A study of ozone in the Colorado mountains

The seasonal and diurnal variations of ozone mixing ratios have been observed at Niwot Ridge. Colorado. The ozone mixing ratios have been correlated with the NO _x (NO+NO₂) mixing ratios measured concurrently at the site. The seasonal and diurnal variations in O₃ can be reasonably well understood by considering photochemistry and transport. In the winter there is no apparent systematic diurnal variation in the O₃ mixing ratio because there is little diurnal change of transport and a slow photochemistry. In the summer, the O₃ levels at the site are suppressed at night due to the presence of a nocturnal inversion layer that isolated ozone near the surface, where it is destroyed. Ozone is observed to increase in the summer during the day. The increases in ozone correlate with increasing NO _x levels, as well as with the levels of other compounds of anthropogenic origin. We interpret this correlation as in-situ or in-transit photochemical production of ozone from these precursors that are transported to our site. The levels of ozone recorded approach 100 ppbv at NO _x mixing ratios of approximately 3 ppbv. Calculations made using a simple clean tropospheric chemical model are consistent with the NO _x -related trend observed for the daytime ozone mixing ratio. However, the chemistry, which does not include nonmethane hydrocarbon photochemistry, underestimates the observed O₃ production.     

Laboratory studies of some environmental variables controlling sulfur emissions from plants

Several trace sulfur gases that can have a significant influence on atmospheric chemistry are emitted from biological systems. In order to begin to address biological questions on the mechnisms of production of such gases, laboratory-scale experiments have been developed that reproduce such emissions under controlled conditions. Using a flux chamber technique, flats containing soil, or soil plus plants were sampled for the net fluxes of sulfur gases. The major sulfur gas emitted from all the plants tested (corn, alfalfa, and wheat) was dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Alfalfa and wheat also emitted lesser amounts of methanethiol, variable amounls of hydrogen sulfide, and in some experiments wheat emitted carbon disulfide. The use of a plant incubator allowed a systematic study of the effects of variables such as temperature, photon flux, and carbon dioxide levels, on these emissions. Fluxes of all the emitted sulfur gases increased exponentially with increasing air temperature, and increased with increasing photon flux up to a saturation level of \~300 E/m^–2 sec^-1. Three to four-fold changes in DMS flux were observed during light to dark or dark to light transitions. By varying the CO₂ content of the chamber flush gas, it was shown that the observed sulfur fluxes from corn and alfalfa were not related to the CO₂ concentration. Growing these crop plants through holes in a Teflon soil-covering film allowed a separate determination of soil and foliage emissions and substantiation of the light dependent uptake of COS by growing vegetation observed in previous field studies.     

北秦岭西段冥古宙锆石(4.1～3.9Ga)年代学新进展

2007年王洪亮等报道在北秦岭西段火山岩中获得一粒年龄为4079±5Ma的冥古宙捕虏锆石。之后,对这一发现开展了深入的调查研究,我们除利用SHIMP技术方法对原4079Ma的锆石进行验证外,新获得了两粒~(207)Pb/~(206)Pb年龄为4007±29Ma和3908±45Ma捕获的变质成因锆石,表明早在4.0Ga已经有变质作用的发生,这或许说明在冥古宙时期地球已经具有相当规模和厚度的地壳。同时开展的岩石学研究表明,蕴含古老锆石的母岩属于火山碎屑熔岩类而不是火山熔岩。     

Background ozone and anthropogenic ozone enhancement at niwot ridge,Colorado

The mixing ratios for ozone and NO_x (NO+NO₂) have been measured at a rural site in the United States. From the seasonal and diurnal trends in the ozone mixing ratio over a wide range of NO_x levels, we have drawn certain conclusions concerning the ozone level expected at this site in the absence of local photochemical production of ozone associated with NO_x from anthropogenic sources. In the summer (June 1 to September 1), the daily photochemical production of ozone is found to increase in a linear fashion with increasing NO_x mixing ratio. For NO_x mixing ratios less than 1 part per billion by volume (ppbv), the daily increase is found to be (17±3) [NO_x]. In contrast, the winter data (December 1 to March 1) indicate no significant increase in the afternoon ozone level, suggesting that the photochemical production of ozone during the day in winter approximately balances the chemical titration of ozone by NO and other pollutants in the air. The extrapolated intercept corresponding to [NO_x]=0 taken from the summer afternoon data is 13% less than that observed from the summer morning data, suggesting a daytime removal mechanism for O₃ in summer that is attributed to the effects of both chemistry and surface deposition. No significant difference is observed in the intercepts inferred from the morning and afternoon data taken during the winter.The results contained herein are used to deduce the background ozone level at the measurement site as a function of season. This background is equated with the natural ozone background during winter. However, the summer data suggest that the background ozone level at our site is elevated relative to expected natural ozone levels during the summer even at low NO_x levels. Finally, the monthly daytime ozone mixing ratios are reported for 0[NO_x]0.2 ppbv, 0.3 ppbv[NO_x]0.7 ppbv and 1 ppbv[NO_x]. These monthly ozone averages reflect the seasonal ozone dependence on the NO_x level.     

