Marine biosecurity: The importance of awareness, support and cooperation in managing a successful incursion response

Shipping is almost certainly the most prevalent human-mediated transport vector for non-indigenous species (NIS) within the marine environment. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has long acknowledged the importance of sound environmental management and in recent years has taken a proactive approach to addressing risks associated with marine biosecurity. primarily as a result of biofouling on Navy vessel returning from overseas operations. This paper describes two case studies that highlight the effectiveness of the RAN marine biosecurity management framework in identifying an unwanted marine species on Navy vessels, and the successful biosecurity management program that ensued. In particular, the early detection and identification of a suspect NIS, the quick response to the discovery and the collaborative approach adopted between the RAN and the Government regulatory agency (Western Australian Department of Fisheries) charged with coordinating the incursion response serves as a model for how future incursion responses should be reported and managed.     

制定综合技术对策提高地矿部门钻探生产效率

本文针对当前地矿部门岩心钻探生产形势和未来发展要求，简述了制定提高地矿部门岩心钻探生产效率的综合技术对策的必要性和意义，在明确的主导思想下，论述并提出了一套综合技术对策建议，供地矿部门岩心钻探管理决策人士参考。     

Caffeine in Boston Harbor seawater

Caffeine has been detected in Boston Harbor seawater with concentrations ranging from 140 to 1600 ng l(-1), and in Massachusetts Bay seawater at concentrations from 5.2 to 71 ng l(-1). Sources of caffeine appear to be anthropogenic with higher concentrations in the seawater of Boston's inner harbor and in freshwater sources to the harbor. Charles River water and Deer Island sewage treatment plant effluent, the two major sources of freshwater to the harbor, contained 370 and 6700 ng l(-1) of caffeine, respectively, in 1998. Sewage influent and effluent concentrations appear to be consistent with consumption estimates of caffeinated beverages for the Boston area and total organic carbon removal targets for treated sewage. Caffeine was inversely correlated to salinity in a transect from the mouth of Boston Harbor to Stellwagen Basin, indicating it may be a useful chemical tracer of anthropogenic inputs to marine systems.     

天然沉积饱和有明粘性土的Burland 孔隙指数与归一化含水量的关系

如何评价土结构性对天然沉积饱和土的力学性状的影响是一个非常重要的研究课题。Burland在第30届郎肯讲座论文中导入孔隙指数对各种重塑土的压缩曲线进行归一化，提出固有压缩曲线用于评价天然沉积土的压缩性状。通过对广泛沉积在日本九洲岛的有明粘性土进行试验研究，探讨了灵敏有明粘性土的特征，提出一个比Burland孔隙指数更为简单实用的评价天然沉积土力学性状的指标——归一化含水量，定义为含水量与液限之比。根据大量的试验结果，得出了天然沉积有明粘性土的Burland孔隙指数与归一化含水量的相关关系，提出了对应于归一化含水量的固有压缩曲线。     

Growth and Deformation of the Ladakh Batholith, Northwest Himalayas: Implications for Timing of Continental Collision and Origin of Calc-Alkaline Batholiths

