Carbon stock assessment of mangrove ecosystems in Batticaloa Lagoon,Sri Lanka,with different degrees of human disturbances

This article presents a carbon stock assessment to illustrate the organic carbon distribution and storage within mangrove ecosystems in Sri Lanka. The living tree biomass and soil carbon pools were investigated in three sites with varying degree of human disturbance in Batticaloa Lagoon. Soil carbon content was derived by the Walkley Black method from soil samples and mangrove trees were measured for calculations in general allometric equations. The mangroves that were extremely converted into a shrimp farm in Kokkaddicholai recorded a carbon (C) stock of 100.9 kg m‐2. Dominated by the poisonous Excoecaria agallocha stands, the regenerating mangroves in Manmunai Bridge Island hosted the largest C stock measuring 786.4 kg C m‐2. The Kannankudah site—dominated by Avicennia marina, Lumnitzera racemosa and Excoecaria agallocha stands, recorded a C stock of 593.1 kg C m‐2. Cuts and stumps indicated wood harvesting for local livelihoods. The soil C content pool contributed most significantly to the total C stock, with the top 30 cm containing the largest C concentration in all soil profiles. The soil carbon content was highest (5.1 per cent) in Kannankudah, second highest (3.6 per cent) in the disturbed but regenerating forest at Manmunai Bridge Island, and the lowest (0.3 per cent) at the converted site of Kokkaddicholai.     

Advancing development projects through mega-events: the 2010 football World Cup and bus rapid transit in South Africa

In 2010, the focus of the sporting world was on South Africa, the first African country to host a Football World Cup, and the largest mega-event ever held on the continent. Mega-events like the World Cup have become instruments for governments seeking material improvements to highways and telecommunications as well as the more elusive nation-building and sanguine legacies. Whereas the literature typically concentrates on stadia and sports-related infrastructure, this paper focuses on bus rapid transit (BRT) as an “indirect legacy” to understand the way in which cities exploit the financial and political capital made available to advance projects long delayed behind more pressing endeavors. The compressed time horizons, unlocked financing and focused planning can be a “mixed blessing” however by limiting the scope of the project to the event. The paper concludes that in South Africa advancing development through the World Cup reinforced state authority and legitimacy.     

Meridional Motions and Reynolds Stress Determined by Using Kanzelhöhe Drawings and White Light Solar Images from 1964 to 2016

Sunspot position data obtained from Kanzelhöhe Observatory for Solar and Environmental Research (KSO) sunspot drawings and white light images in the period 1964 to 2016 were used to calculate the rotational and meridional velocities of the solar plasma. Velocities were calculated from daily shifts of sunspot groups and an iterative process of calculation of the differential rotation profiles was used to discard outliers. We found a differential rotation profile and meridional motions in agreement with previous studies using sunspots as tracers and conclude that the quality of the KSO data is appropriate for analysis of solar velocity patterns. By analyzing the correlation and covariance of meridional velocities and rotation rate residuals we found that the angular momentum is transported towards the solar equator. The magnitude and latitudinal dependence of the horizontal component of the Reynolds stress tensor calculated is sufficient to maintain the observed solar differential rotation profile. Therefore, our results confirm that the Reynolds stress is the dominant mechanism responsible for transport of angular momentum towards the solar equator.     

Glacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet and a local ice cap in Qaanaaq,northwest Greenland

In this study, we present new information on the glacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and a local ice cap in Qaanaaq, northwest Greenland. We use geomorphological mapping, ¹⁰Be exposure dating of boulders, analysis of lake cores, and ¹⁴C dating of reworked marine molluscs and subfossil plants to constrain the glacial history. Our ¹⁴C ages of reworked marine molluscs reveal that the ice extent in the area was at or behind its present‐day position from 42.2 ± 0.4 to 30.6 ± 0.3k cal a BP after which the GrIS expanded to its maximum position during the Last Glacial Maximum. We find evidence of early ice retreat in the deep fjord (Inglefield Bredning) at 11.9 ± 0.6 ka whereas the Taserssuit Valley was deglaciated ~4 ka later at 7.8 ± 0.1k cal a BP. A proglacial lake record suggests that the local ice cap survived the Holocene Thermal Maximum but moss kill‐dates reveal that it was smaller than present for a period of time before 3.3 ± 0.1k until 0.9 ± 0.1k cal a BP, following which the ice in the area expanded towards its Little Ice Age extent. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical solution of nonlinear equations in chemical speciation calculations

Speciation calculations involve the computation of the concentration of each individual chemical species in a multicomponent–multiphase chemical system. The numerical problem is to solve a system of coupled linear and nonlinear equations subject to the constraint that all unknowns are positive. The performance and accuracy of a series of nonlinear equation solvers are evaluated: A quasi-Newton method with the global step determined by different line search and trust region algorithms, the conjugate gradient method with the global step determined by line search, and the solvers in the codes TENSOLVE, CONMIN and LBFGS.     

