Occurrence of brackish water phytoplankton species at a closed coral reef in Nansha Islands, South China Sea

The phytoplankton assemblage of Zhubi Reef, a closed coral reef in Nansha Islands (South China Sea, SCS) was studied in June 2007. A total of 92 species belonging to 53 genera and four phyla have been identified. The dominant taxa in the lagoon were the diatom Chaetoceros and cyanobacteria Nostoc and Microcystis, while in reef flats were cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum, dinoflagellates Gymnodinium and Prorocentrum. The species richness and diversity were consistently lower in the lagoon than in reef flats. Classification and nMDS ordination also revealed significant dissimilarity in phytoplankton community structure between the reef flat and lagoon, with statistical difference in species composition and abundance between them (ANOSIM, p = 0.025). Nutrient concentrations also spatially varied, with ammonium-enrichment in the lagoon, while high Si-concentration existed in reef flat areas. Both nutrient levels and currents in SCS may play important roles in determining the composition and distribution of microalgae in Zhubi Reef and SCS.     

南黄海盆地“三明治”结构的页岩气保存条件探讨

为了促进南黄海盆地中-古生界页岩气勘探的早日突破,开展了美国福特沃斯盆地巴奈特页岩气藏、四川盆地页岩气藏以及贵州潜在页岩气藏保存条件的对比研究。结果显示,“三明治”结构的保存条件在页岩气成藏中至关重要,其中,“三明治”结构是指泥岩/页岩层与其顶、底板的灰岩/白云岩层构成的一种很好的储-盖组合。结合下扬子中-古生界发育特征以及南黄海崂山隆起所具有的古生代构造变形弱且隆起两侧边缘存在逆冲断层封堵等条件认为,南黄海盆地下寒武统和二叠系很可能存在“三明治”结构的页岩气保存条件,是南黄海页岩气获得突破的关键层段;而崂山隆起两侧边缘很可能是页岩气钻探的首选目标。     

南海台风生成前48 h环流特征及热力与动力条件

利用1979—2019年4—11月中国气象局上海台风研究所热带气旋最佳路径资料和静止卫星红外云图资料,筛选出189例南海台风,结合欧洲中期天气预报中心1°×1°再分析资料,分析南海台风生成前48 h至生成时刻的天气环流和动力、热力条件。结果表明：南海台风生成于热带洋面大范围的高海表温度、高水汽含量和高不稳定层结区,其生成前的主要环境背景环流是赤道辐合带、西南季风或东风波等;台风生成前扰动中心常常处于其北侧风切变小而南侧风切变大的过渡带中,少数扰动中心倾向于风切变小值中心附近,风切变与扰动的发展之间无显著相关;扰动中心一般与垂直涡度中心重合,垂直涡度中心是表征扰动自身强弱的物理量,但垂直涡度自身的大小与未来扰动发展趋势关系不明显,而Okubo-Weiss（OW）指数则对于扰动的发展以及扰动位置确定有较好的指示意义;在扰动发展过程中,扰动中心附近存在一个贯穿整个对流层的位涡柱,低层扰动部分与位涡柱中的中低层位涡相互作用,有利于扰动发展。     

张家口—渤海地震活动带中东段地壳剪切波分裂研究

张家口—渤海地震活动带是我国华北地区一条重要的地震带.该区域的主压应力场方向为近EW向.本文利用2005年9月-2010年9月首都圈地区地震台站记录到的数字波形资料,采用SAM方法(剪切波分裂系统分析法),研究讨论张家口 渤海地震带中东段地壳介质各向异性的空间分布特征.结果显示:张渤活动带中部及以东区域总体的优势方向明显,为近EW方向.横跨张渤活动带两侧的快剪切波优势偏振方向的空间分布显示,地震带北侧燕山隆起区内、地震带范围内和地震带南侧华北盆地内的快剪切波优势偏振方向均为近EW方向,差异不大.     

