Consequences of winter upwelling events on biogeochemical and phytoplankton patterns in a western Galician ria (NW Iberian peninsula)

The consequences of two upwelling events in mid- (MW) and late (LW) winter on biogeochemical and phytoplankton patterns were studied in the Pontevedra Ria and compared with the patterns measured under typical winter conditions and under a summer upwelling event. Thermohaline patterns measured during the mid-winter upwelling event (MW-up) revealed the intrusion of saltier seawater (35.9) into the ria associated with the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC). During the late-winter upwelling event (LW-up), the seawater which had welled up into the ria showed characteristics of the Eastern North Atlantic Central Water mass (ENACW). In both cases the measured water residence time (4 days during MW-up and 10 days during LW-up) was related to both meteorological and fluvial forcing. This residence time contrasts with that of summer upwelling (7 days) and with that estimated under unfavorable upwelling atmospheric conditions (2–4 weeks). During MW-up, the ria became poor in nutrients due to continental freshwater dilution, associated with the shorter residence time of the water, and the intrusion of IPC, which is a water body poor in nutrient salts: 2.9 μM of nitrate, 0.1 μM of phosphate and 1.5 μM of silicate. During this event, the ria exported 3.4 mol_DIN s⁻¹, compared with 6.9 mol_DIN s⁻¹ in non-upwelling conditions. Phytoplankton showed a uniform distribution throughout the ria, as during unfavorable upwelling conditions, and was characterized by the dominance of diatoms, mainly Nitzschia longissima and Skeletonema costatum. During LW-up, a nutrient depletion in the photic layer also occurred, but as a result of a phytoplankton spring bloom developing at this time. The ria was a nutrient trap where 4.1 mol_DIN s⁻¹ were processed by photosynthesis. This budget is three times higher than the one under non-upwelling conditions. In contrast with the MW-up, which had no effect on primary production, during LW-up the ria became more productive, although not as productive as during a summer upwelling event (9.9 mol_DIN s⁻¹). The taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton community did not change noticeably during LW-up and the summer upwelling, with the same species present and changing only in relative proportions. Diatoms were always the dominant microphytoplankton community, with Pseudonitzschia pungens, Thalassionema nitzschioides and several species of Chaetoceros as characteristic taxons.     

Palaeolimnology of Lake Piene-Kuuppalanlampi (Kurkijoki, Karelian Republic, Russia): isolation history, lake ecosystem development and long-term agricultural impact

The post-glacial history of Lake Pieni-Kuuppalanlampi, western Lake Ladoga region, was studied by means of stratigraphic pollen and diatom analyses. Diatoms were analysed to track the isolation history of the basin and the limnological effects of the early land-use phases indicated by pollen analysis. Chrysophycean stomatocysts and Isoëtes spores were also employed in the limnological reconstructions. Sediment dating was provided by six conventional radiocarbon dates.The lower part of the 370-cm long sediment sequence represents early Holocene, large lake conditions: the (freshwater) Yoldia and Ancylus stages of the Baltic basin, with a short-term lagoonal or isolation phase at the end of Yoldia. The basin was isolated due to Ancylus lake regression at 9785 cal B.P. For the small-lake sequence (0–250 cm) we used diatom inferences (WA-method) for hindcasting water chemistry. The post-isolation limnology of Pieni-Kuuppalanlampi reflects the development of vegetation on its small hill-top catchment. In its early development, the lake was mesotrophic, but became more acidic (pH about 6) and oligotrophic after the decline of temperate hardwood trees and the spread of spruce to the area after around 5000 B.P. The lake ecosystem appears to have reacted sensitively to agricultural land-use in the catchment from AD 400–800 onwards: inferred total phosphorus levels and pH both rise during these periods.     

