Crustal lineaments, distribution of lower crustal intrusives and structural evolution of the Vøring Margin, NE Atlantic; new insight from wide-angle seismic models

Five lineaments on the volcanic Vøring Margin, NE Atlantic, have been identified in crustal scale models derived from Ocean Bottom Seismograph (OBS) data. It is suggested that the Vøring Basin can be divided in four compartments bounded by the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone/Lineament, a new lineament defined from this study, the Gleipne Lineament, the Surt Lineament and the Bivrost Lineament. The NW–SE trending Jan Mayen-, Gleipne- and Bivrost lineaments probably represent old zones of weakness controlling the onset of the early Eocene seafloor spreading, whereas the Surt- and New lineaments, rotated ca. 30° symmetrically from the azimuth of the Gleipne Lineament, may represent adjustment features related to the early Cretaceous/early Tertiary rifting. The longest landward extent of a lower crustal high-velocity body, assumed to represent intrusions related to the last phase of rifting, is found between the New Lineament and the Gleipne Lineament, where the body extends across the Helland Hansen Arch. Northeastwards in the Vøring Basin, the landward limit of the body steps gradually seawards, closely related to the interpreted lineaments. Northeast of the Gleipne Lineament, the body terminates close to the Fles Fault Complex, north of the Surt Lineament, it extends across the Nyk High, and northeast of the Bivrost Lineament the intrusions terminate around the Vøring Escarpment. Evidence for an interplay between active and passive rifting components is found on regional and local scales on the margin. The active component is evident through the decrease in magmatism with increased distance from the Icelandic plume, and the passive component is documented through the fact that all found crustal lineaments to a certain degree acted as barriers to magma emplacement. The increased thickness of the continental crust on the seaward side of the Vøring Escarpment, the upwarping of Moho and thinning of the lower crustal high-velocity layer in the western part of the Vøring Basin, as well as a strong shallowing of the Moho observed in parts of the area between the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone/Lineament and the New Lineament, can be explained by lithospheric delamination models.     

Absorption of Atmospheric CO2 and Its Transport to the Intermediate Layer in the Okhotsk Sea

In the southwestern Okhotsk Sea off Hokkaido we observed chemical components related to the carbonate system for 1 year from August 1997 to June 1998. Using the conservative components salinity and water temperature, we confirmed the existence of two water masses flowing into the intermediate layer of the Okhotsk Sea, the East Sakhalin Current Water (ESCW) which becomes denser by mixing of brine water, and the Forerunner of Soya Warm Current Water (FSWW) which becomes denser due to cooling of the saline Kuroshio water. The ΔNTC_x values were calculated by comparing the ESCW and the FSWW with the Pacific Deep Water (PDW). The ΔNTC_x values obtained are 100–110 μmol/kg and 70–100 μmol/kg for the ESCW and the FSWW off Hokkaido, respectively, which are considerably larger than that of the Kuroshio water. These large ΔNTC_x values may be due to both low DIC concentration in the surface water and intense gas exchange under the cold and stormy winter conditions for the ESCW and the cooling of the FSWW as it flows northward. Since the flow rates of dense waters concerned with the ESCW and the FSWW have previously been estimated as 0.9 Sv and 0.2 Sv, respectively, the amount of atmospheric CO₂ absorbed and transported to the intermediate layer turns out to be 3.9−4.1 × 10¹³ gC/yr. This flux is small on a global scale, but the flux divided by the surface layer of the Okhotsk Sea is 30 gC/m²/yr, which is 5 times greater than the mean absorption flux of anthropogenic CO₂ in the world's oceans. It is thus considered that atmospheric CO₂ is efficiently absorbed in the Okhotsk Sea. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dimethylsulfide in coastal zone of the East China Sea

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) in seawater were observed four times from February 1993 to August 1994 along a fixed section (PN line) in the East China Sea. The DMS concentrations showed remarkable temporal and spatial variations. The DMS concentrations were generally higher in the upper euphotic layer of the continental shelf zone in summer. The spatial variation, however, was more pronounced even in well mixed winter water, where the concentration of DMS varied widely from 3 to 106 ng-S/l in the continental shelf zone while the salinity was vertically almost uniform. This means that DMS in seawater is rapidly produced and decomposed with a time scale less than one month in the water column. The largest value of 376 ng-S/l was obtained at 5 m depth near the mouth of Changjiang River in August 1994. The mean concentrations in the surface 30 m layer in the continental shelf zone were 21, 54, 126 and 57 ng-S/l in February, October, June and August, respectively, which were about twice as large as those in the Kuroshio region. The mean fluxes of DMS from the East China Sea to the atmosphere are estimated to be 49 g-S/m²/day in winter and 194 g-S/m²/day in summer in the continental shelf zone, and to be 32 and 107 g-S/m²/day in the Kuroshio region.     

