Analysis of hot springs and associated deposits in Yellowstone National Park using ASTER and AVIRIS remote sensing

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and the Airborne Visible/IR Image Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data were used to characterize hot spring deposits in the Lower, Midway, and Upper Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park from the visible/near infrared (VNIR) to thermal infrared (TIR) wavelengths. Field observations of these basins provided the critical ground-truth for comparison with the remote sensing results. Fourteen study sites were selected based on diversity in size, deposit type, and thermal activity. Field work included detailed site surveys such as land cover analysis, photography, Global Positioning System (GPS) data collection, radiometric analysis, and VNIR spectroscopy. Samples of hot spring deposits, geyser deposits, and soil were also collected. Analysis of ASTER data provided broad scale characteristics of the hot springs and their deposits, including the identification of thermal anomalies. AVIRIS high spectral resolution short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectroscopy provided the ability to detect hydrothermally altered minerals as well as a calibration for the multispectral SWIR ASTER data. From the image analysis, differences in these basins were identified including the extent of thermal alteration, the location and abundance of alteration minerals, and a comparison of active, near-extinct, and extinct geysers. We determined the activity level of each region using a combination of the VNIR-SWIR-TIR spectral differences as well as the presence of elevated temperatures, detected by the TIR subsystem of ASTER. The results of this study are applicable to the exploration of extinct mineralized hydrothermal deposits on both Earth and Mars.     

Assessing the additive risks of PSII herbicide exposure to the Great Barrier Reef

Herbicide residues have been measured in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon at concentrations which have the potential to harm marine plant communities. Monitoring on the Great Barrier Reef lagoon following wet season discharge show that 80% of the time when herbicides are detected, more than one are present. These herbicides have been shown to act in an additive manner with regards to photosystem-II inhibition. In this study, the area of the Great Barrier Reef considered to be at risk from herbicides is compared when exposures are considered for each herbicide individually and also for herbicide mixtures. Two normalisation indices for herbicide mixtures were calculated based on current guidelines and PSII inhibition thresholds. The results show that the area of risk for most regions is greatly increased under the proposed additive PSII inhibition threshold and that the resilience of this important ecosystem could be reduced by exposure to these herbicides.     

The effect of pH and natural microbial phosphatase activity on the speciation of uranium in subsurface soils

The biomineralization of U(VI) phosphate as a result of microbial phosphatase activity is a promising new bioremediation approach to immobilize uranium in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In contrast to reduced uranium minerals such as uraninite, uranium phosphate precipitates are not susceptible to changes in oxidation conditions and may represent a long-term sink for uranium in contaminated environments. So far, the biomineralization of U(VI) phosphate has been demonstrated with pure cultures only. In this study, two uranium contaminated soils from the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Field Research Center (ORFRC) were amended with glycerol phosphate as model organophosphate source in small flow-through columns under aerobic conditions to determine whether natural phosphatase activity of indigenous soil bacteria was able to promote the precipitation of uranium(VI) at pH 5.5 and 7.0. High concentrations of phosphate (1-3 mM) were detected in the effluent of these columns at both pH compared to control columns amended with U(VI) only, suggesting that phosphatase-liberating microorganisms were readily stimulated by the organophosphate substrate. Net phosphate production rates were higher in the low pH soil (0.73 ± 0.17 mM d⁻¹) compared to the circumneutral pH soil (0.43 ± 0.31 mM d⁻¹), suggesting that non-specific acid phosphatase activity was expressed constitutively in these soils. A sequential solid-phase extraction scheme and X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements were combined to demonstrate that U(VI) was primarily precipitated as uranyl phosphate minerals at low pH, whereas it was mainly adsorbed to iron oxides and partially precipitated as uranyl phosphate at circumneutral pH. These findings suggest that, in the presence of organophosphates, microbial phosphatase activity can contribute to uranium immobilization in both low and circumneutral pH soils through the formation of stable uranyl phosphate minerals.     

