Possible refugia for reefs in times of environmental stress

This paper investigates the refuge potential of (1) upwelling areas, (2) coral areas at medium depth, and (3) offshore bank and island reefs in a scenario of increased global warming, and thus increased sea surface temperature (SST) and increased solar UV radiation. (1) Observations on coral health and water temperature in the subtropical Atlantic (Eleuthera and Cat Island, Bahamas) and Indian Ocean (Sodwana Bay, South Africa) suggest a link between cool water delivered by upwelling and coral health. After the 1998 bleaching event, caused by strong SST anomalies, coral health and recovery from the previous year's bleaching was significantly better on the narrow southern Cat Island shelf (70% of corals healthy) where the presence of cold water was observed, which was attributed to small-scale upwelling, than on the wide northern Eleuthera shelf (44% of corals healthy), where downwelling of hot bank waters was believed to have damaged corals. In South Africa, regular, short-term upwelling events in five summers reduced SST to well below bleaching level. (2) In the northern Red Sea (Safaga Bay) and in South Africa (Sodwana Bay), wide areas with either coral frameworks or non-framework communities exist. Calculations show that if the top 10 m (20 m) of the ocean became inhospitable to corals, still 50.4% (17.5%) of the coral area would remain intact in the Red Sea and 99% (40%) in South Africa. (3) Offshore bank and island reefs investigated in the Turks, Caicos, and Mouchoir Banks and Grand and Little Cayman showed high rates of mortality and coral diseases. The most remote sites (Mouchoir Bank) were not the healthiest. Refuge areas appear to exist in (1) and (2), but in (3) only if vigorous water-circulation is encountered.     

Are catch-up reefs an artefact of coring?

Drill cores through modern coral reefs commonly show a time lag in reef initiation followed by a phase of rapid accretion to sea level from submerged foundations – the so-called ‘catch-up response’. But because of the difficulty of drilling in these environments, core distribution is usually restricted to accessible areas that may not fully represent reef history, especially if the reef initiated in patches or developed with a prograde or retrograde geometry. As a consequence, core data have the potential to give a misleading impression of reef development, particularly with respect to the timing of initiation and response to sea-level rise. Here, we use computer models to simulate keep-up reef development and, from them, quantify variations in the timing of reef initiation and accretion rate using mock cores taken through the completed simulations. The results demonstrate that cores consistently underestimate the timing of reef initiation and overestimate the reef accretion rate so that, statistically, a core through a keep-up reef will most likely produce a catch-up pattern – an initiation lag followed by a phase of rapid accretion to sea level. This implies that catch-up signatures may be an artefact of coring and that keep-up reefs are significantly more common than previous core studies claim.     

Famennian microbial reef facies, Napier and Oscar Ranges, Canning Basin, western Australia

Following the Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction, which eliminated most skeletal reef-building fauna, the early Famennian reefs of the Canning Basin were constructed primarily by reef-framework microbial communities. In the Napier and Oscar Ranges, the Famennian reef complexes had high-energy, reef-flat depositional environments on a reef-rimmed platform that transitioned into low-energy, deep-water reefs growing in excess of 50 m below sea level. High-energy, reef-flat depositional environments contain doming fenestral stromatolites that grade into porous thrombolites and are associated with coarse-grained sandstones and grainstones. The reef-margin subfacies contains mounds of microdigitate thrombolites, which are more delicate than the reef-flat thrombolites and locally contain abundant red algae, Girvanella, renalcids and sediment-filled tubes. Within the thrombolites, the red algae are in upright growth positions, suggesting that the thrombolites are largely composed of carbonate that precipitated in situ. Reefal-slope environments are dominated by Wetheredella and Rothpletzella with locally abundant Girvanella, renalcids and Uralinella. In reefal-slope strata, delicate fans and microdigitate stromatolites of Wetheredella and Rothpletzella are often oriented horizontal or diagonal to bedding and are interpreted as syndepositionally toppled over. Most mesoscale microbial community structures contain several species of microbial fossils, and no single microbial species appears to have controlled the morphology of the community structure. Therefore, the depositional environment must have determined the distribution and morphology of the stromatolites, thrombolites and other microbial community structures. The adaptability of microbial communities to various reef environments allowed them to fill ecological niches opportunistically after the Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction.     

Comparison of source rock geochemistry of selected rocks from the Schei Point group and Ringnes formation, Sverdrup basin, arctic Canada

Organic-rich from the Schei Point group (middle to late Triassic in age) and the Ringnes formation (late Jurassic) from the Sverdrup basin of the Canadian arctic archipelago have been geochemically evaluated for source rock characterization. Most samples from the Schei Point group are organic-rich (> 2% TOC and are considered as immature to mature oil-prone source rocks [kerogen types I, I–II (IIA) and II (IIA)]. These kerogen types contain abundant AOM1, AOM2 and alginite (Tasmanales, Nostocopsis, Leiosphaeridia, acritarch and dinoflagellate) with variable amounts of vitrinite, inertinite and exinite. Samples from the Ringnes formation contain dominant vitrinite and inertinite with partially oxidized AOM2, alginite and exinite forming mostly immature to mature condensate- and gas-prone source rocks [kerogen type II–III (IIB), III and a few II (IIA)]. Schei Point samples contain higher bitumen extract, saturate hydrocarbons and saturate/ aromatic ratio than the Ringnes samples. Triterpane and sterane (dominant C₃₀) distribution patterns and stable carbon isotope of bitumen and kerogen suggest that the analyzed samples from the Schei Point group are at the onset of oil generation and contain a mixture of sapropelic (algal) and minor terrestrial humic organic matter. Sterane carbon number distributions in the Ringnes formation also suggest a mixed algal and terrestrial organic matter type. There are some variations in hopane carbon number distributions, but these are apparently a function of thermal maturity rather than significant genetic differences among samples. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of the two samples with similar maturity shows that the Schei Point sample generates three times more pyrolyzate than the Ringnes sample. Both samples have a dominant aliphatic character, although the Ringnes sample contains phenol and an aromaticity that is higher than that of the Schei Point sample.     

