Contamination,risk, and heterogeneity: on the effectiveness of aquifer remediation

The effectiveness of aquifer remediation is typically expressed in terms of a reduction in contaminant concentrations relative to a regulated maximum contaminant level (MCL), and is usually confirmed by sparse monitoring data and/or simple model calculations. Here, the effectiveness of remediation is re-examined from a more thorough risk-based perspective that goes beyond the traditional MCL concept. A methodology is employed to evaluate the health risk to individuals exposed to contaminated household water that is produced from groundwater. This approach explicitly accounts for differences in risk arising from variability in individual physiology and water use, the uncertainty in estimating chemical carcinogenesis for different individuals, and the uncertainties and variability in contaminant concentrations within groundwater as affected by transport through heterogeneous geologic media. A hypothetical contamination scenario is developed as a case study in a saturated, alluvial aquifer underlying an actual Superfund site. A baseline (unremediated) human exposure and health risk scenario, as induced by contaminated groundwater pumped from this site, is predicted and compared with a similar estimate based upon pump-and-treat exposure intervention. The predicted reduction in risk in the remediation scenario is not an equitable one—that is, it is not uniform to all individuals within a population and varies according to the level of uncertainty in prediction. The importance of understanding the detailed hydrogeologic connections that are established in the heterogeneous geologic regime between the contaminated source, municipal receptors, and remediation wells, and its relationship to this uncertainty is demonstrated. Using two alternative pumping rates, we develop cost-benefit curves based upon reduced exposure and risk to different individuals within the population, under the presence of uncertainty.     

Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of snoek Thyrsites atun (Euphrasen, 1791) (Perciformes: Gempylidae) off South Africa

The parasite assemblage of snoek Thyrsites atun, a commercially important fish in the Benguela system, was examined over a one-year period. In all, 16 parasite taxa including eight new host records (Bolbosoma vasculosum, Caligus coryphaenae, Caligus dakari, Corynosoma australe, Hatschekia conifera, Nothobomolochus fradei, Rhadinorhynchus cadenati, Tentacularia coryphaenae) and four new locality records (B. vasculosum, C. dakari, Molicola uncinatus, Pseudoterranova sp.) were recovered from 210 specimens. The dominance of larval helminths in the component community suggests that T. atun occupies an intermediate position in the food web. The ‘nestedness metric based on overlap and decreasing fill’ (NODF) indicated that the parasite assemblage exhibited no nestedness (NODF = 73.3, p = 0.103). Generalised additive mixed modelling results indicated that host length is the main determinant of parasite species richness in T. atun. PERMANOVA and ANOSIM suggested that infracommunity structure varied little with respect to the sex, length, seasonality and capture region of the host. The stability and randomness in parasite acquisition, as indicated by the lack of nestedness of the parasite assemblage, can be ascribed to the opportunistic feeding behaviour and nomadic movement of T. atun in the southern Benguela. The homogeneity of the community structure of long-lived endoparasites suggests that a single T. atun stock occurs off South Africa.     

Land change attribution based on Landsat time series and integration of ancillary disturbance data in the Athabasca oil sands region of Canada

The Alberta Oil Sands (AOS) is a unique area in Canada undergoing significant disturbance and recovery due to a variety of anthropogenic and natural factors. Accurately quantifying these changes in space and time is important for assessing ecosystem status and trends. In this research, we implemented an approach to combine Landsat time series for the period 1984–2012 with ancillary change datasets to derive detailed change attribution in the AOS. Detected changes were attributed to causes including fire, forest harvest, surface mining, insect damage, flooding, regeneration, and several generic change classes (abrupt/gradual, with/without regeneration) with accuracies ranging from 74% to 100% for classes that occurred frequently. Lower accuracies were found for the generic gradual change classes which accounted for less than 3% of the affected area. Timing of abrupt change events were generally well captured to within ±1 year. For gradual changes timing was less accurate and variable by change type. A land-cover time series was also created to provide information on “from-to” change. A basic accuracy assessment of the land cover showed it to be of moderate accuracy, approximately 69%. Results show that fire was the major cause of change in the region. As expected, surface mine development and related activities have increased since 2000. Insect damage has become a more significant agent of change in the region. Further investigation is required to determine if insect damage is greater than past historical events and to determine if industrial development is linked to the increasing trend observed.     

