Experiments with Zooplankton on Coral Reefs,or, Will the Real Demersal Plankton Please Come Up?

Abstract. Zooplankton was sampled with emergence traps on a Thalassia bed behind an insular reef at San Salvador. Bahamas. These traps tested the effect of sealing the trap to the substrate or allowing it to rest unsealed on the substrate. Total numbers of plankters collected did not differ between the two types of trap, but significantly more cyclopoid copepods were collected in unsealed traps and significantly more tanaids were found in sealed traps. Total densities in unsealed traps were inflated as much as 24–28 % by contamination with holoplankton. Both trap designs, but particularly the sealed traps, collected animals that apparently crawled up the insides. A substantial number of animals, as many as 9–31% of those collected in sealed traps, may not be actually planktonic. Our results suggest that reefs produce fewer meroplankters per unit of substrate, and thus meroplankters contribute less to reef foodwebs than formerly thought.     

Photosynthesis, Respiration and other Factors Influencing the Growth of Laminar/a ochroleuca PYL below 50 Metres in the Straits of Messina

Abstract. The population of Laminaria ochroleuca in the current swept Straits of Messina was investigated regarding its age structure and photosynthesis. Age structure appears to be determined by sporadic recruitment and the limitation of growth due to peak currents decapitating older plants, which is corroborated by drag force resistance calculations. The calculation of a carbon budget from measurements of photosynthesis and dark respiration both in the laboratory and in situ shows that L. ochroleuca cannot satisfy its carbon demands for growth and respiration at 50 m depth and no satisfactory explanation can be given for its rapid growth between 50 and 100 m.     

Ben Nevis—remnant of a lost volcanic landscape

The summit region of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, consists of late Silurian to Early Devonian age volcanic rocks originally interpreted as a thick sequence (> 600 m) of andesite lavas and agglomerates that were down‐faulted during caldera subsidence. New digital field mapping of the Ben Nevis area, including both the steep north and south faces of the mountain, has revealed that the volcanic rocks consist largely of volcaniclastic debris flows, and extensive block and ash flow deposits with minor air‐fall tuff units. There is no evidence of any andesite lava flows or a volcanic vent. The volcanic detritus was derived from a volcanic centre situated to the NW of Ben Nevis, perhaps several tens of kilometres away. The rocks forming the summit region of the mountain have been re‐interpreted as a large roof pendant or keel of the former late Silurian to Early Devonian volcanic land surface that once covered much of the SW Highlands of Scotland.     

Digital field mapping—making the change from paper to touchscreen technology

Current desktop technology is largely mouse‐driven, but many analysts predict that in less than five years we will have a professional workforce that have only experienced learning in a touchscreen environment. Midland Valley have developed a digital mapping tool for smartphones called FieldMove Clino, which has been downloaded more than 20 000 times over the past year. The free version offers an effective way of introducing students to digital field mapping. However, many geoscience departments and teachers of field mapping have yet to make the switch from traditional paper‐based methods to digital technology. This article aims to answer some of the frequently asked questions about digital field mapping and outlines some of the advantages for improving field skills and geological thinking in students.     

Native antimony emplaced by methane‐rich hydrothermal fluid in an orogenic fault‐zone

Antimony‐rich gold deposits represent a subclass of orogenic hydrothermal systems. The study of the Lapa gold deposit in the Abitibi greenstone belt shows that antimony occurs during two different stages: (1) as early prograde Sb–Ni disseminated sulphides in talc schists, associated with CO₂‐bearing fluids, and (2) as a late native antimony association, associated with methane‐bearing fluids indicating a reducing environment. Methane could be related to the serpentinization of the ultramafic rocks of the Piché Group hosting the Lapa deposit. Several deposits display the same methane antimony association along fault zones.     

Chemical weathering of a marine terrace chronosequence, Santa Cruz, California I: Interpreting rates and controls based on soil concentration-depth profiles

The spatial and temporal changes in element and mineral concentrations in regolith profiles in a chronosequence developed on marine terraces along coastal California are interpreted in terms of chemical weathering rates and processes. In regoliths up to 15 m deep and 226 kyrs old, quartz-normalized mass transfer coefficients indicate non-stoichiometric preferential release of Sr > Ca > Na from plagioclase along with lesser amounts of K, Rb and Ba derived from K-feldspar. Smectite weathering results in the loss of Mg and concurrent incorporation of Al and Fe into secondary kaolinite and Fe-oxides in shallow argillic horizons. Elemental losses from weathering of the Santa Cruz terraces fall within the range of those for other marine terraces along the Pacific Coast of North America.Residual amounts of plagioclase and K-feldspar decrease with terrace depth and increasing age. The gradient of the weathering profile b_s is defined by the ratio of the weathering rate, R to the velocity at which the profile penetrates into the protolith. A spreadsheet calculator further refines profile geometries, demonstrating that the non-linear regions at low residual feldspar concentrations at shallow depth are dominated by exponential changes in mineral surface-to-volume ratios and at high residual feldspar concentrations, at greater depth, by the approach to thermodynamic saturation. These parameters are of secondary importance to the fluid flux q_h, which in thermodynamically saturated pore water, controls the weathering velocity and mineral losses from the profiles. Long-term fluid fluxes required to reproduce the feldspar weathering profiles are in agreement with contemporary values based on solute Cl balances (q_h = 0.025-0.17 m yr⁻¹).During saturation-controlled and solute-limited weathering, the greater loss of plagioclase relative to K-feldspar is dependent on the large difference in their respective solubilities instead of the small difference between their respective reaction kinetics. The steady-state weathering rate under such conditions is defined as

     

Indications of P450 monooxygenase activities in beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhal (Monodon monoceros) from patterns of PCB, PCDD and PCDF accumulation

Selective accumulation of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCB congeners was investigated in beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and several species at the same trophic level in two areas of Canada. There was a much higher relative abundance of meta-para-unsubstituted PCBs in the cetaceans compared with other species. This suggests that activity of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase enzymes causing CYP2B-type metabolism was relatively low in beluga and narwhal. Lower relative levels of 2,3,7,8-TCDD occurred in beluga from both areas, and selective reduction of toxic non-ortho PCBs occurred in the highly PCB-contaminated St Lawrence beluga. These compounds are potent inducers of cytochrome P450 CYP 1A-type enzymes, suggesting that such an enzyme with the capability of metabolizing TCDD-like substrates is present in beluga and narwhal. SIMCA principal components analysis of PCB congener patterns showed that the two cetaceans were in a statistically significant different class than the other species. Variables (congeners) with the greatest separation power between classes were mainly those defined by the selective metabolism rules.