Seasonal and sub-seasonal oxygen and nutrient fluctuations in an embayment of an eastern boundary upwelling system: St Helena Bay

Seasonal, sub-seasonal and spatial fluctuations in bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) were examined in St Helena Bay, South Africa’s largest and most productive embayment, between November 2013 and November 2014. Alongshore bay characteristics were assessed through comparison of variables along the 50-m depth contour. A mean coefficient of variation of 0.35 provided a measure of the relative variability of near-bottom DO concentrations along this contour. Consistently lower DO concentrations in the southern region of the bay in summer and autumn are attributed to enhanced retention. Across-shelf transects captured the seasonal development of hypoxia in relation to the distribution of phytoplankton biomass. Exceptional dinoflagellate blooms form extensive subsurface thin layers preceding the autumn DO minima in the south of the bay, prior to winter ventilation of the bottom waters. The seasonal decline in DO concentrations in the bottom waters was marked by sub-seasonal events of hypoxia, and ultimately anoxia linked to episodic deposition of organic matter, as indicated by increases in bottom chlorophyll-a concentrations. Seasonal changes in bottom water macronutrient concentrations followed trends in apparent oxygen utilisation (AOU), both of which mirrored DO concentrations. In the south of the bay, nitrogen loss through denitrification/anammox in suboxic waters was indicated by a dissolved inorganic N deficit in the bottom waters, which was most pronounced in autumn.     

Saldanha Bay,South Africa II: estimating bay productivity

Saldanha Bay is a narrow-mouth bay on the west coast of South Africa linked to the southern Benguela upwelling system. Bay productivity was investigated by use of the conventional light-and-dark bottle oxygen method, and, for comparison, through assimilation of the stable isotope tracer ¹³C. Gross community production GCP and net community production NCP, as determined from the oxygen method, were respectively 2.6 and 2.4 times higher than estimates determined from the stable isotope method. Chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations increased with the onset of spring and well-defined subsurface maxima developed in association with increasingly stratified conditions (mean water column Chl a concentrations ranged from 5.4 to 31.5?mg m^?3 [mean 15.5?mg m^?3; SD 7.6]). A sharp decline in photosynthetic rates P* (GCP normalised to Chl a concentration) with depth was attributed to light limitation, as demonstrated by the high vertical attenuation coefficients for downward irradiance K_d, which varied from 0.29 to 0.70?m^?1 (mean 0.48?m^?1; SD 0.12). Productivity maxima were consequently near-surface despite the presence of deeper subsurface biomass maxima. The community compensation depth Z_cc, where gross community production balances respiratory carbon loss for the entire community, ranged from 2.9 to 9.2?m (mean 5.8?m; SD 2.2), and was typically shallower than the 1% light depth for PAR (photosynthetically available radiation), Z1%PAR, which is traditionally assumed to be the depth of the euphotic zone and which ranged from 6.6 to 15.9?m (mean 9?m; SD 2.6). Autotrophic communities, where organic matter is produced in excess of respiratory demand, were confined on average to the upper 5.8?m of the water column, and often excluded the bulk of the phytoplankton community, where light limitation is considered to lead to heterotrophic community metabolism. Estimates of integrated water column productivity ranged from 0.84 to 8.46?g C m–2 d^?1 (mean 3.35?g C m^?2 d^?1; SD 1.9).     

Predicting Blast-Induced Ground Vibration in Open-Pit Mines Using Different Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms and Deep Neural Network

Natural Resources Research - Blast-induced ground vibration (GV) is a hazardous phenomenon in open-pit mines, and it has unquestionable effects, such as slope instability, deformation of...     

Geoheritage values in the Cat Ba islands, Vietnam

Geological wonders have been generally known as natural wonderful products. Resulted from geological processes, geological wonders are diverse in size that have geoheritage values that should be protected from damaging of substance, form and natural development. In a large scale, geological wonders can be geoheritage areas, containing several geodiversity elements that are geologically important or in a smaller scale, they can be geosites of heritage values (or geoheritage sites). In the delimitation of areas, having geoheritage values and the establishment of geoparks, the first thing is to recognise them as geosites and geoheritage areas that indicate great geological values. Besides the Ha Long bay, the world natural heritage with its outstanding aesthetic and geological values, the Cat Ba islands are typical and grandeur karst landscapes formed in tropical condition. Based on the geodiversity elements with their own geoheritage values on aesthetics, uniqueness and grandeur in the Cat Ba islands, the authors have recognised three geoheritage areas: the south cape of the Cat Ba embayment, Tung Gau (shelter), and the Lan Ha bay. Sites where Brachiopods, Crinoids and Tetracorals are exposed on the way through the island are considered as palaeontological geosites. The folds of limestone layers in the northern part of Cat Co 3 beach, with typical turbidite structures in carbonate formations are considered as a lithological geosite. The Devonian-Carboniferous boundary near the Cat Co 3 beach is regarded as a stratigraphical geosite while Que Kem and Turtle islands, etc. are considered as geomorphological geosites.     

