Short chain ladderanes: Oxic biodegradation products of anammox lipids

Anammox, the microbial anaerobic oxidation of ammonium by nitrite to produce dinitrogen gas, has been recognized as a key process in both the marine and freshwater nitrogen cycles, and found to be a major sink for fixed inorganic nitrogen in the oceans. Ladderane lipids are unique anammox bacterial membrane lipids that have been used as biomarkers for anammox bacteria in recent and past environmental settings. However, the fate of ladderane lipids during diagenesis is as of yet unknown. In this study, we performed oxic degradation experiments (at 20-100 °C) with anammox bacterial biomass to simulate early diagenetic processes occurring in the water column and at the sediment-water interface. Abundances of C₁₈ and C₂₀ ladderane lipids decreased with increasing temperatures, testifying to their labile nature. The most abundant products formed were ladderane lipids with a shorter alkyl side chain (C₁₄ and C₁₆ ladderane fatty acids), which was unambiguously established using two-dimensional NMR techniques on an isolated C₁₄-[3]-ladderane fatty acid. The most pronounced production of these short-chain lipids was at 40 °C, suggesting that degradation of ladderane lipids was microbially mediated, likely through a β-oxidation pathway. An HPLC-MS/MS method was developed for the detection of these ladderane alteration products in environmental samples and positively tested on various sediments. This showed that the ladderanes formed during degradation experiments also naturally occur in the marine environment. Thus, short-chain ladderane lipids may complement the original longer-chain ladderane lipids as suitable biomarkers for the detection of anammox processes in past depositional environments.     

Overexploitation status of groundwater and induced geological hazards in China

During the process of urbanization and industrialization, groundwater has been extensively overexploited, with the direct result of continuously decreasing groundwater level, followed by the appearance of large scale of depression cones, which is furthermore followed by land subsidence, seawater intrusion, and increasing difficulties in subsequent groundwater exploitation. This paper makes an analysis on the geological disasters caused by overexploitation of groundwater. The consumption and overexploitation status of groundwater in representative regions in China is discussed first, with the distribution and development of depression cones elaborated the next. And the problems of land subsidence, seawater intrusion, and increasing difficulties caused by overexploitation of groundwater are analyzed at last. Results show that overexploitation of groundwater is positively related to economic development. Moreover, geological disasters such as land subsidence and seawater intrusion caused by long term of overexploitation also aggregate, posing threats, and losses to people’s lives and production. According to the analysis, the fundamental resolution for overexploitation of groundwater as well as consequential geological damages is to properly control city size and to utilize groundwater rationally and efficiently.     

Broadband synthetic aperture borehole radar interferometry

Trials in mines have established that wideband VHF borehole radars (BHR), working in the 10–100-MHz band, can be used to probe the rockmass between boreholes over ranges from <5 m to as much as 150 m with submeter resolution. There is evidence that ore bodies reflect these radar signals both specularly and diffusely, much as the ground/air interface does when overflown by synthetic aperture radar (SAR). In both SAR and BHR, multiple flight lines, together with diffuse reflections admit the possibility of developing interferometric 3D images of the object. This paper examines the possibility of imaging buried objects in three dimensions by interferometrically combining broadband VHF borehole radar profiles shot in adjacent pairs of boreholes. Broadbanding in BHR has the advantage of releasing the image from 2nπ phase ambiguities, but practically, interferometric borehole radar (InBHR) needs high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) to avoid noise capture. This means that 3D InBHR is limited to ranges in wavelengths which are less than the rock's attenuation factor Q. Interferometric methods are developed which are capable of mapping ore bodies and other structures in three dimensions. Tangent plane migration methods are developed here in order to reconstruct surfaces that lie in the near-field of sparse interferometric arrays.     

The Use of Resonant Orbits in Satellite Geodesy: A Review

Dynamic resonance, arising from commensurate (orbital or rotational) periods of satellites or planets with each other, has been a strong force in the development of the solar system. The repetition of conditions over the commensurate periods can result in amplified long-term changes in the positions of the bodies involved. Such resonant phenomena driven by the commensurability between the mean motion of certain artificial Earth satellites and the Earth’s rotation originally contributed to the evaluation and assessment of the Stokes parameters (harmonic geopotential coefficients) that specify the Earth’s gravitational field. The technique constrains linear combinations of the harmonic coefficients that are of relevant resonant order (lumped coefficients). The attraction of the method eventually dwindled, but the very accurate orbits of CHAMP and GRACE have recently led to more general insights for commensurate orbits applied to satellite geodesy involving the best resolution for all coefficients, not just resonant ones. From the GRACE mission, we learnt how to explain and predict temporary decreases in the resolution and accuracy of derived geopotential parameters, due to passages through low-order commensurabilities, which lead to low-density ground-track patterns. For GOCE we suggest how to change a repeat orbit height slightly, to achieve the best feasible recovery of the field parameters derived from on-board gradiometric measurements by direct inversion from the measurements to the harmonic geopotential coefficients, not by the way of lumped coefficients. For orbiters of Mars, we have suggestions which orbits should be avoided. The slow rotation of Venus results in dense ground-tracks and excellent gravitational recovery for almost all orbiters.     

