Is a regional flood signal reproducible from lake sediments?

The evolution of flood activity with global warming remains uncertain. To better assess flood–climate relationships, lake sediments are increasingly being investigated because they could provide regional flood histories long enough to cover past climate changes. However, site‐specific sedimentary processes may bias flood reconstructions. The aim of this article is to investigate these effects through the reconstruction of two distinct flood records from independent, neighbouring sedimentary basins of the same lake (Lake Allos in the Mediterranean French Alps), i.e. under the same climate conditions. Understanding of sedimentary processes is crucial in order to adapt the sampling strategy and the flood‐intensity proxy to each sedimentary system and, thereby, reconstruct a complete and reliable flood history. Thanks to this detailed approach, the main trends of the regional flood variability can be reproduced; i.e. periods of high flood‐frequency, ranges of flood‐frequency values and timing of the most intense events. In detail, some differences appeared associated to the various stream capacities to erode and transport flood sediments to the lake system, implying variable sensitivity of sedimentary systems in recording floods. Comparing regional flood records based on independent sedimentary systems from similar environments could thus be a complementary approach to assessing past flood intensity. Such an approach could open particularly interesting perspectives because reconstructing the long‐term evolution of flood intensity is a key challenge in the geosciences.     

Meso- and bathy-pelagic fish parasites at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR): Low host specificity and restricted parasite diversity

Seven meso- and bathy-pelagic fish species from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) were firstly studied for fish parasites and feeding ecology. With a total of seven parasite species, the 247 meso- and bathy-pelagic deep-sea fish specimens belonging to the families Melamphaidae (3 spp.), Myctophidae (3 spp.) and Stomiidae (1 sp.) revealed low parasite diversity. The genetically identified nematodes Anisakis simplex (s.s.) and Anisakis pegreffii from the body cavity, liver and muscles of Myctophum punctatum were the most abundant parasites, reaching a prevalence of 91.4% and mean intensity of 3.1 (1–14). Anisakis sp. (unidentified) infected Chauliodus sloani and Poromitra crassiceps. Bothriocephalidean and tetraphyllidean cestode larvae infected Benthosema glaciale, the latter also occurring in C. sloani and Scopelogadus beanii, at low prevalences. Adult parasites at low infection rates included the digenean Lethadena sp. (2.9%), and the two copepod species Sarcotretes scopeli (5.7%) and Tautochondria dolichoura (5.3–11.4%). The myctophid Lampanyctus macdonaldi and the melamphaid Scopelogadus mizolepis mizolepis were free of parasites. Analyses of the stomach contents revealed crustaceans, especially copepods and euphausiids for the myctophids and also amphipods for the melamphaids as predominant prey items. While all stomachs showing distinct content comprising often unidentified ‘tissue’ (possibly gelatinous zooplankton), only C. sloani preyed upon fish. Though this feeding habit would enable transfer of a variety of crustacean-transmitted parasites into the fish, the parasite fauna in the meso- and bathy-pelagic fish was species poor. All observed parasites showed low host specificity, demonstrating no distinct pattern of host–parasite co-evolution. The MAR is no barrier for the parasite distribution in the North Atlantic meso- and bathy-pelagial.     

Synthetic near Σ5 (210)/[100] grain boundary in YAG fabricated by direct bonding: structure and stability

Several macroscopic physical and chemical properties, such as rheology, elasticity, or transport properties are governed by grain boundary processes. An improved understanding of the structure and evolution of grain boundaries has thus become a key challenge in geosciences and material sciences. Here, we report the structure of near Σ5 (210)/[100] grain boundaries in Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG), which were synthesised by the wafer direct bonding method. The produced grain boundaries were annealed at different temperatures, ranging from 673 to 1,873 K. The grain boundaries annealed at different temperatures are not distinguishable based on their flatness and apparent cohesiveness in high resolution TEM (HRTEM) micrographs, but show a considerable step in their mechanical stability at around 1,273 K, a temperature that corresponds to roughly half the melting temperature of YAG. This study further focuses on the effect of a slight misorientation of the two crystals on the grain boundary structure and we discuss if the boundary can reach a state of minimum energy configuration during annealing. Along the grain boundaries, we observed a long-range strain contrast with a periodicity of 40 nm, which has not been reported for high-angle grain boundaries so far. We conclude that this contrast is caused by faceting along the grain boundary plane, which is needed to achieve minimum energy configuration of the grain boundary plane.     

