Comparison of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon yields and fluxes in the watersheds of tropical volcanic islands, examples from Guadeloupe (French West Indies)

International audienceOrganic matter is an important factor that cannot be neglected when considering global carbon cycle. New data including organic matter geochemistry at the small watershed scale are needed to elaborate more constrained carbon cycle and climatic models. The objectives are to estimate the DOC and DIC fluxes exported from small tropical watersheds and to give strong constraints on the carbon hydrodynamic of these systems. To answer these questions, we have studied the geochemistry of eleven small watersheds around Basse-Terre volcanic Island in the French West Indies during different hydrological regimes from 2006 to 2008 (i.e. low water level versus floods). We propose a complete set of carbon measurements, including DOC and DIC concentrations, δ13C data, and less commonly, some spectroscopic indicators of the nature of the organic matter. The DOC/DIC ratio varies between 0.07 and 0.30 in low water level and between 0.25 and 1.97 during floods, indicating that organic matter is mainly exported during flood events. On the light of the isotopic composition of DOC, ranging from -32.8 to -26.2 ‰ during low water level and from -30.1 to -27.2 ‰ during floods, we demonstrate that export of organic carbon is mainly controlled by perennial saprolite groundwaters, except for flood events during which rivers are also strongly influenced by soil erosion. The mean annual yields ranged from 2.5 to 5.7 t km-2 yr-1 for the DOC and from 4.8 to 19.6 t km-2 yr-1 for the DIC and exhibit a non-linear relationship with slopes of watersheds. The flash floods explain around 60% of the annual DOC flux and between 25 and 45% of the DIC flux, highlighting the important role of these extreme meteorological events on global carbon export in small tropical volcanic islands. From a carbon mass balance point of view the exports of dissolved carbon from small volcanic islands are important and should be included in global organic carbon budgets

Atmospheric Evolution

Earth's atmosphere has evolved as volatile species cycle between the atmosphere, ocean, biomass and the solid Earth. The geochemical, biological and astrophysical processes that control atmospheric evolution are reviewed from an "Earth Systems" perspective, with a view not only to understanding the history of Earth, but also to generalizing to other solar system planets and exoplanets.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted as a chapter in "Encyclopaedia of Geochemistry", Editor Bill White, Springer-Nature, 201

Lithological influences on contemporary and long-term regolith weathering at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory

Lithologic differences give rise to the differential weatherability of the Earth’s surface and globally variable silicate weathering fluxes, which provide an important negative feedback on climate over geologic timescales. To isolate the influence of lithology on weathering rates and mechanisms, we compare two nearby catchments in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory in Puerto Rico, which have similar climate history, relief and vegetation, but differ in bedrock lithology. Regolith and pore water samples with depth were collected from two ridgetops and at three sites along a slope transect in the volcaniclastic Bisley catchment and compared to existing data from the granitic Río Icacos catchment. The depth variations of solid-state and pore water chemistry and quantitative mineralogy were used to calculate mass transfer (tau) and weathering solute profiles, which in turn were used to determine weathering mechanisms and to estimate weathering rates. Regolith formed on both lithologies is highly leached of most labile elements, although Mg and K are less depleted in the granitic than in the volcaniclastic profiles, reflecting residual biotite in the granitic regolith not present in the volcaniclastics. Profiles of both lithologies that terminate at bedrock corestones are less weathered at depth, near the rock-regolith interfaces. Mg fluxes in the volcaniclastics derive primarily from dissolution of chlorite near the rock-regolith interface and from dissolution of illite and secondary phases in the upper regolith, whereas in the granitic profile, Mg and K fluxes derive from biotite dissolution. Long-term mineral dissolution rates and weathering fluxes were determined by integrating mass losses over the thickness of solid-state weathering fronts, and are therefore averages over the timescale of regolith development. Resulting long-term dissolution rates for minerals in the volcaniclastic regolith include chlorite: 8.9 × 10‾¹⁴ mol m‾² s‾¹, illite: 2.1 × 10‾¹⁴ mol m‾² s‾¹ and kaolinite: 4.0 × 10‾¹⁴ mol m‾² s‾¹. Long-term weathering fluxes are several orders of magnitude lower in the granitic regolith than in the volcaniclastic, despite higher abundances of several elements in the granitic regolith. Contemporary weathering fluxes were determined from net (rain-corrected) solute profiles and thus represent rates over the residence time of water in the regolith. Contemporary weathering fluxes within the granitic regolith are similar to the long-term fluxes. In contrast, the long-term fluxes are faster than the contemporary fluxes in the volcaniclastic regolith. Contemporary fluxes in the granitic regolith are generally also slightly faster than in the volcaniclastic. The differences in weathering fluxes over space and time between these two watersheds indicate significant lithologic control of chemical weathering mechanisms and rates

A Gap Analysis Methodology for Collecting Crop Genepools: A Case Study with Phaseolus Beans

