Stable isotope-guided analysis of biomagnification profiles of arsenic species in a tropical mangrove ecosystem

We performed stable carbon and nitrogen-guided analyses of biomagnification profiles of arsenic (As) species, including total As, lipid-soluble As, eight water-soluble As compounds (arsenobetaine (AB), arsenocholine (AC), tetramethylarsonium ion (TETRA), trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), arsenate (As[V]), and arsenite (As[III])), and non-extracted As in a tropical mangrove ecosystem in the Ba Ria Vung Tau, South Vietnam. Arsenobetaine was the predominant As species (65-96% of water-soluble As). Simple linear regression slopes of log-transformed concentrations of total As, As fractions or individual As compounds on stable nitrogen isotopic ratio (δ15N) values are regarded as indices of biomagnification. In this ecosystem, lipid-soluble As (slope, 0.130) and AB (slope, 0.108) were significantly biomagnified through the food web; total As and other water-soluble As compounds were not. To our knowledge, this is one of the first reports on biomagnification profiles of As compounds from a tropical mangrove ecosystem.     

Trace elements in tissues of cetacean species rarely stranded along the Israeli Mediterranean coast

In this paper we present the concentrations of Hg, Cd, Se, Pb, Cu, Mn, Zn and Fe in organs of 6 non-common specimens of cetaceans that were stranded along the Israeli Mediterranean coast (IMC), during 2002–2010: two fin whales, one minke whale, one Cuvier’s beaked whale, one rough-toothed dolphin, and one Risso’s dolphin. Most of the specimens were calves stranded by accident. Concentrations of Hg and Cd were low in tissues of the baleen whales and higher in the toothed whales, with maximum concentrations of 1067 mg kg⁻¹ Hg in the liver of the Risso’s dolphin and 29 mg kg⁻¹ Cd in the kidney of the Cuvier’s beaked whale. As far as we are aware, this is the first report of trace elements in baleen whales in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the first report of trace elements in minke whale and rough-toothed dolphin in the Mediterranean.     

Trace elements in two marine fish species during estuarine residency: Non-essential versus essential

Trace element levels in fish are of particular interest, owing the potential risk to human health. In accordance, juveniles of Dicentrarchus labrax and of Liza aurata were sampled and arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium and zinc were determined in the muscle. The levels of trace elements in muscle demonstrated to be similar for both species and sites, with the exception of selenium levels at reference, which seemed to be higher in D. labrax. Moreover, apart from arsenic levels in muscle, all elements were in conformity with the existent regulatory guidelines for fish consumption. The dietary intake of each element was also calculated, with arsenic and selenium showing intakes above the recommended dietary allowances. Nevertheless, no arsenic speciation was carried out and thus no accurate risk evaluation could be established. Additionally, selenium levels never exceeded the dietary allowances more than five times, which are considered safe.     

Spatiotemporal variability in hydrochemistry of shallow groundwater in a small pre‐alpine catchment: The importance of landscape elements

Topography and landscape characteristics affect the storage and release of water and, thus, groundwater dynamics and chemistry. Quantification of catchment scale variability in groundwater chemistry and groundwater dynamics may therefore help to delineate different groundwater types and improve our understanding of which parts of the catchment contribute to streamflow. We sampled shallow groundwater from 34 to 47 wells and streamflow at seven locations in a 20‐ha steep mountainous catchment in the Swiss pre‐Alps, during nine baseflow snapshot campaigns. The spatial variability in electrical conductivity, stable water isotopic composition, and major and trace ion concentrations was large and for almost all parameters larger than the temporal variability. Concentrations of copper, zinc, and lead were highest at sites that were relatively dry, whereas concentrations of manganese and iron were highest at sites that had persistent shallow groundwater levels. The major cation and anion concentrations were only weakly correlated to individual topographic or hydrodynamic characteristics. However, we could distinguish four shallow groundwater types based on differences from the catchment average concentrations: riparian zone‐like groundwater, hillslopes and areas with small upslope contributing areas, deeper groundwater, and sites characterized by high magnesium and sulfate concentrations that likely reflect different bedrock material. Baseflow was not an equal mixture of the different groundwater types. For the majority of the campaigns, baseflow chemistry most strongly resembled riparian‐like groundwater for all but one subcatchment. However, the similarity to the hillslope‐type groundwater was larger shortly after snowmelt, reflecting differences in hydrologic connectivity. We expect that similar groundwater types can be found in other catchments with steep hillslopes and wet areas with shallow groundwater levels and recommend sampling of groundwater from all landscape elements to understand groundwater chemistry and groundwater contributions to streamflow.     

