Variations of U and Sr isotope ratios in Alsace and Luxembourg rain waters: origin and hydrogeochemical implications

Major and trace element concentrations, as well as Sr and U isotope ratios, were measured in rainwater samples collected in three different locations in Alsace (East of France) and Luxembourg: a mid-altitude mountain site (Aubure Environment HydroGeochemical Observatory), an urban site (Strasbourg) and a peri-urban site located in an area of well developed industrial activity (Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg). Results highlight the quite high spatial and temporal variability of the chemical and isotopic characteristics of rainwater at the regional scale. They also suggest a quite systematic contribution of a local component in the chemical composition of rainwater. In urban and peri-urban sites, the local component is certainly linked to human activities, as it is well illustrated in this study with the Esch-sur-Alzette samples. On the other hand, for the Aubure site, i.e. a small forested watershed of mid-altitude mountain, data presented in this study demonstrate the influence of the vegetation on the chemical composition of rainwater for alkali and calc-alkali elements, as well as for the Sr isotope ratios. Such a result questions the reliability of the method classically used to estimate the rainwater contribution on the river chemical budget. In addition, data of the present study confirm the very low content of uranium in rainwater and demonstrate, especially through the U isotope analysis of Aubure rainwater, the negligible effect of rainwater on U budget of river waters. This work thus outlines the property of U to be a geochemical tracer specific of weathering fluxes carried by rivers. To cite this article: F. Chabaux et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Mars reconnaissance lander: Vehicle and mission design

There is enormous potential for more mobile planetary surface science. This is especially true in the case of Mars because the ability to cross challenge terrain, access areas of higher elevation, visit diverse geological features and perform long traverses of up to 200 km supports the search for past water and life. Vehicles capable of a ballistic ‘hop’ have been proposed on several occasions, but those proposals using in-situ acquired propellants are the most promising for significant planetary exploration. This paper considers a mission concept termed Mars Reconnaissance Lander using such a vehicle. We describe an approach where planetary science requirements that cannot be met by a conventional rover are used to derive vehicle and mission requirements.The performance of the hopper vehicle was assessed by adding estimates of gravity losses and mission mass constraints to recently developed methods. A baseline vehicle with a scientific payload of 16.5 kg and conservatively estimated sub-system masses is predicted to achieve a flight range of 0.97 km. Using a simple consideration of system reliability, the required cumulative range of 200 km could be achieved with a probability of around 80%. Such a range is sufficient to explore geologically diverse terrains. We therefore plot an illustrative traverse in Hypanis Valles/Xanthe Terra, which encounters crater wall sections, periglacial terrain, aqueous sedimentary deposits and a traverse up an ancient fluvial channel. Such a diversity of sites could not be considered with a conventional rover. The Mars Reconnaissance Lander mission and vehicle presents some very significant engineering challenges, but would represent a valuable complement to rovers, static landers and orbital observations.     

Role of Subsurface Brines in Salt Balance: The Case Study of the Caspian Sea and Kara Bogaz Bay

The water level of the Caspian Sea fluctuated significantly during recent history, without consensus for the cause. The varied chemistry of the Caspian, Kara Bogaz and sediment a interstitial waters provides a further insight. Element concentrations and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the interstitial waters were compared to those of Caspian and Kara Bogaz open waters, and of acid-leached extractable components. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the interstitial waters are explained by addition of subterranean waters similar to nearby spring waters. These subterranean waters yield chemical characteristics such as a Cl/SO₄, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, Ca/Sr and K/Rb ratios of respectively 80, 0.7086, 250 and 1,800. However, their addition does not explain the large difference in the K/Rb ratio of the Caspian and Kara Bogaz waters, respectively at 7,630 and 17,550, which implies also a leaching of salt deposits by the upward migrating subterranean waters. The sediments of the southern Caspian basin, with low Na, Cl and SO₄ in their interstitial waters, deposited apparently in an anoxic environment. The related chemical changes in the waters are also indicative of a recent change in the hydrologic regime, possibly induced by a changing morphology of the drainage basin.     