近地表速度结构的地脉动探测方法国际盲比检验

本文通过参加ESG2006组织的国际地脉动盲比测验,检验了利用地脉动方法探测近地表速度结构的精度和可信度.在对多个不同测试模型频散曲线的提取精度、速度结构平均速度相对偏差和场地放大效应估计等方面的比较中,本文方法在参加盲比测验的19个国际研究组中均处于前列.同时盲比测验结果表明,不论人工合成记录还是实际观测记录、速度还是加速度记录,地脉动空间自相关方法得到的场地瑞利波频散曲线,均能够为后续反演研究提供可靠的目标曲线;可以根据仪器实际情况自由选择观测加速度或速度.人工合成数据分析中,有两例频散曲线受到了高阶振型影响,在实际观测数据中影响不明显.结合盲比测验结果指出,空间自相关方法的最大可探测波长一般达不到通常认为的15.7倍的最大半径,大多情况小于10倍;而最小波长要小于2倍的最小半径,可以到1倍的最小半径.     

Farmers’ assessments of private adaptive measures to climate change and influential factors: a study in the Mekong Delta,Vietnam

Adaptation to climate change in agricultural settings depends on understanding farmers’ perceptions of the nature of climate change, their agency in adapting and the efficacy of adaptive measures themselves. Such knowledge can improve mitigation and adaptation strategies. This study addresses the limited understanding of how farmers appraise their private adaptive measures and influential factors. It uses data from structured interviews with 598 rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Based on protection motivation theory, farmers’ assessments of private adaptive measures were measured by perceived self-efficacy, perceived adaptation efficacy and perceived adaptation cost. Multiple regressions were used to understand significant factors affecting those assessments. Some demographic and socio-economic factors, belief in climate change, information and objective resources were found to influence farmers’ adaptation assessments. It is shown that the sources and quality of information are particularly important. The improvement of both the accessibility and usefulness of local services (e.g. irrigation, agricultural extension, credit and health care) is deemed a necessity for successful adaptation strategies in the Mekong Delta. The paper also shows the application of PMT in measuring farmers’ appraisals of private adaptive measures to climate change, thereby opening this area for further research.     

湖南长城岭-凤凰山地区遥感蚀变信息提取与成矿预测

长城岭-凤凰山地区位于湘南多金属矿集区,找矿前景较好.通过Landsat-8遥感影像解译长城岭-凤凰山一带的线-环结构,发现长城岭"Φ"型构造特征;根据实测围岩蚀变光谱特征,选用主成分分析法和比值+主成分分析法,基于landsat-8 OLI数据提取了长城岭-凤凰山地区铁染、羟基及硅化蚀变异常信息,基于Worldvie...     

The Nui Chua layered peridotite-gabbro complex as manifestation of Permo-Triassic mantle plume in northern Vietnam

New data on the age, composition, formation conditions, and ore-geochemical specialization of the Nui Chua layered peridotite-gabbro complex are reported. They evidence that the complex resulted from the Permo-Triassic mantle plume activity in northern Vietnam (southern framing of the Yangtze Platform). Two series of mafic and ultramafic rocks differing in ore productivity—layered (PGE-Cu-Ni) and pegmatoid (Fe-Ti-V)—have been recognized within the complex. The first estimates of the composition of their parental melts have been obtained.     

The oldest flora of the South China Block, and the stratigraphic bearings of the plant remains from the Ngoc Vung Series, northern Vietnam

Several outcrops of the Late Silurian and Devonian of the Ngoc Vung Series, northern Vietnam, yielded plant remains. The Late Silurian localities delivered the earliest known flora of the South China block. Although the fossils are fragmentary, they complement our knowledge about the global composition of the flora. The major components of the flora are plants with dichotomous habit and terminal bivalvate sporangia, which are close relatives to zosterophylls, and zosterophylls. Plants with possible euphyllophyte affinities and bryophytes are occasionally present. This floral composition is similar to that of the rich, younger South China block assemblages from the Posongchong and Xujiachong Formations of China, considered Pragian in age. The South China block flora is therefore likely to have been dominated by zosterophylls and pre-zosterophylls at least from the Late Silurian to the Pragian (i.e. a 20 million years long period). It also strengthens the hypothesis that more derived plants were present on eastern Gondwana earlier that elsewhere, in the first steps of tracheophyte evolution. The Devonian localities of the Ngoc Vung Series delivered a thick fibrous stem fragment and a basal euphyllophyte. These latter plant remains provide some stratigraphic data. The large stem fragment is consistent with an Eifelian age for the Duong Dong Formation (part of the Ngoc Vung Series), as suggested by the brachiopod fauna. The accompanying basal euphyllophyte displays a combination of characters (axes 3-4 mm wide and lateral branchings) that is also consistent with an Eifelian age, but possibly more characteristic of the Emsian flora. It is therefore suggested that the stratigraphic range of the Duong Dong Formation might be extended down to the Emsian.     

Comparison of Internal Structures of Marine Manganese Deposits of Hydrogenetic, Diagenetic and Hydrothermal Origins

Abstract: Detailed microscopic observation, combined with X-ray diffraction and EPMA analyses of samples from marine manganese deposits of three different origins, suggests that characteristic internal structures are inherent in each manganse mineral; vernadite (δ–MnO₂), buserite (10Å–manganate) and todorokite (10Å–manganate).