Trace metal concentrations and fluxes in Bermuda sediments

Concentrations and calculated fluxes of trace metals into Bermuda nearshore marine and lake sediments are presented. In areas affected by anthropogenic activity, metal profiles show surface sediment enrichments similar to those observed in North American and European lacustrine and estuarine sediments. Atmospheric fluxes of Cu, Zn and Pb into the lake sediments are higher than those of rural areas in North America. These high fluxes are assumed to be due to jet-fuel combustion. Sediment profiles in the Hamilton City area indicate increased anthropogenic input of Cu and Pb compared to other marine locations.     

Further studies of ozone and sunspots

Pure and Applied Geophysics -     

SrNdPb geochemical morphology between 10° and 17°N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A new MORB isotope signature

Basalts dredged along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge axis between 10°N and 17°N have been studied for their trace element characteristics [1]. To give complementary information on mantle source history and magma genesis, these samples have been analysed for their SrNdPb isotopic compositions. There is a good correlation between the structure of the ridge axis which shows a topographic anomaly centered around 14°N and hygromagmaphile element ratios such as Rb/Sr, (Nb/Zr)_N or Sm/Nd as well as isotopic ratios plotted as a function of latitude. The samples coming from the 14°N topographic high show new MORB SrNd isotopic characteristics which pictured in a classical mantle array diagram, put their representative points close to HIMU sources of ocean islands such as St. Helena, Tubuaïand Mangaia. The 14°N mantle source presents geochemical characteristics which indicate mantle differentiation processes and a mantle history that are more distinct than so far envisaged from typical MORB data. Pb data indicates that the 14°N mantle source cannot be the result of binary mixing between a depleted mantle and a HIMU-type source. Rather, the enriched endmember could itself be a mixture of Walvis-like and HIMU-like materials. The geochimical observations presented favour the model of an incipient ridge-centered plume, in agreement with [1].     

Modelling soil moisture in a high‐latitude landscape using LiDAR and soil data

Soil moisture has a pronounced effect on earth surface processes. Global soil moisture is strongly driven by climate, whereas at finer scales, the role of non‐climatic drivers becomes more important. We provide insights into the significance of soil and land surface properties in landscape‐scale soil moisture variation by utilizing high‐resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and extensive field investigations. The data consist of 1200 study plots located in a high‐latitude landscape of mountain tundra in north‐western Finland. We measured the plots three times during growing season 2016 with a hand‐held time‐domain reflectometry sensor. To model soil moisture and its temporal variation, we used four statistical modelling methods: generalized linear models, generalized additive models, boosted regression trees, and random forests. The model fit of the soil moisture models were R² = 0.60 and root mean square error (RMSE) 8.04 VWC% on average, while the temporal variation models showed a lower fit of R² = 0.25 and RMSE 13.11 CV%. The predictive performances for the former were R² = 0.47 and RMSE 9.34 VWC%, and for the latter R² = 0.01 and RMSE 15.29 CV%. Results were similar across the modelling methods, demonstrating a consistent pattern. Soil moisture and its temporal variation showed strong heterogeneity over short distances; therefore, soil moisture modelling benefits from high‐resolution predictors, such as LiDAR based variables. In the soil moisture models, the strongest predictor was SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses) wetness index (SWI), based on a 1 m² digital terrain model derived from LiDAR data, which outperformed soil predictors. Thus, our study supports the use of LiDAR based SWI in explaining fine‐scale soil moisture variation. In the temporal variation models, the strongest predictor was the field‐quantified organic layer depth variable. Our results show that spatial soil moisture predictions can be based on soil and land surface properties, yet the temporal models require further investigation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recharge and Groundwater Flow Within an Intracratonic Basin,Midwestern United States

