生物标志化合物碳同位素地球化学研究的几个相关问题

生物标志化合物稳定碳同位素地球化学是８０年代末期新兴的研究领域。单个生物标志化合物碳同位素组成的成因解释是该领域至关重要的问题。本文综合讨论了与此有关的生物合成过程中脂类化合物碳同位素变化、细菌生物合成过程中碳同位素分馏及其脂类化合物碳同位素组成特征，从而为我国的生物标志化合物碳同位素地球化学研究提供了新的理论依据     

Marine vs. terrigenous organic matter in Louisiana coastal sediments: The uses of bromine:organic carbon ratios

Recent data on the sources of organic carbon buried in the ocean have emphasized the probable importance of terrigenous organic matter in burial budgets of deltaic depocenters. The many markers used to assess relative importance of marine vs. terrestrial sources each have ambiguities. We use the ratio of bromine to organic carbon (Br:OC) as a source indicator for organic matter in the Mississippi delta. Progressive increases in bromine concentrations from the river to the slope indicate increasing content of marine-derived organic matter. Quantitative estimates of marine vs. terrigenous organic matter using Br:OC ratios in a two-endmember mixing model are consistent with recent estimates using a combination of three other source markers [Gordon, E.S., Goñi, M.A. 2003. Sources and distribution of terrigenous organic matter delivered by the Atchafalaya River to sediments in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 67:2359–2375]. The Br:OC vs. δ¹³C relationship indicates seaward increase in δ¹³C without proportionate incorporation of marine organic matter, consistent with recent arguments that isotopically depleted terrestrial detritus derived from C3 plants is separated from C4-derived terrigenous organic matter during transport. Decreasing Br:OC ratios downcore at many sites that have significant amounts of marine organic matter indicate that the marine organic matter is preferentially lost during burial diagenesis. This preferential loss constrains the contribution of organic matter burial in deltaic environments to global removal of Br.     

太平洋中低纬海水中的二氧化碳分布特征及其与海洋环境条件的关系

根据1986年11月至1990年6月进行的中美热带西太平洋海-气相互作用(TOGA)联合考查和1995年10月至1996年6月“中日副热带联合调查”期间获得的14个航次大气和海水CO₂的观测资料,给出了主要观测海区CO₂的源与汇的分布特征:在赤道地区5°N~5°S,130°~165°E观测到的表面水中二氧化碳分压的值超过了大气中二氧化碳分压1.5~4.5 Pa,结果表明该海区对大气CO₂而言是源,但是该值远小于在中赤道测到的+9.1 Pa和在东赤道太平洋所测的+15 Pa的值.由此表明热带太平洋CO₂源的强度是向西减弱的.副热带海区在秋季对大气CO₂而言是较强的源,春季是汇.对影响海水CO₂变化的主要因素温度、盐度等进行了讨论,表明CO₂的分布变化直接受海流、水团、黑潮和ENSO事件影响.     

海水腐蚀性的双因素环境评价法

根据我国各海域主要环境因素数据、部分碳钢、低合金钢的局部腐蚀深度数据以及用灰关联分析法的研究结果，提出了评价我国海域腐蚀性（包括分类）的探索性方案－双因素环境评价法。该方案根据海水温度和海生物附着面积的等级将海水腐蚀性分为C1－C55个类别。而C1－C5的标准是以碳在海水中1年的腐蚀深度值划分的5个等级。所以，我国各海域的海水腐蚀性分类是：秦皇岛、青岛、舟山属于C2；厦门，北海、湛江为C3；榆林、西沙属于C4。     

Structure and function of contemporary food webs on Arctic shelves: A panarctic comparison: The pelagic system of the Kara Sea – Communities and components of carbon flow

After a short introduction to the physical setting and the history of biological research the pelagic ecosystem of the Kara Sea is described. Main emphasis is on regional aspects of the plankton communities and their seasonal dynamics using mostly data collected between 1996 and 2001. In the zooplankton, for which most data were available, four regional aggregations were separated: (1) the rivers and estuaries of the Southern Kara Sea, (2) the south-western and (3) the central Kara Sea, and (4) the northern troughs and slope. The phytoplankton communities had a similar distribution. To provide components for detailed carbon budgets the regional dynamics of bacterial, phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass and production are described and carbon requirements of bacteria and zooplankton are estimated. For completeness a short literature review on higher trophic levels is included. Finally, recent observations of the pelago-benthic coupling are considered. Estimates of the carbon requirements from the plankton and benthos reveal a large underestimation of primary production, which to date, together with seasonal aspects, shows the largest gap in our knowledge.     

