Light and substrate concentration relationships with marine ammonium assimilation and oxidation rates

Relationships between light intensity and substrate concentration and rates of assimilation and oxidation of ammonium by microorganisms were investigated at four stations off the Washington coast and three stations in the Southern California Bight. Ammonium oxidation rates were negatively correlated with light in the photic zone at all stations; light inhibition of nitrifying bacteria forms an important control over the depth distribution of ammonium oxidation activity. Both assimilation and oxidation were positively correlated with ammonium concentration at the Washington coast stations, where ambient ammonium concentrations were high. Light and ammonium assimilation rate were positively correlated at the Southern California Bight stations (within the photic zone; i.e., excluding depths greater than 150m), but unrelated at the Washington coast stations. Assimilation and oxidation have nearly opposite distribution patterns with depth in the water column, but phytoplankton and nitrifying bacteria probably compete for ammonium at depths near the bottom of the photic zone.     

Impact of crude oil on sulphate reduction and methane production in sediments impacted by the Amoco Cadiz oil spill

The activities of methane-producing and sulphate-reducing bacteria in intertidal sediments along the Brittany coast of France were examined in order to determine the effect of the Amoco Cadiz oil spill on sediment microbial processes. Porewater chemistry, methane production, sulphate rate and [2?¹⁴C]-acetate metabolism did not vary significantly between beach, estuary, and marsh sites, oiled or unoiled, after the Amoco Cadiz spill. Oiled sediments contained highly weathered oil of Amoco Cadiz origin, but unoiled comparison sites also contained hydrocarbons from anthropogenic sources. The additions of weathered Amoco Cadiz mousse, fresh and slightly weathered light Arabian crude oil, benzene or toluene to sediments from the oiled and unoiled marsh site did not significantly affect rates of sulphate reduction or methane production. The oxidation of [2?^14C]-acetate to ¹⁴CO₂, however, was significantly decreased when mousse, crude oil, benzene or toluene was added to sediments from the unoiled site. Inhibition seemed to be proportional to the extent of weathering. Sediments recently exposed to Amoco Cadiz crude oil were less affected by a second oiling, suggesting that the indigenous populations may have been replaced by organisms more resistant to oil toxicity. These results suggested that the Amoco Cadiz oil spill did not have major long-term effects on sulphate reduction or methane production.     

Frequency management support for remote sea-state sensing using the JINDALEE skywave radar

Successful operation of a skywave (over-the-horizon, OTH) radar in a remote sea-state sensing mode is critically dependent upon the application of comprehensive frequency management techniques. In addition to the problem of selecting a frequency yielding an adequate signal-to-noise ratio in the geographical area under investigation, attention must be paid to minimization of ionospheric multimode and other phenomena capable of distorting or convoluting the sea backscatter spectrum. This paper describes the manner in which these problems have been addressed in the JINDALEE skywave radar, and relates the practical difficulties inherent in the task of frequency management in support of an OTH radar involved in sea-state sensing. Measurement techniques include backscatter and oblique-incidence sounding, HF spectral surveillance, and a low-powered frequency-agile "miniradar" capable of operating in either a conventional backscatter or alternate oblique-incidence mode. In addition to providing the main radar with real-time frequency management advice, a principal emphasis has been the acquisition of a synoptic data base suitable for off-line statistical analysis.     

Polychaete Assemblages in the San José Gulf (Chubut, Argentina), in Relation to Abiotic and Biotic Factors

Abstract. The composition and distribution of the polychaete assemblages of the San José Gulf (Chubut, Argentina) are described in relation to environmental variables using indicator species (TWINSPAN) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The polychaetes were collected during a benthic cruise in October 1984. Sediments were collected at 110 sampling sites using a 0.25 m² van Veen bottom grab or by divers in near-shore areas and sieved with 1 mm mesh. A total of 73 polychaete taxa were collected and identified. Both analyses revealed the presence of four main assemblages distributed according to depth as well as bivalve and seaweed abundance gradients: ' Syllis-Eunice ' and ' Harmothoe-Eunice ' assemblages occurred at the same depths (0 –­ 185 m) and substrata (poorly sorted rock and coarse sand), but were separated by bivalve and seaweed abundance, wherby the highest abundances of bivalves and the minimum abundances of seaweeds corresponded to the ' Syllis-Eunice ' association. The ' Ninoe-Glycera ' and ' Aglaophamus- Fabriciinae indet. 6' assemblages also occurred at similar depths (0 – 60 m) and substrata (very well-sorted medium-fine sand), but differed in their composition of bivalves and seaweed abundances; the ' Aglaophamus- Fabriciinae indet. 6' association corresponded with minimum bivalve and maximum seaweed abundances.     

