Surface processes recorded by rocks and soils on Meridiani Planum, Mars: Microscopic Imager observations during Opportunity's first three extended missions

The Microscopic Imager (MI) on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has returned images of Mars with higher resolution than any previous camera system, allowing detailed petrographic and sedimentological studies of the rocks and soils at the Meridiani Planum landing site. Designed to simulate a geologist's hand lens, the MI is mounted on Opportunity's instrument arm and can resolve objects 0.1 mm across or larger. This paper provides an overview of MI operations, data calibration, and analysis of MI data returned during the first 900 sols (Mars days) of the Opportunity landed mission. Analyses of Opportunity MI data have helped to resolve major questions about the origin of observed textures and features. These studies support eolian sediment transport, rather than impact surge processes, as the dominant depositional mechanism for Burns formation strata. MI stereo observations of a rock outcrop near the rim of Erebus Crater support the previous interpretation of similar sedimentary structures in Eagle Crater as being formed by surficial flow of liquid water. Well-sorted spherules dominate ripple surfaces on the Meridiani plains, and the size of spherules between ripples decreases by about 1 mm from north to south along Opportunity's traverse between Endurance and Erebus craters

Continuum-based models and concepts for the transport of nanoparticles in saturated porous media: A state-of-the-science review

Environmental applications of nanoparticles (NP) increasingly result in widespread NP distribution within porous media where they are subject to various concurrent transport mechanisms including irreversible deposition, attachment/detachment (equilibrium or kinetic), agglomeration, physical straining, site-blocking, ripening, and size exclusion. Fundamental research in NP transport is typically conducted at small scale, and theoretical mechanistic modeling of particle transport in porous media faces challenges when considering the simultaneous effects of transport mechanisms. Continuum modeling approaches, in contrast, are scalable across various scales ranging from column experiments to aquifer. They have also been able to successfully describe the simultaneous occurrence of various transport mechanisms of NP in porous media such as blocking/straining or agglomeration/deposition/detachment. However, the diversity of model equations developed by different authors and the lack of effective approaches for their validation present obstacles to the successful robust application of these models for describing or predicting NP transport phenomena. This review aims to describe consistently all the important NP transport mechanisms along with their representative mathematical continuum models as found in the current scientific literature. Detailed characterizations of each transport phenomenon in regards to their manifestation in the column experiment outcomes, i.e., breakthrough curve (BTC) and residual concentration profile (RCP), are presented to facilitate future interpretations of BTCs and RCPs. The review highlights two NP transport mechanisms, agglomeration and size exclusion, which are potentially of great importance in controlling the fate and transport of NP in the subsurface media yet have been widely neglected in many existing modeling studies. A critical limitation of the continuum modeling approach is the number of parameters used upon application to larger scales and when a series of transport mechanisms are involved. We investigate the use of simplifying assumptions, such as the equilibrium assumption, in modeling the attachment/detachment mechanisms within a continuum modelling framework. While acknowledging criticisms about the use of this assumption for NP deposition on a mechanistic (process) basis, we found that its use as a description of dynamic deposition behavior in a continuum model yields broadly similar results to those arising from a kinetic model. Furthermore, we show that in two dimensional (2-D) continuum models the modeling efficiency based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC) is enhanced for equilibrium vs kinetic with no significant reduction in model performance. This is because fewer parameters are needed for the equilibrium model compared to the kinetic model. Two major transport regimes are identified in the transport of NP within porous media. The first regime is characterized by higher particle-surface attachment affinity than particle-particle attachment affinity, and operative transport mechanisms of physicochemical filtration, blocking, and physical retention. The second regime is characterized by the domination of particle-particle attachment tendency over particle-surface affinity. In this regime although physicochemical filtration as well as straining may still be operative, ripening is predominant together with agglomeration and further subsequent retention. In both regimes careful assessment of NP fate and transport is necessary since certain combinations of concurrent transport phenomena leading to large migration distances are possible in either case

Distribution of the McMurdo Station sewage plume

The spatial distribution and movement of the sewage plume from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, was investigated in the ocean under the early summer ice. Samples of seawater were obtained via holes drilled through the ice and analysed for coliform bacteria. Ocean currents were also examined to determine their effect on the movement of the plume. High densities of coliform bacteria were found along the ca. 1 km shoreline of McMurdo Station and the plume extended 200-300 m seaward. The relocation of the outfall from a surface configuration to the subsurface (11 m deep) had little influence on the distribution of the plume that sometimes reached the seawater intake station, 400 m to the south. Ocean current measurements in the study area confirmed that, while the prevailing advection was to the north and away from the intake area, episodic reversals of flow at some current meter stations coincided with pulses of sewage that moved into the intake. These findings support the use of bacterial indicators as one means to map the distribution and movement of recent sewage contamination in cold (-1.8°C) seawater and provides evidence that the disposal and movement of domestic wastes in coastal polar environments deserves attention.</p

The effect of low temperature on BOD in antarctic seawater

Untreated sewage has been released from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, into McMurdo Sound for several years. In this study organic carbon degradation was compared in seawater from McMurdo Sound at -1.8°C and 20°C using the BOD test. The ultimate BOD was 3 times larger at 20°C than at -1.8°C following 25 days of incubation. On the basis of on these findings, sewage from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, should receive at least secondary treatment before release to lessen the impact of anthropogenic organic carbon on the polar marine environment of McMurdo Sound.</p