The Earth Story

Salt mine of many hues When sea evaporate, often time and again as climate oscillates, very thick zones of salt can result, such as the Permian era (roughly 300-250 million years ago) Zechstein that underlies much of Europe. Near the type locality for the era near around the Russian city of Perm is an abandoned salt mine, where the evaporating waters were rich in potassium as well as sodium, and a mixture of evaporite minerals were deposited. These have created amazing swirls and psychedelic patterns om the tunnels, made of mixed halite (rock salt) and the potassium magnesium chloride mineral carnallite.

Enormous algae bloom in China

In this image, residents of the city of Qingdao in Shandong province, China, are walking along a beach. Seriously, this is a beach.

Starting in 2007, this area of China, a province on the coast of the Yellow Sea, has suffered the appearance of massive amounts of green algae. The algae, also known as “sea lettuce” is non-toxic, but it does choke off other marine life and drive away tourism as it begins to rot.

This bloom from 2013 was estimated to be 29,000 square kilometers in area, larger than the state of Connecticut. This bloom is larger than one in 2008 which impacted preparations for the Summer Olympics, but is actually smaller than a monstrous bloom from 2009. These algae blooms are believed to be the largest ones occurring anywhere on Earth today.

Although there are some obvious candidates such as runoff from farming supplying nutrients like phosphorus and seaweed farming taking place farther south along the Chinese coast, there is currently no single explanation for why these large algae blooms are happening or what changed in 2007 causing them to start appearing.

-JBB

Image credit, China Daily via NBC News/Reuters: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/02/19248409-algae-creates-a-giant-green-obstacle-for-chinese-beachgoers

Details, press report: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/world/asia/huge-algae-bloom-afflicts-qingdao-china.html?_r=0

Other images: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-06/09/content_29078631_4.htm

Nauru

The once stunning tropical scenery of the small island state of Nauru formerly known as Pleasant Island currently resembles a moonscape. What looks like a natural karst formation shows the leftovers of intense phosphate mining on the pacific island.

At the beginning of the 20th century Nauru’s rich near surface deposits were discovered and mining made it one of the richest states in the world in the 1970s. But soon the reserves of the little island became exhausted and left its environment seriously harmed. Main parts of the country became uninhabitable.

The phosphate deposits are basically fossilized bird poo that accumulated over the years and developed within the coral pinnacles. The material made for an excellent fertilizer and was scooped out of the coral ground. The mining activities in combination with further natural erosion left behind a visually stunning but useless landscape.

Xandi

Image Credits: http://bit.ly/2a60AtZ http://bit.ly/2aaCjib Sources: http://bit.ly/2aC9sXJ https://www.lonelyplanet.com/nauru

Eco-Friendly Farming

At first glance, the land pictured here doesn’t appear very impressive. What it is though, is an example of modern, eco-friendly farming.

The farm, a few hours south of Chicago, IL is a portion of a land grant made to my husband’s family around 200 years ago. It is situated a few miles away from the tiny courthouse where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. Over the years, the land was divided and subdivided, and some sections were sold off. Eventually, when my husband’s part of the family left the area, this parcel was left under the oversight of a local family. Recently, we had an opportunity to see our inheritance for the first time and meet the farm managers. The third and fourth generations of that same family currently work the land in an environmentally-conscious way and they use a remarkable level of technology in doing so.

In the photo, you will see distinct rows of growth. However, the land is never plowed. Strip-farming is a type of no-till agriculture, where crops are planted in strips, as part of a system of crop rotation. In some areas of the world, a crop may be planted with a ground cover in between the rows to help prevent soil erosion, water evaporation, and weeds. On this farm, the crop is planted in strips (in this case, corn), harvested, and the crop residue is left lying in the row, adding nutrients back into the soil as it decays. This is done for 3 consecutive years. Then, a second crop (soybeans are shown here) is planted between the rows of corn stalks.

This pattern of 3 corn crops, followed by one of soybeans has the additional benefit of preventing a parasitic nematode (the soybean cyst nematode) from gaining a foothold. A nematode infestation of this type is not observable until the worm population increases enough to cause above ground symptoms. The 3 successive corn crops give the nematode population time to die off, preventing a serious infestation from ever occurring.

The soil coverage by the crop residue and the fact that the land is never plowed, both help prevent soil erosion. World-wide, over the past 40 years, almost a third of the world’s arable land has become unproductive due to erosion. Erosion causes the soil to lose nutrients, water, soil biota, and organic matter, and allows fertilizer and infectious diseases to wash down into rivers, lakes, and streams.

