In Situ Biological Contamination Studies of the Moon: Implications for Planetary Protection and Life Detection Missions

NASA and ESA have outlined visions for solar system exploration that will include a series of lunar robotic precursor missions to prepare for, and support a human return to the Moon, and future human exploration of Mars and other destinations, including possibly asteroids. One of the guiding principles for exploration is to pursue compelling scientific questions about the origin and evolution of life. The search for life on objects such as Mars will require careful operations, and that all systems be sufficiently cleaned and sterilized prior to launch to ensure that the scientific integrity of extraterrestrial samples is not jeopardized by terrestrial organic contamination. Under the Committee on Space Research’s (COSPAR’s) current planetary protection policy for the Moon, no sterilization procedures are required for outbound lunar spacecraft, nor is there a different planetary protection category for human missions, although preliminary COSPAR policy guidelines for human missions to Mars have been developed. Future in situ investigations of a variety of locations on the Moon by highly sensitive instruments designed to search for biologically derived organic compounds would help assess the contamination of the Moon by lunar spacecraft. These studies could also provide valuable “ground truth” data for Mars sample return missions and help define planetary protection requirements for future Mars bound spacecraft carrying life detection experiments. In addition, studies of the impact of terrestrial contamination of the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts could provide valuable data to help refine future Mars surface exploration plans for a human mission to Mars.     

Environmental geology: our professional public responsibility

 Conflicts between different interest groups for use of natural resources is one area where state geological surveys can provide assistance. A state geological survey working within the scientific constraints of specific issues can remain objective in its presentations and maintain the faith of both the conflicting interest groups and the public. One cannot vary from the objective view or you will quickly be criticized. Criticism can still occur from one side of a natural resource issue as your data might counter their views. However, the final decisions are almost always made in some legislators, or regulators, area of responsibility. The responsibility of the state geological survey is to provide the important data that will assist in making correct decisions. Should one party in the conflict become extreme in their demands, a potential compromise that is beneficial to both sides can be lost. In Kansas, the classical natural resource problem of resource/recreation in a populated area is presented as a case study. The state geological survey presented data on sand resources in the Kansas River and its valley in northeast Kansas. That information was important to both recreation and dredging interests where the political problem is a conflict of sand use as a construction material resource versus use of the alluvial river as an important recreation area, especially for canoeing. However, when a reasonable compromise was near completion in the Kansas Legislature one side, in a bold move to develop an advantage, ruined that potential for compromise. Received: 12 May 1998 · Accepted: 6 July 1998     

High resolution profiles of vertical particulate organic matter export off Cape Blanc,Mauritania: Degradation processes and ballasting effects

Vertical carbon fluxes between the surface and 2500 m depth were estimated from in situ profiles of particle size distributions and abundances me/asured off Cape Blanc (Mauritania) related to deep ocean sediment traps. Vertical mass fluxes off Cape Blanc were significantly higher than recent global estimates in the open ocean. The aggregates off Cape Blanc contained high amounts of ballast material due to the presence of coccoliths and fine-grained dust from the Sahara desert, leading to a dominance of small and fast-settling aggregates. The largest changes in vertical fluxes were observed in the surface waters (<250 m), and, thus, showing this site to be the most important zone for aggregate formation and degradation. The degradation length scale (L), i.e. the fractional degradation of aggregates per meter settled, was estimated from vertical fluxes derived from the particle size distribution through the water column. This was compared with fractional remineralization rate of aggregates per meter settled derived from direct ship-board measurements of sinking velocity and small-scale O₂ fluxes to aggregates measured by micro-sensors. Microbial respiration by attached bacteria alone could not explain the degradation of organic matter in the upper ocean. Instead, flux feeding from zooplankton organisms was indicated as the dominant degradation process of aggregated carbon in the surface ocean. Below the surface ocean, microbes became more important for the degradation as zooplankton was rare at these depths.     

Review study on near-natural conditions of Central European mountain streams, with particular reference to debris and beaver dams: Results of the “REG meeting” 2000

This paper summarises the results of the “Rhithron Ecology Group” meeting in Essen (March 2000), supplemented by a literature evaluation.An extended view of small mountain streams in Central Europe under “potentially natural conditions” is presented. We focus on the potential impact of natural transverse structures (debris dams and beaver dams) on stream morphology, hydrology, habitat composition and communities. Furthermore, impact of other stream morphological features, which are presently lacking in the Central European landscape, is described.We suggest that Central European mountain streams are characterised by a higher proportion of lentic zones under “potentially natural conditions”. Morphological degradation leads to a loss of lentic zones and to an increase of current velocities and corresponding changes in faunal composition, particularly higher abundance and proportion of rheophilic species and a decrease of species preferring lentic zones. This should be regarded in future stream assessment.     