Maar-diatreme phreatomagmatism at Hopi Buttes,Navajo Nation (Arizona), USA

Remnants of an extensive maar-diatreme volcanic field are magnificently exposed at various depths of erosion in the Hopi Buttes volcanic field of northeastern Arizona. Field and petrographic studies of both the maar and diatreme elements of a selection of volcanoes within the field show that: (1) lower sections of the maar rim sequences are typically rich in sandy mudrock derived from the pre-eruptive Mio-Pliocene Bidahochi Formation, and the muddy Bidahochi sediment was soft and wet at the time of maar eruptions; (2) beds higher within the rims contain generally increased proportions of sandstone clasts from the Triassic Wingate Formation. In the diatremes, late-emplaced breccia has deeper-seated lithics than more marginal breccia emplaced earlier; and (3) many vents are topped by megacryst-enriched scoria and spatter, and deep-seated xenoliths are known only from upper diatreme and craterfilling tephra. These observations show that: (1) eruptions at Hopi Buttes involved interaction of magma with unconsolidated mudrock at shallow levels, and the phreatomagmatic processes that provided the bulk of the energy involved in the violent eruptions were driven by the interaction of magma and wet sediment; (2) the locus of explosive activity migrated downward as eruptions progressed; and (3) the closing stage of many eruptions was characterized by rapid magma rise and relative depletion of water.     

The measurement of natural sulfur emissions from soils and vegetation: Three sites in the Eastern United States revisited

Sulfur fluxes from bare soils, naturally vegetated surfaces and from several agricultural crops were measured at two mid-continent sites (Ames, Iowa and Celeryville, Ohio) and from one salt water marsh site (Cedar Island, North Carolina) during a field program conducted jointly by the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory, Washington State University Laboratory for Atmospheric Research and University of Idaho Department of Chemistry during July and August 1985. The sites were chosen specifically because they had been characterized by previous studies (Anejaet al., 1979; Adamset al., 1980, 1981). The NOAA gas chromatographic/dynamic-enclosure measurements yielded bare soil surfaces fluxes from the mid-continent sites composed predominantly of COS, H₂S, CH₃–S–CH₃ (DMS) and CS₂, all of which were strongly correlated with air temperature. Net fluxes of approximately 5 and 15 ng S/m² min were observed in Iowa and Ohio, respectively, at appropriate weighted mean July temperatures. These fluxes are roughly a factor of 10 smaller than the earlier measurements, the greatest difference being in the measurement of the H₂S flux. The presence of growing vegetation was observed to measurably increase the flux of H₂S, significantly increase that of DMS and to decrease that of COS. Sulfur fluxes in the Cedar Island environs were observed to be both spatially and temporally much more variable and to include CH₃SH as a measurable contributor. Net fluxes, composed predominantly of DMS and H₂S, were estimated to be about 300 ngS/m²min during August; again about a factor of 10 lower than previous estimates. All measurements were corroborated to within about a factor of 2 by those of the other participating laboratories.     

Silicon ion chemistry in the ionosphere

Loss processes which remove Si⁺ ions selectively relative to other meteor-derived atomic ions in the E- and D-regions of the ionosphere have been identified and measured in the laboratory. The major Si⁺ loss in the E-region is the reaction Si⁺ + H₂O → HSiO⁺ + H (1) with a rate constant 2.3 ± 0.9 × 10^?10 cm³s^?1 at 300 K. The corresponding reactions with Fe⁺, Mg⁺ and other metallic meteor ions are endothermic. Presumably (1) is followed by a fast dissociative-recombination with electrons to produce neutral SiO or Si. At lower altitudes Si⁺ ions associate in a three-body reaction with O₂ with a much larger rate constant than the corresponding associations of Fe⁺ and Mg⁺ with O₂.