Impact of elevated ammonium on reproduction in two Hawaiian scleractinian corals with different life history patterns

Elevated nutrients have the potential to disrupt reproduction in scleractinian corals, with consequent impacts on population dynamics. Reproduction in broadcast spawning (Montipora capitata) and brooding (Pocillopora damicornis) species was assessed following exposure to elevated ammonium in a microcosm experiment. Planulation in P. damicornis ceased following 4 months of ammonium exposure and did not recover until 3 months after termination of nutrient enrichment. Larval settlement and survivorship were not affected by ammonium enrichment. Few significant changes were found for reproductive parameters of M. capitata. There was a significant but small decrease in egg size (430 microm in control eggs to 408 microm in eggs from ammonium enrichment treatments), but no differences in total fecundity or fertilization success. This may be related to the presence of zooxanthellae in the eggs of M. capitata, in contrast to changes in reproduction previously reported in Acropora species, whose eggs do not contain zooxanthellae.     

Fault-valve behaviour in optimally oriented shear zones: an example at the Revenge gold mine, Kambalda, Western Australia

Quartz vein systems developed in and adjacent to shear zones host major gold deposits in the Kambalda region of the Norseman–Wiluna greenstone belt. At the Revenge Mine, two groups of mineralised reverse shear zones formed as conjugate, near-optimally oriented sets during ESE subhorizontal shortening adjacent to a major transpressional shear system. The shear zones developed at temperatures of about 400°C in a transitional brittle–ductile regime. Deformation was associated with high fluid fluxes and involved fault-valve behaviour at transiently near-lithostatic fluid pressures. During progressive evolution of the shear system, early brittle and ductile deformation was overprinted by predominantly brittle deformation. Brittle shear failure was associated with fault dilation and the formation of fault-fill veins, particularly at fault bends and jogs. A transition from predominantly brittle shear failure to combined shear along faults and extension failure adjacent to faults occurred late during shear zone evolution and is interpreted as a response to a progressive decrease in maximum shear stress and a decrease in effective stresses. The formation of subhorizontal stylolites, locally subvertical extension veins and minor normal faults in association with thrust faulting, indicates episodic or transient reorientation of the near-field maximum principal stress from a subhorizontal to a near-vertical attitude during some fault-valve cycles. Local stress re-orientation is interpreted as resulting from near-total shear stress release and overshoot during some rupture events. Previously described fault-valve systems have formed predominantly in severely misoriented faults. The shear systems at Revenge Mine indicate that fault-valve action, and associated fluctuations in shear stress and fluid pressure, can influence the mechanical behaviour of optimally-oriented faults.     

An overview of numerical modelling of the Sydney deepwater outfall plumes

In order to predict the behaviour of plumes from three deep ocean outfalls for sewage off Sydney, three-dimensional numerical modelling was used. The modelling suite was driven by data generated by an oceanographic monitoring station measuring wind, ocean currents, temperature and wave characteristics. Three different modelling phases are implemented daily, a nearfield model, a hydrodynamic model and a water quality model. Model output can be used by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority to predict water quality at ocean beaches and inform the community.     

新疆阿克苏—柯坪地区震旦纪古地磁学研究

新疆阿克苏—柯坪地区震旦纪包括二套冰成岩,其同位素年龄为7.4—7.7×10~2Ma.古地磁样品采自乌什县尤尔美那克到苏盖特布拉克一带,中心座标:经度79.5°E,纬度40.9°N震旦纪系中至少可能发生了6次地磁极性倒转,极性变化频繁,与世界其他地区震旦系的极性是一致的.震旦纪各时期内的古地磁方向变化较小,震旦纪-尼盆纪之间存在较大的虚极移.震旦纪冰成岩形成于低纬度区,这与柴达木、华南北美、南非和澳大利亚古冰川形成的古纬度是一致的,这为冰成岩形成是全球等时性提供了古地磁依据.     

Carbohydrates in recent marine sediments—I. Origin and significance of deoxy- and O-methyl-monosaccharides

A qualitative and partly quantitative survey of the carbohydrates encountered in acid hydrolyzates of some recent marine sediments reveals the presence of a large variety of known and hitherto unknown monosaccharides. Apart from the well known major monosaccharides a great number of minor components (notably O-methyl and deoxy monosaccharides) are encountered. These minor components are considered to originate from bacteria. Since significantly larger amounts of major monosaccharides are encountered in carbohydrates associated with bacterial cell-walls the greater part of the carbohydrate carbon in these sediments is ascribed to these structures. Superimposed on the bacterial contribution the characteristics of the carbohydrates originating from the primary producers are recognizable. The results indicate that bacterial biopolymers formed by de novo synthesis in the sediment should be considered as a potential source for the insoluble organic matter in these sediments.     

Estimation of undiscovered deposits in quantitative mineral resource assessments—examples from Venezuela and Puerto Rico

Quantitative mineral resource assessments used by the United States Geological Survey are based on deposit models. These assessments consist of three parts: (1) selecting appropriate deposit models and delineating on maps areas permissive for each type of deposit; (2) constructing a grade-tonnage model for each deposit model; and (3) estimating the number of undiscovered deposits of each type. In this article, I focus on the estimation of undiscovered deposits using two methods: the deposit density method and the target counting method.In the deposit density method, estimates are made by analogy with well-explored areas that are geologically similar to the study area and that contain a known density of deposits per unit area. The deposit density method is useful for regions where there is little or no data. This method was used to estimate undiscovered low-sulfide gold-quartz vein deposits in Venezuela.Estimates can also be made by counting targets such as mineral occurrences, geophysical or geochemical anomalies, or exploration plays and by assigning to each target a probability that it represents an undiscovered deposit that is a member of the grade-tonnage distribution. This method is useful in areas where detailed geological, geophysical, geochemical, and mineral occurrence data exist. Using this method, porphyry copper-gold deposits were estimated in Puerto Rico.     

