Geochemical processes in the Onyx River, Wright Valley, Antarctica: Major ions, nutrients, trace metals

We present data on major ions, nutrients and trace metals in an Antarctic stream. The Onyx River is located in Wright Valley (77-32 S; 161-34 E), one of a group of ancient river and glacier-carved landforms that comprise the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The river is more than 30 km long and is the largest of the glacial meltwater streams that characterize this relatively ice-free region near the Ross Sea. The complete absence of rainfall in the region and the usually small contributions of glacially derived tributaries to the main channel make this a comparatively simple system for geochemical investigation. Moreover, the lack of human impacts, past or present, provides an increasingly rare window onto a pristine aquatic system.For all major ions and silica, we observe increasing concentrations with distance from Lake Brownworth down to the recording weir near Lake Vanda. Chemical weathering rates are unexpectedly high and may be related to the rapid dissolution of ancient carbonate deposits and to the severe physical weathering associated with the harsh Antarctic winter. Of the nutrients, nitrate and dissolved reactive phosphate appear to have quite different sources. Nitrate is enriched in waters near the Lower Wright Glacier and may ultimately be derived from stratospheric sources; while phosphate is likely to be the product of chemical weathering of valley rocks and soils. We confirm the work of earlier investigations regarding the importance of the Boulder Pavement as a nutrient sink.Dissolved Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Cd are present at nanomolar levels and, in all cases, the concentrations of these metals are lower than in average world river water. We hypothesize that metal uptake and exchange with particulate phases along the course of the river may serve as a buffer for the dissolved load. Concurrent study of these three solute classes points out significant differences in the mechanisms and sites of their removal from the Onyx River.     

Geotechnical analysis of paleoseismic shaking using liquefaction features: a major updating

A new methodology is proposed for the geotechnical analysis of strength of paleoseismic shaking using liquefaction effects. The proposed method provides recommendations for selection of both individual and regionally located test sites, provides techniques for validation of field data for use in back-analysis, and presents a recently developed energy-based solution to back-calculate paleoearthquake magnitude and strength of shaking. The proposed method allows investigators to qualitatively assess the influence of post-earthquake density change and aging. The proposed method also describes how the back-calculations from individual sites should be integrated into a regional assessment of paleoseismic parameters.     

GIS goes nano: Vegetation studies in Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract: Vegetation in Antarctica consists mainly of algae, moss and lichen and is interesting to research because of the isolation and extreme growing conditions. An understanding of this vegetation is important for both the management of tourism in Antarctica, and because it provides a potential barometer of global climate and environmental change. This paper demonstrates two applications of GIS to mapping vegetation in Victoria Land, Antarctica. The first application computes the changes that have occurred to the vegetation within a 120 m by 28 m plot between 1962 and 2004. The second application maps and analyses the growth of a lichen specimen (Buellia frigida) during the same period. These applications demonstrate that GIS is a multiscale technology that can be used to detect detailed change in vegetation growth.     

Drought 2002 in Colorado: An Unprecedented Drought or a Routine Drought?

The 2002 drought in Colorado was reported by the media and by public figures, and even by a national drought-monitoring agency, as an exceptionally severe drought. In this paper we examine evidence for this claim. Our study shows that, while the impacts of water shortages were exceptional everywhere, the observed precipitation deficit was less than extreme over a good fraction of the state. A likely explanation of this discrepancy is the imbalance between water supply and water demand over time. For a given level of water supply, water shortages become intensified as water demands increase over time. The sobering conclusion is that Colorado is more vulnerable to drought today than under similar precipitation deficits in the past.     

Heterotrophic denitrification using fluidized bed reactor

Groundwater denitrification was carried out in a fluidized bed reactor. This type of reactor is suited well to conditions of low substrate concentrations and high flow rates which are typical in groundwater denitrification processes. The reactor is characterized by the efficient contact between biomass and substrate, a high biomass concentration, and the absence of clogging or channeling. These characteristics provide for high treatment capacities (10.8 g/(L·d) NO₃^?N) and short retention times (less than 3 minutes) resulting in small reactor volume. Start-up procedure, biomass and nitrate profiles, and biofilm characteristics are presented in this article.     

The liquidus surface of the system forsterite - kalsilite - quartz at 28 kb under dry conditions,in presence of H2O,and of CO2

Summary The system forsterite-kalsilite-quartz (Fo-Ks-Qz) has been studied at 28 kb and variable temperatures in the presence of CO₂ or H₂O and in the absence of volatiles to clarify the role of potassium in mantle phase equilibria. Under dry conditions, the forsterite--enstatite (En)-sanidine (San) peritectic (En + liquid Fo + San) occurs at 1460°C ± 20 °C at Fo₅Ks₆₂Qz₃₃ and the Fo-San-Ks eutectic at 1440 ± 10 °C at (Fo ₆Ks ₆₉Qz ₂₅). Dry melting of forsterite-enstatite-sanidine produces liquids at 1460°C which lie well to the Ks side of the Fo-San join. Under water-saturated-conditions, there is a large liquidus of phlogopite (Ph). The extrapolation of the Fo Ph join to intersect the Fo-Ph reaction boundary defines a thermal divide for liquids trending either towards the Ks-San-Ph or Qz-San-Ph eutectics. Under CO₂-saturated conditions, the olivine-enstatite cotectic moves to much lower SiO₂ compositions, such that the Fo-En-San eutectic occurs < 1260 ± 20 °C at compositions well within Fo--San-Ks field. The experimental study of the system establishes mechanisms through variation of CO₂ H₂O (C-H-0) by which a simplified phlogopite-bearing harzburgite may yield potassic liquids ranging from hypersthenenormative (and fractionating on a path to SiO₂ oversaturation) to strongly leucite (or kalsilite)-normative. The fractionation of hydrous silica-undersaturated liquids may trend either towards SO₂-oversaturated minimum or towards SiO₂-undersaturated minimum depending upon the role of phlogopite.

