Groundwater contributions of flow and nitrogen in a headwater agricultural watershed

Nonpoint sources of nitrogen (N) and other nutrients are a major source of water pollution within the Chesapeake Bay watershed and other basins around the world. Human activities associated with agricultural practices can account for a large percentage of N loadings delivered to streams and rivers. This work aims to improve understanding of N transport from groundwater to surface waters, quantifying the principal hydrological processes driving water and N fluxes into and out of a headwater agricultural stream reach. The study site is a 175-m stream reach in a heavily cultivated 40-ha watershed in east-central Pennsylvania. This subwatershed is underlain by fractured shale bedrock, and receives most of its baseflow from groundwater, either by diffuse matrix discharge through the streambed or by localized discharge through riparian seeps. Samples of stream, seep, and shallow groundwater were collected approximately monthly under steady hydrologic conditions in 2017. Calculated matrix flow from hydraulic head and conductivity measurements paired with differential stream gauging was used to solve for the riparian seep flux using a mass balance approach. Riparian seep fluxes ranged from 45 to 217 m³/d, transporting 0.6–4.2 kg N d⁻¹ of nitrate-N from the fractured bedrock aquifer to the stream. Hydrochemical data suggest that the stream is mainly disconnected from the underlying aquifer and that seeps supply essentially all water and N to the system. Seeps are likely sourced with N in nearby agricultural fields and accelerated through the system with shorter residence times than shallow groundwater. Water isotope data reinforced this notion. This study underscores the importance of agriculture as a source of N to ground and surface waters. Identifying source areas that are causing groundwater enrichment of N and seep areas where N discharges to streams is beneficial for developing N pollution mitigation strategies and implementing management practices that aim to reduce nutrient loads to the Chesapeake Bay.     

Safeguarding coastal coral communities on the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia) against climate change: realizable local and global actions

The threats of wide-scale coral bleaching and reef demise associated with anthropogenic (global) climate change are widely known. Less well considered is the contributing role of conditions local to the reef, in particular reef water quality, in co-determining the physiological tolerance of corals to increasing sea temperatures and declining pH. Here, the modelled benefit of reduced exposure to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in terrestrial runoff, which raises the thermal tolerance of coastal coral communities on the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia), is considered alongside alternative future warming scenarios. The simulations highlight that an 80% reduction in DIN ‘buys’ an additional ~50–60?years of reef-building capacity for No Mitigation (‘business-as-usual’) bleaching projections. Moreover, the integrated management benefits provided by: (i) local reductions of ~50% in DIN contained in river loads, and (ii) global stabilisation of atmospheric CO₂ below 450?ppm can help ensure the persistence of hard-coral-dominated reefscapes beyond 2100. The simulations reinforce the message that beyond the global imperative to mitigate future atmospheric CO₂ emissions there still remains the need for effective local management actions that enhance the resistance and resilience of coral reef communities to the impacts of climate change.     

Zooidal budding in the cheilostomatous bryozoan Fenestrulina malusii var. thyreophora

Zooidal budding in Fenestrulina malusii var. thyreophora is described and notes on the budding of Micropora mortenscni are included for comparison. In both, an autozooidal bud arises from a membranous window in the exterior wall of a dietella. Dietellae themselves arise by being delimited as dichotomies of the developing lateral walls of autozooids. Because of the structural discreteness of dietellae of Fenestrulina and Micropora, and Hastings’ (1963) observation that some dietellae of Microporella occur as avicularia, dietellae in the Microporellidae and Micropora are regarded as fully formed heterozooids and not merely as incipient zooid buds, as lateral septulae are. The formation of dietellae in Fenestrulina and Micropora is a continuous process, and comparable with the con‐strictive budding of distal autozooids of Membranipora and Metrarabdotos.     

Adventive occurrence of the fouling serpulid Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Polychaeta) in New Zealand

The exotic marine‐fouling polychaete Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel) is recorded and described from New Zealand. Its sudden occurrence in New Zealand around 1967 was marked by its ecological prominence in estuaries of Whangarei and Auckland Harbours, as a nuisance species on submerged artificial structures including pleasure craft and power station intake pipes.     