Comparison of methods for modelling the behaviour of bubbles produced by marine seismic airguns

Three models for the dynamics of seismic airgun‐generated bubbles and their associated far‐field signals are developed and compared with geophysical data. The first model of an airgun‐generated bubble uses a spherical approximation, the second is an approximate Lagrangian model which allows for small deformations from a spherical shape, whilst the final model is an axisymmetric boundary‐integral method which permits the bubble to evolve into highly non‐spherical geometries. The boundary‐integral method also allows both geometric interference and strong dynamic interactions in multi‐bubble studies. When comparing the spherical model to experimental data there are three apparent, significant differences: the magnitude of the primary pressure peak, which is greater in the model; the subsequent decay of the pressure peaks and motion – the experimental data demonstrating greater decay and a slower rise rate; and the frequency of oscillation, which is slower in the experimental data. It is believed that the first discrepancy is due to the initial stages of expansion where the compressed air is forced to sparge through the airgun ports. The other differences indicate that there is some other energy‐loss mechanism which is not accounted for in the spherical bubble model. Non‐spherical bubble behaviour is investigated through the use of two different deformable many‐bubble codes and their predictions are compared with the spherical model and experimental data. The Lagrangian model predicts the formation of a buoyancy‐driven liquid jet on the first collapse of a typical airgun bubble; however, the model breaks down when the bubble becomes significantly deformed, due to a low‐order spherical‐harmonic approximation for the potential. The axisymmetric boundary‐integral code models the jet shape accurately and it is found that these bubbles evolve to toroidal geometries when the jet impacts on the opposite surface of the bubble. This highly non‐spherical behaviour is readily observed on high‐speed films of airgun bubbles, and is one key source of energy loss; it damps the pulsations of the bubble and slows its rise speed. Inter‐bubble interactions are investigated using the two deformable bubble models, and the predictions are compared to field data. It was found that as the bubbles approach each other, their periods of oscillation increase in accordance with observations, and jets are formed in the direction of motion upon collapse.     

Regional Sources of Methyl Chloride, Chloroform and Dichloromethane Identified from AGAGE Observations at Cape Grim, Tasmania, 1998–2000

There are large uncertainties in identifying and quantifying the natural and anthropogenic sources of chloromethanes – methyl chloride (CH₃Cl), chloroform (CHCl₃) and dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂), which are responsible for about 15% of the total chlorine in the stratosphere. We report two years of in situ observations of these species from the AGAGE (Advanced Global Atmospheric Gas Experiment) program at Cape Grim, Tasmania (41° S, 145° E). The average background levels of CH₃Cl, CHCl₃ and CH₂Cl₂ during 1998–2000 were 551± 8, 6.3± 0.2 and 8.9± 0.2 ppt (dry air mole fractions expressed in parts per 10¹²) respectively, with a two-year average amplitude of the seasonal cycles in background air of 25, 1.1 and 1.5 ppt respectively. The CH₃Cl and CHCl₃ records at Cape Grim show clear episodes of elevated mixing ratios up to 1300 ppt and 55 ppt respectively, which are highly correlated, suggesting common source(s). Trajectory analyses show that the sources of CH₃Cl and CHCl₃ that are responsible for these elevated observations are located in coastal-terrestrial and/or coastal-seawater regions in Tasmania and the south-eastern Australian mainland. Elevated levels of CH₂Cl₂ (up to 70 ppt above background) are associated mainly with emissions from the Melbourne/Port Phillip region, a large urban/industrial complex (population 3.5 million) 300 km north of Cape Grim.Now at the Centre for Atmospheric ChemistryNow at School of Environmental Sciences     

Long-term changes in salt marsh extent affected by channel deepening in a modified estuary

The aim of this study is to quantify the long-term (54 years) rates of marsh extension and retreat at two sites in the Westerschelde Estuary, SW Netherlands. Nine sets of aerial photographs were obtained for each of the two salt marsh sites, Zuidgors and Waarde, taken at various times between 1944 and 1998. The seaward edges of the marshes were digitised from rectified images after the photographs had been scanned and georegistered to the Dutch National Grid. Comparison of the extents of the marshes at these nine time points revealed that the areas of both marshes had fluctuated during these 54 years with periods of both extension and retreat of the seaward marsh edges. These periods of extension and retreat appeared to be approximately synchronised until the 1990s, with mean changes in position of marsh front ranging from −7.92 to 6.04 m a⁻¹.The rate of landward retreat and seaward extension of the marsh front is shown to be related to an increase in the tidal prism brought about by dredging operations to maintain or increase the depth of the main navigable channel of the estuary. The consequent greater frequency with which the high tides reach the edge of the fringing marshes increases the risk of erosion. Strong westerly winds may also be a factor in increasing erosion. No relationship between the volume of shipping traffic using the estuary and marsh erosion was found.