Use of detrital foods and assimilation of nitrogen by coastal detritivores

Two killifish common in east coast U.S.A. salt marshes,Cyprinodon variegatus Lacepede andFundulus heteroclitus Walbaum, differ in their ability to assimilate nitrogen from and grow on detritus.C. variegatus grew on a diet of detritus ofSpartina alterniflora Loisel, whileF. heteroclitus did not. In addition, when the fish were fed¹⁵N-labeledS. alterniflora detritus,¹⁵N:¹⁴N ratios inC. variegatus were higher than were ratios inF. heteroclitus. Therefore, even though both species ingest large amounts of detritus,C. variegatus makes more effective use of this portion of its diet. These dietary differences are corroborated by anatomical differences that suggest thatC. variegatus should make better use of detrital or plant tissues thanF. heteroclitus. In the label experiment, the degree of label in both fish was directly proportional to the degree of label in the food treatments. In previously published experiments designed to compare plant substrate with attached microbes as nitrogen sources for detritivores, %¹⁵N incorporated by a polychaete was also directly proportional to %¹⁵N in the detrital food. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish between plant substrate and microbes as nitrogen sources for this detritivore.     

The Nadanhada Terrane

Abstract The Nadanhada terrane, a Jurassic disrupted terrane in Heilongjiang Province of China, is principally composed of Permo- Carboniferous limestone and greenstone, Triassic bedded chert and middle Jurassic siliceous shale, all enclosed within younger (presumably Late Jurassic- Early Cretaceous) clastics. Palaeontological and lithological characteristics and structural features of these formations are entirely identical to those of the Mino terrane of the Japanese Islands. Prior to opening of the Sea of Japan, these terranes formed a single superterrane together with the Western Sikhote-Alin terrane. Tectono-stratigraphic terranes very similar to the Nadanhada and Mino terranes are also found in the Ryukyu are, the Philippines and probably in Borneo. All these terranes constituted a belt of accretionary complexes during Late Jurassic and / or Early Cretaceous time along the eastern continental margin of Asia after completion of the Triassic collage of the Chinese continent.     

物理过程和分辨率对西南涡演变的中尺度模拟影响

本文运用PSU/NCAR中尺度模式第四改进型(MM_4),对“81.7”四川暴雨期西南涡的演变进行了一系列96和72小时数值模拟;其目的在于研究模式物理过程和空间分辨率以及行星边界层(PBL)参数化对西南涡生成和发展模拟的影响。96小时的控制试验(方案Ⅰ)结果表明:水平分辨率160km和总体PBL的10层MM_4对西南涡发展模拟得较好,但对其生成只有初步模拟的能力;各种物理过程主要影响西南涡演变的强度,而对其位置影响较小;去掉潜热释放会显著影响西南涡在后期的发展;没有地面通量将使西南涡的生成和发展强度明显减弱;于试验不能模拟出西南涡在整个暴雨期的发展,且使其移速略快,无摩擦试验指出,地面摩擦对西南涡的生成是不重要的。提高模式空间分辨率和采用高分辨PBL模式,能使西南涡生成和发展位置的模拟有明显改进,但其强度一般偏强于实况。事实表明,进一步完善模式物理过程、改进PBL参数化和提高模式空间分辨率将是十分必要的。     

A framework for coupling shoals and shallow embayments with main channels in numerical modeling of coastal plain estuaries

A simple computational framework is developed to include shoals and shallow embayments (SSE) and their interaction with main channels in estuarine modeling. The scheme, treating SSE as temporary storage areas, accounts for the water and material exchanges between SSE and main channels as the tide rises and falls, and for the biogeochemical processes affecting nonconservative substances such as water-quality parameters in SSE. The scheme, because of its simple nature, can be easily incorporated into one-, two- or three-dimensional models of estuaries with substantial SSE. The concept and the model implementation of the scheme are explained using a vertical two-dimensional model of estuarine hydrodynamics and water quality. The model application to the tidal Rappahannock River, a western shore tributary of Chesapeake Bay, demonstrates the scheme is simple and physically reasonable, and the importance of SSE in estuarine modeling. The inclusion of SSE in a water-quality model not only provides a framework, for computing water-quality conditions therein but also accounts for the interaction between SSE and the main channel. It is shown that significant errors may result if the effects of SSE are not properly accounted for in modeling of an estuary with extensive SSE.     

