Ulvöspinel from xenoliths of contact-altered volcanic and volcanosedimentary rocks in nepheline syenites of the Khibiny and Lovozero plutons

Ulvöspinel is a typical accessory mineral of xenoliths of volcanic and volcanosedimentary rocks in alkaline syenites of the Khibiny and Lovozero plutons. Ulvöspinel forms homogeneous Cr- and V-rich grains in slightly altered olivine basalts, basaltic tuffs, and tuffites and is enriched in Mn and Si in the course of contact-metasomatic alteration of these rocks. The strongly reduced conditions of contact metamorphism controlled by ascending flows of hydrocarbon gases and hydrogen sulfide gave rise to the subsolidus decomposition of primary ulvöspinel and Ti-high magnetite with the formation of ilmenite lamellae and then, with decreasing redox potential, of the second-generation latticed ulvöspinel lamellae.     

Prolonged Dry Episodes over North America: New Tendencies Emerging During the Last 40 Years

A disproportionate increase in precipitation coming from intense rain events, in the situation of general warming (thus, an extension of the vegetation period with intensive transpiration) and an insignificant change in total precipitation could lead to an increase in the frequency of potentially serious type of extreme events: prolonged periods without precipitation (even when the mean seasonal rainfall totals increase). This paper investigates whether this development is already occurring during the past several decades over North America south of 55°N, for the same period when changes in frequency of intense precipitation events are being observed. Lengthy strings of “dry” days without sizeable (>1.0 mm) precipitation were assessed only during the warm season (defined as a period when mean daily temperature is above the 5℃ threshold) when water is intensively used for transpiration and prolonged periods without sizable rainfall represent a hazard for terrestrial ecosystem's health and agriculture. During the past four decades, the mean duration of prolonged dry episodes (20 days or longer in southeastern Canada, 1 month or longer in the Eastern United States and along the Gulf Coast of Mexico and 2 months or longer in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico) has significantly increased. As a consequence, the return period of 1 month long dry episodes over the Eastern U.S. has been reduced more than twofold from 15 to 6~7 years. The longer average duration of dry episodes has occurred during a relatively wet period around most of the continent south of 55°N but is not observed over the Northwestern U.S. and adjacent regions of Southern Canada.      

Landscape planning in the Transcaucasia

We have developed the planning documents for model territories of a different dimension: the landscape program of Adzharia (Georgia), the landscape structure plan for the Lake Sevan watershed basin (Armenia), and the landscape plan for the Shirvan National Park (Azerbaijan). Variants of the solution of regional natural-ecological problems are proposed, and the measures for implementation of the target concepts are substantiated.     

深海细菌太平洋火色杆菌中α-淀粉酶基因amy608的克隆表达及其酶学性质研究

从来自深海沉积物的太平洋火色杆菌(Flammeovirga pacifica)的基因组中发现了一个全长为1 875 bp的α-淀粉酶基因amy608.该基因在数据库中找不到具有同源性的序列,而所编码的Amy608蛋白与已注册蛋白的氨基酸序列相似性最高仅为56%,但具有α-淀粉酶水解活性所必需的保守基序DXEXD.进化树分析表明其属于糖苷水解酶13(GH13)家族第二亚家族.构建了p ColdΙ-amy608表达载体,在大肠杆菌中进行重组Amy608蛋白的异源表达,并采用镍离子亲和层析柱对重组蛋白进行了纯化.酶学性质分析表明,重组酶Amy608的最适作用温度为40℃,在40℃保温4 d后,仍保留70%以上的酶活,显示出良好的中温热稳定性;最适p H值为7.0,p H值范围在6~9时仍保留60%以上的酶活力,表明该酶具有较宽的p H值作用范围.Ca2+、Na+、K+对α-淀粉酶Amy608有激活作用,尤其是Ca2+可使酶活显著提高40%.薄层色谱分析结果显示该酶水解可溶性淀粉的最终产物以葡萄糖为主,表明该酶是一个糖化型淀粉水解内切酶.这些结果表明Amy608为GH13家族第二亚家族中一个新型的α-淀粉酶.     

The effects of beach nourishment on the sandy-beach amphipod Exoediceros fossor: impact and recovery in Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Beach nourishment is increasingly being implemented to address problems of erosion. However, the ecological consequences of nourishment are poorly understood, especially in Australia. In Botany Bay, sand was piped from an intertidal borrow area at Elephant's Trunk to nourish the nearby eroding beach at Towra Point. The effects on an intertidal exoedicerotid amphipod, Exoediceros fossor (Stimpson, 1856), were examined using a beyond-BACI (Before–After, Control–Impact) sampling design. Sampling was conducted before and after engineering operations at sites within the borrow and nourishment locations and multiple control locations. Hypotheses concerning impact and recovery were tested using asymmetrical ANOVAs and two-tailed F-tests. These examined the effects on abundance and spatial variability, respectively. The impact of the engineering operations on abundance was very large at both borrow and nourishment locations. However, recovery started within several weeks and, using space × time interactions as a criterion, appeared to be complete within a year. This conclusion is made cautiously because of low statistical power and because other criteria for recovery suggest that it was not complete at some sites. As beach erosion is likely to increase in severity with rising sea levels and greater storm surges associated with climate change, management authorities will need a better understanding of the ecological effects of beach nourishment.     

