Swiss needle cast (SNC) is a fungal disease of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) that has recently become prevalent in coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest. We used growth measurements and stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in tree-rings of Douglas-fir and a non-susceptible reference species (western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla) to evaluate their use as proxies for variation in past SNC i...

In recent years stable isotopes of metallic and semi-metallic elements have become popular as tracers in studies of nutrition and metabolism. There are several recent reviews on the use of stable isotopes of the mineral elements (Janghorbani & Young, 1980; Janghorbani et af . 1985). The orientation of these reviews has tended toward neutron-activation analysis in conjunction with the faecal iso...

Early geodynamic processes modeled the surface of the Earth, providing suitable environments and energy sources for the development of life. Studying the ancient biogeochemical cycles is thus a valuable way to understand the physicochemical conditions of the early environments, such as the redox state of the primitive oceans and the atmosphere. To investigate early biogeochemistries, the measur...

Acetate turnover in the methanogenic freshwater anoxic sediments of Lake Vechten, The Netherlands, and in anoxic sediments from the Tamar Estuary, United Kingdom, and the Grosser Jasmunder Bodden, Germany, the latter two dominated by sulfate reduction, was determined. Stable isotopes and radioisotopes, inhibitors (chloroform and fluoroacetate), and methane flux were used to provide independent ...

The ca. 3.48 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is well known for hosting some of Earth's earliest convincing evidence of life (stromatolites, fractionated sulfur/carbon isotopes, microfossils) within a dynamic, low-eruptive volcanic caldera affected by voluminous hydrothermal fluid circulation. However, missing from the caldera model were surface manifestations of the vol...

The size of the marine sulfate reservoir has grown through Earth's history, reflecting the accumulation of oxygen into the atmosphere. Sulfur isotope fractionation experiments on marine and freshwater sulfate reducers, together with the isotope record, imply that oceanic Archean sulfate concentrations were <200 microM, which is less than one-hundredth of present marine sulfate levels and one-fi...

The first detection of a 36 S-bearing molecule in interstellar space is reported. The J=2−1 and 3−2 transitions of C 36 S have been observed toward eight Galactic molecular hot cores. From a comparison with other optically thin isotopic species of CS, the abundance ratio of 34 S/ 36 S is 115(±17). This is smaller than the solar system ratio of 200 and supports the idea that 36 S is, unlike the ...

Groundwater environments provide habitats for diverse microbial communities, and although Archaea usually represent a minor fraction of communities, they are involved in key biogeochemical cycles. We analysed the archaeal diversity within a mixed carbonate-rock/siliciclastic-rock aquifer system, vertically from surface soils to subsurface groundwater including aquifer and aquitard rocks. Archae...

Carbon cycling by microbes has been recognized as the main mechanism of organic matter decomposition and export in coastal wetlands, yet very little is known about the functional diversity of specific groups of decomposers (e.g., bacteria) in salt marsh benthic trophic structure. Indeed, salt marsh sediment bacteria remain largely in a black box in terms of their diversity and functional roles ...