Phytoplankton viability in ballast water from international commercial ships berthed at ports in Korea

We investigated the viability of phytoplankton from ballast water of international commercial ships berthed at the ports of Ulsan and Onsan, Korea. The incubation conditions used were temperatures of 13 °C to represent ambient water and 20 °C to represent the thermal optimum, as well as nutrients in ballast water, shipside water, and F/2 medium. Phytoplankton in new (∼7 days) and old (20 and 23 days) ballast water survived when incubated under the nutrients typical of shipside water and F/2 medium at 13 °C and 20 °C. Colonization process was mostly dominated by Skeletonema costatum, Cylindrotheca closterium and pennate diatoms (<10 μm in diameter). S. costatum and C. closterium were persistent during incubation time, whereas pennate diatoms dominated in the three types of media from doubling to last phase of growth. This study showed that bloom-forming and pennate diatoms appear to be the species most likely to become successfully established in the two ports.     

Isolation and characterization of a novel hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium Achromobacter sp. HZ01 from the crude oil-contaminated seawater at the Daya Bay,southern China

Microorganisms play an important role in the biodegradation of petroleum contaminants, which have attracted great concern due to their persistent toxicity and difficult biodegradation. In this paper, a novel hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium HZ01 was isolated from the crude oil-contaminated seawater at the Daya Bay, South China Sea, and identified as Achromobacter sp. Under the conditions of pH 7.0, NaCl 3% (w/v), temperature 28 °C and rotary speed 150 rpm, its degradability of the total n-alkanes reached up to 96.6% after 10 days of incubation for the evaporated diesel oil. Furthermore, Achromobacter sp. HZ01 could effectively utilize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as its sole carbon source, and could remove anthracene, phenanthrene and pyrence about 29.8%, 50.6% and 38.4% respectively after 30 days of incubation. Therefore, Achromobacter sp. HZ01 may employed as an excellent degrader to develop one cost-effective and eco-friendly method for the bioremediation of marine environments polluted by crude oil.     

Optimization of nutrient component for diesel oil degradation by Rhodococcus erythropolis

A novel bacterium T7-2 was isolated from the oil-polluted sea-bed mud of Bohai Sea, northern China, which can degrade diesel oil at 15 °C. This bacterium was identified as a strain of Rhodococcus erythropolis according to its 16S rDNA gene. In order to enhance degradation efficiency, a five-level, three-factor central composite design was employed to optimize the nutrition supplied to artificial seawater. The results indicate that a supplement of 2.53 g (NH₄)₂SO₄ L⁻¹, 2.75 g Na₂HPO₄ L⁻¹ and 0.01 g yeast extract L⁻¹ to artificial seawater increases the degradation rate from 12.61% to 75% within 7 d.     

Effects of temperature and wave conditions on chemical dispersion efficacy of heavy fuel oil in an experimental flow-through wave tank

The effectiveness of chemical dispersants (Corexit 9500 and SPC 1000) on heavy fuel oil (IFO180 as test oil) has been evaluated under different wave conditions in a flow-through wave tank. The dispersant effectiveness was determined by measuring oil concentrations and droplet size distributions. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model indicated that wave type and temperature significantly (p < 0.05) affected the dynamic dispersant effectiveness (DDE). At higher temperatures (16 °C), the test IFO180 was effectively dispersed under breaking waves with a DDE of 90% and 50% for Corexit 9500 and SPC 1000, respectively. The dispersion was ineffective under breaking waves at lower temperature (10 °C), and under regular wave conditions at all temperatures (10-17 °C), with DDE < 15%. Effective chemical dispersion was associated with formation of smaller droplets (with volumetric mean diameters or VMD ? 200 μm), whereas ineffective dispersion produced large oil droplets (with VMD ? 400 μm).     