Lithium isotope systematics in a forested granitic catchment (Strengbach, Vosges Mountains, France)

Over the last decade it has become apparent that Li isotopes may be a good proxy to trace silicate weathering. However, the exact mechanisms which drive the behaviour of Li isotopes in surface environments are not totally understood and there is a need to better calibrate and characterize this proxy. In this study, we analysed the Li concentrations and isotopic compositions in the various surface reservoirs (soils, rocks, waters and plants) of a small forested granitic catchment located in the Vosges Mountains (Strengbach catchment, France, OHGE http://ohge.u-strasbg.fr). Li fluxes were calculated in both soil profiles and at the basin scale and it was found that even in this forested basin, atmospheric inputs and litter fall represented a minor flux compared to input derived from the weathering of rocks and soil minerals (which together represent a minimum of 70% of dissolved Li). Li isotope ratios in soil pore waters show large depth dependent variations. Average dissolved δ⁷Li decreases from −1.1‰ to −14.4‰ between 0 and −30 cm, but is +30.7‰ at −60 cm. This range of Li isotopic compositions is very large and it encompasses almost the entire range of terrestrial Li isotope compositions that have been previously reported. We interpret these variations to result from both the dissolution and precipitation of secondary phases. Large isotopic variations were also measured in the springs and stream waters, with δ⁷Li varying from +5.3‰ to +19.6‰. δ⁷Li increases from the top to the bottom of the basin and also covaries with discharge at the outlet. These variations are interpreted to reflect isotopic fractionations occurring during secondary phase precipitation along the water pathway through the rocks. We suggest that the dissolved δ⁷Li increases with increasing residence time of waters through the rocks, and so with increasing time of interaction between waters and solids. A dissolution precipitation model was used to fit the dissolved Li isotopic compositions. It was found that the isotopic compositions of springs and stream waters are explicable by an isotopic fractionation of −5‰ to −14‰ (best fit −10.8‰), in agreement with Li incorporation into clay. In soil solutions, it was found that isotopic fractionation during secondary precipitation is larger (at least −23‰), suggesting a major role for different secondary phases, such as iron oxides that maybe incorporate Li with a higher isotope fractionation.     

Antimony in the environment: A review focused on natural waters. III. Microbiota relevant interactions

Antimony is ubiquitously present in the environment as a result of natural processes and human activities. Antimony is not considered to be an essential element for plants or animals. In this third review paper on the occurrence of antimony in natural waters, the interactions of antimony with microbiota are discussed in relation to its fate in natural waters. This paper covers the following aspects: occurrence in microbiota, uptake transport mechanisms, pathways of Sb(III) removal from cells involved in antimony tolerance, oxidation and reduction of antimony by living organisms, phytochelatin induction and biomethylation. This review is based on a careful and systematic examination of a comprehensive collection of papers on the above mentioned aspects of the subject. All data are quoted from the original sources. Relatively little existing information falls within the strict scope of this review and, when relevant, discussion on the interactions of antimony with reference microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and different protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania, has been included.     

The suitability of annual tree growth rings as environmental archives: Evidence from Sr,Nd, Pb and Ca isotopes in spruce growth rings from the Strengbach watershed

The combination of the Sr, Nd and Pb isotope systems, recognized as tracers of sources, with the Ca isotope system, known to reveal biology-related fractionations, allowed us to test the reliability of spruce (Picea abies) growth rings as environmental archives through time (from 1916 to 1983) in a forest ecosystem affected by acid atmospheric deposition. Sr and Pb isotopes have already been applied in former tree-ring studies, whereas the suitability of Nd and Ca isotope systems is checked in the present article. Our Sr and Nd isotope data indicate an evolution in the cation origin with a geogenic origin for the oldest rings and an atmospheric origin for the youngest rings. Ca isotopes show, for their part, an isotopic homogeneity which could be linked to the very low weathering flux of Ca. Since this flux is weak the spruces’ root systems have pumped the Ca mainly from the organic matter-rich top-soil over the past century. In contrast, the annual growth rings studied are not reliable and suitable archives of past Pb pollution.     

