Origin and biochemical cycling of particulate nitrogen in the Mandovi estuary

Mandovi estuary is a tropical estuary strongly influenced by the southwest monsoon. In order to understand, sources and fate of particulate organic nitrogen, suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected from various locations, was analyzed for particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON), δ¹³C_POC, total hydrolysable amino acid enantiomers (l- and d- amino acids) concentration and composition. δ¹³C_POC values were depleted (−32 to −25‰) during the monsoon and enriched (−29.6 to −21‰) in the pre-monsoon season implying that OM was derived from terrestrial and marine sources during the former and latter season, respectively. The biological indicators such as C/N ratio, d-amino acids, THAA yields and degradation indices (DI) indicate that the particulate organic matter (POM) was relatively more degraded during the monsoon season. Conversely, during the pre-monsoon, the biological indicators indicated the presence of relatively fresh and labile POM derived from autochthonous sources. Amino acids such as alanine, aspartic acid, leucine, serine, arginine, and threonine in monsoon and glutamic acid, glycine, valine, lysine, and isoleucine in pre-monsoon were relatively abundant. Presence of bacterial biomarker, d-amino acids in the SPM of the estuary during both the seasons signifies important contribution of bacteria to the estuarine detrital ON pool. Based on d-amino acid yields, bacterial OM accounted for 16-34% (23.0 ± 6.7%) of POC and 29-75% (47.9 ± 18.7%) of PON in monsoon, and 30-78% (50.0 ± 15%) of POC and 34-79% (51.2 ± 13.3%) of the PON in pre-monsoon in the estuary. Substantial contribution of bacterial-N to PON indicates nitrogen (N) enrichment on terrestrial POM during the monsoon season. Transport of terrestrial POM enriched with bacterial OM to the coastal waters is expected to influence coastal productivity and ecosystem functioning during the monsoon season.     

Rare earth elements in suspended and bottom sediments of the Mandovi estuary, central west coast of India: Influence of mining

Rare earth elements (REEs) in the suspended particulate matter (SPM) of the Mandovi estuary indicated that the mean total-REEs (∑REE) and light REE to heavy REE ratios are lower than that of the average suspended sediment in World Rivers and Post-Archean average Australian shale. High ∑REE were associated with high SPM/low salinity and also with high SPM/high salinity. Although the ∑REE broadly agree with SPM levels at each station, their seasonal distributions along transect are different. SPM increased seaward in the estuary both during the monsoon and pre-monsoon, but consistently low at all stations during the post-monsoon. The mean ∑REE decreased marginally seaward and was <25% at sea-end station than at river-end station. Spatial variations in ∑REE are maximum (64%) during the pre-monsoon. Strong to moderate correlation of ∑REE with Al, Fe and Mn in all seasons indicates adsorption and co-precipitation of REEs with aluminosilicate phases and Fe, Mn-oxyhydroxides. The ratio of mean ∑REE in sediment/SPM is low during the monsoon (1.27), followed by pre-monsoon (1.5) and post-monsoon (1.62). The middle REE- and heavy REE-enriched patterns with positive Ce and Eu anomalies are characteristic at every station and season, both in SPM and sediment. They also exhibit tetrad effect with distinct third and fourth tetrads. Fe-Mn ore dust is the most dominant source for REEs. However, the seasonal changes in the supply of detrital silicates, Fe-Mn ore dust and particulates resuspended from bottom sediments diluted the overall effect of salinity on fractionation and distribution of REEs in the estuary.     

Distribution of suspended particulate matter in the northern Bohai Bay in summer and its relation with thermocline

Field observations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the Bohai Bay, China have not been widely reported. The aim of this paper is to describe the horizontal and vertical distribution of mass and volume concentrations of SPM, respectively, based on observed data at 312 stations in the northern Bohai Bay during summer of 2006. A numerical model ECOMSED coupled with a sediment transport module was also established to further discuss the mechanism of the thermocline effect on the vertical distribution of SPM. The mass concentrations of SPM exhibited high inshore values and low offshore values in the horizontal distribution; while in the vertical direction, characteristics of the volume concentration of SPM can be divided into two types: one with a sharp peak at depth of 10–15 m and another without. The peak value at the depth of the thermocline was resulted from concentrated phytoplankton. A numerical experiment further displayed that the thermocline can also prevent particles from being resuspended upward.     

紫菜特征挥发性物质分析

应用顶空固相微萃取和气相色谱-质谱联用技术,对坛紫菜(Porphyra haitanensis)、条斑紫菜(Porphyra yezoensis)与其一个突变品系的生长藻体挥发性物质进行分析,共分离鉴定出66种挥发性组分,3个紫菜试样中分别含有36、44和45种.鉴定组分中有21种为紫菜共有挥发性物质,其中8-十七烯和...     

Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: ��strategies�� for nutrient uptake and growth outside the Redfield comfort zone

While many harmful algal blooms have been associated with increasing eutrophication, not all species respond similarly and the increasing challenge, especially for resource managers, is to determine which blooms are related to eutrophication and to understand why particular species proliferate under specific nutrient conditions. The overall goal of this brief review is to describe why nutrient loads are not changing in stoichiometric proportion to the "Redfield ratio", and why this has important consequences for algal growth. Many types of harmful algae appear to be able to thrive, and/or increase their production of toxins, when nutrient loads are not in proportion classically identified as Redfield ratios. Here we also describe some of the physiological mechanisms of different species to take up nutrients and to thrive under conditions of nutrient imbalance.     