Volcanic ash as a factor in the generation of radioecological conditions in Kamchatka part II. The radiogeochemical properties of environmental components

An area where fresh volcanic ash has fallen was found to have concentrations of Th and U that exceed the background values by factors of 270 and 32, respectively, for natural waters and by factors of 35 and 6 for plants. The soils and bottom deposits were not enriched in Th and U after a single ashfall; however the Th/U ratio decreased in these natural media relative to the background values, indicating a genetic affinity with young ashes where the concentration of highly mobile (relative to thorium) uranium is higher compared with older ashes. For areas far from active ashfalls, where the soils were formed on acid ash, we found higher background concentrations of Th and U in soils, surface waters, and bottom deposits, as well as higher gamma-ray background values above the Earth’s surface relative to the areas where the soils were formed on basic and intermediate ashes. This research resulted in the identification of two radioecological provinces in Kamchatka, viz., a Northern and a Southern province.     

巢湖4种蚌类不同组织中5种微量元素含量及其空间变化

蚌类在湿地生态系统元素的富集与转化过程中发挥重要作用.以巢湖常见扭蚌（Arconaia lanceolata）、三角帆蚌（Hyriopsis cumingii）、褶纹冠蚌（Cristaria plicata）和圆顶珠蚌（Unio douglasiae）为对象,分析其内脏团、外套膜（包含鳃,下同）和斧足中5种微量元素（Cu、Zn、As、Cd、Pb）的含量.结果表明：5种元素在4种蚌体内均有检出,除Zn在圆顶珠蚌组织间表现为外套膜>内脏团>斧足外,4种蚌体组织间5种微量元素含量均表现为内脏团 > 外套膜 > 斧足;4种蚌类各微量元素平均含量均表现为Zn > Cu > As > Pb > Cd;Cu和Pb在4种蚌类中的平均含量表现为扭蚌 > 褶纹冠蚌 > 圆顶珠蚌 > 三角帆蚌,扭蚌各组织中Pb含量是其他3种蚌类的2.62~6.99倍,Zn的各平均含量表现为圆顶珠蚌 > 扭蚌 > 三角帆蚌 > 褶纹冠蚌,As表现为圆顶珠蚌 > 三角帆蚌 > 褶纹冠蚌 > 扭蚌,Cd表现为扭蚌 > 圆顶珠蚌 > 三角帆蚌 > 褶纹冠蚌,Cd在圆顶珠蚌和扭蚌中的含量是三角帆蚌和褶纹冠蚌的2.75~6.08倍.不同种类之间微量元素含量的差异大于同一种类微量元素含量的空间差异.微量元素污染较重的河口区蚌体组织具有较高的微量元素含量,污染较轻的河口中蚌体组织各微量元素含量也相对较低,表明蚌类可作为巢湖水体微量元素污染监测的指示生物.4种蚌类中Pb、Cd、As含量均未超出国家食品安全标准的限定值.     

Volcanic ash as a factor for radioecological conditions in Kamchatka part 1. The abundance and hypergene transformation of Th and U in recent volcanic ash

Concentrations of Th and U in fresh ash ejected by active volcanoes in Kamchatka are generally considerably below their Clarke values in their respective types of rock. The bulk concentrations of Th and U in andesitic and basaltic ashes do not show any obvious differences. The concentrations of their mobile forms decrease with increasing basicity of the ash. We revealed overall positive linear trends in the series of bulk concentrations for Th and U and a negative trend of Th/U in ashes that have been arranged over eruption year. Considerable quantities of mobile forms of radioactive elements fall during ashfalls in dissolved form or are sorbed by falling snow directly from the dispersive medium of volcanic aerosols. The original fractions of all of the mobile forms are 0.68–1.93% for Th and 1.16–3.21% for U. The bulk of these come to the Earth’s surface during eruptions when no snow cover was available. The quantities of mobile forms of Th and U were considerably decreased when ejected by winter-time eruptions during the time they resided in the snow.     

Stable Continental Region Earthquakes in South China

— This paper reviews some remarkable characteristics of earthquakes in a Stable Continental Region (SCR) of the South China Block (SCB). The kernel of the SCB is the Yangtze platform solidified in late Proterozoic time, with continental growth to the southeast by a series of fold belts in Paleozoic time. The facts that the deviatoric stress is low, the orientations of the major tectonic features in the SCB are substantially normal to the maximum horizontal principal stress, and a relatively uniform crust, seem to be the major reasons for lack of significant seismicity in most regions of the SCB. Earthquakes in this region are mainly associated with three seismic zones: (1) the Southeast China Coast seismic zone related to Guangdong-Fujian coastal folding belt (associated with Eurasia-Philippine Sea plate collision); (2) the Southern Yellow Sea seismic zone associated with continental shelf rifts and basins; and (3) the Downstream Yangtze River seismic zone spatially coinciding with Tertiary rifts and basin development. All three seismic zones are close to one or two major economic and population centers in the SCB so that they pose significant seismic hazards. Earthquake focal mechanisms in the SCB are consistent with strike-slip to normal faulting stress regimes. Because of the global and national economic significance of the SCB and its dense population, the seismic hazard of the region is of outstanding importance. Comparing the SCB with another less developed region, a pending earthquake with the same size and tectonic setting would cause substantially more severe social and economic losses in the SCB. This paper also compiles an inventory of historic moderate to great earthquakes in the SCB; most of the data are not widely available in English literature.     

