Assessment of the ecological quality status of soft-bottoms in Reunion Island (tropical Southwest Indian Ocean) using AZTI marine biotic indices

The ability of the two synthetic marine biotic indices, AMBI and M-AMBI, to account for changes in the ecological quality of coastal soft bottoms of Reunion Island according to disturbances was assessed from macrobenthic samples collected in five sectors between 1994 and 2004. Samples were collected under non-perturbed conditions and at two sites subjected to heavy organic enrichment. Both indices are based on a classification of macrofauna into ecological groups (EG), and their transfer to tropical waters required some adaptations. These indices proved efficient in detecting a degradation of habitat quality. Their use resulted in the classification of all sites sampled between 1996 and 1998 as "good" or "high". M-AMBI nevertheless tended to result in the attribution of a slightly worse ecological quality status than AMBI. Together with an update of the EG species list for the Indian Ocean area, our results support the extension of both indices for the assessment of tropical soft bottoms.     

Optimizing fixed observational assets in a coastal observatory

Proliferation of coastal observatories necessitates an objective approach to managing of observational assets. In this article, we used our experience in the coastal observatory for the Columbia River estuary and plume to identify and address common problems in managing of fixed observational assets, such as salinity, temperature, and water level sensors attached to pilings and moorings. Specifically, we addressed the following problems: assessing the quality of an existing array, adding stations to an existing array, removing stations from an existing array, validating an array design, and targeting of an array toward data assimilation or monitoring.     

峨眉山玄武岩的地幔热柱成因

根据峨眉山玄武岩的岩石组合、岩相学特征将峨眉火成岩省分为盐源-丽江岩区、攀西岩区、贵州高原岩区和松潘-甘孜岩区。通过对研究区二叠世的区域地质背景和古地理环境的分析，对峨眉山玄武岩喷发与地幔热柱的关系及其火山喷发的大地构造背景进行了进一步系统归纳和总结。根据地层学关系大致确定峨眉山玄武岩的主喷发期是阳新世（中二叠）晚期-乐平世（晚二叠）早期，时限大致为259Ma-257Ma。峨眉山玄武岩微量元素地幔标准化曲线特征与OIB基本一致，反映出其成因与地幔热柱活动有密不可分的关系。     

雅鲁藏布江缝合带西段东波蛇绿岩OIB型玄武岩的厘定及其形成环境

雅鲁藏布江缝合带(YZSZ)西段分为两支,南带蛇绿岩的成因对整个缝合带的性质和构造背景的探讨起到十分关键作用,但由于地区偏远、交通不便,研究程度一直十分薄弱.本文报道了南带的东波蛇绿岩中洋岛型玄武岩及有关沉积岩的发现和成因探讨.东波蛇绿岩主要由地幔橄榄岩(方辉橄榄岩、含单辉方辉橄榄岩和透镜状纯橄岩)和上覆火山-沉积岩组成,未见堆晶岩和枕状熔岩等典型洋壳端元.火山-沉积岩盖层为一套稳定的海相层序,主要由硅质灰岩、红色硅质岩等沉积岩和玄武岩和玄武火山碎屑岩组成.OIB型玄武岩的特征表现为低SiO2和MgO,高TiO2、P2O5和(K2O+Na2O),富集Nb、Ta,亏损Th、K、Pb、Sr.微量元素和Sr、Nd、Pb同位素数据显示,该玄武质源区来自石榴石尖晶石二辉橄榄岩2％ ～ 5％的部分熔融.成分研究显示,硅质岩形成于大陆边缘环境,为洋岛或海山和大陆边缘物质在生物作用下形成的.以上证据表明,东波火山-沉积岩层序具有典型海山特征,与世界上典型的地幔柱型蛇绿岩可对比,属于地幔柱热点活动的产物.因此,可以认为,地幔柱热点在与冈瓦纳大陆北缘岩石圈地幔相互作用过程中,不但促使YZSZ西段南带(达巴-休古嘎布)特提斯洋盆打开,还可能与YZSZ蛇绿岩中普遍包含金刚石等异常地幔矿物群有直接的动力学关系.     

A 1.78 Ga large igneous province in the North China craton: The Xiong'er Volcanic Province and the North China dyke swarm

The 1.78 Ga Xiong'er Volcanic Province (XVP) and coeval North China giant mafic Dyke Swarm (NCDS) are the most important magmatic events occurring after the amalgamation of the North China craton (NCC). The XVP consists of 3–7 km of extrusive volcanics and some feeder dykes/sills located along the southern margin of the NCC and extending over an area > 0.06 M km². Compositions vary from basalt to rhyolite, but are predominantly intermediate in terms of silica content. There are also minor sedimentary intercalations and pyroclastic units. The sedimentary interlayers indicate an environment changing from continental-facies to oceanic-facies up-section. The XVP is characterized by fractional crystallization from an EM I type mantle source, and both continental arc (Andean-type) and rift environments have been proposed. The NCDS is widespread in the central NCC with an outcrop area > 0.1 M km², and are exposed at variable depths up to 20 km (deepest in the north). Dyke compositions vary from basalt to andesite and dacite, but are dominantly mafic, and comprise two series of magmatism. Previous studies revealed that the NCDS recorded assimilation and fractional crystallization of an EM I type magma source, with a minor DM contribution in the younger magmas. Both syn-collisional and intra-continental anorogenic environments have been proposed. Spatial and petrogenic correlations suggest a cogenetic relationship between the NCDS and XVP, and considered together, they define a Large Igneous Province (LIP) of > 0.1 M km² in area and > 0.1 M km³ in volume, which is also notable for its continuous compositional range from mafic to felsic (with no gap at intermediate compositions). The petrology is explained by a common magma source that undergoes a silica-poor and iron-enriched fractionation trend at depth followed by a silica-rich and iron-poor fractionation trend in shallow-level magma conduits (dykes) and surface lavas. A mantle plume is favored as the cause of this  1.78 Ga North China LIP.     

