Effects of grazing by feral horses,clipping, trampling,and burning on a Georgia salt marsh

Responses ofSpartina alterniflora marsh to combinations of feral horse grazing, clipping, simulated trampling, and a late winter burn were studied on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia. Replicated 200-m² plots were established and sampled bimonthly from July 1983 to November 1984. Clipping and trampling each reduced peak aboveground biomass by 20% in 1983 and 50% (clipping) and 55% (trampling) in 1984. A March burn reduced peak aboveground biomass by 35% in 1984. Trampling and burning earch reduced net aboveground primary production (NAPP) by 35%, but clipping did not reduce NAPP. Standing stocks of live rhizomes were correlated with aboveground biomass and were reduced with experimental treatments. Abundance of the periwinkle snail (Littorina irrorata) was also reduced. Horse grazing had a substantial impact on standing stocks and NAPP ofSpartina, but grazing was not uniform throughout the marsh. Moderately grazed plots had NAPP reduced by 25% compared to ungrazed plots. Heavily grazed plots had extremely low NAPP, and abovegroundSpartina never exceeded 40 g m^?2 dry mass compared to 360 g m^?2 within exclosures.     

Carbon Sequestration and Sediment Accretion in San Francisco Bay Tidal Wetlands

Tidal wetlands play an important role with respect to climate change because of both their sensitivity to sea-level rise and their ability to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Policy-based interest in carbon sequestration has increased recently, and wetland restoration projects have potential for carbon credits through soil carbon sequestration. We measured sediment accretion, mineral and organic matter accumulation, and carbon sequestration rates using ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb downcore distributions at six natural tidal wetlands in the San Francisco Bay Estuary. The accretion rates were, in general, 0.2?C0.5?cm?year^?1, indicating that local wetlands are keeping pace with recent rates of sea-level rise. Mineral accumulation rates were higher in salt marshes and at low-marsh stations within individual sites. The average carbon sequestration rate based on ²¹⁰Pb dating was 79?g?C?m^?2?year^?1, with slightly higher rates based on ¹³⁷Cs dating. There was little difference in the sequestration rates among sites or across stations within sites, indicating that a single carbon sequestration rate could be used for crediting tidal wetland restoration projects within the Estuary.     

Respiration rates and hypoxia on the Louisiana shelf

The spatial and temporal variation in water-column respiration, estimated from enzymatic respiratory electron-transport-system activity, was measured monthly on a cross-shelf transect on the Louisiana shelf from May through October 1991. In July 1991, water-column respiration was also determined on an alongshore transect, and in situ benthic respiration and photosynthesis rates were determined at jour stations on the cross-shelf transect. Bottom waters were persistently hypoxic (O₂<2 mg 1^?1) at most stations in July and August and sporadically hypoxic at other times. Water-column respiration rates were in the same range as earlier, less extensive studies and not unusually high for coastal and estuarine waters. They were highest in summer, decreased with distance offshore and depth, and increased with temperature. Their variation with pigment and oxygen concentrations were complex functions of season and depth. Oxygen depletion below the oxycline could occur within days to months, depending on the season and location. In July, benthic respiration rates were also not unusually high in comparison with other shallow sediments, although the ratio of benthic: total (water column+benthic) respiration was high. Combined water-column and benthic respiration could deplete the bottom water oxygen in approximately 1 mo. Because the system rarely goes anoxic (defined as observing sulfide), some mechanism(s) must exist to reaerate bottom waters. Most physical mechanisms are unlikely to provide significant reaeration at this time of year. Measured benthic and conservatively estimated bottom-water photosynthesis could resupply 23% of the oxygen lost daily by respiration. Although this is too limited a dataset from which to draw conclusions about the relative importance of bottom-water and benthic respiration and photosynthesis in determining bottom-water oxygen concentrations, it does suggest that all these processes must be considered.     

Arc dacite genesis pathways: Evidence from mafic enclaves and their hosts in Aegean lavas

