Biodegradation and environmental behavior of biodiesel mixtures in the sea: An initial study

Biodiesel, a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) derived from animal fats or vegetable oils, is rapidly moving towards the mainstream as an alternative source of energy. However, the behavior of biodiesel, or blends of biodiesel with fossil diesel, in the marine environment have yet to be fully understood. Hence, we performed a series of initial laboratory experiments and simple calculations to evaluate the microbial and environmental fate of FAMEs. Aerobic seawater microcosms spiked with biodiesel or mixtures of biodiesel and fossil diesel revealed that the FAMEs were degraded at roughly the same rate as n-alkanes, and more rapidly than other hydrocarbon components. The residues extracted from these different microcosms became indistinguishable within weeks. Preliminary results from physical-chemical calculations suggest that FAMEs in biodiesel mixtures will not affect the evaporation rates of spilled petroleum hydrocarbons but may stabilize oil droplets in the water column and thereby facilitate transport.     

Trinitite—the atomic rock

On 16 July 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Alamogordo Bombing range in New Mexico, USA. Swept up into the nuclear cloud was the surrounding desert sand, which melted to form a green glassy material called ‘trinitite’. Contained within the glass are melted bits of the first atomic bomb and the support structures and various radionuclides formed during the detonation. The glass itself is marvelously complex at the tens to hundreds of micrometre scale, and besides glasses of varying composition also contains unmelted quartz grains. Air transport of the melted material led to the formation of spheres and dumbbell shaped glass particles. Similar glasses are formed during all ground level nuclear detonations and contain forensic information that can be used to identify the atomic device.     

Alteration patterns and structural controls of the El Espino IOCG mining district,Chile

The El Espino IOCG mining district is characterized by several mineralized bodies the largest of which is the El Espino deposit, which has an estimated geologic resource of 123 Mt at 0.66 % Cu and 0.24 g/t Au. Mineralized bodies are distributed in a 7?×?10 km² area throughout a 1,000-m vertical section. They range from single veins to stockworks and breccias to manto-type deposits. The ore bodies are hosted primarily by volcanic, volcaniclastic, and sedimentary rocks of the Early Cretaceous Arqueros and Quebrada Marquesa formations, with a few mineralized zones within Late Cretaceous dioritic intrusions. The fault and vein architecture shows that El Espino IOCG system was localized within a dilatational jog along a major transtensional dextral fault system. Sodic alteration (albite) is the most extensive style of alteration in the district, and it is bounded by major NS–NNE trending faults. Sodic–calcic (epidote–albite) alteration occurs at deep to medium elevations (1,000–500 m) and grades inward into calcic alteration. Calcic alteration surrounds dioritic intrusions of the Llahuin plutonic suite. Significant iron oxides are associated with later calcic alteration associations (actinolite–epidote–hematite). The upper portions of the alteration system (0–500 m) display hydrolytic alteration associations with abundant hematite. Hydrolytic veins are feeders to zones of manto-type alteration and mineralization within favorable volcano-sedimentary lithologies that formed El Espino deposit. Sulfides are largely confined to calcic and hydrolytic alteration associations. Hydrothermal fluids responsible for hematite and sulfide mineralization had salinities between 32 and 34 wt% NaCl_eq and temperature of approximately 425 °C at an estimated depth of 3–4 km. Geochronological U–Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data indicate that hydrothermal alteration was coeval with magmatic intrusive activity. One particular dioritic intrusion (88.5 Ma) preceded the calcic stage (88.4 Ma), which was accompanied by iron oxide copper and gold mineralization. Hydrolytic alteration, related to economic iron oxide copper and gold mineralization, came immediately after at 87.9 Ma.     

Deciphering petrogenic processes using Pb isotope ratios from time-series samples at Bezymianny and Klyuchevskoy volcanoes,Central Kamchatka Depression

