The Levant Slumps and the Phoenician Structures: collapse features along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

Two distinct series of slumps deform the upper part of the sedimentary sequence along the continental margin of the Levant. One series is found along the base of the continental slope, where it overlies the disrupted eastern edge of the Messinian evaporites. The second series of slumps transects the continental margin from the shelf break to the Levant Basin. It seemed that the two series were triggered by two unrelated, though contemporaneous, processes. The shore-parallel slumps were initiated by basinwards flow of the Messinian salt, that carried along the overlying Plio-Quaternary sediments. Seawater that percolated along the detachment faults dissolved the underlying salt to form distinctly disrupted structures. The slope-normal slumps are located on top of large canyons that cut into the pre-Messinian sedimentary rocks. A layer of salt is found in the canyons, and the Plio-Quaternary sediments were deposited on that layer. The slumps are bounded by large, NW-trending faults where post-Messinian faulted offset was measured. We presume that the flow of the salt in the canyons also drives the slope-normal slumps. Thus thin-skinned halokynetic processes generated the composite post-Tortonian structural patterns of the Levant margin. The Phoenician Structures are a prime example of the collapse of a distal continental margin due to the dissolution of a massive salt layer.     

北京举办"863"计划成就展览海洋高技术发展取得瞩目成就

2月26日,在北京展览馆举办的由科技部、解放军总装备部主办,科技部高技术研究发展中心承办的“863”计划15年成就展览,展示了我国实施这一计划15周年取得的丰硕成果。海洋高技术是国家高技术研究开发计划的重要组成部分。展览会上,参观者们饶有兴趣地参观了令人瞩目的海洋高技术。 发展海洋高技术,是揭示海洋奥秘、维护海     

现代黄河三角洲土地利用变化分析

人类对海岸带的开发利用影响着海岸的变迁。土地利用和土地覆被变化可以说是自然与人文过程交叉最为密切的问题，是人地关系的具体体现。通过对黄河三角洲土地利用变化的研究，可了解人为因素对三角洲海岸带的开发利用状况及其对海岸侵蚀的影响。根据1987年和2001年两期卫星遥感图像和2001年野外调查数据，运用地理信息系统方法及数理统计方法，分析了现代黄河三角洲地区1987年至2001年土地利用／覆被的数量变化和空间变化特征；揭示了该地区各类土地利用数量变化的幅度、速度和土地利用空间变化的主要类型；阐明了该区各类土地利用变化的区域特点。该地区土地利用变化速度比整个环渤海地区速度快，草地、滩地和不明地类这3种类型大量减少，其他类型增多。从变化率来看，养殖区、库塘、油田用地增长最快。库塘、海滩养殖区等类型的增加，滨海草地的减少，使海岸侵蚀加剧。     

An Experimental Study of Several Special Issues Regarding the Ice Force on Conical Structures

The effect of the cone spacing of a conieal structure on the ice force is studied by model experiments. The ice force reduction coefficient presented in this paper expresses the relationship between the ice force and the arrangement of cones. The experiments prove that the mode of the ice failure before the boundary of upward-downward bending cone (UDBC) is crushing. A conclusion can also be drawn from the experiments that the ice force on the boundary of UDBC is by far less than that on a vertical pile with the same diameter. Moreover, the ice force frequencies on upright and inve-rted cones are obtained under the field condition of the platform JZ20-2, respectively. The results show that the alterna-tion of the ice force on UDBC can hardly induce resonance of platform JZ20-2.     

Model Test Study of Dynamic Ice Force on Compliant Conical Structures

To study ice-induced vibration of a compliant conical structure,a series of model tests were performed from 2004 to 2005.In the tests,the ice sheet before the compliant conical structure was found to fail in two-time breaking.From 2005 to 2006,this type of ice failure was studied through more groups of tests.The tests show that two-time breaking is the typical failure of ice before steep conical structures,and is controlled by other factors at the same time,such as ice speed and the angle of the cone.     