Mafic enclaves are commonly found in intermediate arc magmas, and their occurrence has been linked to eruption triggering by pre-eruptive magma mixing processes. New major, trace, Sr–Nd and U–Th isotope data of rocks from Nisyros in the Aegean volcanic arc are presented here. Pre-caldera samples display major and trace element trends that are consistent with fractionation of magnetite and apatite within intermediate compositions, and zircon within felsic compositions, and preclude extensive hybridization between mafic and felsic magmas. In contrast, post-caldera dacites form a mixing trend towards their mafic enclaves. In terms of U-series isotopes, most samples show small ²³⁸U excesses of up to  10%. Mafic enclaves have significantly higher U/Th ratios than their dacitic host lavas, precluding simple models that relate the mafic and felsic magmas by fractionation or aging alone. A more complicated petrogenetic scenario is required. The post-caldera dacites are interpreted to represent material remobilized from a young igneous protolith following influx of fresh mafic magma, consistent with the U–Th data and with Sr–Nd isotope constraints that point to very limited (< 10%) assimilation of old crust at Nisyros. When these results are compared to data from Santorini in the same arc, there are many geochemical similarities between the two volcanic centers during the petrogenesis of the pre-caldera samples. However, striking differences are apparent for the post-caldera lavas: in Nisyros, dacites show geochemical and textural evidence for magma mixing and remobilization by influx of mafic melts, and they erupt as viscous lava domes; in Santorini, evidence for geochemical hybridization of dacites and mafic enclaves is weak, dacite petrogenesis does not involve protolith remobilization, and lavas erupt as less viscous flows. Despite these differences, it appears that mafic enclaves in intermediate Aegean arc magmas consistently yield timescales of at least 100 kyrs between U enrichment of the mantle wedge and eruption, on the upper end of those estimated for the eruptive products of mafic arc volcanoes. Finally, the data presented here provide constraints on the rates of differentiation from primitive arc basalts to dacites (less than  140 kyrs), and on the crustal residence time of evolved igneous protoliths prior to their remobilization by mafic arc magmas (greater than  350 kyrs).     

The “Earth Transformed” program

The authors summarize the results of the international symposium The Earth as Transformed by Human Action held at Clark University, USA, in October 1987 with the purpose of inventorying human impact and environmental changes over the last three centuries. There are suggestions on the comparison of driving forces and environmental changes on the regional and global scales, and on the conceptualization of the human dimensions of global change. Some perspectives of the further development of the international and interdisciplinary Earth Transformed project are also discussed.     

Geological controls on the sulphur content of coal seams in the Northumberland Coalfield, Northeast England

The sulphur content of coal is an important consideration when developing reserves for exploitation, driven by emission limits from power stations becoming more stringent. Variations in the sulphur content of Westphalian A and B coals from the predominantly freshwater Northumberland Coalfield, Northeast England, were studied according to their regional, stratigraphic and in-seam location. The observed variation in sulphur content spatially increases towards the source area away from more marine influenced areas, with increased sulphur content through time linked to changes in the general depositional environment as conditions became more marine-influenced. A model of basinal surface water and groundwater flow driven by post-depositional source area tectonism is thought to have played only a minor role in contributing secondary sulphur to the coal. However, the isotopic composition of coal pyrite shows a similar range in composition to that of pyrite and other sulphides from the North Pennine Orefield along the southern margin of the coalfield, suggesting an additional potential source of secondary sulphur, as sulphur-rich fluids were expelled northwards through the coal measures during early Permian Variscan transpression from the south. The Westphalian A and B are interpreted as third-order depositional sequences, defined by third-order maximum flooding surfaces. Each sequence is made up of several coal-bearing fourth-order parasequences, which tend to be more brackish to marine in character, on either side of the third-order maximum flooding surfaces when base level was relatively high. The lowest sulphur coals are confined to the lower to middle, relative low stand part of the Westphalian A third-order base level curve and the lowest part of the Westphalian B third-order base level curve. This difference is attributed to a more rapid rise of base level in the Westphalian B. The stratigraphic and spatial distribution of coal sulphur has been used as a guide to prediction of reserve identification for surface mining operations.     

Mantle dynamics and mantle melting beneath Niuafo’ou Island and the northern Lau back-arc basin

A suite of young volcanic basaltic lavas erupted on the intra-plate island of Niuafo’ou and at active rifts and spreading centres (the King’s Triple Junction and the Northeastern Lau Spreading Centre) in the northern Lau Basin is used to examine the pattern of mantle flow and the dynamics of melting beneath this complex back-arc system. All lavas contain variable amounts of a subduction related component inherited from the Tonga subduction zone to the east. All lavas have higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, lower ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and more radiogenic Pb isotope compositions than basalts erupted at the Central Lau Spreading Centre in the central Lau Basin, and are interpreted as variable mixtures of subduction-modified, depleted upper mantle, and mantle residues derived from melting beneath the Samoan Islands which has leaked through a tear in the subducting Pacific Plate beneath the Vitiaz Lineament at the northern edge of the Lau Basin. Our data can be used to map out the present-day distribution of Samoan mantle in this region, and show that it influences the compositions of lavas erupted as far as 400 km from the Samoan Islands. The distribution of Samoan-influenced lavas implies south- and southwest-wards mantle flow rates of >4 cm/year. U-series disequilibria in historic Niuafo’ou lavas have average (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) = 1.13, (²³¹Pa/²³⁵U) = 2.17, (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th) = 2.11, and together with major and trace element data require ∼5% partial melting of mantle at between 2 and 3 GPa, with a residual porosity of 0.002 and an upwelling rate of 1 cm year⁻¹. We suggest that intraplate magmatism in the northern Lau Basin results from decompression melting during southward flow of mantle from beneath old (110–120 Ma), relatively thick Pacific oceanic lithosphere to beneath young (<5 Ma), thinner oceanic lithosphere beneath the northern Lau Basin.     

