A preliminary methods comparison for measurement of dissolved organic nitrogen in seawater

Routine determination of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) is performed in numerous laboratories around the world using one of three families of methods: UV oxidation (UV), persulfate oxidation (PO), or high temperature combustion (HTC). Essentially all routine methods measure total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) and calculate DON by subtracting the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). While there is currently no strong suggestion that any of these methods is inadequate, there are continuing suspicions of slight inaccuracy by UV methods.This is a report of a broad community methods comparison where 29 sets (7 UV, 13 PO, and 9 HTC) of TDN analyses were performed on five samples with varying TDN and DIN concentrations. Analyses were done in a “blind” procedure with results sent to the first author. With editing out one set of extreme outliers (representing 5 out of 145 ampoules analyzed), the community comparability for analyzing the TDN samples was in the 8–28% range (coefficient of variation representing one standard deviation for the five individual samples by 28 analyses). When DIN concentrations were subtracted uniformly (single DIN value for each sample), the comparability was obviously worse (19–46% cv). This comparison represents a larger and more diverse set of analyses, but the overall comparability is only marginally better than that of the Seattle workshop of a decade ago. Grouping methods, little difference was seen other than inconclusive evidence that the UV methods gave TDN values for several of the samples higher than HTC methods. Since there was much scatter for each of the groups of methods and for all analyses when grouped, it is thought that more uniformity in procedures is probably needed. An important unplanned observation is that variability in DIN analyses (used in determining the final analyte in most UV and PO methods) is essentially as large as the variability in the TDN analyses.This exercise should not be viewed as a qualification exercise for the analysts, but should instead be considered a broad preliminary test of the comparison of the families of methods being used in various laboratories around the world. Based on many independent analyses here, none of the routinely used methods appears to be grossly inaccurate, thus, most routine TDN analyses being reported in the literature are apparently accurate. However, it is not reassuring that the ability of the international community to determine DON in deep oceanic waters continues to be poor. It is suggested that as an outgrowth of this paper, analysts using UV and PO methods experiment and look more carefully at the completeness of DIN conversion to the final analyte and also at the accuracy of their analysis of the final analyte. HTC methods appear to be relatively easy and convenient and have potential for routine adoption. Several of the authors of this paper are currently working together on an interlaboratory comparison on HTC methodology.     

Evaluation of lead movement from the abiotic to biotic at a small-arms firing range

An investigation to characterize the extent and speciation of lead contamination in water, soil, and surrounding biota was conducted at a small-arms firing and skeet range in West Point, New York. Specifically, lead concentrations were examined in sediment, soil, water, plants, fish and invertebrates. There is an elevated concentration of lead in the soil and sediment up to 11,000 g/g and 340 g/g and also evidence of bioconcentration of the lead by the surrounding biota. Earthworms had up to 90% higher concentrations of lead while tadpoles showed 20% higher concentrations compared with their controls. Lead uptake by indigenous plants gave varying results. Two species bioconcentrated lead 20 and 55 times greater than the control plants. These differences were significant (P <0.05 level) when tested by the students t test. Further studies show that the total leachable lead was highest in the invertebrates and vertebrates but not in the plants.     

Tectonic significance of syn-rift sediment packages across the Gabon-Cabinda continental margin

