Yangtze- and Taiwan-derived sediments on the inner shelf of East China Sea

X-ray diffraction (XRD) mineralogical and grain-size analyses indicate that inner continental shelf sediments in the East China Sea (ECS) represent a unique mixing of clays derived from the Yangtze River and silts/sands from small western Taiwanese rivers. Taiwanese (e.g., Choshui) clays (<2 μm) display no smectite but the best illite crystallinity and are only distributed along southeastern Taiwan Strait. Both Yangtze and Taiwanese river clays are illite-dominated, but the poor illite crystallinity and the presence of smectite and kaolinite indicate that Taiwan Strait clays are mainly Yangtze-dominated. In contrast, medium silts (20–35 μm) and very fine sands (63–90 μm) in the Taiwan Strait are characterized by low feldspar/quartz, low K-feldspar/plagioclase and high kaolinite/quartz, indicating their provenance from Taiwanese rivers. Taiwanese silts and sands are introduced primarily by the way of typhoon-derived floods and transported northward by the Taiwan Warm Current during summer–fall months. Yangtze clays, in contrast, are widely dispersed southward about 1000 km to the western Taiwan Strait, transported by the China Coastal Current during winter–spring months. Since most Taiwan Strait samples were collected in May 2006, clay results in this paper might only represent the winter–spring pattern of the dispersal of Yangtze sediments.     

Sulfide mineralization associated with arc magmatism in the Qilian Block,western China: zircon U-Pb age and Sr-Nd-Os-S isotope constraints from the Yulonggou and Yaqu gabbroic intrusions

The sulfide-bearing Yulonggou and Yaqu mafic intrusions are located in the southern margin of the Qilian Block, Qinghai Province, western China. They are small dike-like bodies mainly composed of gabbros and diorites. Disseminated sulfides (pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite) are present as concordant lenses within the intrusions. Precise CA-ID-TIMS zircon U-Pb dating yields the crystallization ages of 443.39?±?0.42 and 440.74?±?0.33 Ma for the Yulonggou and Yaqu intrusions, respectively. Whole rock samples from both intrusions show light rare earth element (REE) enrichments relative to heavy REE and pronounced negative Nb-Ta anomalies relative to Th and La, which are consistent with the products of arc basaltic magmatism. The Yulonggou intrusion has negative ε _Nd values from ?5.7 to ?7.7 and elevated (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) _i ratios from 0.711 to 0.714. In contrast, the Yaqu intrusion has higher ε _Nd values from ?4.1 to +8.4 and lower (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) _i ratios from 0.705 to 0.710. The δ³⁴S values of sulfide separates from the Yulonggou and Yaqu deposits vary from 0.8 to 2.4?‰ and from 2 to 4.3?‰, respectively. The γ _Os values of sulfide separates from the Yulonggou and Yaqu deposits vary between 80 and 123 and between 963 and 1,191, respectively. Higher γ _Os values coupled with higher δ³⁴S values for the Yaqu deposit relative to the Yulonggou deposit indicate that external sulfur played a bigger role in sulfide mineralization in the Yaqu intrusion than in the Yulonggou intrusion. Mixing calculations using Sr-Nd isotope data show that contamination with siliceous crustal materials is more pronounced in the Yulonggou intrusion (up to 20 wt%) than in the Yaqu intrusion (<15 wt%). The distribution of sulfides in both intrusions is consistent with multiple emplacements of sulfide-saturated magmas from depth. The Yulonggou and Yaqu sulfide deposits are not economically valuable under current market condition due to small sizes and low Ni grades, which can be explained by late-stage sulfide saturation after extensive olivine fractional crystallization from the magmas. Based on these observations, we suggest a shift of focus for Ni exploration in the region from mafic/gabbroic intrusions to olivine-rich ultramafic intrusions.     

Atmospheric Deposition Connected with Marine Primary Production,Nitrogen Cycle: A Review

Atmospheric Deposition (AD) provides external nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) supporting the growth of phytoplankton in oceans and thereby exerts obvious impacts on carbon and nitrogen cycles and climate change associated. Specifically, the external nutrients derived from atmospheric deposition can promote the marine primary production and nitrogen fixation that enhance the ocean capacity in absorbing CO₂; AD may also change a few pathways of carbon and nitrogen cycles in oceans and increase the emissions of biogenic aerosol and radioactive gases such as N₂O, DMS, etc. Due to the underlying important impacts on climate and environmental change, AD and processes related have become the hot topics of multidisciplinary studies in the areas of ocean and atmospheric sciences, and the focus of some international core projects such as Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), an International Study of Marine Biogeochemical Cycles of Trace Elements and Their Isotopes (GEOTRACES) and Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER). With the severe air pollution and high frequencies of Asian dust events, as the downwind areas of big cities and dust sources, the East China Sea and adjacent North Pacific have received increasing influences of AD. Limited studies showed that the increase of AD indeed caused significant influence on carbon and nitrogen cycles in these immediately related oceanic areas and the study there would have a signature effect on global oceans. A multidisciplinary study on the impacts of AD in oceans, e.g., combing molecular biology and experimental ecology techniques to study primary production processes, utilizing isotopic techniques to trace the change of the nitrogen cycle, new evidences of ocean-biogenic aerosol emissions, etc. would be the focus in the future.     

