海底沉积物保真采样技术研究进展

海底沉积物保真采样对于诸多海洋科学研究非常重要,各种研究目标的实现与沉积物样品的原位信息密切相关。本文论述了海底沉积物保真采样的目的和意义,提出了保真采样的定义,介绍了保真采样器的发展现状。论文重点讨论了保真采样器在采样过程中所涉及的共性关键技术。在此基础上,介绍了我国重力活塞式天然气水合物保真采样器的研究进展。最后,提出了关于发展我国保真采样技术的如下几点设想：1）重视沉积物低扰动技术研究,为相关海洋科学研究提供样品层次清晰、物质成分完备的沉积物样品。2）与HYACINTH计划类似,为适应不同海底地质条件,开发系列保真采样器。对松软的非岩性沉积物（从软泥、沙到砂砾）采样时,可采用重力驱动或震动冲击驱动保真采样装置;对硬质岩化的沉积物采样时,可采用回转式保真采样装置。3）重点开展沉积物样品无压降转移技术。实现实验室内的保真分析、存储和小段样品获取,开展原位压力条件下沉积物样品的地球物理学测试、地球化学、微生物、和石油物理学等研究分析。4）开展长柱状沉积物保真采样技术研究,为我国天然气水合物研究提供技术保障。     

海底浅表层沉积物原位声学测量方法探讨

研究透射式和折射式两类海底沉积声学原位测量方法,通过分析10种海底浅表层沉积物声学原位测量仪器的特征,指出不同声学原位测量技术对沉积物声学特性测量结果的影响。比较黄海海底浅表层沉积声学原位测量数据与实验室测量结果的差异,分析原位声学测量数据普遍小于实验室测量数据的原因,指出原位测量的作用和重要性。探讨指出海底浅表层沉积物原位声学测量所需要配合发展的其他物理性质原位测量技术。     

可变角度换能器在海底沉积物声学原位测量应用的探讨

海底沉积物的声学测量是海底测深的关键技术之一,应用于海底地形地貌测量、海洋矿产资源开采和海底工程建设等。海底沉积物声学测量方法中的原位测量方法可以避免保真采样法的强扰动性和遥测法的准确度、精度及灵敏度的不确定性等缺点,如何改进原位测量系统渐成为海底探测的研究热点。通过分析现有海底沉积物原位测量设备测试换能器的工作原理,针对垂直压入方式换能器测量深度有限,提出了一种通过改变换能器压入沉积物的角度来增加测量深度的方法。在理论上论证出在不低于换能器接收阈值时,测量深度随着掠射角的增加而增加。在不增加压入深度的前提下提供了一种增加测量深度方法。     

用于沉积物-海水界面污染通量监测的自动采样技术

研究海底沉积物一海水界面污染物迁移规律的最佳方法是通过原位无扰动采样技术获取该界面水样,经过实验室分析计算得出污染通量.文中介绍了用于沉积物-海水界面污染通量监测的自动采样技术,通过测量通量舱在海底沉积物上隔离海水中的污染物含量的变化,能实现痕量重金属等污染通量的实时、现场、自动采样和监测.     

新型海底沉积物采样器结构设计及采样过程动态分析

针对海底沉积物采集的特点,设计了新型海底沉积物采样器,将采样和保真融为一体,利用海底触发装置实现采样,利用海水等静压原理实现采样器的封口与保真,采用FLENT软件对采样过程进行了模拟仿真,并对采样的动态过程进行了分析,结果显示在下落高度足够时,采样器撞击海底的速度趋于稳定值,同时攻角小于5°时采样时所受的阻力最小.     

海底沉积物声速实验室测量结果校正研究

海底沉积物实验室测量状态与海底原状态存在较大差异,因此有必要进行声速校正.基于研究海底浅表层沉积物采样样品的原状态与实验室环境的差异,提出运用Hamilton声速校正模型对实验室测量沉积物声速数据进行校正,实现表层沉积物标准测量环境(23℃,1个大气压)下的声速校正到海底原状态;设计了温度变化实验测试南海海底沉积物的声速比变化,验证了Hamilton模型的可行性并将其推广到室温状态下各个温度的校正;分析了Hamilton声速校正模型应用于海底浅表层沉积物声速校正的可行性.     

