Diet and gill morphology of the East Coast redeye round herring Etrumeus wongratanai off KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Stomach content analyses and measurements of gillraker morphology were used to assess the diet and feeding ecology of the East Coast redeye round herring Etrumeus wongratanai and provide data for comparisons with other small pelagic fishes off South Africa. Samples were collected by jigging from a kayak off Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), over the period July 2013–May 2014. In total, 66 stomachs (containing 4 407 prey items) and 66 gill arches were examined. Stomach content analyses indicated that East Coast redeye round herring, at the time of sampling, fed on large (1 500–2 500?µm) particles, with ～2 500?µm particles making the greatest contribution to dietary carbon. The species feeds on larger particles than do anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and sardine Sardinops sagax, but on particles of a similar size to those consumed by West Coast redeye round herring Etrumeus whiteheadi. There were significant differences in mean gillraker gaps between East Coast redeye round herring and both sardine and anchovy, but not between East Coast and West Coast redeye round herring. The differences in gillraker gaps between East Coast redeye round herring, sardine and anchovy are indicative of resource partitioning through differential feeding, based on zooplankton size. The data suggest that there is no resource partitioning between East and West coast redeye round herring, indicating that competition is likely to occur between them. However, such competition is minimised by limited spatial overlap between these two species.     

Natural expansion and experimental manipulation of seagrass (Zostera spp.) abundance and the response of infaunal invertebrates

A study of an expanding seagrass bed on the south-west coast of British Columbia, Canada involved documentation and explanation of the pattern of expansion of the vegetation as well as documentation and experimental investigation of the accompanying changes in the distribution of infaunal invertebrates. Expansion followed a major environmental change, improved water clarity initiated in 1969 when a causeway blocked access to the site for silty Fraser River water. The original eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed expanded landward over 30 m year⁻¹, probably causing more and more water to be retained in the bed at low tide and thus improving its own habitat. More rapid expansion occurred from 1979–1983 after Z.japonica colonized at the landward edge of the eelgrass bed and in a separate intertidal area. Expansion ceased around 1983 coincident with, but probably independent of, further construction.Burrowing shrimp (Callianassa californiensis) decreased in abundance between 1977 and 1984 in areas where the two seagrasses colonized. Short-term experiment over one summer and fall showed that removal of all shoots allowed adult shrimp and tube worms to colonize the sediment while addition of shoots of Z. japonica by transplanting caused temporary decreases in shrimp abundance. After a few weeks an established shrimp population destroyed the transplants. Among reasonable alternate hypotheses for the decline in Callianassa, the effect of sediment texture can be eliminated, but either direct negative effects of seagrass, i.e. inhibition of the burrowing of adult shrimp or of settlement of juveniles, or indirect effects, i.e. the harboring of more predators of shrimp in seagrass beds, deserve further study.     

南海北部神狐区域 SH2 站位甲烷水合物成藏动力学模拟研究

南海北部神狐区域海底的高丰度水合物储层与生物成因为主的甲烷气源表明该区域很可能是一种特殊的复合型海洋水合物系统,其成藏动力学机制有待进一步的研究和澄清。建立了一个耦合沉积层地质属性-流体流动过程-水合物反应动力学的传输-反应模型,区别了两种不同类型的水合物形成(分解)动力学过程：(1)在通常情况下溶解甲烷和游离气共同形成水合物,(2)特殊情况下游离气直接生成水合物,结果表明在神狐海域热力学环境下游离气形成水合物速度比溶解甲烷快约4倍,气体含量和动力学常数比值越大生成水合物越快,而对比水合物分布的模拟结果与实测数据表明该区域水合物储层聚集和产状很可能受到了其他地质活动的影响。     

准噶尔盆地西北缘克-百地区不整合面及其动力学条件

不整合及其性质和强度的确定对理解克拉玛依至百口泉地区构造变形历史和油气聚集规律具有重要意义。根据地震资料研究显示,该区二叠纪至中生代地层中存在多个不整合面,且多为构造运动的反映。其中对克-百地区构造形成具有重要影响的有四期,其一发生在中二叠统下乌尔禾组沉积后,主要表现为冲断掀斜运动,使其前的二叠纪沉积向南东方向掀斜抬升,遭受剥蚀;其二发生在三叠纪末期,对克百断裂上盘大侏罗沟断层至百口泉段的构造有重要影响;其三发生在中侏罗世末,该期构造运动在克百断裂带及其上盘表现最为清楚,以冲断为主,局部地区有褶皱现象;其四发生在早白垩世末期,表现为掀斜运动,褶皱和断裂作用相对较弱。克-百地区不同时期、不同构造部位变形的差异性与构造动力条件密切相关。     

