A 1600-year history of the Labrador Current off Nova Scotia

A multicore from Emerald Basin, on the continental margin off Nova Scotia, has a modern ¹⁴C age at the top, and other ¹⁴C dates indicate a linear sedimentation rate of ~30 cm/ka to 1600 calendar years BP. This rate is great enough to record century-to-millennial scale changes in the surface and deep (~250 m) waters in the basin that are influenced by the Labrador Current. We applied five proxies for seawater temperature changes to the sediments of Emerald Basin, including the percent abundance and the oxygen isotope ratio (d ¹⁸O) of the polar planktonic foraminifer N. pachyderma (s.), the unsaturation ratio of alkenones (U ^k' ₃₇) produced by prymnesiophyte phytoplankton, and the d ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca of benthic foraminifera. All five proxies indicate the ocean warmed suddenly sometime in the past 150 years or so. The exact timing of this event is uncertain because ¹⁴C dating is inaccurate in recent centuries, but this abrupt warming probably correlates with widespread evidence for warming in the Arctic in the nineteenth century. Because the Canadian Archipelago is one of the two main sources for the Labrador Current, warming and melting of ice caps in that region may have affected Labrador Current properties. Before this recent warming, sea surface temperature was continually lower by 1–2 °C, and bottom water was colder by about 6 °C in Emerald Basin. These results suggest that there was no Medieval Warm Period in the coastal waters off Nova Scotia. Because there is also no evidence of medieval warming in the Canadian archipelago, it seems likely that coastal waters from Baffin Bay to at least as far south as Nova Scotia were continually cold for ~1500 of the past 1600 years.     

Coral recruitment onto an experimental pulverised fuel ash-concrete artificial reef

An experimental artificial reef was deployed in December 1993 at Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park, Hong Kong. This is the first study documenting natural scleractinian coral recruitment onto a stabilised pulverised fuel ash (PFA)-concrete artificial reef. Visible recruits were first recorded 9-10 months after the placement of reef blocks, i.e., in the autumn of 1994. Two scleractinians, Oulastrea crispata and Culicia japonica, were recruited. The recruit density of the former was much greater than the latter. The spatial recruitment pattern of the corals was observed to be affected by the orientation of the attaching surface. O. crispata settled predominantly on the undersides of the reef blocks. There was an edge effect on O. crispata recruitment. C. japonica, however, had a preference for exposed surfaces. O. crispata did not show a preference for block composition whereas C. japonica favoured blocks with high (75% by volume) PFA levels. This shows that PFA-concrete is a potential substratum for artificial reef construction, especially when such reefs aim at rehabilitating corals.     

Şarköy-Mürefte 1912 Earthquake's Tsunami, extension of the associated faulting in the Marmara Sea, Turkey

The historical tsunamis in the Marmara Seawere mainly caused by earthquakes andneeded to be documented. Following 1999Izmit earthquake occurred at the EasternMarmara region, a complete inventory ofactive faults in the Marmara Sea regionbecame much more stressed. To the west, thelatest event is 09.08.1912arköy-Mürefte Earthquake. Itoccurred on the active Ganos Fault zone andwas one of the largest earthquakes in theBalkans. The eastern termination of theassociated faulting is in the deep WestMarmara Trough, westernmost of thesuccessive basins forming the Marmara Sea.On the basis of recent multibeam bathymetryand seismic reflection data, estimatedtotal length of the surface rupture isabout 56 km. The historical data reviewedfrom library and archive documents,geological field surveys and offshoregeophysical investigations have shown thatthe 1912 earthquake produced a tsunami. Inaddition a seabed dislocation, the sourceof 1912 tsunami can also be assigned to thesediment slumps appearing in the form ofechelon landslide prisms along the southernslopes of the West Marmara Trough.     

