Alteration of five organic compounds by glow discharge plasma and UV light under simulated Mars conditions     

Paul E. Hintze  Charles R. Buhler  Luz M. Calle 《Icarus》2010,208(2):749-1010

The Viking missions to Mars failed to detect any organic material in regolith samples. Since then, several removal mechanisms of organic material have been proposed. Two of these proposed methods are removal due to exposure to plasmas created in dust devils and exposure to UV irradiation. The experiments presented here were performed to identify similarities between the two potential removal mechanisms and to identify any compounds produced from these mechanisms that would have been difficult for the Viking instruments to detect. Five organic compounds, phenanthrene, octadecane, octadecanoic acid, decanophenone and benzoic acid, were exposed to a glow discharge plasma created in simulated martian atmospheres as might be present in dust devils, and to UV irradiation similar to that found at the surface of Mars. Glow discharge exposure was carried out in a chamber with 6.9 mbar pressure of a Mars like gas composed mostly of carbon dioxide. The plasma was characterized using emission spectroscopy and found to contain cations and excited neutral species including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. UV irradiation experiments were performed in a Mars chamber which simulates the temperature, pressure, atmospheric composition, and UV fluence rates of equatorial Mars. The non-volatile residues left after each exposure were characterized by mass loss, infrared spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry. Oxidized, higher molecular weight versions of the parent compounds containing carbonyl, hydroxyl and alkenyl functional groups were identified. The presence of these oxidized compounds suggests that searches for organic material in soils on Mars use instrumentation suitable for detection of compounds which contain the above functional groups. Discussions of possible reaction mechanisms are given.  相似文献   

Particulate organic matter uptake rates of two benthic filter-feeders (Sabella spallanzanii and Branchiomma luctuosum) candidates for the clarification of aquaculture wastewaters     

Cavallo D  Pusceddu A  Danovaro R  Giangrande A 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(5):622-625

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Center-to-Limb Variation of Solar Microwave Bursts     

Silva  Adriana V.R.  Valente  Marcelo M. 《Solar physics》2002,206(1):177-188

Statistical studies of hard X-ray flares position on the solar disk have shown that the more energetic hard X-rays have a tendency to be more concentrated near the limb rather than at disk center, whereas lower-energy hard X-ray emission seems isotropic. Since the high-frequency radio emission is believed to be produced by the same energetic electron population responsible for the high-energy hard X-rays, we searched the microwave/millimeter emitting bursts for center-to-limb variation in their emission. A total of 499 bursts observed by the radio telescopes in Bern at the frequencies of 3.1, 5.2, 8.4, 11.8, 19.6, 35.0, and 50.0 GHz were analyzed. Simultaneous Hα flares were used for determination of the radio burst position on the solar disk. For each of the 7 frequencies, the peak flux and duration were studied as a function of heliocentric position. For 312 bursts, spectral parameters such as spectral index, peak frequency, and flux at spectral maximum were analyzed. For a subset of 43 bursts with emission at all frequencies, the emission and spectral parameters were analyzed. Center-to-limb variations of the spectral parameters for all bursts were sought. In order to interpret the observational results, we have performed a numerical simulation of gyrosynchrotron spectra. We find that high-frequency events, which are also the more energetic ones, have larger center-to-limb variations in their parameters than do the overall flares. Moreover, this behavior agrees with theoretical predictions.  相似文献   

The droughts of 1996–1997 and 2004–2005 in Amazonia: hydrological response in the river main‐stem     

Javier Tomasella  Laura S. Borma  José A. Marengo  Daniel A. Rodriguez  Luz A. Cuartas  Carlos A. Nobre  Maria C. R. Prado 《水文研究》2011,25(8):1228-1242

Severe hydrological droughts in the Amazon have generally been associated with strong El Niño events. More than 100 years of stage record at Manaus harbour confirms that minimum water levels generally coincide with intense warming in the tropical Pacific sea waters. During 2005, however, the Amazon experienced a severe drought which was not associated with an El Niño event. Unless what usually occurs during strong El Niño events, when negative rainfall anomalies usually affect central and eastern Amazon drainage basin; rainfall deficiencies in the drought of 2005 were spatially constrained to the west and southwest of the basin. In spite of this, discharge stations at the main‐stem recorded minimum water levels as low as those observed during the basin‐wide 1996–1997 El Niño‐related drought. The analysis of river discharges along the main‐stem and major tributaries during the drought of 2004–2005 revealed that the recession on major tributaries began almost simultaneously. This was not the case in the 1996–1997 drought, when above‐normal contribution of some tributaries for a short period during high water was crucial to partially counterbalance high discharge deficits of the other tributaries. Since time‐lagged contributions of major tributaries are fundamental to damp the extremes in the main‐stem, an almost coincident recession in almost all tributaries caused a rapid decrease in water discharges during the 2005 event. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

