海相遗迹化石对显生宙生物大辐射事件的响应*

通过系统梳理前寒武纪和显生宙海相遗迹化石记录及笔者自己的研究,发现在寒武纪生命大爆发、奥陶纪生物大辐射、中生代海洋革命共3次里程碑式的生物大辐射过程中,海相遗迹化石的属级多样性变化和歧异度增减均与生物多样性呈正相关,生物扰动强度和深度明显增加,造迹生物的觅食策略和行为习性多样化明显增多。寒武纪生命大爆发时期,最有代表性的生物行为变化是出现了具有垂向分量的潜穴; 奥陶纪生物大辐射期间,海相遗迹化石的分布逐渐从滨、浅海扩展至半深海和深海,表现为造迹生物群落栖息地的扩张; 中生代海洋革命时期,海相和陆相遗迹化石同步增加,生物对生态空间利用的深度、广度和集约性同步增强,遗迹化石面貌表现为深海雕画迹的多样性和歧异度大幅增加、形态类型多样、多种觅食策略共存。地史时期的海相遗迹化石面貌受环境外因和生物内因控制,表现出形态由简到繁、分布范围由小到大的变化趋势,对生态空间的利用表现为由沉积物表层至浅层再到深层、由二维到三维、由局域(浅水)到广域(浅水和深水以及陆地)的发展,印证了生物获取生态机会的过程。     

澳大利亚中部Alice Spring红色表土磁学特征分析

炎热干旱的澳大利亚中部是现代正在形成红色地表的区域.围绕中部Alice Spring地区采集了一系列红色地表样品.这些红色样品按照岩性大致可以分为三类:砂土、沙丘砂和岩石.通过对这些样品详细的磁学测量,发现这三类样品存在明显磁学特征差异,红色砂土和沙丘砂样品磁化率较岩石样品高出许多(砂土和沙丘砂磁化率均值为93.82× 10-8m3/kg),红色岩石样品磁化率值最低(均值为23.2×10-8m3/kg);三者主要磁性矿物也不尽相同;磁颗粒均以超顺磁(SP)颗粒为主,而单畴(SD)颗粒含量少.研究区百分比频率磁化率xfd％均值为8.28％,较黄土高原西部表土(兰州为3.5％)高出许多.该区现代年降水量约300mm,比兰州(约330mm)还低,成土导致百分比频率磁化率增高却比兰州明显高出几倍.这可能反映了黄土高原表土频率磁化率增高与降水量密切相关;而在澳洲中部可能与持续高温成土条件和作用的时间存在更密切的关系.澳洲中部不论岩石还是表土均以红色为主.磁学实验表明,砂土和沙丘砂样品均以磁铁矿为主,三类样品普遍含一定量磁赤铁矿和赤铁矿的贡献,与地表红色外貌相符.说明澳洲红色地表过程很可能是黑色磁铁矿颗粒表面被长期氧化条件下形成的红色磁赤铁矿/赤铁矿所包裹的现象,使得澳洲中部广大地区岩石露头和地表沉积物,普遍形成一层红色染色层.     

The Paleoceanography during the Time with High δ13C of Phanerozoic marine carbonates

Carbon isotopic composition of marine carbonates is a record for various important geological events in the process of earth development and evolution. The carbonates of Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic, as the transition from Paleozoic to Mesozoic-Cenozoic have very high ¹³C value. Taking this as the main point, and combined with the oxygen, strontium isotopic composition in carbonates, distribution of carbonate basin area through geologic time, the correlation of carbon isotopic composition of marine carbonates to sea level change, organic carbon burial flux, exchange of CO₂ content in atmosphere and ocean, and long cycle evolution of the earth ecosystems were approached. The results are shown as follows: ①The interval of ¹³C >3‰ during Phanerozoic was concentrated in Carboniferous, Permian and the beginning of Triassic, but the beginning of Triassic was characterized by higher frequency and larger fluctuations in ¹³C value during a short time, whereas the Carboniferous-Permian presented a continuously stable high ¹³C value, indicating a larger amount of organic carbon accumulation in this time interval. Relatively high ¹⁸O values during this time was also observed, showing a long time of glaciations and cold climate, which suggest a connection among rapid organic carbon burial, cold climate, as well as pCO₂ and pO₂ states of atmosphere. ②The over consumption of atmosphere CO₂ by green plants during the time with high ¹³C of seawater forced CO₂ being transferred from ocean to atmosphere for the balance, but the decrease in the seawater amount and water column pressure caused by the global cooling could weaken dissolution capacity of CO₂ in seawater and carbon storage of marine carbonates, and also reduce the carbonate sedimentary rate and decrease the carbonate basin area globally from Devonian to Carboniferous and Permian. During the middle-late Permian carbonate was widely replaced by siliceous sediments even though in shallow carbonate platform, which resulted in the decrease of marine invertebrates, suggesting the Permian chert event should be global. ③The Phanerozoic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr trend of seawater showed a sharp fall in Permian and drop to a minimum at the end of the Permian, indicting input of strontium from the submarine hydrothermal systems (mantle flux). Such process should accompany with a supplement of CO₂ from deep earth to atmosphere and ocean system, but the process associated with widespread volcanism and rises of earth’s surface temperature pricked up the mass extinction during the time of end Permian. ④Cold climate and increase of continental icecap volume, the amalgamation of northern Africa and Laurentia continentals were the main reasons responsible for the sea level drop, but the water consumption result from the significantly increased accumulation of organic carbon should also be one of the reasons for the sea level drop on the order of tens of meters. ⑤The mass extinction at the end Permian was an inevitable event in the process of earth system adjustment. It was difficult for marine invertebrates to survive because of the continuously rapid burial of organic carbon, and of the decrease of sea water amount and its dissolution ability to CO₂. At last, at the end of Paleozoic, the supplement of CO₂ to atmosphere and ocean by widely magma activities resulted in a high temperature of earth surface and intensified mass extinction.     

