The influence of carbon source on abiotic organic synthesis and carbon isotope fractionation under hydrothermal conditions

A series of laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the relative contributions of CO and other single-carbon compounds to abiotic synthesis of organic compounds in hydrothermal environments. Experiments were conducted by heating aqueous solutions of CO, CO₂, HCOOH, or CH₄ at 250 °C under reducing conditions, and observing production of CH₄ and other hydrocarbons. Native Fe was included in the experiments as a source of H₂ through reaction with water and as a potential catalyst. Experiments with CO or HCOOH as the carbon source resulted in rapid generation of CH₄ and other hydrocarbons that closely resembled typical products of Fischer-Tropsch organic synthesis. In contrast, experiments using CO₂ or CH₄ as the carbon source yielded no detectable hydrocarbon products. Carbon isotope measurements of reaction products from the CO experiments indicate that the CH₄ and other hydrocarbons were substantially depleted in ¹³C, with CH₄ δ¹³C values 30 to 34‰ lighter than the initial CO. Most of the fractionation apparently occurs during attachment of CO to the catalyst surface and subsequent reduction to surface-bound methylene. The initial step in polymerization of these methylene units to form hydrocarbons involves a small, positive fractionation, so that ethane and ethene are slightly enriched in ¹³C relative to CH₄. However, subsequent addition of carbon molecules to the growing hydrocarbon chain proceeds with no net observable fractionation, so that the isotopic compositions of the C₃₊ light hydrocarbons are controlled by isotopic mass balance. This result is consistent with a previously proposed model for carbon isotopic patterns of light hydrocarbons in natural samples. The abundance and isotopic composition of light hydrocarbons produced with HCOOH as the carbon source were similar to those generated with CO, but the isotopic compositions of non-volatile hydrocarbons diverged, suggesting that the higher hydrocarbons were formed by different mechanisms in the CO and HCOOH experiments. The experiments indicate that CO, and possibly HCOOH, may be critical intermediates in the abiotic formation of organic compounds in geologic environments, and suggest that the low levels of these compounds present in most hydrothermal systems could represent a bottleneck restricting the extent of abiotic organic synthesis in some circumstances.     

CCD photometry of the Galactic globular cluster M13

In this paper, we present a B − V CCD colour–magnitude diagram (CMD) of the globular cluster M13 (NGC 6205), reaching down about 2 mag below the main sequence turn-off, based on a new, independent photometric calibration.
The most notable features of the CMD, including about 5500 stars, are (i) the long extension of the blue tail of the horizontal branch (HB), which can be traced down to V ∼19 and (moreover) shows the presence of two gaps; and (ii) the so-called bump on the red giant branch which is well-detected at V =14.75±0.05, using both the differential and integral luminosity functions.
No similar features have ever been detected in any previous ground-based photometry of this cluster.
A direct comparison between the CMD of M13 and M3, calibrated during the same run with the same apparatus, sets an upper limit of about 1.5 Gyr on their age difference, too small to explain the striking differences between their HB morphologies.     

A stratigraphic network across the Subtropical Front in the central South Atlantic: Multi-parameter correlation of magnetic susceptibility, density, X-ray fluorescence and δO records