The droughts of 1997 and 2005 in Amazonia: floodplain hydrology and its potential ecological and human impacts     

Javier Tomasella  Patrícia F. Pinho  Laura S. Borma  José A. Marengo  Carlos A. Nobre  Olga R. F. O. Bittencourt  Maria C. R. Prado  Daniel A. Rodriguez  Luz A. Cuartas 《Climatic change》2013,116(3-4):723-746

It is well known that most of the severe droughts in Amazonia, such as that of 1997, are El Niño-related. However, in 2005, the Amazon was affected by a severe drought that was not El Niño-related, as most of the rainfall anomalies that have happened in southwestern Amazonia are driven by sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical North Atlantic. Earlier studies have analyzed both droughts in terms of their meteorological causes and impacts in terra firme (non-flooded) forests. This study compares the hydrological effects of both droughts on the Amazonian floodplain and discusses their potential ecological and human impacts based on an extensive literature review. The results revealed that the effects of the 2005 drought were exacerbated because rainfall was lower and evaporation rates were higher at the peak of the dry season compared to the 1997 drought. This induced a more acute depletion of water levels in floodplain lakes and was most likely associated with higher fish mortality rates. Based on the fact that the stem growth of many floodplain species is related to the length of the non-flooded period, it is hypothesized that the 1997 drought had more positive effects on floodplain forest growth than the 2005 drought. The fishing community of Silves in central Amazonia considered both droughts to have been equally severe. However, the 2005 drought was widely broadcasted by the press; therefore, the governmental mitigation efforts were more comprehensive. It is suggested that the availability of new communication technology and greater public awareness regarding environmental issues, combined with the new legal framework for assessing the severity of calamities in Brazil, are among the primary factors that explain the difference in societal response between the two droughts.  相似文献   

Toxicity assessment of sediments associated with various land-uses in coastal South Carolina, USA, using a meiobenthic copepod bioassay     

Bejarano AC  Maruya KA  Chandler GT 《Marine pollution bulletin》2004,49(1-2):23-32

Coastal urbanization supplies surrounding estuarine environments with urban-related contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals and pesticide mixtures. In our study, adult female and male copepods (Amphiascus tenuiremis) were chronically exposed to 18 sediment samples collected from sites influenced by different land-uses. Sediment samples were collected from three major suburban areas (Hilton Head, Kiawah Island and the Okatee River watershed) and a pristine site (North Inlet) in coastal South Carolina. Three-sediment bioassays (six sites per bioassay) were conducted by culturing copepods for 14 days in quadruplicate test sediments under flow-through conditions at 20 degrees C and 12:12 LD cycles. Adult survival and copepod reproductive output were quantified. Sediment samples were also analyzed by GC-MS for low and high molecular weight PAHs. Minimal adult mortality was observed in most sediment samples. However, sediments from Hilton Head Island and the Okatee River showed significant effects on copepod reproductive output (i.e., nauplii, copepodites and clutch size). Thus, we determined that reproductive endpoints rather than adult copepod survivorship were more sensitive to effects of contaminated sediments on A. tenuiremis. Furthermore, six (33%) of the 18 sites had a >25% reduction in copepod bioassay endpoints relative to controls, suggesting a high risk to long term A. tenuiremis population maintenance.  相似文献   

Vulnerability assessment in urban areas exposed to flood risk: methodology to explore green infrastructure benefits in a simulation scenario involving the Cañaveralejo River in Cali,Colombia     

López-Valencia  Adriana Patricia 《Natural Hazards》2019,99(1):217-245

Natural Hazards - Building resilient infrastructure is one of the major challenges faced by cities due to increasing urbanization rates and climate change. Furthermore, the application of...  相似文献   