Palaeozoic suturing of eastern and western Tasmania in the west Tamar region: Implications for the tectonic evolution of southeast Australia

A new tectonic model for Tasmania incorporates subduction at the boundary between eastern and western Tasmania. This model integrates thin‐ and thick‐skinned tectonics, providing a mechanism for emplacement of allochthonous elements on to both eastern and western Tasmania as well as rapid burial, metamorphism and exhumation of high‐pressure metamorphic rocks. The west Tamar region in northern Tasmania lies at the boundary between eastern and western Tasmania. Here, rocks in the Port Sorell Formation were metamorphosed at high pressures (700–1400 MPa) and temperatures (400–500°C), indicating subduction to depths of up to 30 km. The eastern boundary of the Port Sorell Formation with mafic‐ultramafic rocks of the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex is hidden beneath allochthonous ?Mesoproterozoic turbidites of the Badger Head Group. At depth, this boundary coincides with the inferred boundary between eastern and western Tasmania, imaged in seismic data as a series of east‐dipping reflections. The Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex was previously thought of as allochthonous, based mainly on associations with other mafic‐ultramafic complexes in western Tasmania. However, the base of the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex is not exposed and, given its position east of the boundary with western Tasmania, it is equally likely that it represents the exposed western edge of autochthonous eastern Tasmanian basement. A thin sliver of faulted and metamorphosed rock, including amphibolites, partially separates the Badger Head Group from the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex. Mafic rocks in this package match geochemically mafic rocks in the Port Sorell Formation. This match is consistent with two structural events in the Badger Head Group showing tectonic transport of the group from the west during Cambrian Delamerian orogenesis. Rather than being subducted, emplacement of the Badger Head Group onto the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex indicates accretion of the Badger Head Group onto eastern Tasmania. Subsequent folding and thrusting in the west Tamar region also accompanied Devonian Tabberabberan orogenesis. Reversal from northeast to southwest tectonic vergence saw imbricate thrusting of Proterozoic and Palaeozoic strata, possibly coinciding with reactivation of the suture separating eastern and western Tasmania.     

Formation of lode‐style gold mineralisation during Tabberabberan wrench faulting at Lefroy,eastern Tasmania

The Lefroy Goldfield in eastern Tasmania is anomalous in southeastern Australia because mineralised fault reefs (i.e. reefs that are also faults) strike in an easterly direction at a high angle to the predominantly northwest strike of bedding and folds. Gold mineralisation is of Early to Middle Devonian age, with reef formation coinciding with a third regionally compressive deformation event (D₃), and a second phase of Tabberabberan orogenesis. Mineralised reefs are hosted by Mathinna Supergroup turbidites of Cambrian to Ordovician age and extend for up to 2 km across the boundary between the sandstone‐dominated Stony Head Sandstone and the shale‐dominated Turquoise Bluff Slate. Ore shoots in the reefs plunge moderately west and, in the Volunteer Mine, coincide with the intersection of the reef and a D₁/D₂ thrust contact. The subvertical orientation and discordant relationship of the mineralised reefs to bedding, as well as the lack of gold mineralisation along bedding and pre‐D₃ structures, indicate that the reefs formed during a period of wrench faulting. In contrast to lode‐style deposits in Victoria, the far‐field minimum compressive stress at Lefroy during reef formation was not vertical but, rather, occupied a subhorizontal orientation.     

