Management of the marine environment: integrating ecosystem services and societal benefits with the DPSIR framework in a systems approach

Ever increasing and diverse use of the marine environment is leading to human-induced changes in marine life, habitats and landscapes, making necessary the development of marine policy that considers all members of the user community and addresses current, multiple, interacting uses. Taking a systems approach incorporating an understanding of The Ecosystem Approach, we integrate the DPSIR framework with ecosystem services and societal benefits, and the focus this gives allows us to create a specific framework for supporting decision making in the marine environment. Based on a linking of these three concepts, we present a set of basic postulates for the management of the marine environment and emphasise that these postulates should hold for marine management to be achieved. We illustrate these concepts using two case studies: the management of marine aggregates extraction in UK waters and the management of marine biodiversity at Flamborough Head, UK.     

Heavy metal contamination from gold mining recorded in Porites lobata skeletons, Buyat-Ratototok district, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Shallow marine sediments and fringing coral reefs of the Buyat-Ratototok district of North Sulawesi, Indonesia, are affected by submarine disposal of tailings from industrial gold mining and by small-scale gold mining using mercury amalgamation. Between-site variation in heavy metal concentrations in shallow marine sediments was partially reflected by trace element concentrations in reef coral skeletons from adjacent reefs. Corals skeletons recorded silicon, manganese, iron, copper, chromium, cobalt, antimony, thallium, and lead in different concentrations according to proximity to sources, but arsenic concentrations in corals were not significantly different among sites. Temporal analysis found that peak concentrations of arsenic and chromium generally coincided with peak concentrations of silica and/or copper, suggesting that most trace elements in the coral skeleton were incorporated into detrital siliciclastic sediments, rather than impurities within skeletal aragonite.     

Evidence for the effects of metal contamination on the intertidal macrobenthic assemblages of the Fal Estuary

The intertidal invertebrate macrofauna of five creeks in the Fal estuarine system, Cornwall, UK, is compared with data from 40 locations in six other estuaries in south-west Britain. Multivariate analysis shows that the community composition in the Fal is distinct from all the other estuaries. The differences are principally due to the absence of two crustacean species, Corophium voluntator and Cyathura carinata, and the high abundance of small opportunistic annelid species. The Fal Estuary is heavily contaminated with heavy metals as a result of mining in the catchment, and the faunistic features are commensurate with what is known of the relative sensitivities of marine invertebrate taxa to pollution.     

Improving Soil Enzyme Activities and Related Quality Properties of Reclaimed Soil by Applying Weathered Coal in Opencast‐Mining Areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau

There are many problems for the reclaimed soil in opencast‐mining areas of the Loess Plateau of China such as poor soil structure and extreme poverty in soil nutrients and so on. For the sake of finding a better way to improve soil quality, the current study was to apply the weathered coal for repairing soil media and investigate the physicochemical properties of the reclaimed soil and the changes in enzyme activities after planting Robinia pseucdoacacia. The results showed that the application of the weathered coal significantly improved the quality of soil aggregates, increased the content of water stable aggregates, and the organic matter, humus, and the cation exchange capacity of topsoil were significantly improved, but it did not have a significant effect on soil pH. Planting R. pseucdoacacia significantly enhanced the activities of soil catalase, urease, and invertase, but the application of the weathered coal inhibited the activity of catalase. Although the application of appropriate weathered coal was able to significantly increase urease activity, the activities of catalase, urease, or invertase had a close link with the soil profile levels and time. This study suggests that applying weathered coals could improve the physicochemical properties and soil enzyme activities of the reclaimed soil in opencast‐mining areas of the Loess Plateau of China and the optimum applied amount of the weathered coal for reclaimed soil remediation is about 27 000 kg hm^?2.     

Developing erosion models for integrated coastal zone management: A case study of The New Caledonia west coast

The tropical climate and human pressures (mining industry, forest fires) cause significant sediment inputs into the New Caledonia lagoon and are a major cause of degradation of the fringing reefs. The erosion process is spatially characterized on the west coast of New Caledonia to assess potential sediment inputs in the marine area. This paper describes the methodologies that are used to map soil sensitivity to erosion using remote sensing and a geographic information system tool. A cognitive approach, multi-criteria evaluation model and Universal Soil Loss Equation are implemented. This article compares the relevance of each model in order to spatialize and quantify potential erosion at catchment basin scale. These types of studies provide valuable results for focusing on areas subject to erosion and serve as a decision-making tool for the minimization of lagoon vulnerability to the natural and human dynamics on the level of the catchment basins.     