Planting on the farm is a high-tech event. Each tractor carries six different computers. The fields are mapped using satellite data and computer software directs how far apart and how deep the seeds are planted, insuring that the maximum number of plants survive and thrive. Satellite imagery also determines areas where problems exist (such as retaining too much or too little water), so that the issues can be resolved quickly. Because of the climate of the area, no irrigation is necessary. Chemical fertilizers are seldom used and the farm managers are beginning to look into using beneficial bacteria to release nitrogen and phosphorus that is locked into the land. A newly acquired drone will soon provide us with updated photos of what’s going on with our land. The family who manages the farm presents information about what they do and their increased crop yields to attendants at agricultural conferences, as well as writing articles for agricultural publications. By spreading the word of the increased crop yields they are achieving via their methods, they are helping to improve farming practices across the American Mid-West and hopefully, farther afield (Hah! I inadverdently made a pun!).

CW

Image source: the author

Sources:

http://www.agriinfo.in/?page=topic&superid=1&topicid=443

http://bit.ly/29utPTF

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008467/

Are extreme Algal blooms about to become a common occurrence?

An algal bloom is the rapid accumulation of (usually microscopic) algae in an aquatic system. This can be either marine of freshwater based. Usually only 1 species is involved in an algal bloom, and many blooms are recognised due to the discolouration of large areas of water. There's no recognised number for what constitutes an algal bloom, but typically blooms occur when cells reach thousands to hundred of thousands per millilitre, although, some blooms have recorded up to millions of cells per millilitre. Depending on species the colour of blooms can differ, but typically they are a bright green. Cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) are responsible for bright green blooms, and those blooms that are harmful, known as "red tides" are caused by the dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium and Karenia or diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia.

Freshwater algal blooms are usually the result of an excess of nutrients (normally phosphorous) entering the system. The origins of the excess nutrients vary, but common culprits include pesticides (from agriculture) and run off water containing chemicals from house hold cleaning products. Excess amounts of nitrogen and carbon have also been implicated in various studies.

The excess of nutrients causes increased growth in algae, and when the algal dies, conditions can be anoxic and levels of oxygen can become to low for normal aquatic life to survive.

In 2011 Lake Erie (located in North America) experienced a record breaking algal bloom, caused by the algae microcystis aeruginosa. This algae can be harmful to mammals, and produces a liver toxin that can be fatal to dogs that have swum in affected waters. The cause of the bloom is complex and not fully understood, but some causes cited are increased rainfall in Spring (increasing run off) and an invasive species of mussel that was found in the lake. After the bloom began, several days of low surface winds across the lake coupled with increased temperatures caused the algae to "boom" and their numbers increased on the surface.

New research conducted by the Carnegie institutes Anna Michalak has concluded that unless agricultural practices are reviewed, the algal bloom seen at Lake Erie in 2011 may not longer become a record breaking rare occurrence, but rather a common "normal" event. Research has also suggests that wind patterns, and the overall amount of wind is decreasing across the United States. This is turn will effect the amount of mixing occurring in the water column, and will see conditions optimal for algal blooms likely to increase.

-LL

Links; http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130401151026.htm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76127

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/algal_bloom.htm

http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/water/blue_green/

Image; NASA

What is that stink?

It has never been a secret that sewage runoff makes their way into our waterways, but how much is it actually being introduced? Well this inquiry is taken on by the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Geology and Planetary Science. Heading the project was Marion Divers, Emily Elliott, and Daniel Bain. They have studied waterways close to their homes and have taken waterway samples from Pittsburgh’s Nine Mile Run. Their water samples varied by locations from urban to rural and the urban was crawling by old waterway systems. They have taken the samples to test it for inorganic nitrogen (DIN) which indicates an introduction of sewer systems, industrial sources, lawn fertilizer, etc. They did this routinely by collecting biweekly over the course of two years.

From the compounded data, it was estimated that 12% of the sewage produced by the nearby area was introduced into the water ways. This was equivalent to 10 – 20 tons of nitrogen flowing into the Monongahela River. The consequences for such high level of nitrogen is the causation for inhabitable areas and dead zones such as the Chesapeake Bay (MD) or the Gulf of Mexico. The United States was just recently given a grade on their wastewater system by the American Society of Civil Engineers and it is currently at a D (surveyed March 2013).

