Self-organizing thermal fluid flow in fractured crystalline rock: a geochemical and theoretical approach to evaluating fluid flow in the southern Idaho batholith,USA

Thermal springs in the Idaho batholith (USA) discharge at discrete locations along a 50+ km reach of the Middle Fork of the Boise River (MFBR). Recharge water flows through Basin and Range extension fractures where it is heated by the geothermal gradient and ultimately discharges from the damage zone of the trans-Challis faults located near the bottom of the MFBR. Stable isotopes of water, ¹⁴C groundwater ages, fracture and fault orientations, fracture volume changes due to chemical evolution, and recharge area calculations suggest that the thermal springs issue from individual hydrothermal systems and that they are self-organizing. Water evolves chemically along flow paths, dissolving feldspars and precipitating secondary minerals. Secondary minerals accumulate in less-efficient fractures and are flushed from the more efficient ones. Flow-area calculations using heat-flow, exponential decay-of-porosity, and curve-intersection methods show that many of the thermal systems extend beyond their immediate topographic watershed, and that some capture water from adjacent watersheds. Geochemical/flow feedback loops that provide a mechanism for self-organization are modeled using PHREEQC, and positive and negative fracture volume changes are calculated. Criteria for identifying self-organizing granitoid thermal groundwater systems are suggested.     

Sedimentation and Organic Carbon Burial in the Yangtze River and Hudson River Estuaries: Implications for the Global Carbon Budget

One of the most important challenges in global climate change research is balancing the carbon budget within the global carbon cycle. Carbon burial in sediments at the land–ocean interface has been difficult to quantify and model because it represents non-steady-state boundary conditions that are also affected by human activities. In this study, we document carbon burial rates in the Yangtze River (1.6–4.9 × 10¹² gC year^?1) and Hudson River (1.8–3.6 × 10¹⁰ gC year^?1) estuaries and integrate our results with carbon burial rates determined by others in the world’s 25 largest river-estuarine systems (6–11 × 10¹³ gC year^?1). Our results indicate that carbon burial in estuaries, bays, coves, lagoons, mud flats, marshes, mangroves, and other highly productive or protected low-energy areas at the land–ocean interface along the entirety of the world’s coastlines may serve as an unrecognized sink within the global carbon budget.     

Environmental and cultural changes in highland Guatemala inferred from Lake Amatitlán sediments

We inferred the late Holocene environmental history of the Guatemala highlands from multiple lines of evidence in a sediment core from Lake Amatitlán. Inferred environmental changes are generally synchronous with archaeologically documented highland Maya cultural shifts. Population increases in the Middle Preclassic, Early Classic, and Late Postclassic are associated with deforestation and soil erosion. Land abandonment in the Late Preclassic, Late Classic, and Early Postclassic is associated with evidence for reforestation and soil stabilization. Diatoms indicate relatively lower lake level and greater trophic status at times of reduced human impact, from ca. 250 B.C. to A.D. 125 and from ca. A.D. 875 to 1375. Decreased water levels were probably due to drier climate, to reforestation, or both. Lake eutrophication was caused by reduced water volume combined with a legacy of long‐term agricultural activity. Our data contribute to the understanding of relations among ancient Maya culture, climate, and environment. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Permafrost degradation and subsurface-flow changes caused by surface warming trends

Change dynamics of permafrost thaw, and associated changes in subsurface flow and seepage into surface water, are analysed for different warming trends in soil temperature at the ground surface with a three-phase two-component flow system coupled to heat transport. Changes in annual, seasonal and extreme flows are analysed for three warming-temperature trends, representing simplified climate-change scenarios. The results support previous studies of reduced temporal variability of groundwater flow across all investigated trends. Decreased intra-annual flow variability may thus serve as an early indicator of permafrost degradation before longer-term changes in mean flows are notable. This is advantageous since hydrological data are considerably easier to obtain, may be available in longer time series, and generally reflect larger-scale conditions than direct permafrost observations. The results further show that permafrost degradation first leads to increasing water discharge, which then decreases as the permafrost degradation progresses further to total thaw. The most pronounced changes occur for minimum annual flows. The configuration considered represents subsurface discharge from a generic heterogeneous soil-type domain.     

Does martian soil release reactive halogens to the atmosphere?

Detailed statistical examination of Cl, Br, and S distributions, in martian soil profiles at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, indicates decreasing Br abundance and weakening Br–S association towards the surface. All three elements decrease towards the surface in the order Cl < S < Br. Furthermore, Br variability decouples from potential cations such as Mg at the surface relative to the subsurface. These observations support a relative loss of surficial Br compared to S and Cl, all highly mobile elements in aqueous environments. We propose that Br may have converted preferentially to gas phases (e.g., BrO), driven either by UV photolysis or by chemical oxidants. Such volatilization pathways may in turn impart a global signature on Mars by acting as controls on oxidants such as ozone and perchlorates. S/Cl mass ratios vary with depth (∼4–5 in the subsurface; 1.8–3.6 on the surface) as well, with a strong correlation of S and Cl near the surface but more variable at depth, consistent with differential vertical mobility, but not volatilization of Cl. Elevated S/Cl in subsurface soil also suggests that the ratio may be higher in bulk soil – a key repository of martian geologic and climatic records – than previously thought.     

