Military pollution and natural purity: seeing nature and knowing contamination in Vieques, Puerto Rico

Military activities have produced contaminated environments at many sites around the world. This contamination and the associated health risks play a large role in how these places can be redeveloped after military use. In this essay we focus on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico which was used as a bombing range by the US military for six decades until 2003. We examine the ways different groups of people perceive this formerly militarized landscape and the ways that these perceptions legitimatize certain redevelopment options over others. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews and an analysis of textual materials we found that many local residents view the island as suffering from severe contamination while the large number of visitors, tourism promoters and North Americans now flocking to the post-militarized Vieques view it quite differently. These perceptions of purity and contamination, affected by different knowledges of the island’s history, have led to differing valuation of the landscape and contentious economic, political, and cultural battles over an island often labeled “natural” despite a history of military use and social exclusion.

Global variations in regolith properties on asteroid Vesta from Dawn's low‐altitude mapping orbit

We investigate the depth, variability, and history of regolith on asteroid Vesta using data from the Dawn spacecraft. High‐resolution (15–20 m pixel^?1) Framing Camera images are used to assess the presence of morphologic indicators of a shallow regolith, including the presence of blocks in crater ejecta, spur‐and‐gully–type features in crater walls, and the retention of small (<300 m) impact craters. Such features reveal that the broad, regional heterogeneities observed on Vesta in terms of albedo and surface composition extend to the physical properties of the upper ~1 km of the surface. Regions of thin regolith are found within the Rheasilvia basin and at equatorial latitudes from ~0–90°E and ~260–360°E. Craters in these areas that appear to excavate material from beneath the regolith have more diogenitic (Rheasilvia, 0–90°E) and cumulate eucrite (260–360°E) compositions. A region of especially thick regolith, where depths generally exceed 1 km, is found from ~100–240°E and corresponds to heavily cratered, low‐albedo surface with a basaltic eucrite composition enriched in carbonaceous chondrite material. The presence of a thick regolith in this area supports the idea that this is an ancient terrain that has accumulated a larger component of exogenic debris. We find evidence for the gardening of crater ejecta toward more howarditic compositions, consistent with regolith mixing being the dominant form of “weathering” on Vesta.     

The effect of lateral tectonic tilting on fluviodeltaic surficial and stratal asymmetries: experiment and theory

Tectonic influence on deltas has long been recognized for its importance in morphodynamic and stratigraphic development. Here, we explore the control of lateral tectonic tilting on a prograding fluviodeltaic system through six laboratory experiments with a range of tilting rates. Basement tilting was applied along an axis that bisects the centre of the experimental delta, which forced uplift on one half of the basin and subsidence on the opposite half. In the experiments with lower tilting rates, the delta advanced faster in the direction of uplift due to the decline in relative base level. This slow uplift created truncated stratigraphic intervals that were dominated by active channel cut and fill. On the opposite side where subsidence occurred, the shoreline still prograded, but with decreased rates, while the delta topset was deposited thicker, alternating packages of fine and coarse sediments. The fluvial system was active uniformly across the delta in these slow tilting runs and produced asymmetry in shoreline planform geometries. In the experiments with higher titling rates, deposition quickly ceased on the uplift side and stacked conformable sequences of delta lobes on the subsidence side. The result was an overall lack of progradation in all directions. Progressively greater tilting rates used in these high tilting runs yielded steering of channels towards the direction with higher subsidence and developed even more asymmetrical stratal patterns. Characteristic tectonic and channel timescales applied to the experimental conditions prove to be good predictors of the fluviodeltaic planform and stratigraphic asymmetries. The deltaic asymmetry for the Ganges–Brahmaputra (G–B) system is largely comparable to the experiments with timescale ratios similar to those estimated for the G–B system.     

Molecular approach to determine contributions of the protist community to particle flux

The importance of key taxonomic groups of eukaryotic phytoplankton as contributors to downward particle flux was evaluated near the European time-series station (ESTOC) in the eastern subtropical North Atlantic in March 2005. For the first time, molecular (cloning and sequencing) techniques were used to compare plankton communities from various depths in the euphotic zone with clone libraries from surface-tethered particle traps. Analyses of 18S rDNA clone libraries revealed compositional differences between the phytoplankton assemblages in the photic zone and those retrieved from shallow particle traps below, suggesting that not all phytoplankton contribute equally to particle flux. Contrary to expectations, our study also showed that it is not diatoms, despite their high abundance in the water column, but rather small phytoplankton taxa that dominated sequences recovered from trap material. We provide here first observational evidence that large taxa with mineral tests may not necessarily contribute more to export production than do smaller taxa even if the former are abundant in the water column.     