Temperature extremes reduce seagrass growth and induce mortality

Extreme heating (up to 43 °C measured from five-year temperature records) occurs in shallow coastal seagrass meadows of the Great Barrier Reef at low tide. We measured effective quantum yield (_?PSII${?}_{\text{PSII}}$), growth, senescence and mortality in four tropical seagrasses to experimental short-duration (2.5 h) spikes in water temperature to 35 °C, 40 °C and 43 °C, for 6 days followed by one day at ambient temperature. Increasing temperature to 35 °C had positive effects on _?PSII${?}_{\text{PSII}}$ (the magnitude varied between days and was highly correlated with PPFD), with no effects on growth or mortality. 40 °C represented a critical threshold as there were strong species differences and there was a large impact on growth and mortality. At 43 °C there was complete mortality after 2–3 days. These findings indicate that increasing duration (more days in a row) of thermal events above 40 °C is likely to affect the ecological function of tropical seagrass meadows.     

Analysis of community structure of a microbial consortium capable of degrading benzo(a)pyrene by DGGE

A microbial consortium was obtained by enrichment culture of sea water samples collected from Botan oil port in Xiamen, China, using the persistent high concentration of a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons enrichment strategy. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to investigate the bacterial composition and community dynamic changes based on PCR amplification of 16S rRNA genes during batch culture enrichment. Using the spray-plate method, three bacteria, designated as BL01, BL02 and BL03, which corresponded to the dominant bands in the DGGE profiles, were isolated from the consortium. Sequence analysis showed that BL01, BL02 and BL03 were phylogenetically close to Ochrobactrum sp., Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas fluorescens, respectively. The degradation of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a model high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (HMW PAH) compound was investigated using individual isolates, a mixture of the three isolates, and the microbial consortium (BL) originally isolated from the oil port sea water. Results showed that the order of degradative ability was BL > the mixture of the three isolates > individual isolates. BL degraded 44.07% of the 10 ppm BaP after 14 days incubation, which showed the highest capability for HMW PAH compound degradation.Our results revealed that this high selective pressure strategy was feasible and effective in enriching the HMW PAH-degraders from the original sea water samples.     

Detoxification of hazardous dust with marine sediment

Hazardous electric arc furnace dust containing dioxins/furans and heavy metals is blended with harbor sediment, fired at 950–1100 °C to prepare lightweight aggregates. Dust addition can lower the sintering temperature by about 100 °C, as compared to a typical industrial process. After firing at 950 °C and 1050 °C, more than 99.85% of dioxins/furans originally present in the dust have been removed and/or destructed in the mix containing a dust/sediment ratio of 50:100. The heavy metals leached from all fired mixes are far below Taiwan EPA legal limits. The particle density of the lightweight aggregates always decreases with increasing firing temperature. Greater addition of the dust results in a considerably lower particle density (mostly <2.0 g cm⁻³) fired at 1050 °C and 1100 °C. However, firing at temperatures lower than 1050 °C produces no successful bloating, leading to a denser particle density (>2.0 g cm⁻³) that is typical of bricks.     

Bioconcentration of triclosan and methyl-triclosan in marine mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) under laboratory conditions and in metropolitan waters of Gulf St Vincent,South Australia

The anti-microbial agent triclosan (TCS), and its derivative methyl-triclosan (Me-TCS), are discharged with treated effluents from wastewater treatment plants to receiving environments. We investigated the bioconcentration of TCS and Me-TCS in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) exposed to TCS (100 ng L⁻¹) for 30 days in seawater aquaria (19 ± 2 °C) with fresh phytoplankton as a food source. Bioconcentration increased with time reaching a steady-state around 24–30 days. The bioconcentration factor (log BCF) for TCS were 2.81 L kg⁻¹ (dry weight) and 4.13 L kg⁻¹, when lipid normalised concentrations were used. Mussels were also deployed in cages at four marine locations receiving effluents from WWTPs. The mean (±SD) TCS and Me-TCS concentrations for mussels from these sites were 9.87 (±1.34) and 6.99 (±2.44) μg kg⁻¹. The study showed that mussels can be a useful tool for monitoring pollution of TCS and Me-TCS in marine and estuarine environments.     

