Fallout radionuclide tracers identify a switch in sediment sources and transport-limited sediment yield following wildfire in a eucalypt forest

Fire can alter sediment sources and transport rates in river basins, changing landforms and aquatic habitats and degrading downstream water quality. Variability in the response between environments, between fires, and with time since fire makes predicting the catchment-scale effect of individual fires difficult. This study applies the fallout radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_xs to trace the sources and transport of fine sediment through a river network following a wildfire of moderate to extreme severity in the 629-km² eucalypt-forested Nattai River water-supply catchment near Sydney, Australia. The tracer analysis showed that post-fire erosion caused a switch in fine (< 10 µm) sediment sources from 80% subsoil derived from gully and river bank erosion to 86% topsoil derived from hillslope surface erosion. The fine sediment phosphorus content increased 4–10 fold over pre-fire levels. Annual post-fire sediment yields estimated from suspended solids rating curves were 109–250 times higher than they would have been without fire. A large additional amount of sediment remained stored within the river network for at least four years, particularly in lower-gradient reaches. Analysis of a sediment core showed that surface erosion following a previous fire had supplied at least 29% of total catchment sediment yield over the past 36 years. It is concluded that wildfire can alter catchment sediment budgets in two ways. Firstly, a spatially-diffuse pulse of elevated erosion is associated with moderate or intense rainfall events in post-fire years. Secondly, pulses of elevated catchment sediment yield are driven by the timing and river sediment transport capacity of runoff events. Severe post-fire erosion and high interannual hydrologic variability can result in large sediment stores persisting within the river network for many years. Fallout radionuclide tracers are shown to be useful in quantifying fine sediment sources and transport dynamics following wildfire, and the contribution of wildfire to catchment sediment yield.     

High potassium calc-alkaline rocks from Cape Nelson,eastern Papua

High-K calc-alkaline rocks from Cape Nelson, eastern Papua are dominated by andesites containing numerous basic inclusions. High-Al basalts and dacites are subordinate. The slight iron enrichment and a systematic variation in K₂O/SiO₂ correlation observed in these rocks suggests a relationship to nearby rocks of a shoshonite association. The chemical composition of the inclusions illustrates the trends of major and minor element evolution which contradict the idea of complimentariness of high-K calc-alkaline rocks and alpine ultramafic rocks. The chemical character of the lavas (high K, Rb and Ba as well as high Cr and Ni) can be explained by fractional melting involving a mica phase.     

Identifying American Beer Geographies: A Multiscale Core-Cluster Analysis of U.S. Breweries

The recent growth in the U.S. brewing industry is remarkable, and the prevailing number of breweries has not been seen since the late nineteenth century. Several studies have shown that beer-producing facilities are spatially uneven across the United States. These previous studies used spatial units, however, such as metropolitan statistical areas, that might bias conclusions. Using a multiscale core-cluster approach, we explicitly identify where significant agglomerations of brewers are located. Our approach offers two refinements to standard cluster detection methods. First, instead of using fixed spatial boundaries, our method allows us to measure the concentration of brewery point locations across a spectrum of spatial scales. Additionally, our approach enables us to account for important underlying factors that influence the location of beer production. We use point data for all U.S. breweries in 2014. Our results show that the localization of beer production is significant and strongest at small spatial scales and diminishes rapidly with increasing distance, after controlling for population. We map the results to show the spatial variation in brewery agglomeration across the United States.     

Predicting dry‐season flows with a monthly rainfall–runoff model: Performance for gauged and ungauged catchments

Hydrologic models are useful to understand the effects of climate and land‐use changes on dry‐season flows. In practice, there is often a trade‐off between simplicity and accuracy, especially when resources for catchment management are scarce. Here, we evaluated the performance of a monthly rainfall–runoff model (dynamic water balance model, DWBM) for dry‐season flow prediction under climate and land‐use change. Using different methods with decreasing amounts of catchment information to set the four model parameters, we predicted dry‐season flow for 89 Australian catchments and verified model performance with an independent dataset of 641 catchments in the United States. For the Australian catchments, model performance without catchment information (other than climate forcing) was fair; it increased significantly as the information to infer the four model parameters increased. Regressions to infer model parameters from catchment characteristics did not hold for catchments in the United States, meaning that a new calibration effort was needed to increase model performance there. Recognizing the interest in relative change for practical applications, we also examined how DWBM could be used to simulate a change in dry‐season flow following land‐use change. We compared results with and without calibration data and showed that predictions of changes in dry‐season flow were robust with respect to uncertainty in model parameters. Our analyses confirm that climate is a strong driver of dry‐season flow and that parsimonious models such as DWBM have useful management applications: predicting seasonal flow under various climate forcings when calibration data are available and providing estimates of the relative effect of land use on seasonal flow for ungauged catchments.     

