Distribution and Acoustic Characteristics of Shallow Gas in the Korea Strait Shelf Mud off SE Korea

Shallow gas in the Korea Strait shelf mud (KSSM) off SE Korea, revealed by high-resolution subbottom profiles, is associated with acoustic blanking, acoustic turbidity, seepages with plumes in the water column, and seafloor depressions. The acoustic blanking, characterized by strong, consistent top reflection and wipeout below, is most dominant. The seaward edge of the acoustic blanking zone generally coincides with the 100-m water-depth contour, suggesting that the water depth (the pressure) may control the distribution of shallow gas. The acoustic turbidity, characterized by diffuse top reflection, is a dark smear, partially blanking the data below. The seepages with plumes, characterized by vertical smearing and disturbed seafloor, are seen only along the shallowest, landward edge of the acoustic blanking zone. This may suggest that the decreased gas solubility at shallow water depths, caused by the lowered pressure, increases the volume of free gas in the sediments, facilitating the gas escape. The seafloor depressions, interpreted as pockmarks, are accompanied by cone-shaped acoustic masking, which is probably the reflection from a narrow vent of gas. The gas-related acoustic anomalies appear to occur mostly in the upper, recent mud of the KSSM. Neither permeable beds nor faults, which can act as vertical migration pathways for deep thermogenic gas, are evident in the recent mud. We interpret that the bacterial degradation of organic matter in situ is the main source for the gas in the KSSM. The upwelling off SE Korea may be an important source for the increased organic matter in the area.     

内罐影响下LNG储罐外罐地震响应分析

为了考虑内罐在不同方向地震动时对LNG(液化天然气)储罐外罐的影响,对有内罐和无内罐情况下LNG储罐外罐进行了地震响应分析。结果表明:有内罐时地震响应比无内罐时小,内罐的存在对LNG储罐抗震有好的影响;竖向地震波对结构振动的影响不能忽视。     

东海陆架中北部沉积物粒度特征及其沉积环境

通过对东海陆架表层沉积物粒级组成、粒度参数、14C年龄和微体古生物组合的综合分析,绘制了东海陆架的沉积物类型分布图;运用Folk等(1970)沉积物分类方法将东海表层沉积物分成砂、粉砂、粉砂质砂、砂质粉砂、砂质泥5种类型,其中粉砂质砂分布最广,砂质泥分布最少;沉积物由陆向海粒度变粗,反映沉积过程中的物源和沉积动力控制作用。根据沉积环境及成因分析,可将东海陆架沉积分为3类:分别是长江口外席状砂沉积区、现代泥质沉积区和陆架中部砂质沉积区。长江口外砂质沉积是全新世冰消期晚期潮流作用及风暴潮流共同作用的产物,是高海平面以来太平洋潮波系统作用下的潮流沙沉积,沙波地貌仍在发生变化。现代泥质沉积区包括长江前三角洲沉积、浙闽沿岸流沉积和济州岛西南泥质沉积三个区域,不同沉积区的成因机制不同。陆架中部砂质沉积是末次冰盛期之后海侵作用下发育的砂质沉积物,在海侵的不同阶段中沉积物被冲刷改造,具有不等时性特征,沉积环境与现代陆架海洋环流的动力特征不一致,现代沉积作用较弱,仅接受悬浮体细粒沉积。     

水下沙丘形态演化的数值模拟实验

水下沙丘在海洋、湖泊、河流等浅水砂质沉积区广泛分布。基于过程的数值实验方法探讨了沙丘形态演化问题,试图解释在沙丘形成过程中各因素的作用及它们之间的关系。模拟中考虑了以下的变量:水深、沉积物粒度、沉积层厚度以及台风作用。模拟结果显示,沙丘的空间分布控制了空间流场的参数k₂,沙丘波高受水深、沉积物粒度以及沉积层厚度等因素的影响,沉积层厚度决定了沙丘的形态是否饱满。在台风作用中,沙丘波峰的沉积物被侵蚀,高程降低,波高渐小;台风作用后,沉积物被重新输运至波峰,沙丘高度逐渐恢复。因此,沙丘的高度取决于台风作用的时间以及2次台风作用之间的间隔。沙丘形态和尺度在台风作用前后变化较小,但沙丘演化的速度却有所提高。根据台湾浅滩和北海南部地貌系统数据的验证,模拟具有较好的效果。     

Organic carbon deposition flux on the North Chukchi Sea shelf based on 210pb radioactivity dating

Deposition of organic carbon forms the final net effect of the ocean carbon sink at a certain time scale. Organic carbon deposition on the Arctic shelves plays a particularly important role in the global carbon cycle because of the broad shelf area and rich nutrient concentration. To determine the organic carbon deposition flux at the northern margin of the Chukchi Sea shelf, the 210pb dating method was used to analyze the age and deposition rate of sediment samples from station R17 of the third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition. The results showed that the deposition rate was 0.6 mm＇aI, the apparent deposition mass flux was 0.72 kg.m2a1, and the organic carbon deposition flux was 517 mmol C.m2.al. It was estimated that at least 16% of the export organic carbon flux out of the euphoric zone was transferred and chronically buried into the sediment, a value which was much higher than the average ratio （-10%） for low- to mid-latitude regions, indicating a highly effective carbon sink at the northern mar- gin of the Chukchi Sea shelf. With the decrease of sea ice coverage caused by warming in the Arctic Ocean, it could be inferred that the Arctic shelves will play an increasingly important role in the global carbon cycle.     