Experimental and theoretical study of stability of dense hydrous magnesium silicates in the deep upper mantle

Fluid-undersaturated experiments were conducted to determine the phase relations in the simplified peridotite system MgO-SiO₂-H₂O (MSH) at 11.0-14.5 GPa and 800-1400 °C. Stability relations of dense hydrous magnesium silicates (DHMSs) under fluid-undersaturated conditions were experimentally examined. From the fluid-absent experimental results, we retrieved thermodynamic data for clinohumite, phase A, phase E, and hydrous wadsleyite, consistent with the published data set for dry mantle minerals. With this new data set, we have calculated phase equilibria in the MSH system including dehydration reactions. The dehydration reactions calculated with lower water activities of 0.68-0.60 match the fluid-present experiments of this study above 11.0 GPa and 1000 °C, indicating that considerable amounts of silicate component were dissolved into the fluid phase. The calculated phase equilibria illustrate the stability of the post-antigorite phase A-bearing assemblages. In the cold subducting slab peridotite, phase A + enstatite assemblage survives into the transition zone, whereas phase A + forsterite + enstatite assemblage forms hydrous wadsleyite at a much shallower depth of about 360-km. The slab is subducted with no dehydration reactions occurring when entering the transition zone. The phase equilibria also show the high temperature stability of phase E. Phase E is stable up to 1200 °C at 13.5 GPa, a plausible condition in the mantle of relatively low temperature, i.e., beneath subduction zones. Phase E is a possible water reservoir in the mantle as well as wadsleyite and ringwoodite.     

Melting of enstatite from 13 to 18 GPa under hydrous conditions

Experiments on MgSiO₃ enstatite were conducted in the pressure range from 13 to 18 GPa under hydrous conditions in order to clarify the effect of water on the melting phase relations of enstatite at pressures corresponding to the Earth’s mantle transition zone. In some previous experiments [Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 79 (1968) 1685; Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 85 (1994) 237], incongruent melting behavior to form Mg₂SiO₄ forsterite and SiO₂ enriched liquid up to 5 GPa was observed, and congruent melting behavior at pressures up to 12 GPa was observed. Under hydrous conditions, we found that the melting reaction changes from congruent to incongruent at around 13.5 GPa. Liquid formed above 13.5 GPa is enriched in MgO component relative to MgSiO₃ because it coexists with stishovite (SiO₂). Moreover, the solidus temperature decreases drastically at around 13.5 GPa, in unison with the change in the melting reaction. The solidus temperature is about 1400 °C at 13 GPa, but approximately 900 °C at 15 GPa. Our results show that the liquidus phase changes from clinoenstatite to stishovite with increasing pressure and water content above 13.5 GPa. MgSiO₃ enstatite is one of the major constituent minerals in the Earth’s mantle, and it is expected that MgO-enriched liquid will be generated in the transition zone if water is present.     

Characteristics of phosphate adsorption onto granulated coal ash in seawater

The deterioration of sediments is a serious environmental problem. Controlling nutrient release fluxes from sediments is important to alleviating eutrophication and to reducing terrigenous nutrient loads. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the phosphate removal performance of granulated coal ash (GCA) from seawater, which is produced from coal thermal electric power generation. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the removal kinetics of phosphate from seawater under both oxic and anoxic conditions. Phosphate was removed well from seawater under both oxic and anoxic conditions. The adsorption isotherm for phosphate revealed that GCA could remove phosphate effectively from seawater above a concentration of 1.7 μmol L⁻¹. GCA can reduce the concentration of phosphate in seawater effectively under anoxic conditions where iron type adsorbents cannot be applied. Therefore, GCA could potentially be used to adsorb phosphate in the organically-enriched sediment, which generally occurs under highly reductive conditions.     

Composition of the water accommodated fractions as a function of exposure times and temperatures

The water accommodated fractions (WAFs) of nine oils in seawater have been studied. The oils range from light condensate to heavy crude, and include one highly biodegraded oil and one very wax rich oil. This study has identified large variations in the chemical composition of WAFs, depending on oil type, temperature, and mixing time. Experiments at different temperatures (2-13 °C) showed that it takes longer time to reach equilibrium at the lowest temperatures, and that this varies for the different oil types. Oils with higher pour point (wax rich oils) need a longer time to establish WAF in equilibrium than oils with lower pour points (naphthenic oils). At 13 °C a mixing time of 48 h, as recommended in standard procedures, seems to be sufficient for asphalthenic and paraffinic oils. The results demonstrated that for WAF prepared from an unknown oil, or at lower temperatures, different mixing times should be tested. Since the WAF often is used in toxicity testing, the toxicity might be underestimated if the mixing time is too short.     

