Nitrogen cycling and ecosystem exchanges in a Virginia tidal freshwater marsh

Tidal freshwater marshes are diverse habitats that differ both within and between marshes in terms of plant community composition, sediment type, marsh elevation, and nutrient status. Because our knowledge of the nitrogen (N) biogeochemistry of tidal freshwater systems is limited, it is difficult to assess how these marshes will respond to long-term progressive nutrient loading due to watershed development and urbanization. We present a process-based mass balance model of N cycling in Sweet Hall marsh, a pristine (i.e., low nutrient)Peltandra virginica-Pontederia cordata dominated tidal freshwater marsh in the York River estuary, Virginia. The model, which was based on a combination of field and literature data, revealed that N cycling in the system was largely conservative. The mineralization of organic N to NH₄ ⁺ provided almost twice as much inorganic N as was needed to support marsh macrophyte and benthic microalgal primary production. Efficient utilization of porewater NH₄ ⁺ by nitrifiers and other microbes resulted in low rates of tidal NH₄ ⁺ export from the marsh and little accumulation of NH₄ ⁺ in marsh porewaters. Inputs of N from the estuary and atmosphere were not critical in supporting marsh primary production, and served to balance N losses due to denitrification and burial. A comparison of these results with the literature suggests that the relative importance of tidal freshwater marsh N cycling processes, including plant productivity, organic matter mineralization, microbial immobilization, and coupled nitrification-denitrification, are largely independent of small changes in water column N loading. Although very high (millimolar) concentrations of dissolved inorganic N can affect processes including denitrification and plant productivity, the factors that cause the switch from efficient N recycling to a more open N cycle have not yet been identified.     

On a monotonicity preserving Eulerian–Lagrangian localized adjoint method for advection–diffusion equations

Eulerian–Lagrangian localized adjoint methods (ELLAMs) provide a general approach to the solution of advection-dominated advection–diffusion equations allowing large time steps while maintaining good accuracy. Moreover, the methods can treat systematically any type of boundary condition and are mass conservative. However, all ELLAMs developed so far suffer from non-physical oscillations and are usually implemented on structured grids. In this paper, we propose a finite volume ELLAM which incorporates a novel correction step rendering the method monotone while maintaining conservation of mass. The method has been implemented on fully unstructured meshes in two space dimensions. Numerical results demonstrate the applicability of the method for problems with highly non-uniform flow fields arising from heterogeneous porous media.     

Origin of deformed halite hopper crystals, pseudomorphic anhydrite cubes and polyhalite in Alpine evaporites (Austria, Germany)

The Alpine Haselgebirge Formation represents an Upper Permian to Lower Triassic evaporitic rift succession of the Northern Calcareous Alps (Eastern Alps). Although the rocksalt body deposits are highly tectonised, consisting mainly of protocataclasites and mylonites of halite and mudrock, the early diagenetic history can be established from non-tectonised mudrock bodies: Cm-sized euhedral halite hopper crystals formed as displacive cubes within mud just during shallow burial. The crystals were deformed by subsequent compaction. Later, migrating fluids led to the replacement of halite by anhydrite retaining the shapes of deformed halite cubes. Polyhalite formed from subsequent enhanced fluid migration. Mudrock provided water by dewatering, while potassium and magnesium were dissolved from primary salt minerals. When these fluids interacted with sulphates, polyhalite precipitated. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses date the polyhalite from within the retaining shapes of deformed halite hopper-shaped cubes from two localities to ca. 235–232 Ma (Middle Triassic). At this time, ca. 20–25 Ma after sedimentation, polyhalite crystallised at shallow levels.     

柴北缘—南祁连地区构造热事件

对柴北缘路乐河剖面新生代沉积物和山前现代河沙中碎屑的锆石U-Pb同位素热年代学研究表明:研究区物源区发育～260、～450、500～600、800～900Ma 4个主要年龄峰值和～1.8、2.5～2.6Ga 2个较小的年龄峰值。结合研究区已有的同位素年龄数据提出:柴北缘—南祁连地区在二叠纪中—晚期遭受了一次较强烈的低温区域构造热事件的改造;柴北缘高压榴辉岩及其相关的地质体隆升到地表的时间晚于上新世;柴北缘—南祁连地区先后主要经历了800～900 Ma的Rodinia超大陆裂解事件,500～600 Ma的泛非区域变质事件和～450Ma的俯冲碰撞变质事件;柴北缘—南祁连地区的主要构造热事件发生在元古代,主要集中在500～600Ma和800～900Ma,表明柴北缘—南祁连地区的前寒武纪基底性质与扬子板块相似,与华北板块完全不同。