Measurement of the redox speciation of iron in seawater by catalytic cathodic stripping voltammetry

Catalytic cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV) preceded by adsorptive collection of complexes of 1-nitroso-2-napthol (NN) can be used to determine iron in seawater. It is shown here that iron(II) is effectively masked in the presence of 2,2-dipyridyl (Dp) so that iron(III) is measured selectively. The concentration of iron(II) is then calculated as the difference between the concentrations of reactive iron (Fe_R) in the absence and presence of 2 μM Dp, Fe_R being defined as that which was complexed by 20 μM NN at pH 6.9 in the presence of 1.8 mM H₂O₂ and 5 ppm sodium dodecyl sulphate. A 30 min reaction time was allowed for Dp to react with iron(II) in seawater prior to the determination of reactive iron(III) using the same conditions as used for Fe_R. Detection limits of 0.08 nM, 0.077 nM and 0.12 nM were obtained for Fe_R, iron(III) and iron(II), respectively, using a 60 s deposition time.The method was utilised to determine the redox speciation of iron in the northern North Sea. Concentrations of Fe_R ranged between 0.8 and 3.5 nM with nutrient-like depth profiles. Iron(II) was found to be present at concentrations up to 1.2 nM, the highest concentrations occurring in the upper 20 m of the water column.     

Morphology and structure of the Galapagos Rise

Geophysical data collected on three U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office cruises to the Galapagos Rise are presented. These data allow definition of the morphology and structure of the Galapagos Rise.A postulated “hot spot” beneath the Galapagos platform is suggested as the cause of: (1) decreased seismicity along the spreading center for a 400 km E—W distance from the islands; (2) distinctive petro-chemistry of tholeiites from the islands and adjacent oceanic crust generated by the Galapagos Rise; (3) high-amplitude magnetic anomalies in a 1,000 km E—W band including and just north of the Galapagos platform; and (4) morphologic shape and the regionally elevated sea floor of the Galapagos Rise as it approaches the insular platform.     

Effects of atmospheric circulation and boundary layer structure on the dispersion of suspended particulates in the Seoul metropolitan area

Summary A three-dimensional non-hydrostatic numerical model and lagrangian particle model (random walk model) were used to investigate the effects of the atmospheric circulation and boundary layer structure on the dispersion of suspended particulates in the Seoul metropolitan area. Initially, emitted particulate matter rises from the surface of the city towards the top of the convective boundary layer (CBL), owing to daytime thermal heating of the surface and the combined effect of an onshore wind with a westerly synoptic-scale wind. A reinforcing sea-valley breeze directed from the coast toward the city of Seoul, which is enclosed in a basin and bordered by mountains to its east, disperses the suspended particulate matter toward the eastern mountains. Total suspended particulate concentration (TSP) at ground level in the city is very low and relatively high in the mountains. Radiative cooling of the surface produces a shallow nocturnal surface inversion layer (NSIL) and the suspended particulate matter still present near the top of the CBL from the previous day, sinks to the surface. An easterly downslope mountain wind is directed into the metropolitan area, transporting particulate matter towards the city, thereby recycling the pollutants. The particulates descending from the top of the NSIL and mountains, combine with particulates emitted near the surface over the city at night, and under the shallow NSIL spread out, resulting in a maximum ground level concentration of TSP in the metropolitan area at 2300 LST. As those particles move toward the Yellow Sea through the topographically shaped outlet west of Seoul city under the influence of the easterly land breeze, the maximum TSP concentration occurs at the coastal site. During the following morning, onshore winds resulting from a combined synoptic-scale westerly wind and westerly sea breeze, force particulates dispersed the previous night to move over the adjacent sea and back over the inland metropolitan area. The recycled particulates combine with the particulates emitted from the surface in the central part of the metropolitan area, producing a high TSP and again rise towards the top of the CBL ready to repeat the cycle.     

Recent volcanism at Schonchin and Cinder Buttes,northern California

Recent volcanism on the northern flank of the Medicine Lake Highland consists of a series of basalt to andesite spatter and cinder cones and their associated flows. Two particular structures, Cinder Butte and Schonchin Butte, have erupted materials that are very similar in terms of age, volume, modal mineralogy, and many major and trace elements. Significant differences with respect to TiO₂, K₂O, P₂O₅, Sr, Ba, Zr, and LREE can be related to possible changes in the mineralogy within the source region of these volcanic rocks. Apatite and priderite are the two minor constituents that best satisfy the constraints set by the mineral and chemical data. An inhomogeneous upper mantle or lower crust beneath the Medicine Lake Highland is indicated.     