区别于DSDP-ODP的深海保压保温天然气水合物钻探取心技术

到目前为止，任何深海天然气水合物原位岩心样品的钻探、取心技术都离不开ODP(大洋钻探计划)或DSDP(深海钻探计划)专用船舶钻探技术，该技术主要通过从工作母船上连接几百到几千米钻杆到海底，实现500—1000m的钻探，再通过不同类型PCS(保压取心器)与PTCS(保压保温取心器)取心工具实现样品采集。重要特点是投入经费巨大。新型保压保温取心钻具是将钻具直接固定在深海海底，实现样品的原位保真采集，针对国内外两类着底式天然气水合物钻探、取心技术进行了分析，对于深海浅表层天然气水合物原位样品采集作业反映了创新的思维、技术模式、设计方案与科学方法     

便携式海底沉积声学原位测量系统研制及应用

详细介绍了最新研制的便携式海底沉积声学原位测量系统的工作原理和结构组成.与基于液压驱动的海底沉积声学原位测量系统相比,该系统操作简单,轻便灵活,易于吊放.2010年中国科学院南海海洋研究所“实验3”号科考船南海开放航次应用该系统在南海北部开展了海底沉积声学原位测量,首次获得该海区海底沉积物声速和声衰减系数原位测量数据.将原位测量声速与实验室测量声速进行了对比分析,结果表明二者存在明显差异,从而表明温度和压力等环境参数对沉积物声速具有重要影响.     

海底沉积物声学性质原位测量系统海上试验研究

提出了一种新的海底沉积物声学性质原位测量方法,介绍了新研制的海底沉积物声学性质原位测量系统。在青岛近海海域对该系统进行了海试,获得了各个站位的声速数据。将测得的各站位的声速与不同海域的沉积物声速进行对比分析,并对各个站位的声速与沉积物的平均粒径进行了相关性分析,发现与以往研究结果一致,沉积物声速与沉积物类型相关,不同类型的沉积物的声速有明显差异;声速与平均粒径相关性较好,粒径越大,声速越高。结果表明,利用海底沉积物声学性质原位测量系统测得的原位声速是正确的,它能快速准确地得到海底沉积物的声速值。     

室内海底沉积物热导率测量的原理与方法——以TK04热导率测量系统为例

沉积物热导率是计算海底热流的一个重要参数。文中以TK04热导率测量系统为例,详细介绍了实验室内热导率测量原理、样品热导率测量的各个环节,包括样品准备、测量流程、测量数据质量评估与校正等,以及沉积物原位热导率的计算,以为油气资源评价、天然气水合物评价及地球动力学研究提供高精度的海底热流数据。     

Microbial Biomass and Organic Nutrients in the Deep-Sea Sediments of the Central Indian Ocean Basin

In order to assess the impact of deep-sea mining on the in situ benthic life, we measured the microbial standing stock and concentration of organic nutrients in the deep-sea sediments of the Central Indian Ocean Basin in the Indian pioneer area. Sediments were collected using box core and grab samples during September 1996. The total bacterial numbers ranged from 10 10 -10 11 cells per g -1 dry weight sediment. There was a marginal decrease in the number of bacteria from surface to 30 cm depth, though the subsurface section registered a higher number than did the surface. The highest numbers were encountered at depths of 4-8 cm. The retrievable number of bacteria were two orders less in comparison with the direct total counts of bacteria. An almost homogeneous distribution of bacteria, total organic carbon, living biomass, and lipids throughout the depth of cores indicates active microbial and benthic processes in the deep sea sediments. On the other hand, a uniform distribution of total counts of bacteria, carbohydrates, and total organic carbon in all the cores indicates their stable nature and suggests that they can serve as useful parameters for long-term monitoring of the area after the benthic disturbance. Further studies on temporal variability in this region would not only verify the observed norms of distribution of these variables but would also help to understand restabilization processes after the simulated benthic disturbance.     

