Palaeotemperature curve for the Late Cretaceous of the northwestern circum-Pacific

In the northwestern circum-Pacific, two main trends in Late Cretaceous temperatures can be recognized. (1) In general, a recurrent warming trend is thought to have begun in the Turonian–Campanian, reaching temperature maxima in the early Late Santonian and early Late Campanian, and temperature minima in the earliest Santonian and perhaps early Campanian. (2) During the Maastrichtian, temperatures dropped sharply, with only a slight warming in the early Late Maastrichtian. The existence of a thermal maximum at the Coniacian–Santonian transition has previously been expected, but is not confirmed by new isotopic results.     

Soil redistribution and pedologic transformations in coastal plain croplands

In agricultural basins of the southeastern coastal plain there are typically large disparities between upland soil erosion and sediment delivered to streams. This suggests that colluvial storage and redistribution of eroded soil within croplands is occurring, and/or that processes other than fluvial erosion are at work. This study used soil morphology and stratigraphy as an indicator of erosion and deposition processes in a watershed at Littlefield, North Carolina. Soil stratigraphy and morphology reflect the ways in which mass fluxes associated with cultivation transform the local soils. Fluvial, aeolian and tillage processes were all found to be active in the redistribution of soil. The soil transformations are of five general types. First, erosion and compaction in the cultivated area as a whole result in the thinning of Arenic and Grossarenic Paleudults and Paleaquults to form Arenic, Typic and Aquic Paleudults and Paleaquults. Second, redistribution of surficial material within the fields results in transitions between Arenic and Typic or Aquic subgroups as loamy sand A and E horizons are truncated or accreted. Third, aeolian deposition at forested field boundaries leads to the formation of compound soils with podzolized features. Fourth, sandy rill fan deposits at slope bases create cumulic soils distinct from the loamy sands of the source area or the darker, finer terrace soils buried by the fan deposits. Finally, tillage and fluvial deposition in upland depressions results in the gradual burial of Rains (poorly drained Typic Paleaquults) soils. Results confirm the importance of upland sediment storage and redistribution, and the role of tillage and aeolian processes as well as fluvial processes in the region. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Physiological responses of juvenile and adult shore crabs Carcinus maenas (Crustacea: Decapoda) to pyrene exposure

This study measured aspects of the physiology of juvenile [(<35mm carapace width (CW)] and adult (>60mm CW) Carcinus maenas to test the hypothesis that these different life-history stages exhibit different sensitivities to environmental contamination. Newly-collected juveniles had significantly (P<0.05) lower immunocompetence (phagocytosis and cellular integrity), lower metabolic energy (haemolymph glucose) and increased scope for growth compared with adults. Seven day exposure to a sub-lethal concentration (200microgL(-1)) of pyrene significantly (P<0.01) reduced immunocompetence, elevated basal heart rate and decreased respiration (at rest) for juveniles but had no overall impact on adult crab physiology. Results confirm that physiological differences exist between juvenile and adult shore crabs, and cause juveniles to be more susceptible to the effects of pyrene exposure than adults. Such differences in sensitivity to contamination between life-cycle stages of the same species have to be taken into account during the risk assessment process.     

Bearing capacity of strip footings on spatially random soils using sparse polynomial chaos expansion

A probabilistic model is presented to compute the probability density function (PDF) of the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on a spatially varying soil. The soil cohesion and friction angle were considered as two anisotropic cross‐correlated non‐Gaussian random fields. The deterministic model was based on numerical simulations. An efficient uncertainty propagation methodology that makes use of a non‐intrusive approach to build up a sparse polynomial chaos expansion for the system response was employed. The probabilistic numerical results were presented in the case of a weightless soil. Sobol indices have shown that the variability of the ultimate bearing capacity is mainly due to the soil cohesion. An increase in the coefficient of variation of a soil parameter (c or φ) increases its Sobol index, this increase being more significant for the friction angle. The negative correlation between the soil shear strength parameters decreases the response variability. The variability of the ultimate bearing capacity increases with the increase in the coefficients of variation of the random fields, the increase being more significant for the cohesion parameter. The decrease in the autocorrelation distances may lead to a smaller variability of the ultimate bearing capacity. Finally, the probabilistic mean value of the ultimate bearing capacity presents a minimum. This minimum is obtained in the isotropic case when the autocorrelation distance is nearly equal to the footing breadth. However, for the anisotropic case, this minimum is obtained at a given value of the ratio between the horizontal and vertical autocorrelation distances. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cretaceous climate oscillations in the southern palaeolatitudes: New stable isotope evidence from India and Madagascar

