Macrobenthic community response to copper in Shelter Island Yacht Basin, San Diego Bay, California

We examined Cu contamination effects on macrobenthic communities and Cu concentration in invertebrates within Shelter Island Yacht Basin, San Diego Bay, California. Results indicate that at some sites, Cu in sediment has exceeded a threshold for “self defense” mechanisms and highlight the potential negative impacts on benthic faunal communities where Cu accumulates and persists in sediments. At sites with elevated Cu levels in sediment, macrobenthic communities were not only less diverse but also their total biomass and body size (individual biomass) were reduced compared to sites with lower Cu. Cu concentration in tissue varied between species and within the same species, reflecting differing abilities to “regulate” their body load. The spatial complexity of Cu effects in a small marina such as SIYB emphasizes that sediment-quality criteria based solely on laboratory experiments should be used with caution, as they do not necessarily reflect the condition at the community and ecosystem levels.     

Implications of management strategies and vegetation change in the Mount St. Helens blast zone

The 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens provided an excellent opportunity for scientists to investigate the recovery of vegetation communities following a major geologic disturbance. An important and often overlooked aspect in these studies is the human factor in recovery processes, and specifically, the different management approaches taken towards re-establishment of vegetation on lands under the control of various owners. This study examines vegetation changes throughout the 1980 blast zone using a time series of Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images and change detection methods to assess the changes over 25 years, from 1980 to 2005, as a function of human management combined with ecological factors. This long-term tracking of change indicates that differences in the speed of vegetation re-establishment and consequent rates of change substantially reflect human involvement and varying management strategies.     

Typologies of sprawl: investigating United States metropolitan land use patterns

We investigate patterns of residential and nonresidential land use in 311 United States metropolitan (Extended Urban) areas in 2000 using four measures: intensity, compactness, mixing, and core-dominance. A cluster analysis revealed four distinctive groups of land use patterns: (1) Most-Intense, Least-Compact, Least-Mixed, More-Monocentric Development, (2) Less-Intense, Most-Compact, Less-Mixed, Less-Monocentric Development, (3) Least-Intense, Less-Compact, Most-Mixed, Most-Monocentric Development, (4) More-Intense, More-Compact, More-Mixed, Polycentric Development. Bivariate statistics demonstrated that geographic, historic, economic, demographic, and transport variables differentiate land use pattern types. Based on their multidimensional distinctions, we label the four types of metropolitan areas: Ascendants, Insulars, Redevelopers, and Cosmopolitans.     

A method for semi‐automated objective quantification of linear bedforms from multi‐scale digital elevation models

The increasing availability of large, detailed digital representations of the Earth's surface demands the application of objective and quantitative analyses. Given recent advances in the understanding of the mechanisms of formation of linear bedform features from a range of environments, objective measurement of their wavelength, orientation, crest and trough positions, height and asymmetry is highly desirable. These parameters are also of use when determining observation‐based parameters for use in many applications such as numerical modelling, surface classification and sediment transport pathway analysis. Here, we (i) adapt and extend extant techniques to provide a suite of semi‐automatic tools which calculate crest orientation, wavelength, height, asymmetry direction and asymmetry ratios of bedforms, and then (ii) undertake sensitivity tests on synthetic data, increasingly complex seabeds and a very large‐scale (39 000 km²) aeolian dune system. The automated results are compared with traditional, manually derived, measurements at each stage. This new approach successfully analyses different types of topographic data (from aeolian and marine environments) from a range of sources, with tens of millions of data points being processed in a semi‐automated and objective manner within minutes rather than hours or days. The results from these analyses show there is significant variability in all measurable parameters in what might otherwise be considered uniform bedform fields. For example, the dunes of the Rub' al Khali on the Arabian peninsula are shown to exhibit deviations in dimensions from global trends. Morphological and dune asymmetry analysis of the Rub' al Khali suggests parts of the sand sea may be adjusting to a changed wind regime from that during their formation 100 to 10 ka BP. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards good governance of urban greening: insights from four initiatives in Melbourne,Australia

