在沉积物搬运过程中气体水合物的自然赋存作用

自然界中赋存的气体水合物在海底沉积物是处于半固结状态,具有储存大量的气体和水的潜能。当水合物的平衡条件被打破时,能释放出气体和水。因此,水合物能给巨大的沉积物搬运提供潜在的形成机制。在海底低水温和正常静水压力条件下,大部分陆坡和所有海隆、深海平原在靠近海底沉积物的孔隙不处在饱和或近饱和状态下,烃类气体将形成水合物。水合物的气体既可能是原地微生物成因气,也可能是来自较深部沉积物的热解气。稳定水合物沉积物的平衡条件可能遭到破坏,例如由连续沉积或者海平面下降所引起,其中任何一种情况出现使部分固体气－水混合物开始分解。释放出气体和水的体积超过水合物自身的体积,如果大量水合物分解,那么其内部压力能猛烈地骤增,原来部分稳定的沉积物转化为富含气体和富含水的低密度泥岩。当内部压力由于气体压缩或者浮力作用变得非常大时,其上覆沉积物隆起甚至破裂,而非致密的气侵泥岸可以向上运移。与水合物有关非常大时,其上覆沉积物隆起甚至破裂,而非致密的气侵泥岸可以向上运移。与水合物有关的这些现象可以引起泥底辟、泥火山、泥滑坡或浊流,这取决于沉积物的结构和海底地形。     

中白垩世低纬度地区海面温度和浮游有孔虫的演化

陆地和海洋大范围的古气候指标说明了中至晚白垩世早期（阿尔必—科尼亚阶）是过去２００Ｍａ中地球历史上最温暖的时期（全球平均表层水温比目前高６～１４℃）。然而,通常只基于低反照率和高气压（Ｐｃｏ２）的气候模型模拟产生了较高的赤道海洋表层水温（ＳＳＴｓ）,...     

中国近49年沙尘暴变化趋势的分析

利用1954～2002年的气象观测资料分析了我国沙尘暴的变化特点及趋势,并从大风天气变化的角度,初步探讨了沙尘暴变化的气候原因。分析结果表明,我国的沙尘暴总日数在20世纪80年代中期以后比50年代到60年代减少了73％;沙尘暴的下降趋势具有十分明显的空间一致性。比较发现,沙尘暴总日数和大风总日数的变化趋势有很好的一致性,两者的线性相关系数达到0．92。这表明,我国沙尘暴的变化趋势主要是随大风的变化而变化,风力条件的减弱是近半个世纪以来我国境内沙尘暴频数下降的主要原因。1997年后沙尘暴日数的回升也同样伴随着大风日数的增加。     

欧亚大陆北部地球科学计划

1 概况欧亚大陆北部研究计划(The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative, NEESPI)最早由美国宇航局(NASA)和俄罗斯科学院(RAS)发起制定,其目的在于开展多学科的研究,提高对欧亚大陆北部的综合认识,了解这一     

Relationship between oxygen concentration,respiration and filtration rate in blue mussel Mytilus edulis

The large water-pumping and particle-capturing gills of the filter-feeding blue mussel Mytilus edulis are oversized for respiratory purposes. Consequently, the oxygen uptake rate of the mussel has been suggested to be rather insensitive to decreasing oxygen concentrations in the ambient water, since the diff usion rate of oxygen from water flowing through the mussel determines oxygen uptake. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the oxygen uptake in mussels exposed to various oxygen concentrations. These concentrations were established via N2-bubbling of the water in a respiration chamber with mussels fed algal cells to stimulate fully opening of the valves. It was found that mussels exposed to oxygen concentrations decreasing from 9 to 2 mg O_2/L resulted in a slow but significant reduction in the respiration rate, while the filtration rate remained high and constant. Thus, a decrease of oxygen concentration by 78% only resulted in a 25% decrease in respiration rate. However, at oxygen concentrations below 2 mg O_2/L M. edulis responded by gradually closing its valves, resulting in a rapid decrease of filtration rate, concurrent with a rapid reduction of respiration rate. These observations indicated that M.edulis is no longer able to maintain its normal aerobic metabolism at oxygen concentration below 2 mg O 2/L, and there seems to be an energy-saving mechanism in bivalve molluscs to strongly reduce their activity when exposed to low oxygen conditions.     

Differential kinetics and temperature dependence of abiotic and biotic processes controlling the environmental fate of TNT in simulated marine systems

This work seeks to understand how the balance of abiotic and biotic kinetic processes in sediments control the residual concentration of TNT in marine systems after release from ocean-dumped source. Kinetics of TNT disappearance were followed using marine sediments at different temperatures and under both biotic and presumably abiotic conditions (through sodium azide addition). Sediments exhibiting the highest rate of TNT disappearance under biotic conditions also exhibited the highest sorption affinity for TNT under abiotic conditions. Significant temperature dependence in the abiotic processes was observed in the diffusion coefficient of TNT and not sediment sorption affinity. At higher temperature, kinetics of biotic processes outpaced abiotic processes, but at low temperature, kinetics of abiotic processes were much more significant. We concluded that the differential influence of temperature on the kinetics of abiotic and biotic processes could provide distinguishing predictions for the potential residual concentration of TNT contamination in marine-sediment systems.     

Evaluation of nonwoven polypropylene oil sorbents in marine oil-spill recovery

Mechanical recovery of oil by oil sorbents is one of the most important countermeasures in marine oil-spill response. Polypropylene is the ideal material for marine oil-spill recovery due to its low density, low water uptake and excellent physical and chemical resistance. Different forms of polypropylene nonwoven sorbents were evaluated in this study in terms of initial oil-sorption capacities and oil-retention properties. The investigation revealed that the fibre diameter, sorbent porosity and oil property are the most important factors in the oil-sorption performance of polypropylene nonwoven sorbents.     

A new interstellar polyatomic molecule: detection of propynal in the cold cloud TMC-1

We report the detection of the acetylene derivative propynal (HC triple bond CCHO) in the cold cloud TMC-1, with an abundance that is very close to that for the related species tricarbon monoxide (C3O). Propadienone, an isomer of propynal with the formula H2C=C=C=O, was not detected and is hence less abundant than either C3O or HC2CHO.