~era

Research Credit: + Marion Divers (2013 PhD candidate at University of Pittsburgh) + Emily Elliott (2013 Assistant Professors at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Geology & Planetary Science) + Daniel Bain (2013 Assistant Professors at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Geology & Planetary Science)

Photo Credit: Provided by the University of Pittsburgh

References: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2013/03/its-not-just-overfloweveryday-leaks-sewer-systems-lead-alarming-amounts-sewage-our-waterways/5001/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23259752 http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/a/#p/grade-sheet/gpa http://www.asce.org/PPLContent.aspx?id=2147484137 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130311124203.htm http://www.pitt.edu/~eelliott/uploads/1/1/5/3/11534391/divers_2013_est.pdf

Phosphorous from Greenland

Over the years, oceanographers have thought that ice sheets and glaciers were frozen systems that did not add nutrients along with the water they add onto the oceans surrounding them. However, a new study conducted at the 600 square kilometer Leverett Glacier and 36 square kilometer Kiattuut Sermiat Glacier in Greenland have results that disprove this notion. Their results show that the phosphorous released from the ice sheets and glaciers of Greenland can be compared to the vast volumes transported and released by some of the mighty rivers in the world such as the Amazon and Mississippi.

Glaciers are some of the best natural rock crushers. Where the ice meets the bedrock at the bottom of glacier, phosphorous-rich rocks are crushed and pulverized by the moving glacier, and vast quantities of phosphorous are prepared for transport. Glacial melt water travels though moulins into the glacier where it reaches the base and collects all the phosphorous available for transport. From here, the phosphorous makes its way into Greenland’s fjords where it settles out of the meltwater and is eventually buried or can potentially dissolve into the sea.

However, the amount of phosphorous from the meltwater that makes it to the open Arctic Ocean is still unknown and remains an open question. The recent study has been successful to quantify the amount of phosphorous that has been released by the glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland – 400,000 metric tonnes a year. This phosphorous input from Greenland is equal to the phosphorous output of some of the largest rivers in the world. Furthermore, with a warming climate this amount is predicted to increase.

So what does a surge in the release of phosphorous into the oceans mean to the high latitude marine ecosystems? Phosphorous is a key nutrient that could enrich the waters of the Arctic Ocean by enhancing the growth of plankton. Plankton forms the base of the marine food web. An increase in plankton could impact fish, birds and marine mammals that are higher up in the food chain. Furthermore, phosphorous from the meltwaters of Greenland have the potential to reach further south as the Atlantic and Northern Pacific Oceans which are connected to the Arctic.

Image Credit: Algkalv http://bit.ly/1K9bfR6

Source: http://bit.ly/1W9MCo4

Photosynthesis Discovery May Pave the Way for Higher Crop Yields

We occasionally discuss on TES about how agricultural production negatively affects the environment. As the demand for food increases along with the global population, the importance of finding sustainable, economical, and environmentally friendly ways to achieve this becomes more elusive. However, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have brought us a step closer to making this a reality.

Scientists studied algae cells which are known to have a specific mechanism that boosts the internal concentration of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. This mechanism can support other processes which convert carbon stores into the sugar cells a plant requires to grow. Most crops and vegetables photosynthesize in a less efficient manner, lacking the ability raise internal CO2 concentrations in the same way as algae.

During this research project, plant experts found that it was possible that the algae could be implanted in other types of cells to boost growth. This was then successfully tested by transferring components into cress and tobacco plants, where they located the correct places in the cells. The results were published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, the John Innes Centre, and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The University of Edinburgh’s Dr. Alistair McCormick, who led the research, stated: "Simple plants such as algae are very good at fixing carbon from the air, compared with complex plants such as rice and wheat. If we can harness the systems that simple plants use to grow efficiently, we may be able to create highly productive crops."

Since the 1950’s, nitrogen- and phosphorous-infused fertilizers have been used to increase crop yields the world over. While these fertilizers can improve crop yields, they negatively impact the surrounding environment in various ways, particularly underground aquifers and rivers. Discoveries such as this bring us closer to finding conciliation between the economy and the environment.

-GG

Sources: http://bit.ly/1STvelV http://bit.ly/1PUlB7e

Image: Dr. Alistair McCormick

Largest Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone in more than a decade

Every year, farmers throughout the central United States deploy large amounts of nitrogen- and phosphorus-based fertilizers to help grow food. Every year, rains come. That water picks up a portion of those fertilizers and carries it downstream, where it eventually causes what is known as the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.