The Klyuchevskoy group of volcanoes in the Kamchatka arc erupts compositionally diverse magmas (high-Mg basalts to dacites) over small spatial scales. New high-precision Pb isotope data from modern juvenile (1956–present) erupted products and hosted enclaves and xenoliths from Bezymianny volcano reveal that Bezymianny and Klyuchevskoy volcanoes, separated by only 9 km, undergo varying degrees of crustal processing through independent crustal columns. Lead isotope compositions of Klyuchevskoy basalts–basaltic andesites are more radiogenic than Bezymianny andesites (²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 37.850–37.903, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.468–15.480, and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.249–18.278 at Bezymianny; ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 37.907–37.949, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.478–15.487, and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.289–18.305 at Klyuchevskoy). A mid-crustal xenolith with a crystallization pressure of 5.2 ± 0.6 kbars inferred from two-pyroxene geobarometry and basaltic andesite enclaves from Bezymianny record less radiogenic Pb isotope compositions than their host magmas. Hence, assimilation of such lithologies in the middle or lower crust can explain the Pb isotope data in Bezymianny andesites, although a component of magma mixing with less radiogenic mafic recharge magmas and possible mantle heterogeneity cannot be excluded. Lead isotope compositions for the Klyuchevskoy Group are less radiogenic than other arc segments (Karymsky—Eastern Volcanic Zone; Shiveluch—Northern Central Kamchatka Depression), which indicate increased lower-crustal assimilation beneath the Klyuchevskoy Group. Decadal timescale Pb isotope variations at Klyuchevskoy demonstrate rapid changes in the magnitude of assimilation at a volcanic center. Lead isotope data coupled with trace element data reflect the influence of crustal processes on magma compositions even in thin mafic volcanic arcs.     

MONITORING POLYNUCLEAR AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN SEDIMENT POREWATER BY SPMD

A new mimic biological Semi-permeable Membrane Device (SPMD) introduced for sampling organic pollutants yielded satisfactory results when it was frrst used as a passive sampler to concentrate and determine 16 kinds of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by means of capillary GC on an HP 5890 GC-FID in coastal sediment perewater. The concentration of PAHs in sediment porewater for naphthalene(N), acenaphthlene(AL), acenaphthene (AE), fluorene (F), phenaphthene(P), anthracene(A), fluoranthene(FA), pyrene(Py), benzo[a]anthracene(B[a]A), chrysene(Chr), benzo[b] fluor- anthene(B[b]F), benzo[k]fluoranthene(B[k]F), benzo[a]pyrene(B[a]P),indeno[1,2,3,-cd]-Pyrene(I[123]P), dibenz[a,h]anthracene(D[ab]A) and benzo[g,h,i] perylene(B[ghi]P) were:50.36, under detection limits(UD), 18.19, 8.41, 8.40, 1.44, UD, 8.01, 524.15, 168.47, 50.13,123.66, 63.48, 27.40, 82.04 and 58,81 ng/L, respectively.     

Non-vacuum cosmological solutions of 5D variable mass theory of gravity

A class of non-vacuum expanding cosmological solutions of Wesson's 5D theory of gravity with variable rest mass is derived. The models are spatially homogeneous and isotropic and the source of gravitation is a pressureless fluid (dust) plus a cosmological constant term. The general and unified solution is found for the equations and some properties of different limiting cases are studied. Particularly, it is shown that for null cosmological constant the predicted age of the universe is smaller than the ones of the 4D FRW models.     

Are the circular, dark features on Comet Borrelly's surface albedo variations or pits?

The highest resolution images of Comet 19P/Borrelly show many dark features which, upon casual inspection, appear to be low albedo markings, but which may also be shadows or other photometric variations caused by a depression in the local topography. In order to distinguish between these two possible interpretations we conducted a photometric analysis of three of the most prominent of these features using six of the highest quality images from the September 22, 2001 Deep Space 1 (DS1) flyby. We find that: 1. The radiance in the darkest parts of each feature increases as phase angle decreases, similarly to the radiance behavior of the higher albedo surrounding terrain. The dark features could be either fully illuminated low albedo spots or, alternatively, they could be depressions. No part of any of the three regions was in full shadow. 2. One of the regions has a radiance profile consistent with a rimmed depression, the second, with a simple depression with no rim, and the third with a low albedo spot. 3. The regolith particles are backscattering and carbon black is one of the few candidate regolith materials that might explain this low albedo. We conclude that Borrelly's surface is geologically complex to the limit of resolution of the images with a combination complex topography, pits, troughs, peaks and ridges, and some very dark albedo markings, perhaps a factor of two to three darker than the average 3-4% albedo of the surrounding terrains. Our technique utilizing measured radiance profiles through the dark regions is able to discriminate between rimmed depressions, rimless depressions and simple albedo changes not associated with topography.