Measuring the sizes, shapes, surface features and rotations of Solar System objects with interferometry

We consider the application of interferometry to measuring the sizes and shapes of small bodies in the Solar System that cannot be spatially resolved by today’s single-dish telescopes. Assuming ellipsoidal shapes, we provide a formalism to derive the shape parameters from visibility measurements along three different baseline orientations. Our results indicate that interferometers can measure the size of an object to better than 15% uncertainty if the limb-darkening is unknown. Assuming a Minnaert scattering model, one can theoretically derive the limb-darkening parameters from simultaneous measurements of visibilities at several different projected baseline lengths to improve the size and shape determination to an accuracy of a few percent. The best size measurement can be reached when one axis of the object’s projected disk is aligned with one baseline orientation, and the measurement of cross-sectional area is independent of baseline orientation. We construct a 3-D shape model for the dwarf planet Haumea and use it to synthesize interferometric data sets. Using the Haumea model, we demonstrate that when photometric light curve, visibility light curve, and visibility phase center displacement are combined, the rotational period and sense of rotation can all be derived, and the rotational pole can be estimated. Because of its elongated shape and the dark red spot, the rotation of Haumea causes its optical photocenter to move in a loop on the sky. Our simulations show that this loop has an extend of about 80 μas without the dark red spot, and about 200 μas with it. Such movements are easily detectable by space-based astrometric interferometer designed e.g. for planet detection. As an example, we consider the possible contributions to the study of small bodies in the Solar System by the Space Interferometry Mission. We show that such a mission could make substantial contributions in characterizing the fundamental physical properties of the brightest Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs as well as a large number of main belt asteroids. We compile a list of Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs that are potentially scientifically interesting and observable by such missions.     

Parametric analysis of modeled ion escape from Mars

We develop a parametric fit to the results of a detailed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) study of the response of ion escape rates (O⁺, and ) to strongly varied solar forcing factors, as a way to efficiently extend the MHD results to different conditions. We then use this to develop a second, evolutionary model of solar forced ion escape. We treat the escape fluxes of ion species at Mars as proportional to the product of power laws of four factors - that of the EUV flux R_euv, the solar wind particle density R_ρ, its velocity (squared) R_v², and the interplanetary magnetic field pressure R_B², where forcing factors are expressed in units of the current epoch-averaged values. Our parametric model is: , where ?(i) is the escape flux of ion i. We base our study on the results of just six provided MHD model runs employing large forcing factor variations, and thus construct a successful, first-order parametric model of the MHD program. We perform a five-dimensional least squares fit of this power law model to the MHD results to derive the flux normalizations and the indices of the solar forcing factors. For O⁺, we obtain the values, 1.73 × 10²⁴ s⁻¹, 0.782, 0.251, 0.382, and 0.214, for ?₀, α, β, γ, and δ, respectively. For , the corresponding values are 1.68 × 10²⁴ s⁻¹, −0.393, 0.798, 0.967, and 0.533. For , they are 8.66 × 10²² s⁻¹, −0.427, 1.083, 1.214, and 0.690. The fit reproduces the MHD results to an average error of about 5%, suggesting that the power laws are broadly representative of the MHD model results. Our analysis of the MHD model shows that by itself an increase in R_EUV enhances O⁺ loss, but suppresses the escape of and , whereas increases in solar wind (i.e., in , and R_B², with R_euv constant) favors the escape of heavier ions more than light ions. The ratios of escaping ions detectable at Mars today can be predicted by this parametric fit as a function of the solar forcing factors. We also use the parametric model to compute escape rates over martian history. This second parametric model expresses ion escape functions of one variable (per ion), ?(i) = ?₀(i)(t/t₀)^−ξ(i). The ξ(i) are linear combinations of the epoch-averaged ion escape sensitivities, which are seen to increase with ion mass. We integrate the and oxygen ion escape rates over time, and find that in the last 3.85 Gyr, Mars would have lost about mbars of , and of water (from O⁺ and ) from ion escape.     

Monte Carlo simulation of pair creation using petawatt lasers

Irradiating high-Z targets such as gold with ultra-intense lasers creates electron-positron pairs. In particular, the positron density in the plasma created by this procedure is higher than that obtained via other laboratory-based methods, with theoretical maximum densities exceeding 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. All of the significantly contributing processes are well-known and hence we can study this phenomenon using Monte Carlo simulation. We focus on the latter part of this procedure, the passage of high-energy electrons through the target creating pairs. In particular, we discuss the usefulness of CERN’s GEANT4 Monte Carlo code in simulating this process. Once this code is successfully calibrated, we will use it to perform parameter studies, and design future targets to optimize the positron yield.