A comparison of sediment microbial communities associated with<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phragmites australis</Emphasis> and<Emphasis Type="Italic">Spartina alterniflora</Emphasis> in two brackish wetlands of New Jersey

The extensive spread ofPhragmites australis throughout brackish marshes on the East Coast of the United States is a major factor governing management and restoration decisions because it is assumed that biogeochemical functions are altered by the invasion. Microbial activity is important in providing wetland biogeochemical functions such as carbon and nitrogen cycling, but there is little known about sediment microbial communities inPhragmites marshes. Microbial populations associated with invasivePhragmites vegetation and with native salt marsh cordgrass,Spartina alterniflora, may differ in the relative abundance of microbial taxa (community structure) and in the ability of this biota to decompose organic substrates (community biogeochemical function). This study compares sediment microbial communities associated withPhragmites andSpartina vegetation in an undisturbed brackish marsh near Tuckerton, New Jersey (MUL), and in a brackish marsh in the anthropogenically affected Hackensack meadowlands (SMC). We use phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis and enzymataic activity to profile sediment microbial communities associated with both plants in each site. Sediment analyses include bulk density, total organic matter, and root biomass. PLFA profiles indicate that the microbial communities differ between sites with the undisturbed site exhibiting greater fatty acid richness (62 PLFA recovered from MUL versus 38 from SMC). Activity of the 5 enzymes analyzed (β-glucosidase, acid phosphatase, chitobiase, and 2 oxidases) was higher in the undisturbed site. Differences between vegetation species as measured by Principal Components Analysis were significantly greater at the undisturbed MUL site than at SMC, and patterns of enzyme activity and PLFAs did not correspond to patterns of root biomass. We suggest that in natural wetland sediments, macrophyte rhizosphere effects influence the community composition of sediment microbial populations. Physical and chemical site disturbances may impose limits on these rhizosphere effects, decreasing sediment microbial diversity and potentially, microbial biogeochemical functions.     

阿拉斯加输油管的设计和施工方式方案变更过程及其背后的原因和哲学思想

阿拉斯加输油管道公司曾经研发和使用了3种主要施工方案和技术:传统地埋式、特殊埋设和地上敷设方式.在传统地埋式施工方案中,管顶埋深变化于0.9~2.7 m.这主要是考虑了地形变化,而不是沿途的岩性和土壤类型.在特殊埋设方案中,在原油管道必须埋设的地段,如大规模动物迁徙常用地段则使用通道冷液循环降(保)温系统和(或)热管(桩)降(保)温,来保护多年冻土.地上敷设方案包括桩基架设和地上洁净砾石管堤(垫护层).后者只在管道进入和离开多年冻土时采用.架设桩基横梁方案中使用有或没有热管保温的垂直支架梁(单元)(VSM).在初步规划和设计阶段,管道的业主公司(即横穿阿拉斯加管道系统,或TAPS)和随后的阿拉斯加管道服务公司(APSC)不容商量的坚决要求100%的埋设方案.但是,随着勘察工作的进展和设计方案的细化,施工设计方案在不断变化.1977年管道施工结束时,只有57%的管道采用了埋设方式.管道运行30 a后的今天(考虑运行期间维护中所产生的问题),很多经验丰富的工程师认为53%的埋设可能更合理.设计和施工方案变更的原因主要有:1)为了获得通过联邦政府所属的土地所需的许可证,政府有特殊的规定和要求;2)管道公司的设计、施工和管理人员进行了现场野外调查、研究,并积极参与了详细设计和研发;3)美国环境政策法案(NEPA)的最新要求(启用了核准制).阿拉斯加管道服务公司是7家主要石油公司的服务机构.由于这个项目的巨大规模和所涉及的高昂费用,致使各大石油公司的工程师非同寻常程度的参与.在文章中,笔者论述了与阿拉斯加管道施工有关的阿拉斯加管道服务公司、美国联邦和阿拉斯加州政府相关组织机构的形成历史,管道设计演变过程及其背后的哲学思想,以及阿拉斯加管道工程项目的经验和教训.     