ABSTRACT

Urban greening can enhance sustainability and liveability, through conserving biodiversity, mitigating urban heat and enhancing people’s health and wellbeing. However, urban greening is complex, as it occurs in unique ecological settings, with social, cultural and economic factors shaping the forms it takes. This raises questions about the governance of urban greening, including what counts as ‘good governance’. In this paper, we first outline principles of good governance drawn from the natural resource management context. We then present four urban greening initiatives from Melbourne Australia representing different scales, land tenures and organising structures. Following this, we analyse how governance of the four initiatives addresses good governance principles. Our analysis shows that there are diverse ways in which urban greening can be practiced and governed. The importance of more ‘informal’ initiatives should not be discounted relative to formalised initiatives, as a spectrum of approaches can be seen as strength. Further, in determining what constitutes good governance, the standards against which initiatives are assessed should be tailored to their specific circumstances, and consider impacts to the environment itself. These findings point to good urban greening governance being both situated and principled.     

DOAS observations of formaldehyde and its impact on the HO<Subscript>x</Subscript> balance in the tropical Atlantic marine boundary layer

Measurements of formaldehyde (HCHO) were made at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory between November 2006 and June 2007 using the Long-Path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) technique. Observations show that typical HCHO mixing ratios ranged between 350 and 550 pptv (with typical 2-σ uncertainties of ~110 pptv), with several events of high HCHO, the maximum being 1,885?±?149 pptv. The observations indicate a lack of strong seasonal or diurnal variations, within the uncertainty of the measurements. A box model is employed to test whether the observations can be explained using known hydrocarbon photochemistry; the model replicates well the typical diurnal profile and monthly mean values. The model results indicate that on average 20% of HO₂ production and 10% of OH destruction can be attributed to the mean HCHO levels, suggesting that even at these low average mixing ratios HCHO plays an important role in determining the HO_x (HO₂+OH) balance of the remote marine boundary layer.     

Sulfur isotope signatures in gypsiferous sediments of the Estancia and Tularosa Basins as indicators of sulfate sources, hydrological processes, and microbial activity

In order to reconstruct paleo-environmental conditions for the saline playa lakes of the Rio Grande Rift, we investigated sediment sulfate sources using sulfur isotope compositions of dissolved ions in modern surface water, groundwater, and precipitated in the form of gypsum sediments deposited during the Pleistocene and Holocene in the Tularosa and Estancia Basins. The major sulfate sources are Lower and Middle Permian marine evaporites (δ³⁴S of 10.9-14.4‰), but the diverse physiography of the Tularosa Basin led to a complex drainage system which contributed sulfates from various sources depending on the climate at the time of sedimentation. As inferred from sulfur isotope mass balance constraints, weathering of sulfides of magmatic/hydrothermal and sedimentary origin associated with climate oscillations during Last Glacial Maximum contributed about 35-50% of the sulfates and led to deposition of gypsum with δ³⁴S values of −1.2‰ to 2.2‰ which are substantially lower than Permian evaporates. In the Estancia Basin, microbial sulfate reduction appears to overprint sulfur isotopic signatures that might elucidate past groundwater flows. A Rayleigh distillation model indicates that about 3-18% of sulfates from an inorganic groundwater pool (δ³⁴S of 12.6-13.8‰) have been metabolized by bacteria and preserved as partially to fully reduced sulfur-bearing minerals species (elemental sulfur, monosulfides, disulfides) with distinctly negative δ³⁴S values (−42.3‰ to −20.3‰) compared to co-existing gypsum (−3.8‰ to 22.4‰). For the Tularosa Basin microbial sulfate reduction had negligible effect on δ³⁴S value of the gypsiferous sediments most likely because of higher annual temperatures (15-33 °C) and lower organic carbon content (median 0.09%) in those sediments leading to more efficient oxidation of H₂S and/or smaller rates of sulfate reduction compared to the saline playas of the Estancia Basin (5-28 °C; median 0.46% of organic carbon).The White Sands region of the Tularosa Basin is frequently posited as a hydrothermal analogue for Mars. High temperatures of groundwater (33.3 °C) and high δ¹⁸O(H₂O) values (1.1‰) in White Sands, however, are controlled predominantly by seasonal evaporation rather than the modern influx of hydrothermal fluids. Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the geochemical processes in White Sands, such as sulfide weathering during climate oscillations and upwelling of highly mineralized waters, might be considered as valid terrestrial analogues for the sulfate cycle in places such as Meridiani Planum on Mars.     

