海洋同位素示踪技术的研究进展

海洋同位素示踪技术是利用各种同位素组成的变化特征作为示踪剂，揭示海洋各种沉积作用过程中不同物质来源及其不同源区的混合状况。近年来，铅、锶、钕和锇同位素示踪技术已应用到海洋科学研究的诸多领域，尤其在海洋沉积物和大洋锰结核（壳）中这方面的研究已有了很大的进展。     

同位素示踪技术在海洋环境研究中的应用

综合δD、δ18O、224Ra、226Ra、228R、钍系同位素和210Pb、14C等同位素示踪技术研究的最新成果,概述了同位素示踪技术在海洋水体运动、颗粒动力学、海洋生物生产力、沉积动力学、古海洋学等方面的研究进展,提出了在这一领域应重点发展的研究方向,以期推动同位素示踪技术在海洋环境研究中的应用。     

珠江口外近海沉积有机质化学及稳定同位素组成的早期成岩改变

理解早期成岩过程中有机质的化学和同位素分馏对于研究海洋和湖泊环境中的生物地球化学过程是很重要的。将珠江口外近海生物成因有机质分为可水解氨基酸、碳水化合物、脂类和酸不溶四个部分,分析了有机质的化学和同位素组成(δ13C,δ15N),借以讨论沉积有机质在埋藏的早期成岩过程中所发生的化学和同位素改变,结果表明,从浮游生物→悬浮颗粒物→表层沉积物→沉积柱内部,易降解组分可水解氨基酸、碳水化合物、脂类占样品总有机碳的份额依次降低。沉积物及四个有机部分的稳定碳同位素组成在纵向上随深度保持相对恒定,而在不同有机部分之间差异明显。不同类型有机物的分解速率差异在改变有机质化学成分的同时,导致其δ13C发生小幅度负向漂移;细菌有机质的形成和分解对有机质化学成分和同位素组成演化也有重要贡献,并且在一定程度上抵消了上述δ13C的负向漂移,其结果导致沉积有机质的δ13C略低于浮游生物;另一方面,由于异养菌生长过程中的氮同位素分馏系数与可利用氮源的特征和培养基的性质等多种因素有关,导致沉积物的δ15N变化范围增大。在这里δ13C可以可靠地指示该海域沉积有机质的来源,而δ15N变化范围较大且规律不明显,难以用作沉积有机质来源的指示。     

多接收电感耦合等离子体质谱仪测定沉积物中Cu和Zn同位素

本文介绍了海洋沉积物中Cu和Zn同位素的化学预处理及测定方法,报道了冲绳海槽20件表层沉积物和5件柱状沉积物样品的Cu和Zn同位素组成.采用大孔径阴离子交换树脂AGMP-1M,分别以8.2 mol/L HCl+0.01％HF+0.001％H2O2、2 mol/L HCl+0.001％H2O2和0.5 mol/L HNO...     

南沙渚碧礁生态系营养关系的稳定碳同位素研究

利用稳定碳同位素分析技术研究了南沙渚碧礁生态系食物网主要生物类群之间的营养关系。结果表明，生物的稳定碳同位素组成与其营养来源有密切关系。浮游植物的δ^13C为-18.3‰，与其所处海域的环境条件一致，浮游动物的δ^13C值变化较大，范围为-20.4‰～-10.9‰,表明可能存在浮游植物和碎屑两种营养来源。珊瑚和砗磲的碳同位素组成（-17‰～-15‰）与浮游动物相差较大，暗示共生虫黄藻可能在这些珊瑚的营养来源中起重要作用。底栖海参（-9.6‰)和蜘蛛螺（-12.5‰)的碳同位不比组成与它们沉积物食性的营养特征吻合。鱼类的δ^13C值变化范围较大（-17.7‰～-10.9‰），未表现出随营养级升高而增大的趋势，说明影响鱼类碳同位素组成的因素比较复杂。     

