Concentrations and loads of dissolved xenobiotics and hormones in two small river catchments of different land use in Luxembourg

The investigation focuses on the analysis of dissolved sulfonamides, tetracyclines, analgesics, anticonvulsants and hormones in surface water. Runoff event and baseflow samples were analysed in two small river catchments of different land use in Luxembourg. For most of the flood events, similar pollutant loads to those transported during 1 day with average baseflow discharge were observed. The maximum contents during flood events and the event mean concentrations are controlled by pre‐event hydro‐climatological conditions. For all substances under investigation, maximum concentrations and event mean concentrations show a decrease with raising antecedent rainfall. In addition, the interstorm and intrastorm variability of the pollutant transport was determined. Runoff generation and corresponding transport of xenobiotic compounds show a complex pattern with many interrelated processes, taking place within bedrock, soil, anthropogenic facilities and channel and in different parts of the basins under investigation. Different sources of pollutants can be identified and related to particular locations in the basin. The influence of the sewer systems is obvious. In the agricultural Mess basin, higher rainfall amounts lead to greater quantities of laterally inflowing soil water with higher concentrations of dissolved oxytetracycline. This originates from veterinary medicines administered to livestock and enters the environment through the application of organic fertilisers, especially by slurry that is applied to the fields. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carbon input, production and turnover in the interstices of a Lake Tegel bank filtration site, Berlin, Germany

The sandy littoral zone of Lake Tegel (Berlin, Germany) was investigated during 2004–2006 down to sediment depths ≥26 cm to derive a scheme of seasonal carbon turnover under induced bank filtration conditions. Carbon turnover processes were quantified regarding external and internal sources of dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM), primary production, community respiration, redox potential as well as specific loads of soluble chemical compounds such as nitrogen, iron, manganese and DOC.Over the course of the year, infiltrating DOC decreased by about 13–20% within the upper 26 cm sediment of the infiltration stretch. Gradients of all observed soluble compounds that are highly cross-linked to biological activities were highest in the topmost centimetre. In this depth mass balances (output–input) were negative concerning NO₃-N (−1 mg dm⁻² d⁻¹, summer mean) and DOC (−2 mg dm⁻² d⁻¹, winter mean), respectively, while specific loads of cations such as manganese reached up to 0.2 mg dm⁻² d⁻¹ during summer. Carbon mineralization ranged between 3 and 7 mg C dm⁻² d⁻¹ and was nearly twice as high in summer as in winter. The turnover of the infiltrating DOC contributed maximally 25% in summer to 50% in winter to the entire organic carbon mineralization. Gross and net primary production differed up to a factor of >10, indicating very fast turnover reactions and the predominance of community respiration and mineralization, respectively. The POC in the upper sediment layer (10 cm) temporally varied around 1% sediment d.w.; benthic algae, organic seston input and autumnal leaf fall contributed similar percentages to the POC pool.     

The development of the Space Environment Viability of Organics (SEVO) experiment aboard the Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS) satellite

The Space Environment Viability of Organics (SEVO) experiment is one of two scientific payloads aboard the triple-cube satellite Organism/ORganic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS). O/OREOS is the first technology demonstration mission of the NASA Astrobiology Small Payloads Program. The 1-kg, 1000-cm³ SEVO cube is investigating the chemical evolution of organic materials in interstellar space and planetary environments by exposing organic molecules under controlled conditions directly to the low-Earth orbit (LEO) particle and electromagnetic radiation environment. O/OREOS was launched on November 19, 2010 into a 650-km, 72°-inclination orbit and has a nominal operational lifetime of six months. Four classes of organic compounds, namely an amino acid, a quinone, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), and a metallo-porphyrin are being studied. Initial reaction conditions were established by hermetically sealing the thin-film organic samples in self-contained micro-environments. Chemical changes in the samples caused by direct exposure to LEO radiation and by interactions with the irradiated microenvironments are monitored in situ by ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared (UV/VIS/NIR) absorption spectroscopy using a novel compact fixed-grating CCD spectrometer with the Sun as its light source. The goals of the O/OREOS mission include: (1) demonstrating key small satellite technologies that can enable future low-cost astrobiology experiments, (2) deploying a miniature UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer suitable for in-situ astrobiology and other scientific investigations, (3) testing the capability to establish a variety of experimental reaction conditions to enable the study of astrobiological processes on small satellites, and (4) measuring the chemical evolution of organic molecules in LEO under conditions that can be extrapolated to interstellar and planetary environments. In this paper, the science and technology development of the SEVO instrument payload and its measurements are described.     