A note on lithospheric bending calculations

Summary. This paper derives exact solutions to the equations of static plane strain by means of propagator matrices for homogeneous, gravitating and non- gravitating elastic media. These solutions are immediately verifiable and are flexible under a variety of boundary conditions. Propagator matrices are eminently suitable for computer encoding and, through their multiplication, are applicable to depth-dependent structures. Attention is focused upon the bending of floating plates which are loaded to simulate the deflection of oceanic lithosphere in the vicinity of trenches. By comparing responses computed with and without body forces, I find that gravity does not meaningfully change deflection profiles; however, it can influence important aspects of the internal stress state. Gravitational stresses are proportional to the gradient of the vertical deformation and amount to about 10 per cent of the bending stresses in these models. Propagators which include gravity are used to investigate the effect of regional horizontal stresses upon bending plates. I conclude that applied compressive forces can transport the neutral surface through 10–20 km of depth without significantly deforming the plate profile or increasing the maximum internal stress by more than 30 percent. These calculations support the contention that variable compressive stresses resulting from interplate coupling could account for observed regional differences in neutral surface height. For elastic-plastic material, the fundamental equations of motion become non-linear; however, there appears to be no a priori objection to their linearization. I speculate that the propagator formalism, when applied in an iterative approach, could be a powerful method for computing the deformation of such media.     

Avalanche prediction in Scotland: I. A survey of avalanche activity

Avalanches are a common occurrence throughout the Scottish Highlands and have been responsible for several injuries and deaths amongst climbers and ramblers. The paper describes approximately 1000 avalanches which have been recorded over the last 200 years, the majority being observed in the Cairngorms between the winters of 1977–1978 and 1979–1980. Many different types of avalanche have been recorded, including slab avalanches and loose snow avalanches. Although the majority are comparatively small, a small proportion are extremely large. These may travel over a mile and involve a snow layer up to two or three metres thick and 200–300 m wide. Excluding small-scale sluffing from free faces, most avalanches release from slopes between 35° and 45°. Avalanche activity occurs during many different types of weather conditions, including thaws, cold snaps, storms and calm conditions.     

Quantification of nitrate storage in the vadose (unsaturated) zone: a missing component of terrestrial N budgets

National terrestrial nitrogen budgets for many developed countries have been calculated as part of the management of impacts of N on the environment, but these rarely represent the subsurface explicitly. Using estimates of vadose zone travel time and agricultural nitrate loading, we quantify, for the first time, the total mass of nitrate contained in the vadose zone of aquifers in England and Wales. This mass peaked in 2008 at 1400 kt N (800 to >1700 kt N from sensitivity analyses), which is approximately 2.5 to 6 times greater than saturated zone estimates for this period and indicates that the subsurface is an important store of reactive nitrogen. About 70% of the nitrate mass is estimated to be in the Chalk, with the remainder split between the Permo‐Triassic sandstones, the Jurassic Oolitic limestones and minor aquifers. Current controls on fertilizer application mean that the vadose zone is now a nitrate source, and in 2015 we estimate the net flux from the unsaturated zone to groundwater to be 72 kt N/a. The mass of nitrate in the vadose zone should be included in future terrestrial nitrogen budgets at national and global scales to improve ecosystem management. British Geological Survey © NERC 2015. Hydrological Processes © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anthropogenic influences on groundwater in the vicinity of a long‐lived radioactive waste repository

The groundwater flow system in the Culebra Dolomite Member (Culebra) of the Permian Rustler Formation is a potential radionuclide release pathway from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the only deep geological repository for transuranic waste in the United States. In early conceptual models of the Culebra, groundwater levels were not expected to fluctuate markedly, except in response to long‐term climatic changes, with response times on the order of hundreds to thousands of years. Recent groundwater pressures measured in monitoring wells record more than 25 m of drawdown. The fluctuations are attributed to pumping activities at a privately owned well that may be associated with the demand of the Permian Basin hydrocarbon industry for water. The unprecedented magnitude of drawdown provides an opportunity to quantitatively assess the influence of unplanned anthropogenic forcings near the WIPP. Spatially variable realizations of Culebra saturated hydraulic conductivity and specific storage were used to develop groundwater flow models to estimate a pumping rate for the private well and investigate its effect on advective transport. Simulated drawdown shows reasonable agreement with observations (average Model Efficiency coefficient = 0.7). Steepened hydraulic gradients associated with the pumping reduce estimates of conservative particle travel times across the domain by one half and shift the intersection of the average particle track with the compliance boundary by more than 2 km. The value of the transient simulations conducted for this study lies in their ability to (a) improve understanding of the Culebra groundwater flow system and (b) challenge the notion of time‐invariant land use in the vicinity of the WIPP.     

Body size and leg length variation in several species of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) along a rainfall and altitudinal gradient in the Negev Desert (Israel)

We studied body size (elytra length) and leg length variation in seven tenebrionid species along a rainfall and environmental gradient from the Ramon erosion cirque (Israel). Body size was not correlated with altitude in three species, while four species demonstrated changes in body size with altitude. Three species decreased their body size along the altitudinal gradient, whereasSepidium dathandemonstrated the opposite trend. The pattern of variation of body size along the altitudinal gradient inAdesmia metallica, Erodius edomitusandZophosis complanatamay be explained by ambient temperature rather than productivity variation. Neither elevation nor species abundance affected variance in body size of any species. Femur length changed significantly along the altitudinal gradient inA. metallicaonly. Both males and females had relatively longer legs in low elevations and relatively shorter legs in high elevations. Individuals with the longest legs were recorded on soils with low clay and high rock and gravel content. The texture of the soil had no noticeable effect on the leg length of all other beetle species.