Foreword

Ocean circulation in the Yellow and East China Seas is very rich in mesoscale phenomena, such as eddies, fronts, upwellings, river plumes, etc. Among others, having drawn tremendous attention from oceanographic community in the past for nearly 50 years are mainly the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) and its related circulation, the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC), the East China Sea     

Editorial

On the first anniversary of the first issue of the Journal of Mountain Science (JMS), please accept our sincere greetings and best wishes for the New Year. In the last year, whether you read and contributed to JMS or made criticism and proposals for JMS, we are grateful for your active participation. On behalf of all the members of JMS editorial board, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you for your great support and encouragement, and your concern for JMS.     

Editorial

We earnestly present you with the new Journal of Mountain Sciences (JMS). We hope you will pay close attention to it and show your great support for it. Please take your valuable time to read it, evaluate it, eontribute it, and introduce it to your colleagues. And at the same time, we sineerely hope that you will benefit from JMS, and let us have your opinions and suggestions for improving it.     

Editorial Committee

Advisors WU Chuanjun, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China CHEN Shupeng, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, China Honorary Editor-in chief HUANG Xichou, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, CAS, Changchun, China     

Editorial Committee

Advisors WU Chuanjun, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China CHEN Shupeng, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, China Honorary Editor-in …     

Chemical characterization of fractions of dissolved humic substances from a marginal sea—a case from the Southern Yellow Sea

Marine dissolved organic matter(DOM) is one of the largest dynamic pools of organic carbon in the global carbon cycle, yet DOM is still chemically poorly characterized. To better understand the origin, composition, and cycling of DOM in the China marginal sea, dissolved humic substances(DHS) were isolated from seawaters in two locations in the Southern Yellow Sea. The DHS were subdivided into fulvic acids(FAs), humic acids(HAs) and the XAD-4 fractions. Complementary analytical approaches were used to characterize the isolated DHS samples including stable carbon isotopic composition, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), ~(13) C cross polarization magic angle spinning(CP/MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR), and pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(Py-GC/MS). The results demonstrated that both DHS samples encountered the influences from marine source, indicating that algal and microbial-derived materials are the predominant precursors for the studied samples. The three fractions of DHS showed diff erent properties. FAs presented more aromatic features, whereas HAs contained more aliphatic lipids and proteinaceous materials. The XAD-4 fractions were enriched in ~(13) C and contained more carbohydrates but less aromatic compounds. The lower molecular weight and higher heteroatom content and number of carboxyl groups for the XAD-4 fractions may give them considerable geochemical significance for aspects of trace metal species, bioavailability of pollutants, mineral weathering and water acidification in marine environments.     

The Evidence from Inclusions in Pumices for the Direct Degassing of Volatiles from the Magma to the Hydrothermal Fluids in the Okinawa Trough

This article presents the evidence in support of the direct magma degassing as the principal mechanism of volatiles releasing into the hydrothermal fluids in the Okinawa Trough, as contrastcd to the argument for the hydrothermal stripping of volatiles from the volcanic rocks. Laser Raman microprobe and stepped-heating techniques arc employed to determine the compositions and contents of the volatiles in pumices in the middle Okinawa Trough. The results show that the volatiles are similar to the gases in the hydrothermal fluid,s and hydrothermal minerals in composition, the mean percent content of each component and variation trend. This indicates the direct influence of magma degassing on the hydrothermal fluids. In addition, the contents of volatiles in pumices are rather low and do not support the hydrothermal stripping as the main mechanism to enrich the fluids with gases. The results are consistent with the idea that the direct magma degassing is more important than hydrothermal stripping in supplying gases to the hydrothermal fluids in the Okinawa Trough.     

The Second Editorial Board of Journal of Ocean University of China (A subsidiary periodical on oceanic and coastal sea research)

Editor-in-Chief: WEN Shengchang Academician of Chinese Academy of Science, Ocean University of China, P.R.C Deputy Editors-in-Chief: LI Huajun Mar, Eng. Col., OUC, P. R. C SONG Weibo Fisheries Col., OUC, P. R. C LIU Qinyu Phys. & Environ. Oceanogr. Col., OUC, P. R. C WANG Lin Environ. Sci. & Eng. Col., OUC, P. R. C Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief: PENG Yuan Editorial Office of Journal of Ocean University of China, P.R.C     

SST variations of the Kuroshio from AVHRR observation

1 INTRODUCTION The Kuroshio Current (KC), being the western boundary current in the North Pacific subtropical gyre, is the second strongest current in the world af- ter the Gulf Stream and is famous as a strong and fast flow. KC plays an important role in…     

Lessons Learned and Future Challenges for Integrated and Participatory Approaches to Mountain Research——Conclusions from the Mountain Symposium and this Special Issue

