White-light promoted degradation of leucopterin and related pteridines dissolved in seawater, with evidence for involvement of complexation from major divalent cations of seawater

The photochemical instability of several related pteridines in seawater was investigated by aseptic incubation of solutions at 20–22°C under illumination from cool-white light of intensity 6 kerg cm⁻² sec⁻¹, and the chemical changes were spectrophotometrically monitored. All the pteridines showed markedly accelerated degradation from this illumination relative to their behaviour in total darkness.Pterin and lumazine were degraded very slowly with zero-order reaction kinetics, while the other pteridines photolysed rapidly (according to first-order kinetics) with decomposition rates increasing in the order dioxylumazine (2,4,6,7-tetrahydroxypteridine) < leucopterin < isoxanthopterin < xanthopterin < oxylumazine (2,4,6-trihydroxypteridine). Excepting leucopterin and dioxylumazine, the photolysis rates were attributable to the pH of seawater and not its salt content; this was also the case with oxylumazine which required the salt content of seawater for decomposition in darkness. Leucopterin and dioxylumazine (both 6,7-dihydroxylated pteridines) gave evidence of complexation with the major divalent cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺) of seawater, by virtue of which their photolytic degradation rates were enhanced to magnitudes obtained in pH-10 buffer without seawater. It is proposed that such complexation produces structural forms of these pteridines analogous to their normal ionic forms at pH 10–12.The photolysis of the 6-hydroxylated pteridines (xanthopterin, oxylumazine) proceeded via intermediate formation of their corresponding 7-hydroxylated derivatives (leucopterin, dioxylumazine).     

Benthic photosynthesis in submerged Wadden Sea intertidal flats

In this study we compare benthic photosynthesis during inundation in coarse sand, fine sand, and mixed sediment (sand/mud) intertidal flats in the German Wadden Sea. In situ determinations of oxygen-, DIC- and nutrient fluxes in stirred benthic chamber incubations were combined with measurements of sedimentary chlorophyll, incident light intensity at the sediment surface and scalar irradiance within the sediment. During submergence, microphytobenthos was light limited at all study sites as indicated by rapid response of gross photosynthesis to increasing incident light at the sea floor. However, depth integrated scalar irradiance was 2 to 3 times higher in the sands than in the mud. Consequently, gross photosynthesis in the net autotrophic fine sand and coarse sand flats during inundation was on average 4 and 11 times higher than in the net heterotrophic mud flat, despite higher total chlorophyll concentration in mud. Benthic photosynthesis may be enhanced in intertidal sands during inundation due to: (1) higher light availability to the microphytobenthos in the sands compared to muds, (2) more efficient transport of photosynthesis-limiting solutes to the microalgae with pore water flows in the permeable sands, and (3) more active metabolic state and different life strategies of microphytobenthos inhabiting sands.     

Preliminary optical classification of lakes and coastal waters in Estonia and south Finland

A preliminary optical classification of lakes in Estonia and south Finland which can also be used for small bays of the Baltic Sea is elaborated. The classification is based on the optical properties of water (diffuse attenuation coefficient, diffuse reflectance) and parameters that are routinely monitored in water bodies (Secchi depth, concentration of chlorophyll-a, total suspended matter and yellow substance). The data complex used for our classification covers different types of water ecosystems (ranging from oligotrophic to hypertrophic) and the variability of water constituent concentrations in the ice-free period in Estonia and south Finland. Using cluster analysis, we found 5 optical classes of waters: clear (C), moderate (M), turbid (T), very turbid (V) and brown (B). There is satisfactory correspondence between class of water, shape of diffuse attenuation coefficient and diffuse reflectance spectra and trophic state of the lakes.     

Problems with biogenic silica measurement in marginal seas

Surface sediment samples from the Bohai, Yellow Sea, and the Pacific were used to assess biogenic silica (BSi) content and to study uncertainties in BSi measurements. The contents of BSi in the Bohai and Yellow Sea are all less than 1%. The dissolution of BSi in sediments from the Bohai and Yellow Sea is very important to maintain high levels of silicate in the water column. The non-biogenic silica from clay minerals has an obvious effect on BSi of sediment samples in the Bohai and Yellow Sea with low BSi and high clay minerals. The solid to solution ratio was found to have a great influence on BSi measurement, which can induce uncertainties up to 75%. The effect of loss by sorption and centrifugation is negligible. Interlaboratory comparison of techniques for BSi measurement by the wet alkaline extraction technique of Mortlock and Froelich [Deep-Sea Res. 36 (1989) 1415-1426] with clay correction was suggested to give no significant differences. However, differences in sediment compositions and reagent to sample ratio may limit the application of the wet alkaline extraction method.     

Hydrothermal Metalliferous Sediments and Waters Off the Lesser Antilles

Considerable metal enrichments have been found in hydrothermal fluids and metalliferous sediments off the central Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc. The elements variably enriched in the fluids as a result of the hydrothermal activity are Fe, Mn, As, Si, B, Li and in the sediments, Fe, P, Mo, As, Sb, Hg, Cu and Pb. Variations in the concentrations of these elements in both fluids and sediments along the arc result from a number of factors, the most important of which is the stage that each island's volcano has reached in its eruptive cycle. Although hydrothermal mineralization on the sea floor off the islands is only low grade, phase separation in the hydrothermal fluids at depth could be leading to higher grade stockwork mineralization below the vent fields or the discharge of metal rich brines on the lower flanks of the volcanic islands.     

南海晚第四纪硅藻遗体及其地质意义：Ⅷ.几个问题的讨论

本文根据分析结果阐述了两种不同样品处理方法所获得的硅藻丰度和微型硅藻的人主要种类和相对百分含量。研究表明洗涤富集法所获得的硅藻丰度存在较大误差；微型硅藻的含量普遍介于１０％－２０％之间，最高可达４２．３１％，最低为５．６６％，并指出了在微型硅藻相对含量大于２０％的样品中 ，其主要种类为具槽直链藻和条纹小环藻等沿岸底格格不入中，并成群体产出。     

Magnetic anomalies in the canary basin and the Mesozoic evolution of the central North Atlantic

The data from a recent magnetic compilation by Verhoefet al. (1991) off west Africa were used in combination with data in the western Atlantic to review the Mesozoic plate kinematic evolution of the central North Atlantic. The magnetic profile data were analyzed to identify the M-series sea floor spreading anomalies on the African plate. Oceanic fracture zones were identified from magnetic anomalies and seismic and gravity measurements. The identified sea floor spreading anomalies on the African plate were combined with those on the North American plate to calculate reconstruction poles for this part of the central Atlantic. The total separation poles derived in this paper describe a smooth curve, suggesting that the motion of the pole through time was continuous. Although the new sea floor spreading history differs only slightly from the one presented by Klitgord and Schouten (1986), it predicts smoother flowlines. On the other hand, the sea floor spreading history as depicted by the flowlines for the eastern central Atlantic deviates substantially from that of Sundvik and Larson (1988). A revised spreading history is also presented for the Cretaceous Magnetic Quiet Zone, where large changes in spreading direction occurred, that can not be resolved when fitting magnetic isochrons only, but which are evident from fracture zone traces and directions of sea floor spreading topography.Deceased 11 November 1991