Morphology and molecular characterization of the epiphytic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum cf. rhathymum in temperate waters off Jeju Island, Korea

Prorocentrum spp. are planktonic and/or benthic species. Benthic Prorocentrum species are of primary concern to scientists and the public because some of them are toxic. We established clonal cultures of 3 strains of Prorocentrum species that were collected from the thalli of a macroalga in the coastal waters off Jeju Island, located at the southern end of Korea. The Korean strains of P. cf. rhathymum, which are morphologically almost identical to the Virgin Island strain of P. rhathymum, were different from P. mexicanum because the former dinoflagellate has one simple collar-like spine in the periflagellar area, while the latter dinoflagellate has a 2- or 3-horned spine. In addition, the sequences of the small subunit (SSU) rDNA of the Korean strains were identical to those of the Malaysian and Floridian strains of P. rhathymum, while the sequences of the large subunit (LSU) rDNA of the Korean strains were 0.1–0.9% different from those of the Iranian and Malaysian strains of P. rhathymum. In phylogenetic trees based on the SSU rDNA sequences, the Korean strains of P. rhathymum formed a clade with the Malaysian and Floridian strains of P. rhathymum and the Vietnamese and Polynesian strains of P. mexicanum. However, in phylogenetic trees based on the LSU rDNA sequences, the Korean strains of P. rhathymum formed a clade with the Iranian strain of P. rhathymum and the Spanish and Mexican strains of P. mexicanum. Therefore, the molecular characterization of the Korean strains does not allow us to clearly classify them as P. rhathymum, nor P. mexicanum, although their morphology has so far been reported to be closer to that of P. rhathymum than P. mexicanum and thus we designated them as P. cf. rhathymum.     

Hydrothermal fluid-controlled remagnetization of sedimentary rocks in Korea: Tectonic importance of pervasive Tertiary remagnetization

In order to better understand the tectonic environment of the Korean Peninsula since Cretaceous, a paleomagnetic study was carried out on the Jinan Basin located in southwestern Korea. From the demagnetization of 597 samples, we found that remanence is carried by pyrrhotite and/or magnetite (black siltstone) and hematite (red siltstone), which is a common magnetic mineral assemblage of the rocks remagnetized in Early Tertiary in Korea. All the rock units recorded identical ancient geomagnetic field directions. In particular, paleodirections were better clustered in geographic coordinates, indicating a secondary origin. The presence of abundant silicates as inclusions within Fe-oxides and Fe-sulfides confirms the authigenic origin of the magnetic carriers, precipitated by fluid mediated chemical processes. Compilation of the Korean Cretaceous and Tertiary poles indicates that the Jinan Basin was remagnetized in the Early Tertiary age. In addition, comparison of the Korean Cretaceous and Tertiary poles with those from adjacent major terrains including China and Siberia reveals that a dominant feature of tectonic motions in Korea was a vertical-axis rotation. Sense of vertical-axis rotation was time-dependent, with clear distinction between clockwise rotation in Cretaceous and counter-clockwise rotation in Early Tertiary. Such differences in the mode of vertical axis rotation might be caused by the activities of basin-bounding strike–slip faults in Korea, possibly driven by the changes of subduction regime of the Kula-Pacific plate in Early Tertiary.     

An experimental study of Cl and S distribution between sodalite and fluid

S and Cl distribution between sodalite and fluid was experimentally studied at temperatures of 300–800°C and pressure of 0.5–3 kbar. It is demonstrated that S is preferably distributed into fluid in equilibrium with sodalite of the composition X _S ^Sod > 0.05 throughout the whole temperature range. The distribution of S in the sodalite-fluid system is nonideal. An equation (derived from experimental data) is presented for evaluating the S mole fraction in fluid from the composition of sodalite at a known temperature. The S mole fractions in the fluid are evaluated for sodalite assemblages from nepheline syenites of the Lovozero Massif as being within the range of 0.036–0.23. The S mole fraction in the fluid is proved to increase with increasing mineral formation temperatures.     

Bed morphological changes around a finite patch of vegetation

For the appropriate management and restoration of rivers, isolated vegetation is often a practical means for improving stream habitat and ecology. The effect of a finite vegetation patch on flow and bed morphology in an open channel was investigated using laboratory experiments. The patch containing emergent and submerged vegetation was modeled using circular cylinders and located mid‐channel along a side wall. Several configurations of the patch and submergence ratio (i.e. water depth to the height of vegetation), and two flow conditions (i.e. below and above the sediment motion threshold) were considered. For flows below the sediment motion threshold, erosion occurred primarily on the opposite side of the patch and near the leading edge of the patch. The degree of scouring depth observed in both these regions was affected by the submergence ratio and it increased with the non‐dimensional flow blockage (i.e. the product of the patch density and width). In contrast, for flows above the sediment motion threshold, sediment accumulated within and around the patch due to a reduction in bed shear stress, which was strongly influenced by the flow blockage and the obstruction ratio (i.e. the ratio of patch width to channel width). The eroded area observed within the patch was consistent with the interior adjustment region where the deceleration and diversion of flow occurred through the patch. As the flow blockage increased or as the obstruction ratio decreased, the deposition rate within and behind the patch decreased. Furthermore, the deposition rate increased with an increase in the ratio of flow rate through the patch to total flow rate regardless of the submergence ratio. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depositional environment in the southern Ulleung Basin, East Sea (Sea of Japan), during the last 48 000 years

