Functional Performance of Three Invasive <Emphasis Type="Italic">Marenzelleria</Emphasis> Species Under Contrasting Ecological Conditions Within the Baltic Sea

A 4-week laboratory experiment investigated the behaviour (survival and bioirrigation) and impact of the invasive polychaetes Marenzelleria viridis, M. neglecta and M. arctia on sediment-water solutes exchange, porewater chemistry, and Fe and P interactions in high-salinity sandy sediment (HSS) and low-salinity muddy sediment (LSM) from the Baltic Sea. M. viridis showed deep burrowing with efficient bioirrigation (11 L m^?2 day^?1) and high survival (71%) in HSS, while M. arctia exhibited shallow burrowing with high bioirrigation (12 L m^?2 day^?1) and survival (88%) in LSM. M. neglecta behaved poorly in both ecological settings (bioirrigation, 5–6 L m^?2 day^?1; survival, 21–44%). The deep M. viridis bioirrigation enhanced total microbial CO₂ (TCO₂) production in HSS by 175% with a net efflux of NH₄⁺ and PO₄^3?, at rates 3- to 27-fold higher than for the other species. Although the shallow and intense bioirrigation of M. arctia in LSM stimulated microbial TCO₂ production to some extent (61% enhancement), the nutrient fluxes close to zero indicate that it effectively prevented the P release. Porewater Fe:PO₄^3? ratios revealed that the oxidizing effect of M. arctia bioirrigation increased the PO₄^3? adsorption capacity of LSM twofold relative to defaunated controls while no buffering of PO₄^3? was detected in M. viridis HSS treatment. Therefore, the different behaviour of the three species in various environments and the sharp contrast between M. viridis and M. arctia effects on C, N and P cycling must be considered carefully when the ecological role of Marenzelleria species in the Baltic Sea is evaluated.     

Computer algebra solution of the GPS N-points problem

A computer algebra solution is applied here to develop and evaluate algorithms for solving the basic GPS navigation problem: finding a point position using four or more pseudoranges at one epoch (the GPS N-points problem). Using Mathematica 5.2 software, the GPS N-points problem is solved numerically, symbolically, semi-symbolically, and with Gauss–Jacobi, on a work station. For the case of N > 4, two minimization approaches based on residuals and distance norms are evaluated for the direct numerical solution and their computational duration is compared. For N = 4, it is demonstrated that the symbolic computation is twice as fast as the iterative direct numerical method. For N = 6, the direct numerical solution is twice as fast as the semi-symbolic, with the residual minimization requiring less computation time compared to the minimization of the distance norm. Gauss–Jacobi requires eight times more computation time than the direct numerical solution. It does, however, have the advantage of diagnosing poor satellite geometry and outliers. Besides offering a complete evaluation of these algorithms, we have developed Mathematica 5.2 code (a notebook file) for these algorithms (i.e., Sturmfel’s resultant, Dixon’s resultants, Groebner basis, reduced Groebner basis and Gauss–Jacobi). These are accessible to any geodesist, geophysicist, or geoinformation scientist via the GPS Toolbox () website or the Wolfram Information Center ().

A method for quantitative pyrite abundance in mine rock piles by powder X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement

The abundance of pyrite and other sulfide minerals in mine rock piles is a potentially significant if not a determinative factor in terms of the geochemical and geomechanical evolution of the dumps as oxidation produces acid solutions that drive hydrolysis reactions. A technique is presented here that supports the quantitative determination of pyrite abundance in mine rock dumps by heavy liquid mineral separation to concentrate pyrite for powder X-ray diffraction and then Rietveld method refinement of the diffraction data on a large number of samples using commonly available laboratory equipment. In order to improve and constrain the accuracy of XRD results, binary (pyrite-quartz) and 6-part mineral mixtures (pyrite and rock-forming andesite minerals) spanning a wide range of pyrite concentrations were prepared gravimetrically and run as standards. These standards were then used to minimize errors in pyrite abundance data by constraining key input parameters in the Rietveld refinement. A new polynomial relationship was derived between diffracting crystallite size and the Brindley microabsorption correction input size. This method provides a means to determine uncertainties in pyrite abundance, whereas conventional Rietveld refinement techniques done without the use of standards yield only statistical measures of the least-squares fit, rather than absolute uncertainties in mineral constituent weight percentages. The technique was applied to a number of mine rock pile samples and the uncertainty in the results determined by applying the relationship derived from the 6-part gravimetric standards to the results of the Brindley corrected Rietveld refinements. Uncertainties determined by this method are found to be on the order of ±10% for samples with pyrite content greater than 10 wt% and ±30% for samples with pyrite content less than 10 wt%. In order to evaluate the technique’s improvement upon traditional visual mineral abundance estimation the quantitative results are compared to manual volumetric estimates.     

