Upwelling and river runoff as sources of dissolved nitrous oxide to the Alsea estuary,Oregon

Surface waters of Alsea Bay, an unpolluted estuary on the Oregon coast, were analysed for nitrous oxide, nitrate and nitrite on a weekly or biweekly basis during the summer of 1979. The estuary was found to be a variable source of N₂O to the atmosphere. Large and rapid increases in the concentrations of N₂O, NO₃^?, and NO₂^? occurred at the beginning of the sampling period and are attributed to the influx of nutrient-rich upwelling water into the estuary with the tide. The subsequent decline in concentrations of nitrate, nitrite and nitrous oxide over the remainder of the summer is attributed to a decrease in upwelling intensity, a decline in nitrification rates and to assimilatory nitrate reduction. Measurements of nitrous oxide at six stations along the Alsea River were also made in September and October before and after the onset of the rainy season. Samples taken after flood conditions were established were systematically 50% higher than pre-flood samples. The data suggest that soil runoff results in elevated concentrations of N₂O in rivers.     

Kinetic studies of lead(II) uptake by the seagrass Zostera muelleri in water by radiotracing,atomic absorption spectrometry and electrochemical techniques

Evidence was found that uptake of lead from seawater in both model and natural systems by the leaves of the seagrass Zostera muelleri does occur for live, dead and scraped leaves at all the lead concentrations tested. Positive uptake of lead was measured using the three analytical techniques of radio-tracer, differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry and atomic absorption spectrometry; similar uptake profiles were obtained for each technique. Profiles always showed an initial rapid uptake phase followed by a gradual transition to a plateau phase at which an approximate equilibrium between lead attached to seagrass and free ionic lead in seawater was reached. The presence of active lead uptake processes was indicated in experiments which attempted to remove lead from leaves by a chelating agent.     

Petrology and origin of amoeboid olivine aggregates in CR chondrites

Abstract— Amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) are irregularly shaped, fine‐grained aggregates of olivine and Ca, Al‐rich minerals and are important primitive components of CR chondrites. The AOAs in CR chondrites contain FeNi metal, and some AOAs contain Mn‐rich forsterite with up to 0.7 MnO and Mn:Fe ratios greater than one. Additionally, AOAs in the CR chondrites do not contain secondary phases (nepheline and fayalitic olivine) that are found in AOAs in some CV chondrites. The AOAs in CR chondrites record a complex petrogenetic history that included nebular gas‐solid condensation, reaction of minerals with the nebular gas, small degrees of melting, and sintering of the assemblage. A condensation origin for the Mn‐rich forsterite is proposed. The Mn‐rich forsterite found in IDPs, unequilibrated ordinary chondrite matrix, and AOAs in CR chondrites may have had a similar origin. A type A calcium, aluminum‐rich inclusion (CAI) with an AOA attached to its Wark‐Lovering rim is also described. This discovery reveals a temporal relationship between AOAs and type A inclusions. Additionally, a thin layer of forsterite is present as part of the Wark‐Lovering rim, revealing the crystallization of olivine at the end stages of Wark‐Lovering rim formation. The Ca, Al‐rich nodules in the AOAs may be petrogenetically related to the Ca, Al‐rich minerals in Wark‐Lovering rims on type A CAIs. AOAs are chondrite components that condensed during the final stage of Wark‐Lovering rim formation but, in general, were temporally, spatially, or kinetically isolated from reacting with the nebula vapor during condensation of the lower temperature minerals that were commonly present as chondrule precursors.     

Massless scalar field in Robertson-Walker space-time

Recently, exact spatially-homogeneous solutions have been found for a conformally invariant massless scalar fieldS(t) coupled to a Robertson-Walker geometry. We investigate extending these solutions to inhomogeneous scalar fieldsS(t, x ^l ). For an isotropic scalar fieldS(t, r) we find a solution satisfying three of the five field equations. If we use REDUCE, we show that the remaining equations forceS=S(t).     

Relationships between Campi Flegrei and Mt. Somma volcanism: evidence from melt inclusions in clinopyroxene phenocrysts from volcanic breccia xenoliths

Summary We present compositions of reheated melt inclusions in clinopyroxene phenocrysts from three mafic xenoliths in Breccia Museo, Campi Flegrei, Italy. Melt inclusion compositions are remarkably different from the compositions of known contemporary Campi Flegrei lavas, being significantly enriched in K₂O and depleted in Na₂O. Some differences are also evident in FeO^* (total Fe as FeO) and TiO₂ contents. The clinopyroxene phenocrysts could not have crystallised from Campi Flegrei magmas. We suggest that they originated from a volcanic system genetically very similar to, and possibly linked with, the >14 ka volcanic system of Mt. Somma, another Campanian volcano ∼ 30 km east from Campi Flegrei, from which Vesuvius subsequently developed. This result indicates a close relationship (or link) between the two volcanic systems which have until now been considered separate. We speculate that the link was established prior to eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) (∼ 12 ka). The xenoliths were derived from a volcanic system older than the host breccias themselves. We suggest that this older volcanism had close similarities with the volcanism of the older products of Mt. Somma (∼25 ka). Received March 20, 2000; accepted November 2, 2000     

What type was SN 1987A?

A comparison is made of the light and colour curves of the SN 1987A in the first 280 days with the mean properties of type II supernovae. The conclusion is that even though it has H lines, and was not a typical type II supernova, but a peculiar object from a photometric point of view. The implications for inclusion of SN 1987A in the context of the usual Minkowski-Zwicky classification are explicitly discussed.     

Effects of clumping on temperature – I. Externally heated clouds

We present a study of radiative transfer in dusty, clumpy star-forming regions. A series of self-consistent, 3D, continuum radiative transfer models are constructed for a grid of models parametrized by central luminosity, filling factor, clump radius and face-averaged optical depth. The temperature distribution within the clouds is studied as a function of this parametrization. Among our results, we find that: (i) the effective optical depth in clumpy regions is less than in equivalent homogeneous regions of the same average optical depth, leading to a deeper penetration of heating radiation in clumpy clouds, and temperatures higher by over 60 per cent; (ii) penetration of radiation is driven by the fraction of open sky (FOS) – which is a measure of the fraction of solid angle along which no clumps exist; (iii) FOS increases as clump radius increases and as filling factor decreases; (iv) for values of   FOS >0.6–0.8  the sky is sufficiently 'open' that the temperature distribution is relatively insensitive to FOS; (v) the physical process by which radiation penetrates is preferentially through streaming of radiation between clumps as opposed to diffusion through clumps; (vi) filling factor always dominates the determination of the temperature distribution for large optical depths, and for small clump radii at smaller optical depths; (vii) at lower face-averaged optical depths, the temperature distribution is most sensitive to filling factors of 1–10 per cent, in accordance with many observations; (viii) direct shadowing by clumps can be important for distances approximately one clump radius behind a clump.