Nearshore Carbonate Dissolution in the Hawaiian Archipelago?

Inorganic carbon measurements made in the late 1980s suggest that alkalinity in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Archipelago is elevated relative to the oligotrophic waters of the North Pacific. These observations have been interpreted as evidence for a “halo” of elevated carbonate saturation state produced by the dissolution of highly soluble magnesium calcites and aragonite on the island platform or in the water column surrounding the islands. If present, this “halo” has implications for air–sea carbon dioxide exchange in Hawaiian waters and may impact the response of coral reef communities to the acidification of the surface waters of the global ocean. The purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude and extent of the elevated calcium carbonate saturation state observed on previous expeditions to this region. Transects were conducted near several atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from shallow water adjacent to the forereef to the open ocean 15 km from the island. Hydrographic profiles were collected at each station, and discrete water samples were collected for the measurement of carbon system parameters necessary to compute calcium carbonate saturation state. Our data were compared with observations made at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series site at Station ALOHA and with hydrographic data collected on the WOCE lines in the North Pacific around the archipelago. We did not detect a carbonate dissolution halo around the islands. We conclude that the previously observed halo was probably an analytical artifact, or possibly a result of extreme variability in carbon chemistry surrounding the islands.     

Quantifying the loss of available groundwater resource associated with point-source contamination in unused aquifers

Cost-benefit analysis can be used to identify the optimum remedial strategy for contaminated groundwater, but requires that the benefits of remedial action be quantified. When the groundwater is located in an unused part of an aquifer, it can be difficult to estimate the economic loss of resource. ‘Option values’, which represent the value placed on groundwater for possible future use, may be used. Calculation of the overall loss requires consideration of the spatial (physical) extent of an aquifer where groundwater use is constrained by the presence of contamination and economic elements. An approach is presented for estimating the spatial element, represented as the annualised abstraction loss from the groundwater resource. Two distinct components have been identified based on the potential restriction on location of a new abstraction well: (1) the direct resource loss, which relates to the contaminated zone of the aquifer within which new abstraction is no longer an option, and, (2) the indirect location loss, which relates to the loss of an opportunity to site a new abstraction well in the surrounding uncontaminated aquifer due to the presence of the plume. Methods are presented for their calculation and the approach is illustrated with a case study.     

Relationship between Hypoxia and Macrobenthic Production in Chesapeake Bay

Human development has degraded Chesapeake Bay's health, resulting in an increase in the extent and severity of hypoxia (≤2 mg O₂ l^-1). The Bay's hypoxic zones have an adverse effect on both community structure and secondary production of macrobenthos. From 1996 to 2004, the effect of hypoxia on macrobenthic production was assessed in Chesapeake Bay and its three main tributaries (Potomac, Rappahannock, and York Rivers). Each year, in the summer (late July???early September), 25 random samples of the benthic macrofauna were collected from each system, and macrobenthic production in the polyhaline and mesohaline regions was estimated using Edgar's allometric equation. Fluctuations in macrobenthic production were significantly correlated with dissolved oxygen. Macrobenthic production was 90 % lower during hypoxia relative to normoxia. As a result, there was a biomass loss of ~7,320–13,200 metric tons C over an area of 7,720 km², which is estimated to equate to a 20 % to 35 % displacement of the Bay's macrobenthic productivity during the summer. While higher consumers may benefit from easy access to stressed prey in some areas, the large spatial and temporal extent of seasonal hypoxia limits higher trophic level transfer, via the inhibition of macrobenthic production. Such a massive loss of macrobenthic production would be detrimental to the overall health of the Bay, as it comes at a time when epibenthic and demersal predators have high-energy demands.     

Analysis and Simulation of Propagule Dispersal and Salinity Intrusion from Storm Surge on the Movement of a Marsh–Mangrove Ecotone in South Florida