Using short-lived nuclides of the U- and Th-series to probe the kinetics of colloid migration in forested soils

The recent chemical dynamics of a podzolic forest soil section (from the Strengbach watershed, France) was investigated using U- and Th-series nuclides. Analyses of (²³⁸U), (²³⁰Th), (²²⁶Ra), (²³²Th), (²²⁸Ra) and (²²⁸Th) activities in the soil particles, the seepage waters, and the mature leaves of the beech trees growing on this soil were performed by TIMS or gamma spectrometry. The simultaneous analysis of the different soil (sl) compartments allows to demonstrate that a preferential Th leaching over Ra must be assumed to explain the (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th), (²²⁸Ra/²³²Th) and (²²⁸Th/²²⁸Ra) disequilibria recorded in the soil particles. The overall Ra- and Th- transfer schemes are entirely consistent with the prevailing acido-complexolysis weathering mechanism in podzols. Using a continuous open-system leaching model, the (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th) and (²²⁸Ra/²³²Th) disequilibria measured in the different soil layers enable dating of the contemporary processes occurring in this soil. In this way, we have determined that a preferential Th-leaching from the shallow Ah horizon, due to a strong complexation with organic colloids, began fairly recently (18 years ago at most). The continual increase in pH recorded in precipitations over the last 20 years is assumed to be the cause of this enhanced organic complexation. A lower soil horizon (50-60 cm) is also affected by preferential Th leaching, though lasting over several centuries at least, with a much smaller leaching rate. The migration of Th isotopes through this soil section might hence be used as a tracer for the organic colloids migration and the induced radioactive disequilibria demonstrate to be useful for assessing the colloidal migration kinetics in a forested soil.Ra and Th isotopic ratios also appear to be valuable tracers of some mineral-water-plant interactions occurring in soil. The (²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra) ratio enables discrimination of the Ra flux originating from leaf degradation from that originating from mineral weathering in shallow −10 cm seepage soil waters. It appears that, at least in some cases, the Ra-isotopic ratio measured in forest-soil seepage waters may not be representative of the Ra-isotopic ratio released from mineral weathering, indicating that the different origins of the dissolved ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra must be taken into account.     

Cross-scale: multi-scale coupling in space plasmas

Most of the visible universe is in the highly ionised plasma state, and most of that plasma is collision-free. Three physical phenomena are responsible for nearly all of the processes that accelerate particles, transport material and energy, and mediate flows in systems as diverse as radio galaxy jets and supernovae explosions through to solar flares and planetary magnetospheres. These processes in turn result from the coupling amongst phenomena at macroscopic fluid scales, smaller ion scales, and down to electron scales. Cross-Scale, in concert with its sister mission SCOPE (to be provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency—JAXA), is dedicated to quantifying that nonlinear, time-varying coupling via the simultaneous in-situ observations of space plasmas performed by a fleet of 12 spacecraft in near-Earth orbit. Cross-Scale has been selected for the Assessment Phase of Cosmic Vision by the European Space Agency.      

Origin of cometary extended sources from degradation of refractory organics on grains: polyoxymethylene as formaldehyde parent molecule

The radial distribution of some molecules (CO, H₂CO, HNC, …) observed in the coma of some comets cannot be explained only by a direct sublimation from the nucleus, or by the photolysis of a detected parent compound. Such molecules present a so-called extended source in comae. We show in this paper that extended sources can be explained by refractory organic material slowly releasing gas from grains ejected from the cometary nucleus, due to solar UV photons or heat. The degradation products are produced throughout the coma and therefore are presenting an extended distribution. To model this multiphase chemistry we derive new equations, which are applied to Comet 1P/Halley for the case of the production of formaldehyde from polyoxymethylene (POM), the polymer of formaldehyde (-CH₂-O-)_n. We show that the presence of a few percent of POM on cometary grains (a nominal value of ∼4% in mass of grains is derived from our calculations) is in good agreement with the observed distribution, which so far were not interpreted by the presence of any gaseous parent molecule.