Soil moisture potential and water content in the unsaturated zone within the arid Ejina Oasis in Northwest China

Three soil profiles were selected in the Ejina Oasis, northwest China, to determine water content profiles and evolution of soil moisture potentials in the unsaturated zone within the arid area. The total soil moisture potentials have been monitored for about 3 months in 2001 at different depths in the soil profiles. The occurrence and movement of water in the unsaturated zone was analyzed using the zero flux plane (ZFP) method. It is shown that convergent ZFPs and divergent ZFPs may occur at depths between 0.5 and 3.0 m, and that the depth of the ZFPs was controlled by the root zone of plants growing on the land surface. Profiles of the total soil moisture potentials were observed to be coincident with those of the water contents at the three experimental sites. The total soil moisture potential showed a slight increasing trend and the ZFPs tend to vanish from summer to winter as the water extraction by roots decreased. Evapotranspiration through vegetation has an important bearing on the water content and the total potential in the unsaturated zone.     

Early Ordovician (Floian) ostracods from the Cordillera Oriental,Northwest Argentina

The ostracod fauna from the Floian (Lower Ordovician) strata of the Cordillera Oriental, Argentina (Acoite Formation) are documented. One new genus Acoitella and four species are recognized, two of which are new (Nanopsis victoria sp. nov. and Conchoprimitia frequens sp. nov.). The diversity of the Early Ordovician ostracod faunas of the Central Andean Basin is evaluated. Compared with other regions, the ostracod diversity, at generic and specific level, of the Cordillera Oriental was comparatively high during the Tremadocian (nine species recorded) and comparatively low during the Floian (four species recorded). The taxonomic composition of the fauna is similar during the entire Early Ordovician of the Cordillera Oriental, where it displays a high percentage of soanellids. The Floian assemblages are characterized by the dominance of the eridostracan C. frequens sp. nov. with a high percentage of nondimorphic palaeocopids: Nanopsis and two genera of the Soanellidae family (Saltite and Acoitella gen nov.). An ostracod shell bed is described and interpreted to be a parautochthonous assemblage, as a result of transport within the same habitat. The composition of the fauna, with the presence of Saltite and Nanopsis, shows significant affinities with East Gondwana. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biomization and quantitative climate reconstruction techniques in northwestern Mexico—With an application to four Holocene pollen sequences

New paleovegetation and paleoclimatic reconstructions from the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) in northwestern Mexico are presented. This work involves climate and biome reconstruction using Plant Functional Types (PFT) assigned to pollen taxa. We used fossil pollen data from four Holocene peat bogs located at different altitudes (1500‑2000 m) at the border region of Sonora and Chihuahua at around 28° N latitude (Ortega-Rosas, C.I. 2003. Palinología de la Ciénega de Camilo: datos para la historia de la vegetación y el clima del Holoceno medio y superior en el NW de la Sierra Madre Occidental, Sonora, Mexico. Master Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.; Ortega-Rosas, C.I., Peñalba, M.C., Guiot, J. Holocene altitudinal shifts in vegetation belts and environmental changes in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Northwestern Mexico. Submitted for publication of Palaeobotany and Palynology). The closest modern pollen data come from pollen analysis across an altitudinal transect from the Sonoran Desert towards the highlands of the temperate SMO at the same latitude (Ortega-Rosas, C.I. 2003. Palinología de la Ciénega de Camilo: datos para la historia de la vegetación y el clima del Holoceno medio y superior en el NW de la Sierra Madre Occidental, Sonora, Mexico. Master Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.). An additional modern pollen dataset of 400 sites across NW Mexico and the SW United States was compiled from different sources (Davis, O.K., 1995. Climate and vegetation pattern in surface samples from arid western U.S.A.: application to Holocene climatic reconstruction. Palynology 19, 95–119, North American Pollen Database, Latin-American Pollen Database, personal data, and different scientific papers). For the biomization method (Prentice, I.C., Guiot, J., Huntley, B., Jolly, D., Cheddadi, R., 1996. Reconstructing biomes from paleoecological data: a general method and its application to European pollen data at 0 and 6 ka. Climate Dynamics 12, 185–194), we modified the pollen-PFT and PFT-biomes assignation of Thompson and Anderson (Thompson, R.S., Anderson, K.H., 2000. Biomes of western North America at 18,000; 6000 and 0 14C yr BP reconstructed from pollen and packrat midden data. Journal of Biogeography 27, 555–584) for a better representation of the modern vegetation of NW Mexico. The biome reconstruction method was validated with the modern pollen sites and applied to the fossil sites. Our results show that, during the early Holocene, a cool conifer forest extended at least down to 1700 m, while today this biome is present above 2000 m in the Chihuahua state. The Younger Dryas event was recorded in one site with cold and dry conditions. The reconstructed annual temperature for this period was 3°–6 °C colder than today, and annual precipitation was 250 mm lower than at present (900 mm/yr). The middle Holocene after 9200 cal yr BP was marked by a warming trend, reaching temperatures 2 °C warmer than today at 7000 cal yr BP, and by the installation of a warm mixed forest, the present day biome, at 1700 m elevation, while at higher elevations (1900 m) the cool conifer forest was still present. Summer precipitation was 200 mm/yr above the early Holocene values, suggesting that monsoon-like conditions strengthened since 9200 cal yr BP at this region. During the last 4000 yr, the same warm mixed forest was reconstructed below 1700 m and a conifer forest above 1700 m. A great variability of vegetation and climate patterns was recorded for the last 3000 yr particularly at high elevation sites, where warming and cooling trends would be coeval of the Medieval warm period and Little Ice Age, likely related to ENSO variability.     