Palaeotemperatures for the Cretaceous of India and Madagascar have been determined on the basis of oxygen isotopic analysis of well-preserved Albian belemnite rostra and Maastrichtian bivalve shells of from the Trichinopoly district, southern India, and Albian nautiloid and ammonoid cephalopods from the Mahajang Province, Madagascar. The Albian (possibly late Albian) palaeotemperatures for Trichinopoly district are inferred to range from 14.9 °C to 18.5 °C for the epipelagic zone, and from 14.3 °C to 15.9 °C for the mesopelagic zone, based on analyses of 65 samples; isotopic palaeotemperatures interpreted as summer and winter values for near-bottom shelf waters in this area fluctuate from 16.3 to 18.5 °C and from 14.9 to 16.1 °C, respectively. The mentioned palaeotemperatures are very similar to those calculated from isotopic composition of middle Albian belemnites of the middle latitude area of Pas-de-Calais in Northern hemisphere but significantly higher than those calculated from isotopic composition of Albian belemnites from southern Argentina and the Antarctic and middle Albian belemnites of Australia located within the warm-temperate climatic zone. Isotopic analysis of early Albian cephalopods from Madagascar shows somewhat higher palaeotemperatures for summer near-bottom shelf waters in this area (20.2-21.6 °C) in comparison with late Albian palaeotemperatures calculated from southern India fossils, but similar winter values (13.3-16.4 °C); however, the latter values are somewhat higher than those calculated from early Albian ammonoids of the tropical-subtropical climatic zone of the high latitude area of southern Alaska and the Koryak Upland. The new isotopic palaeotemperature data suggest that southern India and Madagascar were located apparently in middle latitudes (within the tropical-subtropical climatic zone) during Albian time. In contrast to the Albian fossils, isotope results of well-preserved early Maastrichtian bivalve shells from the Ariyalur Group, Trichinopoly district, are characterised by lower δ¹⁸O values (up to −5.8‰) but normal δ¹³C values, which might be a result local freshwater input into the marine environment. Our data suggest that the early Maastrichtian palaeotemperature of the southern Indian near-bottom shelf waters was probably about 21.2 °C, and that this middle latitude region continued to be a part of tropical-subtropical climatic zone, but with tendency of increasing of humidity at the end of Cretaceous time.     

Environmental impact of ancient small-scale mercury ore processing at Pšenk on soil (Idrija area, Slovenia)

The Idrija mine was the second largest Hg mine in the world surpassed only by the Almaden mine in Spain. It has been estimated that almost 145,000 tons of Hg was produced during operation (1490-1995) of the mine. In the first decade of Hg mining in Idrija the ore was roasted in piles; after that it was roasted for 150 years, until 1652, in earthen vessels at various sites in the woods around Idrija. Pšenk is one out of 21 localities of ancient roasting sites established on the hills surrounding Idrija and one of the largest localities of roasting vessel fragments. The unique way of roasting very rich Hg ore at this site has resulted in soil contamination and considerable amounts of waste material that potentially leach Hg into the surrounding environment. The main aim of this study was to determine the distribution and the forms of Hg in contaminated soils in order to evaluate potential environmental risk. Detailed soil sampling was performed on 37,800 m² area to establish the extent of Hg pollution and to investigate Hg transformations and transport characteristics through the 400 a-long period. A total of 156 soil (0-15 cm and 15-30 cm) and SOM (soil organic matter) samples were collected from 73 sampling points. Three soil profiles were sampled to determine vertical distribution of Hg. The main Hg phases were determined by the Hg-thermo-desorption technique. The measured Hg contents in soil samples in the study area vary from 5.5 to almost 9000 mg/kg with a median of 200 mg/kg. In SOM, Hg contents range from 1.4 to 4200 mg/kg with a median of 20 mg/kg. Extremely high Hg contents were found in soil profiles where the metal reaches 37,020 mg/kg. In general, Hg concentrations in all three profiles show a gradual decrease with depth with the minimum values between 140 mg/kg and 1080 mg/kg. The Hg-thermo-desorption curves indicate the presence of Hg in the form of cinnabar and that of Hg bound to organic or mineral soil matter. The distribution of Hg species in soil and SOM samples show almost equal distribution of cinnabar and non-cinnabar Hg compounds. The non-cinnabar fraction shows a little increase with depth, but cinnabar represents a high portion of total Hg (about 40%). Large amounts of potentially mobile and transformable non-cinnabar Hg compounds exist at the roasting site, which are potentially bioavailable.     

Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010

Human activities have diverse and profound impacts on ecosystem carbon cycles. The Piedmont ecoregion in the eastern United States has undergone significant land use and land cover change in the past few decades. The purpose of this study was to use newly available land use and land cover change data to quantify carbon changes within the ecoregion. Land use and land cover change data (60-m spatial resolution) derived from sequential remotely sensed Landsat imagery were used to generate 960-m resolution land cover change maps for the Piedmont ecoregion. These maps were used in the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) to simulate ecosystem carbon stock and flux changes from 1971 to 2010. Results show that land use change, especially urbanization and forest harvest had significant impacts on carbon sources and sinks. From 1971 to 2010, forest ecosystems sequestered 0.25 Mg C ha?1 yr?1, while agricultural ecosystems sequestered 0.03 Mg C ha?1 yr?1. The total ecosystem C stock increased from 2271 Tg C in 1971 to 2402 Tg C in 2010, with an annual average increase of 3.3 Tg C yr?1. Terrestrial lands in the Piedmont ecoregion were estimated to be weak net carbon sink during the study period. The major factors contributing to the carbon sink were forest growth and afforestation; the major factors contributing to terrestrial emissions were human induced land cover change, especially urbanization and forest harvest. An additional amount of carbon continues to be stored in harvested wood products. If this pool were included the carbon sink would be stronger.     

Hydrogen bonding in coquimbite, nominally Fe2(SO4)3·9H2O, and the relationship between coquimbite and paracoquimbite

Using single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 293, 200 and 100 K, and neutron diffraction at 50 K, we have refined the positions of all atoms, including hydrogen atoms (previously undetermined), in the structure of coquimbite ( $ P {\bar 3}1c $ , a?=?10.924(2)/10.882(2) Å, c?=?17.086(3) / 17.154(3) Å, V?=?1765.8(3)/1759.2(5) ų, at 293 / 50 K, respectively). The use of neutron diffraction allowed us to determine precise and accurate hydrogen positions. The O–H distances in coquimbite at 50 K vary between 0.98 and 1.01 Å. In addition to H₂O molecules coordinated to the Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions, there are rings of six “free” H₂O molecules in the coquimbite structure. These rings can be visualized as flattened octahedra with the distance between oxygen and the geometric center of the polyhedron of 2.46 Å. The hydrogen-bonding scheme undergoes no changes with decreasing temperature and the unit cell shrinks linearly from 293 to 100 K. A review of the available data on coquimbite and its “dimorph” paracoquimbite indicates that paracoquimbite may form in phases closer to the nominal composition of Fe₂(SO₄)₃·9H₂O. Coquimbite, on the other hand, has a composition approximating Fe_1.5Al_0.5(SO₄)₃·9H₂O. Hence, even a “simple” sulfate Fe_2-x Al _x (SO₄)₃·9H₂O may be structurally rather complex.     

Mechanism of water solubility in silicate melts of the albite-nepheline system

Water solubility and speciation have been studied in melts from the system albite-nepheline. Water solubility was determined at P_H2O = 200 MPa and T = 1200ºC using Karl Fischer titration (KFT) and weight loss methods. It increases from 5.8?±?0.1 wt. % in the albite melt to 7.25?±?0.25 % in the nepheline melt. The solubility dependence has a sigmoidal shape with a steep increase in the Ab40–Ab60 compositional range. The densities of the hydrous glasses have been measured using the thermal-gradient method. Infrared (IR) combination bands of molecular H₂O and hydroxyl groups in these glasses demonstrate a systematic shift to lower frequencies with increasing alkalinity. The data are consistent with the appearance of aluminate species (Al-O-Al fragments) appearing at 40–60 wt.% nepheline (Ab60–Ab40).     

The Impact of Sediment-Laden Snow and Sea Ice in the Arctic on Climate

Sea ice formed over shallow Arctic shelves often entrains sediments resuspended from the sea floor. Some of this sediment-laden ice advects offshore into the Transpolar Drift Stream and the Beaufort Gyre of the Arctic Basin. Through the processes of seasonal melting at the top surface, and the freezing of clean ice on the bottom surface, these sediments tend, over time, to concentrate at the top of the ice where they can affect the surface albedo, and thus the absorbed solar radiation, when the ice is snow free. Similarly, wind-blown dust can reduce the albedo of snow. The question that is posed by this study is what is the impact of these sediments on the seasonal variation of sea ice, and how does it then affect climate? Experiments were conducted with a coupled energy balance climate-thermodynamic sea ice model to examine the impact of including sediments in the sea ice alone and in the sea ice and overlying snow. The focus of these experiments was the impact of the radiative and not the thermal properties of the sediments. The results suggest that if sea ice contains a significant amount of sediments which are covered by clean snow, there is only a small impact on the climate system. However, if the snow also contains significant sediments the impact on sea ice thickness and surface air temperature is much more significant.