The Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front: physical and biological coupling at South Georgia

The coupling of physics and biology was examined along a 160 km long transect running out from the north coast of South Georgia Island and crossing the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF) during late December 2000. Surface and near surface potential TS properties indicated the presence of three water types: a near-shore group of stations characterised by water which became progressively warmer and fresher closer to South Georgia, an offshore grouping in which sea surface temperatures and those at the winter water level were relatively warm (1.8°C and 0.5°C, respectively), and a third in which surface and winter water temperatures were cooler and reflected the presence of the SACCF. The transect bisected the SACCF twice, revealing that it was flowing in opposite directions, north-westward closest to South Georgia and south-eastwards at its furthest point from the island. The innermost limb was a narrow intense feature located just off the shelf break in 2000–3500 m of water and in which rapid surface baroclinic velocities (up to 35 cm s⁻¹) were encountered. Offshore in the outermost limb, shown subsequently to be a mesoscale eddy that had meandered south from the retroflected limb of the SACCF, flow was broader and slower with peak velocities around 20 cm s⁻¹. Chlorophyll a biomass was generally low (<1 mg m⁻³) over much of the transect but increased dramatically in the region of the innermost limb of the SACCF, where a deepening of the surface mixed layer was coincident with a subsurface chlorophyll maximum (7.4 mg m⁻³) and elevated concentrations down to 100 m. The bloom was coincident with depleted nutrient concentrations, particularly silicate, nitrate and phosphate, and although ammonium concentrations were locally depleted the bloom lay within an elevated band (up to 1.5 mmol m⁻³) associated with the frontal jet. Increased zooplankton abundance, higher copepod body carbon mass and egg production rates all showed a strong spatial integrity with the front. The population structure of the copepods Calanoides acutus and Rhincalanus gigas at stations within the front suggested that rather than simply resulting from entrainment and concentration within the jet, increased copepod abundance was the result of development in situ. Estimates of bloom duration, based on silicate and carbon budget calculations, set the likely duration between 82 and 122 d, a figure supported by the development schedule of the two copepod species. Given this timescale, model outputs from FRAM and OCCAM indicated that particles that occurred on the north side of South Georgia in December would have been in the central-southern Scotia Sea 2–3 months earlier, probably in sea ice affected regions.     

Understanding El Niño — The importance of Grey Literature in Coastal Ecosystem Research and Management

Access to information about past states of the environment and social systems is fundamental to understand, and cope with, the challenges of climate change and over-exploitation of natural resources at the onset of the 21st century. The loss of (old) data is a major threat to understanding better and mitigating long-term effects of human activities and anthropogenic changes to the environment. Although this is intuitively evident for old and local literature of any kind, even present-day international publishing of papers without the underlying raw data makes access to basic information a crucial issue. Here, we summarise experience resulting from a EU-funded International Science & Technology Cooperation (INCO) project (CENSOR) addressing Coastal Ecosystem Research and Management in the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) context. We show that indeed “Grey Literature” is still one of the most important sources of knowledge about natural science research and management of natural resource systems in Latin American countries. We argue that public archiving of original data of present-day research and old (Grey) Literature and easy public access are important for appreciating today's global environmental challenges caused by human activities, both past and present.     

湘南新田岭白钨矿床He,Ar同位素特征及Rb-Sr测年

新田岭白钨矿床是湘南W-Sn多金属矿集区中的一个大型矽卡岩型矿床,产于骑田岭岩体北接触带.本文对矽卡岩矿石中1件黄铁矿样品进行了流体包裹体He、Ar同位素测定,获得3He/4He值为4.08 Ra,40Ar/36Ar为342,反映了在矽卡岩矿床的成矿流体中亦有地幔流体的显著参与;运用石英Rb-Sr法获得成矿等时线年龄为(157.4±3.2)Ma(2σ)(MSWD=1.6),87Sr/86Sr初始值为0.71044±0.00012,该年龄值与柿竹园超大型钨多金属矿床及芙蓉大型锡矿等的成矿年龄在测试误差范围内基本一致,表明中侏罗世是湘南地区钨锡成矿的高峰期.     

An evaporitic facies in Neoproterozoic post-glacial carbonates: The Gifberg Group, South Africa

A geological study of the hitherto poorly described Neoproterozoic Gifberg Group, with emphasis on lithogeochemistry and O, C and Sr isotopic composition of the carbonate-dominated Widouw Formation (Vredendal Outlier, westernmost South Africa) revealed that the entire group is an equivalent of the relatively well constrained Port Nolloth Group in the external, paraautochthonous part of the Pan-African Gariep Belt further north. Thus, the Vredendal Outlier can be regarded as the southern extension of the Port Nolloth Zone. Two diamictite units are recognised in the Vredendal Outlier, which can be correlated respectively with the c. 750 Ma Kaigas Formation diamictite and the 583 Ma, syn-Gaskiers Numees Formation diamictite in the Gariep Belt proper. The dominating carbonate unit in the studied area is post-glacial with respect to the older of the two diamictite units. The combined textural, structural and geochemical evidence suggests that parts of the variably dolomitised limestone succession represent former evaporite beds. Sedimentation in a restricted, very shallow and proximal basin led to a wide range in C isotope ratios (δ¹³C_PDB from − 4.2 to + 4.8‰), very high Sr concentrations (derived from original anhydrite) and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios that are significantly higher (0.70785) than those of coeval seawater. As C and Sr isotopes are commonly used for chemostratigraphic correlation, and high Sr concentrations in Neoproterozic carbonates are often interpreted as evidence of former aragonite, the findings of this study should be used as warning against uncritical use of geochemical and isotopic parameters for describing ancient seawater composition. Thus C and Sr isotope ratios alone in Neoproterozoic carbonates may be less powerful proxies of ancient seawater composition, and high Sr contents are not necessarily indicative of an “aragonite sea”, as previously inferred.     

