Coarse-grained chondrule rims in type 3 chondrites

Relatively coarse-grained rims occur around all types of chondrules in type 3 carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites. Those in H-L-LL3 chondrites are composed primarily of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene; those in CV3 chondrites contain much less low-Ca pyroxene. Average grain sizes range from ～4 μm in H-L-LL3 chondrites to ～10 μm in CV3 chondrites. Such rims surround ～50%, ～10% and ≤ 1% of chondrules in CV3, H-L-LL3 and CO3 chondrites, respectively, but are rare (≤1%) around CV3 Ca,Al-rich inclusions. Rim thicknesses average ～150 μm in H-L-LL3 chondrites and ～400 μm in CV3 chondrites.The rims in H-L-LL3 chondrites are composed of material very similar to that which comprises darkzoned chondrules and recrysiallized matrix. Dark-zoned chondrules and coarse-grained rims probably formed in the solar nebula from clumps of opaque matrix material heated to sub-solidus to sub-liquidus temperatures during chondrule formation. Mechanisms capable of completely melting some material while only sintering other material require steep thermal gradients; suitable processes are lightning, reconnecting magnetic field lines and, possibly, aerodynamic drag heating.CV chondrites may have formed in a region where the chondrule formation mechanism was less efficient, probably at greater solar distances than the ordinary chondrites. The lesser efficiency of heating could be responsible for the greater abundance of coarse-grained rims around CV chondrules. Alternatively, CV chondrules may have suffered fewer particle collisions prior to agglomeration.     

Ambient well-bore mixing, aquifer cross-contamination, pumping stress, and water quality from long-screened wells: What is sampled and what is not?

Water quality tests were performed on two long-screened alluvial aquifer wells (15–30 m of screen) that had been completed in a heterogeneous aquifer that exhibits extreme temporal water quality variability. When stressed, the total dissolved solids (TDS) in one well decreased from 10,600 to 3,500 mg/L and in another well the TDS increased from 136 to 2,255 mg/L. Nested short-screened monitoring wells were constructed in chemically distinct horizons affecting each well. Water level measurements and solute and isotopic samples were obtained from the production wells and the monitoring wells during a water quality test. Results of a time drawdown tests demonstrate transmissivity differences between horizons. Ambient water quality in the production wells and aquifer cross-contamination are controlled by well-bore mixing due to head differences of as little as 0.01 m between chemically distinct horizons which are linked by the production well screen. During non-stress periods, the ambient well-bore chemistry is controlled by the horizon with the greatest hydraulic head, whereas during stressed conditions, horizon transmissivity controls the well-bore chemistry. In one well, aquifer cross-contamination, driven by an ambient head differential of 1.2 m, persisted until about 1,600 well-bore volumes were purged.     

Stable carbon-isotopic compositions of lipids isolated from the ammonia-oxidizing chemoautotroph Nitrosomonas europaea

For the ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea, grown autotrophically using semicontinuous culturing, average biomass was depleted in ¹³C relative to CO₂ dissolved in the medium by ca. 20‰ and the total-lipid extract was depleted in ¹³C relative to biomass by 3.7‰. The n-alkyl lipids (weighted average of fatty acids) and isoprenoid lipids (weighted average of hopanoids) were both depleted in ¹³C relative to biomass by about 9‰. The large depletion in the isoprenoid lipids seems to indicate that isotopic fractionations associated with the biosynthesis of methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) affected at least two carbon positions in each isoprene unit. Among the fatty acids, trans-9-hexadecenoic acid was most depleted (13.0‰ relative to biomass), followed by cis-9- hexadecenoic acid (9.6‰) and hexadecanoic acid (6.9‰). Isotopic relationships between the three acids suggest that significant isotope effects were associated with the desaturation and cis to trans isomerization of fatty acids. Given these observations, hopanoids produced by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria growing in natural waters are likely to be depleted in ¹³C by 26–30‰ relative to dissolved CO₂. Since CO₂ at aquatic oxyclines is often depleted in ¹³C, the range of δ values expected for hopanoids is ca. −34‰ to −55‰. The δ values of geohopanoids observed in numerous studies and attributed to unspecified chemoautotrophs fall within this range.     

Proglacial groundwater storage dynamics under climate change and glacier retreat

Proglacial aquifers are an important water store in glacierised mountain catchments that supplement meltwater-fed river flows and support freshwater ecosystems. Climate change and glacier retreat will perturb water storage in these aquifers, yet the climate-glacier-groundwater response cascade has rarely been studied and remains poorly understood. This study implements an integrated modelling approach that combines distributed glacio-hydrological and groundwater models with climate change projections to evaluate the evolution of groundwater storage dynamics and surface-groundwater exchanges in a temperate, glacierised catchment in Iceland. Focused infiltration along the meltwater-fed Virkisá River channel is found to be an important source of groundwater recharge and is projected to provide 14%–20% of total groundwater recharge by the 2080s. The simulations highlight a mechanism by which glacier retreat could inhibit river recharge in the future due to the loss of diurnal melt cycling in the runoff hydrograph. However, the evolution of proglacial groundwater level dynamics show considerable resilience to changes in river recharge and, instead, are driven by changes in the magnitude and seasonal timing of diffuse recharge from year-round rainfall. The majority of scenarios simulate an overall reduction in groundwater levels with a maximum 30-day average groundwater level reduction of 1 m. The simulations replicate observational studies of baseflow to the river, where up to 15% of the 30-day average river flow comes from groundwater outside of the melt season. This is forecast to reduce to 3%–8% by the 2080s due to increased contributions from rainfall and meltwater runoff. During the melt season, groundwater will continue to contribute 1%–3% of river flow despite significant reductions in meltwater runoff inputs. Therefore it is concluded that, in the proglacial region, groundwater will continue to provide only limited buffering of river flows as the glacier retreats.     

