A direct test of the Vine-Matthews hypothesis

Paleomagnetic studies of the basalt samples of Mid-Atlantic Ridge recovered during DSDP Leg 45 and the FAMOUS Project have led to a revision of our view of the oceanic igneous crust as a recorder of geomagnetic field reversals. The discovery of several magnetic polarity reversals with depth in the crust has indicated that oceanic igneous basement should not necessarily be considered magnetized uniformly in direction, or even polarity, in a given vertical cross section. Statistical arguments, based on the ratio of the average time of crustal formation to the average length of a magnetic polarity interval, indicate that magnetic reversals with depth are to be expected in typical ocean crust, but also that this does not conflict with current theories of plate tectonics or exclude the upper layers of the crust from making a major contribution to the overlying linear magnetic anomalies. Certain ratios of average crustal formation time to average polarity interval do, however, result in an effective zero magnetization for the oceanic crust and these conditions may be responsible for the reduced amplitude of magnetic anomalies in some areas.     

Validation and Application of the Second Generation Three Dimensional Hydrodynamic Model of Chesapeake Bay

The validation and subsequent application of the current three-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic model of Chesapeake Bay is presented. The numerical model solves conservation equations for water mass, momentum, salinity, and heat on a boundary-fitted grid in the horizontal plane and a Cartesian z-grid in the vertical. A generalized ADI finite difference scheme is employed in conjunction with mode splitting technique, solving external and the internal modes. The 10-year boundary conditions including tide, slinity, temperature, wind, heat exchange coefficient, river and non-point source flows were constructed. Model validation was accomplished by demonstrating the model's ability to reproduce observed data over time scales ranging from tidal to seasonal periods. The major parameters compared include tidal elevation, intra-tidal and residual velocities, salinity, temperature, stratification, and flux calculated through the Bay mouth.After validation, the model was applied to simulate bay hydrodynamics for the 10 years of 1985–94. These results were used to drive the three-dimensional water quality model of Chesapeake Bay, which is discussed in a companion paper.     

Soil morphology and organic matter dynamics under cheatgrass and sagebrush-steppe plant communities

Widespread cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) invasion represents a major shift in species dominance that may alter ecosystem processes across much of the western US. To investigate differences following such conversion, soil morphology and organic matter under cheatgrass-dominated and native shrub-steppe vegetation were compared by standard soil analysis procedures at seven paired sites in Idaho and Utah. Results suggest that, following conversion to cheatgrass dominance, increased porosity and labile organic inputs enhance microbial decomposition in near-surface horizons beneath cheatgrass compared to adjacent soils under native vegetation. Enhanced decomposition could result in depletion of long-term SOM, leading to impoverished sites difficult to restore to native perennial vegetation.     

Evaluation of a pumping test of the Snake River Plain aquifer using axial-flow numerical modeling

The Snake River Plain aquifer in southeast Idaho is hosted in a thick sequence of layered basalts and interbedded sediments. The degree to which the layering impedes vertical flow has not been well understood, yet is a feature that may exert a substantial control on the movement of contaminants. An axial-flow numerical model, RADFLOW, was calibrated to pumping test data collected by a straddle-packer system deployed at 23 depth intervals in four observation wells to evaluate conceptual models and estimate properties of the Snake River Plain aquifer at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. A delayed water-table response observed in intervals beneath a sediment interbed was best reproduced with a three-layer simulation. The results demonstrate the hydraulic significance of this interbed as a semi-confining layer. Vertical hydraulic conductivity of the sediment interbed was estimated to be about three orders of magnitude less than vertical hydraulic conductivity of the lower basalt and upper basalt units. The numerical model was capable of representing aquifer conceptual models that could not be represented with any single analytical technique. The model proved to be a useful tool for evaluating alternative conceptual models and estimating aquifer properties in this application. Electronic Publication     

Impacts of stormwater runoff in the Southern California Bight: Relationships among plume constituents