A study of marine pollution caused by the release of metals into seawater following acid spills

This study examined the potential metal pollution induced by the accidental spill of different acids into seawater. The acids sink to the bottom according to their densities and subsequently react with marine sediments. The acids selected for this study were acetic, hydrochloric, nitric, sulfuric, and phosphoric acids; the metallic elements selected were Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn. The sediment was collected in Brest Harbour. The percentages of metals released from this sediment in the presence of various concentrations of acids in seawater were important; concentrations of approximately 7 mg L⁻¹ for Mn and 60 mg L⁻¹ for Zn were observed under our experimental conditions. We also examined the rate of release of these metals from the sediment into the seawater in the presence of the different acids and under different experimental conditions. We found that most of the metallic elements were released from the sediments into the seawater during the first fifteen minutes of exposure. After this time, a high degree of pollution was induced if acids leached into seawater were not rapidly diluted.     

Spatial and temporal variability of seawater properties,current velocity and SPM concentration off Cassino Beach-Rio Grande-Southern Brazil

Water column profiles and near-bed time series of pressure, current velocity, suspended-particulate matter (SPM) concentration and seawater temperature and salinity were collected during three short cruises carried out in May 2005 in the shoreface and inner shelf area adjacent to Cassino Beach, southern Brazil. The measurements were part of the Cassino Experiment, a project conducted at an open, sandy coastal area known for the occurrence of patches of fairly large amounts of muddy sediments that are sporadically fluidized, transported onshore and eventually stranded on the beach. The study area is close to the Patos Lagoon mouth, being influenced by its water and suspended-sediment discharge. The presence of the Patos Lagoon outflow on the inner shelf was detected in one of the cruises (May 13) through measurements of near-surface salinity: while close to shore salinity was 29.4, a minimum value of 13.8 was measured at ∼10 km from the coast. Four days later, no trace of the plume was detected in the area. Regarding seawater temperature, no large temporal or spatial variability was documented with measured values ranging from 19.3 to 20 °C. Water column currents were prominently to N and NE, except at the outermost station, located ∼42 km from the coast, where NW-directed flows were observed at surface and mid-depth. Maximum near-bed current velocity oscillated between 18 and 42 cm s⁻¹ in the east–west direction and between 14 and 42 cm s⁻¹ in the north–south direction. Near-surface concentration of SPM oscillated between 11 and 99 mg L⁻¹, in general one order of magnitude lower than near-bed values. However, near-bed concentration of SPM showed large spatial variability: the highest value (2200 mg L⁻¹) was yielded by a water sample collected at ∼8 m water depth, at a station located ∼2 km away from the shoreline; two water samples collected 500 m, apart from this station, yielded SPM concentrations of 148 and 205 mg L⁻¹, one order of magnitude lower. Spectral analyses of near-bed current speed and SPM concentration indicate the relevance of oscillations in the low-frequency (<0.05 Hz) range. Detailed sampling of bottom sediment indicated that in May 2005 the mud patch was centered at ∼8.5 m water depth.     

Effects of alumina refinery wastewater and signature metal constituents at the upper thermal tolerance of: 2. The early life stages of the coral Acropora tenuis

The success of early life history transitions of the coral Acropora tenuis were used as endpoints to evaluate thermal stress and the effects of wastewater discharged to a tropical marine environment. The studies assessed the effects of: (i) temperature; (ii) three signature metals of the wastewater, aluminium (Al), vanadium (V) and gallium (Ga); and (iii) the wastewater (at 27 °C and 32 °C) on fertilisation and larval metamorphosis. The median inhibition temperatures for fertilisation and metamorphosis were 32.8 °C and 33.0 °C, respectively. Fertilisation IC₅₀s for Al, V and Ga were 2997, 2884 and 3430 μg L⁻¹, respectively. Metamorphosis IC₅₀s for Al, V and Ga were 1945, 675 and 3566 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The wastewater only affected fertilisation and metamorphosis at moderate concentrations (IC₅₀s = 63% and 67%, v/v, respectively, at 27 °C), posing a low risk to this species in the field. The effects of wastewater and temperature on fertilisation and metamorphosis were additive.     

