Flooding of the continental shelves as a contributor to deglacial CH4 rise

The transition from the last glacial and beginning of Bølling–Allerød and Pre‐Boreal periods in particular is marked by rapid increases in atmospheric methane (CH₄) concentrations. The CH₄ concentrations reached during these intervals, ～650–750 ppb, is twice that at the last glacial maximum and is not exceeded until the onset of industrialization at the end of the Holocene. Periods of rapid sea‐level rise as the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets retreated and associated with ‘melt‐water pulses’ appear to coincide with the onset of elevated concentrations of CH₄, suggestive of a potential causative link. Here we identify and outline a mechanism involving the flooding of the continental shelves that were exposed and vegetated during the glacial sea‐level low stand and that can help account for some of these observations. Specifically, we hypothesize that waterlogging (and later, flooding) of large tracts of forest and savanna in the Tropics and Subtropics during the deglacial transition and early Holocene would have resulted in rapid anaerobic decomposition of standing biomass and emission of methane to the atmosphere. This novel mechanism, akin to the consequences of filling new hydroelectric reservoirs, provides a mechanistic explanation for the apparent synchronicity between rate of sea‐level rise and occurrence of elevated concentrations of ice core CH₄. However, shelf flooding and the creation of transient wetlands are unlikely to explain more than ～60 ppb of the increase in atmospheric CH₄ during the deglacial transition, requiring additional mechanisms to explain the bulk of the glacial to interglacial increase. Similarly, this mechanism has the potential also to play some role in the rapid changes in atmospheric methane associated with the Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

冻融循环对不同孔隙率页岩相似材料影响的试验研究

基于地质力学模型试验的相似理论,针对寒区岩体工程,分别制作了5种不同孔隙率的页岩相似材料,进行冻融循环试验,探究不同孔隙率的页岩相似材料在冻融前后,其主要物理力学参数的变化规律。试验研究表明：在冻融循环后,页岩相似材料的单轴抗压强度、三轴抗压强度、弹性模量、粘聚力、内摩擦角有不同程度的减小,孔隙率、泊松比有不同程度的增大。页岩相似材料的物理力学参数受冻融循环的影响随孔隙率的增大先增大后减小,孔隙率处于9.4%~13.6%时,受冻融循环影响最大;孔隙率处于5.8%~9.4%时,受冻融循环的影响随孔隙率的增大有增大的趋势;孔隙率处于13.9%~19.1%时,受冻融循环的影响随孔隙率的增大有减小的趋势。研究结果可以为西部寒区的岩土工程建设和减灾提供相关的科学依据。     

煤渣改良土的抗冻能力及损伤特性研究

为研究煤渣改良土作为季节冻土区路基填料的抗冻能力,以不同煤渣掺量及不同养护龄期下的煤渣改良土为研究对象,利用GDS三轴试验系统开展了不同冻融次数下改良土的三轴压缩试验,获得了最佳的煤渣掺量及养护时间数据,提出冻融及加载综合影响下改良土的总损伤变量,并据此建立了损伤本构关系。结果表明：改良土的抗冻能力随着煤渣掺入量的增大出现先增强后减弱的变化趋势,随龄期的增长而逐渐增强。冻融循环对改良土物理力学性质的影响主要集中在前5次循环过程,超过5次后影响逐渐减弱。冻融加载总损伤变量能够较好地反映冻融及加载过程中改良土性质的劣化,据此建立的损伤本构关系具有一定的精度,可以为季节冻土区煤渣改良土路基工程提供参考。     

冻融循环下加筋膨胀土边坡稳定性模型试验

控制边坡在冻融循环中的劣化作用,可保障季节冻土区域膨胀土边坡长期稳定。为确定土工格栅对膨胀土边坡在冻融循环过程中的稳定效果与工程意义,本文开展了膨胀土边坡模型试验,对比冻融过程中边坡内土压力、含水率、位移、温度变化。结果表明：土工格栅可约束膨胀土冻融裂缝,使裂缝发育更为均匀一致,同时减小边坡位移;加筋材料能抑制边坡水分迁移与热传导并减小土压力变化;对膨胀土边坡加筋处理可显著降低含水率波动幅值,从而减小膨胀土受含水率变化引发的胀缩劣化;不同于普通黏土,膨胀土边坡冻融循环中呈现冻缩融胀特点,而边坡加筋可有效提升冻土区膨胀土边坡的冻融稳定性,具有工程应用价值。     

Facies character and geochemical signature in the late Quaternary meteoric diagenetic carbonate succession at the Xisha Islands,South China Sea

The late Quaternary shallow-water carbonates have been altered by a variety of diagenetic processes, and further influenced by high-amplitude global and regional sea level changes. This study utilizes a new borehole drilled on the Yongxing Island, Xisha Islands to investigate meteoric diagenetic alteration in the late Quaternary shallowwater carbonates. Petrographic, mineralogical, stable isotopic and elemental data provide new insights into the meteoric diagenetic processes of the reef limestone. The results show the variation in the distribution of aragonite,high-Mg calcite(HMC) and low-Mg calcite(LMC) divides the shallow-water carbonates in Core SSZK1 into three intervals, which are Unit I(31.20–55.92 m, LMC), Unit II(18.39–31.20 m, aragonite and LMC) and Unit III(upper 18.39 m of core, aragonite, LMC and HMC). Various degrees of meteoric diagenesis exist in the identified three units. The lowermost Unit I has suffered almost complete freshwater diagenesis, whereas the overlying Units II and III have undergone incompletely meteoric diagenesis. The amount of time that limestone has been in the freshwater diagenetic environment has the largest impact on the degree of meteoric diagenesis. Approximately four intact facies/water depth cycles are recognized. The cumulative depletion of elements such as strontium(Sr),sodium(Na) and sulphur(S) caused by duplicated meteoric diagenesis in the older reef sequences are distinguished from the younger reef sequences. This study provides a new record of meteoric diagenesis, which is well reflected by whole-rock mineralogy and geochemistry.     

