A Comparative Analysis of Evaporate Sediments on Earth and Mars：Implications for the Climate Change on Mars

The knowledge of Martian salts has gone through substantial changes during the past decades. In the 70th of last century, Viking landers have noticed the existence of salts on Mars. Several salt species have been suggested from then on, such as sulfates and chlorides. However, their origin was a mystery due to the lack of observations. The recent explorations and related studies at the beginning of this century revealed that the crustal composition of Mars is similar to that of Earth, and it was hypothesized that almost one third of Martian surface was covered by oceans and lakes in the early stage of Mars. The huge water bodies may have dissolved a large quantity of ions from Martian primary rocks during the whole Noachian and Hesperian epoch. After the enormous drought event happened during the late Hesperian and the early Amazonian, these dissolved ions have formed huge salts deposits and most of them were preserved on Mars until today. To date, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides have all been detected by orbital remote sensing and by landers and rovers. However, the salt mineral assemblages on Mars seems to have some differences from those on Earth, e.g., rich in sulfates and lack of massive carbonates. To explain this difference, we propose that most of the surface carbonates precipitated from the ancient oceans may have been dissolved by the later ubiquitous acidic fluids originated from the global volcanism in the Hesperian era, and formed the enormous sulfate deposits as detected, and this hypothesis seems to be supported by the evidence that most of the sulfate deposits distribute around the Tharsis volcanic province while the survived carbonates located far from it. This process can release most of the carbon on Mars to the atmosphere in the form of CO2 and then be erased by the late heavy bombardments, which might have profound influence on the climate change happened in the Hesperian age. The positive correlation between the GRS results of the potassium distributions and the distribution of chlorides on Mars, together with the high Br concentration measured from the evaporate sediments at two Mars exploration rover landing sites, indicate that the brines in the regions where the chlorides deposited may have reached the stage for potassium salts deposition, thus we propose for the first time that potassium salts deposits might be prevalent in these regions.     

Subaqueous geothermal activity revealed by lacustrine sediments of the acidic Nakadake crater lake, Aso Volcano, Japan

Lacustrine sediments were sampled from the inaccessible acidic (pH = 0.43) Nakadake crater lake of Aso Volcano, Japan by a simple method. The sediments contain an extremely high content (74 wt.%) of sulfur, which exits as elemental sulfur, gypsum and anhydrite. The abundant elemental sulfur is likely formed by the reaction of SO₂ and H₂S gases and by the SO₂ disproportionation reaction in magmatic hydrothermal system below the crater lake. Based on the sulfur content of sediments and measurements of elevation change of the crater bottom, the sulfur accumulation rate at the Nakadake crater lake was calculated as 250 tonne/day, which is comparable with the SO₂ emission rate (200–600 tonne/day) from the Nakadake crater. The sediments include a small amount (9%) of clear glass shards that are apparently not altered in spite of the high reactivity of hyperacid lake water. This finding suggests that the clear glass shards are fragments of recently emitted magmas from fumaroles on the bottom of the crater lake and the magma emissions continuously occur even in quiescent periods.     

Using microcomputed tomography (μCT) to count varves in lake sediment sequences: Application to Lake Sagtjernet,Eastern Norway

Varved lake sediments are one of the most important natural archives that allow annual resolution paleoclimate reconstructions. Conventional varve counting techniques use thin sections to manually identify lamina. However, this technique is destructive, labour intensive and limited to a 2D representation of complex 3D features which may lead to misidentification of varve boundaries. This study presents the use of microcomputed tomography (μCT) scans in constructing varve chronologies, utilizing scanning resolutions of ∼50 μm (binned to ∼200 μm) for core sections up to 150 cm long. To evaluate this method, we cored and analysed Lake Sagtjernet in Eastern Norway — revealing a 593 cm-long sediment record of the past 10274 (⁺²²⁰/_-329) years, with continuous laminations from 84 to 533 cm depth (75% of the sediments). Through limnological monitoring and microfacies analyses we demonstrate that the laminations are rare ferrogenic varves, with an annual deposition pattern comprised of seasonal changes in biogenic production superimposed on seasonal precipitates of iron and manganese hydroxides. The floating μCT-counted varve chronology presented here is the first non-glacial varve chronology in Norway and covers 4023 ⁺¹¹³/_-185 years. We find that μCT scans allow for a very fast and non-destructive way of counting varves with sufficient detail of varve boundaries. In the few sections where varve boundaries are too vague to resolve, we recommend using complimentary techniques such as thin sections in parallel. The varve chronology is in good agreement with the 95% confidence interval of the independent radiocarbon chronology based on 16 ¹⁴C dates, and ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs activity peaks, indicating that the varve chronology can be equated to calendar age.     

DYNAMIC RESOURCES OF RIVER SEDIMENTS

The currently enforced Bulgarian water legislation [the Water Act (1999), the Environmental Protection Act (2002), etc.] requires conducting special studies for accurate assessments of sand and gravel flux along the rivers, prior to the issue of the license for operation of the quarries, where they will be dredged. The activity of a quarry necessitates special investigations because of the large dimensions of the damages inflicted on the environment. Ours studies have shown that there are two types of river reaches, in which abstraction of sand and gravel is performed. The first one refers usually to the plain area river reaches. The other type is mountainous with high rate of sediment load, which consists of coarse solid matter. The “on-the-spot” study on the environmental impact of the sand and gravel dredging has revealed that in the area of the quarry the riverbed cuts into the alluvial sediments to about 6-7 m and this ditch has spread by attenuation at a distance of more than 25 km upstream. Downstream the pit the picture is replicated and at the 8th km a local scour on the riverbed, amounting to more than 1.80-2.00 m, has been measured near the foundation of a massive bridge in the centre of city of Plovdiv. Such assessments of dynamic resources of sand and gravel materials are expected to serve for the purposes of gradual limitation of this activity in river sections close to renewable resources. The amount of sediment load, which may be abstracted in the area of the Orizare quarry in Bulgaria on a yearly basis has been calculated as 6000 m^3/a. It ensures that the resources will not be exhausted and irreversible distortion of the riverbed will be prevented. This is an environmentally safe limit.     

