Deglacial seasonal and sub‐seasonal diatom record from Palmer Deep,Antarctica

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most sensitive regions of Antarctica to climate change. Here, ecological and cryospheric systems respond rapidly to climate fluctuations. A 4.4 m thick laminated diatom ooze deposited during the last deglaciation is examined from a marine sediment core (ODP Site 1098) recovered from Basin I, Palmer Deep, western Antarctic Peninsula. This deglacial laminated interval was deposited directly over a glaciomarine diamict, hence during a globally recognised period of rapid climate change. The ultra‐high‐resolution deglacial record is analysed using SEM backscattered electron imagery and secondary electron imagery. Laminated to thinly bedded orange‐brown diatom ooze (near monogeneric Hyalochaete Chaetoceros spp. resting spores) alternates with blue‐grey terrigenous sediments (open water diatom species). These discrete laminae are interpreted as austral spring and summer signals respectively, with negligible winter deposition. Sub‐seasonal sub‐laminae are observed repeatedly through the summer laminae, suggesting variations in shelf waters throughout the summer. Tidal cycles, high storm intensities and/or intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf introduced conditions which enhanced specific species productivity through the season. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multiproxy record of Holocene environmental changes in the central Kola Peninsula,northwest Russia

A sediment core from Chuna Lake (Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia) was studied for pollen, diatoms and sediment chemistry in order to infer post‐glacial environmental changes and to investigate responses of the lake ecosystem to these changes. The past pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of the lake were inferred using diatom‐based transfer functions. Between 9000 and 4200 cal. yr BP, slow natural acidification and major changes in the diatom flora occurred in Chuna Lake. These correlated with changes in regional pollen, the arrival of trees in the catchment, changes in erosion, sediment organic content and DOC. During the past 4200 yr diatom‐based proxies showed no clear response to changes in vegetation and erosion, as autochthonous ecological processes became more important than external climate influences during the late Holocene. The pollen stratigraphy reflects the major climate patterns of the central Kola Peninsula during the Holocene, i.e. a climate optimum between 9000 and 5400/5000 cal. yr BP when climate was warm and dry, and gradual climate cooling and an increase in moisture during the past 5400/5000 yr. This agrees with the occurrence of the north–south humidity gradient in Fennoscandia during the Holocene. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meso-scale atmospheric events promote phytoplankton blooms in the coastal Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal is considered to be a low productive region compared to the Arabian Sea based on conventional seasonal observations. Such seasonal observations are not representative of a calendar year since the conventional approach might miss episodic high productive events associated with extreme atmospheric processes. We examined here the influence of extreme atmospheric events, such as heavy rainfall and cyclone Sidr, on phytoplankton biomass in the western Bay of Bengal using both in situ time-series observations and satellite derived Chlorophyll a (Chl a) and sea surface temperature (SST). Supply of nutrients through the runoff driven by episodic heavy rainfall (234 mm) on 4–5 October 2007 caused an increase in Chl a concentration by four times than the previous in the coastal Bay was observed within two weeks. Similar increase in Chl a, by 3 to 10 times, was observed on the right side of the cyclone Sidr track in the central Bay of Bengal after the cyclone Sidr. These two episodic events caused phytoplankton blooms in the western Bay of Bengal which enhanced ~40% of fishery production during October–December 2007 compared to that in the same period in 2006.     

Use of phytoplankton species indicators to track the origin of phytoplankton blooms in Willapa Bay, Washington

We focus on the question of whether high phytoplankton production events observed in a United States Pacific Northwest estuary consist of estuarine species blooms fueled by oceanic nutrient input or reflect offshore oceanic blooms that have advected into the estuary. Our approach is to use certain phytoplankton species as indicators associated with water mass origin, either estuarine or oceanic, to help resolve this question in Willapa Bay, Washington. We used species analysis and primary production data from 10 selected dates in May–September of 1998 and 1999, representing periods of high through low productivity. Out of 108 phytoplankton species identified from Willapa Bay, nine were selected and tested as indicators of oceanic species, six as estuarine, and two as surf zone. Our test results demonstrated the oceanic and estuarine species to be satifactory indicators of source waters. The prevalence of these species indicators in our samples revealed that the highest primary production and the appearance ofPseudo-nitzschia spp. were associated with oceanic intrusions of phytoplankton biomass into Willapa Bay. While the largest blooms were oceanic in origin, numerous medium-sized production events were from either oceanic, surf zone, or estuarine sources, indicating a complex situation.     