Computer aided multi-parameter signal correlation is used to develop a common high-precision age model for eight gravity cores from the subtropical and subantarctic South Atlantic. Since correlations between all pairs of multi-parameter sequences are used, and correlation errors between core pairs (A, B) and (B, C) are controlled by comparison with (A, C), the resulting age model is called a stratigraphic network. Precise inter-core correlation is achieved using high-resolution records of magnetic susceptibility κ, wet bulk density ρ and X-ray fluorescence scans of elemental composition. Additional δ¹⁸O records are available for two cores. The data indicate nearly undisturbed sediment series and the absence of significant hiatuses or turbidites. After establishing a high-precision common depth scale by synchronously correlating four densely measured parameters (Fe, Ca, κ, ρ), the final age model is obtained by simultaneously fitting the aligned δ¹⁸O and κ records of the stratigraphic network to orbitally tuned oxygen isotope [J. Imbrie, J. D. Hays, D. G. Martinson, A. McIntyre, A. C. Mix, J. J. Morley, N. G. Pisias, W. L. Prell, N. J. Shackleton, The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ¹⁸O record, in: A. Berger, J. Imbrie, J. Hays, G. Kukla, B. Saltzman (Eds.), Milankovitch and Climate: Understanding the Response to Orbital Forcing, Reidel Publishing, Dordrecht, 1984, pp. 269-305; D. Martinson, N. Pisias, J. Hays, J. Imbrie, T. C. Moore Jr., N. Shackleton, Age dating and the orbital theory of the Ice Ages: development of a high-resolution 0 to 300.000-Year chronostratigraphy, Quat. Res. 27 (1987) 1-29.] or susceptibility stacks [T. von Dobeneck, F.Schmieder, Using rock magnetic proxy records for orbital tuning and extended time series analyses into the super-and sub-Milankovitch Bands, in: G. Fischer, G. Wefer (Eds.), Use of proxies in paleoceanography: Examples from the South Atlantic, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1999), pp. 601-633.]. Besides the detection and elimination of errors in single records, the stratigraphic network approach allows to check the intrinsic consistency of the final result by comparing it to the outcome of more restricted alignment procedures. The final South Atlantic stratigraphic network covers the last 400 kyr south and the last 1200 kyr north of the Subtropical Front (STF) and provides a highly precise age model across the STF representing extremely different sedimentary regimes. This allows to detect temporal shifts of the STF by mapping δMn / Fe. It turns out that the apparent STF movements by about 200 km are not directly related to marine oxygen isotope stages.     

2007: International Heliophysical Year

The International Heliophysical Year is an international programme of global research to understand the external drivers of the space environment and climate, continuing the tradition of previous International Years. It is introduced here by Richard Harrison, Andy Breen, Barbara Bromage and Joe Davila.     

Shifts in an epibenthic trophic web across a marine frontal area in the Southwestern Atlantic (Argentina)

Marine benthic trophic relationships and food web structures may be influenced by benthic–pelagic coupling processes, which could also be intensified by the physical dynamics of marine fronts. In this work, we employed stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) analysis to investigate the influence of the Southwest (SW) Atlantic shelf-break front (SBF; 38–39°S, 55–56°W; Argentina) on an epibenthic trophic web. Epibenthic organisms were sampled, at depths of ~ 100 m, with a non-selective dredge from a sandy bottom community located in frontal (F) and marginal (M) areas. The SBF position and the chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentrations were inferred using satellite data of the sea surface temperature (SST) and satellite chl-a concentration, respectively. The most noticeable shifts in stable isotopes between the sampled areas were those of the Patagonian scallop, Zygochlamys patagonica (δ¹³C), and those of the sea urchin, Sterechinus agassizi (δ¹⁵N). Diet analyses inferred from stable isotopes and mixing models demonstrated that the dominant component of this community, Z. patagonica, had variable contributions to higher trophic levels between areas. More importantly, the epibenthic assemblage in F areas showed δ¹³C-enriched and δ¹⁵N-depleted isotopic signatures with respect to the M areas. Collectively, this evidence suggests that frontal dynamics promotes the accumulation of δ¹³C-enriched phytoplankton in the seabed in F areas, while in M areas the more degraded organic matter becomes more important in the trophic web, decreasing the δ¹⁵N isotopic signature of the assemblage. Therefore, the trophic web was sustained by fresher food in F areas than in M areas, demonstrating the role of frontal dynamics in the shaping of these communities.     

