Discriminating assimilants and decoupling deep- vs. shallow-level crystal records at Mount Adams using 238U–230Th disequilibria and Os isotopes

A suite of 23 basaltic to dacitic lavas erupted over the last 350 kyr from the Mount Adams volcanic field has been analyzed for U–Th isotope compositions to evaluate the roles of mantle versus crustal components during magma genesis. All of the lavas have (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) > 1 and span a large range in (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) ratios, and most basalts have higher (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) ratios than andesites and dacites. Several of the lavas contain antecrysts (crystals of pre-existing material), yet internal U–Th mineral isochrons from six of seven lavas are indistinguishable from their eruption ages. This indicates a relatively brief period of time between crystal growth and eruption for most of the phenocrysts (olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, magnetite) prior to eruption. One isochron gave a crystallization age that is ~ 20–25 ka older than its corresponding eruptive age, and is interpreted to reflect mixing of older and juvenile crystals or a protracted period of magma storage in the crust. Much of the eruptive volume since 350 ka consists of lavas that have small to moderate ²³⁰Th excesses (2–16%), which are likely inherited from melting of a garnet-bearing intraplate (“OIB-like”) mantle source. Following melt generation and subsequent migration through the upper mantle, most Mt. Adams magmas interacted with young, mafic lower crust, as indicated by ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios that are substantially more radiogenic than the mantle or those expected via mixing of subducted material and the mantle wedge. Moreover, Os–Th isotope variations suggest that unusually large ²³⁰Th excesses (25–48%) and high ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios in some peripheral lavas reflect assimilation of small degree partial melts of pre-Quaternary basement that had residual garnet or Al-rich clinopyroxene. Despite the isotopic evidence for lower crustal assimilation, these processes are not generally recorded in the erupted phenocrysts, indicating that the crystal record of the deep-level ‘cryptic’ processes has been decoupled from shallow-level crystallization.     

Influence of rock mass strength on the erosion rate of alpine cliffs

Collapse of cliff faces by rockfall is a primary mode of bedrock erosion in alpine environments and exerts a first‐order control on the morphologic development of these landscapes. In this work we investigate the influence of rock mass strength on the retreat rate of alpine cliffs. To quantify rockwall competence we employed the Slope Mass Rating (SMR) geomechanical strength index, a metric that combines numerous factors contributing to the strength of a rock mass. The magnitude of cliff retreat was calculated by estimating the volume of talus at the toe of each rockwall and projecting that material back on to the cliff face, while accounting for the loss of production area as talus buries the base of the wall. Selecting sites within basins swept clean by advancing Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glaciers allowed us to estimate the time period over which talus accumulation occurred (i.e. the production time). Dividing the magnitude of normal cliff retreat by the production time, we calculated recession rates for each site. Our study area included a portion of the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. Rockwall recession rates determined for 40 alpine cliffs in this region range from 0·02 to 1·22 mm/year, with an average value of 0·28 mm/year. We found good correlation between rockwall recession rate and SMR which is best characterized by an exponential decrease in erosion rate with increasing rock mass strength. Analysis of the individual components of the SMR reveals that joint orientation (with respect to the cliff face) is the most important parameter affecting the rockwall erosion rate. The complete SMR score, however, best synthesizes the lithologic variables that contribute to the strength and erodibility of these rock slopes. Our data reveal no strong independent correlations between rockwall retreat rate and topographic attributes such as elevation, aspect, or slope angle. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oscillating glacial northern and southern deep water formation from combined neodymium and carbon isotopes