Intra-crater glacial processes in central Utopia Planitia, Mars

We describe and interpret a series of previously unidentified glacial-like lobes (34-43°N; 107-125°E) that were discovered as part of a survey of large (D > 5 km) impact craters in Utopia Planitia, one of the great northern plains of Mars. The lobes have characteristics that are consistent with a glacial origin. Evidence includes curvilinearity of form, lineations and ridges, and surface textures that are thought to form by the sublimation of near-surface volatiles. The lobes display morphologies that range from wedge-shaped to near-circular to elongate. The flow directions are towards the northern walls in the case of craters with large single lobes, and in all directions in the case of the largest (D > 30 km) craters. Concentric crater fill is also interspersed within craters of our study region, with such craters having much higher filling rates than those with flow lobes. We suggest that the impact crater population in south-west Utopia Planitia demonstrates a spectrum of glacial modifications, from low levels of filling in the case of craters with elongate lobes at one extreme, to concentric crater fill in highly-filled craters at the other.     

Rapid vegetation responses and feedbacks amplify climate model response to snow cover changes

We investigate the response of a climate system model to two different methods for estimating snow cover fraction. In the control case, snow cover fraction changes gradually with snow depth; in the alternative scenarios (one with prescribed vegetation and one with dynamic vegetation), snow cover fraction initially increases with snow depth almost twice as fast as the control method. In cases where the vegetation was fixed (prescribed), the choice of snow cover parameterization resulted in a limited model response. Increased albedo associated with the high snow caused some moderate localized cooling (3–5°C), mostly at very high latitudes (>70°N) and during the spring season. During the other seasons, however, the cooling was not very extensive. With dynamic vegetation the change is much more dramatic. The initial increases in snow cover fraction with the new parameterization lead to a large-scale southward retreat of boreal vegetation, widespread cooling, and persistent snow cover over much of the boreal region during the boreal summer. Large cold anomalies of up to 15°C cover much of northern Eurasia and North America and the cooling is geographically extensive in the northern hemisphere extratropics, especially during the spring and summer seasons. This study demonstrates the potential for dynamic vegetation within climate models to be quite sensitive to modest forcing. This highlights the importance of dynamic vegetation, both as an amplifier of feedbacks in the climate system and as an essential consideration when implementing adjustments to existing model parameters and algorithms.     

Simplified DMT-based methods for evaluating liquefaction resistance of soils

This paper presents simplified dilatometer test (DMT)-based methods for evaluation of liquefaction resistance of soils, which is expressed in terms of cyclic resistance ratio (CRR). Two DMT parameters, horizontal stress index (K_D) and dilatometer modulus (E_D), are used as an index for assessing liquefaction resistance of soils. Specifically, CRR–K_D and CRR–E_D boundary curves are established based on the existing boundary curves that have already been developed based on standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT). One key element in the development of CRR–K_D and CRR–E_D boundary curves is the correlations between K_D (or E_D) and the blow count (N) in the SPT or cone tip resistance (q_c) from the CPT. In this study, these correlations are established through regression analysis of the test results of SPT, CPT, and DMT conducted side-by-side at each of five sites selected. The validity of the developed CRR–K_D and CRR–E_D curves for evaluating liquefaction resistance is examined with published liquefaction case histories. The results of the study show that the developed DMT-based models are quite promising as a tool for evaluating liquefaction resistance of soils.     

An attenuated total reflectance IR study of silicic acid adsorbed onto a ferric oxyhydroxide surface

Silicic acid (H₄SiO₄) can have significant effects on the properties of iron oxide surfaces in both natural and engineered aquatic systems. Understanding the reactions of H₄SiO₄ on these surfaces is therefore necessary to describe the aquatic chemistry of iron oxides and the elements that associate with them. This investigation uses attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) to study silicic acid in aqueous solution and the products formed when silicic acid adsorbs onto the surface of a ferrihydrite film in 0.01 M NaCl at pH 4. A spectrum of 1.66 mM H₄SiO₄ at pH 4 (0.01 M NaCl) has an asymmetric Si-O stretch at 939 cm⁻¹ and a weak Si-O-H deformation at 1090 cm⁻¹. ATR-IR spectra were measured over time (for up to 7 days) for a ferrihydrite film (≈1 mg) approaching equilibrium with H₄SiO₄ at concentrations between 0.044 and 0.91 mM. Adsorbed H₄SiO₄ had a broad spectral feature between 750 and 1200 cm⁻¹ but the shape of the spectra changed as the amount of H₄SiO₄ adsorbed on the ferrihydrite increased. When the solid phase Si/Fe mole ratio was less than ≈0.01 the ATR-IR spectra had a maximum intensity at 943 cm⁻¹ and the spectral shape suggests that a monomeric silicate species was formed via a bidentate linkage. As the solid phase Si/Fe mole ratio increased to higher values a discrete oligomeric silicate species was formed which had maximum intensity in the ATR-IR spectra at 1001 cm⁻¹. The spectrum of this species suggests that it is larger than a dimer and it was tentatively identified as a cyclic tetramer. A small amount of a polymeric silica phase with a broad spectral feature centered at ≈1110 cm⁻¹ was also observed at high surface coverage. The surface composition was estimated from the relative contribution of each species to the area of the ATR-IR spectra using multivariate curve resolution with alternating least squares. For a ferrihydrite film approaching equilibrium with 0.044, 0.14, 0.40 and 0.91 mM H₄SiO₄ the area of the spectra accounted for by monomeric species were 92%, 49%, 23% and 6%, respectively. The remainder was oligomer apart from a small amount (<5%) of polymerized silica at the two higher H₄SiO₄ concentrations. The solid phase Si/Fe mole ratios for these samples were 0.020, 0.037, 0.071 and 0.138, respectively.     