Curie-point depth from spectral analysis of magnetic data in central-southern Europe

The basal depth of the outer layer with internal magnetic sources was calculated from magnetic data available within a roughly 500 km wide and 1200 km long area, running from central Germany to southern Italy. The dataset, deriving from different aeromagnetic surveys, is reduced to the reference altitude of 3000 m a.s.l. and a reference year of 1980.0. The adopted method, which transforms the spatial data into the frequency domain, provides a relationship between the two-dimensional spectrum of the magnetic anomalies and the top and centroid depths of the magnetic sources. The magnetic layer bottom depth (MLBD) thus obtained is 29-33 km deep in the stable areas (central Europe Variscan units, Corsica-Sardinia Variscan block) and corresponds to the Moho, having an average temperature of 560 °C. From the Alps to the Apennines, MLBD ranges between 22 and 28 km and is clearly shallower than the Moho. In these units, the wide variation of MLBD appears to be compatible with the presence of shallow magnetised bodies, consisting of lower crustal rocks (Ivrea-Verbano zone), ophiolitic units (Penninic zone and Voltri Massif) and intrasedimentary basic volcanic bodies (Po Basin). An average value of 25 km can be attributed to MLBD, which corresponds to a temperature of 550 °C. In the peri-Tyrrhenian zone and the Ligurian Sea, MLBD is below the Moho, which ranges from 17 to 20 km depth, and it has a temperature matching approximately to the Curie temperature of magnetite (580 °C).     

Garnet-ilmenite-perovskite transitions in the system Mg4Si4O12-Mg3Al2Si3O12 at high pressures and high temperatures: phase equilibria, calorimetry and implications for mantle structure

Phase relations in the system Mg₄Si₄O₁₂-Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ were examined at pressures of 19-27 GPa and relatively low temperatures of 800-1000 °C using a multianvil apparatus to clarify phase transitions of pyroxene-garnet assemblages in the mantle. Both of glass and crystalline starting materials were used for the experiments. At 1000 °C, garnet solid solution (s.s.) transforms to aluminous ilmenite s.s. at 20-26 GPa which is stable in the whole compositional range in the system. In Mg₄Si₄O₁₂-rich composition, ilmenite s.s. transforms to a single-phase aluminous perovskite s.s., while Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂-rich ilmenite s.s. dissociates into perovskite s.s. and corundum s.s. These newly determined phase relations at 1000 °C supersede preliminary phase relations determined at about 900 °C in the previous study. The phase relations at 1000 °C are quite different from those reported previously at 1600 °C where garnet s.s. transforms directly to perovskite s.s. and ilmenite is stable only very close to Mg₄Si₄O₁₂. The stability field of Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ ilmenite was determined at 800-1000 °C and 25-27 GPa by reversed phase boundaries. In ilmenite s.s., the a-axis slightly increases but the c-axis and molar volume decrease substantially with increasing Al₂O₃ content. Enthalpies of ilmenite s.s. were measured by differential drop-solution calorimetry method using a high-temperature calorimeter. The excess enthalpy of mixing of ilmenite s.s. was almost zero within the errors. The measured enthalpies of garnet-ilmenite and ilmenite-perovskite transitions at 298 K were 105.2±10.4 and 168.6±8.2 kJ/mol, respectively, for Mg₄Si₄O₁₂, and 150.2±15.9 and 98.7±27.3 kJ/mol, respectively, for Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂. Thermodynamic calculations using these data give rise to phase relations in the system Mg₄Si₄O₁₂-Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ at 1000 and 1600 °C that are generally consistent with those determined experimentally, and confirm that the single-phase field of ilmenite expands from Mg₄Si₄O₁₂ to Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ with decreasing temperature. The earlier mentioned phase relations in the simplified system as well as those in the Mg₂SiO₄-Fe₂SiO₄ system are applied to estimate mineral proportions in pyrolite as a function of depth along two different geotherms: one is a horizontally-averaged temperature distribution in a normal mantle, and the other being 600 °C lower than the former as a possible representative geotherm in subducting slabs. Based on the previously described estimated mineral proportions versus depth along the two geotherms, density and compressional and shear wave velocities are calculated as functions of depth, using available mineral physics data. Along a normal mantle geotherm, jumps of density and velocities at about 660 km corresponding to the post-spinel transition are followed by steep gradients due to the garnet-perovskite transition between 660 and 710 km. In contrast, along a low-temperature geotherm, the first steep gradients of density and velocities are due to the garnet-ilmenite transition between 610 and 690 km. This is followed by abrupt jumps at about 690 km for the post-spinel transition, and steep gradients between 700 and 740 km that correspond to the ilmenite-perovskite transition. In the latter profile along the low-temperature geotherm, density and velocity increases for garnet-ilmenite and ilmenite-perovskite transitions are similar in magnitude to those for the post-spinel transition. The likely presence of ilmenite in cooler regions of subducting slabs is suggested by the fact that the calculated velocity profiles along the low-temperature geotherm are compatible with recent seismic observations indicating three discontinuities or steep velocity gradients at around 600-750 km depth in the regions of subducting slabs.     

