Biological and granulometric controls on sedimentary organic matter of an intertidal mudflat     

Lawrence M. Mayer  Peter T. Rahaim  William Guerin  Stephen A. Macko  Les Watling  Franz E. Anderson 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1985,20(4):491-503

A variety of measures of organic matter concentration and quality were made on samples collected from the top few mm of intertidal mudflat sediment over the course of a year, in order to assess the relative importance of biological and sedimentological influences on sedimentary organic matter. Winter and summer were times of relatively fine-grained sediment accumulation, caused by biological deposition or stabilization processes and resulting in higher organic matter concentrations. Stable carbon isotope and Br:C ratios indicated a planktonic source of bulk organic matter. Ratios of organic carbon to specific surface area of the sediments were consistent with an organic monolayer coverage of sediment grains. Correction for changing grain size during the year showed no change in the organic concentration per unit surface area, in spite of organic matter inputs by in situ primary production, buildup of heterotroph biomass and mucus coatings, and biodeposition of organic-rich seston. There were also no indications of changes in bulk organic quality, measured as hydrolyzable carbohydrates and amino acids, in response to these biological processes. It is concluded that biological processes on a seasonal time scale affect the bulk organic matter of these sediments via a modulation of grain size rather than creation or decay of organic matter.  相似文献   

X-ray synchrotron emission from the oblique shock in the jet of the powerful radio galaxy 3C 346     

D. M. Worrall  M. Birkinshaw 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,360(3):926-934

We report the first detection, with Chandra , of X-ray emission from the jet of the powerful narrow-line radio galaxy 3C 346. X-rays are detected from the bright radio and optical knot at which the jet apparently bends by approximately 70°. The Chandra observation also reveals a bright galaxy-scale atmosphere within the previously known cluster and provides a good X-ray spectrum for the bright core of 3C 346. The X-ray emission from the knot is synchrotron radiation, as seen in lower-power sources. In common with these sources, there is evidence of morphological differences between the radio/optical and X-ray structures, and the spectrum is inconsistent with a one-component continuous-injection model. We suggest that the X-ray-bright knot is associated with a strong oblique shock in a moderately relativistic, light jet, at ∼ 20° to the line of sight, and that this shock is caused by the jet interacting with the wake in the cluster medium behind the companion galaxy of 3C 346. The general jet curvature can result from pressure gradients in the cluster atmosphere.  相似文献   

A Chandra detection of the radio hotspot of 3C 123     

M. J. Hardcastle  M. Birkinshaw  D. M. Worrall 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,323(2):L17-L22

Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the powerful, peculiar radio galaxy 3C 123 have resulted in an X-ray detection of the bright eastern hotspot, with a 1-keV flux density of ∼5 nJy. The X-ray flux and spectrum of the hotspot are consistent with the X-rays being inverse-Compton scattering of radio synchrotron photons by the population of electrons responsible for the radio emission ('synchrotron self-Compton emission') if the magnetic fields in the hotspot are close to their equipartition values. 3C 123 is thus the third radio galaxy to show X-ray emission from a hotspot which is consistent with being in equipartition. Chandra also detects emission from a moderately rich cluster surrounding 3C 123, with L _X(2–10 keV)=2×10⁴⁴ erg s⁻¹ and kT ∼5 keV, and absorbed emission from the active nucleus, with an inferred intrinsic column density of 1.7×10²² cm⁻² and an intrinsic 2–10 keV luminosity of 10⁴⁴ erg s⁻¹.  相似文献   

Controls on the chemistry of runoff from an upland peat catchment     

Fred Worrall  Tim Burt  John Adamson 《水文研究》2003,17(10):2063-2083

This study uses 2 years of data from a detailed weekly water sampling programme in a 11·4 km² upland peat catchment in the Northern Pennines, UK. The sampling comprised precipitation, soil‐water samples and a number of streams, including the basin outlet. Samples were analysed for: pH, conductivity, alkalinity, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Total N, SO₄, Cl and colour. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify end‐members and compositional trends in order to identify controls on the development of water composition. The study showed that the direct use of PCA had several advantages over the use of end‐member mixing analysis (EMMA) as it combines an analysis of mixing and evolving waters without the assumption of having to know the compositional sources of the water. In its application to an upland peat catchment, the study supports the view that shallow throughflow at the catotelm/acrotelm boundary is responsible for storm runoff generation and shows that baseflow is controlled by cation exchange in the catotelm and mixing with a base‐rich groundwater. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

A Chandra observation of the X-ray environment and jet of 3C 296     

M. J. Hardcastle  D. M. Worrall  M. Birkinshaw  R. A. Laing  A. H. Bridle 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,358(3):843-850

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Cenozoic Eucla Basin and associated palaeovalleys,southern Australia — Climatic and tectonic influences on landscape evolution,sedimentation and heavy mineral accumulation     

