Coastal Changes Over the Past 200 Years Around Ovalau and Moturiki Islands,Fiji: Implications for coastal zone management

The islands Ovalau and Moturiki in central Fiji are selected for the investigation of coastal change over the past c. 200 years. Although having coastal environments typical of many tropical Pacific Islands, Ovalau and Moturiki are also atypical because they experienced urban and infrastructural developments before most other parts. The associated records enable recent coastal changes to be discerned more clearly here than has been possible elsewhere. The islands are surrounded by coral reef, the configuration of which accounts for variations in vulnerability of their coasts to erosion. Interviews were conducted in each of 22 settlements along the islands' coasts and information obtained about recent coastal change. Mangroves are concentrated along leeward coasts, although they have been cleared from many windward coasts in the last 40 + years, causing shoreline erosion to be initiated/accelerated. Most shoreline-protection initiatives (vegetation planting and seawall construction) have failed. Three major management implications of the study are discussed. Firstly, there is a need to redefine the nature of the interactions between coastal inhabitants and coastal ecosystems, so that environments are sustainably developed; and specifically that reefs are conserved and shoreline vegetation (especially mangroves) is effectively replanted. Secondly, information about appropriate design and composition of artificial structures for shoreline protection needs to be made available to the local communities who construct most of them. Thirdly, alternative sources of sand and rock aggregate to those whose extraction aggravates shoreline erosion should be sought.     

Temperature fluctuations and current shear in Antarctic Bottom Water at the Vema Sill

The Vema Channel acts as a major conduit for the equatorward spreading of Antarctic Bottom Water between the Argentine and Brazil Basins. For almost two years the thermal stratification above its saddle depth (4660 m) – called Vema Sill – was recorded by moored thermistors and current meters. The lowest 490 m of the water column was instrumented to monitor the well-developed benthic boundary layer of Antarctic Bottom Water. The latter can be subdivided into Weddell Sea Deep Water on the sea bed and lower Circumpolar Deep Water above it. The data show fluctuations on various scales including periods, each about 1–2 weeks long, when the abyssal stratification virtually disappeared. Assuming a stable ratio between density and temperature, time series of bulk Richardson numbers are estimated from temperature and current shear data. The results suggest a potential for intermittent episodes of locally generated vertical mixing.     

Age and life histories of black and smooth oreos inferred using bomb radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis

Black oreo (Allocyttus niger) and smooth oreo (Pseudocyttus maculatus) are commercially exploited deepwater fishes in New Zealand. They are considered to be long-lived with unvalidated maximum otolith growth zone counts of 153 years and 86 years, respectively. Bomb radiocarbon dating results supported the otolith age estimates for A. niger, but those for P. maculatus provided only partial support. Oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) results for A. niger otoliths suggested that juveniles were in near-surface waters and adults in depths of 700–1300 m. In contrast, P. maculatus otoliths suggested a variable depth history (500 to at least 1500 m) throughout life. Carbon isotope (δ¹³C) results showed a steady enrichment from core values to c. 20 years for both species, owing to changes in diet and metabolic rate from the juvenile to the adult fish, associated with a depth increase. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters are provided for both species.     

中承式钢筋混凝土拱桥自振特性分析

利用有限元通用软件ANSYS,对一中承式钢筋混凝土拱桥进行了结构自振特性的数值模拟分析,求出了自振频率、振型等动力参数,对其模态特征进行了描述,并通过变换拱桥的主要结构参数对比分析了它们对结构自振特性的影响.结果表明:自振频率随矢跨比的减小略有提高;横撑有助于增强拱肋的横向刚度,减小拱肋面外振动,提高抗风稳定性;各振型的自振频率值随拱肋刚度的提高近似成线性增大,可以通过改变拱肋刚度来调整其自振特性.研究结果可以为同类桥梁的抗震设计提供参考.     

Deep Fractionation of Ciinopyroxene in the East Pacific Rise 13°N: Evidence from High MgO MORB and Melt Inclusions

Mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) from East Pacific Rise (EPR) 13°N are analysed for major and trace elements, both of which show a continuous evolving trend. Positive MgO-Al2O3 and negative MgO-Sc relationships manifest the cotectic crystallization of plagioclase and olivine, which exist with the presence of plagioclase and olivine phenocrysts and the absence of clinopyroxene phenocrysts. However, the fractionation of clinopyroxene is proven by the positive correlation of MgO and CaO. Thus, MORB samples are believed to show a "clinopyroxene paradox". The highest magnesium.bearing MORB sample E13-3B (MGO=9.52%) is modelled for isobaric crystallization with COMAGMAT at different pressures. Observed CaO/Al2O3 ratios can be derived from E13-3B only by fractional crystallization at pressure >4±1 kbar, which necessitates clinopyroxene crystallization and is not consistent with cotectic crystallization of olivine plus plagioclase in the magma chamber (at pressure～1 kbar). The initial compositions of the melt inclusions, which could represent potential parental magmas, are reconstructed by correcting for post-entrapment crystallization (PEC). The simulated crystallization of initial melt inclusions also produce observed CaO/Al2O3 ratios only at >4±1 kbar, in which clinopyroxene takes part in crystallization. It is suggested that MORB magmas have experienced clinopyroxene fractionation in the lower crust, in and below the Moho transition zone. The MORB magmas have experienced transition from clinopyroxene+plagioclase+olivine crystallization at >4±1 kbar to mainly olivine+plagioclase crystallization at <1 kbar, which contributes to the explanation of the "clinopyroxene paradox".     

