Identification and significance of a visible,basalt‐rich Vedde Ash layer in a Late‐glacial sequence on the Isle of Skye,Inner Hebrides,Scotland

This paper reports the discovery of a visible, tephra horizon of Late‐glacial age from the site of Loch Ashik in the Isle of Skye, the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Although the tephra shards have a bimodal geochemical composition identical to that of the Vedde Ash (a well known marker horizon within Late‐glacial sequences. The horizon at Ashik is dominated by basaltic shards and devitrified tephra shards, giving the layer its characteristic black colour. Only rhyolitic shards have previously been reported from Vedde Ash horizons in the British Isles. This new evidence raises some important questions about the factors that govern the distribution and accumulation of basaltic tephra, and about the methods used to detect ash shards in basins distal to centres of volcanic activity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stable isotope and Rare Earth Element evidence for recent ironstone pods within the Archean Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa

There is considerable debate about the mode and age of formation of large (up to ∼200 m long) hematite and goethite ironstone bodies within the 3.2 to 3.5 Ga Barberton greenstone belt. We examined oxygen and hydrogen isotopes and Rare Earth Element (REE) concentrations of goethite and hematite components of the ironstones to determine whether these deposits reflect formation from sea-floor vents in the Archean ocean or from recent surface and shallow subsurface spring systems. Goethite δ¹⁸O values range from −0.7 to +1.0‰ and δD from −125 to −146‰, which is consistent with formation from modern meteoric waters at 20 to 25 °C. Hematite δ¹⁸O values range from −0.7 to −2.0‰, which is consistent with formation at low to moderate temperatures (40-55 °C) from modern meteoric water. REE in the goethite and hematite are derived from the weathering of local sideritic ironstones, silicified ultramafic rocks, sideritic black cherts, and local felsic volcanic rocks, falling along a mixing line between the Eu/Eu* and shale-normalized HREE_Avg/LREE_Avg values for the associated silicified ultramafic rocks and felsic volcanic rocks. Contrasting positive Ce/Ce* of 1.3 to 3.5 in hematite and negative Ce/Ce* of 0.2 to 0.9 in goethite provides evidence of oxidative scavenging of Ce on hematite surfaces during mineral precipitation. These isotopic and REE data, taken together, suggest that hematite and goethite ironstone pods formed from relatively recent meteoric waters in shallow springs and/or subsurface warm springs.     

The effect of clouds on aerosol growth in the rural atmosphere

Measurements of accumulation mode aerosol in the atmospheric boundary layer under cloudy and cloud-free conditions, and in the lower free troposphere under cloud-free conditions, were conducted over the rural northwest of England. Normalised size distributions in the cloud-free boundary layer (CFBL) and the cloud-free free troposphere (CFFT) exhibited almost identical spectral similarities with both size distributions possessing a concentration peak mode-radius of ≈0.05 μm or less. By comparison, aerosol distributions observed in cloudy air exhibited a distinctive log-normal distribution with mode-radii occurring at ≈0.1 μm concomitant with a local minimum at ≈0.05 μm. The consistent and noticeable difference in spectral features observed between cloudy and cloud-free conditions suggest that a greater amount of gas-to-particle conversion occurs on cloudy days, presumably through in-cloud aqueous phase oxidation processes, leading to larger sized accumulation mode particles. Apart from the distinct difference between cloudy and cloud-free aerosol spectra on cloudy days, aerosol concentration and mass were observed to be significantly enhanced above that of the ambient background in the vicinity of clouds. Volatility analysis during one case of cloud processing indicated an increase in the relative contribution of aerosol mass volatile at temperatures characteristic of sulphuric acid, along with a smaller fraction of more volatile material (possibly nitric acid and/or organic aerosol). Growth-law analysis of possible growth mechanisms point to aqueous phase oxidation of aerosol precursors in cloud droplets as being the only feasible mechanism capable of producing the observed growth. The effect of cloud processing is to alter the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) supersaturation spectrum in a manner which increases the availability of CCN at lower cloud supersaturations.     

Histopathology of the skin of UV-B irradiated sole (Solea solea) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) larvae.

Larval stages of two economically important flatfish, the sole (Solea solea) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) were exposed to ambient and elevated levels of UV-B. Sole larvae, which naturally occur in the plankton in early spring, demonstrated skin lesions at elevated levels of UV-B. Histopathology of the sole revealed cellular changes in the integument, characteristic of sunburn damage, with a reduction in the size of mucus-secreting cells and an increased epidermal thickening, especially at the highest doses of UV-B (2.15 KJ bio eff/m2). Pigmentation in the sole is restricted to a few isolated melanocytes. The integrity of the heavily pigmented skin of turbot appeared to be unaffected by comparable doses of UV-B. Both species have protective mechanisms, which minimize the effects of naturally-occurring levels of UV-B. However, sole appear to be poorly adapted to accommodate any further increase in solar radiation.