Luminex detection of fecal indicators in river samples, marine recreational water, and beach sand

Research to understand and remediate coastal pollution is moving toward a multitiered approach in which traditional enumeration of fecal indicators is accompanied by molecular analysis of a variety of targets. Technology that rapidly detects multiple microbial contaminants would benefit from such an approach. The Luminex 100 system is a suspension array that assays multiple analytes rapidly in a single well of a microtiter plate. The ability of the system to simultaneously detect multiple fecal indicating bacteria in environmental samples was tested. Primer/probe sets were designed to simultaneously detect the following fecal indicators: the Bacteroides fragilis group, Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli and Shigella spp., Bacteroides distasonis, and Ent. faecalis. Specificity and sensitivity of the Luminex probes was tested against laboratory cultures. In addition, sequencing, culture plate testing, and specificity testing with environmental isolates were steps taken to validate the function of the assay with environmental samples. Luminex response to cultures and to environmental samples was consistent with sequencing results, suggesting that the technology has the potential to simultaneously detect multiple targets for coastal water quality applications, particularly as progress is made to efficiently extract DNA from water and sediment matrices.     

Gas removal and the initial mass function of star clusters

We explore how the expulsion of gas from star-forming cores due to supernova explosions affects the shape of the initial cluster mass function, that is, the mass function of star clusters when cluster infant weight-loss triggered by gas expulsion is over. We demonstrate that if the radii of cluster-forming gas ‘cores’ are roughly constant over the core mass range, as supported by observations, then more massive cores undergo slower gas expulsion. Therefore, for a given star-formation efficiency, more massive cores retain a larger fraction of stars after gas expulsion. The initial cluster mass function may thus substantially differ from the core mass function, with the final shape depending on the star-formation efficiency. A mass-independent star-formation efficiency of about 20% turns a power-law core mass function into a bell-shaped initial cluster mass function, while mass-independent efficiencies of order 40% preserve the shape of the core mass function.     

The role of cluster evolution in disrupting planetary systems and discs: the Kozai mechanism

We examine the effects of dynamical evolution in clusters on planetary systems or protoplanetary discs orbiting the components of binary stars. In particular, we look for evidence that the companions of host stars of planetary systems or discs could have their inclination angles raised from zero to between the threshold angles (39.23° and 140.77°) that can induce the Kozai mechanism. We find that up to 20 per cent of binary systems have their inclination angles increased to within the threshold range. Given that half of all extrasolar planets could be in binary systems, we suggest that up to 10 per cent of extrasolar planets could be affected by this mechanism.     

Stochastic Modeling of Subseismic Faults Conditioned on Displacement and Orientation Maps

Mathematical Geosciences - Subseismic faults are small faults or fractures that may be difficult to determine but can have large consequences for fluid flow and pressure communication in the...     

The early expansion of cluster cores

The observed properties of young star clusters, such as the core radius and luminosity profile, change rapidly during the early evolution of the clusters. Here we present observations of six young clusters in M51 where we derive their sizes using Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) imaging and ages using deep Gemini-North spectroscopy. We find evidence for a rapid expansion of the cluster cores during the first 20 Myr of their evolution. We confirm this trend by including data from the literature of both Galactic and extragalactic embedded and young clusters, and possible mechanisms (rapid gas removal, stellar evolutionary mass loss and internal dynamical heating) are discussed. We explore the implications of this result, focussing on the fact that clusters were more concentrated in the past, implying that their stellar densities were much higher and relaxation times ( t _relax) correspondingly shorter. Thus, when estimating if a particular cluster is dynamically relaxed (i.e. when determining if a cluster's mass segregation is due to primordial or dynamical processes), the current relaxation time is only an upper limit, with t _relax likely being significantly shorter in the past.     

Effects of progressive mylonitization on Ar retention in biotites from the Santa Rosa mylonite zone,California, and thermochronologic implications