Flame retardants (PBDEs) in marine turtles, dugongs and seafood from Queensland, Australia

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in numerous products. These compounds have been found to enter the marine environment where they have the potential to bioaccumulate in biota. Limited information is currently available concerning the levels of PBDEs in Australian marine wildlife. This study presents baseline information on PBDE levels in a variety of marine species from Queensland, Australia and considers the influence of species-specific factors on contaminant levels and tissue distribution in marine turtles. Overall, the PBDE levels measured in this study are relatively low compared to marine biota from the northern hemisphere, indicating low level input into the marine system of Queensland. This is in general agreement with global estimates which suggest low PBDE usage in Australia. Previous studies, however, have found relatively high PBDE levels in Australian human milk and sera. This discrepancy in contamination trends between terrestrial and marine biota suggests that future transport of PBDEs may occur to the marine system in Australia.     

Flame retardants (PBDEs) in marine turtles,dugongs and seafood from Queensland,Australia

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in numerous products. These compounds have been found to enter the marine environment where they have the potential to bioaccumulate in biota. Limited information is currently available concerning the levels of PBDEs in Australian marine wildlife. This study presents baseline information on PBDE levels in a variety of marine species from Queensland, Australia and considers the influence of species-specific factors on contaminant levels and tissue distribution in marine turtles. Overall, the PBDE levels measured in this study are relatively low compared to marine biota from the northern hemisphere, indicating low level input into the marine system of Queensland. This is in general agreement with global estimates which suggest low PBDE usage in Australia. Previous studies, however, have found relatively high PBDE levels in Australian human milk and sera. This discrepancy in contamination trends between terrestrial and marine biota suggests that future transport of PBDEs may occur to the marine system in Australia.     

Effects of oil dispersants on settling of marine sediment particles and particle-facilitated distribution and transport of oil components

This work investigated effects of three model oil dispersants (Corexit EC9527A, Corexit EC9500A and SPC1000) on settling of fine sediment particles and particle-facilitated distribution and transport of oil components in sediment-seawater systems. All three dispersants enhanced settling of sediment particles. The nonionic surfactants (Tween 80 and Tween 85) play key roles in promoting particle aggregation. Yet, the effects varied with environmental factors (pH, salinity, DOM, and temperature). Strongest dispersant effect was observed at neutral or alkaline pH and in salinity range of 0–3.5 wt%. The presence of water accommodated oil and dispersed oil accelerated settling of the particles. Total petroleum hydrocarbons in the sediment phase were increased from 6.9% to 90.1% in the presence of Corexit EC9527A, and from 11.4% to 86.7% for PAHs. The information is useful for understanding roles of oil dispersants in formation of oil-sediment aggregates and in sediment-facilitated transport of oil and PAHs in marine eco-systems.     

数据挖掘技术在石油天然气勘探领域的应用探索

基于数据挖掘的概念,详细地阐述了岩石物理数据、测井数据、地震数据和地质数据的特征,并根据其数据特征,确定了岩石物理和测井数据、地震数据和地质数据的三种挖掘思路.用不同的挖掘思路对相应的数据分别展开挖掘,并从挖掘功能的角度分别描述挖掘的成果,即岩石物理数据之间的联系和对储层的预测;测井数据在复杂地质条件下对模糊储层的评价,及有效储层的识别;三维地震数据的空间挖掘成果;地质数据的图表和文本挖掘成果.数据挖掘技术将数据分析方法和对应的数学模型引入勘探领域,从海量的勘探数据中获取潜在信息,用于指导油气的勘探,实现了由数据指导勘探的目的,提出了数据勘探的概念.     

Sediment dispersal and deposition due to sand mining in the coastal waters of Korea

Understanding the impact of marine sand mining operations in a complex coastal environment requires a combined observational and modeling approach. Here, we use field measurements collected during mining operations in Kyunggi Bay, Korea to develop sediment parameters and source conditions for a three-dimensional (3D) sediment transport model built on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The model is run with realistic forcing obtained from a 9 km meteorological model, tides, and river discharges. The resulting vertical and horizontal distributions of sediment show encouraging agreement with the field data, demonstrating markedly different dispersal patterns due largely to the differential settling of the various sand classes. The resulting depositional patterns suggest that only the coarser size classes (500 and 250 μm) particles remain close to the mined site, while finer size classes are widely dispersed. These results suggest that this new methodology of multi-size class, 3D sediment transport modeling is quite promising, and further work is ongoing to include more realistic representation of sediment resuspension processes.     

