Cretaceous tectonic and biotic evolution of the southeastern Russian continental margin

The Cretaceous tectonic and geodynamic settings of the southeastern Russian continental margin are discussed using data generated during several recent geological studies. The structural patterns of the East Asian Cretaceous continental margin are the result of the influence of global and regional processes. The interaction and reorganization of the Eurasian, Pacific and other related plates induced intraplate tectonic processes such as rifting, subduction, collision, transform faulting, and basin formation. Three major basin types are recognized in this area: (i) mainly marine active continental margins associated with shear components (Sangjian–Middle Amur Basin); (ii) passive continental margins (Bureya, Partizansk, and Razdolny basins); (iii) intracontinental basins (Amur–Zeya Basin). The evolution of the biota in this region allows the examination of Early and Late Cretaceous biostratigraphy, faunal and floral changes, and the phytogeography of the southeastern Russian continental margin.     

白令海北部陆坡晚第四纪的古海洋与古气候学记录

白令海北部陆坡B2 9柱状样中放射虫Cycladophoradavisiana含量曲线和深海SPECMAP氧同位素记录的对比 ,为该柱状样建立了晚第四纪约 1 0万年以来的地层年代框架。该柱状样中微体化石、碳屑颗粒、筏冰碎屑 (石英和岩屑颗粒 )的定量分析结果表明 ,作为表层生产力指标的粗组份自氧同位素 5 .3期以来呈阶梯状增加 ,反映表层生产力阶段式的增长 ;碳屑颗粒丰度自氧同位素 5 .3期至末次冰消期的增加说明白令海末次冰消期以前气候较全新世干冷 ,天然火灾发生的概率较全新世大大增加 ;冰期和早、中全新世较高的筏冰碎屑反映了冰期和早、中全新世白令海陆架海冰的扩大以及气候转暖所导致的海冰消融的过程 ,揭示了白令海对过去全球气候变化的响应。     

Petrography of Late Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert in Kazakhstan with special reference to the emergence of benthic animals in the pelagic realm

Upper Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert successions from Kazakhstan were studied to clarify the history of the emergence of benthic animals in ocean floor sediments. Radiolarian tests and clay were deposited for a period of 30 Myr without experiencing an influx of continent-derived coarse clastic materials. Red, grey and black cherts of the Upper Cambrian to the upper mid-Darriwilian are thinly laminated, and no trace of benthic animal activity is recognized in that time interval. Bioturbation structures and burrow traces in mid-Darriwilian stage red chert in Kazakhstan suggest that benthic animals colonized the location where radiolarian chert formed, but that there was a significant delay in colonization when compared with similar reported occurrences in Australia and Canada.     

First evidence of Middle to Late Triassic radiolarians in the Garba mountains,South Sumatra,Indonesia

A Middle to Late Triassic (Ladinian–Carnian) radiolarian fauna was discovered in cherts of the Situlanglang Member of the Garba Formation, South Sumatra, which is generally regarded as of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous age. This fauna is characterized by the presence of Annulotriassocampe sulovensis, Triassocampe postdeweveri, Spongotortilispinus tortilis, Poulpus piabyx, Canoptum levis and others. This evidence possibly indicates that the deposition of the Situlanglang cherts took place after the collision of the Sibumasu and East Malaya blocks recorded in the Bentong–Raub Suture in Peninsular Malaysia in Late Permian–Early Triassic times. During the Middle–Late Triassic Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia consisted of submarine horst and graben structures. It is possible that a submarine graben, the Tuhur basin, whose southern boundary was formerly undefined, extends into South Sumatra, to the area in which the Situlanglang cherts were deposited. The Situlanglang Member is proposed to be a rock unit stratigraphically contemporaneous with those of the Middle–Upper Triassic Kualu and Tuhur Formations in North and Central Sumatra.     

Radiolarian‐based study on the fabric and the formation process of the Early Cretaceous mélange near Zhongba,Yarlung–Tsangpo Suture Zone,southern Tibet

The Yarlung–Tsangpo Suture Zone (YTSZ), as the southernmost and youngest among the sutures that subdivides the Tibetan Plateau into several east–west trending blocks, marks where the Neo‐Tethys was consumed as the Indian continent moved northward and collided against the Eurasian continent. Mélanges in the YTSZ represent the remnants of the oceanic plate through subduction and collision. Mélanges are characterized by a highly sheared volcanoclastic or siliceous mudstone matrix including blocks of chert, claystone, and basalt. Detailed radiolarian analyses are conducted on the mélange near Zhongba County. Macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic observations are combined in order to elucidate the relationships among age, lithology, and structure of blocks in the mélange. Reconstructed ocean plate stratigraphy includes Lower Jurassic limestone within the chert sequence accumulated at a depth near the CCD (Unit 2), Upper Jurassic thin‐bedded chert interbedded with claystone deposited in the wide ocean basin (Unit 3), and Lower Cretaceous chert with siliceous mudstone (Units 4 and 5), representing the middle parts of ocean plate stratigraphy. The results highlight the fabric of brecciated chert on mesoscopic scale, which is thought to be due to localized overpressure. The formation of mesoscopic and microscopic block‐in‐matrix fabrics in the mélange is proposed for the chert and siliceous mudstone bearing different extents of consolidation and competence during the progressive deformation of accreted sediments at shallow‐level subduction.     