On absence of certain periods in the love-wave spectrum

Summary It has been noted by several observers that no Love-wave spectrum is complete in the sense that it contains all the periods. The reason for this has been sought for in the presence of a low-velocity layer.     

Stable isotopic characterisation of francolite formation

Stable isotopic data are presented for 112 samples of francolite from 18 separate phosphate deposits. Values ofδ¹³C andδ³⁴S in most offshore deposits suggest formation within oxic or suboxic environments either by carbonate replacement or direct precipitation of francolite from water of normal marine compositions. The exceptions are concretionary francolite from Namibia, which has an isotopic composition in keeping with its formation within organic-rich sediments, and that from offshore Morocco, which has an isotopic signature of the anoxic/suboxic interface. Onshore deposits from Jordan, Mexico, South Africa and, possibly, the Permian Phosphoria Formation in the western U.S.A., are substantially depleted in¹⁸O: they appear to be too altered for deductions to be made about their environments of formation. In other onshore deposits which are unaltered, or minimally altered, the isotopic composition suggests that some formed within sulphate-reducing sediments (Sedhura, Morocco) whilst francolite from the Georgina Basin of Australia formed at the oxic/anoxic boundary, where oxidation of biogenic H₂S decreases theδ³⁴S of pore water. In general, pelletal samples show non-oxic isotopic signatures, whilst non-pelletal samples show oxic isotopic signatures, but samples from Namibia, Peru (Ica Plateau) and the Californian and Moroccan margins are exceptions to this rule. Morphology may therefore be a misleading indicator of francolite genesis as no definitive relation exists between phosphorite type and isotopic signature.     

The relative importance of physicochemical factors and crustacean zooplankton as determinants of rotifer density and species distribution in lakes adjacent to the Yangtze River, China

The planktonic community of freshwater Rotifera in 27 subtropical lakes was studied to assess the relative importance of physicochemical factors and crustacean zooplankton as determinants of rotifer density and species distribution. Factor analysis and multiple linear regressions showed that 21.9% and 29.9% of the variance in rotifer density was explained by physicochemical factors and crustaceans, respectively. Larger rotifer density was possible in shallower lakes with higher concentration of inorganic nitrogen and less herbivorous crustaceans such as Sinocalanus dorrii and Daphnia. Redundancy analysis showed that the variances of rotifer species distribution explained by crustaceans and physicochemical factors were 26.9% and 31.0%, respectively. Further analysis demonstrated that the variances explained by pure crustaceans and pure physicochemical factors were 12.5% and 16.6%, respectively. However, these two percentages were not statistically different. Rotifer species distribution was strongly associated with Chl a and Moina micrura. Their coexistence with crustaceans seemed to be determined by their defense against potential predators and competitors.     

The geochemical importance of pyromagma

Contrary to hypomagma, the distribution of elements is not governed in the pyromagma by fractional crystallisation, but by the affinity of compounds with the liquid and the gaseous phase, the latter having the properties of a particular pneumatolytic solution. The effects of pneumatolytic differentiation are illustrated by the examples of Mt. Etna (1971) and of the island of Ischia near Naples. The origin of certain soda tephrites, nephelinites and phonolites as well as the probable cause of the variability of the K/Rb ratio in plutonic rocks and pegmatites are briefly discussed. The magmatological and geochemical importance of gaseous transfer results from the fact that all volcanic rocks derive from pyromagmas in which the effects of penumatolytic differentiation are more or less great according to the type of magma, the nature of the gases and the duration of the pyromagmatic stage. This depends upon the eruptive mechanism which — in its turn — is conditioned by regional tectonics and by local volcano-tectonics.     

A paleomagnetic study of certain Mesozoic formations in northern Mexico

Rocks of Late Cretaceous, Early Jurassic and Late Triassic age, collected in northern Mexico yield the following pole positions: 169.3°E57.9°N (Cretaceous), 70.7°E76.0°N (?Jurassic) and 119.2°E76.4°N (?Late Triassic). The Triassic and Cretaceous poles are not significantly different from those class-A poles (Hicken et al., 1972) of the North American craton. It is therefore suggested that the North American craton may be traced south as far as 23°N and inferentially a further four degrees (to the Mexican volcanic belt).The results from the La Boca Formation are interpreted as indicating a much greater age (Late Precambrian-Early (Paleozoic) than is currently assigned to that formation.     