在AutoCAD中实现三维地层模拟的一种方法

以地层等高线和地质柱状图为建模基础信息,采用曲面样条函数进行插值计算地质曲面,并对AutoCAD进行二次开发,将二维抽象的等高线信息以三维可视化的图形效果在AutoCAD的图形窗口中直观形象地表示出来,为开采和规划决策提供依据.此方法可使煤矿主采区域、城市活断层探测以三维地层显示,对煤矿行业,地震活断层研究有一定的参考价值.     

Managing ocean information in the digital era – Events in Canada open questions about the role of marine science libraries

Information is the foundation of evidence-based policies for effective marine environmental protection and conservation. In Canada, the cutback of marine science libraries introduces key questions about the role of such institutions and the management of ocean information in the digital age. How vital are such libraries in the mission of studying and protecting the oceans? What is the fate and value of the massive grey literature holdings, including archival materials, much of which is not in digital form but which often contains vital data? How important is this literature generally in the marine environmental sciences? Are we likely to forget the history of the marine pollution field if our digital focus eclipses the need for and access to comprehensive collections and skilled information specialists? This paper explores these and other questions against the backdrop of unprecedented changes in the federal libraries, marine environmental science and legislation in Canada.     

Long-term changes in polychaete assemblages of Botany Bay (NSW, Australia) following a dredging event

The long-term effects of marine aggregate dredging on near-shore benthic assemblages are still largely unknown, despite a global increase in demand for, and extraction of, marine aggregates. This study assessed the state of recovery of polychaete assemblages in Botany Bay, temperate NSW, Australia, at sites dredged for aggregate material more than 10 years previously. Sedimentary and faunal samples were collected from impact sites in Botany Bay, and from reference sites in nearby Pittwater estuary. This study was based on, and included data from, a study conducted by the Australian Museum at the same sites in the 2 years following cessation of dredging. Abundance, species richness and evenness of polychaetes, as well as overall polychaete assemblage structure, were compared between localities over time.     

High resolution seismic investigations for the determination of water flow directions during sulphur deposits exploitation

This paper shows the results of seismic research on some problems of sulphur in-situ mining. The difficulties during exploitation were mainly connected with the lack of detailed information on the structure and tectonics of deposit and overburden strata. This kind of information could be obtained using the High Resolution Seismic method. The use of seismic method allows to determine the range of subsidence provoked by well mining of sulphur. It is very important to undertake the measurements before exploitation, because the comparison of seismic sections before and during exploitation creates a possibility of determining the process of changes in the structure of the deposit and overburden strata.     

Organochlorine, Heavy Metal and Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Pollutant Concentrations in the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) Environment: a Review

Past monitoring of heavy metals, organochlorine compounds and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has found that pollutant concentrations are generally low within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area and are indicative of a relatively unpolluted environment. The exceptions are sites that are adjacent to human activity such as ports and harbours, urban centres and areas adjacent to intensive agricultural activity. These sites have elevated concentrations of a range of pollutants. Concentrations of dioxins have also been found to be elevated in marine park sediments. Elevated pollutant concentrations are generally the consequence of effluent discharge, urban stormwater, and agricultural and industrial runoff. However, a majority of Great Barrier Reef pollutant data are now dated, and contemporary information is required concerning the distribution and impact of pollutants in the Queensland marine environment. The utility of specialized monitoring tools such as biomarkers for tropical marine environments urgently needs to be examined. With this information, appropriate risk assessment and monitoring can be implemented and effective management strategies developed to protect tropical marine ecosystems including the Great Barrier Reef.     