海上大直径钢管桩打桩过程中桩周土强度弱化研究

海上大直径钢管桩打桩过程中,桩周土体受到强烈扰动而发生强度弱化,掌握桩周土体强度弱化规律对于准确预测打桩过程、保证工程安全具有重要意义。为研究土体强度弱化规律,开展了环剪试验模拟打桩对桩周土体的扰动,测试土体强度随剪切速率的变化规律,建立了描述土体强度弱化规律的拟合公式,引入到打桩分析软件中。研究结果表明：土体的强度折减程度不仅与土体本身的性质有关还受到土体的埋深和剪切速率的影响,埋深越深土体强度折减程度越低,剪切速率越高土体强度折减越高,在打桩分析中可采用这里推荐的线性折减方法来模拟不同深度处土体强度的折减规律。     

Geoacoustic Inversion via Genetic Algorithm and Its Application to Manganese Sediment Identification

An acoustic inversion method using a wide-band signal and two near field receivers is proposed and applied to multiple layered seabed models including a manganese sediment. The inversion problem can be formulated into a probabilistic model comprised of signals, a forward model, and additive noise. The forward model simulates wide-band signals, such as chirp signals, and is chosen to be the source-waveletconvolution plane wave modeling method. The wavelet matching technique, using weighted least-squares fitting, estimates the sediment sound-speed and thickness on which determination of the possible numerical ranges for a priori uniform distribution is based. The genetic algorithm is applied to a global optimization problem to find a maximum a posteriori solution for determined a priori search space. Here the object function is defined by an L 2 norm of the difference between measured and modeled signals. Not only the marginal pdf but also its statistics are calculated by numerical evaluation of integrals using the samples selected during importance sampling process of the genetic algorithm.     

A Review of Some Environmental Issues Affecting Marine Mining

This article reviews information recently available from existing marine and coastal mining for responses to environmental issues affecting marine mining at different depths. It is particularly but not exclusively concerned with those issues affecting seabed biodiversity impact and recovery. Much information has been gathered in the past 10 years from shallow mining operations for construction aggregate, diamonds, and gold, from coastal mines discharging tailings to shallow and deep water, and from experimental deep mining tests. The responses to issues identified are summarized in a series of eight tables intended to facilitate site-specific consideration. Since impacts can spread widely in the surface mixing layer SML, and can affect the biologically productive euphotic zone, the main issues considered arise from the depth of mining relative to the SML of the sea. Where mining is below the SML, the issue is whether it is environmentally better to bring the extraction products to the surface vessel for processing (and waste discharge), or to process the extraction products as much as possible on the seabed. Responses to the issues need to be sitespecific, and dependent on adequate preoperational environmental impact and recovery prediction. For deep tailings disposal from a surface vessel, there are four important environmental unknowns: (1) the possible growth of "marine snow" (bacterial flocs) utilizing the enormous quantities of fine tailings particles (hundreds or thousands of metric tons per day) as nuclei for growth, (2) the possibility that local keystone plankton and nekton species may migrate diurnally down to and beyond the depth of deep discharge and hence be subjected to tailings impact at depth, (3) the burrow-up capability of deep benthos and their ability to survive high rates of tailings deposition, and (4) the pattern and rate of dispersion of a tailings density current through the deep water column from discharge point to seabed. Actions to obtain relevant information in general and site-specifically are suggested.     

Increased Particle Fluxes at the INDEX Site Attributable to Simulated Benthic Disturbance

Particle fluxes were measured 7 m above the sea bottom during the predisturbance, disturbance, and postdisturbance periods by using time series sediment traps attached to seven deep-sea moorings deployed in the INDEX experiment site in the Central Indian Basin. The predisturbance particle fluxes varied between 22.3 to 55.1 mg m -2 day -1 . Increased and variable particle fluxes were recorded by the sediment traps during the disturbance period. The increase observed was 0.5 to 4 times more than the background predisturbance fluxes. The increases in particle fluxes (~4 times) recorded by the sediment trap located in the southwestern direction (DMS-1) were the greatest, which could be the result of preferential movement of resuspended particles generated during the deep-sea benthic disturbance along the general current direction prevailing in this area during the experimental period. Also, the traps located closer to the disturbance area recorded greater fluxes than did the traps far away, across the Deep Sea Sediment Resuspension System path. This variability in recorded particle fluxes by the traps around the disturbance area clearly indicates that physical characteristics such as grain size and density of the resuspended particles produced during the disturbance had an important effect on particle movement. The postdisturbance measurements during ~5 days showed a reduction in particle fluxes of ~50%, indicating rapid particle settlement.     

