Evaluation of stony coral indicators for coral reef management

Colonies of reef-building stony corals at 57 stations around St. Croix, US Virgin Islands were characterized by species, size and percentage of living tissue. Taxonomic, biological and physical indicators of coral condition were derived from these measurements and assessed for their response to gradients of human disturbance—a requirement for indicators used in regulatory assessments under authority of the Clean Water Act. At the most intensely disturbed location, five of eight primary indicators were highly correlated with distance from the source of disturbance: Coral taxa richness, average colony size, the coefficient of variation of colony size, total topographic coral surface area, and live coral surface area. An additional set of exploratory indicators related to rarity, reproductive and spawning mode and taxonomic identity were also screened. The primary indicators demonstrated sufficient precision to detect levels of change that would be applicable in a regional-scale regulatory program.     

造礁石珊瑚自然海区断枝培育技术研究

【目的】研究探讨造礁石珊瑚自然海区断枝培育技术的条件和方法。【方法】在深圳大鹏新区大澳湾海区海底搭建海区断枝培育系统,并在系统上培育膨胀蔷薇珊瑚(Montiporaturgescens)、霜鹿角珊瑚(Acropora pruinosa)、盾形陀螺珊瑚(Turbinaria peltata)、十字牡丹珊瑚(Pavona decussata)和澄黄滨珊瑚(Porites lutea)等5种造礁石珊瑚的断枝(每种珊瑚100株),开展为期12个月的实验。【结果】5种珊瑚在深圳市大鹏新区大澳湾海域的断枝培育系统上培育12个月后,5种造礁石珊瑚断枝存活率分别为96%、93%、95%、85%和83%。珊瑚断枝生长指标测量结果显示,5种珊瑚中霜鹿角珊瑚生长速度最快,其断枝横向增长长度平均可达46.2mm;其次是膨胀蔷薇珊瑚,其断枝横向伸长长度平均可达38.2 mm;而澄黄滨珊瑚生长速度最慢,横向伸长长度都在24mm以下。【结论】在合适海区,使用海区石珊瑚断枝培育系统进行造礁石珊瑚培育,可改善其存活率和生长。     

Old marine seismic and new satellite radar data: Petroleum exploration of north west Labrador Sea,Canada

This paper presents some new concepts in the petroleum systems of the northern Labrador and southern Baffin Island offshore region of eastern Canada. The focus of this work is the region of the Hekja O-71 gas discovery of 1979 by Aquitaine, one of only five wells drilled between 1976 and 1980 within an area covering some 166,000 square kilometers within the Saglek Basin.     

The sediment composition and predictive mapping of facies on the Propeller Mound—A cold-water coral mound (Porcupine Seabight,NE Atlantic)

Here we provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative insight on recent sediment composition and facies distribution of a cold-water coral (CWC) mound using the example of the Propeller Mound on the Irish continental margin (Hovland Mound Province, Porcupine Seabight). Five facies types on Propeller Mound are defined: (1) living coral framework, (2) coral rubble, (3) dropstone, (4) hardground, representing the on-mound facies, and (5) hemipelagic sediment facies, which describes the off-mound area. This facies definition is based on already published video-data recorded by Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), photo-data of gravity cores, box cores, and dredges from sediment surfaces as well as on the composition of the sediment fraction coarser than 125 μm, which has been analyzed on five selected box cores. Sediment compositions of the living coral framework and coral rubble facies are rather similar. Both sediment types are mainly produced by corals (34 and 35 wt%, respectively), planktonic foraminifers (22 and 29 wt%, respectively), benthic foraminifers (both 7 wt%), and molluscs (21 and 10 wt%, respectively), whereas the living coral framework characteristically features additional brachiopods (6 wt%). Hardgrounds are well-lithified coral rudstones rich in coral fragments (>30 surf%), foraminifers, echinoderms, and bivalves. The dropstone facies and the hemipelagic sediment typically carry high amounts of lithoclasts (36 and 53 wt%, respectively) and planktonic foraminifers (35 and 32 wt%, respectively); however, their faunal diversity is low compared with the coral-dominated facies (12 and <2 wt% coral fragments, 7 and 6 wt% benthic foraminifers, and 4 and 0 wt% balanids). Using the maximum likelihood algorithm within ArcGIS 9.2, spatial prediction maps of the previously described mound facies are calculated over Propeller Mound and are based on mound morphology parameters, ground-truthed with the sedimentary and faunal information from box cores, photographs, and video-data. This method is tested for the first time for CWC ecosystems and provides areal estimates of the predicted facies, as well as suggests further occurrences of living coral frameworks, coral rubble, and dropstones, which are not discovered in the area yet. Thus, sediment composition analysis combined with facies prediction mapping might provide a potential new tool to estimate living CWC occurrences and sediment/facies distributions on CWC mounds, which is an important prerequisite for budget calculations and definition of marine protected areas, and which will improve our understanding of CWC mound formation.     