Dissolved and particulate organic carbon in hydrothermal plumes from the East Pacific Rise, 9°50′N

Chemoautotrophic production in seafloor hydrothermal systems has the potential to provide an important source of organic carbon that is exported to the surrounding deep-ocean. While hydrothermal plumes may export carbon, entrained from chimney walls and biologically rich diffuse flow areas, away from sites of venting they also have the potential to provide an environment for in-situ carbon fixation. In this study, we have followed the fate of dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC) as it is dispersed through and settles beneath a hydrothermal plume system at 9°50′N on the East Pacific Rise. Concentrations of both DOC and POC are elevated in buoyant plume samples that were collected directly above sites of active venting using both DSV Alvin and a CTD-rosette. Similar levels of POC enrichment are also observed in the dispersing non-buoyant plume, ∼500 m downstream from the vent-site. Further, sediment-trap samples collected beneath the same dispersing plume system, show evidence for a close coupling between organic carbon and Fe oxyhydroxide fluxes. We propose, therefore, a process that concentrates POC into hydrothermal plumes as they disperse through the deep-ocean. This is most probably the result of some combination of preferential adsorption of organic carbon onto Fe-oxyhydroxides and/or microbial activity that preferentially concentrates organic carbon in association with Fe-oxyhydroxides (e.g. through the microbial oxidation of Fe(II) and Fe sulfides). This potential for biological production and consumption within hydrothermal plumes highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the role of the carbon cycle in deep-sea hydrothermal systems as well as the role that hydrothermal systems may play in regulating global deep-ocean carbon budgets.     

Late Variscan exhumation histories of the southern Rhenohercynian Zone and western Mid-German Crystalline Rise: results from thermal modeling

Thermal modeling techniques constrained by published petrological and thermo-chronometric data were applied to examine late orogenic burial and exhumation at a Variscan suture zone in Central Europe. The suture separates the southern Rhenohercynian zone from the Mid-German Crystalline Rise and traces the former site of a small oceanic basin. Closure of this basin during Variscan subduction and subsequent collision of continental units were responsible for different tectono-metamorphic evolutions in the suture's footwall and hanging wall. Relative convergence rates between the southern Rhenohercynian zone and western Mid-German Crystalline Rise can be inferred from the pressure-temperature-time evolution of the Northern Phyllite Zone. During Late Viséan-Early Namurian times, horizontal thrusting velocities were at least 20 mm/a. Thermal modeling suggests that exhumation of the Mid-German Crystalline Rise occurred temporarily at rates of more than 3 mm/a. Such rapid exhumation cannot be produced by erosion only, but requires a substantial contribution of extensional strain. Exhumation by upper crustal extension occurred contemporaneously with convergence and is explained by continuous underplating of crustal slices and thrusting along faults with ramp-flat geometry. Finally, implications for the tectono-metamorphic history of the study area and the thermal state of the crust during late Variscan exhumation are discussed.     

时间域相邻道地震波衰减成像研究

在时间域中,利用地震记录中的振幅与上升时间信息可以计算出岩石介质的品质因子Q值.由于震源能量难以测量,本文通过共炮点道集相邻道循环对比的方法,消除了震源对计算过程的影响,推导出时间域相邻道振幅与上升时间衰减成像的计算公式,并在振幅衰减成像的计算过程中,去除了非粘滞性衰减成分.为了更全面地综合利用波形信息,并充分利用各种方法的长处,将波速成像、振幅衰减成像、上升时间衰减成像集成到一个处理流程中,通过在岩体结构研究中的实际应用,证明这种综合方法具有灵活、实用、可靠的特点.     

Recent Sea Level and Sea Surface Temperature Trends Along the Bangladesh Coast in Relation to the Frequency of Intense Cyclones

Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, is a victim of frequent natural calamities like tropical cyclones, tornadoes, floods, storm surges and droughts. Now the sea level rise (SLR) has also been included in these natural calamities. The SLR is likely to have greater impact on that part of Bangladesh having low topography and a wide flood plain. Since 21% of the population lives in the low coastal belt, any increase in sea level will be a problem of ominous proportion for Bangladesh. Since the cyclogenesis enhances over the Bay of Bengal during May and November, the sea level and sea surface temperature (SST) trends of these two months have been analyzed and calculated. The results of the selected stations one in the eastern coast and another in the western coast of Bangladesh show that Bangladesh coastal sea level is rising in the same way as the global sea level, but the magnitude is quite different. The difference in the behavior of sea level rise along the Bangladesh coast and the global trend may be due to the tectonic activity such as subsidence of the land. The mean tide level at Hiron Point (in Sunderbans) has shown an increasing trend of about 2.5 mm/year in May and 8.5 mm/year in November. Similarly near Cox?s Bazar (in the eastern coast of Bangladesh) it has registered a positive trend of about 4.3 mm/year in May and 10.9 mm/year in November. Thus the increment in the sea level along the Bangladesh coast during cyclone months is much more pronounced. In coastal waters near Hiron Point the SST has registered an increasing trend of about 1°C in May and 0.5°C in November during the 14-year period from 1985?1998. Near Cox?s Bazar, SST has shown a rising trend of about 0.8°C in May and about 0.4°C in November during the same 14-year period. The magnitude of SST trend is slightly more along the west coast. Any change in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones will have far reaching implications in the South Asian region. The rise in SST in the cyclone months seems to be correlated with the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones. During these months, an increasing trend in the frequency and intensity of severe cyclones has been observed.