Alpine olivine- and titanian clinohumite-bearing assemblages in the Erro-Tobbio peridotite (Voltri Massif, NW Italy)

The microstructures in the Erro-Tobbio peridotite indicate several stages of recrystallization of olivine + titanian clinohumite-bearing assemblages. The development of these assemblages is closely associated with serpentinite mylonites, in which they occur in shear bands and foliations and are inferred to have grown synkinematically, in veins, and as post-kinematic radial aggregates. In the peridotite wall-rock adjacent to these mylonites, the same assemblages have recrystallized statically at the expense of original olivine and pyroxenes, mesh-textured chrysolite and antigorite veins. In addition, the olivine-bearing assemblage occurs in widespread vein systems. The brittle deformation of the peridotite resulting in the development of these vein systems is closely related to ductile deformation of metagabbroic dykes in the peridotite. Although early metasomatism resulted in extensive rodingitization of the gabbros, some dykes show an eclogitic assemblage of Na-clinopyroxene + garnet + chloritoid + chlorite ± talc. These observations, the microstructures and the mineral chemistry all suggest that the assemblages in the ultramafic rocks and metagabbros developed during a prograde evolution towards high pressures (>13–16 kbar, 450–550° C), and during subsequent decompression. This metamorphic evolution is considered to be related to Late Cretaceous intraoceanic subduction in the Alps-Apennine system and closure of the Piedmont-Ligurian basin.     

川西中三叠统雷口坡组三段-四段白云岩特征与成因——来自于岩相学及地球化学的约束

白云岩化是影响储层发育是否的重要沉积-成岩过程。作者通过在对川西地区的中三叠统雷口坡组的雷三至雷四段的岩相学,碳、氧、锶、镁同位素以及元素地球化学等综合研究,划分出含膏的泥晶云岩AD0、泥晶云岩D0、泥粉晶云岩D1、粉细晶云岩D2、微生物云岩MD、含灰质藻云岩CD(交代结构)以及去云化的泥粉晶云岩(CD0CD1)等七类白云岩。白云石有序度及铁、锰含量较低。阴极发光以暗紫、暗紫红、蓝紫为主;次为玫瑰红、橙红及橙黄红色。δ~(13)CPDB=1. 95‰～2. 46‰,δ~(18)OPDB=-4. 05‰～2. 70‰;~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr=0. 70778～0. 70807,δ~(26)Mg=-1. 872‰～-2. 124‰,其中δ~(13)C_(PDB)、~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr的平均值与中三叠世全球海水相似;δ~(18)O_(PDB)为弱负漂及正偏移。从D2、D1至D0、AD0,Sr、Na和大部分微量元素含量及比值和δ~(18)O_(PDB)逐渐增加; AD0、少量D0或MD相对富含硅、铝,并与高(低镁)方解石、黏土、有机质等共生。离子组成反映出白云石的前驱物以方解石型为主,少量为文石、原白云石结构。存在广盐、稍咸和超盐度的碱性等沉积环境。白云岩形成主要受向上变浅米级旋回序列,干燥、炎热为主、偶夹潮湿古气候以及古地貌-古水文条件等因素影响。存在浅潟湖的萨勃哈(AD0或D0)、环潮缘至局限台地(D0-D1、微生物诱导MD)、潮间-潮下的微生物礁(席)构成的障壁的台缘带(MD-CD1-CD)、潮坪-开阔台地(D0-D2-CD1、MD)等环境,以萨勃哈和受蒸发泵-密度差驱动的"渗透-回流白云石化"模式为主。     

