Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Soils and Sediments of the Herbert and Burdekin River Regions, North Queensland – Implications for Contamination of the Great Barrier Reef

Organochlorine pesticides were widely used in the Australian sugarcane industry from the early 1950s until the late 1980s. Erosion of sugarcane soils and subsequent transport of sediment bound contaminants in river run-off to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon is a growing concern as the cane industry continues to expand. Organochlorine pesticide residues can be used as tracers to examine the worst-case scenario of the spatial extent to which currently used, though less persistent, organic agricultural pesticides might extend. The coastal alluvial flood-plains of the Herbert and Burdekin Rivers in North Queensland have sugarcane growing as the major coastal land-use. Sediment cores and surface sediment samples were collected from near-shore coastal regions of the Herbert and Burdekin Rivers. In addition, soil samples from cane-fields in the two catchments were collected. Analyses of the marine surface sediment samples and three sediment cores revealed the absence of detectable concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (<5 pg/g). However, easily detectable concentrations were found in the sugarcane soil samples (0.01–45 ng/g).     

On fundamental geology and physical origins

Geology must consider the physical processes involved in the genesis of inorganic matter. These processes are ultimately based on cosmogony and cosmology and the associated physics and mathematics of these origins.The approach to genesis impinges on the unknown where a feeling that something finite, and possibly real, exists. The evidence of the unknown must then be compared with the experimental and observed evidence to create a framework from which certain conclusions can be made.The thoughts on genesis and the geological implications are discussed briefly in two parts. Part one includes the basic philosophy, the mathematical and physical concepts; it outlines the philosophy of time, zero and infinity, mass, space, and the mass environments, based on this a ring hypothesis of planetary origins is developed. Part two discusses basic problems of structural geology, fundamental tectonics, the development of continents and continental drift, climatic changes, seismicity, and paleomagnetics.The conclusions drawn from the discussion are: mass ormatter can exist in five states. Continental buttresses are largely made up of rocks of secondary igneous origin. The core of the earth is made of solar (meteoric) material rather than pure nickel-iron. Continents move under differential density forces which ultimately result in a slow twist or rotation of the earth's outer layers about the core. This rotation causes climatic changes and the many paths observed in tracing polar wandering by paleomagnetics.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Aufsatz versucht, fundamentale geologische Grenzprobleme in Beziehung zu bringen mit fundamentaien physikalischen und astronomischen Problemen, die ihrerseits z. T. noch einer Lösung harren.Ausgehend von einer Betrachtung der Herkunft von Masse, Universum und Sonnensystem werden Probleme der Kontinentalgenese, Kontinentalwanderung, hydrostatischer Druck auf und in Kontinenten, Orogenese, Klimaänderungen und Paläomagnetik in geologischer Zeit besprochen.Der Aufsatz besteht aus zwei Teilen, einem physikalischen und einem geologischen, die zu einem gewissen Grade unabhängig voneinander gelesen werden können. Für ein fruchtbares Verstehen ist es aber ratsam, beide Teile zu lesen. Mathematik ist auf das notwendigste beschränkt.Am Ausgangspunkt der Betrachtung steht die Idee von einem fundamentalen (letztlichen) Masse-Medium, da dieses die Grenze der Erkenntnis bildet.

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Résumé La géologie doit considérer le processus physique entraîné dans la genèse de matière inorganique. Ce processus est finalement basé sur la cosmogonie et cosmologie, ainsi que la physique associée et mathématiques de ces originesL'approche de la genèse se heurte à l'inconnu où le sentiment de quelque chose de fini et peut-être bien réel existe. L'évidence de l'inconnu doit alors être comparée à l'évidence expérimentale et observée, pour créer une structure de laquelle certaines conclusions peuvent être tirées.Les réflexions sur la genèse et les implications géologiques sont exposées brièvement en deux parties. La première partie comprend la philosophie fondamentale, les idées générales de mathématique et physique; elle esquisse la philosophie du temps, zéro et infini, masse, espace et environnements de la masse; basée là-dessus, une hypothèse en cercle des origines planétaires est développée. La seconde partie expose les problèmes fondamentaux de géologie structurale, tectoniques fondamentales, le développement des continents et le mouvement de ceux-ci, changements de climat, séismicité et paléomagnétiques.Les conclusions tirées de l'exposé sont que masse ou matière peuvent exister dans cinq états. Les contreforts continentaux sont en grande partie formés de roche pyrogène secondaire. Le noyau de la terre est fait de matière solaire (météorique) plutôt que de nickel-fer pur. Les continents se déplacent sous des forces de densité différentielle qui résultent finalement dans une torsion lente ou rotation des couches extérieures de la terre autour du noyau. Cette rotation provoque des changements climatique et les nombreuses voies observées en traçant les écarts polaires par paléomagnétique.

