Predicting riverine dissolved silica fluxes to coastal zones from a hyperactive region and analysis of their first-order controls

Silicate weathering and resulting transport of dissolved matter influence the global carbon cycle in two ways. First by the uptake of atmospheric/soil CO₂ and second by providing the oceanic ecosystems via the fluvial systems with the nutrient dissolved silica (DSi). Previous work suggests that regions dominated by volcanics are hyperactive or even “hot spots” concerning DSi-mobilization. Here, we present a new approach for predicting DSi-fluxes to coastal zones, emphasizing “first-order” controlling factors (lithology, runoff, relief, land cover and temperature). This approach is applied to the Japanese Archipelago, a region characterized by a high percentage of volcanics (29.1% of surface area). The presented DSi-flux model is based on data of 516 catchments, covering approximately 56.7% of the area of the Japanese Archipelago. The spatial distribution of lithology—one of the most important first order controls—is taken from a new high resolution map of Japan. Results show that the Japanese Archipelago is a hyperactive region with a DSi-yield 6.6 times higher than the world average of 3.3 t SiO₂ km⁻² a⁻¹, but with large regional variations. Approximately 10% of its area exceeds 10 times the world average DSi-yield. Slope constitutes another important controlling factor on DSi-fluxes besides lithology and runoff, and can exceed the influence of runoff on DSi-yields. Even though the monitored area on the Japanese Archipelago stretches from about 31° to 46°N, temperature is not identified as a significant first-order model variable. This may be due to the fact that slope, runoff and lithology are correlated with temperature due to regional settings of the Archipelago, and temperature information is substituted to a certain extent by these factors. Land cover data also do not improve the prediction model. This may partly be attributed to misinterpreted land cover information from satellite images. Implications of results for Earth System and global carbon cycle modeling are discussed.     

Development and carbon sequestration of tropical peat domes in south-east Asia: links to post-glacial sea-level changes and Holocene climate variability

Tropical peatlands of SE-Asia represent a significant terrestrial carbon reservoir of an estimated 65 Gt C. In this paper we present a comprehensive data synthesis of radiocarbon dated peat profiles and 31 basal dates of ombrogenous peat domes from the lowlands of Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo and integrate our peatland data with records of past sea-level and climate change in the region. Based on their developmental features three peat dome regions were distinguished: inland Central Kalimantan (Borneo), Kutai basin (Borneo) and coastal areas across the entire region. With the onset of the Holocene the first peat domes developed in Central Kalimantan as a response to rapid post-glacial sea-level rise over the Sunda Shelf and intensification of the Asian monsoon. Peat accumulation rates in Central Kalimantan strongly declined after 8500 cal BP in close relation to the lowering rate of the sea-level rise and possibly influenced by the regional impact of the 8.2 ka event. Peat growth in Central Kalimantan apparently ceased during the Late Holocene in association with amplified El Niño activity as exemplified by several truncated peat profiles. Peat domes from the Kutai basin are all younger than ～8300 cal BP. Peat formation and rates of peat accumulation were driven by accretion rates of the Mahakam River and seemingly independent of climate. Most coastal peat domes, the largest expanse of SE-Asian peatlands, initiated between 7000 and 4000 cal BP as a consequence of a Holocene maximum in regional rainfall and the stabilisation and subsequent regression of the sea-level. These boundary conditions induced the highest rates of peat accumulation of coastal peat domes. The Late Holocene sea-level regression led to extensive new land availability that allowed for continued coastal peat dome formation until the present. The time weighted mean Holocene peat accumulation rate is 0.54 mm yr^?1 for Central Kalimantan, 1.89 mm yr^?1 for Kutai and 1.77 mm yr^?1 for coastal domes of Sumatra and Borneo. The mean Holocene carbon sequestration rates amount to 31.3 g C m^?2 yr^?1 for Central Kalimantan and 77.0 g C m^?2 yr^?1 for coastal sites, which makes coastal peat domes of south-east Asia the spatially most efficient terrestrial ecosystem in terms of long term carbon sequestration.     

