Ecological perspectives on rock surface weathering: Towards a conceptual model

A wide range of information is now available on the ecology of rock surface microorganisms (including bacteria, fungi and algae) and lichens and their role in weathering in particular locations. External environmental conditions as well as rock characteristics determine the type of rock surface community, and thus the style of biological weathering. A simple, preliminary conceptual model can be drawn, which relates biological weathering activity to an environmental stress gradient and which is applicable at a range of scales. Further research needs carrying out to test and extend this model in order to make some progress towards the important goal of assessing the overall importance of biological weathering to geomorphology.     

The privatisation of secondary schooling and the desegregation of central Johannesburg

African education controlled by the state's Department of Education and Training has collapsed. Insufficient spending, low standards and persistent student boycotts have made township schools undesirable places of learning. African students with any financial means now seek secondary education at multi-racial private schools in affluent white suburbs or at street-academies in the centre of Johannesburg. The establishment of schooling services for African pupils in the traditionally white central business district contributes to the wider process of desegregation of South Africa's major urban area, Johannesburg.     

A scientifically based nationwide assessment of groundwater quality in the United States

Beginning in 1986, the U.S. Geological Survey began an effort to develop a National Water-Quality Assessment Program. The basic premise underlying this initiative is that a better understanding of the quality of water resources across the country, both surface- and groundwater, is needed to develop effective programs and policies to meet the nation's water-quality concerns. The program will focus on water-quality conditions that are prevalent or large in scale, such as occur from nonpoint sources of pollution or from a high density of point sources.The design of the program is substantially different from the traditional approach of a diffuse national monitoring network.The major activities of the assessment program will be clustered within a set of hydrologic systems (river basins and aquifer systems), referred to as study units. In aggregate, the study units will account for a large part of the nation's water use and represent a wide range of settings across the country.Unique attributes of the program include: (1) the use of consistent study approaches, field and laboratory methods, water-quality measurements, and ancillary data measurements for all study units; (2) the development of a progressive understanding of water-quality conditions and trends in each study unit through long-term studies that rotate periods of intensive data collection and analysis with periods during which the assessment activities are less intensive; and (3) the focus of considerable effort on synthesizing results from among the study units to provide information on regional and national water-quality issues.Paper presented at 28th International Geological Congress, Washington, D.C., July 10, 1989.     

Possible impacts of climatic warming scenarios on water resources in the Saskatchewan River Sub-basin,Canada

Regional scale studies of the impacts of global warming scenarios provide a useful mechanism for identifying potential regional sensitivities, data gaps and research needs, and for raising awareness of the global warming issue at the regional level. Thus, a pilot study of water resources in the Saskatchewan River Sub-basin was undertaken in order to provide first-cut estimates of impacts in this region, and to identify future research needs. Thirty scenarios were constructed, using two hypothetical growth rates for irrigation, five scenarios based on outputs from General Circulation Models (GCMs), and ten hypothetical warming scenarios. During the course of this study, a number of methodological questions were raised, including the representativeness of data points, interpolation of observed and scenario data, and the quantification of uncertainty.Results indicated decreases in summer soil moisture and increases in irrigation demand, but no consensus on changes in runoff or annual net basin supply, primarily due to differences in the GCM-based scenario output at the Rocky Mountains, the major source region for runoff. There were a number of recommendations for follow-up research and monitoring.     

Occurrence and distribution of sulfur in peat-forming environments of southern Florida

Cores and surface samples of peats from the Everglades—Mangrove region of Southern Florida were analyzed for total sulfur and pyritic sulfur. These values were compared with the petrographic-botanical components of the peats as determined from point-counts of oriented microtome sections. Pyrite occurs as individual euhedral crystals, loosely packed framboids, and lenses or crusts of minute crystals. Framboids and minute crystals are often associated with organic matter and sometimes with bacteria and fungi. Pyrite tends to selectively occur in void spaces in or between peat tissues. In samples containing very small amounts of pyrite, framboidal pyrite is the prevalent form.Marine to brackish peats contain the highest pyrite and total sulfur contents, with brackish peats generally containing more pyrite than marine peats. Pyrite tends to be lower in all peats within 30 cm of the surface, whether marine or brackish.Burial of freshwater peats beneath marine or brackish peats tends to increase the total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying peats. Burial beneath brackish-water, clay-rich deposits (such as splays) tends to increase total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying deposits more than burial beneath less clay-rich deposits.     

Attachment to the residential neighbourhood: a framework for analysis

There is an abundance of literature on attachment to the residential neighbourhood and satisfaction with it. Efforts to explain variation in such attachment emphasise the relevance of population characteristics to the neglect of factors affecting attachment which are external to the neighbourhood's population. This article suggests a wide framework for analysis. The suggestion is made that a hierarchy of neighbourhood contexts could be used in order to reach a more complete explanation and understanding of attachment and variation in it to the residential neighbourhood.     

