Outdoor recreation monitoring in coastal and marine areas – an overview of Nordic experiences and knowledge

This paper involves a collection and communication of important knowledge about and experiences with outdoor recreation monitoring in Nordic coastal and marine areas. This is a topic that so far has received little attention, especially among researchers and practitioners working with outdoor recreation monitoring in Nordic coastal and marine areas, who are in need of knowledge on the topic in order to advance monitoring activities and procedures. To remedy this situation, the purpose of this paper is to provide a knowledge base by listing and describing central literature contributions with important insight into outdoor recreation monitoring in Nordic coastal and marine areas. More specifically, this includes information about: (a) where important knowledge about outdoor recreation monitoring in Nordic coastal and marine areas can be found, (b) who the main contributors are and (c) what monitoring knowledge that has been reported so far. The paper also examines what tasks lie ahead for researchers and area managers in order to improve knowledge about outdoor recreation monitoring in Nordic coastal and marine areas. The paper is a central contribution and addition to manuals on outdoor recreation monitoring that are currently available in the Nordic countries.     

Protection of marine birds and turtles at St Brandon’s Rock,Indian Ocean,requires conservation of the entire atoll

A survey of seabirds and turtles at St Brandon’s Rock, 400 km north of Mauritius, was undertaken in 2010. We estimated that 1 084 191 seabirds comprising seven breeding species and excluding non-breeders were present at the archipelago and we counted 279 turtle tracks and nesting pits of green turtles Chelonia mydas. Hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata were also present. Analyses of 30 different islets that make up the atoll showed that the seabird species mostly partitioned their use of islets based on islet size, with four species preferring larger islets and two species preferring smaller islets. Alien species introduced historically are still present and other threats, such as shipwrecks, remain. We propose conservation and other measures that should adequately protect the birds, turtles and coral reef by treating the atoll as a system.     

Age and growth of Cape stumpnose Rhabdosargus holubi (Pisces: Sparidae) in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Rhabdosargus holubi is a small (maximum weight=2.4?kg) yet important fishery species in the estuaries of the south-east coast of South Africa. Little is known of its biology and specifically its growth rate, which is essential for sustainable management of the fishery. We examined and counted the opaque zones in the sectioned otoliths of 134 R. holubi to determine its age and growth parameters. The otoliths from two recaptured fish marked with oxytetracycline confirmed that one opaque zone was deposited annually. The species reached a maximum age of 18 years and growth was adequately described by a von Bertalanffy growth function of the form: L_t = 358.1 (1 – e^{?0.24(t+0.77)}) mm fork length. There were no significant differences between any of the male and female growth parameters (likelihood ratio test: p = 0.3). The growth was slow (omega index: ω = 86.56); however, despite this, the unique life history of R. holubi may provide a degree of resilience to heavy fishing pressure in estuaries.     

广西近海灾害地质因素及声学反射特征

利用高分辨率地球物理资料及相关历史资料,对北部湾北部的广西近海灾害地质因素进行了地质地球物理解译,识别出海底沙波、海底沙脊、塌陷洼地、冲刷沟槽、浅层气、残积砂体、地层间断、埋藏丘、埋藏古河道等多种灾害地质因素.根据它们出现的频率、规模及声学特征可知:浅层气和埋藏古河道是广西近海最为发育的灾害地质因素,其对海洋工程的施工与建设有较大的危害性.     

Hydrochemical characterization of groundwater in Balad district,Salah Al-Din Governorate,Iraq

The assessment of hydrochemical quality of groundwater is very important to explore its nature and usefulness. In this paper, groundwater quality evaluation is carried out in the Balad district, Salah Al-Din Governorate, Iraq. A total of 28 groundwater samples are collected from shallow tube wells and analyzed for various physicochemical parameters. Groundwater suitability for drinking is evaluated based on the World Health Organization (WHO) and Iraqi standards, and suitability of groundwater for irrigation is assessed based on various hydrochemical parameters. The results reveal that the dominant types of groundwater based on piper diagram are mixed CaMgCl and CaCl. Gibbs ratio indicates that the groundwater in the studied area is affected by the evaporation process. The cation-anion exchange reaction in the studied area demonstrates that 54% of the groundwater samples indicate a direct base (cation-anion) exchange reaction, while 46% of the groundwater samples indicating the chloro-alkaline disequilibrium. Furthermore, generally all of the groundwater samples are unsuitable for drinking and irrigation. Cluster analysis reveals two different groups of similarities between the groundwater samples, reflecting different pollution levels in the studied area.     