B. Hou  L.A. Frakes  M. Sandiford  L. Worrall  J. Keeling  N.F. Alley 《Sedimentary Geology》2008,203(1-2):112-130

The Eucla Basin including the vast Nullarbor Plain lies on the margins of the Yilgarn, Musgrave and Gawler cratons in southern Australia and owes its distinctive landscape to a unique set of interactions between eustatic, climatic and tectonic processes over the last ~ 50 Ma. Understanding of the history of the basin and the palaeovalleys that drained from the surrounding cratons are important because they contain major mineral deposits, and the sediments derived from them contain remobilised gold, uranium, and heavy minerals. In particular, a remarkably preserved palaeoshoreline sequence along the north-eastern margin of the Eucla Basin is highly prospective for heavy mineral placer deposits. The record of marine, marginal marine, estuarine, fluvial and lacustrine environments, as constrained mainly by an extensive borehole dataset, reflects major depositional events during the Palaeocene–Early Eocene, Middle–Late Eocene, Oligocene–Early Miocene, Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene and Pliocene–Quaternary. These events reflect the key role of eustatic sea-level variation which, during highstands, inundated the craton margins, flooding palaeovalleys to up to 400 km inboard of the present coastline. However, a systematic eastward migration of the depocentre across the Eucla Basin during the Neogene, together with apparent flow reversals in a number of palaeovalley systems draining the Gawler Craton, suggest that the Eucla Basin has also been subject to differential vertical movements, expressed as a west-side up, east-side down tilting of ~ 100–200 m. This differential movement forms part of a broader north-down–southwest-up dynamic topographic tilting of the Australian continent associated with relatively fast (6–7 cm/yr) northward plate motion since fast spreading commenced in the Southern Ocean at ~ 43 Ma. We suggest that the evolving dynamic topography field has played a key role in facilitating development of placer deposits, largely through multistage, eastward reworking of near-shore sequences during highstand transgressive cycles on a progressively tilting platform under the influence of persistent westerly weather systems.  相似文献   

An altered carrying capacity of the Benguela upwelling ecosystem for African penguins (Spheniscus demersus)     

Crawford  Robert J. M.; Underhill  Les G.; Upfold  Leshia; Dyer  Bruce M. 《ICES Journal of Marine Science》2007,64(3):570-576

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Source of trace element variability in Great Barrier Reef corals affected by the Burdekin flood plumes     

Chantal Alibert  Les Kinsley  Malcolm T. McCulloch  Felicity McAllister 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2003,67(2):231-246

Massive corals in the Great Barrier Reef, analyzed at high-resolution for Sr/Ca (thermal ionization mass spectrometry) and trace elements such as Ba and Mn (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry), can provide continuous proxy records of dissolved seawater concentrations, as well as sea surface temperature (SST). A 10-yr record (1989 to 1998) from Pandora Reef, an inshore reef regularly impacted by the freshwater plumes of the Burdekin River, is compared with an overlapping record from a midshelf reef, away from runoff influences. Surface seawater samples, taken away from river plumes, show little variability for Sr/Ca (8484 ± 10 μmol/mol) and Ba (33.7 ± 0.7 nmol/kg). Discrete Ba/Ca peaks in the inshore coral coincide with flood events. The magnitude of this Ba/Ca enrichment is most likely controlled by the amount of suspended sediments delivered to the estuary, which remains difficult to monitor. The maximum flow rate at peak river discharge is used here as a proxy for the sediment load and is shown to be strongly correlated with coral Ba/Ca (r = 0.97). After the wet summer of 1991, the coral Ba/Ca flood peak is followed by a plateau that lingers for several months after dissipation of plume waters, signifying an additional flux of Ba that may originate from submarine groundwater seeps and/or mangrove reservoirs. Both Mn and Y are enriched by a factor of ∼5 in inshore relative to midshelf corals. Mn/Ca ratios show a seasonal cycle that follows SST (r = 0.7), not river discharge, with an additional high variability in summer suggesting a link with biological activity. P and Cd show no significant seasonal variation and are at a low level at both inshore and midreef locations. However, leaching experiments suggest that part of the coral P is not lattice bound.  相似文献   

Predicting the future DOC flux from upland peat catchments   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  

Fred Worrall  Tim Burt 《Journal of Hydrology》2005,300(1-4):126-139

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Are peatlands in different states with respect to their thermodynamic behaviour? A simple test of peatland energy and entropy budgets     

Fred Worrall  Ross Morrison  Chris Evans  Joerg Kaduk  Susan Page  Alex Cumming  Mark Rayment  Nicholas Kettridge 《水文研究》2021,35(12):e14431

Whilst all ecosystems must obey the second law of thermodynamics, these physical bounds and controls on ecosystem evolution and development are largely ignored across the ecohydrological literature. To unravel the importance of these underlying restraints on ecosystem form and function, and their power to inform our scientific understanding, we have calculated the entropy budget of a range of peat ecosystems. We hypothesize that less disturbed peatlands are ‘near equilibrium’ with respect to the second law of thermodynamics and thus respond to change by minimizing entropy production. This ‘near equilibrium’ state is best achieved by limiting evaporative losses. Alternatively, peatlands ‘far-from-equilibrium’ respond to a change in energy inputs by maximizing entropy production which is best achieved by increasing evapotranspiration. To test these alternatives this study examined the energy balance time series from seven peatlands across a disturbance gradient. We estimate the entropy budgets for each and determine how a change in net radiation (ΔR_n) was transferred to a change in latent heat flux (ΔλE). The study showed that: (i) The transfer of net radiation to latent heat differed significantly between peatlands. One group transferred up to 64% of the change in net radiation to a change in latent heat flux, while the second transferred as little as 27%. (ii) Sites that transferred the most energy to latent heat flux were those that produced the greatest entropy. The study shows that an ecosystem could be ‘near equilibrium’ rather than ‘far from equilibrium’.  相似文献