Microbial mats implicated in the generation of intrastratal shrinkage (‘synaeresis’) cracks

Intrastratal shrinkage (often termed ‘synaeresis’) cracks are commonly employed as diagnostic environmental indicators for ancient salinity‐stressed, transitional fluvial‐marine or marginal‐marine depositional environments. Despite their abundance and use in facies interpretations, the mechanism of synaeresis crack formation remains controversial, and widely accepted explanations for their formation have hitherto been lacking. Sedimentological, ichnological, petrographic and geochemical study of shallow marine mudstone beds from the Ordovician Beach Formation of Bell Island, Newfoundland, has revealed that crack development (cf. synaeresis cracks) on the upper surface of mudstone beds is correlated with specific organic, geochemical and sedimentological parameters. Contorted, sinuous, sand‐filled cracks are common at contacts between unbioturbated mudstone and overlying sandstone beds. Cracks are absent in highly bioturbated mudstone, and are considered to pre‐date firmground assemblages of trace fossils that include Planolites and Trichophycus. The tops of cracked mudstone beds contain up to 2·1 wt% total organic carbon, relative to underlying mudstone beds that contain around 0·5 wt% total organic carbon. High‐resolution carbon isotope analyses reveal low δ¹³C_org values (?27·6‰) on bed tops compared with sandy intervals lacking cracks (?24·4 to ?24·9‰). Cracked mudstone facies show evidence for microbial matgrounds, including microbially induced sedimentary structures on bedding planes and carbonaceous laminae and tubular carbonaceous microfossils in thin section. Non‐cracked mudstone lacks evidence for development of microbial mats. Microbial mat development is proposed as an important prerequisite for intrastratal shrinkage crack formation. Both microbial mats and intrastratal shrinkage cracks have broad palaeoenvironmental distributions in the Precambrian and early Phanerozoic. In later Phanerozoic strata, matgrounds are restricted to depositional environments that are inhospitable to burrowing and surface‐grazing macrofauna. Unless evidence of synaeresis (i.e. contraction of clay mineral lattices in response to salinity change) can be independently demonstrated, the general term ‘intrastratal shrinkage crack’ is proposed to describe sinuous and tapering cracks in mudstone beds.     

华夏陆块闽西南坳陷二叠系含有机质页岩组成及赋气孔隙特征

华夏陆块从早古生代以来,经历了多期推覆与伸展构造的叠加。文中对华夏陆块闽西南仙亭、曲斗等地区/矿区附近及井下所采集的含有机质页岩样品进行实验测试,分析了有机质参数、矿物组成及赋气孔隙参数,将对中国华夏陆块闽西南二叠系页岩的储层特征研究及页岩气勘探前景预测提供理论依据。研究结果表明：(1)采用TOC残余碳分析实验、荧光显微镜及显微镜光度计实验等,认为闽西南二叠系页岩含碳量中等,为0.15%~2.71%;有机质成熟度高,为3.51%~4.33%。(2)储层矿物组成方面,利用X射线衍射实验进行全岩分析,结果显示黏土矿物占38.2%~49.6%,含量较高,主要为伊利石,含少量的绿泥石、蒙皂石;常见非黏土矿物主要为石英,均占45%以上;钾长石和斜长石含量较少,占1%~2.3%。(3)储层孔渗性方面：有效孔隙度为0.3%~11.4%,渗透率为(0.006 5~0.987)×10-3μm2;利用低温液氮吸附实验等对纳米级孔隙进行分析,认为部分小孔(2~50 nm)的孔容、比表面积较大,其次为微孔(小于2 nm)和大孔(大于50 nm)。此外,累计比表面积和累计孔容呈现出较好的正相关性,纳米孔隙累计比表面积、累计孔容与孔径之间的关系表明,闽西南二叠系页岩气主要赋存于微孔和小于10 nm的小孔中。依照页岩储层评价标准,闽西南二叠系海陆交互相页岩在有机质丰富、有机质成熟度、页岩厚度、矿物组成、孔隙结构等方面符合页岩气开发最低标准,具有勘探开发前景。     

中国石油地质学创新发展论评

石油地质学是国家石油战略的组成部分,是国家石油安全的组成部分,必须予以高度重视。石油地质学来源于实践。但随着石油勘探开发实践的不断深入,仅仅依靠归纳和总结来自实践的认识已经无法满足人们对石油地质学在科学层面的理解和掌握。从沉积层获得的有关构造、生油、储层方面的知识无法全面解释在结晶基底和火山岩中发育油气藏的事实,而最新揭示出金属、非金属矿床、油气藏与深部构造和深部流体存在密切关系,为我们发展石油地质学提供了崭新的思路。欧洲惠更斯号探测器发现土卫六上存在甲烷湖的事实告诉我们,石油地质学的不仅仅是地质学问题,更是天文学问题。所以,及时吸收消化各学科最新成果,创新发展中国石油地质学,已是保障国家石油安全的当务之急。     

Light yield in DarkSide-10: A prototype two-phase argon TPC for dark matter searches

As part of the DarkSide program of direct dark matter searches using two-phase argon TPCs, a prototype detector with an active volume containing 10 kg of liquid argon, DarkSide-10, was built and operated underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. A critically important parameter for such devices is the scintillation light yield, as photon statistics limits the rejection of electron-recoil backgrounds by pulse shape discrimination. We have measured the light yield of DarkSide-10 using the readily-identifiable full-absorption peaks from gamma ray sources combined with single-photoelectron calibrations using low-occupancy laser pulses. For gamma lines of energies in the range 122–1275 keV, we get light yields averaging 8.887±0.003(stat)±0.444(sys) p.e./keV_ee. With additional purification, the light yield measured at 511 keV increased to 9.142±0.006(stat) p.e./keV_ee.