Analcime: A characteristic authigenic phase of andean alluvium,northern chile

Analcime (NaAlSi₂O₆.H₂O) forms a characteristic authigenic phase in Andean alluvium of northern Chile. Three stratigraphic units ranging from the lower Cretaceous to the Miocene were studied in order to investigate the presence of analcime in diagenetic assemblages of different ages. The units were deposited in forearc, foreland/back-arc, and intra-arc basinal settings. Characteristics of other sedimentary analcime occurrences were examined in order to define conditions favourable for analcime precipitation. Zeolite zonation and evidence for the original presence of volcanic glass, common to many sedimentary analcime occurrences, are absent in the studied units. Analcime precipitation requires a high Na⁺/H⁺ ratio, relatively low Si⁴⁺/Al³⁺ activity and low H₂O activity. Diagenetic examination of the three stratigraphic units revealed early quartz and feldspar overgrowths, mechanical clay infiltration, and dissolution of labile rock and mineral fragments, particularly intermediate plagioclase (An_30–80). Conditions for these processes are favoured by oxidizing groundwater at near neutral pH. Later diagenesis involved the precipitation of analcime, non-ferroan calcite, quartz, and authigenic clays as the main cementing phases. These formed due to the concentration of oxidizing groundwater and resulted from its continued reaction with detrital feldspars and rock fragments of andesitic and dacitic composition. Analcime precipitation in Andean alluvium resulted from the evolution of saline, alkaline brines under an arid, evaporative climate in closed hydrographic basins with circulating groundwater systems.     

New insights into the origin of O–Hf–Os isotope signatures in arc lavas from Tonga–Kermadec

O, Hf and Os isotope data are presented for lavas from the highly depleted Tonga–Kermadec arc. O isotope values overlap with those of MORB limiting the amount of interaction with the arc crust. δ¹⁸O does not increase northwards as would be expected from the ~ 4 fold increase in subduction rate if slab-derived fluids had high ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios. Thus, the overall northward decrease in HFSE concentrations likely reflects depletion due to prior melt extraction, not increasing extents of melting. Hf isotopes are strongly negatively correlated with Be isotopes consistent with mixing of subducted pelagic sediment into the mantle wedge and do not require Hf to be fluid mobile. With the exception of a boninite from the north Tongan trench, the northern Tonga lavas do not overlap the Hf isotope composition of either the Samoan plume or the subducting Louisville volcaniclastic sediments. Thus, the Pb isotope signatures in these lavas must have been added by fluids and sediment melts derived from the Louisville volcaniclastics with minimal mobilisation of Hf. This suggests conservative behaviour for this element due to the formation of residual zircon during partial melting of the subducted sediments. ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ranges from 0.1275 to 0.4731 and the higher Os isotope ratios reflect the sensitivity of this system to even minor interaction with altered arc crust. Conversely, the lowest Os ratios are subchondritic and indicate that transfer of radiogenic Os from the slab is not all pervasive and provide an important constraint on the composition of the mantle wedge. Remarkably, the least radiogenic sample is a dacite demonstrating that evolved magmas can develop by fractionation from mantle-derived magmas with minimal interaction with the arc crust.     

Assessment and integration of conventional,RTK-GPS and image-derived beach survey methods for daily to decadal coastal monitoring

Coastal monitoring across a broad range of time-scales was recognized in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as key to better understanding the likely impacts of climate change at the coast. A unique and historic coastal monitoring program undertaken at the Collaroy–Narrabeen embayment in south-eastern Australia comprises: 1) 30 years of monthly conventional (Emery method) surveys of five cross-shore profile lines; 2) three years of monthly three-dimensional surveys of the entire embayment using RTK-GPS mounted to an all-terrain vehicle (ATV); and 3) four years of hourly shoreline measurements using coastal imaging technology (ARGUS). This study evaluates the strengths and limitations of conventional, RTK-GPS and image-derived surveys for coastal monitoring at daily to decadal coastal time-scales. High-accuracy RTK-GPS was used to first assess the accuracy of the conventional and image-derived survey methods. The magnitude of daily to decadal coastal variability was then characterized by calculating the temporal semivariogram of the integrated survey dataset. With both measurement errors and the degree of beach variability quantified, the corresponding signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of each survey method at different time-scales were determined. The value of the simple and cost-effective Emery method was verified by this analysis, with measurement error significantly smaller than the degree of overall beach variability (SNR = 8.4). The accuracy, speed and efficiency of ATV-mounted RTK-GPS meanwhile make it suitable for three-dimensional beach surveys. Image-derived surveys were found to be an effective means of remotely measuring the considerable degree of beach variability identified at time-scales of less than one month. These measurements however become indistinguishable from survey noise (i.e. SNR ≤ 1) when considering typical weekly (or smaller) variations at large distances from the cameras.