Review: Occurrence of the pathogenic amoeba <Emphasis Type="Italic">Naegleria fowleri</Emphasis> in groundwater

Naegleria fowleri is a thermophilic free-living amoeba found worldwide in soils and warm freshwater. It is the causative agent of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a nearly always fatal disease afflicting mainly children and young adults. Humans are exposed to the organism via swimming, bathing, or other recreational activity during which water is forcefully inhaled into the upper nasal passages. Although many studies have looked at the occurrence of N. fowleri in surface waters, limited information is available regarding its occurrence in groundwater and geothermally heated natural waters such as hot springs. This paper reviews the current literature related to the occurrence of N. fowleri in these waters and the methods employed for its detection. Case reports of potential groundwater exposures are also included. Despite increased interest in N. fowleri in recent years due to well-publicized cases linked to drinking water, many questions still remain unanswered. For instance, why the organism persists in some water sources and not in others is not well understood. The role of biofilms in groundwater wells and plumbing in individual buildings, and the potential for warming due to climate change to expand the occurrence of the organism into new regions, are still unclear. Additional research is needed to address these questions in order to better understand the ecology of N. fowleri and the conditions that result in greater risks to bathers.     

Reply to the Discussion by Rose of Phelps et al. (2014) ‘Oceanographic and eustatic control of carbonate platform evolution and sequence stratigraphy on the Cretaceous (Valanginian–Campanian) passive margin,northern Gulf of Mexico’, Sedimentology, 61, 461–496

Discussion points raised by Rose ( 2016 ) concentrate on late Albian stratigraphic relationships between formations of the East Texas Basin and the San Marcos Arch of the Comanche Platform in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Criticisms of Phelps et al. (2014) regarding stratigraphic nomenclature, palaeogeography and regional lithostratigraphic correlations generally focus on interpretive aspects of the study or do not account for the full scope of published information. Revisions to the top Aptian–Albian Supersequence boundary by Rose are incompatible with the relative location of a subaerial unconformity, as well as deepening lithofacies trends and retrogradational stratigraphic patterns below the interpreted boundary. Rose's placement of the top Aptian–Albian Supersequence boundary precisely at the Albian–Cenomanian stage boundary also implies ca 1·4 Ma of diachroneity in second order sea‐level patterns between the northern Gulf of Mexico and other documented global sedimentary basins.     

Synergy of multiple geophysical approaches to unravel explosive eruption conduit and source dynamics - A case study from Stromboli

An effective approach to understanding the dynamics of explosive volcanic eruptions and the conduit systems that drive them is through synergy of multiple data sets. Three data sets that lend themselves to ease of integration are seismic, infrasonic and thermal. Although approaches involving these data have been used to record volcanological phenomena since 1862, 1955 and 1965, respectively, their integrated use has only developed since 1999. When combined, these three data sets allow constraint of shallow system geometry and the dynamics of the explosive events that occur within that system. Using Stromboli volcano (Italy) as a case study, we review the complete range of geochemical and geophysical studies that can be applied. In doing so, we aim to show how integration of these diverse studies allows insights into a plumbing system and the dynamics of the eruptive activity that the system feeds. When combined at Stromboli, these data provide constraint of multiple system parameters including chamber depths, gas and magma fluxes, shallow system magma residence times, explosion source depths, and the rise/ejection velocities of ascending gas slugs and ejecta. In turn, these results allow various conduit and eruption dynamic models to be applied and tested.The persistent and repeated mildly explosive events that characterize Stromboli have been modeled in terms of the coalescence of gas within the magma to form large gas slugs that ascend the remaining portion of the conduit to burst at the free surface. Our integrated seismic, infrasonic and thermal data sets indicate that gas coalescence occurs at a depth of ∼260 m, with a typical event frequency of ∼9/h. Infrasonic and thermal data show the explosion source to be located 20-220 m below the vent. Thermal data give emission velocities for the ejected fragments of 8-20 m/s, which converts to gas jet velocities of 23-39 m/s. Tracking these parameters in space and time shows that, although eruptions at Stromboli can be grouped into two characteristic types (simple and complex-each of which characterizes a particular crater, NE and SW, respectively), events within each type show significant short-term variability. The system does, however, appear robust, maintaining its characteristic strombolian eruption style after significant effusive phases and more energetic explosive events.     

