Reservoir sediments – a witness of mining and industrial development (Malter Reservoir, eastern Erzgebirge, Germany)

The Malter Reservoir is situated about 30 km south of Dresden (eastern Germany) in a historical mining area of the eastern Erzgebirge. It was built in 1913 for the protection from floodwaters, droughts and for generating electricity. The river Rote Wei?eritz is the main source of clastic input into the lake. Geochemical and sedimentological data of gravity-and piston-cores, recovered from the deepest point of the lake, document the environmental history of the drainage area since 1963. ¹³⁷Cs dating gives an average sedimentation rate of ∼2.9 cm/year. Within the whole core, heavy metals are strongly enriched (parentheses refer to enrichment factors as compared with average shale): cadmium (290), silver (140), bismuth (90), antimony (25), lead (21), zinc (14), tin (13), uranium (9), tungsten (9), molybdenum (5), copper (4), thallium (3) and chromium (2). Enrichments are detectable for the whole registered time-period of 81 years. Peaks of up to 27 mg/kg silver, 37 mg/kg bismuth, 91 mg/kg cadmium, 410 mg/kg chromium, 240 mg/kg copper, 20 mg/kg molybdenum, 14000 mg/kg phosphorus, 740 mg/kg lead, 6,5 mg/kg antimony, 74 mg/kg tin, 52 mg/kg tungsten and 1900 mg/kg zinc reflect local events caused by human impact. Inputs from different pollution sources at different times are represented by highly variable elemental concentrations and ratios within the core. High pH values within the water and the sediment column, the large adsorption capacity of the fine-grained C_org.-rich sediment, and the presence of low Eh-values and sulphide ions in the sediment prevent the remobilisation of the toxic elements. Erosion of these contaminated sediments during floods, channel flows or resuspension during removal of the sediments may lead to a downstream transfer of pollutants. Contents of P and C_org., as well as diatom abundance, indicate a change from oligotrophic to eutrophic conditions in the lake during ∼1940–1950. This was mainly caused by high agricultural activity in the drainage area. Reduced contents of Cu, Zn, Cd and Cr since the reunification of East and West Germany are obviously caused by increasing environmental protection measures, such as wastewater purification and especially the closing of contaminating industries. Revision received: 23 September 1999 · Accepted: 17 December 1999     

Vibrant Centers as Locations for High-Growth Firms: An Analysis of Thirty U.S. Metropolitan Areas

What kinds of places have high entrepreneurial activities? There has been an emerging body of studies about so-called entrepreneurship ecosystems, but virtually all of the past studies have examined this question from a perspective of which metropolitan areas have higher entrepreneurial activities. In this article, we examine the intrametropolitan scale at the Census tract level. By analyzing thirty metropolitan areas to extend external validity, we demonstrate the concentration of high-growth firms in specific employment nodes in both urban and suburban parts of each metropolitan area. Significant correlations exist between place-based vibrancy indicators and high-growth firm concentrations.     

Application of an ecosystem model for the environmental assessment of the reclamation and mitigation plans for seagrass beds in Atsumi Bay

An ecosystem model was used to evaluate the effects of reclaiming seagrass beds and creating artificial shallows with seagrass beds to mitigate the effects of the reclamation. The applied model can simulate the pelagic and benthic ecosystems including seagrass beds and tidal flats. The objectives of this study were (a) to investigate the likelihood of cultivating and maintaining seagrass beds in artificial shallows (Part 1), and (b) to understand the effects of the reclamation of seagrass beds and the creation of artificial shallows on the water quality in the estuary (Part 2). In Part 1, first, the nutrient turnover rates due to both biochemical and physical processes in the natural seagrass beds where reclamation is proposed were analyzed. Biological processes rather than physical processes were the most significant driving forces of nutrient cycles in seagrass beds. Second, the effects of filter feeding benthic fauna (suspension feeders) in the seagrass beds were analyzed. The scenario with suspension feeders resulted in higher transparency of the water column (8.7% decrease in the light attenuation coefficient) and an increase in nutrient supply (24.9% increase in NH₄-N in the water column) contributing to the high specific growth rate of seagrass. Third, the specific growth rate of seagrass on the proposed artificial shallows was measured. The value on the artificial shallows set at a depth of datum line minus 0.8 m (D.L. − 0.8 m) was approximately the same as that of the natural seagrass beds. In Part 2, first, water quality in the estuary was compared among the scenarios with/without natural seagrass beds and artificial shallows. Then, the defined values of the water purification capability of (a) artificial shallows with/without seagrass beds, and (b) natural seagrass beds per unit area were evaluated. The reclamation of the natural seagrass beds resulted in a decrease of the removal of phytoplankton and detritus from the pelagic system (i.e. resulted in a loss in the purification rate). In contrast, the creation of artificial shallows resulted in an increase of the removal of phytoplankton and detritus from the pelagic system (i.e. resulted in a gain in the purification rate). Based on an annual average, approximately twice as much phytoplankton was removed from the artificial shallows at the depth D.L. − 0.8 m, than at the depth, D.L. − 1.5 m, and the artificial shallows with seagrass beds removed pelagic DIN and DIP at a rate 120% higher than that without seagrass beds.     

