The potential of vegetation feedback to alleviate climate aridity over the United States associated with a 2×CO2 climate condition

This study examines the potential impact of vegetation feedback on changes in summer climate aridity over the contiguous United States (US) due to the doubling of atmospheric CO₂ concentration using a set of 100-year-long climate simulations made by a global climate model interactively coupled with a dynamic vegetation model. The Thornthwaite moisture index (I _m ), which quantifies climate aridity on the basis of atmospheric water supply (i.e., precipitation) and atmospheric water demand (i.e., potential evapotranspiration, PET), is used to measure climate aridity. Warmer atmosphere and drier surface resulting from increased CO₂ concentration increase climate aridity over most of the contiguous US. This phenomenon is due to larger increments in PET than in precipitation, regardless of the presence or absence of vegetation feedback. Compared to simulations without active dynamic vegetation feedback, the presence of vegetation feedback significantly alleviates the increase in aridity. This vegetation-feedback effect is most noticeable in the subhumid regions such as southern, midwestern and northwestern US, primarily by the increasing vegetation greenness. In these regions, the greening in response to warmer temperatures enhances moisture transfer from soil to atmosphere by evapotranspiration (ET). The increased ET and subsequent moistening over land areas result in weaker surface warming (1–2?K) and PET (3–10?mm?month^?1), and greater precipitation (4–10?mm?month^?1). Collectively, they result in moderate increases in I _m . Our results suggest that moistening by enhanced vegetation feedback may prevent aridification under climatic warming especially in areas vulnerable to climate change, with consequent implications for mitigation strategies.     

Eruption and emplacement of a laterally extensive, crystal-rich, and pumice-free ignimbrite (the Cretaceous Kusandong Tuff, Korea)

The Cretaceous Kusandong Tuff, Korea, is a thin (1–5 m thick) but laterally extensive (~ 200 km) silicic ignimbrite emplaced in a fluviolacustrine basin adjacent to a continental volcanic arc. The tuff has been used as an excellent key bed because of its great lateral continuity and unique lithology, characterized by the virtual absence of juvenile clasts and an abundance of quartz and feldspar crystals (up to 55–73 vol.%). The tuff is mostly massive and ungraded and locally shows crude internal layering, basal inverse grading and near-top normal grading of crystals, either erosional or non-erosional lower surfaces, and flat-lying to imbricated grain fabrics. Fragile intraformational clasts of mudstone and tuff are also included. These features provide only ambiguous information on the properties of the responsible pyroclastic density currents: i.e. whether they were dense and laminar or dilute and turbulent. The overall lateral continuity and sheet-like geometry of the tuff suggests, however, that the transport system of the currents was highly expanded, dilute, and turbulent. A plug-flow or slab-flow model cannot explain the origin of crude internal layering, imbricated grain fabrics, and the high crystal content, which is most likely the result of vigorous sorting processes within a dilute and turbulent current. Features indicative of deposition from a dense and laminar transporting medium are locally present, suggesting that a dense and laminar depositional system could develop locally at the base of the dilute and turbulent transport system. The virtual absence of juvenile clasts in the tuff is interpreted to be due to rapid ascent, sudden decompression, and full fragmentation of silicic magma into fine glass shards and crystals. Scarcity of basement-derived accidental components together with the absence of pumiceous fallout deposits beneath the tuff is interpreted to be due to shallow-level fragmentation of magma followed by immediate generation of pyroclastic density currents from shallow-level blasts at the onset of eruption. The eruption occurred through multiple vent sites in a short period of time, producing a seemingly single but actually composite ignimbrite unit. Such an eruption was probably possible because of a regional tectonic event within the basin or in its vicinity. It is proposed that a composite ignimbrite with the characteristics of the Kusandong Tuff can be an exemplary product of syntectonic volcanism that can provide an insight into the interpretation of structural and stratigraphic evolution of a sedimentary basin.     

Hydrothermal fluid-controlled remagnetization of sedimentary rocks in Korea: Tectonic importance of pervasive Tertiary remagnetization

In order to better understand the tectonic environment of the Korean Peninsula since Cretaceous, a paleomagnetic study was carried out on the Jinan Basin located in southwestern Korea. From the demagnetization of 597 samples, we found that remanence is carried by pyrrhotite and/or magnetite (black siltstone) and hematite (red siltstone), which is a common magnetic mineral assemblage of the rocks remagnetized in Early Tertiary in Korea. All the rock units recorded identical ancient geomagnetic field directions. In particular, paleodirections were better clustered in geographic coordinates, indicating a secondary origin. The presence of abundant silicates as inclusions within Fe-oxides and Fe-sulfides confirms the authigenic origin of the magnetic carriers, precipitated by fluid mediated chemical processes. Compilation of the Korean Cretaceous and Tertiary poles indicates that the Jinan Basin was remagnetized in the Early Tertiary age. In addition, comparison of the Korean Cretaceous and Tertiary poles with those from adjacent major terrains including China and Siberia reveals that a dominant feature of tectonic motions in Korea was a vertical-axis rotation. Sense of vertical-axis rotation was time-dependent, with clear distinction between clockwise rotation in Cretaceous and counter-clockwise rotation in Early Tertiary. Such differences in the mode of vertical axis rotation might be caused by the activities of basin-bounding strike–slip faults in Korea, possibly driven by the changes of subduction regime of the Kula-Pacific plate in Early Tertiary.     

