Radiocarbon-derived sedimentation rates in the Gulf of Mexico

Sedimentation rates were determined for the northern Gulf of Mexico margin sediments at water depths ranging from 770 to 3560 m, using radiocarbon determinations of organic matter. Resulting sedimentation rates ranged from 3 to 15 cm/kyr, decreasing with increasing water depth. These rates agree with long-term sedimentation rates estimated previously using stratigraphic methods, and with estimates of sediment delivery rates by the Mississippi River to the northern Gulf of Mexico, but are generally higher by 1–2 orders of magnitude than those estimated by ²¹⁰Pb_xs methods. Near-surface slope sediments from 2737 m water depth in the Mississippi River fan were much older than the rest. They had minimum ¹⁴C ages of 16–27 kyr and δ¹³C values ranging from −24‰ to −26.5‰, indicating a terrestrial origin of organic matter. The sediments from this site were thus likely deposited by episodic mass wasting of slope sediment through the canyon, delineating the previously suggested main pathway of sediment and clay movement to abyssal Gulf sediments.     

Eclipsing binaries in the MOST satellite fields

Sixteen new eclipsing binaries have been discovered by the MOST satellite among guide stars used to point its telescope in various fields. Several previously known eclipsing binaries were also observed by MOST with unprecedented quality. Among the objects we discuss in more detail are short‐period eclipsing binaries with eccentric orbits in young open clusters: V578 Mon in NGC 2244 and HD 47934 in NGC 2264. Long nearly‐continuous photometric runs made it possible to discover three long‐period eclipsing binaries with orbits seen almost edge‐on: HD 45972 with P = 28.1 days and two systems (GSC 154 1247 and GSC 2141 526) with P > 25 days. The high precision of the satellite data led to discoveries of binaries with very shallow eclipses (e.g., HD 46180 with A = 0.016 mag, and HD 47934 with A = 0.025 mag). Ground‐based spectroscopy to support the space‐based photometry was used to refine the models of several of the systems (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

阿尔金索尔库里地区元古代流纹岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年及其地质意义

阿尔金索尔库里北山彩虹沟塔什达坂群卓阿布拉克组流纹岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb 年龄为920±20Ma (MSWD=1.50),代表流纹岩的喷出时间。岩石的SiO₂介于68.33%~70.60%,K₂O>Na₂O,K₂O/Na₂O平均值6.42,属弱过铝质(ACNK平均为1.25)钙碱性系列(σ平均为2.76),为一套典型的壳源流纹岩岩石系列。稀土元素含量高(平均为211.3×10^-6),轻稀土富集(L/H平均为6.57),Eu亏损中等(δEu平均为0.30)。微量元素以富集Rb、Th、K、Zr,而相对亏损Ba、Sr、Eu、Ti、Nb、Ta为特征。岩石微量及稀土元素具有典型的板内火山岩特征,而岩石显著的低Sr特征(25.0×10^-6~65.3×10^-6,平均值为36.8×10^-6))表明其并非源自加厚的地壳,而是起源于斜长石稳定的正常地壳。阿尔金流纹岩是由进入上地壳高位岩浆房的拉斑玄武岩浆的底侵作用直接使上地壳部分熔融,形成酸性火山岩的原始岩浆。该岩浆体系沿区域断裂构造体系上升,并经历了较强的结晶分异和演化,最终形成阿尔金索尔库里北山流纹岩系列。     

Spectroscopy of Mars from 2.04 to 2.44 micrometers during the 1993 opposition: absolute calibration and atmospheric vs mineralogic origin of narrow absorption features

We present moderate-resolution (lambda/delta lambda = 300 to 370) reflectance spectra of Mars from 2.04 to 2.44 micrometers that were obtained at UKIRT during the 1993 opposition. Seven narrow absorption features were detected and found to have a Mars origin. By comparison with solar and Mars atmospheric spectra, five of these features were attributed all or in part to Mars atmospheric CO2 or CO(2.052 +/- 0.003, 2.114 +/- 0.002, 2.150 +/- 0.003, 2.331 +/- 0.001, and 2.357 +/- 0.002 micrometers). Two of the bands (2.331 +/- 0.001 and 2.357 +/- 0.002 micrometers) appear to have widths and depths that are consistent with additional, nonatmospheric absorptions, although a solar contribution cannot be entirely ruled out. Two other weak bands centered at 2.278 +/- 0.002 and 2.296 +/- 0.002 micrometers may be at least partially mineralogic in origin. The data provide no conclusive identification of the mineralogy responsible for these absorption features. However, examination of terrestrial spectral libraries and previous moderate spectral resolution mineral studies indicates that the most likely origin of these features is either (bi)carbonate or (bi)sulfate anions in framework silicates or (Fe, Mg)-OH bonds in sheet silicates. If the bands are caused by phyllosilicate minerals, then an explanation must be found for the extremely narrow widths of the cation-OH features in the Mars spectra as compared to terrestrial minerals.     