Tidally oscillating bisulfide fluxes and fluid flow rates observed with in situ chemical sensors at a warm spring in Monterey Bay,California

An In Situ Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer (ISUS) was coupled to a benthic chamber to characterize the bisulfide flux emanating from a warm spring at the Extrovert Cliff locality within Monterey Bay, California. The chamber was periodically flushed with bottom seawater to reset chemical concentrations, which enabled deployments over multiple days. Data from several deployments, each lasting at least 10 days, were used to calculate flow rates, fluid concentrations, and fluxes over time. The bisulfide concentration of the fluid entering the chamber varied from 75 to 4500 μmol l^?1. Positive temperature anomalies up to 3.5° were associated with these elevated concentrations. Linear flow rates ranged from 2 to >17 m day^?1, while the bisulfide fluxes varied from 0.2 to 80 mol m^?2 day^?1. The bisulfide originated at depth and was not produced in the surface sediments via an anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulfate reduction. Tides modulated the flow as well as the composition of the fluid entering the chamber. It appeared that a deep sourced fluid, which supplied the bisulfide, was mixed with a second, ambient seawater-like fluid before entering the flux chamber. At low tides, flow rates were at their highest and the contribution of the deep sourced fluid to the fluid entering the chamber was at a maximum.     

Stevns Klint Fish Clay (FC-1): Preparation of, and Preliminary Results for, a Candidate Reference Material

The collapse of a section of the cliff at Stevns Klint, Denmark in 1986 provided a unique opportunity to collect about 50 kg of Fish Clay representing the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary layer. In this paper, details of the preparation of this sample are presented, together with preliminary analytical results to support the development of this sample as a reference material, particularly for the determination of iridium and the other platinum-group elements in clays and sediments associated with K-T boundary studies and in other environmental samples collected to study the effects of automobile exhaust catalysts.     

Porosity and permeability prediction from wireline logs using artificial neural networks: a North Sea case study

Estimations of porosity and permeability from well logs are important yet difficult tasks encountered in geophysical formation evaluation and reservoir engineering. Motivated by recent results of artificial neural network (ANN) modelling offshore eastern Canada, we have developed neural nets for converting well logs in the North Sea to porosity and permeability. We use two separate back-propagation ANNs (BP-ANNs) to model porosity and permeability. The porosity ANN is a simple three-layer network using sonic, density and resistivity logs for input. The permeability ANN is slightly more complex with four inputs (density, gamma ray, neutron porosity and sonic) and more neurons in the hidden layer to account for the increased complexity in the relationships. The networks, initially developed for basin-scale problems, perform sufficiently accurately to meet normal requirements in reservoir engineering when applied to Jurassic reservoirs in the Viking Graben area. The mean difference between the predicted porosity and helium porosity from core plugs is less than 0.01 fractional units. For the permeability network a mean difference of approximately 400 mD is mainly due to minor core-log depth mismatch in the heterogeneous parts of the reservoir and lack of adequate overburden corrections to the core permeability. A major advantage is that no a priori knowledge of the rock material and pore fluids is required. Real-time conversion based on measurements while drilling (MWD) is thus an obvious application.     

ROBUST: The ROle of BUffering capacities in STabilising coastal lagoon ecosystems

“Buffer capacities” has been defined in ecology as a holistic concept (e.g., Integration of Ecosystem Theories: A Pattern, second ed. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997, 388pp), but we show that it can also be worked out in mechanistic studies. Our mechanistic approach highlights that “buffering capacities” can be depleted progressively, and, therefore, we make a distinction between current and potential “buffering capacities”. We have applied this concept to understand the limited “local stability” in seagrass ecosystems and their vulnerability towards structural changes into macro-algal dominated communities. We explored the following processes and studied how they confer buffering capacities to the seagrass ecosystem: (i) net autotrophy is persistent in Zostera noltii meadows where plant assimilation acts as a sink for nutrients, this contrasted with the Ulva system that shifted back and forth between net autotrophy and net heterotrophy; (ii) the Z. noltii ecosystem possesses a certain albeit rather limited capacity to modify the balance between nitrogen fixation and denitrification, i.e., it was found that in situ nitrogen fixation always exceeded denitrification; (iii) the nitrogen demand of organoheterotrophic bacteria in the sediment results in nitrogen retention of N in the sediment and hence a buffer against release of nitrogen compounds from sediments, (iv) habitat diversification in seagrass meadows provides shelter for meiofauna and hence buffering against adverse conditions, (v) sedimentary iron provides a buffer against noxious sulfide (note: bacterial sulfide production is enhanced in anoxic sediment niches by increased organic matter loading). On the other hand, in the coastal system we studied, sedimentary iron appears less important as a redox-coupled buffer system against phosphate loading. This is because most inorganic phosphate is bound to calcium rather than to iron. In addition, our studies have highlighted the importance of plant–microbe interactions in the seagrass meadows.     