Saturn's latitudinal C2H2 and C2H6 abundance profiles from Cassini/CIRS and ground-based observations

Hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn are known, from Voyager, ground-based, and early Cassini results, to vary in emission intensity with latitude. Of particular interest is the marked increase in hydrocarbon line intensity near the south pole during southern summer, as the increased line intensity cannot be simply explained by the increased temperatures observed in that region since the variations between C₂H₂ and C₂H₆ emission in the south pole region are different. In order to measure the latitudinal variations of hydrocarbons in Saturn's southern hemisphere we have used 3 cm⁻¹ resolution Cassini CIRS data from 2006 and combined this with measurements from the ground in October 2006 at NASA's IRTF using Celeste, an infrared high-resolution cryogenic grating spectrometer. These two data sets have been used to infer the molecular abundances of C₂H₂ and C₂H₆ across the southern hemisphere in the 1-10 mbar altitude region. We find that the latitudinal acetylene profile follows the yearly average mean daily insolation except at the southern pole where it peaks in abundance. Near the equator (5° S) the C₂H₂ abundance at the 1.2 mbar level is (1.6±0.19)×¹⁰−7 and it decreases by a factor of 2.7 from the equator toward the pole. However, at the pole (∼87° S) the C₂H₂ abundance jumps to (1.8±0.3)×¹⁰−7, approximately the equatorial value. The C₂H₆ abundance near the equator at the 2 mbar level is (0.7±0.1)×¹⁰−5 and stays approximately constant until mid-latitudes where it increases gradually toward the pole, attaining a value of (1.4±0.4)×¹⁰−5 there. The increase in ethane toward the pole with the corresponding decrease in acetylene is consistent with southern hemisphere meridional winds [Greathouse, T.K., Lacy, J.H., Bézard, B., Moses, J.I., Griffith, C.A., Richter, M.J., 2005. Icarus 177, 18-31]. The localized increase in acetylene at the pole provides evidence that there is dynamical transport of hydrocarbons from the equator to the southern pole.     

Periodicities in the high-mass X-ray binary system RX J0146.9+6121/LS I+61°235

The high-mass X-ray binary RX J0146.9+6121, with optical counterpart LS I+61°235 (V831 Cas), is an intriguing system on the outskirts of the open cluster NGC 663. It contains the slowest Be type X-ray pulsar known with a pulse period of around 1400 s and, primarily from the study of variation in the emission line profile of Hα, it is known to have a Be decretion disc with a one-armed density wave period of approximately 1240 d. Here we present the results of an extensive photometric campaign, supplemented with optical spectroscopy, aimed at measuring short time-scale periodicities. We find three significant periodicities in the photometric data at, in order of statistical significance, 0.34, 0.67 and 0.10 d. We give arguments to support the interpretation that the 0.34 and 0.10 d periods could be due to stellar oscillations of the B-type primary star and that the 0.67 d period is the spin period of the Be star with a spin axis inclination of  23⁺¹⁰₋₈  degrees. We measured a systemic velocity of  −37.0 ± 4.3 km s⁻¹  confirming that LS I+61°235 has a high probability of membership in the young cluster NGC 663 from which the system's age can be estimated as 20–25 Myr. From archival RXTE All Sky Monitor (ASM) data we further find 'super' X-ray outbursts roughly every 450 d. If these super outbursts are caused by the alignment of the compact star with the one-armed decretion disc enhancement, then the orbital period is approximately 330 d.