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Characterisation of Methane Production Pathways in Sediment of Overwashed Mangrove Forests
(MDPI Publishing, 2023) Ulumuddin, Yaya Ihya; Sugoro, Irawan; Beavis, Sara; Roderick, Michael; Eggins, Stephen; Rizky Muarif , Muhammad
Methane (CH4) emissions in mangrove ecosystems may complicate the ecosystem’s potential carbon offset for climate change mitigation. Microbial processes and the mass balance of CH4 in mangrove sediment are responsible for the emissions from the ecosystems. This is the follow up of our previous research which found the super saturation of CH4 in the pore water of mangrove sediment compared to atmospheric CH4 and the lack of a correlation between pore water sulphate and CH4 concentrations. This study is going to investigate methane production pathways in the sediment of overwashed mangrove forests. Two approaches were used to study methanogens here: (1) the spread plate count method and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method, and (2) laboratory experiments with additional methanogenic substrates (methanol, acetate, and hydrogen) to determine which substrates are more conducive to methane production. According to the qPCR method, methanogen abundance ranged from 72 to 6 × 105 CFU g−1 sediment, while SRB abundance ranged from 2 × 102 to 2 × 105 CFU g−1 sediment. According to the plate count method, the abundance of methylotrophic methanogens (the only group of methanogens capable of competing with SRBs) ranged from 8.3 × 102 to 5.1 × 104 CFU g−1, which is higher than the abundance of the other group of methanogens (0 to 7.7 × 102 CFU g−1). The addition of methanol to the sediment slurry, a substrate for methylotropic methanogens, resulted in a massive production of CH4 (up to 9 × 104 ppm) and intriguingly the control treatments with autoclaving did not kill methanogens. These findings suggested that mangrove ecosystems in the marine environment provide favourable conditions for methanogens and further characterisation of the methanogen involved in the process is required. As a result, future research in this ecosystem should include methane production in carbon offset calculations, particularly due to methylotropic methanogenesis.
Atomic structure and physical properties of peridotite glasses at 1 bar
(Frontiers Research Foundation, 2023) Le Losq, Charles; Sossi, Paolo A.
Earth’s mantle, whose bulk composition is broadly peridotitic, likely experienced periods of extensive melting in its early history that formed magma oceans and led to its differentiation and formation of an atmosphere. However, the physical behaviour of magma oceans is poorly understood, as the high liquidus temperatures and rapid quench rates required to preserve peridotite liquids as glasses have so far limited their investigation. In order to better characterize the atomic structure and estimate the physical properties of such glasses, we examined the Raman spectra of quenched peridotite melts, equilibrated at 1900 °C ± 50 °C at ambient pressure under different oxygen fugacities (fO2), from 1.9 log units below to 6.0 log units above the Iron-Wüstite buffer. Fitting the spectra with Gaussian components assigned to different molecular entities (Q-species) permits extraction of the mean state of polymerisation of the glass. We find that the proportions of Q1 (0.36–0.32), Q2 (0.50–0.43), and Q3 (0.16–0.23) vary with Fe3+/FeTOT (FeTOT = Fe2+ + Fe3+), where increasing Fe3+/FeTOT produces an increase in Q3 at the expense of Q2 at near-constant Q1. To account for the offset between Raman-derived NBO/T (2.06–2.27) with those determined by assuming Fe2+ exists entirely as a network modifier and Fe3+ a network former (2.10–2.44), ∼2/3 of the ferric iron and ∼90% of the ferrous iron in peridotite glasses must behave as network modifiers. We employ a deep neural network model, trained to predict alkali and alkaline-earth aluminosilicate melts properties, to observe how small variations in the atomic structure of peridotite-like melts affect their viscosity. For Fe-free peridotite-like melts, the model yields a viscosity of ∼ −1.75 log Pa s at 2000 °C, similar to experimental determinations for iron-bearing peridotite melts. The model predicts that changes in the peridotite melt atomic structure with Fe3+/FeTOT yield variations in melt viscosity lower than 0.1 log Pa s, barely affecting the Rayleigh number. Therefore, at the high temperatures typical of magma oceans, at least at 1 bar, small changes in melt structure from variations in oxidation state are unlikely to affect magma ocean fluid dynamics.
