A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF MUD CRACKS AND OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES

In text-books of geology and in most papers dealing with geologicstructures, mud cracks seem to have been regarded as merely one kindof structures developed only in soft sediments, such as muds or clays. Itseems also that the studies of mud-crack structure have been mostly     

Middle and Upper Carboniferous Stratigraphy of Western Kansu

正 With 2 Plates Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION Both Middle and Upper Carboniferous rocks are well developed in Western Kansu and were investigated by Loczy [19], Obrutchev [21],Yuan [31, 32], and Sun [25]. Though the faunas from these rocks have been studied in some detail by Loczy, Chao, Lee and others, their stratigraphic succession and the correlation of fossil horizons found in them in different localities yet remain to be established. In 1941-942, T. K. Huang and party, of which the writer was a member, made reconnaissance     

On the Devonian of Northern Yunnan

The first Chinese geologist who investigated the Devonian rocks of northernYunnan was Y. T. Chao who, in 1929, went from Suifu to northernChaotung where he met his tragic death at the hands of bandits. Ten yearslater, W. Y. Lin made a swift reconnaissance in the same region but he did     

An Unusual Porphyritic Texture of the Fangshan Granodiorite

A remarkable character of the Fangshan (房山) granodiorite isthe abundance of the large phenocrystic orthoclase perthite throughoutthe central part of the igenous body. They project on the weathered     

Acute toxicity of five sediment-associated metals, individually and in a mixture, to the estuarine meiobenthic harpacticoid copepod Amphiascus tenuiremis

The acute effects of many individual, seawater-solubilized metals on meiobenthic copepods and nematodes are well known. In sediments, however, metals most often occur as mixtures, and it is not known whether such mixtures exhibit simple additive toxicity to meiobenthos. The estuarine meiobenthic copepod Amphiascus tenuiremis was tested in four acute (96-h) sediment bioassays to determine sediment and pore-water LC50s for single-metal exposures to copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Laboratory-cultured copepods were exposed to clean 98% silt:clay sediments spiked with metal chloride solutions to yield five exposure concentrations plus a control. Trimmed Spearman-Karber analysis gave sediment 96-h LC50 values of 4.4 mumole Cu/g, 5.7 mumole Ni/g, 11.9 mumole Pb/g, 10.3 mumole Zn/g, and pore-water 96-h LC50 values of 2 mumole/l, 11.7 mumole/l, and 5.7 mumole/l for Cu, Ni, and Zn, respectively. Male survival after exposure to Cu, Pb, and Ni was significantly less than female survival (alpha = 0.05). Toxicity of a combined USEPA priority metal mixture to A. tenuiremis was assessed using sediment spiked equitoxically with Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The sum toxic unit that produced a median lethal dose was 0.72. The mixture had a significantly greater than additive effect on A. tenuiremis survival, with the mixture being 1.4x more toxic than that expected by simple additivity.     

用脉冲针状探针测量岩石碎块热导率

针状探针内产生的热脉冲可以用来测量围岩碎块或钻井岩石碎块的热导率。当热脉冲传入探针周围的岩石碎块和水的混合物时，针状探针内温度的衰减作为时问的函数被记录下来。热脉冲产生后的探头温度、热导率和时间倒数之间渐近关系。可以在所用时间范围内精确的显示。具有较高热导率的样品内探针相对缓慢的热反应与一个脉冲的初始时间延迟相一致。有限脉冲长度和慢探针反应的综合修正表明它是小的、可预测的。和采用其它方法一样，岩石碎块热导率可以用一个模型来计算。该模型依赖于样品的水含量。如果已知分割条法的期望精度．用这种方法和分割条设备的测量结果是相当的。水、熔融石英和晶体石英的热导率测量值与它们的公认值很接近。     

Litter pollution on the Jordanian shores of the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea)

Litter was assessed on three beaches along the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, south of the town Aqaba, monthly during 1994 and 1995, in order to determine its nature, extent and possible sources. The overall mean was about 5 and 3 items/m(2) in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Approximately a total of 14,000 m(2) were examined and a total of 101,000 items were noted, 67,000 during 1994 and 34,000 in 1995. More than 50% of the litter was plastic and the remainder wood, glass, cardboard, Styrofoam, metal and other materials. Most litter appears to be from local land-based or near shore sources, although there are some regional influences as well. The main local sources are the passenger port, the cargo port and the beach goers. The findings are compared with other regions of the world. The amount of litter is related to distance of the beach from the main sources, and shape, physiography and orientation of the beach. Spatial and seasonal variations are examined and discussed, and actions and measures to combat the problem on local and regional levels are suggested.     

Identification of aryl hydrocarbon receptor 2 in aquatic birds; cDNA cloning of AHR1 and AHR2 and characteristics of their amino acid sequences

The toxic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and its related planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) are mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). To investigate the potential sensitivity to PHAHs and the evolutional diversity of AHR in aquatic birds, AHR cDNAs were initially cloned and sequenced from the livers of a black-footed albatross (Diomedea nigripes) and a common cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). In this study, we report the identification of two distinct AHR paralog genes in these species. The two full-length AHR cDNAs from albatross were highly divergent (33% overall amino acid identity, and 60% identity in the N-terminal half). Phylogenetic analysis showed that one of them belongs to the AHR1 clade and the other one to the AHR2 clade, which has been identified only from fishes, but not yet from mammals and birds. Albatross AHR1 encoded a 861-residue protein with a predicted molecular mass of 96.7 kDa, and in the case of albatross AHR2, 925 amino acids and 100.7 kDa. From cormorant liver, the full-length AHR1 cDNA and the partial AHR2 cDNA were cloned. This result strongly suggests that bird species also possess two distinct AHR genes (AHR1 and AHR2). To our knowledge, this is the first report on the presence of an AHR2-like isoform in bird species as well as in fish.     

Evaluating prey capture by larval mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) as a potential biomarker for contaminants

We evaluated larval prey capture as a "behavioral biomarker" of contamination by examining feeding behavior of larval mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from many different sites, including a severely contaminated "Superfund" site, moderately contaminated sites, and reference areas. Prey capture ability was related to sediment contaminant levels. The levels of contaminants at a site were highly correlated with each other, so that the impact of individual contaminants was confounded. The number of captures of brine shrimp by mummichog larvae from all sites was highly variable, but significant negative correlations of prey capture were seen with mercury, lead, zinc, cadmium, and PCBs. As observed previously with adults, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) did not appear to impair prey capture ability. The only site in which prey capture rates of 8-day old larvae were severely affected was the most highly contaminated Superfund site, Berry's Creek, NJ. This implies that larval prey capture is not as sensitive a behavioral biomarker for contamination as adult behavior studied previously.