Lithological controls on biological activity and groundwater chemistry in Quaternary sediments

Depth profiles of solute chemistry and sulfate isotopic compositions are presented for groundwater and pore water in a sequence of Quaternary glacial outwash sediments. Sand units show evidence for hydraulic connection to the surface and thus modern sources of solutes. Finer‐grained sediments show a general pattern of increasing solute concentrations with depth, with sulfate derived from ancient rainwater and pyrite oxidation in the soil/drift. In these sediments sulfate has undergone bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) to produce biogenic sulfide. In clay sediments, with d₁₀ ≤ 1·6 µm, high concentrations of sulfate and acetate now co‐exist, implying that BSR is inhibited. The correlation with smaller sediment grain size indicates that this is due to pore size exclusion of the sulfate reducing bacteria. Mechanical restriction of microbial function thus provides a fundamental limitation on microbial respiration in buried clay‐rich sediments, which acts as a control on the chemical evolution of their pore waters. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holocene climate and glacial history of the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula: the marine sedimentary record from a long SHALDRIL core

A high-resolution record of Holocene deglacial and climate history was obtained from a 77 m sediment core from the Firth of Tay, Antarctic Peninsula, as part of the SHALDRIL initiative. This study provides a detailed sedimentological record of Holocene paleoclimate and glacial advance and retreat from the eastern side of the peninsula. A robust chronostratigraphy was derived from thirty-three radiocarbon dates on carbonate material. This chronostratigraphic framework was used to establish the timing of glacial and climate events derived from multiple proxies including: magnetic susceptibility, electric resistivity, porosity, ice-rafted debris content, organic carbon content, nitrogen content, biogenic silica content, and diatom and foraminiferal assemblages. The core bottomed-out in a stiff diamicton interpreted as till. Gravelly and sandy mud above the till is interpreted as proximal glaciomarine sediment that represents decoupling of the glacier from the seafloor circa 9400 cal. yr BP and its subsequent landward retreat. This was approximately 5000 yr later than in the Bransfield Basin and South Shetland Islands, on the western side of the peninsula. The Firth of Tay core site remained in a proximal glaciomarine setting until 8300 cal. yr BP, at which time significant glacial retreat took place. Deposition of diatomaceous glaciomarine sediments after 8300 cal. yr BP indicates that an ice shelf has not existed in the area since this time.The onset of seasonally open marine conditions between 7800 and 6000 cal. yr BP followed the deglacial period and is interpreted as the mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum. Open marine conditions lasted until present, with a minor cooling having occurred between 6000 and 4500 cal. yr BP and a period of minor glacial retreat and/or decreased sea ice coverage between 4500 and 3500 cal. yr BP. Finally, climatic cooling and variable sea ice cover occurred from 3500 cal. yr BP to near present and it is interpreted as being part of the Neoglacial. The onset of the Neoglacial appears to have occurred earlier in the Firth of Tay than on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age were not pronounced in the Firth of Tay. The breadth and synchroneity of the rapid regional warming and glacial retreat observed in the Antarctic Peninsula during the last century appear to be unprecedented during the Holocene epoch.     

Composition and processes of the mantle lithosphere in northeastern Brazil and Fernando de Noronha: evidence from mantle xenoliths