Application of Multiboost-KELM algorithm to alleviate the collinearity of log curves for evaluating the abundance of organic matter in marine mud shale reservoirs: a case study in Sichuan Basin,China

The total organic carbon (TOC) content reflects the abundance of organic matter in marine mud shale reservoirs and reveals the hydrocarbon potential of the reservoir. Traditional TOC calculation methods based on statistical and machine learning have limited effect in improving the computational accuracy of marine mud shale reservoirs. In this study, the collinearity between log curves of marine mud shale reservoirs was revealed for the first time, which was found to be adverse to the improvement of TOC calculation accuracy. To this end, a new TOC prediction method was proposed based on Multiboost-Kernel extreme learning machine (Multiboost-KELM) bridging geostatistics and machine learning technique. The proposed method not only has good data mining ability, generalization ability and sound adaptivity to small samples, but also has the ability to improve the computational accuracy by reducing the effect of collinearity between logging curves. In prediction of two mud shale reservoirs of Sichuan basin with proposed model, the results showed that the predicted value of TOC was in good consistence with the measured value. The root-mean-square error of TOC predicting results was reduced from 0.415 (back-propagation neural networks) to 0.203 and 1.117 (back-propagation neural networks) to 0.357, respectively; the relative error value decreased by up to 8.9%. The Multiboost-KELM algorithm proposed in this paper can effectively improve the prediction accuracy of TOC in marine mud shale reservoir.     

The distribution of mercury in the surficial sediments of the northern Tyrrhenian sea

Marine sediments are the ultimate recipient of mercury introduced into aquatic ecosystem either by man or by weathering. In the surficial sediments of the northern Tyrrhenian sea high concentrations of this metal were found in an area close to the effluent of a chlor-alkali plant and in the bays of La Spezia and Leghorn, which receive wastes from numerous industries and from port activities.The sediments of a much larger marine area off the mouths of the Ombrone, Albegna and Fiora rivers also contain high levels of Hg, part of which derives from the weathering of the rich cinnabar deposits of Mount Amiata and part from mining and processing the cinnabar.     

Temporal distributions of anthropogenic Al, Zn and Pb in Hong Kong Porites coral during the last two centuries

A 182-year long record of trace metal concentrations of aluminum, zinc and lead was reconstructed from a massive Porites coral skeleton from southeastern Hong Kong to evaluate the impacts of anthropogenic activity on the marine environment. Zn/Ca and Pb/Ca ratios fluctuate synchronously from the early 19th century to the present, indicating that the marine environment has been anthropogenically influenced since industrialization. Additionally, land reclamation, mining, and ship building activities are recorded by elevated Al/Ca ratios from 1900 to 1950. The coral record indicates that high levels of Zn, Pb and Al occur coincidentally with local wars, and may have contributed to partial colony mortality. Pb/Ca does not correlate well with hemispheric proxy records after 1950, indicating that coastal corals may be recording local rather than hemispheric contamination. Pb/Ca levels in Hong Kong, Guangdong and Hainan corals imply a continuous supply of Pb-based contamination to southern China not reflected in hemispheric signals.     

Environmental perverse incentives in coastal monitoring

It can be argued that the intensity of monitoring of coastal marine environments lags behind the equivalent terrestrial environments. This results in a paucity of long-term time series of key environmental parameters such as turbidity. This lack of management information of the sources and sinks, and causes and impacts of stressors to the coastal marine environment, along with a lack of co-ordination of information collection is compromising the ability of environmental impact assessments of major coastal developments to discriminate between local and remote anthropogenic impacts, and natural or background processes. In particular, the quasi outsourcing of the collection of coastal information can lead to a perverse incentive whereby in many cases nobody is actively or consistently monitoring the coastal marine environment effectively. This is particularly the case with regards to the collection of long-term and whole-of-system scale data. This lack of effective monitoring can act to incentivise poor environmental performance.     

基于密集台阵研究2019辽宁抚顺M2.4矿震震源参数

分析矿震破裂机制及微震的时空分布能够为矿区灾害评估提供更多的有效信息.本研究基于密集台阵观测对2019年11月12日辽宁抚顺2.4级矿震开展震源参数研究,震源机制解显示地震破裂包含明显的非双力偶分量,表现为体积压缩的塌陷机制,且震源深度较浅,最佳拟合矩心深度为0.6 km.同时,对11月3日—25日记录的连续地震波形开展微震扫描,新检测出324个微震事件(-0.5~2.0级),定位结果显示在M 2.4矿震发生前M>1.0级事件显著增多,且在矿震位置存在近南北向的微震条带分布,微震序列随时间向深部迁移(约1.5 km),暗示存在断层活化迹象.结合震源破裂机制,我们认为此次事件与矿区塌陷破裂密切相关,同时伴随先存断裂的剪切滑动.本研究表明,基于密集台阵观测的地震矩张量反演和微震检测研究,对判定矿震类型及防范矿区灾害具有重要的研究意义.