Spatial and temporal variability of hard-bottom macrofauna in a disturbed coastal lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Po River Delta, Northwestern Adriatic Sea)

The sessile and mobile macrobenthos on artificial hard bottoms was studied in 12 stations of the Sacca di Goro lagoon, a brackish, highly stressed water basin in the delta of the river Po, open to the Northwestern Adriatic Sea. Three sampling surveys were carried out in June and September 2000 and June 2001 in order to make three types of temporal comparisons: (i) on a seasonal scale, before and after a summer dystrophic event; (ii) on an annual basis, before and after the works of excavation of a canal through the outer sand bank; (iii) on a multiannual scale, comparing the data with those of a survey carried out in 1988. The biocoenoses did not show large fluctuations after a moderately severe summer dystrophic crisis, while the digging of the canal caused clear changes in the macrobenthos community structure after one year. The long-term comparison showed a shift in the community patterns after a decade.     

South Equatorial Current (SEC) driven changes at DSDP Site 237, Central Indian Ocean, during the Plio-Pleistocene: Evidence from Benthic Foraminifera and Stable Isotopes

This study attempts to analyse paleoceanographic changes in the Central Indian Ocean (Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 237), linked to monsoon variability as well as deep-sea circulation during the Plio-Pleistocene. We used factor and cluster analyses of census data of the 34 most dominant species of benthic foraminifera that enabled us to identify five biofacies: Astrononion umbilicatulum–Uvigerina proboscidea (Au–Up), Pullenia bulloides–Bulimina striata (Pb–Bs), Globocassidulina tumida–Nuttallides umbonifera (Gt–Nu), Gyroidinoides nitidula–Cibicides wuellerstorfi (Gn–Cw) and Cassidulina carinata–Cassidulina laevigata (Cc–Cl) biofacies. Knowledge of the environmental preferences of modern deep-sea benthic foraminifera helped to interpret the results of factor and cluster analyses in combination with oxygen and carbon isotope values. The biofacies indicative of high surface productivity, resulting from a stronger South Equatorial Current (Au–Up and Pb–Bs biofacies), dominate the early Pliocene interval (5.6–4.5 Ma) of global warmth. An intense Indo-Pacific ‘biogenic bloom’ and strong Oxygen Minimum Zone extended to intermediate depths (1000–2000 m) over large parts of the Indian Ocean in the early Pliocene. Since 4.5 Ma, the food supply in the Central Indian Ocean dropped and fluctuated while deep waters were corrosive (biofacies Gt–Nu, Gn–Cw). The Pleistocene interval is characterized by an intermediate flux of organic matter (Cc–Cl biofacies).     

The preservation potential of ash layers in the deep‐sea: the example of the 1991‐Pinatubo ash in the South China Sea

Following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on 15 June 1991, volcanic ash was transported westward to the South China Sea in an atmospheric plume, falling out and settling to the sea floor within days and forming an up to 10 cm thick layer on an area >400 000 km². Immediately after deposition, surviving deep‐burrowing animals re‐opened their connection to the sea floor to obtain water for respiration and/or food take‐up. Later, small‐sized meiofauna and then macrofauna re‐colonized the sea floor, mixing newly deposited organic fluff with the underlying ash. Consequently, ash deposits thinner than 1 mm have not often been observed as a continuous layer when cored six years after the eruption, while ash about 2 mm thick is now patchily bioturbated. In areas covered by ash thicker than 5 mm, mixing by benthic animals is controlled mainly by the adaptation of the burrowing fauna to variations in grain‐size, the rate of background sedimentation, the availability of benthic food on and within the sediment and pore water oxygen levels. With respect to these factors, four provinces can be distinguished: (i) Along the Philippines margin run‐off from land fuels primary production that, in turn, leads to a high benthic food content. The benthic fauna is adapted to a variable grain‐size and rapid sedimentation. Therefore, mixing is intense and the preservation potential of the ash layer is low. (ii) In areas affected by deposition of hyperpycnites and turbidites, i.e. in canyons in front of river mouths and in the Manila Trench, the ash layer is preserved due to rapid burial. (iii) The area to the west to about 116° E receives low amounts of benthic food, benthic mixing is less intense and the preservation potential of the ash is high. (iv) The central South China Sea, where the ash is thinner than 3 cm, is affected by intense wind mixing and upwelling and the benthic food content is high; thus, the chance that the ash will be preserved as a sharp‐based layer is low. Consequently, the style of ash preservation has palaeo‐environmental significance. Older buried and burrowed event layers provide further information to elucidate the fate of the 1991 Pinatubo ash layer; in general their appearance fits with observations in the Recent.     

