Enhancing understanding of breakdown and collapse in the Yorkshire Dales using ground penetrating radar on cave sediments

Historical evidence shows block breakdown and collapse are actively occurring in large fault aligned caverns in the Yorkshire Dales karst. Deployment of ground penetrating radar at two such sites has provided detailed images of the sedimentary sequences below the present day cavern floor but no large blocks are imaged within the sediments. Solutional processes must be removing limestone from the sediment to allow continued cavern growth. Possible mechanisms to account for the lack of large blocks within the sediment fill are discussed.     

Assessing soil erosion in Mediterranean karst landscapes of Lebanon using remote sensing and GIS

Maps showing the potential for soil erosion at 1:100,000 scale are produced in a study area within Lebanon that can be used for evaluating erosion of Mediterranean karstic terrain with two different sets of impact factors built into an erosion model. The first set of factors is: soil erodibility, morphology, land cover/use and rainfall erosivity. The second is obtained by the first adding a fifth factor, rock infiltration. High infiltration can reflect high recharge, therefore decreasing the potential of surface runoff and hence the quantity of transported materials. Infiltration is derived as a function of lithology, lineament density, karstification and drainage density, all of which can be easily extracted from satellite imagery. The influence of these factors is assessed by a weight/rate approach sharing similarities between quantitative and qualitative methods and depending on pair-wise comparison matrix.The main outcome was the production of factorial maps and erosion susceptibility maps (scale 1:100,000). Spatial and attribute comparison of erosion maps indicates that the model that includes a measure of rock infiltration better represents erosion potential. Field investigation of rills and gullies shows 87.5% precision of the model with rock infiltration. This is 17.5% greater than the precision of the model without rock infiltration. These results indicate the necessity and importance of integrating information on infiltration of rock outcrops to assess soil erosion in Mediterranean karst landscapes.     

Evidence for crustal degassing of CF4 and SF6 in Mojave Desert groundwaters

Dissolved tetrafluoromethane (CF₄) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) concentrations were measured in groundwater samples from the Eastern Morongo Basin (EMB) and Mojave River Basin (MRB) located in the southern Mojave Desert, California. Both CF₄ and SF₆ are supersaturated with respect to equilibrium with the preindustrial atmosphere at the recharge temperatures and elevations of the Mojave Desert. These observations provide the first in situ evidence for a flux of CF₄ from the lithosphere. A gradual basin-wide enhancement in dissolved CF₄ and SF₆ concentrations with groundwater age is consistent with release of these gases during weathering of the surrounding granitic alluvium. Dissolved CF₄ and SF₆ concentrations in these groundwaters also contain a deeper crustal component associated with a lithospheric flux entering the EMB and MRB through the underlying basement. The crustal flux of CF₄, but not of SF₆, is enhanced in the vicinity of local active fault systems due to release of crustal fluids during episodic fracture events driven by local tectonic activity. When fluxes of CF₄ and SF₆ into Mojave Desert groundwaters are extrapolated to the global scale they are consistent, within large uncertainties, with the fluxes required to sustain the preindustrial atmospheric abundances of CF₄ and SF₆.     

Association of dissolved aluminum with silica: Connecting molecular structure to surface reactivity using NMR

We studied uptake mechanisms for dissolved Al on amorphous silica by combining bulk-solution chemistry experiments with solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance techniques (²⁷Al magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR, ²⁷Al{¹H} cross-polarization (CP) MAS NMR and ²⁹Si{¹H} CP-MAS NMR). We find that reaction of Al (1 mM) with amorphous silica consists of at least three reaction pathways; (1) adsorption of Al to surface silanol sites, (2) surface-enhanced precipitation of an aluminum hydroxide, and (3) bulk precipitation of an aluminosilicate phase. From the NMR speciation and water chemistry data, we calculate that 0.20 (±0.04) tetrahedral Al atoms nm⁻² sorb to the silica surface. Once the surface has sorbed roughly half of the total dissolved Al (∼8% site coverage), aluminum hydroxides and aluminosilicates precipitate from solution. These precipitation reactions are dependent upon solution pH and total dissolved silica concentration. We find that the Si:Al stoichiometry of the aluminosilicate precipitate is roughly 1:1 and suggest a chemical formula of NaAlSiO₄ in which Na⁺ acts as the charge compensating cation. For the adsorption of Al, we propose a surface-controlled reaction mechanism where Al sorbs as an inner-sphere coordination complex at the silica surface. Analogous to the hydrolysis of , we suggest that rapid deprotonation by surface hydroxyls followed by dehydration of ligated waters results in four-coordinate (>SiOH)₂Al(OH)₂ sites at the surface of amorphous silica.     

