BIFoR FACE: Water–soil–vegetation–atmosphere data from a temperate deciduous forest catchment,including under elevated CO2

The ecosystem services provided by forests modulate runoff generation processes, nutrient cycling and water and energy exchange between soils, vegetation and atmosphere. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ affects many linked aspects of forest and catchment function in ways we do not adequately understand. Global levels of atmospheric CO₂ will be around 40% higher in 2050 than current levels, yet estimates of how water and solute fluxes in forested catchments will respond to increased CO₂ are highly uncertain. The Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) facility of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) is the only FACE in mature deciduous forest. The site specializes in fundamental studies of the response of whole ecosystem patches of mature, deciduous, temperate woodland to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Here, we describe a dataset of hydrological parameters – seven weather parameters at each of three heights and four locations, shallow soil moisture and temperature, stream hydrology and CO₂ enrichment – retrieved at high frequency from the BIFoR FACE catchment.     

Chemical and tectonic controls on the formation of sparry magnesite deposits — the deposits of the northern Greywacke Zone (Austria)

The sparry magnesite deposits of the northern Greywacke Zone are situated at the base of thrust sheets. Model calculations and natural examples suggest that an inverse temperature gradient can only be established at the base of a thrust sheet if thrusting is so rapid as to be geologically unrealistic. Independently of this thrusting induces a fluid flow from the lower units to the front of the moving thrust sheet. Stability data of magnesite and dolomite in contact with fluids with different Ca/(Ca+Mg) ratios suggest that this tectonically induced fluid flow produce magnesite from preexisting dolomite by metasomatism.

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Zusammenfassung Die Spatmagnesitvorkommen der Nördlichen Grauwackenzone liegen innerhalb von Deckengrenzen. Modellberechnungen zeigen, daß ein inverser Temperaturgradient sich nur dann an der Basis von Decken einstellen kann, wenn die Überschiebungsgeschwindigkeit so groß wird, daß sie geologisch unglaubwürdig ist. Deckenüberschiebungen erzeugen aber in jedem Fall in der überschobenen Einheit einen zur Deckenfront hin gerichteten Fluidstrom. Eine Betrachtung der Stabilitätsdaten für Magnesit und Dolomit im Gleichgewicht mit einer fluiden Phase mit unterschiedlichen Ca/(Ca+Mg)-Verhältnissen zeigt, daß durch einen solchen Fluidstrom metasomatisch Magnesit aus Dolomit gebildet werden kann.

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Résumé Les dépôts de magnésite spathique de la Grauwacken Zone septentrionale sont situés à la base d'unités charriées. Un calcul de modélisation et des exemples naturels montrent qu'un gradient inverse de température ne peut s'établir à la base d'une unité charriée qu'à la condition d'admettre une vitesse de charriage tellement élevée qu'elle est irréaliste. D'autre part, le phénomene de charriage induit un déplacement de fluide depuis les unités inférieures vers le front de la nappe. Les données relatives aux conditions de stabilité de la magnésite et de la dolomite en présence de fluides de divers rapports Ca/Ca+Mg permettent de déduire que le flux ainsi engendré par la tectonique peut engendrer la magnésite par métasomatose à partir de dolomite préexistante.

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A First Generation Stochastic Bioeconomic Analysis of Algal Bloom Control in a Coastal Lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Po River Delta)

Abstract. In this work we have developed a very simple stochastic mathematical model of Ulva spp. growth to quantitatively evaluate the economic costs of algal harvesting and the related benefits in terms of avoided'economic loss'of clam production due to an effective prevention of algal blooms and the consequent anoxic crises. Algal growth was simulated by means of a discrete time difference equation of Ulva biomass where the finite growth rate depends only upon water temperature. In order to explicitly include environmental variability, a seasonal autoregressive model calibrated on available data was used to simulate water temperature. Different harvesting scenarios were analysed in terms of the number of harvesting vessels employed and the threshold biomass of Ulva at which vessels start to operate. Costs of algal harvesting and disposal, as well as monetary damages resulting from the collapse of clam production as a consequence of algal blooms, were assessed by interviewing the managers of the Clam Fishermen's Union of Goro. A Monte Carlo approach was used to estimate the mean and total statistical distribution of costs and benefits of different harvesting strategies. Our analysis shows that the most cost-effective management policy is attained with 4–6 vessels operating at low algal density able to harvest as much Ulva as possible with intensive and short interventions at the beginning of the seasonal growth.     

Glutathione-mediated chlorothalonil detoxification in channel catfish gills

Maintenance of the glutathione (GSH) pathway is critical in guarding against the toxic effects of a variety of pollutants. However, despite their importance as an initial line of defense against waterborne toxicants, little is known regarding the role of fish gills in GSH-mediated xenobiotic metabolism. In these studies, the role of channel catfish gills in the detoxification of 2,4,5,6-tetrachloroisophthalonitrile (chlorothalonil), an electrophilic fungicide, was examined. Chlorothalonil was metabolized in vitro by gill cytosolic and microsomal glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Chlorothalonil metabolism by cytosolic fructions was reduced markedly when GSH was omitted from reaction mixtures. Microsomal metabolism of chlorothalonil did not occur in the absence of GSH and in the presence of an NADPH-regenerating system lacking GSH. Channel catfish exposed in vivo to chlorothalonil had increased gill GSH and cysteine concentrations after 72 h exposure, and increased gill gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS) activity at 144 h of exposure. Our results show that the gills play an important role in the metabolism and detoxification of chlorothalonil in the channel catfish. Catfish can maintain elevated gill GSH concentrations in the presence of chlorothalonil by increasing gill cysteine concentrations.     

