Patterns of hydrologic connectivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys,Antarctica: a synthesis of 20 years of hydrologic data

Streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica moderate an important hydrologic and biogeochemical connection between upland alpine glaciers, valley‐bottom soils, and lowland closed‐basin lakes. Moreover, MDV streams are simple but dynamic systems ideal for studying interacting hydrologic and ecological dynamics. This work synthesizes 20 years of hydrologic data, collected as part of the MDVs Long‐Term Ecological Research project, to assess spatial and temporal dynamics of hydrologic connectivity between glaciers, streams, and lakes. Long‐term records of stream discharge (Q), specific electrical conductance (EC), and water temperature (T) from 18 streams were analysed in order to quantify the magnitude, duration, and frequency of hydrologic connections over daily, annual, and inter‐annual timescales. At a daily timescale, we observe predictable diurnal variations in Q, EC, and T. At an annual timescale, we observe longer streams to be more intermittent, warmer, and have higher median EC values, compared to shorter streams. Longer streams also behave chemostatically with respect to EC, whereas shorter streams are more strongly characterized by dilution. Inter‐annually, we observe significant variability in annual runoff volumes, likely because of climatic variability over the 20 record years considered. Hydrologic connections at all timescales are vital to stream ecosystem structure and function. This synthesis of hydrologic connectivity in the MDVs provides a useful end‐member template for assessing hydrologic connectivity in more structurally complex temperate watersheds. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and deployment of a deep-sea Raman probe for measurement of pore water geochemistry

We have developed, deployed, and tested a novel probe for study of the geochemistry of sediment pore waters based upon Raman spectroscopy. The Raman technique has already been used successfully for in situ measurements of targets of scientific interest including gas and hydrothermal vents and complex gas hydrates, but sediment geochemistry has so far been an intractable problem since the sediments themselves are strongly fluorescent and typically only very small sample volumes are obtainable. The 35 cm long probe extracts pore fluids through a 10 μm sintered metallic frit and draws the sample through a 2 mm diameter channel into a sapphire windowed optical cell within which the laser beam is focused and the spectrum recorded. The dead volume of the system is ～1 ml and the instrument is ROV deployable with activation of probe insertion and sample withdrawal under direct operator control. The unique features of this mode of detection include observation of the sulfate gradient in marine pore waters as an indicator of diagenesis, direct measurement of the dissolved sulfide species H₂S and HS^?, and measurement of dissolved methane; all of which are of primary geochemical interest. Quantitative analysis is achieved by area ratio to known water peaks and from standard calibration curves with a precision of ±5%. We find only very small fluorescence from pore waters measured in situ, but observe rapid increases in fluorescence from cores returned to the surface and exposed to oxygen.     

Deep Hubble space telescope ultraviolet imaging of the M87 jet

Near-ultraviolet imaging with HST offers the best possible spatial resolution currently available for optical/UV astronomical imaging. The giant elliptical galaxy M87 hosts one of the most spectacular, best studied and nearest (d=16 Mpc) galactic-scale relativistic (synchrotron emitting plasma) jets. We have extracted from the HST archive all 220 nm images of the jet of M87, taken with the STIS MAMA camera and co-added them to provide the deepest image ever at this wavelength. The combination of highest spatial resolution and long integration time, 42500 seconds, reveals a wealth of complex structure, knots, filaments and shocks. We compare this image with deep X-ray observations obtained with the Chandra X-ray telescope.     

Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide photoproduction quantum yields in the Delaware Estuary

Photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in the cycling of carbon in estuarine systems. A key to modeling this process is knowledge of apparent quantum yields (AQYs) for the photochemical products. Here we determined spectral AQYs for carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO), the main products of DOM photomineralization, along the main axis of the Delaware Estuary. Apparent quantum yields for CO₂ photoproduction were determined shipboard using a multi-spectral irradiation system. Carbon monoxide AQYs were determined in stored samples by employing a narrow band spectral irradiation system. A single AQY spectrum described carbon dioxide photochemical production within the estuary whereas CO AQY spectra varied with salinity, suggesting different precursors and mechanisms for the production of these two species. CO₂ AQYs were used along with shipboard measurements of DOM absorbance and solar irradiance to calculate photoproduction rates. Calculated CO₂ photoproduction rates agreed with directly measured rates (2 to 4 μM CO₂ d^? 1) within experimental error, supporting the further development and use of AQYs to calculate regional-scale photochemical fluxes.     