Transition from storm wave‐dominated outer shelf to gullied upper slope: The mid‐Pliocene Orinoco shelf margin,South Trinidad

Shelf‐edge deltas are a key depositional environment for accreting sediment onto shelf‐margin clinoforms. The Moruga Formation, part of the palaeo‐Orinoco shelf‐margin sedimentary prism of south‐east Trinidad, provides new insight into the incremental growth of a Pliocene, storm wave‐dominated shelf margin. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms of sand bypass from the shelf‐break area of margins, and in particular from storm wave‐dominated margins which are generally characterized by drifting of sand along strike until meeting a canyon or channel. The studied St. Hilaire Siltstone and Trinity Hill Sandstone succession is 260 m thick and demonstrates a continuous transition from gullied (with turbidites) uppermost slope upward to storm wave‐dominated delta front on the outermost shelf. The basal upper‐slope deposits are dominantly mass‐transport deposited blocks, as well as associated turbidites and debrites with common soft‐sediment‐deformed strata. The overlying uppermost slope succession exhibits a spectacular set of gullies, which are separated by abundant slump‐scar unconformities (tops of rotational slides), then filled with debris‐flow conglomerates and sandy turbidite beds with interbedded mudstones. The top of the study succession, on the outer‐shelf area, contains repeated upward‐coarsening, sandstone‐rich parasequences (2 to 15 m thick) with abundant hummocky and swaley cross‐stratification, clear evidence of storm‐swell and storm wave‐dominated conditions. The observations suggest reconstruction of the unstable shelf margin as follows: (i) the aggradational storm wave‐dominated, shelf‐edge delta front became unstable and collapsed down the slope; (ii) the excavated scars of the shelf margin became gullied, but gradually healed (aggraded) by repeated infilling by debris flows and turbidites, and then new gullying and further infilling; and (iii) a renewed storm wave‐dominated delta‐front prograded out across the healed outer shelf, re‐establishing the newly stabilized shelf margin. The Moruga Formation study, along with only a few others in the literature, confirms the sediment bypass ability of storm wave‐dominated reaches of shelf edges, despite river‐dominated deltas being, by far, the most efficient shelf‐edge regime for sediment bypass at the shelf break.     

Wind-driven diversion of summer river runoff preconditions the Laptev Sea coastal polynya hydrography: Evidence from summer-to-winter hydrographic records of 2007–2009

This paper examines the role of atmospheric forcing in modifying the pathways of riverine water on the Laptev Sea shelf, using summer-to-winter hydrographic surveys from 2007 to 2009. Over the two consecutive winter seasons of 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 in the area of the winter coastal polynya, our data clearly link winter surface salinity fields to the previous summer conditions, with substantially different winter salinity patterns preconditioned by summer atmospheric forcing. In the summer of 2007, dominant along-shore westerly winds in the cyclonic regime force the Lena River runoff to flow eastward. In contrast, in the summer of 2008, dominant along-shore easterly winds over the East Siberian Sea and on-shore northerly winds over the Laptev Sea in the anticyclonic regime lock the riverine water in the vicinity of the Lena Delta. Over the coastal polynya area in the southeastern Laptev Sea these patterns precondition a surface salinity difference of 8–16 psu between the winters of 2008 and 2009. Overall, this indicates a residence time of at least half a year for riverine water on the Laptev Sea shelf. Future climate change associated with an enhanced summer cyclonicity over the eastern Arctic may turn more riverine water eastward along the eastern Siberian coast, resulting in weaker vertical density stratification over the Laptev Sea shelf, with possible impact on the efficiency of vertical mixing and polynya dense water production.     

Remote and local forcing of a coastal lagoon: The Virginia Coast Reserve

The effects of local and remote wind forcing of water level heights in the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) are examined in order to determine the significant forces governing estuarine motions over subtidal time scales. Recent (1996–2008) data from tide and wind stations in the lagoon, a tide station to the north at Sandy Hook, NJ, and one offshore wind station at the Chesapeake Light Tower are examined. Sea surface height spectrum calculations reveal significant diurnal and semidiurnal tidal effects along with subtidal variations, but a suppressed inertial signal. Sea-surface heights (SSH) with 2–5 day periods at Wachapreague, VA are coherent with those at Sandy Hook and lag them in time, suggesting that southward-propagating continental shelf waves provide subtidal variability within the lagoon. The coherence between lagoon winds and sea surface height, as well as between winds and cross-lagoon sea height gradient, were significant at a relatively small number of frequency and wind direction combinations. The frequencies at which this wind forcing occurs are the tidal and subtidal bands present to the north, so that lagoon winds selectively augment existing SSH signals, but do not generate them. The impact of the wind direction is closely related to the geometry of the lagoon and bounding landmasses. The effect of wind stress is also constrained by geometry in affecting the cross-lagoon water height gradient. Water levels at subtidal frequencies are likely forced by a combination of local wind forcing, remote wind forcing and oceanic forcing modified by the complex topography of the lagoon, shelf, and barrier islands.     

珠江口盆地惠州凹陷新近系珠江组K22陆架砂脊沉积成因分析*

通过分析珠江口盆地惠州凹陷新近系珠江组NE—SW向平行于古岸线展布的K22条带状砂体外部地震反射特征、内部反射结构及平面展布规律,并运用层序地层学方法和理论,结合海平面变化特点,对K22条带状砂脊沉积成因进行了研究。结果显示:K22条带状砂脊为发育在陆架区古构造高带、受控于强制性海退过程的再沉积产物,其物源来自于早期的三角洲,沉积水动力条件多样,主要为海退过程中的潮汐流和波浪作用;同时,沿岸流也对砂脊形态的形成起到了关键作用,这些砂脊后期得益于快速的海侵而保留下来。留存下来的沙脊沉积被包裹在海相泥岩背景中,可形成良好的岩性圈闭。