Zeitliche Beziehung zwischen variskischer Tektonik und initialem Magmatismus in Ostthüringen

Zusammenfassung Die voroberdevonischen Kerngesteine des Bergaer Sattels werden von wenige Meter mächtigen konkordanten und diskordanten Diabas-Gängen durchschlagen. Die diskordanten Gänge liegen ausnahmslos in der achsenflächenparallelen Transversalschieferung (s₁). Die Erklärung dieser Lagerungsform durch eine voroberdevonische Schieferung oder durch die Annahme eines nachsudetischen Intrusionsalters stünde im Widerspruch zu den bisherigen Ansichten. Eine genaue Überprüfung dieser s₁-parallelen Gänge erweist deutlich deren Bindung an die Mittelschenkel der Falten niederer Ordnung. Die aus der Schichtung abweichende Intrusion folgte demnach achsenflächenparallelen Schenkelbrüchen tiefoberdevonisch angelegter Embryonalfalten. Sie werden der reußischen Phase v.Gaertners (1951) zugeschrieben. Diese Bewegung an der Wende Mittel-/Oberdevon wird als intrageosynklinale Vorfaltung der saxothuringischen Zone des variskischen Orogens aufgefaßt.Dieser Beitrag ist das Teilergebnis einer regionalgeologischen Untersuchung, deren Anregung und Betreuung Verf. Herrn Professor Dr. F.Deubel verdankt.     

Sedimentation patterns of diatoms in Lake Holzmaar, Germany - (on the transfer of climate signals to biogenic silica oxygen isotope proxies)

The seasonal sedimentation pattern of diatom valves in Lake Holzmaar was investigated during 1995 by deploying sediment traps at three different lake depths. According to the sedimentation pattern, the major reproduction zone of diatoms was restricted to the upper 6 m of the water body. The population growth started late in April and blooms of Cyclotella cf. comensis Grun., which dominates the plankton diatoms, and Fragilaria crotonensis Kitton were collected in traps during June and September, and July, respectively. During summer, the seasonal sedimentation pattern of each taxon, as collected in the upper traps, was reflected in the concentrations in the lowest trap. However, in May and from September onwards, the community composition in the lowest trap and augmented trapping rates suggest both sediment focusing and resuspension of bottom sediments.The temperature signals as recorded by 18O values of diatom valves should, therefore, reflect integrated temperatures between 0 and 6 m depth. However, temperatures during summer and autumn are expected to be accentuated in the sedimentary record since the isotopic signal is weighted by both the number and the weight-mass of the valves. During summer, the transfer of these signals by the sedimenting diatoms retains the information pattern recorded, while in spring and autumn/winter additional influxes caused by resuspension may somewhat alter those temperature informations. The proxy signals finally stored in the sediments, may, therefore, not precisely represent the successive temperatures currently recorded during 1995 within mid-lake.     

Zum Problem der „Dynamischen Bezugsfläche“, insbesondere im Golfstromgebiet

Zusammenfassung In der Ozeanographie ist cs üblich, als dynamische Bezugsfläche eine Nullfläche zu wählen, d. h. eine Fläche im baroklinen Ozean, in der die Geschwindigkeit der Strömung verschwindet. Die Kenntnis dieser Tiefe, also der Untergrenze des Strömungssystems, ist nicht nur eine Voraussetzung für die Berechnung absoluter Strömungen nach der klassischen Methode, sondern auch wichtig für eine Analyse der Dynamik ozeanischer Zirkulationsvorgänge.Bei der theoretischen Behandlung cines vertikal und horizontal geschichteten Ozeans mit Hilfe der vertikal integrierten Bewegungsgleichungen treten Glieder auf, die eine Kenntnis der Tiefenlage des Strömungssystems voraussetzen. Nur im Falle sehr spezieller Bedingungen oder einer konstanten Tiefe des Zirkulationssystems verschwinden die von der Untergrenze abhängigen Glieder.In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird an einem einfachen Modell der Einfluß einer variablen Tiefe der Untergrenze des Strömungssystems auf den horizontalen Massentransport diskutiert. Ein interessantes Beispiel bietet das Stromsystem an der Ostküste von Nordamerika, wo das Feld des Golfstromes einem äquivalent-barotropen System zuzustreben scheint. Ein solches Feld erfordert einen starken Abfall der Untergrenze der Strömung von der linken zur rechten Flanke, d. h. vom Kontinentalschelf zur Sargassosee. Die so geforderte Nullfläche stimmt gut mit der nach der D efantschen Methode bestimmten überein.