南大西洋中脊26°S热液区成矿物质来源探讨

南大西洋中脊的26°S热液区广泛发育多金属硫化物、底泥、枕状熔岩、非活动性烟囱体和活动性烟囱体。为了有效探索硫、铜等成矿物质的来源以及成矿作用过程,分别以玄武岩、烟囱体残片及块状多金属硫化物为研究对象,开展了熔融包裹体、硫同位素和铜同位素研究。结果显示：区内玄武岩新鲜未蚀变且斑晶中产出大量熔融包裹体;熔融包裹体气泡壁附着黄铜矿、黄铁矿及磁铁矿等子矿物,说明在岩浆作用过程中可从熔浆中分离出成矿所需的金属元素和硫,这些成矿元素随着岩浆去气作用进入挥发分中,并随着脱气作用迁移出来。通过对烟囱体残片及块状多金属硫化物中黄铁矿的硫同位素组成进行比对分析,发现26°S热液区内硫化物的硫同位素与大西洋各热液区硫化物的硫同位素变化范围相一致,但δ³⁴S_V-CDT值略低（3.0‰~3.9‰）。低的δ³⁴S_V-CDT值指示硫以岩浆硫源为主,海水硫酸盐还原硫占比低。黄铜矿呈现略微富铜重同位素特征且分馏程度较低,其δ⁶⁵Cu值（0.171‰~0.477‰）趋近于大洋中脊玄武岩的铜同位素值（0）。综合硫同位素及铜同位素特征,表明热液流体经历了岩浆和海水的混合过程,成矿物质主要来自于岩浆热液,成矿作用过程中可能有少量海水混入。     

Impacts of irrigation on dry season precipitation in India

There is a lack of observed data-based studies examining the role of enhanced soil moisture conditions (due to irrigation) on the prevailing precipitation. Therefore, in the present study, we have examined the impacts of the Green Revolution (GR) related expansion of irrigation and changes in dry season (the rabi (November to May) and the zaid (March to June)) precipitation in India. The results for some regions indicated decreasing and increasing trend in precipitation during the pre- and post-GR periods, respectively. For example, in eastern Madhya Pradesh, the pre- and post-GR precipitation trends for the zaid season were ?0.45 and 2.40?mm?year^?1, respectively. On the other hand, some regions reported lower rate of decline in precipitation during the post-GR period. This paper suggests that both positive and lower declining trend during the post-GR period were linked to increased precipitation due to the introduction of irrigation. The study has found up to 69?mm (121%) increase in total amount of precipitation for growing seasons during the post-GR period. Moreover, a 175% increase in average precipitation was also recorded. All irrigated regions show a notable increase in precipitation during post-GR growing seasons. It was found that differences in growing season average precipitation between the pre- and post-GR periods were statistically significant for most of the regions. For further verification of results, the MM5 and Noah land surface model were applied. These applications show changes in precipitation and various precipitation controlling factors due to changes in soil moisture.     

Effects of an Acute Hypoxic Event on Microplankton Community Structure in a Coastal Harbor of Southern California

Fish mortality and hypoxic events occur in many coastal and inland systems and may result from natural or anthropogenically mediated processes. The effects of consequent changes in water biogeochemistry have been investigated for communities of benthic invertebrates and pelagic metazoans. The responses of micro-plankton assemblages, however, have remained largely unstudied. The northern basin of King Harbor, a small embayment within Santa Monica Bay, CA, USA, suffered a massive fish kill in March 2011 as a consequence of acute hypoxia. Dissolved oxygen concentrations < 0.1 ml?l^?1 were measured in the northern basin of the harbor for several days following the mortality event, and a strong spatial gradient of oxygen was observed from the northern basin to waters outside the harbor. The microplankton community within King Harbor differed significantly from a diatom-dominated community present in neighboring Santa Monica Bay. The latter region appeared unaffected by physicochemical changes, induced by the fish kill, that were observed within the harbor. A trophic shift was observed throughout King Harbor from a photoautotrophic-dominated assemblage to one of heterotrophic forms, with relative abundances of bacterivorous ciliates increasing by more than 80 % in the most impacted part of the harbor. Significant changes in community structure were observed together with dramatically reduced photosynthetic yield of the remaining phytoplankton, indicating severe physiological stress during the extreme hypoxia.     

Dynamics of xenobiotic transformation processes in soil systems: A zero-dimensional system model applied to ethylenethiourea

A zero-dimensional model for the environmental fate of ethylenethiourea (ETU) in soils was formulated. The relevant physicochemical transformation processes were derived from published data, and their dynamics analyzed. Corresponding kinetic submodels for sorption, photodegradation, abiotic oxidation and biodegradation were then developed based on assumptions on the dominant process mechanisms. These submodels, and the overall model of biotic degradation in soil, were applied to literature data with determination coefficients of R² > 0.9, validating the assumed process dynamics.