Global correlation for strontium isotope curve in the Late Cretaceous of Tibet and dating marine sediments

87Sr/86Sr ratios of marine carbonate samples collected from a sedimentary section of the Late Cretaceous in the south of Tibet were measured. Based on the absence of cathodo-luminescence and a very low Mn/Sr ratio (average 0.06) of the samples, it is thought that they contain information on the original seawater strontium isotope composition. The strontium isotope evolution curve of the Late Cretaceous in Tibet we established here, is consistent with other coeval curves from Europe, North America and Antarctica, supports the notion that the strontium isotope composition of seawater is governed by global events, which provides a new approach for the inter-continental and inter-basinal correlations of Late Cretaceous in the area and is a complementarity for biostratigraphy. In addition, we attempt to determine the age of the boundaries for Campanian/Santonian and Maastrichtian/Campanian by 87Sr/86Sr ratios for Gamba section in southern Tibet. The two boundaries are located in the thickness of 217 m (83.5 M     

第四纪松散沉积物中隐性活断层的显微构造特征

第四纪松散沉积物中普遍存在断层的隐性现象 ,包括断层的隐形和尖灭 ,给古地震研究带来了复杂性和多解性。选择了一些典型古地震剖面 ,对涉及到断层隐形或尖灭的部位 ,进行了定向原状样品采集 ,通过室内样品固结 ,显微薄片制作和显微构造现象观察 ,从显微域里找到了鉴定隐形断层的许多标志 ,并对断层尖灭机制进行了研究。认为通过显微构造分析 ,排除或肯定隐形断层的存在 ,或者追踪断层尖灭的层位 ,结合宏观剖面研究和年代测定 ,可以使古地震时代和期次判定更准确     

Biochemical and microbial features of shallow marine sediments along the Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea,Antarctica)

Shallow marine sediments were collected from seven stations (three of which located at Gerlache Inlet, two at Tethys Bay, one at Adelie Cove and one just beneath the Italian Research Base) along the Terra Nova Bay coast (Ross Sea, Antarctica). Their chemical, biochemical and microbiological properties were studied in order to provide further insights in the knowledge of this Antarctic benthic ecosystem. Overall, the organic carbon (OC) represented the major fraction of total carbon (TC) and displayed concentrations similar to or slightly lower than those previously measured in Antarctic bottom sediments. The biopolymeric carbon within OC ranged from 4.1% to 19.9% and showed a wide trophic range (65–834 μg g⁻¹ d.w.). Proteins (PRT) represented on average the main biochemical class contributing to labile organic carbon, followed by lipids (LIP) and carbohydrates (CHO). The activity of aminopeptidase, β-d-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase and esterase was checked, giving the highest values at Tethys Bay and at the deepest water sediments. The principal component analysis, which was computed considering physical, chemical (elemental and biochemical sedimentary composition) and microbiological parameters (including bacterial abundance, ectoenzymatic activities, T-RFs richness and diversity indices), allowed to obtain two main clusters (“Tethys Bay” and “other stations”). Based on data obtained, two representative 16S rRNA clone libraries using samples from Tethys Bay and Gerlache Inlet were constructed. The sequences of 171 clones were compared to those available in public databases to determine their approximate phylogenetic affiliations. Both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were disclosed, with the majority of them affiliated with the Gamma- and Deltaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria. The occurrence of strictly anaerobic bacteria suggests that sediments might also undergo anoxic conditions that, in turn, could favor the accumulation of PRT in respect to CHO, assuming that fermentation of amino acids is slower than that of sugars from decomposing polysaccharides.     

INVESTIGATIONS ON EROSIONAL PROCESSES OF COHESIVE SEDIMENT USING AN IN-SITU MEASURING DEVICE

I.INTRODUCTIONToconstructanidealmeasuringdeviceforin-situstUdiesincomparisontolaboratorydeVicesastrongeremphasishastobesetonthehandlingoftheSystemandtheresistanceunderwater,whichaughtbethereasonwhynotmanyapproachesonrealin-situinvestigationwerecaaccedoutlately.Sincetheedupandtheconstructionseemtodemandahigheramountofcostsandeffort,quasiin-siamstudieswerecAnedoutrefetringtoanundisturbedsedimentsampledrawnfromthesedimentbedoutofthewaterintothesamplingchamberofameasuringdevice.Evenifthisisa…     

Levels and patterns of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls in surface sediments from the western Baltic Sea (Arkona Basin) and the Oder River estuarine system

Surface sediment samples were collected from the western Baltic Sea (Arkona Basin) and the Oder River estuarine system in May and August 1995 and analysed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls. Contents of PCDF (sum) and PCDD (sum) varied from 2.5 to 820.0 pg g⁻¹ dw and from 12.7 to 2991.0 pg g⁻¹ dw, respectively. PCB contents (sum of 23 congeners) ranged between < 130.0 and 16267.0 pg g⁻¹ dw. Only slight variations in PCDF/D and PCB contents on dry weight basis were found between the Oder River estuarine system and the open Baltic Sea. TOC-normalization of the data showed an approximately homogen PCDF/D distribution in the study area. The distribution pattern for PCDF/D and PCB may be attributed to high sediment dynamics combined with transport processes from the temporary sedimentation basin (Oderhaff) to the deeper parts of the Baltic Sea.