Demographic and Economic Changes in Remote Australia

Varied distribution of resources, populations and Indigenous people result in significant socio-economic differences among statistical local areas (SLAs) in remote Australia. These differences indicate that the experience of change at the height of the resources boom will differ among SLAs in the region. Using hierarchical cluster analysis with Ward's minimum variance method, four socio-economic clusters were identified among the 197 SLAs in the region. The first was the most disadvantaged, with limited resources and human capital and the highest percentage of Indigenous people. The other three clusters improved in sequence, with the fourth having the most resources with the highest employment rate and income but least number of Indigenous people. Multivariate analysis of variance with main and interaction effects showed changes in demographics, industry structure, human capital and income over the period of investigation for the region as a whole and differences in the extent of these changes among the clusters. Policy interventions in the region are suggested for each group to match its specific needs.     

Private agri-food governance and greenhouse gas abatement: Constructing a corporate carbon economy

Private sector actors are playing an increasingly significant role in the definition and governance of ‘sustainable’ agri-food practices. Yet, to date little attention has been paid by social scientists to how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are addressed as part of private agri-food governance arrangements. This paper examines how private actors within agri-food supply chains respond to emerging pressure for measures to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture. Drawing upon the Anglo-Foucauldian governmentality literature, we introduce the notion of the corporate carbon economy to conceptualise the practical techniques that enable private agri-food actors to make GHG emissions thinkable and governable in the context of existing market, regulatory, and supply chain pressures. Using a case study of the Australian dairy industry, we argue that private agri-food actors utilise a range of techniques that enable them to respond to existing government environmental regulations, balance current market pressures with future supply chain requirements, and demonstrate improved eco-efficiency along food supply chains. These techniques – which include environmental self-assessment instruments, tools for measuring GHG emissions, and sustainability reporting – have little direct relevance to the ‘international climate regime’ of carbon trading, and carbon markets more broadly, yet individually and in combination they are crucial in enacting an alternative regime of GHG governance. In concluding, we contend that the growing use of sustainability metrics by international food companies is likely to have the most powerful implications for GHG governance in the agri-food sector, with potentially far-reaching consequences for how future action on climate change is rendered thinkable and practicable.     

The influence of diurnal temperatures on the hydrochemistry of a tufa‐depositing stream

