Distributions of copepod nauplii and turbulence on the southern flank of Georges Bank: implications for feeding by larval cod (Gadus morhua)

The vertical distributions of copecod nauplii and water properties were sampled at well-mixed and stratified sites on Georges Bank using a pumping system, CTD and in vivo fluorometer during a four day period in late May 1992. At each stratified station at least one sample was taken within the thermocline and the fluorescence maximum, which usually co-occurred. Well-mixed sites had low average concentrations of nauplii, ca 41⁻¹, and showed little variation of abundance with depth. Stratified sites had from 4 to 16 times the integrated (0–50 m) abundance of nauplii compared to well-mixed sites and showed strong vertical patterns of distribution. Maximum concentrations of nauplii, up to 1601⁻¹, were associated with the thermocline at 7 of the 9 stratified stations. At the two remaining stratified sites the naupliar maximum was in the upper mixed layer, sampled at 5 m depth. The encounter rate between early feeding cod (Gadus morhua) larvae and their naupliar prey was calculated with and without turbulence. Turbulence was estimated from two sources: wind stress in the upper layer (calculated from wind observations during our cruise) and tidal shear in the lower layer (estimated initially from a tidal mixing equation). We ultimately replaced the lower layer estimates with turbulence data from a series of measurements made in 1995. The latter are more robust and had the advantage of providing dissipation rates for the pycnocline as well as the lower layer. Theory predicts an increase in encounters between a predator and its prey with the addition of turbulence parameters into standard models of encounter. We combined turbulence profiles with the vertical distribution of nauplii to examine the potential contribution of turbulent kinetic energy to predator-prey encounter rates at various depths in stratified and mixed water columns. Our calculations suggest the following increases due to turbulence at stratified sites on Georges Bank during our cruise: from 34 to 219% in the upper mixed layer, depending on wind speed and depth; approximately 8% in the pycnocline; and approximately 110% below the pycnocline. Mixed sites experience increases of at least 110% (tide only), but greater increases (118–192% in this study) occur when the wind blows because of the combined (spatially overlapped) effects of wind and tidal mixing at these sites. The absolute values for encounter rates and their modification by turbulence are sensitive to a number of assumptions in the models. We used a series of stated assumptions to generate estimates that range from 0.6 to 26.5 prey h⁻¹, depending on geographical location, physical forcing and depth.     

Kinetics of removal of iron colloids from estuaries

Laboratory experiments indicate that colloidal Fe is aggregated in estuarine waters by a second-order kinetic mechanism. The corresponding rate coefficient is proportional to the square of the salinity. A simple theoretical formulation is presented to describe the distribution of Fe in an estuary, based on observed second-order kinetics. The distribution depends on a single parameter whose value may be determined from measurements of the physical characteristics of the estuary. The theoretical expression accurately predicts observed distributions of Fe in a variety of estuaries, suggesting general applicability.     

Laboratory simulation of meteoritic noble gases. II. Sorption of xenon on carbon: Etching and heating experiments

Sixteen amorphous carbon (lampblack) samples that had been exposed to Xe¹²⁷ and pumped for >9 hrs to remove the most labile gas were examined by etching with HNO₃, for comparison with the release pattern of meteoritic xenon. Samples originally exposed at 100–200°C lost 90% of their Xe very readily, when the surface had been etched to a mean depth of only ~0.2 Å. This suggests that the Xe is adsorbed mainly at rare sites that are unusually reactive to HNO₃. The adsorbed Xe survived several months' storage in vacuum, but on exposure to air, part of it was lost within a few hours, while the remainder persisted without measurable exchange. Samples exposed at 800–1000°C had a similar adsorbed component, as well as a second, tightly bound component extending to a mean depth of up to 30 Å; this component had apparently diffused into the carbon during exposure. The (microscopic) diffusion coefficient for graphitic crystallites is 5 × 10^?20 cm²/sec at 1000°C.PVDC carbon lost its adsorbed Xe at about the same rate as lampblack on exposure to air or HNO₃, though it differs from lampblack in being non-graphitizable and more porous. It had only a small diffused component, however.The most tightly bound part of the Xe adsorbed on lampblack resembles planetary Xe in most characteristics: surface siting, etchability, persistence in vacuum, and lack of exchange with atmospheric Xe. The Xe concentrations—if interpreted as equilibrium distribution coefficients—are some 10⁶× too small to account for meteoritic Xe, but it appears that equilibrium had not been reached by any of the samples, even after 1 day's exposure to Xe. If the uptake of Xe is controlled by rate rather than equilibrium, then the high noble gas concentrations in meteorites may simply reflect the much longer uptake times in the solar nebula. It seems likely that the trapping mechanisms discussed here can also explain two other features: elemental fractionations of noble gases, and the close correlation between planetary Xe and CCFXe.     

The chemistry of sublimates collected directly from lava fountains at Kilauea Volcano,Hawaii

During 1970, it was occasionally feasible to collect sublimate from directly above the lava fountain in the crater of Mauna Ulu on the east rift zone of Kilauea Volcano, when the level of the lava pool had dropped within the crater. Collecting equipment was suspended down the steep wall to a position above the fountain. Collections were made on quartz wool held within open-ended quartz tubes and, for silica detection, on stainless steel wool in a stainless steel tube. The main components in the sublimate were, in order of decreasing concentration for the best sample, Na, Ca, Al, Fe, Mg, K, B, Si, Ti, Zn, H⁺, NH₄⁺, Cu, Ni in the form of sulfates, chlorides and fluorides.In order to investigate the forms in which the sublimate ions occur under different conditions of temperature and oxidation, the equilibrium compositions of the compounds most likely to be present were calculated. This was done for those important components for which thermodynamic data are available, using a computer program to calculate the minimum free energy for the mixture. The results indicate that, for primary conditions of high temperature and low oxygen partial pressure, the halides were the most likely form of the metallic compounds. Particulate sulfates appear under increasing oxidizing conditions caused by the access of air. These conclusions were reinforced by collections made from holes drilled through the thin crust of a lava lake formed during the same eruption.     

Volatile element influx on Venus from cometary impacts

Several different reasonably concordant methods of estimating the flux of carbonaceous chondrite and cometary material (both meteoric dust and comet nuclei) through the inner solar system are shown to imply that such sources may have a dominant effect on the present abundances of several important constituents of the atmosphere of Venus. In particular, the entire supply of hydrogen compounds on Venus may owe its origin to infall of such material. The escape rate of atomic hydrogen may be in approximate balance with the influx rate of hydrogen in the forms of bound meteoritic water and cometary ices. I suggest that the atmospheric inventories of H, S, Cl, F and possibly N on Venus are provided by infall, and need not be endogenous to Venus.