Relationships between molecular bacterial diversity and chemistry of groundwater in the Wairarapa Valley,New Zealand

Groundwater plays an important role in New Zealand water supplies and hence monitoring activities are conducted regularly. Most monitoring programmes aim to evaluate groundwater chemistry and almost completely overlook the microbial component in this ecosystem. In our present study, the bacterial community structure of groundwater in the Wairarapa Valley was examined using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), and relationships between bacterial community structure and groundwater chemistry, aquifer confinement and groundwater usage were explored. In addition, the results from this study were compared with a previous T-RFLP survey of the same area in an attempt to detect changes in bacterial community structure over time. The data obtained suggested that bacterial community structure was related to groundwater chemistry, especially to redox conditions. Species composition showed minimal variation over time if groundwater chemistry remained unchanged. These findings reflect the potential of using bacterial communities as biological indicators to evaluate the health of groundwater ecosystems. We suggest that it is important to include this type of broad bacterial diversity assessment criteria into regular groundwater monitoring activities.     

Zum Problem der Schichtlücken im Devon der Sierra Morena (Spanien)

Zusammenfassung Im Devon der nördlichen Sierra Morena und der Sierra de San Pedro treten Schichtlücken auf, die in den untersuchten Mulden ein unterschiedliches Ausmaß erreichen. Das Mitteldevon konnte nirgends nachgewiesen werden. Das Oberdevon folgt unmittelbar über unterdevonischen oder auch silurischen Schichten. Im südlichen Arbeitsgebiet kann sogar das Oberdevon fehlen, so daß unterkarbonische Sedimente über silurischen und älteren Schichten liegen.Für das Fehlen von Oberdevon kann Schwellenbildung und damit verbundene Abtragung vermutet werden. Die Schichtlücken im Unter- und Mitteldevon der übrigen Gebiete scheinen dagegen durch Unterbrechung der Sedimentzufuhr erklärbar zu sein.

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In the Devonian of northern Sierra Morena and Sierra de San Pedro there exist stratigraphical breaks of different amount in the investigated troughs. No Middle Devonian could be found. Upper Devonian rests directly upon Lower Devonian or Silurian rocks. Due to the occasional lack of Upper Devonian in the southern area under discussion even sediments of Lower Carboniferous age may superpose Silurian and older deposits.The absence of Upper Devonian is supposed to be caused by development of ridges and their erosion. However, stratigraphical breaks during Lower and Middle Devonian in the other areas seem to be explicable by non-deposition.

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Résumé Dans les synclinals étudiés du Dévonien de la Sierra Morena septentrionale et de la Sierra de San Pedro il y a des lacunes stratigraphiques atteignant de différentes ampleurs. Dévonien moyen ne fut nulle part observé. Dévonien supérieur suit immédiatement les couches du Dévonien inférieur ou bien du Silurien. Dans le secteur méridional il y a même des lacunes stratigraphiques du Dévonien supérieur, et les sédiments du Carbonifère inférieur reposent sur le Silurien ou sur des couches plus anciennes.Il est possible qu'un soulèvement d'un paléorelief accompagné de l'érosion soit responsable de la lacune du Dévonien supérieur. Quant aux lacunes du Dévonien inférieur et moyen des autres régions elles sont plutôt à expliquer par non-déposition.

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Stratigraphische Untersuchungen im Paläozoikum des Montseny (Katalonien/Spanien)

The Catalonian Coast Bange and Inner Bange are the connecting link between the East-Pyrenees in the North and the Celtiberic Chains in the Southeast. During the Paleozoic the Catalonian Ranges differ from both areas by extreme eugeosynclinal conditions with very low rates of sedimentation. Similar conditions in the Hercynian of Spain are to be found in the “pelagic” areas of the southwestern part of the Sierra Morena from upper Ordovician to Lower Carboniferous times. Based on the mapping of the Avencó-Valley (a part of the Montseny-Mountains/Catalonia) the Paleozoic layers are described and a stratigraphic subdivision is worked out. The conformable sequence begins in the upper Ordovician (Caradoc) and continues to the Visean. Buntsandstein is unconformably overlying the Paleozoic. The Ordovician/Silurian boundary is determined by Graptolithes; the Silurian/Devonian boundary is located within a sequence of Orthoceras-limestone as elsewhere in the Catalonian Range. For lack of fossils the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary is not clearly defined; instead a lithologic boundary was used. Special stress has been laid upon sedimentary structures.     

Models of a mean granular cell

From inversion of a time series of slit spectra, observed in a quiet region of the solar photosphere, averaged models of a granular cell have been obtained showing the stratification of physical quantities versus optical depth and geometrical height. Furthermore a semi‐empiric dynamic model of a mean granular cell has been derived and the results are presented.     

