Evaluating Natural Attentuation with Spreadsheet Analytical Fate and Transport Models

Superposition techniques can extend the capabilities of relatively simple analytical fate and transport models. Complex source geometries, simple aquifer boundaries, and electron acceptor limited biodegradation can be simulated by using superposition techniques in computer spreadsheets. Spreadsheet models are an easily used tool for interpreting sampling results and for estimating attenuation and degradation rates in relatively homogeneous aquifers. Analytical spreadsheet models are based on the Domenico analytical model and can provide results that are in close agreement with the numerical model UIOPLUMH II.     

Organic matter in the Soultz HDR granitic thermal exchanger (France): natural tracer of fluid circulations between the basement and its sedimentary cover

Organic matter has been observed in cores of the Soultz-sous-Forêts granite (Alsace, France) at depths between 2158 and 2160 m, in a highly fractured and altered zone. The granite is overlain by a 1400-m-thick sedimentary cover containing petroleum (Pechelbronn oil field). The Soultz area is devoted to Hot Dry Rock geothermics thanks to a high geothermal gradient (up to 100 °C/km). During drilling operations, an artesian source produced oil in a fractured zone of the sedimentary cover (Buntsandstein). Its gas-chromatography and mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed the presence of normal alkanes (n-alkanes, i.e. linear hydrocarbons) centered on C₁₇, branched alkanes with a major C₁₉ peak, and few unsaturated hydrocarbons. The aromatic fraction is present in small amounts. In the Soultz granite, where it is altered, organic matter is exclusively associated with tosudite (interstratified clay mineral) which crystallized in plagioclase sites during a hydrothermal alteration episode. Organic matter has been later displaced and concentrated along veinlets in which illite and carbonates have crystallized during another hydrothermal alteration stage. The soluble organic matter analyzed by GC-MS is composed of aliphatic acids, n-alkanes with a bimodal C₁₈ and C₂₄-C₂₅ centered distribution, alkylbenzenes and aromatic acids. Organic compounds in the granite would either originate from a single source (immature sediments) or from two sources (immature sediments and migration of the Pechelbronn oil). No real evidence was found to prove which hypothesis is the best one. The presence of organic matter in the granite shows the importance of fluid flows between the sedimentary cover and the granitic basement through major fractures. In addition, the impregnation of plagioclase pseudomorphs with organic matter is made possible due to their high interconnection degree and to the intergranular microfracturation of the granite. The succession of several hydrothermal events with different physico-chemical characteris- tics may also be inferred from the occurrence of organic matter found in association with neoformed clay minerals in the granite.     

Bandpass calibration of a wideband spectrometer using coherent pulse injection

We present a relatively simple time domain method for determining the bandpass response of a system by injecting a nanosecond pulse and capturing the system voltage output. A pulse of sub-nanosecond duration contains all frequency components with nearly constant amplitude up to 1 GHz. Hence, this method can accurately determine the system bandpass response to a broadband signal. In a novel variation on this impulse response method, a train of pulses is coherently accumulated providing precision calibration with a simple system. The basic concept is demonstrated using a pulse generator-accumulator setup realised in a Bedlam board which is a high speed digital signal processing unit. The same system was used at the Parkes radio telescope between 2–13 October 2013 and we demonstrate its powerful diagnostic capability. We also present some initial test data from this experiment.     

Age verification,growth and life history of rubyfish Plagiogeneion rubiginosum

Age verification of rubyfish (Plagiogeneion rubiginosum) was sought using the bomb radiocarbon chronometer procedure. Stable isotopes were investigated for life history characteristics. Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) and stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) levels were measured in micro-samples from five otoliths that had been aged using a zone count method. All the core ¹⁴C measurements were ‘pre-bomb’ indicating ages of at least 45 years, and the ¹⁴C measurements across the otolith sections suggested that the zone-count ageing method described herein is not biased. Maximum estimated age was 100 years. There was no significant between-sex difference in the von Bertalanffy growth curves. The δ¹⁸O values indicated that rubyfish are near-surface as juveniles, and move deeper with age. Adults appear to reside in 600–1000 m; this is deeper than most trawl-capture data suggest, but not implausible, and has stock assessment implications. The δ¹³C values reflect fish metabolic rates, trophic feeding levels and oceanographic conditions. The stable isotopes record the environmental life history of each fish, and have value in distinguishing stocks and/or indicating vertical and latitudinal migratory patterns.     