Late Quaternary palaeohydrology of the Konya Basin, Turkey, based on isotope studies of modern hydrology and lacustrine carbonates

The Konya plain in south central Anatolia, Turkey, which is now largely dry, was occupied around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum by a fresh-oligosaline lake covering more than 4000 km². Sediment cores from three residual water bodies (Pinarbai, Akgöl and Süleymanhaci) within the larger Pleistocene lake basin, have been analysed using a multidisciplinary approach. The sediment sequences are dated as spanning the last 50 Ka years, although breaks in sedimentation mean that there is only partial chronological overlap between them. Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses on lacustrine carbonate from the three cores give contrasting isotope profiles which reflect the different ages and independent hydrological behaviour of different sub-basins through the late Quaternary. Distinguishing changes that are regional from local effects is aided by modern isotope hydrology studies and by comparing the carbonate ¹³C and ¹⁸O values to diatom and other analyses undertaken on the same cores.     

Investigating Late Holocene Climate Variability in Central Mexico using Carbon Isotope Ratios in Organic Materials and Oxygen Isotope Ratios from Diatom Silica within Lacustrine Sediments

Previous studies have shown that moisture availability in the central highlands of Mexico during the last 3000 years has been highly variable, but evidence remains ambiguous since the climatic signal is partially masked by that of human activity. Here we use two isotope systems to provide evidence for environmental change in Laguna Zacapu, Michoacán covering this time period. Carbon isotope ratios of organic material suggest that there have been fluctuations in the carbon pool related to plant productivity, possibly as a result of changes in the abundance of aquatic plants around the lake margins. The drainage basin and lake have been managed intensively during the 20th century. Lake level apparently fell during the early part of the century, but has been artificially controlled since the 1950s. The oxygen isotope ratios from diatom silica should provide the more unambiguous climate signal, although we show that the interpretation of the diatom oxygen isotope record is far from straight forward. Zacapu is a spring-fed, non-evaporating system and changes in δ¹⁸O_diatom are likely to be a function of changes in δ¹⁸O of precipitation, due to either temperature and salinity variation in the Gulf of Mexico (associated with changes in the Bond cycles from the North Atlantic or the Loop current from the Carribean) and/or changing moisture contributions from different air masses (Gulf of Mexico vs. Pacific). Changes in the Gulf of Mexico are possibly at a resolution comparable to the periodicity we see in the δ¹⁸O_diatom record, although without better dating the comparison is speculative.     

A Coupled Calibration and Modelling Approach to the Understanding of Dry-Land Lake Oxygen Isotope Records

Comparisons between climate proxies and instrumental records through the last two centuries are often used to understand better the controls on palaeoarchives and to find relationships that can be used to quantify changes in pre-instrumental climate. Here we compare an 80-year-long annually resolved oxygen isotope record from Nar Gölü, Turkey, a varved lake sequence, with instrumental records of temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity and calculated values of evaporation, all of which are known to be possible controls on lake oxygen isotope systems. Significant relationships are found between the isotope record and summer temperatures and evaporation suggesting these are dominant controls on the isotope hydrology of this non-outlet lake. Modelling the stable isotope hydrology of the lake system allows these relationships to be tested independently. We show that the isotope record follows the same trends in the temperature and evaporation records but that, even when combined, these two climatic factors cannot fully explain the magnitude of change observed in the isotope record. The models show the lake system is much less sensitive to changes in evaporation and temperature than the climate calibration suggests. Additional factors, including changes in the amount of precipitation, are required to amplify the isotope change. It is concluded that proxy-climate calibrations may incorrectly estimate the amplitude of past changes in individual climate parameters, unless validated independently.     

