Impact of the Spring 2000 phytoplankton bloom in Chesapeake Bay on optical properties and light penetration in the Rhode River,Maryland

Accelerating eutrophication manifest as increasing frequency and magnitude of phytoplankton blooms threatens living resources in many estuaries. Effects of large blooms can be difficult to document because blooms are often unexpected and do not always coincide with scheduled sampling programs. Here we use continuously monitored salinity distributions and optical properties to study the spring bloom of the red tide dinoflagellate,Prorocentrumminimum, in the Rhode River, Maryland, a tributary embayment of upper Chesapeake Bay. Salinity distributions, together with weekly cruise measurements of nutrient concentrations, indicate that the bloom commenced with an influx of nitrate at the mouth due to the arrival of a freshet from the Susquehanna River. Arrival of this freshet at the mouth set up an unstable, inverse salinity gradient within the Rhode River. Continuously monitored absorption and scattering spectra indicated that increases in chlorophyll within the Rhode River initially were due to the influx of chlorophyll that had developed in the main stem of the bay. After the influx, much higher concentrations and steep spatial gradients developed within the Rhode River, subsequent to reduced mixing that accompanied re-establishment of a normal estuarine salinity gradient. We used the monitored absorption and scattering coefficients to determine the effect of the bloom on light attenuation coefficients in the Rhode River. The bloom resulted in a nearly three-fold increase in attenuation coefficient. Attenuation was dominated by chlorophyll in the early stages of the bloom and by detritus after the termination of the bloom. Although the bloom lasted only 20 d, the elevated attenuation coefficients due to the bloom exceeded values that would permit growth of submersed vascular plants for a period of about 45 d.     

甘肃干旱与半干旱地区水资源可持续开发利用对比分析

甘肃半干旱区天然降水是主要的水资源，而干旱区的水资源来自于南部祁连山以及阿尔金山的山区降水和冰雪融水，甘肃半干旱区在小麦生长需大关键期的5－6月，降水量离差系数大，农业生产易遭旱灾，河西干旱区出山径流较稳定，为灌溉农业的稳定提供了基础，甘肃半干旱地区的水资源持续开发利用应主要拦蓄大气降水，配合开发地下水，并合理规划利用地表水，其中雨水集流工程和旱作节水农业技术的推广政策和措施是关键，干旱区的水资源持续开发利用主要应通过水价调整来引导建立节水型经济结构和推广节水技术，政策支持重点领域是水资源的合理配置并完善绿洲资源保护与水源涵养林保护的法规体系。     

Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous peak sulphide mineralization in the Western Hercynides

The Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous (Dinantian) within the Western Hercynides is marked by the formation of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits: Chessy and Chizeuil in the Brévenne and Somme successions of the French Massif Central; Bodennec and La Porte-aux-Moines in the Châteaulin Basin of the French Armorican Massif; Rio Tinto, Neves-Corvo, Tharsis, etc., in the Volcano-Sedimentary formation of the Iberian Pyrite Belt; and Ketara, Draa Sfar and Hajar in the Jebilet-Guemassa district of the Moroccan Southern Meseta. Although these deposits show a slightly diachronous emplacement in response to a progressive migration of the metalliferous event from Late Devonian in France to Dinantian in Morocco, it is nevertheless possible to define an overall metalliferous ‘‘peak” around 350 Ma. The mineralization of the Armorican, Iberian and Moroccan sectors took place in epicontinental domains of the outer zone of the Hercynian belt, whereas that of the northeastern Massif Central occurred within the inner zone of the belt. This difference is registered by variations both in the geochemical characteristics of the ores (Sn in the outer zone and Mo-Ni in the inner zone) and in their lead isotopic signatures (clear mantle participation exclusively in the inner zone). In many cases the ores appear to be closely related to the felsic member of a bimodal magmatic association, although the massive sulphide deposits in the outer zone are more commonly associated with sedimentary rocks whereas those in the inner zone are hosted by felsic volcanic rocks. Another feature that should be noted is that the host sequences of the massive sulphide deposits commonly seem to be underlain by chaotic formations (notably with olistoliths) reflecting the beginning of Hercynian orogenic activity in the outer zone. It can be concluded that the peak mineralization took place within tensional domains developed during a period of plate convergence, and that it occurred around 350 Ma after a major period of Devonian compression but before the Carboniferous continental closure.     

