Benthic foraminifera distribution in a tourist lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: a response to anthropogenic impacts

Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, located in the Rio de Janeiro City, receives several types of polluted discharges. The knowledge of the sediment microfauna correlated with heavy metal and organic matter concentrations could supply important data about the conditions of the lagoon. The benthic foraminiferal assemblage presented larger diversity and more abundant samples in the lagoon entrance than in the inner area. The Ammonia tepida - Elphidiumexcavatum foraminiferal assemblage is characterized by dwarf, corroded and weak organisms. Agglutinated species were found only near the entrance. Low abundance values and sterility of five samples in the inner area (north/northeast) can be caused by high levels of heavy metals and organic matter. A. tepida shows negative correlation with increasing heavy metals values. PAHs and coprostanol high indexes, and the absence or low presence of microfauna in samples around the lagoon margin confirm illegal flows from gas stations and domestic sewage.     

A large excess of 210Po in the overlying water of the Zhubi Coral Reef flat, in the South China Sea

The temporal variability of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb was examined in the overlying water of the Zhubi Coral Reef flat to detect nutrient-like behavior of ²¹⁰Po. Different mechanisms influencing their geochemical behaviors were observed. Excess ²¹⁰Po relative to ²¹⁰Pb revealed an additional input of ²¹⁰Po other than in situ production from ²¹⁰Pb. The ²¹⁰Po input comes from the reef flat sediment through diffusion. The diffusion contributes 62% of the total ²¹⁰Po. This diffusion of ²¹⁰Po directly highlights its nutrient-like behavior. No input, but the slight removal, of ²¹⁰Pb was observed. Fractionation factors indicate that particulate matter prefers to adsorb ²¹⁰Po rather than ²¹⁰Pb. In combination with particulate composition, ²¹⁰Po diffusion was closely related to organic matter. These results reveal that ²¹⁰Po might be a potential tracer for quantifying nutrient recycling in the Coral Reef system.     

Groundwater mixing in a sand-island freshwater lens: density-dependent flow and stratigraphic controls

This paper focuses on a small back-barrier sand-island on the southeast coast of Queensland. The freshwater lens in the study area exhibits anomalously high short-range salinity gradients at shallow depths, which cannot be explained using a standard seawater intrusion model. The island groundwater system consists of two aquifers: a semiconfined aquifer hosting saline to hypersaline groundwater and an overlying unconfined freshwater aquifer. The deeper aquifer is semiconfined within an incised paleovalley, and groundwater flow is restricted to an east – west direction. Tidal response observations show that the tidal signal propagates far more rapidly and is of much higher magnitude in the semiconfined aquifer than the unconfined aquifer. The tidal wave-pulse amplitude is also subject to greater attenuation in the unconfined aquifer. A conceptual hydrogeological model illustrates how upwelling of hypersaline groundwater, induced by density-dependent flow and tidal pumping, has contaminated the shallow groundwater resource. Salinisation at shallow depths is restricted to an area proximal to the paleovalley aquifer. The spatial distribution of lithological heterogeneity is an initial limiting control on the movement of the upwelling saline plume. The extent of shallow groundwater contamination is also limited by the presence of a baroclinic field, resulting from lateral variations in fluid density. Hydrochemical signatures have been used to support the model hypothesis and link the salinisation of fresh groundwater with the semiconfined aquifer as opposed to the surrounding estuarine surface water. The geometry and thickness of the freshwater lens are further controlled by the presence of the largely impermeable bedrock paleosurface between 9 and 12 m depth. The combination of hypersaline groundwater and hydraulically restrictive lithology at shallow depths has produced excessive thinning of the freshwater lens, demonstrating that the application of a model such as the Dupuit – Ghyben – Herzberg relationship would grossly overestimate the available groundwater resource.     

印度尼西亚萨拉瓦提盆地第三系Kais组碳酸盐岩生物礁圈闭特征

萨拉瓦提盆地位于东印度尼西亚巴布亚岛的鸟头部分,萨拉瓦提盆地中新世发育的Kais组碳酸盐岩是东南亚第三系碳酸盐岩的主要勘探对象之一。Kais组生物礁是盆地的主要储层和产层。在前人对Kais组碳酸盐岩的基本石油地质特征,特别是沉积特征的研究基础上,结合近年勘探的新资料,进一步探讨萨拉瓦提盆地中新世泻湖相沉积特点,对Kais组生物礁类型、圈闭类型及其储集性进行了较为系统的研究,认为萨拉瓦提盆地Kais组碳酸盐岩具有4种生物礁类型、3种圈闭类型。Kais组碳酸盐岩总体上为二元结构,在Kais组碳酸盐岩下部的滩礁层分布稳定,可作为区域油气运载层。正确认识和把握该盆地生物礁圈闭的特征对指导下一步油气勘探有重要意义。     

Physics of Atoll Groundwater Flow

Large-scale steady-state groundwater flow in atoll carbonate platforms results from temperature and salinity-induced density gradients. Atolls are built on top of a basaltic substrate that provides geothermal heating from beneath. Moreover, they are immersed in the tropical ocean where temperature decreases rapidly with depth. Groundwater circulation in these platforms has long been associated with the geothermal heat flux because it is capable of generating inward and upward flow of oceanic origin water by buoyancy effects. This study shows that hydraulic circulation occurs even in the absence of a geothermal flux because the combination of the cold subsurface ocean waters with the warm surface conditions is sufficient to maintain a convection cell within the carbonate platform. Using a one-dimensional analytical model, validated by more sophisticated two-dimensional simulations, we can investigate the interaction between these two driving forces. The flow rate inside the platform is, in fact, a function of the ratio of the geothermal flux to the temperature gradient in the ocean. It increases with the geothermal flux but decreases with the oceanic temperature gradient. This one-dimensional model also shows that taking salinity effects on density into account increases the flow rates transiting through the platform by a third.     

