The skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant,Palaeoloxodon antiquus (Falconer and Cautley, 1847) from Selsey,England, and growth and variation in Palaeoloxodon of the European Pleistocene

A partial skeleton of straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) excavated at Selsey beach (Sussex, UK) in 1961 is one of very few from Marine Isotope Stage 7 (MIS 7), ca. 240–200 ka, in Europe. Dental morphometrics, including X-ray micro-computed tomography, confirms the species identification. Age determination through dental wear and skeletal morphology, sex determination through pelvic anatomy, and body-size measurements, together identify the individual as a female of approximately 30 years old with a live shoulder height of ca. 3 m and a body mass of ca. 5 t. Dental mesowear indicates mixed feeding with a significant proportion of grass, indicating selective feeding in a predominately forested environment. Although taphonomic conclusions are limited by the nature of the excavation, identification of 107 recovered skeletal elements indicates predominant preservation of the right side of the animal, suggesting death or burial on the right side in a shallow, slow-moving freshwater environment, with possible removal of other elements by scavenging or decay. Combining the Selsey data with 29 comparative skeletons from across Europe, we demonstrate the validity of pelvic proportions for determining sex and provide a graphical representation of variation and growth rate in males and females of this species.     

南极半岛西北部海区重矿物及其中稀土、微量元素的统计分析

对南极半岛西北部海区表层沉积物中的重矿及其中稀土、微量元素的定量资料进行了统计分析。Q型因子分析结果得出调查区重矿物组合的因子模式,它们主要受物源和海流的控制。R型群分析把22种元素划分为3群和9个亚群。元素的分群现象显示了元素与岩石在成因上的专属关系,而亚群则反映了元素地球化学习性的差异及元素共生组合或伴生关系。讨论了元素亚与重矿物组合类型的关系。     

辽宁沿海经济带海洋产业结构及竞争力评价研究

海洋产业结构是海洋经济发展质量的重要指标。文章运用偏离-份额分析法并引入增长率指数、区域结构效果指数和区域竞争力效果指数,对辽宁沿海经济带6市2009—2018年海洋产业结构和竞争力进行对比分析,研究表明:辽宁沿海经济带海洋经济发展迅速,海洋产业结构整体较好,但在海洋产业内部,海洋第一产业发展缓慢,综合竞争力较低;海洋新兴产业在海洋第二产业中占比重较小;海洋第三产业已成为辽宁沿海经济带主导产业,发展优势明显。辽宁沿海经济带还需更加注重产业发展的合理配置,力图能将各产业间发展形成协调互补的可持续发展结构。     

柯坪地区下志留统储层性质及控制因素

野外露头浅钻取样分析发现,柯坪地区志留系下统柯坪塔格组的储层性质与塔北及塔中地区差别较大。柯坪地区的砂岩储层以粉细粒岩屑砂岩为主,处于晚成岩A2期,孔隙度主要为2%~6%,平均4.47%,渗透率主要为(0.01~0.1)×10-3μm2,平均0.06×10-3μm2,属于特低孔特低渗储层,而塔北及塔中地区以低孔低渗和中孔中渗为主。研究表明柯坪地区成岩压实、石英次生加大是储层物性的主控因素,储层经历长期深埋藏和短期浅埋藏,使成岩压实减孔率达30.4%;胶结作用所减少的孔隙量一般为1.5%~8%,致密胶结段可达10%~11%,石英次生加大所减少的孔隙量一般2%~4%,致密胶结段可达6%~8%;溶蚀作用及次生裂缝对储层物性改善不大,一般增孔量4%左右;成岩中后期强烈挤压构造运动对储层性质有重要影响。储层演化史表明晚二叠世、晚白垩世—早第三纪是油气聚集成藏期,随后遭后期构造运动破坏,油气逸散或发生氧化作用,柯坪塔格组含沥青砂岩即是这一过程的产物。     

国外海相油气田勘探实例(之一)挪威埃科菲斯克油田

介绍了挪威埃科菲斯克油田的基本概况及油田勘探历史,描述了该盆地的演化、油气系统、区域地层及沉积相。该油田的构造类型为盐丘构造,主要的储集层为麦斯特里希特统(K2)—下古新统(丹麦阶)托尔组和埃科菲斯克组。埃科菲斯克组以构造裂隙为主,托尔组主要发育与缝合线有关的裂隙。白垩地层主要为生物成因,其成分为分解的贝壳或浮游的Cocccophorid藻颗石、浮游类和海底有孔虫类。     

海相沉积岩是中国石油工业未来的希望

回顾了中国陆相找油第一次创业的经验,认为中国的海相找油走过了一段“以南代北”和“以偏概全”的弯路。提出了该如何全面看待中国南方海相地层所遇到的破坏严重,地面暴露,保存条件差及油气层年代古老等问题。汇总了我国主要海相勘探区(塔里木盆地、鄂尔多斯盆地、四川盆地、渤海湾盆地)的油气勘探进展概况。建议中国的海相油气勘探因经验不足,可以借鉴俄罗斯海相古生界找油的经验。指出中国的海相沉积油气勘探可以包括十个领域:(1)稳定地台区的大型古隆起;(2)断陷盆地的海相沉积;(3)山间盆地海相沉积;(4)南方地区碳酸盐岩分布区;(5)南方复合盆地;(6)大陆架海域海相沉积;(7)西藏羌塘盆地侏罗系;(8)四川盆地的三叠系;(9)大型不整合;(10)逆掩断层带的海相沉积。     