Thermal evolution of an ancient subduction interface revealed by Lu–Hf garnet geochronology,Halilbağı Complex (Anatolia)

The thermal structure of subduction zones exerts a major influence on deep-seated mechanical and chemical processes controlling arc magmatism, seismicity, and global element cycles. Accretionary complexes exposed inland may comprise tectonic blocks with contrasting pressure–temperature (P–T) histories, making it possible to investigate the dynamics and thermal evolution of former subduction interfaces. With this aim, we present new Lu–Hf geochronological results for mafic rocks of the Halilba?? Complex (Anatolia) that evolved along different thermal gradients. Samples include a lawsonite–epidote blueschist, a lawsonite–epidote eclogite, and an epidote eclogite (all with counter-clockwise P–T paths), a prograde lawsonite blueschist with a “hairpin”-type P–T path, and a garnet amphibolite from the overlying sub-ophiolitic metamorphic sole. Equilibrium phase diagrams suggest that the garnet amphibolite formed at ～0.6–0.7 GPa and 800–850 °C, whereas the prograde lawsonite blueschist records burial from 2.1 GPa and 420 °C to 2.6 GPa and 520 °C. Well-defined Lu–Hf isochrons were obtained for the epidote eclogite (92.38 ± 0.22 Ma) and the lawsonite–epidote blueschist (90.19 ± 0.54 Ma), suggesting rapid garnet growth. The lawsonite–epidote eclogite (87.30 ± 0.39 Ma) and the prograde lawsonite blueschist (ca. 86 Ma) are younger, whereas the garnet amphibolite (104.5 ± 3.5 Ma) is older. Our data reveal a consistent trend of progressively decreasing geothermal gradient from granulite-facies conditions at ～104 Ma to the epidote-eclogite facies around 92 Ma, and the lawsonite blueschist-facies between 90 Ma and 86 Ma. Three Lu–Hf garnet dates (between 92 Ma and 87 Ma) weighted toward the growth of post-peak rims (as indicated by Lu distribution in garnet) suggest that the HP/LT rocks were exhumed continuously and not episodically. We infer that HP/LT metamorphic rocks within the Halilba?? Complex were subjected to continuous return flow, with “warm” rocks being exhumed during the tectonic burial of “cold” ones. Our results, combined with regional geological constraints, allow us to speculate that subduction started at a transform fault near a mid-oceanic spreading centre. Following its formation, this ancient subduction interface evolved thermally over more than 15 Myr, most likely as a result of heat dissipation rather than crustal underplating.     

A method for using a fully coupled climate system model to generate detailed surface boundary conditions for paleoclimate modeling investigations: an early Paleogene example

Although fully coupled models of the earth system are now common, simpler model architectures maintain significant utility, and scientific investigations aimed at understanding paleoclimates are frequently conducted with fixed sea surface temperature (SST) or slab ocean modeling experiments. One of the challenges facing the paleoclimate community is that the proxy data used to generate SST boundary conditions exist at a finer resolution and with very limited spatial coverage when compared to a climate model. In addition, SST proxy estimates often represent a single season or annual average conditions. This mismatch in coverage and resolution frequently results in paleoclimate modelers using SST distributions that have very limited spatial and temporal variability. In many regions, a spatially and temporally detailed SST distribution may be necessary for the accurate reproduction of paleoclimatic conditions. Here we borrow from the concept of flux correction and, using available proxy estimates of SST as our guide, force a fully coupled earth system model to produce a spatially and temporally detailed SST distribution for the paleoclimate of the early Paleogene (45–65 Ma). The SST values we produce represent a conservative estimate of early Paleogene high latitude SSTs and match tropical temperatures for this time period well. In addition to matching proxy estimates, our model-derived SST distribution has spatial and temporal variability that meshes well with global climate model resolution. This detailed SST distribution is now available to us as we investigate the causes and sensitivities of early Paleogene climate in fixed SST and slab ocean modeling experiments. The method we used to generate this spatially and temporally detailed SST distribution may prove useful for those investigating other time periods in the past, or the future, for which detailed model boundary conditions are unavailable.