Immigration of larvae of fall/winter spawning marine fishes into a North Carolina estuary

Larval fishes were sampled weekly from late fall to early spring in the Newport River estuary just inside Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Quantitative samples were taken during darkness at mid-flood tide with paired 60-cm bongo nets (505-μm mesh). Larvae of 22 species from 15 families were collected. Seventy-seven percent of the species and 97% of the individuals were fishes that had been spawned on the continental shelf and had immigrated to the estuary. In descending order, the five most abundant species, accounting for 90% of the individuals, were spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), and speckled worm ell (Myrophis punctatus). Most species immigrated through-out the winter and into spring, but there were distinct patterns in their temporal abundances.     

Helium-isotope systematics at Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Colombia: implications for the volcanic hydrothermal system

We have collected 14 water and gas samples from 9 thermal springs and gas vents near Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Colombia. The ³He/⁴He and ⁴He/²⁰Ne ratios vary significantly from 0.98 R_atm (where R_atm is the atmospheric ³He/⁴He ratio of 1.4 × 10⁻⁶) to 6.30 R_atm, and from 0.37 to 7.0, respectively. The ³He/⁴He ratio (corrected for air contamination) decreases with increasing distance from the central crater of the volcano to the sampling site. The trend is very similar to that observed at Ontake volcano, Japan. A hydrodynamic porous-media dispersion model can explain the ³He/⁴He trend. The temporal variations in the ³He/⁴He ratio at four sites provide useful information on the apparent velocity of the magmatic fluid flow brought on by a volcanic eruption. The estimated value of several tens m day⁻¹ agrees well with the inferred velocity of flow in Oshima volcano, Japan and is comparable to the largest rate of groundwater movement in a deep sedimentary basin.     

Advances in understanding the Kombolgie Subgroup and unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field and how to explore for them using lithogeochemical principles

The Alligator Rivers Uranium Field (ARUF) includes the mined and unmined Jabiluka, Ranger, Koongarra and Nabarlek unconformity-related uranium deposits and several small prospects including the newly discovered King River prospect. Uranium mineralisation is hosted by a variety of metamorphosed Nimbuwah Domain lithologies that are unconformably overlain by the Kombolgie Subgroup, a basin package of unmetamorphosed arenites and mafic volcanics. All of the uranium deposits and prospects preserve an identical alteration assemblage that is subdivided into a distal and proximal alteration zone. The distal alteration zone comprises an assemblage of sericite and chlorite that replace albite and amphibole. In some cases, this alteration can be traced >1000 m from the proximal alteration zone that is dominated by uraninite, hematite, chlorite and sericite. Uranium precipitated in the basement as uraninite at 1680 Ma at around 200°C from a fluid having δ¹⁸O_fluid values of 3.0±2.8‰ and δD_fluid values of ?28±13‰ VSMOW reflecting an evolved marine source. These geochemical properties are indistinguishable from those recorded by diagenetic illite and chlorite that were collected from the Kombolgie Subgroup sandstones across the ARUF. The illite and chlorite formed in diagenetic aquifers, and where these aquifers intersected favourable basement rocks, such as those containing graphite or other reductants, U was precipitated as uraninite. Therefore, it is proposed that the Kombolgie Subgroup is the source for fluids that formed the deposits. A post-ore alteration assemblage dominated by chlorite, but also comprising quartz±dolomite±sulfide veins cut the uranium mineralisation at all deposits and has historically been recorded as part of the syn-ore mineralisation event. However, these minerals formed anywhere between 1500 to 630 Ma from fluids that have distinctly lower δ¹⁸O_fluid values around 1.5‰ and lower δD_fluid values around ?45‰ reflecting a meteoric water origin. Despite unconformity-related uranium deposits having a large alteration halo, they remain difficult to find. The subtle alteration of albite to sericite several hundred metres from mineralisation occurs in isolation of any increase in trace elements such as U and radiogenic Pb and can be difficult or impossible to identify in hand specimen. Whole rock geochemical data indicate that Pearce Element Ratio (PER) analysis and General Element Ratio (GER) analysis may vector into this subtle alteration because it does not rely on an increase in trace elements to identify proximity to ore. PER and GER plots, Al/Ti vs (2Ca + Na + K)/Ti, Na/Al vs (Na + K)/Al, K/Al vs (Na + K)/Al and (Fe + Mg)/Al vs (Na + K)/Al provide a visual guide that readily distinguish unaltered from altered samples. A plot of (Na + K)/Al and (Fe + Mg)/Al on the x-axis against the concentration of trace elements on the y-axis reveals that U, Pb, Mo, Cu, B, Br, Ce, Y, Li, Ni, V and Nd are associated with the most intensely altered samples. The lithogeochemical vectors should aid explorers searching for uranium mineralisation in a prospective basin environment, but exploration must first focus on the characteristics of the basin to assess its mineralisation potential. A holistic model that describes the evolution of the Kombolgie Subgroup from deposition through diagenesis to formation of the uranium deposits in the underlying basement rocks is presented and has application to other basins that are considered prospective for unconformity-related uranium deposits. The model outlines that explorers will need to consider the thickness of the sedimentary pile, its lithological composition relative to depositional setting, the depth to which the sediments were buried during diagenesis and the degree of diagenesis achieved, which may be time dependant, before deciding on the prospectivity of the basin.     