Dissolution kinetics of biogenic silica collected from the water column and sediments of three Southern California borderland basins

Understanding biogenic silica (bSi) dissolution kinetics in margin environments is important in assessing the global silicon cycle, a cycle closely linked to the global carbon cycle. This understanding is also essential to answer the question of whether bSi content in marine sediment is a valid indicator of productivity in the overlying surface ocean. In this study, plankton tow, sediment trap, and sediment samples were collected at sites in three Southern California borderland basins. Batch dissolution experiments with plankton tow and sediment trap materials (conducted in the laboratory at 22 °C) showed linear dissolution kinetics, from which mean dissolution rate constants of 0.05 d^? 1 for plankton tow samples and 0.07 d^? 1 for sediment trap samples could be calculated. The dissolution rate constants for both types of samples showed seasonal variability but not the same seasonal patterns. Faster dissolution was observed with sediment trap samples collected at 800 m than at 550 m. With sediment multi-core samples, non-linear dissolution kinetics was observed, which complicates the direct comparison of dissolution rates. Nonetheless, dissolution appeared to be slower for the sediments samples than for samples collected from the water column and to decrease with depth in the sediments. Rate constants for surface sediment (0–0.5 cm) were at least 3–5 times less, and sediments at depths > 2 cm had rate constants at least 6–13 times less than those for material sinking to the sediment surface at these sites. Dissolution experiments conducted with Santa Barbara Basin surface sediment samples amended with dissolved aluminum (Al) and San Pedro Basin trap samples amended with enriched detrital materials (obtained by leaching bSi from sediment samples) suggested that dissolution was inhibited by Al and that the sediments from the different basins varied in the extent of Al release.     

The case for human causes of increased atmospheric CH4 over the last 5000 years

We propose that humans significantly altered atmospheric CH₄ levels after 5000 years BP and that anthropogenic inputs just prior to the industrial revolution accounted for up to 25% of the CH₄ level of 725 ppb (parts per billion). We base this hypothesis on three arguments: (1) the 100 ppb increase in atmospheric CH₄ that occurred after 5000 years BP follows a pattern unprecedented in any prior orbitally driven change in the ice-core record; (2) non-anthropogenic explanations for this increase (expansion of boreal peat lands or tropical wetlands) are inconsistent with existing evidence; and (3) inefficient early rice farming is a quantitatively plausible means of producing anomalously large CH₄ inputs to the atmosphere prior to the industrial revolution. If the areas flooded for farming harbored abundant CH₄-producing weeds, disproportionately large amounts of CH₄ would have been produced in feeding relatively small pre-industrial populations.     

Proterozoic low-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag mineralization in the Mallery Lake area, Nunavut, Canada

