I was at my wits end, as they did not respond to my frantic calls on the CB radio,
which was inoperative as they knew enough to lower the metal whip antenna. They
had the presence of mind to put the boat into the nearest shore (Paoha Island) and
hunker down, thereby lessening their target profile to lightning until the storm
passed. Yet during this time, I fretted with every lightning bolt (they are quite
fearsome at this altitude) and thunder roll, checking the lake from time to time
with my binoculars. When the storm eventually receded eastwards, I could finally
see their white Revenge pulling around the island against the dark background of
storm clouds, and I only then could I let out a big sigh of relief.
31.2.3 Toro! Toro! Toro!
As the 1980s transitioned to the 1990s, we continued our investigations of Mono
Lake on a seasonal basis, where Chuck performed
14
C-labelling measures of primary
productivity, Larry collated biogeochemical data on sulfide, methane, and ammonia
as responses to and breakdown of meromixis-caused stratification (Miller et al.
1993), and I focused on N 2 -fixation (Oremland 1990). Unlike BSL, Mono Lake
lacks rooted macrophytes like Ruppia that become colonized by big globs of
nitrogen-fixing Anabaena (Oremland 1983b). What it has instead are small,
marble-sized aggregates of the alga Ctenocladus, which in turn host internal
populations of light-driven (cyanobacterial) and heterotrophic-bacterially driven
anaerobic diazotrophs. I also deployed chambers along the shoreline of the northeastern quadrant of the lake and measured N 2 -fixation via the acetylene reduction
assay. Not surprisingly, rates were highest in the light and during summer but fell off
to zero during winter, when nighttime temperatures routinely plummeted to À20
F
(À28
C). In total, this activity was minimal compared to the nitrogen requirements
needed to sustain primary productivity (Oremland 1990), but the work did have its
compensations and hazards.
Accessing the site, located in the lake’s NE quadrant playa, required driving out
on route 167, turning off at the 10 mile signpost onto a dirt road and proceeding
about a mile down through brush and bramble toward the lake until it dead-ends into
a set of barriers. After that it is a 1 mile hike down to the water’s edge, which I would
do for retrieving samples twice daily (morning and early evening). The morning
sampling was best because it was relatively cool, but by the summer afternoons, the
temperature would rise above 100
F (~38
C). During summer, the playa hosts big
nasty biting/clawed flying insects like horseflies that, if given the opportunity, will
alit on your exposed flesh and proceed to dig out a chunk of your personage to feast
upon. I warded them off by emulating a horsetail, swinging a motel’s hand-towel
over my head as I hiked to and fro from the water’s edge.
During summer, the lake can actually be observed shrinking in size because of
evaporation. The NE quadrant is shallow, and there would be a moist long ribbon of
wetted, green–grey exposed sand (about a meter wide) at the water’s edge that
looked as if there was an ebbing tide. Pieter Visscher was quite enthusiastic about
672
R. S. Oremland
which was inoperative as they knew enough to lower the metal whip antenna. They
had the presence of mind to put the boat into the nearest shore (Paoha Island) and
hunker down, thereby lessening their target profile to lightning until the storm
passed. Yet during this time, I fretted with every lightning bolt (they are quite
fearsome at this altitude) and thunder roll, checking the lake from time to time
with my binoculars. When the storm eventually receded eastwards, I could finally
see their white Revenge pulling around the island against the dark background of
storm clouds, and I only then could I let out a big sigh of relief.
31.2.3 Toro! Toro! Toro!
As the 1980s transitioned to the 1990s, we continued our investigations of Mono
Lake on a seasonal basis, where Chuck performed
14
C-labelling measures of primary
productivity, Larry collated biogeochemical data on sulfide, methane, and ammonia
as responses to and breakdown of meromixis-caused stratification (Miller et al.
1993), and I focused on N 2 -fixation (Oremland 1990). Unlike BSL, Mono Lake
lacks rooted macrophytes like Ruppia that become colonized by big globs of
nitrogen-fixing Anabaena (Oremland 1983b). What it has instead are small,
marble-sized aggregates of the alga Ctenocladus, which in turn host internal
populations of light-driven (cyanobacterial) and heterotrophic-bacterially driven
anaerobic diazotrophs. I also deployed chambers along the shoreline of the northeastern quadrant of the lake and measured N 2 -fixation via the acetylene reduction
assay. Not surprisingly, rates were highest in the light and during summer but fell off
to zero during winter, when nighttime temperatures routinely plummeted to À20
F
(À28
C). In total, this activity was minimal compared to the nitrogen requirements
needed to sustain primary productivity (Oremland 1990), but the work did have its
compensations and hazards.
Accessing the site, located in the lake’s NE quadrant playa, required driving out
on route 167, turning off at the 10 mile signpost onto a dirt road and proceeding
about a mile down through brush and bramble toward the lake until it dead-ends into
a set of barriers. After that it is a 1 mile hike down to the water’s edge, which I would
do for retrieving samples twice daily (morning and early evening). The morning
sampling was best because it was relatively cool, but by the summer afternoons, the
temperature would rise above 100
F (~38
C). During summer, the playa hosts big
nasty biting/clawed flying insects like horseflies that, if given the opportunity, will
alit on your exposed flesh and proceed to dig out a chunk of your personage to feast
upon. I warded them off by emulating a horsetail, swinging a motel’s hand-towel
over my head as I hiked to and fro from the water’s edge.
During summer, the lake can actually be observed shrinking in size because of
evaporation. The NE quadrant is shallow, and there would be a moist long ribbon of
wetted, green–grey exposed sand (about a meter wide) at the water’s edge that
looked as if there was an ebbing tide. Pieter Visscher was quite enthusiastic about
672
R. S. Oremland