The calc-alkaline Ladakh batholith (NW Himalayas) was dated to constrain the timing of continental collision and subsequent deformation. Batholith growth ended when collision disrupted subduction of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere, and thus the youngest magmatic pulse indirectly dates the collision. Both U-Pb ages on zircons from three samples of the Ladakh batholith and K-Ar from one subvolcanic dike sample were determined. Magmatic activity near Leh (the capital of Ladakh) occurred between 70 and 50 Ma, with the last major magmatic pulse crystallizing at ca. 49.8+/-0.8 Ma (2sigma). This was followed by rapid and generalized cooling to lower greenschist facies temperatures within a few million years, and minor dike intrusion took place at 46+/-1 Ma. Field observations, the lack of inherited prebatholith zircons, and other isotopic evidence suggest that the batholith is mantle derived with negligible crustal influence, that it evolved through input of fresh magma from the mantle and remelting of previously emplaced mantle magmatic rocks. The sedmimentary record indicates that collision in NW Himalaya occurred around 52-50 Ma. If this is so, the magmatic system driven by subduction of Tethys ended immediately on collision. The thermal history of one sample from within the Thanglasgo Shear Zone (TSZ) was determined by Ar-Ar method to constrain timing of batholith internal deformation. This is a wide dextral shear zone within the batholith, parallel to the dextral, N 30 degrees W-striking crustal-scale Karakoram Fault. Internal deformation of the batholith, taken up partly by this shear zone, has caused it to deviate from it regional WNW-ESE trend to parallel the Karakoram Fault. Microstructures and cooling history of a sample from the TSZ indicate that shearing took place before 22 Ma, implying that (1) the history of dextral shearing on NW-striking planes in northern Ladakh started at least 7 m.yr. before the <15 Ma Karakoram Fault, (2) shearing was responsible for deviation of the regional trend of the Ladakh batholith, and (3) dextral shearing occured within a zone apporximately 100 km wide that includes the Ladakh batholith and portions of the younger Karakoram batholith.     

Significance of cytochrome P450 system responses and levels of bile fluorescent aromatic compounds in marine wildlife following oil spills

The relationships among cytochrome P450 induction in marine wildlife species, levels of fluorescent aromatic compounds (FAC) in their bile, the chemical composition of the inducing compounds, the significance of the exposure pathway, and any resulting injury, as a consequence of exposure to crude oil following a spill, are reviewed. Fish collected after oil spills often show increases in cytochrome P450 system activity, cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) and bile fluorescent aromatic compounds (FAC), that are correlated with exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the oil. There is also some evidence for increases in bile FAC and induction of cytochrome P450 in marine birds and mammals after oil spills. However, when observed, increases in these exposure indicators are transitory and generally decrease to background levels within one year after the exposure. Laboratory studies have shown induction of cytochrome P450 systems occurs after exposure of fish to crude oil in water, sediment or food. Most of the PAH found in crude oil (dominantly 2- and 3-ring PAH) are not strong inducers of cytochrome P450. Exposure to the 4-ring chrysenes or the photooxidized products of the PAH may account for the cytochrome P450 responses in fish collected from oil-spill sites. The contribution of non-spill background PAH, particularly combustion-derived (pyrogenic) PAH, to bile FAC and cytochrome P450 system responses can be confounding and needs to be considered when evaluating oil spill effects. The ubiquity of pyrogenic PAH makes it important to fully characterize all sources of PAH, including PAH from natural resources, e.g. retene, in oil spill studies. In addition, such parameters as species, sex, age, ambient temperature and season need to be taken into account. While increases in fish bile FAC and cytochrome P450 system responses, can together, be sensitive general indicators of PAH exposure after an oil spill, there is little unequivocal evidence to suggest a linkage to higher order biological effects, e.g. toxicity, lesions, reproductive failure.     

Studies of a contaminated brackish marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands of northeastern New Jersey: an assessment of natural recovery

Eight-Day Swamp is known to be contaminated with heavy metals, especially mercury. Sediment cores were collected to approximately 32 cm at 17 sites on four transects and analyzed at 1 or 2 cm intervals for seven metals and organic matter. Very high metal levels were found throughout the site. Long and Morgan's "effects range-median" (ER-M) was exceeded in more than 50% of slices for all elements except As. Hg had the highest concentration relative to ER-M; median Hg concentration was 72 times its ER-M. On the marsh plain, all metals showed enrichment at 14-20 cm depth of 10-40X over surficial sediments. 137Cs analysis showed sedimentation rates ranging from 0.33 to 0.50 cm yr(-1) over the last approximately 40 yr. These rates indicate that metal contamination peaks occurred in sediments deposited in the early 1960s. Thus, newer, less contaminated sediments are burying older, more contaminated layers and peak levels of contaminants are becoming less available to benthos.