While ocean circulation is driven by the formation of deep water in the North Atlantic and the Circum-Antarctic, the role of southern-sourced deep water formation in climate change is poorly understood. Here we address the balance of northern- and southern-sourced waters in the South Atlantic through the last glacial period using neodymium isotope ratios of authigenic ferromanganese oxides in thirteen deep sea cores from throughout the South Atlantic. The data indicate that northern-sourced water did not reach the Southern Ocean during the late glacial, and was replaced by southern-derived intermediate and deep waters. The high-resolution neodymium isotope record (~ 300 yr sample spacing) from two spliced deep Cape Basin sites indicates that over the last glacial period northern-sourced water mass export to the Southern Ocean was stronger during the major Greenland millennial warming intervals (and Southern Hemisphere cool periods), and particularly during the major interstadials 8, 12, and 14. Northern-sourced water mass export was weaker during Greenland stadials and reached minima during Heinrich Events. The benthic foraminiferal carbon isotopes in the same Cape Basin core reflect a partial control by Southern Hemisphere climate changes and indicate that deep water formation and ventilation occurred in the Southern Ocean during major Greenland cooling intervals (stadials). Together, neodymium isotopes and benthic carbon isotopes provide new information about water mass sourcing and circulation in deep Southern Ocean waters during rapid glacial climate changes. Combining carbon and neodymium isotopes can be used to monitor the relative proportion of northern- and southern-sourced waters in the Cape Basin to gain insight into the processes which control the carbon isotopic composition of deep waters. In this study we show that deep water formation and circulation was more important than biological productivity and nutrient regeneration changes for controlling the carbon isotope chemistry of Antarctic Bottom Water during millennial-scale glacial climate cycles. This observation also lends support to the hypothesis that ocean circulation is linked to interhemispheric climate changes on short timescales, and that ventilation in the glacial ocean rapidly switched between the northern and Southern Hemisphere on millennial timescales.     

Relationships among water column toxins,cell abundance and chlorophyll concentrations during Karenia brevis blooms

The assumptions that Karenia brevis cell abundance and brevetoxin concentrations are proportional and that cell abundance and chlorophyll are related were tested in a 3-year field study off the west coast of Florida. The relationship between K. brevis cell abundance and brevetoxins (PbTx-2+PbTx-3) in whole water samples was strong (R²=0.92). There was no significant difference between the brevetoxin concentrations in whole water and the >0.7 μm particulate fraction. Only 7% of the total brevetoxin concentration was measured in the <0.7 μm (cell free) filtrate. The relationship of K. brevis cell abundance >5000 cells L⁻¹ with chlorophyll for all cruises and at all depths was robust (R²=0.78). These data substantiate the use of chlorophyll as a proxy for K. brevis cell abundance and K. brevis cell abundance as a proxy for brevetoxins during blooms. The ratios of the brevetoxins, PbTx-2:PbTx-3, was significantly higher in surface water than in bottom water. This information in conjunction with K. brevis growth rates may provide a useful indicator for determining the physiological state of the bloom over time.     

High-precision U-series measurements of more than 500,000 year old fossil corals

Robust, independent age constraints on the absolute timing of climate events based on the U-series dating of fossil coral are sparse before the last glacial cycle. Using multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with multiple-Faraday protocols, we are able to date ～ 600 ka samples with an uncertainty of better than ± 15 ka (2σ), representing a three-fold improvement in precision compared with previous techniques. Using these methods, we report U-series measurements for a suite of > 500 thousand year old (ka) corals from Henderson Island, an emergent atoll in the south-central Pacific Ocean. The fossil corals show extraordinarily little diagenetic alteration for their age and the best-preserved sample yields a U-series age of 600 ± 15 ka (2σ), which overlaps with the timing of the warm Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 15 interglacial. The open-system model of Villemant and Feuillet [Villemant B. and Feuillet N. (2003) Dating open systems by the ²³⁸U–²³⁴U–²³⁰Th method: application to Quaternary reef terraces. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 210(1–2), 105–118.] and the linear regression (or open-system isochron) is clearly limited for such old samples. However, the open-system model developed by Thompson et al. [Thompson W.G., Spiegelman M.W., Goldstein S.L., and Speed R.C. (2003) An open-system model for U-series age determinations of fossil corals. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 210(1–2), 365–381.] appears to reliably correct for open-system effects in roughly half of the corals, giving a MIS 15 origin for these. Thus the data provide evidence that the systematic addition of ²³⁰Th and ²³⁴U through α-recoil is a dominant open-system process occurring in the Henderson Island fossil reef system. Several coral samples yield significantly older Thompson et al. open-system ages between 650 and 750 ka. The uncertainty on these ages (typically ± 30 kyrs) is too great for precise assignment but most data overlap with the MIS 17 interglacial. The reliability of these ages is currently unclear. It is shown that separate aliquots of the same coral can yield different Thompson model ages. Therefore, there appear to be additional diagenetic mechanisms that create further anomalous excursions in the U-series systematics, limiting the reliability of the Thompson et al. open-system model.     

