An intercomparison between finite difference and finite element (TELEMAC) approaches to modelling west coast of Britain tides

A finite element model (namely TELEMAC) with a range of mesh refinements and assumptions of coastal water depths is used to determine an optimal mesh for computing the M ₂ tide in a region of significant geographical extent. The region adopted is the west coast of Britain covering the Irish and Celtic Seas. The nature of the spatially varying topography and tidal distribution, together with a comprehensive set of measurements and existing accurate finite difference model makes it ideal for such a study. Calculations show that a water-depth dependent criterion for determining element size gives an optimal distribution over the majority of the region. However, local refinements in narrow channels such as the North Channel and Bristol Channel are required. Although the specification of a zero coastal water depth, leads to a fine near coastal grid, this does not yield the most accurate solution. In addition the computational cost is high. In practice in a large area model the use of a non-zero coastal water depth yields optimum accuracy at minimal computational cost. However, calculations show that accuracy is critically dependent upon nearshore water depths. Comparison with the finite difference model shows that the bias in elevation amplitude in the finite difference solution is removed in the finite element calculation.     

Comparison of finite difference and element models of internal tides on the Malin–Hebrides shelf

A three-dimensional baroclinic finite element model with a coarse and fine (i.e. local refinement along the shelf edge) grid is used to examine the influence of shelf edge grid refinement upon the internal tide generation and propagation off the west coast of Scotland. Comparisons are made with observations in the region and with a published solution using a finite difference model. The calculations show that provided that the finite element grid is refined in the internal tide generation area and the adjacent region through which the internal tide propagates, then a numerically accurate solution is obtained. In the regions of strong internal tide generation with a local grid refinement, internal wave energy can accumulate at small scales and must be removed by a scale-selective filter.     

Resistant biomacromolecules in marine microalgae of the classes Eustigmatophyceae and Chlorophyceae: Geochemical implications

Non-hydrolysable macromolecular constituents (i.e. algaenans) were isolated from two out of seven marine microalgae investigated. Nannochloropsis salina and Nannochloropsis sp. from the class of Eustigmatophyceae produce highly aliphatic algaenans. Flash pyrolysis and chemical degradations with HI and RuO₄ allowed for the identification of their chemical structure, which is mainly composed of polyether-linked long-chain (up to C₃₆) n-alkyl units. The building blocks of this polymer were also recognized in lipid fractions. The green microalgae (Chlorophyceae) Chlorella spaerckii, Chlorococcum sp. and Nannochloris sp. were earlier thought to biosynthesize algaenans comprising aliphatic and/or aromatic moieties. However, a new isolation method utilizing trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) prior to the other hydrolyses revealed that the macromolecular material isolated from these three chlorophytes was either hydrolysable with TFA or artefacts from the former method. Similar to algaenans from fresh water green microalgae, the aliphatic eustigmatophyte algaenans are likely to be selectively preserved in depositional environments and might ultimately serve as source rock organic matter of marine crude oils. Furthermore, they may play an important role in the cycling of carbon.     

塔里木盆地原油的成因研究

对塔里木盆地原油和生油岩饱和烃进行ＧＣ－Ｃ－ＭＳ和ＧＣ－ＭＳ分析，利用单个正构烷烃碳同位素组成和三环萜烷分布特征进行油源对比，研究了塔里木盆地原油的油源问题；根据寒武—奥陶系富含菌藻有机质生油岩饱和烃色谱分析结果，对塔里木盆地海相原油含蜡较高的成因进行了探讨     

The Impact of Erosion on Soil Productivity—An Experimental Design Applied in São Paulo State, Brazil

Soil erosion is the principal threat to agricultural sustainability, affecting both the characteristics of the in situ soil and its productive potential. However, soils vary in their resilience and there are very few empirical data upon which to appreciate the degree and type of impact on the soil caused by erosion. This paper describes an experiment designed to generate such data based on soil loss and runoff plots, and it reports on nearly nine years of experience with the design at the Instituto Agronômico, Campinas, Brazil on a Latosol (Oxisol). After seven years of erosion induced by four levels of artificial cover, the effective rainfall on the most eroded soil was 20 percent less than on the control full cover. Crop yields were also found to be significantly affected: in 1995 by nearly 700 kg/ha and in 1996 by over 1000 kg/ha—a 50% decline in yield, amounting to a loss of 4 kg/ha of maize per tonne of cumulative soil loss. Losses of nutrients (organic C, P, K, Ca and Mg) in the runoff and eroded soil were also significant with far higher levels of loss associated with the eroded sediment. Changes in the in situ soil were less clear, but a test of trends showed that the decreases in organic matter and increases in acidity could unambiguously be attributed to soil erosion. Average enrichment ratios of the eroded sediment were 1.3 for organic C, 2.6 for P, 0.7 for K, 1.3 for Ca and 1.2 for Mg. Erosion has also affected the maize quality—mainly N, Ca and B nutrient content. Through these various measures, we conclude that seven years of induced erosion has had a marked effect on soil productivity, and for the first time we are now in a position to begin calculating the financial impact of the erosion process on future yields and farmer livelihoods.     

