Census survey approach to quantifying īnanga spawning habitat for conservation and management

Here, we describe a methodology for quantifying the spawning habitat of īnanga (Galaxias maculatus), a protected native fish species. Our approach is demonstrated with a survey of the Heathcote/ōpāwaho following the Canterbury earthquakes that produced unexpected findings. Spawning habitat was detected over a 2.5?km reach and the area occupied by spawning sites (75m²) was much larger than in previous records (ca.?21m²). Sites dominated by the invasive Phalaris arundinaceae were found to support high egg numbers. Spawning has not previously been recorded on this species and it is identified in the literature as a threat to spawning habitat. Considerable spatio-temporal variation was also detected in the location of spawning sites and pattern of egg production. Together, these aspects illustrate the need for a comprehensive survey methodology to reliably quantify spawning habitat. The Heathcote/ōpāwaho example shows the utility of our census approach for achieving this, and supporting habitat conservation objectives.     

Managing land-use effects on Northland dune lakes: lessons from the past

The Northland region of New Zealand includes numerous high-value, macrophyte-dominated dune lakes. Recent water policy reforms offer limited guidance on managing for aquatic macrophytes. In addition, dune lake histories are poorly known as regular monitoring dates to 2005 AD. Here, ca. 4000 years of lake functional behaviour is reconstructed from sedimentary archives in two Northland dune lakes (Humuhumu and Rotokawau). Results demonstrated that macrophyte dominance is sensitive to catchment erosion and hydrological drawdown. Degradation of macrophyte communities occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, earlier at Lake Humuhumu than Lake Rotokawau (post-1880 AD and post-1930 AD, respectively). In both lakes, increased erosional influx reduced macrophyte productivity, before later increases to wider trophic state (post-1970 AD). Lake-level decline is linked to increased nutrient loading at Lake Rotokawau but less so, Lake Humuhumu which is more strongly groundwater-fed. In Northland dune lakes, water-level reduction and erosional influx from land use have driven macrophyte degradation.     

The anatomy of a disaster, an overview of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina created the one of the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, resulting in over 1600 fatalities and $30B in direct economic losses in southern Louisiana. The Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines experienced the highest surge level recorded in North America and Katrina-generated waves in the Gulf of Mexico that equaled the highest previously measured by NOAA buoys. What happened in New Orleans epitomizes the risk of living below sea level in a coastal city, depending on structures that were the result of considerable compromise and piecemeal funding and construction. The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force was established to examine the performance of the New Orleans and southeast Louisiana hurricane protection system and provide real-time input to the repairs and rebuilding of the system. In addition to this atypical just-in-time forensic analysis, the task force examined the risk of living in New Orleans prior to and following the repairs to the hurricane protection system. Much of the forensic analysis depended on modeling and simulation of hurricane surge and waves. With virtually all measurement instruments swept away by Katrina, only models and high-water marks were available to recreate the conditions that the structures experienced during the storm. Because of the complexities of the region and the processes involved, simulation of hurricane surge and waves required many fresh ideas and new approaches and these topics, along with new concepts for future planning and design, are the focus of this special issue. Yet, the need to influence the repair and rebuilding of the damaged structures prior to the next hurricane season (roughly 9 months) dictated using existing computational tools that were ready to go. The same modeling and simulation approach was put to work to define the surge and wave hazard New Orleans faces for the future. To put this important body of work in context, this paper provides a broad overview of the entire scope of work of the task force and summarizes its principal findings.     

Pipe laying simulation with an active reel drive

Dynamic and quasi-static models for analysis of a pipe lay spread are presented in the paper. Depending on the type of a pipe, spooling it on a big drum (reel) may cause plastic deformations. When the pipe is reeled out at sea, again it undergoes plastic deformations. In order to model such a nonlinear behaviour, a model, which includes both elasto-plastic material characteristics and large deformations, is required. Discretisation of the pipe is performed by means of the Rigid Finite Element Method (RFEM), which allows us to study static and dynamic problems, taking into account required properties of the model. Different sea conditions are simulated and analysed. It is shown how operational conditions can limit the ability of laying operation by a dedicated vessel, due to an unstable system response. The second part of the paper presents an upgrade of a passive reel drive by application of an active drive. In the model used for control applications, the pipe is modelled by a neural network. This allows us to perform a real-time calculations. In this fast-response calculation model, nonlinear aspects of the system are taken into account. The improvements in a pipe laying vessel performance are presented by some results of numerical simulations. The conclusions are also formulated.     

中国海滑蛤属Liocyma(双壳纲:帘蛤科)一新种

滑蛤属至今已发现的种都分布于北半球,这些种类都是冷水种。新种Liocyma chinensis是一个温水种,采自渤海莱州湾,这是滑蛤属在亚洲大陆最南的分布界线。新种的发现,增加了黄、渤海动物区系中的冷水性因素。     

Reservoir potential of Late Cretaceous terrestrial to shallow marine sandstones,Taranaki Basin,New Zealand

Late Cretaceous coals and coaly source rocks are the main source of hydrocarbons in the Taranaki Basin, yet to date there have not been any hydrocarbon discoveries within Cretaceous strata, and sandstone distribution and reservoir quality for this interval have been poorly understood. The Late Cretaceous sediments were deposited in several sub-basins across Taranaki, with their distribution largely determined by sediment supply, subsidence, and sea level change. In this study, we describe potential reservoir facies in well penetrations of Cretaceous strata in Taranaki, as well as from outcrop in northwest Nelson, on the southern edge of the basin.     