The tectonic development of a continental margin is recorded in the stratigraphic successions preserved along and across the margin in terms of stratal relationships (e.g., onlap, downlap, truncation), lithofacies, biostratigraphy, and paleo-water depths. By using these observations coupled to a kinematic and flexural model for the deformation of the lithosphere, we have elucidated the tectonic significance of the preserved stratigraphy that comprises the Gabon-Cabinda margin of west Africa. Two hinge zones, an Eastern and Atlantic, formed along the Gabon-Cabinda margin in response to three discrete extensional events occuring from Berriasian to Aptian time. The Eastern hinge zone demarcates the eastern limit of a broadly distributed Berriasian extension that resulted in the formation of deep anoxic, lacustrine systems as evidenced by the silts and shales of the Sialivakou and lower Djeno Formations and the regressive packages of the upper Djeno Formation. Approximately 1.5 to 2 km of asymmetric footwall uplift was induced across the Eastern hinge zone in response to the mechanical unloading of the lithosphere during this first phase of rifting. In contrast, the Atlantic hinge, located approximately 90 km west of the Eastern hinge, marks the eastern limit of a second phase of extension that began in the Hauterivian. Footwall uplift and rotation exposed earlier syn-rift and pre-rift sediments to at least wavebase causing varying amounts of erosional truncation across the Atlantic hinge zone along much of the Gabon-Cabinda margins. We interpret the thickness variations of reworked clastic sediment of this age (e.g. the Melania Formation) between the hinge zones as indicative of variations in the degree of uplift and erosional truncation of the Atlantic hinge. For example, the absence of Melania Formation across the Congo margin implies that uplift of the Atlantic hinge was relatively minor compared to that across the Cabinda and Gabon margins, the latter being characterized by significant thicknesses of Melania Formation (or equivalent). Material eroded from the Cabinda and Gabon Atlantic hinge zone may in part account for the thick wedge of sediment deposited seaward of the Gabon-Cabinda Atlantic hinge (the Erva Formation). Our modelling suggests that this wedge of reworked elastics represents deposition by along-axis gravity flows within a deep water (≈2 km) environment. A third and final phase of extension in the late Barremian-early Aptian was responsible for breaching the continental lithosphere to form the ocean/continent boundary and thus the installation of open marine conditions. Elsewhere, the environments will tend to be marginal marine to brackish, depending on the efficiency of the Atlantic hinge zone to act as a barrier to marine enchroachment. This third rift phase reactivated both the Eastern and Atlantic hinge0zones thereby creating accomodation for the Marnes Noires Formation (and equivalent) source rock deposition between the hinges and the Falcão source rock equivalent seaward of the Atlantic hinge. Two possible scenarios exist for the lateral distribution of the Marnes Noires Formation. If the reactivated rift flank topography across the Atlantic hinge was significant, then sedimentation would be restricted between the hinge zones within discrete lacustrine settings (e.g., Congo margin). Alternatively, if hinge zone uplift was relatively minor, then a coral-rimmed archipelago may have developed parallel to the margin with restricted communication across the Atlantic hinge zone (e.g., Cabinda margin). In this latter scenario, dilution of the Marnes Noires source rocks by terrigenous input from the eroding Atlantic hinge zone should be relatively minor thereby enhancing source rock quality. Furthermore, potential marine upwelling outboard of the Atlantic hinge zone is likely the cause for the production and accumulation of organic-rich material associated with the Falcão source rock of the Kwanza basin. By late Aptian time, the remaining accomodation between the hinge zones was partially filled by across- and along-axis prograding deltaic systems of the Argilles Vertes and Tchibota Formations. The progradation and interaction of the Argilles Vertes depositional lobes resulted in the formation of residual paleo-relief. Subsequent marine incursions and flooding of this paleo-relief led to the development of basal conglomerates (the Chela ‘lag’ unconformity) grading upward into fine-grained sands and evaporites. Consequently, an inverse relationship should exist betweeb evaporite thickness (in particular, the lower members) and the thickness of the underlying Argilles Vertes and Tchibota Formations. Variations in Loeme evaporite thickness is a consequence of stratigraphic and structural control with salt instability influencing local variability.Our modelling suggests the occurrence of two distinct evaporite sequences on the Congo margin, an earlier evaporite deposited seaward (west) of the Atlantic hinge during the second and third rift phases and the late Aptian Loeme Formation deposited between the hinge zones. An evaporite sequence seaward of the Atlantic hinge is inferred on the basis of extensive diapirs and salt tectonic structures observed in seismic data. In order to match the distribution and thickness of the observed post-salt stratigraphy across the basin, however, we require large paleowater depths west of the Atlantic hinge during the later Aptian. The existence of large paleowater depths precludes the formation of thick evaporite sequences within the outer basin. Consequently, we propose that the evaporites seaward of the Atlantic hinge were formed during the syn-rift development of the margin and are not contemporaneous with the post-rift Loeme salts deposited between the hinge zones. This double salt hypothesis is consistent with observations from the conjugate Brazilian margin.     

“Natural cycles” in lay understandings of climate change

This article analyses lay understandings of climate change elicited through a longitudinal population-based survey of climate change, place and community among 1162 residents in the Hunter Valley, Southeast Australia. We explore how older residents in contrasting rural and coastal geographic areas perceive climate change information in terms of culturally relevant meanings and values, lived experiences and emotional responses to seasonal cycles, temperature fluctuations and altered landscapes. Thematic analysis of comments given by 467 interviewees to an open-ended question identified a significant subset for whom the concepts of “nature” and “science” express competing views about changing climatic conditions. For them, the idea of “natural cycles” is a significant cultural construct that links nature and humans through time in a way that structures stable and resilient understandings of environmental change, drawing on established cosmological frameworks for contemplating the future in relation to the past. In contrast to other studies that postulate scepticism and denial as individuals’ fear management strategies in the face of climate change threat, we found that the natural cycles view is founded on a reassuring deeper conviction about how nature works, and is linked to other pro-environmental values not commonly found in sceptical groups. It is a paradox of natural cycles thinking that it rejects the anthropocentrism that is at the heart of science-based environmentalism. By contrast, it places humans as deeply integrated with nature, rather than operating outside it and attempting with uncertain science to control something that is ultimately uncontrollable.     