Mass Spectrometry and reverse phase HPLC techniques for the identification of degraded fossil pigments in lake sediments and their application in palaeolimnology

Accurate identification of fossil pigments is essential if they are to be used as biomarker compounds in palaeolimnological studies. In recent years High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has greatly enhanced the efficiency with which fossil pigments can be characterised and quantified. Using HPLC, undegraded pigments are typically identified through retention times, absorbance spectra and co-chromatography with authentic reference standards. However, lake sediments may also contain degraded pigments for which there are often no standards, and which may be difficult to identify using HPLC alone. In this study, we submitted HPLC fractions of fossil pigments and pigment derivatives collected from a meromictic lake in south west Tasmania, to a combination of Mass Spectrometry (MS) techniques including Electron Impact (EI) and static Liquid Secondary Ion MS (LSIMS) to identify their molecular ion characteristics and organic chemical composition. Mass Spectrometry permitted the detection of specific mass ions which were used to verify the identity of pigments and their derivatives. These included five carotenoids, chlorophyll a and derivatives, three previously described bacteriochlorophyll c derivatives with molecular weights of 770, 784, and 802, and two undescribed derivatives of bacteriochlorophyll c with molecular weights of 766 and 788. With these improved identifications we speculate on the pathways and modes of pigment degradation in the lake and asses the value of the degraded pigments as biomarkers. The use of MS permitted the identification of a greater number of signature pigments of algal and bacterial communities thus increasing the palaeolimnological value of the sediments. These methods are best applied in fossil pigment studies where there are a large number of unknown pigments and pigment degradation products, and where there are no authentic standards for co-chromatography. Practical suggestions for pigment MS are included in the discussion.     

Geochemical characteristics of lavas from Broken Ridge, the Naturaliste Plateau and southernmost Kerguelen Plateau: Cretaceous plateau volcanism in the southeast Indian Ocean

Lavas from several major bathymetric highs in the eastern Indian Ocean that are likely to have formed as Early to Middle Cretaceous manifestations of the Kerguelen hotspot are predominantly tholeiitic; so too are glass shards from Eocene to Paleocene volcanic ash layers on Broken Ridge, which are believed to have come from eruptions on the Ninetyeast Ridge. The early dominance of tholeiitic compositions contrasts with the more recent intraplate, alkalic volcanism of the Kerguelen Archipelago. Isotopic and incompatible-element ratios of the plateau lavas are distinct from those of Indian mid-ocean ridge basalts; their Nd, Sr, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and isotopic ratios overlap with but cover a much wider range than measured for more recent oceanic products of the Kerguelen hotspot (including the Ninetyeast Ridge) or, indeed, oceanic lavas from any other hotspot in the world. Samples from the Naturaliste Plateau and ODP Site 738 on the southern tip of the Kerguelen Plateau are particularly noteworthy, with ε_Nd(T) = − 13 to −7, (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_T=0.7090 to 0.7130 and high ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb relative to ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb. In addition, the low-ε_Nd(T) Naturaliste Plateau samples are elevated in SiO₂ (> 54 wt%). In contrast to “DUPAL” oceanic islands such as the Kerguelen Archipelago, Pitcairn and Tristan da Cunha, the plateau lavas with extreme isotopic characteristics also have relative depletions in Nb and Ta (e.g., Th/Ta, La Nb > primitive mantle values); the lowest ε_Nd(T) and highest Th/Ta and La Nb values occur at sites located closest to rifted continental margins. Accepting a Kerguelen plume origin for the plateau lavas, these characteristics probably reflect the shallow-level incorporation of continental lithosphere in either the head of the early Kerguelen plume or in plume-derived magmas, and suggest that the influence of such material diminished after the period of plateau construction. Contamination of asthenosphere with the type of material affecting Naturaliste Plateau and Site 738 magmatism appears unlikely to be the cause of low-²⁰⁶Pb/⁰⁴Pb Indian mid-ocean ridge basalts. Finally, because isotopic data for the plateaus do not cluster or form converging arrays in isotope-ratio plots, they provide no evidence for either a quickly evolving, positive ε_Nd, relatively high-²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb plume composition, or a plume source dominated by mantle with ε_Nd of −3 to 0.     