Raman Quantitative Measurements for Carbon Isotopic Composition in CO2-Rich Fluid Inclusion: A Preliminary Study

Carbon dioxide is a common and important component in fluid inclusions. Because carbon isotopic ratio of CO₂ in fluid inclusion can provide geochemical characteristics of source rocks, many works have been conducted to measure the carbon isotopic ratio (¹³C/¹²C) of CO₂. In general, carbon isotopic composition (¹³C/¹²C) of CO₂ fluid inclusions are measured by mass spectroscopy. However, mass spectroscopy is a destructive analytical technique, and can not be applied to measure single inclusion. Raman spectroscopy is an efficient non-contact and non-destructive method, and has been widely employed in many research fields. In fact, due to the difference of carbon atom mass, the Femi resonance of ¹³CO₂ is lower than that of ¹²CO₂, so they can be identified in Raman spectrum. In principle, the carbon isotopic composition (¹³CO₂/¹²CO₂) in CO₂ is closely related to the Raman intensity ratio between ¹³CO₂ and ¹²CO₂ (I+13/I+12). Therefore, Raman spectroscopy can theoretically be utilized to measure the carbon isotopic composition (¹³CO₂/¹²CO₂) of CO₂. However, this method is seriously hampered by the poor measurement accuracy and precision. In this study, based on the theoretical analysis, and in combination with previous Raman studies on carbon isotopic composition in CO₂, a preliminary research on Raman quantitative measurement for carbon isotopic composition in CO₂ was carried out.     

Role of biology in the air-sea carbon flux in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

A physical-biological-chemical model (PBCM) is used for investigating the seasonal cycle of air-sea carbon flux and for assessing the effect of the biological processes on seasonal time scale in the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB), where the surface waters are subjected to contrasting physical conditions. The formulation of PBCM is given in Swathi et al (2000), and evaluation of several ammonium-inhibited nitrate uptake models is given in Sharada et al (2005). The PBCM is here first evaluated against JGOFS data on surface pCO₂ in AS, Bay of Bengal Process Studies (BoBPS) data on column integrated primary productivity in BoB, and WOCE Il data on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and alkalinity (ALK) in the upper 500 meters at 9°N in AS and at 10°N in BoB in September–October. There is good qualitative agreement with local quantitative discrepancies. The net effect of biological processes on air-sea carbon flux on seasonal time scale is determined with an auxiliary computational experiment, called the abiotic run, in which the biological processes are turned off. The difference between the biotic run and abiotic run is interpreted as the net effect of biological processes on the seasonal variability of chemical variables. The net biological effect on air-sea carbon flux is found to be highest in southwest monsoon season in the northwest AS, where strong upwelling drives intense new production. The biological effect is larger in AS than in BoB, as seasonal upwelling and mixing are strong in AS, especially in the northeast, while coastal upwelling and mixing are weak in BoB.     