Identification of recycled continental material in the mantle from Sr,Nd and Pb isotope investigations

Pb, Nd and Sr isotope compositions of oceanic basalts have been used to identify recycled components of continent derivation in the mantle. The isotopic compositions of Sr, Nd and Pb, together with U, Pb, Sm, Nd, Rb, and Sr abundances have been determined for back-arc basalt glasses from the Scotia Sea and Parece Vela and West Philippine Basins, in addition to basalts from South Sandwich Islands, Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Comparisons made between the isotopic compositions of South Sandwich Islands basalts and Atlantic MORB glasses permit the identification of recycled components of continent derivation in the source of the island arc basalts. Recycled Sr of continent derivation is also recognisable in back-arc basalt glasses from the Scotia Sea and Parece Vela and West Philippine Basins. However, contemporary reinjection of material with the isotopic structures similar to those identified as a component of island arc and back-arc regions cannot be the sole or dominant influence on the fine structure observed in MORB glasses from the Atlantic Ocean, nor the isotopic compositions of Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension basalts. Recycled materials are likely to have been responsible for the generation of these heterogeneities only if they have been stored in the mantle for periods of time exceeding 10⁹ years.     

Trace metals in fish and invertebrates of three California coastal Wetlands

Metal concentrations were measured in selected fish and invertebrate species from Mugu Lagoon, Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Wetlands in southern California in order to assess the extent of metal contamination in these three wetlands. Ranges of element concentrations (in microgram/g) found in biota were: Zn 12-650; Cu 1.9-440; Ni < 1-37; Cr < 1-55; Pb < 0.5-6.8; As < 1-8.5; Se < 1-3.8; Cd < 0.2-0.90; and Ag < 0.3-5.9. Relative to previous studies of California biota, the highest metal concentrations found were for chromium and nickel. The highest levels were in one of the two bottom-dwelling fish (juvenile Leptocottus armatus) (55 micrograms/g) and the two water-column fish sampled (Fundulus parvipinnis and Atherinops affinis) (30 and 24 micrograms/g). At Ballona Lagoon, elevated levels of copper and silver were found in the bivalve Tagelus californianus (440 and 5.9 micrograms/g). Chromium and nickel appeared to be most persistent in fish from Mugu (4.6-55 and 2.6-37 micrograms/g), the most northern site and an active military base, and Ballona (< 1-30 and < 1-16 micrograms/g), believed to be the most metal-contaminated site. Compared to previously measured metal concentrations in species of California coastal waters, these regions revealed higher levels of chromium, nickel, silver, arsenic, zinc, copper and, to a lesser extent, cadmium and selenium. Chromium and silver were present at high enough levels at all three sites to be considered environmental health hazards.     

Factors Controlling Sulfide Geochemistry in Sub-tropical Estuarine and Bay Sediments

The primary factors that control the concentration of total reduced (inorganic) sulfide in coastal sediments are believed to be the availability of reactive iron, dissolved sulfate and metabolizable organic carbon. We selected nine sites in shallow (<3 m), close to sub-tropical, estuaries and bays along the central Texas coast that represented a range in sediment grain size (a proxy for reactive iron), salinity (a proxy for dissolved sulfate), and total organic carbon (a proxy for metabolizable organic carbon). Based on these parameters a prediction was made of which factor was likely to control total reduced sulfide at each site and what the relative total reduced sulfide concentration was likely to be. To test the prediction, the sediments were analyzed for total reduced sulfide, acid volatile sulfide, and citrate dithionate-extractable, HCl-extractable and total Fe in the solid phase. Using solid-state gold–mercury amalgam microelectrodes and voltammetry, we determined pore water depth profiles of Fe(II) and ΣH₂S and presence or absence of FeS_(aq). At five of the nine sites the calculated degree of sufildization of citrate dithionite-reactive-iron was close to or greater than 1 indicating that rapidly reactive iron was probably the limiting factor for iron sulfide mineral formation. At one site (salinity = 0.9) dissolved Fe(II) was high, ΣH₂S was undetectable and the total reduced sulfide concentration was low indicating sulfate limitation. At the last three sites a low degree of sulfidization and modest total reduced (inorganic) sulfide concentrations appeared to be the result of a limited supply of metabolizable organic carbon. Fe(II)–S(-II) clusters (FeS_(aq)) were undetectable in 10 out of 12 bay sediment profiles where ΣH₂S was close to or below detection limits, but was observed in all other porewater profiles. Acid volatile sulfide, but not total reduced sulfide, was well correlated with total organic carbon and ranged from being undetectable in some cores to representing a major portion of total reduced sulfide in other cores. Although predicted controls on total reduced sulfide were good for very low salinity water or sandy sediments, they were only right about half the time for the other sediments. The likely reasons for the wrong predictions are the poor correlation of total organic carbon with grain size and differing fractions of metabolizable organic carbon in different sedimentary environments. Differences in sediment accumulation rates may also play a role, but these are difficult to determine in this region where hurricanes often resuspend and move sediments. This study demonstrates the need to examine more complex and often difficult to determine parameters in anoxic “normal marine” sediments if we are to understand what controls the concentration and distribution of sulfides.