Sedimentological and palynological constraints on the basal Triassic sequence in Central Switzerland

In Central Switzerland, Mesozoic sedimentation began after erosion and peneplainisation of the Hercynian relief and late Paleozoic continental deposition in SW-NE striking pull-apart basins. The first Triassic sedimentary sequence overlaying a weathered crystalline basement consists of a relatively thin (<10 m), lithologically highly variable unit with coarse-grained siliciclastic deposits at the base, grading into a mixed sandstone/shale-dolomite sequence followed by well-bedded dolomites with chert nodules.Sedimentary texture analyses and petrological investigations revealed four different sedimentary units starting at the base with a regolith unit that represents the weathered crystalline basement. It is overlain by terrestrial plain deposits, followed by mixed siliciclastic-carbonaceous sediments and a sequence of dolomites, deposited between the supralittoral and eulittoral zones of a tidal flat (Mels-Formation), and the eulittoral to sublittoral zones of a carbonate tidal flat environment (Röti-Dolomit), respectively.Palynological data from four localities in Central Switzerland indicate a heterochronous early Anisian age (Aegean – Bithynian/Pelsonian) for the supra- to eulittoral mixed siliciclastic-carbonaceous sediments. These new biostratigraphic ages suggest that the first Triassic marine transgression in Central Switzerland is time equivalent with those of the basal Wellendolomit in Northern Switzerland but slightly older than in the Germanic Basin. Consequently, Central Switzerland was located at this time at the northern shoreline of the Tethys and not on the southern limit of the Germanic Basin.     

黄河水δ18O、δD和3H的沿程变化特征及其影响因素研究

根据2000年8～9月雨季和2001年3～4月旱季在黄河18条断面上河水的同位素测试结果，分析了黄河水占δ^18O、δD和^3H浓度的沿程变化特征。研究结果发现，从黄河源头至入海口，黄河水具有稳定同位素比率逐渐增大而^3H浓度逐渐下降的趋势；外来水体的混合作用、蒸发作用以及人类活动对黄河水的同位素具有明显的影响。黄河源头地区和中游地区是黄河两个主要的产流区，河水同位素的变化是不同径流来源对河水补给的良好标志。兰州以上黄河源头地区河水的δ^18O、δD的季节性变化与雨水相反，地下水对河水的补给贡献旱季大于雨季。晋陕峡谷北段雨季δ^18O相对较低的岩溶水和当地雨水对河川径流有明显的补给，而旱季^3H浓度相对较低的岩溶水对河川径流有一定的补给；吴堡—潼关段雨季和旱季均有同位素比率相对较高的地表支流(如汾河、渭河)的加入。河水水面蒸发作用对兰州—包头段和黄河下游段旱季河水的δ^18O具有明显的影响，而对这些河段雨季河水的同位素影响较小，灌溉回归水的蒸发可能是影响这些地段河水同位素组成的主要因素。     

Thermodynamics of the vacuum

The fact that the energy-momentum tensor has nonzero vacuum expectation value in some space-times (the so-called back reaction) indicates a nontrivial thermodynamics of such vacua. A consequent thermodynamic analysis of the problem in Robertson-Walker space-times shows that, in the generic case, the number of the independent extensives is 2, in spite of the fact that the energy density is completely determined by the time-evolution of the geometry since the preparation of the vacuum state. The appearance of a second independent extensive seems to be in direct connection with the extra entropy term in theGeneralized Second Law of Bekenstein and Hawking.     

河西内陆河流域出山径流对气候转型的响应

对甘肃河西内陆河流域出山径流变化过程与趋势的研究表明,从20世纪80年代中后期开始,受西风环流降水的影响,祁连山区中、西部的黑河、疏勒河流域的气候环境发出了由增温变干转为变湿的讯号,具体表现为随着山区气温升高,降水量增加,出山径流相应增大.采用区域气候模式预测和水文统计模式的计算,亦同样证实出山径流有显著的增加趋势.但受季风影响的祁连山东部的石羊河流域则尚未出现这种转变,从20世纪50年代起,出山径流量持续下降,表明其气候环境仍向增温变干的方向发展.     

Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Network

Information included in this summary is based on more detailed reports published in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, v. 28, no. 10, October 2003 (on the Internet at ). Edited by scientists at the Smithsonian, this Bulletin includes reports provided by a worldwide network of correspondents. The reports contain the names and contact information for all sources. Please note that these reports are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. The Global Volcanism Program welcomes further reports of current volcanism, seismic unrest, monitoring data, and field observations.