Der Spessart als Teilgebiet der Mitteldeutschen Schwelle

Zusammenfassung Ein Teil der Mitteldeutschen Schwelle (R.Brinkmann 1948), der Spessart, wird sowohl bezüglich seines Innenbaues (Tektonik, Stratigraphie, Petrogenese des Grundgebirges), als auch bezüglich seiner Funktion als Lieferant für die jungpaläozoisch-mesozoischen Sedimente des Wetterau-Beckens betrachtet.Über diese Betrachtungen hinaus lassen sich Vergleiche zu anderen Gebieten der Mitteldeutschen Schwelle durchführen.Ganz offenbar ist die Grenzzone zwischen Saxothuringischer und Rhenoherzynischer Zone des Varistischen Gebirges in Mitteleuropa keine zufällige Ortslage für die Mitteldeutsche Schwelle und das Saar-Nahe-(Wetterau-)Becken. - Diese Kristallinzone hat tatsächlich zu verschiedenen Zeiten in der Erdgeschichte umgebungsdifferente Bewegungsimpulse erfahren. Sie ist darüber hinaus ohne Zweifel ein krustenversteifendes Element, was sich bereits mindestens aus ihrer modifizierenden Wirkung auf die großen Bruchsysteme der Mittelmeer-Mjösen-Zone im Bereich des nördlichen Oberrheingrabens und der südlichen Hessischen Senke ablesen läßt.

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The Spessart, as part of the Central German geanticline (Mitteldeutsche Schwelle, R.Brinkmann 1948) is discussed with respect to both its internal structure (tectonics, stratigraphy, petrogenesis of the basement) and its importance as a source region of Upper-Paleozoic-Mesozoic sediments which were deposited in the basin of the Wetterau. This leads to comparisons with other regions of the Central German geanticline.Obviously the regional situation of the Central German geanticline as well as the basins along Saar and Nahe(-Wetterau) between the hercynian zones of Saxothuringia and Rhenohercynia in Central Europe is not chance.The basement belt actually has been affected to vertical movements several times during its geologic history. Apart from this this belt is a consolidating element for the crust. This can clearly be seen by watching the great fault systems which can be traced from the Mediterranean to the Norwegian Lake Mjösen (Mittelmeer-Mjösen-Zone). They are modified by the Central German geanticline in the north of the Upper Rhine Valley and in the southern low-lands of Hesse.

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Résumé Une partie du bombement de l'Allemagne centrale (R.Brinkmann 1948), le Spessart, est étudiée tant sous l'aspect de sa structure interne (tectonique, stratigraphie, pétrogenèse du socle cristallin) que sous celui de son rôle comme domaine nourricier en sédiments du bassin Wetterau, du Paléozoïque supérieur au Mésozoïque.Partant de ces considérations, on peut faire des comparaisons avec d'autres régions du bombement de l'Allemagne centrale. Il est tout-à-fait évident que la zone limitrophe comprise entre les zones saxothuringienne et rhénohercynienne de la chaîne varisque de l'Europe Centrale n'est pas quelconque par rapport au bombement de l'Allemagne centrale et au bassin de la Sarre et de la Nahe (-basin de Wetterau). Cette zone cristalline a effectivement subi à différentes époques de l'histoire terrestre des mouvements distincts de ceux de son entourage. En outre elle constitue sans doute un élément qui a raidi la croûte terrestre, ce qui apparaît par l'influence modificatrice qu'elle a exercé dans la région septentrionale du Fossé du Rhin supérieur et de la dépression méridionale de la Hesse sur le grand système de fractures tectoniques de la zone Mer Méditerranée-Mjösen.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c.Erich Bederke zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Zur Ausbildung und Paläogeographie des Mesozoikums in Sizilien

Zusammenfassung Basierend auf einer neuen eigenen Veröffentlichung wird eine kurze paläogeographische Übersicht über die mesozoischen Schichten Siziliens gegeben.

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Based on recent publications of the author, a short paleogeographic survey of Sicilian Mesozoic formations is given.

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Résumé A la base d'une publication récente l'auteur tente de tracer une esquisse paléogéographique du Mésozoique de la Sicile.

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Riassunto Sulla base di una mia recente pubblicazione viene accennato un quadro d'insieme paleogeografico degli strati del Mesozoico Siciliano.

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