Determination of In Situ Sediment Shear Strength from Advanced Piston Corer Pullout Forces

The advanced piston corer (APC) has been used by the Ocean Drilling Program since 1985 for recovering soft sediments from the ocean floor. The pullout force measured on extracting the core barrel from the sediment is shown to correlate with the average shear strength of the sediment core measured in the ship's laboratory. A simple rule of thumb is derived relating the shear strength of the sediment to the pullout force. Multiple APC holes at individual sites allow the consistency of the pullout measurements to be assessed. The effects of different operational procedures during APC coring are also explored. Although generally applicable, the correlation between pullout force and laboratory measurements of shear strength breaks down for some APC holes, possibly because of the disturbance of some sediment types during the APC coring process. A better understanding of the physical process of APC coring, and its effect on the properties of the sediment both inside and immediately outside the core barrel, would indicate what confidence can be put on the measurement of pullout force as a way of evaluating the in situ shear strength of deep sea sediments.     

Phylogenetic diversity and phenotypic characterization of cultivable bacterioplankton isolated from polar oceans

A set of 27 marine planktonic bacteria isolated from the polar regions was characterized by 16S rDNA sequencing and physiological and biochemical testing. More than half of these bacteria were positive for caseinase, gelatinase and 13-glucosidase, and could utilize glucose, maltose or malic acid as carbon source for cell growth. Twelve isolates expressed nitrate reduction activities. Except for one antarctic isolate BSwlO175 belonging to Actinobacteria phylum, these isolates were classified as γ-Proteobacteria, suggesting that γ-Proteobacteria dominated in cultivable marine bacterioplankton at both poles. Genus Pseudoalteromonas was the predominant group in the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea, and genus ShewaneUa dominated in cultivable bacterioplankton in the Prydz Bay. With sequence similarities above 97%, genus Psychrobacter was found at both poles. These 27 isolates were psychrotolerant, and significant 16S rDNA sequence similarities were found not only between arctic and antarctic marine bacteria （ 〉 99% ）, but also between polar marine bacteria and bacteria from other aquatic environments （ ≥ 98.8% ）, including temperate ocean, deep sea, pond and lake, suggesting that in the polar oceans less temperature-sensitive bacteria may be cosmopolitan and have a bipolar, even global, distribution at the species level.     

Deep-Sea Sediment Compression Curves: Some Controlling Factors, Spurious Overconsolidation, Predictions, and Geophysical Reproduction

Oedometer tests have been carried out on 70 undisturbed surficial clays (at approximately 250 mm below the mudline), mostly collected by free-fall corers from sites widely scattered throughout the deep-sea North Atlantic. Acoustic measurements were also made, initially on contiguous samples and ultimately on the same sample using a geophysically instrumented oedometer which also collected electrical resistivity data. Apart from those quiescent areas below the carbonate compensation depth, such as north of the West Indies where very fine clays exist, most of the samples are silty clays whose geotechnical-geophysical properties are dependent on the type of clay minerals present (and their ability to take in moisture), the sand-size fraction, and the quantity of carbonate present. Thus the pure clays have high compressibilities which decrease on the addition of coarse particles, while the converse is true for the acoustic parameters, these increasing with the sand fraction. Using the notion of the intrinsic compression line for all samples, and comparison to it of the measured compression curves, it is clear that, contrary to some previously held ideas, most deep-sea clays are normally consolidated; the addition of carbonate has the effect of creating an open, stronger sediment skeleton. Interestingly, where information is available, the variation with depth of a sample's acoustic velocity follows the void ratio pressure relationship of the compression curve. This allows the construction of an in-situ sediment compression curve using the in-situ geophysical observations.