温度、盐度、光照强度和pH对海洋原甲藻增长的效应

采用微量移液稀释法对海洋原甲藻进行无菌培养，以研究温度、盐度、光照强度和pH对海洋原甲藻增长的效应。结果表明，海洋原甲藻最大增殖速率发生在温度为(25±1)℃、盐度为31、光照强度为3000lx、pH为8.0的环境条件下。海洋原甲藻在温度18—28℃、盐度为25—34、光照强度为1000—6500lx、pH为7.5—8.3范围内适宜生长。这一结果与观测到的海洋原甲藻赤潮发生时环境条件相近，其中温度的效应最为明显。     

Multiple magnetization events in the Red River carbonates, Williston Basin, Canada: Evidence for fluid-flow?

Samples collected from the Upper Ordovician Red River carbonates in a well at the centre of the Williston Basin revealed two paleomagnetic components with different inclinations, 60.3 ± 3.9° (k = 70.7, N = 12) and 20.4 ± 3.3° (k = 141.2, N = 8), but similar declination values in individual specimens. Inclination-only analysis indicates two possible scenarios for the age of these two magnetizations: in scenario (a) the timing of magnetization happened sometime between Late Ordovician to Devonian; and in scenario (b) there are two different remagnetizations, one that overlaps Pennsylvanian to Permian time while the other can have either a Late Jurassic or a Tertiary age. Whereas dolomitization and some isotopic data tend to support scenario (a), previous paleomagnetic data from the Williston Basin and from younger units in the same well, the tectonic evolution of the basin, and the hydrocarbon maturation pattern in the Red River carbonates all favour chemical remagnetization(s) driven by orogenic fluids during the Alleghenian and Laramide orogenies.     

A pronounced dry event recorded around 4.2 ka in brine sediments from the northern Red Sea

Partly laminated sediments were sampled from the brine-filled, anoxic Shaban Deep basin in the northern Red Sea. At about 4200 cal yr BP more than two millennia of anoxic sedimentation is replaced by a sub-oxic facies strongly suggesting the episodic absence of the brine. At the same time stable oxygen isotopes from surface dwelling foraminifera show a sharp increase (within less than 100 yr) pointing to a strong positive salinity anomaly at the sea surface. This major evaporation event significantly enhanced the renewal of deep water and the subsequent ventilation of the small Shaban Deep basin. The timing and strength of the reconstructed environmental changes around 4200 cal yr BP suggest that this event is the regional expression of a major drought event, which is widely observed in the neighboring regions, and which strongly affected Middle East agricultural civilizations.     

A highlight of environmental and engineering geology in Fargo, North Dakota, USA

Several unfavorable environmental and engineering geologic conditions exist in Fargo, North Dakota. Dominantly, the behavior of smectitic clays within the proglacial Lake Agassiz sediments of the Sherack and Brenna Formations creates subsoil instability beneath engineered structures in the Fargo area and slope instability within cutbank meanders of the Red River of the North. Unfavorable engineering geologic conditions encountered include: the elastic deformation of clayey glaciolacustrine soils, shrink-swell properties, inadequate bearing capacities, and mass movements. These conditions are responsible for structural failures including the Fargo Grain Elevator in 1955 and the Northern Pacific railroad grade. Bank failures along the Red River are common due to the inherent instability of Brenna Formation smectitic clays which are subject to plastic deformation in the subsurface, with resultant block failure of overlying Sherack Formation. Recent alluvial sediments due to typical fluvial action and the continued seasonal saturation of cutbank meanders within the floodplain also add to soil instability.     

桂林地区红土砾石层的工程地质特征及其应用

桂林地区的红土砾石层以其独特的工程地质特征引起了许多中外学者的注意, 对它的成因至今还存在争议。本文主要讨论红土砾石层的工程应用, 即不仅可作为一般低层建筑物的天然持力层, 而且可以作为沟、塘等低洼地带的回填土料 ;而且厚度较大的红土砾石层坚硬部分可作为桩端持力层。     

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.     