Artificial Marine Micro‐Reserves Networks (AMMRNs): an innovative approach to conserve marine littoral biodiversity and protect endangered species

Coastal engineering works, especially the outer breakwaters of ports where environmental conditions are usually good, often constitute new habitats for marine littoral species. Their potential indirect contribution to the regeneration and conservation of protected species opens up a new perspective in protection of marine biodiversity. This is particularly true when these works harbour, as we show here, important reproductive populations of species that are threatened or even in danger of extinction. We provide integrated data on protected marine species in Southern Iberia established on different substrata (quarried dolomitic rocks, concrete cubic blocks, concrete tetrapods and vertical concrete walls) that are used in the construction of artificial levees that could potentially be Artificial Marine Micro‐Reserves (AMMRs). We also present the first evidence of the ‘reserve effect’ in potential AMMRs and we discuss the need for the creation of AMMRs including their effective networking (AMMRNs), supporting data for which has been observed by studying coastal facilities subjected to strict access restrictions (for security reasons, not conservation). These facilities have acted as valuable proxies and, in reality, potentially act as AMMRs, as well as having a role in helping to detect and control invasive species. We discuss the ecological engineering aspects related to the design and type of materials used in coastal constructions with a view to aiding the integration of these into existing coastal ecosystems as well as promoting greater settlement of species and therefore increases in biodiversity. Finally, the environmental implications of AMMRNs within the future implementation strategy of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60 EC are also discussed.     

North American transect of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in water beetles from a museum collection

Museum collections contain a wealth of insect remains originating from a wide geographic range, which can be used to investigate their utility as a proxy for environmental isotope ratios. Chitinous remains of insects such as beetles (Coleoptera) are chemically stable and their stable isotope composition is strongly related to that of environmental water in the period of cuticle formation. We present a dataset of chitin ??D and ??¹⁸O in two genera of water beetles from a museum collection containing 40 locations for Helophorus (water scavenging beetles) and 48 locations for Hydroporus (predaceous diving beetles) that were selected from latitudes 27?C82°N in North America. Only two genera were used to minimize inter-sample variation caused by species-specific differences in metabolic effects, feeding strategy, habitat, and life cycle. The isotopic composition of water beetle exoskeletons had a strong latitudinal trend (North?CSouth) from ?160 to +65??? for ??D and from 7 to 34??? for ??¹⁸O, paralleling gradients of isotopes in precipitation. Strong relationships were observed between isotopic composition of beetles and modelled July precipitation (0.71?<?R ²?<?0.82, p?<?0.001). The relationship between ??D and ??¹⁸O in the beetle samples had a systematic offset from the global meteoric water line, which was likely caused by metabolic effects during chitin formation. The offset between ??D values in beetles and in modelled precipitation was 33??? larger, on average, for Hydroporus compared with Helophorus, suggesting fractionation of hydrogen isotopes during passage through the food chain. This trophic level effect was not observed for stable oxygen isotopes. Furthermore, the observed deviations between isotopic composition of water beetles and modelled precipitation at collection sites were not constant and indicated local hydrological deviations from modelled precipitation. The largest deviations were observed for sites in the Southern US and the Arctic that are highly evaporative and at sites in the Rocky Mountains and Coastal Mountains that were fed by snow melt. Our results indicated that the isotopic composition of water beetles from a museum collection was systematically related to ??D and ??¹⁸O values of precipitation at the collection site.     

The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: the red sequence AGN fraction and its environment and redshift dependence

We measure the dependence of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) fraction on local environment at   z ∼ 1  , using spectroscopic data taken from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, and Chandra X-ray data from the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). To provide a clean sample of AGN, we restrict our analysis to the red sequence population; this also reduces additional colour–environment correlations. We find evidence that high-redshift LINERs in DEEP2 tend to favour higher density environments relative to the red population from which they are drawn. In contrast, Seyferts and X-ray selected AGN at   z ∼ 1  show little (or no) environmental dependencies within the same underlying population. We compare these results with a sample of local AGN drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Contrary to the high-redshift behaviour, we find that both LINERs and Seyferts in the SDSS show a slowly declining red sequence AGN fraction towards high-density environments. Interestingly, at   z ∼ 1  red sequence Seyferts and LINERs are approximately equally abundant. By   z ∼ 0  , however, the red Seyfert population has declined relative to the LINER population by over a factor of ∼4.5. We speculate on possible interpretations of our results.