The diet of the Long-eared Owls, Asio otus, in the desert of northwest China

The contents of regurgitated Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) pellets collected in Minqin Desert Experimental Research Station of northwestern China were analysed. A total of 303 individuals representing five species of rodents and one of bird were identified in the pellets. By frequency, the most common species taken by Long-eared Owls was Meriones meridianus, followed by Cricetulus barabensis and Phodopus roborovskii. By biomass, Meriones meridianus was the most important species taken, followed by C. barabensis and Rhombomys opimus. Our results suggest that the Long-eared Owls were nocturnal hunters and fed on a wide range of animals with respect to their habitats.     

Palaeovariations in the East-Asian Monsoon Regime Geochemically Recorded in Varved Sediments of Lake Sihailongwan (Northeast China, Jilin Province). Part 2: a 200-Year Record of Atmospheric Lead-210 Flux Variations and its Palaeoclimatic Implications

Palaeovariations of the atmospheric ²¹⁰Pb flux in Northeast China (Long Gang area, Jilin province), quantified by high resolution ²¹⁰Pb measurements on seasonally laminated sediments of Lake Sihailongwan are presented on decadal scale. The mean flux of unsupported ²¹⁰Pb between 1790 and 1970 for the centre of the lake basin is 517 Bq m⁻² yr⁻¹ with maximum deviations between −23% and +27% of this value. Flux rates above this average were found between 1783 and 1813, around 1836, and between 1860 and 1901. The mean ²¹⁰Pb^exc flux rates derived were clearly lower around 1821, 1908, 1930, and 1953. The ²¹⁰Pb^exc flux reached its minimum of 344 Bq m⁻² yr⁻¹ during the period 1977–1982. The atmospheric flux of unsupported ²¹⁰Pb is correlated with the precipitation frequency during the summer monsoon and shows coinciding variability with geochemical proxies that document the groundwater inflow into the lake. Al₂O₃-rich dust of remote provenance scavenged by wet-deposition in the rainy season is the major carrier of the atmospheric ²¹⁰Pb^exc flux.     

Palaeovariations in the East-Asian Monsoon Regime Geochemically Recorded in Varved Sediments of Lake Sihailongwan (Northeast China, Jilin Province). Part 1: Hydrological Conditions and Dust Flux

The varved sediments of the dimictic Lake Sihailongwan (Long Gang mountain area, Jilin Province, Northeast China) represent a palaeoclimatic archive which documents the local precipitation frequency during the summer monsoon, and variations in the aeolian flux of dust with their remote sources in the arid and semi-arid regions of inner Asia. Based on a detailed discussion of sediment genesis in Lake SHL, dust flux rates and palaeohydrological conditions were reconstructed on a decadal scale over the past 220 years. The aeolian influx by dry and wet deposition was quantified and characterised in its chemical composition. Photosynthetic production in the lake is positively correlated with the inflow of nutrient-rich groundwater. The groundwater discharge largely reflects the strength of the summer monsoon. Net accumulation rates for biogenic silica were determined for annually laminated sediments from the centre of the U-shaped lake basin based on sediment data. In a Si-balance model of the modern lake, the depositional flux of biogenic silica could be independently quantified on the base of hydrochemical monitoring data. Comparison of the both estimates allowed to asses the focussing of the particle flux in the lake. Though water retention in Lake SHL is rather high (ca. 30 years), changes in the hydrological conditions are sensitively recorded in the sediments because (i) nutrient-rich groundwater discharges into the productive zone of the lake, (ii) a substantial proportion of the total dissolved Si-inventory of the mixed lake (ca. 30%) is annually consumed by diatom growth, and (3) sediment accumulation is substantially focussed towards the flat bottom of the lake basin. The bulk siliciclastic sediment fraction (ca. 75 wt.%) largely originates from influx of dust of remote provenance. In sediment thin-sections, the dry-deposited dust fraction is microscopically identifiable as seasonal silt layer. Aeolian input by wet-deposition shows a distinctly higher variability than the influx of dust by dry-deposition. As diatom production, wet-deposition of dust is positively correlated with the rainfall during the summer monsoon. The inferred positive correlation between rainfall and dust flux during the summer monsoon implies that dust deposition is determined by the out-wash efficiency of mineral particles for a permanent high atmospheric dust concentration over Northeast China in the last 220 years.     

