The isotopic composition of anthropogenic boron and its potential impact on the environment

The present study investigates the isotopic composition of anthropogenic boron (B) and its potential affects on the environment. The isotopic ratios of B in synthetic products from the main ores in the world have been measured by negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The data show that the isotopic compositions of Na-borate products and washing powders overlap with those of natural Na-borate minerals. In contrast, the¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios of synthetic Ca-borate and Na/Ca borate products are significantly lower (by 15 permil) and overlap with those of the natural Ca-borate minerals. Consequently, the original isotopic signature of natural borate minerals is not modified during the manufacturing process of synthetic products. The B isotopic composition of domestic wastewater from Israel and Riverside, California suggests that B in sewage is derived from Na-borate components used in detergents. Since B, like other inorganic ions, is not removed during conventional sewage treatment, it accumulates in domestic wastewater. Although the B concentration in pristine groundwaters is generally low (<0.05 mg/L), contaminant sources (e.g., wastewater) are relatively enriched in B (0.5–1 mg/L). The isotopically distinguished signature of borate compounds is used to trace groundwater contamination.     

Jurassic soft–bottom oyster Crassostrea from Japan

A new species of oyster, Crassostrea tetoriensis , is described from the lower part of the Middle Jurassic–Cretaceous Tetori Group. This is the oldest record of the genus and one of the earliest muddy–bottom–dwelling oysters. Characteristics of the species include an elongate spatulate outline and narrow attachment area, an elongate hinge area with deep umbonal cavity, a reniform adductor muscle scar, and a smooth commissural margin without chomata. The oysters are cemented to each other and constitute bouquet–like aggregates or colonies of shells in muddy deposits of inferred brackish–water origin. The shells contain lenticular or blister–like chambers filled with a chalky deposit. These ecological and structural properties are characteristic of Crassostrea , and may be regarded as the result of adaptation of the sessile, suspension feeding animals to soft muddy substrates. Oysters are a group of bivalves that have lost mobility and live cemented mostly to hard substrates. Crassostrea and its allies returned secondarily to soft bottoms. The find of C. tetoriensis indicates that the return occurred early in the history of oysters, 60 myr after the first appearance of ostreid oysters in Late Triassic.     

Paleoecologic,temporal, and spatial analysis of early Silurian Reefs of the Chicotte Formation,Anticosti Island,Quebec, Canada

Summary Reefs of the Lower Silurian Chicotte Formation are the largest and most faunally diverse known on Anticosti Island, Quebec. They reach up to 25 m in thickness and 250 m in diameter and are present predominantly at two intervals, forming a lower and upper reef cluster. Remnants of bioherms are represented on the present-day wave-cut terrace as 60 to 100 m diameter, subcircular erosional depressions known as Philip structures or as outcrop. The bioherms were relatively low structures, with approximately 3 to 5 m maximum synoptic relief, some of which developed on hardgrounds and possible paleokarst surfaces of crinoidal wackestone and packstone. Dominant skeletal framework builders and sediment producers within all of the reefs are laminar to low domical stromatoporoids, colonial cerioid and fasciculate rugose corals, colonial tabulate corals, and cryptostome bryozoans. Vertical zonation of reef biota is evident within well-exposed reefs of the lower reef cluster. Three to four stages are recognizable:1) a low-diversity tabulate coral-dominatedpioneering community including large tabulate coral colonies (halysitids and favositids), and few stromatoporoids (clathrodictyids, ecclimadictyids), fasciculate rugosans, large generally monotypic stalked crinoids, and shelly benthos (brachiopods, few ostracodes and trilobites);2) an intermediate- to high-diversity, mixed tabulate coral-stromatoporoid-dominatedreef-core community;3) a slightly lower diversity stromatoporoid-tabulate coral-dominatedclimax community with laminar coenitids and alveolitids; and,4) in a few localities, a capping, low-diversity tabulatecoral-dominated (alveolitid and coenitid), and stromatoporoid-bearing community comprising laminar forms. Amelioration of Early Silurian climates, following Late Ordovician glaciation, allowed gradual reestablishment of extensive shallow-water reef growth, by mainly new and increasingly diverse genera and species of metazoans. Reef development within the Chicotte Formation coincided with global, widespread development of latest Llandovery and earliest Wenlock reefs in subtropical to tropical areas. Chicotte reefs have broad characteristics, in terms of overall biotic composition, vertical successions recognized, and paleogeographic setting, similar to those of equivalent and slightly younger age from intracratonic settings in Baltica (Gotland, Sweden and Estonia) and central and northern Laurentia (Midcontinent, U.S.A.; Hudson Bay, Canada; and North Greenland, Denmark).     