Investigating the molecular systematic relationships amongst selected Plesionika (Decapoda: Pandalidae) from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

Despite the high number of species and ecological diversity of pandalid shrimps, there has been no previous attempt to resolve evolutionary relationships of several genera using molecular tools. Although mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) is widely used in barcoding studies to delimit species boundaries, additional insights into phylogenetic affinities can be obtained, especially when used in combination with data from additional genes. The knowledge of molecular diversity is essential to understand phylogenetic relationships and will help systematic clarifications. Based on partial fragments of the 16S and COI genes, we have focused specifically on addressing the systematic relationships of the economically and ecologically important shrimp genus Plesionika within a framework of five genera from within the Pandalidae. Our results showed that species within Plesionika are substantially divergent when compared with other genera, exhibiting the highest average nucleotide divergence, with 0.1123 and 0.0846 in COI and 16S genes, respectively. In addition, sequence divergence was found to vary greatly within the genus Plesionika (COI/16S): 0.0247/0.0016 between Plesionika antigai and Plesionika heterocarpus and 0.1616/0.098 between Plesionika heterocarpus and Plesionika edwardsii. We did not find amino acid sequence divergence between P. heterocarpus and P. antigai compared with P. heterocarpus and P. edwardsii (8.10%, K2P distance). Three species of Plesionika (P. antigai, P. heterocarpus and Plesionika scopifera) appear well separated from other Plesionika species in both maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. The present study confirms the utility of COI over 16S as a genetic marker to resolve relationships between different species of Plesionika from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, in addition to species delimitation. The findings highlight the need to further review paraphyly within Plesionika in an attempt to recognize a concordance in the evolutionary history of Plesionika with major ecological and geological events.     

Comparative assessment of nitrogen fixation rate by 15N2 tracer assays in the South China Sea

Nitrogen fixation is one of the most important sources of new nitrogen in the ocean and thus profoundly affects the nitrogen and carbon biogeochemical processes. The distribution, controlling factors, and flux of N₂ fixation in the global ocean remain uncertain, partly because of the lack of methodological uniformity. The 15N₂ tracer assay (the original bubble method → the 15N₂-enriched seawater method → the modified bubble method) is the mainstream method for field measurements of N₂ fixation rates (NFRs), among which the original bubble method is the most frequently used. However, accumulating evidence has suggested an underestimation of NFRs when using this method. To improve the availability of previous data, we compared NFRs measured by three 15N₂ tracer assays in the South China Sea. Our results indicate that the relationship between NFRs measured by the original bubble method and the 15N₂-enriched seawater method varies obviously with area and season, which may be influenced by incubation time, diazotrophic composition, and environmental factors. In comparison, the relationship between NFRs measured by the original bubble method and the modified bubble method is more stable, indicating that the N₂ fixation rates based on the original bubble methods may be underestimated by approximately 50%. Based on this result, we revised the flux of N₂ fixation in the South China Sea to 40 mmol/(m2·a). Our results improve the availability and comparability of literature NFR data in the South China Sea. The comparison of the 15N₂ tracer assay for NFRs measurements on a larger scale is urgently necessary over the global ocean for a more robust understanding of the role of N₂ fixation in the marine nitrogen cycle.     

Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea

There are many large-scale Cenozoic sedimentary basins with plentiful river deltas, deep-water fans and carbonate platforms in the southern South China Sea. The Crocker Fan was deposited as a typical submarine fan during the late Eocene–early Miocene, and stretches extensively across the entire Sarawak–Sabah of the northern Borneo area. However, systematic analyses are still lacking regarding its sediment composition and potential source suppliers. No consensus has been reached yet on the provenance evolution and sedimentary infilling processes, which seriously impeded the oil-and-gas exploration undertakings. By combining with sedimentary-facies identification, heavy mineral assemblages, elemental geochemistry and detrital zircon U-Pb dating, this paper aims to generalize an integrated analysis on the potential provenance terranes and restore source-to-sink pathways of the Crocker Fan. In general, the Crocker Fan was initially formed over the Cretaceous–lower/middle Eocene Rajang Group by an angular Rajang unconformity. The continual southward subduction of the proto-South China Sea resulted in magmatic activities and subsequent regional deformation and thrusting along the Lupar Line in the northern Borneo. The lowermost Crocker sequence is featured by a thick conglomerate layer sourced from in-situ or adjacent paleo-uplifts. From the late Eocene to the early Miocene, the Crocker Fan was constantly delivered with voluminous detritus from the Malay Peninsula of the western Sundaland. The Zengmu Basin was widely deposited with delta plain and neritic facies sediments, while the Brunei-Sabah Basin, to the farther east, was ubiquitously characterized by turbiditic sequences. The Crocker Fan successions are overall thick layers of modest-grained sandstones, which formed high-quality reservoirs in the southern South China Sea region.