Semidiurnal Dynamics of Salinity, Nutrients and Suspended Particulate Matter in an Estuary in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, during a Spring Tide Cycle

The physical and chemical variability of the water column at subtidal station of an estuary in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, was studied over a 24-hour period during a spring tide (tidal range ca. 2 m) in May 1995. Surface water and several depths through the water column were monitored every one and two hours, respectively. At each occasion, water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen concentration were measured and water samples were collected for the determination of nutrients and suspended particulate matter (SPM). Disruptive changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of the water was produced by the tidal cycle and the mixing of water masses of different origin. These changes were highly significant both spatially and temporally, yet with varying effects on physical parameters, nutrients and the different components of SPM. Significant differences in nutrient concentrations were also observed when the data-set was divided into ebb and flood components, irrespective of the depth. Nitrate and nitrite rose to 1.8 times higher during the flood. Spatial differences of SPM were less marked than those of nutrients, only particulate organic carbon (POC) being significantly higher at the surface than in the intermediate and the lower layer. Both POC and pheopigment concentrations increased markedly through the water column, being highest shortly before the lower low tide. In contrast, suspended solid (SS) content increased sharply after the lower low tide (>40 mg l⁻¹) and this coincided with a marked decrease of the C/SS content (<20 mg g⁻¹). The lagtime between POC and SS tidal transport was caused by particle resuspension from the exposed intertidal sediments as the tidal level rose, and particle transport selection in relation to the tidal state. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Occurrence of Organic Matter in Calcimicrobialites across Permian-Triassic Boundary in Huayingshan Region, Sichuan, South China

Calcimicrobialites across the Permian-Triassic boundary in Huayingshan (华蓥山) region were investigated using the fluorescence microscopic measurements to understand the occurrence of organic matter. The microbialites are composed of micrite matrix and coarse spar cement. Abundant rhombic or magnetic needle-like carbonate minerals were observed adrift within the cement. The fluorescence microscopic measurement indicates the micrite matrix in microbialites shows the most abundant organic matter, with the rhombic or magnetic needle-like carbonate minerals and coarse spar cement coming to the 2nd and the 3rd, respectively. Organic matter is mainly preserved in the space between the grains of the micrite minerals but almost evenly distributed in the rhombic or magnetic needle-like carbonate minerals. As one of the common diagenesis types, dolomitization is observed to occur in the microbialites in Huayingshan. However, the carbonate cement in microbialites still has high content of element Sr as shown by the microprobe analysis, reflecting that the dolomitization might have happened in a restricted environment. Observation under the fluorescence microscope shows that dolomitization just led to the redistribution of organic matter in the grain space of dolomite minerals, inferring that the diagenesis has a slight effect on the preservation, and thus on the content of organic matter in the microbialites.     

水泥粉煤灰加固有机质土的试验研究

对于高有机质含量的泻湖相软土,单纯采用水泥不能有效提高该软土的力学性能,因此提出了采用水泥和粉煤灰作为固化剂的加固方法。通过不同水泥掺入量、粉煤灰掺入量和龄期下水泥土的无侧限抗压强度试验,分析了水泥粉煤灰固化土的强度规律和变形规律,探讨了水泥和粉煤灰加固高有机质含量软土的机理。结果表明,粉煤灰对于水泥试块的早期强度影响较小,对后期强度影响较大;粉煤灰最佳掺入量为12％,超过此掺入量水泥土强度反而会降低,粉煤灰水泥土的破坏应变、E50也在粉煤灰掺量为12％时分别达到最低值和最大值。水泥掺加粉煤灰可有效地提高高有机质含量软土的强度。     

