Residue Return Effects Outweigh Tillage Effects on Soil Microbial Communities and Functional Genes in Black Soil Region of Northeast China

Conservation tillage as an effective alternative to mitigate soil degradation has attracted worldwide attention, but the influences of conservation tillage on soil microbial community and especially function remain unclear. Shotgun metagenomics sequencing was performed to examine the taxonomic and functional community variations of black soils under three tillage regimes, namely no-tillage with residue(maize straw) return(NTS), moldboard plow with residue return(MPS), and moldboard plow without ...     

Upper ocean responses to category 5 typhoon Megi in the western north Pacific

Category 5 typhoon Megi was the most intense typhoon in 2010 of the world. It lingered in the South China Sea (SCS) for 5 d and caused a significant phytoplankton bloom detected by the satellite image. In this study, the authors investigated the ocean biological and physical responses to typhoon Megi by using chlorophylla (chla) concentration, sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height anomaly (SSHA), sea surface wind measurements derived from different satellites and in situ data. The chla concentration (>3 mg/m³) increased thirty times in the SCS after the typhoon passage in comparison with the mean level of October averaged from 2002 to 2009. With the relationship of wind stress curl and upwelling, the authors found that the speed of upwelling was over ten times during typhoon than pretyphoon period. Moreover, the mixed layer deepened about 20 m. These reveal that the enhancement of chla concentration was triggered by strong vertical mixing and upwelling. Along the track of typhoon, the maximum sea surface cooling (6-8℃) took place in the SCS where the moving speed of typhoon was only 1.4-2.8 m/s and the mixed layer depth was about 20 m in pretyphoon period. However, the SST drop at the east of the Philippines is only 1-2℃ where the translation speed of typhoon was 5.5-6.9 m/s and the mixed layer depth was about 40 m in pretyphoon period. So the extent of the SST drop was probably due to the moving speed of typhoon and the depth of the mixed layer. In addition, the region with the largest decline of the sea surface height anomaly can indicate the location where the maximum cooling occurs.     

Comparison of anatomical structure and photosynthetic characteristics between the two photosynthetic organs of the desert plant Hedysarum scoparium

The desert plant Hedysarum scoparium uses leaflets and rachises as its photosynthetic organs. The abundance of leaflets was lower under unfavorable environmental conditions and higher with improved water conditions. To examine the characteristics associated with the adaptation of H. scoparium to its environment, we selected plants with both compound leaves and rachis without leaflets to study the anatomical structures and gas exchange characteristics of the two organs. The results show that the water storage tissues in rachises were more developed compared with the leaflets. The diurnal courses of the net photosynthetic rate for the rachis and the leaflet were both in a bimodal pattern. Meanwhile, both two peak values of the rachis were significantly higher than those of the leaflet. The daily average transpiration rate was significantly higher in the rachis than in the leaflet in order to lower the temperature of the rachises. It was concluded that under desert drought conditions, the leaflets of H. scoparium were partially or completely degraded to reduce the transpiration area as an adaptive response to water deficit, and only the rachises were retained as photosynthetic organ. The rachises were found to be better suited to a desert habitat than the leaflets.     

Water in coesite: Incorporation mechanism and operation condition,solubility and P-T dependence,and contribution to water transport and coesite preservation

A series of coesite,coexisting with or without a liquid phase,was synthesized in the nominal system SiO2-H2O at800-1450℃and 5 GPa.Micro-Raman spectroscopy was used to identity the crystalline phase,electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS were employed to quantity some major and trace elements,and unpolarized FTIR spectroscopy was applied to probe the different types of hydrogen defects,explore water-incorporation mechanisms and quantify water contents.Trace amounts of A1 and B were detected in the coesite.Combining our results with the results in the literatures,we have found no positive correlation between the Al contents and the"Al"-based hydrogen concentrations,suggesting that previously proposed hydrogen-incorporation mechanism H^++Al^3+■Si^4+does not function in coesite.In contrast,we have confirmed the positive correlation between the B contents and the B-based hydrogen concentrations.The hydrogen-incorporation mechanism H^++B3^+■Si^4+readily takes place in coesite at different P-T conditions,and significantly increases the water content at both liquid-saturated and liquid-undersaturated conditions.For the SiO2-H2O system,we have found that type-Ⅰhydrogarnet substitution plays a dictating role in incorporating water into coesite at liquid-saturated condition,type-II hydrogarnet substitution contributes significantly at nearly dry condition,and both operate at conditions in between.The water solubility of coesite,as dictated by the type-Ⅰhydrogarnet substitution,positively correlates with both P and T,cH2O=-105(30)+5.2(32)×P+0.112(26)×T,with cH2O in wt ppm,P in GPa and T in℃.Due to its low water solubility and small fraction in subducted slabs,coesite may contribute insignificantly to the vertical water transport in subduction zones.Furthermore,the water solubility of any coesite in exhuming ultra-high pressure metamorphic rocks should be virtually zero as coesite becomes metastable.With an adequately fast waterdiffusion rate,this metastable coesite should be completely dry,which may have been the key factor to the partial preservation of most natural Coe.As a byproduct,a new IR experimental protocol for accurate water determination in optically anisotropic nominally anhydrous minerals has been found.Aided with the empirical method of Paterson(1982)it employs multiple unpolarized IR spectra,collected from randomly-orientated mineral grains,to approximate both total integrated absorbance and total integrated molar absorption coefficient.Its success relies on a high-level orientation randomness in the IR analyses.     

