Characterization of microbial communities associated with African desert dust and their implications for human and ecosystem health

Desert winds aerosolize several billion tons of soil-derived dust each year, including concentrated seasonal pulses from Africa and Asia. Huge dust events create an atmospheric bridge over continents and oceans, and eject a large pulse of soil-associated microorganisms into the atmosphere. These dust events might therefore have a role in expanding the biogeographical range of some microorganisms by facilitating rare long-distance dispersal events. The goal of this study is to characterize the microbes associated with African dust events and determine if they pose a risk to humans or downwind ecosystems. Air samples were collected by vacuum filtration in a source region （Mali, West Africa） during dust events and plated on R2A media to culture microorganisms. These organisms were compared to those in similar samples collected in the Caribbean during Saharan/Sahelian dust events. A high-volume liquid impinger is currently being tested in Barbados, collecting aerosol samples during African dust events. Over 100 bacteria and fungi （19 genera of bacteria and three genera of fungi） have been characterized from source region dust events.     

Factors controlling the spatial and temporal variability of dust emissions

New field measurement techniques are allowing researchers to better understand how surficial properties affect the temporal and spatial variability of dust emissions. In this paper we review the current understanding of the dust emission process and present new field measurements that examine how three surface properties： roughness, crust strength, and temporal changes of surface properties affect dust emissions. These data were collected using three unique measurement systems developed by our team. Roughness exerts considerable control on the entrainment threshold and emissions of dust from a surface. We have carried out a series of experiments designed to quantify roughness effects on aeolian sediment entrainment and transport in a shear stress partitioning framework. Our results show that the model of Raupach et al. （1993） provides very good agreement with available data to predict the amount of shearing stress on the intervening surface among roughness elements, relatively independent of their size and distribution. However, element size affects the aeolian sediment transport process beyond that attributable only to the reduction of surface shear stress caused by the roughness. Additional interactions of the elements with the saltation cloud appear to reduce the transport efficiency and potentially dust emissions as well. The effect of crust strength on dust emissions was assessed using a newly-developed pin penetrometer, which can measure crust strength in-situ. Previous researchers suggested that variation in crust strength even within a small area could lead to considerable spatial variability in dust emissions. Our measurements showed that crust strength is highly variable over a scale of centimeters. This variability may help to explain some of the observed scatter in field measurements of dust emissions for what appear to be homogeneous surfaces. Variability of dust emissions in time and space was also evaluated using a new instrument, the Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Lab （PI-SWERL） developed to measure dust emissions from soil surfaces.     

Naturally acidic and metalliferous waters at unmined volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the Bonnifield mining district, Alaska Range, east-central Alaska

The Bonnifield district hosts 26 tmmined volcanogenic massive sulfide （VMS） occurrences. Environmental geochemical samples of water and stream sediment were collected at several occurrences, concentrating on the two best-exposed and largest deposits, Red Mountain （RM） and Sheep Creek （SC）. Limited samples were also collected at the poorly exposed WTF deposit. The deposits are Late Devonian to Early Mississippian, and are hosted by felsic metavolcanic and carbonaceous schist members of the Totatlanika Schist or Keevy Peak Fm. Spring and stream waters at RM and SC have pH values commonly 〈3.5 （as low as 2.4 at RM and 2.5 at SC）, high conductivity （up to 11000 μS/cm）, and very high （Is to 100s mg/L） dissolved contents of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Pb. Waters at RM are characterized by extremely high REE contents （summed REE median 3200 μg/L, n=33）. At both RM and SC, pyrite oxidation and dissolution produce low pH waters that interact with and dissolve bedrock minerals, resulting in acidic, metal-laden, naturally degraded streams that are mostly devoid of aquatic life. Ferricrete is common. In contrast, WTF barely produces a surficial environmental footprint, mostly due to topography and relief. RM and SC are well exposed in the areas of relatively high relief, and both exhibit extensive areas of quartz-sericite-pyrite-alteration. While WTF shares many of the same deposit-and alteration characteristics, it is concealed by tundra in a large, nearly flat area. Surface water at WTF is absent and outcrops are sparse. Even though WTF is roughly the same size as Red Mountain （both around 3 million tonnes） and has similar base- and precious-metal grades, the surficial geochemical manifestation of WTF is minimal. However, exposure through mining of the altered, mineralized rock at WTF potentially could initiate the same processes of pyrite oxidation, acid generation, and mineral dissolution that are observed naturally at RM and SC.     

关于《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》在中国国内立法的若干思考

野生动植物资源在维护生态平衡、保证科学研究和教育活动的正常开展、促进经济发展、满足人民生产生活需要等方而具有不可替代的作用。由于绝大多数野生动植物都有很高的经济价值和观赏价值,招致其被广泛利用。据估计,近年来,全球年均合法的野生动植物国际贸易额约为60亿美元。另外,全球每年非法的野生动植物国际贸易额可达100亿美元之巨,其中走私濒临灭绝动物的年交易额至少达到20—30亿美元。据CITES秘书处统计,1986年至少有300吨象牙从非洲非法出口。在野生动植物贸易受到人们特别关注的同时,贸易中的大量违法行为不仅严重扰乱了市场经济秩序,而且对生物多样性的保护已构成严重威胁。所以在保护生物多样     

