Direct application of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of leaf waxes to establish lacustrine sediment chronology

This study demonstrates use of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) for dating Holocene lacustrine sediments from carbonate-hosted Ordy Pond, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Long-chain odd-numbered normal alkanes (n-alkanes), biomarkers characteristic of terrestrial higher plants, were ubiquitous in Ordy Pond sediments. The δ¹³C of individual n-alkanes ranged from −29.9 to −25.5‰, within the expected range for n-alkanes synthesized by land plants using the C₃ or C₄ carbon fixation pathway. The ¹⁴C ages of n-alkanes determined by CSRA showed remarkably good agreement with ¹⁴C dates of rare plant macrofossils obtained from nearby sedimentary horizons. In general, CSRA of n-alkanes successfully refined the age-control of the sediments. The sum of n-alkanes in each sample produced 70–170 μg of carbon (C), however, greater age errors were confirmed for samples containing less than 80 μg of C. The ¹⁴C age of n-alkanes from one particular sedimentary horizon was 4,155 years older than the value expected from the refined age-control, resulting in an apparent and arguable age discrepancy. Several lines of evidence suggest that this particular sample was contaminated by introduction of ¹⁴C-free C during preparative capillary gas chromatography. This study simultaneously highlighted the promising potential of CSRA for paleo-applications and the risks of contamination associated with micro-scale ¹⁴C measurement of individual organic compounds.     

A comparison of the styles of deformation associated with two recent push moraines,South Van Keulenfjorden,Svalbard

In this paper, two push moraine systems associated with two small subpolar glaciers, Finsterwalderbreen and Penckbreen, were investigated. This study showed that at these glaciers the push moraines were formed in association with surges, which produced a different style of moraine depending on the rheology of the deformed material and the glacial history. The moraines are similar in that they are formed by folded outwash sediments and contain little till. However, the forms of these moraines are very different. The Penckbreen moraine is composed of a lower shallow marine sand, silt and clay, and an upper fluvial sand and gravel. Deformation at this site led to the formation of large anticlines in the silts and clays, with disharmonic smaller folds and thrusts in the upper gravels, above a detachment surface between the fine-grained and overlying coarse-grained lithologies. This deformation decreases towards the foreland, with marine and fluvial sediments responding differently because of their different rheological properties. This moraine was formed during one surge event which occured during the early 19th century. In contrast, the Finsterwalderbreen moraine is composed of outwash sand and gravel, and was formed as the result of a series of surge events. These advances all reached a similar limit and occurred at regular intervals. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Freshwater oncolites created by industrial pollution, Onondaga Lake, New York

Onondaga Lake is a moderately saline, eutrophic lake characterized by waters rich in calcium, sodium, chloride and bicarbonate. Large quantities of CaCO₃ that are precipitated in the lake result from excess calcium supplied as calcium chloride wastes produced by soda-ash manufacturing to lake waters that are at or near saturation with respect to CaCO₃ from solution of carbonate rocks in the drainage basin. Beaches along the leeward (northeastern) shore of the lake are composed almost entirely of oncolites ranging from a few millimeters to several centimeters in maximum dimension. Offshore, in 1–2 m of water, the oncolites are biscuit-shaped concretions as much as 15 cm in diameter. The oncolites consist mainly of low-magnesium calcite, but dissolution of the carbonate with dilute acid results in a mass of blue-green algal filaments of the same approximate size and shape as the original oncolite. Most oncolites have an obvious nucleus; the most common nucleus is the hollow stem and cortication tubules of charophytes. Charophytes do not occur in Onondaga Lake today although they are common in other limestone-bedrock lakes in central New York State. Charophytes probably were eliminated by the marked increases in salinity of the lake that resulted from the introduction of soda-ash manufacturing on the lake shores around 1880 which means that growth of the oncolites began at least 100 years ago.     