四川盆地东部垫江凹陷三叠系嘉陵江组岩盐氯同位素特征与成钾指标研究

垫江凹陷位于四川盆地东部,是四川盆地三叠纪时期重要的成盐凹陷之一,但当时古卤水是否达到钾盐沉积阶段,是否具备形成海相钾盐的良好条件,一直存在争议。本文通过对垫江凹陷长平3井、高探1井和ZK001井嘉陵江组岩盐样品进行化学成分分析,以及对长平3井典型岩盐样品进行氯同位素分析来判断古卤水沉积阶段和成钾条件。结果发现垫江凹陷三叠系嘉陵江组岩盐δ37 Cl值均为负值,均小于-0.32‰,最低达到-1.18‰,绝大部分岩盐样品溴氯系数大于0.31,有很大一部分样品溴氯系数超过0.45,进一步表明垫江凹陷在嘉陵江期古卤水浓缩已达到钾石盐析出阶段,与岩盐包裹体成分分析结果一致。综合气候-物源-构造因素,认为垫江凹陷三叠纪嘉陵江期气候条件炎热,物质来源丰富,存在次级凹陷,古构造条件优越,具备良好的成钾潜力。     

Down‐slope facies variability within deep‐water channel systems: Insights from the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation,southern Patagonia

In southern Patagonia, outcrops of the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation preserve a >150 km long deep‐water axial channel belt in the Magallanes–Austral Basin, providing a unique opportunity to investigate longitudinal variations in the depositional characteristics of a deep‐water channel system. This study documents sedimentological, stratigraphical and geochronological data from the Cerro Toro Formation in the Argentine sector of the basin. New results are integrated with previous work from the Chilean basin sector to conduct a basin‐scale comparison of the timing of deposition, provenance and lithofacies proportions. The Cerro Toro channel belt includes a nearly 1000 m thick section characterized by high‐density turbidites and mass‐wasting deposits. Two ash beds from the base of the section yield U–Pb zircon ages of 90·4 ± 2 Ma and 88·0 ± 3 Ma, indicating similar initiation ages as documented in the Chilean sector. The U–Pb detrital zircon age spectra from samples in the study area reveal similar provenance trends to samples from the Chilean basin sector, with peak age populations at 310 to 260 Ma, 160 to 135 Ma and 110 to 82 Ma. The maximum depositional age of the channel belt in the Argentine sector is 87·8 ± 1·5 Ma and all new geochronology data corroborate an 86 to 80 Ma depositional age for the main Cerro Toro channel belt. Statistical analyses of 7370 beds from nearly 8000 m of new and previously published stratigraphic sections along the entire outcrop belt suggest progressive variations in the down‐system proportion of lithofacies. In the up‐slope region, lithofacies representing mass wasting processes (for example, debris‐flow and mass‐transport deposits) account for ca 29% of the stratigraphic thickness, as opposed to 5% in the down‐slope region of the channel belt, where turbidity current deposits are more prevalent. The proportion of beds >1 m thick also decreases systematically down slope, particularly for conglomeratic turbidite deposits. This work highlights that: (i) the proportion of thick beds and distribution of lithofacies are key down‐system changes in the stratigraphic fill of this deep‐water channel belt; (ii) detrital zircon trends suggest a relatively well‐mixed longitudinal depositional system; and (iii) geochronology of the main Cerro Toro outcrop belt supports but does not necessitate the model of a single, roughly age‐equivalent, channel system. This study has implications for understanding the downslope variability in depositional processes, stratigraphic architecture and reservoir quality of submarine channel systems.     

干旱地区水循环过程中的地下水化学特征研究——以蒙古国前巴音钼矿水源地为例

地下水的水化学类型在径流过程中会不断变化,并在径流与赋存的不同状态下体现出不同特征,体现出不同的地下水运移规律。本文以蒙古国前巴音钼矿水源地为例,选取水源地范围内的19个钻孔水样进行分析,取得了主要阴阳离子、TDS和水化学类型等数据。通过对地下水化学的空间分布特征、TDS值的变化和主要阴阳离子的演化规律进行研究发现:研究区水源地地下水补给来源为大气降水,沟谷东部地区的水循环强度高于西南部地区,外围地区最弱,地下水的水平径流较弱小于垂向;受水循环强度影响沟谷东部形成地矿化度的HCO_3型水,西南部形成HCO_3·Cl·SO_4、HCO_3·SO_4·Cl、HCO_3·SO_4型水,沟谷外围地区形成SO_4·HCO_3·Cl、Cl·SO_4·HCO_3、SO_4·HCO_3、Cl·SO_4型水,干旱地区水循环强度和补径排条件的差异会形成不同的水化学类。     

