Freezing as a method of sample preservation for the analysis of dissolved inorganic nutrients in seawater

It is often desirable or necessary to store collected seawater samples prior to analysis for dissolved inorganic nutrients. It is therefore important to establish preservation and storage techniques that will ensure sample integrity and will not alter the precision or accuracy of analysis. We have performed a series of experiments on the storage of nutrient samples collected at the oligotrophic North Pacific benchmark Station ALOHA, using both standard autoanalyses and low-level techniques. Our results reveal that for oligotrophic oceanic waters, the immediate freezing of an unfiltered water sample in a clean polyethylene bottle is a suitable preservation method. This procedure is simple, it avoids potentially contaminating sample manipulations and chemical additions, and it adequately preserves the concentrations of nitrate + nitrite, soluble reactive phosphate, and soluble reactive silicate within a single water sample.     

Exploring hydroclimatic change disparity via the Budyko framework

The Budyko framework characterizes landscape water cycles as a function of climate. We used this framework to identify regions with contrasting hydroclimatic change during the past 50 years in Sweden. This analysis revealed three distinct regions: the mountains, the forests, and the areas with agriculture. Each region responded markedly different to recent climate and anthropogenic changes, and within each region, we identified the most sensitive subregions. These results highlight the need for regional differentiation in climate change adaptation strategies to protect vulnerable ecosystems and freshwater resources. Further, the Budyko curve moved systematically towards its water and energy limits, indicating augmentation of the water cycle driven by changing vegetation, climate and human interactions. This finding challenges the steady state assumption of the Budyko curve and therefore its ability to predict future water cycles. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Textural recognition of mudflow deposits

A plot of median grain size against quartile deviation (after Buller and McManus) can be used to distinguish mudflow deposits. A characteristic envelope for poorly sorted streamflow deposits is also defined. Unlike most other sediment transport mechanisms, mudflows appear to deposit sediments with sorting independent of median grain size.     

Stratigraphy and tectonics of a time-transgressive ophiolite obduction onto the eastern margin of the Pelagonian platform from Late Bathonian until Valanginian time,exemplified in northern Evvoia,Greece

The obduction of an ophiolite sheet onto the eastern Pelagonian carbonate platform complex of the Hellenides began during the Late Bathonian and ended with the final emplacement of the ophiolite during Valanginian time. The early stages of obduction caused subaerial exposure of the platform, recorded by an unconformity of Callovian age, which is marked by laterites overlying folded and faulted, karstic substrates. The laterites have distinct ophiolitic geochemical signatures, indicating that emergent ophiolite had been undergoing lateritic weathering. This unconformity coincides with widespread western Tethyan, Callovian gaps, indicating that the obduction in the Hellenides was probably related to far-reaching plate tectonic processes. Resumed gravitational pull and rollback of the subducted, oceanic leading edge of the temporarily exposed ophiolite. Platform drowning continued into Tithonian–Valanginian time, documented initially by reefal carbonates and then by below-CCD, carbonate-free radiolarian cherts and shales. Subsequently, siliciclastic turbidites, which apparently originated from uplifted Variscan basement, were deposited together with and over the radiolarite as the ophiolite nappe sheet advanced. The nappe substrate underwent tectonic deformations of varying intensity, while polymictic mélange and syntectonic sedimentary debris accreted beneath the ophiolite and at the nappe front. The provenience of the ophiolite nappe complexes of northern Evvoia most probably has to be looked for in the Vardar ocean.     

Cosmic-ray positrons: are there primary sources?

Galactic cosmic rays consist of primary and secondary particles. Primary cosmic rays are thought to be energized by first order Fermi acceleration processes at supernova shock fronts within our Galaxy. The cosmic rays that eventually reach the Earth from this source are mainly protons and atomic nuclei, but also include electrons. Secondary cosmic rays are created in collisions of primary particles with the diffuse interstellar gas. They are relatively rare but carry important information on the Galactic propagation of the primary particles. The secondary component includes a small fraction of antimatter particles, positrons and antiprotons. In addition, positrons and antiprotons may also come from unusual sources and possibly provide insight into new physics. For instance, the annihilation of heavy supersymmetric dark matter particles within the Galactic halo could lead to positrons or antiprotons with distinctive energy signatures. With the High-Energy Antimatter Telescope (HEAT) balloon-borne instrument, we have measured the abundances of positrons and electrons at energies between 1 and 50 GeV. The data suggest that indeed a small additional antimatter component may be present that cannot be explained by a purely secondary production mechanism. Here we describe the signature of the effect and discuss its possible origin.     

