Salt Diapirs, Salt Brine Seeps, Pockmarks and Surficial Sediment Creep and Slides in the Canary Channel off NW Africa

Circular to elliptical mounds in the Canary Channel with reliefs of 75 to 375 m and diameters of 4 to 8 km partially surrounded by moats with reliefs of 25 to 75 m, were formed by piercement of the seafloor by Mesozoic evaporites. Several long gullies, < 1km wide, with abrupt terminations and pockmarks associated with these mounds were probably eroded by dense brine and hydrocarbon seeps. The salt brines that eroded the gullies were formed where salt diapirs intersect the seafloor, or in the subsurface by circulating ground water heated by igneous activity along the Canary Ridge. If the brines originated in the subsurface they reached the seafloor along faults. Displacement of the surficial sediments by sliding and creep is probably the result of the expulsion of hydrocarbons and/or vertical motion of the Mesozoic evaporites. Microtopographic features along or near the east flank of the Canary Ridge are the creation of uplift of the ridge, hydrothermal activity, mass wasting processes and turbidity currents.     

GEBCO Centennial Special Issue – Charting the Secret World of the Ocean Floor: The GEBCO Project 1903–2003

This special issue of Marine Geophysical Researches presents five papers dealing with GEBCO, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, which celebrated its Centennial in April 2003, hosted by the International Hydrographic Bureau and the Principality of Monaco. Over the past 103 years GEBCO has been the sole body dedicated to compiling all available data to produce standardized maps of the oceans and seas covering 71% of planet Earth. Over time GEBCO has undergone a complete transformation as sparse 500 m contours on paper charts were replaced by digital grids with ever-increasing resolution. The 2003 Centennial saw the release on two CDROMS with the first global 1′ grid, produced by methods unheard of in 1984, when GEBCO’s last 6th Edition paper chart set was published. In GEBCO’s second century, the thrust is towards global grids that will capture the resolutions available with evolving deep-water swath mapping technologies, as well as vast improvement in the details of the shallow continental shelves that have traditionally been the preserve of the hydrographic community. As little more than 10% of the oceans have been mapped to the desired level of detail, there is much to be done. However refinements in satellite altimetry appear to offer an interim stop-gap as more multi-beam sonars ply the oceans and as the littoral countries of the world map their adjacent marine areas for submission under Article 76 of UNCLOS (United Nations, 1983, 1999). In addition GEBCO is becoming increasingly proactive, with outreach to the public via the internet and a new GEBCO Map of the World, active data-scrounging, and encouraging development of the first drifting buoys for acquiring data in the inaccessible areas of the Antarctic, SW Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.     

Third order contribution to the wave-making resistance of a ship at finite depth of water

This paper presents a potential based boundary element method for solving a nonlinear free surface flow problem for a ship moving with a uniform speed in finite depth of water. The free surface boundary condition is linearized by the systematic method of perturbation in terms of a small parameter up to third order. The surfaces are discretized into flat quadrilateral elements and the influence coefficients are calculated by Morino's analytical formula. Dawson's upstream finite difference operator is used in order to satisfy the radiation condition. The second order solution gives better result than the first or third order solution. So the present method with the second order solution can be adopted as a powerful tool for the hydrodynamic analysis of the thin ship in finite depth of water.     

Steady Response of a Ventilated Thermocline to Enhanced Ekman Pumping

The steady response of the ventilated thermocline to an increase in Ekman pumping is investigated, focusing on the effect of the mixed layer depth distribution on the subsurface density anomaly. We consider only the subtropical gyre, and the mixed layer is assumed to be deep in the northwest and shallow elsewhere with a narrow transition zone separating the deep and shallow mixed layer regions. At the intersection of this narrow transition zone and the outcrop line, low potential vorticity fluid is subducted into and ventilates the thermocline. In such a situation, an enhancement of the Ekman pumping confined to the northern subtropical gyre leads to pronounced subsurface cold anomalies in the southern subtropics, which is free of anomalous forcing. These density anomalies are much greater than those that occur when either the mixed layer depth is zonally uniform or the Ekman pumping is enhanced in the whole subtropical gyre. They are caused by anomalous changes in the trajectory of the low potential vorticity fluid in response to anomalous Sverdrup flow. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Calculation of the added mass of circular cylinders in shallow water

The added mass of hull section shapes must be known, in order to carry out any studies of ship motions, which may be associated with either seakeeping or manoeuvring. Determination of the added mass in deep water can involve conformal mapping or surface singularity distributions. However, in shallow water the problem of determining the added mass is made more difficult by the proximity of the seabed. In this paper, three approaches to the problem of finding the added mass of semi-circular sections are explored. Although there is no known exact solution to this problem, the relationships given by the three methods are compared and the approximate nature of the solutions is examined. The first method is a series solution, which is taken here to include more terms than are normally given in the existing literature. The other two solutions are considered to be new, and so are given in some mathematical detail.     