A 750-yr record of autumn snowfall and temperature variability and winter storminess recorded in the varved sediments of Bear Lake, Devon Island, Arctic Canada

The varve record from High Arctic, proglacial Bear Lake reveals a regionally coherent hydroclimatic signal as well as complexities due to changing hydroclimatic and limnologic conditions. Varve formation is strongly dependent on underflows that exhibit variability in strength during the past 750 yr. Periods with reduced underflow sedimentation and accumulation rates fail to produce varves in the distal part of the lake. Isolated coarse silt and sand grains occur in 80% of the varves and are interpreted to be niveo-aeolian in origin. Coarse (>500 μm) sand grains deposited on the lake ice by strong winter winds are notably less common since A.D. 1850, likely due to reduced storminess. Regression of the varve thickness record with meteorological records indicates high correlations with autumn (September and October) temperatures and total monthly snowfall. These correlations are best at times when underflow activity is sufficiently strong to produce varves throughout the lake. The close association with warmer temperatures and snow-bearing synoptic systems moving north in Baffin Bay suggests that the primary climate signal in the varves is varying autumn snow pack that controls nival discharge in the following year. The similarity between the other records of melt season temperature and sea-ice cover and the Bear Lake record suggests that summer and autumn conditions were generally similar across the Baffin Bay region through much of the last millennium.     

Why deposits of longitudinal dunes are rarely recognized in the geologic record

Dunes that are morphologically of linear type, many of which are probably of longitudinal type in a morphodynamic sense, are common in modern deserts, but their deposits are rarely identified in aeolian sandstones. One reason for non-recognition of such dunes is that they can migrate laterally when they are not exactly parallel to the long-term sand-transport direction, thereby depositing cross-strata that have unimodal cross-bed dip directions and consequently resemble deposits of transverse dunes. Dune-parallel components of sand transport can be recognized in ancient aeolian sands by examining compound cross-bedding formed by small dunes that migrated across the lee slopes of large dunes and documenting that the small dunes migrated with a component in a preferred along-crest direction over the large dunes.     

胶州湾沉积物的放射性核素含量分布与沉积速率

用HPGeγ谱方法测定了胶州湾表层沉积物、沉积物岩心、潮间带沉积物和周围陆地沉积物的放射性核素238U、228Ra、228Th、226Ra、210Pb、40K和137Cs.笔者对胶州湾沉积物、潮间带沉积物和陆地表层沉积物的放射性核素分布进行研究,结果得出,湾东部沉积物和东岸陆地沉积物具有较高的放射性核素含量.对沉积物岩心放射性核素分布的成因进行了分析,并用210Pbex和137cs方法估算了沉积速率,给出的胶州湾的沉积速率为0.64~1.74 cm/a.     

渤海湾中北部表层沉积硅藻分布及环境指示意义

发现渤海湾中北部表层沉积硅藻21属37种,确定了Cyclotella striata/stylorum,Paralia sulcata和Coscinodiscusperforatus等9个优势种的地理分布;进而根据聚类分析,将研究区表层沉积硅藻划分为6个组合区。讨论了控制它们分布的环境因素,发现盐度与深度是重要控制因素,沉积物底质类型亦对硅藻的分布有一定的影响。     

