Aeromonas veronii, a tributyltin (TBT)-degrading bacterium isolated from an estuarine environment, Ria de Aveiro in Portugal

Organotin compounds are used in a variety of industrial processes therefore their subsequent discharge into the environment is widespread. Bacteria play an important role in biogeochemical transformations acting as natural decontamination agents. Therefore, screening for tributyltin (TBT)-resistant and -degrading bacteria is relevant for the selection of isolates with decontamination ability of these polluted areas. With this purpose, 50 strains were isolated from sediment and water from Ria de Aveiro and their tolerance to TBT, up to 3mM, was evaluated. Generally, occurrence of highly TBT-resistant bacteria was observed, and Gram negative bacteria exhibited more tolerance to TBT than Gram positive bacteria. A memory response was observed when bacteria were progressively exposed to increasingly higher TBT concentrations. One isolate, Aeromonas veronii Av27, highly resistant to TBT (3mM) uses this compound as carbon source and degrades it to less toxic compounds.     

Micro-FTIR spectroscopic signatures of Bacterial lipids in Proterozoic microfossils

Precambrian microbial fossils show carbonaceous cellular structure, which often resemble in shape and size cyanobacteria and other prokaryotes. Morphological taxonomy of these minute, simple, and more or less degraded fossils is, however, often not enough to determine their precise phylogenetic positions. Here we report the results of micro-FTIR spectroscopic analyses of well-preserved microfossils in 850 Ma and 1900 Ma stromatolites, together with those of 8 species of extant prokaryotes and 5 of eukaryotes for comparison. These Proterozoic fossils have low CH₃/CH₂ absorbance ratios (R_3/2 < 0.5) of aliphatic CH moieties, suggesting selective preservation of long, straight, aliphatic carbon chains probably derived from bacterial membrane lipids. All the observed R_3/2 values of coccoids, filaments and amorphous organic matter resemble lipid fractions of extant Bacteria including cyanobacteria, but not Archaea. The results indicate that Proterozoic microfossils belong to Bacteria, which is consistent with the cyanobacterial origin inferred from morphology. Moreover, the R_3/2 value of fossilized cell would reflect chemical composition of its precursor membrane lipid, thus could be a useful new tracer for distinguishing Archaea, Bacteria and possibly Eucarya for fossilized and extant microorganisms.     

Tropical cyclone genesis frequency over the western North Pacific simulated in medium-resolution coupled general circulation models

This study examines the tropical cyclone (TC) genesis frequency over the western North Pacific simulated in atmosphere–ocean coupled general circulation models from the World Climate Research Programme’s Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3. We first evaluate performances of eight models with atmospheric horizontal resolution of T63 or T106 by analyzing their daily-mean atmospheric outputs of twentieth-century climate simulations available from the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison database. The genesis frequency is validated against the best-track data issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Five of the eight models reproduce realistic horizontal distribution of the TC genesis with a large fraction over the 10°–20°N, 120°–150°E area. These five high-performance models also realistically simulate the summer–winter contrast of the frequency. However, detailed seasonal march is slightly unrealistic; four of the models overestimate the frequency in the early season (May–June) while all of them underestimate the frequency in the mature season (July–September). Reasons for these biases in the seasonal march for the five high-performance models are discussed using the TC genesis potential (GP) index proposed by Emanuel and Nolan (in Am Meteor Soc, pp 240–241, 2004). The simulated GP has seasonal biases consistent with those of the TC genesis frequency. For all five models, the seasonal biases in GP are consistent with those in environmental lower-tropospheric vorticity, vertical wind shear, and relative humidity, which can be attributed to the simulated behavior of monsoon trough. The observed trough migrates northward from the equatorial region to reach the 10°–20°N latitudinal band during the mature season and contributes to the TC frequency maximum, whereas the simulated trough migrates northward too rapidly and reaches this latitude band in the early season, leading to the overestimation of the TC genesis frequency. In the mature season, the simulated trough reaches as far as 15°–25°N, accompanied by a strong vertical shear south of the trough, providing an unfavorable condition for TC genesis. It is concluded that an adequate simulation of the monsoon trough behavior is essential for a better reproduction of the TC frequency seasonal march.     