Cyclones and Northern Hemispheric temperature

Summary The relationships between cyclone characteristics and Northern Hemispheric (NH) temperature during the period 1958–1987 are examined by an empirical procedure. The results tend to indicate an increase in the frequency of cyclogenesis in the NW Pacific region but a decrease over the East Asia continent during the period of NH warming. The number of intense and explosive cyclones over northwestern Pacific and shows a similar behaviour. These different responses of cyclone activities may be due to the different trend of the north-south temperature contrast over land and sea in the warm period. On the other hand, the increase of cyclone activities over NW Pacific was also related to the ENSO events, while ENSO has a substantial contribution to the atmospheric warming.With 5 Figures     

Acid mine drainage contaminates groundwater of a Tennessee watershed

Water samples were collected from 18 natural springs within the West Fork of the Obey River watershed. Overton County, Tennessee, to determine if groundwater was adversely affected by runoff from abandoned surface coal mines Six springs were found to be affected severely and deemed unfit as a source of potable water Water quality of the remaining springs was essentially unaffected it appeared that proximity to surface mines, elevation at the outflow, and geology of the surrounding strata determined the quality of the groundwater The unit is jointly supported by Tennessee Technological University, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, and the US. Fish and Wildlife Service     

Changes in current regime and turbidity in response to a freshwater pulse in the eastmain estuary

In September 1984, the freshwater input to the Eastmain River (James Bay, Canada) was increased by a factor of 50 over a 6-d period during a controlled reservoir discharge. Changes to the current, salinity and turbidity regimes were monitored during the peak runoff. Estuarine salinity values fell rapidly with increasing mean flow, as did the amplitude of the semi-diurnal tidal currents. A large increase in bottom shear stress dispersed the settled suspension layer into the water column, raising concentrations of suspended matter in the estuary by a factor of 4 in 3 d. The peak values exceeded 150 mg I^?1. This led to erosion of the river silt deposits, with the export of an estimated 6 × 10⁴ metric tons of sediments. After the reduction of discharge, current values returned to their normal range within a day, whereas upstream salinity intrusion occurred at a slower rate. Horizontal diffusivities of about 100 m² s^?1 were required to match the observed lag.     

Occurrence of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus,in the upper tidal Delaware River

Eighty-nine juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrhynchus, including 10 recaptures, were collected, tagged and released in the upper tidal Delaware River between July 1981 and December 1984. All were captured in the river channel between Roebling and Trenton, New Jersey, using bottom-set experimental gill nets during daylight hours. The species was present from July through December and collected in increased numbers in the past two years. The fork lengths ranged from 284 to 862 mm (mean±SD = 516 mm±106 mm) and the weights from 140 to 4,250 g (mean±SD = 1,369 g±815 g). Ten juvenile Atlantic sturgeon were recaptured between September 1983 and December 1984 and were at large from one to 418 d. Recapture data suggest that these sturgeon utilize this area annually from July through December, possibly as a nursery. Juvenile Atlantic sturgeon appear to utilize the upper tidal portion of the Delaware River for a much longer period of time and at lower temperatures than in other river systems.     

Seasonal control of the Saint-Lawrence maximum turbidity zone by tidal-flat sedimentation

The core of the turbidity maximum zone in the Saint-Lawrence Estuary is located in the North Channel and oscillates in front of the large (3×10⁶ m²) intertidal flats and marshes of Cap Tourmente. It is shown that seasonal fluctuations in the intensity and the position of this core are mainly determined by suspended sediment exchanges between the channel and the marshes. Fine sediments, most of them found 20 km downstream in the channel off Cap Maillard in late winter and early spring, are advected upstream over the flats during the summer months by the tide. The deposition, favored by marsh plant growth, reaches 5×10⁵ metric tons in three months. A period of intense erosion, at a mean rate of 4,500 metric tons per tide, coincides with the destruction of the plant cover by migratory geese. The material removed fills up the Chenal de l’Île d’Orléans upstream and is flushed back into the water column during the next spring freshette. This rotating seasonal sediment circulation, although very localized, exerts a major influence on the distribution and storage time of suspended particles in the upper estuary.