Low-oxygen and chemical kinetic constraints on the geochemical niche of neutrophilic iron(II) oxidizing microorganisms

Neutrophilic iron oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) must actively compete with rapid abiotic processes governing Fe(II) oxidation and as a result have adapted to primarily inhabit low-O₂ environments where they can more successfully compete with abiotic Fe(II) oxidation. The spatial distribution of these microorganisms can be observed through the chemical gradients they affect, as measured using in situ voltammetric analysis for dissolved Fe(II), Fe(III), O₂, and FeS_(aq). Field and laboratory determination of the chemical environments inhabited by the FeOB were coupled with detailed kinetic competition studies for abiotic and biotic oxidation processes using a pure culture of FeOB to quantify the geochemical niche these organisms inhabit. In gradient culture tubes, the maximum oxygen levels, which were associated with growth bands of Sideroxydans lithotrophicus (ES-1, a novel FeOB), were 15-50 μM. Kinetic measurements made on S. lithotrophicus compared biotic/abiotic (killed control) Fe oxidation rates. The biotic rate can be a significant and measurable fraction of the total Fe oxidation rate below O₂ concentrations of approximately 50 μM, but biotic Fe(II) oxidation (via the biotic/abiotic rate comparison) becomes difficult to detect at higher O₂ levels. These results are further supported by observations of conditions supporting FeOB communities in field settings. Variablity in cell densities and cellular activity as well as variations in hydrous ferrous oxide mineral quantities significantly affect the laboratory kinetic rates. The microbial habitat (or geochemical niche) where FeOB are active is thus largely controlled by the competition between abiotic and biotic kinetics, which are dependent on Fe(II) concentration, P_O2, temperature and pH in addition to the surface area of hydrous ferric oxide minerals and the cell density/activity of FeOB. Additional field and lab culture observations suggest a potentially important role for the iron-sulfide aqueous molecular cluster, FeS_(aq), in the overall cycling of iron associated with the environments these microorganisms inhabit.     

The effect of species diversity on metal adsorption onto bacteria

In this study, we measure proton, Pb, and Cd adsorption onto the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans, Thermus thermophilus, Acidiphlium angustum, Flavobacterium aquatile, and Flavobacterium hibernum, and we calculate the thermodynamic stability constants for the important surface complexes. These bacterial species represent a wide genetic diversity of bacteria, and they occupy a wide range of habitats. All of the species, except for A. angustum, exhibit similar proton and metal uptake. The only species tested that exhibits significantly different protonation behavior is A. angustum, an acidophile that grows at significantly lower pH than the other species of this study. We demonstrate that a single, metal-specific, surface complexation model can be used to reasonably account for the acid/base and metal adsorption behaviors of each species. We use a four discrete site non-electrostatic model to describe the protonation of the bacterial functional groups, with averaged pK_a values of 3.1 ± 0.3, 4.8 ± 0.2, 6.7 ± 0.1, and 9.2 ± 0.3, and site concentrations of (1.0 ± 0.17) × 10⁻⁴, (9.0 ± 3.0) × 10⁻⁵, (4.6 ± 1.8) × 10⁻⁵, and (6.1 ± 2.3) × 10⁻⁵ mol of sites per gram wet mass of bacteria, respectively. Adsorption of Cd and Pb onto the bacteria can be accounted for by the formation of complexes with each of the bacterial surface sites. The average log stability constants for Cd complexes with Sites 1-4 are 2.4 ± 0.4, 3.2 ± 0.1, 4.4 ± 0.1, and 5.3 ± 0.1, respectively. The average log stability constants for Pb complexes with Sites 1-4 are 3.3 ± 0.2, 4.5 ± 0.3, 6.5 ± 0.1, and 7.9 ± 0.5, respectively. This study demonstrates that a wide range of bacteria exhibit similar proton and metal adsorption behaviors, and that a single set of averaged acidity constants, site concentrations, and stability constants for metal-bacterial surface complexes yields a reasonable model for the adsorption behavior of many of these species. The differences in adsorption behavior that we observed for A. angustum demonstrate that genetic differences do exist between the cell wall functional group chemistries of some bacterial species, and that significant exceptions to the typical bacterial adsorption behavior do exist.     

