GGR Biennial Critical Review: Analytical Developments Since 2012

Advances in the chemical, crystallographic and isotopic characterisation of geological and environmental materials can often be ascribed to technological improvements in analytical hardware or to innovative approaches to data acquisition and/or its interpretation. This biennial review addresses key laboratory methods that form much of the foundation for analytical geochemistry; again, this contribution is presented as a compendium of laboratory techniques. We highlight advances that have appeared since January 2012 and that are of particular significance for the chemical and isotopic characterisation of geomaterials. Prominent scientists from the selected analytical fields present publications they judge to be particular noteworthy, providing background information about the method and assessing where further opportunities might be anticipated. In addition to the well‐established technologies such as thermal ionisation mass spectrometry and plasma emission spectroscopy, this publication also presents new or rapidly growing methods such as electron backscattered diffraction analysis and atom probe tomography – a very sensitive method providing atomic scale information.     

Population Structure of Adult Blue Crabs, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Callinectes sapidus</Emphasis>, in Relation to Physical Characteristics in Barnegat Bay,New Jersey

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are an important species in coastal or lagoonal estuaries where adult population characteristics may differ as compared to drowned-river estuaries. Barnegat Bay, in southern New Jersey, is composed of two large embayments: one without and one with a salinity gradient. We tested the influence of physical characteristics on the abundance, sex ratio, and size of adult blue crabs and examined variation in measures of reproductive potential (e.g., sperm stores) in both sexes in Barnegat Bay from June to September, 2008–2009. Population structure was distinct between the embayments due to sex-specific responses to salinity: male abundance was negatively correlated with salinity whereas adult females were more abundant in high salinity because of proximity to Barnegat Inlet. This produced high sex ratios in low salinity areas and low sex ratios in high salinity areas. Summer was a growing season for adult males while in late summer-early fall, juvenile males recruited to the adult size class. The spawning season lasted from May to August and ovigerous females were concentrated near the inlets. Information on female sperm stores and ovarian development identified two cohorts of adult females: females that will spawn in the current summer and females that will not spawn until the following summer. Thus, not all adult females near the spawning grounds were members of the current spawning stock. This suggests that annual estimates of spawning stock size which overlook the proximity of females to spawning are overestimating the current spawning stock in Barnegat Bay and other estuaries.     

Coal’s medium-run future under atmospheric greenhouse gas stabilization

We assess the future of coal under alternative climate stabilization regimes, investigating how the quantity and location of future coal production, trade and use depends upon five factors: the supply-side constraint of resource depletion, diversification and deepening of international trade, economic growth, trends in energy intensity, and the availability of coal-fired carbon-free electric generation technology (IGCC-CCS). Using the Phoenix computable general equilibrium model of the world economy, we find that coal is sensitive to demand-side assumptions about economic growth and energy-saving structural or technological change. In a 550 ppm stabilization emission tax scenario, the gobal coal industry initially declines sharply and then rebounds, in 2050 reaching roughly the same size as it is today—but only if IGCC-CCS is available by 2020. Under alternative stabilization regimes, IGCC-CCS penetration is a key influence on production and imports in major coal regions, where it interacts with extraction costs driven by the rate of depletion relative to trade partners.     

Recent Developments in Trace Element Analysis by ICP-AES and ICP-MS with Particular Reference to Geological and Environmental Samples

This review describes recent developments in trace element analysis using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). It aims to focus on the application of ICP techniques to geological and environmental samples. Therefore, fundamental studies in ICP-MS and ICP-AES instrumentation have largely been ignored. Whereas the majority of literature reviewed related to ICP-MS, indicating that ICP-MS is now the preferred technique for all geological analysis, there is still a steady development of ICP-AES to environmental applications. It is clear that true flexibility in elemental analysis can only be achieved by combining the advantages of both ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Two particular groups of elements (long-lived radionuclide and the platinum-group elements) stood out as warranting dedicated sections describing analytical developments these areas.     

Facies and faunal changes in the Ludlovian rocks of Aymestrey,Herefordshire

The Aymestrey area displays changes in facies, faunas and thicknesses which can be related to its position on the shelf edge during later Silurian times. The Wenlock Limestone becomes an alternation of limestones and mudstones. The Lower and Middle Elton Beds, however, are substantially similar to their development at Ludlow. The Upper Elton Beds and the Bringewood Beds thin westwards within the area, probably due to non-deposition or erosion on a ridge at the hinge between shelf and basin. The most striking change is the rapid westward passage of the Aymestry Limestone facies of the Upper Bringewood Beds into siltstones, which are considered to be shallow-water deposits and not basinal. The Leintwardine Beds exhibit a westward thickening, and slumping is developed in the Lower Leintwardine Beds; the faunas relate more to the basin facies than to the shelf. The Whitcliffe Beds thicken markedly westwards but retain their shallow-water characteristics.