Amino acid nitrogen in atmospheric aerosols: Occurrence,sources and photochemical modification

The presence of amino acids in atmospheric precipitation and aerosols has been noted for many years, yet relatively little is known about these or other nitrogen containing organic compounds in the atmosphere. Marine and continental rainwater analyses indicate that atmospheric aerosols, and subsequently atmospheric precipitation, may contain substantial levels of free and combined amino acids. The most likely source of amino N in the remote marine atmosphere appears to be the injection of proteinaceous material through the action of bursting bubbles at the sea-air interface or the long range transport from terrestrial sources. The capacity of these substrates to undergo photooxidation and photodegradation in the atmosphere to simpler species, such as ammonium ions, carboxylic acids, and for the S containing amino acids, oxidized forms of sulfur, has received little attention from atmospheric chemists. The photochemistry of covalently bound amino groups, particularly as found in peptides and amino acids, is discussed here with the purpose of summarizing what is known of their occurrence and their possible importance to atmospheric chemistry.     

Extreme differentiation in the proterozoic Gjerstad-Morkeheia Complex of South Norway

The Gjerstad-Morkeheia Complex contains a series of highly differentiated, iron and alkali enriched intrusions. The rocks range from basic to acid compositions and were variably mylonitised (under anhydrous conditions) before being metamorphosed (and hydrated) at upper amphibolite facies grade. They now form a series of ironenriched metagabbros, metadiorites and granodioritic gneisses, together with granitic and charnockitic augen gneisses. The augen formed by shearing of original megacrysts in the igneous rocks. A major mylonite zone formed at the same time.The rocks are enriched in Fe, Mn, K, Na, Ti, Zr, Ba, P, La, Ce and impoverished in Mg, V, Ni, Cr and are considered to result from extreme differentiation of an alkaline magma. They are interpreted in terms of a two-stage model, with the intrusion of several fractionated batches of magma, each of which differentiated in situ.The rocks show some affinities with other Proterozoic complexes, particularly some anorthosite-monzonite-charnockite suites (e.g. in SW Norway and in the Grenville Province) and differentiated alkaline suites (e.g. in the Gardar Province of South Greenland).The intrusions were anorogenic and emplaced in rocks which had been metamorphosed (between 1,600 and 1,500 Ma). Subsequent thrusting and mylonitisation was followed by crustal thinning and attempted rifting with widespread intrusion of basic rocks (around 1,200 Ma). The rifting was aborted by the onset of the Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) orogeny and probably relates to similar basic intrusive activity elsewhere in the Proterozoic supercontinent which was ultimately, successfully broken up after the Grenville orogeny.     

Late Holocene sea-level changes and isostatic crustal movements in Atlantic Canada

It has long been recognised that sea levels along the shores of Atlantic Canada have been rising rapidly during the Holocene in response to isostatic crustal movements. New sea-level data for the Bay of Fundy coast of southern New Brunswick (Little Dipper Harbour) and the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia (Chezzetcook Inlet) show that late Holocene average rates of sea-level rise in these areas have been 1.0 and 2.5 m per 1000 yr, respectively. Numerical model calculations suggest that the high rates of sea-level rise are due to crustal subsidence produced by the combined effects of Laurentide ice loading (forebulge collapse) and ocean loading of the Scotian shelf. Although ice loading is the dominant contributor to the regional sea-level pattern, ocean loading is also important, contributing up to 40% of the total crustal subsidence in some areas. Tide gauges record rates of sea-level rise during the 20^th century that are 0.7–1.9 mm/yr higher than late Holocene trends, with the highest residuals occurring in the Bay of Fundy.     

Does scientific conjecture accurately describe restoration practice? Insight from an international river restoration survey

Few sources exist to draw generalizations about the incredibly diverse international river restoration community. Generalizations in the restoration literature tend to be grounded on individual experiences or logical conjecture. To fill this perceived gap, an international web-based survey was launched. Over 500 respondents from 37 different countries participated. The results, posted on the web, act as a database of perceptions and individual experiences, from which the restoration community can make their own interpretations. With three examples, we contrast scientific conjecture with the perceptions of the restoration community who participated in this survey.     

20th Century sea-level change along the eastern US: Unravelling the contributions from steric changes, Greenland ice sheet mass balance and Late Pleistocene glacial loading

We have considered the influence of ocean temperature and salinity changes, mass changes of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) and the isostatic response of the solid earth to the most recent glacial cycle on 20th century sea-level change along the US east coast with the intention of better understanding the observed signal as well as determining the potential of the tide gauge data for constraining the recent (past 50–100 yr) mass balance of the GIS and earth viscosity structure. Our results show that the signal due to steric changes is large and displays a complex spatial variation which can account for a significant portion of the observed signal. In contrast, that due to changes in the GIS is relatively small and insensitive to the specific geometry of the mass balance model adopted. As a consequence, the tide gauge data alone are not capable of providing useful constraints on either the magnitude or form of recent GIS mass balance. Our inference of mantle viscosity structure based on the tide gauge data was affected dramatically when the steric effect was accounted for: An earth model with an upper mantle viscosity of 8 × 10¹⁹ Pa s and a lower mantle viscosity of 5 × 10²² Pa s produced the best fit to the steric-corrected data; the optimal fit to the uncorrected data was obtained for upper and lower mantle viscosities of 5 × 10²⁰ Pa s and 10²² Pa s, respectively.     

