and the numerical model outputs for 45 synoptic factors at 17 stations in the Honam area during 5 years (2001 to 2005) are used as observations and potential pre...     

Jupiter's hydrocarbon polar brightening: Discovery of 3-micron line emission from south polar CH4, C2H2, and C2H6

Jupiter exhibits bright H⁺₃ auroral arcs at 3-4 microns that cool the hot (>1000 K) ionosphere above the ∼¹⁰−7 bar level through the infrared bands of this trace constituent. Below the ¹⁰−7 bar level significant cooling proceeds through infrared active bands of CH₄, C₂H₂, and C₂H₆. We report the discovery of 3-micron line emission from these hydrocarbon species in spectra of the jovian south polar region obtained on April 18 and 20, 2006 (UT) with CGS4 on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. Estimated cooling rates through these molecules are 7.5×¹⁰−3, 1.4×¹⁰−3, and , respectively, for a total nearly half that of H⁺₃. We derive a temperature of 450 ± 50 K in the ¹⁰−7-¹⁰−5 bar region from the C₂H₂ lines.     

New dinosaur tracks from Korea, Ornithopodichnus masanensis ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. (Jindong Formation, Lower Cretaceous): implications for polarities in ornithopod foot morphology

Twelve trackways of ornithopods from Lower Cretaceous lacustrine margin deposits of the Jindong Formation represent new dinosaur trackways described from Korea. The site, discovered during highway construction, was rescued by removing the most important trackways to the Korean Natural Heritage Center in Daejeon, where they are on permanent display. The new ichnotaxon Ornithopodichnus masanensis ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. is recognized as a distinctive robust tridactyl track, slightly wider than long (l/w ratio = 0.91), with positive (inward) rotation. The toe prints are very thick, broad and U-shaped, resulting in a trefoil outline with a smoothly rounded hind margin. Digit III is short and projects anteriorly much less than digit II and IV (= weak mesaxony). Divarication of digits II-IV is about 70° with interdigital angle II-III larger than III-IV. Trackway width is narrow and the stride length/track length ratio is about 4.2–4.6. The Ornithopodichnus trackways evidently represent gregarious blunt-toed Iguanodon-like bipedal ornithopods, although poorly preserved manus traces are discerned in a few trackways. Ornithopodichnus is distinct from other well known iguanodontid tracks that display much stronger mesaxony and indicates a polarity in ornithopod foot morphology that can be verified by reference to known foot skeletons.     

Oxygen isotope anomalies of the Sun and the original environment of the solar system

Abstract— We present results from a model of oxygen isotopic anomaly production through selective photodissociation of CO within the collapsing proto‐solar cloud. Our model produces a proto‐Sun with a wide range of Δ¹⁷O values depending on the intensity of the ultraviolet radiation field. Dramatically different results from two recent solar wind oxygen isotope measurements indicate that a variety of compositions remain possible for the solar oxygen isotope composition. However, constrained by other measurements from comets and meteorites, our models imply the birth of the Sun in a stellar cluster with an enhanced radiation field and are therefore consistent with a supernova source for ⁶⁰Fe in meteorites.