Coastal mangrove–freshwater marsh ecotones of the Everglades represent transitions between marine salt-tolerant halophytic and freshwater salt-intolerant glycophytic communities. It is hypothesized here that a self-reinforcing feedback, termed a “vegetation switch,” between vegetation and soil salinity, helps maintain the sharp mangrove–marsh ecotone. A general theoretical implication of the switch mechanism is that the ecotone will be stable to small disturbances but vulnerable to rapid regime shifts from large disturbances, such as storm surges, which could cause large spatial displacements of the ecotone. We develop a simulation model to describe the vegetation switch mechanism. The model couples vegetation dynamics and hydrologic processes. The key factors in the model are the amount of salt-water intrusion into the freshwater wetland and the passive transport of mangrove (e.g., Rhizophora mangle) viviparous seeds or propagules. Results from the model simulations indicate that a regime shift from freshwater marsh to mangroves is sensitive to the duration of soil salinization through storm surge overwash and to the density of mangrove propagules or seedlings transported into the marsh. We parameterized our model with empirical hydrologic data collected from the period 2000–2010 at one mangrove–marsh ecotone location in southwestern Florida to forecast possible long-term effects of Hurricane Wilma (24 October 2005). The model indicated that the effects of that storm surge were too weak to trigger a regime shift at the sites we studied, 50 km south of the Hurricane Wilma eyewall, but simulations with more severe artificial disturbances were capable of causing substantial regime shifts.     

A modification of freeze-core technology for collecting granular fluvial sediment samples

The presence of coarse-grained sediment can potentially reduce the effectiveness of conventional sampling methods in recovering fluvial sediments. A modification to freeze-core technology was used to collect fine to coarse sands, silts, and clays in fluvial deposits that contain significant amounts of gravels, cobbles, and boulders for the purpose of characterizing the extent of heavy metal contamination. This modification uses either a 2.5 or 2.9 cm diameter by 30-cm- long finned mechanical or hand-driven samplers. The sediment is frozen to the outside of the sampler by injecting liquid CO₂ into the sampler. The fins protect the sample from coarse material upon removal. Field testing and laboratory testing of the method were completed to establish a methodology and assess possible cross contamination of the sediment layers during the driving of the sampler. The results indicated that this method is effective for recovering non-cohesive sediment samples at depths up to 6 m for the purpose of characterizing the extent of heavy metal contamination.     

Evaluating locally available organic substrates for vertical flow passive treatment cells at Cerro Rico de Potosí, Bolivia

Vertical flow cells (VFCs) are key components of passive acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment systems and require organic substrates that create anaerobic conditions and encourage bacterial sulfate reduction. In the high elevation desert of Potosí, Bolivia, the low productivity landscape limits the availability of sustainable and economical organic substrates. Locally available brewery waste, llama manure, and cow manure were evaluated as potential VFC substrates in a preliminary laboratory fed-batch study to assist in passive treatment system design. Two abandoned AMD discharges were collected from Cerro Rico de Potosí. Discharge A had an initial pH of 2.96, specific conductance of 3.31 mS/cm, and acidity of 1,350 mg/L as CaCO₃ equivalent. Discharge B had an initial pH of 3.85, specific conductance of 1.87 mS/cm, and acidity of 1,000 mg/L as CaCO₃ equivalent. Triplicate fed-batch reactors were set up in 1-L cubitainers with each potential substrate exposed to each AMD, yielding a total of 18 reactors exposed for 9 days and sampled two times for anions and dissolved metals. Cow manure reactors exhibited the greatest pH and alkalinity increases. Cd, Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn decreased in all reactors. SO₄ concentrations only decreased in brewery waste reactors. However, SO₄ reducing bacteria was higher for cow manure reactors. Results suggest that llama and cow manure are the more labile substrates, with llama manure being the most affordable. Brewery waste could be a suitable less-labile long-term substrate amendment. However, longer-term studies are needed to determine the optimum VFC substrate mixture in this unique circumstance.     

Machine Learning Feature Selection Methods for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping

This paper explores the use of adaptive support vector machines, random forests and AdaBoost for landslide susceptibility mapping in three separated regions of Canton Vaud, Switzerland, based on a set of geological, hydrological and morphological features. The feature selection properties of the three algorithms are studied to analyze the relevance of features in controlling the spatial distribution of landslides. The elimination of irrelevant features gives simpler, lower dimensional models while keeping the classification performance high. An object-based sampling procedure is considered to reduce the spatial autocorrelation of data and to estimate more reliably generalization skills when applying the model to predict the occurrence of new unknown landslides. The accuracy of the models, the relevance of features and the quality of landslide susceptibility maps were found to be high in the regions characterized by shallow landslides and low in the ones with deep-seated landslides. Despite providing similar skill, random forests and AdaBoost were found to be more efficient in performing feature selection than adaptive support vector machines. The results of this study reveal the strengths of the classification algorithms, but evidence: (1) the need for relying on more than one method for the identification of relevant variables; (2) the weakness of the adaptive scaling algorithm when used with landslide data; and (3) the lack of additional features which characterize the spatial distribution of deep-seated landslides.     