吐鲁番--哈密盆地陆源碎屑沉积环境及物源分析

吐鲁番—哈密盆地从晚二叠世到晚第三纪经历了复杂的,多旋回的沉积构造演化历史,造成主要地层间均以不整合为界。盆地内沉积相类型丰富,沉积环境随时间的推移而发生改变。在晚石炭世,盆地北部为浅海环境;到晚二叠世,沉积环境由海相转变为陆相,并在上二叠统下部形成大量冲积相或河流相粗碎屑沉积;在三叠纪,沉积物主要形成于冲积相或河流—湖泊环境中,古气候则由干旱转为温暖湿润。早、中侏罗世,沉积环境以湖泊—沼泽相为主;到晚侏罗世,则以辫状河流相为主及干旱气候为特征。在白垩纪,盆地的沉积范围大为缩小,以湖泊环境为主;第三纪,沉积范围则扩大到整个盆地,沉积相以辫状河流及冲积相为特征,沉积气候干旱,局部地区接受了盐类沉积。古流向分析显示,吐—哈盆地具有复杂的沉积搬运体系。在盆地南侧,沉积物搬运方向总是由南向北,表明觉罗塔格山是盆地的主要物源区;而在盆地北侧,博格达山自晚侏罗世开始隆起,构成盆地的另一新的物源区,沉积物搬运方向由北向南。在白垩及第三纪,博格达山成为盆地的主要物源区。     

Differences in reactivities of sedimentary hopane diastereomers when heated in the presence of clays

Mixtures of hopane diastereomers obtained by fractionation of the organic extract from an immature oil shale have been heated in the presence of clay-containing substrates. In experiments conducted at 250°C with an extracted source rock as the substrate, the relative amounts of 17β(H),21β (H)-hopanes were found to decrease with respect to the moretanes and 17α(H),21β(H)-hopanes in a manner parallelling that observed with increasing maturity in sediments. In this case however, the change was shown to be due to the selective removal of the 17β(H),21β(H)-hopanes, rather than conversion of these compounds into the other diastereomers. In order to assess whether the use of elevated temperatures was enhancing processes other than those which operate in natural systems, a second experiment was conducted in which the sample of immature hopanes was heated at 75°C with the very catalytically active substrate aluminum montmorillonite. In this experiment also, the changes in hopane composition was shown to be due to selective removal of 17β(H),21β(H)-hopanes rather than conversion into the corresponding compounds in the other two series of diastereomers. These results suggest that the observed relative depletion of 17β(H),21β(H)-hopanes in sedimentary rocks of increasing maturity may similarly be due to removal by selective catalytic processes, and not to interconversion processes associated with isomerisation at C-17 and C-21 as had previously been believed.     

黄泥湖铀矿床地质特征及成因探讨

文章从区域地质、岩浆岩、构造、热液蚀变和铀成矿地质特征等方面,系统阐述了黄泥湖铀矿床成矿条件和控矿因素,提出该矿床成矿经历了沉积成矿、火山作用热水叠加成矿和热液作用改造富集3个阶段的观点。在此基础上,总结出该区＂以砂岩为基础、凹沟是条件、热盖是关键、斑岩旁侧有好矿＂的铀矿找矿新思路,对区内火山盆地铀矿找矿工作具有实际指导意义。     

Discussion and Reply: Shaping the Australian crust over the last 300 million years: Insights from fission track thermotectonic imaging and denudation studies of key terranes

Ellis Fjord is a small, fjord‐like marine embayment in the Vestfold Hills, eastern Antarctica. Modern sediment input is dominated by a biogenic diatom rain, although aeolian, fluvial, ice‐rafted, slumped and tidal sediments also make a minor contribution. In areas where bioturbation is significant relict glaciogenic sediments are reworked into the fine‐grained diatomaceous sediments to produce poorly sorted fine sands and silts. Where the bottom waters are anoxic, sediments remain unbioturbated and have a high biogenic silica component. Three depositional and non‐depositional facies can be recognised in the fjord: an area of non‐deposition around the shoreline; a relict morainal facies in areas of low sedimentation and high bioturbation; and a basinal facies in the deeper areas of the fjord.     