不饱和古罗糖醛酸三糖和甘露糖醛酸三糖的结构表征

以双功能褐藻胶裂解酶 (Pseudoalteromonas sp.strain No. 2 72 )分别降解均聚古罗糖醛酸(PG)和均聚甘露糖醛酸 (PM) ,经 Bio- Gel- P6和 POROS- HQ2 0分离得到 2种三糖纯品 ,经 ESI- MS,1 H- NMR,1 3 C- NMR,1 H- 1 H COSY,1 H- 1 3 C HMQC确定其结构为 Δ4,5-古罗糖醛酸 - α(1→ 4 ) - L-古罗糖醛酸 -α(1→ 4 ) - L -古罗糖醛酸 (简写为Δ GG)和Δ4,5-甘露糖醛酸 -β (1→ 4 ) - D-甘露糖醛酸 -β (1→ 4 ) - D-甘露糖醛酸 (ΔMM) ,为进一步从事构效关系研究提供结构信息。     

Trends,drivers and impacts of changes in swidden cultivation in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers: A global assessment

This meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10–15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including biofuels. Conservation policies and practices also accelerate changes in swidden by restricting forest clearing and encouraging commercial agriculture. However, swidden remains important in many frontier areas where farmers have unequal or insecure access to investment and market opportunities, or where multi-functionality of land uses has been preserved as a strategy to adapt to current ecological, economic and political circumstances. In some areas swidden remains important simply because intensification is not a viable choice, for example when population densities and/or food market demands are low. The transformation of swidden landscapes into more intensive land uses has generally increased household incomes, but has also led to negative effects on the social and human capital of local communities to varying degrees. From an environmental perspective, the transition from swidden to other land uses often contributes to permanent deforestation, loss of biodiversity, increased weed pressure, declines in soil fertility, and accelerated soil erosion. Our prognosis is that, despite the global trend towards land use intensification, in many areas swidden will remain part of rural landscapes as the safety component of diversified systems, particularly in response to risks and uncertainties associated with more intensive land use systems.     

Magma in forearcs: implication for ophiolite generation

Forearc areas (“non-volcanic” arcs) of contemporary island arcs at convergent plate boundaries contain magmatic rocks. Geological evidence, seismic profiles, heat flow data, density considerations and petrological and geochemical arguments suggest that a forearc tholeiitic association (FAT) (containing high-Mg calc-alkaline andesites) is present in “non-volcanic” arcs at some stage of island-arc development. The fractionated, as well as primitive magma, is unable to penetrate low-density sediments and underplates thick piles of unconsolidated accreting rocks. The underplating causes upwelling. The occurrence of magma in forearcs provides an alternative interpretation for the tectonic setting of some ophiolitic masses. Rather than “ocean-ridge formation” and later “obduction” it offers an autochthonous (island-arc bound and geologically-substantiated) interpretation for the ophiolite suite.     

A New Coastal Marine Ecosystem Model Study Coupled with Hydrodynamics and Tidal Flat Ecosystem Effect

A new coastal marine ecosystem model was developed, which was composed of pelagic and benthic ecosystems, and was applied to Mikawa Bay, Japan. This model deals with variations of biochemical and physical interactions among dissolved oxygen and C–N–P species (composition formed out of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus elements) so that it resolves the flux dynamics of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen elements. The physical and biochemical mechanism figured in this model is constructed for the purpose of simulating the estuarine lower trophic ecosystem, in areas where the sea was too deep for light to reach the sea-bottom. As a result of coupling the benthic with pelagic system, the effect of process of sedimentation and nutrient diffusion back to the pelagic system could be indicated. In addition, by implementing the tidal flat ecosystem model's calculation result, the integrated model can include the effect of water purification in tidal flats where the light can reach the sea-bottom, and where sea-weed, sea grass and benthic algae exist. In this study, the model indicates that oxygen-depleted water exists at the sea-bottom especially in summer mainly caused by an increase of oxygen consumption in the benthic system and a decrease of the vertical mixing water process. Furthermore, by comparing the case – with the tidal flat ecosystem model and the case without it, the effect of water purification of tidal flat estuaries was indicated. From the viewpoint of a short time scale, the tidal flat has the potential to restrict red tide (rapid increase of phytoplankton), and from the viewpoint of a long time scale, it restricts the sedimentation of detritus. Restricting the sedimentation prevents oxygen-depleted water occurring in the coastal marine system of Mikawa Bay.     

Determination of Bromine and Iodine in Twenty-three Geochemical Reference Materials by ICP-MS

Trace amounts (from nanogram to microgram levels) of bromine and iodine were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in twenty-three geochemical reference materials issued by the GSJ, USGS, IAEA etc. The pyrohydrolysis technique was used to separate bromine and iodine from samples analysed in the form of powder. The accuracy and precision of the experimental values were assessed by the comparative analysis of well established reference materials such as USGS AGV-1, BCR-1 and IGGE GBW07312. The measured values agreed well with reported values within a 10% error range. We also report reliable new data for these elements in these geochemical reference materials.     

Rare-earth and trace elements in the Quaternary volcanic rocks of Hokkaido,Japan

Seven rare-earth elements (La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb, Lu) and Co, Cr, Sc, Ba, Hf and Th have been determined by non-destructive neutron activation analysis on the Quaternary volcanic rocks in Hokkaido, Japan. The trace-element abundances are discussed in terms of the petrological problems, particularly the origin of calc-alkali magma. On the basis of the La/Sm ratio and the contents of K, Ba, Th and La, lateral variations in the contents of trace elements exist across the Kurile and the northern Honshū arcs. The calc-alkali rocks can be classified into three types which correspond to Kuno's three basalt-magma types. There is no essential difference in the rare-earth patterns between the basaltic rocks and the associated calc-alkali rocks in each petrographic province. This suggests that the calcalkali rocks may be derived from the basaltic magmas by fractional crystallization under certain conditions.