Ocean productivity before about 1.9 Gyr ago limited by phosphorus adsorption onto iron oxides

After the evolution of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria at some time before 2.7 billion years ago, oxygen production on Earth is thought to have depended on the availability of nutrients in the oceans, such as phosphorus (in the form of orthophosphate). In the modern oceans, a significant removal pathway for phosphorus occurs by way of its adsorption onto iron oxide deposits. Such deposits were thought to be more abundant in the past when, under low sulphate conditions, the formation of large amounts of iron oxides resulted in the deposition of banded iron formations. Under these circumstances, phosphorus removal by iron oxide adsorption could have been enhanced. Here we analyse the phosphorus and iron content of banded iron formations to show that ocean orthophosphate concentrations from 3.2 to 1.9 billion years ago (during the Archaean and early Proterozoic eras) were probably only approximately 10-25% of present-day concentrations. We suggest therefore that low phosphorus availability should have significantly reduced rates of photosynthesis and carbon burial, thereby reducing the long-term oxygen production on the early Earth--as previously speculated--and contributing to the low concentrations of atmospheric oxygen during the late Archaean and early Proterozoic.     

铝在NaCl-AlCl_3熔体中的电化学沉积

采用伏安扫描法、计时电流法和恒电流沉积法研究了铝在 NaAlCl_4 熔体中的电化学沉积过程。铝的电化学还原反应涉及一个成核/生长机理,且成核过程是渐进的。沉积铝的形状取决于电流密度。只有当电流密度为 2—10 mA/cm~2 时,沉积铝才是规则平整的。在高电流密度下(>15 mA/cm~2),由于含铝离子的扩散缓慢,沉积铝是枝晶状或蓬松状的。在低电流密度下(<0.7 mA/cm~2),由于电成核过程的控制作用,沉积铝呈棉絮状。     

Proton Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cells Challenges and Recent Developments

The current technology of proton exchange membrane fuel cells （PEMFC） is based on perfluorosulfonic acid （PFSA） membranes （e. g. Nation ） as electrolyte. It operates on pure hydrogen and oxygen/air at typically 80℃ with high power density and long-term durability. For the membranes to be conductive, a minimum threshold of absorbed water molecules is about 6 to 7 mole per sulfonic site. The highest conductivity is only obtained under fully hydrated conductions, i.e. 21 - 22 mole water per sulfonic acid site. In other words, the proton conductivity is achieved by the locally liquid-like hydrophilic domain of the nanostructure. This strong dependence of conductivity on the water content in membranes limits the operational temperature of PEMFC below 100 ℃.     

Massive dissociation of gas hydrate during a Jurassic oceanic anoxic event

In the Jurassic period, the Early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (about 183 million years ago) is associated with exceptionally high rates of organic-carbon burial, high palaeotemperatures and significant mass extinction. Heavy carbon-isotope compositions in rocks and fossils of this age have been linked to the global burial of organic carbon, which is isotopically light. In contrast, examples of light carbon-isotope values from marine organic matter of Early Toarcian age have been explained principally in terms of localized upwelling of bottom water enriched in 12C versus 13C (refs 1,2,5,6). Here, however, we report carbon-isotope analyses of fossil wood which demonstrate that isotopically light carbon dominated all the upper oceanic, biospheric and atmospheric carbon reservoirs, and that this occurred despite the enhanced burial of organic carbon. We propose that--as has been suggested for the Late Palaeocene thermal maximum, some 55 million years ago--the observed patterns were produced by voluminous and extremely rapid release of methane from gas hydrate contained in marine continental-margin sediments.