Glaciopanspermia: Seeding the terrestrial planets with life?     

Joop M. Houtkooper 《Planetary and Space Science》2011,59(10):1107-1111

The question whether life originated on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system has no obvious answer, since Earth was sterilized by the Moon-forming impact and possibly also during the LHB, about 700 Ma after the formation of the solar system. Seeding by lithopanspermia has to be considered. Possible sources of life include Earth itself, Mars, Venus (if it had a more benign climate than today) and icy bodies of the solar system. The first step of lithopanspermia is the ejection of fragments of the surface into space, which requires achieving at least escape velocity. As the velocity distribution of impact ejecta falls off steeply, attention is drawn to bodies with lower escape velocities. Ceres has had, or still has, an ocean more than 100 km deep, with hydrothermal activity at its rocky core. The possible presence of life, its relative closeness to the terrestrial planets and Ceres' low escape velocity of 510 m/s suggest that Ceres could well be a parent body for life in the solar system.Icy impact ejecta - hence glaciopanspermia - from Ceres will be subject to evaporation of volatiles. Spores may be loosened by evaporation and enter the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets as micrometeorites.The seeding of the terrestrial planets from Ceres would result in (1) detection of life in the crustal layers of Ceres; (2) a commonality of Cerean life with Terran and possible Martian and Venusian life and (3) biomarkers of Cerean life, which might be found in the ice at the Moon's poles and on the surface of other main belt asteroids.  相似文献   

中国东部夏季暴雨日数的分布特征及其与大气环流和海温的关系   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

周放  孙照渤  许小峰  施健 《气象学报》2014,72(3):447-464

采用1961—2010年NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,NOAA海表温度资料和中国国家气候中心整编的中国东部387站逐日降水资料,分析了中国夏季暴雨日数的分布特征及其与大气环流和海温的可能关系。结果表明:(1)近50年中国东部夏季暴雨日数经历了3次年代际变化,先后发生在20世纪70年代中后期、90年代初以及21世纪初。(2)根据经验正交函数(EOF)分析主模态的空间分布型,结合聚类分析的方法,将中国东部夏季暴雨日数主要分为6种类型:渤海型、北方型、淮河型、长江型、南方型、南方和北方两支型。该分型对实际暴雨日数分布具有较好的代表性。(3)分析中国东部夏季暴雨日数不同分布型的环流场特征,结果表明暴雨日数的分布类型与东亚夏季风密切相关,渤海型和北方型分布对应季风位置偏北,淮河型和长江型分布对应季风位置偏南,南方型分布时季风位置更加偏南,当暴雨日数呈现南方和北方两支型分布时,季风较强,影响中国东部大部分地区。(4)分析中国东部夏季暴雨日数不同分布型的水汽输送特征,结果表明,影响中国东部夏季不同暴雨日数分布型的水汽输送与西太平洋的异常反气旋式环流密切相关,形成暴雨的水汽更多来自于西太平洋。(5)分析中国东部夏季暴雨日数不同分布型的海温场特征,结果表明,渤海型和北方型暴雨日数多发生在拉尼娜发展或者维持时期;淮河型和长江型暴雨日数多发生在厄尔尼诺维持或者衰减时期;南方型暴雨日数多发生在厄尔尼诺发展时期;而当暴雨日数呈现出南方和北方两支型时,整个太平洋和北印度洋大部分地区均呈现出偏冷的状态,海、陆热力差异显著。  相似文献   

Toxicological impact assessment of heavy metal contamination on macrobenthic communities in southern coastal sediments of Korea     

Dhong-il Lim  Jin-Woo Choi  Hyeon Ho Shin  Do Hyun Jeong  Hoi Soo Jung 《Marine pollution bulletin》2013

In the heavily industrialized Masan Bay of southern coast, Korea, the potential harmful effects of heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sn, Zn, and Hg) were evaluated in terms of the pollution load index (PLI) and ecological risk assessment index (ERI) methods, and the results obtained were considered alongside the health of the macrobenthic fauna communities. The results revealed that the bay sediments, especially in the inner bay and the outfall area of a sewage treatment plant, are exposed to moderate to serious levels of metal pollution. Hg and Cd contributed the most to the potential toxicity response indices in sediments recently deposited in the bay. The potential ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in the bay was highlighted by the use of the benthic biological pollution index (BPI), suggesting that the ERI is a useful toxicity response index, which can quantify the overall ecological risk level to a target environment.  相似文献   