The red bed controversy revisited: shape analysis of Colorado Plateau units suggests long magnetization times

Several Triassic and earliest Jurassic sedimentary units from the Colorado Plateau region have distributions of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) that are highly elongate along the path of apparent polar wander (APW). This suggests that the remanent magnetizations measured in these units were acquired over an extended period of time, possibly approaching 35 m.y., and are not precisely coeval with the stratigraphic age of the rock. Comparison with other paleomagnetic studies shows that the observed elongation is not a general attribute of the age of the rock, nor is it related to paleolatitude. The rocks that yield elongate VGP distributions are dominantly red to brown mudstones, and it is possible that their remanence is dominated by a slowly acquired chemical remanent magnetization, as suggested by Larson et al. [J. Geophys. Res. 87 (1982) 1081] and other authors. However, several superficially similar units from the Colorado Plateau have nearly circular VGP distributions. The process by which remanence is acquired in clastic sedimentary rocks merits further study.     

Seismicity re-evaluation of the northern Red Sea

The Aqaba subnetwork of five vertical short-period stations of the seismological observatory of King Saud University was installed in late 1986 along the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea. During the first six years (1986 August to 1992 July) of the subnetwork operation, 400 microearthquakes were detected. Of these, 93 events were recorded by most of the subnet stations and were located. Their epicentres lie in the northern part of the Red Sea between latitudes 25.5 N and 27.5 N and longitudes 33.5 E and 36 E along the axial depression of the Red Sea where the large intrusions (deeps) are located. Magnitudes of the locatable events ranged from 2.1 to 4.8. Two intensive swarms of about 200 microearthquakes occurred in February and June of 1992. The February swarm is the first intensive sequence observed in the surveying area since the establishment of the KSU network. Frequency-magnitude analysis of the recorded events for the period 1986-1992 yielded 3.543 for a and 0.658 for b . These relatively higher b values (0.658) are a good indication of the crustal heterogeneity under the spreading zone of the northern Red Sea. USGS and KSU data together show 3.41 for a and 0.49 for b . This study, together with historical data, confirms that the area is very seismically active and that the activity is mainly of swarm type, and may be attributed to the subsurface magmatic activity and spreading centres that are usually associated with strike-slip and normal faulting, respectively.     

Magnetostratigraphy and palaeoclimate of Red Clay sequences from Chinese Loess Plateau

Two Red Clay profiles near Xi’an and Xifeng were investigated in an attempt to determine magnetostratigraphic and palaeoclimatic records. The results show that aeolian dust accumulation and the related East Asia palaeomonsoon system had begun by 6.5 Ma, and it is deduced that the Tibetan Plateau had reached a significant elevation at that time. The late Tertiary palaeoclimatic history of the Red Clay as reflected by magnetic susceptibility is reconstructed during the period of 6.5–2.5 Ma. Stepwise increase in susceptibility of aeolian dust accumulation appears to have a close correlation to the uplift processes of the Tibetan Plateau. The remarkable increase of aeolian dust accumulation at 3.2 Ma appears to be due to the influence of global ice volume on the East Asia monsoon. Palaeomonsoon variation during the late Tertiary as recorded in the Red Clay sequences from the Chinese Loess Plateau can be regarded as the product of a number of interacting factors, such as uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, solar radiation, global ice volume, etc. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Foundation of Xi’an Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.     

Towards a long-term monitoring of Central European water mite faunas (Acari: Hydrachnidia and Halacaridae) – considerations on the background of data from 1900 to 2000

The state of knowledge of the Central European water mite fauna and the research history are briefly surveyed. Several areas for which we are provided with rich data sets are of high value for the monitoring of faunistic trends on the background of local and global environmental change. The need for a database combining historical and actual faunistic information is stressed. It should facilitate the access to all data from former times, give a survey on actual activities by regular updates, and help for a better organization of future research activities. On the base of an update of the Limnofauna Europaea (K.O. Viets 1978, Gerecke in www.watermite.org) a first attempt is made to (1) recognize changes in the Central European fauna during the past 100 years; (2) emphasize species which may be endangered or have disappeared during the past 100 years. At the present state of knowledge, the degree of threat to water mite species in this area is best calculated from their preference for particular habitat types which are rare and in danger to disappear in cultivated landscapes. Our knowledge concerning neozoic water mites in the study area is discussed.