冬季南黄海浮游动物群落结构及其对黄海暖流的指示

2009年12月和2010年1月对南黄海进行浮游动物采集, 以了解冬季浮游动物群落结构及其对黄海暖流的指示作用。结果表明, 南黄海冬季仍然以温带和暖温带种为主, 中华哲水蚤Calanus sinicus、强壮滨箭虫Aidanosagitta crassa、细足法Themisto gracilipes等温带和暖温带种类在浮游动物数量组成中具有较大优势。与此同时, 一些暖水种在调查海域局部出现。2009年12月暖水种仅分布在南黄海东南部黄海暖流源地附近。位于黄海中部的调查区东侧温盐层化现象明显, 近底层低温、高盐、高营养盐的水文特征体现了黄海冷水团的残留; 2010年1月在35°—36°N区域暖水种种类明显增加, 截平头水蚤Paracandacia truncata、长尾基齿哲水蚤Clausocalanus furcatus出现的位置与暖流路径相吻合, 海洋真刺水蚤Euchaeta rimana数量相比12月有明显向北推进的趋势。主成分分析显示暖水种的分布与温度有良好的相关性。Shannon-Weaver指数、丰富度指数、均匀度指数等没有呈现明显的分布规律, 对黄海暖流的指示作用不如种类明显。     

Chemostratigraphy of the Tamengo Formation (Corumbá Group,Brazil): A contribution to the calibration of the Ediacaran carbon-isotope curve

The Corumbá Group, cropping out in the southern Paraguay Belt in Brazil, is one of the most complete Ediacaran sedimentary archives of palaeogeographic, climatic, biogeochemical and biotic evolution in southwestern Gondwana. The unit hosts a rich fossil record, including acritarchs, vendotaenids (Vendotaenia, Eoholynia), soft-bodied metazoans (Corumbella) and skeletal fossils (Cloudina, Titanotheca). The Tamengo Formation, made up mainly of limestones and marls, provides a rich bio- and chemostratigraphic record. Several outcrops, formerly assigned to the Cuiabá Group, are here included in the Tamengo Formation on the basis of lithological and chemostratigraphical criteria. High-resolution carbon isotopic analyses are reported for the Tamengo Formation, showing (from base to top): (1) a positive δ¹³C excursion to +4‰ PDB above post-glacial negative values, (2) a negative excursion to −3.5‰ associated with a marked regression and subsequent transgression, (3) a positive excursion to +5.5‰, and (4) a plateau characterized by δ¹³C around +3‰. A U-Pb SHRIMP zircon age of an ash bed interbedded in the upper part of the δ¹³C positive plateau yielded 543 ± 3 Ma, which is considered as the depositional age ( Babinski et al., 2008a). The positive plateau in the upper Tamengo Formation and the preceding positive excursion are ubiquitous features in several successions worldwide, including the Nama Group (Namibia), the Dengying Formation (South China) and the Nafun and Ara groups (Oman). This plateau is constrained between 542 and 551 Ma, thus consistent with the age of the upper Tamengo Formation. The negative excursion of the lower Tamengo Formation may be correlated to the Shuram–Wonoka negative anomaly, although δ¹³C values do not fall beyond −3.5‰ in the Brazilian sections. Sedimentary breccias occur just beneath this negative excursion in the lower Tamengo Formation. One possible interpretation of the origin of these breccias is a glacioeustatic sea-level fall, but a tectonic interpretation cannot be completely ruled out.     

中国近海浮游桡足类中华哲水蚤（Calanussinicus Brodsky）的分子系统地理学和种群遗传结构研究

Planktonic copepod Calanus sinicus is the dominant meso-zooplankton in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. To better understand its population dynamics and phylogeographic patterns, 243 C. sinicus individuals were collected from seven locations across the shelf waters of China and its population genetics was studied by mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I(mtCOI) sequences analyses. Thirty-nine different sequences, or haplotypes, were detected with moderate haplotype diversity(h=0.749) and low nucleotide diversity(π=0.003) for all populations. The evolutionary divergence between geographic populations varied from 0.24% to 0.37%, indicative of very limited genetic differentiation. Visualized minimum spanning network(MSN) and phylogenetic analysis of all the detected haplotypes did not reveal any clear phylogeographic pattern. Furthermore, AMOVA data showed no significant spatial population differentiation existed among the individuals collected across China shelf waters. Pairwise FST values showed that population collected from northwest of the East China Sea(ECS) displayed a low difference to other populations. Mismatch distribution analyses and neutrality tests indicated that C. sinicus might undergo a demographic/population expansion. No significant population genetic structuring was detected, indicating an extensive gene flow among the C. sinicus populations. Our results provide molecular evidence for the hypothesis that C. sinicus in the northwestern South China Sea in winter is transported from the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea by the China Coastal Current during the northeast monsoon period.     