Emplacement of the 1907 Mauna Loa basalt flow as derived from precision topography and satellite imaging

An eruption in January of 1907, from the southwest rift zone of Mauna Loa, produced a substantial lava flow field. Satellite images and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey data, along with observations and photographs from the field, are combined to provide a new perspective on the 1907 eruption. Boundaries of the flow field from the satellite data, combined with field measurements of flow thickness, indicate an area of 25.1 km² and a volume of 86.6 million m³. The eastern lobe of the flow field covers an area of 13.1 km², with a volume of 55.0 million m³, and was emplaced with an average effusion rate of 119 m³/s (at least, for the upper portion of the lobe). Ten DGPS topographic profiles across the eastern lobe aid in distinguishing the characteristics of, and transitions between, the zones identified during the emplacement of the 1984 Mauna Loa flow. Several subdivisions have been built directly on top of or adjacent to the 1907 lava flow. The strong likelihood of future eruptions from the Mauna Loa southwest rift zone makes these housing developments of particular importance for assessments of potential volcanic hazards.     

Reducing capture zone uncertainty with a systematic sensitivity analysis

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established several methods to delineate wellhead protection areas (WHPAs) around community wells in order to protect them from surface contamination sources. Delineating a WHPA often requires defining the capture zone for a well. Generally, analytical models or arbitrary setback zones have been used to define the capture zone in areas where little is known about the distribution of hydraulic head, hydraulic conductivity, or recharge. Numerical modeling, however, even in areas of sparse data, offers distinct advantages over the more simplified analytical models or arbitrary setback zones. The systematic approach discussed here calibrates a numerical flow model to regional topography and then applies a matrix of plausible recharge to hydraulic conductivity ratios ( R / K ) to investigate the impact on the size and shape of the capture zone. This approach does not attempt to determine the uncertainty of the model but instead yields several possible capture zones, the composite of which is likely to contain the actual capture zone. A WHPA based on this composite capture zone will protect ground water resources better than one based on any individual capture zone. An application of the method to three communities illustrates development of the R / K matrix and demonstrates that the method is particularly well suited for determining capture zones in alluvial aquifers.     

Variability of nutrients and carbon dioxide in the Antarctic Intermediate Water between 1990 and 2014

Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) formation constitutes an important mechanism for the export of macronutrients out of the Southern Ocean that fuels primary production in low latitudes. We used quality-controlled gridded data from five hydrographic cruises between 1990 and 2014 to examine decadal variability in nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the AAIW (neutral density range 27 < γ _n <? 27.4) along the Prime Meridian. Significant positive trends were found in DIC (0.70 ± 0.4 μmol kg^??1 year^??1) and nitrate (0.08 ± 0.06 μ mol kg^??1 year^??1) along with decreasing trends in temperature (??0.015 ± 0.01^°C year^??1) and salinity (??0.003 ± 0.002 year^??1) in the AAIW. Accompanying this is an increase in apparent oxygen utilization (AOU, 0.16 ± 0.07 μ mol kg^??1 year^??1). We estimated that 75% of the DIC change has an anthropogenic origin. The remainder of the trends support a scenario of a strengthening of the upper-ocean overturning circulation in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean in response to the positive trend in the Southern Annular Mode. A decrease in net primary productivity (more nutrients unutilized) in the source waters of the AAIW could have contributed as well but cannot fully explain all observed changes.     

