Publications by authors named "Robert Hilton"

Article Synopsis
  • The research investigates the chemical weathering processes of silicate and carbonate rocks in the UK, which help regulate carbon dioxide levels and climate over long periods.
  • Using a 40-year river chemistry dataset from 52 UK catchments, the study estimates that current carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from weathering is about 4.5 MtCO per year when including the effects of various acids.
  • The findings suggest that Enhanced Weathering (EW) could potentially double the carbon removal capacity of natural weathering, raising important considerations for river chemistry management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Oxidative weathering of sulfide minerals in sedimentary rocks releases carbon dioxide (CO) into the atmosphere. In permafrost zones, this could be a positive feedback on climate change if it increases with warming, yet sulfide oxidation rates and their temperature response remain unknown over large spatial and temporal scales. We analyze a 60-year sulfate concentration dataset from catchments across the Mackenzie River Basin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Canadian Arctic is warming at an unprecedented rate. Warming-induced permafrost thaw can lead to mobilization of aged carbon from stores in soils and rocks. Tracking the carbon pools supplied to surrounding river networks provides insight on pathways and processes of greenhouse gas release.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mountain uplift and erosion have regulated the balance of carbon between Earth's interior and atmosphere, where prior focus has been placed on the role of silicate mineral weathering in CO drawdown and its contribution to the stability of Earth's climate in a habitable state. However, weathering can also release CO as rock organic carbon (OC) is oxidized at the near surface; this important geological CO flux has remained poorly constrained. We use the trace element rhenium in combination with a spatial extrapolation model to quantify this flux across global river catchments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The oxidation of organic carbon contained within sedimentary rocks ("petrogenic" carbon, or hereafter OC) emits nearly as much CO as is released by volcanism, thereby playing a key role in the long-term global C budget. High erosion rates in mountains have been shown to increase OC oxidation. However, these settings also export unweathered material that may continue to react in downstream floodplains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Submarine turbidity currents form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth, raising the question of their role in global carbon cycles. It was previously inferred that terrestrial organic carbon was primarily incinerated on shelves and that most turbidity current systems are presently inactive. Turbidity currents were thus not considered in global carbon cycles, and the burial efficiency of global terrestrial organic carbon was considered low to moderate (∼10-44%).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the death of millions and many more have been infected worldwide. The causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, affects the lung where it elicits an aggressive inflammatory response leading to respiratory failure in severe cases. This infection has been linked to pulmonary fibrosis, a process characterized by fibroproliferation and the exaggerated deposition of collagen and other extracellular matrices.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is frequently observed following decannulation from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Differentiating cytokine release due to infection from endothelial injury from cannula removal and/or discontinuation from the ECMO circuit has been shown to impact treatment and outcomes. This response, however, may be complicated in COVID-19 patients due to prevalent glucocorticoid and immune modulator use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The dependence of rock weathering on temperature helps to steer Earth's climate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Immunosuppressed hosts represent a growing group of patients who suffer acute respiratory failure and may be considered for therapies such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Objectives: We conducted this retrospective study to determine whether acutely or chronically immunosuppressed patients placed on ECMO for cardiac and/or respiratory failure in our institution have different outcomes than immunocompetent patients placed on ECMO in our institution.