环渤海地区河流河口及海洋表层沉积物有机质特征和来源

2013年8月采集了环渤海地区35条主要河流河口表层沉积物样品,12月采集了渤海与北黄海24个表层沉积物样品,分析了其生物地球化学指标:总有机碳(TOC)、总氮(TN)、有机碳同位素(δ13C)和氮同位素(δ15N),探讨该区域表层沉积物有机质特征及组成。研究表明:河流河口表层沉积物有机碳同位素(δ13C)值在–26.4‰—–21.8‰,平均值为–24.5‰;渤海表层沉积物有机碳同位素(δ13C)值在–23.8‰—–21.7‰,平均值为–22.3‰。河口表层沉积物TOC含量在0.06%—3.87%,平均值为1.31%;渤海表层沉积物TOC含量在0.52%—2.09%,平均值为1.08%。河流δ13C富集较轻,偏向陆源;海洋δ13C富集较重,偏向水生有机质来源。河流河口表层沉积物的δ13C值差异较明显,最大值与最小值相差4.6‰,但是流域地理位置距离近的河流δ13C值差异不大。河流河口表层沉积物δ15N在1.5‰—10.2‰,平均值为5.5‰;渤海表层沉积物δ15N在4.4‰—5.6‰,平均值为5.0‰。河流表层沉积物δ15N范围比渤海表层沉积物δ15N范围广,原因是河流受陆源有机物影响,且陆源有机物来源差异大。海洋表层沉积物δ15N相对均一,说明海洋表层沉积物δ15N受物源影响较小,体现了水体中有机质的转化和微生物活动对氮同位素的影响。本研究中表层沉积物的δ13C与δ15N没有明显的相关性,也体现了陆源有机质输入的影响。根据经典的二元模式计算,35条河流陆源有机质的贡献比例范围为10%—90%,平均值为60%;渤海陆源贡献比例范围为10%—50%,平均值为20%。河流有机质的来源以陆源有机质为主,水生有机质为辅。渤海有机质的来源以水生有机质为主,环渤海河流的陆源输入也有重要贡献。需要指出的是,有机碳同位素(δ13C)、氮同位素(δ15N)和Corg/Ntotal对有机质来源判别有一定局限性,虽然稳定同位素有示踪性,然而其成分仍然不可避免地受到生物地球化学等过程的改造,在使用稳定同位素技术示踪物源时,须小心谨慎。     

海洋硅藻稳定同位素研究进展

对海洋初级生产力贡献约40%的硅藻,在全球气候与碳循环中扮演着重要的角色。硅藻稳定同位素(δ30Si和δ18O,δ13C和δ15N)测试对象分别为从海洋沉积物中提取的纯硅藻壳体的生物硅和氧及其内嵌有机质的碳和氮。联合运用各种物理分离(去有机质、碳酸盐,筛分,差异沉降,重液浮选以及微池分流重力场流分离技术)和化学纯化技术从沉积物中提纯出硅藻是其稳定同位素古海洋学应用的前提。确定硅藻δ15N两种制样过程(燃烧和湿式消解)中是否分别存在大气N2和非NO3-组分的污染;δ30Si分析中氟化剂使用的避免、制样方法的改进以及MC-ICP-MS对硅同位素分辨能力的提高;δ18O分析中硅藻壳体外层不稳定氧的完全有效去除,是其同位素古海洋学应用范围扩大和精度提高的关键。硅藻δ13C能评估大气PCO2和海洋初级生产力变化;δ15N和δ30Si可定量示踪海洋硝酸盐和硅酸等营养物利用程度;δ18O则记录了海表温度和海水氧同位素组成。硅藻稳定同位素信号单一,受后期改造作用弱,生命效应低,解译针对性强,在两极和赤道少(或缺)有孔虫海区应用广泛。在此基础上,对目前该领域中存在的问题及未来的研究方向进行了阐述。     

青海湖沉积物有机碳含量与同位素和粒度特征及其古气候意义

对青海湖沉积物中粒度参数、总有机碳（TOC）含量及其δ^13C值的形成条件与环境气候的关系进行了研究。结果表明：在暖湿时期，沉积物中有机碳含量（TOC）较高，有机质的δ^13C值较高，沉积物的平均粒径较细；反之，在冷干时期，沉积物中有机碳含量（TOC）较低，有机质的δ^13C值较低，沉积物的平均粒径较粗。反映出沉积物中TOC含量、有机质δ^13C值及粒度特征与气温具有良好的相关性。结合^14C测年，分析了湖区古气候演化序列，表明自8500aBP以来湖区气候经历了4个演化阶段：即暖湿－凉干－温湿－冷干的变化过程。     

稳定同位素在天然气水合物地球化学勘查中的应用简介--以"布莱克海隆"海区为例

介绍了国外在布莱克海隆（包括ODP164航次994、995、997站位）进行天然气水合物勘查过程中应用稳定同位素的研究实例；通过对这3个站位样品的甲烷、CO2、DIC（dissolved inorganic carbon)、有机碳以及自生碳酸盐的δ^13C分析，指出浅部（0－30m)甲烷和DIC的δ^13C值随深度迅速降低又迅速升高的变化可以作为天然气水合物存在的地球化学指标。994站位孔隙水δ^18O值深度从0.30‰下降到-0.37‰；氢同位素δD随深度略有下降（从11‰到-12‰），这与水合物形成时氢氧重同位素相对富集于固相有关，表明天然气水合物的存在。997站位δ^37Cl从海底沉积物表层以下30m处为接近海水的最大值0，至钻孔底746.85m处降为-3.68‰，可能也与天然气水合物的形成有关。     

