Does use of tropical beaches by tourists and island residents result in damage to fringing coral reefs? A case study in Moorea French Polynesia

Although coral reefs worldwide are subject to increasing global threats, humans also impact coral reefs directly through localized activities such as snorkeling, kayaking and fishing. We investigated five sites on the northern shore of Moorea, French Polynesia, and quantified the number of visitors on the beach and in shallow water. In field surveys, we measured total coral cover and colony sizes of two common genera, Porites and Acropora, a massive and branching morphology, respectively. One site, which hosted over an order of magnitude more people than the other four, had significantly less total coral cover and supported very little branching Acropora. In addition, size frequency distributions of both the branching and massive genera were skewed toward smaller colony sizes at the high use site. Our results demonstrated that the use of tropical beaches may result in less coral cover, with branching colonies rare and small.     

广西宁明亭亮下二叠统古油藏储层三史演化与成藏机理

亭亮生物礁古油藏为一发育于早二叠世茅口期已遭破坏的大型生物礁古油藏。探讨了该礁储层的成因、三史（埋藏－构造史、有机质演化史和孔隙演化史）关系及成藏机理。礁原生孔隙普遍发育,但由于成岩期多世代方解石的胶结、充填和埋藏压实作用而破坏殆尽,其最终礁储层和有效孔隙的形成主要受控于深埋有机溶蚀作用及礁顶部存在的不整合面和古风化壳岩溶带。同时紧邻生物礁南部的生油坳陷提供的丰富油源和地下有机酸性流体多期次地运移     

陕西秦岭海槽晚石炭世三里峡生物礁群落相研究

通过对发育于陕西秦岭海槽晚石炭世三里峡生物礁的生长过程、古生态特征及其造礁作用的研究,鉴定出６个门类的２３个属,主要为有孔虫、藻类、腕足类及介形类等。它们组成２个造礁群落,并形成独立的群落结构。该生物礁的造礁功能比较复杂,在礁的不同生长阶段有不同的造礁作用方式,具有以一种造礁作用为主兼有多种造礁作用共同作用的特点。其生长可分为生物定殖、障积式造礁及包粘式造礁三个阶段     

Effect of cross‐section interpolated bathymetry on 2D hydrodynamic model results in a large river

Two‐dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic models have been increasingly used to quantify aquatic habitat and stream processes, such as sediment transport, streambed morphological evolution, and inundation extents. Because river topography has a strong influence on predicted hydraulic conditions, 2D models require accurate and detailed bathymetric data of the stream channel and surrounding floodplains. Besides collection of mass points to construct high‐resolution three‐dimensional surfaces, bathymetries may be interpolated from cross‐sections. However, limited information is available on the effects of cross‐section spacing and the derived interpolated bathymetry on 2D model results in large river systems. Here, we investigated the effects of cross‐section spacing on flow properties simulated with 2D modeling at low, medium and high discharges in two morphologically different reaches, a simple (almost featureless with low sinuosity) and a complex (presenting pools, riffles, runs, contractions and expansions) reach of the Snake River (Idaho, USA), the tenth largest river in the United States in terms of drainage area. We compared the results from 2D models developed with complete channel bathymetry acquired with multibeam sonar data and photogrammetry, with 2D model results that were developed using interpolated topography from uniformly distributed transects. Results indicate that cross‐sections spaced equal to or greater than 2 times the average channel width (W*) smooths the bathymetry and suppresses flow structures. Conversely, models generated with cross‐sections spaced at 0.5 and 1 W* have stream flow properties, sediment mobility and spatial habitat distribution similar to those of the complete bathymetry. Furthermore, differences in flow properties between interpolated and complete topography models generally increase with discharge and with channel complexity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

机载激光测深技术研究进展

分析了国内外机载激光测深技术的发展动态,指出了我国研制机载激光测深系统存在的问题。针对机载激光测深系统测深数据量大、条带拼接难度大、环境参数改正难以准确进行的瓶颈问题进行了分析,并提出了针对性的建议,为进一步研制该系统提供了借鉴。     