Respiration rates and hypoxia on the Louisiana shelf

The spatial and temporal variation in water-column respiration, estimated from enzymatic respiratory electron-transport-system activity, was measured monthly on a cross-shelf transect on the Louisiana shelf from May through October 1991. In July 1991, water-column respiration was also determined on an alongshore transect, and in situ benthic respiration and photosynthesis rates were determined at jour stations on the cross-shelf transect. Bottom waters were persistently hypoxic (O₂<2 mg 1^?1) at most stations in July and August and sporadically hypoxic at other times. Water-column respiration rates were in the same range as earlier, less extensive studies and not unusually high for coastal and estuarine waters. They were highest in summer, decreased with distance offshore and depth, and increased with temperature. Their variation with pigment and oxygen concentrations were complex functions of season and depth. Oxygen depletion below the oxycline could occur within days to months, depending on the season and location. In July, benthic respiration rates were also not unusually high in comparison with other shallow sediments, although the ratio of benthic: total (water column+benthic) respiration was high. Combined water-column and benthic respiration could deplete the bottom water oxygen in approximately 1 mo. Because the system rarely goes anoxic (defined as observing sulfide), some mechanism(s) must exist to reaerate bottom waters. Most physical mechanisms are unlikely to provide significant reaeration at this time of year. Measured benthic and conservatively estimated bottom-water photosynthesis could resupply 23% of the oxygen lost daily by respiration. Although this is too limited a dataset from which to draw conclusions about the relative importance of bottom-water and benthic respiration and photosynthesis in determining bottom-water oxygen concentrations, it does suggest that all these processes must be considered.     

Mobility Patterns of Overseas Human Capital in Australia: the role of a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme and rural development policy

In 2007, the Australian federal government introduced a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme, the 485 visa sub-class. This visa facilitates the transition from student to worker for overseas graduates from Australian higher education institutions, with the potential to significantly increase their numbers in the country. At the same time, local governments have introduced various policies designed to attract and retain human capital in rural areas to address the shortfall of highly skilled individuals. This paper redresses the current lack of research into the spatial dynamics of overseas human capital in Australia and their relation to the new visa scheme in combination with shifts in rural development policies. Drawing on survey data of graduates describing the ‘before’ (2005) and ‘after’ (2008) periods of the introduction of the 485 visa scheme, this paper shows that the propensity of overseas graduates to move between Australia's regions has increased substantially. In particular, there have been an increasing proportion of overseas graduates moving to major cities despite rural development policy efforts to attract human capital to rural areas. However, these policy efforts appear to have attracted overseas graduates with particular qualifications (education and health) to work in such locales.     

Compositional and thermal evolution of olivine-hosted melt inclusions in small-volume basaltic eruptions: a “simple” example from Dotsero Volcano,NW Colorado

Olivine-hosted melt inclusions have been analyzed from the young (4,150 ± 300 ybp) Dotsero basaltic (48.2 wt% SiO₂) lava flow in Northwest Colorado, USA. Silicate melt-inclusion compositions have a bimodal distribution (41–46 wt% SiO₂ and 47–50 wt% SiO₂). Low-Si melt inclusions record high pre-eruptive sulfur concentrations (>1,000 ppm S) and variations in their major- and trace-element compositions appears to be related to shallow assimilation of local basement sandstone. Whole-rock compositions are modeled as a contamination of low-Si inclusion compositions with ~10 wt% sandstone. Host olivine crystallization may have accompanied magma injection into a shallow storage chamber. In contrast to the low-Si melt inclusions, the high-Si population is relatively degassed and records late-stage rapid crystallization either during or post-eruption. Hopper or skeletal olivine grains in conjunction with the bimodal inclusion compositions suggest relatively rapid cooling rates at the time of eruption and inclusion entrapment. Inclusion compositions, in conjunction with mineral textures, therefore provide a more complete picture of shallow magma processes, coupling the relative timing of undercooling and crystallization, assimilation and melt compositional evolution. Most of the inclusion and host textural and compositional data indicates late and very shallow petrogenetic processes and does not appear to record deeper (mid-, lower-crustal) processes.     

Metazoan meiofauna biomass, grazing, and weight-dependent respiration in the Northern Gulf of Mexico deep sea

Metazoan meiofauna are ubiquitous in marine soft sediments and play a pivotal role in diagenesis of particulate organic matter. However, the relative importance of meiofauna to the function of deep-sea benthic boundary layer communities has not been resolved. Here, meiofauna biomass, respiration, and grazing on aerobic heterotrophic bacteria were estimated and compared to standing stocks and fluxes of other benthic components (e.g., bacteria and macrofauna). Biomass and respiration declined with depth. Highest biomass and respiration occurred in the proximity of the Mississippi River on the upper continental slope of the central Gulf of Mexico. Meiofauna required 7% of their biomass per day to meet their metabolic energy budget, compared to approximately 24% day⁻¹ in shallow water. Respiration accounted for 8–22% of whole sediment community respiration (SCOC), reflecting the importance of meiofauna in diagenesis, deep-sea carbon budgets, and global biogeochemical cycles.     

Effect of sand lenses on groundwater flow and contaminant migration

The effect of homogeneous sand lenses on the groundwater flow in an otherwise homogeneous clayey deposit is examined by performing Monte Carlo simulations using a finite element flow model. In the simulations, the locations of the sand lenses are assumed to be mutually independent. The paper examines the effect on the flow field in a clayey deposit of (a) different percentages of sand lenses, (b) different hydraulic conductivities of the sand lenses, (c) different average sand lens sizes, (d) non-uniformity of the sizes of the sand lenses, and (e) localization of the sand lenses. The effect of these non-uniform flow fields on contaminant migration is then examined using a finite element contaminant transport model. For the range of cases considered it is shown that: the volume of sand lenses present has a greater influence than the shape, size, location and hydraulic conductivity of the sand lenses; simplified calculations performed using the geometric and harmonic means of hydraulic conductivity bracket the behaviour evident from more complex analyses; and the maximum impact on an aquifer separated from a waste disposal facility by a deposit containing sand lenses can be modelled to sufficient accuracy, using quite simple flow and contaminant transport models.