稳定的频率域变深度视密度反演方法

视密度反演的频率域方法具有速度快的特点,但由于其关键运算向下延拓算子的不稳定,造成该方法精度不能达到实际应用的要求.本文利用徐世浙开发的迭代向下延拓方法代替该算子,使其精度和稳定性都得到很大的提高.同时,本文还引入一个起伏因子,使频率域视密度反演方法的适用性得到很大的提高.并在新疆某地区的实际应用中取得了较好的效果.     

Trace elements in ocean ridge basalts

A correlary of sea floor spreading is that the production rate of ocean ridge basalts exceeds that of all other volcanic rocks on the earth combined. Basalts of the ocean ridges bring with them a continuous record in space and time of the chemical characteristics of the underlying mantle. The chemical record is once removed, due to chemical fractionation during partial melting. Chemical fractionations can be evaluated by assuming that peridotite melting has proceeded to an olivine-orthopyroxene stage, in which case the ratios of a number of magmaphile elements in the extracted melt closely match the ratios in the mantle. Comparison of ocean ridge basalts and chondritic meteorites reveals systematic patterns of element fractionation, and what is probably a double depletion in some elements. The first depletion is in volatile elements and is due to high accretion temperatures of a large percentage of the earth from the solar nebula. The second depletion is in the largest, most highly charged lithophile elements (“incompatible elements”), probably because the mantle source of the basalts was melted previously, and the melt, enriched in these elements, was removed. Migration of melt relative to solid under ocean ridges and oceanic plates, element fractionation at subduction zones, and fractional melting of amphibolite in the Precambrian are possible mechanisms for depleting the mantle in incompatible elements. Ratios of transition metals in the mantle source of ocean ridge basalts are close to chondritic, and contrast to the extreme depletion of refractory siderophile elements, the reason for which remains uncertain. Variation of ocean ridge basalt chemistry along the length of the ridge has been correlated with ridge elevation. Thus chemically anomalous ridge segments up to 1000 km long appear to broadly coincide with regions of high magma production (plumes, hot spots). Basalt heterogeneity at a single location indicates mantle heterogeneity on a smaller scale. Variation of ocean ridge basalt chemistry with time has not been established, in fact, criteria for recognizing old oceanic crust in ophiolite terrains are currently under debate. The similarity of rare earth element patterns in basalt from ocean ridges, back-arc basins, some young island arcs, and some continental flood basalts illustrates the dangers of tectonic labeling by rare earth element pattern.     

Local dynamical equivalence of certain food webs

An important challenge in theoretical ecology is to find good coarse-grained representations of complex food webs. Here, we use the approach of generalized modeling to show that it may be possible to formulate a coarse-graining algorithm that conserves the local dynamics of the model exactly. We show examples of food webs with a different number of species that have exactly identical local bifurcation diagrams. Based on these observations, we formulate a conjecture governing which populations of complex food webs can be grouped together into a single variable without changing the local dynamics. As an illustration, we use this conjecture to show that chaotic regions generically exist in the parameter space of a class of food webs with more than three trophic levels. While our conjecture is at present only applicable to relatively special cases, we believe that its applicability could be greatly extended if a more sophisticated mapping of parameters were used in the model reduction.     

浅水湖泊生态系统的多稳态理论及其应用

在“八五”期间太湖研究工作的基础上,发展和充实了浅水湖泊多稳态理论,简要介绍了多稳态概念模型,并将这一理论和模型贯穿于太湖富营养化防治研究中;总结了太湖各湖区的状态演化过程,提出保护东太湖生态环境和治理五里湖的策略及技术路线,并付诸于实验;证明了利多稳态理论和多稳态模型指导湖泊富营养化防治的可行性。     

On the importance of auroral processes in the Universe

Acceleration of charged particles in magnetic field-aligned electric potential differences at Earth and at the outer planets in the solar system is summarized and its general importance in the Universe is briefly discussed.The role of field-aligned currents, driven by parallel electric fields, in causing filamentary structure in stellar atmospheres is briefly reviewed.The differences between auroral optical emissions at various planets are summarized.The important role of field-aligned potential differences in the generation of AKR and corresponding emissions from other objects is discussed.Finally, aurora-associated processes for ejection of planetary plasma into space are briefly reviewed.     

The importance of wind forcing in fjord wave modelling

Ocean Dynamics - Accurate predictions of surface ocean waves in coastal areas are important for a number of marine activities. In complex coastlines with islands and fjords, the quality of wind...     

Propagation of Love Waves in a certain type of heterogeneous layer

Summary Propagation of Love Waves in a layer in which the velocity first decreases with depth, reaches a miniumm at a certain depth and then increases as the depth further increases in studied in this paper.