Secondary Fe and Al in Antarctic paleosols: Correlation to Mars with prospect for the presence of life

Middle-Miocene age paleosols in the Antarctic Dry Valleys were studied for their compositional variation and concentrations of secondary oxides/coatings in <2 mm matrix material in tills. The paleosols date to between 10-18 Ma by ¹⁰Be, forming prior to and just following the transition from warm-based to cold-based ice, when the climate is thought to have entered a prolonged cold/dry period in which soil moisture would have been frozen most of the year. The progression of release of secondary oxides of Fe and Al shows variable percentages of individual oxihydrites relative to chemical element totals, and thus, to consume total Fe and Al would require tens of millions of additional years. The slow progression of Fe_d/Fe_t, used as a measure of relative age in other warmer alpine and Arctic climates, is shown here to amount to <15 percent of the total Fe available for weathering. Ferrihydrite variability in paleosols, often used to indicate the presence of fluctuating/perched ground water tables, suggests that liquid water may have accumulated in mid-profile in some instances, perhaps during periods when the climate was somewhat warmer for several weeks during the summer. Variable Fe and Al ratios and arithmetic functions argue for extremely slow but sustainable release of oxides in a cold, polar desert climate, in which temperatures prohibit the formation of clay minerals. The secondary mineral species present likely amount to residue from past climates that were more conducive to clay mineral genesis and aerosolic input over time. The presence of microbial life in Antarctic paleosols, with minor amounts of Fe available for physiological processes to function, argues for the potential existence of microorganisms in ice-enriched paleosols of Mars, particularly given its watery and dynamic geologic past and relatively high concentration of total Fe in subaerial paleosols. The distribution of Fe over a large part of the northern plains of Mars as determined by the GRS instrument is invoked as a comparison with the Antarctic.     

Mesocosm experiments for evaluating the biological efficacy of ozone treatment of marine ballast water

Ballast water is a major pathway for the transfer of non-indigenous species in aquatic environments. The objectives of this study were to determine the ability of ozone to reduce the numbers of a spectrum of marine organisms collected from Puget Sound, Washington in replicated mesocosm (280 l) experiments, and estimate the minimum ozone concentrations as measured by total residual oxidant (TRO) required to reduce organism densities. Ozone treatment was effective in removing bacteria, phytoplankton, and mesozooplankton with initial TRO concentrations of 2–5 mg l⁻¹ as Br₂. Persistence of TRO resulted in an extended period of toxicity and cumulative mortality. TRO decay allowed bacteria populations to multiply when TRO levels fell below 0.5–1.0 mg l⁻¹ as Br₂. Phytoplankton chlorophyll a concentrations were rapidly reduced by ozone treatment and did not increase in any treatments or controls because of lack of light. Overall mesozooplankton viability was rapidly reduced by 90–99% in treatment TRO levels above 1.85 mg l⁻¹ as Br₂. Our study outlines novel protocols that can be used for testing different potential ballast water treatment systems in replicated and controlled mesocosm experiments.     

Ozonation of seawater from different locations: formation and decay of total residual oxidant--implications for ballast water treatment

Ballast water is a likely cause for worldwide transfer of non-indigenous aquatic species because of the large volumes and frequency of possible inoculations. Ozone is one treatment option being considered for eliminating non-indigenous species in ballast water. When ozone is applied to seawater, secondary disinfectants are formed, commonly measured and expressed as total residual oxidant (TRO). The goal of this study was to determine those variables most likely to affect the rate of TRO increase during ozonation and the subsequent TRO decline that occurs over time. These parameters strongly influence the efficacy of ozone treatments aimed to eliminate organisms present in ballast water. Seawater was obtained from Puget Sound, Washington; Cape Fear, North Carolina; and San Francisco Bay. Results indicated that seawater characteristics, including the organic content and ammonia, affect the amount of ozone required to achieve a desired TRO level and rate of TRO decay, and therefore need to be considered in determining ozone requirements for ballast water treatment.     

Wind-Tunnel Simulation of Weakly and Moderately Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layers

The simulation of horizontally homogeneous boundary layers that have characteristics of weakly and moderately stable atmospheric flow is investigated, where the well-established wind engineering practice of using ‘flow generators’ to provide a deep boundary layer is employed. Primary attention is given to the flow above the surface layer, in the absence of an overlying inversion, as assessed from first- and second-order moments of velocity and temperature. A uniform inlet temperature profile ahead of a deep layer, allowing initially neutral flow, results in the upper part of the boundary layer remaining neutral. A non-uniform inlet temperature profile is required but needs careful specification if odd characteristics are to be avoided, attributed to long-lasting effects inherent of stability, and to a reduced level of turbulent mixing. The first part of the wind-tunnel floor must not be cooled if turbulence quantities are to vary smoothly with height. Closely horizontally homogeneous flow is demonstrated, where profiles are comparable or closely comparable with atmospheric data in terms of local similarity and functions of normalized height. The ratio of boundary-layer height to surface Obukhov length, and the surface heat flux, are functions of the bulk Richardson number, independent of horizontal homogeneity. Surface heat flux rises to a maximum and then decreases.