Global distribution of summer chlorophyll blooms in the oligotrophic gyres

Chlorophyll blooms consistently develop in the oligotrophic NE Pacific in late summer, isolated from land masses and sources of higher chlorophyll waters. These blooms are potentially driven by nitrogen fixation, or by vertically migrating phytoplankton, and a better understanding of their ubiquity could improve our estimate of the global nitrogen fixation rate. Here, global SeaWiFS chlorophyll data from 1997 to 2007 are examined to determine if similar blooms occur in other oligotrophic gyres. Our analysis revealed blooms in five other areas. Two of these are regions where blooms have been previously identified: the SW Pacific and off the southern tip of Madagascar. Previously, unnoticed summer blooms were also identified in the NE and SW Atlantic and in a band along 10°S in the Indian Ocean. There is considerable variation in the intensity and frequency of blooms in the different regions, occurring the least frequently in the Atlantic Ocean. The blooms that develop along 10°S in the Indian Ocean are unique in that they are clearly associated with a hydrographic feature, the 10°S thermocline ridge, which explains the bloom within a conventional upwelling scenario. The environment and timing of the blooms, developing in oligotrophic waters in late summer, are conducive to both nitrogen fixers and vertically migrating phytoplankton, which require a relatively stable water column. However, the specific locations of the chlorophyll blooms generally do not coincide with areas of maximum levels of nitrogen fixation or Trichodesmium. The NE Pacific chlorophyll blooms develop in a region with a very high SiO₄/NO₃ ratio, where silicate will not be a limiting nutrient for diatoms. The blooms often develop between eddies, wrapping around the periphery of anti-cyclonic features. However, none of the areas where the blooms develop have particularly high eddy kinetic energy, from either a basin-scale or a mesoscale perspective, suggesting that other factors, such as interactions with a front or dynamics associated with the critical latitude, operate in conjunction with the eddy field to produce the observed blooms.     

Spatiotemporal aspects of silica buffering in restored tidal marshes

Losses of pelagic diatom production resulting from silica limitation have not only been blamed for toxic algal blooms, but for the reduction in ability of coastal food webs to support higher trophic levels. Recent research has shown the importance of advective seepage water fluxes of dissolved silica (DSi) from freshwater marshes to pelagic waters during moments of riverine Si-limitation. In this study, we investigated the potential impact of recently installed new tidal areas along the Schelde estuary, located in former polder areas and characterized by so-called controlled reduced tidal regimes (CRT). Nine mass-balance studies were conducted in a newly constructed CRT in the freshwater Schelde estuary. During complete tidal cycles both DSi and amorphous silica (ASi) concentrations were monitored at the entrance culverts and in different habitats in the marsh. A swift DSi-delivery capacity was observed despite the shifted spatiotemporal frame of exchange processes compared to reference marshes. As silica-accumulating vegetation is not yet present, and difference with reference marshes’ deliveries is surprisingly small, we indicate diatomaceous debris and phytoliths to be the main silica source. Although further research is necessary on the driving forces of the different processes involved, restoration of former agricultural areas under CRT-regime provide the potential to buffer silica in the estuary.     

地幔不均一性与地幔循环的多维表征和原因思考

地幔早先经核- 幔- 壳分异形成,后受不同尺度对流和循环的影响,因而具有不均一性特征。近三十年来,地幔化学通过研究大洋玄武岩发现了多样地幔端元和非放射性同位素证据并证明了地幔不均一性,逐渐建全了地幔地球化学体系。然而,地幔不均一性如何对应于时空尺度的地幔循环,以及地球演化如何影响地幔不均一性等,仍不清楚。此外,地球物理研究显示,岩石圈厚度差异、中下地幔的波速异常体以及俯冲板片形态的观测为纵横向对流系统提供了空间不均一性证据支持。联合地球化学和地球物理手段对研究地幔不均一性至关重要,用好透视地幔成分与结构的“双目镜”已成为共识。本文从地幔不均一性结合地球化学场、地球物理的不同表现形式,以及现今及历史时期的洋陆格局的对比,多维度联系地幔循环和演化,思考了超大陆旋回与地幔不均一化的内在逻辑。强调了从全球演化角度看地幔不均一性的重要性和提出多手段联合建立地幔循环驱动模型的展望。     

中更新世气候转型时期南海生态环境的南北差异

中更新世气候转型在南海浮游有孔虫、氧同位素和其它生物记录上主要反映在900 ka BP前后发生高频率变化,特别是指示表层水骤然降温。北部冬季表层水温从24~25℃降至17~28℃,而南部也从26~27℃降至23~24℃。总的降温趋势与开放西太平洋一致,直接反映了西太平洋暖池在900 ka BP之后MIS22期间有明显的减弱。表层水大幅度降温还发生在后继的MIS 20、18、16几大冰期,说明主要冰期旋回周期由41 ka转变为100 ka经历了长达400 ka的过渡时期,并且冬季风增强也在过渡时期的后半段最明显。南海南北生物组合和δ18O值的差异,突出了中更新世气候转型期边缘海区南北气候梯度反差和冬季风在冰期增强的讯号。结论是：生态环境系统反应总体表现与冰期旋回一致的同时,还包含了独特的地区性系统演变特征。但是,南海—西太平洋地区在0.9 Ma BP前后表层海水盐度因东亚冬季风和海平面下降的定量变化,以及这些变化对气候转型时期海—气耦合过程和生态环境系统的影响,尚缺乏足够的资料和证据。