A dated cave sediment record of Pleistocene transgressions on Berry Head,Southwest England

Berry Head, a limestone headland in Torbay, southwest England, exhibits a series of subaerial marine erosion platforms and raised beaches spanning an altitude range of 97 m. Solution caves on the headland show preferred horizontal development at elevations that are correlated with the marine erosion platforms, and developed in a marine/freshwater mixing zone whose position was controlled by high sea-level still-stands. Corbridge Cave in Berry Head Quarry lies below the raised beaches in Torbay, and contains evidence of three marine transgressions in the form of fine-grained marine ponding deposits with a marine microfauna. Uranium-series dating of intercalated speleothems indicates that a transgression during oxygen isotope stage 5e reached an elevation of 5.8 m OD, while an earlier transgression (probably during stage 7) reached at least 7.2 m OD. These findings are used to constrain possible interpretations of the aminostratigraphy of raised beaches in Southwest Britain, and a correlation of the Unnamed Stage of Bowen, Sykes, Reeves, Miller, Andrews, Brew and Hare with oxygen isotope stage 5e is proposed.     

River sediments,great floods and centennial‐scale Holocene climate change

A new analysis of all 346 published ¹⁴C dated Holocene alluvial units in Britain offers a unique insight into the regional impacts of global change and shows how surprisingly sensitive British rivers have been to relatively modest but repeated changes in climate. Fourteen major but probably brief periods of flooding are identified bracketed within the periods 400–1070, 1940–3940, 7520–8100 and at ca. 10 420 cal. yr BP. There is a strong correspondence between climatic deteriorations inferred from mire wet shifts and major periods of flooding, especially at ca. 8000 cal. yr BP and since ca. 4000 cal. yr BP. The unusually long and complete British record also demonstrates that alterations in land cover have resulted in a step change in river basin sensitivity to variations in climate. This has very important implications for assessing and mitigating the impact of increasing severe flooding. In small and medium‐sized river basins land use is likely to play a key role in either moderating or amplifying the climatic signal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cyclone and bioturbation effects on sediments from coral reef lagoons

Despite the severity of tropical cyclone ‘Winifred’, which crossed the Great Barrier Reef on 1 February 1986, there were little long-term effects on lagoon surface sediments from reefs in its path. Short-term effects were apparent only at one particularly exposed area. These were: an increase in proportion of the coarse fraction, the establishment of sand ripples, and the destruction of the mounds produced by callianassid shrimps (normally the dominant topographic feature). Within six weeks this area was indistinguishable from a typical reef lagoon. This is probably the result of sediment reworking by callianassid shrimp, involving selective burial of the coarse fragments and transport to the surface of finer particles. Sediment turnover rates by callianassids are commensurate with change to the sediment within the relatively short period observed. The sediment fauna responded quickly to the changes in sediment type. Immediately after the cyclone the disturbed area supported a fauna typical of the coarse sediments on the shallow reef flat, as the sediment reverted to a more normal type so the fauna changed back to that typical of a reef lagoon.     

北黄海长山群岛海域沉积环境初步研究

本文在获取１９８９－１９９３年黄海北部长山群岛海域沉积物大量数据基础上，借助沉积物粒度分析（Ｑ型），揭示出该海域具有在“岛屿效应”影响下的４种环境能量类型，分析了与其适应的环岛沉积环境及其分布特征。     

Chemical forms of heavy metal contaminants in sediments of Miyun reservoir

The chemical forms, spatial distribution and sources of As, Hg, Cd, Pb and Zn in sediments of the Miyun reservoir were studied. The results of sequential extraction demonstrate that most of As, Pb and Zn were bound to the residual fraction, Hg was associated with the sulfide fraction while Cd was associated with the carbonate fraction and the residual fraction. On the vertical profiles the concentrations of the heavy metals in total and each fractions mostly decreased with increasing depths in sediments, suggesting that the heavy metals input from the upstream watershed increases yearly. Summation of the residual fraction, the sulfide fraction and the carbonate fraction accounts for 60.03%―85.60% of the total heavy metal contents in the sediments, which represent the geochemical background values of the elements and relate closely to soil erosion. Results of the main factor analysis show that most sediments of the reservoir come from the upstream soil erosion, the point source pollution and domestic waste. Moreover, the microbial activities taking place on the sediment-water interface are also one of the major factors to cause the increasing content of the organic matter fraction and the iron-manganese oxide fraction. Environmental change of the reservoir water could make the removability of the heavy metals increase, leading to the increase of their concentrations in pore water in sediments, and imperiling water quality of the reservoir.     

太湖表层沉积物多环芳烃的空间分布、来源及其风险

随着太湖流域社会与经济的发展,多环芳烃(PAHs)在各种环境介质中逐渐累积,污染日益严重,可能对太湖生态环境及周边人体健康构成威胁。为探究太湖沉积物PAHs的来源及生态风险,于2021年12月在太湖采集30个表层沉积物样品,利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MS)检测样品中16种PAHs含量;利用受体模型和苯并[a]芘(BaP)毒性当量法进行来源解析及生态风险评估,并将各来源贡献与毒性当量浓度相结合,量化源风险。结果表明,太湖表层沉积物中16种PAHs总含量介于124~592 ng/g之间,平均值为294 ng/g,中值为279 ng/g;高环多环芳烃(HMW PAHs)为主要组分,占∑PAHs的67%。高含量区域位于竺山湾、梅梁湾、贡湖湾和西太湖,与国内外其他湖泊沉积物相比,太湖沉积物PAHs含量处于较低水平。源解析的结果表明,太湖表层沉积物中PAHs交通排放源贡献率为29.1%、煤炭燃烧源贡献率为26.7%、生物质燃烧源贡献率为28.7%、石油源贡献率为15.6%。生态风险评价结果表明,交通排放源、生物质燃烧源、煤炭燃烧源和石油源的BaP毒性当量含量(TEQ_BaP)均值分别为19.34、17.81、16.33和9.1 ng/g,均小于70 ng/g,几乎处于无风险水平。西太湖、贡湖湾和梅梁湾的部分区域ΣTEQ_BaP大于70 ng/g属于潜在风险区,具有一定潜在毒性。在后续的污染治理中应重点关注太湖西北部地区污染物的排放。本研究可为沉积物中PAHs污染的研究提供数据支撑,为地方政府精准、高效地管控PAHs污染提供理论依据。     

A Preliminary Study of Shear Wave in Seafloor Surface Sediments

This article preliminarily reports and analyses the transmission characteristics and behaviors of shear wave in the offshore seafloor surface sediments in China, discusses the relationships between the physical and mechanical features of the shear wave and the compression wave, and compares the testing results with that of Hamilton and Chen et al. The result shows that the shear wave can be tested if the seafloor surface sediment has tangent modulus. The shear wave velocity ranges from 50-600 m/s and the measuring frequency from 50-200 kHz. The sound velocity rate of shear wave and compression wave can be used to appraise the stress-strain feature of seafloor surface sediments. This study provides a basis for further describing and appraising the seafloor sedimentary acoustic-mechanical feature and building a geological-acoustic model on China's offshore sea area.