Diagenetic controls on the isotopic composition of carbonate‐associated sulphate in the Permian Capitan Reef Complex,West Texas

Late Palaeozoic‐age strata from the Capitan Reef in west Texas show facies‐dependent heterogeneity in the sulphur isotopic composition of carbonate‐associated sulphate, which is trace sulphate incorporated into carbonate minerals that is often used to reconstruct the sulphur isotopic composition of ancient seawater. However, diagenetic pore fluid processes may influence the sulphur isotopic composition of carbonate‐associated sulphate. These processes variously modify the sulphur isotopic composition of incorporated sulphate from syndepositional seawater in shelf crest, outer shelf, shelf margin and slope depositional settings. This study used a new multicollector inductively‐coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique to determine the sulphur isotopic composition of samples of individual depositional and diagenetic textures. Carbonate rocks representing peritidal facies in the Yates and Tansill formations preserve the sulphur isotopic composition of Guadalupian seawater sulphate despite alteration of the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions by meteoric and dolomitizing diagenetic processes. However, sulphur isotopic data indicate that limestones deposited in reef and slope facies in the Capitan and Bell Canyon formations largely incorporate sulphate from anoxic marine‐phreatic pore fluids isotopically modified from seawater by microbial sulphate reduction, despite generally preserving the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of Permian seawater. Some early and all late meteoric calcite cements have carbonate‐associated sulphate with a sulphur isotopic composition distinct from that of Permian seawater. Detailed petrographic and sedimentary context for carbonate‐associated sulphate analyses will allow for improved reconstructions of ancient seawater composition and diagenetic conditions in ancient carbonate platforms. The results of this study indicate that carbonate rocks that diagenetically stabilize in high‐energy environments without pore fluid sulphate gradients can provide a robust archive of ancient seawater's sulphur isotopic composition.     

基于SPOT-6遥感影像的近海水深反演

水深反演对于浅海地形调查、海岸带保护和开发具有重要的意义。本文选取南海东锣岛海域为研究区,采用SPOT-6 6 m高分辨率数据,基于SPOT-6多光谱数据和水深实测值分别建立蓝-绿、蓝-红等6个波段比值模型。结果显示,绿-红波段的比值模型精度最高,R²值达到0.706 4,这对于反演热带海洋地区水深具有一定借鉴意义。基于该模型的反演结果对不同水深范围内的平均相对误差进行比较,结果表明:0~5 m水深范围反演误差较高,主要由于该范围水体情况较复杂,5～10 m 水深范围内平均相对误差最小为13.62%,而随着水深的增加,反演的误差增大,分析误差的主要来源是海水中的悬浮颗粒物、黄色物质、叶绿素质量浓度等方面的影响。     

Multibeam Bathymetry and Slope Stability of Isvika Bay,Murchisonfjorden, Nordaustlandet

A research expedition to the polar region of Murchisonfjorden (Nordaustlandet, Svalbard) on the research vessel Horyzont II took place in August 2009. This paper presents results from an extensive bathymetric measurement campaign of the Isvika Bay, southern part of Murchisonfjorden. The aim of this campaign was to select optimal sites for sediment sampling. A detailed analysis of the bathymetric features is performed with a special emphasis on the slope stability conditions. A simple method for identifying areas of sediment redeposition is proposed. The results confirm that the Isvika Bay has two distinct basins separated by a ridge. Both basins display flat central regions surrounded by steep slopes with gullies. In addition, results of analysed Quaternary geological data have indicated that the area was affected by ice repeated glacial activity in the past and that there is no morphological form typical for glacier erosion and sedimentation.     