The present study is based on the sedimentological data from a piston core KCES1 off the southern Ulleung Basin margin, the East Sea (Sea of Japan). The data include sediment color (L^*), X-ray radiographs, grain size distribution and AMS¹⁴C date. Four kinds of sediments (homogeneous, laminated, crudely laminated and hybrid sediments) are identified according to the characters of the sedimentary structures that were considered to reflect changes in bottom-water oxygenation. Alternations of dark laminated/crudely laminated sediments and light homogeneous sediments represent millennial-scale variations that are possibly associated with the high-resolution changes in the East Asian monsoon (EAM). The relative contributions of the East China Sea Coastal Water (ECSCW) and the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) were likely the main reasons for the repetition of the anoxic and oxic depositional conditions in the East Sea since the last 48 ka BP. During the interstadial, the strengthen summer EAM was attributed to the expansion of the ECSCW because of more humid climate in central Asia, and then more strongly low-salinity, nutrient-enriched water was introduced into the East Sea. The ventilation of deep water was restricted and therefore the dark laminated layer deposited under the anoxic bottom water condition. During the lowest stand of sea level in the last glacial maximum (LGM), the isolated East Sea dominated by stratiˉed water masses and the euxinic depositional environment formed. The homogenous sediments have been predominating since 17.5 ka BP indicating that the TWC has intruded into the East Sea gradually with the stepwise rise of sea level and the bottom water oxygen level was high. During the late Younger Dryas (YD) period, the last dark laminated layer deposited because the ventilation of bottom water was restricted by stronger summer EAM. The TWC strengthened and the bottom water became oxic again from 10.5 ka BP.     

Numerical flow simulation of flush type intake duct of waterjet

Waterjet propulsion system is widely used to thrust high speed marine vessels in excess of 30–35 knots by virtue of high propulsive efficiency, good maneuverability, and less vibration. Since, however, approximately 7–9% of the total power is lost in intake duct due to flow separation, nonuniformity, etc., detail understanding of flow phenomena occurring within intake duct is essential to reduce the power loss. The present work solved 3D incompressible RANS equations on multiblocked grid system of the flush type intake duct of waterjet. The numerical results of surface pressure distributions, velocity vectors, and streamlines were compared with experiments and good agreements were obtained for three jet velocity ratios. Strong suction flow through the inlet was shown and the vortex induced by the separation along the corner of the side wall was clearly shown. Flow separation on the lip was also observed. The location of stagnation point on the lip was well predicted, in accordance with PIV measurement.     

Assessment of acoustic iterative inverse method for bubble sizing to experimental data

Comparative study was carried out for an acoustic iterative inverse method to estimate bubble size distributions in water. Conventional bubble sizing methods consider only sound attenuation for sizing. Choi and Yoon [IEEE, 26(1), 125–130 (2001)] reported an acoustic iterative inverse method, which extracts the sound speed component from the measured sound attenuation. It can more accurately estimate the bubble size distributions in water than do the conventional methods. The estimation results of acoustic iterative inverse method were compared with other experimental data. The experimental data show good agreement with the estimation from the acoustic iterative inverse method. This iterative technique can be utilized for bubble sizing in the ocean.     

Effects of BPA and DES on longchin goby (Chasmichthys dolichognathus) in vitro during the oocyte maturation

This study was performed in order to assess whether bisphenol (BPA) and diethylstilbestrol (DES) had agonistic or antagonistic effects on oocyte maturation using marine fish. We tested the effects of these chemicals on in vitro maturation, germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), assay using oocytes from the longchin goby, Chasmichthys dolichognathus. During the maturation process, low concentrations of BPA and DES triggered GVBD depending on the stage of oocyte development; BPA at 0.044 nM and DES at 0.037, 0.37, and 3.73 nM induced GVBD in 0.82-0.88 mm diameter oocytes (germinal vesicle located near the center of oocytes). In 0.76-0.80 mm diameter oocytes (fully vitellogenic oocytes), BPA induced GVBD at relatively higher concentrations (4.38, 43.8, and 438 nM). In 0.86-0.90 mm diameter oocytes, BPA and DES had no observable effect on GVBD at the concentrations tested. Oocytes with diameters between 0.82 and 0.88 mm appeared to be more sensitive to these chemicals. Moreover, our results showed that BPA and DES did not inhibit GVBD.     

The effect of ozone and aerosols on the surface erythemal UV radiation estimated from OMI measurements

Surface erythemal UV radiation is mainly affected by total column ozone, aerosols, clouds, and solar zenith angle. The effect of ozone on the surface UV radiation has been explored many times in the previous studies due to the decrease of ozone layer. In this study, we calculated the effect of aerosols on the surface UV radiation as well as that of ozone using data acquired from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). First, ozone, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and surface erythemal UVB radiation measured from satellite are compared with those from ground measurements. The results showed that the comparison for ozone was good with r ² of 0.92. For aerosol, there was difference between satellite measurements and surface measurements due to the insufficient information on aerosol in the retrieval algorithm. The r ² for surface erythemal UV radiation was high (～0.94) but satellite measurements showed about 30% larger values than surface measurements on average by not considering the effect of absorbing aerosols in the retrieval process from satellite measurements. Radiative amplification factor (RAF) is used to access the effect of ozone and aerosol quantitatively. RAF for ozone was 0.97～1.49 with solar zenith angle. To evaluate the effect of aerosol on the surface UV radiation, only clear-sky pixel data were used and solar zenith angle and total column amount of ozone were fixed. Also, RAF for aerosol was assessed according to the single scattering albedo (SSA) of aerosols. The results showed that RAF for aerosol with smaller SSA (< 0.90) was larger than that for with larger SSA (> 0.90). The RAF for aerosol was 0.09～0.22 for the given conditions which was relatively small compared to that for ozone. However, considering the fact that aerosol optical depth can change largely in time and space while the total column amount of ozone does not change very much, it needs to include the effect of aerosol to predict the variations of surface UV radiation more correctly.