Editorial: The Future of Mathematical Geology

Mathematical Geosciences -     

Editorial

Mathematical Geosciences -     

Neutral aldoses as source indicators for marine snow

The chemical characteristics of aggregating material in the marine environment are largely unknown. We investigated neutral aldose (NA) abundance and composition in aggregation of marine snow and other organic matter (OM) size fractions in the field. Four sample sets were fractionated using membrane filtration and ultrafiltration into the following size fractions: particulate material, high-molecular-weight (HMW) material, and low-molecular-weight (LMW) material. We also collected three sample sets of marine-snow aggregates. Each sample set contained small, medium, and large aggregate size fractions and each size fraction consisted of 25–50 aggregates. For 7 marine-snow samples and for each water-sample size fraction, we determined monomeric and polymeric NA concentration, NA yield (amount of NA-C normalized to organic carbon), and composition; total organic carbon (TOC) concentration; transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) concentration, and TEP propensity (TEP concentration after inducing TEP formation in filtered samples). This is the first study to include compound-specific NA determinations on these four marine OM size fractions.The mass balances of organic carbon and NA indicated that there were no serious contamination or loss problems. Concentrations, yields, and NA mol fractions in water samples were similar to results from other studies. Glucose and galactose had the highest relative abundance in all size fractions. The NA yield increased with increasing molecular weight or particle size for all fractions except marine snow. The NA yield increased in the order: LMW< marine snow< HMW< particles. Marine snow had a higher average NA yield than the LMW fraction, but lower than particle and HMW-fractions. This indicates that OM in marine snow could have been diagenetically derived from particulate and HMW-fractions, that is, marine snow may include material from the particulate and the colloidal phase.TEP concentration or TEP propensity was positively correlated with concentrations of all individual NAs as well as the sum NA concentrations, indicating that TEP contains neutral sugars in addition to the acidic polysaccharides stained in the determination of TEP concentrations.Despite the relatively low NA yield in marine snow, marine snow was enriched in NA when compared with seawater, with enrichment factors of 34–225 (average 125). By combining data from this study with data from other studies, we estimate that < 10% of carbohydrates in marine snow comprise NAs.There was no clear correlation between marine-snow aggregate size and NA yield, that is, there appears to be no general age difference between small and large marine-snow aggregates. NA composition was similar among different marine-snow size fracions collected during the same day, indicating that aggregation/disaggregation reactions resulted in homogenizing NA composition in marine-snow aggregates of all sizes. The NA composition of marine snow was different from that of other OM size fractions, indicating either that bacterial degradation has modified the composition of marine snow to a larger extent than other OM size fractions or that marine snow is formed through the aggregation of selected subcomponents of OM.     

Star cluster formation and star formation: the role of environment and star-formation efficiencies

By analyzing global starburst properties in various kinds of starburst and post-starburst galaxies and relating them to the properties of the star cluster populations they form, I explore the conditions for the formation of massive, compact, long-lived star clusters. The aim is to determine whether the relative amount of star formation that goes into star cluster formation as opposed to field star formation, and into the formation of massive long-lived clusters in particular, is universal or scales with star-formation rate, burst strength, star-formation efficiency, galaxy or gas mass, and whether or not there are special conditions or some threshold for the formation of star clusters that merit to be called globular clusters a few billion years later.     

储集层非均质性分析的计算机方法:以西弗吉尼亚州下密西西比系油田为例

本文使用几种计算法和统计法研究美国西弗吉尼亚洲中部格兰尼克里克油田大Ｉｎｊｕｎ砂岩储集层的结构及其与采油量的关系。计算机程序根据已出版的资料编写，以适合（ｌ）计算渗透率对孔隙度的回归；（２）标绘三维孔隙度；（３）确定和标绘根据地球物理测井记录推断的相；（４）估算原始储量、累积产量和采油率。因为回归分析显示出测井记录和岩心孔隙度及岩心渗透率间微弱但重要的相关，所以，孔隙度可用干地层渗透率中以构成储集层的模式。也使用定量地层对比和多维定算法来估算在缺乏可用数据的情况下构造的影响。于井间使用克里格法内插绘制的剖面，突出了孔隙度较高的地带。使用地球物理测井资料和岩心描述，用聚类分析确定导电相。原始储量的估算结果与累计产量数据相结合，得出采油率的估算值。这些采油量变量图通常呈现在岩相图上观察到的相同的南北走向。     

Partitioning Stakeholders for the Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services: Examples of a Mangrove System

Although the importance of ecosystem services provided by natural forests, especially mangroves, is well known, the destruction of these environments is still ubiquitous and therefore protection measures are urgently needed. The present study compares the current approach of economic valuation of ecosystem services to a proposed one, using a study case of a mangrove system as an example. We suggest that a cost-benefit analysis for economically valuing environmental services should be performed with three additional modifications consisting of (i) a categorization of local stakeholders as demanders of particular ecosystem services, (ii) acknowledgement of the government as one of these demander groups, and (iii) the inclusion of opportunity costs in the valuation. The application of this approach to the mangrove area in the east portion of Great Abaco Island, the Bahamas, reveals that not only the ecosystem services received differ between demander groups, but the monetary benefits and costs are also specific to each of these groups. We show that the economic valuation of the ecosystem should be differentiated for each category, instead of being calculated as a net ‘societal value’ as it is currently. Applying this categorization of demanders enables a better understanding of the cost and benefit structure of the protection of a natural area. The present paper aims to facilitate discussions regarding benefit and cost sharing related to the protection of natural areas.