Sediment records as archives of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene hydrological change in the alluvial Narmada River basin, western India

The rivers of western India are monsoon dominated and have been so throughout the late Quaternary. Sediment accumulation in these river basins has been controlled by climatic and tectonic changes over a time span from the Late Pleistocene to the recent. The lithofacies assemblages associated with the various sediment archives in the Narmada basin range from the boulders of the alluvial fans to overbank fines on the alluvial plains. Estimates, based on clast size, of stream power and competence, bed shear stress and discharge reveal that hydrological conditions during the Late Pleistocene (∼90 ka) were comparable to the present day. The size of the transported clasts and the thickness of the accumulated sediment indicate the influence of basin subsidence rather than an increase in discharge. Discharge estimates based on sedimentary structures preserved in the alluvial-plain facies suggest that the channel had a persistent flow, with a low width-depth ratio and large meander wavelength. The hydrological changes during the Holocene are more pronounced where the early Holocene is marked by a high-intensity hydrological regime that induced erosion and incision of the earlier sediments. The mid-Holocene stream channel was less sinuous and had a higher width-depth ratio and a higher meander amplitude in comparison with the present-day channel. Palaeo-fluvial reconstructions based on the sediment archives in the alluvial reach of the river basin are important tools in understanding the long-term hydrological changes and the intricate fluvial architecture preserved in the Narmada River basin ensures scope for detailed studies to identify phases of weak and enhanced hydrological regimes.     

32Si dating of sediments from Lake Baikal

We applied the ³²Si dating technique to a sediment core from Lake Baikal to obtain the sediment chronology for the last millennium. The core was recovered about 4 km offshore from the north slope of the South Basin in 1,366 m water depth. The sediment material consisted of continuously accumulated diatom-rich geogenic-terrigenous mud, intercalated with a number of dark olive-grey turbidite layers. The sediment layers containing the turbidites were excluded from ³²Si sampling to obtain the chronology that is representative of the continuous sedimentation. The initial ³²Si activity of 31.3 dpm kg^?1 SiO₂, measured in sediment trap samples, confirms the trend of ³²Si specific activities of biogenic silica found in other Northern Hemisphere lakes. The four sediment core samples from depth 0–48 cm have ³²Si specific activities between 23.5 and 0.5 dpm kg^?1 SiO₂, with corresponding ages between 60 and 860 years and constant sedimentation rate of 0.036 ± 0.004 cm year^?1 over the most recent 800 years. ³²Si allowed us for the first time to date the uppermost turbidites in the South Basin of Lake Baikal, to 1030, 1310 and 1670 ad. Given these dates, the last long-distance turbidity current triggered by slope instabilities had occurred 330 years before 2000 ad, and the intervals between the 1310 and 1670 ad event and between the 1030 and 1310 ad event were 360 and 280 years, respectively. The ³²Si ages allow unprecedented time resolution for reconstruction of the former environmental and climatic conditions during the past millennium.     

The Mafic and Ultramafic Lavas of the Belingwe Greenstone Belt, Rhodesia

The Belingwe Greenstone Belt (2.8 x 10⁹ yrs old) contains a7 km succession of mafic and ultramafic lavas and high-levelintrusions which overlie a thin sedimentary formation, itselfunconformable on a granitic basement. The lavas range in compositionfrom andesites (4 per cent MgO) to peridotitic komatiites (32per cent MgO). The mineralogy and textures of the most magnesianlavas demonstrate that they were extruded in a completely liquidstate. If the source mantle had an MgO content around 40 percent, then partial melts in the range 35 per cent to 55 percent would be required to produce the most magnesian liquidsobserved. Chemical constraints on the petrogenesis of the ultramafic lavasallow estimates of source mantle composition. In particular,if the source had an MgO content around 40 per cent, then theoverall source composition would be similar to that of garnetIherzolite nodules in kimberlites. The calculated REE contentsof the source are close to chondritic. If all the ultramaficlavas were derived from the same source then the variation inliquid composition may have been controlled by orthopyroxeneas well as olivine during partial melting at depth. The evolutionof the less magnesian komatiites, basalts, and andesites canbe explained by lower degrees of partial melting of a commonsource, and by high-level fractionation of parent liquids similarto those extruded as ultramafic lavas. Physical constraints on the origin of the lavas imply derivationfrom a depth of 150 km or more, at temperatures of 1600–2000°C.     

Luminescence dating of a gigantic palaeolandslide in the Gobi-Altay mountains, Mongolia

In an attempt to date a palaeolandslide that took place along the Baga Bogd Massif, in Mongolia, the infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) method has been applied to lacustrine silty sediments directly overlying the landslide mass. The IRSL age estimates obtained on alkali feldspar grains (>40 μm) and polymineral fine grains (4–11 μm) provide a minimum age for the landslide event. The IRSL ages on alkali feldspars corrected for long-term fading using the protocol of Mejdahl (1988, 1989) suggest that the palaeolandslide occurred at the beginning of the Last Interglacial. These are in good agreement with the ¹⁰Be cosmogenic dates obtained on faulted and abandoned alluvial fans in the Gobi-Altay mountains. This study demonstrates for the first time that the IRSL dating method can successfully be applied for establishing landslide chronologies.     

Highly excited hydrogen lines in stellar spectra. I

The solution of the hydrogenic Schrödinger equation are given with two boundary conditions imposed on the wave function, for distances of the order of magnitude of one hundred times the Bohr radius from the central nucleus. Thus the shifts and splitting of the H-H₂₆ lines are given which arise from the non-vacant environment. The Inglis-Teller limit is revised since from the shifts it follows that it gives a correct charged particle density only in the case of extremely high electron and ion densities. The gas density is derived from the number of the visible Balmer lines, and usually the widths and the contours but not the coalescence include information on the charged particle density.