Biostratigraphy,microfacies and depositional environments of upper Viséan limestones from the Burren region,County Clare,Ireland

The Burren region in western Ireland contains an almost continuous record of Viséan (Middle Mississippian) carbonate deposition extending from Chadian to Brigantian times, represented by three formations: the Chadian to Holkerian Tubber Formation, the Asbian Burren Formation and the Brigantian Slievenaglasha Formation. The upper Viséan (Holkerian–Brigantian) platform carbonate succession of the Burren can be subdivided into six distinct depositional units outlined below. (1) An Holkerian to lower Asbian unit of skeletal peloidal and bryozoan bedded limestone. (2) Lower Asbian unit of massive light grey Koninckopora‐rich limestone, representing a shallower marine facies. (3) Upper Asbian terraced limestone unit with minor shallowing‐upward cycles of poorly bedded Kamaenella‐rich limestone with shell bands and palaeokarst features. This unit is very similar to other cyclic sequences of late Asbian age in southern Ireland and western Europe, suggesting a glacio‐eustatic origin for this fourth‐order cyclicity. (4) Lower Brigantian unit with cyclic alternations of crinoidal/bryozoan limestone and peloidal limestone with coral thickets. These cycles lack evidence of subaerial exposure. (5) Lower Brigantian bedded cherty dark grey limestone unit, deposited during the maximum transgressive phase of the Brigantian. (6) Lower to upper Brigantian unit mostly comprising cyclic bryozoan/crinoidal cherty limestone. In most areas this youngest unit is truncated and unconformably overlain by Serpukhovian siliciclastic rocks. Deepening enhanced by platform‐wide subsidence strongly influenced later Brigantian cycle development in Ireland, but localized rapid shallowing led to emergence at the end of the Brigantian. A Cf5 Zone (Holkerian) assemblage of microfossils is recorded from the Tubber Formation at Black Head, but in the Ballard Bridge section the top of the formation has Cf6 Zone (Asbian) foraminiferans. A typical upper Asbian Rugose Coral Assemblage G near the top of the Burren Formation is replaced by a lower Brigantian Rugose Coral Assemblage H in the Slievenaglasha Formation. A similar change in the foraminiferans and calcareous algae at this Asbian–Brigantian formation boundary is recognized by the presence of upper Asbian Cf6γ Subzone taxa in the Burren Formation including Cribrostomum lecomptei, Koskinobigenerina sp., Bradyina rotula and Howchinia bradyana, and in the Slievenaglasha Formation abundant Asteroarchaediscus spp., Neoarchaediscus spp. and Fasciella crustosa of the Brigantian Cf6δ Subzone. The uppermost beds of the Slievenaglasha Formation contain a rare and unusual foraminiferal assemblage containing evolved archaediscids close to tenuis stage indicating a late Brigantian age. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconstructing High-resolution Deep-sea Environmental Change: Inorganic Geochemical Proxy Methods of Cold-water Bamboo Corals

