Predicting copper toxicity in estuarine and marine waters using the Biotic Ligand Model

The Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) has proven efficient in predicting the toxicity of a variety of metals to freshwater organisms. Consequently, the US EPA has proposed its use for calculating freshwater copper criteria. This study evaluates the BLM for use in estuarine and marine waters. Studies were conducted using the bivalve, Mytilus sp. and 48-h embryo-larval development chronic estimator test methods. These are the most sensitive taxa and test in the US EPA saltwater copper criteria database. Samples from five locations around the USA were tested. There is a strong relationship between measured and BLM predicted copper EC50s (log transformed data, r² = 0.76, p < 0.001, n = 44). The BLM predicted within a factor ±2 of measured EC50s in 41 of 44 cases. However, the BLM tends to predict lower EC50s when measured EC50s are approximately 10 μg Cu/L. This may be due to limitations of the metal-dissolved organic matter interaction model.     

Experimental study of igneous and sedimentary apatite dissolution: Control of pH, distance from equilibrium, and temperature on dissolution rates

Apatite dissolution experiments were conducted using both a fluidized bed and stirred tank reactor over a range of pH, temperature, solution saturation state, and on non-carbonated and carbonated apatite compositions: igneous fluorapatite (FAP) and sedimentary carbonate fluorapatite (CFA), respectively. From 2 <pH <6, the rate of release from dissolution of all apatite components [calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and fluoride (F)] increased with decreasing pH for FAP. From 6 < pH < 8.5, the FAP dissolution rate is pH independent. Measuring apatite dissolution rates at pH > 8.5 were not possible due to detection limits of the analytical techniques used in this study and the high insolubility of FAP. For the CFA compositions studied, the dissolution rate decreased with increasing pH from 4 < pH < 7. During early stages of the dissolution reaction for both FAP and CFA, mineral components were released in non-stoichiometric ratios with reacted solution ratios of dissolved Ca:P and Ca:F being greater than mineral stoichiometric ratios, suggesting that Ca was preferentially released compared to P and F from the mineral structure during the early stages of dissolution. An increase in reacted solution pH accompanies this early elevated release of Ca. As the dissolution reaction proceeded to steady state, dissolution became congruent. When normalized to BET measured surface area, FAP dissolved faster from 4 < pH < 7 compared to CFA. The apparent Arrhenius activation energy (E_a) of FAP dissolution over the temperature range of 25-55°C at pH = 3.0, I = 0.1, and pCO₂ = 0 is 8.3 ± 0.2 kcal mol⁻¹. Both the apparent exchange of solution H⁺ for solid-bound Ca at low pH in the early stage of dissolution and the E_a of dissolution suggest a surface and not a diffusion controlled dissolution reaction for FAP and CFA. The degree of undersaturation of the solution, ΔG_R, with respect to FAP was important in determining the dissolution rate. At pH = 3.0, I = 0.1, and pCO₂ = 0, the dissolution rate of FAP was ∼ 5× greater in the far-from-equilibrium region compared to the near-equilibrium slope region.A simple apatite weathering model incorporating the experimental results from this study was constructed, and numerical calculations suggest that during the Phanerozoic both the surface area of igneous rock available for weathering and the average global temperature were important factors in determining the P weathering flux from apatite dissolution. It is possible that elevated global temperatures coupled with relatively high surface area of igneous rock during the early- to mid-Paleozoic resulted in elevated P weathering fluxes, which along with climatic evolutionary pressures of the Neoproterozoic, facilitated the radiation of multicellular organisms, large-scale phosphorite deposition, and abundance of calcium phosphate shelled organisms during the early Cambrian.     

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Basement and cover relations on the northern margin of the Amadeus Basin, central Australia