The effects from two winter rain storms on the coastal ocean of the Southern California Bight were examined as part of the Bight ‘03 program during February 2004 and February–March 2005. The impacts of stormwater from fecal indicator bacteria, water column toxicity, and nutrients were evaluated for five major river discharges: the Santa Clara River, Ballona Creek, the San Pedro Shelf (including the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers), the San Diego River, and the Tijuana River. Exceedances of bacterial standards were observed in most of the systems. However, the areas of impact were generally spatially limited, and contaminant concentrations decreased below California Ocean Plan standards typically within 2–3 days. The largest bacterial concentrations occurred in the Tijuana River system where exceedances of fecal indicator bacteria were noted well away from the river mouth. Maximum nitrate concentrations (~40 μM) occurred in the San Pedro Shelf region near the mouth of the Los Angeles River. Based on the results of general linear models, individual sources of stormwater differ in both nutrient concentrations and the concentration and composition of fecal indicator bacteria. While nutrients appeared to decrease in plume waters due to simple mixing and dilution, the concentration of fecal indicator bacteria in plumes depends on more than loading and dilution rates. The relationships between contaminants (nutrients and fecal indicator bacteria) and plume indicators (salinity and total suspended solids) were not strong indicating the presence of other potentially important sources and/or sinks of both nutrients and fecal indicator bacteria. California Ocean Plan standards were often exceeded in waters containing greater than 10% stormwater (<28–30 salinity range). The median concentration dropped below the standard in the 32–33 salinity range (1–4% stormwater) for total coliforms and Enterococcus spp. and in the 28–30 salinity range (10–16% stormwater) for fecal coliforms. Nutrients showed a similar pattern with the highest median concentrations in water with greater than 10% stormwater. Relationships between colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and salinity and between total suspended solids and beam attenuation indicate that readily measurable, optically active variables can be used as proxies to provide at least a qualitative, if not quantitative, evaluation of the distribution of the dissolved, as well as the particulate, components of stormwater plumes. In this context, both CDOM absorption and the beam attenuation coefficient can be derived from satellite ocean color measurements of inherent optical properties suggesting that remote sensing of ocean color should be useful in mapping the spatial areas and durations of impacts from these contaminants.     

Evaluation of the budget for silicic acid in Cascadia Basin deep water

Between 2 and 3 km depth, North Pacific deep waters contain a plume of water with high silicic acid concentrations. The plume extends outward from Cascadia Basin (the Washington Margin), where waters can contain in excess of 200 μM off the coast of Oregon and Washington. To identify the source of the high Si concentrations in Cascadia Basin, we measured silicic acid and germanium concentrations in deep waters, and their fluxes from sediments using incubated cores. The mean flux of silicic acid into bottom waters is 0.81±0.05 mmol/m²-day, and the Ge/Si ratio of this flux is 0.7±0.1 μmol/mol. A box model, incorporating these results with hydrographic data, indicates that (1) no more than 5% of the silicic acid added to Basin deep waters can have a hydrothermal source (either hot or warm seeps), and (2) the total input of silicic acid to Basin deep waters is 0.06±0.02 Tmol/y. This input is nearly all from remineralized biogenic debris and should contribute about 0.5% of the 14 Tmol/y that are estimated to be necessary to maintain the North Pacific plume.     

Intersecting dilated convex polyhedra method for modeling complex particles in discrete element method

This paper describes a new method for representing concave polyhedral particles in a discrete element method as unions of convex dilated polyhedra. This method offers an efficient way to simulate systems with a large number of (generally concave) polyhedral particles. The method also allows spheres, capsules, and dilated triangles to be combined with polyhedra using the same approach. The computational efficiency of the method is tested in two different simulation setups using different efficiency metrics for seven particle types: spheres, clusters of three spheres, clusters of four spheres, tetrahedra, cubes, unions of two octahedra (concave), and a model of a computer tomography scan of a lunar simulant GRC‐3 particle. It is shown that the computational efficiency of the simulations degrades much slower than the increase in complexity of the particles in the system. The efficiency of the method is based on the time coherence of the system, and an efficient and robust distance computation method between polyhedra as particles never intersect for dilated particles. © 2014 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

High diversity of frenulates (Polychaeta: Siboglinidae) in the Gulf of Cadiz mud volcanoes: A DNA taxonomy analysis

Frenulates are the most poorly known members of the family Siboglinidae (Polychaeta: Canalipalpata). These thread-like worms occur in reducing marine sediments worldwide, but they are often overlooked in benthic samples or too poorly preserved for adequate taxonomic evaluations. We report on a remarkable diversity of frenulates that were recently sampled from 13 mud volcanoes (350–3902 m deep) in the Gulf of Cadiz, off southern Iberia. Sampled with benthic coring devices, the bodies of these long tubiculous worms were often broken or incomplete, making them difficult to identify morphologically. Consequently, we employed DNA taxonomic methods to assess their diversity. Mitochondrial cytochrome-c-oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences distinguished 15 evolutionary lineages inhabiting the Gulf of Cadiz. Only four of the lineages could be assigned to currently recognized Atlantic species; the remaining 11 may be new to science. This remarkable diversity of frenulates in a small geographical region is unprecedented and is hypothesized to result from environmental heterogeneity associated with the bathymetric and geochemical settings of these mud volcanoes.