Pattern,style and timing of British–Irish Ice Sheet advance and retreat over the last 45 000 years: evidence from NW Scotland and the adjacent continental shelf

Predicting the future response of ice sheets to climate warming and rising global sea level is important but difficult. This is especially so when fast-flowing glaciers or ice streams, buffered by ice shelves, are grounded on beds below sea level. What happens when these ice shelves are removed? And how do the ice stream and the surrounding ice sheet respond to the abruptly altered boundary conditions? To address these questions and others we present new geological, geomorphological, geophysical and geochronological data from the ice-stream-dominated NW sector of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). The study area covers around 45 000 km² of NW Scotland and the surrounding continental shelf. Alongside seabed geomorphological mapping and Quaternary sediment analysis, we use a suite of over 100 new absolute ages (including cosmogenic-nuclide exposure ages, optically stimulated luminescence ages and radiocarbon dates) collected from onshore and offshore, to build a sector-wide ice-sheet reconstruction combining all available evidence with Bayesian chronosequence modelling. Using this information we present a detailed assessment of ice-sheet advance/retreat history, and the glaciological connections between different areas of the NW BIIS sector, at different times during the last glacial cycle. The results show a highly dynamic, partly marine, partly terrestrial, ice-sheet sector undergoing large size variations in response to sub-millennial-scale climatic (Dansgaard–Oeschger) cycles over the last 45 000 years. Superimposed on these trends we identify internally driven instabilities, operating at higher frequency, conditioned by local topographic factors, tidewater dynamics and glaciological feedbacks during deglaciation. Specifically, our new evidence indicates extensive marine-terminating ice-sheet glaciation of the NW BIIS sector during Greenland Stadials 12 to 9 – prior to the main ‘Late Weichselian’ ice-sheet glaciation. After a period of restricted glaciation, in Greenland Interstadials 8 to 6, we find good evidence for rapid renewed ice-sheet build-up in NW Scotland, with the Minch ice-stream terminus reaching the continental shelf edge in Greenland Stadial 5, perhaps only briefly. Deglaciation of the NW sector took place in numerous stages. Several grounding-zone wedges and moraines on the mid- and inner continental shelf attest to significant stabilizations of the ice-sheet grounding line, or ice margin, during overall retreat in Greenland Stadials 3 and 2, and to the development of ice shelves. NW Lewis was the first substantial present-day land area to deglaciate, in the first half of Greenland Stadial 3 at a time of globally reduced sea-level c. 26 kabp , followed by Cape Wrath at c. 24 kabp. The topographic confinement of the Minch straits probably promoted ice-shelf development in early Greenland Stadial 2, providing the ice stream with additional support and buffering it somewhat from external drivers. However, c. 20–19 kabp , as the grounding-line migrated into shoreward deepening water, coinciding with a marked change in marine geology and bed strength, the ice stream became unstable. We find that, once underway, grounding-line retreat proceeded in an uninterrupted fashion with the rapid loss of fronting ice shelves – first in the west, then the east troughs – before eventual glacier stabilization at fjord mouths in NW Scotland by ~17 kabp. Around the same time, ~19–17 kabp , ice-sheet lobes readvanced into the East Minch – possibly a glaciological response to the marine-instability-triggered loss of adjacent ice stream (and/or ice shelf) support in the Minch trough. An independent ice cap on Lewis also experienced margin oscillations during mid-Greenland Stadial 2, with an ice-accumulation centre in West Lewis existing into the latter part of Heinrich Stadial 1. Final ice-sheet deglaciation of NW mainland Scotland was punctuated by at least one other coherent readvance at c. 15.5 kabp , before significant ice-mass losses thereafter. At the glacial termination, c. 14.5 kabp , glaciers fed outwash sediment to now-abandoned coastal deltas in NW mainland Scotland around the time of global Meltwater Pulse 1A. Overall, this work on the BIIS NW sector reconstructs a highly dynamic ice-sheet oscillating in extent and volume for much of the last 45 000 years. Periods of expansive ice-sheet glaciation dominated by ice-streaming were interspersed with periods of much more restricted ice-cap or tidewater/fjordic glaciation. Finally, this work indicates that the role of ice streams in ice-sheet evolution is complex but mechanistically important throughout the lifetime of an ice sheet – with ice streams contributing to the regulation of ice-sheet health but also to the acceleration of ice-sheet demise via marine ice-sheet instabilities.