黄海夏季典型站位的底边界层动物

2002年8月25~26日,在黄海夏季冷水团区域内的抛锚站位(35°22′N,121°59′E),使用柱状界面采样器进行了昼夜连续取样,对底边界层动物的种类组成与昼夜丰度变化进行了研究,以获得对黄海底边界层动物的初步认识。共记录底边界层动物21种,隶属18科、19属。超底栖动物和中型浮游动物是黄海夏季底边界层动物的2个重要类群,主要种类有尖额真猛水蚤(Euterpina acutifrons)、挪威小毛猛水蚤(Microsetella norvegica)、异厚盖钩虾(Synchelidium miraculum)、双刺纺缍水蚤(Acartia bifilosa)和小拟哲水蚤(Paracalanus parvus),其丰度皆有明显的昼夜波动现象。以桡足类无节幼体为代表的小型浮游动物也是底边界层动物中不容忽视的类群之一。采集到5个黄海区的新记录物种:美丽猛水蚤(Nitocrasp.)、跛足猛水蚤(Mesochrasp.)、咸水剑水蚤(Halicyclopssp.)、掌刺梭剑水蚤(Lubbockia squillimana)和异厚盖钩虾(Synchelidi-um miraculum),显示出底边界层动物种类组成的特殊性。     

Anthropogenic threat assessment of marine-associated fauna in Spencer Gulf,South Australia

Assessing the vulnerability of species to [anthropogenic threats is an essential step when developing management strategies for wild populations. With industrial development forecasted to increase in Spencer Gulf, South Australia, it is crucial to assess the ongoing effects of anthropogenic threats to resident and migratory species. Expert elicitation was used to assess 27 threats against 38 threatened, protected, and iconic marine-associated species. Species and threat interactions were assessed individually, and as taxonomic or functional groups. Climate change had the greatest overall exposure (c.f. risk) across species, followed by disturbance, pollution, disease/invasive species, and fishing/aquaculture threats. The largest overall sensitivities (c.f. consequences) were pollution and disease/invasive species, followed by climate change, disturbance and fishing/aquaculture threats. Vulnerability scores (exposure x sensitivity) showed the climate change group posing the greatest overall threat in Spencer Gulf, with individual climatic threats ranking as three of the top four biggest threats to most animal groups. Noise, shipping, and net fishing were considered the greatest region-specific individual threats to marine mammals; as were trawl fishing, line fishing, and coastal activities to fish/cuttlefish; trawl fishing, line fishing, and net fishing to elasmobranchs; and oil spill, disease, and coastal activities to sea/shorebirds. Eighteen of the 20 highest vulnerability scores involved the short-beaked common dolphin, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, and Australian sea lion, highlighting the particular susceptibility of these species to specific threats. These findings provide a synthesis of key threats and vulnerable species, and give management a basis to direct future monitoring and threat mitigation efforts in the region.     

Radiolarian biostratigraphy in the Southern Bering Sea since Pliocene

Detailed radiolarian biostratigraphy in the Plio-Pleistocene was analyzed by using samples from IODP Site U1340 that was drilled to a core depth of 604 m in the southern Bering Sea. A total of 227 species belonging to 102 genera were identified. Based on the distributions of the radiolarian index species at Site U1340, five radiolarian zones since the Pliocene were established in the southern Bering Sea for the first time, and 25 radiolarian bioevents were recognized. Their ages were estimated on the basis of the age-depth plot that was constructed by the synthetical datum of the effective biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events. The radiolarian zones at Site U1340 were systematically compared with those in its adjacent regions since the late Early Pliocene, which further improved and interpreted the biostratigraphic datum as well as their correlations in the middle-high latitude of the North Pacific. In addition, the comparative results of radiolarian zones show that Botryostrobus aquilonaris Zone emended in this paper is equivalent to the upper part of the same zone defined by Hays, 1970, and Druppatractus irregularis-Dorydruppa bensoni Zone as well as Spongodiscus sp. Zone, newly proposed in this paper, are well correlated with Cycladophora sakaii Zone and Stylatractus universus Zone in the subarctic North Pacific, respectively.     

Evolution of species diversity of Cretaceous radiolarians from high-latitude paleobiochores

Cretaceous radiolarians of the Boreal regions are considered. Their minimal diversity and low abundance are recorded in stratigraphic intervals corresponding to anoxic events. Paleogeographic and ecostratigraphic distribution trends of Cretaceous radiolarians are established for families Heliodiscidae, Prunobrachidae, Pseudoaulophacidae and some others. The most significant turnovers in evolution of radiolarians are confined to the latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous, Albian-Cenomanian, Cenomanian-Turonian, terminal Santonian-earliest Campanian transitions and to the terminal Late Cretaceous.     

Fauna and standing crop of freshwater mussels in Poyang Lake, China

Freshwater mussels are a major component of the zoobenthos and they therefore play an important role in freshwater ecosystems. The community composition and the standing crop of freshwater mussels in Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China and one of two lakes connected to the Changjiang (Yangtze) River, were investigated from February 2008 to May 2009. Mussels were sampled in hydrologically and geographically distinct sampling areas. A total of 42 species and 13 genera were identified, of which 32 species were endemic to China. Two species, Unio douglasiae and Lamprotula caveata, dominated all sampling areas. The number of genera and species, and the number of species within each genus, differed significantly among sampling areas. Freshwater mussels were very abundant, with an overall density of 0.28 ± 0.22 ind./m2 and biomass of 4.08 ± 3.96 g/m2. Significant variation observed among sampling areas and among genera was probably due to the variety of habitats among the areas sampled and to the adaptability of different freshwater mussels to environments. This study suggests that Poyang Lake and other freshwater lakes in the region are important sites of freshwater mussel biodiversity and conservation.