The source of raw materials for Roman pottery from Leptiminus,Tunisia

Leptiminus, a Roman port city on the west coast of Tunisia, North Africa, exported olive oil and a garum fish paste to Rome. Excavations have uncovered many facilities including kilns and a potter's workshop, indicating an extensive ceramic industry. The vessels, manufactured at Leptiminus, included African red‐slip fineware, coarseware, and amphorae. A petrographic study of pottery sherds showed them to contain very similar temper, rounded aeolian sand grains and limestone, but varying in proportions to produce different textures. An investigation of the source of raw materials for the pottery found three distinct types of clay within a 50 km radius of Leptiminus: grey Miocene, brown Pliocene, and green Late Pliocene clay. Statistical analysis of trace element compositions, using induced neutron activation, of clays and sherds showed that the Pliocene brown clay was used to create all types of pottery. The specific clay horizon, used in Roman times, has apparently been removed by quarrying. However, a lateral continuation of this bed was found 7 m beneath the Leptiminus site 290. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sisterhood and Seine‐Nets: Engendering Development and Conservation in Ghana's Marine Fishery

As processors and marketers of fish, women fishtraders in the Fanti town of Cape Coast, Ghana have become powerful financers and owners of canoes, nets, and other fishing equipment. Since the 1960s, when motors were first introduced to Ghana's artisanal canoe fleet, two interrelated processes have occurred in Cape Coast. First, Ghana's fisheries have become increasingly exploited and—in the case of some species—overfished. Second, the social relations of production in the artisanal sector have shifted from being socially embedded to being more market‐based and impersonal. I argue that two recent Women in Development (WID) projects in particular have contributed to the breakdown of fishtraders’ traditional economic networks and livelihood strategies: (a) loan schemes that target women's associations, and (b) the 1985 Intestate Succession Law, which reconfigured inheritance rights. These WID projects, based on western notions of gender and the household, have created disharmony and mistrust among Cape Coast's fishtraders rather than promoting their “development.” The breakdown of fishtraders’ labor and marketing organizations has resulted in increasingly desperate strategies to get fish, increased degradation of Ghana's marine environment, and uncertainty for the future of the coastal economy.     

Streamline method for resolving sharp fronts for complex two-phase flow in porous media

In this paper, we present a fast streamline-based numerical method for the two-phase flow equations in high-rate flooding scenarios for incompressible fluids in heterogeneous and anisotropic porous media. A fractional flow formulation is adopted and a discontinuous Galerkin method (DG) is employed to solve the pressure equation. Capillary effects can be neglected in high-rate flooding scenarios. This allows us to present an improved streamline approach in combination with the one-dimensional front tracking method to solve the transport equation. To handle the high computational costs of the DG approximation, domain decomposition is applied combined with an algebraic multigrid preconditioner to solve the linear system. Special care at the interior interfaces is required and the streamline tracer has to include a dynamic communication strategy. The method is validated in various two- and three-dimensional tests, where comparisons of the solutions in terms of approximation of flow front propagation with standard fully implicit finite-volume methods are provided.     

4D seismic for oil-rim monitoring

In the central North Sea ‘Gannet‐A’ field, a 50 ft oil rim is overlain by a gas cap of variable thickness. Oil is produced from horizontal wells which initially produced dry oil, but as the field became more mature, a significant water cut was seen in several wells. A dedicated 4D seismic monitor survey was acquired in order to assess the remaining distribution of oil reserves. By forward modelling the synthetic seismic response to parameters such as contact movement and residual saturations (using 2D and 3D wedge models), and comparing the results with real seismic data, we are able to decipher the contact movements across the field. It is shown that, in one part of the field, the increased water cut is caused primarily by the vertical displacement of the entire oil rim into the initial gas cap. This oil‐rim displacement produces a very different 4D seismic response from the case of a static gas–oil contact and rising oil–water contact (normal production). As a result of these observations, we are able to optimize field production by both re‐perforation of existing wells and by drilling sidetracks into the displaced rim: a brown‐field development opportunity that might otherwise be missed.