At‐a‐station diurnal variations in carbonate hydrochemistry were measured during four observation periods at Davys Creek, a tufa‐depositing stream in central NSW, Australia. Major ion concentrations and continuously logged measurements of specific conductivity, pH and temperature showed that changes in the amount of CaCO₃ deposited upstream of the study reach were directly related to changes in diurnal water temperatures, which control the rate of CO₂ efflux to the atmosphere. The greatest upstream losses occurred during the mid‐afternoon water temperature peak, whereas the lowest upstream losses occurred at sunrise, when water temperatures were at their lowest. Cloudy days at all times of the year produced small diurnal water temperatures ranges (c. 2–5°C) and, consequently, relatively small changes in upstream CaCO₃ loss (23–50 mg L^?1) through the day. Clear sunny days, especially during summer months, produced large diurnal water temperature changes (up to c. 11°C), which in turn triggered diurnal changes in upstream CaCO₃ loss of up to 100 mg L^?1. By implication, the active reach of tufa deposition must advance downstream and increase in length during the evening and vice versa during the day. Given that the temperature of Davys Creek waters are a function of insolation, changes in the reach of tufa deposition under baseflow conditions are a direct function of the prevailing weather. This has implications for the palaeoclimatic interpretation of fossil tufa deposits. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing Aerial photography and image interpretation for Resource Management . DAVID P. PAINE . Analytical Models and Techniques Spatial Processes Models and Applications A. D. CLIFF AND J. K. ORD Quantitative and Statistical Approaches to Geography: A Practical Manual JOHN A. MATTHEWS . Cartography and Maps Map Data Processing . HERBERT FREEMAN AND GOFFREDO G. PIERONI , eds. Computer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects, 1982 . MARK S. MONMONIER . Cultural Navajo Architecture: Forms, History, Distributions . STEPHEN C. JETT AND VIRGINIA E . SPENCER . Rational Landscapes and Humanistic Geography . EDWARD RELPH . Economic The Structure and Control of a State Economy . W. L. L'ESPERANCE . Economic Geography . JAMES O. WHEELER AND PETER O. MULLER . The Myth of the Family Farm: Agribusiness Dominance of U.S. Agriculture . INGOLF VOCELER . Libya: The Experience of Oil . J. A. ALLEN . Geography of Public Finance, Welfare Under Fiscal Federalism and local Government Finance . ROBERT BENNETT . Environmental Management, Resources, and Systems Mountains and Man . LARRY W. PRICE . Environmental Geology . DONALD R. COATES . An Introduction to Environmental Systems . G. H. DURY . The Environment: Chinese and American Views . Edited by LAURENCE J. C. MA AND ALLEN G. NOBLE . Land Use in America . RICHARD H. JACKSON . Medical Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Medical Geography . MELINDA S. MEADE (ed.). Philosophy and Geographic Thought Birds in Egg/Eggs in Bird . GUNNAR OLSSON . PhysicaI Climatology: Selected Applications . J. E. OLIVER . Geomorphological Techniques . ANDREW GOUDIE (ed.). Political Politics, Geography and Behaviour . RICHARD MUIR AND RONAN PADDISON . The State of the World Atlas . MICHAEL KIDRON AND RONALD SECAL . Population The Population of the South . DUDLEY L. POSTON , JR . AND ROBERT H. WELLER , eds. Regional Latin America: Economic Development and Regional Differentiation . ARTHUR MORRIS . Developing the Amazon . EMILIO F. MORAN . Western Europe: A Systematic Human Geography . BRIAN W. ILBERY . Settlement Systems in Sparsely Settled Regions: The United States and Australia . RICHARD E. LONSDALEAND JOHN H. HOLMES , eds. African Perspectives: The Economic Geography of Nine African States . HARM DE BUJ AND ESMOND MARTIN , eds. Rural Nonmetropolitan America in Transition . AMOS H. HAWLEY AND SARA MILLS MAZIE , eds. Social Crime and Environment . R. NORMAN DAVIDSON . The Ghetto: Readings with Interpretations . JOE T. DARDEN , ed. Urban Urban Problems and Planning in the Developed World . MICHAEL PACIONE (ed.) Problems and Planning in Third World Cities . Edited by MICHAEL PACIONE . The City in West Europe . D. BURTENSHAW , M. BATEMAN , AND C. J. ASHWORTH .     

Effects of metals and sediment particle size on the species composition of the epifauna of Pinna bicolor near a lead smelter,Spencer Gulf,South Australia

Pinna bicolor (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) were transplanted between four sites near a lead smelter. The species composition of their epifauna (sessile and mobile) was examined in relation to characteristics of both sediments and seston at the sites. Seventy-two taxa were distinguished in the epifaunal community. Substantial differences were found in the short-term sensitivity of some of the species to concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn in sediments and to sediment particle size. The short-term sensitivity of many species to metals or sediment particle size explained their long-term distribution pattern. Twenty-three taxa were identified as significantly characterizing the faunal differences. Of these, eleven (four molluscs, four bryozoans, two barnacles and one ascidian) were affected by both sediment metal concentration and particle size, and eight (four molluscs, one bryozoan, one polychaete, one hydroid and one barnacle) were affected by metal contamination but not particle size. Of all fauna examined, the Bryozoa were the most metal-sensitive. Four species, Smittina raigii (Bryozoa), Galeolaria sp. 1 (Polychaeta), Epopella simplex (Cirripedia) and Monia ione (Pelecypoda) were identified by their short- and long-term sensitivity to metal contamination, and absence of sensitivity to sediment particle size, as suitable species for monitoring the effects of metal contamination on the epifauna. The implications of the results for toxicity-testing are discussed.     

Systematic variation of soil infiltration rates within and between the components of the vegetation mosaic in an Australian desert landscape

Vegetation mosaics have commonly been thought to include two principal zones with distinctly different hydrology: relatively bare and impermeable runoff source zones (intergroves) and more strongly absorbing vegetated runon zones (groves). However, the data required to verify the internal uniformity of hydrologic response within these components of mosaic landscapes have been lacking, as have data on the nature (abrupt or gradational) of the boundaries between them. This study examines the degree of internal uniformity of key soil properties in the intergroves and groves of an Australian vegetation mosaic. Infiltration rates, soil water content, shear strength, bulk density and texture were determined at intervals of 1·5–2·5 m across several grove–intergrove cycles of an Australian banded shrubland. Results demonstrate that order‐of‐magnitude variability in soil infiltration rates can occur across intergroves, with lesser variation in groves. Patterns of infiltration are systematically related to slope position. Rates are relatively high in the uppermost parts of the intergrove, and fall to low values only in the lowermost intergrove where soils are mechanically strong. Infiltration rates increase rapidly from the lowermost intergrove to reach maxima within the upper to middle grove, from where rates once again decline toward the next intergrove. However, there is only a gradational change in infiltration rates across the pioneer zone–grove boundary, which is the sharpest of the mosaic boundaries when identified using plant cover data. Hydrologic models built on the presumption that mapped plant cover units are equally distinct hydrologically may need to be refined to incorporate the presence of systematic internal variability of infiltration rates and gradational change in soil hydraulic properties. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.