Observations of the Labrador Sea eddy field

This paper is an observational study of small-scale coherent eddies in the Labrador Sea, a region of dense water formation thought to be of considerable importance to the North Atlantic overturning circulation. Numerical studies of deep convection emphasize coherent eddies as a mechanism for the lateral transport of heat, yet their small size has hindered observational progress. A large part of this paper is therefore devoted to developing new methods for identifying and describing coherent eddies in two observational platforms, current meter moorings and satellite altimetry. Details of the current and water mass structure of individual eddy events, as they are swept past by an advecting flow, can then be extracted from the mooring data. A transition is seen during mid-1997, with long-lived boundary current eddies dominating the central Labrador Sea year-round after this time, and convectively formed eddies similar to those seen in deep convection modeling studies apparent prior to this time. The TOPEX / Poseidon altimeter covers the Labrador Sea with a loose “net” of observations, through which coherent eddies can seem to appear and disappear. By concentrating on locating and describing anomalous events in individual altimeter tracks, a portrait of the spatial and temporal variability of the underlying eddy field can be constructed. The altimeter results reveal an annual “pulsation” of energy and of coherent eddies originating during the late fall at a particular location in the boundary current, pinpointing the time and place of the boundary current-type eddy formation. The interannual variability seen at the mooring is reproduced, but the mooring site is found to be within a localized region of greatly enhanced eddy activity. Notably lacking in both the annual cycle and interannual variability is a clear relationship between the eddies or eddy energy and the intensity of wintertime cooling. These eddy observations, as well as hydrographic evidence, suggest an active role for boundary current dynamics in shaping the energetics and water mass properties of the interior region.     

Spatial and temporal distribution patterns of deep‐sea mesozooplankton in the eastern Mediterranean – indications of a climatically induced shift?

Zooplankton samples from the eastern Mediterranean were collected in April/May 1999 with a multiple opening and closing net (mesh size 333 μm) to examine the distribution and taxonomic composition of mesozooplankton, mainly Calanoida (Copepoda), some years after the onset of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT), a climatically induced shift in hydrography. The samples from seven stations on a transect from the Ionian Sea to the eastern part of the Levantine Basin were collected at closely spaced vertical intervals from the surface to water depths of 4250 m. Data from January 1987, June 1993, January 1998 and October 2001 from the main site of investigation, south of Crete, were used to describe the temporal evolution before (1987), during (1993) and after (1998–2001) the EMT. The eastern Mediterranean mesozooplankton fauna is dominated by three Calanoida species along the west–east transect, with varying abundances in different depth‐zones: Haloptilus longicornis in the epipelagic zone, Eucalanus monachus in the mesopelagic zone, and Lucicutia longiserrata in the bathypelagic zone. A drastic change in mesozooplankton composition and abundance occurred at the main site during the EMT, whereupon increased abundances of Candacia elongata and L. longiserrata were observed in the bathypelagic zone in the following years; L. longiserrata accounted for 43% of the total mesozooplankton in this zone. The hypothesis is posed that the Mediterranean deep‐sea ecosystem is able to respond quickly to changes in the environment and memorizes these changes over time. We claim that the biological effects of climatically induced changes can be easily monitored in the deep eastern Mediterranean Sea using calanoid copepod key species due to the hydrographically extreme, but ‘simply structured’ ecosystem.     

Southwestward intrusion of korea strait bottom cold water observed in 2003 and 2004

Hydrographic surveys were carried out four times in the western channel of the Korea Strait in March and August 2003 and in June and November 2004. The bottom cold water, which was lower than 10°C, appeared in the channel trough except in March 2003. It flowed southwestward along the shelf of Korean coasts in August 2003 and in November 2004. The width and the maximum speed of the intrusion current were about 20 km and approximately 25 cm s^-1, respectively, off Ulsan, Korea. The volume transport of the bottom cold water was estimated 0.019 Sv (Sv≡10⁶ m³ s^-1) in August 2003 and 0.026 Sv in November 2004.     