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Reconstruction of the harmonic component of the magnetic field modulus anomalies

An algorithm is proposed for calculating a harmonic function equal to the projection of the anomalous magnetic field vector onto the normal field direction from in situ measurements of the anomalous magnetic field modulus (the scalar magnetic anomaly) ΔT, which is a nonharmonic function and is nonlinearly related to the magnetization of anomaly sources. It is shown that the inferred estimates tend to the desired harmonic function if the iterative algorithm converges. The convergence conditions and stability of the process are studied numerically in a wide range of amplitudes of the anomalous field. The results of the modeling simulation demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm in solving magnetic field interpretation problems often encountered in practice.     

Contaminant concentrations in sport fish from San Francisco Bay, 1997

In 1997, seven sport fish species were sampled from seven popular fishing areas in San Francisco Bay. Mercury exceeded a human health screening value in 44 of 84 (52%) samples. All collected samples of leopard shark and striped bass exceeded the mercury screening value of 0.23 microg/g wet weight. PCBs exceeded the screening value in 51 of 72 (71%) samples. DDT, chlordane, and dieldrin, had lower numbers of samples above screening values: 16 of 72 (22%) for DDT, 11 of 72 (15%) for chlordanes, and 27 of 72 (37%) for dieldrin. Concentrations of PCBs and other trace organics were highest in white croaker and shiner surfperch, the two species with the highest fat content in their muscle tissue. Fish from one location, Oakland Harbor, had significantly elevated wet weight concentrations of mercury, PCBs, DDTs, and chlordanes compared to other locations. Removal of skin from white croaker fillets reduced lipid concentrations by 27-49% and concentrations of trace organics by 33-40%.     

New U-Pb ages of zircons in the Owk Shale (Kurnool Group) with reflections on proterozoic porcellanites in India

Felsic tuff beds with some presumed sedimentary components were reported from the Owk Shale (Kurnool Group; bearing Neoproterozoic fossils) in the upper part of the sedimentary succession in the Cuddapah basin in India by Saha and Tripathy (2012a). Our optical and SEM petrographic study of three thin sections, however, indicates that the parent samples are sandy mudstones with variable amounts of a felsic volcaniclastic component. New highquality U-Pb (SHRIMP and LA-MC-ICPMS) ages of 133 detrital zircon grains from a sample show that one grain is ca. 1880 Ma, one grain is ca. 3300 Ma, and the ages of the remaining 131 grains fall between 2690 Ma and 2429 Ma, the population averaging 2522 ± 36 Ma. The data indicate that the zircons are detrital grains derived from the ca. 2.5 Ga granitic/gneissic/greenstone basement of the Dharwar cratons that also host minor older Archean enclaves. The single 1880 Ma grain could have come from a ca. 1.9 Ga LIP. In the absence of any younger magmatic zircon, the absolute age of the Owk Shale remains elusive.     

The Benagerie Shear Zone: 1100 Myr of reactivation history and control over continental lithospheric deformation

A newly identified northwest–southeast oriented, deeply-rooted, steep to vertical, large-scale structural system within the Proterozoic Curnamona Province, Australia, which we term the “Benagerie Shear Zone”, is imaged in regional magnetic and gravity datasets. In this study, we use a combination of field analysis and quantitative geophysical methods, to establish a 1100 Myr history of activity along the Benagerie Shear Zone during which the location of younger geological structures are influenced by the pre-existing shear zone. This deformational system is interpreted to have 1) aided ascent and emplacement of the ca. 1600 Ma Ninnerie (magmatic) Supersuite; 2) controlled the loci of nucleation of normal faults during rifting and continental breakup at ca. 800 Ma; and 3) influenced the development of fold structures as well as acting as a plane co-linear to the rotation axis of pre-existing normal faults such that they were steepened and reactivated as strike slip structures during the ca. 500 Ma Delamerian Orogeny. We interpret that the Benagerie Shear Zone has not undergone uni-directional propagation during its evolution but rather through reactivation was a primary influence on controlling the nucleation of Neoproterozoic rift faults, thereby playing a major role in accommodating strain over a significant period of the evolution of the Curnamona Province. This study demonstrates that crustal-scale shear zones can evolve over hundreds of millions of years, have strike-lengths of hundreds to thousands of kilometers, and have vastly different surface expressions along strike.