Late Quaternary behavior of the East African monsoon and the importance of the Congo Air Boundary

Both Atlantic and Indian Ocean climate dynamics exert influence over tropical African hydroclimate, producing complex patterns of convergence and precipitation. To isolate the Indian Ocean influence on African paleohydrology, we analyzed the deuterium/hydrogen ratio of higher plant leaf waxes (δD_wax) in a 25 000-year sediment record from Lake Challa (3° S, 38° E) in the easternmost area of the African tropics. Whereas both the seismic record of inferred lake level fluctuations and the Branched and Isoprenoidal Tetraether (BIT) index proxy record changes in hydrology within the Challa basin, δD_wax, as a proxy for the isotopic composition of precipitation (δD_P) is interpreted as a tracer of large-scale atmospheric circulation that integrates the history of the moisture transported to the Lake Challa area. Specifically, based on modern-day isotope–rainfall relationships, we argue that Lake Challa δD_wax reflects the intensity of East African monsoon circulation. The three hydrological proxy records show generally similar trends for the last 25 000 years, but there are important differences between them, primarily during the middle Holocene. We interpret this deviation of δD_wax from local hydrological history as a decoupling of East African monsoon intensity – which heavily influences the isotopes of precipitation in East Africa today – from rainfall amount in the Challa basin. In combination, the hydrological proxy data from Lake Challa singularly highlight zonal gradients in tropical African climate that occur over a variety of timescales, suggesting that the Congo Air Boundary plays a fundamental role in controlling hydroclimate in the African tropics.     

A methodological framework for assessing and reducing temporal uncertainty in paleovegetation mapping from late-Quaternary pollen records

Mapping past vegetation dynamics from heterogeneous databases of fossil-pollen records must face the challenge of temporal uncertainty. The growing collection of densely sampled fossil-pollen records with accurate and precise chronologies allows us to develop new methods to assess and reduce this uncertainty. Here, we test our methods in the context of vegetation changes in eastern North America during the abrupt climate changes of the last deglaciation. We use the network of fossil-pollen records in the Neotoma Paleoecology Database (www.neotomadb.org) and data contributed by individual investigators. Because many of these records were collected decades before the current generation of ¹⁴C and age-model technologies, we first developed a framework to assess the overall reliability of ¹⁴C chronologies by systematically evaluating individual ¹⁴C ages and associated chronologies. We developed a qualitative ranking scheme for individual ¹⁴C ages that combines information about their accuracy and precision. ‘Benchmark’ pollen records were defined to have at least one ¹⁴C age with an accuracy within 250 years and a precision less than 500 years that is within 1000 years of the time interval of interest, and at least five pollen samples per 1000 years across this time period. Only 22 of >350 late-Pleistocene pollen cores in eastern North America met the benchmark criteria.We then used Bayesian change-point analysis to identify widespread ecological events (Picea decline, Quercus rise, and Alnus decline), and interpolated the ages of these events from the benchmark sites to non-benchmark sites. Leave-one-out cross-validation analyses with the benchmark sites indicated that the spatial error associated with interpolation was less for inverse distance-weighting (IDW) than thin-plate splines (TPS) and was about 500 years for the three biotic events. By comparison, the difference between the original ages of events at poorly constrained sites and the biostratigraphic ages interpolated from the benchmark sites was close to 1000 years, suggesting that the use of biostratigraphic ages can significantly improve the age models for poorly constrained sites. Overall, these analyses suggest that the temporal resolution of multi-site syntheses of late-Pleistocene fossil-pollen data in eastern North America is about 500 years, a resolution that allows analysis of ecological responses to millennial-scale climate change during the last deglaciation.     

Ecological assessment to detect imminent change in coral reefs of Admiral Cockburn Land and Sea National Park,Turks and Caicos Islands