Neogene volcanic activity of western Syria and its relationship with Arabian plate kinematics

The Cenozoic (mostly Neogene) volcanic activity in Syria is part of the extensive magmatism that took place in the Mashrek Region, Middle East, from upper Eocene to Holocene (40–0.0005 Ma). Samples in western Syria are mostly high TiO₂ (TiO₂ 1.8–3.7 wt.%) alkaline mafic rocks (basanites, hawaiites and alkali basalts) plus rare transitional/tholeiitic basalts and basaltic andesites) with within-plate-like trace element signature.On the basis of incompatible trace element content, the volcanic activity in Syria has been divided into two stages: the first lasting from 25 to 5 Ma and the second from 5 to recent times. Indeed, the Syrian lavas show incompatible trace element content increasing with decreasing age from 25 to 5 Ma, followed by an abrupt decrease to low values roughly at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary. This temporal shift in composition is related to major tectonic re-organization occurred during upper Miocene.The proposed petrogenetic model invokes three steps: (a) passive upwelling of the shallow asthenosphere during the development of the Dead Sea transform fault system. Different degrees of partial melting were followed by variable extents of fractional crystallization and limited upper crustal contamination; (b) the Miocene–Pliocene boundary tectonic change enhanced passive decompression of the same sources and a consequent increase in degree of partial melting resulting in low incompatible trace element content of the relatively high-volume liquids; (c) after this phase, the incompatible trace element content in the basaltic magmas increased as consequence of fractional crystallization processes.Major and trace element content similarities with the rest of the circum-Mediterranean igneous rocks are consistent with a common relatively shallow origin for the Cenozoic anorogenic magmatism of the entire circum-Mediterranean area (the so-called Common Magmatic Reservoir). Because much of the igneous activity in the studied area is concentrated near the Dead Sea fault, the origin of Cenozoic magmatism in Syria (and in the rest of the circum-Mediterranean area) reflects a strong lithospheric control on the loci of partial melting. Mantle plumes from lower mantle and/or north-westward channelling of the Afar mantle plume is not needed to explain volcanic activity in Syria and the Mashrek area.     

考虑动量和浮力通量耗散的烟气抬升解析模式

环流湍流对烟流抬升有重要的作用。本文考虑了环境湍流引起的烟流的动量和浮力通量耗散，导出了烟流抬升的控制方程，给出了烟流的轨迹方程和中性条件下热浮力烟流的终极抬升高度。在烟囱附近，轨迹方程接近2/3次律；当下风距离增大时，与2/3次律有明显偏离并逐渐变平。与外场试验资料的比较表明，本模式能较好地模拟浮力烟流的轨迹和终极高度。     

Recurrence of major flank landslides during the last 2-Ma-history of Reunion Island

New detailed swath bathymetry and backscatter data corroborate the existence of four large bulges on the submarine flanks of Reunion Island. These fan-shaped promontories are 20–25 km wide at the coastline and 70–150 km across the seafloor 40–50 km offshore. Their surfaces are characterized by a speckle sonar pattern, indicating the presence of large blocks up to several hundred meters across. Each bulge results from the superposition of multiple landslide deposits whose older ones are dissected and delimited by erosive channels as much as 200 m deep and 20 km long. The submarine flanks of Reunion Island are thus mostly built by accumulation of debris avalanche fans. Morphologic and geologic evidence define large subaerial source areas for these mass-wasting events. In particular, inferred headwalls of most landslides having affected the Piton des Neiges massif generally coincide with the boundaries of its cirques (Mafate, Salazie, and Cilaos), whereas recurrent landslides have resulted in the formation of large concentric amphitheatre structures through the Piton de la Fournaise massif. Thus, about 15 slide events accompanied growth of the Reunion Island shield since 2 Ma.Editorial responsibility: J. Stix     

Some Simple Statistical Models For Relative And Absolute Dispersion

Observations of the dispersion of a contaminant plume in the atmospheric boundary layer, obtained using a Lidar, are analysed in the coordinate frame relative to the instantaneous centre of mass of the plume, as well as the absolute (or fixed) coordinate frame. The study extends the work presented in a previous article, which analysed the structure of the probability density function (pdf) of concentration within the relative coordinate frame. Firstly, the plume displacement component, or plume meander, is analysed and a simple parametric form for the pdf of the plume centreline position is suggested. This is then used to analyse the accuracy and applicability of absolute framework statistical quantities obtained by a convolution of the relative frame statistical quantity with the plume centreline pdf.     

Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the South Tethyan suture zone, Pakistan: implications for the Réunion hotspot and Deccan Traps

The location, ages, and geochemical characteristics of marine volcanic rocks preserved in the South Tethyan suture zone of Pakistan suggest that the Réunion hotspot was active off northwestern Greater India well before the emplacement, far to the south, of the Deccan flood basalts, the great bulk of which were erupted at 65-66 Ma and are widely believed to be associated with the hotspot’s plume-head phase. Most of the suture zone samples have Nd-Pb-Sr isotopic ratios (e.g. age-corrected ?_Nd(t)=+3.0 to +4.6) close to those expected for modern-type Réunion source mantle in the Late Cretaceous, and their incompatible element patterns resemble those of recent Réunion shield lavas. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar incremental heating yields ages of 73.4-72.0 Ma. Nevertheless, unless even older ages are discovered among the suture zone rocks, a pre-Deccan marine phase of Réunion hotspot activity on the Tethyan side of Greater India can be accommodated within the framework of the plume-head model.