Clay mineral‐organic matter relationships in the early solar system     

Victoria K. Pearson  Mark A. Sephton  Anton T. Kearsley  Philip A. Bland  Ian A. Franchi  Iain Gilmour 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2002,37(12):1829-1833

Abstract— As the solar system formed, it inherited and perpetuated a rich organic chemistry, the molecular products of which are preserved in ancient extraterrestrial objects such as carbonaceous chondrites. These organic‐rich meteorites provide a valuable and tangible record of the chemical steps taken towards the origin of life in the early solar system. Chondritic organic matter is present in the inorganic meteorite matrix which, in the CM and CI chondrites, contains evidence of alteration by liquid water on the parent asteroid. An unanswered and fundamental question is to what extent did the organic matter and inorganic products of aqueous alteration interact or display interdependence? We have used an organic labelling technique to reveal that the meteoritic organic matter is strongly associated with clay minerals. This association suggests that clay minerals may have had an important trapping and possibly catalytic role in chemical evolution in the early solar system prior to the origin of life on the early Earth.  相似文献   

Phytoplankton blooms and nitrogen productivity in San Francisco Bay     

Frances P. Wilkerson  Richard C. Dugdale  Victoria E. Hogue  Albert Marchi 《Estuaries and Coasts》2006,29(3):401-416

San Francisco Bay has been considered an HNLC or HNLG (high nutrient low chlorophyll or low growth) region with nonlimiting concentrations of inorganic nutrients yet low standing stocks of phytoplankton. Most of the studies leading to this conclusion come from the South Bay and little is known about nutrient processes and phytoplankton productivity in the northern and central parts of the estuary. Data collected over 3 yr (1999–2003) in Suisun, San Pablo, and Central Bays describe the availability of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), silicate, and phosphate and the seasonal variability in phytoplankton abundance. Rate measurements of fractionated nitrogen productivity provide the relative contributions of different forms of DIN (ammonium and nitrate) and different sized phytoplankton to the development of seasonal phytoplankton blooms. Regional differences in bloom dynamics are observed with Suisun Bay, the least saline, highest nutrient, most turbid region having less phytoplankton biomass and productivity than San Pablo and Central Bays, except in the abnormally wet spring of 2000. Spring blooms in San Francisco Bay are driven primarily by high rates of nitrate uptake by larger phytoplankton cells following a period of increased ammonium uptake that depletes the ambient ammonium. The smaller occasional fall blooms are apparently flueled mostly by ammonium uptake by small sized phytoplankton. The data suggest that the HNLC condition in the northern and central parts of San Francisco Bay is due primarily to light availability modulated by the interaction between ammonium and nitrate, and the relative amounts of the two forms of the DIN pool available to the phytoplankton.  相似文献   

Thermobarometry and P–T–t paths: the granulite to eclogite transition in lower crustal xenoliths from eastern Australia     

N. J. PEARSON  S. Y. O'REILLY 《Journal of Metamorphic Geology》1991,9(3):349-359

‘Lower crustal’ suite xenoliths in basaltic and kimberlitic magmas are dominated by mafic granulites and may also include eclogites and garnet pyroxenites. Pressures of up to 25 kbar obtained from such xenoliths are well in excess of an upper value of c. 12 kbar for exposed granulite terranes. Palaeogeotherms constructed from xenoliths for the lower crust beneath the Phanerozoic fold belts of eastern Australia (SEA) and beneath the eastern margin of the Australian craton (EMAC) indicate two distinct thermal regimes. The two geotherms have similar form, with the EMAC curve displaced c. 150°C to lower temperatures. Reaction microstructures show the partial re-equilibration of primary igneous assemblages to granulite and eclogite assemblages and are interpreted to reflect the cooling from magmatic temperatures. Variations in mineral compositions and zoning are used to constrain further the history of several EMAC xenoliths to near-isobaric trajectories. Detailed graphical models are constructed to predict compositional changes for isobaric P–T paths (at 7, 14 & 21 kbar) to transform an SEA-type geotherm to a cratonic geotherm. The models show that for the assemblage grt + cpx ± ky + plag + qtz, the changes associated with falling temperature in X_gr, X_jd (increase) and X_an (decrease) will be greater at higher pressures. These results indicate that discernible zoning is more likely to be preserved in the higher pressure xenoliths. The zoning recorded in clinopyroxene from mafic granulite xenoliths over the pressure range c. 12–22 kbar suggests isobaric cooling of a large crustal thickness (30–35 km). An isobaric cooling path is consistent with magma accretion models for the transition of a crust–mantle boundary from an SEA-type geotherm to a cratonic geotherm. The coexistence of granulite and eclogite over the depth range 35–75 km beneath the EMAC indicates that the granulite to eclogite transition in the lower crust is controlled by P–T conditions, bulk chemistry and kinetic factors. At shallower crustal levels, typified by exposed granulite terranes, isobaric cooling may not result in the transition to eclogite.  相似文献   

