Effect of sediment pH and redox conditions on degradation of benzo(a)pyrene

A study was conducted using an estuarine sediment maintained under controlled pH and redox potentials to determine the effect of these parameters on the degradation of benzo(a)pyrene. Degradation was strongly influenced by sediment pH and redox potential. Highest degradation rates occurred in sediment maintained at pH 8.0 and the lowest at pH 5.0. At all pH values degradation of benzo(a)pyrene increased with increasing redox potential. Up to a hundredfold difference in degradation rates could be attributed to changes in sediment pH and redox potential.     

A comparative analysis of GPS range,Doppler and interferometric observations for geodetic positioning

Geodetic positioning accuracies obtained from range, integrated Doppler and double differenced interferometric phase observations from a constellation of twenty-four Global Positioning System satellites are presented. It is demonstrated that GPS range and Doppler observations will provide sufficient accuracy for the estimation of geodetic coordinates. However the instability of the receiver atomic oscillator will limit the usefulness of these observations in providing rapid first-order baseline determination. Interferometric phase measurements twice differenced to eliminate clock error appear as an alternate procedure for providing such accuracies.     

Chrysotile asbestos fibres from Quebec: electron magnetic resonance identification

Quebec chrysotile asbestos fibres have been examined by EPR spectroscopy at room T and 77 K. Finely divided samples show an absorption due to manganese(II) at g = 2.0with a hyperfine coupling of 90 gauss. Several types of ferric ions are present in addition to magnetite. These include surface adsorbed hydroxides and lattice bound ions. From the EPR spectrum of structurally bound iron in long fibres oriented perpendicularly to the magnetic field, it was found that the ferric ions are in a rhombic environment. EPR thus shows promise as a tool for the identification and characterization of asbestos fibres.     

13C Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of kerogen from Cretaceous black shales thermally altered by basaltic intrusions and laboratory simulations

Cretaceous black shales from DSDP Leg 41, Site 368 in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean were thermally altered during the Miocene by an intrusive basalt. The sediments overlying and underlying the intrusive body were subjected to high temperatures (up to ~ 500°C) and, as a result, their kerogen was significantly altered. The extent of this alteration has been determined by examination by means of ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance, using cross polarization/magic-angle spinning (CP/MAS). Results indicate that the kerogen becomes progressively more aromatic in the vicinity of the intrusive body. Laboratory heating experiments, simulating the thermal effects of the basaltic intrusion, produced similar results on unaltered shale from the drill core. The ¹³C CP/MAS results appear to provide a good measure of thermal alteration.     

Atmospheric pressure patterns,climatic change and winter wheat yields in North America

Winter wheat yields over a large area of the United States Great Plains are described as functions of the monthly surface atmospheric pressure pattern over North America. Seventy-eight years of pressure data were spatially decomposed with principal components analysis, and linear combinations of the resulting eigenvectors were used to fit a time series of five sensible climatic variables that are generally considered to be important to wheat yields. This surrogate data set was then used to fit the yield time series. The yield data were initially detrended with a simple linear estimator and adjusted with base constants specific for each crop reporting district.Interannual variation in the pressure field explains approximately 40% of the remaining variance in the yield data over the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. When a reduced model was tested on five years of data simultaneously withheld, a similar amount of the variance was explained. Twentyone eigenvectors are consistently associated with the twelve sensible climatic parameters to which yields are most sensitive. Of these, five were found to be significantly changing (at between the 95 and 99% levels), in either linear or quadratic fashion, over the length of the pressure record. It is concluded that long-term change can and does take place in features of the general circulation that are important determinants of large area crop yields.     

Use of solid-state 13C NMR in structural studies of humic acids and humin from Holocene sediments

¹³C NMR spectra of solid humic substances in Holocene sediments have been obtained using cross polarization with magic-angle sample spinning techniques. The results demonstrate that this technique holds great promise for structural characterizations of complex macromolecular substances such as humin and humic acids. Quantifiable distinctions can be made between structural features of aquatic and terrestrial humic substances. The aliphatic carbons of the humic substances are dominant components suggestive of input from lipid-like materials. An interesting resemblance is also noted between terrestrial humic acid and humin spectra.