Melt extraction and mineralization: A case study from the Shuangjianzishan supergiant Ag-Pb-Zn deposit(208 Mt), Inner Mongolia,NE China

The supergiant Shuangjianzishan(SJZ) Ag-Pb-Zn deposit is in the southern segment of the Great Hinggan Range(SGHR), northeast China. Previous studies suggest the ore-forming material and fluid originated from the magmatic system, and the mineralization age was consistent with the diagenetic age. However,the relationship between granitic magmatism and mineralization is still unclear in the SJZ. In this study, CH-O-He-Ar and in-situ S-Pb isotope analyses were conducted to determine the sources of o...     

Petrogenesis and tectonic implications of the Early Cretaceous Dagushan adakitic porphyries in the Anshan area,North China Craton

The eastern part of the North China Craton suffered significant lithospheric thinning since the Mesozoic,and petrogenesis of the Dagushan adakitic diorite porphyries provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the lithospheric thinning mechanism and geodynamic setting.The zircon LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronology reveals that the representative Dagushan adakitic porphyry was formed at 120.5 ± 0.5 Ma.The Dagushan diorite porphyries are characterized by the relatively high contents of SiO2(64.25–65...     

Raman and infrared spectroscopic quantification of the carbonate concentration in K2CO3 aqueous solutions with water as an internal standard

Carbonate-bearing fluids widely exist in different geological settings,and play important roles in transporting some elements such as the rare earth elements.They may be trapped as large or small fluid inclusions(with the size down to<1μm sometimes),and record critical physical-chemical signals for the formations of their host minerals.Spectroscopic methods like Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy have been proposed as effective methods to quantify the carbonate concentrations of these fluid inclusions.Although they have some great technical advantages over the conventional microthermometry method,there are still some technical difficulties to overcome before they can be routinely used to solve relevant geological problems.The typical limitations include their interlaboratory difference and poor performance on micro fluid inclusions.This study prepared standard ion-distilled water and K₂CO₃aqueous solutions at different molarities(from 0.5 to 5.5 mol/L),measured densities,collected Raman and infrared spectra,and explored correlations between the K₂CO₃molarity and the spectroscopic features at ambient P-T conditions.The result confirms that the Raman O-H stretching mode can be used as an internal standard to determine the carbonate concentrations despite some significant differences among the correlations,established in different laboratories,between the relative Raman intensity of the C-O symmetric stretching mode and that of the O-H stretching mode.It further reveals that the interlaboratory difference can be readily removed by performing one high-quality calibration experiment,provided that later quantifying analyses are conducted using the same Raman spectrometer with the same analytical conditions.Our infrared absorption data were collected from thin fluid films(thickness less than~2μm)formed by pressing the prepared solutions in a Microcompression Cell with two diamond-II plates.The data show that both the O-H stretching mode and the O-H bending mode can be used as internal standards to determine the carbonate concentrations.Since the IR signals of the C-O antisymmetric stretching vibration of the CO32
ion,and the O-H stretching and bending vibrations from our thin films are very strong,their relative IR absorbance intensity,if well calibrated,can be used to investigate the micron-sized carbonate-bearing aqueous fluid inclusions.This study establishes the first calibration of this kind,which may have some applications.Additionally,our spectroscopic data suggest that as the K₂CO₃concentration increases the aqueous solution forms more large water molecule clusters via more intense hydrogen-bonding.This process may significantly alter the physical and chemical behavior of the fluids.