A possible new molecular mechanism of thundercloud electrification   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：1  

Pavel Jungwirth  Daniel Rosenfeld  Victoria Buch 《Atmospheric Research》2005,76(1-4):190

Thunderclouds are electrified when charge is transferred between small and large ice particles colliding in a cloud that contains strong updrafts. The small ice particles rise with one type of charge and the large ice particles fall and carry with them downward the other type of charge, which is most often negative, so that normally lightning lowers negative charge from cloud to the ground. While the collisional mechanism of thundercloud charging is well established, the nature of the charge transfer between the colliding ice particles is not very well understood on the atomic level, and no present theory can explain it in full detail. Here we propose a new charge separation mechanism that is based on molecular dynamics simulations of particle surfaces and collisions, keeping track of the individual charges as they move in the form of salt ions from one ice particle to another. Under normal conditions, when sulfates dominate as cloud condensation nuclei, this ionic mechanism is consistent with the prevailing negative charging of graupels in thunderclouds. Moreover, with dearth of sulfate anions, the present mechanism predicts a shift towards positive charging. This fits well to a large range of observations of enhanced positive lightning, connected with smoke rich in chlorides and nitrates, that could not be explained satisfactorily previously.  相似文献   

HOPEFUL GEOGRAPHIES: IMAGINING ETHICAL ALTERNATIVES     

Victoria Lawson 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2005,26(1):36-38

  相似文献   

The occurrence of distal Icelandic and Italian tephra in the Lateglacial of Lake Bled,Slovenia     

Christine S. Lane  Maja Andrič  Victoria L. Cullen  Simon P.E. Blockley 《Quaternary Science Reviews》2011,30(9-10):1013-1018

The discovery of sites preserving tephra layers from multiple volcanic centres is key to constructing a single European tephrostratigraphic framework for the Late Quaternary. Until now, the tephrostratigraphy of Europe has been divided into two halves: sites in the North Atlantic and northern Europe regions link the Icelandic, Eifel, and the Massif Central volcanic histories; whilst sites in southern Europe record the sequence of tephra layers produced by circum-Mediterranean volcanic provinces. The missing link, able to tie together these two halves, is found in the tephrostratigraphic record of Lake Bled, Slovenia.Lake Bled, in the Julian Alps, Slovenia, holds a high resolution multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental archive for the Lateglacial of south-central Europe. Cryptotephra investigations have revealed three tephra layers: two closely spaced within Younger Dryas stadial sediments and one shortly after the start of the Bølling-Allerød interstadial warming. Two of the tephra layers (Bld_T120 and Bld_T240) are of Campanian origin and are correlated to deposits of the Pomici Principali (PP) and Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) eruptions, respectively. The third layer (Bld_T122) correlates to the Icelandic Vedde Ash (VA), extending the known fallout of this widespread marker layer farther to the southeast.The Lake Bled record also allows the stratigraphic relationship and relative ages of the VA and the PP eruption to be discerned for the first time. Whilst existing numerical age estimates for these two deposits are indistinguishable within errors, their close occurrence in the same lacustrine sediment sequence shows that the VA was erupted shortly prior to the PP eruption.The tephrostratigraphy of Lake Bled developed here helps us to tie together regional volcanic stratigraphies into a broader, continental-scale lattice of sites, with the potential to allow the transfer of dates between remote sequences and the construction of relative chronologies, beneficial in particular for environmental and archaeological research.  相似文献   

Juvenile specimens of Pinacosaurus grangeri Gilmore, 1933 (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of China, with comments on the specific taxonomy of Pinacosaurus     

Michael E. Burns  Philip J. CurrieRobin L. Sissons  Victoria M. Arbour 《Cretaceous Research》2011,32(2):174-186