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Die Liquidusfläche des Systems forsterit-kalsilite-quarz bei 28 kbar unter trockenen bedingungen, sowie bei anwesenheit von H₂O und CO₂

Zusammenfassung Das System Forsterit-Kalsilit-Quarz (Fo-Ks-Qz) wurde bei 28 kbar und variablen Temperaturen in Anwesenheit von CO₂ and H₂O sowie bei Abwesenheit von Volatilen untersucht, um die Rolle des Kaliums in den Phasengleichgewichten des Erdmantels aufzuklären. Unter trockenen Bedingungen liegt das Forsterit-Enstatit(En)-Sani din(San)-Peritektikum (En + liquid -> Fo + San) bei 1460±:E 20°C undFo ₅Ks ₆₂Qz ₃₃ und das Fo-San-Ks Eutektikum bei 1440± 10 °C und Fo₆Ks ₆₉Qz ₂₅. Trockenes Schmelzen von Forsterit-Enstatit-Sanidin erzeugt Schmelzen bei 1460°C, die deutlich auf der Ks-Seite der Linie Fo-San liegen. Unter wassergesättigten Bedingungen besteht ein großer Liquidus für Phlogopit (Ph). Die Extrapolation der Fo-Ph-Linie bis zum Schnitt mit der Grenze der Fo-Ph-Reaktion definiert eine thermische Scheidelinie für Schmelzen, gegen die Eutektika von Ks-San-Ph oderQz-San-Ph zu tendieren. Unter CO₂-Sättigung verschiebt sich das Olivin-Enstatit-Kotektikum zu viel niedrigeren SiO₂-Gehalten, so daß das Fo-En--San-Eutektikum bei 1260°C und Zusammensetzungen klar innerhalb des Fo-San-Ks-Feldes auftritt. Das experimentelle Studium des Systems setzt die Mechanismen durch Variation von CO₂-H₂O (C-H-O) fest, durch welche ein vereinfachter Phlogopit-führender Harzburgit kalibetonte Schmelzen liefern kann, die von Hypersthen-normativ (und auf einem Fraktionierungsweg zu SiO₂-Übersättigung führend) bis zu stark Leuzit-(oder Kalsilit-)normativ variieren. Die Fraktionierung von wäßrigen SiO₂-untersättigten Schmelzen kann je nach der Rolle des Phlogopits entweder gegen ein SiO₂-übersättigtes Minimum oder gegen ein SiO₂-untersättigtes Minimum tendieren.

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With 2 Figures     

Confined fission track lengths in apatite: a diagnostic tool for thermal history analysis

Fission-track ages in apatite are generally accepted as giving a measure of the time over which a sample has been exposed to temperatures below approximately 100° C. A compilation of the lengths of confined fission tracks in a wide variety of apatites from different geological environments has shown that the distribution of confined track lengths can provide unique thermal history information in the temperature range below about 150° C over times of the order of 10⁶ to 10⁹ years. The distribution of confined lengths of freshly produced induced tracks is characterised by a narrow, symmetrical distribution with a mean length of around 16.3 m and a standard deviation of the distribution of approximately 0.9 m. In volcanic and related rocks which have cooled very rapidly, and never been reheated above about 50° C, the distribution is also narrow and symmetric, but with a shorter mean of 14.5 to 15 m, and a standard deviation of the distribution of approximately 1.0 m. In granitic basement terrains which are thought never to have been significantly disturbed thermally, since their original post-emplacement cooling, the distribution becomes negatively skewed, with a mean around 12 or 13 m and a standard deviation between 1.2 and 2 m.This distribution is thought to characterise slow continuous cooling from temperatures in excess of 120° C, to ambient surface temperatures. More complex thermal histories produce correspondingly complex distributions of confined tracks. The continuous production of tracks through time, coupled with the fact that the length of each track shrinks to a value characteristic of the maximum temperature it has experienced, gives a final length distribution which directly reflects the nature of the variation of temperature with time. Most distinctive of the myriad possible forms of the final distribution are the bimodal distributions, which give clear evidence of a two-stage history, including high and low temperature phases. The study of confined length distributions therefore offers invaluable evidence on the meaning of any fission-track age, and bears the potential of providing rigorous constraints on thermal history in the temperature regime below about 150° C. The results of this study strongly suggest that any apatite fission-track age determination should be supported by a confined track length distribution.     

The changing spatial distribution of socio-economic groups employed in manufacturing in Great Britain, 1971–1981

In this paper an attempt is made to study the spatial division of labour in Britain, through an investigation of the changing structure of employment in the manufacturing sector between 1971 and 1981. The separate impacts of loss in the volume of manufacturing employment, change in the balance between production and non-production activities in the occupational structure and the spatial shift of the population employed in manufacturing upon spatial variations in manufacturing employment change are tentatively identified. Data on the socio-economic composition of the population employed in manufacturing from the Small Area Statistics of the Censuses of Population for 1971 and 1981 are used to measure the impact of these processes at the local labour market area (LLMA) scale and to draw conclusions for the future employment prospects of different parts of Britain.