Obtaining of information about the IMF evolution from an analysis of the geomagnetic field data

A comparison of the time variations in the geomagnetic field characteristics (the u and aa indices of geomagnetic activity) with the variation in the solar magnetic dipole inclination shows close agreement between these variations. The linear correlation coefficients between the u and aa indices, the u index and solar magnetic dipole inclination, and the aa index and solar magnetic dipole inclination are 0.93, 0.45, and 0.49, respectively. This makes it possible to extend studying the IMF evolution in the 11-year cycle of solar activity to the 170-year period beginning from 1835. It has been indicated that the time variation in the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) surface deviation from the solar magnetic equator plane, calculated based on the actual HCS configuration, is in good agreement with the time variation in the amplitude of the Fourier series second harmonics in a harmonic analysis of the series of daily data on the IMF sign in the vicinity of the Earth. The linear correlation coefficient is 0.9 in this case.     

Late Holocene environmental conditions in Coronation Gulf,southwestern Canadian Arctic Archipelago: evidence from dinoflagellate cysts,other non‐pollen palynomorphs,and pollen

Boxcore 99LSSL‐001 (68.095° N, 114.186° W; 211 m water depth) from Coronation Gulf represents the first decadal‐scale marine palynology and late Holocene sediment record for the southwestern part of the Northwest Passage. The record was studied for organic‐walled microfossils (dinoflagellate cysts, non‐pollen palynomorphs), pollen, terrestrial spores, and sediment characteristics. ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs, and three accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C dates constrain the chronology. Three prominent palaeoenvironmental zones were identified. During the interval AD 1470–1680 (Zone I), the climate was warmer and wetter than at present, and environmental conditions were more favourable to biological activity and northward boreal forest migration, with reduced sea‐ice and a longer open‐water (growing) season. The interval AD 1680–1940 (Zone II) records sea‐ice increase, and generally cool, polar conditions during the Little Ice Age. During AD 1940–2000 (Zone III), organic microfossils indicate an extended open‐water season and decreased sea‐ice, with suggested amelioration surpassing that of Zone I. Although more marine studies are needed to place this record into an appropriate context, the succession from ameliorated (Zone I) to cooler, sea‐ice influenced conditions (Zone II) and finally to 20th‐century warming (Zone III) corresponds well with several terrestrial climatic records from the neighbouring mainland and Victoria Island, and with lower‐resolution marine records to the west. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Balancing trade‐off issues in land use change and the impact on streamflow and salinity management

The south‐west region of the Goulburn–Broken catchment in the south‐eastern Murray–Darling Basin in Australia faces a range of natural resource challenges. A balanced strategy is required to achieve the contrasting objectives of remediation of land salinization and reducing salt export, while maintaining water supply security to satisfy human consumption and support ecosystems. This study linked the Catchment Analysis Tool (CAT), comprising a suite of farming system models, to the catchment‐scale CATNode hydrological model to investigate the effects of land use change and climate variation on catchment streamflow and salt export. The modelling explored and contrasted the impacts of a series of different revegetation and climate scenarios. The results indicated that targeted revegetation to only satisfy biodiversity outcomes within a catchment is unlikely to have much greater impact on streamflow and salt load in comparison with simple random plantings. Additionally, the results also indicated that revegetation to achieve salt export reduction can effectively reduce salt export while having a disproportionately smaller affect on streamflows. Furthermore, streamflow declines can be minimized by targeting revegetation activities without significantly altering salt export. The study also found that climate change scenarios will have an equal if not more significant impact on these issues over the next 70 years. Uncertainty in CATNode streamflow predictions was investigated because of the effect of parameter uncertainty. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stone Age settlement and Holocene shore displacement in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area,eastern Gulf of Finland

Based on geological and archaeological proxies from NW Russia and NE Estonia and on GIS‐based modelling, shore displacement during the Stone Age in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area in the eastern Gulf of Finland was reconstructed. The reconstructed shore displacement curve displays three regressive phases in the Baltic Sea history, interrupted by the rapid Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions c. 10.9–10.2 cal. ka BP and c. 8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP, respectively. During the Ancylus transgression the lake level rose 9 m at an average rate of about 13 mm per year, while during the Litorina transgression the sea level rose 8 m at an average rate of about 7 mm per year. The results show that the highest shoreline of Ancylus Lake at an altitude of 8–17 m a.s.l. was formed c. 10.2 cal. ka BP and that of the Litorina Sea at an altitude of 6–14 m a.s.l., c. 7.3 cal. ka BP. The oldest traces of human activity dated to 8.5–7.9 cal. ka BP are associated with the palaeo‐Narva River in the period of low water level in the Baltic basin at the beginning of the Litorina Sea transgression. The coastal settlement associated with the Litorina Sea lagoon, presently represented by 33 Stone Age sites, developed in the area c. 7.1 cal. ka BP and existed there for more than 2000 years. Transformation from the coastal settlement back to the river settlement indicates a change from a fishing‐and‐hunting economy to farming and animal husbandry c. 4.4 cal. ka BP, coinciding with the time of the overgrowing of the lagoon in the Narva‐Luga Klint Bay area.