The International Symposium ‘Towards Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystems in Mountainous Regions’, held in Chiang Mai from 7-9 March 2006 (hereafter referred to as ‘Mountain Symposium’), brought together a wealth of experience from mountain research…     

The Mineral Composition and Sources of the Fine-Grained Sediments from the 49.6°E Hydrothermal Field at the SWIR

We used the X-ray diffraction method to determine systematically the mineral phases in bulk sediment samples and acid undissolved residuals of the fine-grained fraction of the surface sediments from the 49.6°E hydrothermal field at the Southwest Indian Ridge(SWIR)and discussed the mineral sources of the surface sediments.The results showed that the surface sediments in this region were composed of calcareous ooze,and calcite was the dominant mineral.The sediments also contained quartz,feldspar,clay minerals,pyroxene,sphalerite,barite,serpentine,and magnetite.The quartz,feldspar,and clay minerals were exogenous minerals that mainly originated from the Namib and Kalahari deserts in southern Africa.The pyroxene,serpentine,magnetite,sphalerite,calcite,and barite were endogenous minerals from weathering of seafloor basement rocks and seafloor hydrothermal activities.The sulfide particles in the sediments were mainly deposited from upwelling plumes.     

Temperature Influences on the Expression of GFP Promoted by the Upstream Sequence of cpcB from Arthrospiraplatensis

In order to investigate the regulation mechanism of the phycocyanin gene,a series of functional analyses of the upstream sequence of cpcB gene from Arthrospira platensis were conducted in E. coli with green fluorescent protein encoding gene(gfp) as the reporter. Results showed that the gfp gene could express at a high level under the promotion of the upstream sequence,suggesting the existence of some strong promoter elements in it. The expression of GFP was influenced by temperature. Higher temperature led to higher expression level. The bioinformatics analyses followed by mutation analyses on the secondary structure of translation ini-tiation region(TIR) revealed that RNA thermosensor might account for the temperature regulation.     

The substance composition of sterols in the sediments from the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea and global climatic significance

The compounds of sterols such as C27 ,C2s ,C29 and C30 are recorded from C-8 core of the Chukchi Sea. The double bond position is located at 5-, 5,22 as well as 22-,24-. The compound of sterols such as C27 ,C28 ,C29 are recorded from B2-9 core of the Bering Sea. The double bond position is located at 5-, 5, 22 as well as 22. The composition characteristics of sterols indicate that the substance is mainly contributed by the terrigenous origin and marine silicate organisms. The results are also suggest that the record of abnormal sterols from the surface sediments （2 -0 era）in the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea represent the period from 1980s to the late 1990s. The strong signal of the Arctic warming is preserved in the sediments, which indicates the eco - environmental change responding to climatic effect of circumjacent.     

Are the altitudinal patterns of plant diversity derived from field surveys consistent with those from empirical integrated methods?

Field surveys and empirical integrated methods are commonly used in the ecological research to understand the altitudinal pattern of plant diversity of mountains. However, few studies have compared the differences between the two methods on the same scale. Here, we addressed and compared the altitudinal patterns of species richness(SR),phylogenetic diversity(PD), the standardized effect size of phylogenetic diversity(PDses) and mean phylogenetic distance(MPDses) of about 580 angiosperms growing ...     

Post-sedimentary Transformation of Lateral Moraines——the Tributary Tongue Basins of the Kvíárjokull（Iceland）

The Kvíárjokull,a southern outlet glacier of the Vatnajokull,is confined in the mountain foreland by lateral moraines measuring a height of up to 150 m. Each of the lateral moraines shows considerable breaches with deviations of the main moraine ridges. The paper discusses the possible origins of these modifications of the lateral moraines as result of： 1） ice overlappings during glacier advances and subsequent breaches of the lateral moraine,2） bifurcations of the Kvíárjokull glacier tongue triggered by the preglacial relief conditions and the prehistorical moraine landscape leading to afflux conditions,3） drainage of ice-marginal glacier lakes and 4. volcanic activities,such as lava flows and volcanic-induced jokulhlaups. A historic-genetic model of the formation of the lateral moraines is presented considering the breaches in the lateral moraines as result from glacier bifurcations and therefore as former tributary tongue basins. Such breaches in the lateral moraines are also common landscape features at glaciers outside of Iceland and are from wider importance for the paleoreconstruction of former glacier stages. The knowledge of their development is essential for an adequate relative age classification of individual moraine ridges. In regard to the origin of the debris supply areas of the large-sized Kvíárjokull moraines,the resedimentation of prehistoric till deposits by younger glacier advances plays a role in the formation of the lateral moraines apart from englacial and supraglacial sediment transfer processes.