Coral reefs of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCIs) (Caribbean Sea) constitute some of the few pristine coral reef systems in the world and play a crucial role in the islands’ economy because they support rich fisheries catches and tourism development. Ambitious development plans involving increase in fishing and tourism pressures are about to bring changes in coastal zone resources of the TCIs associated with increased sediments and nutrients and reduced predation by herbivorous fish on coral reefs. Understanding change is critical when attempting to protect the resources that these coral reefs support and to adopt proper management strategies. Yet, an environmental assessment program to detect imminent human‐induced changes on the surrounding reefs of the TCIs is lacking. Thus, (i) we obtained baseline data on benthic composition and coral community structure at seven reef sites of representative reefs of the TCIs within the Admiral Cockburn Land and Sea National Park (ACLSNP) of South Caicos Island and (ii) performed a priori statistical power analysis to calculate replication requirements for safely and confidently detecting small (δ = 0.1), medium (δ = 0.3), and large (δ = 0.5) effect sizes for a number of relevant to anticipated changes, univariate, benthic indices and for power β = 0.95. The platforms of the margin reefs studied (9–12 m depth) appeared rather variable regarding benthic composition but quite homogeneous regarding hard coral community structure. Mean percent cover of algal functional groups was 0.1 ± 0.3 (mean ± sd) percent for coralline algae and Halimeda, 0.1 ± 0.6 (mean ± sd) percent for macroalgae, 21.7 ± 33 (mean ± sd) percent for turf algae and 4.8 ± 4.0 (mean ± sd) percent for hard coral cover. The dominant benthic component, however, was carbonate substrate (mean ± sd = 30.4 ± 34.3), thus indicating an accreting reef framework. Mean hard coral density, colony size and recruit density were 5.5 ± 1.8 (mean ± sd) corals per 20‐m line transect, 13.0 ± 2.3 (mean ± sd) cm maximum colony diameter, and 1.3 ± 1.4 (mean ± sd) recruits per square foot, respectively. Due to high natural variance, hard coral colony size and density were practically the most sensitive indices in detecting even small size changes on benthos. Also, the geometric mean of log‐transformed colony size‐frequency distributions of the most abundant hard coral taxa, i.e. Montastrea annularis, Agaricia spp., Siderastrea spp. and Porites asteroides were practically sensitive for the same purpose. We hope that the study will optimize the spatial component of a necessary environmental impact assessment program on coral reefs of the TCIs once the natural spatial variability of the system has been assessed and sensitive, benthic, univariate indices have been identified for representative reference coral reef sites of the TCIs.     

Circular plumes in Lake Pontchartrain estuary under wind straining

Circular shaped density plumes of low turbidity, low fecal indicator (Escherichia coli and enterococci) concentrations, and high salinity have been observed near the Industrial Canal in Lake Pontchartrain, north of the City of New Orleans. A conceptual model in polar coordinates and a numerical model are developed, together with data analysis, to illustrate the dense plume. It is demonstrated that the northward expansion of the plume occurs under northerly winds. The northward expansion of the plume occurs under northerly winds that drive downwind flow at the surface and upwind radial flow at the bottom. Northerly wind-induced straining, similar to tidal straining, promotes vertical stratification. As a result, the water becomes stratified near a thin bottom layer (<1 m), within which density currents are facilitated. The stability of the stratified plume suppresses wind-induced turbulent mixing inside the plume. The bottom water outside of the plume is more effectively stirred by the wind, the result being that the suspended sediment concentration outside of the plume area is much higher than inside. This contrast in mixing makes the plume visible from the surface by satellites even though the stratification is at the bottom. Laterally, wind stress produces a torque (vorticity) in areas of non-uniform depth such that upwind flow is developed in deep water and downwind flow in shallow water. The continuity requirement produces an upwind flow along the axis of the Industrial Canal (IC). The upwind flow is balanced by the downwind flow over the shallower peripheral areas along the coast.     

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies.     

Development of a Default Vapor Intrusion Attenuation Factor for Industrial Buildings

An investigation at a major industrial facility in the Midwestern United States provides insights regarding the amount of attenuation of sub-surface vapors occurring at industrial buildings. The buildings at the facility were ranked in terms of vapor intrusion potential and testing began in October 2016 and is ongoing. Results have been evaluated for data collected at 718 unique locations across 77 buildings. A total of 1646 sample pairs (sub-slab and indoor air) have been collected and analyzed for 65 analytes, resulting in a total of 106,990 data pairs. As many as 49 sample pairs were collected within a given building during a single sampling event and up to 11 rounds of seasonal testing have been performed at selected buildings. Seasonal variability in sub-slab soil-gas concentrations was found to be negligible. Data analysis was performed to look for data trends across the entire data set and identify inter-building comparisons. This data evaluation focused on individual volatile organic compounds (e.g., tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene) present in the sub-slab soil gas at concentrations exceeding 1000 μg/m³. A total of 157 building-specific attenuation coefficients (α) were evaluated. This evaluation demonstrated that large industrial buildings have a much greater attenuation than that assumed for single-family residential buildings. All attenuation coefficient values were lower than 0.03, which is the standard regulatory default for non-residential buildings. The median value was 9.3E-05 and the 95% upper confidence limit was 2.7E-04. There is some evidence of lower attenuation under wintertime conditions. The data suggests that the default attenuation factor of 0.03 over-predicts indoor air impacts at this industrial facility by at least two orders of magnitude.