Seafloor acoustic remote sensing with multibeam echo-sounders and bathymetric sidescan sonar systems

This paper examines the potential for remote classification of seafloor terrains using a combination of quantitative acoustic backscatter measurements and high resolution bathymetry derived from two classes of sonar systems currently used by the marine research community: multibeam echo-sounders and bathymetric sidescans sonar systems. The high-resolution bathymetry is important, not only to determine the topography of the area surveyed, but to provide accurate bottom slope corrections needed to convert the arrival angles of the seafloor echoes received by the sonars into true angles of incidence. An angular dependence of seafloor acoustic backscatter can then be derived for each region surveyed, making it possible to construct maps of acoustic backscattering strength in geographic coordinates over the areas of interest. Such maps, when combined with the high-resolution bathymetric maps normally compiled from the data output by the above sonar systems, could be very effective tools to quantify bottom types on a regional basis, and to develop automatic seafloor classification routines.     

Interactions between the Indonesian Throughflow and circulations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans

Circulations associated with the Indonesian Throughflow (IT), particularly concerning subsurface currents in the Pacific Ocean, are studied using three types of models: a linear, continuously stratified (LCS) model and a nonlinear, -layer model (LOM), both confined to the Indo-Pacific basin; and a global, ocean general circulation model (COCO). Solutions are wind forced, and obtained with both open and closed Indonesian passages. Layers 1-4 of LOM correspond to near-surface, thermocline, subthermocline (thermostad), and upper-intermediate (AAIW) water, respectively, and analogous layers are defined for COCO.The three models share a common dynamics. When the Indonesian passages are abruptly opened, barotropic and baroclinic waves radiate into the interiors of both oceans. The steady-state, barotropic flow field from the difference (open − closed) solution is an anticlockwise circulation around the perimeter of the southern Indian Ocean, with its meridional branches confined to the western boundaries of both oceans. In contrast, steady-state, baroclinic flows extend into the interiors of both basins, a consequence of damping of baroclinic waves by diapycnal processes (internal diffusion, upwelling and subduction, and convective overturning). Deep IT-associated currents are the subsurface parts of these baroclinic flows. In the Pacific, they tend to be directed eastward and poleward, extend throughout the basin, and are closed by upwelling in the eastern ocean and Subpolar Gyre. Smaller-scale aspects of their structure vary significantly among the models, depending on the nature of their diapycnal mixing.At the exit to the Indonesian Seas, the IT is highly surface trapped in all the models, with a prominent, deep core in the LCS model and in LOM. The separation into two cores is due to near-equatorial, eastward-flowing, subsurface currents in the Pacific Ocean, which drain layer 2 and layer 3 waters from the western ocean to supply water for the upwelling regions in the eastern ocean; indeed, depending on the strength and parameterization of vertical diffusion in the Pacific interior, the draining can be strong enough that layer 3 water flows from the Indian to Pacific Ocean. The IT in COCO lacks a significant deep core, likely because the model’s coarse bottom topography has no throughflow passage below 1000 m. Consistent with observations, water in the near-surface (deep) core comes mostly from the northern (southern) hemisphere, a consequence of the wind-driven circulation in the tropical North Pacific being mostly confined to the upper ocean; as a result, it causes the near-surface current along the New Guinea coast to retroflect eastward, but has little impact on the deeper New Guinea undercurrent.In the South Pacific, the IT-associated flow into the basin is spread roughly uniformly throughout all four layers, a consequence of downwelling processes in the Indian Ocean. The inflow first circulates around the Subtropical Gyre, and then bends northward at the Australian coast to flow to the equator within the western boundary currents. To allow for this additional, northward transport, the bifurcation latitude of the South Equatorial Current shifts southward when the Indonesian passages are open. The shift is greater at depth (layers 3 and 4), changing from about 14°S when the passages are closed to 19°S when they are open and, hence, accounting for the northward-flowing Great Barrier Reef Undercurrent in that latitude range.After flowing along the New Guinea coast, most waters in layers 1-3 bend offshore to join the North Equatorial Countercurrent, Equatorial Undercurrent, and southern Tsuchiya Jet, respectively, thereby ensuring that northern hemisphere waters contribute significantly to the IT. In contrast, much of the layer 4 water directly exits the basin via the IT, but some also flows into the subpolar North Pacific. Except for the direct layer 4 outflow, all other IT-associated waters circulate about the North Pacific before they finally enter the Indonesian Seas via the Mindanao Current.