Interplay between an axial channel belt,slope gullies and overbank deposition in the Puchkirchen Formation in the Molasse Basin,Austria

Deep‐water sediments in the Molasse Basin, Austria, were deposited in a narrow foreland basin dominated by a large channel belt located between the steep Alpine fold and thrust belt to the south and the gentler northern slope off the Bohemian Massif. Several gas fields occur outside the channel belt, along the outer bend of a large meander. Accumulation of these overbank sediments reflects a complicated interplay between slope accommodation and debris‐flow and turbidity‐flow interaction within the channel. The tectonically oversteepened northern slope of the basin (ca 2 to 3°) developed a regionally important erosional surface, the Northern Slope Unconformity, which can be traced seismically for >100 km in an east–west direction and >20 km from the channel to the north. The slope preserves numerous gullies sourced from the north that eroded into the channel belt. These gullies were ca 20 km long, <1 km wide and ca 200 m deep. As the channel aggraded, largely inactive and empty gullies served as entry points into the overbank area for turbidity currents within the axial channel. Subsequently, debris‐flow mounds, 7 km wide and >15 km long, plugged and forced the main channel to step abruptly ca 7 km to the south. This resulted in development of an abrupt turn in the channel pathway that propagated to the east and probably played a role in forming a sinuous channel later. As debris‐flow topography was healed, flows spread out onto narrow area between the main channel and northern slope forming a broad fine‐grained apron that serves as the main gas reservoir in this area. This model of the overbank splay formation and the resulting stratigraphic architecture within the confined basin could be applied in modern and ancient systems or for subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs where three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection data is limited. This study elucidates the geomorphology of the oversteepened slope of the under‐riding plate and its effects on the sedimentation.     

羌塘盆地双湖地区曲色组冷泉碳酸盐岩及其地质意义

羌塘盆地南部双湖地区曲色组地层发育大量碳酸盐岩结核,这些结核多呈丘状、椭球状、透镜状、似层状、脉状、树枝状产出。其物质组分主要为泥微晶碳酸盐矿物,少量粘土矿物、石英及草莓状、半自形黄铁矿等。草莓状黄铁矿平均粒径在5.0μm左右,内部可见葵花状构造。发育凝块状、气孔状和渗漏孔等特殊构造。产双壳类、菊石类、蠕虫状或树枝状生物及超微生物化石,生物密度极高。碳同位素明显负偏,硫同位素则明显正偏,其特征与现代海底天然气水合物的渗漏、释放所形成的冷泉碳酸盐岩机理一致,因而推测为古代海底天然气渗漏喷发形成。大量海底天然气泉口的存在,可能表明羌塘盆地双湖地区早侏罗世大洋缺氧事件与海底天然气水合物喷发存在极大关联。     

Oceanic climatology in the coupled model FGOALS-g2: Improvements and biases

The present study examines simulated oceanic climatology in the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2) forced by historical external forcing data. The oceanic temperatures and circulations in FGOALS-g2 were found to be comparable to those observed, and substantially improved compared to those simulated by the previous version, FGOALS-g1.0. Compared with simulations by FGOALS-g1.0, the shallow mixed layer depths were better captured in the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Ocean in FGOALS-g2. In the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the cold biases of SST were about 1°C–5°C smaller in FGOALS-g2. The associated sea ice distributions and their seasonal cycles were more realistic in FGOALS-g2. The pattern of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was better simulated in FGOALS-g2, although its magnitude was larger than that found in observed data. The simulated Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport was about 140 Sv through the Drake Passage, which is close to that observed. Moreover, Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) was better captured in FGOALS-g2. However, large SST cold biases (>3°C) were still found to exist around major western boundary currents and in the Barents Sea, which can be explained by excessively strong oceanic cold advection and unresolved processes owing to the coarse resolution. In the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the cold biases were partly related to the excessive loss of heat from the ocean. Along the eastern coast in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the warm biases were due to overestimation of shortwave radiation. In the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean, the surface fresh biases were mainly due to the biases of precipitation. In the tropical Pacific Ocean, the surface fresh biases (>2 psu) were mainly caused by excessive precipitation and oceanic advection. In the Indo-Pacific Ocean, fresh biases were also found to dominate in the upper 1000 m, except in the northeastern Indian Ocean. There were warm and salty biases (3°C–4°C and 1–2 psu) from the surface to the bottom in the Labrador Sea, which might be due to large amounts of heat transport and excessive evaporation, respectively. For vertical structures, the maximal biases of temperature and salinity were found to be located at depths of >600 m in the Arctic Ocean, and their values exceeded 4°C and 2 psu, respectively.     

The role of current velocity in structuring eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows

Measurements of velocity profiles, bathymetry, and surface sediment characteristics across eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows yielded information on community development processes and functional attributes of this ecosystem. Height/length ratios of the meadows were positively correlated with tidal current velocity. Low, medium, and high current regimes were separated by surface current velocities of approximately 50 and 90 cm s^?1. Z. marina can tolerate approximately 120–150 cm/sec current velocities in the areas studied. Per cent silt-clay and organic matter content of the surface sediments are negatively associated with shear velocity, suggesting that meadows in high current areas are sources while meadows in low current areas are sinks of autochthonous detritus. Current velocity maintains seagrass meadows at different equilibrium levels (relative climaxes). We theorize these different equilibrium levels provide unequal habitat utilization potentials for the associated faunal community.     

Surface and deep water response to rapid climate changes at the Western Iberian Margin

Rapid climate changes at the onset of the last deglaciation and during Heinrich Event H4 were studied in detail at IMAGES cores MD95-2039 and MD95-2040 from the Western Iberian margin. A major reorganisation of surface water hydrography, benthic foraminiferal community structure, and deepwater isotopic composition commenced already 540 years before the Last Isotopic Maximum (LIM) at 17.43 cal. ka and within 670 years affected all environments. Changes were initiated by meltwater spill in the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic that commenced 100 years before concomitant changes were felt off western Iberia. Benthic foraminiferal associations record the drawdown of deepwater oxygenation during meltwater and subsequent Heinrich Events H1 and H4 with a bloom of dysoxic species. At a water depth of 3380 m, benthic oxygen isotopes depict the influence of brines from sea ice formation during ice-rafting pulses and meltwater spill. The brines conceivably were a source of ventilation and provided oxygen to the deeper water masses. Some if not most of the lower deep water came from the South Atlantic. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages display a multi-centennial, approximately 300-year periodicity of oxygen supply at 2470-m water depth. This pattern suggests a probable influence of atmospheric oscillations on the thermohaline convection with frequencies similar to Holocene climate variations. For Heinrich Events H1 and H4, response times of surface water properties off western Iberia to meltwater injection to the Nordic Seas were extremely short, in the range of a few decades only. The ensuing reduction of deepwater ventilation commenced within 500–600 years after the first onset of meltwater spill. These fast temporal responses lend credence to numerical simulations that indicate ocean–climate responses on similar and even faster time scales.     

用CSR4.0+CS模型计算海潮负荷改正

介绍了CSR3．0与CSR4．0 CS海潮模型，并对两模型进行了分析和实算比较，认为CSR4．0 CS比CSR3．0海潮模型精度更高，在计算中国测站海潮改正时，顾及中国近海海潮图是必要的。对我国第二期水准路线用CSR4．0 CS模型计算了海潮负荷改正，结果表明：海潮负荷对高精度水准测量的影响，主要取决于水准路线的近海位置，越是近海地区越明显；在近海区域，这项改正不能忽略。