From the Surface Ocean to the Seafloor: Linking Modern and Paleo-Genetics at the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica (IN2017_V01)
(American Geophysical Union, 2023) Armbrecht, Linda; Focardi, Amaranta; Lawler, Kelly; O'Brien, Phillip; Leventer, Amy; Noble, T L; Opdyke, Bradley; Duffy, Meghan; Evangelinos, Dimitris; George, Simon; Lieser, Jan; Lopez-Quiros, Adrian; Post, A; Armand, Leanne
With ongoing climate change, research into the biological changes occurring in particularly vulnerable ecosystems, such as Antarctica, is critical. The Totten Glacier region, Sabrina Coast, is currently experiencing some of the highest rates of thinning across all East Antarctica. An assessment of the microscopic organisms supporting the ecosystem of the marginal sea-ice zone over the continental rise is important, yet there is a lack of knowledge about the diversity and distribution of these organisms throughout the water column, and their occurrence and/or preservation in the underlying sediments. Here, we provide a taxonomic overview of the modern and ancient marine bacterial and eukaryotic communities of the Totten Glacier region, using a combination of 16S and 18S rRNA amplicon sequencing (modern DNA) and shotgun metagenomics (sedimentary ancient DNA, sedaDNA). Our data show considerable differences between eukaryote and bacterial signals in the water column versus the sediments. Proteobacteria and diatoms dominate the bacterial and eukaryote composition in the upper water column, while diatoms, dinoflagellates, and haptophytes notably decrease in relative abundance with increasing water depth. Little diatom sedaDNA is preserved in the sediments, which are instead dominated by Proteobacteria and Retaria. We compare the diatom microfossil and sedaDNA record and link the weak preservation of diatom sedaDNA to DNA degradation while sinking through the water column to the seafloor. This study provides the first assessment of DNA transfer from ocean waters to sediments and an overview of the microscopic communities occurring in the climatically important Totten Glacier region.
On the age of Ain Hanech Oldowan locality (Algeria): First numerical dating results
(Academic Press, 2023) Duval, Mathieu; Sahnouni, Mohamed; Pares, Josep M.; Zhao, Jian-Xin; Grun, Rainer; Abdessadok, Salah; Perez-Gonzalez, Alfredo; Derradji, Abdelkader; Harichane, Zoheir; Mazouni, Nacim; Boulaghraief, Kamel
Our current understanding of early human settlements in North Africa relies on a few well-contextualized Oldowan and Acheulean sites (e.g., Ain Hanech, El Kherba, Ain Boucherit Lw and Up, Tighennif in Algeria; Thomas Quarry in Morocco). In particular, the site of Ain Hanech has documented for many decades the earliest evidence of human presence in North Africa (e.g., Sahnouni and de Heinzelin, 1998), until older stone tools were recently reported at the nearby Ain Boucherit locality (Sahnouni et al., 2018).
Community recommendations for geochemical data, services and analytical capabilities in the 21st century
(Elsevier Ltd., 2023) Klocking, Marthe; Wyborn, Lesley; Lehnert, Kerstin; Ware, D. Bryant; Prent, Alexander M.; Profeta, Lucia; Kohlmann, Fabian; Noble, Wayne; Bruno, Ian; Lambart, Sarah; Ananuer, Halimulati; Gao, Yajie
The majority of geochemical and cosmochemical research is based upon observations and, in particular, upon the acquisition, processing and interpretation of analytical data from physical samples. The exponential increase in volumes and rates of data acquisition over the last century, combined with advances in instruments, analytical methods and an increasing variety of data types analysed, has necessitated the development of new ways of data curation, access and sharing. Together with novel data processing methods, these changes have enabled new scientific insights and are driving innovation in Earth and Planetary Science research. Yet, as approaches to data-intensive research develop and evolve, new challenges emerge. As large and often global data compilations increasingly form the basis for new research studies, institutional and methodological differences in data reporting are proving to be significant hurdles in synthesising data from multiple sources. Consistent data formats and data acquisition descriptions are becoming crucial to enable quality assessment, reusability and integration of results fostering confidence in available data for reuse. Here, we explore the key challenges faced by the geo- and cosmochemistry community and, by drawing comparisons from other communities, recommend possible approaches to overcome them. The first challenge is bringing together the numerous sub-disciplines within our community under a common international initiative. One key factor for this convergence is gaining endorsement from the international geochemical, cosmochemical and analytical societies and associations, journals and institutions. Increased education and outreach, spearheaded by ambassadors recruited from leading scientists across disciplines, will further contribute to raising awareness, and to uniting and mobilising the community. Appropriate incentives, recognition and credit for good data management as well as an improved, user-oriented technical infrastructure will be essential for achieving a cultural change towards an environment in which the effective use and real-time interchange of large datasets is common-place. Finally, the development of best practices for standardised data reporting and exchange, driven by expert committees, will be a crucial step towards making geo- and cosmochemical data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable by both humans and machines (FAIR).