DyeLIF™: A New Direct‐Push Laser‐Induced Fluorescence Sensor System for Chlorinated Solvent DNAPL and Other Non‐Naturally Fluorescing NAPLs

DyeLIF? is a new version of laser‐induced fluorescence (LIF) for high‐resolution three‐dimensional subsurface mapping of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in the subsurface. DyeLIF eliminates the requirement that the NAPL contains native fluorophores (such as those that occur in compounds like polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs]) and can therefore be used to detect chlorinated solvents and other nonfluorescing NAPLs that had previously been undetectable with conventional LIF tools. With DyeLIF, an aqueous solution of water and nontoxic hydrophobic dye is continuously injected ahead of the sapphire detection window while the LIF probe is being advanced in the subsurface. If soil containing NAPL is penetrated, the injected dye solvates into the NAPL within a few milliseconds, creating strong fluorescence that is transmitted via fiber‐optic filaments to aboveground optical sensors. A detailed field evaluation of the novel DyeLIF technology was performed at a contaminated industrial site in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA where chlorinated solvent dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) persists below the water table in sandy sediments. Continuously cored boreholes were drilled adjacent to 5 of 30 DyeLIF probes that were advanced at that site. The cores were subsampled in high resolution to generate discrete‐depth soil samples as splits at the same depths where DNAPL was detected in the colocated DyeLIF probes. The cores were analyzed above ground using (1) colorimetric screening using hydrophobic dye tests, (2) laboratory extraction and quantitative chemical analysis, (3) “Benchtop” DyeLIF, and (4) volumetric moisture content. Correlation between DyeLIF and aboveground analyses of the soil cores was excellent: 98% agreement with positive DNAPL detections in samples where DNAPL pore saturations were >0.7% (based on quantitative soil analyses) and the ex situ tests. DyeLIF produced the equivalent of one aboveground colorimetric dye test every 0.2 inch (0.5 cm) of probing. With average daily probing of 395 linear feet (120.4 m), this was the equivalent of 12,039 discrete‐depth colorimetric dye tests/day. Because DyeLIF is an in situ measurement, there are no issues with soil core recovery like there would be for conventional ex situ colorimetric dye tests and 100% characterization of the probed intervals is achieved. Tracking the injection rate and pressure of the dye solution provides simultaneous data regarding relative soil permeability, similar to other direct push (DP) hydraulic profiling tools. Conventional LIF is considered the premier DP tool to identify and map NAPL containing PAHs in the subsurface or confirm its absence. While chlorinated solvent DNAPLs at some field sites contain impurities (e.g., solvated greases or oils) that make them detectable with conventional LIF techniques, at other sites, the DNAPL cannot be detected with conventional LIF. At such sites, the injection of a hydrophobic dye ahead of the sapphire window with the DyeLIF system now makes the LIF technology applicable to the many types of NAPLs that were previously invisible using conventional LIF techniques.     

Natural Stimuli Calibration with Fining Direction Regularization in an Integrated Hydrologic Model

The interaction between surface water and groundwater during flood events is a complex process that has traditionally been described using simplified analytical solutions, or abstracted numerical models. To make the problem tractable, it is common to idealize the flood event, simplify river channel geometry, and ignore bank soil heterogeneity, often resulting in a model that only loosely represents the site, thus limiting its applicability to any specific river cross-section. In this study, we calibrate a site-specific fully-integrated surface and subsurface HydroGeoSphere model using flood events for a cross-section along the South River near Waynesboro, VA. The calibration approach presented in this study demonstrates the incorporation of fining direction regularization with a highly parameterized inversion driven by natural stimuli, to develop several realistic realizations of hydraulic conductivity fields that reflect the depositional history of the system. Specifically, we calibrate a model with 365 unique material zones to multiple flood events recorded in a dense well network while incorporating possible fining sequences consistent with the depositional history of the riverbank. Over 25,000 individual simulations were completed using calibration software and a cloud platform specifically designed for highly parallelized computing environments. The results of this study demonstrate the use of fining direction regularization during model calibration to generate multiple calibrated model realizations that account for the depositional environment of the system.