Mobility of metamorphic fluids inferred from infrared microspectroscopy on natural fluid inclusions: the example of Tinos Island,Greece

OH structure of metamorphic fluids has been studied by high temperature infrared (IR) microspectroscopy on natural fluid inclusions contained in quartz veins, over the temperature range 25–370 °C. Blueschist-facies veins from Tinos island core complex (Cyclades, Greece) display H₂O–NaCl–CaCl₂–CO₂ inclusions whereas greenschist-facies veins contain H₂O–NaCl ± CO₂ inclusions. From 25 to 370 °C, peak positions of OH stretching IR absorption bands increase quasi-linearly with slopes of 0.25 and 0.50 cm^–1 °C^–1 for inclusions trapped under blueschist and greenschist conditions, respectively. Extrapolation to 400 °C yield peak positions of 3,475 cm^–1 for blueschist inclusions and 3,585 cm^–1 for greenschist inclusions. Because the smaller wave number indicates the shorter hydrogen-bond distance between water molecules, fluids involved in the greenschist event have a loose structure compared with blueschist fluids. We suggest that these properties might correspond to a low wetting angle of fluids. This would explain the high mobility of aqueous fluids suggested by structural observation and stable isotope analysis.Editorial responsibility: J. Hoefs     

Formation of tonalite from basaltic magma at the Komahashi-Daini Seamount,northern Kyushu-Palau Ridge in the Philippine Sea,and growth of Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin)-Mariana arc crust

Tonalitic rocks dredged from the Komahashi-Daini Seamount, northern Kyushu-Palau Ridge are classified as biotite-hornblende tonalites and hornblende tonalites. These rocks have radiometric ages of 37-38 Ma, indicating that felsic plutonic activity occurred during the early stages of Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin)-Mariana (IBM) arc volcanism. Therefore, this tonalite complex has great importance for understanding the initial processes of island arc and continental crust formation. These tonalitic rocks exhibit the following petrological and geochemical characteristics: (1) common lamellar twins and oscillatory zoning patterns in plagioclase phenocrysts throughout the compositional range; (2) hornblende tonalite shows parallel REE patterns and increasing total REE content with increasing SiO₂, except for an increasingly strong negative Eu anomaly at higher SiO₂ levels; and (3) isotopic composition remains constant over a wide silica variation. We compare this tonalite with younger tonalities of the same arc from the Tanzawa Complex (10-5 Ma), central Japan, considered to represent the lower-middle crust of the IBM arc, and find the following differences: (1) cumulate textures found in Tanzawa tonalites are not observed in samples from the Komahashi-Daini Seamount; and (2) Komahashi-Daini Seamount tonalites, unlike those from Tanzawa, exhibit linear variations of Zr and REEs vs. SiO₂ plots. These data and other observations support the interpretation that tonalite in the Komahashi-Daini Seamount was produced by crystal fractionation from basaltic magma. We suggest that fractional crystallization operated during the early stage of oceanic island arc formation to produce tonalite, whereas tonalities in later stages formed largely by partial melting of basaltic lower crust, as represented by the tonalites in the Tanzawa Complex.     

Diffusivity anisotropy in a rhyolite and its relation to pore structure

The diffusivity anisotropy of ions through rock pore water was evaluated quantitatively by through-diffusion experiments on a rhyolite rock having anisotropic pore structure. The rhyolite has planar flow structure with elongated pore shapes to the flow direction (X–Y plane). Diffusion coefficients of K⁺ ions for the direction perpendicular to this flow structure (Z-direction) were about 5–9 times smaller than those for the orthogonal parallel directions (X- and Y-direction). Pore geometrical analyses on backscattered electron microscopic images indicated that the pore length ratios among the X-, Y-, and Z-direction were roughly 2 : 2 : 1. This shorter pore length for the Z-direction appears to reduce pore connectivity, causing larger tortuosity and smaller diffusivity for this direction. This diffusivity anisotropy needs to be taken into account for precise modeling of diffusion-limited geological processes such as contaminant transport and rock deformation.     

Time evolution of hydraulic and electrokinetic parameters around the Nojima fault, Japan, estimated by an electrokinetic method

The Nojima Fault Zone Probe was designed to study the properties and healing processes of the Nojima fault, which is the surface fault rupture of the Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake (M7.2) of 1995 (1995 Kobe earthquake). In this project, water injection experiments were conducted in a borehole of 1800 m depth at the Nojima fault. We set up electrodes around the borehole and observed self-potential variations to investigate the magnitude of electrokinetic and hydraulic parameters around the Nojima fault zone. In the 1997 experiment, self-potential variations were in the range of a few to about 20 mV across 320–450 m electrode dipoles with hydraulic pressure variations from 3.5 to 4 MPa. In the 2000 experiment, self-potential variations were in the range of a few to about 85 mV across 160–260 m electrode dipoles with the hydraulic pressure variations from 3 to 4.5 MPa. In the 2003 experiment, self-potential variations were in the range of a few to about 30 mV across 20–80 m electrode dipoles with hydraulic pressure of 4 MPa. These observed self-potential variations were explained well with an electrokinetic effect due to the underground flow of the injected water. From the observed results, we estimated that the ratio of hydraulic parameters (permeability, porosity, and tortuosity) to electrokinetic parameters (zeta potential and dielectric constant) decreased approximately 40% during eight years after the earthquake. This result suggests that the healing process around the fault zone progress.