Micrometeoroid impact crater statistics at the boundary of Earth's gravitational sphere of influence

We surveyed craters on a space-exposed surface from the Genesis solar wind sample return mission to find new constraints on the population of micrometeoroids at the edge of the Earth's gravitational sphere of influence. The target was made of 6061-T6 aluminum, identical to the composition of the space-facing end of the Long Duration Exposure Facility satellite, which recorded micrometeoroid impacts in low Earth orbit. We use data from both locations to compare crater frequency as a function of size, with and without gravitational focussing by the Earth. We find that the cratering flux near the Earth-Sun L1 libration point is indistinguishable, within the ∼40% uncertainty of this study, from that in low Earth orbit. The small degree of gravitational focussing between the two locations indicates that particles with geocentric free-space velocities less than a few kilometers per second comprise no more than a few percent of the interplanetary dust complex.     

Effects of lakes and reservoirs on annual river nitrogen,phosphorus, and sediment export in agricultural and forested landscapes

Recently, effects of lakes and reservoirs on river nutrient export have been incorporated into landscape biogeochemical models. Because annual export varies with precipitation, there is a need to examine the biogeochemical role of lakes and reservoirs over time frames that incorporate interannual variability in precipitation. We examined long‐term (~20 years) time series of river export (annual mass yield, Y, and flow‐weighted mean annual concentration, C) for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total suspended sediment (TSS) from 54 catchments in Wisconsin, USA. Catchments were classified as small agricultural, large agricultural, and forested by use of a cluster analysis, and these varied in lentic coverage (percentage of catchment lake or reservoir water that was connected to river network). Mean annual export and interannual variability (CV) of export (for both Y and C) were higher in agricultural catchments relative to forested catchments for TP, TN, and TSS. In both agricultural and forested settings, mean and maximum annual TN yields were lower in the presence of lakes and reservoirs, suggesting lentic denitrification or N burial. There was also evidence of long‐term lentic TP and TSS retention, especially when viewed in terms of maximum annual yield, suggesting sedimentation during high loading years. Lentic catchments had lower interannual variability in export. For TP and TSS, interannual variability in mass yield was often >50% higher than interannual variability in water yield, whereas TN variability more closely followed water (discharge) variability. Our results indicate that long‐term mass export through rivers depends on interacting terrestrial, aquatic, and meteorological factors in which the presence of lakes and reservoirs can reduce the magnitude of export, stabilize interannual variability in export, as well as introduce export time lags. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Nile Cone: Submarine fan development by cyclic sedimentation

The Quaternary sections of the Nile Cone in the eastern Mediterranean are formed by regionally extensive repetitions of sediment sequences (cyclothems s.l.) showing a successive, orderly arrangement of sediment types. Detailed lithofacies analysis reveals the recurrence of three basic terms in many cores: a basal olive-gray hemipelagic mud and turbidite sequence; a middle sapropel sequence; and an upper yellowish-orange hemipelagic sequence, including calcareous ooze, and a turbiditic sequence. This cyclic sedimentation closely reflects the Quaternary dynamics. The development of the Nile submarine fan in an enclosed, silled basin has resulted in a particularly close relation between biogenic-terrigenous depositional patterns and climatic and oceanographic factors affecting the Mediterranean.     

Sedimentation in two Catalonian canyons,northwestern Mediterranean

The Cap Creus and Lacaze-Duthiers canyons, cut on the narrow subsiding margin off the eastern Pyrenees, play an important role in downslope sediment transport in the northwestern Mediterranean. This conclusion is based on an evaluation of the surficial sediment distribution patterns, cores, direct visual observations of the sea floor made in 24 submersible dives and tight-grid seismic survey data. Down-canyon sediment movement (mostly by slump and gravity flow mechanisms) since the end of the Pliocene has resulted in the formation of the Catalonia Fan at the base of the slope west of the Rhone Cone.     

Semipermeable membrane devices link site-specific contaminants to effects: PART II - A comparison of lingering Exxon Valdez oil with other potential sources of CYP1A inducers in Prince William Sound, Alaska

We deployed semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) on beaches for 28 days at 53 sites in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska, to evaluate the induction potential from suspected sources of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A)-inducing contaminants. Sites were selected to assess known point sources, or were chosen randomly to evaluate the region-wide sources. After deployment, SPMD extracts were analyzed chemically for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These results were compared with hepatic CYP1A enzyme activity of juvenile rainbow trout injected with the same extracts prior to clean-up for the chemical analyses. Increased CYP1A activity was strongly associated with PAH concentrations in extracts, especially chrysene homologues but was not associated with POPs. The only apparent sources of chrysene homologues were lingering oil from Exxon Valdez, asphalt and bunker fuels released from storage tanks during the 1964 Alaska earthquake, creosote leaching from numerous pilings at one site, and PAH-contaminated sediments at Cordova Harbor. Our results indicate that PWS is remarkably free of pollution from PAH when nearby sources are absent as well as from pesticides and PCBs generally.