Four juvenile specimens referable to Pinacosaurus grangeri (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria) are described from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) locality Bayan Mandahu in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (People’s Republic of China). All the specimens preserve the skulls as well as, in some cases, mandibles, postcrania, and osteoderm. They are not taphonomically deformed by expanding matrix distortion, unlike many Gobi specimens, including the holotype of P. grangeri. Bayan Mandahu is also the type locality for Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus. The proximity in space and time of these two closely related species warrants a generic and specific revision for Pinacosaurus. The distinction of the two species is based on characters of the squamosal dermal elaborations, cranial roof posterior to the orbits, premaxillary notch, and distal margin of the ilium. Although a relatively well-represented ankylosaur taxon, the phylogenetic position of Pinacosaurus has not been unequivocally resolved. A new analysis recovers Pinacosaurus as the most basal member of the Ankylosaurinae.  相似文献   

The Optical Properties of Greater Florida Bay: Implications for Seagrass Abundance     

Meredith L. McPherson  Victoria J. Hill  Richard C. Zimmerman  Heidi M. Dierssen 《Estuaries and Coasts》2011,34(6):1150-1160

Water column optical properties of Greater Florida Bay were investigated in the context of their impacts on seagrass distribution. Scattering played an important role in light attenuation throughout the shallow water system. The northwest region was characterized by an absence of seagrasses and the highest scattering by particles, mostly from resuspended carbonate sediments. Higher seagrass densities were observed in the open waters just north of the Florida Keys, where absorption coefficients were dominated by colored dissolved organic material and scattering was lower than in the northwest region. Patchy dense seagrass meadows were observed in the clear waters south of the Keys where scattering and absorption were low and contributed equally to light attenuation. In general, seagrasses were observed in areas where >7.5% of surface irradiance reached the plants and where optical properties were not dominated by scattering. Although the prevention of eutrophication and nuisance algal blooms may be necessary for preserving seagrass meadows in this system, our observations and model calculations indicate that nutrient control alone may be insufficient to permit seagrass recolonization if optical properties are dominated by particulate scattering from resuspended sediments.  相似文献   

REALISM AND THE PRACTICE OF GEOGRAPHY*     

Victoria A. Lawson  Lynn A. Staeheli 《The Professional geographer》1990,42(1):13-20

Realism is a philosophy of science wherein researchers attempt to identify structures and agents present in society and how they tend to act. Philosophical debates over realism, which have often been confrontational, have clouded the practical contributions of a realist approach to substantive research. The latter is the focus of this paper. Many realists combine several bodies of theory to explain the complexity of societies. In using these theories, realists clarify the distinctions between questions concerning observable phenomena and the processes that create them. A realist approach illuminates the elusive nature of social “facts” and the problems of meaning, interpretation, and understanding in researching the social world.  相似文献   

Contrasting conditions preceding MIS3 and MIS2 Heinrich events   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Elsa Jullien  Francis E. Grousset  Sidney R. Hemming  Victoria L. Peck  Ian R. Hall  Cdric Jeantet  Isabelle Billy 《Global and Planetary Change》2006,54(3-4):225-238

This paper presents an integrated multi-tracer study performed on piston cores recovered in the glacial ice-rafted detritus belt, stretching from Newfoundland to the Irish margin across the North Atlantic (40–55°N), in order to compare in detail the internal structure of each Heinrich event (HE). These tracers are IRD counts (quartz, dolomite, volcanic grains), their Nd isotopic composition and Ar–Ar datings of individual hornblende grains. A focus on the detailed structure of HE confirms that all intervals of massive sediment flux, specifically Heinrich layers HL1-to-5 (HLs), were dominated by North American, Laurentide ice-sheet surges from Hudson Strait, that are evident as far east as the Bay of Biscay (European margin). The sequences of events leading up to the HLs, however, present significant dissimilarities. One important difference is that HL2 and HL1 were preceded by “precursor events” (increases in the number of lithic grains per gram from non-Laurentide sediment sources). Sediment debris derived from near-simultaneous iceberg releases originating from the European ice-sheet are only detectable close to the European margin. In contrast there are no comparable precursor events before HL5 and HL4. This observation implies that precursor events are unlikely to be mechanistically linked to the triggering of HEs. The similarity of the HLs, against contrasting background conditions, is a significant observation that should add constraints to their origin.  相似文献