Tidal variability in the water quality of an urbanized estuary

Tide and water quality data were collected concurrently in the Hackensack River estuary (HRE), a tidal tributary of the New York-new Jersey Harbor estuary. Harmonic analyses of tidal elevation data indicate that HRE tides are predominantly semidiurnal, though modulated by diurnal and fortnightly components. Nearly uniform tidal ranges (averaging approximately 1.6 m) were observed at three stations within the HRE. Periodogram estimates reveal significant tidal variability for the water quality parameter NH₄−N under dry-weather conditions. Lag correlation analyses associate NH₄−N concentration variations with water level fluctuations. Longitudinal profile plots for NH₄−N reveal a consistent pattern of tidal translations, with peak concentrations oscillating about a major wastewater discharger. These analyses suggest that the distribution of NH₄−N concentrations in the HRE is controlled primarily by major point source loadings and horizontal advection. A simplified, one-dimensional model is used to describe this distribution. Effects of tidal variability in masking water quality status and waak trends are also analyzed. These analyses highlight the potential importance of short-term water quality variability in tidal estuaries where concentration gradients are large.     

The SHAND quaternary system for evaluating the supersilicic or subsilicic crystal-chemistry of eclogite minerals, and potential new UHPM pyroxene and garnet end-members

Summary The stoichiometry of pyroxenes {^viiiX^{2+ vi}Y^{2+ iv}Z⁴⁺ ₂ O₆} and garnets {^xiiX²⁺ ₃ ^viY³⁺ ₂ ^ivZ⁴⁺ ₃ O₁₂} is re-evaluated by a theoretical crystal-chemical approach that takes into account natural phenomena that do not fit with conventional anhydrous stoichiometric mineralogy: the existence in eclogites of microinclusions of other minerals that may have been exsolved from previous supersilicic or subsilicic UHPM pyroxene or garnet. Different definitions of supersilicic and subsilicic are discussed and the one based on the ability to exsolve SiO₂ and leave behind a stoichiometric pyroxene or garnet is recommended for general adoption. The SHAND system (S = Si et al.; H = H; A = Al et al.; N = Na et al.; D = divalents) for projecting multivariate chemical space involving 23 cations and 104 selected natural or potential mineral species on to two essential diagrams (SAND and SHND) is described in full for the first time. Numerous possible chemical exchanges are considered and justified with respect to known mineral phenomena such as cation vacancies, octahedral silicon or protonation. Several new potential end-members are presented, in particular “supersilipyx”, “supersiligar” and “subsiligar”. It is suggested that small quantities of these end-members can be incorporated into UHPM solid-solutions and lead to various exsolution phenomena during eclogite exhumation.     

The reaction MgCr2O4 + SiO2 = Cr2O3 + MgSiO3 and the free energy of formation of magnesiochromite (MgCr2O4)

Low-temperature heat capacity measurements for MgCr₂O₄ have only been performed down to 52 K, and the commonly quoted third-law entropy at 298 K (106 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹) was obtained by empirical extrapolation of these measurements to 0 K without considering the magnetic or electronic ordering contributions to the entropy. Subsequent magnetic measurements at low temperature reveal that the Néel temperature, at which magnetic ordering of the Cr³⁺ ions in MgCr₂O₄ occurs, is at ∼15 K. Hence a substantial contribution to the entropy of MgCr₂O₄ has been missed. We have determined the position of the near-univariant reaction MgCr₂O₄+SiO₂=MgSiO₃+Cr₂O₃. The reaction, which has a small positive slope in P-T space, has been bracketed at 100 K intervals between 1273 and 1773 K by reversal experiments. The reaction is extremely sluggish, and lengthy run times with a flux (H₂O, BaO-B₂O₃ or K₂O-B₂O₃) are needed to produce tight reversal brackets. The results, combined with assessed thermodynamic data for Cr₂O₃, MgSiO₃ and SiO₂, give the entropy and enthalpy of formation of MgCr₂O₄ spinel. As expected, our experimental results are not in good agreement with the presently available thermodynamic data. We obtain Δ _f H ^∘ ₂₉₈=−1759.2±1.5 kJ mol⁻¹ and S ^∘ ₂₉₈=122.1±1.0 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹ for MgCr₂O₄. This entropy is some 16 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹ more than the calorimetrically determined value, and implies a value for the magnetic entropy of MgCr₂O₄ consistent with an effective spin quantum number (S') for Cr³⁺ of 1/2 rather than the theoretical 3/2, indicating, as in other spinels, spin quenching. Received: 9 May 1997 / Accepted: 28 July 1997     

On the link between GPS pseudorange noise and day-boundary discontinuities in geodetic time transfer solutions

When neglecting calibration issues, the accuracy of GPS-based time and frequency transfer using a combined analysis of code and carrier phase measurements highly depends on the noise of the GPS codes. In particular, the pseudorange noise is responsible for day-boundary discontinuities which can reach more than 1 ns in the time transfer results obtained from geodetic analysis. These discontinuities are caused by the fact that the data are analyzed in daily data batches where the absolute clock offset is determined by the mean code value during the daily data batch. This pseudorange noise is not a white noise, in particular due to multipath and variations of instrumental delays. In this paper, the pseudorange noise behavior is characterized in order to improve the understanding of the origin of the large day-boundary discontinuities in the geodetic time transfer results. In a first step, the effect of short-term noise and multipath is estimated, and shown to be responsible for only a maximum of 150 ps (picoseconds) of the day-boundary jumps, with only one exception at NRC1 where the correction provides a jump reduction of 300 ps. In a second step, a combination of time transfer results obtained with pseudoranges only and geodetic time transfer results is used to characterize the long-term evolution of pseudorange errors. It demonstrates that the day-boundary jumps, especially those of large amplitude, can be explained by an instrumental effect imposing a common behavior on all the satellite pseudoranges. Using known influences as temperature variations at ALGO or cable damages at HOB2, it is shown that the approach developed in this study can be used to look for the origin of the day-boundary discontinuities in other stations.