Palaeoenvironments and site formation processes at the Neolithic lakeside settlement of Dispilio,Kastoria, Northern Greece

Dispilio is a lakeside settlement by the Orestias Lake, Kastoria, northern Greece. The site was inhabited from the Middle Neolithic to the Chalcolithic, with some surface evidence of Bronze Age occupation. Microfacies analysis of the sediments, supported by a suite of environmental indices, has provided detailed paleoenvironmental data and elucidated the main processes involved in the formation of the site and its history of occupation. The settlement was established on the lakeshore, on a shallow sand ridge and a shore marsh. Initially, houses were built on raised platforms above the water. After a major conflagration, a range of depositional microenvironments were established that caused local changes in the sedimentation rate. Therefore, some areas quickly emerged and became dry land, while some others continued to be flooded as part of the transitional supra‐littoral environment. On the dry land, houses were built directly on the ground, whereas in the transitional areas houses continued to be built on raised platforms. Thus, gradually, a mound was formed and further shaped by subsequent lake‐level fluctuations. One of the lake‐level rises is tentatively related to the abandonment of the mound in the Chalcolithic and the development of a hardpan on its surface. There is also evidence of later occupation during the Bronze Age in the form of a few, mostly surface, archaeological remains. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Bioconcentration of selected endocrine disrupting compounds in the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis

The occurrence of three endocrine disrupting compounds, 4-n-nonylphenol, triclosan and bisphenol A, was investigated in different bivalves originating from the Aegean Sea (Greece). The bioconcentration potential of these compounds was studied using the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis). Tissue samples were extracted by sonication. Analysis was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. According to the field survey results, the average concentrations of 4-n-nonylphenol, triclosan and bisphenol A, were 158, 461 and 404 ng g⁻¹ (dry weight), respectively. During 28 days of exposure at 300 ng L⁻¹, the tissue concentrations of compounds were constantly increased. Steady state was not observed up to the end of the experiment. Kinetic bioconcentration factors varied from 1.7 (4-n-nonylphenol and triclosan) to 4.5 L g⁻¹ (bisphenol A). Following exposure, mussels were relocated to clean water for 28 days. This experiment revealed that depuration rates for all of the target compounds were lower than uptake rates. The biological half-lives of each compound ranged between 12 days (triclosan) and 26 days (bisphenol A).     

Cost-efficient management of coastal aquifers via recharge with treated wastewater and desalination of brackish groundwater: application to the Akrotiri basin and aquifer,Cyprus

Abstract

We investigate the general methodology for an intensive development of coastal aquifers, described in a companion paper, through its application to the management of the Akrotiri aquifer, Cyprus. The Zakaki area of that aquifer, adjacent to Lemessos City, is managed such that it permits a fixed annual agricultural water demand to be met, as well as and a fraction of the water demand of Lemessos, which varies according to available surface water. Effluents of the Lemessos wastewater treatment plant are injected into the aquifer to counteract the seawater intrusion resulting from the increased pumping. The locations of pumping and injection wells are optimized based on least-cost, subject to meeting the demand. This strategy controls sea intrusion so effectively that desalting of only small volumes of slightly brackish groundwater is required over short times, while ～2.3 m³ of groundwater is produced for each 1 m³ of injected treated wastewater. The cost over the 20-year period 2000–2020 of operation is ～40 M€ and the unit production cost of potable water is under 0.2 €/m³. The comparison between the deterministic and stochastic analyses of the groundwater dynamics indicates the former as conservative, i.e. yielding higher groundwater salinity at the well. The Akrotiri case study shows that the proposed aquifer management scheme yields solutions that are preferable to the widely promoted seawater desalination, also considering the revenues from using the treated wastewater for irrigation.

Citation Koussis, A. D., Georgopoulou, E., Kotronarou, A., Mazi, K., Restrepo, P., Destouni, G., Prieto, C., Rodriguez, J. J., Rodriguez-Mirasol, J., Cordero, T., Ioannou, C., Georgiou, A., Schwartz, J. & Zacharias, I. (2010) Cost-efficient management of coastal aquifers via recharge with treated wastewater and desalination of brackish groundwater: application to the Akrotiri basin and aquifer, Cyprus. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(7), 1234–1245.