The problem of current channelling: A critical review

The notion that currents induced ‘elsewhere’, by external source fields, could wend their way in a frequency-independent ohmic-like manner through a region of interest has been the cause of many recent disputes within the geomagnetic induction community. In particular, two-dimensional (2D) models of the Rhinegraben, and of the region known as the ‘Eskdalemuir anomaly’ in southern Scotland, have been dismissed as erroneous by those who believe that the observations are more correctly interpreted as due to the effects of ‘channelled’ currents rather than ‘induced’ currents. In this review, attention is paid primarily to consider under what circumstances any perturbation of current flow, which may manifest itself as a ‘DC-like’ channelled current, could cause a ‘problem’ for those wishing to interpret their observations. Various concepts are introduced, particularly the ratio of 3D/2D current channelling numbers for the induction problem, which is shown to be the ratio of the length of the 3D body to the skin depth in the host medium. It is stressed that the worker must analyse his data by adequate statistical techniques, and that the simplest physical models possible, that describes the observations, must be sought. Finally, suggestions are made for further work to be undertaken.     

The Ah receptor in marine animals: phylogenetic distribution and relationship to cytochrome P4501A inducibility

In mammals, the induction of cytochrome P4501A forms by chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, chlorinated dibenzofurans, and halogenated biphenyls is under control of a soluble protein known as the Ah (aromatic hydrocarbon) receptor. Little is known about the presence and properties of the Ah receptor in other vertebrate and invertebrate species. In these studies, we sought evidence for an Ah receptor in the liver or liver-equivalent of 20 species of marine and freshwater animals, using the photoaffinity ligand 2-azido-3-[¹²⁵I] iodo-7,8-dibromodibenzo-p-dioxin (N₃[¹²⁵I]Br₂DD). Specific labeling of cytosolic proteins by N₃[¹²⁵I]Br₂DD was observed in seven species of teleost and elasmobranch fish, in PLHC-I fish hepatoma cells, and in beluga whales. No specifically labeled proteins were found in cytosol from two species of agnathan fish nor in any of nine invertebrate species representing eight classes of four phyla. The presence or absence of specifically labeled polypeptides corresponds with the inducibility of cytochrome P4501A and sensitivity to the toxic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and related planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in many of these groups. Thus, Ah receptor function may have arisen early invertebrate evolution and has been conserved from elasmobranch and teleost fish to mammals.     

The effects of beach nourishment on the sandy-beach amphipod Exoediceros fossor: impact and recovery in Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Beach nourishment is increasingly being implemented to address problems of erosion. However, the ecological consequences of nourishment are poorly understood, especially in Australia. In Botany Bay, sand was piped from an intertidal borrow area at Elephant's Trunk to nourish the nearby eroding beach at Towra Point. The effects on an intertidal exoedicerotid amphipod, Exoediceros fossor (Stimpson, 1856), were examined using a beyond-BACI (Before–After, Control–Impact) sampling design. Sampling was conducted before and after engineering operations at sites within the borrow and nourishment locations and multiple control locations. Hypotheses concerning impact and recovery were tested using asymmetrical ANOVAs and two-tailed F-tests. These examined the effects on abundance and spatial variability, respectively. The impact of the engineering operations on abundance was very large at both borrow and nourishment locations. However, recovery started within several weeks and, using space × time interactions as a criterion, appeared to be complete within a year. This conclusion is made cautiously because of low statistical power and because other criteria for recovery suggest that it was not complete at some sites. As beach erosion is likely to increase in severity with rising sea levels and greater storm surges associated with climate change, management authorities will need a better understanding of the ecological effects of beach nourishment.     

Fast kimberlite ascent rates estimated from hydrogen diffusion profiles in xenolithic mantle olivines from southern Africa

Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) analyses of olivines from peridotite xenoliths found in southern African kimberlites indicate 0 to 80 ppm H₂O concentrations. OH absorbance profiles across olivine grains show homogeneous H contents from core to edge for most samples. In one sample the olivines are H-free, while another has olivines characterized by lower H contents at the grain edges compared to the cores, indicating H loss during transport of the xenolith to the surface. Flat or near-flat H profiles place severe constraints on the duration of H loss from olivine grains, with implications for kimberlite magma ascent rates. Diffusion equations were used to estimate times of H loss of about 4 h for the sample with heterogeneous olivine H contents. Resulting kimberlite ascent rates are calculated to be 5-37 m s⁻¹ minimum, although these estimates are highly dependent on volatile contents and degassing behavior of the host kimberlite magma. Xenolithic olivines from alkali basalts generally have lower H contents and more pronounced H diffusion profiles than do those from kimberlites. This difference is likely caused by higher magma temperatures and lower ascent rates of alkali basalts compared to kimberlites.