The abyssal bounty fan and lower Bounty Channel: evolution of a rifted-margin sedimentary system

The Bounty Channel and Fan system provides the basis for a model for deep-sea channel and fan development in a rifted continental margin setting. The sedimentary system results from an interplay between tectonics (fan location; sediment source), turbidity currents (sediment supply), geostrophic currents (sediment reworking and distribution) and climate (sea level, and hence sediment supply and type). Today, sediment is shed from the collisional Southern Alps, part of the Pacific/Indo-Australian plate margin, and passes east across the adjacent shelf and into the Otago Fan complex at the head of the Bounty Trough. Paths of sediment supply, and locations of sediment deposition, are controlled by the bathymetry of the Bounty Trough, with axial slopes as high as 37 m/km (2°) towards the trough head, diminishing to around 3.5 m/km (0.2°) along the trough axis. The Bounty Fan is located 800 km further east, where the Bounty Channel debouches onto abyssal oceanic crust at the mouth of the Bounty Trough. The Bounty Fan comprises a basement controlled fan-channel complex with high leveed banks exhibiting fields of mud waves, and a northward-elongated middle fan. Channel-axis gradients diminish from 6 m/km (0.35°) or more on the upper fan to less than 1 m/km (<0.06°) on the lower fan. Parts of the left bank levee and almost the entire middle fan are being eroded and re-entrained within a Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), which passes along the eastern New Zealand margin at depths below 2000 m. The DWBC is the prime source of deep, cold water flow into the Pacific Ocean, with a volume of ca. 20 Sv and velocities up to 4 cm/s or greater. The mouth of the Bounty Channel, at a depth of 4950 m at the south end of the middle fan, acts as a point source for an abyssal sediment drift entrained northward under the DWBC at depths below 4300 m. The Bounty Fan probably originated in the early to middle Neogene, but has mostly been built during the last 3 Myr (Plio-Pleistocene), predominantly as climate-controlled sedimentary couplets of terrigenous, micaceous mud (acoustically reflective; glacial) and biopelagic ooze (acoustically transparent; interglacial), deposited under the pervasive influence of the DWBC.     

High-frequency near-bottom acoustic reflection signatures of hydrocarbon seeps on the Northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope

 Acoustic reflection signatures of four hydro-carbon seeps were classified using near-bottom 25-kHz echosounder profiles. Echo patterns were compared with ground-truth data obtained by submersible observations and shallow coring. Six echo types were distinguished: strong reflections from (1) exposed or (2) buried hard substrates, such as authigenic carbonate or gas hydrate; acoustic scattering in (3) unlayered or (4) layered sediments owing to gas, shells, or disseminated carbonates; (5) attenuation caused by gas; and (6) undisturbed sediments. Echo type distributions suggest that high spatial variability indicates a younger, vigorous seep, whereas extensive hard substrate implies an older, encrusted seep. Received: 29 May 1998 / Revision received: 7 October 1998     

Electron microscopic observations of shale diagenesis, offshore Louisiana, USA, Gulf of Mexico

 Scanning and transmission electron microscopic analyses of shale samples from offshore Louisiana, USA, Gulf of Mexico, reveal the relationship between mineralogical and microfabric changes during burial diagenesis. The local geopressured zone begins at 2200-m depth. Above that depth the shales are smectite-rich, generally lack particle orientation, and contain appreciable pores. Below the 2200-m depth, the shales become more illite-rich with increasing burial, more crystalline, and less porous. Microfabric changes are mainly caused by compaction during burial diagenesis; mineralogical changes (smectite-to-illite) and crystal growth also play an important role in fabric alteration during deep burial diagenesis. Received: 12 May 1998 / Revision received: 14 July 1998     

Cenozoic tectonics of Amazon Mouth Basin

 The Cenozoic shelf margin of the Amazon Mouth Basin is characterized by a thick prograding prism of siliciclastic sediments. This prism, composed mainly of Upper Miocene and younger sediments, overlies a Lower Tertiary carbonate shelf. Two tectonic–sedimentary models for the area were developed with the aid of new deep-reflection seismic data. Gravitational tectonics dominate the regional geological framework. Tensional stresses are created near the shelf margin, and compressional features dominate at the base of the slope. The morphology of this compressional zone is closely associated with the St. Paul Fracture Zone and the boundary between continental and oceanic crusts. Received: 20 August 1996 / Revision received: 11 June 1998     

不规则波远破波对直墙的作用

基于物模试验、理论推理、因次分析和工程实例验证等综合分析方法,就不规则波远破波对直墙作用力的计算方法进行了研究,用推荐的方法得到的结果与工程实例符合较好.     

地形与热源强迫下的南方涛动

用El Nino和La Nina位相时的海温异常和地形作为大气下垫面的异常强迫,引入IAP的两层原始方程大气环流模式,模拟出了南方涛动的典型结构.当去掉地形后,仅仅由海温异常也能模拟出太平洋东西部的气压异常振荡,但太平洋东部振荡中心的位置并不与观测的一致.由此可见,观测到的南方涛动是在实际地形下对全球海温异常的响应.     

夏季对马暖流区黑潮水与陆架水的相互作用──兼论对马暖流的起源

根据1994年8月28日至9月7日韩国“Onnuri”号海洋调查船获得的CTD资料及在调查期间投放的11个卫星跟踪漂流浮标资料,分析研究了东海东北部黑潮水的分离及其与陆架水的相互作用,进而探讨了夏季的对马暖流的形成过程。     

CC区多金属结核分布特征及其与地质地理环境因素之间的关系

根据１９８７、１９８８、１９９０年东北赤道太平洋ＣＣ区的３个航次多金属结核调查资料的统计分析，结果表明，ＣＣ区自西向东，从北向南，多金属结核丰度，覆盖率、形态、粒径和化学组分等具明显的区域分布规律，但在这一区域性分布背景上，结核的局部分布很复杂。     

南方鲇成鱼的静止代谢率的季节变化

于１９９１年９月－１９９２年７月，运用连续流水呼吸仪测定由嘉陵江捕获的南方鲇成鱼的静止代谢率，在１０．０，１６．０，２１．８，２２．２和２７．４℃条件下，雌鱼的测定值是８．６９９，２１．９８０，２５．４１２，３０．５６３，３４．４６３和３２．４８３Ｏ２ｍｇ／（ｋｇ．ｈ）；雄鱼的是８．１４，１９．５６８，２６，８３０，２９。４２６，３２，１５６和３２．０９８Ｏ２ｍｇ／（ｋｇ．ｈ）。采用统计模型，将测     

潜艇内人员质量对重力梯度探测影响分析

潜艇在水下进行重力梯度探测与导航过程中,利用重力梯度仪测量所在位置的重力梯度张量来感知周边海底地形起伏以及规避障碍物,由于潜艇中人员具有一定的质量,人员在理论上会对重力梯度测量值产生影响.为分析人员质量对重力梯度测量的影响,将人体简化为立方体模型,计算人体在潜艇内不同高度处的重力梯度异常分布情况,分析其对重力梯度探测的...