The geochemical cycle of boron: Constraints from boron isotope partitioning experiments between mica and fluid

The fractionation of boron isotopes between synthetic boromuscovite and fluid was experimentally determined at 3.0 GPa/500 °C and 3.0 GPa/700 °C. For near-neutral fluids Δ¹¹B_(mica-fluid) = δ¹¹B_(mica) − δ¹¹B_(fluid) is − 10.9 ± 1.3‰ at 500 °C, and − 6.5 ± 0.4‰ at 700 °C. This supports earlier assumptions that the main fractionation effect is due to the change from trigonal coordination of boron in neutral fluids to tetrahedrally coordinated boron in micas, clays and melts. The T-dependence of this effect is approximated by the equation Δ¹¹B_{(mica,clay,melt–neutral fluid)} = − 10.69 · (1000/T [K]) + 3.88; R² = 0.992, valid from 25 °C for fluid–clay up to about 1000 °C for fluid–silicate melt. Experiments at 0.4 GPa that used strongly basic fluids produced significantly lower fractionations with Δ¹¹B_{(mica–fluid)} of − 7.4 ± 1.0‰ at 400 °C, and − 4.8 ± 1.0‰ at 500 °C, showing the reduced fractionation effect when large amounts of boron in basic fluids are tetrahedrally coordinated. Field studies have shown that boron concentrations and ¹¹B/¹⁰B-ratios in volcanic arcs systematically decrease across the arc with increasing distance from the trench, thus reflecting the thermal structure of the subducting slab. Our experiments show that the boron isotopic signature in volcanic arcs probably results from continuous dehydration of micas along a distinct P–T range. Continuous slab dehydration and boron transport via fluid into the mantle wedge is responsible for the boron isotopic signature in volcanic arcs.     

The role of recharge and evapotranspiration as hydraulic drivers of ion concentrations in shallow groundwater on Everglades tree islands,Florida (USA)

Recently, evapotranspiration has been hypothesized to promote the secondary formation of calcium carbonate year‐round on tree islands in the Everglades by influencing groundwater ions concentrations. However, the role of recharge and evapotranspiration as drivers of shallow groundwater ion accumulation has not been investigated. The goal of this study is to develop a hydrologic model that predicts the chloride concentrations of shallow tree island groundwater and to determine the influence of overlying biomass and underlying geologic material on these concentrations. Groundwater and surface water levels and chloride concentrations were monitored on eight constructed tree islands at the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment (LILA) from 2007 to 2010. The tree islands at LILA were constructed predominately of peat, or of peat and limestone, and were planted with saplings of native tree species in 2006 and 2007. The model predicted low shallow groundwater chloride concentrations when inputs of regional groundwater and evapotranspiration‐to‐recharge rates were elevated, while low evapotranspiration‐to‐recharge rates resulted in a substantial increase of the chloride concentrations of the shallow groundwater. Modeling results indicated that evapotranspiration typically exceeded recharge on the older tree islands and those with a limestone lithology, which resulted in greater inputs of regional groundwater. A sensitivity analysis indicated the shallow groundwater chloride concentrations were most sensitive to alterations in specific yield during the wet season and hydraulic conductivity in the dry season. In conclusion, the inputs of rainfall, underlying hydrologic properties of tree islands sediments and forest structure may explain the variation in ion concentration seen across Everglades tree islands. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A sediment core sectioning method to minimize the post-sampling redistribution of organisms

We present a mechanical method to horizontally section soft bottom sediment cores to minimize the vertical post-sampling redistribution of motile infaunal macroinvertebrates. A clear acrylic core tube for a standard Kajak-Brinkhurst corer was modified by cutting a series of horizontal slits into the side of the core tube to allow the insertion of sectioning plates for physically sealing each section immediately after core retrieval. The modification is simple, inexpensive and easily adapted to any open barrel gravity corer.