Warm‐temperate,marine, carbonate sedimentation in an Early Miocene,tide‐influenced,incised valley; Provence,south‐east France

The Saumane‐Venasque compound palaeovalley succession accumulated in a strongly tide‐influenced embayment or estuary. Warm‐temperate normal marine to brackish conditions led to deposition of extensive cross‐bedded biofragmental calcarenites. Echinoids, bryozoans, coralline algae, barnacles and benthic foraminifera were produced in seagrass meadows, on rocky substrates colonized by macroalgae and within subaqueous dune fields. There are two sequences, S1 and S2, the first of which contains three high‐frequency sequences (S1a, S1b and S1c). Sequence 1 is largely confined to the palaeovalley with its upper part covering interfluves. Each of these has a similar upward succession of deposits that includes: (i) a basal erosional surface that is bored and glauconitized; (ii) a discontinuous lagoonal lime mudstone or wackestone; (iii) a thin conglomerate generated by tidal ravinement; (iv) a transgressive systems tract series of cross‐bedded calcarenites; (v) a maximum flooding interval of argillaceous, muddy quartzose, open‐marine limestones; and (vi) a thin highstand systems tract of fine‐grained calcarenite. Tidal currents during stages S1a, S1b and S1c were accentuated by the constricted valley topography, whereas basin‐scale factors enhanced tidal currents during the deposition of S2. The upper part of the succession in all but S1c has been removed by later erosion. There is an overall upward temporal change with quartz, barnacles, encrusting corallines and epifaunal echinoids decreasing but bryozoans, articulated corallines and infaunal echinoids increasing. This trend is interpreted to be the result of changing oceanographic conditions as the valley was filled, bathymetric relief was reduced, rocky substrates were replaced as carbonate factories by seagrass meadows and subaqueous dunes, and the setting became progressively less confined and more open marine. These limestones are characteristic of a suite of similar cool‐water calcareous sand bodies in environments with little siliciclastic or fresh water input during times of high‐amplitude sea‐level change wherein complex inboard antecedent topography was flooded by a rising ocean.     

Contrasting geochemical signatures on land from the Middle and Late Permian extinction events

The end of the Palaeozoic is marked by two mass‐extinction events during the Middle Permian (Capitanian) and the Late Permian (Changhsingian). Given similarities between the two events in geochemical signatures, such as large magnitude negative δ¹³C anomalies, sedimentological signatures such as claystone breccias, and the approximate contemporaneous emplacement of large igneous provinces, many authors have sought a common causal mechanism. Here, a new high‐resolution continental record of the Capitanian event from Portal Mountain, Antarctica, is compared with previously published Changhsingian records of geochemical signatures of weathering intensity and palaeoclimatic change. Geochemical means of discriminating sedimentary provenance (Ti/Al, U/Th and La/Ce ratios) all indicate a common provenance for the Portal Mountain sediments and associated palaeosols, so changes spanning the Capitanian extinction represent changes in weathering intensity rather than sediment source. Proxies for weathering intensity chemical index of alteration, ?W and rare earth element accumulation all decline across the Capitanian extinction event at Portal Mountain, which is in contrast to the increased weathering recorded globally at the Late Permian extinction. Furthermore, palaeoclimatic proxies are consistent with unchanging or cooler climatic conditions throughout the Capitanian event, which contrasts with Changhsingian records that all indicate a significant syn‐extinction and post‐extinction series of greenhouse warming events. Although both the Capitanian and Changhsingian event records indicate significant redox shifts, palaeosol geochemistry of the Changhsingian event indicates more reducing conditions, whereas the new Capitanian record of reduced trace metal abundances (Cr, Cu, Ni and Ce) indicates more oxidizing conditions. Taken together, the differences in weathering intensity, redox and the lack of evidence for significant climatic change in the new record suggest that the Capitanian mass extinction was not triggered by dyke injection of coal‐beds, as in the Changhsingian extinction, and may instead have been triggered directly by the Emeishan large igneous province or by the interaction of Emeishan basalts with platform carbonates.