Potential field constraints on the deep structure of the Lugo gneiss dome (NW Spain)

The Lugo gneiss dome, in the NW Iberian Massif (Spain) is a Variscan structure developed during late stages of orogenic collapse. Crustal extension was mainly accomplished by two kilometre-scale conjugate extensional shear zones and by the late development of the dome and a huge normal fault. These structures overprint previous contractional recumbent folds and a thrust fault. The Lugo dome and its southward continuation, the Sanabria dome, are the site of the conspicuous Eastern Galicia Magnetic Anomaly (EGMA), a N–S band, 50 km wide and 190 km long, with a maximum amplitude of 190 nT. Integrated potential field modelling of the EGMA and its corresponding gravity signature have been carried out aided by constraints provided by the measurement of c. 900 magnetic susceptibilities and by previous geophysical data, mainly seismic refraction and reflection profiles. Results suggest that a large volume of low-density migmatites and associated inhomogeneous granites are the main source of the magnetic anomaly. Small massifs of basic and ultrabasic rocks inside the migmatites and high-susceptibility iron ore bodies sparsely distributed in low-grade Middle Ordovician slates are also thought to contribute to the anomaly but to a minor extent. Although otherwise similar to other gneiss domes, the Lugo dome is accompanied by a striking magnetic anomaly whose origin is discussed in terms of the tectonic evolution of this structure and the provenance of the magnetite-bearing migmatites and inhomogeneous granites that core it.     

喜马拉雅西北部逆冲带的地壳电性结构

印度板块北部地形起伏较大的喜马拉雅山地区由几个构造互异的地质单元组成,依地形高、低把喜马拉雅碰撞带分成低喜马拉雅和高喜马拉雅.为了研究与主要逆冲带（含主缝合带MCT和主边界带MBT）有关的地壳电性结构,沿Rohtangpass (海拔4000 m) 到Mandi (海拔400 m)剖面进行了MT探测.通过对16个测点观测资料的分析和考虑地形的二维反演,获得了沿剖面的二维电性结构.电性结构显示,在Chail和主逆冲边界带下方,东西走向的缝合带突然转向北.在下喜马拉雅的Rampur 区段的元古代基底为范围较大的高阻体,而浅部地壳被逆冲带分成向北倾的电导性块体和电阻性块体.Chail 逆冲带东侧低喜马拉雅Rampur 区段的推挤和它西侧的基底脊柱体导致主边界带及相关的逆冲带（Kangra 拐角）向北转弯,Kangra拐角处的应力可能是由于西侧基底脊柱体进入到Kangra 区引起的.     

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DRY AND WET SUMMER IN THE VERTICAL MOTION ON NORTH SIDE OF QINGHAI-XIZANG PLATEAU AND THE THERMAL IMPACT OF PLATEAU*

To better analyse and understand the causes of Northwest China(NW China) arid climate formation,firstly the dry and wet standards were chosen and the yearly dry and wet grades on the north side of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau(hereafter NSQXP) in summers were classified utilizing the rainfall data of five stations over the area in June-August of 1952-1990.Then the differences between the vertical motion over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau(QXP) and NSQXP in dry and wet summers were comparatively analyzed using the ECMWF's gridded data of June-August of 1979-1986.Finally the connection between the QXP surface thermal condition and the dry and wet summers on the NSQXP was discussed as well.The main results are the following:(1)the dry and wet standards taking the rainfall standard deviation as criterion are suitable for the arid climate area;(2)the QXP may be,to some extent responsible for the environment background of Middle Asia,NW China and North China arid climate areas;(3)there are the striking differences between the dominant vertical motion over the QXP and NSQXP in the dry and wet summers of NSQXP:(4)the QXP surface thermal condition is to a great extent,responsible for the year-to-year variation of NW China arid climate as well.