Controls on spatial and temporal distribution of Precambrian eolianites

Inversely graded stratification, generated by the migration of wind ripples, and adhesion structures permit unequivocal identification of Precambrian eolianites. These criteria, in combination with scale of cross-beds, angle of inclination of foresets, geometry of depositional units, and associated non-eolian facies, are used to discriminate between Precambrian dune/draa, dune-plinth, sand-sheet, and interdune deposits that formed in inland and coastal settings. Based on an analysis of published literature, fundamental conclusions can be drawn on the spatial and temporal distribution of Precambrian eolianites. The oldest reported eolianites are from the ca. 2.1 Ga Deweras Group in Zimbabwe and Hurwitz Group in Canada and numerous examples of eolianites are reported from the 1.8 Ga and younger rock record. Lack of Archean and early Paleoproterozoic eolianites and their widespread development after 1.8 Ga are examined with respect to: absence of vegetation, crustal growth and tectonic setting, relative sea-level fluctuations, unfavorable atmospheric and/or climatic change, and non-recognition. The lack of pre-2.2 Ga eolianites may be related to reworking by braided rivers combing across non-vegetated floodplains, reworking of coastal eolianites during transgression or their non-recognition in the Early Precambrian record. The temporal concentration of eolianites at 1.8 Ga may best be related to the early stages of breakup and the assembly phases of supercontinents.     

Humic Ion-Binding Model VI: An Improved Description of the Interactions of Protons and Metal Ions with Humic Substances

Humic Ion-Binding Model VI, a discrete site/electrostatic model of the interactions of protons and metals with fulvic and humic acids, is applied to 19 sets of published data for proton binding, and 110 sets for metal binding. Proton binding is described with a site density, two median intrinsic equilibrium constants, two parameters defining the spread of equilibrium constants around the medians, and an electrostatic constant. Intrinsic equilibrium constants for metal binding are defined by two median constants, log K_MA and log K_MB, which refer to carboxyl and weaker-acid sites respectively, together with a parameter, LK₁, defining the spreads of values around the medians. A further parameter, LK₂, takes account of small numbers of strong binding sites. By considering results from many data sets, a universal average value of LK₁ is obtained, and a correlation established between log K_MB and log K_MA. In addition, a relation between LK₂ and the equilibrium constant for metal-NH₃ complexation is tentatively suggested. As a result, metal-binding data can be fitted by the adjustment of a single parameter, log K_MA. Values of log K_MA are derived for 22 metal species. Model VI accounts for competition and ionic strength effects, and for proton-metal exchange.     

Effects of menhaden predation of plankton populations in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

The Atlantic menhaden,Brevoortia tyrannus, is an abundant plankton-feeding fish that undertakes extensive seasonal migrations, moving from overwintering locations offshore south of Cape Hatteras to the mid-Atlantic Bight and New England inshore waters during spring and summer. A bioenergetic model, based on field and laboratory studies, shows that when large numbers of menhaden enter Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, during spring and early summer, they significantly influence plankton populations through size-selective grazing and nutrient regeneration. A population biomass of 9.1×10⁶ kg of menhaden feeding for 12 h each day in the upper bay would result, in a substantial reduction of the instantaneous growth rate of the >20-μm phytoplankton. Instantaneous growth rates of zooplankton would be negative if the same population of menhaden was present, resulting in a reduction in the biomass of zooplankton. Given the ambient phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, menhaden could achieve the seasonal growth measured in Narragansett Bay during 1976 by feeding on average about 5 h d^?1. Daily nitrogen excretion rates of the 9.1×10⁶ kg menhaden population were 56.4% of the mean standing stock of ammonia-N in the upper bay. Because menhaden travel in schools their effects are likely to be intense but strongly localized, increasing spatial heterogeneity in the ecosystem. When the fish migrate southward in the fall they transfer between 3.3% and 6.2% of the nitrogen exported annually from the bay.     

Sphericity as a characteristic of solids from fossil fuel burning in a Lake Michigan sediment

The property of sphericity is used to identify some anthropogenic particles in a Lake Michigan sediment. Three classes of products from high temperature processes, primarily fossil fuel burning, have been isolated: charcoals, iron oxides and aluminosilicates. The morphologies, structures and surface characteristics are indicative of the combustion process.     

Tungsten in iron meteorites

Tungsten concentrations have been determined by instrumental neutron activation in 104 iron meteorites, and range from 0.07 to 5 μg/g. In individual groups, concentrations vary by factors of between 1.5 and 8, but there are negative W-Ni correlations in 8 groups: IAB, IC, IIAB, IID, IIE, IIIAB, IIICD, and IIIF. The lowest W concentrations are found in groups IAB and IIICD, which also have the smallest slopes on a W-Ni plot. Eighteen anomalous irons have W concentrations between 5 μg/g (Butler) and 0.11 μg/g (Rafrüti). The distribution of W in irons shows similarities to that of other refractory siderophilic elements (except Mo), but is closest to the distribution of Ru and Pt.Assuming that chemical trends in group IIIAB were produced by fractional crystallization, a value of 1.6 can be deduced for the distribution coefficient of W between solid and liquid metal, cf. 0.89 for Mo. Experimental evidence in support of these values is tenuous.     

Some studies of an unusual eucrite: Ibitira

The Ibitira eucrite is remarkable both for its vesicles and its unbrecciated nature. It consists of ~63 vol. % pyroxene (Wo₁₄En₃₈Fs₄₈), 31% plagioclase (An_95–96), ~2% of nickel-iron, troilite, ilmenite, titanian chromite, and 4% of a silica polymorph. It has a mean track density of 1.8 ± 0.3 × 10⁶ cm^?2, mainly due to cosmic rays. Its pre-atmospheric radius must have been at least 10 cm.The absence of complex radiation effects and presence of vesicles place constraints on the thickness of the Ibitira basalt flow. From the freezing time calculations of Provost and Bottinga, it appears that Ibitira came from a flow no less than 2.5 m and probably no more than 10 or 20 m thick. However, this estimate depends strongly on the viscosity of the melt, which is not well known.     

The chemical composition of a Greenland glacier

Chemical analyses on water from dated strata of a south Greenland permanent ice sheet revealed that there is a larger amount of sulfate in samples accumulated during the past decade than in those 60 or more years older. This increase is attributed to combustion of fossil fuel. With the exception of mercury, cadmium and possibly copper, the heavy metal distributions in the glacial waters are similar to those in atmospheric dusts. Previously reported higher mercury values in recently deposited strata were not confirmed.     

Lead-210 and pollen geochronologies on Lake Superior sediments

Rates of sedimentation in two Lake Superior deposits were determined by both ragweed pollen and ²¹⁰Pb geochronologies. The former yields an average rate over the time since the first appearance of enhanced concentrations of the pollen as a consequence of human settlement. Sedimentation rates derived on these two bases can be brought into accord if the first appearance of ragweed pollen in the sediments was around 1830 and if the sedimentation rates have been uniform over the past century.