A Study on the Spectral Form of Nearshore Water Waves

- The spectral form of wind waves is investigated based on the ocean wave data observed at three nearshore stations of Taiwan. In this study, the generalized forms of Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum and JONSWAP spectrum are used to describe the local wave spectrum by selecting suitable spectral form parameters. It is shown that, at a specific site, the similarity of wave spectral form exists. Thus it is possible to use a representative spectral form for a given nearshore region to describe the wave spectrum at this nearshore. On the other hand, the effects of relative water depth on spectral form are examined. The feasibility of two spectral models in finite water depth is evaluated by using the same field wave data.     

汶川抗震救灾的基础地理信息综合应急服务

在5．12汶川特大地震抗震救灾中,国家测绘部门设计和组织实施了以数据成果服务、专用系统服务和专题制图服务为核心的基础地理信息综合应急服务。其是针对汶川震区地形特点和抗震救灾主体工作需求,快速整合和提供震区已有的基础测绘成果和最新遥感影像资料;快速搭建集震区海量数据集成管理为一体并具备3维影像浏览、对比分析等功能的专用地理信息系统,为灾情评估分析和重建规划研究提供地理空间数据集成展示和分析平台;应需地制作反映受灾范围、受灾程度、救灾响应、规划思路等的各类专题地图和地图集,有效地表达地震灾害的时空分布、重建规划布局等。     

激光雷达技术在我国地形测图中应用前景广阔

激光雷达技术（Light Detection and Ranging,LiDAR）是近十年来快速发展并得到广泛应用的测量手段。美国地质调查局（USGS）、美国国家宇航局（NASA）以及美国地质学会（AASG）已经开始讨论建设全美高分辨率激光雷达数据库。我国正处于东部城市化、土地利用巨变、西部无图而经济高速发展的时期,国家、地方、企业生产单位迫切需要现实性强、精确度高、比例尺大的地形数据产品。满足这些要求的主要途径是采用激光雷达这一先进的测绘技术。我们建议国家、地方与企业统筹规划,各司其职,努力建设我国的激光雷达基础数据库。本文通过Stoker等（2008）介绍的第二届全美激光雷达战略研讨会上论述的激光雷达技术特点、激光雷达数据的科学需求与应用以及商业化运作问题,结合我国目前的激光雷达发展趋势、测绘数据需求以及土地利用变化监测等科学问题,简析激光雷达技术在我国的应用前景。     

山东三山岛金矿床流体包裹体特征及其地质意义

三山岛金矿床位于莱州市三山岛—仓上断裂带内,矿石主要为蚀变岩和含金石英脉2种类型。随着胶东金矿床研究的深入和三山岛金矿资源的不断减少,对三山岛金矿床的成矿作用及深部开发前景问题研究具有更重要的意义。针对上述问题,对三山岛金矿床2种类型矿石的成矿流体特征进行对比研究,认为代表成矿早—中期的蚀变岩型矿石形成于中温(均一温度为325～240℃)、低盐度(2.07%～6.88%)、低密度(0.720～0.868g/cm3)、酸碱性不均匀(pH=3.27～10.43)、以氟化物和氯化物为成矿物质载体的还原性流体;代表成矿中—晚期的含金石英脉型矿石形成于中—低温(均一温度为306～160℃)、低盐度(1.05%～9.73%)、低密度(0.739～0.962g/cm3)、碱性(pH=9.25～9.85)、以氯化物和硫化物为成矿物质载体的还原性流体。成矿流体性质的转变反映了成矿流体处于由比较封闭到比较开放的构造环境的转变期,且成矿流体早期以原生岩浆水为主,后期有变质水、大气降水以及海水的参与作用。三山岛金矿成矿深度为2.5～5km,根据目前的开采深度推算其深部还有一定的资源量可供开发。