The cold-water bamboo coral, dwelling in the depths of global seas, is characterized by the “bamboo-like” skeletal structure of alternating calcite internodes and gorgonin nodes, and has “tree-ring-like” concentric growth rings transversally. Paleoceanograhic reconstructions using bamboo coals would fill the geographic and temporal gaps of traditional means. In this work, the inorganic geochemical proxy methods for bamboo coral are introduced, including Mg/Ca for ambient temperature, Ba/Ca for seawater nutrient content, and δ¹¹B for seawater pH. Also, the potential influences of vital effect on the proxy reconstructions are briefly discussed. With the recent findings of deep-sea bamboo coral forests in the western Pacific region, a new territory of bamboo coral paleoceanography is opened for the scientists from the nearby countries.     

环境变化对造礁石珊瑚营养方式的影响及其适应性

造礁石珊瑚是珊瑚礁生态系统的框架生物,它们既能够通过共生藻的光合作用进行自养,也能够通过触手捕获和黏液吸附等方式进行异养。通过研究造礁石珊瑚光合自养以及异养营养的机理和过程,系统分析了光照、温度、营养盐、潮汐、水流、CO2质量浓度以及食物的可获得性等因素对造礁石珊瑚光合自养和异养营养产生的影响,并讨论了珊瑚的这2种营养方式对环境变化的适应性。在环境适宜的条件下,光合自养是健康造礁石珊瑚的主要营养方式;当珊瑚自养营养的供给受到限制时,异养营养能够在一定程度上弥补其营养缺失,甚至可能成为珊瑚的主要营养方式。造礁石珊瑚的2种营养方式能够对不同环境因素的变化做出不同响应,并通过两者之间的互补以适应环境变化。今后研究的重点应放在归纳各类因素对造礁石珊瑚2种营养方式的影响;深入研究造礁石珊瑚异养营养方式的规律与环境适应性;厘清造礁石珊瑚光合自养与异养营养之间的关系和协调模式。     

Applicability of LOICZ catchment–coast continuum in a major Caribbean basin: The Magdalena River,Colombia

Within the Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ)-Basins approach, the Magdalena River Project (MRP) is an interdisciplinary research, which aims to improve the scientific understanding of the linkages between the Magdalena drainage basin and its associated coastal environments. The MRP is an outgrowth of the initial regional planning that resulted from the LOICZ South American Basins (SamBas) and Caribbean Basins (CariBas) studies on land use and hydrological changes during approximately the past century in tropical and temperate benchmark river basins. The results of the MRP presented in this article show that the extent of land-cover change and erosion within the catchment has increased over the last 10–20 yr. The overall increasing trends in sediment load on a regional scale may be attributed to a range of anthropogenic influences including: a 40% decrease in forests over a 20-yr period; a 65% increase in agricultural and pasture; poor practices of land use; mining; and increasing rates of urbanization. These increasing trends in sediment load coincide with the overall decline of live coral cover in a 145-km² coral reef complex in the Caribbean Sea. In addition, the impacts of heavy sediment loads and freshwater discharges have greatly contributed not only to the total disappearance of coral formations but also to a considerable reduction in abundance of seagrass beds in Cartagena Bay and neighbouring areas. The synthesis and analysis presented in this article are just first steps toward understanding the natural and human-induced factors that have produced the observed patterns of water discharge and sediment load of the Magdalena River into the Caribbean Sea, and to relating these processes to the impact on coastal ecosystems.     

西昆仑大红柳滩地区原划上三叠统克勒青河群中发现二叠纪化石

通过西昆仑大红柳滩一带地质填图和实测地层剖面,从原划上三叠统克勒青河群中采到了大量孢粉和珊蝴、菊石类等化石,经鉴定其形成时代主体为二叠纪,经区域地层对比,重新厘定为二叠纪黄羊岭群。该生物化石的取得,为分析研究西昆仑微陆块及巴颜喀拉晚古生代—中生代边缘裂陷盆地的地质构造演化,提供了新资料。