Diatom assemblages along a former intertidal gradient: A palaeoecological study of a subboreal clay layer (Western coastal plain,Belgium)

Lateral and vertical variations in diatom taphocoenoses were studied in a clayey intercalation in the upper peat bed at Booitshoeke (western coastal plain, Belgium). The palaeoecological evolution, linked to sedimentary facies changes along the ecotone from fen to tidal flat, apparently involved two successive periods of increased local tidal activity. This result could be inferred from a weakly developed salt-marsh horizon within the clay, traceable by diatom analysis over a distance of a few hundred meters. Although influenced by taphonomic processes, the composition of the fossil assemblages appeared to reflect the relative position of the palaeoenvironment along the tidal gradient fairly accurately. Taphonomic groups of taxa could be distinguished, characterizing respectively the transition from fen to salt-marsh, the high salt-marsh, the low salt-marsh and high mud-flat, and the more polyhaline mud-flat. Sediments of drier salt-marsh conditions showed a very poor taphocoenosis, of mainly allochthonous origin, dominated by marine tychoplanktonic species with durable frustules. Some possible causes for the slight increase in marine activity during the mid-Subboreal, which resulted in the formation of the deposits considered here, are discussed.     

Palaeoenvironmental research on diatoms in early and middle Holocene deposits in central North Holland (The Netherlands)

In the geological research of the Holocene coastal deposits of The Netherlands, diatoms are used to reconstruct the sedimentary facies, palaeo-tide levels and salinity gradients during the deposition of the sediments. In this paper, the results of diatom research from 4 borings, taken from the early and middle Holocene deposits of central North Holland are presented. The oldest marine influenced sediments in the area are the deposits of the ‘Velsen layer’, a clay layer rich in organic matter and deposited about 8000–7000¹⁴C years before present (BP) at a depth of 20–12 m below present mean sea-level. This clay layer was formed in a shallow, permanently submerged environment with a limited tidal influence (lagoonal or pond-like conditions). The salinity changed from brackish/freshwater to marine/brackish. The younger sandy and clayey sediments, formed about 7000–4500 BP at a depth of 16–3 m below present mean sea-level, are classified as ‘tidal channel’ and ‘interchannel’ deposits. It is argued, on the base of both diatom and non-diatom criteria, that the lower and middle parts of the interchannel deposits in the central area of the palaeo-tidal basin of North Holland were formed in a subtidal environment. The upper part of the interchannel deposits and the deposits at the fringe of the North Holland tidal basin were formed in the intertidal zone or, at the fringe of the basin, even in the supratidal zone. The salinity in the North Holland tidal basin during the sedimentation of the tidal channel and interchannel deposits was marine/brackish to marine. This study indicates that diatoms, besides their palaeoecological applications, have chronostratigraphical significance (on a regional scale). The diatomsCymatosira belgica andActinoptychus splendens appear to be a useful (eco)stratigraphical marker in the Holocene coastal deposits of The Netherlands and Belgium.     

Hydrophobic ion probe studies of membrane dipole potentials

Hydrophobic anions of dipicrylamine and of sodium tetraphenylborate have been employed as probes of interfacial dipole potential variations in lipid bilayer membranes. Systematic variation of dipole potentials has been achieved by introduction of compounds incorporating N⁺ and B^? charge centers. Distribution of hydrophilic and and hydrophobic groups relative to these charge centers has been shown to control the orientation in the membrane/solution interface of the electric dipole moment formed by these centers. Thus triphenyl-[4-trimethylphenylammonium] borate orients with the B^? center, surrounded by phenyl groups, embedded in the membrane, while the smaller methylated N⁺ center is directed toward the aqueous phases. This orientation has been confirmed using dipicrylamine probe ions. Results obtained in this system have been interpreted quantitatively using a previously developed model incorporating discrete charge effects. A second class of compounds, $\text{tri}\text{-n-}\text{alkylamine}$ borane (T_nAB) complexes having the generic formula (C_nH_{$\text{2n+1}$})₃N⁺B^?H₃, have also been synthesized for this study, using even-carbon alkyls ranging from ethyl to decyl. Molecular orientation of the complex is with the N⁺ center and its associated alkyl groups directed into the membranes, while the protonated B^? center is directed toward the aqueous phases, as confirmed by use of tetraphenylborate ions as probes.     