Neoliberalizing environmental governance? Land trusts, private conservation and nature on the Oak Ridges Moraine

With recent changes in the ways that state agencies are implementing their environmental policies, the line between public and private is becoming increasingly blurred. This includes shifts from state-led implementation of environmental policies to conservation plans that are implemented and managed by multi-sectoral networks of governments, the private sector and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). This paper examines land trusts as private conservation initiatives that become part of neoliberal governance arrangements and partnerships that challenge our conceptions of environmental preservation and democratic participation. The paper starts with an examination of the concept of neoliberalized environmental governance. Next, it addresses the shifting social constructions of property and land in the context of protecting large scale ecosystems. Through a case study of the extension of new environmental governance arrangements on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, we examine the relationships that have formed between different levels of the state and environmental non-governmental organizations. Finally, we analyze the expansion of land trusts and private conservation initiatives that are predicated on private land ownership and the commodification of nature, the emerging discourses and practices of private conservation, and how these are implicated in the privatization and neoliberalization of nature.     

The persistence of lead from past gasoline emissions and mining drainage in a large riparian system: Evidence from lead isotopes in the Sacramento River, California

Lead concentrations and isotope ratios measured in river water colloids and streambed sediment samples along 426 km of the Sacramento River, California reveal that the influence of lead from the historical mining of massive sulfide deposits in the West Shasta Cu-mining district (at the headwaters of the Sacramento River) is confined to a 60 km stretch of river immediately downstream of that mining region, whereas inputs from past leaded gasoline emissions and historical hydraulic Au-mining in the Sierra Nevadan foothills are the dominant lead sources in the remaining 370 km of the river. Binary mixing calculations suggest that more than 50% of the lead in the Sacramento River outside of the region of influence of the West Shasta Cu-mining district is derived from past depositions of leaded gasoline emissions. This predominance is the first direct documentation of the geographic extent of gasoline lead persistence throughout a large riparian system (>160,000 km²) and corroborates previous observations based on samples taken at the mouth of the Sacramento River. In addition, new analyses of sediment samples from the hydraulic gold mines of the Sierra Nevada foothills confirm the present-day fluxes into the Sacramento River of contaminant metals derived from historical hydraulic Au-mining that occurred during the latter half of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. These fluxes occur predominantly during periods of elevated river discharge associated with heavy winter precipitation in northern California. In the broadest context, the study demonstrates the potential for altered precipitation patterns resulting from climate change to affect the mobility and transport of soil-bound contaminants in the surface environment.     

The composition and crystallinity of the near-surface regions of weathered alkali feldspars

Our ability to identify thin non-stoichiometric and amorphous layers beneath mineral surfaces has been tested by undertaking X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) work on alkali feldspars from pH 1 dissolution experiments. The outcomes of this work were used to help interpret XPS and TEM results from alkali feldspars weathered for <10,000 years in soils overlying the Shap Granite (north-west England). The chemistry of effluent solutions indicates that silica-rich layers a few nanometers in thickness formed during the pH 1 experiments. These layers can be successfully identified by XPS and have lower Al/Si, Na/Si, K/Si and Ca/Si values than the outermost ∼9 nm of unweathered controls. Development of Al-Si non-stoichiometry is coupled with loss of crystal structure to produce amorphous layers that are identifiable by TEM where >∼2.5 nm thick, whereas the crystallinity of albite is retained despite leaching of Na to depths of tens to hundreds on nanometers. Integration of XPS data over the outermost 6-9 nm of naturally weathered Shap feldspars shows that they have stoichiometric Al/Si and K/Si ratios, which is consistent with findings of previous TEM work on the same material that they lack amorphous layers. There is some XPS evidence for loss of K from the outermost couple of nanometers of Shap orthoclase, and the possibility of leaching of Na from albite to greater depths cannot be excluded using the XPS or TEM results. This study demonstrates that the leached layer model, as formulated from laboratory experiments, is inapplicable to the weathering of alkali feldspars within acidic soils, which is an essentially stoichiometric reaction.