Improved analytical techniques of sulfur isotopic composition in nanomole quantities by MC-ICP-MS.

We propose an improved method for precise sulfur isotopic measurements by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) in conjunction with a membrane desolvation nebulization system. The problems of sulfur loss through the membrane desolvation apparatus are carefully quantified and resolved. The method overcomes low intrinsic sulfur transmission through the instrument, which was initially 1% when operating at a desolvation temperature of 160 °C. Sulfur loss through the membrane desolvation apparatus was resolved by doping with sodium. A Na/S ratio of 2 mol mol-1 produced sulfur transmissions with 98% recovery. Samples of 3 nmol (100 ng) sulfur achieved an external precision of ±0.18‰ (2 SD) for δ34S and ±0.10‰ (2 SD) for Δ33S (uppercase delta expresses the extent of mass-independent isotopic fractionation). Measurements made on certified reference materials and in-house standards demonstrate analytical accuracy and reproducibility. We applied the method to examine microbial-induced sulfur transformation in marine sediment pore waters from the sulfate-methane transition zone. The technique is quite versatile, and can be applied to a range of materials, including natural waters and minerals.

A first near real-time seismology-based landquake monitoring system.

Hazards from gravity-driven instabilities on hillslope (termed 'landquake' in this study) are an important problem facing us today. Rapid detection of landquake events is crucial for hazard mitigation and emergency response. Based on the real-time broadband data in Taiwan, we have developed a near real-time landquake monitoring system, which is a fully automatic process based on waveform inversion that yields source information (e.g., location and mechanism) and identifies the landquake source by examining waveform fitness for different types of source mechanisms. This system has been successfully tested offline using seismic records during the passage of the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan and has been in online operation during the typhoon season in 2015. In practice, certain levels of station coverage (station gap < 180°), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR ≥ 5.0), and a threshold of event size (volume >106 m3 and area > 0.20 km2) are required to ensure good performance (fitness > 0.6 for successful source identification) of the system, which can be readily implemented in other places in the world with real-time seismic networks and high landquake activities.

Reconstructing surface ocean circulation with 129I time series records from corals.

The long-lived radionuclide 129I (half-life: 15.7 × 106 yr) is well-known as a useful environmental tracer. At present, the global 129I in surface water is about 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than pre-1960 levels. Since the 1990s, anthropogenic 129I produced from industrial nuclear fuels reprocessing plants has been the primary source of 129I in marine surface waters of the Atlantic and around the globe. Here we present four coral 129I time series records from: 1) Con Dao and 2) Xisha Islands, the South China Sea, 3) Rabaul, Papua New Guinea and 4) Guam. The Con Dao coral 129I record features a sudden increase in 129I in 1959. The Xisha coral shows similar peak values for 129I as the Con Dao coral, punctuated by distinct low values, likely due to the upwelling in the central South China Sea. The Rabaul coral features much more gradual 129I increases in the 1970s, similar to a published record from the Solomon Islands. The Guam coral 129I record contains the largest measured values for any site, with two large peaks, in 1955 and 1959. Nuclear weapons testing was the primary 129I source in the Western Pacific in the latter part of the 20th Century, notably from testing in the Marshall Islands. The Guam 1955 peak and Con Dao 1959 increases are likely from the 1954 Castle Bravo test, and the Operation Hardtack I test is the most likely source of the 1959 peak observed at Guam. Radiogenic iodine found in coral was carried primarily through surface ocean currents. The coral 129I time series data provide a broad picture of the surface distribution and depth penetration of 129I in the Pacific Ocean over the past 60 years.

Metabolic stratification driven by surface and subsurface interactions in a terrestrial mud volcano.

Terrestrial mud volcanism represents the prominent surface geological feature, where fluids and hydrocarbons are discharged along deeply rooted structures in tectonically active regimes. Terrestrial mud volcanoes (MVs) directly emit the major gas phase, methane, into the atmosphere, making them important sources of greenhouse gases over geological time. Quantification of methane emission would require detailed insights into the capacity and efficiency of microbial metabolisms either consuming or producing methane in the subsurface, and establishment of the linkage between these methane-related metabolisms and other microbial or abiotic processes. Here we conducted geochemical, microbiological and genetic analyses of sediments, gases, and pore and surface fluids to characterize fluid processes, community assemblages, functions and activities in a methane-emitting MV of southwestern Taiwan. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that aerobic/anaerobic methane oxidation, sulfate reduction and methanogenesis are active and compartmentalized into discrete, stratified niches, resembling those in marine settings. Surface evaporation and oxidation of sulfide minerals are required to account for the enhanced levels of sulfate that fuels subsurface sulfate reduction and anaerobic methanotrophy. Methane flux generated by in situ methanogenesis appears to alter the isotopic compositions and abundances of thermogenic methane migrating from deep sources, and to exceed the capacity of microbial consumption. This metabolic stratification is sustained by chemical disequilibria induced by the mixing between upward, anoxic, methane-rich fluids and downward, oxic, sulfate-rich fluids.