Towards spatially distributed quantitative assessment of tsunami inundation models

This paper presents a framework and data for spatially distributed assessment of tsunami inundation models. Our associated validation test is based upon the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which affords a uniquely large amount of observational data for events of this kind. Specifically, we use eyewitness accounts to assess onshore flow depths and speeds as well as a detailed inundation survey of Patong City, Thailand to compare modelled and observed inundation. Model predictions matched well the detailed inundation survey as well as altimetry data from the JASON satellite, eyewitness accounts of wave front arrival times and onshore flow speeds. Important buildings and other structures were incorporated into the underlying elevation model and are shown to have a large influence on inundation extent.     

伊犁京希—伊尔曼德金矿床的热液蚀变及成矿流体演化特征

京希－伊尔曼德金矿床的热液蚀变在空间上有明显的分带性，中心蚀变带以强烈的硅化为主，典型的蚀变矿物组合为石英或玉髓和地开石，中间带为高级泥化带，以地开石－高岭石－石英或玉髓为特征；外带为以蒙脱石－高岭石－伊利石－其他粘土矿物等矿物组合为主的泥化带，蚀变强度和矿物组合的分带性是温度、压力和化学梯度的反映，是流体在不断的水或流体－岩石反应和成分交换的产物。该矿床成矿流体演化过程为：早期酸性（pH=2-3)含矿流体在沿断裂上升过程中，受围岩灰岩中的流体（pH为中性）缓冲，在其进入高渗透性的碎屑岩层时，流速和水－岩石或流休－岩石反应大大加快，并在与大气降水的混合作用下，pH值逐步升高（3－5），产生了流体的温度及成分梯度，在温度和压力迅速下降的条件下，金及蚀变矿物沉淀、结晶生长，形成了蚀变空间分带，中心带保存完好的多孔状石英和地开石等高级泥化矿物组合说明该矿床是高硫化热液体系作用下的产物。     

Climate change or nuclear power—No thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain

The UK is witnessing a new line in political debate around new nuclear energy generation as one potential feature of future energy policy, specifically for contributing to climate change mitigation alongside energy security. Little is known about how ordinary citizens might be responding to this reframing. This paper reports the results from a major British survey (n=1491) undertaken in the autumn of 2005. The consistent message is that while higher proportions of the British public are prepared to accept nuclear power if they believe it contributes to climate change mitigation, this is a highly conditional view, with very few actively preferring this over renewable sources given the choice. People see both climate change and nuclear power as problematic in terms of risks and express only a ‘reluctant acceptance’ of nuclear power as a ‘solution’ to climate change. The combined data from this survey can also be interpreted as an indication of the complexity surrounding beliefs about energy futures and the difficulty of undertaking simplistic risk–risk tradeoffs within any single framing of the issues; such as nuclear energy versus climate change. The results also indicate that it would be unwise, in the UK as elsewhere, to simplistically assume that there exists any single or stable public ‘opinion’ on such complex matters. We conclude with a discussion of the role and implications of the survey evidence for the policy process.     

Regional magma plumbing and emplacement mechanisms of the Faroe‐Shetland Sill Complex: implications for magma transport and petroleum systems within sedimentary basins

The movement of magma through the shallow crust and the impact of subsurface sill complexes on the hydrocarbon systems of prospective sedimentary basins has long been an area of interest and debate. Based on 3D seismic reflection and well data, we present a regional analysis of the emplacement and magmatic plumbing system of the Palaeogene Faroe‐Shetland Sill Complex (FSSC), which is intruded into the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sequences of the Faroe‐Shetland Basin (FSB). Identification of magma flow directions through detailed seismic interpretation of approximately 100 sills indicates that the main magma input zones into the FSB were controlled primarily by the NE–SW basin structure that compartmentalise the FSB into its constituent sub‐basins. An analysis of well data shows that potentially up to 88% of sills in the FSSC are <40 m in thickness, and thus below the vertical resolution limit of seismic data at depths at which most sills occur. This resolution limitation suggests that caution needs to be exercised when interpreting magmatic systems from seismic data alone, as a large amount of intrusive material could potentially be missed. The interaction of the FSSC with the petroleum systems of the FSB is not well understood. Given the close association between the FSSC and potential petroleum migration routes into some of the oil/gas fields (e.g. Tormore), the role the intrusions may have played in compartmentalisation of basin fill needs to be taken fully into account to further unlock the future petroleum potential of the FSB.