华北克拉通东部新元古代宏体化石生物地层序列

华北克拉通东部是中国晚前寒武纪地层出露最为完整、连续的地区,特别是华北克拉通东缘连续出露了新元古代自老至新的全部地层,是对比和衔接中国南、北方晚前寒武纪地层的关键地区。在该地区所发现和建立的宏体化石群——“龙凤山生物群”、“辽南生物群”和“淮南生物群”可能是新元古代“南华大冰期”前后较为独特的生物群落,其中相当部分可能归属于多细胞后生动物和多细胞藻类,是地球早期生命景观的重要代表。因此,对这些新元古代早期生物群的研究将可能揭示比陡山沱期更早的多细胞后生动植物的演化面貌,在演化生物学上意义重大。近年来,在地调项目的资助下,开展了华北克拉通东部地区的新元古代年代地层及生物地层的研究。本文综合现有资料,详细记述了华北克拉通东部（燕山地区和辽南、徐淮地区）含宏体化石的新元古代地层及其宏体化石特征、组合面貌和生物地层序列。同时,依据宏体化石记录,探讨了中国新元古代地层的对比问题。     

海拉尔盆地上库力组重矿物组合特征

海拉尔盆地兴安岭群上库力组自下而上可分出5个重矿物组合：磁黄铁矿-锆石-白钛石-锐钛矿组合,黄铁矿高含量组合,黑云母-白钛石-锆石-钛铁矿组合,菱铁矿-白钛石-黑云母-电气石组合,白钛石-黑云母-菱铁矿-石榴子石组合.不稳定矿物含量高,不同层段呈现高低韵律性变化则与火山-沉积作用强弱交替变化的环境有关.较高的ATi指数反映母岩应为中-酸性火山岩.ZTR指数不高说明重矿物的成熟度较低.由下至上陆源重矿物变少,尤其是上库力组D段（凝灰岩段）,自生黄铁矿占很高的百分比.     

沉积物记录的亚高山湖泊环境变化——以鄂东南云中湖为例

根据云中湖27 cm长沉积岩芯进行元素、粒度和硅藻多指标分析以及²¹⁰Pb测年,结合流域气候和人类活动等历史资料,反演1958年以来云中湖在气候变化和人类活动影响下的环境变化。冗余分析结果显示云中湖沉积硅藻组合变化与Al、Fe、Pb和温度四个变量显著相关。硅藻属种聚类分析的结果表明云中湖环境变化经历了两个阶段：1958-1993年间喜碱性水体的Achnanthes minutissima和Fragilaria nanana属种大量出现与较高CIA指数响应于气候调控下的流域侵蚀过程;1993年以来气候变暖与旅游发展引起入湖营养盐增加是Cyclotella pseudostelligera和Aulacoseira alpigena等中—富营养硅藻种增殖的主要诱因。重建亚高山湖泊在气候变化以及人类活动影响下湖泊生态系统的演化,为保护亚高山湖泊生态环境和改善流域水质提供参考。     

贺兰山奥陶系研究的新进展

近年来,作者对贺兰山区奥陶系进行了岩石地层及生物地层学的研究,取得了新的进展。确证该区寒武系与奥陶系为连续沉积,对奥陶系进行了合理划分和时代厘定,初步建立了11个化石带或生物组合。该区是华北地台西缘奥陶系发育最好、生物地层研究最清楚的地区。根据沉积物及生物特征,确认本区中奥陶统为大陆边缘斜坡相沉积,浊流特征颇为典型。是研究斜坡沉积作用及其相模式、古构造古地理演化及其含矿性的理想地区。     

Early Cenozoic paleontological assemblages and provenance evolution of the Lishui Sag,East China Sea

The East China Sea Shelf Basin generated a series of back-arc basins with thick successions of marine- and terrestrial-facies sediments during Cenozoic. It is enriched with abundant oil and gas resources and is of great significance to the petroleum exploration undertakings. Therein, the Lishui Sag formed fan delta, fluvial delta and littoral-to-neritic facies sediments during Paleocene–Eocene, and the research on its sedimentary environment and sediment source was controversial. This study analyzed the paleontological combination characteristics, and conducted a source-to-sink comparative analysis to restore the sedimentary environment and provenance evolution of the Lishui Sag during Paleocene–Eocene based on the integration of detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra patterns with paleontological assemblages. The results indicated that Lishui Sag was dominated by littoral and neritic-facies environment during time corroborated by large abundance of foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils and dinoflagellates. Chronological analysis of detrital zircon U-Pb revealed that there were significant differences in sediment sources between the east and west area of the Lishui Sag. The western area was featured by deeper water depths in the Paleocene–Eocene, and the sediment was characterized by a single Yanshanian peak of zircon U-Pb age spectra, and mainly influenced from Yanshanian magmatic rocks of South China Coast and the surrounding paleo-uplifts. However, its eastern area partly showed Indosinian populations. In particular, the upper Eocene Wenzhou sediments were featured by increasingly plentiful Precambrian zircons in addition to the large Indosinian-Yanshanian peaks, indicating a possible impact from the Yushan Low Uplift to the east. Therefore, it is likely that the eastern Lishui Sag generated large river systems as well as deltas during time. Due to the Yuquan Movement, the Lishui Sag experienced uplifting and exhumation in the late stage of the late Eocene and was not deposited with sediments until Miocene. Featured by transitional-facies depositions of Paleocene–Eocene, the Lishui Sag thus beared significant potential for source rock and oil-gas reservoir accumulation.