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On the problem of the dynamical reference surface with special consideration of the Gulf Stream

Summary It has become a customary practice in oceanography to choose as a dynamical reference surface a zerolevel, that is, a surface in the barocline ocean where the current velocities vanish. The knowledge of the depth of such a surface, or of the lower boundary of the current system, is not only required for computing absolute currents according to the classical method, but it is also important for an analysis of the dynamics of the oceanic circulation.When dealing theoretically with a stratified ocean by means of the vertically integrated equations of motion, additional terms appear in the basic equations which depend on the depth of the lower boundary of the current system. The terms which depend on the variable depth of this lower boundary would disappear only in the case of very special conditions or of a constant depth of the circulation.The present paper discusses a simple model which shows the effect of a variable depth of the lower boundary of the current system on the horizontal mass transport. An interesting example is offered by the currents off the east coast of North America, where the current field of the Gulf Stream seems to approach an equivalent-barotropic system. Such a field requires a strong slope of the lower boundary of the current, that is, of the zero level, from the left to the right hand border, or from the continental shelf towards the Sargasso Sea. This zero level as requir ed theoretically for stationary currents agrees well with the level of no motion as determined by the method of A. Defant.

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Sur le problème d'une «surface de référence dynamique» discuté en considération spéciale de la région du courant du Golfe

Résumé Les océanographes ont pris l'habitude de choisir comme «surface de référence dynamique» un «niveau de zéro», c. a. d. une surface dans l'océan barocline où la vitesse devient nulle. La connaissance de la situation en profondeur d'une surface, donc, la limite inférieure du système de courants est non seulement indispensable au calcul des courants absolus d'après la méthode classique mais aussi importante à l'analyse de la dynamique de la circulation océanique.Si l'on étudie théoriquement un océan stratifié en se servant des équations de mouvements verticalement intégrées, on rencontre dans les équations fondamentales des termes additionnels qui dépendent de la limite inférieure du système de courants. Ces termes qui dépendent de la profondeur variable de cette limite inférieure disparaîtront seulement en cas de conditions très spéciales ou de présence d'une profondeur constante du système de circulation.Le travail actuel discute à l'aide d'un exemple simple l'influence qu'une profondeur variable de la limite inférieure du système de courants exersc sur le transport horizontal de masse. Le système de courants devant la côte orientale de l'Amérique du Nord où le champ du courant de Golfe semble s'approcher d'un système équivalent-barotrope en offre un exemple intéressant. Un tel champ nécessite une forte inclinaison de la limite inférieure du courant, c. a. d. une inclinaison allant du bord gauche au bord droit du niveau de zéro ou du plateau continental jusqu'à la mer des Sargasses. Ce niveau de zéro, comme il est théoriquement dérivé en cas des courants stationnaires, est en bon accord avec le niveau sans mouvement déterminé d'après la méthode de Defant.

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Herrn Professor Dr. Gerhard Schott zum 90. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Distribution and activity of petroleum hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the North Sea and Baltic Sea

Summary Data were collected in 1988 and 1989 on the distribution and activity of petroleum hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Crude oil degrading bacteria and the number of bacteria which in particular degrade naphthalene were quantified using a modified dilution method (MPN). Crude oil degrading bacteria were present in all of about 100 water samples, with as many as 10³ ml^–1 in some samples. Numbers of naphthalene degrading bacteria were at least tenfold lower. There is obviously a greater connection between this bacteria group and petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contamination than between the more nonspecific group of crude oil degrading bacteria and PHC contamination. Data from the North Sea show an extremely high abundance of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, even in winter, while in the southern Baltic Sea low numbers of bacteria were found and slower crude oil degradation was observed.

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Verteilung und Aktivität von erdölkohlenwasserstoffabbauenden Bakterien in Nord- und Ostsee

Zusammenfassung 1988 und 1989 wurden Daten über Verteilung und Aktivität von erdölkohlenwasserstoffabbauenden Bakterien in Nord- und Ostsee gesammelt. Rohölabbauende Bakterien und die Zahl von Bakterien, die insbesondere Naphthalen abbauen, wurden mit einer modifizierten Lösungsmethode (MPN) bestimmt. Rohölabbauende Bakterien wurden in allen ca. 100 Wasserproben nachgewiesen; in einigen Proben mit nicht weniger als 10³/ml. Die Zahl der naphthalenabbauenden Bakterien war mindestens um den Faktor 10 kleiner. Ein stärkerer Zusammenhang zwischen dieser Bakteriengruppe und der Belastung des Meerwassers durch Erdöl-Kohlenwasserstoffe als zwischen der eher unspezifischen Gruppe der rohölabbauenden Bakterien und dieser Belastung ist wahrscheinlich. Daten aus der Nordsee zeigen, selbst im Winter, eine sehr hohe Zahl von kohlenwasserstoffabbauenden Bakterien, während in der südlichen Ostsee eine niedrigere Anzahl von Bakterien bestimmt und ein langsamerer Rohölabbau beobachtet wurde.