Long term AVHRR observations of surface radiative flux from El Chichón crater lake (1996–2006)

It has been shown that due to the small surface of crater lakes, temperature surveillance is a problem using meteorological satellites. This is particularly true for El Chichón surface lake because it's about one tenth of an AVHRR pixel at nadir. In order to guarantee at least one unmixed pixel in AVHRR data, it is necessary to use only AVHRR data from NOAA satellite passes as close as possible to the nadir for the period 1996–2006, therefore AVHRR data of El Chichón's crater lake were only used it they were cloudless and had scan angles close to nadir. The analysis of the time series data shows that lake surface temperature had annual maximum values (> 35 °C) during 1996 and 1997 then surface temperature decay with a negative exponential trend reaching a steady state of about 30 °C in the last years (2004–2006). A seasonal temperature variation between the dry (December to May) and the wet (June to November) seasons is also observed. Differences between nocturnal and midday temperatures indicate the influence of lake energy emission (including reflectance) at midday under a strong short-wave solar radiation. Water surface radiative flux under these conditions reaches an average of 77.8 W m^− 2 and a maximum of 187.1 W m^− 2. Whereas nocturnal heat output from El Chichón crater lake has an average surface radiative flux of 20.4 W m^− 2 and a maximum of 74.3 W m^− 2.     

New paleomagnetic constraints on the late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic tectonic history of the Eastern Pontides

The Pontides are characterized by a series of Mesozoic-Cenozoic fold belts comprising a N-vergent foreland fold and thrust belt in the Western Pontides and a concave, upward-shaped fold belt in the Eastern Pontides. The curvature of the fold belt follows the Caucasus which may imply a phase of oroclinal bending. In order to test whether the fold curvature represents a phase of oroclinal bending, a paleomagnetic study has been carried out in the Eastern Pontides on late Cretaceous and middle Eocene volcanic and sedimentary rocks from 29 sites. Rock magnetic studies reveal medium-temperature components with an unblocking temperature of 400–580 °C, indicating pseudo-single domain titanomagnetite as the most abundant carrier of magnetic remanence in the middle Eocene rocks studied here. In the upper Cretaceous rocks, a high-temperature component with an unblocking range of 580–650 °C was isolated. Stepwise thermal and alternating field demagnetization isolated two components of remanent magnetization in middle Eocene rocks comprising a low unblocking temperature/coercivity component near the present field direction and a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) component of D_s = 332.3°, I_s = 49.9° (k = 33.3, α₉₅ = 9.2°, N = 15 sites). A positive fold test at a 95% confidence level and a reversal test indicate a primary magnetization. Component analysis of the upper Cretaceous rocks identifies a stable ChRM D_s = 160.3°, I_s = −45.0°, (k =  85.6, α₉₅ = 6.0°, N =  8 sites) following removal of secondary remanence. Their ChRM direction passes fold and reversal tests at a 95% confidence level. Both the upper Cretaceous and middle Eocene paleomagnetic data from the Eastern Pontides and the Lesser Caucasus clearly demonstrate evidence of oroclinal bending that occurred contemporaneouslywith the convergence between Arabia and Eurasia in the Paleocene.