A major, linear, west-trending deformed zone (The Redbank Zone), 350 km long and up to 20 km wide, can be identified in the Arunta Block immediately north of the Amadeus Basin. The marked linearity of this zone and of the coincident gravity anomaly probably result from thrust-fault movement during the Carboniferous Alice Springs Orogeny. However, in the Ormiston area, there is evidence that the zone originated prior to 1070 m.y. and acted as a major crustal feature controlling the later orogenic event.The Alice Springs Orogeny affected the overlying Proterozoic and Lower Palaeozoic cover rocks as well as the Arunta Block basement. During the orogeny, steep north-dipping thrusts within the Redbank Zone were reactivated causing uplift to the north. These faults penetrated the Heavitree Quartzite—the basal unit of the cover sequence—to drive wedges of basement, with attached veneers of Heavitree Quartzite, for up to 20 km southward within the overlying Bitter Springs Formation. The nappes did not reach the surface or penetrate formations above the Bitter Springs. Accompanying nappe emplacement the Basin to the south rapidly deepened to receive a thick wedge of synorogenic molasse sediments.Gravity, sedimentary and structural features combine to suggest that the Alice Springs orogeny movements reached their maximum on the central part of the northern margin of the Amadeus Basin, in the Ormiston area.     

Petrography and Geochemistry of Peridotite Xenoliths from Hannuoba and Significance for Lithospheric Mantle Evolution

Mantle-derived xenoliths and xenocrysts in Pale-ozoic diamondiferous ki mberlites in Mengyin (Shan-dong Province) and Fuxian (Liaoning Province) showthe presence of a cold,thick lithospheric mantle be-neath the North China craton ( NCC) in the MiddleOrdovician ( Griffin et al ., 1998 ; Menzies et al .,1993 ;Fan and Menzies ,1992) . However ,studies onmantle peridotites captured in the Tertiary to Neo-gene basalts of the NCC have revealed the existenceof a thin, hot and fertile lithosph…     

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Geochronology,Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of the Pungco Ophiolite,TibetEI北大核心CSCD

Although the middle section of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone has been intensively investigated, its tectonic framework and evolution is still controversy. The Pungco ophiolite has a relative complete ophiolitic complex, which is an ideal specimen for studying this tricky problem. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of zircons from the diabasic rock yielded an age of 159.0±2.1 Ma. This age suggests that the Pungco ophiolite was formed in the Late Jurassic, indicating the development of the Late Jurassic ophiolite in the third ophiolitic subzone. The whole-rock major and trace element compositions of diabasic and basaltic rocks exhibit mixed arc and N-MORB geochemical characteristics. Two diabasic samples have (87Sr/86Sr)i values of 0.7055 and 0.7063 and εNd(t) values of 11.28 and 11.84, respectively. The geochemical signatures and formation age of the Pungco ophiolite suggest that this ophiolite was probably produced in an active continental fore-arc setting. It originated from a N-MORB-like depleted mantle source with the involvement of subducted-slab fluids. Considering the regional geological background, the Pungco ophiolite was likely generated during the southward subduction of the Bangong-Nujiang Tethyan oceanic lithosphere beneath the Lhasa terrane, and belongs to a regional archipelagic arc-basin system together with the other Early Jurassic-Early Cretaceous ophiolites from the northern Tibet Lake district. © 2018, Science Press. All right reserved.     

Tephra stratigraphy on the North Icelandic shelf: extending tephrochronology into marine sediments off North Iceland

Tephra stratigraphical and tephrochronological studies of marine core MD99‐2275 on the North Icelandic shelf have revealed 58 new tephra horizons within the last 7050 cal. a BP, bringing the total number of identified tephra layers to 76. So far, over 100 tephra layers have been identified in the entire core spanning the last 15 000 years. The majority of the newly identified tephra layers are basaltic in composition and originate from the most active volcanic systems in Iceland, namely Grímsvötn, Veidivötn‐Bárdarbunga and Katla. A total of 40 tephra layer land–sea correlations have been made within this time period, of which 16 represent absolutely dated tephra markers. In addition, two tephra marker series are revealed in the marine sediments and in the terrestrial tephra stratigraphy, located between c. 2300–2600 and between 5700–5900 years. For the last 15 000 years, 21 tephra markers have been recognized. The marine tephra layer frequency (TLF) reveals two peaks, within the last 2000 years, and between 5000 and 7000 years ago. It shows the same general characteristics as the terrestrial TLF curve in Iceland, which indicates that marine sediments can yield important information about volcanism in Iceland. This is useful in time segments in which terrestrial records are poor or non‐existent. The study contributes to a high‐resolution tephrochronological framework on the North Icelandic shelf, with core MD99‐2275 representing a potential stratotype section in the area, and for the northern North Atlantic–Nordic Seas region, as well as being an important contribution to the Lateglacial–early Holocene volcanic history of Iceland.