Potentialities,uncertainties and complexities in the response of coral reefs to future sea-level rise

Coral islands formed of largely unconsolidated sands only a few metres above sea level are thought to be particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise consequent upon global warming. However, scenarios which predict catastrophic flooding and loss of island area need reassessment, particularly in the light of the continued downwards revision of projected rates of future sea-level rise. Revised questions concern the interactions between reef growth and sea-level change, biophysical constraints on coral growth, and the importance to reef systems of potential changes in the magnitude, frequency and location of tropical cyclones and hurricanes. It is clear that most reefs have the growth potential to meet even the highest of future sea-level rise scenarios, but too little is known about physiological and physical constraints to reef growth to adequately evaluate the importance of these two factors in constraining this potential at the present time. Future sea-level rise in the tropical oceans, and coral reef responses, will take place against a backdrop of inter-regional differences in Holocene sea levels, resulting from the varying interaction of eustatic and hydro-isostatic processes. These differences have generated varying constraints on the development of modern reefs and varying inherited topographies upon which future sea-level changes will be superimposed. These controls are particularly important in assessing differences in vulnerability to future sea-level rise for reef islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.     

Dating of lower terrace sediments from the Middle Rhine area, Germany

Modern and known-age Pleistocene fluvial sediments were investigated by optical dating of quartz to test the suitability of the approach for dating deposits from the deeply incised Middle Rhine Valley. Samples from modern flood sediments revealed skewed distributions indicating different residual levels of equivalent dose (D_e) within the different aliquots. Nevertheless, a substantial number of aliquots from the modern deposits reflect D_e values close to zero. For the Pleistocene samples, optical ages are in general consistent with age control given by the presence of the Laacher See Tephra and radiocarbon dating. However, some samples overestimate the known age by a few thousand years when using the arithmetic mean. This is apparently explained by including aliquots in the determination of mean D_e where the optical signal was incompletely bleached at deposition. The most difficult issue in this context is identifying a suitable approach that can distinguish between the variability of D_e due to partial bleaching and microdosimetry. However, even when considering these limitations it appears that optical dating will by a quite suitable method to date Pleistocene sediments from such a complex fluvial environment, especially when focusing on a precision scale beyond a few thousand years.     

ESR dating of fluvial quartz: Estimate of the minimal distance transport required for getting a maximum optical bleaching

An ESR experimental study of artificial optical bleaching of sedimentary quartz has shown that the aluminum center was maximally bleached after a 6-month illumination equivalent to natural light. This duration seems too long to apply in natural conditions. Nevertheless, the measurement of the ESR intensity of aluminum centers in quartz extracted from modern sediments and deposited in sandy bars shows that the maximum bleaching has effectively been reached.

In order to determine the relationship between the bleaching and the distance covered by a quartz grain in a river, samples were collected along the Creuse River (France) from its spring to about 170 km downstream, where maximum bleaching levels were observed in previous studies. The ESR intensities of the aluminum and titanium centers in quartz were measured, using X-band spectroscopy, before and after artificial bleaching. The difference measured between these sub-samples shows that the maximum bleaching level is obtained in the course of the first kilometer. Hence, the assumption that ESR dating of fluvial sediment is based on the optical bleaching was validated.     

Investigating the amount of zeroing in modern sediments of River Danube, Austria

Sediments attributed to flooding events of River Danube concerning the bleaching of the optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal were investigated. It is demonstrated that the OSL signal in both quartz and feldspar is not completely but differentially bleached in the sediment grains. Partial bleaching of the samples is clearly indicated by the scatter of equivalent dose determined for several individual single aliquots. It is also shown that residual ages in feldspars are significantly higher than those calculated for quartz. It is furthermore demonstrated that analysing measurement-time dependent equivalent dose estimates is not a suitable method to identify partial bleaching in the investigated sediment grains. However, the transport and deposition process of the investigated samples was probably disturbed by an artificial input of sediment, and this case study may thus not be representative of undisturbed high flood events in the past.     

