A United States shark fin ban would undermine sustainable shark fisheries

A proposed nationwide ban on the sale of shark fins within the United States would undermine sustainable shark fisheries, would have little effect on global shark mortality, and would perpetuate the misconception that the shark fin trade is the only threat facing sharks. Instead, placing a priority on policies focusing on sustainable shark fisheries management is preferred for meeting the goals of shark conservation.     

King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

我国海洋地学编图现状、计划与主要进展

我国海洋地质地球物理工作起步晚,整体调查程度较低,进一步加强我国海洋地学编图显得十分必要.我国实施的"海洋地质保障工程",将分"中国海陆"、"中国海及邻域"和"中国各海区"三个层次来进行地学编图.第一层次编制了空间重力异常图、布格重力异常图、磁力异常图、地震层析成像图、莫霍面深度图、地质图、大地构造格架图和大地构造格架演化图等8种图件.编图反映出中国海陆重力异常是"线性异常带纵横交错,块状异常区坐落其间"、重力梯级带主要为块体结合带;陆地磁力异常大致正负磁异常相间分布,海域北部为沟-弧-盆相关异常、南部磁条带异常;莫霍面总体特征为"东西分带,南北分块";地震层析成像反映出中国东部和西部岩石层厚度的差异以及上地幔软流层的分布特点;大地构造格架和演化图再现了块体体制向板块体制的转换过程.本次编图强调地球深部结构的变化对表层构造的关联,重视地球物理资料与地质构造的结合,以深-浅层结合来划分中国大地构造格架.已有成果表明,中国海陆大地构造格局可以用"块体构造学说"来描述.     

Growth patterns and dynamics of mud cracks at different diagenetic stages and its geological significance

This paper discusses the growth stages,spatial structures,quantitative fitting relationships among various parameters,growth patterns and influencing factors of mud cracks by field survey,core observation and SEM analysis.The study shows that:(1) Mud crack growth can go through three stages,i.e.the syndiagenetic stage,the burial diagenetic stage(including early diagenetic stage,middle-late diagenetic stage) and the epidiagenetic stage.(2) Quantitative fitting relationships among various parameters allow a great significance to describe the spatial structure,the regional distribution and the growth environment of mud cracks.(3) Mud crack growth has three models,such as the unilateral growth model including the linear growth pattern,the curvilinear growth pattern and the bifurcation growth pattern,the multilateral growth model including the inteisectional growth pattern,the join growth pattern and the dispersed growth pattern,and the mixed growth model including the combination of any patterns listed above.(4) Modern mud crack growth usually undergoes four stages.Sand beds in sand-mud rhythmic strata can play a lubricative role on crack growth and provide enough sandy deposits for filling cracks.(5) Mud crack growth usually produces bifurcation and bifurcation angles which are mostly 120° or 90° that are related to sediment heterogeneity and released energy.(6)Factors affecting mud crack growth cover many aspects:clay content and salinity can control the number of mud cracks in different areas;terrain can control mud crack morphology;and different sedimentary cycles can control the growth patterns and filling models of mud cracks.     

Environmental Effect Caused by Over-exploitation of Deep Groundwater in North China

Based on the formation and development analysis of the environmental geological disaster of land subsidence, earth fissures and other geological disasters in the North China, it showed these disasters caused a very serious problem in some areas of the North China, such as the deep groundwater exploitation cone, which is accumulated with great damage and loss and is hard to be controlled, therefore, great attention should be paid. It is considered that the formation of the deep groundwater cone is the root of various geological environmental problems, and the groundwater cone recovery is the key to solve other environmental problems     

NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS CONTROLLING GULLY EROSION IN THEBASALTIC UPLAND OF SOUTHERN BRAZIL

This paper describes an analysis of natural and anthropogenic factors controlling the evolution of gullies in a rural basin in the basaltic upland in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil. In this region of deep ferrallitic soils with more than 60% clay, runoff and erosion are of increasing concern. In the TaboAo drainage basin （100 km^2）, gully erosion was studied in a field survey that measured rills and gullies. Eighty-four gullies were identified. They had an average length of 136 m, were 10 m wide, and 3 m deep and had a volume of 15.458 m3. Each gully was characterised in terms of factors that included slope, geological structure, presence of piping, drainage, soil use, and the presence of surface and subsurface flow. On average, the main channels had knickpoints varying from 2 m to 7 m, and their evolution in the vertical plane increased until bed-rock basalt material was reached, after which gullies increase in width and length. Gully development was also monitored from 1991 to 2003. Subsurface flow appears to be the principal agent controlling their development. Results show that both natural （slope, surface curvature, geological structure and rainfall） and anthropogenic （soil use, road construction） factors are important in gully development. The change in cultural practices throughout the drainage basin from conventional to direct seeding has led to increased subsurface flow, which was more important than surface runoff in causing erosion. However, the higher rainfall during E1 Nifio Southern Oscillation （ENSO） events and the consequently higher subsurface flow were the dominant factors. From 1991 to 2003 a total land loss of 1,013 m3 was observed in one gully, with 236 m^3 lost during the 1992 ENSO and 702 m3 during the 1997 ENSO; 95% of the total volume lost occurred during ENSO periods.     

尚未完成的地质年代表--第四纪悬而未决的前程

第四纪是以气候变化、人类出现和现生生物物种占优势为特征的最新地质时期。第四纪的地层多以松散沉积物为主,是人类赖以生存居住的主要场所。鉴于第四纪研究对地质学,地球系统科学和全球变化科学的贡献,近几十年来学术界和公众对其产生极大兴趣和更加重视。为了回应2 0 0 4年春国际地层委员会提出的“国际地层表”( 2 0 0 4 ) ,详细地介绍了国际第四纪联合会为争取第四纪在地质年表中的合理地位所作的努力以及目前争论的结果:今年比利时最终定论。呼吁我国广大的第四纪工作者积极加入到支持国际第四纪联合会保留第四系作为独立地层单元的行列中。同时简略地介绍了第四纪(系)术语的来由,国内外关于第四纪下限研究的历史和现状     

福建武夷山龙井坑铅锌矿地质特征及找矿远景分析

武夷山龙井坑铅锌矿（化）体贮存于逆冲推覆构造带中,受其控制,矿（化）体产出特征取决于推覆构造带的规模和形状。通过对矿区成矿地质条件及地球物化异常特征等的分析,初步认为属中低温热液型矿床。     

基于开源的煤矿地质信息集成平台研究

分析了涉及不同领域、不同历史来源和不同存储载体的矿山地质信息特点,利用开源技术对Web Service架构下地质信息集成平台进行研究,实现了异源、异构、异库的复杂地质信息的数据共享、地图显示以及图形数据处理。     

楚雄盆地与四川盆地中西部地质条件对比分析

通过楚雄盆地与四川盆地中西部区域地质条件和油气地质条件的对比研究,探讨了楚雄盆地与四川盆地中西部地区盆地性质、沉积序列、油气地质条件等方面的异同点,从而给楚雄盆地的油气勘探一些启示：它们间的基本地质特征、油气地质特征类似,且上三叠统地层为主要的烃源岩和自生自储组合,侏罗系储层也具有低孔、低渗、高含水饱和度、非均质性强的特征,裂缝对油气的富集、高产起到了重要作用。认为：加强砂体的展布、连通性研究,裂缝、断层性质、形态、沟通性、规模等研究,在有白垩系、第三系覆盖区完全有可能进行油气勘探。