松辽盆地三肇地区扶余油层和杨大城子油层介形类古生态及沉积环境探讨

笔者较系统地对松辽盆地三肇地区扶余油层和杨大城子油层(以下简称扶、杨油层)介形类的组合特征、分布范围以及古生态进行了研究。研究表明,扶、杨油层沉积时期的介形类自初期少量出现,之后发展并繁盛,末期全部绝灭。这种变化不仅表现为介形类动物群的属和种数有较大幅度的增加,而且其壳饰类型、分布范围与壳体保存状况也发生了规律性变化,但总体上仍为壳饰简单、属种类型较多、大小个体混生并生活于浅水湖泊环境的介形类群体。对介形类的埋葬环境与分布范围的分析表明,仅含有少量介形类化石碎片的杨五组、杨四组的沉积环境为冲积平原环境,而含有较丰富介形类化石的杨三组—扶上组的沉积环境则以浅湖环境为主,并自杨三组沉积时期在该区中部出现大范围的浅水湖泊后,随着时间的推移,湖泊分布范围与水深在缓慢的扩大或增加,至扶下组沉积时期该湖泊向西已扩大至大庆长垣以西,从而与齐家—古龙地区的湖泊连为一体,组成统一的松辽古湖泊。湖泊水体浅、气候干燥、氧化作用强,可能是造成该时期湖相砂、泥沉积物呈现红色的主要原因。     

Recent studies on bacterial populations and processes in subseafloor sediments: A review

Subsurface bacteria also occur in hydrothermal sediments with large temperature gradients (up to 12 °C/m) and with population numbers similar to non-hydrothermal sites at temperatures from psychrophilic to mesophilic. At greater depths and temperatures, populations decline rapidly, but they are still significant up to hyperthermophilic temperatures and are even stimulated by subsurface seawater flow. These results suggest that temperature alone does not limit bacteria in non-hydrothermal sediments until about 4 km, and evidence exists that bacterial processes may even be sustained by interaction with thermogenic processes as temperatures increase during deep burial. Experiments demonstrate that in the presence of readily degradable organic substrates, actively growing bacteria can move faster than sediment deposition; hence, these bacteria are not necessarily trapped and buried. However, bacterial growth decreases with depth to such an extent that subsurface bacteria would not be able to keep up with sedimentation rate and hence would be buried. In some circumstances, such as in sapropel layers with high organic matter in the Mediterranean, bacteria may be buried within a specific deposition horizon. Subsurface bacteria can utilize old and recalcitrant organic matter, but only very slowly, and they seem to have a strategy of high biomass and low growth rate, commensurate with their geological habitat of generally low energy flux. Received, March 1999/Revised, August 1999/Accepted, November 1999     

Continuous record of environmental changes in Chukotka during the last 350 thousand years

The comprehensive study of the upper 1283 cm of sediment from Lake El’gygytgyn, which formed nearly 4 Ma ago following a meteorite impact in northern Chukotka, yielded the first continuous record of the extreme changes in the Beringian climate and vegetation from the middle Middle Pleistocene to recent time (equivalent of marine isotope stages of 1–7 and the upper part of isotope stage 8). During this period, the climate was warmer than at present between 8600 and 10 7000 ¹⁴C years and during the Late Pleistocene (isotope substage 5e, 116–128 ka ago). In 2003, the German-Russian-USA expedition continued studying sediments of Lake El’gygytgyn to obtain new evidence of the change in the vegetation cover in the Middle Pleistocene and the first information on the Middle Pleistocene interglacial (isotope stage 9; 297–347 ka ago). Pollen spectra characterizing the Middle Pleistocene interglacial are similar to spectra of the early stage of the Early Pleistocene interglacial and the climatic optimum in the Pleistocene to Holocene transitional period. The climatic history of Lake El’gygytgyn is basic for stratigraphic interpretations and correlations in the eastern sector of the Arctic. These data also expand our understanding of climatic changes that are studied within the framework of the “Pole-Equator-Pole Paleoclimate,” “Past Global Changes,” and other international projects.     