Spinel–peridotite facies mantle xenoliths in Cenozoic alkali basalts of the Pico Cabuji volcano (Rio Grande do Norte State, Northeast Brazil) and the adjacent South Atlantic oceanic island of Fernando de Noronha are studied for: (1) the information they provide on the composition of the lithospheric component in the erupted basalt geochemistry, and (2) to check the effects of the Fernando de Noronha plume track on the mantle lithosphere. Xenoliths from Pico Cabuji are protogranular lherzolites and porphyroclastic harzburgites recording average equilibrium temperatures of 825 ± 116 and 1248 ± 19 °C, respectively. Pressure in the porphyroclastic xenoliths ranges from 1.9 to 2.7 GPa (Ca-in-olivine geobarometer). Both groups show major element chemical variation trends in whole-rock and Ti and HREE (Er, Yb) variations in clinopyroxene consistent with fractional melting and basalt extraction. REE (rare earth element) profiles of clinopyroxenes vary from LREE (La, Ce) enriched (spoon shaped) to LREE depleted in the protogranular group, whereas they are slightly convex upward in most porphyroclastic clinopyroxenes. HFSE (Ti and Zr) negative anomalies are in general modest in the clinopyroxenes of both groups. Xenoliths from Fernando de Noronha have textural variations similar to those of Pico Cabuji. Protogranular and porphyroclastic samples have similar temperature (1035 ± 80 °C) and the pressure is 1–1.9 and 2.3 GPa, respectively. Whole-rock chemical variation trends overlap and extend further than those of Pico Cabuji. The trace element profiles of the clinopyroxenes of the porphyroclastic xenoliths are enriched in La up to 30 × PM and are smoothly fractionated from LREE to HREE, with deep, negative, Zr and Ti anomalies. The geochemical heterogeneities of the xenoliths from both localities are interpreted in terms of reactive porous percolation. The porphyroclastic xenoliths from Pico Cabuji represent the lower part of a mantle column (the head of a mantle diapir, at the transition conductive–adiabatic mantle), where OIB infiltration triggers melting, and the protogranular xenoliths the top of the mantle column, chromatographically enriched by percolation at a low melt/rock ratio. This interpretation may also apply for Fernando de Noronha, but the different geochemical signature recorded by the clinopyroxenes requires a different composition of the infiltrated melt. Nd and Sr isotopes of the Pico Cabuji porphyroclastic clinopyroxenes (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd= 0.51339–0.51255, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70275–0.70319) and of Fernando de Noronha (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51323–0.51285, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70323–0.70465) plot on distinct arrays originating from a similar, isotopically depleted composition and trending to low Nd–low Sr (EMI) and low Nd–high Sr (EMII), respectively. Correlation of the isotope variation with geochemical parameters indicates that the isotopic variation was induced by the metasomatic component, of EMI type at Pico Cabuji and of EMII type at Fernando de Noronha. These different components enriched a lithosphere isotopically similar to DMM (depleted MORB mantle) at both localities. At Fernando de Noronha, the isotopic signature of the metasomatic component is similar to that of the ∼ 8 Ma old lavas of the Remedios Formation, suggesting that this is the age of metasomatism. At Pico Cabuji, the mantle xenoliths do not record the high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr component present in the basalts. We speculate that the EMII component derives from a lithospheric reservoir, which was not thermally affected during mantle metasomatism at Pico Cabuji, but was mobilized by the hotspot thermal influence at Fernando de Noronha. This interpretation provides a plausible explanation for the presence of distinct metasomatic components at the two localities, which would be difficult to reconcile with their genetic relationship with the same plume. Received: 12 June 1999 / Accepted: 13 December 1999     

Pesticide and Herbicide Residues in Sediments and Seagrasses from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Queensland Coast

Pesticides and herbicides including organochlorine compounds have had extensive current and past application by Queensland's intensive coastal agriculture industry as well as for a wide range of domestic, public health and agricultural purposes in urban areas. The persistent nature of these types of compounds together with possible continued illegal use of banned organochlorine compounds raises the potential for continued long-term chronic exposure to plants and animals of the Great Barrier Reef. Sediment and seagrass samples were collected from 16 intertidal and 25 subtidal sampling sites between Torres Strait and Townsville, near Mackay and Gladstone, and in Hervey and Moreton Bays in 1997 and 1998 and analysed for pesticide and herbicide residues. Low levels of atrazine (0.1–0.3 μg kg⁻¹), diuron (0.2–10.1 μg kg⁻¹), lindane (0.08–0.19 μg kg⁻¹), dieldrin (0.05–0.37 μg kg⁻¹), DDT (0.05–0.26 μg kg⁻¹), and DDE (0.05–0.26 μg kg⁻¹) were detected in sediments and/or seagrasses. Contaminants were mainly detected in samples collected along the high rainfall, tropical coast between Townsville and Port Douglas and in Moreton Bay. Of the contaminants detected, the herbicide diuron is of most concern as the concentrations detected have some potential to impact local seagrass communities.     