Dead zones occur in the ocean in areas where there is too much biologic productivity. When ocean-living algae dies, it sinks and begins to decay, using up oxygen in the process. If there isn’t enough oxygen to use up all the algae, the ocean can run out of oxygen, creating areas that are “hypoxic” or “anoxic”, free of the oxygen that other animal species need to live. For example, if fish swim into these zones, they will literally die of suffocation.

In June, areas in Mississippi and the Ohio River Valley received above-average rainfall (http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1r39Jl4). That rainfall washed the year’s fertilizers down the Mississippi River system and into the Gulf of Mexico, where it fed the growth of algae plumes that have since died, using up the oxygen. This cycle happens every year, but because of the timing and volume of the flow, this year’s dead zone is the second largest on record and the largest since 2002.

These dead zones push fish and other economically important species out of their normal habitats and can also put populations under stress by reducing their numbers, so they’re not only an environmental issue, they’re an economic issue. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force have set a goal of reducing the areal extent of the dead zones to below 5000 square kilometers, but the 16,700 square kilometer dead zone this year shows that goal is far from being met. The area defined as the dead zone is marked in black on this figure and the degree of oxygen depletion is colored in red – the darkest red areas are extremely low oxygen, far below where animal life can find enough oxygen to live.

The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone is likely the world’s best-monitored dead zone and it is the 2nd largest human-caused dead zone, next to the one that appears in the Baltic Sea.

-JBB

Image credit: NOAA http://1.usa.gov/1N8hgdn

Read more: http://bit.ly/1K5FFNK

Salt mine of many hues

When sea evaporate, often time and again as climate oscillates, very thick zones of salt can result, such as the Permian era (roughly 300-250 million years ago) Zechstein that underlies much of Europe. Near the type locality for the era near around the Russian city of Perm is an abandoned salt mine, where the evaporating waters were rich in potassium as well as sodium, and a mixture of evaporite minerals were deposited. These have created amazing swirls and psychedelic patterns om the tunnels, made of mixed halite (rock salt) and the potassium magnesium chloride mineral carnallite.

Named after a Prussian mining engineer, it only forms where the sea water has been hyper concentrated in a partly cut off basin in a hot climate to promote intense evaporation. It remains an important source of potash for use in fertilisers, since most potassium minerals such as feldspar have it firmly bound into a silicate structure. Colours range from transparent to yellow and red.

Loz

Image credit: Caters News Agency

http://dailym.ai/1c6Dk4P http://www.mindat.org/min-906.html http://www.galleries.com/Carnallite

Peatlands as a Carbon Sink In the past century, peatlands around the globe have proven to be particularly important as a long term sink for carbon. Though not very dramatic from afar, changes in peatland systems due to nitrogen deposition are now becoming quite prominent, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, where loading of nitrogen has the capability to change large portions of the system and potentially decrease the system’s ability as a carbon sink. As 30% of the world’s soil carbon pool is stored in peatlands, a change in cycling of chemicals like phosphorus, potassium, and particularly nitrogen can have profound implications for global carbon concentrations, by creating changes in plant composition and size, and thus the system’s ability as a net sink, possibly even making the peatland’s chemical cycling a source of atmospheric carbon. Nitrogen can be introduced as a pollutant as reactive nitrogen from processes like fertilizer manufacturing and combustion of fossil fuels, as well as leaching from agricultural runoff and atmospheric deposition, which is a particular issue in the Northern Hemisphere, where boreal wetlands and peatlands cover a great deal of land. Wetlands are considered to cover between 4 and 6 percent of the Earth’s surface, of which peatlands comprise about 2- 3 percent. Wetlands are generally areas where the water table is at or near the soil level in an area, and wetlands can be with or without organic soil (peat). Current research utilizes eddy covariance techniques to measure exchange rates of trace gases in areas like peatlands, and can measure respond to chemical influx in controlled experimental areas. Understanding differences between short term and longer term effects of manipulations on a peatland system (draining, warming) is crucial, and has been described as the difference between “changed climate” and “climate change”. The former is the introduction of a disturbance to the equilibrium to the system (manipulation studies), and the latter is the longer term response of the system. So, scientific studies offering a glimpse at either long-term or short-term effects of changes to peatland systems will certainly prove to be especially powerful in the coming years. -BN Photo Credit: Self. Mer Bleue Bog in Ottawa, ON Further Resources: http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.php?idp=274 http://forest.mtu.edu/faculty/chimner/wetlandlab/carboncycling.htm http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S4/SB_12-28.pdf http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/an762e/an762e.pdf