Remnants of arc-related Mesoarchaean oceanic crust in the Tartoq Group of SW Greenland

The Tartoq Group, located in SW Greenland, consists of supracrustal rocks of mainly tholeiitic basaltic composition, including pillow lavas, sills/dykes and gabbros, as well as ultramafic rocks. Metamorphic grade ranges from greenschist facies to granulite facies. The Tartoq Group crops out as a series of blocks and slivers that are imbricated with originally intrusive Mesoarchaean TTG orthogneisses. The supracrustal rocks form part of a SE vergent fold and thrust belt consistent with the imbrication of TTG gneisses and supracrustal rocks along a convergent margin. LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon dating of an intrusive TTG sheet yields a minimum age of 2986 ± 4 Ma for the Tartoq Group. This age is consistent with MC-ICP-MS Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd isotopic whole-rock data for mafic samples from different blocks of the Tartoq Group, which yield errorchron ages of 3189 ± 65 Ma and 3068 ± 220 Ma, respectively. The mafic supracrustal rocks of the Tartoq Group have chondrite-normalized REE patterns with La_CN/Sm_CN of 0.67–1.96 and rather flat primitive mantle-normalized multi-element patterns, except for scattered LILE contents, and generally negative Nb-anomalies with Nb/Nb* of 0.26–1.31. Th/Yb varies between 0.06 and 0.47 and Nb/Yb between 0.45 and 4.4 indicative of an arc affinity when compared to rocks from modern settings. The similar geochemistry of the different lithological units, together with their coeval formation, as evident from trace element geochemical trends, supports a co-magmatic origin for the rock assemblage and their formation as imbricated relics of oceanic crust. Accordingly, we propose that the Tartoq Group represents remnants of Mesoarchaean oceanic crust, which formed in a suprasubduction zone geodynamic environment.     

Morphology and geological structure of the western part of the Olympus Mons volcano on Mars from the analysis of the Mars Express HRSC imagery

The images of the western part of Olympus Mons and adjacent plains acquired by the HRSC camera onboard the Mars Express spacecraft were studied. The morphology, topography, and color of the surface were investigated. The surface age was determined by the frequencies of impact craters. The examination of the HRSC images combined with an analysis of the MOC imagery and MOLA altitude profiles have shown that the Olympus Mons edifice, at least in its western part, is composed of not only lavas but also of sedimentary and volcanic-sedimentary rocks consisting of dust, volcanic ash, and, probably, H₂O ice that precipitated from the atmosphere. These data also indicate that glaciations, traces of which are known on the western foot of Olympus Mons (Lucchitta, 1981; Milkovich and Head, 2003), probably also covered the gentle upper slopes of the mountain. It is probable that the ice is still there, protected from sublimation by a dust blanket. Confirming (or rejecting) its presence is a challenge for the scheduled radar sounding with the MARSIS instrument mounted on the Mars Express spacecraft as well.__________Translated from Astronomicheskii Vestnik, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2005, pp. 99–116.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Basilevsky, Neukum, Ivanov, Werner, S. van Gesselt, Head, Denk, Jaumann, Hoffmann, Hauber, McCord, the HRSC Co-Investigator Team.     