Climate Change as a Predictable Surprise

In this article, I analyze climate change as a “predictable surprise,” an event that leads an organization or nation to react with surprise, despite the fact that the information necessary to anticipate the event and its consequences was available (Bazerman and Watkins, 2004). I then assess the cognitive, organizational, and political reasons why society fails to implement wise strategies to prevent predictable surprises generally and climate change specifically. Finally, I conclude with an outline of a set of response strategies to overcome barriers to change.This paper has benefitted from the excellent input from Alex Todorov, Michael Oppenheimer, and three anonymous reviewers.     

The composition of liquids coexisting with dense hydrous magnesium silicates at 11-13.5 GPa and the endpoints of the solidi in the MgO-SiO2-H2O system

High-pressure liquids in the MgO-SiO₂-H₂O (MSH) system have been investigated at 11 and 13.5 GPa and between 1000 and 1350 °C. A bulk composition more magnesian than the tie-line forsterite-H₂O was employed for the study. Rocking multi-anvil experiments were combined with a diamond trap set-up. After termination of the experiments, the liquid trapped in the diamond layer was analysed by laser ablation ICP-MS using the ‘freezing’ technique. At 11 GPa, liquids coexist with one or two of phase A, clinohumite, chondrodite, and forsterite. A marked discontinuity in the evolution of liquid compositions near 1100 °C is observed at 11 GPa. A step of ∼13 wt% H₂O and 13 wt% MgO is interpreted to result from overstepping the fluid-saturated solidus reaction mass balanced to 1.00(18) phase A + 1.07(4) fluid = 0.63(15) chondrodite + 1.44(2) melt. At 13.5 GPa liquids coexist with one or two of hydrous wadsleyite, clinohumite, superhydrous B, phase B, and forsterite. The discontinuity in liquid composition is no longer present, indicating that the second critical endpoint of the solidus has been overstepped. Thus, hydrous melts in the Mg-rich part of the MSH system (molar bulk Mg/Si > 2) are chemically distinct from aqueous fluids at pressure up to 11 GPa. Convergence of fluid and melt compositions along the solidus resulting in a supercritical liquid occurs between 11 and 13.5 GPa, at which pressure the entire MSH system becomes supercritical.     

Seismic quiescence before the M 7, 1988, Spitak earthquake, Armenia

A detailed analysis of the 35  yr of seismicity between 1962 and 1997 using a gridding technique shows that the M 7, Spitak earthquake of 1988 December 7 was preceded by a quiescence anomaly that started at approximately 1984±0.5, and lasted about 5±0.5  yr, up to the main shock. This quiescence anomaly had a radius of about 20±3  km, estimated from circular areas with 75 per cent rate decrease, centred at the point of maximum significance of the anomaly. The quiescence was clearly present in the aftershock volume during the 5  yr before the 1988 main shock, but its statistically strongest expression was located 30  km NW of the epicentre. This anomaly fulfills the association rules between precursory quiescence anomalies and main shocks, even for a tight definition, and is therefore proposed as a case of precursory quiescence. The largest value of the standard deviate Z , found by random selection of samples by gridding, was Z =14 for a time window of T _w=3  yr, using a sample size of N =300 events. This makes this anomaly the strongest observed so far, and it is the first documented in an environment of continental collision. There are no false alarms exceeding in significance the precursor. The Armenian earthquake catalogue used for this study had 4600 earthquakes with M ≥ M _min=2.2 in the area bounded by 39.5° to 42°N/42.5° to 47°E. From the point of view of homogeneous reporting this is the best catalogue we have analysed so far. The limits of the data used and the density of the grid are dictated by the data, and have no influence on the results. The choice of free parameters does not influence the results significantly within the following limits: 100≤ N ≤500, 2≤ T _w≤7, 2.2≤ M _min≤2.8.     