Sedimentological criteria to differentiate submarine channel levee subenvironments: Exhumed examples from the Rosario Fm. (Upper Cretaceous) of Baja California, Mexico, and the Fort Brown Fm. (Permian), Karoo Basin, S. Africa

Two scales of levee confinement are commonly recognised from submarine channel-levee systems on the seafloor and in the subsurface. Large-scale external levees bound the entire system whilst smaller-scale internal levees bound individual thalweg channels within the channel-belt. Although thin beds are commonly identified in core and well logs, their origin, and consequently their stratigraphic significance is currently poorly understood. This knowledge gap stems, in part, from the lack of unambiguously identified outcrop analogues of channel-levees, and in particular the lack of identifiable internal and external levees. Here we report from two exhumed channel-levee systems where both scales of confinement can be recognised: the Rosario Fm. of Baja California, and the Fort Brown Fm. of South Africa. A suite of characteristic sedimentary features are recognised from internal and external levees respectively: internal levees are characterised by structures indicative of complexity in the waxing-waning style of overspill, interactions with topography and flow magnitude variability; in contrast, external levees are characterised by structures indicative of simple surge-like waning flows, relatively uniform flow directions, laterally extensive beds, and a lack of erosive events. Using these observations, together with published literature, we propose a simple nomenclatural scheme for levee sub-environments, and criteria to differentiate between levee sub-environments in core or outcrop.     

地震海洋学研究进展

传统船舶调查获取海洋水体温盐资料的方法在水平方向上分辨率较低,而用反射地震探测海洋水体特性的方法--地震海洋学,能有效提高海水温盐资料在水平方向上的分辨率.概述了近5年来地震海洋学的发展过程,重点介绍了地震海洋学方法在海洋锋面观测、水团边界划分、海洋内波分析、中尺度涡旋等方面的研究成果,以及AVO、全波形反演等反射地震处理方法在海洋水体特性研究中的应用.比较了地震海洋学方法与声层析技术、高频声技术等声学方法应用于海洋水体特性研究的异同.并展望了下一步研究工作的重点:①有关地震反射剖面的各种参数与海洋水体温盐结构物理模型的联系及其定量分析;②以研究海洋水体特性为目标的地震反射剖面的处理方法;③海洋地震调查历史数据的应用.     

致密砂岩的形成机制及其地质意义——以塔里木盆地英南2井为例

砂质岩的孔隙和喉道被网格状粘土矿物和次生加大矿物充填成微细孔喉状结构时,形成具有较高毛细管压力的致密砂岩。它与地层水发生水锁效应,可大大降低渗透率,成为致密砂岩盖层。当含水饱和度在50%以下时,束缚水饱和度比较低,致密砂岩储层可以产气;当含水饱和度在50%～90%区间时,具有较高的束缚水饱和度,相对渗透率非常低,它既不能产气也不能产水,反映为渗透率瓶颈区(具有盖层性质);当含水饱和度大于90%以上时,致密砂岩储层仅微量产水。塔里木盆地英南2井侏罗系气藏盖层由致密砂岩构成,不含水时的气体渗透率在(0.027～0.081)×10-3μm2,不能构成封堵;当含水饱和度达到60%以上时,相对渗透率几乎为零,构成有效盖层。     

注水诱发地震的成因及影响因素探讨

根据胜利油田东营凹陷深井注水所监测到的破裂信号特征分析,结合位于同一凹陷内的角7井注水诱发地震特征,对注水诱发地震的成因进行了探讨.注水过程中地层有无先存破裂面对所诱发的地震产生较大影响,认为诱发地震的震级与注采比和注水井的构造位置密切相关.     