Mixed layer variability in Northern Arabian Sea as detected by an Argo float

Seasonal evolution of surface mixed layer in the Northern Arabian Sea (NAS) between 17° N–20.5° N and 59° E-69° E was observed by using Argo float daily data for about 9 months, from April 2002 through December 2002. Results showed that during April - May mixed layer shoaled due to light winds, clear sky and intense solar insolation. Sea surface temperature (SST) rose by 2.3 °C and ocean gained an average of 99.8 Wm⁻². Mixed layer reached maximum depth of about 71 m during June - September owing to strong winds and cloudy skies. Ocean gained abnormally low ∼18 Wm⁻² and SST dropped by 3.4 °C. During the inter monsoon period, October, mixed layer shoaled and maintained a depth of 20 to 30 m. November - December was accompanied by moderate winds, dropping of SST by 1.5 °C and ocean lost an average of 52.5 Wm⁻². Mixed layer deepened gradually reaching a maximum of 62 m in December. Analysis of surface fluxes and winds suggested that winds and fluxes are the dominating factors causing deepening of mixed layer during summer and winter monsoon periods respectively. Relatively high correlation between MLD, net heat flux and wind speed revealed that short term variability of MLD coincided well with short term variability of surface forcing.     

Spatial and Temporal Variations of Sound Speed at the PN Section

Gridded sound speed data were calculated using Del Grosso's formulation from the temperature and salinity data at the PN section in the East China Sea covering 92 cruises between February 1978 and October 2000. The vertical gradients of sound speed are mainly related to the seasonal variations, and the strong horizontal gradients are mainly related to the Kuroshio and the upwelling. The standard deviations show that great variations of sound speed exist in the upper layer and in the slope zone. Empirical orthogonal function analysis shows that contributions of surface heating and the Kuroshio to sound speed variance are almost equivalent. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Seasonal variations of water system distribution and flow patterns in the southern sea area of Hokkaido,Japan

Hydrographic data and composite current velocity data (ADCP and GEK) were used to examine the seasonal variations of upper-ocean flow in the southern sea area of Hokkaido, which includes the “off-Doto” and “Hidaka Bay” areas separated by Cape Erimo. During the heating season (April–September), the outflow of the Tsugaru Warm Current (TWC) from the Tsugaru Strait first extends north-eastward, and then one branch of TWC turns to the west along the shelf slope after it approaches the Hidaka Shelf. The main flow of TWC evolves continuously, extending eastward as far as the area off Cape Erimo. In the late cooling season (January–March), part of the Oyashio enters Hidaka Bay along the shallower part of the shelf slope through the area off Cape Erimo, replacing almost all of the TWC water, and hence the TWC devolves. It is suggested that the bottom-controlled barotropic flow of the Oyashio, which may be caused by the small density difference between the Oyashio and the TWC waters and the southward migration of main front of TWC, permits the Oyashio water to intrude along the Hidaka shelf slope.     

Atmospheric forcing of fine-sand transport on a low-energy inner shelf: south-central Louisiana,USA

Hydrodynamic and sediment transport measurements from instrumentation deployed during a 54-day winter period at two sites on the Louisiana inner shelf are presented. Strong extratropical storms, with wind speeds of 7.8 to 15.1 m s^-1, were the dominant forcing mechanism during the study. These typically caused mean oscillatory flows and shear velocities about 33% higher than fair weather (averaging 12.3 and 3.2 cm s^-1 at the landward site, and 11.4 and 2.7 cm s^-1 at the seaward site, respectively). These responses were coupled with mean near-bottom currents more than twice as strong as during fair weather (10.3 and 7.5 cm s^-1 at the landward and seaward sites, respectively). These flowed in approximately the same direction as the veering wind, causing a net offshore transport of fine sand. Weak storms were responsible for little sediment transport whereas during fair weather, onshore sand transport of approximately 25-75% of the storm values appears to have occurred. This contradicts previous predictions of negligible fair-weather sediment movement on this inner shelf.