Timing and style of Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Queer Shan,northern Hengduan Mountains in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Glacial landforms and sediments provide evidence for the existence of two Late Pleistocene major glacial advances in the Queer Shan, northern Hengduan Mountains in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. In the current study, optically stimulated luminescence and electron spin resonance dating results reveal that the two glacial advances occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in MIS 2, respectively. Geomorphic evidence shows that the glacial advance during MIS 3 was more extensive than that in MIS 2. This glacial advance is synchronous with other glaciated areas in the Himalaya and Tibet, but contrasts with global ice volumes that reached their maximum extent during the LGM. Glaciers in the Queer Shan are of the summer accumulation type and are mainly fed by precipitation from the south Asian monsoon. Palaeoclimate proxies show that during MIS 3 the south Asian monsoon strengthened and extended further north into the Tibetan Plateau to supply more precipitation as snow at high altitudes. This in turn led to positive glacier mass balances and caused glaciers to advance. However, during the LGM, despite cooler temperature than in MIS 3, the weakened south Asian monsoon and the associated reduced precipitation were not as favourable for glacier expansion as in MIS 3. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Insights from experimental economics on local cooperation in a small-scale fishery management system

Cooperation is central to collective management of small-scale fisheries management, including marine protected areas. Thus an understanding of the factors influencing stakeholders’ propensity to cooperate to achieve shared benefits is essential to accomplishing successful collective fisheries management. In this paper we study stakeholders’ cooperative behavioral disposition and elucidate the role of various socio-economic factors in influencing it in the Roviana Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands. We employed a Public Goods Game from experimental economics tailored to mimic the problem of common pool fisheries management to elucidate peoples’ cooperative behavior. Using Ostrom's framework for analyzing social-ecological systems to guide our analysis, we examined how individual-scale variables (e.g., age, education, family size, ethnicity, occupational status, personal norms), in the context of village-scale variables (e.g., village, governance institutions, group coercive action), influence cooperative behavior, as indexed by game contribution. Ostrom's framework provides an effective window for conceptually peeling back the various socio-economic and governance layers which influence cooperation within these communities. The results of our research show that the most important resource user characteristics influencing cooperative behavior were age, occupation and beliefs about giving access to others to fish for commercial gain. Through elucidating the factors affecting stakeholders’ propensity to cooperate to achieve shared benefits, our analysis provides guidance in understanding cooperation in relation to collective management of marine resources.     

Evidence of Saharan dust in upper Pleistocene reworked palaeosols of North‐west Sardinia,Italy: palaeoenvironmental implications

A multi‐disciplinary approach was followed to investigate two thick palaeosol strata that alternate with wind‐blown dominated deposits developed along the Alghero coast (North‐west Sardinia, Italy). Optically stimulated luminescence ages reveal that both palaeosols were developed during cooler drier periods: the first one at around 70 ka Marine Isotope Stage 4 and the latter around 50 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 3). In contrast, the pedological features indicate that the palaeosols underwent heavy weathering processes under warm humid to sub‐humid conditions, characteristic of the Sardinian climate during the last interglacial stage (Marine Isotope Stage 5e). To reconcile this apparent data discrepancy, a range of sedimentological and pedological analyses were conducted. These analyses reveal that the palaeosols possess a complex history, with accumulation and weathering occurring during Marine Isotope Stage 5e, and erosion, colluviation and final deposition taking place during the following cold stages. Thus, even if these reddish palaeosols were last formed during the glacial period, the sediments building up these strata probably record the climate of the last interglacial stage (Marine Isotope Stage 5e). Trace element and X‐ray diffraction analyses, together with scanning electron microscope images, reveal the presence of Saharan dust in the parent material of the palaeosols. However, no evidence of any far‐travelled African dust has been observed in the Marine Isotope Stage 4–3 aeolian deposits. It is possible to conclude that in the West Mediterranean islands, Saharan dust input, even if of modest magnitude, is preserved preferentially in soils accumulated and weathered during interglacial stages.     

A continuous multi-millennial record of surficial bivalve mollusk shells from the São Paulo Bight,Brazilian shelf

To evaluate the potential of using surficial shell accumulations for paleoenvironmental studies, an extensive time series of individually dated specimens of the marine infaunal bivalve mollusk Semele casali was assembled using amino acid racemization (AAR) ratios (n = 270) calibrated against radiocarbon ages (n = 32). The shells were collected from surface sediments at multiple sites across a sediment-starved shelf in the shallow sub-tropical São Paulo Bight (São Paulo State, Brazil). The resulting ¹⁴C-calibrated AAR time series, one of the largest AAR datasets compiled to date, ranges from modern to 10,307 cal yr BP, is right skewed, and represents a remarkably complete time series: the completeness of the Holocene record is 66% at 250-yr binning resolution and 81% at 500-yr binning resolution. Extensive time-averaging is observed for all sites across the sampled bathymetric range indicating long water depth-invariant survival of carbonate shells at the sediment surface with low net sedimentation rates. Benthic organisms collected from active depositional surfaces can provide multi-millennial time series of biomineral records and serve as a source of geochemical proxy data for reconstructing environmental and climatic trends throughout the Holocene at centennial resolution. Surface sediments can contain time-rich shell accumulations that record the entire Holocene, not just the present.