Factors contributing to heavy metal accumulation in sediments and in the intertidal mussel Perna perna in the Gulf of Annaba (Algeria)     

Bourhane-Eddine Belabed  Xavier Laffray  Amel Dhib  Mouna Fertouna-Belakhal  Souad Turki  Lotfi Aleya 《Marine pollution bulletin》2013

This paper presents the results of a seasonal survey of heavy metals accumulated in sediments and in the soft parts of the body of the mussel Perna perna at four stations in the Gulf of Annaba (Algeria). Pooled soft tissues from 10 mussels representing the entire range of sizes were digested in nitric acid. Statistical analysis reveals a significant seasonal effect on all the measured metals, the highest values being recorded in winter. With the exception of Cr, the levels for all metals were significantly higher in the east, at the outlet of the Seybouse River, than at all other monitoring stations. The study also shows that north-western waters are subject to a significantly lower degree of heavy metal pollution than elsewhere in the gulf. Levels were nevertheless within the limits of public health standards.  相似文献   

Distribution and accumulation of heavy metals in carbonate and reducible fractions of marine sediment from offshore mid-western Taiwan     

Hou-Chun Liu  Chen-Feng You  Bor-Jiun Huang  Chih-An Huh 《Marine pollution bulletin》2013

Two marine sediment cores from offshore mid-western Taiwan were subsampled and pre-treated using a sequential extraction procedure to separate carbonate and reducible fractions. Aliquots of these extracts were analyzed to determine their chemical composition to evaluate the geochemical processes responsible for heavy metal distribution and accumulation in the coastal environment. Our data demonstrate that sedimentation rates derived from excess ²¹⁰Pb associated with metal fluxes show large increases circa A.D. 1990. A well-synchronized increase in metal flux in both geochemical fractions was found and validated by Pearson’s correlation. Principal component analysis revealed the heavy metal fluxes to be highly correlated with the sediment deposition rate, with metal contamination potentially driven by a sole contributor. This study emphasizes the changes in sedimentation rate is potentially caused by activities associated with the inland economic development during this time, rather than by raising heavy metal pollution dominated the accumulation offshore mid-western Taiwan.  相似文献   

Bioavailability of heavy metals in water and sediments from a typical Mediterranean Bay (Málaga Bay,Region of Andalucía,Southern Spain)     

《Marine pollution bulletin》2013,77(1-2):427-434

Concentrations of heavy metals were measured in sediment and water from Málaga Bay (South Spain). In the later twentieth century, cities such as Málaga, have suffered the impact of mass summer tourism. The ancient industrial activities, and the actual urbanization and coastal development, recreation and tourism, wastewaters treatment facilities, have been sources of marine pollution. In sediments, Ni was the most disturbing metal because Ni concentrations exceeded the effects range low (ERL), concentration at which toxicity could start to be observed in 85% of the samples analyzed. The metal bioavailability decreased in the order: Cd > Ni > Pb > Cu > Cr. In the sea water samples, Cd and Pb were the most disturbing metals because they exceeded the continuous criteria concentration (CCC) of US EPA in a 22.5% and 10.0% of the samples, respectively. Statistical analyses (ANOVA, PCA, CA) were performed.  相似文献   

Variation Characteristics of Mercury in Speciation during Road Runoff for Different Rainfall Patterns     

XiaoJun Zuo  DaFang Fu  He Li 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2013,41(1):69-73

Mercury (Hg) concentration was investigated during 2010 based on road runoff from Nanjing Ring Highway, China. The emphasis was placed on impact of rainfall characteristics on Hg speciation concentration, and on variation characteristics of Hg speciation during road runoff for different rainfall patterns. Results indicated that average concentration of total mercury (THg) was in the range from 0.472 to 1.304 µg/L, and steady Hg (SHg) was the dominant form of Hg. Rainfall and average rainfall intensity were two important factors of determining Hg speciation concentrations during road runoff for different rainfall patterns. Rainfall pattern had significantly influence on variation of available Hg and dissolved Hg during road runoff, and on their proportions in THg. However, the proportion of SHg in THg was not obviously affected by rainfall pattern. On the other hand, toxic degree of Hg to soil environment is various for different rainfall patterns, based on Hg speciation variation.  相似文献   