The conservative nature of chloride (Cl^?) in groundwater and the abundance of geochemical data from various sources (both published and unpublished) provided a means of developing, for the first time, a representation of the hydrogeology of the Illinois Basin on a basin‐wide scale. The creation of Cl^? isocons superimposed on plan view maps of selected formations and on cross sections across the Illinois Basin yielded a conceptual model on a basin‐wide scale of recharge into, groundwater flow within and through the Illinois Basin. The maps and cross sections reveal the infiltration and movement of freshwater into the basin and dilution of brines within various geologic strata occurring at basin margins and along geologic structures. Cross‐formational movement of brines is also seen in the northern part of the basin. The maps and cross sections also show barriers to groundwater movement created by aquitards resulting in areas of apparent isolation/stagnation of concentrated brines within the basin. The distribution of Cl^? within the Illinois Basin suggests that the current chemical composition of groundwater and distribution of brines within the basin is dependent on five parameters: (1) presence of bedrock exposures along basin margins; (2) permeability of geologic strata and their distribution relative to one another; (3) presence or absence of major geologic structures; (4) intersection of major waterways with geologic structures, basin margins, and permeable bedrock exposures; and (5) isolation of brines within the basin due to aquitards, inhomogeneous permeability, and, in the case of the deepest part of the basin, brine density effects.     

Volcanic resurfacing and the early terrestrial crust: Zircon U-Pb and REE constraints from the Isua Greenstone Belt, southern West Greenland

The oldest known bona fide succession of clastic metasediments occurs in the Isua Greenstone Belt, SW Greenland and consists of a variety of mica schists and rare metaconglomerates. The metasediments are in direct contact with a felsic metavolcanic lithology that has previously been dated to 3.71 Ga. Based on trace element geochemical data for > 30 metasediments, we selected the six samples with highest Zr concentrations for zircon extraction. These samples all yielded very few or no zircon. Those extracted from mica schists yielded ion probe U/Pb ages between 3.70 and 3.71 Ga. One metaconglomerate sample yielded just a single zircon of 3.74 Ga age.The mica schist hosted zircons have U/Pb ages, Th / U ratios, REE patterns and Eu anomalies indistinguishable from zircon in the adjacent 3.71 Ga felsic metavolcanic unit. Trace element modelling requires the bulk of material in the metasediments to be derived from variably weathered mafic lithologies but some metasediments contain substantial contribution from more evolved source lithologies. The paucity of zircon in the mica schists is thus explained by incorporation of material from largely zircon-free volcanic lithologies. The absence of older zircon in the mica schists and the preponderance of mafic source material imply intense, mainly basaltic resurfacing of the early Earth. The implications of this process are discussed.Thermal considerations suggest that horizontal growth of Hadean crust by addition of mafic-ultramafic lavas must have triggered self-reorganisation of the protocrust by remelting. Reworking of Hadean crust may have been aided by burial of hydrated (weathered) metabasalt due to semi-continuous addition of new voluminous basalt outpourings. This process causes a bias towards eruption of Zr-saturated partial melts at the surface with O-isotope compositions potentially different from the mantle. The oldest zircons hosted in sediments would have been buried to substantial depth or formed in plutons that crystallised at some depth, from which it took hundreds of millions of years for them to be exhumed and incorporated into much younger sediments.     

Soil organic carbon enrichment of dust emissions: magnitude,mechanisms and its implications for the carbon cycle

Soil erosion is an important component of the global carbon cycle. However, little attention has been given to the role of aeolian processes in influencing soil organic carbon (SOC) flux and the release of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), to the atmosphere. Understanding the magnitude and mechanisms of SOC enrichment in dust emissions is necessary to evaluate the impact of wind erosion on the carbon cycle. This research examines the SOC content and enrichment of dust emissions measured using Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) wind‐vane samplers across five land types in the rangelands of western Queensland, Australia. Our results show that sandy soils and finer particulate quartz‐rich soils are more efficient at SOC emission and have larger SOC dust enrichment than clay‐rich aggregated soils. The SOC enrichment ratios of dusts originating from sites with sand‐rich soil ranged from 2·1–41·9, while the mean enrichment ratio for dusts originating from the clay soil was 2·1. We hypothesize that stronger inter‐particle bonds and the low grain density of the aggregated clay soil explain its reduced capacity to release SOC during saltation, relative to the particulate sandy soils. We also show that size‐selective sorting of SOC during transport may lead to further enrichment of SOC dust emissions. Two dust samples from regional transport events were found to contain 15–20% SOC. These preliminary results provide impetus for additional research into dust SOC enrichment processes to elucidate the impact of wind erosion on SOC flux and reduce uncertainty about the role of soil erosion in the global carbon cycle. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Methods to Estimate 2D Water Level Distributions of Dynamic Rivers