东海西部陆架海域水团的季节特征分析

On the basis of the CTD data and the modeling results in the winter and summer of 2009, the seasonal characteristics of the water masses in the western East China Sea shelf area were analyzed using a cluster analysis method. The results show that the distributions and temperature-salinity characteristics of the water masses in the study area are of distinct seasonal difference. In the western East China Sea shelf area, there are three water masses during winter, i.e., continental coastal water（CCW）, Taiwan Warm Current surface water（TWCSW） and Yellow Sea mixing water（YSMW）, but four ones during summer, i.e., the CCW, the TWCSW, Taiwan Warm Current deep water（TWCDW） and the YSMW. Of all, the CCW, the TWCSW and the TWCDW are all dominant water masses. The CCW, primarily characterized by a low salinity, has lower temperature, higher salinity and smaller spatial extent in winter than in summer. The TWCSW is warmer, fresher and smaller in summer than in winter, and it originates mostly from the Kuroshio surface water（KSW） northeast of Taiwan, China and less from the Taiwan Strait water during winter, but it consists of the strait water and the KSW during summer. The TWCDW is characterized by a low temperature and a high salinity, and originates completely in the Kuroshio subsurface water northeast of Taiwan.     

Dynamics of the Leeuwin Current: Part 2. Impacts of mixing,friction, and advection on a buoyancy-driven eastern boundary current over a shelf

The boundary currents over the Western Australian continental shelf and slope consist of the poleward flowing Leeuwin Current (LC) and the equatorward flowing Leeuwin Undercurrent (LUC). Key properties of the LC are its poleward strengthening, deepening to the south, and shelfbreak intensification. The alongshore flow reverses direction below about 300 m, forming the LUC at greater depths. To investigate the processes that cause these features, we obtain solutions to an idealized, regional ocean model of the South Indian Ocean. Solutions are forced by relaxing surface density to a prescribed, meridionally varying density profile ρ^*(y) with a timescale of δt. In addition, vertical diffusion is intensified near the ocean surface. This diffusion establishes the minimum thickness over which density is well-mixed. We define this thickness as the “upper layer”. Solutions are obtained with and without a continental shelf and slope off Western Australia and for a range of values of δt and mixing parameters. Within this upper layer, there is a meridional density gradient that balances a near-surface, eastward geostrophic flow. The eastward current downwells near the eastern boundary, leading to westward flow at depth. The upper layer's meridional structure and zonal currents crucially depend on coastal processes, including the presence of topography near the eastern boundary. Kelvin waves inhibit the upper layer from deepening at the coast. Rossby waves propagate the coastal density structure offshore, hence modifying the interior currents. A comparison of the solutions with or without a continental shelf and slope demonstrate that topographic trapping of Rossby waves is a necessary process for maintaining realistic eastern boundary current speeds. Significant poleward speeds occur only onshore of where the upper layer intersects the slope, that is, at a grounding line. Its poleward transport increases when surface-enhanced vertical mixing is applied over a greater depth. When the timescale δt is sufficiently short, the poleward current is nearly barotropic. The current's spatial structure over the shelf is controlled by horizontal mixing, having the structure of a Munk layer. Increasing vertical diffusion deepens the upper layer thickness and strengthens the alongshore current speed. Bottom drag leads to an offshore flow along the bottom, reducing the net onshore transport and weakening the current's poleward acceleration. When δt is long, poleward advection of buoyancy forms a density front near the shelf break, intensifying poleward speeds near the surface. With bottom drag, a bottom Ekman flow advects density offshore, shifting the jet core offshore of the shelf break. The resulting cross-shelf density gradient reverses the meridional current's direction at depth, leading to an equatorward undercurrent.     

Assessing changing vulnerability to dengue in northeastern Brazil using a water-associated disease index approach

Water management practices and access to safe water supplies have major implications for human health. While a range of assessments has been developed to assess water vulnerability, limited work has extended these concepts to health and wellbeing. Water-associated disease cycles are characterized by complex linkages between social and ecological determinants, thus conceptualizing vulnerability in the context of health offers a useful framework for analysis. This paper applies a water associated disease index (WADI) as a tool to deepen understanding of changing vulnerability to dengue, comparing conditions in 2000 and 2010 in Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Multi-dimensional data were integrated into indicators of exposure and susceptibility using the WADI approach, including water access, land cover, climate, and solid waste collection, and outputs were validated and visualized in map form. The findings illustrate heterogeneous patterns of vulnerability to dengue in the region, and highlight trends of seasonal and long-term changes. Highest vulnerability was observed in densely populated Recife and the surrounding coastal region in both time periods, with climate conditions creating seasonal trends in exposure to dengue. While more remote areas in the semi-arid Sertão showed low vulnerability overall, increases were observed in some areas between 2000 and 2010 due to land use intensification and growing population densities. These findings suggest that interventions should consider the dynamic nature of social and ecological factors that contribute to health outcomes and address current as well as future populations vulnerable to dengue transmission. This vulnerability mapping approach can be applied to other water-associated diseases impacted by global environmental change to highlight priority areas for further investigation and contribute towards improving interventions.     

