Principles to coordinate managed aquifer recharge with natural resource management policies in Australia

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a tool available to water-resources managers that assists agencies to secure water supplies and protect aquifers and groundwater-dependent ecosystems in the face of climate change and growing water demand. Yet few natural-resources managers have access to a coordinated set of policies that enable the potential benefits of MAR to be fully realised in urban and rural areas. This paper reviews contemporary Australian water-resource policies and systematically applies a refined set of ‘robust separation of rights’ principles based on secure entitlements, annual allocations and end-use obligations to guide the coordination of policies specific to each of the four operational processes central to MAR schemes: source water harvesting, aquifer recharge, recovery of stored water and end use. Particular attention is given to the formulation of policies relating to the recovery of water, including the feasibility for market exchange of permanent and temporary rights to recover recharged water, as these have the potential to greatly expand the role of MAR. Aquifer characteristics, existing groundwater extractions and potential third party effects need to be taken into account in determining both recovery entitlements and annual allocations. A transitional pathway to implement novel MAR policies is suggested.     

Star-forming regions in blue compact dwarf galaxies

We present near-infrared 2.1-μm continuum and Brγ and 1–0S(1) line images of three blue compact dwarf galaxies: II Zw 40, NGC 5253 and He 2-10. Comparison of the morphologies of the emission-line regions and continuum together with the line ratios shows that in these cases the starbursts are typified by strongly peaked Brγ and weak diffuse H₂ emission, indicating the presence of one or more compact nuclei, and also tidal tails. We consider the possible origins of the H₂ emission, and conclude that shock excitation in cloud collisions, and hence dynamical processes such as interactions or mergers, is important. By comparing models of the equivalent width of Brγ to other age constraints from the literature we show that the star formation must have occurred not only recently but in a short-duration burst. The current centres of star formation in all three galaxies are of a similar age but, whereas the hotspots in He 2-10 are coeval, we find phase differences between those in NGC 5253. We compare the masses and sizes of the star formation sites to those of present-day globular clusters.     

A snapshot of environmental iodine and selenium in La Pampa and San Juan provinces of Argentina

Soil and water samples were collected from farmsteads and provincial towns across the provinces of La Pampa and San Juan in Argentina. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used for the determination of iodine in water following addition of TMAH to 1% v/v and soils extracted with 5% TMAH. Iodine in agricultural soils was in the range of 1.3–20.9 mg/kg in La Pampa located in central Argentina and 0.1–10.5 mg/kg in San Juan located in the northwest Andean region of Argentina, compared to a worldwide mean of 2.6 mg/kg. Mean selenium concentrations for soils from both provinces were 0.3 mg/kg, compared to a worldwide mean of 0.4 mg/kg. The majority of soils were slightly alkaline at pH 6.7 to 8.8. The organic content of soils in La Pampa was 2.5–5.9% and in San Juan 0.1–2.3%, whilst, mobile water extractable soil-iodine was 1–18% for La Pampa and 2–42% for San Juan. No simple relationship observed for pH and organic content, but mobile iodine (%) was highest when organic content was low, higher for lower total iodine concentrations and generally highest at pH > 7.5. Water drawn for drinking or irrigation of a variety of crops and pasture was found to range from 52 to 395 µg/L iodine and 0.8 to 21.3 µg/L selenium in La Pampa and 16–95 µg/L iodine and 0.6 to 8.2 µg/L selenium in San Juan. The water samples were all slightly alkaline between pH 8 and 10. Water–iodine concentrations were highest at pH 7.8 to 8.8 and in groundwaters positively correlated with conductivity. Raw water entering water treatment works in La Pampa was reduced in iodine content from approximately 50 µg/L in raw water to 1 µg/L in treated drinking water, similar to levels observed in regions experiencing iodine deficiency.     

Evolution of the obliquities of the giant planets in encounters during migration

Tsiganis et al. [Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., 2005. Nature 435, 459-461] have proposed that the current orbital architecture of the outer Solar System could have been established if it was initially compact and Jupiter and Saturn crossed the 2:1 orbital resonance by divergent migration. The crossing led to close encounters among the giant planets, but the orbital eccentricities and inclinations were damped to their current values by interactions with planetesimals. Brunini [Brunini, A., 2006. Nature 440, 1163-1165] has presented widely publicized numerical results showing that the close encounters led to the current obliquities of the giant planets. We present a simple analytic argument which shows that the change in the spin direction of a planet relative to an inertial frame during an encounter between the planets is very small and that the change in the obliquity (which is measured from the orbit normal) is due to the change in the orbital inclination. Since the inclinations are damped by planetesimal interactions on timescales much shorter than the timescales on which the spins precess due to the torques from the Sun, especially for Uranus and Neptune, the obliquities should return to small values if they are small before the encounters. We have performed simulations using the symplectic integrator SyMBA, modified to include spin evolution due to the torques from the Sun and mutual planetary interactions. Our numerical results are consistent with the analytic argument for no significant remnant obliquities.     

Experimental study of the heterogeneous reactivity between atomic chlorine and palmitic acid films

The present study focuses on the heterogeneous reaction between gaseous atomic chlorine and solid palmitic acid films, used as a proxy of the fatty acids detected in atmospheric airborne particles. This reaction is investigated in a coated wall flow tube reactor coupled to a molecular beam mass spectrometer. The reactive surfaces were prepared by coating the inner surface of the reactor. The initial Cl˙ and Cl₂ uptake coefficient measured for these heterogeneous reactions is found to be fast: γ_o ^Cl?=?0.07. The rapid formation of hydrogen chloride corresponding with the disappearance of atomic chlorine is highlighted. Furthermore, the formation of new chlorinated species on the solid substrate has been detected by TOF SIMS analysis leading to an ageing process of the surface. A heterogeneous recombination of Cl atoms to Cl₂ molecules was observed for aged surfaces.     

The effect of weather on grid systems and the reliability of electricity supply

A reliable public electricity supply depends in part on a reliable electricity grid system to transmit and distribute electrical power from generating stations to consumers. The grid system comprises many components that are exposed to the weather and can experience faults as a result of weather events. As climate change is expected to alter the number and severity of weather events, then the reliability of the grid and hence the reliability of electricity supplies can be affected. This paper reviews the effects of weather events on grid systems, illustrated by reference to experience on the grid systems in Europe and North America. It is shown that the effects on the high voltage transmission networks are different from the effects on lower voltage distribution networks and that generally the most significant extreme weather is high winds. Some remedial measures that can mitigate the effects of weather events are also described.     

An NMR survey of United States oil shales

Solid state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques were used to measure the fraction of aliphatic carbon in oil shales from United States deposits, ranging in age from Ordovician to Tertiary. The aliphatic carbon fraction was shown to correlate with the fraction of organic matter converted to oil during Fischer assay. The fraction of organic matter convertible to oil is a primary factor in evaluating the oil potential of an oil shale resource. Nuclear magnetic resonance determines this in a nondestructive, easily interpreted bulk analysis of the whole rock.