天然气水合物赋存区甲烷渗漏活动的地球化学响应特征

综述了天然气水合物赋存区甲烷渗漏活动的地球化学响应指标的研究进展,分析了应用单一指标识别甲烷渗漏活动各自所存在的问题,包括浅表层沉积物孔隙水中CH_4、SO_4~(2–)、Cl~–等离子浓度随深度的变化;浅层沉积物全岩W_(TOC)(W表示质量分数,TOC表示总有机碳)和W_(TS)(TS表示总硫)之间的相关性及比值;自生碳酸盐岩δ~(13)C和δ~(18)O;自生矿物重晶石、黄铁矿、自生石膏的δ~(34)S;有孔虫壳体和生物标志化合物的δ~(13)C等。结果表明孔隙水中的CH_4、SO4_~(2–)浓度及溶解无机碳的碳同位素组成可以用来识别目前正在发生的甲烷渗漏活动;而沉积物中的WTS、自生矿物的δ~(34)S、钡含量及其异常峰值和生物标志化合物的δ~(13)C等指标的联合使用可以更真实准确地反映地质历史时期天然气水合物赋存区的甲烷渗漏活动。因此,在实际研究过程中,可将孔隙水和沉积物两种介质的多种指标相结合。随着非传统稳定同位素(Fe、Ca、Mg等)和沉积物氧化还原敏感元素(Mo、V、U等)等研究的发展,甲烷渗漏活动地球化学响应指标的研究也将得到拓展,而多种地球化学指标的联合使用将为天然气水合物勘探及其形成分解过程识别研究提供重要的科学依据。     

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.     

Assessing the Validity of Seismo-Acoustic Predictor Equations for Obtaining Seabed and Sub-Surface Sediment Physical Properties

The interdependence between the seismo-acoustic properties of a marine sediment and its geotechnical/physical parameters has been known for many years, and it has been postulated that this should allow the extraction of geotechnical information from seismic data. Though in the literature many correlations have been published for the surficial layer, there is a lack of information for greater sediment depths. In this article, a desktop study on a synthetic seafloor model illustrates how the application of published near-surface prediction equations to subsurface sediments (up to several tens of meters burial depth) can lead to spurious predictions. To test this further, acoustic and geotechnical properties were measured on a number of sediment core samples, some of which were subjected to loading in acoustically-equipped consolidation cells (oedometers) to simulate greater burial depth conditions. For low effective pressures (representing small burial depths extending to around 10 meters subsurface), the general applicability of established relationships was confirmed: the prediction of porosity, bulk density, and mean grain size from acoustic velocity and impedance appears generally possible for the investigated sedimentary environments. As effective pressure increases through, the observed relationships deviate more and more from the established ones for the near-surface area. For the samples tested in this study, in some instances increasing pressure even resulted in decreasing velocities. There are several possible explanations for this abnormal behavior, including the presence of gas, overconsolidation, or bimodal grain size distribution. The results indicate that an appropriate depth correction must be introduced into the published prediction equations in order to obtain reliable estimates of physical sediment properties for greater subsurface depths.     

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.     

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.     

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。     

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.     

Interannual Sea Level Variations and Annual Tides in the Northwestern Pacific

Specific properties of the interannual sea level variations and annual tides in the Northwestern Pacific were studied. Several tide stations were monitored. The monthly mean sea level for the year of 1995 was analyzed at each tide station. A seismic event in 1995, some tectonic activity around the subject area, and the Kuroshio (the oceanic western boundary current) may possibly contaminate results which would have occurred from the astronomical annual tide alone.     

Flow Cytometric Analysis of Coastal Lagoon Bacterioplankton and Picophytoplankton: Fixation and Storage Effects

The effect of different fixation and storage protocols on the flow cytometric (FCM) simultaneous analysis of bacterioplankton and phytoplankton in coastal seawater samples (Mediterranean coastal lagoons) was investigated. FCM measurements (cell number, fluorescence and scatter characteristics) were obtained through DAPI staining. Three fixatives [glutaraldehyde (GA), formaldehyde (FA) and paraformaldehyde (PFA)] and two storage (3 months duration) methods (5 °C and −196 °C) were tested. Two dominant populations were detected in studied samples: bacteria and eukaryotic picophytoplankton. Adding fixatives (2% final concentration) appears necessary to obtain FCM exhaustive counts of all the bacteria and phytoplanktonic cells. This was related to the permeation effect of fixatives which allowed a better DAPI staining of the cells. Maximum fluorescence, i.e. optimal staining of the cells was obtained with FA or PFA, and significant lower fluorescences with GA. Fixed samples stored at 5 °C induced rapid cell loss. Only storage in liquid nitrogen of samples fixed with FA or PFA, allows mid-term (≥4 months) preservation of bacteria or picophytoplankton cell numbers, and limited evolution of DAPI-induced fluorescence and scatter characteristics.