A comparative analysis of three habitat suitability models for commercial yield estimation of Tapes philippinarum in a North Adriatic coastal lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Italy)

Habitat Suitability (HS) models have been extensively used by conservation planners to estimate the spatial distribution of threatened species and of species of commercial interest. In this work we compare three HS models for the estimation of commercial yield potential and the identification of suitable sites for Tapes philippinarum rearing in the Sacca di Goro lagoon (Italy) on the basis of six environmental factors. The habitat suitability index (HSI) is based on expert opinion while the habitat suitability conditional (HSC) is calibrated on observational data. The habitat suitability mixed (HSM) model is a two-part model combining expert knowledge and regression analysis: the first component of the model uses logistic regression to identify the areas in which clams are likely to be present; the second part applies the same parameter-specific suitability functions of the HSI model only in the areas previously identified as productive by the logistic component.The HS models were validated on an independent data set and estimates of potential yield of the Goro lagoon were compared. The effectiveness of the three approaches is then discussed in terms of predicted yield and identification of suitable sites for farming.     

Ab-initio structure, energy and stable Cr isotopes equilibrium fractionation of some geochemically relevant H-O-Cr-Cl complexes

Twelve Cr(III) molecules and six Cr(VI) molecules of geochemical interest in the system Cr-H-O-Cl were investigated by ab initio Density Functional Theory in the aim of determining stationary state geometries, electronic energies and vibrational properties. The vibrational analysis conducted on the ⁵⁰Cr, ⁵²Cr, ⁵³Cr and ⁵⁴Cr isotopomers indicates important separative effects which result in mass spectrometric measurable fractionation factors in a wide thermal range. The effect of the central cation on the computed vibrational modes is interpreted in terms of Redlich’s product rule with the introduction of an isotopic ergodicity factor related to the effect of bulk molecular masses and momenta of inertia about the principal rotational axes. After the initial gas phase optimization, some relevant molecules were subjected to the effects of reaction field through Onsager’s Model, Tomasi’s continuum Model and Conductor-like Screening Model procedures. Structures and vibrational properties prove in all cases not to be severely affected by solvation, although the effect of the reaction field is to reduce somewhat the isotopic fractionation in Cr(III)-Cr(VI) aqueous redox equilibria, with respect to the gaseous state. Some of the computed separative effects are applicable to geochemical investigations.     

Evaluation of site effects in the Aterno river valley (Central Italy) from aftershocks of the 2009 L��Aquila earthquake

A temporary network of 33 seismic stations was deployed in the area struck by the 6th April 2009, Mw 6.1 (Scognamiglio et?al. in Seism Res Lett 6/81, 2010), L??Aquila earthquake (central Italy), with the aim to investigate the site amplification within the Aterno river Valley. The seismograms of 18 earthquakes recorded by 14 of the 33 stations were used to evaluate the average horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) for each site and the standard horizontal spectral ratio (SSR) between a site and a reference station. The obtained results have been compared to the geological and geophysical information in order to explain the resonance frequencies and the amplification levels with respect to surface geology of the valley. The results indicate that there is no uniform pattern of amplification, because of the complex geologic setting, as the thickness and degree of cementation of the deposits is highly variable.     

Origin of mud in turbidites and hybrid event beds: Insight from ponded mudstone caps of the Castagnola turbidite system (north-west Italy)

The partitioning of different grain-size classes in gravity flow deposits is one of the key characteristics used to infer depositional processes. Turbidites have relatively clean sandstones with most of their clay deposited as part of a mudstone cap or as a distal mudstone layer, whereas sand-bearing debrites commonly comprise mixtures of sand grains and interstitial clay; hybrid event beds develop alternations of clean and dirty (clay-rich) sandstones in varying proportions. Analysis of co-genetic mudstone caps in terms of thickness and composition is a novel approach that can provide new insight into gravity flow depositional processes. Bed thickness data from the ponded Castagnola system show that turbidites contain more clay overall than do hybrid event beds. The Castagnola system is characterized by deposits of two very different petrographic types. Thanks to this duality, analyses of sandstone and mudstone composition allow inference of which proportion of the clay in each of the deposit types was acquired en route. In combination with standard sedimentological observations the new data allow insight into the likely characteristics of their parent flows. Clean turbidites were deposited by lower concentration, long duration, erosive, muddy turbidity currents which were more efficient at fractionating clay particles away from their basal layer. Hybrid event beds were deposited by shorter duration, higher-concentration, less-erosive sandier flows which were less efficient at clay fractionation. The results are consistent with data from other turbidite systems (for example, Marnoso-arenacea). The approach represents a new method to infer the controls on the degree of clay partitioning in gravity flow deposits.     

Inclined K–Ar illite age spectra in brittle fault gouges: effects of fault reactivation and wall‐rock contamination

K–Ar clay fraction ages of brittle faults often vary with grain size, decreasing in the finer size fractions, producing an inclined age–grain‐size spectrum. K–Ar ages and mineralogical characterization of gouges from two normal faults in the Kongsberg silver mines, southern Norway, suggest that inclined spectra derived from brittle fault rocks reflect the mixing of inherited components with authigenic mineral phases. The ages of the coarsest and finest fractions constrain faulting at c. 260–270 Ma and reactivation around 200–210 Ma, respectively. This study demonstrates how wall‐rock contamination influences the K–Ar age of the coarsest size fractions and that authigenic illite and K‐feldspar can crystallize synkinematically under equivalent conditions and thus yield the same K–Ar ages.