Effect of treatment with reserpine on the change in filtration rate of Mytilus edulis subjected to dissolved copper

Exposure of specimens of Mytilus edulis to dissolved copper leads to a fall in the filtration rate measured in whole animals. The copper concentration leading to a 50% reduction in the filtration rate was found to be 0.094 mg I⁻¹. This effect was abolished on depletion of the monoamine content of the animal using reserpine. It is suggested that there may be a chemosensory mechanism present in the animals which responds to increased levels of metals in the seawater leading to a reduction in the rate of ciliary beating and mediated via the branchial nerve.     

PCB-containing paint and plaster caused extreme PCB-concentrations in biota from the Sørfjord (Western Norway)--a case study

The Sørfjord (Western Norway) has a long history of industry and pollution, and has been monitored for several decades. The environmental monitoring has comprised analyses of different contaminants in sea water, mussel, fish, seaweed and sediments. Measurements of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) some 17 years ago indicated a local source. In 2001 severe concentrations were measured in blue mussels and further investigations disclosed the primary source of PCBs in the Sørfjord. In 2002, extreme PCB-concentrations were found in cod (Gadus morhua) from the same area. However, no induction of EROD activity was detected, indicating the limitations of this assay as marker for PCB contamination. A future scientific challenge will be to understand the specific mechanisms and effects of such PCB accumulation in fish.     

Elevation adjustments of paired natural levees during flooding of the Saskatchewan River

Natural levees control the exchange of water between an alluvial channel and its floodplain, but little is known about the spatial distribution and evolution of levee heights. The summer 2005 flood of the Saskatchewan River (Cumberland Marshes, east‐central Saskatchewan) inundated large areas of floodplain for up to seven weeks, forming prominent new deposits on natural levees along main‐stem channels. Measurements of flood‐deposit thickness and crest heights of 61 levee pairs show that the thickest deposits occur on the lower pre‐flood levee in 80% of the sites, though no clear relationship exists between deposit thickness and magnitude of height difference. Only 16% of the pairs displayed thicker deposits on the higher levee, half of which occurred at sites where relatively clear floodbasin waters re‐entered turbid channels during general flooding. Difference in crest elevation (ΔE) between paired levees is approximately log‐normally distributed, both before and after the flood, though with different mean values. Supplemental observations from tank experiments indicate that during near‐bankfull flows, temporally and spatially variable deposition and erosion occur on levees due to backwater effects associated with nearby channel bars and irregular rises of the channel bed forced by channel extension. During floods, preferential deposition in lows tends to even out crest heights. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trinitite—the atomic rock

On 16 July 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Alamogordo Bombing range in New Mexico, USA. Swept up into the nuclear cloud was the surrounding desert sand, which melted to form a green glassy material called ‘trinitite’. Contained within the glass are melted bits of the first atomic bomb and the support structures and various radionuclides formed during the detonation. The glass itself is marvelously complex at the tens to hundreds of micrometre scale, and besides glasses of varying composition also contains unmelted quartz grains. Air transport of the melted material led to the formation of spheres and dumbbell shaped glass particles. Similar glasses are formed during all ground level nuclear detonations and contain forensic information that can be used to identify the atomic device.     

The isotopic composition of strontium and oxygen in lavas from St. Helena,South Atlantic

Strontium and oxygen isotope measurements on the alkali basalt-trachyte-phonolite suite of St. Helena show that some of the late-fractionated rocks are enriched in ⁸⁷Sr and depleted in ¹⁸O relative to the older basalts. The data rule out both the formation of the late-fractionated rocks by the partial melting of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust and the contamination of the volcanic rocks by oceanic sediment. It also appears to be incompatible with models based either on the melting of previously fractionated and crystallized liquids in the volcanic pile, or the long-term fractionation of lavas over several millions of years in a sub-volcanic magma chamber.It is concluded that hydrothermal interaction with meteoric water is the most important cause of the ¹⁸O depletion. If the interaction occurred at widely differing temperatures, and involved meteoric and seawaters, it might conceivably have caused both the oxygen and strontium isotope heterogeneities.     

Petrology and geochronology of basalt breccia from the 1996 earthquake swarm of Loihi seamount, Hawaii: magmatic history of its 1996 eruption

 Samples of basalt were collected during the Rapid Response cruise to Loihi seamount from a breccia that was probably created by the July to August 1996 Loihi earthquake swarm, the largest swarm ever recorded from a Hawaiian volcano. ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb dating of two fresh lava blocks from this breccia indicates that they were erupted during the first half of 1996, making this the first documented historical eruption of Loihi. Sonobuoys deployed during the August 1996 cruise recorded popping noises north of the breccia site, indicating that the eruption may have been continuing during the swarm. All of the breccia lava fragments are tholeiitic, like the vast majority of Loihi's most recent lavas. Reverse zoning at the rim of clinopyroxene phenocrysts, and the presence of two chemically distinct olivine phenocryst populations, indicate that the magma for the lavas was mixed just prior to eruption. The trace element geochemistry of these lavas indicates there has been a reversal in Loihi's temporal geochemical trend. Although the new Loihi lavas are similar isotopically and geochemically to recent Kilauea lavas and the mantle conduits for these two volcanoes appear to converge at depth, distinct trace element ratios for their recent lavas preclude common parental magmas for these two active volcanoes. The mineralogy of Loihi's recent tholeiitic lavas signify that they crystallized at moderate depths (∼8–9 km) within the volcano, which is approximately 1 km below the hypocenters for earthquakes from the 1996 swarm. Taken together, the petrological and seismic evidence indicates that Loihi's current magma chamber is considerably deeper than the shallow magma chamber (∼3–4 km) in the adjoining active shield volcanoes. Received: 21 August 1997 / Accepted: 15 February 1998     

Community‐Derived Standards for LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb Geochronology – Uncertainty Propagation,Age Interpretation and Data Reporting

The LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb geochronology international community has defined new standards for the determination of U‐(Th‐)Pb ages. A new workflow defines the appropriate propagation of uncertainties for these data, identifying random and systematic components. Only data with uncertainties relating to random error should be used in weighted mean calculations of population ages; uncertainty components for systematic errors are propagated after this stage, preventing their erroneous reduction. Following this improved uncertainty propagation protocol, data can be compared at different uncertainty levels to better resolve age differences. New reference values for commonly used zircon, monazite and titanite reference materials are defined (based on ID‐TIMS) after removing corrections for common lead and the effects of excess ²³⁰Th. These values more accurately reflect the material sampled during the determination of calibration factors by LA‐ICP‐MS analysis. Recommendations are made to graphically represent data only with uncertainty ellipses at 2s and to submit or cite validation data with sample data when submitting data for publication. New data‐reporting standards are defined to help improve the peer‐review process. With these improvements, LA‐ICP‐MS U‐(Th‐)Pb data can be considered more robust, accurate, better documented and quantified, directly contributing to their improved scientific interpretation.