中国-巴基斯坦喀喇昆仑公路Ghulkin冰川百年进退变化

巴基斯坦喀喇昆仑山的Ghulkin冰川是距离中国-巴基斯坦喀喇昆仑公路最近的典型冰川之一,其冰川的进退变化影响着喀喇昆仑公路改建工程的线路设计与工程施工.为了追溯Ghulkin冰川的活动历史和查明近期进退变化,对过去200 a的相关文献和记录进行统计分析,并开展了2008-2011年野外定点观测,总结与分析了Ghulkin冰川冰舌的活动历史与近期变化.研究表明：Ghulkin冰川在1885-1980年近百年间经历了3次前进和3次后退,在此期间冰川波动了625 m;1913-1925年冰川处于显著的前进状态,1966-1978年冰川有小段距离的前进;2008-2011年K676+660处泥石流沟道逐年抬升,2011年南坡冰川融水由K676+660改道至K676+450;2010年的南坡冰舌较1994年后退了300余米,2011年的南坡冰舌较2010年后退了15.066 m,可见在2010-2011年期间冰川处于局部短期后退状态. 中巴公路冰川泥石流等灾害不但受区域气候的影响,而且还受冰川变化的影响.未来气候变暖将会导致冰川的强烈消融和后退,冰川融水携带大量冰碛体,形成大型的冰川泥石流,对公路的安全运营造成严重威胁.     

Probabilistic Simulation of Remediation at a Site Contaminated by Trichloroethylene

A new probabilistic remediation simulation package, PREMChlor, was used to simulate the effect of contaminant source and plume remediation at a site contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE). First, the PREMChlor model was calibrated to the plume using a deterministic approach to represent the site conditions prior to remediation activities, which occurred in 1999. The calibrated model was then used in a probabilistic mode to conduct a simulation of the effects of field source and plume remediation activities during the period after 1999. This probabilistic simulation considers uncertainties in seven key parameters: the initial source mass and concentration, the relationship between source mass removal and source concentration, the effectiveness of the source remediation, the groundwater velocity, the background plume degradation rate, and the plume treatment effectiveness. The simulation results compare favorably with the observed data collected after 1999, and show the influence of the remediation efforts on the plume.     

Recognition of down-valley translation in tidally influenced meandering fluvial deposits,Athabasca Oil Sands (Cretaceous), Alberta,Canada

The vast Athabasca Oil Sands of Alberta, Canada has an estimated resource of more than 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen in-place, the majority of which is hosted in the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation. Despite its economical significance the depositional environment of the formation, and particularly the middle part that is the primary reservoir in most areas, is still a matter of considerable debate. These strata of interest are widely known to comprise fluvial and estuarine point bar deposits that were subject to varying degrees of marine influence. The orientation of point bar strata from the formation is tabulated and the majority is observed to dip paleo-basinward, to the north. This observation has proven difficult to explain by geologists attempting to build predictive models for the formation over the last two decades. However, the basinward-dipping point bar strata can be attributed to widespread down-valley translation of point bars in confined north-south oriented valleys, which have previously been delineated in the region. Differentiating the deposits of lateral point bar migration and down-valley translation in the rock record is not possible at the facies scale, and thus translated point bars have not been previously recognized or interpreted in the rock record, despite their prevalence in numerous modern fluvial valley systems. Their identification in the McMurray Formation has important implications for the delineation and development of Canada’s economically significant oil sands resources.