Absence of oxygen isotope fractionation/exchange of (hemi-) cellulose derived sugars during litter decomposition

Aiming at developing a novel tool for palaeoclimate research, we recently proposed a new method for determining the oxygen isotope composition of monosaccharides (Zech, M., Glaser, B., 2009. Compound-specific δ¹⁸O analyses of neutral sugars in soils using GC-Py-IRMS: problems, possible solutions and a first application. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 23, 3522-3532). In order to answer the question whether isotope fractionation and oxygen exchange reactions during litter decomposition affect the climatically controlled δ¹⁸O values of plant derived sugars, such as for instance xylose and arabinose from hemicelluloses, we studied the compound specific δ¹⁸O values of five different litter species having been decomposed in a field litterbag experiment for 27 months.While δ¹⁸O values of bulk organic matter yielded a systematic ¹⁸O depletion of 3.3‰ (pine) to 4.6‰ (spruce) accompanying total cellulose decomposition of 51% (beech) to 86% (ash), δ¹⁸O values of individual sugars show no significant trend with time. In addition to the observed absence of isotope fractionation during decomposition, we also rule out ¹⁸O exchange reactions affecting the δ¹⁸O signature of sugar molecules during diagenetic processes as well as during analytical procedure based on experimental findings and on theoretical biochemical mechanistic considerations. We conclude that our new method may become an analytical tool that elegantly overcomes extraction, purity and hygroscopicity problems of previous ¹⁸O cellulose methods. It furthermore has the potential to be applied to a wide range of climate archives such as tree rings, lacustrine sediments and loess palaeosol sequences.     

A late Pleistocene glacial chronology from the Kitschi-Kurumdu Valley,Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan), based on 10Be surface exposure dating

Surface exposure dating has become a helpful tool for establishing numeric glacial chronologies, particularly in arid high-mountain regions where radiocarbon dating is challenging due to limited availability of organic material. This study presents 13 new ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages from the Kitschi-Kurumdu Valley in the At Bashi Range, Tien Shan. Three moraines were dated to ~ 15, 21 and > 56 ka, respectively, and corroborate previous findings that glacial extents in the Tien Shan during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 were limited compared to MIS 4. This likely documents increasingly arid conditions in Central Asia during the last glacial cycle. Morphological evidence in the Kitschi-Kurumdu Valley and a detailed review of existing numeric glacial chronologies from the Tien Shan indicate that remnants of the penultimate glaciation (MIS 6) are preserved, whereas evidence for MIS 5 glacier advances remains equivocal. Reviewed and recalculated exposure ages from the Pamir mountains, on the other hand, reveal extensive MIS 5 glacial extents that may indicate increased monsoonal precipitation. The preservation of MIS 3 moraines in the Tien Shan and the southern Pamir does not require any monsoonal influence and can be explained alternatively with increased precipitation via the westerlies.     

Distribution of postseismic slip on the Calaveras fault,California, following the 1984 M6.2 Morgan Hill earthquake

Repeating earthquakes (REs) are sequences of events that have virtually identical waveforms and are interpreted to represent fault asperities driven to failure by loading from aseismic creep on the surrounding fault surface at depth. To investigate the postseismic deformation after the 1984 M6.2 Morgan Hill earthquake, we identify RE sequences occurring on the central Calaveras fault between 1984 and 2005 using a combination of cross-correlation and spectral coherence techniques. Both the accelerated slip transients due to the earthquake as well as the return to interseismic background creep rates can be imaged from our dataset. A comparison between the regions of the fault that ruptured coseismically and the locations of the REs show that REs preferentially occur in areas adjacent to the coseismic rupture. Using calculated RE-derived subsurface slip distributions at 6 months and 18 months after the mainshock, we predict surface electronic distance meter (EDM) line length changes between stations near the Morgan Hill rupture area. The RE-derived slip model underpredicts a subset of the observed line-length changes. Inclusion of transient aseismic slip below the seismogenic zone is needed to better match the measured surface deformation.     

Immiscible two-phase Darcy flow model accounting for vanishing and discontinuous capillary pressures: application to the flow in fractured porous media

Fully implicit time-space discretizations applied to the two-phase Darcy flow problem leads to the systems of nonlinear equations, which are traditionally solved by some variant of Newton’s method. The efficiency of the resulting algorithms heavily depends on the choice of the primary unknowns since Newton’s method is not invariant with respect to a nonlinear change of variable. In this regard, the role of capillary pressure/saturation relation is paramount because the choice of primary unknowns is restricted by its shape. We propose an elegant mathematical framework for two-phase flow in heterogeneous porous media resulting in a family of formulations, which apply to general monotone capillary pressure/saturation relations and handle the saturation jumps at rocktype interfaces. The presented approach is applied to the hybrid dimensional model of two-phase water-gas Darcy flow in fractured porous media for which the fractures are modelled as interfaces of co-dimension one. The problem is discretized using an extension of vertex approximate gradient scheme. As for the phase pressure formulation, the discrete model requires only two unknowns by degree of freedom.     