REE Abundance and REE Minerals in Granitic Rocks in the Nanling Range,Jiangxi Province,Southern China,and Generation of the REE‐rich Weathered Crust Deposits

Studies of Mesozoic granites associated with rare earth element (REE)‐rich weathered crust deposits in southernmost Jiangxi Province indicate that they have high‐K to shoshonite compositions and belong to ilmenite‐series I‐type granites. Of the studied rocks at 59–292 ppm of bulk REE content, the highest are seen in the biotite granites of Dingnan (358, 429 ppm) and mafic biotite granite of the Wuliting Granite (344 ppm) near the Dajishan tungsten mine, both areas where weathered‐crust REE deposits occur. REE‐bearing accessory minerals in these granites are mainly zircon, apatite and allanite, and REE‐fluorocarbonates are common. REE enrichment occurs in the rims of apatite crystals, and in fluorocarbonates that occur along grain boundaries of and cracks in major silicate minerals, and in fluorocarbonates that replaced altered biotite. It is therefore thought that a major part of the REE content of these granites was concentrated during deuteric activity, rather than during magmatic crystallization. The crack‐filling REE‐fluorocarbonates could subsequently have been easily leached out and deposited in weathered crust developed during a long period of exposure.     

In situ estimation of the effective chemical diffusion coefficient of a rock matrix in a fractured aquifer

An in situ method of estimating the effective diffusion coefficient for a chemical constituent that diffuses into the primary porosity of a rock is developed by abruptly changing the concentration of the dissolved constituent in a borehole in contact with the rock matrix and monitoring the time-varying concentration. The experiment was conducted in a borehole completed in mudstone on the campus of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Numerous tracer tests were conducted at this site, which left a residual concentration of sodium chloride in boreholes that diffused into the rock matrix over a period of years. Fresh water was introduced into a borehole in contact with the mudstone, and the time-varying increase of chloride was observed by monitoring the electrical conductivity (EC) at various depths in the borehole. Estimates of the effective diffusion coefficient were obtained by interpreting measurements of EC over 34 d. The effective diffusion coefficient at a depth of 36 m was approximately 7.8×10^?6 m²/d, but was sensitive to the assumed matrix porosity. The formation factor and mass flux for the mudstone were also estimated from the experiment.     

中国南方含油气区构造—沉积类型及其勘探潜力

南方含油气的复杂构造区根据构造—沉积类型的不同,可将其分为四种类型。通过对不同类型典型含油气区的生烃量及非构造运动天然气散失量的化学动力学计算,认为这四种类型含油气区的油气聚集潜力从好到坏依次为:喜马拉雅运动抬升暴露型、燕山运动抬升暴露型、反复抬升—沉降型和海西—印支运动抬升暴露—后期浅埋型。主要构造运动发生越晚,对油气保存越有利。     

祁连山南部地区三叠纪弧后前陆盆地——基于沉积填充与大地构造的证据

本文通过对祁连山南部地区三叠纪沉积充填特征的研究,建立了盆地形成过程中沉积充填与区域构造演化的关联。依据沉积充填特征、构造接触关系及区域地质背景,认为祁连山南部地区三叠纪盆地具有弧后前陆盆地的构造属性;综合分析年代学、沉积物性和盆地内部填充单元的差异划分出与柴达木岛弧带和祁连山南部弧后前陆盆地相关的区域大地构造单元。认为早三叠世-中三叠世中期,南部遭受俯冲作用持续向北挤压推覆导致盆地挠曲沉降;中三叠世中期-晚三叠世中期发生弧(东昆仑-柴北缘)-陆(巴颜喀拉地块)碰撞,祁连山南部盆地挠曲沉降增大,其间形成区域性断裂和不整合等盆地记录的地质事件;晚三叠世晚期祁连山南部盆地发生过补偿陆相填充,弧后前陆盆地消亡。     

秦岭南缘勉略带构造属性及晚古生代地质背景:来自碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学的制约

勉略构造带作为秦岭造山带内重要的构造边界,关于其构造属性及晚古生代以来的地质背景,一直是学术界争论的焦点。碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学在限定地层单元的最大沉积年龄、研究区域构造岩浆事件及约束构造地质背景等方面行之有效。基于此,通过对勉略带内五郎坪北侧两河口变沉积地层和侵入其中的变形花岗岩脉体进行LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年代学研究。获得2件变形花岗岩脉的结晶年龄均为406±1Ma。碎屑锆石主年龄谱分别为422～456Ma和558～826Ma,峰值年龄为441Ma和771Ma、813Ma,次级年龄谱分别为942～1495Ma和1658～2981Ma,峰值年龄不明显。依据最小一组碎屑锆石的峰值年龄(441Ma),和侵入其中的变形花岗岩脉(406±0.6Ma),限定该变沉积地层形成时代为406～441Ma(S_1-D_1)。碎屑锆石年龄谱显示该套变沉积地层物质来源较为复杂,其中秦岭造山带及扬子板块北缘早古生代、新元古代岩浆岩为其提供了74%±的物源,古老变质基底为其提供了26%±的物源。通过与区域上已有资料对比,认为勉略构造带内晚古生代沉积地层形成环境与邻区大致相同,且本次所获得的变沉积岩碎屑锆石年龄谱也与邻区泥盆系相似。综合认为,勉略构造带与邻区在晚古生代应属同一构造环境,晚古生代"勉略海盆"应当包括整个南秦岭。