Determination of Rare Earth Elements in Geological Reference Materials: A Comparative Study by INAA and ICP-MS

Data was obtained for the rare earth elements (REE) by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in twenty geological reference materials. In general, the precision obtained by ICP-MS is better for the light REE, decreasing with increasing atomic number. This is partly a result of the occurrence of the heavy REE at low concentrations. The precision of the data obtained by INAA is good (5% RSD). The data obtained also showed that for the elements determined by both methods, the accuracy is similar for the light REE and better for the middle and heavy REEs by INAA. Higher uncertainty is achieved by ICP-MS mainly for elements at very low concentrations, occurring at about ten times the chondritic values.     

Are fiddler crabs potentially useful ecosystem engineers in mangrove wastewater wetlands?

The effect of different organic-rich sewage concentration (0%, 20% and 60% diluted in seawater) and absence or presence of mangrove trees on the survival, bioturbation activities and burrow morphology of fiddler crabs species was assessed. After 6 months, males of both species always showed higher survival (80%) when compared to females (20%). Crabs inhabiting pristine conditions achieved higher survival (67–87%) than those living in sewage-exposed mesocosms (40–71%). At 60% sewage loading, fiddler crabs processed less sediment (34–46%) during feeding and excavated slightly more sediment (45–80%) than at pristine conditions. While percent volume of the burrow chambers increased (13–66%) at contaminated mesocosms for both vegetation conditions, burrows were shallower (33%) in bare cells loaded with sewage. The results show that fiddler crabs presented moderate mortality levels in these artificial mangrove wetlands, but mainly in sewage impacted cells. However, they still function as ecosystem engineers through bioturbation activities and burrow construction.     

Numerical support of laboratory experiments: Attenuation and velocity estimations

We show that numerical support of laboratory experiments can significantly increase the understanding and simplify the interpretation of the obtained laboratory results. First we perform simulations of the Seismic Wave Attenuation Module to measure seismic attenuation of reservoir rocks. Our findings confirm the accuracy of this system. However, precision can be further improved by optimizing the sensor positions. Second, we model wave propagation for an ultrasonic pulse transmission experiment used to determine pressure- and temperature-dependent seismic velocities in the rock. Multiple waves are identified in our computer experiment, including bar waves. The metal jacket that houses the sample assembly needs to be taken into account for a proper estimation of the ultrasonic velocities. This influence is frequency-dependent.     

Spatiotemporal analysis of NORA10 data of significant wave height

This paper presents a spatiotemporal analysis performed by applying a Bayesian hierarchical model on NORA10 data of significant wave height. The model has previously been applied to corrected ERA-40 data of significant wave height and was generally found to perform well. However, a new set of high-resolution significant wave height data has recently become available, which is believed to be an improvement compared to the C-ERA-40 data, and a similar spatiotemporal analysis is performed on this new data set. NORA10 differs from C-ERA-40 in various ways and in particular the spatial resolution is significantly increased. Hence, one main motivation for the study presented in this paper is to investigate how the model performs on data with very high spatial resolution. In particular, the model contains a separate component for identifying long-term trends in the wave climate, possibly due to climate change. For the C-ERA-40 data, significant increasing trends were detected in the selected area in the North Atlantic Ocean. These trends are not reproduced in the NORA10 data, but there are differences in geographical and temporal coverage that may, at least partly, explain such differences. The new analysis and the results pertaining to the NORA10 data are presented in this paper.