Coral Recruitment and Regeneration on a Maldivian Reef 21 Months after the Coral Bleaching Event of 1998

Abstract. This paper describes the quantitative inventory of stony corals on a Maldivian reef after the bleaching event of 1998. The detailed data, collected in March 1999 and March 2000, comprise survival, new recruitment and regenerates. They were obtained in 6 transects laid out randomly on the reef flat, on 22 Acropora tables on 6 sites at the reef edge and on 39 Porites lobata blocks and 1 Diploastrea heliopora colony. The present cover of living zooxanthellate corals is reduced to ca. 2 – 5 % of its previous state. Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae were practically wiped out, while Poritidae survived partly and Agariciidae (esp. Pavona) are now the dominant group. New settlements on dead Acropora tables were mainly Agariciidae, followed by Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae. Regenerates on Porites were pronounced and the apparent yearly increase in mass was about threefold that of Diploastrea, which is 3 – 4 mm per year. The influence on reef ecology in terms of coral substrate and species, possible sources of larvae, change of guilds in reef builders, other species and the prospect for further development of the reef, with respect to growth versus erosion, is discussed.     

Multi-Scale Texture Modeling

Patterns of crystallographic preferred orientation are referred to as texture. The specific subject of texture analysis is the experimental determination and interpretation of the statistical distribution of orientations of crystals within a specimen of polycrystalline material, which could be metals or rocks. The objective is to relate an observed pattern of preferred orientation to its generating processes and vice versa. In geosciences, texture of minerals in rocks is used to infer constraints on their tectono-metamorphic history. Since most physical properties of crystals, such as elastic moduli, the coefficients of thermal expansion, or chemical resistance to etching depends on crystal symmetry and orientation, the presence of texture imparts directional properties to the polycrystalline material. A major issue of mathematical texture analysis is the resolution of the inverse problem to determine a reasonable orientation density function on SO(3) from measured pole intensities on , which relates to the inverse of the totally geodesic Radon transform. This communication introduces a wavelet approach into mathematical texture analysis. Wavelets on the two-dimensional sphere and on the rotational group SO(3) are discussed, and an algorithms for a wavelet decomposition on both domains following the ideas of Ta-Hsin Li is given. The relationship of these wavelets on both domains with respect to the totally geodesic Radon transform is investigated. In particular, it is shown that the Radon transform of these wavelets on SO(3) are again wavelets on . A novel algorithm for the inversion of experimental pole intensities to an orientation density function based on this relationship is developed.     

TRANSALP—deep crustal Vibroseis and explosive seismic profiling in the Eastern Alps

The TRANSALP consortium, comprising institutions from Italy, Austria and Germany, carried out deep seismic reflection measurements in the Eastern Alps between Munich and Venice in 1998, 1999 and 2001. In order to complement each other in resolution and depth range, the Vibroseis technique was combined with simultaneous explosive source measurements. Additionally, passive cross-line recording provided three-dimensional control and alternative north–south sections. Profits were obtained by the combination of the three methods in sectors or depths where one method alone was less successful.The TRANSALP sections clearly image a thin-skinned wedge of tectonic nappes at the northern Alpine front zone, unexpected graben or half-graben structures within the European basement, and, thick-skinned back-thrusting in the southern frontal zone beneath the Dolomite Mountains. A bi-vergent structure at crustal scale is directed from the Alpine axis to the external parts. The Tauern Window obviously forms the hanging wall ramp anticline above a southward dipping, deep reaching reflection pattern interpreted as a tectonic ramp along which the Penninic units of the Tauern Window have been up-thrusted.The upper crystalline crust appears generally transparent. The lower crust in the European domain is characterized by a 6–7 km thick laminated structure. On the Adriatic side the lower crust displays a much thicker or twofold reflective pattern. The crustal root at about 55 km depth is shifted around 50 km to the south with respect to the main Alpine crest.     

Crustal structure of the Eastern Alps along the TRANSALP profile from wide-angle seismic tomography

The objective of the TRANSALP project is an investigation of the Eastern Alps with regard to their deep structure and dynamic evolution. The core of the project is a 340-km-long seismic profile at 12°E between Munich and Venice. This paper deals with the P-wave velocity distribution as derived from active source travel time tomography. Our database consists of Vibroseis and explosion seismic travel times recorded at up to 100 seismological stations distributed in a 30-km-wide corridor along the profile. In order to derive a velocity and reflector model, we simultaneously inverted refractions and reflections using a derivative of a damped least squares approach for local earthquake tomography. 8000 travel time picks from dense Vibroseis recordings provide the basis for high resolution in the upper crust. Explosion seismic wide-angle reflection travel times constrain both deeper crustal velocities and structure of the crust–mantle boundary with low resolution. In the resulting model, the Adriatic crust shows significantly higher P-wave velocities than the European crust. The European Moho is dipping south at an angle of 7°. The Adriatic Moho dips north with a gentle inclination at shallower depths. This geometry suggests S-directed subduction. Azimuthal variations of the first-break velocities as well as observations of shear wave splitting reveal strong anisotropy in the Tauern Window. We explain this finding by foliations and laminations generated by lateral extrusion. Based on the P-wave model we also localized almost 100 local earthquakes recorded during the 2-month acquisition campaign in 1999. Seismicity patterns in the North seem related to the Inn valley shear zone, and to thrusting of Austroalpine units over European basement. The alignment of deep seismicity in the Trento-Vicenza region with the top of the Adriatic lower crust corroborates the suggestion of a deep thrust fault in the Southern Alps.     