Stratigraphical framework of basaltic lavas in Torres Syncline main valley,southern Parana-Etendeka Volcanic Province

The Paraná-Etendeka Volcanic Province records the volcanism of the Early Cretaceous that precedes the fragmentation of the South-Gondwana supercontinent. Traditionally, investigations of these rocks prioritized the acquisition of geochemical and isotopic data, considering the volcanic stack as a monotonous succession of tabular flows. Torres Syncline is a tectonic structure located in southern Brazil and where the Parana-Etendeka basalts are well preserved. This work provides a detailed analysis of lithofacies and facies architecture, integrated to petrographic and geochemical data. We identified seven distinct lithofacies grouped into four facies associations related to different flow morphologies. The basaltic lava flows in the area can be divided into two contrasting units: Unit I - pahoehoe flow fields; and Unit II - simple rubbly flows. The first unit is build up by innumerous pahoehoe lava flows that cover the sandstones of Botucatu Formation. These flows occur as sheet pahoehoe, compound pahoehoe, and ponded lavas morphologies. Compound lavas are olivine-phyric basalts with intergranular pyroxenes. In ponded lavas and cores of sheet flows coarse plagioclase-phyric basalts are common. The first pahoehoe lavas are more primitive with higher contents of MgO. The emplacement of compound pahoehoe flows is related to low volume eruptions, while sheet lavas were emplaced during sustained eruptions. In contrast, Unit II is formed by thick simple rubbly lavas, characterized by a massive core and a brecciated/rubbly top. Petrographically these flows are characterized by plagioclase-phyric to aphyric basalts with high density of plagioclase crystals in the matrix. Chemically they are more differentiated lavas, and the emplacement is related to sustained high effusion rate eruptions. Both units are low TiO₂ and have geochemical characteristics of Gramado magma type. The Torres Syncline main valley has a similar evolution when compared to other Large Igneous Provinces, with compound flows at the base and simple flows in the upper portions. The detailed field work allied with petrography and geochemical data are extremely important to identify heterogeneities inside the volcanic pile and allows the construction of a detailed lithostratigraphical framework.     

全球过去千年典型暖期温度空间格局重建

利用过去两千年全球变化研究网络(PAGES 2k network)最新公布的501条代用记录,重建了全球过去千年全年平均温度空间格局的演化特征,对比分析了中世纪暖期及其最暖100年与20世纪现代暖期、中世纪暖期和小冰期最暖30年与20世纪最近30年的年平均温度空间模态异同.结果显示,在世纪尺度上,现代暖期与历史上中世纪暖期的温度异常空间格局大致相同,变化幅度也在大部分区域相当,但从年代际尺度上,最近30年的升温比过去千年中世纪暖期和小冰期两个典型时期都明显.值得一提的是北大西洋中高纬度海温变化与上述特征并不相同,在年代际和世纪尺度上小冰期和中世纪暖期海温均高于20世纪.可能原因是大西洋经圈翻转环流在中世纪暖期、小冰期和20世纪现代暖期等3个特征时段对太阳辐射、火山活动和温室气体等外强迫的响应不同.     

Two paleoecological histories spanning the period of human settlement in southeastern Brazil

The absence of human occupation sites in southeastern Brazil during the mid Holocene has been referred to as the 'Archaic Gap' (8970–1940 cal. a BP) and is predicted to have resulted from increased aridity. A ca. 14 000 cal. a pollen history from two well‐dated lake sediment cores located within the archeological district of Lagoa Santa, in the State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, was used to test this hypothesis. Our analyses indicated that the present cerrado and tropical semi‐deciduous forest mosaic persisted throughout the mid Holocene, until ca. 5500 cal. a BP, and the Lagoa Santa region did not experience especially dry conditions during the Holocene period. The early Holocene pollen spectra contained an assemblage of cold‐adapted taxa such as Podocarpus, Myrsine and Araucaria, co‐occurring with taxa from cerrado, e.g. Caryocar. A replacement of cold taxa by the modern cerrado–semi‐deciduous forest vegetation took place progressively, but appears to have been completed by the mid Holocene. No evidence of sustained drought was found in sedimentation or forest composition, nor any prolonged dry event in the study region. Holocene dryness as an explanation for the abandonment of Lagoa Santa region is not supported by the palynological analyses conducted in this study. Rather it is suggested that unpredictable climate may have underlain that abandonment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.