The indigenous origin of Witwatersrand “carbon”

In the Witwatersrand approximately 40% of the gold is intimately associated with so-called “carbon” in “carbon seam reefs”, which occur in over a dozen paleoplacers, many of them concentrated at two stratigraphic levels in the 7000-m-thick succession of Archean siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. This is reduced carbon, present as kerogen admixed in various proportions with derivative (now solid) bitumen(s). Oil generation and migration were active geological processes during Early Earth history. Numerous possible source rocks for oil generation, including the carbon seams themselves, occur within the Witwatersrand basin. In the Witwatersrand ore, oil-bearing fluid inclusions are also present, derived like the bitumen, by thermal maturation of the kerogen. The presence of kerogen and bitumen in the Witwatersrand sedimentary rocks, together with a wealth of observations on the spatial distribution of the carbon seams confirm that the carbon originated in situ from living organisms in microbial mat cover, as opposed to flowing in from elsewhere as liquid hydrocarbons as some researchers have suggested. Paleochannels, which truncated auriferous carbon seams early in the depositional history, are of widespread occurrence, and micro-synsedimentary faults offset carbon seams. The carbon seams are thus indigenous biogenic markers that grew contemporaneously with placer development. The various features highlighting the nature and spatial distribution of Witwatersrand carbon seams provide a classic case where field evidence trumps laboratory data in the reconstruction of geological processes.     

The influence of hydrology and climate on the isotope geochemistry of playa carbonates: a study from Pilot Valley, NV, USA

Carbonates often accompany lake and lake‐margin deposits in both modern and ancient geological settings. If these carbonates are formed in standing water, their stable isotope values reflect the aquatic chemistry at the time of precipitation and may provide a proxy for determining regional hydrologic conditions. Carbonate rhizoliths and water samples were collected from a playa lake in eastern Nevada. Pilot Valley (～43°N) is a closed‐basin, remnant playa from the Quaternary desiccation of palaeo‐Lake Bonneville. Water is added to the playa margin by free convection of dense brines to the east and forced convection of freshwater off the alluvial fan to the west. Both freshwater and saline springs dot the playa margin at the base of an alluvial fan. Water samples collected from seven springs show a range from ?16 to ?0·2‰ (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water), and are consistent with published values. The δ¹⁸O_calcite values from rhizolith samples range from ?18·3 to ?6·7‰ (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite), and the average is ?12‰ V‐PDB (1 ? σ SD 2‰). With the exception of samples from Little Salt Spring, the range in the δ¹⁸O_calcite values collected from the rhizoliths confirms that they form in equilibrium with ambient water conditions on the playa. The initial geochemical conditions for the spring waters are dictated by local hydrology: freshwater springs emerge in the northern part of the basin to the east of a broad alluvial fan, and more saline springs emerge to the south where the influence of the alluvial fan diminishes. Rhizoliths are only found near the southern saline springs and their δ¹³C_calcite values, along with their morphology, indicate that they only form around saltgrass (Distichlis sp.). As the residence time of water on the playa increases, evaporation, temperature change and biological processes alter the aquatic chemistry and initiate calcite precipitation around the plant stems. The range in δ¹⁸O_calcite values from each location reflects environmental controls (e.g. evaporation and temperature change). These rhizoliths faithfully record ambient aquatic conditions during formation (e.g. geochemistry and water depth), but only record a partial annual signal that is constrained by saltgrass growth and the presence of standing water on the playa margin.     

Metamorphic decarbonation in the Neoproterozoic and its environmental implication

Metamorphic decarbonation reactions and volcanic degassing lead to significant influx of CO₂, a major greenhouse gas, into the ocean-atmosphere system from the solid Earth. Here we present quantitative estimates on CO₂ derived through metamorphic degassing during ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism in the Neoproterozoic through the mineralogical and geological analyses of the UHT decarbonation. Our computations show that an extra flux of CO₂ was added to the atmosphere through a Himalayan scale UHT metamorphism to the extent of 6 × 10¹⁶ to 3.0 × 10¹⁸ mol/my, for a duration of 10 my. A calculation of the impact of the extra CO₂ influx to the global mean temperature in the context of carbon cycle and greenhouse effect of CO₂ shows that at the peak influx stage, the steady state temperature would be raised by 4 °C from 15 °C and by 13 °C from 4 °C. Our results have important bearing in evaluating the mechanism of melting and the duration of the Snowball Earth. Our estimate of the maximum degassing rate during UHT metamorphism suggests that the duration of the Marinoan snowball Earth was probably shorter, and the recovery from an ice-covered Earth to ocean-covered Earth was faster than previous estimates.