The holstein interglaciation: Time-stratigraphic position and correlation to stable-isotope stratigraphy of deep-sea sediments

Marine molluscan shells from para-type and other loclities of the Holsteinian interglaciation were dated by Th/U and the electron spin resonance (ESR) method to more than 350,000 and 370,000 yr B.P., beyond the limit of Th/U dating. The high age estimate is corroborated by a K/Ar age of 420,000 yr B.P. determined from volcanic ash near the base of the Ariendorf paleosol in the Middle Rhine valley believed to be a pedostratigraphic equivalent of the Holsteinian. Shells from the Herzeele marine unit III, an equivalent of the Wacken (Dömnitz) warm stage in northern France and subsequent to the Holsteinian, revealed ages between 300,000 and 350,000 yr B.P. A correlation of these two warm stages with marine oxygen-isotope stages 11 and 9 on the SPECMAP and CARTUNE time scales is suggested. From the benthic oxygen-isotope record one may infer that no exceptionally high global sea-level rise corresponds to the large transgressions of the Holstein Sea in northern Germany. Therefore, a significant proportion of the transgression was probably the result of an unusually large local glacial-isostatic depression caused by the extreme buildup of ice during the preceding Elster glaciation (stage 12). According to the deep-sea record, it lasted approximately 50% longer than the subsequent cold stage 10. The outstanding soil formation with Braunlehm and the well-developed thermal optimum of the Holsteinian are tentatively related to a phase of minimum sea-ice cover in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, as deduced from long benthic carbon-isotope records from the central Atlantic.     

Effects of natural attenuation processes on groundwater contamination caused by abandoned waste sites in Berlin

The aim of this research project is to identify, characterize and quantify natural attenuation (NA) processes in groundwater affected by emissions of abandoned waste disposal sites in Berlin-Kladow/Gatow, Germany. It is part of the funding priority called KORA established by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) to explore the extent to which NA can be used for remedial purposes for varied forms of soil and groundwater contamination. Information on the emission behaviour of individual parameters is generated on the basis of hydrogeochemical comparison of 20 years old and new data. Using groundwater-modelling and CFC-analysis, information on the transport and retention of pollutants in groundwater is compiled. The microbial colonization of contaminated aquifers is characterized by molecular biological methods [polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE)] to differentiate between contaminated and not contaminated zones.     

Leaching and differential recrystallization of metamict zircon under experimental hydrothermal conditions

We report results of hydrothermal experiments on four alluvial zircons from Sri Lanka, which cover a wide range of radiation damage, at 450 °C and 1.3 kbar for 744 h with 2 M CaCl₂ solution as reactive fluid. After the hydrothermal treatment, the most metamict samples show micrometer-thick reaction rims, which surround apparently unreacted zircon, as revealed by cathodoluminescence (CL) and Nomarski differential interference contrast (NDIC) images. These rims have sharp, curved, and transgressive boundaries with unreacted zircon and are, in some cases, spread out along cracks. The thickness of reaction rims increases with increasing cumulated !-dosage of the starting materials. The reaction rims are strongly enriched in Ca (up to 7000 ppm) and a water species and depleted in radiogenic Pb, Zr, and Si, as revealed by electron microprobe analyses. A significant Th loss from the reaction rims was detected in the case of the most metamict sample, whereas U remained in the structure. FT-infrared spectrometry and X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the bulk run products were recrystallized. Using micro-Raman spectrometry, we were able to demonstrate that differential recrystallization took place. The reaction rims are strongly recrystallized, whereas the unreacted grain interiors underwent only minor recrystallization. Recrystallization of the rims is accompanied by an enhancement of the integral CL intensity. It is suggested that recrystallization in the reaction rims was catalyzed by water infiltration and ion exchange and prevented significant congruent zircon dissolution under the given experimental conditions. Previous zircon studies have shown that (1) a transgressive morphology, (2) a reduced Th-U ratio, and (3) an enhanced CL emission are also characteristics of rims in zircons from high-grade metamorphic rocks. Based on these similarities between natural and experimentally produced rims, it is suggested that leaching-catalyzed recrystallization is an important alteration process in zircon under wet geological conditions and can account for many complex core-rim structures found in natural zircons. Furthermore, the strong enrichment of Ca in the reaction rims supports previous assumptions that high Ca concentrations in natural zircons are of secondary origin. It is suggested that lower U-Pb concordia intercept ages obtained from single-phase zircons with high Ca contents date a leaching event.     

地下闭式循环地热交换发电系统简介

为解决能源问题而提出了地下闭式循环地热交换发电系统.该系统地下部分通过全井下套管形成一个封闭系统,克服了传统地热发电和干热岩发电受地质条件制约、对环境造成危害等缺点,是一种新型的不依赖位置、环境友好的地热发电系统.采用大位移技术进行钻井,应用悬链线技术对井身剖面结构进行了优化,提出了地下连接技术要求,应用分支井和膨胀套管技术固井,设计了水泥配方并进行了相关试验,优化了载热流体,计算了有机工质朗肯循环(ORC)的发电效率.