Private rights,public benefits: Industry-driven seabed protection

New Zealand has a large exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that contains a variety of marine habitats and commercially-important species. The commercial fishing industry operating within New Zealand's EEZ is of significant value to the economy and fisheries resources are managed through the extensive use of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs). One of the benefits of ITQs has been to better align some of the private incentives of quota owners with the public interest. These incentives contributed to an initiative proposed by the fishing industry to close large areas of New Zealand's EEZ to protect the seabed from trawling. These closed areas are termed benthic protection areas (BPAs) and protect the benthic biodiversity of about 1.1 million square kilometres of seabed—approximately 30% of New Zealand's EEZ. A significant proportion of New Zealand's known seamounts and active hydrothermal vents are protected by these closed areas. We describe and discuss the criteria used to select BPAs and some of the criticism of this marine protection initiative. We argue that the assignment of strong property rights in fishing resources was an important precondition to an industry initiative that has a significant public benefit. Where private and public interests are well aligned, government can adopt an enabling and facilitation role, ceding direct control of processes in order to get the results the align with the public interest.     

High‐ to ultrahigh‐temperature metamorphism in the lower crust: An example resulting from Hikurangi Plateau collision and slab rollback in New Zealand

Lower crustal xenoliths erupted from an intraplate diatreme reveal that a portion of the New Zealand Gondwana margin experienced high‐temperature (HT) to ultrahigh‐temperature (UHT) granulite facies metamorphism just after flat slab subduction ceased at c. 110–105 Ma. P–T calculations for garnet–orthopyroxene‐bearing felsic granulite xenoliths indicate equilibration at ~815 to 910°C and 0.7 to 0.8 GPa, with garnet‐bearing mafic granulite xenoliths yielding at least 900°C. Supporting evidence for the attainment of HT and UHT conditions in felsic granulite comes from re‐integration of exsolution in feldspar (~900–950°C at 0.8 GPa), Ti‐in‐zircon thermometry on Y‐depleted overgrowths on detrital zircon grains (932°C ± 24°C at aTiO₂ = 0.8 ± 0.2), and correlation of observed assemblages and mineral compositions with thermodynamic modelling results (≥850°C at 0.7 to 0.8 GPa). The thin zircon overgrowths, which were mainly targeted by drilling through the cores of grains, yield a U–Pb pooled age of 91.7 ± 2.0 Ma. The cause of Late Cretaceous HT‐UHT metamorphism on the Zealandia Gondwana margin is attributed to collision and partial subduction of the buoyant oceanic Hikurangi Plateau in the Early Cretaceous. The halt of subduction caused the fore‐running shallowly dipping slab to rollback towards the trench position and permitted the upper mantle to rapidly increase the geothermal gradient through the base of the extending (former) accretionary prism. This sequence of events provides a mechanism for achieving regional HT–UHT conditions in the lower crust with little or no sign of this event at the surface.     

山区年、月平均温度推算方法的研究

本文提出了山区年、月平均温度空间分布的推算方法,并提供了相应的小地形温度订正值。该方法在福建省沙溪流域山区实际应用的结果表明,能有效地揭示山区年、月平均温度空间分布的宏观与微观变化,效果满意,精度较高。     

Subduction and back-arc activity at the Hikurangi convergent Margin,New Zealand

The Hikurangi Margin is a region of oblique subduction with northwest-dipping intermediate depth seismicity extending southwest from the Kermadec system to about 42°S. The current episode of subduction is at least 16–20 Ma old. The plate convergence rate varies along the margin from about 60 mm/a at the south end of the Kermadec Trench to about 45 mm/a at 42°S. The age of the Pacific lithosphere adjacent to the Hikurangi Trench is not known.The margin divides at about latitude 39°S into two quite dissimilar parts. The northern part has experienced andesitic volcanism for about 18 Ma, and back-arc extension in the last 4 Ma that has produced a back-arc basin onshore with high heaflow, thin crust and low upper-mantle seismic velocities. The extension appears to have arisen from a seawards migration of the Hikurangi Trench north of 39°S. Here the plate interface is thought to be currently uncoupled, as geodetic data indicate extension of the fore-arc basin, and historic earthquakes have not exceededM _s=7.South of 39°S there is no volcanism and a back-arc basin has been produced by downward flexure of the lithosphere due to strong coupling with the subducting plate. Heatflow in the basin is normal. Evidence for strong coupling comes from historic earthquakes of up to aboutM _s=8 and high rates of uplift on the southeast coast of the North Island.The reason for this division of the margin is not known but may be related to an inferred increase, from northeast to southwest, in the buoyancy of the Pacific lithosphere.