Seasonal variations in energy exchange and evapotranspiration of an oasis-desert ecotone in an arid region

Knowledge of exchanges of energy and water over terrestrial surfaces is the first step towards understand the ecohydrological mechanisms, particularly in water-limited ecosystems in dryland environments. However, patterns of energy exchange and evapotranspiration (ET) are not well understood in the oasis-desert ecotone, which plays an important role in protecting oases against the threat of desertification in arid regions of northwestern China. Here, the continuous measurements of surface energy fluxes were made using eddy covariance in conjunction with auxiliary measurements for 2 years (2014–2015) in an oasis-desert ecotone mainly covered by phreatophyte shrubs Haloxylon ammodendron, Nitraria tangutorum/sphaerocarpa, and Calligonum mongolicum in arid northwestern China. Based on the collated data for 2 years, statistical analysis on a 30-min time scale indicated that approximately 50% of daytime net radiation (R_n) in the ecotone was dissipated as H on average, and one-third of R_n was consumed by soil heat flux (G). Only 9% of R_n was consumed for latent heat flux (λE), which peaked in summer (21% in 2014 and 16% in 2015), corresponding to the highest rainfall season. Daily mean ET was approximately 1 mm days⁻¹ during the growing season of the shrub species. Accumulated annual ET was 195 and 181 mm in 2014 and 2015, respectively, exceeding the corresponding precipitation (P) by approximately 87 and 77 mm, indicating that groundwater may be another important source of water for ET in the ecotone aside from rainfall. Results within provide valuable insights into the mechanisms responsible for sustaining energy and water balance in the ecotone, a potentially groundwater-dependent ecosystem. These results also offer a foremost ecohydrological implication for water and land resources management and ecotone conservation, such as avoiding heavy groundwater pumping for extensive agricultural irrigation use to sustain groundwater availability for these shrub species in the ecotone.     

Wonders of Nature in each Quarter of the World: a nineteenth century geological game

Wonders of Nature in each Quarter of the World was an early nineteenth century educational board game designed to teach children about some of the natural wonders of the world, such as volcanoes. The game was produced at a time of advances in geological thinking and geographical expeditions and this study places such changes and events within the context of the pastime, and presents an interesting window on the way geology was perceived almost two centuries ago.     

Groundwater resources and quality in northeastern Jordan: safe yield and sustainability

Over-abstraction of groundwater is one concern of the Badia Research and Development Programme. The upper aquifer of the Azraq basin forms the largest resource of good-quality water, but current abstraction exceeds both average recharge and the safe yield of the aquifer, which is over-exploited. Although there has been no deterioration in water quality and only minor drawdown, the springs at Azraq have dried up, with severe, undesirable environmental impacts. Total abstraction of 20 × 10⁶ m³ yr⁻¹ appears to be sustainable and would allow some springflow, but this leaves a shortfall of 40 × 10⁶ m³ yr⁻¹ for domestic supply and agriculture.     

Spatial variations of DMS, DMSP and phytoplankton in the Bay of Bengal during the summer monsoon 2001

Data on the distribution of dimethylsulphide (DMS) and dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) in relation to phytoplankton abundance in different oceanic environments is important to understand the biogeochemistry of DMS, which plays an important role in the radiation balance of the earth. During the summer monsoon of 2001 measurements were made for DMS and DMSPt (total DMSP) together with related biological parameters in the Bay of Bengal. Both DMS and DMSPt were restricted to the upper 40 m of the water column. Diatoms accounted for more than 95% of the phytoplankton and were the major contributors to the DMS and DMSPt pool. The mean concentration of DMS in the upper 40 m was observed to be around 1.8+/-1.9 nM in the study area, while DMSPt concentrations varied between 0.7 nM and 40.2 nM with a mean of 10.4+/-8.2 nM. The observed lower DMSPt in the northern Bay in spite of higher mean primary productivity, chlorophyll a and phytoplankton cell counts seemed to result from grazing. Though salinity divides the Bay into different biogeochemical provinces there is no relation between salinity and DMS or DMSPt. On the other hand DMS was linearly related to chlorophyll a:phaeopigments ratio. The results suggest the need for deeper insight into the role of diatoms in the biogeochemical cycling of DMS.