Investigation of solid waste soil as road construction material

The geotechnical properties of solid waste soils for use as sub-base materials in road construction were investigated. A series of field tests and laboratory tests were performed to assess the physical and mechanical properties of the solid waste soils sampled from a landfill site, near to a riverside, which had been reclaimed over the last two decades. The tests showed that geotechnical properties are clearly affected by the magnitude of organic matter content. As the organic matter content increases, the maximum dry unit weight, the shear strength and bearing capacity of ground decrease, while the void ratio and compressibility increase. If the organic matter content is more than about 8% in solid waste soils, it is not suitable for use as a sub-base material in road construction due to the significant decrease of shear strength and bearing capacity.     

Evaluation of remedial alternatives for a petroleum contaminated unconfined aquifer with fluctuating groundwater level

This study evaluated remedial alternatives for a petroleum-contaminated site where an unconfined aquifer composed of a sandy layer of about 3–3.5 m thickness is covered by alluvial deposits and reclaimed soil of about 1.5 m thickness. Precambrian gneiss, of low permeability, lies below the sandy layer. The shallow water table is about 3 m below the surface, but shows high fluctuations of up to 1.5 m in response to precipitation events. The unsaturated soil near the water table and the groundwater are highly contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, especially toluene, which have apparently leaked from storage tanks. Selection of the remedial alternatives required consideration of the relevant laws on soil and groundwater conservation in Korea, the results of risk analysis and the hydrogeological conditions. The contaminated area has been divided into zones in which different remediation goals are set based on risk analysis and the degree of natural attenuation. It is estimated that the clean-up goal can be achieved in two years by the combined use of a trench drain and well point pumping to collect the contaminated groundwater for treatment, and a dual air injection system for the contaminated soil.     

GIS-based hazard mapping and zonation of debris flows in Xiaojiang Basin,southwestern China

Debris flow sites were identified at 140 locations in the Xiaojiang Basin in Yunnan province, southwestern China. Their spatial distribution and catchment characteristics are described in detail on the basis of previous research, air photo interpretation, field investigation and mapping using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Using a statistical approach, a quantitative model of hazards assessment and zonation was developed through synthesis analysis of basin areas, gradients, and the relative reliefs of these debris flow sites. In terms of debris flow hazard assessment, areas within the Xiaojiang Basin can be classified as severe, heavy and light hazard regions.     

Evaluation of aluminum speciation in surface waters in China and its environmental risk assessment

As the ongoing global research on acid precipitation is developing in depth, more and more attention has been paid to the ecological effects of aluminum (Al) due to its toxicity to plants and animals, which is caused by acid precipitation. As a very serious problem of terrestrial and aquatic environmental acidification occurs in China, especially in southwestern China, a systematic investigation of Al speciation in these regions is very important. In this paper, the Al speciation results of surface waters in China are reported and its ecological impacts is evaluated. More than 100 water samples were collected from about twenty provinces of China. Driscoll's Al speciation scheme combined with the modified MINQEL computer model is used for speciation of Al. This study shows that the ecological impacts of acidification are quite different between China and Western countries, because of different geographical environments and geological settings. In Western countries, acidification is mainly caused by NO₂^-. Due to low concentrations of K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, the buffer capacities of soil and water are weak. Therefore, natural waters can be acidified to pH<5 very easily, resulting in a considerable mobilization of Al and worsening of the ecological environment. In China, acid precipitation is mainly in the form of sulfuric acid. In northwestern China, concentrations of K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ are high in soil and surface waters. This leads to much higher capacity and a high resistance ability to acidification. The pH values of waters in this region are high (around 7) and no serious Al toxicity is found at present. However, in northeastern and southeastern China, the soil is rich in Al (unsaturated aluminosilicates in northeastern China, saturated aluminosilicates in north and central China, aluminum-rich soil in southeastern and southwestern China). The concentrations of K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ in soil and waters are lower than those of northwestern China. Therefore the buffer capacity is limited. Numerous surface waters have already been acidified and pH values declined to 5. The impacts of Al toxicity on ecological systems in these regions are very serious, especially in Jiangxi, Hubei Provinces and Chongqing Municipality.     

