Unexpected post-settlement freshening and increase in charophytes in Bombah Broadwater (Myall Lakes,New South Wales,Australia)

Bombah Broadwater is a shallow coastal lake within the Ramsar-listed Myall Lakes system on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. Increased nutrient and sediment loads resulting from catchment modification are thought to have instigated the loss of aquatic plants in the lake, causing it to “switch” from a clear, macrophyte dominated system (similar to the conditions in present day Myall Lake) to a turbid, phytoplankton dominated system. To assess this hypothesis, charophytes, foraminifera and aquatic fauna remains from an 800 year sediment record were examined. The sediment chronology was established using ¹⁴C, ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs radiometric dating and sediment composition. Interestingly, a clear increase in charophytes since European arrival conflicted with the hypothesised aquatic plant loss. Hence, it appears Bombah Broadwater has not undergone a change in stable state since European arrival. An additional and unexpected finding in the patterns of the foraminifera and testate amoeba suggest that Bombah Broadwater has freshened substantially since European arrival. This freshening may have resulted from increased catchment run off as a result of the clearance of catchment vegetation. Since catchment vegetation clearance is widespread in Australia, this finding raises the possibility that post-settlement freshening of coastal lakes may be a common occurrence.     

Geochemistry of the Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous shales from the Molango Region,Hidalgo, eastern Mexico: Implications for source-area weathering,provenance, and tectonic setting

This study focuses on the Jurassic (Huayacocotla and Pimienta Formations) and Upper Cretaceous (Méndez Formation) shales from the Molango Region, Hidalgo, Mexico. In this article, we discuss the mineralogy, major, and trace element geochemistry of the Mesozoic shales of Mexico. The goal of this study is to constrain the provenance of the shales, which belong to two different periods of the Mesozoic Era and to understand the weathering conditions and tectonic environments of the source region.     

Interactive effects of environmental variability and human impacts on the long-term dynamics of an Amazonian floodplain lake and a South Atlantic coastal lagoon

Human activities are exposing freshwater ecosystems to a wide range of stressors, whose direct and indirect effects can be alleviated or exacerbated through interactive effects with dynamic environmental drivers. This study used long-term data from two Neotropical lacustrine freshwater systems (Batata Lake, an Amazonian floodplain lake and Imboassica lagoon, an Atlantic coastal lagoon) subjected to different kinds of environmental fluctuations (i.e., flood pulse and sandbar opening) and anthropogenic impacts (i.e., siltation and eutrophication). Our objective was to determine whether the effects of human perturbations are contingent on modifications of important biotic and abiotic characteristics through environmental variability. For both ecosystems, environmental variability consistently interacted with anthropogenic perturbations to alter most of the variables analyzed, such as nutrient dynamics, chlorophyll-a concentration, zooplankton and benthic invertebrate species richness, and temporal community stability, which indicates that interactive effects between environmental variability and anthropogenic perturbations may impact a myriad of ecosystem properties. Furthermore, the nature of these interactive effects was highly dependent on the variable considered and on the ecosystem analyzed. For example, at Imboassica lagoon, sandbar openings interacted synergistically with trophic state to increase the phosphorus concentration in the water column. At Batata Lake, flooding generally alleviated the negative effects of siltation on species richness by both diluting inorganic suspended material concentration and by promoting local recruitment from the regional species pool. Such results indicate that our ability to understand and predict the outcome of anthropogenic impacts on inland aquatic systems can be hampered if we consider human stressors as “static” phenomena disconnected from dynamic interactions with major local environmental drivers.     