Exchange of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Between a Shallow Lagoon and Coastal Waters

West Falmouth Harbor, a shallow lagoon on Cape Cod, has experienced a threefold increase in nitrogen load since the mid- to late 1990s due to input from a groundwater plume contaminated by a municipal wastewater treatment plant. We measured the exchange of nitrogen and phosphorus between the harbor and the coastal waters of Buzzards Bay over several years when the harbor was experiencing this elevated nitrogen load. During summer months, the harbor not only retained the entire watershed nitrogen load but also had a net import of nitrogen from Buzzards Bay. During the spring and fall, the harbor had a net export of nitrogen to Buzzards Bay. We did not measure the export in winter, but assuming the winter net export was less than 112 % of the load, the harbor exported less than half of the watershed nitrogen load on an annual basis. For phosphorus, the harbor had a net import from coastal waters in the spring and summer months and a net export in the fall. Despite the large increase in nitrogen load to the harbor, the summertime import of phosphorus from Buzzards Bay was sufficient to maintain nitrogen limitation of primary productivity during the summer. Our findings illustrate that shallow systems dominated by benthic producers have the potential to retain large terrestrial nitrogen loads when there is sufficient supply of phosphorus from exchange with coastal waters.     

Stable carbon isotope discrimination in rice field soil during acetate turnover by syntrophic acetate oxidation or acetoclastic methanogenesis

Rice fields are an important source for the greenhouse gas methane. In Italian rice field soil CH₄ is produced either by hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic methanogenesis, or by hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and syntrophic acetate oxidation when temperatures are below and above about 40-45 °C, respectively. In order to see whether these acetate consumption pathways differently discriminate the stable carbon isotopes of acetate, we measured the δ¹³C of total acetate and acetate-methyl as well as the δ¹³C of CO₂ and CH₄ in rice field soil that had been pre-incubated at 45 °C and then shifted to different temperatures between 25 and 50 °C. Acetate transiently accumulated to about 6 mM, which is about one-third of the amount of CH₄ produced, irrespective of the incubation temperature and the CH₄ production pathway involved. However, the patterns of δ¹³C of the CH₄ and CO₂ produced were different at low (25, 30, 35 °C) versus high (40, 45, 50 °C) temperatures. These patterns were consistent with CH₄ being exclusively formed by hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis at high temperatures, and by a combination of acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis at low temperatures. The patterns of δ¹³C of total acetate and acetate-methyl were also different at high versus low temperatures, indicating the involvement of different pathways of production and consumption of acetate at the two temperature regimes. Isotope fractionation during consumption of the methyl group of acetate was more pronounced at low (α = 1.010-1.025) than at high (α = 1.0-1.01) temperatures indicating that acetoclastic methanogenesis exhibits a stronger isotope effect than syntrophic acetate oxidation. Small amounts of propionate also transiently accumulated and were analyzed for δ¹³C. The δ¹³C values slightly increased (by about 10‰) during production and consumption of propionate, but were not affected by incubation temperature. Collectively, our results showed distinct isotope discrimination for different paths of acetate (and propionate) production and consumption, albeit differences were only small, and discrimination between methanogenic and syntrophic acetate consumption in nature may be difficult to detect.     

Subglacially precipitated carbonates record geochemical interactions and pollen preservation at the base of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on central Baffin Island,eastern Canadian Arctic

The mineralogy and isotopic compositions of subglacially precipitated carbonate crusts (SPCCs) provide information on conditions and processes beneath former glaciers and ice sheets. Here we describe SPCCs formed on gneissic bedrock at the bed of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the last glacial maximum on central Baffin Island. Geochemical data indicate that the Ca in the crusts was likely derived from the subglacial chemical weathering Ca-bearing minerals in the local bedrock. C and Sr isotopic analyses reveal that the C in the calcite was derived predominantly from older plant debris. The δ¹⁸O values of the SPCCs suggest that these crusts formed in isotopic equilibrium with basal ice LIS preserved in the Barnes Ice Cap (BIC). Columnar crystal fabric and the predominance of sparite over micrite in the SPCCs are indicative of carbonate precipitation under open-system conditions. However, the mean δ¹⁸O value of the calcite crusts is ~ 10‰ higher than those of primary LIS ice preserved in the BIC, demonstrating that SPCCs record the isotopic composition of only basal ice. Palynomorph assemblages preserved within the calcite and basal BIC ice include species last endemic to the Arctic in the early Tertiary. The source of these palynomorphs remains enigmatic.