长江流域沿江镉异常源追踪与定量评估的方法技术研究:以长江流域安徽段为例

长江全流域性的Cd异常是被中国正在进行的多目标地球化学调查发现的重大生态环境问题。以长江流域安徽段为研究对象,对沿江镉异常源追踪与定量评估的方法技术进行了系统研究。通过对安徽段长江干流及其主要支流悬浮物中元素含量的测量查明:悬浮物是流域内重金属元素大跨度迁移的主要载体;Cd在悬浮物中的富集程度远远大于其他重金属元素,这或许正是Cd可以形成沿江流域性异常的主要原因;长江干流悬浮物中重金属元素含量的变化明显受到沿江支流的影响。安徽段长江干流及其主要支流重金属元素输出通量定量计算结果表明:秋蒲河是安徽段重金属元素输出通量最大的支流,每年在安徽段长江两岸土壤中沉积下约4.45t的Cd。利用悬浮物加密测量、1∶5万土壤测量和岩石测量对顺安河流域Cd异常源追踪结果显示:内生金属矿床特别是铅锌矿是悬浮物中Cd的最大的供应源。采用河漫滩沉积物分层采样技术和同位素测年技术,初步恢复了研究区Cd等重金属元素沉积和污染的地球化学历史,对研究区Cd等重金属元素异常的未来演变趋势进行了预警预测。     

Trace metals in suspended particulate matter and in sediment trap material from a permanently anoxic fjord — Framvaren, South Norway

Geochemical studies of the trace metal concentrations in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediment trap material from a permanently anoxic fjord, Framvaren, South Norway in 1989 and 1993 indicate that extremely high concentrations of zinc (max = 183920 mg/kg), copper (max = 4130 mg/kg), lead (max = 2752 mg/kg), and cadmium (max= 8.1 mg/kg) sometimes (1993) occur in the SPM collected in the anoxic water layer. The highest concentrations of Zn occur just below the redoxcline at 22 m water depth (in 1993), and copper, lead and cadmium have maximum concentrations between 30 and 80 m depth, where the amount of total SPM is at a minimum (about 0.3 mg/L). On a mass per volume (g/L) basis, the maximum concentrations of Cd, Cu and Fe occur at the interface (21m) and those of Zn occur just below the redoxcline (22 m depth). The SPM and sediment trap data suggest that the metals are precipitated as sulfide minerals in the anoxic water. The presence of particulate sulfides was confirmed by SEM studies that show the occurrence of discrete metal (Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn) sulfide particles in size from 10–20 m as well as framboidal pyrites (1–5 m in size). Higher levels of metal sulfides at intermediate depths rather than in the deep water of Framvaren (> 100 m), may be due to input of trace metals by water exchange over the sill in the upper part of the water column. In the deep water, less metal sulfide precipitation takes place due to depletion of trace metals, and the dilution of particulate metal concentrations by organic matter and by the chemogenic formation of calcite.     

The stellar populations within theρ Oph cloud cores

We have obtained infrared colors and limiting magnitudes from 1.25–4.8µm for a sample of 26 of the cm continuum radio sources located in the core of the Oph molecular cloud. Their colors demonstrate that the majority of the sources appear to be heavily reddened objects surrounded by circumstellar accretion disks. In these cases the radio emission most likely diagnoses accretion driven energetic outflow phenomena: either ionized winds or possibly synchrotron emission from shocked gas associated with stellar jets.     