The Mgeni granite: an example of the Megacrystic mantled-feldspar granite-charnockite Intrusives in southeastern Africa

Summary Megacrystic granites which form the Oribi Gorge Suite of southern Natal show many features that closely resemble the rapakivi granite—charnockite associations of the northern hemisphere. Detailed studies of the late-kinematic Mgeni batholith indicate that the granitic rocks can be divided into three major groups, characterised by distinctive mafic mineralogy, chemistry and isotopic ratios. The batholith consists of biotite ±garnet granites and of hornblende ± pyroxene granitoids. A high silica, coarse-grained leucogranite, the Nqwadolo granite, intrudes the core of the batholith. Most rocks are garnetiferous and appear to belong to the ilmenite-series of granites. The granites are classified as rapakivi-like granites.

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Der Mgeni Granit—Ein Beispiel megakrystischer feldspatummantelter Granit-Charnokit intrusiva im südöstlichen Afrika

Zusammenfassung Megakrystische Granite aus der Oribi Gorge Suite des südlichen Natal zeigen vielerlei Ähnlichkeiten mit den Rapakivigranit-Charnokitabfolgen der nördlichen Hemisphäre. Detailstudien des spätkinematisch intrudierten Mgeni-Batholiten zeigen, daß diese granitischen Gesteine in drei Hauptgruppen, die durch unterschiedliche mafische Mineralzusammensetzung, Chemismus und Isotopenverhältnissen charakterisiert werden, untergliedert werden können. Der Batholith wird aus Biotit± Granat-Graniten und aus Hornblende ± Pyroxen-Granitoiden aufgebaut. Ein siliziumreicher, grobkörniger Leukogranit, der Nqwaldolo Granit, intrudierte in den Kern des Batholithen. Die meisten Gesteine sind granatführend und scheinen den Graniten der ilmenite series zuzurechnen zu sein. Die Granite sind als Rapakivi-Granite zu klassifizieren.

     

On the origin of late Holocene sea-level highstands within equatorial ocean basins

Late Holocene sea-level highstands of amplitude 3 m are endemic to equatorial ocean basins. These highstands imply an ongoing and moderate, sub-mm/yr, sea-level fall in the far field of the Late Pleistocene ice cover that has long been linked to the process of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA; Clark et al., 1978). Mitrovica and Peltier (1991) coined the term ‘equatorial ocean syphoning’ to describe the GIA-induced sea-level fall and they provided the first physical explanation for the process. They argued that water migrated away from far-field equatorial ocean basins in order to fill space vacated by collapsing forebulges at the periphery of previously glaciated regions. We provide a complete physical explanation for the origin of equatorial ocean syphoning, and the associated development of sea-level highstands, using numerical solutions of the equation that governs meltwater redistribution on spherical, viscoelastic Earth models. In particular, we separate the total predicted sea-level change into contributions associated with ice and meltwater loading effects, and, by doing so, isolate a second mechanism that contributes significantly to the ocean syphoning process. Ocean loading at continental margins induces a ‘levering’ of continents and a subsidence of offshore regions that has also long been recognized within the GIA literature (Walcott, 1972). We show that the influx of water into the volume created by this subsidence produces a sea-level fall at locations distant from these margins—indeed over the major ocean basins—that is comparable in amplitude to the syphoning mechanism isolated by Mitrovica and Peltier (1991).     

Reproducibility of river water quality measurements: inter-agency comparisons for quality assurance

We assessed the reproducibility of river state-of-environment (SoE) water quality measurements in the Wellington Region, New Zealand (NZ). Field staff from GWRC and NIWA conducted 29 side-by-side water sampling and in-situ measurements at six river sites of diverse water quality for 12 variables measured routinely in river SoE monitoring across NZ. Field measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and visual clarity agreed closely with strong numerical similarity (within 10%). Numerical similarity ranged widely for laboratory measurements, from strong for nitrate-nitrite-nitrogen to weak for turbidity, dissolved reactive phosphorus, and ammoniacal-nitrogen. Numerical agreement was very weak for laboratory pH (which is problematic) and E. coli–which is ‘tolerable’ for many applications given good correlation (R?=?0.94) over a 2000-fold concentration range. The findings of our inter-agency comparison have contributed to quality assurance recommendations in the NZ National Environmental Monitoring Standard (NEMS) for water quality.     

Geographical object–oriented databases—a case study

ABSTRACT

An Australian standard for Spatial Data Transfer modelled on the draft American standard is likely to be introduced in 1993. The spatial data model is not accommodated by existing DBMS such as relational systems. Using this model as an example, the suitability of object–oriented database systems for geographical databases is demonstrated. Some initial performance figures obtained with the ONTOS system on an example database are given.