Heavy metals in stream sediments: Effects of human activities

The content of 11 heavy metals in the sediments of a stream system was determined by atomic absorption analysis. Geochemical phases were investigated using a sequential extraction scheme, and bulk contents were assessed with a single HNO₃ extraction. Certain heavy metals were associated with different geochemical phases. Co, Mn, and Ba concentrated primarily in the carbonate and Mn phases, while all the remaining metals concentrated in the Fe and remnant phases. Features located along the stream system influenced the content of heavy metals. Results from the geochemical phases indicated Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Ag were emitted by one landfill, while Cd, Ba, and Ag were emitted by a second landfill. A wastewater treatment facility appeared to emit Ni and Cu. A stream draining a reservoir and joining the study stream resulted in dilution of the heavy metals in the sediments. A populated area along the study stream appeared to emit Mn. The single HNO₃ extraction procedure is quicker to perform than the sequential extraction but does not indicate the phase associations.     

The deviations of the sea surface from the geoid and their effect on geoid computation

The effects of the deviations of sea surface topography from the geoid are estimated for terrestrial geoid computations as obtained from Stokes' formula. The results are based on an equal-area expansion of Lisitzin's sea surface topography data in a spherical harmonic series. It is realized that those data affect mainly the harmonics of degree n≤10. Consequently, in geoids obtained from combination solutions (where low harmonics are dominated by harmonics as obtained from differential orbit improvement) the sea surface topography effects are relatively small.     

Geodetic high-precision measurements in active tectonic areas; example: The Rhinegraben

Geodetic measurements in the Rhinegraben area are discussed. Repeated levellings, together with horizontal control data, torsion-balance measurements, very dense gravity coverage, tiltmeter observations and a high-precision gravity test net were available in order to test present concepts of the Rhinegraben structure and sources of recent crustal movements. The ambiguities of levelling data are stressed, but investigations of high-precision levelling data clearly indicate subsidence of several centimetres in the graben area, whereas multivariate studies of the data available on the graben shoulders do not indicate any significant movement on the shoulders themselves.     

Mineral phases formed in anoxic sediments by microbial decomposition of organic matter

Microbial decomposition of organic matter in recent sediments of the Landsort Deep—an anoxic basin of the central Baltic Sea—resulted in the formation of a characteristic assemblage of authigenic mineral precipitates of carbonates, sulfides. phosphates and amorphous silica, The dominant crystalline phases are a mixed Mn-carbonate [(Mn_0.85Ca_0.10Mg_0.05)CO₃]. Mn-sulfide [MnS] and Fecarbonate [FeCO₃]. Amorphous Fe-sulfide [FeS]. Mn-phosphate [Mn₃(PO₄)₂] and a mixed Fe-Ca-phosphate [(Fe_0.86Ca_0.14)₃(PO₄)₂] were identified by their chemical compositions only. The variability in composition of these solid phases and their mode of occurrence as a co-existing assemblage constrains the conditions and solution composition from which they precipitated. Estimates of activities for dissolved Fe. Mn. PO₄, CO₃ and S in equilibrium with such an assemblage are close to those found in recent anoxic interstitial water-sediment systems. It is important to have detailed knowledge of the composition and stability conditions of these solid precipitates in order to refine stoichiometric models of interstitial nutrient regeneration in anoxic sediments.     

Comparison of Michigan Basin crude oils

Michigan Basin oils from the Ordovician Trenton, Silurian Niagaran, and Devonian Dundee formations have been geochemically compared by GC, GC-MS, and carbon isotope mass spectrometry. One oil from each formation was selected for detailed analysis which included measurement of individual n-alkane δ¹³C values. The Ordovician and Devonian oils are strikingly similar to one another, yet clearly different from the Silurian oil. This pattern is unexpected because Ordovician and Devonian reservoirs are physically separated by the Silurian strata. From time-temperature considerations, the Devonian oil probably was formed in older strata and has migrated to its present location. Our analyses suggest a common source for the Devonian and Ordovician oils.     

Magmenentwicklung und Dioritbildung im synorogen konsolidierten Grundgebirge des Bergsträßer Odenwaldes

The genesis of synorogeneous, variscian magmatites from the Bergsträsser Odenwald is explained. They are alternating with steep, old metamorphic rocks (schists and schisteous gneisses, partly transformed to plagioclase-blastites). The magmatites are differentiated into an early-orogenic hornblende-basiteseries (gabbro → diorite) and a high-orogenic biotite-flasermagmatite-series (diorite → granite). The hornblende-basite-series is “normally intrusive” with differentiated syntectic members; the biotite-flasermagmatite-series is lithogenic and has been formed by plagioclase-blastesis and anatexis. At the transition to the high-orogenic phase the rocks develop a strong gneissose foliation (due to movements during the emplacement). The structures assimilate, and a protoclastic to primary-gneissic texture is formed. We name the crystalline in this periode of formation briefly “Synorogen”. The diorites from the two series, as well as the dioritoids and aorites (products of “dioritisation”) show converging structures within the Synorogen. The mobile (ultrametamorphic) stage during the dioritisation and granitisation is discussed.     

Rising methane gas bubbles form massive hydrate layers at the seafloor

Extensive methane hydrate layers are formed in the near-surface sediments of the Cascadia margin. An undissociated section of such a layer was recovered at the base of a gravity core (i.e. at a sediment depth of 120 cm) at the southern summit of Hydrate Ridge. As a result of salt exclusion during methane hydrate formation, the associated pore waters show a highly elevated chloride concentration of 809 mM. In comparison, the average background value is 543 mM.A simple transport-reaction model was developed to reproduce the Cl⁻ observations and quantify processes such as hydrate formation, methane demand, and fluid flow. From this first field observation of a positive Cl⁻ anomaly, high hydrate formation rates (0.15-1.08 mol cm⁻² a⁻¹) were calculated. Our model results also suggest that the fluid flow rate at the Cascadia accretionary margin is constrained to 45-300 cm a⁻¹. The amount of methane needed to build up enough methane hydrate to produce the observed chloride enrichment exceeds the methane solubility in pore water. Thus, most of the gas hydrate was most likely formed from ascending methane gas bubbles rather than solely from CH₄ dissolved in the pore water.