Geophysical Finite-Element Simulation Tool (GeoFEST): Algorithms and Validation for Quasistatic Regional Faulted Crust Problems

GeoFEST (Geophysical Finite Element Simulation Tool) is a two- and three-dimensional finite element software package for the modeling of solid stress and strain in geophysical and other continuum domain applications. It is one of the featured high-performance applications of the NASA QuakeSim project. The program is targeted to be compiled and run on UNIX systems, and is running on diverse systems including sequential and message-passing parallel systems. Solution to the elliptical partial differential equations is obtained by finite element basis sampling, resulting in a sparse linear system primarily solved by conjugate gradient iteration to a tolerance level; on sequential systems a Crout factorization for the direct inversion of the linear system is also supported. The physics models supported include isotropic linear elasticity and both Newtonian and power-law viscoelasticity, via implicit quasi-static time stepping. In addition to triangular, quadrilateral, tetrahedral and hexahedral continuum elements, GeoFEST supports split-node faulting, body forces, and surface tractions. This software and related mesh refinement strategies have been validated on a variety of test cases with rigorous comparison to analytical solutions. These include a box-shaped domain with imposed motion on one surface, a pair of strike slip faults in stepover arrangement, and two community-agreed benchmark cases: a strike slip fault in an enclosing box, and a quarter-domain circular fault problem. Scientific applications of the code include the modeling of static and transient co- and post-seismic earth deformation, Earth response to glacial, atmospheric and hydrological loading, and other scenarios involving the bulk deformation of geologic media.     

Modeling basin-scale hydrology in support of physical climate and global biogeochemical studies: An example using the Zambezi River

Human activity is an important agent defining the contemporary hydrologic cycle. We have documented the potential impacts of impoundment, land use change and climate change on the Zambezi River system in southern Africa and found that they can be substantial. A full analysis requires construction and parameterization of a simulation for the entire catchment. This paper develops a strategy for implementing catchment-scale models of the major hydrologic processes operating within the basin. A coherent data set for calibrating the models has also been assembled. The algorithms consist of a Water Balance (WBM) and a Water Transport (WTM) operating at 1/2^o spatial scale and at monthly timesteps. These models transform complex patterns of regional climatology into estimates of soil water, evapotranspiration, runoff, and discharge through rivers of various size. The models are dependent on the characteristics of the terrestrial surface, principally soil texture and land cover. A simulated river network is also required. Additional tabular data sets are essential for model testing and calibration. These include subcatchment areas; observed river discharge at selected points; flooding, storage and loss characteristics of major wetlands; floodwave translation; and, volume, surface area, withdrawal and evaporative losses from impoundments. An important design consideration for the numerous impoundments in the Zambezi requires an understanding of the seasonal variation in discharge, in particular how it might respond to climate and land use change. The research strategy offered here lays a framework for addressing such issues. Although the primary focus of this work is hydrologic, we discuss how the model can be extended to consider constituent transport and biogeochemical cycling issues at the continental scale.     

The Néel transition and magnetic properties of terrestrial,synthetic, and lunar ilmenites

The magnetic susceptibility of a terrestrial, synthetic and lunar ilmenite specimen has been measured from 4 to 300 K. All specimens had a single Néel temperature transition which ranged from 56 to 57.7 K. In one case the powdered specimen was partially aligned in the magnetic field prior to the susceptibility measurements and the Néel transition was observed to shift to 60 K indicating magnetic anisotropy. A study of several magnetic parameters calculated from the experimental data showed gross impurities in the terrestrial specimen, single-domain to multi-domain metallic iron in the synthetic specimen, and a small amount of superparamagnetic metallic iron in the lunar sample. No multidomain iron was observed in the lunar ilmenite. The results of electron spin resonance measurements were also in general agreement with these findings. Because of the absence of Fe³⁺ compared to most terrestrial samples it is suggested that the anisotropic magnetic parameters be determined on lunar ilmenite when a large enough single crystal becomes available.     

The impact of drilling fluid and well cuttings on polychaete feeding guilds from the US northeastern continental shelf

The effect of recent drilling operations (fluid and well cuttings) on polychaete feeding guilds from the continental shelf off Atlantic City, New Jersey, was examined. Although there were some adverse effects on macrobenthos from 2160 metric tons of cuttings and mud solids discharged into the marine environment, the composition of polychaete feeding guilds remained essentially unchanged. This key trophic relationship between polychaetes and the changing environment due to the drilling operation was apparently uninterrupted. This relationship remains to be examined in other natural and perturbed habitats.