Debates surrounding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use of biofuels production have created a need to quantify the relative land use GHG intensity of fossil fuels. When contrasting land use GHG intensity of fossil fuel and biofuel production, it is the energy yield that greatly distinguishes the two. Although emissions released from land disturbed by fossil fuels can be comparable ...

Although many different erosion processes affect the coastal area of South Iran, wind caused erosion, considered a restrictive factor in human activities, makes one of the more common landscapes of the coastal strip. Therefore the recognition of wind caused erosion and its result is inevitable to conduct an effective coastal management. This study discusses the littoral geomorphologic shape of ...

In this study we investigate how growth stage and depositional environment affect variability of cell properties and transport behavior of eight porcine E. coli isolates. We compared the surface properties for cells harvested during exponential and stationary growth phase and their transport behavior through columns packed with either uncoated or Fe-coated quartz sand. We then investigated corr...

Ecological transition zones, where organismal phenotypes result from a delicate balance between selection and migration, highlight the interplay of local adaptation and gene flow. Here, I study the response of an entire species assemblage to natural selection across a common ecotone. Three lizard species, distributed along a dramatic environmental gradient in substrate color, display convergent...

The objective of this study was to identify chemical components that could distinguish chemical mixtures in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) that had potentially migrated to groundwater in the oil sands development area of northern Alberta, Canada. In the first part of the study, OSPW samples from two different tailings ponds and a broad range of natural groundwater samples were assessed...

Determining the adaptive significance of phenotypic traits is key for understanding evolution and diversification in natural populations. However, evolutionary biologists have an incomplete understanding of how specific traits affect fitness in most populations. The White Sands system provides an opportunity to study the adaptive significance of traits in an experimental context. Blanched color...

Building upon the foundation of the prior investigations, a three-fold classification of tight gas reservoirs is proposed in this paper which is based primarily on dynamic relationship between gas charging history and reservoir tightening process, coupled with tectonic evolution, source-reservoir relationship, migration and charging pattern. The three categories of tight gas are: (1) “pre-exist...

A new method was developed for marine harmful algal bloom (HAB) mitigation using local beach sand or silica sand modified with chitosan and polyaluminum chloride (PAC). Untreated sand was ineffective in flocculating algal cells, but 80% removal efficiency was achieved for Amphidinium carterae Hulburt and a Chlorella sp. in 3 min (t80 = 3 min) using 120 mg L-1 sand modified with 10 mg L-1 PAC an...

We used a ring-shear apparatus to examine the perpendicular permeability of sands with different mineral compositions to evaluate fault behavior around gas hydrate reservoirs. The effect of effective normal stress on the permeability of two sand types was investigated under constant effective normal stresses of 0.5–8.0 MPa. Although Toyoura sand and silica sand No. 7 mainly comprise quartz, sil...

Mostly stabilized late Holocene eolian sands on the Southern High Plains of the United States were studied to determine their origins and to assess whether present dune stability depends more strongly on sediment supply, sediment availability, or transport limitations. Geomorphic, sedimentological, and geochemical trends indicate that late Holocene dunes formed under westerly paleowinds, broadl...