A multi‐stock,length‐based assessment model for New Zealand rock lobster (Jasus Edwardsii)

We describe a multi‐stock, length‐based Bayesian assessment model for New Zealand spiny lobster (Jasus edwardsii) fisheries. This model allows simultaneous modelling of two or more stocks with a mixture of common and stock‐specific parameters: recruitment is always stock‐specific, but any other parameter can be specified as either common or stock‐specific. Common parameters are estimated from a wider base than they would be in a single‐stock model. The model's time step is flexible and can be changed during the period being modelled to accommodate better data quality in recent data. Other options include the capacity to estimate movements among stocks, allow density‐dependent growth, and choose among likelihood functions for the various data sets, between finite and instantaneous fishing dynamics and between two forms of selectivity curve.     

Nitrogen utilisation by size‐fractionated phytoplankton assemblages associated with an upwelling event off Westland,New Zealand

Abstract

Uptake rates of ammonium (NH₄ ⁺ ), nitrate (NO₃ ^? ), and urea by three subgroups of phytoplankton (< 200, < 20, < 2 μm) off Westland, were measured using ¹⁵ N tracer techniques in midwinter 1988, after a recent upwelling. For all size fractions at surface irradiance (I₁₀₀), nitrogen (N) was taken up primarily as NO₃ ^?. This accounted for 67–85% of total N uptake (SρN), whereas at 40 and 7% of surface irradiance, the regenerated N (NH₄ ⁺ ) and urea) made up 31–72% of SρN. Depth profile experiments for all three size components showed that uptake of NO₃ ^? was most light‐sensitive, followed by that of NH₄ ⁺ and urea. The irradiance and nutrient availability plot indicated that light was substantially more important than the nutrient concentrations in controlling the assimilation of N by microplankton (20–200 μm). Nano‐ (2–20 μm) and picoplankton (< 2 μm) however, were not as sensitive to either light or nutrient concentrations. High winds and the resulting deep mixing, combined with offshore and alongshore advection in the midwinter, were suggested to be the major cause of the low biomass and N productivity.     

Grain‐size distributions on high‐energy sandy beaches and their relation to wave dissipation

Grain size and sorting represent two key parameters when characterizing sediments or modelling beach morphology and sediment transport. Traditionally, an average value for grain size or sorting is often assumed for the entire area, determined from only a few sediment samples, ignoring any spatial (or temporal) variability in sediment characteristics. This contribution uses a data set of physical surface sediment samples from 53 beach locations around the south‐west peninsula of the United Kingdom, in addition to bi‐monthly, high spatial resolution (mean 240 samples) digital grain‐size surveys from a high‐energy, oceanic, sandy beach (Perranporth, North Cornwall). Systematic spatial variations in grain size and sorting were consistently observed in the seaward direction across the intertidal zone of sandy beaches, with grain‐sizes coarsening and sorting improving by up to 51·7% and 64·3%, respectively. This variability was deterministically related to the time‐averaged, antecedent‐adjusted energy dissipated by breaking waves, with the observed maximum grain‐size and sorting values correlating with the location of peak wave energy dissipation (r² = 0·998, P < 0·01).     

An experimental study of anorthosite dissolution in lunar picritic magmas: Implications for crustal assimilation processes

Experiments characterizing the kinetics of anorthosite dissolution in lunar picritic magmas (very low-Ti, low-Ti, and high-Ti picritic glasses) were conducted at 0.6 GPa and 1250-1400 °C using the dissolution couple method. Reaction between the anorthosite and lunar picritic magmas at 1250-1300 °C produced a spinel + melt layer. Reaction between the anorthosite and an olivine-saturated low-Ti magma at 1250-1300 °C produced a crystal-free region between the spinel + melt layer and the olivine-saturated magma. The anorthosite dissolution experiments conducted at 1400 °C simply dissolved anorthosite and did not result in a crystal-bearing region. The rate of anorthosite dissolution strongly depends on temperature and composition of the reacting melt. Concentration profiles that develop during anorthosite dissolution are nonlinear and extend from the picritic glass compositions to anorthite. These profiles feature a large and continuous variation in melt density and viscosity from the anorthosite-melt interface to the initial picritic magmas. In both the low-Ti and high-Ti magmas the diffusive fluxes of TiO₂, Al₂O₃, and SiO₂ are strongly coupled to the concentration gradients of CaO and FeO. Anorthosite dissolution may play an important role in producing the chemical variability of the lunar picritic magmas, the origin of spinel in the lunar basalts and picritic glasses, and the petrogenesis of the high-Al basalts.     

Effect of biochar on desiccation of marine soils under constant and cyclic temperatures

Acta Geotechnica - Biochar has recently been gaining increasing attention as a stable and sustainable soil amendment material. However, the effect of biochar amendment on the desiccation behaviour...