Organic biogeochemistry of the Darwin Mounds, a deep-water coral ecosystem, of the NE Atlantic

The Darwin Mounds are a series of small (5 m high, 75–100 m diameter) sandy features located in the northern Rockall Trough. They provide a habitat for communities of Lophelia pertusa and associated fauna. Suspended particulate organic matter (sPOM) reaching the deep-sea floor, which could potentially fuel this deep-water coral (DWC) ecosystem, was collected during summer 2000. This was relatively “fresh” (i.e. dominated by labile lipids such as polyunsaturated fatty acids) and was derived largely from phytoplankton remains and faecal pellets, with contributions from bacteria and microzooplankton. Labile sPOM components were enriched in the benthic boundary layer (10 m above bottom (mab)) relative to 150 mab. The action of certain benthic fauna that are exclusively associated with the DWC ecosystem (e.g. echiuran worms) leads to the subduction of fresh organic material into the sediments. The mound surface sediments are enriched in organic carbon, relative to off-mound sites. There is no evidence for hydrocarbon venting at this location.     

Fluidization and injection in the deep-water sandstones of the Eocene Alba Formation (UK North Sea)

The Nauchlan Member of the Late Eocene Alba Formation (UK North Sea) consists of a deep‐water channel fill that was extensively modified by post‐depositional sand remobilization and injection. Sandstone textures, facies associations and the geometry of the channel fill were affected. A suite of sand‐rich facies was produced by large‐scale fluidization and injection within the channel fill and above it. These facies, termed here unstratified facies, are characterized by the absence of stratification surfaces and by discordant relationships with bedding in the adjacent succession. They reflect variable degrees of disruption of the primary sedimentary structures caused by escaping pore fluid, the velocity of which is estimated at least in the order of 0·1 ms^?1. Adjacent mudstones were severely disrupted by hydraulic fracturing, and fragments of fractured mudstone were incorporated into the fluidized sand. Average porosity was decreased in the sandstones affected by fluidization. Two main phases of sand injection are inferred to occur at different burial depths. A shallow burial phase (below 100 m) produced thin dykes with ptygmatic folds. The second phase occurred at the boundary between Eocene and Oligocene (≈ 300 m burial depth) and resulted in large‐scale tabular wing‐like dykes that project from the edges of the channel fill. The significant pore‐fluid overpressure, which was required to hydraulically fracture the thick mudstone seal and to fluidize the large volume of sand, was likely to be built up by static liquefaction of the source sand and was possibly enhanced by hydrocarbon gas influx.     

动水压力对深水桥墩地震响应影响的研究综述

地震激励下处于深水中的桥墩和周围水体的相互作用将对桥梁结构的动力响应产生较大影响。首先对地震作用下水-桥墩的相互作用理论做了概括,给出了动水压力对桥墩的作用效应及各自的适用范围;对主要的三种考虑流固耦合效应的分析方法做了对比,探讨了地震作用下影响水-结构相互作用的主要因素,并对今后的研究提出了建议。     

波浪力对深水桥墩结构在地震和冰荷载作用下的响应影响分析

考虑到波浪力对深水桥墩地震响应和冰振响应的影响,本文基于非线性Morision方程,同时考虑附加质量效应和流固耦合效应,通过建立深水桥墩结构有限元分析模型及动力平衡方程,对深水桥墩结构进行了波浪、冰荷载、地震3种环境激励荷载单独作用下,以及不同组合形式共同作用下的数值分析;进而对计算结果进行了比较,探讨了动水压力对深水桥墩结构响应的影响程度,可为今后深水桥墩抗震以及抗冰设计提供一定的借鉴和参考。     

Stratigraphic architecture and evolution of a deep-water slope channel-levee and overbank apron: The Upper Miocene Upper Mount Messenger Formation,Taranaki Basin

This paper re-examines the Upper Miocene Upper Mount Messenger Formation, Taranaki Basin, to characterize its architecture and interpret its environmental evolution. Analysis of stratal architecture, lithofacies distributions, and paleotransport directions over the 250 m thick formation shows the outcrops provide a nearly dip parallel section displaying the lateral relationships between contemporaneous channel-levee and overbank depositional environments. At least five 30–40 m thick upward fining units are recognized in the north-central parts of the outcrop and are interpreted as large-scale overbank avulsion cycles. Each unit consists of thick- to medium-bedded predominantly planar laminated sandstone turbidites at the base that fine upward into thin- to very thin-bedded, planar laminated and ripple cross-laminated mud-rich turbidites. The units are traceable laterally over a distance exceeding 3 km where they are cut by channels that show basal mudstone draped by medium- to thin-bedded sandstone, and onlapped by thick-bedded planar laminated sandstone at the margin. The channels are separated by tapered packages of medium- to thin-bedded turbidites containing climbing-ripple cross-lamination interpreted as levees. The individual channel-levee and overbank avulsion cycles formed through four stages: 1) a channel avulsion spread sand into the overbank as an unconfined splay, 2) preferential scouring in one area of the splay led to development of a channel with small levees that prograded across the splay, 3) a deep incision followed by abandonment of the channel deposited a mud lining. Alternatively, the mud lining was formed during the first stage as the downdip portion of the channel was abandoned. 4) The channel filled at first by thick-bedded planar laminated and then by climbing-ripple cross-laminated sand. At this time, the growth of constructional levees progressively limited sand into the overbank. Ratios of Bouma division thicknesses calculated over a stratigraphic interval present a new method to distinguish deep-water depositional environments.     

深水沉积物波及其在南海研究之现状

深水沉积物波的研究始于20世纪50年代。根据成因和结构特征,可以将深水沉积物波划分为细粒底流、细粒浊流、粗粒底流和粗粒浊流等类型。不同类型的沉积物波具有不同的形态、物质组成及分布特征。已提出的深水沉积物波的形成模式主要有背流波模式、逆行沙波模式、内波模式及底形和斜坡失稳混合模式等。1994年太阳号95航次和1999年ODP184航次揭示并证实,南海北部东沙岸外1144站所处的深水陆坡区发育有一高速沉积物牵引体。根据最新的地震资料分析发现,该牵引体实际上由一系列逆陆坡向上倾方向迁移的沉积物波组成,这一发现对于南海北部大陆边缘古海洋、古环境和古气候研究,以及南海深水油气勘探具有重要意义。     

三级“源-渠-汇”耦合研究珠江深水扇系统

国外单纯地依靠建立深水扇沉积模式来研究深水沉积已经走入了困境,本文尝试通过三级“源-渠-汇”耦合研究来探索珠江深水扇系统的沉积。三级次的源-渠-汇耦合研究方法是把控制珠江深水扇系统沉积的诸因素分成宏观-中观-微观级别,分层次地考察珠江深水扇系统。强调利用宏观研究来描述发育珠江深水扇系统形成的地质条件;利用以层序地层解释为主要手段的中观研究刻画出深水扇的沉积结构模式;通过沉积内幕及其响应关系的微观研究识别珠江深水扇的供源背景、输送管道、沉积微观内幕、沉积过程、沉积流态、储集条件和圈闭性。这种方法较之传统扇模式更能从成因上分层次地揭示深水扇的形成发育演化。