The effect of steep slope logging on fine sediment infiltration into the beds of ephemeral and perennial streams of the Dazzler Range, Tasmania, Australia

Gravel-filled traps were buried in the beds of streams draining steep logged and unlogged catchments of the Dazzler Range in northern Tasmania, Australia, and removed after storm events, to assess infiltration of fine (less than 1 mm) material into the bed. All stream catchments were geomorphically similar, over similar altitude ranges and had moderately erodible sandy-clay soils on 25–35° slopes. Study catchments were selected to control for aspect, logging treatment and coupe age. Fine sediment infiltration into the stream bed was assessed for 15 tributary ephemeral streams in logged areas and 11 streams in unlogged areas. The logged catchments had been clearfelled in three time periods — 1990–1991, 1988–1989 and 1986–1987 — all by skyline cable logging. Trap yield was also assessed in riffles of the perennial valley floor streams upstream and downstream of the junction of six logged and six unlogged tributaries and upstream and downstream of four old but actively used road crossings. Trap yield was significantly higher in logged than in unlogged ephemeral streams for size fractions ranging from less than 125 to 500 μm, by factors ranging from two to three, but not for sediment between 0.5 and 1.0 mm. Trap yield of organic sediment of less than 125 μm declined with time after logging and burning, whereas inorganic sediment yield showed no clear trend with coupe age. Trap yield of 0.5–1.0 mm organic sediment was also significantly enhanced by logging and by burning. Sediment yield of streams logged in 1986–1987 was not significantly higher than for control streams, whereas inorganic sediment and 0.5–1.0 mm organic sediment yields were highest for recently burnt coupes. A significantly greater number of increases in trap yield occurred between riffle pairs of valley floor streams adjacent to junctions of logged tributaries, when compared with control riffle pairs. Logged tributary junctions were associated with an increase in the organic content of sediment. Road crossings were associated with large increases in infiltration in adjacent riffle pairs, 30–50 years after construction. Current forest practices do not protect ephemeral headwater streams from enhanced sediment inputs, the long-term significance of which is unknown. Recovery of sediment fluxes in these streams to background levels appears to take 5 years or longer.     

Response of neutral boundary layers to changes of roughness

When air blows across a change in surface roughness, an internal boundary layer (IBL) develops within which the wind adapts to the new surface. This process is well described for short fetches, > 1 km. However, few data exist for large fetches on how the IBL grows to become a new equilibrium boundary layer where again the drag laws can be used to estimate the surface wind.To study this problem, data have been sampled for two years from four 30-m meteorological masts placed from 0 to 30 km inland from the North Sea coast of Jutland in Denmark. The present analysis is limited to neutral stratification, and the surface roughness is the main parameter. The analysis of wind data and two simple models, a surface layer and a planetary boundary layer (PBL) model, are described.Results from both models are discussed and compared with data analysis. Model parameters have been evaluated and the model sensitivity to those parameters has been investigated. Using the model parameters, a large-scale roughness length has been estimated.Istituto Di Fisica dell' Atmosfera I.F.A. — CNR, Rome, Italy.     

A comparison of progressive hydrothermal carbonate alteration in Archean metabasalts and metaperidotites

Because of major differences in both bulk chemical composition and silicate mineralogy between metabasalts and metaperidotites, valid comparison of the degree or intensity of carbonate alteration cannot be made in terms of weight per cent CO₂. Molar CO₂/CaO is preferred as an index of the intensity of carbonate alteration in metabasalts; molar CO₂/CaO in carbonatized metabasalts is independent of CaO/MgO and only mildly sensitive to bulk composition and to the proportions of tremolite and clinozoisite. Molar CO₂/CaO reflect the proportions of calcite and dolomite in metabasalts and the proportions of dolomite and magnesite in metaperidotites. However, neither molar CO₂/CaO nor the proportions of dolomite and magnesite are reliable measures of carbonate alteration in metaperidotites of variable composition because both are strongly dependent on MgO/CaO in the whole rock. The preferred alteration index in metaperidotites is m CO₂/m (CaO + MgO + FeO), which represents the proportion of total relevant cations that exist in carbonate form. An empirical equation relating molar CO₂/CaO in metabasalts (x) and MCO₂/m(CaO+MgO+FeO) in metaperidotites (y) is: y=0.16+0.30 x.