华北克拉通中部地区背景噪声成像

利用华北地区的流动与固定地震观测台阵在2007年1月～12月期间的垂直分量记录,采用背景噪声层析成像方法获得了华北克拉通中部地区6～40 s的相速度和群速度分布图像.成像结果显示研究区地壳以及上地幔的速度结构存在很大的横向不均匀性.8～16 s的相速度以及8～20 s的群速度分布图像清晰地勾绘出华北地区盆地和隆起之间的...     

Erosion-driven drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide: The organic pathway

Rapidly eroding, coastal mountain belts, where steep rivers and submarine channels connect upland sources to nearby marine sinks are hotspots of organic carbon transfer from life biomass, soil and exhumed bedrock into geological storage. Using observations from the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and Taiwan, we have mapped this organic pathway to geological carbon sequestration, and can evaluate the magnitude and efficiency of transfers between sources and sinks. We demonstrate that POC is harvested by landsliding, but importantly also by common and widespread surface runoff on steep hillslopes. Although terrestrially sourced POC is found in many sedimentary environments associated with mountain belts and frontier basins, it appears to be most abundantly trapped and preserved in marine turbidites. The loss of all forms of POC in onward transport through short, steep routing systems to this repository is limited. This is in marked contrast to larger routing systems, in which only the most resilient forms of POC survive into long-term deposition.     

山西断陷带地壳结构的接收函数研究

利用2006年8月到2008年3月北京大学在山西断陷带南部架设的两条东西向流动观测地震台阵记录的远震资料,提取各台站接收函数,然后进行倾斜叠加(Slant stack)和台阵偏移成像,获得了沿台阵横穿山西断陷带的地壳和上地幔的精细结构变化.研究结果显示,山西断陷带下面莫霍面存在明显不连续,莫霍面上隆约4~6 km,纵横波速比从两侧的1.75上升为山西断陷带内部2.0左右,且中、下地壳可能存在一个低速层.山西断陷带的构造模式沿相距140 km的两条剖面表现出明显差异:南端的临汾盆地为拉张作用下的纯剪切模式,向北转化为太原盆地的简单剪切模式.     

Assessment of Radar Waveform Retracked Jason-2 Altimetry Sea Surface Heights Near Taiwan Coastal Ocean

This study focuses on assessing the accuracy of 20-Hz waveform retracked Jason-2 (J-2) altimetry sea surface heights (SSHs) in the vicinity of Taiwan by comparisons with the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) 10-Hz SSHs and sea level data from the Anping tide gauge. The study areas exhibit high, medium, and low amplitudes of ocean tides and contain diverse bathymetries with depths of 0–4000 m. The performance of Offset Center of Gravity (OCOG), threshold, modified threshold, and ice retrackers was examined by comparing the retracked SSHs with Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM08) geoid via the use of the improvement percentages (IMPs). The results indicate that both altimetry measurements are significantly improved by waveform retracking techniques, with a maximum IMP of 46.6% for T/P and 82.0% for J-2, and the optimal achievement of retrackers is influenced by the characteristics of the study areas. In addition, valid retracked J-2 SSHs are much closer to shorelines than T/P. A comparison of retracked J-2 data with Anping tide gauge records reveals that applying the optimal retracking algorithms reduces the root mean squares of differences and increases the number of valid measurements.     

青藏高原东部和周边地区地壳速度结构的背景噪声层析成像

利用连续地震背景噪声记录和互相关技术获得瑞利面波格林函数,进而反演获得了青藏高原东部和周边地区的地壳三维速度结构.地震数据源于北京大学宽频带流动观测地震台阵,国家数字测震台网数据备分中心提供的部分固定台站的连续记录及INDEPTH IV宽频带流动观测地震台阵.首先对观测数据进行处理和分析取得所有可能台站对的面波经验格林函数和瑞利波相速度频散曲线,反演得到了观测台阵下方周期从6~60s的瑞利波相速度异常分布图像.并且进一步反演获得研究区域三维剪切波速度结构和莫霍面深度分布.短周期(6~14s)相速度异常分布与地表地质构造特征吻合较好,在青藏高原和四川盆地之间存在一个明显的南北向转换带.而本文最重要的结果是周期大于25s的相速度异常分布图像显示,以昆仑断裂带为界,柴达木盆地和祁连山脉地区呈现与青藏高原截然不同的中地壳速度结构,反而与青藏高原东缘地区和川滇菱形块体速度结构相似.反演获得的剪切波速度在27.5~45km深度的切片也明显地揭示:青藏高原的松潘—甘孜地块和羌塘地块呈现均一的低速层;然而,柴达木盆地和祁连山脉地区则呈现较强的横向不均匀性,尤其是柴达木盆地的高速异常和四川盆地的高速异常相对应.这些结果为前人提出的青藏高原东北向台阶式增长模式提供了重要的地震学观测证据.与全球一维平均速度模型(AK135)相比较发现,本文测量和反演获得的研究区域内平均相速度和剪切波速度都比AK135模型慢很多,尤其是青藏高原的中地壳(25~40km)剪切波速度显著低于全球平均速度模型.进一步的层析成像反演证实松潘—甘孜和羌塘地块中地壳(27.5~45km)呈现大范围均一的低速层,为青藏高原可能存在大规模中下地壳"层流"提供地震学观测证据.在祁连山脉的27.5~45km深度观测到的明显低速异常体可能对应于该造山带下地幔岩浆活动导致的底侵作用,表明引起该地区地壳增厚的主要机制可能是来自地幔岩浆的底侵作用.