Particulate content of savanna fire emissions

As part of the FOS-DECAFE experiment at Lamto (Ivory Coast) in January 1991, various aerosol samples were collected at ground level near prescribed fires or under local background conditions, to characterize the emissions of particulate matter from the burning of savanna vegetation. This paper deals with total aerosol (TPM) and carbon measurements. Detailed trace element and polycyclic hydrocarbon data are discussed in other papers presented in this issue.Near the fire plumes, the aerosols from biomass burning are primarily of a carbonaceous nature (C%70% of the aerosol mass) and consist predominantly of submicron particles (more than 90% in mass.) They are characterized by their organic nature (black to total carbon ratio Cb/Ct in the range 3–20%) and their high potassium content (K/Cb0.6). These aerosols undergo aging during their first minutes in the atmosphere causing slight alterations in their size distribution and chemical composition. However, they remain enriched in potassium (K/Cb=0.21) and pyrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, such that both of these species may be used as tracers of savanna burning aerosols. We show that during this period of the year, the background atmosphere experiences severe pollution from both terrigenous sources and regional biomass burning (44% of the aerosol). Daynight variations of the background carbon concentrations suggest that fire ignition and spreading occur primarily during the day. Simultaneous TPM and CO₂ real-time measurements point to a temporal and spatial heterogeneity of the burning so that the ratio of the above background concentrations (TPM/CO₂) varies from 2 to 400 g/kg C. Smoldering processes are intense sources of particles but particulate emissions may also be important during the rapidly spreading heading fires in connection with the generation of heavy brown smoke. We propose emission factor values (EF) for aerosols from the savanna biomass burning aerosols: EF (TPM)=11.4±4.6 and 69±25 g/kg C_{dry plant} and EF(Ct)=7.4±3.4 and 56±16 g C/kg C_{dry plant} for flaming and smoldering processes respectively. In these estimates, the range of uncertainty is mostly due to the intra-fire variability. These values are significantly lower than those reported in the literature for the combustion of other types of vegetation. But due to the large amounts of vegetation biomass being burnt in African savannas, the annual flux of particulate carbon into the atmosphere is estimated to be of the order of 8 Tg C, which rivals particulate carbon emissions from anthropogenic activities in temperate regions.     

Diagenesis of vascular plant organic matter components during burial in lake sediments

Diagenetic changes are difficult to distinguish from variations in sources of organic matter to sediments. Organic geochemical comparisons of samples of wood, bark, and needles from a white spruce (Picea glauca) living today and one buried for 10,000 years in lake sediments have been used to identify the effects of diagenesis on vascular plant matter. Important biogeochemical changes are evident in the aged spruce components, even though the cellular structures of the samples are well preserved. Concentrations of total fatty acids dramatically diminish; unsaturated and shorter chainlength components are preferentially lost from the molecular distributions. Concentrations of total alcohols are similar in the modern and 10,000-year-old wood and bark but markedly lowered in the aged needles. Hydrocarbon concentrations and distributions show little diagenetic change in the 10,000-year-old plant materials. Cellulose components in the wood decrease relative to lignin components, although both types of materials remain in high concentration in comparison to other organic components. Aromatization of abietic acid proceeds more rapidly in buried spruce wood than in bark; retene is the dominant polyaromatic hydrocarbon in the aged wood. In contrast to the variety of changes evident in molecular compositions, neither ¹³C values nor C/N ratios differ significantly in the bulk organic matter of modern and aged spruce components.     

Capture of dust grains in exterior resonances with planets

The temporary capture of the dust grains in the exterior resonances with planets is studied in the frames of the planar circular three-body problem with Poynting-Robertson (PR) drag. For the Earth and particles ~ 10 m the resonances 4/5, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8 are shown to be most effective. The capture is only temporary (of order 10⁵ years) and the position of resonance may be calculated from semi-analytical model using averaged disturbing function. These semi-analytical results are confirmed by numerical integration. For various planet this picture changes as with increasing planetary mass the more exterior resonances become more important. We showed that for Jupiter (at least in the space between Jupiter and Saturn) the resonance 1/2 plays the dominant role. The capture time is here several myr but again eccentricity is evolving to eccentricity e ₀ ~ 0.48 of libration point for this resonance.     

Circumstellar dust and circumstellar extinction curves

We have calculated the circumstellar extinction curves produced by dust grains which absorb and scatter the stellar radiation in the shells of pre-main-sequence stars. A Monte Carlo method was used to model the radiative transfer in non-spherical shells. The dependence on the particle size distribution and the dust shell parameters has been examined.The application of the theoretical results to explain the extinction and polarization of the Herbig Be star HD 45677 shows that the dust shell is not disk-like and that very small grains are absent in it.