渤海湾西北岸滨海湖埋藏牡蛎礁硅藻及其记录的古环境

对位于渤海湾西北岸平原的滨海湖埋藏牡蛎礁中各层牡蛎壳的泥质充填物做硅藻分析,整个牡蛎礁中海水砂质潮间带指标种标志种的Auliscus caelatus含量较高,为19%~42%,表明滨海湖礁体形成于潮间带环境。根据主要硅藻含量的变化,结合14C测年,自下而上将礁体发育期间的古环境分为3个带:I带为2 445~2 327 cal.aBP,礁体在向上建礁的过程中,海水作用逐渐减弱,潮间带特征愈加明显,为受河流影响较强且较为开放的潟湖潮间带环境;Ⅱ带咸水种硅藻Thalassionema nitzschioides的比例急剧增加;外洋指标种的Coscinodiscus spp.和Actinocyclus spp.急剧下降,表明在约2 327 cal.aBP,海岸带砂嘴闭合,形成较为封闭的潟湖内侧潮间带环境,且河流作用减弱导致潟湖的咸度明显增加;Ⅲ带为2 327~2 287 cal.aBP,由封闭的潟湖环境又转向较开放的潟湖潮间带环境。     

澳大利亚依亚瓦拉澙湖的沉积和整治

依亚瓦拉半封闭澙湖是澳大利亚西南侧最著名的海岸澙湖,是全新世海侵以来残留的濒危脆弱地貌。湖面约35 km2,流域面积达270 km2,长期沉积速率不足1 mm/a,短期沉积速率约5~6 mm/a。近几十年来,由于受陆源泥沙淤积和工矿重金属污染,澙湖正处于快速退化阶段。当局采取以疏为主的多项整治措施,隔绝陆沙入湖、浚深湖底、加固湖岸、杜绝圈湖养殖、扩宽潮道,缩短了海、湖水交换的时间,目前已变成湖水清澈、鱼虾洄游的旅游圣地。该整治经验可为我国海岸澙湖研究提供借鉴。     

北极巴罗Elson湖过去450年气候与环境变化记录

北极阿拉斯加巴罗地区Elson湖长60cmAB-67钻孔岩芯提供了过去450年连续的高分辨环境变化记录。综合分析210Pb测年、沉积物粒度、有机质、化学元素和微体古生物化石等资料,一致反映出巴罗地区过去450年的气候、环境变化过程存在如下3个阶段：1）大约1540～1740年,为低海面寒冷时期;2）1740～1827年,为气候转暖-海侵过渡时期;3）1827年至今,为继续海侵-气候波动变暖时期。其中1800年前后和1940年前后,气温较高。1921～1993年巴罗的气温记录说明,北极地区气温不仅有明显的10a和60a周期变化,而且年平均温度变幅极大,达4.5℃。显示极地气候变化特别强烈并不反映大幅度升温。近20年来的变暖趋势是1827年以来自然的气候波动变暖的继续。     

Sesquiterpenoids in sediments of a hypersaline lagoon: A possible algal origin

Core samples were collected in Lagoa Vermelha, a hypersaline lagoon located about 100 km east of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The sediment composition is predominantly carbonate in amounts up to 93%. Analysis of δ¹³C of the total organic matter in the sediments showed that marine organic matter predominates throughout the core (δ¹³C ranges from −15.84 to −22.64‰ vs. PDB). Organic carbon contents (TOC) ranged from 0.81 to 13.28%. A series of cadinane-type sesquiterpenoids can be recognized in the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. Essentially the same components are present in all the samples, with variations only in their relative abundances. The most abundant compounds are α- and β-cubebene, α- and β-cedrene, cadinenes (different isomers), α-curcumene and calamenene, with minor amounts of calarene, humulene, calacorene and cadalene. Since this lagoon is surrounded by dunes with only minor vegetation typical of this environment (grasses, small non-resinous shrubs and no forest) with no potential source for sesquiterpenoids, a terrestrial origin for these compounds is excluded and an algal origin is more consistent with the locale and the recognition of sesquiterpenoids (including cadinol) in microbial mats from the lagoon. Only the natural product precursor sesquiterpenoids are present in the microbial mats with no detectable diagenetic derivatives (e.g. calamenene and cadalene). This indicates that the compounds in the mats are from recent input and those found in the sediments are most likely derived from former algal biomass in this lagoon, a fact confirmed by the recognition of a series of diagenetic aromatic components in the sediments. Surface sediments contain n-alkanes with no even-to-odd predominance indicating that microbial activity is higher in shallower sediments. Moreover, mass fragmentograms (m/z 191) of biomarkers revealed the presence of 17α(H),21β(H)-hopanes, the mature isomers, together with their ββ precursors and low amounts of the intermediates with the βα configuration (moretanes). This indicates a contribution of mature organic matter to these immature sediments.