Late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in central-eastern Brazil: insights from a ~35k cal a bp peat record in the Cerrado biome     

Ingrid Horák-Terra  Antonio Martínez Cortizas  Cynthia Fernandes Pinto Da Luz  Alexandre Christófaro Silva  Tim Mighall  Plínio Barbosa De Camargo  Carlos Victor Mendonça-Filho  Paulo Eduardo De Oliveira  Francisco Willian Cruz  Pablo Vidal-Torrado 《第四纪科学杂志》2020,35(5):664-676

The late Quaternary evolution of central-eastern Brazil has been under-researched. Questions remain as to the origin of the Cerrado, a highly endangered biome, and other types of vegetation, such as the Capões – small vegetation islands of semi-deciduous and mountain forests. We investigated the factors that influenced the expansion and contraction of the Cerrado and Capões during the late Quaternary (last ~35 ka), using a multi-proxy approach: stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N), geochemistry, pollen and multivariate statistics derived from a peat core (Pinheiro mire, Serra do Espinhaço Meridional). Five major shifts in precipitation, temperature, vegetation and landscape stability occurred at different timescales. Our study revealed that changes in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) seem to have been coeval with these shifts: from the Late Glacial Maximum to mid-Holocene the SACZ remained near (~29.6 to ~16.5k cal a bp ) and over (~16.5 to ~6.1 k cal a bp ) the study area, providing humidity to the region. This challenges previous research which suggested that climate was drier for this time period. At present, the Capões are likely to be a remnant of a more humid climate; meanwhile, the Cerrado biome seems to have stablished in the late Holocene, after ~3.1 k cal a bp .  相似文献   

Climatic vs. tectonic signals in a continental extensional basin (Teruel,NE Spain) from stable isotope (δ18O) and sequence stratigraphical evolution     

Lope Ezquerro  Aránzazu Luzón  Marta Navarro  Carlos L. Liesa  José L. Simón 《地学学报》2014,26(5):337-346

Alluvial fans and shallow carbonate lakes interfered in the Teruel half‐graben during the Late Miocene–Pliocene. Tectonic influence is recorded in alluvial and lacustrine–palustrine successions, with long‐term climate changes being recorded in detail in the isotopic signatures of carbonates. Episodes of tectonic activity induced alluvial fan progradation and lake retraction in the whole basin. Three lacustrine stages have been identified, which support the idea that climate also exerted an important control on sedimentation. The transition between stages 1 and 2 occurred during a tectonically calm episode due to an increase in aridity in the Early Turolian; small fans with source areas next to the lake margin prograded, inducing lake‐shore retraction. The transition from stage 2 to 3 was caused by the superimposition of increasing tectonic activity and aridity effects. Our study demonstrates that discrimination of allogenic factors controlling sedimentation in continental closed basins is possible using sequence stratigraphy in combination with other techniques such as geochemistry of carbonates.  相似文献   

Quaternary charophytes from Salina del Bebedero, Argentina: their relation with extant taxa and palaeolimnological significance     

Adriana García 《Journal of Paleolimnology》1999,21(3):307-323

Charophyte (Charales, green macroscopic algae) assemblages found in Quaternary shoreline sediments from Salina del Bebedero, Argentina, are described in detail, illustrated, and statistically analysed. Fossil gyrogonites, Late Pleistocene and Holocene in age, of Chara cf. hispida var. major (Hartman) Wood, Chara halina García, Chara hornemannii Wallmann, Chara bulbillifera (Donterberg) García, Lamprothamnium haesseliae Donterberg and Lamprothamnium succinctum (Braun ex Ascherson) Wood were identified. A comparison with extant charophyte species of similar ecological requirements allowed for an accurate systematical determination and provided useful data for complementary palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical approaches. On this basis, a reconstruction of palaeo-salinities for the Salina del Bebedero lake, represented by eleven palaeo-beaches, is proposed. Also the associations of charophytes with the ostracods Cyprideis sp., Limnocythere sp., Pampacythere sp., Cypridopsis sp., Darwinula sp., Ilyocypris gibba (Randohr) Brady and Norman, and the foraminifers Ammonia sp., Elphidium gunteri Cole, Quinqueloculina sp., and one species of Discorbacea are analysed, since they are present in both the fossil and modern environments.  相似文献