Experimental and modeling study on Cr(VI) transfer from soil into surface runoff

With the development of modern agriculture, large amount of fertilizer and pesticide outflow from farming land causes great waste and serious pollution to surface water and groundwater, and threatens ecological environment and even human life. In this paper, laboratory experiments are conducted to simulate adsorbed Cr(VI) transfer from soil into runoff. A two-layer in-mixing analytical model is applied to analyze laboratory experimental results. A data assimilation (DA) method via the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is used to update parameters and improve modeling results. In comparison with the experimental data, DA updated modeling results are much better than those without the updating. To make predictions better, the inflation method with a constant inflation factor via DA method was used to compensate the fast decrease of ensemble spread partially related to filter inbreeding. Based on the used rainfall and relevant physical principles, the updated value of the incomplete mixing coefficient γ is about 14.0 times of the value of the incomplete mixing coefficient α in experiment 1 and about 7.4 times in experiment 2, while the difference between the flow rate of runoff and infiltration is not so large even after reaching stable infiltration condition. The results indicate the loss of Cr(VI) in soil solute is mainly due to infiltration, rather than surface runoff. With the increase of mixing layer depth, soil adsorption capacity will increase and the loss of soil solute will decrease. The study results provide information for reducing and even preventing the agricultural nonpoint source pollution.     

Generation of zonal flow by resonant Rossby-Haurwitz wave interactions

Starting out with two interacting Rossby-Haurwitz waves, the generation of zonal flow is discussed. It is shown that zonal flow cannot be generated by first or second order interactions between two such waves, unless they are exchanging energy with a third wave within a resonant triad. The generation of zonal flow at second order through resonant triad interactions is subsequently established and studied.     

Simulating flow in karst aquifers at laboratory and sub-regional scales using MODFLOW-CFP

Groundwater flow in a well-developed karst aquifer dominantly occurs through bedding planes, fractures, conduits, and caves created by and/or enlarged by dissolution. Conventional groundwater modeling methods assume that groundwater flow is described by Darcian principles where primary porosity (i.e. matrix porosity) and laminar flow are dominant. However, in well-developed karst aquifers, the assumption of Darcian flow can be questionable. While Darcian flow generally occurs in the matrix portion of the karst aquifer, flow through conduits can be non-laminar where the relation between specific discharge and hydraulic gradient is non-linear. MODFLOW-CFP is a relatively new modeling program that accounts for non-laminar and laminar flow in pipes, like karst caves, within an aquifer. In this study, results from MODFLOW-CFP are compared to those from MODFLOW-2000/2005, a numerical code based on Darcy’s law, to evaluate the accuracy that CFP can achieve when modeling flows in karst aquifers at laboratory and sub-regional (Woodville Karst Plain, Florida, USA) scales. In comparison with laboratory experiments, simulation results by MODFLOW-CFP are more accurate than MODFLOW 2005. At the sub-regional scale, MODFLOW-CFP was more accurate than MODFLOW-2000 for simulating field measurements of peak flow at one spring and total discharges at two springs for an observed storm event.     

Miocene silicic volcanism in southwestern Idaho: geochronology,geochemistry, and evolution of the central Snake River Plain

New ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar geochronology, bulk rock geochemical data, and physical characteristics for representative stratigraphic sections of rhyolite ignimbrites and lavas from the west-central Snake River Plain (SRP) are combined to develop a coherent stratigraphic framework for Miocene silicic magmatism in this part of the Yellowstone ‘hotspot track’. The magmatic record differs from that in areas to the west and east with regard to its unusually large extrusive volume, broad lateral scale, and extended duration. We infer that the magmatic systems developed in response to large-scale and repeated injections of basaltic magma into the crust, resulting in significant reconstitution of large volumes of the crust, wide distribution of crustal melt zones, and complex feeder systems for individual eruptive events. Some eruptive episodes or ‘events’ appear to be contemporaneous with major normal faulting, and perhaps catastrophic crustal foundering, that may have triggered concurrent evacuations of separate silicic magma reservoirs. This behavior and cumulative time-composition relations are difficult to relate to simple caldera-style single-source feeder systems and imply complex temporal-spatial development of the silicic magma systems. Inferred volumes and timing of mafic magma inputs, as the driving energy source, require a significant component of lithospheric extension on NNW-trending Basin and Range style faults (i.e., roughly parallel to the SW–NE orientation of the eastern SRP). This is needed to accommodate basaltic inputs at crustal levels, and is likely to play a role in generation of those magmas. Anomalously high magma production in the SRP compared to that in adjacent areas (e.g., northern Basin and Range Province) may require additional sub-lithospheric processes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. This paper constitutes part of a special issue dedicated to Bill Bonnichsen on the petrogenesis and volcanology of anorogenic rhyolites.     

Localised coherent response of the La Molina basin (Lima,Peru) to earthquakes,and future approaches suggested by Parkway basin (New Zealand) experience

Earthquake records from a 1984 temporary seismograph array set up in La Molina, Lima, Peru, are re-analysed. The array comprised eight three-component geophones; seven soil based and one rock based. Values of horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) for two small earthquakes peaked at around 1.3 Hz. In one distant earthquake, four of the seven soil-based stations showed a peak at 1.25 Hz in soil-to-rock spectral ratio (SSR), the same dominant frequency observed during an aftershock of a damaging earthquake. Because this frequency is not compatible with the shear wave velocity profile attributed to La Molina, and because the spectral peak is confined to a small ground area, it is concluded that the peak is caused by a localised deposit of soft soil. Because the area associated with the spectral peak includes the area of great damage in 1974, it is concluded that coherent monochromatic behaviour is responsible for the damage.     

Geographies of the Firm and Transnational Agro-food Corporations in East Asia

Agro-food transnational corporations (TNCs) are pivotal players in the emergent regulatory structures of the East Asian agro-food system, but there has been little explicit concern to account theoretically or empirically for their prevailing socio-spatial practices and strategies. This paper uses the case of Nestlé in South East Asia to make three claims. First, transnational corporate strategy is best understood as comprising an interaction of restructuring processes within the arenas of production, realisation (sales), and reproduction (corporate finance and investment). Second, the analysis of agro-food transnationals in Asia requires elevated attention to the local regulation of food systems. Third, in Nestlé's case at least, the articulation of global strategies with local arenas of production and markets encourages corporate finance to play a key role in the generation of profit. This is evidenced through the extensive use of intra-firm trade and royalty payments (or, related party transactions) by Nestlé in Thailand.     

Foreign Direct Investment,Ecological Withdrawals,and Natural-Resource-Dependent Economies

This article examines the relationships between foreign direct investment (FDI) and natural resource depletion and natural resource rents for a longitudinal (2005–2013: N?=?125 nations) sample of less developed countries (LDCs). Theoretically, we argue that FDI contributes to increased ecological withdrawals and dependence on the natural resource sector for economic growth within countries. We hypothesized that LDCs with higher levels of FDI would also have higher levels of natural resource depletion and income (i.e., rents). We assess whether this hypothesized relationship holds across nations in our sample for four different natural resource depletion and rents measures (energy, forest, mineral, and total natural resources). We find strong support for our hypotheses regarding natural resource depletion and resource rents, with the exception of energy rents. The outcome lends support to the ecological withdrawal and ecostructural theory of foreign investment dependence perspectives.     

The Intermittently Embedded Herbig Ae/Be Stars ISO and Ground-Based IR Observations

We discuss silicate emission profiles observed with the ISO SWS and ground-based IR observations in a population of intermittently embedded Herbig Ae/Be stars which are viewed edge-on to their polarimetrically identified dust and gas disks. The ISO SWS observations confirm the lack of a simple correlation between system age and the profile shape. Comparison with laboratory silicates suggests that much of the observed variation is due to different annealing histories of the grains. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.