Methods: Adult patients placed on ECMO between June 31, 2010 and July 7, 2021 were identified within an IRB-approved database.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Much attention has been focused on fine-grained sediments carried as suspended load in rivers due to their potential to transport, disperse, and preserve organic carbon (OC), while the transfer and fate of OC associated with coarser-grained sediments in fluvial systems have been less extensively studied. Here, sedimentological, geochemical, and biomolecular characteristics of sediments from river depth profiles reveal distinct hydrodynamic behavior for different pools of OC within the Mackenzie River system. Higher radiocarbon (C) contents, low N/OC ratios, and elevated plant-derived biomarker loadings suggest a systematic transport of submerged vascular plant debris above the active riverbed in large channels both upstream of and within the delta.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Here we show how major rivers can efficiently connect to the deep-sea, by analysing the longest runout sediment flows (of any type) yet measured in action on Earth. These seafloor turbidity currents originated from the Congo River-mouth, with one flow travelling >1,130 km whilst accelerating from 5.2 to 8.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Seawater lithium isotopes (δLi) record changes over Earth history, including a ∼9‰ increase during the Cenozoic interpreted as reflecting either a change in continental silicate weathering rate or weathering feedback strength, associated with tectonic uplift. However, mechanisms controlling the dissolved δLi remain debated. Here we report time-series δLi measurements from Tibetan and Pamir rivers, and combine them with published seasonal data, covering small (<10  km) to large rivers (>10 km).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unprecedented and dramatic transformations are occurring in the Arctic in response to climate change, but academic, public, and political discourse has disproportionately focussed on the most visible and direct aspects of change, including sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, the fate of charismatic megafauna, and the expansion of fisheries. Such narratives disregard the importance of less visible and indirect processes and, in particular, miss the substantive contribution of the shelf seafloor in regulating nutrients and sequestering carbon. Here, we summarise the biogeochemical functioning of the Arctic shelf seafloor before considering how climate change and regional adjustments to human activities may alter its biogeochemical and ecological dynamics, including ecosystem function, carbon burial, or nutrient recycling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, or COVID-19, is responsible for the current global pandemic and has resulted in the death of over 400,000 in the United States. Rates of venous thromboembolism have been noted to be much higher in those infected with COVID-19. Here we report a case-series of COVID-19 patients with diverse presentations of pulmonary embolism (PE).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rivers carry the dissolved and solid products of silicate mineral weathering, a process that removes [Formula: see text] from the atmosphere and provides a key negative climate feedback over geological timescales. Here we show that, in some river systems, a reactive exchange pool on river suspended particulate matter, bonded weakly to mineral surfaces, increases the mobile cation flux by 50%. The chemistry of both river waters and the exchange pool demonstrates exchange equilibrium, confirmed by Sr isotopes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Permafrost thaw in Arctic watersheds threatens to mobilize hitherto sequestered carbon. We examine the radiocarbon activity (FC) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the northern Mackenzie River basin. From 2003-2017, DOC-FC signatures (1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Process-based, mechanistic investigations of organic matter transformation and diagenesis directly beneath the sediment-water interface (SWI) in Arctic continental shelves are vital as these regions are at greatest risk of future change. This is in part due to disruptions in benthic-pelagic coupling associated with ocean current change and sea ice retreat. Here, we focus on a high-resolution, multi-disciplinary set of measurements that illustrate how microbial processes involved in the degradation of organic matter are directly coupled with inorganic and organic geochemical sediment properties (measured and modelled) as well as the extent/depth of bioturbation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Over the last few decades, the Barents Sea experienced substantial warming, an expansion of relatively warm Atlantic water and a reduction in sea ice cover. This environmental change forces the entire Barents Sea ecosystem to adapt and restructure and therefore changes in pelagic-benthic coupling, organic matter sedimentation and long-term carbon sequestration are expected. Here we combine new and existing organic and inorganic geochemical surface sediment data from the western Barents Sea and show a clear link between the modern ecosystem structure, sea ice cover and the organic carbon and CaCO contents in Barents Sea surface sediments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: A practical approach to three-dimensional (3D) intraoral imaging would have many potential applications in clinical dentistry. intraoral tomosynthesis (sIOT) is an experimental 3D imaging technology that holds promise. The purpose of this study was to explore radiography as a tool to improve the clinical utility of the images generated by an sIOT scan.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Widespread triggering of landslides by large storms or earthquakes is a dominant mechanism of erosion in mountain landscapes. If landslides occur repeatedly in particular locations within a mountain range, then they will dominate the landscape evolution of that section and could leave a fingerprint in the topography. Here, we track erosion provenance using a novel combination of the isotopic and molecular composition of organic matter deposited in Lake Paringa, New Zealand.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Infrequent seismic events like large earthquakes significantly influence landscapes and biogeochemical cycles, with sediment records serving as crucial historical indicators.
  • The study focuses on the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and uses reservoir sediments to track changes in sediment characteristics before and after the event, establishing an annual timeline through magnetic susceptibility cycles.
  • Interestingly, while sediment grain size and chemical ratios changed immediately following the earthquake, noticeable shifts were delayed by two years, highlighting the complex interplay between climatic conditions and tectonic activity in sediment dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF