Effect of estradiol-17β on pituitary-thyroidal axis of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica)

In teleost sPeCies, it is well accepted that estradiol--l75 (E2 )is generated from ovarian fOl-licles stimulated by pituitary gonadOtropins (GTH) (Nagahama, l987). FUrthermore, E2 canstimulate hepatic vitellngenesis and elevate plasrna yOlk protein precursor vite1lOgenin, totalCa and W levels in several teleosts (KorSgaard and Petersen, l976, l978; Whiteheadet al., l978; Elliott et al., l979; Pertersen et al., l983; Wallace, 1985; tapigliati etal., 1999). On the other hand, many stud…     

Metamorphic P-T conditions and variation of REE between two garnet generations from granulites in the Sør-Rondane mountains,East Antarctica

Mineralogy and Petrology - In this paper, we describe the metamorphic conditions of Fe-rich granulite and variations in rare earth elements (REE) between peak garnet porphyroblasts and secondary...     

贵州罗甸二叠纪末生物大灭绝事件后沉积的微生物岩时代和沉积学特征

二叠纪末期发生的显生宙以来最大的生物绝灭事件,使海洋生态系统和陆地生态系统均受到重创之后,微生物岩广泛分布于全球正常浅海地区。研究认为,扬子地台在二叠纪末期存在一次海平面降低的事件,造成研究区二叠纪地层与早三叠世微生物岩之间存在沉积间断或剥蚀,并使三叠纪牙形石混入二叠纪末期的沉积物中。二叠-三叠系界线位于微生物岩层的底界;微生物岩形成于早三叠世最早期,相当于Hindeodus parvus带,是早三叠世最早期开始的海侵事件为其提供生长所需的可容纳空间。在Isarcicella staeschei带-I. isarcica带早期再次发生相对海平面降低事件,之后海平面开始快速上升。研究区早三叠世早期的微生物岩以凝块构造发育为特征,具有斑状、层状、枝状和网状凝块构造4种典型中型构造。结合前人的工作,认为微生物群落通过生物沉积和物理沉积作用形成球状体,球状体汇聚形成不同的中型凝块构造。研究扬子地台早三叠世凝块石的确切时代和结构、构造类型特征,为准确恢复生物大灭绝事件前后的环境变迁以及生物演化事件与环境变化的相互作用关系提供重要的证据。     

A simple and robust procedure for coring unconsolidated sediment in shallow water

This article describes a simple, quick, and inexpensive procedure for coring unconsolidated sediment in shallow water (<30 m from water surface). A ∼1 m core is retrieved by a PVC pipe that penetrates sediment in response to the percussive force of a hand-operated hammering tool or air hammer. After retrieving the first core segment, a casing is inserted to allow access to deeper sediment layers. Pulverized sediment produced during coring is removed by a water-lubrication system that is powered by an electric pump attached to a generator. Using this system and procedure, five 2-m-long cores with excellent quality were retrieved.     

Inferred ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism of amphibolitized olivine granulite from the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica

This paper reports the first evidence of ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism from the Sør Rondane Mountains, eastern Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, which is evident as orthopyroxene + spinel symplectite in an amphibolitized mafic granulite. The granulite consists of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, pargasitic amphibole, plagioclase, and ilmenite, and it possesses a within-plate alkali basalt signature. The local bulk chemical composition of symplectite, major and trace element compositions, and thermodynamic calculations for the symplectite, suggest the presence of garnet at the high-pressure stage and that the symplectite formed from garnet, olivine, and primary orthopyroxene by decompression from more than 12 kbar at 1000 °C. The granulite records a subsequent amphibolite-facies overprint (<700 °C at <6 kbar) that involved the chemical re-equilibration of several phases. The obtained pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions and P–T path are different from the UHT metamorphism from the Schirmacher Hills, central Dronning Maud Land, which is considered to have occurred in a back-arc tectonic setting. The relatively high-P conditions and the decompression path reconstructed in the present study are similar to those reported for southern India, Sri Lanka, and part of northeastern Mozambique, possibly reflecting continental thickening and exhumation during the main collision event between East and West Gondwana.     

Impact-pressure controlled orientation of shatter cone magnetizations in Sierra Madera,Texas, USA

A suite of Sierra Madera Impact deformed rocks was studied and magnetic analyses were performed. We characterized the magnetic signatures of two locations, sites A and B that have different physical characteristics of shock fractured structures as well as the magnetic signatures. Shatter cone at site A has a fine-scale (few to ∼10 mm) distributed array of complete shatter cones with sharp apex. Natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of site A shatter cone is distributed within the plane that is perpendicular to the apexes of the cones. Shatter cone at site B shows no apparent cone shape or apex, instead, a relatively larger scale and multiple striated joint set (MSJS) and sinusoidal continuous peak. NRM of site B shatter cone is clustered along the apexes. The difference in magnetization direction is a likely indicator of the shock pressure where parallel to apex indicates pressures larger than 10 GPa and perpendicular to apex indicate pressures less than 10 GPa. Intensities of NRM and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) contrast and fluctuate within a shatter cone as well as in between two sites. We observed a random orientation of magnetic vector directions and amplitudes changing over small scales leading to the absence of coherent macro-scale signature.     

The effect of mineralization on the ratio of normal to tangential compliance of fractures

The effect of a fracture on the propagation of seismic waves can be represented in terms of the normal compliance B_N and tangential compliance B_T of the fracture. If   B_N / B_T = 1  for all fractures, the effective elastic stiffness tensor of an isotropic background containing an arbitrary orientation distribution of fractures is orthotropic (i.e., has three orthogonal planes of mirror symmetry) in the long-wave limit. However, deviations from orthotropy may occur if   B_N / B_T   differs significantly from unity and this can cause the principal axes of the P -wave NMO ellipse and of the variation in the PP -reflection amplitude as a function of azimuth, to deviate from the fast and slow polarization direction of a vertically propagating S -wave. Simple models of a fracture in terms of a planar distribution of cracks suggest that   B_N / B_T ≈ 1  for dry fractures. However, naturally occurring fractures often exhibit mineralization in the form of bridges between opposing faces of the fracture. The presence of such bridges leads to significant departures of   B_N / B_T   from unity.     

Chrome spinel in normal MORB‐type greenstones from the Paleozoic–Mesozoic Mino terrane,East Takayama area,central Japan: Crystallization course with a U‐turn

Phenocrystic chrome spinel crystallized in normal MORB‐type greenstones in the East Takayama area. Associated phenocryst minerals show a crystallization sequence that was olivine first, followed by plagioclase, and finally clinopyroxene. Chrome spinel ranges from 0.54 to 0.77 in Mg/(Mg+Fe²⁺) and 0.21 to 0.53 in Cr/(Cr+Al); the Fe³⁺ content varies from 0.07 to 0.22 p.f.u. (O = 4). Significant compositional differences of spinel were observed among the phenocryst mineral assemblages. Chrome spinel in the olivine–spinel assemblage shows a wide range in Cr/(Cr+Al), and is depleted in Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺. Chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene–spinel assemblage is Fe²⁺‐ and Fe³⁺‐rich at relatively high Cr/(Cr+Al) ratios. Basalt with the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage contains both aluminous spinel and Fe²⁺‐ and Fe³⁺‐rich spinel. The assumed olivine–spinel equilibrium suggests that chrome spinel in the olivine–spinel assemblage changed in composition from Cr‐ and Fe²⁺‐rich to Al‐ and Mg‐rich with the progress of fractional crystallization. Chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–clinopyroxene–spinel assemblage, on the other hand, exhibits the reversed variations in Mg/(Mg+Fe²⁺) and in Cr/(Cr+Al) ratios that decrease and increase with the fractional crystallization, respectively. The entire crystallization course of chrome spinel, projected onto the Mg/(Mg+Fe²⁺)–Cr/(Cr+Al) diagram, exhibits a U‐turn, and appears to be set on a double‐lane route. The U‐turn point lies in the compositional field of chrome spinel in the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage, and may be explained by plagioclase fractionation that began during the formation of the olivine–plagioclase–spinel assemblage.     

Discovery of a c.370 Ma granitic gneiss clast from the Hwanggangri pebble-bearing phyllite in the Okcheon metamorphic belt, Korea

The chemical Th–U total Pb isochron method (CHIME) of dating was carried out on accessory minerals in samples from the Okcheon metamorphic belt in Korea. Dated minerals include xenotime and monazite with overgrown mantles in a granitic gneiss clast from the Hwanggangri Formation, metamorphic allanite in garnet-bearing muscovite–chlorite schist of the Munjuri Formation, and polycrase and monazite in post-tectonic granite from the Hwanggangri area. Overgrowth of mantles took place at 369 ± 10 Ma on c. 1750 Ma cores of xenotime and monazite in the granitic gneiss. Allanite, occurring in textural equilibrium with peak metamorphic minerals, yields a CHIME age of 246 ± 15 Ma that is discriminably older than the polycrase (170 ± 6 Ma) and monazite (170 ± 3 Ma) ages of the post-tectonic granite. These chronological data suggest that some of the metasedimentary rocks in the belt formed through a single stage of metamorphism at c. 250 Ma from post-370 Ma sediments. Late Permian age signatures have also been reported from the Precambrian Gyeonggi and Yeongnam massifs that border the Okcheon metamorphic belt, and indicate that parts of the basement massifs and the metamorphic belt were affected by the same regional metamorphic event.