The influence of grain-size analysis methods and sediment mixing on curve shapes and textural parameters: Implications for sediment trend analysis

To this day, deterministic physical models capable of explaining the evolution of grain-size distributions in the course of transport are still lacking. For this reason, various attributes of particle frequency distributions, in particular curve shapes and textural parameters, have for many decades been investigated for potential information about transport behaviour and size-sorting processes of sediments in numerous environments. Such approaches are essentially conceptual and hence rely heavily on the validity of the assumptions on which they are based. A factor which has to date been largely ignored in this context, is the fact that different methods of grain-size analysis (e. g. sieving, laser absorption and diffraction, settling velocity measurements), when applied to the same sample material, produce variable curve shapes, and hence incongruous textural data. This is illustrated by selected examples showing the differences between sieving and settling results, conversion of settling velocities into equivalent settling diameters (psi-phi-transformations), and the influences of particle shape, particle density, and water temperature. It is demonstrated that particle-size distributions are not only method-dependent but also dependent on the adopted post-processing procedure. As a result, only frequency curves generated by the same method and subsequently processed by identical computational procedures can be meaningfully compared. Furthermore, the computation of textural parameters from bi- or multimodal size distributions produces spurious results which are unrelated to the processes leading to the mixing of different size populations frequently observed in nature. In such cases, only the decomposition of such distributions into individual populations and the spatial comparison of such populations makes any sense. Because a physical explanation for the generation of size distributions is lacking, a particular curve shape of a grain-size population has no meaning on its own. Only a systematic comparison of progressively changing curve shapes (and associated textural parameters) of sediments collected on a closely spaced grid can yield data suitable for sediment trend analysis.     

华北地块中部新构造运动

由于印度板块持续向北运动,引起青藏高原的挤出,并于中新世末引起华北地块的向东挤出。大约在7.3 Ma,太行山西侧渭河盆地唐县面首先解体,继而向北、向东发展;到5 Ma左右,太行山东麓断裂带的右行走滑,导致华北中部唐县面全面解体,形成多个太行山内部山间盆地,以及太行山西侧山西地堑系。这些断陷盆地的断陷幅度各不相同,太行山西侧山西地堑系断陷幅度较大,太行山内部山间盆地断陷幅度较小,太行山东部的渤海湾盆地断陷活动不明显。伴随着盆地的形成,太行山相对进入快速隆升阶段。山西地堑系控盆断裂以及太行山东麓断裂带第四纪以来仍存在明显活动,切割并控制第四系,局部在地表形成地裂缝。华北地块中部的应力场恢复以及深部构造分析表明,深部地幔上涌对浅部伸展构造的形成具有重要的影响,深部构造演变与浅部构造演变具有高度的一致性和耦合性。太行山东部渤海湾盆地自中新世以来就进入拗陷阶段,断裂活动弱,构造演化与西侧差异较大,表明这期构造运动动力源于西侧,太行山东麓断裂带作为两侧差异演变的边界,调节着两侧的差异构造活动。     

Atmospheric and Surface Water Pollution Interpretation in the Gdańsk Beltway Impact Range by the Use of Multivariate Analysis

The present study deals with the application of the hierarchical cluster analysis and non‐parametric tests in order to interpret the Gdańsk Beltway impact range. The data set represents concentration values for major inorganic ions (Na⁺, NH, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, F⁻, Cl⁻, NO, and SO) as well as electrolytic conductivity and pH measured in various water samples [precipitation, throughfall water, road runoff, and surface water (drainage ditches, surface water reservoirs, and spring water)] collected in the vicinity of the beltway. Several similarity groups were discovered both in the objects and in the variables modes according to the water sample. In the majority of cases clear anthropogenic (fertilizers usage and transport, road salting in winter) and semi‐natural (sea salt aerosols, erosion of construction materials) impacts were discovered. Spatial variation was discovered for road runoff samples and samples collected from surface water reservoirs and springs. Surprisingly no clear seasonal variability was discovered for precipitation chemistry, while some evidences for existing of summer and winter specific chemical profile was discovered for road runoff samples. In general, limited range of the Gdańsk Beltway impact was proven.