Effects of borate on isomerization and yeast fermentation of high xylulose solution and acid hydrolysate of hemicellulose

d-Xylose has been isomerized by immobilized d-glucose isomerase (EC nomenclature is now d-xylose isomerase, d-xylose ketol-isomerase, EC 5.3.1.5; EC 5.3.1.18 is a deleted EC entry). Temperature has a profound influence on the equilibrium concentration of d-xylulose. When 1 md-xylose was isomerized in the presence of various concentrations of borate, maximum conversion (80%) was observed at 0.2 m sodium tetraborate. Temperature (40–69°C) and pH (6.0–7.5) had an insignificant effect on the equilibrium when borate was present. d-Xylose (0.5 m) was isomerized by d-glucose isomerase in the presence of various concentrations of sodium tetraborate (0.0125–0.25 m). Based on the initial rate of ethanol production and the fraction of total sugar converted into ethanol after 24 h of yeast fermentation, an optimum tetraborate concentration of 0.05 m was determined for both isomerization and fermentation. At an acidic pH, the rate of fermentation was faster than at neutral pH when borate was included in the d-xylose—d-xylulose system. Acid hydrolysate of bagasse hemicellulose could not be fermented at a pH lower than 5. Therefore, a compromise condition, pH 6.0, was chosen for fermentation.     

Capillary electrophoretic chiral resolution of vicinal diols by complexation with borate and cyclodextrin: Comparative studies on different cyclodextrin derivatives

Capillary electrophoretic enantioseparation of compounds containing vicinal diol groups have been investigated using different β-cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives and borate as a background electrolyte. Both native β-CD and several β-CD derivatives are examined. Chiral recognition is attributed to both enantioselective inclusion of the analyte into the chiral cavity of the CD and complexation with borate. The influence of concentration of the chiral selector, pH, and organic modifiers on the resolution was studied. Four diols were baseline separated. Chirality 9:153–156, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

山东济阳坳陷古近系沙河街组深水湖沉积中的遗迹化石

山东济阳坳陷古近系沙河街组深水湖沉积地层主要由深灰色、褐灰色泥岩、油泥岩、泥灰岩和石灰岩以及岩盐组成,浊流沉积发育。已发现深水型遗迹化石有12个遗迹属14个遗迹种,包括3个新遗迹属6个新遗迹种。根据这些遗迹化石的组成与分布特征及其围岩的沉积特征,可以划分出2种不同沉积环境下的遗迹化石群落,即(1)Mermoides-Neonereites遗迹群落,主要由觅食迹(Fodinichnia)和牧食迹(Pascichnia)组成,常见分子有Mermoides chezhenensis,Mermoides latiusculus,Neonereites uniserialis,Hel minthoidichnitescf.tenuis,Hel-minthopsis abeli,Pilichnus lacustris,Multilagueichnus lingpanensis,Cochlichnus anguineus,Gordiaichnosp.,Palaeophycus tubularis和Planolites beverleyensis等,它们被解释形成于半深水湖或较深水湖沉积环境;(2)Semi-rotundichnus遗迹群落,以半圆形、小碟形牧食迹为其特征,典型组成分子有Semirotundichnus dongyingensis,Pa-tellarisichnus boxingensis和Neonereites uniserialis等,它们均产生于深水湖沉积环境。     

Structural,photoluminescence, and optical characteristics of a Sm3+-doped lead borate–strontium–tungsten glass system: Evaluation of Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters and radiative properties

In this study, the melt quenching approach is used to synthesize a lead borate–strontium-based glass system doped with samarium ions. Modifications in the glass network structure arising from the addition of various concentrations of Sm³⁺ ions were investigated via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. FTIR analysis revealed B–O–B bridges, BO₃, and BO₄ units are present. UV–vis–NIR spectroscopic measurement was performed to study the optical absorption spectra. Optical constants such as optical bandgap energies, refractive indices, and other related parameters were evaluated. The lifetime fluorescence decay was measured and ranged between 1.04 and 1.88 ns. The photoluminescence spectra in the range 500–750 nm revealed four transitions from the ground state ⁶G_5/2 to the excited states ⁶H_5/2, ⁶H_7/2, ⁶H_9/2 and ⁶H_11/2 and J–O theory was utilized to study these optical transitions for Sm³⁺ ions. Calculations of the oscillator strengths and J–O intensity parameters were performed and the obtained J–O parameters followed the sequence Ω₄ > Ω₆ > Ω₂. The ratio O/R indicated a high lattice asymmetry around the samarium ions. The values of lifetimes and branching ratios for the fabricated samples emphasized their suitability to be used in laser applications. The current glass samples are good candidates for orange and red emission devices.