Dynamics of Magnetic Bright Points in an Active Region

A high-quality 80-minute time series of a part of a sunspots moat (18 ″ × 23 ″) in the G-band (4308.64 Å) has been analysed to measure the horizontal velocities of Magnetic Bright Points (MBPs). The observations were carried out in June 2004 at the new 1-meter Swedish Solar Telescope in La Palma. Spatial resolution was estimated to be 0.17 ″ or 125 km on the Sun, and images were taken in a frame selection mode in a 20-seconds interval. Individual feature tracking of MBPs with manual selection and automated tracking has been performed. The intensity of MBPs increases with size. The mean value in a MBP-velocity histogram was found to be 1.11 km s ^?1 and it shows good accordance with an abnormal granulation-velocity histogram. MBP velocity histograms as presented here can be taken as an input for coronal heating models in an active region. However, MBPs move slower in an active region than in the network (presumably because of the higher active region magnetic flux) and hence, a process that includes dissipation of MHD waves through fast MBP motions (>2 km s ^?1) may not alone explain the observed properties of the corona.     

准噶尔盆地南缘新生代构造特征及其与砂岩型铀矿成矿作用初析

准噶尔盆地南缘盆山结合部中新生界沉积巨厚,新生代变形强烈,是研究新盆山耦合的理想场所,也是我国砂岩型铀矿找矿的远景区段。本文在综合前人资料和野外观测分析基础上,根据新生代构造活动特征,将准噶尔盆地南缘划分为博格达山前和西部断褶带两个构造分区,博格达山前以强烈的逆冲推覆为特征,发育多条活动的逆冲推覆断裂; 乌鲁木齐以西至乌苏南的西部断褶带则发育三-四排的褶皱-逆冲断裂构造带。对采自博格达山前逆冲推覆断裂带内的方解石和断层泥,利用电子自旋共振测年手段,推测博格达山前的富康-吉木萨尔断裂带和北三台断裂带分别在0.7~1Ma和0.25Ma期间,经历了一期重要的逆冲推覆作用。结合盆地南缘砂岩型铀矿的展布规律及其成矿条件的分析,探讨了新生代构造运动对砂岩型铀矿成矿的控制作用,认为西部断褶带的第一排构造带具有较好的成矿前景,而博格达山前由于新生代构造活动强烈而相对成矿不利,为此提出了准噶尔盆地南缘砂岩型铀矿成矿“构造优先权”的构造控矿模式,进而指出了区域找矿的优选区段。     

The association between sunspot magnetic fields and superpenumbral fibrils

Spectropolarimetric observations of a sunspot were carried out with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain. Maps of the physical parameters were obtained from an inversion of the Stokes profiles observed in the infrared Fe I line at 15648 Å The regular sunspot consisted of a light bridge which separated the two umbral cores of the same polarity. One of the arms of the light bridge formed an extension of a penumbral filament which comprised weak and highly inclined magnetic fields. In addition, the Stokes V profiles in this filament had an opposite sign as the sunspot and some resembled Stokes Q or U. This penumbral filament terminated abruptly into another at the edge of the sunspot, where the latter was relatively vertical by about 30°. Chromospheric Hα and He II 304 Å filtergrams revealed three superpenumbral fibrils on the limb‐side of the sunspot, in which one fibril extended into the sunspot and was oriented along the highly inclined penumbral counterpart of the light bridge. An intense, elongated brightening was observed along this fibril that was co‐spatial with the intersecting penumbral filaments in the photosphere. Our results suggest that the disruption in the sunspot magnetic field at the location of the light bridge could be the source of reconnection that led to the intense chromospheric brightening and facilitated the supply of cool material in maintaining the overlying superpenumbral fibrils. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The 1.5 meter solar telescope GREGOR

The 1.5 m telescope GREGOR opens a new window to the understanding of solar small‐scale magnetism. The first light instrumentation includes the Gregor Fabry Pérot Interferometer (GFPI), a filter spectro‐polarimeter for the visible wavelength range, the GRating Infrared Spectro‐polarimeter (GRIS) and the Broad‐Band Imager (BBI). The excellent performance of the first two instruments has already been demonstrated at the Vacuum Tower Telescope. GREGOR is Europe’s largest solar telescope and number 3 in the world. Its all‐reflective Gregory design provides a large wavelength coverage from the near UV up to at least 5 microns. The field of view has a diameter of 150″. GREGOR is equipped with a high‐order adaptive optics system, with a subaperture size of 10 cm, and a deformable mirror with 256 actuators. The science goals are focused on, but not limited to, solar magnetism. GREGOR allows us to measure the emergence and disappearance of magnetic flux at the solar surface at spatial scales well below 100 km. Thanks to its spectro‐polarimetric capabilities, GREGOR will measure the interaction between the plasma flows, different kinds of waves, and the magnetic field. This will foster our understanding of the processes that heat the chromosphere and the outer layers of the solar atmosphere. Observations of the surface magnetic field at very small spatial scales will shed light on the variability of the solar brightness (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)