Background The wild relatives of crops represent a major source of valuable traits for crop improvement. These resources are threatened by habitat destruction, land use changes, and other factors, requiring their urgent collection and long-term availability for research and breeding from ex situ collections. We propose a method to identify gaps in ex situ collections (i.e. gap analysis) of crop wild relatives as a means to guide efficient and effective collecting activities. Methodology/Principal Findings The methodology prioritizes among taxa based on a combination of sampling, geographic, and environmental gaps. We apply the gap analysis methodology to wild taxa of the Phaseolus genepool. Of 85 taxa, 48 (56.5%) are assigned high priority for collecting due to lack of, or under-representation, in genebanks, 17 taxa are given medium priority for collecting, 15 low priority, and 5 species are assessed as adequately represented in ex situ collections. Gap “hotspots”, representing priority target areas for collecting, are concentrated in central Mexico, although the narrow endemic nature of a suite of priority species adds a number of specific additional regions to spatial collecting priorities. Conclusions/Significance Results of the gap analysis method mostly align very well with expert opinion of gaps in ex situ collections, with only a few exceptions. A more detailed prioritization of taxa and geographic areas for collection can be achieved by including in the analysis predictive threat factors, such as climate change or habitat destruction, or by adding additional prioritization filters, such as the degree of relatedness to cultivated species (i.e. ease of use in crop breeding). Furthermore, results for multiple crop genepools may be overlaid, which would allow a global analysis of gaps in ex situ collections of the world's plant genetic resource

Lithium-isotope evidence for enhanced silicate weathering during OAE 1a (Early Aptian Selli event)

An abrupt rise in temperature, forced by a massive input of CO2 into the atmosphere, is commonly invoked as the main trigger for Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs). Global warming initiated a cascade of palaeoenvironmental perturbations starting with increased continental weathering and an accelerated hydrological cycle that delivered higher loads of nutrients to coastal areas, stimulating biological productivity. The end-result was widespread anoxia and deposition of black shales: the hallmarks of OAEs. In order to assess the role of weathering as both an OAE initiator and terminator (via CO2 sequestration) during the Early Aptian OAE 1a (Selli Event, ∼120 Ma) the isotopic ratio of lithium isotopes was analysed in three sections of shallow-marine carbonates from the Pacific and Tethyan realms and one basinal pelagic section from the Tethyan domain. Because the isotopic composition of lithium in seawater is largely controlled by continental silicate weathering and high- and low-temperature alteration of basaltic material, a shift to lighter δ7Li values is expected to characterize OAEs. The studied sections illustrate this phenomenon: δ7Li values decrease to a minimum coincident with the negative carbon-isotope excursion that effectively records the onset of OAE 1a. A second negative δ7Li excursion occurs coeval with the minimum in strontium isotopes after the event. The striking similarity to the strontium-isotope record argues for a common driver. The formation and destruction (weathering) of an oceanic LIP could account for the parallel trend in both isotope systems. The double-spike in lithium isotopes is probably related to a change in weathering congruencies. Such a chemostratigraphy is consistent with the hypothesis that an increase in silicate weathering, in conjunction with organic-carbon burial, led to drawdown of atmospheric CO2 during the early Aptian OAE 1a

A tectonically driven Ediacaran oxygenation event.

The diversification of complex animal life during the Cambrian Period (541-485.4 Ma) is thought to have been contingent on an oxygenation event sometime during ~850 to 541 Ma in the Neoproterozoic Era. Whilst abundant geochemical evidence indicates repeated intervals of ocean oxygenation during this time, the timing and magnitude of any changes in atmospheric pO₂ remain uncertain. Recent work indicates a large increase in the tectonic CO₂ degassing rate between the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic Eras. We use a biogeochemical model to show that this increase in the total carbon and sulphur throughput of the Earth system increased the rate of organic carbon and pyrite sulphur burial and hence atmospheric pO₂. Modelled atmospheric pO₂ increases by ~50% during the Ediacaran Period (635-541 Ma), reaching ~0.25 of the present atmospheric level (PAL), broadly consistent with the estimated pO₂ > 0.1-0.25 PAL requirement of large, mobile and predatory animals during the Cambrian explosion

Upper limit on the axion-photon coupling from magnetic white dwarf polarization

Polarization measurements of thermal radiation from magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars have been proposed as a probe of axion-photon mixing. The radiation leaving the surface of the MWD is unpolarized, but if low-mass axions exist then photons polarized parallel to the direction of the MWD's magnetic field may convert into axions, which induces a linear polarization dependent on the strength of the axion-photon coupling gaγγ. We model this process by using the formalism of axion-photon mixing in the presence of strong-field vacuum birefringence to show that of all stellar types MWDs are the most promising targets for axion-induced polarization searches. We then consider linear polarization data from multiple MWDs, including SDSS J135141 and Grw+70°8247, to show that after rigorously accounting for astrophysical uncertainties the axion-photon coupling is constrained to |gaγγ|≲5.4×10-12 GeV-1 at 95% confidence for axion masses ma≲3×10-7 eV. This upper limit puts in tension the previously-suggested explanation of the anomalous transparency of the Universe to TeV gamma-rays in terms of axions. We identify MWD targets for which future data and modeling efforts could further improve the sensitivity to axions