Studies on the Coral Reefs of the South China Sea: From Global Change to Oil-Gas Exploration

Studies on the coral reefs of the South China Sea (SCS) was the theme of the 6th Session of the 3rd Conference on Earth System Science (CESS) in Shanghai, 2014. This session discussed the most recent study developments on the SCS coral reefs, including coral reefs’ responses to global changes, coral reefs’ records on past climatic variations, and the activities about constructions and oil gas explorations in the coral reefs areas of the SCS. Disturbed by intensive anthropogenic activities and global climate warming, coral reefs in the SCS have declined dramatically, reflecting the up to 80% decrease of living coral cover and many areas having less than 20% of living coral cover. Geochemical data of SCS coral skeletons clearly show that since the Industry Revolution, the pollution situation of the SCS have dramatically increased and the seawater pH values have been continuously lowering, i.e. oceanic acidification. All these environmental phenomenon are further stressing the healthy development of the coral reef ecosystem in the SCS. Meanwhile, the poor coral reef ecosystems in the SCS are facing more anthropogenic disturbances such as coastal developments and engineering constructions. Obviously, the SCS coral reefs will be faced with more environmental challenges in the coming future. We therefore suggest that the policy makers should realize the extreme importance and the fragile of the coral reef ecosystems, and scientifically and with great cautions design construction project when in coral reef areas. We initiated the concept of “green engineering” for future developments in coral reef areas. Coral reefs are widely spreading in the whole SCS, and most of them developed since Miocene. Variations in coral reef structures provide good future oil-gas exploration. Because the SCS coral reefs have a long-developing history and a wide spatial distribution, they provide great potential in recording past environmental changes.     

Spectra of poorly resolved ocean data

Standard temperature and pressure sensors on Aanderaa RCM8 current meters have a resolution of 0.024 °C and 0.6 bar, each equal to 1 digital number (value) over a range of 1024. It is shown that an 11-month deep-ocean temperature record using only four values can contain useful spectral information on internal wave motions. This is partially due to the modulation of high-frequency data by non-zero low-frequency (subinertial) variations. This result follows from the comparison of this record with artificial three- and four-value data constructed from temperature records observed in stronger stratified waters nearby. These artificial records show main features of the internal wave band similar to those observed in the original data spectra. Peaks at tidal harmonic frequencies and enhancements at sum-tidal-inertial interaction frequencies are preserved in the artificial data, but overall noise level (and thus the continuum spectral slope) is enhanced with respect to the properly resolved records (using 15 and 100 values). As a demonstration of the stable accuracy of the temperature sensors, the poorly resolved records provided an estimate of mean stratification to within 5% of the estimate using Seabird CTD data.Responsible Editor: Hans Burchard     

海洋粘土沉积物的组成及其增白试验

为了海洋粘土的开发应用,利用FTIR和XRD衍射对其进行了矿物成分分析。结果表明,海洋粘土样品中粘土矿物含量较高,其主要矿物组成为伊/蒙混层和伊利石并含有少量其它矿物,同时证实样品中有磁铁矿和赤铁矿存在。粘土沉积物的化学成分分析显示,粘土中Fe2O3质量分数较高,约为7%。采用酸溶氢气还原法对东太平洋的粘土样品进行了化学增白试验,并探讨了酸种类及其浓度、药剂用量、反应时间、煅烧温度等因素对除铁增白效果的影响,优选出最佳除铁增白方案,使海洋粘土的白度由原来的23.8%提高到73.1%。另外,对增白前后样品的粒度、比表面积和分散性的测试表明,在增白的同时样品的活性也得到了提高。     

从台湾“9·21”大地震看平潭房屋建设的弊端

本文分析了平潭房屋建设在抗震性能方面存在的主要问题。     

Coral reef recovery status in south Andaman Islands after the bleaching event 2010

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are one of the Union Territories of India, located in the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal. In 2010 summer, the increment in sea surface water temperature (up to 34℃) resulted in the bleaching of about 74% to 77% of corals in the South Andaman. During this event, coral species such as Acropora cerealis, A. humilis, Montipora sp., Favia pallida, Diploastrea sp., Goniopora sp. Fungia concinna, Gardineroseries sp., Porites sp., Favites abdita and Lobophyllia robusta were severely affected. This study is to assess the recovery status of the reef ecosystem by estimating the percentage of Live Coral cover, Bleached coral cover, Dead coral with algae, Rubble, Sandy flat, Algal assemblage and other associated organisms. The sedimentation rate (mg cm-2 d-1) and coral coverage (%) were assessed during this study period. The average sedimentation rate was ranged between 0.27 and 0.89 mg cm-2 d-1 . The observed post bleaching recovery of coral cover was 21.1% at Port Blair Bay and 13.29% at Havelock Island. The mortality rate of coral cover due to this bleaching was estimated as 2.05% at Port Blair Bay and 9.82% at Havelock Island. Once the sea water temperature resumed back to the normal condition, most of the corals were found recovered.