Complexation of dimethylsulfide with mercuric ion in aqueous solutions

The tendency of dimethylsulfide (DMS) to form complexes with heavy metal ions in aqueous solutions and the factors that influence it have been investigated. Among five heavy metal ions examined (Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺), only Hg²⁺ bound significantly with DMS in aqueous solutions in which Hg²⁺ concentration was increased to much higher levels than that of natural seawater. The complexation capacity of Hg²⁺ for DMS was influenced by pH and media. The affinity of Hg²⁺ for DMS was generally lower at high than at low pH, presumably due to the competition of hydroxide ion to form hydroxomercury species. In different solutions, the affinity of Hg²⁺ for DMS followed the following sequence: ultra-purified water > 35‰ NaCl solution > seawater. It seems apparent that chloride had a negative impact on the complexation of DMS by Hg²⁺, owing to the competition of chloride with DMS for complexing Hg²⁺. In addition, the affinity of Hg²⁺ for DMS in the bulk seawater appeared to be higher than that in the surface microlayer seawater. The tendency of Hg²⁺ to form complexes with DMS in aqueous solution can be reduced by the presence of 2 mM amino-acid such as glycine, alanine, serine and cysteine, as these ligands give stable mercury complexes. However, the presence of 2 mM acetate in experimental solutions had no significant effect on the complexation of Hg²⁺ with DMS, even though this ligand has a relatively strong complexing capacity for Hg²⁺. Although mercury ions appeared to have a strong affinity for DMS, the concentration of mercury in seawater is too low to produce a great effect on the distribution of DMS in oceans.     

Biological organic carbon export estimated from the annual carbon budget observed in the surface waters of the western subarctic and subtropical North Pacific Ocean from 2004 to 2013

The annual flux of biologically produced organic carbon from surface waters is equivalent to annual net community production (NCP) at a steady state and equals the export of particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC, respectively) to the ocean interior. NCP was estimated from carbon budgets of salinity-normalized dissolved inorganic carbon (nDIC) inventories at two time-series stations in the western subarctic (K2) and subtropical (S1) North Pacific Ocean. By using quasi-monthly biogeochemical observations from 2004 to 2013, monthly mean nDIC inventories were integrated from the surface to the annual maximum mixed layer depth and corrected for changes due to net air–sea CO₂ exchange, net CaCO₃ production, vertical diffusion from the upper thermocline, and horizontal advection. The annual organic carbon flux at K2 (1.49 ± 0.42 mol m^?2 year^?1) was lower than S1 (2.81 ± 0.53 mol m^?2 year^?1) (p < 0.001 based on t test). These fluxes consist of three components: vertically exported POC fluxes (K2: 1.43 mol m^?2 year^?1; S1: 2.49 mol m^?2 year^?1), vertical diffusive DOC fluxes (K2: 0.03 mol m^?2 year^?1; S1: 0.25 mol m^?2 year^?1), and suspended POC fluxes (K2: 0.03 mol m^?2 year^?1; S1: 0.07 mol m^?2 year^?1). The estimated POC export flux at K2 was comparable to the sum of the POC flux observed with drifting sediment traps and active carbon flux exported by migrating zooplankton. The export fluxes at both stations were higher than those reported at other time-series sites (ALOHA, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study, and Ocean Station Papa).     

琵琶湖中浊度的季节变化

Seasonal variation of the turbidity (suspended substance) has been investigated in Lake Biwa. During the last five years, vertical and horizontal distributions of water temperature, turbidity, electric conductivity and chlorophyll-a have been obtained both in the south basin and the southern part of the north basin of Lake Biwa. The benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) developed in the seasons of thermal stratification, and is not detectable in the non-stratification period (winter). The BNL is mainly maintained by the organic matter such as phytoplankton under decomposition. However, the turbidity in the nepheloid layer was much affected by the turbid water from rivers after heavy rainfall. In this case, the major component of the suspended substance (SS) in the nepheloid layer was inorganic soil. The particulate P concentration, which is originated from phytoplankton, also increased after a rain fall. This suggests that phytoplankton in the surface layer sinks with clay and silt coming through rivers. From summer to the end of the stratification period, another kind of turbidity appeared in the bottom layer. This is caused by the chemical reaction of manganese under the anoxic condition. The resuspension of bottom sediment by strong currents also occurred, but it is not a major process for maintaining the BNL.