地壳内的岩浆动力学过程及其资源与环境效应SCIEI北大核心CSCD

岩浆是将地球内部物质传送到表层系统的主要载体,并造成显著的资源聚集和环境效应。岩浆动力学是研究岩浆的迁移、储存、演化、就位以及喷发过程,侧重物理机制。这些岩浆过程主要发生在岩浆通道系统中,包括岩浆储库和岩浆管道。本文对目前国际岩浆动力学领域一些热点和前沿进行了介绍,这包括从岩浆房到岩浆储库概念的转变、岩浆储库的生长和动力学演化过程、岩浆过程的时间尺度以及岩浆中晶体的生长。然后阐述了岩浆中挥发分的种类和溶解度、获取天然岩浆挥发分含量的方法、一些典型镁铁质岩浆中的挥发分含量、岩浆去气的化学和物理机制,并简要梳理了热液金属矿床的形成过程和岩浆挥发分进入地表圈层系统引发的环境气候效应。最后列举了一些岩浆动力学有关的重要科学问题并建议了进一步的研究方向。     

Sediment yield of the lower Tana River,Kenya, is insensitive to dam construction: sediment mobilization processes in a semi‐arid tropical river system

Dam construction in the 1960s to 1980s significantly modified sediment supply from the Kenyan uplands to the lower Tana River. To assess the effect on suspended sediment fluxes of the Tana River, we monitored the sediment load at high temporal resolution for 1 year and complemented our data with historical information. The relationship between sediment concentration and water discharge was complex: at the onset of the wet season, discharge peaks resulted in high sediment concentrations and counterclockwise hysteresis, while towards the end of the wet season, a sediment exhaustion effect led to low concentrations despite the high discharge. The total sediment flux at Garissa (c. 250 km downstream of the lowermost dam) between June 2012 and June 2013 was 8.8 Mt yr^‐1. Comparison of current with historical fluxes indicated that dam construction had not greatly affected the annual sediment flux. We suggest that autogenic processes, namely river bed dynamics and bank erosion, mobilized large quantities of sediments stored in the alluvial plain downstream of the dams. Observations supporting the importance of autogenic processes included the absence of measurable activities of the fall‐out radionuclides ⁷Be and ¹³⁷Cs in the suspended sediment, the rapid lateral migration of the river course, and the seasonal changes in river cross‐section. Given the large stock of sediment in the alluvial valley of the Tana River, it may take centuries before the effect of damming shows up as a quantitative reduction in the sediment flux at Garissa. Many models relate the sediment load of rivers to catchment characteristics, thereby implicitly assuming that alterations in the catchment induce changes in the sediment load. Our research confirms that the response of an alluvial river to external disturbances such as land use or climate change is often indirect or non‐existent as autogenic processes overwhelm the changes in the input signal. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Estimation of Secondary Production of the Marine Bivalve Spisula subtruncata (DA COSTA) in the Area of the Po River Delta

Abstract. The secondary production of Spisula subtruncata (somatic production) is calculated in the framework of a benthic monitoring study in a coastal area. The temporal trends of density, biomass and growth increments are examined in the three year-classes present. These are compared to certain physical and chemical parameters.     

Marine tether dynamics: retrieval and deployment from a heaving platform

A tether management system of a winch module in a marine environment is proposed. For the purpose of this study the subsea body is considered as a mass attached at the free end of a long tether which is wrapped around a circular drum controlled by an external torque. The winch is considered mounted on a heaving platform. The effect of the heaving platform on the motions of the drum, tether and attached mass are studied with respect to the longitudinal vibrations of the tether in one dimension. The hydrodynamic effects are considered on the deployed portion of the tether and the tethered mass, both of which are assumed submerged in otherwise still water. The resulting nonlinear system of equations of motion is developed and solved numerically for an example of a marine tether system. The effect of the tether extensibility on the operation threshold of the system is identified. Comparison with an inextensible tether case is provided. The numerical results and their analysis for the retrieval/deployment of the system are presented.     

Merging of low-mass systems and the origin of the fundamental plane

We present the preliminary results of a study of how small stellar systems merge to form larger ones. As we display the families of galaxies in the μ_e - R_e plane (effective surface brightness versus effective radius) we realize that different morphological types occupy different loci, evidencing the different physical mechanisms operating in each family. As proposed by Capaccioli et al. (1992) this diagram is the logical equivalent of the HR diagram for stars. Here we take some initial steps in understanding of how we can establish the evolutionary tracks, solely due to dynamical processes, in the μ_e - R_e plane, ultimately making a dwarf elliptical to turn into a normal elliptical galaxy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ion winds in Saturn's southern auroral/polar region

We present profiles of the line-of-sight (l.o.s.) ionospheric wind velocities in the southern auroral/polar region of Saturn. Our velocities are derived from the measurement of Doppler shifting of the H₃⁺ν₂Q(1,0⁻) line at 3.953 microns. The data for this study were obtained using the facility high-resolution spectrometer CSHELL on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, during the night of February 6, 2003 (UT). The l.o.s. velocity profiles finally derived are consistent with an extended region of the upper atmosphere sub-corotating with the planet: the ion velocities in the inertial reference are only 1/3 of those expected for full planetary corotation. We discuss the results in the light of recent proposals for the kronian magnetosphere, and suggest that, in this region, Saturn's ion winds may be under solar wind control.