Calcareous phytoplankton from the Barremian/Aptian boundary interval in NW Germany

Two cored boreholes in the central part of the North West German Basin recovered a unique section of Upper Barremian to Lower Aptian strata. Calcareous nannofossils show a distinctive shift from boreal endemic assemblages in the Barremian to cosmopolitan ones in the Aptian. This onset of new cosmopolitan species (e.g., Chiastozygus litterarius, Flabellites oblongus, Rhagodiscus angustus, Braarudosphaera sp., Eprolithus sp.) is spread over an interval of 25m, starting well below the early Aptian "Fischschiefer", a dark laminated shale rich in organic matter. These changes in the composition of calcareous nannofossils indicate that major palaeoceanographic changes occurred before the deposition of the Fischschiefer.The distribution pattern of calcispheres allows the differentiation of two sedimentary successions, separated by the Fischschiefer. The lower succession, which includes the sediments below the base of the Fischschiefer, indicates a boreal-pelagic environment. The lower part of the upper successions which includes the Fischschiefer, represents warmer inner shelf conditions. This corresponds to the presence of rich Tethyan-derived nannoconid assemblages and the presence of the planktonic foraminifera Hedbergella in the Fischschiefer. The topmost part of the upper succession (middle Aptian, Hedbergella marl) suggests a change to a pelagic warmer water environment. Two new taxa are introduced: the calcareous dinoflagellate cyst Obliquipithonella laqueata n. sp. and the foraminiferan Choanaella fortunate n. gen. n. sp.     

长江源各拉丹冬地区上三叠统巴贡组双壳类组合与环境初探

研究区属北羌塘盆地，上三叠统巴贡组呈NW向带状分布于长江源各拉丹冬地区南北两侧（以往南部称土门格拉组），夹于金沙江缝合带南侧和中央隆起带之间，南部土门格拉一带产Cardium(Tulongocardium)martini-Trigonia(Kumatrigonia)huhxilensis组合，北部雀莫错一带产Halobia superbescens-Halobia　disperseinsecta组合和Amonotis togtonheensis-Cardium(Tulongocardium)xizangensis组合，反映的地质时代为诺利期，但南北部双壳类组合优势种明显不同。本文从物源区、沉积岩石类型及其组合、高频旋回沉积和古盐度、古水深、古气候及岩石地球化学和古生物特征角度，探讨南北巴贡组沉积古地理格局和双壳类组合的古生态，提出南部双壳类组合生活在盐度较低、氧化、干热、弱碱性浅水环境并繁盛于海泛晚期-海退期层位中，陆源物质供应充分而物种分异度不高；北部双壳类生活在盐度稍高、弱还原、温暖潮湿的较深水环境并繁盛于海侵-高水位期层位中，生物群面貌上的差异是同一地质时期南北不同的沉积环境造成的。     

晚第四纪湖泊沉积物盐类与碎屑矿物反相关关系的沉积学解释

湖泊沉积物中矿物组合是古气候环境研究的敏感性指标之一, 充分认识湖泊沉积物中各类矿物组合类型、沉积过程, 对正确解释矿物学指标有重要意义. 我国晚第四纪湖泊沉积记录中, 盐类矿物与碎屑矿物含量普遍存在反相关关系, 影响了矿物组合作为气候指标的解释和应用. 从地球科学的角度正确理解这种关系, 可以为湖泊动力学以及古气候环境定量研究提供重要的科学依据. 选择甘肃民勤盆地石羊河下游终端湖猪野泽不同位置5个全新世剖面, 在明确湖泊沉积物来源、搬运方式和沉积动力机制的基础上, 研究了以碳酸盐矿物为主的盐类矿物含量与粒度指标之间的关系. 结果表明:猪野泽各剖面砂层富含的中砂、细砂沉积物主要是来自于巴丹吉林沙漠和腾格里沙漠的风成砂; 水动力作用主导了湖相沉积层200 μm以下沉积物的沉积, 风力作用对20~70 μm粉砂组分沉积也有所贡献. 同时, 猪野泽湖相沉积层中高含量的碳酸盐主要来自于流水搬运, 湖相沉积层位200 μm以下的粉砂和极细砂是碳酸盐的主要富集区. 综上所述, 干旱区湖泊沉积物中盐类矿物含量与其沉积过程密切相关, 盐类矿物在全球变化研究中的应用要建立在充分研究其沉积动力机制的基础上.