Effective precipitation in southern Spain ( 266 to 46 ka) based on a speleothem stable carbon isotope record

We present the longest-duration directly dated terrestrial palaeoclimate record from the western Mediterranean region: a flowstone speleothem from Gitana Cave, southeast Spain. The main phase of growth was 274 to 58 ka, dated by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) U-series methods. Effective precipitation, which we consider primarily responsible for flowstone calcite δ¹³C variations, measured at 300 μm resolution, was higher during interglacials associated with marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 7 and 5, and lower during glacial MIS 6. There is a close correspondence between speleothem δ¹³C and sea surface temperature (SST) estimates from adjacent Atlantic Ocean cores during MIS 6, which implies that oceanic conditions are critical in controlling the western Mediterranean terrestrial moisture balance during glacial periods. Other features of our record, such as the sequence of termination II warming/moistening between approximately 133 and 127 ka, including a “pause” around 130–128 ka, and the lagged termination of MIS 5 warm intervals (5e, 5c and 5a) are similar to other terrestrial records within the Mediterranean basin, indicating climate synchroneity along the northern Mediterranean coast. The Gitana cave region also may have been a refugium for temperate species during short-lived cold/arid periods during MIS 5.     

Cumulative probability functions and their role in evaluating the chronology of geomorphological events during the Holocene

Cumulative probability functions (CPFs) for large numbers of radiocarbon age determinations are increasingly being used by scientists as a methodology to discern environmental histories. While the recent compilation of regional databases of the radiocarbon dating control for fluvial sediment sequences has been beneficial for identifying gaps in knowledge and stimulating new research, there are a number of problems that critically undermine the use of these CPFs as sensitive hydroclimatic proxies. (i) The CPF method is underpinned by the assumption that each radiocarbon measurement is a true age estimate for a point in time, whereas each measured age in fact forms a scatter around the true age of the sample; (ii) calibration of radiocarbon ages is responsible for much of the structure in CPFs and compounds the problem of scatter and smears the chronological control; (iii) the databases incorporate multiple types of environmental changes differing chronological relationships between the ¹⁴C measurements and the dated events, with pre‐dating, dating or post‐dating chronological control each displaying variable length temporal lags all mixed together in the same analysis; and (iv) the radiocarbon ages from individual case studies need to be more robustly tested before being incorporated into regional databases. All these factors negate the value of CPFs as sensitive proxies of environmental change, because peaks in probability for individual radiocarbon measurements are likely to be an incorrect estimate for the age of a geomorphological event and this problem is compounded by combining probabilities for multiple unrelated events. In this paper we present a critical analysis of CPFs and their interpretation before suggesting alternative approaches to analysing radiocarbon geochronologies of geomorphic events, which include: (i) Bayesian age modelling of river terrace development; (ii) developing regional databases that test specific geomorphic hypotheses; (iii) Bayesian age modelling of palaeoflood records; and (iv) analysis of sedimentation rates. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of numerical methods for simulating strongly nonlinear and heterogeneous reactive transport problems—the MoMaS benchmark case

Although multicomponent reactive transport modeling is gaining wider application in various geoscience fields, it continues to present significant mathematical and computational challenges. There is a need to solve and compare the solutions to complex benchmark problems, using a variety of codes, because such intercomparisons can reveal promising numerical solution approaches and increase confidence in the application of reactive transport codes. In this contribution, the results and performance of five current reactive transport codes are compared for the 1D and 2D subproblems of the so-called easy test case of the MoMaS benchmark (Carrayrou et al., Comput Geosci, 2009, this issue). This benchmark presents a simple fictitious reactive transport problem that highlights the main numerical difficulties encountered in real reactive transport problems. As a group, the codes include iterative and noniterative operator splitting and global implicit solution approaches. The 1D easy advective and 1D easy diffusive scenarios were solved using all codes, and, in general, there was a good agreement, with solution discrepancies limited to regions with rapid concentration changes. Computational demands were typically consistent with what was expected for the various solution approaches. The differences between solutions given by the three codes solving the 2D problem are more important. The very high computing effort required by the 2D problem illustrates the importance of parallel computations. The most important outcome of the benchmark exercise is that all codes are able to generate comparable results for problems of significant complexity and computational difficulty.     

Wide binaries in the Pleiades

The number and distribution of visual binaries in the Pleiades agree with the frequencies in the solar neighbourhood, except for an apparent deficiency of systems with faint components.