Dissolution kinetics of fosteritic olivine at 90-150 °C including effects of the presence of CO2

The steady state dissolution rate of San Carlos olivine [Mg_1.82Fe_0.18 SiO₄] in dilute aqueous solutions was measured at 90, 120, and 150 °C and pH ranging from 2 to 12.5. Dissolution experiments were performed in a stirred flow-through reactor, under either a nitrogen or carbon dioxide atmosphere at pressures between 15 and 180 bar. Low pH values were achieved either by adding HCl to the solution or by pressurising the reactor with CO₂, whereas high pH values were achieved by adding LiOH. Dissolution was stoichiometric for almost all experiments except for a brief start-up period. At all three temperatures, the dissolution rate decreases with increasing pH at acidic to neutral conditions with a slope of close to 0.5; by regressing all data for 2 ? pH ? 8.5 and 90 °C ? T ? 150 °C together, the following correlation for the dissolution rate in CO₂-free solutions is obtained:

     

Distribution and accumulation rate of ore elements in Holocene and Late Glacial Sediments of the Deryugin Basin,Sea of Okhotsk

Results of the study of contents and accumulation rates of Fe, Mn, and a number of trace elements in Upper Quaternary sediments of the Deryugin Basin are presented. Maps of the average contents and accumulation rates of excess Fe, Mn, Zn, Ba, Ni, Pb, Cu, and Mo in sediments of the first oxygen isotope stage (OIS) have been plotted. Anomalous contents and accumulation rates are confined to peripheral zones of the Deryugin sedimentary basin and large fracture zones. Different mechanisms of the influence of fluid-dynamic processes on the rate of hydrogenic and biogenic accumulation of ore elements are assumed.Translated from Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, No. 2, 2005, pp. 115–132.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Astakhov, Gorbarenko, Bakhareva, Gretskaya, Sattarova.     

An improved input energy spectrum verified by the shake table tests

Input energy is the principal component of the energy balance equation. It is beneficial to determine, through its components, how the recoverable and irrecoverable energies are distributed within the structural elements. Several equations and attenuation relations to define mass-normalized input energy spectra exist in the literature. They are mainly proposed for elastic systems subjected to far-fault EQs. There is a lack of experimental verification of these proposed spectra. In this paper, experimental assessment was performed to the existing spectra, and further improvements were accomplished. For this purpose, steel cantilever columns were tested on the shake table for two specific historical EQs coincidently having similar spectral acceleration values. Based on the experimental results, a three-part mass-normalized relative input energy spectrum was formulated including soil type, EQ (corner period, intensity, duration, spectral acceleration, and velocity), and structural behavioral characteristics (period and structural damping). The proposed input energy spectrum was experimentally calibrated and numerically validated for various EQs featuring near- and far-field types. Analytical and experimental comparisons were made between the previously developed spectrum and the newly proposed one. The validation studies and the statistical evaluations exposed that the proposed spectrum yielded better agreement with the experimental and numerical results.     

Experience in CCD Spectrocolorimetry of Lunar-Surface Regions

Panoramic scans of two lunar regions (Aristarchus–Herodotus and Plato craters) were obtained with a CCD camera and spectrograph to determine a range of actual color differences. The color differences expressed in color–excess (CE) units and determined as the intensity ratios for lunar features at 440 and 550 nm are mainly less than 0.1^m. The color–albedo dependence is revealed only in separate clusters and is not the same in different parts of each region under consideration. This special feature of crater Aristarchus is confirmed; that is, in spite of its high albedo, the color in the crater is intermediate within the general range of color differences.     

Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Soils and Sediments of the Herbert and Burdekin River Regions, North Queensland – Implications for Contamination of the Great Barrier Reef

Organochlorine pesticides were widely used in the Australian sugarcane industry from the early 1950s until the late 1980s. Erosion of sugarcane soils and subsequent transport of sediment bound contaminants in river run-off to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon is a growing concern as the cane industry continues to expand. Organochlorine pesticide residues can be used as tracers to examine the worst-case scenario of the spatial extent to which currently used, though less persistent, organic agricultural pesticides might extend. The coastal alluvial flood-plains of the Herbert and Burdekin Rivers in North Queensland have sugarcane growing as the major coastal land-use. Sediment cores and surface sediment samples were collected from near-shore coastal regions of the Herbert and Burdekin Rivers. In addition, soil samples from cane-fields in the two catchments were collected. Analyses of the marine surface sediment samples and three sediment cores revealed the absence of detectable concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (<5 pg/g). However, easily detectable concentrations were found in the sugarcane soil samples (0.01–45 ng/g).     

Intermediate disturbance and patterns of species richness

Abstract

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) predicts highest species diversity in environments experiencing intermediate intensity disturbance, after an intermediate timespan. Because many landscapes comprise mosaics with complex disturbance histories, the theory implies that each patch in those mosaics should have a distinct level of diversity reflecting the magnitude of disturbance and the time since it occurred. We model changing patterns of species richness across a landscape experiencing varied scenarios of simulated disturbance in order to predict first the variation of richness through time in individual patches, based on their disturbance histories, and then the changing patterns of richness across the landscape through time, representing the cumulative impact of changing richness within the individual patches. Model outputs show that individual landscape patches have highly variable species richness through time, with the trajectory reflecting the timing, intensity and sequence of disturbances. When the results are mapped across the landscape, the resulting temporal and spatial complexity reveals a distribution of biodiversity that is strikingly contingent on the details of disturbance history. These results illustrate the danger of generalization (in either data interpretation or management decisions), as IDH actually imposes a highly variable pattern of diversity.