The Santa Rosa mylonite zone developed predominantly from a granodiorite protolith in the eastern margin of the Peninsular Ranges batholith. A wide variation in K−Ar biotite dates within the zone is shown to reflect the times of cooling through closure temperatures whose variability is chiefly a result of deformation-induced reduction in grain size. We suggest that such variation generally may be exploited to place constraints on the timing of deformation episodes. Previous workers have shown that deformation in the Santa Rosa mylonite zone involved the formation of mylonites and an imbricate series of low-angle faults which divide the area into structural units. Field work, petrographic studies, and TEM analysis of deformation mechanisms in biotite show that the granodiorite mylonite, the lowermost structural unit, formed below the granodiorite solidus. The granodiorite mylonite varies from protomylonite to ultramylonite, with regions of high strain distributed heterogeneously within the zone. Previously reported biotite and hornblende K−Ar dates from the granodiorite protolith below (82–89 Ma) and the Asbestos Mountain granodiorite above (61–68 Ma) the mylonite zone indicate dramatically dissimilar thermal histories for the lowermost and uppermost structural units. Other workers' fission track dates on sphene, zircon, and apatite from the granodiorite mylonite and the Asbestos Mountain granodiorite suggest thermal homogenization and rapid cooling to ∼100° C by ca 60 Ma. Within and adjacent to the mylonite zone, K−Ar dates on 5 samples of biotite from variably deformed granodiorite range from 62–76 Ma; dates are not correlated with structural depth but clearly decrease with degree of deformation and concomitant grain size reduction. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar incremental heating analyses of biotite from the granodiorite protolith reveals no evidence of excess argon and produces a relatively flat age spectrum. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar incremental heating analysis of biotite from the granodiorite mylonite discloses discordance consistent with ³⁹Ar recoil loss. K analysis of samples, allowing K−Ar dates to be calculated, is therefore recommended as an adjunct to ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step heating analysis in rocks that have experienced similar deformation. During mylonitization, biotite grain size reduction through intracrystalline cataclasis results in estimated grain dimensions as small as 0.05 μm locally within porphyroclasts as large as 1 mm. Because biotite compositions are relatively Uniform (Fe/[Fe+Mg+Mn+Ti+Al^VI]=0.47–0.52) and show no systematic variation with grain size, compositional dependence of activation energy and diffusivity can be eliminated as sources of variation in Ar retention. Ar closure temperatures, calculated with appropriate diffusion parameters for the observed grain sizes, are in the range ∼220–280° C and define a cooling curve consistent with a thermal history intermediate between those of the granodiorite protolith below and the Asbestos Mountain granodiorite above the mylonite zone. Changes in the slope of the cooling curve indicate that the main deformation episode initiated at or above ca 330° C (∼80 Ma), above the closure temperature for thermally activated diffusion of argon in biotite, and continued to a minimum of ca 220–260° C (∼62 Ma).     

Crustal contamination as an indicator of the extent of early Archaean continental crust: Pb isotopic evidence from the late Archaean gneisses of West Greenland

Ph isotopic analyses are reported for 119 samples of late Archaean (ca. 3000-2800 Myr) calc alkaline orthogneisses and associated anorthosites from southern West Greenland. Over most of the area. $\text{Pb}\text{Pb}$ whole rock isotope systematics indicate derivation of the magmatic precursors of the gneisses and anorthosites from a source region with a typically mantle-type $\text{U}\text{Pb}$ ratio (μ₁ value of 7.5) at. or shortly before, ca. 3000-2800 Myr ago. In contrast, in the Godthaabsfjord region, late Archaean Nûk gneisses and associated anorthosites were emplaced into or through early Archaean (ca. 3700 Myr) Amîtsoq gneisses, and crystallised with variable proportions of two isotopically distinct types of Pb which commenced their respective crustal developments at ca. 3000-2800 Myr and at ca. 3700 Myr ago. Isotopic and other geochemical constraints demonstrate that Nûk gneisses and their temporal equivalents were not produced by reworking or melting of Amîtsoq gneisses. Mixing of early and late Archaean Pb results from contamination of the magmatic precursors of Nûk gneisses and anorthosites (characterised by mantle-type Pb at time of emplacement) with ancient, unradiogenic Pb derived from ca. 3700 Myr-old Amîtsoq-type continental crust invaded by the Nûk magmas. The contaminant is considered to be a trace-element enriched fluid phase released from dehydrating older continental crust during progressive burial and heating by emplacement of calc alkaline magmas in the late Archaean ‘accretion differentiation superevent’. This was followed by mixing of the released fluids with younger Nûk magmas.Pb isotopic compositions of late Archaean gneisses and anorthosites outside the Godthaabsfjord region provide no evidence for the presence of early Archaean Amîtsoq-type continental crust in southern West Greenland in areas more than a few tens of km outside the known outcrop of Amîtsoq gneisses. We suggest that early Archaean crust does not exist at depth in late Archaean areas with undisturbed Pb-isotope systematics, either in Greenland or elsewhere in the North Atlantic craton.Pb-isotope evidence for crust magma interaction, involving selective extraction of certain trace elements by a fluid phase from wall rock and subsequent mixing between magma and contaminant fluid, provides a powerful tool for detection, sub-surface ‘mapping’, and geochronological and geochemical characterisation of deep, ancient continental crust.     

Geochemistry and origin of Archean volcanic rocks from the Upper Keewatin assemblage (ca 2.7 Ga), Lake of the Woods Greenstone Belt, Western Wabigoon Subprovince, Superior Province, Canada

Abstract   Volcanic rocks from the Upper Keewatin assemblage ( ca 2720 Ma) were geochemically classified into five groups; komatiites, tholeiitic rocks having near-flat primitive mantle-normalized abundance patterns, Nb-enriched basalts and andesites (NEBA) plus normal calc-alkaline (NCA) rocks, adakites and shoshonites. The adakites having [La/Yb]_N >30 and <30 were probably derived from felsic magmas formed by partial melting of a subducted slab at relatively greater and smaller depths, respectively. Ascending adakite magmas, by interaction with the overlying mantle wedge, decreased in Al₂O₃ / Y ratio and selectively lost high-field strength elements, thereby forming mantle sources for both NEBA + NCA and shoshonite magmas. Under the influence of a mantle plume, the source of komatiites, the NEBA + NCA magmas were generated from that part of the mantle wedge metasomatized by adakite magmas having [La / Yb]_N <30, and tholeiitic magmas from unmetasomatized part of the same mantle wedge. Magmas of both adakites having [La / Yb]_N >30 and shoshonites were generated in a normal Archean Arc system setting.