The Mallery Lake area contains pristine examples of ancient precious metal-bearing low-sulfidation epithermal deposits. The deposits are hosted by rhyolitic flows of the Early Proterozoic Pitz Formation, but are themselves apparently of Middle Proterozoic age. Gold mineralization occurs in stockwork quartz veins that cut the rhyolites, and highest gold grades (up to 24 g/t over 30 cm) occur in the Chalcedonic Stockwork Zone. Quartz veining occurs in two main types: barren A veins, characterized by fine- to coarse-grained comb quartz, with fluorite, calcite, and/or adularia; and mineralized B veins, characterized by banded chalcedonic silica and fine-grained quartz, locally intergrown with fine-grained gold or electrum. A third type of quartz vein (C), which crosscuts B veins at one locality, is characterized by microcrystalline quartz intergrown with fine-grained hematite and rare electrum. Fluid inclusions in the veins occur in two distinct assemblages. Assemblage 1 inclusions represent a moderate temperature (Th=150 to 220 °C), low salinity (~1 eq. wt% NaCl, with trace CO₂), locally boiling fluid; this fluid type is found in both A and B veins and is thought to have been responsible for Au-Ag transport and deposition. Assemblage 2 inclusions represent a lower temperature (Th=90 to 150 °C), high salinity calcic brine (23 to 31 wt% CaCl₂-NaCl), which occurs as primary inclusions only in the barren A veins. Assemblage 1 and 2 inclusions occur in alternating quartz growth bands in the A-type veins, where they appear to represent alternating fluxes of dilute fluid and local saline groundwater. No workable primary fluid inclusions were observed in the C veins. The A-vein quartz yields '¹⁸O values from 8.3 to 14.5‰ (average=10.9ǃ.7‰ [1C], n=30), whereas '¹⁸O values for B-vein quartz range from 11.2 to 14.0‰ (average=13.0ǂ.9‰, n=12). Calculated '¹⁸O_H2O values for the dilute mineralizing fluid from B veins range from -2.6 to 0.2‰ (average=-0.8ǂ.9‰, n=12) and are consistent with a dominantly meteoric origin. No values could be calculated for the brine, however, because all A-vein quartz samples contain mixed fluid inclusion populations. However, the fact that A-vein quartz samples extend to lower '¹⁸O values than the B veins suggests that the brine had a lighter isotopic signature relative to the dilute fluid. Hydrogen isotopic ratios of fluid inclusion waters extracted from eleven quartz samples of both vein types range from 'D_FI=-56 to -134‰, but show no particular correlation with vein type. In most respects, the mineralogical and fluid characteristics of the Mallery Lake system are comparable to those of Phanerozoic low-sulfidation deposits, and although the presence of high salinity brines is unusual in such deposits, it is not unknown (e.g., Creede, Colorado). In addition, one of the few other examples of well-preserved, Precambrian, low-sulfidation epithermal deposits, from the Central Pilbara tectonic zone, Australia, contains a similarly bimodal fluid assemblage. The significance of these saline brines is not clear, but from this study we infer that they were not directly involved with Au-Ag transport or deposition.     

Impact of historic land‐use change on sediment delivery to a Chesapeake Bay subestuarine delta

Historic land use in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin induced large fluxes of fluvial sediment to subestuarine tributaries. Stratigraphic and palaeoecologic analyses of deltaic deposits may be used to infer changes on the landscape, but are not sufficient to quantify past sediment supply. When viewed as an inverse boundary‐value problem, reconstruction of the sediment supply function may be achieved by combining deltaic sedimentation chronologies with an equation governing delta progradation. We propose that the diffusion equation is appropriate for simulating delta progradation and obtaining the sediment supply function provided a suitable diffusion constant (D) can be determined. Three new methods for estimating D are presented for the case of estuarine deltas. When the inverse boundary‐value technique was applied to Otter Point Creek, a tidal freshwater delta at the head of Bush River in upper Chesapeake Bay, D values ranged from 3763 to 6199 m² a^?1. Delta growth simulations showed a 1740–1760 initial pulse, a 1760–1780 erosive/redistributive interval, a 1780–1920 growth period, and a 1920‐present erosive/redistributive era. Coupling of simulated delta elevations with an empirical plant habitat predictive equation allowed for comparison of predicted versus actual relative habitat areas. Also, the model yielded reconstructed watershed erosion rates and stream suspended sediment concentrations that could be useful for development of water quality regulations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The factors influencing the abrasion efficiency of saltating grains on a clay‐crusted playa

The entrainment and subsequent transport of PM₁₀ (particulate matter <10 µm) has become an important and challenging focus of research for both scientific and practical applications. Arid and semi‐arid environments are important sources for the atmospheric loading of PM₁₀, although the emission of this material is often limited by surface crusts. It has been suggested that the primary mechanisms through which PM₁₀ is released from a crusted surface are abrasion by saltating grains or disturbance by agricultural and recreational activities. To examine the importance of saltation abrasion in the emission of PM₁₀, a series of field wind tunnel tests were conducted on a clay‐crusted surface near Desert Wells, Arizona. In a previous part of this study it was found that the emission rate varies linearly with the saltation transport rate, although there can be considerable variation in this relationship. This paper more closely examines the source of the variability in the abrasion efficiency, the amount of PM₁₀ emitted by a given quantity of saltating grains. The abrasion efficiency was found to vary with the susceptibility of the surface to abrasion, the ability of the sand to abrade that surface and the availability of material with a caliper size <10 µm within the crust. Specifically, the results of the study show that the abrasion efficiency is related to the crust strength, the amount of surface disturbance and the velocity of the saltating grains. It is concluded that the spatial and temporal variability of these controls on the abrasion efficiency imposes severe contextual limitations on experimentally derived models, and can make theoretical models too complex and impractical to be of use. Copyright­© 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.