Historical and paleolimnological evidence for expansion of Lake Athabasca (Canada) during the Little Ice Age

A multi-proxy paleolimnological record obtained from a small, lowland closed-drainage basin located in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (Alberta, Canada), 10 km northwest of the present-day shore of Lake Athabasca, captures evidence of pronounced hydroecological changes over the past ~400 years. Consistent with historical maps produced by early European explorers of western Canada, paleolimnological data support the existence of a Lake Athabasca highstand during the Little Ice Age (LIA), c. 1600–1900 Common Era (CE). This contrasts with interpretations from previous analyses on sediment cores from an upland closed-drainage basin located centrally within the Peace sector of the delta that indicate low water levels during this interval. The different paleohydrological records at these two basins reflect the relative influence of different controls on the lake water balances. During the LIA, the lowland site was influenced by high levels in Lake Athabasca, whereas the elevated basin was outside the range of water-level rise in the lake and its distributaries, and was instead controlled by dry atmospheric conditions that led to evaporative drawdown. Integration of paleolimnological records and historical sources demonstrates that the ecosystem has undergone marked climate-driven hydroecological change over the past century, which is important information for effective management.     

Syn-tectonic sedimentary evolution of the Miocene Çatallar Basin,southwestern Turkey

The Çatallar Basin is one of the Miocene basins located in the southern part of the Bey Da?lar? Massif (SW Turkey). This basin has been reinvestigated and new stratigraphic and sedimentological data are now presented. The Çatallar Basin lies in paraconformity on the Bey Da?lar? carbonate platform of Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene age. It consists of an impersistent, shallow-marine carbonate base (Karabay?r formation, Late Oligocene to Early Burdigalian) followed by an onlapping detrital sequence including the Akçay and Ba?beleni formations (Langhian to Serravallian). The Akçay formation mainly contains turbidites in which several debris-flows and olistostromes are intercalated. The lowest debris flows derive from the local carbonate platforms of Cretaceous and Palaeogene age. Higher, the debris flows and olistostromes contain large carbonate blocks deriving from nearby sources (Bey Da?lar? platform carbonates), whereas the accompanying pebbles originate from the allochthonous ophiolitic units located farther to the north (Lycian Nappes) or to the east (Antalya Nappes). The origin of these ophiolitic detritus is a matter of debate. The new data obtained in this study favour a northern origin.     

The Energy Balance Experiment EBEX-2000. Part I: overview and energy balance

An overview of the Energy Balance Experiment (EBEX-2000) is given. This experiment studied the ability of state-of-the-art measurements to close the surface energy balance over a surface (a vegetative canopy with large evapotranspiration) where closure has been difficult to obtain. A flood-irrigated cotton field over uniform terrain was used, though aerial imagery and direct flux measurements showed that the surface still was inhomogeneous. All major terms of the surface energy balance were measured at nine sites to characterize the spatial variability across the field. Included in these observations was an estimate of heat storage in the plant canopy. The resultant imbalance still was 10%, which exceeds the estimated measurement error. We speculate that horizontal advection in the layer between the canopy top and our flux measurement height may cause this imbalance, though our estimates of this term using our measurements resulted in values less than what would be required to balance the budget. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is supported by the National Science Foundation     

Combination of soil-water balance models and water-table fluctuation methods for evaluation and improvement of groundwater recharge calculations

Despite a long history of related research, quantifying and verifying recharge is still a major challenge. The combination and comparison of conceptually different methods has been recommended as a strategy for evaluating recharge estimates. In this article, recharge estimates from water-table fluctuation (WTF) methods are combined with and compared to the results of the spatially and temporally discretized soil-water-balance model PROMET (processes of radiation, mass and energy transfer). As PROMET and WTF methods rely on different measurable variables, a comparison of these two contrasting techniques allows improved assessment of the plausibility of recharge estimates. An enhanced approach to WTF methods is presented. The approach assumes that in the case of no recharge, there exists a maximum possible potential decline for any given groundwater level. The primary conclusion is that WTF methods are excellent for determining the plausibility of spatially distributed regional-groundwater-recharge estimation approaches and for detecting inconsistencies in available models. Recharge estimates derived from WTF approaches alone are, however, not suitable for regional-scale recharge estimation due to (1) their strong dependency on local data, applicability of which is limited to only very specific conditions, and (2) their sensitivity to influences other than recharge.