River restoration measures are becoming increasingly popular and are leading to dynamic river bed morphologies that in turn result in complex water level distributions in a river. Disconnected river branches, nonlinear longitudinal water level profiles and morphologically induced lateral water level gradients can evolve rapidly. The modeling of such river‐groundwater systems is of high practical relevance in order to assess the impact of restoration measures on the exchange flux between a river and groundwater or on the residence times between a river and a pumping well. However, the model input includes a proper definition of the river boundary condition, which requires a detailed spatial and temporal river water level distribution. In this study, we present two new methods to estimate river water level distributions that are based directly on measured data. Comparing generated time series of water levels with those obtained by a hydraulic model as a reference, the new methods proved to offer an accurate and faster alternative with a simpler implementation.     

Le Bassin Cambrien de Tisrouima (Haut-Atlas Occidental,Maroc)

Résumé Dans le Haut-Atlas marocain, entre l'oued Sous au Sud, Asif AÏt Moussa à l'Ouest, le bled Seksaoua au Nord et Tizi n'Test à l'Est, plus exactement dans la partie sud-ouest du Massif du Tichka et au Nord-Ouest de ce massif affleurent en de nombreux endroits des roches charbonneuses: grès, arkoses, pélites, schistes, cipolins et coméennes dont la principale est la tisrouimite (7). Cette dernière s'est déposée un peu avant les calcaires àArchaeocyatha du Cambrien inférieur, puis en mÊme temps que leurs couches de base. Les autres roches charbonneuses sont sensiblement contemporaines de la tisrouimite. On peut en conclure qu'il a existé un bassin sédimentaire riche en matière organique à une époque correspondant, en première approximation, a l'Assadasien.

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The area of study in the moroccan High-Atlas area is included between wady Sous to the South, Asif AÏt Moussa to the West, bled Seksaoua to the North and Tizi n'Test to the East; more exactly it is located in the south-western and nordwestern Tichka. In this area we have noticed numerous outcrops of carbonaceous rocks, such as sandstones, arkoses, mudstones, shales, cipolins and hornfels, the principal variety of which is tisrouimite (7). Tisroumite first was deposited shortly before the Lower Cambrian Archaeocyathid limestones, and again later contemporaneously with the basal layers of these limestones. The other carbonaceous rocks are more or less contemporaneous with the tisrouimite. Therefore we conclude approximately at the time of the Assedasian (early Cambrian II) a sedimentary basin existed the sediments of which were rich in organic matter

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Zusammenfassung Im marokkanischen Hoch-Atlas, zwischen Wadi Sous im Süden, Asif AÏt Moussa im Westen, der Gegend um Seksoua im Norden und Tizi n'Test im Osten, sind im SW-Teil und NE-Teil des Tichka-Gebirgsstockes dunkle, kohlenstoffreiche Gesteine aufgeschlossen: Sandstein, Arkose, Pelit, Schiefer, grüner Marmor und Homfels, dessen Hauptvariante tisrouimite genannt wird. Die Hornfelse sind etwas älter als die Archaeocyathiden-Kalke des Unterkambriums und bilden ihre Basis Die übrigen Gesteine sind etwa gleich alt wie die Hornfelse. Wir schließen daraus, daß hier zur Zeit des Assadassien (tieferes Kambrium II) ein Sedimentationsbecken lag, dessen Sedimente reich an organischen Substanzen waren.

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