青藏高原东缘龙门山晚新生代剥蚀厚度与弹性挠曲模拟

龙门山是青藏高原东缘边界山脉,具有青藏高原地貌、龙门山高山地貌和山前冲积平原三个一级地貌单元。利用数字高程模式图像和裂变径迹年代测定方法研究和计算龙门山晚新生代剥蚀厚度与剥蚀速率,结果表明:3.6 Ma以来龙门山的剥蚀厚度介于1.91-2.16 km之间,剥蚀速率介于0.53-0.60 mm/a之间。在此基础上,开展了该地区岩石圈的弹性挠曲模拟,结果表明龙门山的隆升机制具有以构造缩短隆升和剥蚀卸载隆升相叠合的特点。3.6 Ma之前,龙门山的隆升与逆冲推覆构造负载有关,以构造缩短驱动的构造隆升为特色;3.6 Ma之后,龙门山的隆升与剥蚀卸载驱动的抬升有关,并以剥蚀卸载隆升为特色,进而提出了龙门山晚新生代以来的隆升机制以剥蚀成山作用为主的认识。     

为一段日照迹线“正名”

在地面测报工作中，判断原始记录的“真伪”，不仅需要熟练掌握各种技术规定，还需具备对各种要素的综合分析能力。下面对《气象》1997年第23卷第8期上单宇红发表的《一段日照迹线剖析》中谈到的日照迹线进行再分析，纠正其中的错误，以免误导更多的测报工作者。下文中提及的《剖析》即为单宇红发表的文章简称。     

澳大利亚的第三纪及第三纪—第四纪过渡期(英文)

第三纪的板块运动驱动着澳大利亚的气候和植被进行演化。广布的湿润森林区是澳大利亚老第三纪的特征。一直到始新世 ,生物多样性都在不断地提高。毫无疑问 ,这是澳大利亚由高南纬区向北部中纬区运移的结果。从始新世到上新世 ,澳大利亚的气候总体上要比现在湿润 ,但降水量季节性变化的增强推动了中新世以后硬叶植物和旱生植物的发展。上新世晚期似乎与第四纪一样 ,都出现过周期性干旱。这种干旱与冰期条件有关 ,至少由南澳大利亚晚第四纪的记录可以认识到这一点 ,澳大利亚的这段历史与东亚的气候变迁是同步发生的。在东亚 ,印—澳板块的运动致使青藏高原抬升 ,从而引发了区内乃至全球气候的巨变。穿越赤道区的季风和信风的环流格局 ,致使新第三纪和第四纪中国与澳大利亚的气候系统的相关性更强。     

由兰德斯和赫克托矿地震的地震波触发的地震

加州1992年兰德斯7.3级地震和1999年赫克托矿7．1级地震的接近和相似允许人们对触发地震的假设进行检验，而这在以前是不可能的。赫克托矿地震证实了对兰德斯地震所提出的推断：瞬时、振荡的“动态”形变以地震波的形式辐射，能触发地震活动速率的增加(Hill，et al，1993；Anderson，et al，1994；Gomberg and Bodin，1994；Spudich，et al，1995；Gomberg，1996；Gomberg and Davis，1996)。在本文中，我们对地震活动速率的空间和时间变化(Matthews and Reasenberg，1988)进行了量化。在兰德斯地震的北部地震活动速率增加，而对赫克托矿地震这种增加主要发生在震中以南。我们认为破裂方向性分别使兰德斯和赫克托矿断层的北方和南方动态形变提高，这可以由地震波速度场的不对称性得到证明。对于触发作用，动态和静态应力变化都很重要，距离较远处动态应力变化起主要作用。峰值波速证明了动态触发闽值的存在，并约束了动态触发闽值的范围。在大多数地区，这个阈值依赖当地的条件，从零点几到几MPa变化，超过静态闽值一个量级以上。在某些地点触发过程直到动态形变平息了之后才开始。这些观测现象的物理机制可能与导致液化和循环疲劳的机理相似。     

三分向台阵数据的偏振分析

给出了一种三分向地震台阵数据偏振分析的技术，并应用于挪威南部NORESS台阵三分向拾震器记录到的一大组区域事件。仔细分析了区域震相Pn、Sn和Lg的偏振性质。该技术基于Flinn(1965)最先提出的一种时域算法，通过解协方差矩阵的本征值问题，在滑动时间窗内计算偏振椭圆，由运动椭圆导出表征质点运动的各种属性。通过对不同拾震器的协方差矩阵求平均，把上述方法扩展到了由多个三分向拾震器组成的台阵情况，这样，当噪声和地方散射效应不相关时，可使方差估计减小1／M(M为拾震器数)。此方法的一个重要特点是穿过台阵相干波前的相速度不需要有很高精度。数据分析的重要结果为：在整个短周期频带内，很好地确定了Pn和Sn的偏振；由Pn和Lg波动获得了源方位的估计及Sn和Lg波独特的偏振属性使得在多数情形下能把这些震相区别出来。     

岩石破裂实验研究中强震发生前主破裂形成时能量释放过程的分析

分析用方程Q（t)=Q(t1) A1-A2(tf-t)^m[1 ccos(2πlog(tf-t)/p-φ)]来模拟强震前地震能量释放过程的一些条件，式中的Q（t)是在时间t以前所累积的“贝尼奥夫”总应变，tf是主震的时间，A1，A2，c,m,p,ψ都是模型的参数，Q（t1)是已知量（t1≤tf时）。表明在一定假定条件下幂指数m=α（2-d) 1。这里d是主震周围地震潜在震源群震中的尺寸，参数α决定着幂律。根据这个规律，地震时释放的地震能量和总能量的比值随地震的震级而变化。模型可用于分析实验研究岩石破裂释放声能的动力学，也适用于对堪察加一些强震前地震活动性的回溯性分析。