Phytoremediation of Cadmium‐Contaminated Soil by Two Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) Genotypes     

Zhenhua Zhang  Rengel Zed  Zhaopu Liu  Hongbo Shao 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2013,41(2):202-209

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) can be used not just for bioethanol production, bur potentially also for soil phytoremediation via removal of heavy metal pollutants. An experiment was carried out to characterize the phytoextraction efficiency of two Jerusalem artichoke genotype (NY2 and NY5) in cadmium (Cd) contaminated soil. After 90 days of growth, NY5 had greater plant biomass and greater Cd accumulation in tissues than NY2. The chlorophyll content and chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters were slightly higher when plants were grown in Cd‐contaminated versus control soil. It implies that this examined NY2 and NY5 can extract more Cd than some hyperaccumulators, indicating that NY2 and NY5 can be applied to clean up Cd‐contaminated soils. Compared with NY2, NY5 had higher phytoextraction potential due to more biomass and higher concentrations of Cd in tissues, and may therefore be the better candidates for phytoremediation in Cd‐contaminated soil.  相似文献   

Co‐composting of Municipal Solid Waste with Sawdust: Improving Compost Quality     

Javad Yousefi  Habibollah Younesi  Seyed Mahmoud Ghasempoury 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2013,41(2):185-194

The aim of present study was to improve compost quality as well as to achieve an optimum C/N ratio in compost, reduction in heavy metal content and increased water‐holding capacity of composting piles in arid areas. Four windrow compost piles were prepared by mixing sawdust at various dosages with municipal solid waste (MSW). The sawdust was mixed with MSW at 0% (MSW0), 16% (MSW16), 32% (MSW32), and 70% (MSW70) on dry weight basis. The compost piles were monitored daily by recording the temperature, while, weekly measurement was done on C/N ratio, moisture, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC). The addition of 16% sawdust increased the initial C/N to the optimum level and decreased N loss during the composting process. The MSW16 and MSW32 exhibited better temperature dynamics and their composting period seemed to be shorter than that of MSW0 and MSW70. Moreover, addition of sawdust caused lowering of moisture loss from the composting piles. Sawdust admixtures also produced lowering of pH and EC values and led to lower heavy metal content in final products. The quality of the final compost makes it possible to propose the use of this experimental procedure for building up a novel mass reduction of the initial composted waste mixtures.  相似文献   

Soil Microbial and Enzyme Activities Response to Pollution Near an Aluminium Smelter   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Juan Carlos García‐Gil  Jozef Kobza  Pedro Soler‐Rovira  Soňa Javoreková 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2013,41(5):485-492

The aim of this research was to assess the impact caused by a long‐term pollution by fluoride and heavy metals in two soils (PS1 and PS2) near an aluminium smelter in Slovakia, on soil microbial biomass C (MBC), basal respiration, metabolic quotient (qCO₂) water‐soluble organic C (WSOC) and enzymes activities involved in the C, N and P biogeochemical cycles. An unpolluted soil was used as control (C0). Results obtained for soil fluoride content reflected a gradient of fluoride exposure in topsoils of contaminated sites. Decreases in microbial and enzymatic activities and in MBC to organic C ratio were found in PS2 site, which is closer to the smelter and exhibited the highest fluoride content. PS1‐soil showed an extreme alkaline pH caused by leaching of waste effluents from the smelter dumping site, higher contents of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd, significantly larger MBC, qCO₂ and catalase and urease activities, and much larger basal respiration and dehydrogenase activity than PS2 and C0‐soil. Phosphatase, β‐glucosidase and BAA‐protease were negatively correlated with WSOC, basal respiration and dehydrogenase activity, and showed some degree of inhibition in polluted sites. These results may indicate different responses of microbial communities to ecosystem disturbances, caused by the drastic changes in soil's physicochemical properties as result of the long‐term emissions of fly ash with high levels of contaminants that are still affecting soil microbial and enzymatic activities.  相似文献