沉积盆地流体—岩石相互作用研究的现状

沉积盆地流体－岩石相互作用研究主要是通过实验地球化学和岩石学，地球化学模拟方法开展的，综述了这一领域的研究现状，主要包括有机酸来源和分布及期 对矿物稳定性的影响，地层水成因与演化、烃类与岩石间的氧化还原反应、以及储层润湿性的变化等，并展望了其 发展趋势。     

山西离柳矿区奥陶系灰岩水环境质量分区及成因研究

本文对离柳矿区奥陶系灰岩岩溶地下水的环境质量进行了评价和分区，结合地质条件简述了各区的特点；还用地质－水文地质学相结合的理论，对各环境质量区形成的原因，进行了分析和研究，进而从理论上证明环境质量分区和选用标准的合理性。     

Dissolved carbon in pore waters from the carbonate barrier reef of Tahiti (French Polynesia) and its basalt basement

This paper deals with dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and organic carbon (DOC) in pore waters from a 150 m deep hole drilled through the carbonate barrier reef of Tahiti and its underlying basalt basement. Alkalinity-pH measurements were used to calculate the DIC species concentration, and DOC was analysed according to the high temperature catalytic oxidation technique. Salinity was used as a conservative tracer to help identify water origin and mixing within the hole. Water mixing, calcium carbonate dissolution and mineralization of organic carbon combined to form three distinct groups of pore water. In the deeper basalt layers, pore water with alkalinity of 1.4 meq kg^–1 pH of 7.6 and p(CO₂) of 1.2 mAtm was undersaturated with respect to both aragonite and calcite. In the intermediate carbonate layer, pore water with alkalinity of more than 2.0 meq kg^–1, pH of 7.70 and p(CO₂) of 1.4 mAtm was supersaturated with respect to both aragonite and calcite. The transition zone between those two groups extended between 80 and 100 m depth. The shift from aragonite undersaturation to supersaturation was mainly attributed to the mixing of undersaturated pore waters from the basalt basement with supersaturated pore waters from the overlaying limestone. In the top of the reef, inputs from a brackish water lens further increased p(CO₂) up to 5.6 times the atmospheric P(CO₂).     

Anthropogenic influences on hydrocarbon contents of sediments deposited in eastern Lake Ontario since 1800

 The amounts and types of extractable hydrocarbon components in sediment cores from the Rochester Basin of eastern Lake Ontario provide a record of environmental changes that have accompanied the settlement and population growth of the surrounding land areas. Sediments deposited prior to the mid-1800s contain low concentrations of hydrocarbons that are dominated by land-plant wax components. Concentrations begin to rise in the late 1800s as erosion of soil and nutrients from watershed areas accelerated. This pattern continues into modern times. Episodes of enhanced aquatic productivity are sometimes recorded in twentieth-century sediments by the dominance of algal hydrocarbons, but land-plant components typically predominate. Petroleum residues begin to appear in sediments deposited in the late 1800's but remain minor constituents of the hydrocarbon contents of modern sediments in the Rochester Basin. Received: 21 March 1995 · Accepted: 11 August 1995     

碳酸盐岩的反射光谱特征的研究及应用

在室内对新疆塔里木盆地西北缘柯坪地区碳酸盐岩的反射光谱进行了测量。分析结果表明：碳酸盐岩的特征吸收谱带位于２３００～２３５０ｎｍ，随着碳酸盐岩中Ｍｇ２＋含量的增加，其特征吸收谱带的中心波长位置具有向短波长方向移动的特点；同时，随着碳酸盐岩中碳酸盐矿物含量的增加，其特征吸收谱带的深度（Ｄ）也有增大的趋势，并且岩石的平均反射率（Ｒ）也随着增高。根据这些特征可以判定碳酸盐岩的岩石类型及碳酸盐矿物的相对含量     

湖南慈利晚二叠世海绵礁与珊瑚礁的古生态研究

中国南方晚二叠世生物礁分布广泛，但绝大多数属于海绵礁，湖南慈利晚二叠世除发育有海绵礁外，还有至今为止发现的世界上发育最好的古代珊瑚礁，而且海绵礁与珊瑚礁在同一条带上连续分布；因此是研究海绵礁与珊瑚礁古生态关系十分理想的场所，通过对慈利晚二叠世海绵礁及珊瑚礁内部造礁生物群落、沉积相特征，礁化演化序列及成岩作用特征等的分析和对比来研究它们之间的生态关系，发现其中的海绵礁为台地边缘礁，而珊瑚礁则应属于岸