Regional stresses along the Eurasia-Africa plate boundary derived from focal mechanisms of large earthquakes

The focal mechanism solutions of 83 European earthquakes withM>6, selected from a total of 140, have been used to derive the directions of the principal axes of stress along the plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa from the Azores islands to the Caucasus mountains. Along most of the region, the horizontalP-axes are at an angle of 45° to 90° with the trend of the plate boundary. HorizontalT-axes are concentrated in central Italy and northern Greece in association with normal faulting. Large strike-slip motion of right-lateral character takes place at the center of the Azores-Gibraltar fault and the North Anatolian fault. From Gibraltar to the Caucasus the boundary is complicated by the presence of secondary blocks and zones of extended deformations with earthquakes spread over wide areas. Intermediate and deep earthquakes are present at four areas with arc-like structure, namely, Gibraltar, Sicily-Calabria, Hellenic arc and Carpathians.     

鱼礁模型对赤点石斑鱼的诱集效果

本文在实验室中水池中观察了赤点石斑鱼在三种不同口径鱼礁模型存在下的行为，结果表明；鱼礁对这种鱼有明显诱集效果，随着模型口径的增大，鱼在礁体放置区分布百分率有增大趋势，而鱼个体平均距离、群体总重心与礁体平均距离和鱼与礁的距离均有减小趋势。可见，口径大小的鱼礁模型有较好的聚鱼效果。     

Bacterial flora and antibiotic resistance from eggs of green turtles Chelonia mydas: An indication of polluted effluents

Sea turtles migrate to various habitats where they can be exposed to different pollutants. Bacteria were collected from turtle eggs and their resistance to antibiotics was used as pollutant bio-indicators of contaminated effluents. Eggs were collected randomly from turtles when they were laying their eggs. A total of 90 eggs were collected and placed into sterile plastic bags (3 eggs/turtle) during June-December of 2003. The bacteria located in the eggshell, albumen and yolk were examined, and 42% of the eggs were contaminated with 10 genera of bacteria. Pseudomonas spp. were the most frequent isolates. The albumen was found to be the part of the egg to be the least contaminated by bacterial infection. Bacterial isolates tested with 14 antibiotics showed variations in resistance. Resistance to ampicillin was the highest. The presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in eggs indicates that the green turtle populations were subjected to polluted effluents during some of their migratory routes and feeding habitats. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that Salmonella typhimurium penetrated all eggshell layers.     

Role of vegetation in shaping Early Pennsylvanian braided rivers: Architecture of the Boss Point Formation,Atlantic Canada

Vegetation is a major driver of fluvial dynamics in modern rivers, but few facies models incorporate its influence. This article partially fills that gap by documenting the stratigraphy, architecture and palaeobotany of the Lower Pennsylvanian Boss Point Formation of Atlantic Canada, which contains some of the Earth's earliest accumulations of large woody debris. Braided‐fluvial systems occupied channel belts of varied scale within valleys several tens of metres deep and more than 12 km wide, and their deposits predominantly consist of sandy and gravelly bedforms with subordinate accretionary macroforms, high flow‐strength sand sheets and rippled abandonment facies. Discrete accumulations of clastic detritus and woody debris are up to 6 m thick and constitute at least 18% of the in‐channel deposits; they represent lags at the base of large and small channels, fills of minor channels and sandy macroforms that developed in central positions in the upper parts of channel fills. Sandstones with roots and other remnants of in situ vegetation demonstrate that vegetated islands were present, and the abundance of discrete channel fills suggests that the formation represents an anabranching, island‐braided sandbed river, the earliest example documented to date. Although some sphenopsid and lycopsid remains are present, most woody fragments are derived from cordaitalean trees, and the evolution of this group late in the Mississippian is inferred to have exerted a significant influence on fluvial morphodynamic patterns. The formation records a landscape in which active channel belts alternated with well‐drained floodplains colonized by dense, mature forests and local patches of pioneering, disturbance‐tolerant vegetation. Lakes and poorly drained floodplains dominated by carbonate and organic deposition, respectively, were also present. A large supply of woody debris triggered channel blockage and avulsion, and active channel margins and islands within the channel belts were initially colonized by pioneer vegetation and subsequently stabilized by large trees. A similar alternation of stable and unstable conditions is observed in modern braided rivers actively influenced by vegetation.