Metamorphic decarbonation, silicate weathering and the long-term carbon cycle

The seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr curve implies a 50–100 Myr episodicity in weathering rate which requires a corresponding variation in CO₂ degassing from the solid earth to the atmosphere. It is proposed that this is caused by orogenesis, which both produces CO₂ as a result of metamorphic decarbonation reactions, and consumes extra CO₂ as a consequence of erosion-enhanced weathering. Global climate on the geological time-scale is therefore contTolled by the difference between the relatively large and variable orogenic-moderated degassing and weathering CO₂ fluxes.     

Obtaining basic simulation data for a heterogeneous field with stratified marine soils

Thinly stratified sedimentary deposits in a heterogeneous field were investigated to obtain basic physical data for the simulation of water flow. A procedure is described which translates a thinly stratified soil profile into a number of functional layers using functional hydrological properties. A functional layer is defined as a combination of one or more soil horizons and should (i) be recognizable during a soil survey using an auger and (ii) show significantly different functional hydrological properties when compared with another functional layer. This procedure gave three easily recognizable functional layers. Sets of hydrological characteristics of these three functional layers were obtained by physical measurements of the soil and by estimation, using textural data for classification into a standard Dutch series. The performance of several combinations of these sets was tested by comparing simulated and measured soil matric potentials for seven plots during one year. The best simulation results were obtained if measured soil hydraulic characteristics were used for relatively homogeneous functional layers and if the soil hydraulic characteristics were estimated at each location for the most heterogeneous layer.     

Nutrient (P, N) dynamics in the southwestern Kattegat, Scandinavia: sedimentation and resuspension effects

 The yearly nutrient supply from land and atmosphere to the study area in SW Kattegat is 10 900 tons of N and 365 tons of P. This is only few percent of the supply from adjacent marine areas, as the yearly transport through the study area is 218 000 tons of N and 18 250 tons of P. Yearly net deposition makes up 1340 tons of N (on average 2.5 g m^–2 yr^–1) and 477 ton of P (on average 0.9 g m^–2 yr^–1). Shallow-water parts of the study area have no net deposition because of frequent (>35% of the year) resuspension. Resuspension frequency in deep water is <1% of the year. Resuspension rates, as averages for the study area, are 10–17 times higher than net deposition rates. Because of resuspension, shallow-water sediments are coarse lag deposits with small amounts of organic matter (1.1%) and nutrients (0.04% N and 0.02% P). Deep-water sediments, in contrast, are fine grained with high levels of organic matter (11.7%) and nutrients (0.43% N and 0.15% P). Laboratory studies showed that resuspension changes the diffusive sediment water fluxes of nutrients, oxygen consumption, and penetration into the sediment. Fluxes of dissolved reactive phosphate from sediment to water after resuspension were negative in organic-rich sediments (13.2% organic matter) with low porosity (56) and close to zero in coarse sediments with a low organic matter content (2.3%) and high porosity (73). Fluxes of inorganic N after resuspension were reduced to 70% and 0–20% in relation to the rates before resuspension, respectively. Received: 10 July 1995 · Accepted: 19 January 1996     

Application of beam forming techniques to measurements of acoustic scattering from the ocean bottom

Signals from an explosive source backscattered from the seafloor and received at long range by hydrophones of a towed array are processed to estimate the directional distribution of energy for a given time increment. As assembly of these data shows the time and amplitude of scattering features, and after conversion to distance, the geographic location of the return. A frequency-domain beam-forming procedure is used in which beam levels are averaged over a given band of a broad-band source. The processing is applied to experimental data obtained in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The major backscattering occurred at the Baconi Seamounts and the coastal margin of Sardinia.     

Water transport from the North-east Irish Sea to western Scottish coastal waters: Further observations from time-trend matching of Sellafield radiocaesium

Radiocaesium isotopes, discharged into the North-east Irish Sea from the Sellafield (formerly Windscale) nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, have been employed as flow monitors to update and extend the record of coastal water movement from the Irish Sea to the Clyde Sea area and, further north, to Loch Etive. The temporal trends in radiocaesium levels have been used to determine the extent of water mixing en route and to define mean advection rates. Flow conditions from the Irish Sea have changed considerably since the mid-1970s, the residence time of northern Irish Sea waters being ～12 months during 1978–1980 inclusive. Average transport times of four and six months are estimated for the Sellafield to Clyde and Sellafield to Etive transects respectively. Sellafield ¹³⁷Cs levels in seawater were diluted by factors of 27 and 50 respectively during current movement to the Clyde and Etive areas. The decrease in salinity-corrected ¹³⁷Cs concentrations between the Clyde and Etive suggests that dilution by Atlantic water occurs, the latter mainly entering the Firth of Lorne from the west. The majority (～94%) of the radiocaesium supply to Loch Etive enters the Firth of Lorne via the portion of the coastal current circulating west of Islay, only ～6% arriving via the Sound of Jura.     

Line broadening on HF ocean surface radar backscatter spectra

Experimental results from an array of moored current meters and an HF ocean surface radar support the idea that line broadening on the radar spectra is caused by the velocity distribution within the radar target cell. The experiment was done in the wake of a small island where the velocity variations were severe. An estimate is made of the line broadening which can be expected. In a turbulent flow with dissipation rate of the orderepsilon sim 10^{-10}m^{2}s^{-3}and target cell size 1 3000 m, the line broadening isDeltaf sim 10^{-3}Hz. This would be resolved with a radar time series ofsim 20min and indicates that the HF ocean surface radar technique has potential in the observation of surface velocity distributions.     

The western lapidary tradition in early geological literature: medicinal and magical minerals

Nowadays, when someone refers to lapidary they usually mean the process of polishing, engraving or working stones. The term is much broader than that, however, encompassing an entire genre of literature which formed the basis of much geological observation even before the word 'geology' was ever coined.