Load–settlement behavior of rock-socketed drilled shafts using Osterberg-Cell tests

Osterberg-Cell (O-Cell) tests are widely used to predict the load–settlement behavior of large-diameter drilled shafts socketed in rock. The loading direction of O-Cell tests for shaft resistance is opposite to that of conventional downward load tests, meaning that the equivalent top load–settlement curve determined by the summation of the mobilized shaft resistance and end bearing at the same deflection neglects the pile-toe settlement caused by the load transmitted along the pile shaft. The emphasis is on quantifying the effect of coupled shaft resistance, which is closely related to the ratios of pile diameter to soil modulus (D/E_s) and total shaft resistance to total applied load (R_s/Q) in rock-socketed drilled shafts, using the coupled load-transfer method. The proposed analytical method, which takes into account the effect of coupled shaft resistance, was developed using a modified Mindlin’s point load solution. Through comparisons with field case studies, it was found that the proposed method reasonably estimated the load-transfer behavior of piles and coupling effects due to the transfer of shaft shear loading. These results represent a significant improvement in the prediction of load–settlement behaviors of drilled shafts subjected to bi-directional loading from the O-Cell test.     

Growth,feeding and ecological roles of the mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs

Planktonic mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are ubiquitous protists and often abundant in marine environments. Recently many phototrophic dinoflagellate species have been revealed to be mixotrophic organisms and also it is suggested that most dinoflagellates may be mixotrophic or heterotrophic protists. The mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on diverse prey items including bacteria, picoeukaryotes, nanoflagellates, diatoms, other dinoflagellates, heterotrophic protists, and metazoans due to their diverse feeding mechanisms. In turn they are ingested by many kinds of predators. Thus, the roles of the dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs are very diverse. The present paper reviewed the kind of prey which mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on, feeding mechanisms, growth and ingestion rates of dinoflagellates, grazing impact by dinoflagellate predators on natural prey populations, predators on dinoflagellates, and red tides dominated by dinoflagellates. Based on this information, we suggested a new marine planktonic food web focusing on mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates and provided an insight on the roles of dinoflagellates in the food web.     

西南极利文斯顿岛百耳斯半岛中生代火山岩地球化学特征

西南极利文斯顿岛百耳斯半岛中生代火山岩是晚侏罗纪至晚白垩纪三期火山活动的产物。岩石普遍贫钾,轻稀土元素略为富集,但轻重稀土分馏不强烈;Ｓｒ、Ｋ、Ｒｂ、Ｂａ、Ｔｈ等大离子亲石元素（ＬＩＬ）明显富集,Ｎｂ和Ｔａ明显亏损,过渡金属族元素Ｃｒ和Ｎｉ强烈亏损,表明它们属于火山弧环境中生成的钙碱性系列岩石。白垩纪中期和白垩纪晚期岩石的８７Ｓｒ／８６Ｓｒ比值主要在０．７０３９～０．７０５３之间变化,εＮｄ＞０,８７Ｓｒ／８６Ｓｒ相对１／Ｓｒ、Ｒｂ、Ｋ和ＳｉＯ２等的变化不大,表明其源区岩浆可能直接来自上地幔,很少受到壳源物质的混染。而晚侏罗纪火山岩的Ｓｒ同位素比值较高,说明早期岩浆可能受到少量地壳物质的混染。但在Ｔｈ／Ｔａ－Ｔｈ和Ｔｈ／Ｓｍ－Ｔｈ图解上所有岩石的投影点分布趋势相同,趋势线的斜率＞０。百耳斯半岛中生代火山岩是上地幔部分熔融生成的同源岩浆不同期的产物     

Where are the binary source gravitational microlensing events? II

Despite the same multiplicity of lenses and sources, the frequency of detection of binary source events is relatively very low compared with that of binary lens events. Dominik pointed out that the rarity of binary source events is caused mainly by the large difference in amplification between the component stars. In this paper, we determine that the fraction of events with similar source star amplifications is as large as ∼8 per cent, and thus show that the very low detection rate for binary source events cannot be explained by this effect alone. By carrying out realistic simulations of binary source events, we find that a significant number of binary source events are additionally missed from detection for various other reasons. First, if the flux ratio between the component stars is very large, the light curve of the bright star is hardly affected by the light from the faint star. Secondly, if the separation is too small, the binary source stars behave like a single star, making it difficult to separate the binary source event from a single source event. Finally, although the probability of detecting binary source events increases as the source separation increases, some fraction of binary source events will still be missed because the light curves of these events will mimic those of single source events with longer time-scales and larger values of the impact parameter.     

First record of three barracudina fishes (Aulopiformes: Teleostei) in Korean waters

Three barracudina fishes (Paralepididae) were newly recorded from the southern sea of Korea. Lestidium prolixum is characterized by a single band of luminous ducts on the midventral line and absence of a papilla anterior to the eye. Lestrolepis intermedia and L. japonica are similar in having a black papilla immediately in front of the eye and two bands of luminous ducts on the midventral line. However, the dorsal fin of L. intermedia is located more posterior along the body than that of L. japonica, and L. intermedia have larger number of anal fin rays 42 (vs. 36–40) and vertebrae 95 (vs. 86–87) than L. japonica.