吉林伊通盆地莫里青断陷古近系双阳组储集层成岩作用研究

古近系双阳组是在吉林省伊通盆地莫里青断陷中，油气赋存的主要层位,储层主要为湖底扇和扇三角洲的砂体。依据双阳组储层的大量薄片、扫描电镜、粘土矿物分析的资料研究了该储集层的成岩作用。研究结果表明双阳组储集层：成岩作用经历了压实、压溶、胶结、交代和溶解6方面的作用。双储集层中的自生粘土矿物蒙皂石向伊利石转化具有明显的特征：主要演化过程经历了蒙皂石渐变带，第一迅速转化带和第二迅速转化带，相应的成岩作用阶段可划分为早成岩阶段B期、晚成岩阶段A1期和晚成岩阶段A2期。依据在垂向上的成岩变化,建立了莫里青断陷双阳组储集层的成岩作用演化序列。在垂向上成岩作用的类型和强度均存在明显的差异，造成了储层物性的垂向分带。     

Mixing and differentiation in the Oruanui rhyolitic magma, Taupo, New Zealand: evidence from volatiles and trace elements in melt inclusions

Large pyroclastic rhyolites are snapshots of evolving magma bodies, and preserved in their eruptive pyroclasts is a record of evolution up to the time of eruption. Here we focus on the conditions and processes in the Oruanui magma that erupted at 26.5 ka from Taupo Volcano, New Zealand. The 530 km³ (void-free) of material erupted in the Oruanui event is comparable in size to the Bishop Tuff in California, but differs in that rhyolitic pumice and glass compositions, although variable, did not change systematically with eruption order. We measured the concentrations of H₂O, CO₂ and major and trace elements in zoned phenocrysts and melt inclusions from individual pumice clasts covering the range from early to late erupted units. We also used cathodoluminescence imaging to infer growth histories of quartz phenocrysts. For quartz-hosted inclusions, we studied both fully enclosed melt inclusions and reentrants (connecting to host melt through a small opening). The textures and compositions of inclusions and phenocrysts reflect complex pre-eruptive processes of incomplete assimilation/partial melting, crystallization differentiation, magma mixing and gas saturation. ‘Restitic’ quartz occurs in seven of eight pumice clasts studied. Variations in dissolved H₂O and CO₂ in quartz-hosted melt inclusions reflect gas saturation in the Oruanui magma and crystallization depths of ∼3.5–7 km. Based on variations of dissolved H₂O and CO₂ in reentrants, the amount of exsolved gas at the beginning of eruption increased with depth, corresponding to decreasing density with depth. Pre-eruptive mixing of magma with varying gas content implies variations in magma bulk density that would have driven convective mixing. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Ammonium regeneration in intertidal sediments of the Yangtze estuary during air-exposure

The influences of exposure to the atmosphere on ammonium cycle in the intertidal surface sediments were in situ studied with a geochemical approach at a typical station in the Yangtze Estuary during three tidal cycles in September 2003. During an about 8-h emersion period of each diurnal tide, six high-resolution vertical profiles of adsorbed and dissolved ammonium were measured. It was observed that both adsorbed and dissolved ammonium generally had an increasing trend in sediment cores during the exposure. The rate of ammonium regeneration in sediments was estimated using the accumulation amount of ammonium including adsorbed and soluble fractions during the daytime emersion. The calculation result showed that there was relatively high ammonification rate (˜500 nmol N cm⁻³ day⁻¹), which reflected that organic nitrogen in sediments was quickly decomposed with a residence time of ˜52.7 days. Due to the dramatic temperature difference observed in sediment profiles, free convection was considered an important mechanism of regulating the efflux of produced ammonium into overlying waters. The total estimated amount of regenerated ammonium was ˜1.35×10⁵ t N year⁻¹ in the intertidal flat of the Yangtze Estuary, which occupied 7.6% of the total inorganic nitrogen annually transported to the estuarine ecosystem.     

Fission track evidence for the Mesozoic Cenozoic tectonic uplift of Mt. Bogda, Xinjiang, Northwest China

1 IntroductionThe Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution and ki-netics mechanism of the intracontinental orogen are thekey subjects of continental dynamics (Ma Zongjin andGao Xianglin, 2004) and the key to understanding theregional geological tectonics (Qia…