Fe,Mn, P and S Speciation in Sediments from the Capivara Hydroelectric Dam Lake (Brazil) as an Indicator of Anthropogenic Influences

The conservation of large water resources is essential for the preservation of human life. The quantification and, more importantly, the speciation of chemical substances that indicate the presence of anthropogenic contamination in water resources are of great importance. This paper presents the results of analysis for the determination of organic, inorganic and total phosphorus, pseudo‐sulfur, and iron and manganese, in five fractions, in water sediments collected from the Capivara Hydroelectric Power Plant, Brazil. A study on the seasonal variation of these parameters was conducted, with data having been collected in the winter and in the summer, at two sites along the dam, 5 km apart, close to the city of Primeiro de Maio. Phosphorous was found in sediments and adjacent soil in the organic form (OP), and was used as an indicator of anthropogenic influence on the reservoir banks. Speciation of potentially toxic Mn showed that it is present in the exchangeable fraction of the 0–5 cm depth layer (sediment/water interface), making its transfer to the water column possible. Results from this study showed that domestic and industrial effluent treatment measures are needed for the preservation of the quality of aquatic environments.     

INTERPRETING THE LARGE LIMB ERUPTION OF JULY 9, 1982

A time series of K3 spectroheliograms taken at the Coimbra Observatory exhibits an erupting loop on the east limb on July 9, 1982 in active region NOAA 3804. The Goddard SMM Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer (HXRBS) observations taken during this period reveal a hard X-ray flare occurring just before the loop eruption is observed, and SMS-GOES soft X-ray observations reveal a strong long-duration event (LDE) following the impulsive phase of the flare. A Solwind coronagram exhibits a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the erupting loop. H flare and prominence observations as well as centimeter and decimeter radio observations of the event are also reviewed. A large, north–south-oriented quiescent prominence reported within the upper part of the CME expansion region may play a role in the eruption as well. The spatial and temporal correlations among these observations are examined in the light of two different current models for prominence eruption and CME activation: (1) The CME is triggered by the observed hard X-ray impulsive flare. (2) The CME is not triggered by a flare, and the observed soft X-ray flare is an LDE due to reconnection within the CME bubble. It is concluded that this event is probably of a mixed type that combines characteristics of models (1) and (2). The July 9 event is then compared to three other energetic CME and flare eruptions associated with the same active-region complex, all occurring in the period July 9 through September 4, 1982. It is noted that these four energetic events coincide with the final evolutionary phase of a long-lasting active-region complex, which is discussed in a companion paper (Bumba, Garcia, and Jordan, 1997). The paper concludes by addressing the solar flare myth controversy in the light of this work.     

Spatial variability of phytoplankton absorption coefficients and pigments off Baja California during November 2002

We have estimated the spatial variability of phytoplankton specific absorption coefficients (a* _ph ) in the water column of the California Current System during November 2002, taking into account the variability in pigment composition and phytoplankton community structure and size. Oligotrophic conditions (surface Chl < 0.2 mg m⁻³) dominated offshore, while mesotrophic conditions (surface Chl 0.2 to 2.0 mg m⁻³) where found inshore. The specific absorption coefficient at 440 [a* _ph (440)] ranged from 0.025–0.281 m²mg⁻¹ while at 675 nm [a* _ph (675)] it varied between 0.014 and 0.087 m²mg⁻¹. The implementation of a size index based on HPLC data showed the community structure was dominated by picoplankton. This would reduce the package effect in the variability of a* _ph (675). Normalized a _ph curves were classified in two groups according to their shape, separating all spectra with peaks between 440 and 550 nm as the second group. Most samples in the first group were from surface layers, while the second group were from the deep chlorophyll maximum or deeper. Accessory photoprotective pigments (APP) tended to decrease with depth and accessory photosynthetic pigments (APS) to increase, indicating the importance of photoprotective mechanisms in surface layers and adaptation to low light at depth. Samples with higher ratios of APP:APS (>0.4) were considered as phytoplankton adapted to high irradiances, and lower ratios (<0.26) as adapted to low irradiances. We found a good relationship between APP:APS and a* _ph (440) for the deeper layer (DCM and below), but no clear evidence of the factors causing the variability of a* _ph (440) in the upper layer.