210Pb in GEOSECS water profiles from the North Pacific

Ten GEOSECS profiles from the North Pacific have been analyzed for²¹⁰Pb. GEOSECS²²⁶Ra data on the same profiles are used to calculate²¹⁰Pb excess or deficiency relative to secular equilibrium. The resultant profiles are divisible into a thermocline zone (<2000m) showing an expected decrease with depth, a mid-water zone of about 2000 m showing small constant deficiencies with a zone of increasing deficiency to a bottom zone of about 1000 m having the highest deficiency virtually invariant with depth. The exponentially decreasing portion in the thermocline yields a “diffusion” coefficient of 3 cm²/s. The mid-water deficiencies yield ? model residence times of 400 years northeast of Hawaii decreasing to 100 years at the most marginal stations.     

A Study of Ozone Laminae Using Diabatic Trajectories, Contour Advection and Photochemical Trajectory Model Simulations.

In this paper, we show that the rate of ozone loss in both polar and mid-latitudes, derived from ozonesonde and satellite data, has almost the same vertical distribution (although opposite sense) to that of ozone laminae abundance. Ozone laminae appear in the lower stratosphere soon after the polar vortex is established in autumn, increase in number throughout the winter and reach a maximum abundance in late winter or spring. We indicate a possible coupling between mid-winter, sudden stratospheric warmings (when the vortex is weakened or disrupted) and the abundance of ozone laminae using a 23-year record of ozonesonde data from the World Ozone Data Center in Canada combined with monthly-mean January polar temperatures at 30 hPa.Results are presented from an experiment conducted during the winter of 1994/95, in phase II of the Second European Stratospheric And Mid-latitude Experiment (SESAME), in which 93 ozone-enhanced laminae of polar origin observed by ozonesondes at different time and locations are linked by diabatic trajectories, enabling them to be probed twice or more. It is shown that, in general, ozone concentrations inside laminae fall progressively with time, mixing irreversibly with mid-latitude air on time-scales of a few weeks. A particular set of laminae which advected across Europe during mid February 1995 are examined in detail. These laminae were observed almost simultaneously at seven ozonesonde stations, providing information on their spatial scales. The development of these laminae has been modelled using the Contour Advection algorithm of Norton (1994), adding support to the concept that many laminae are extrusions of vortex air. Finally, a photochemical trajectory model is used to show that, if the air in the laminae is chemically activated, it will impact on mid-latitude ozone concentrations. An estimate is made of the potential number of ozone molecules lost each winter via this mechanism.     

The isotopic composition of strontium and oxygen in lavas from St. Helena,South Atlantic

Strontium and oxygen isotope measurements on the alkali basalt-trachyte-phonolite suite of St. Helena show that some of the late-fractionated rocks are enriched in ⁸⁷Sr and depleted in ¹⁸O relative to the older basalts. The data rule out both the formation of the late-fractionated rocks by the partial melting of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust and the contamination of the volcanic rocks by oceanic sediment. It also appears to be incompatible with models based either on the melting of previously fractionated and crystallized liquids in the volcanic pile, or the long-term fractionation of lavas over several millions of years in a sub-volcanic magma chamber.It is concluded that hydrothermal interaction with meteoric water is the most important cause of the ¹⁸O depletion. If the interaction occurred at widely differing temperatures, and involved meteoric and seawaters, it might conceivably have caused both the oxygen and strontium isotope heterogeneities.     

Torsional vibrations in boxgirder suspension bridges

A linear theory is developed for the free, torsional vibrations of the single-span, boxgirder suspension bridge. Both symmetric and antisymmetric modes are considered. For the symmetric modes, which induce additional cable tension, it is shown that it is imperative to include the elasticity of the cables if correct solutions are to be obtained. Three examples of bridges with widely differing properties are presented to illustrate the applicability of the theory. Orthogonality of the torsional modes of vibration is proved in Appendix I and the modification to the analysis, required when rigid centre ties are present, is outlined in Appendix II. The theories presented herein can be readily extended to the three-span bridge.