Pathogenicity of vibrios in fish: An overview

Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are ubiquitously distributed in the marine environment. Due to the rapid expansion of intensive mariculture and the consequent deterioration of culture conditions, more and more Vibrio spp. have been recognized as pathogenic agents in outbreaks of vibriosis, a serious epizootic disease affecting most wild and farmed fish species worldwide, which has become the most important limiting factor for the development of intensive mariculture industry. Attempts have been made to understand the pathogenicity of vibrios in host fish with the ultimate aim of elucidating the best means for disease control. After an extensive literature survey of the recent advances in the field of fish vibriosis, the pathological changes, virulence factors and associated potential pathogenic mechanisms, transmission routes and related environmental factors involved in outbreak of vibriosis, as well as the controlling strategies are reviewed in the present paper.     

Accelerated Seismic Release and Related Aspects of Seismicity Patterns on Earthquake Faults

—Observational studies indicate that large earthquakes are sometimes preceded by phases of accelerated seismic release (ASR) characterized by cumulative Benioff strain following a power law time-to-failure relation with a term (t _f?t) ^m , where t _f is the failure time of the large event and observed values of m are close to 0.3. We discuss properties of ASR and related aspects of seismicity patterns associated with several theoretical frameworks. The subcritical crack growth approach developed to describe deformation on a crack prior to the occurrence of dynamic rupture predicts great variability and low asymptotic values of the exponent m that are not compatible with observed ASR phases. Statistical physics studies assuming that system-size failures in a deforming region correspond to critical phase transitions predict establishment of long-range correlations of dynamic variables and power-law statistics before large events. Using stress and earthquake histories simulated by the model of Ben-Zion (1996) for a discrete fault with quenched heterogeneities in a 3-D elastic half space, we show that large model earthquakes are associated with nonrepeating cyclical establishment and destruction of long-range stress correlations, accompanied by nonstationary cumulative Benioff strain release. We then analyze results associated with a regional lithospheric model consisting of a seismogenic upper crust governed by the damage rheology of Lyakhovsky et al. (1997) over a viscoelastic substrate. We demonstrate analytically for a simplified 1-D case that the employed damage rheology leads to a singular power-law equation for strain proportional to (t _f?t)^?1/3, and a nonsingular power-law relation for cumulative Benioff strain proportional to (t _f?t)^1/3. A simple approximate generalization of the latter for regional cumulative Benioff strain is obtained by adding to the result a linear function of time representing a stationary background release. To go beyond the analytical expectations, we examine results generated by various realizations of the regional lithospheric model producing seismicity following the characteristic frequency-size statistics, Gutenberg-Richter power-law distribution, and mode switching activity. We find that phases of ASR exist only when the seismicity preceding a given large event has broad frequency-size statistics. In such cases the simulated ASR phases can be fitted well by the singular analytical relation with m = ?1/3, the nonsingular equation with m = 0.2, and the generalized version of the latter including a linear term with m = 1/3. The obtained good fits with all three relations highlight the difficulty of deriving reliable information on functional forms and parameter values from such data sets. The activation process in the simulated ASR phases is found to be accommodated both by increasing rates of moderate events and increasing average event size, with the former starting a few years earlier than the latter. The lack of ASR in portions of the seismicity not having broad frequency-size statistics may explain why some large earthquakes are preceded by ASR and other are not. The results suggest that observations of moderate and large events contain two complementary end-member predictive signals on the time of future large earthquakes. In portions of seismicity following the characteristic earthquake distribution, such information exists directly in the associated quasi-periodic temporal distribution of large events. In portions of seismicity having broad frequency-size statistics with random or clustered temporal distribution of large events, the ASR phases have predictive information. The extent to which natural seismicity may be understood in terms of these end-member cases remains to be clarified. Continuing studies of evolving stress and other dynamic variables in model calculations combined with advanced analyses of simulated and observed seismicity patterns may lead to improvements in existing forecasting strategies.