The Cenozoic Volcanoes in Northeast China

There are more than 600 Cenozoic volcanic cones and craters with abeut 50 000 km2of lava flows in northeast China, which formed many volcanic clusters and shown the features of the continental rift - type volcanoes. Most volcanic activities in this area, especially in the east part of Songliao graben, were usually controlled by rifts and faults with the main direction of NE / NNE in parallel and become younger from the central graben towards its both sides, especially to the east continental margin. It is revealed that the volcanism occurred in northeast China was as strong as that occurred in Japan during the Miocene and the Quaternary. The Quaternary basalt that is usually distributed along river valley is called "valley basalt"while Neogene basalt usually distributed in the top of mounts is called "high position basalt". These volcanoes and volcanic rocks are usually composed of alkaline basalts with ultramafic inclusions, except Changbaishan volcano that is built by trachyte and pantellerite.     

广西中三叠统浊流流向及坡向

通过对广西中三叠统浊积岩系中溢堤流沉积的识别,结合同一鲍马层序Tc段斜层理倾向与其底部槽模走向不一致的分析,以及横向冲刷模、U形障碍冲刷痕等冲蚀构造、大型滑动模等压刻构造的认识,筛选出宽阔水道充填沉积、扇状体及分支水道沉积中底模构造的指向数据,来指示浊流主体流向,并区分出溢堤流流向。从而确定了本区中三叠世时的浊流主体流向为NW向,平均为300°。根据滑塌沉积中滑塌包卷层轴面、滑塌面的测定,确定凤山县金牙处的古坡向平均为322°,与浊流主体流向基本一致。还认为中三叠世时右江盆地沉积物源来自桂东和桂东南蚀源区,海水由其南的越南境内进入。     

Impact of land use covers upon karst processes in a typical Fengcong depression system of Nongla, Guangxi, China

The direction and intensity of karst processes can be deeply affected by soil physical and chemical variations which were resulted from land use. Taking Nongla Fengcong depression area, Mashan County, Guangxi as an example, authors discussed the impact of land use on karst processes based on the data of field limestone tablet. The results showed that the corrosional rates at varied soil depth are quite different. Corrosional rate in woodland and orchard is mostly bigger than 20 mg/a, which is much higher than that in tilled land and shrub. Generally, corrosional rate decreased from orchard, woodland, tilled land, fallow land and shrub successively, in which soil organic matter (OM) and soil pH are two major controlling factors: corrosion process is controlled remarkably by soil OM in woodland and orchard. The higher the organic matter content is and the less the pH value is, the higher the corrosional rate is. Owing to lower organic matter content, the corrosional rate is mainly affected by soil CO₂ in tilled land and shrub.     

Geographical distribution of fish catches and temperature variations in the northeast Atlantic since 1945

Warming of the northeast Atlantic is expected to affect the location and productivity of fish stocks. It is examined whether variations in catches of cod, herring, mackerel, anchovy and sardines in the ICES statistical areas are related to variations in ocean temperature. Temperatures at certain locations along the Norwegian coast are taken as proxies for temperatures in the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea. It is found that the catches of cod in the North Sea are inversely correlated with temperature and that recruitment and catches of cod in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea are positively related to temperature. There is also some indication of a positive correlation between temperature and the catches of mackerel in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea, and between temperature and the catches of sardines in the North Sea.     

Local remineralization patterns in the mesopelagic zone of the Eastern North Atlantic, off the NW Iberian Peninsula

The short-time-scale variability of the remineralization patterns in the domain of Eastern North Atlantic Central Waters (ENACW) off the NW Iberian Peninsula is studied based on biogeochemical data (oxygen, nutrient salts, total alkalinity, pH, dissolved organic matter and fluorescence of dissolved humic substances) collected weekly between May 2001 and April 2002. The temporal variability of inorganic variables points to an intensification of remineralization during the summer and autumn, with an increase of nutrients, total inorganic carbon and fluorescence and a decrease of oxygen. During the subsequent winter mixing, there is a biogeochemical reset of the system, with lower nutrients, total inorganic carbon and fluorescence and higher oxygen. In contrast to inorganic variables, the levels of dissolved organic matter in the ENACW seem to respond to short-term events probably associated with fast sinking particles, where solubilisation of organic matter prevails over remineralization. Applying a previously published stoichiometric model, we observed a vertical fractionation of organic-matter remineralization. Although there is a preferential remineralization of proteins and P compounds in the entire domain of ENACW, the percentage was higher in the upper ENACW (σ<27.10 kg/m³) than in the lower; the percentage of N and P compounds in the oxidised organic matter was >80% for the upper ENACW and 63% for the lower. Likewise, the redissolution of calcareous structures contributes about 6% and 13% to the carbon regenerated in the upper and lower layers of ENACW, respectively.     

Methane-dominated thermochemical sulphate reduction in the Triassic Feixianguan Formation East Sichuan Basin, China: towards prediction of fatal H2S concentrations

New sour pools have recently found in the Lower Triassic Feixianguan Fm carbonate reservoirs in the East Sichuan Basin in China with H₂S up to 17.4% by volume. A recent blowout from a well drilled into this formation killed hundreds of people as a result of the percentage concentrations of H₂S. In order to assess the origin of fatal H₂S as well as the cause of petroleum alteration, H₂S concentrations and the isotopes, δ³⁴S and δ¹³C have been collected and measured in gas samples from reservoirs. Anhydrite, pyrite and elemental sulphur δ³⁴S values have been measured for comparison. The high concentrations of H₂S gas are found to occur at depths >3000 m (temperature now at 100 °C) in evaporated platform facies oolitic dolomite or limestone that contains anhydrite nodule occurrence within the reservoirs. Where H₂S concentrations are greater than 10% its δ³⁴S values lie between +12.0 and +13.2‰ CDT. This is within the range of anhydrite δ³⁴S values found within the Feixianguan Fm (+11.0 to +21.7‰; average 15.5±3.5‰ CDT). Thus H₂S must have been generated by thermochemical sulphate reduction (TSR) locally within the reservoirs. Burial history analysis and fluid inclusion data reveal that the temperature at which TSR occurred was greater than about 130–140 °C, suggesting that the present depth-temperature minimum is an artifact of post-TSR uplift. Both methane and ethane were actively involved in TSR since the petroleum became almost totally dry (no alkanes except methane) and methane δ¹³C values become significantly heavier as TSR proceeded. Methane δ¹³C difference thus reflects the extent of TSR. While it is tempting to use a present-day depth control (>3000 m) to predict the distribution of H₂S in the Feixianguan Fm, this is an invalid approach since TSR occurred when the formation was buried some 1000–2000 m deeper than it is at present. The likelihood of differential uplift across the basin means that it is important to develop a basinal understanding of the thermal history of the Feixianguan Fm so that it is possible to determine which parts of the basin have been hotter than 130–140 °C.     

Wind-driven interannual variability over the northeast Pacific Ocean

Interannual variability of the sea surface height (SSH) over the northeast Pacific Ocean is hindcast with a reduced-gravity, quasi-geostrophic model that includes linear damping. The model is forced with monthly Ekman pumping fields derived from the NCEP reanalysis wind stresses. The numerical solution is compared with SSH observations derived from satellite altimeter data and gridded at a lateral resolution of 1 degree. Provided that the reduced gravity parameter is chosen appropriately, the results demonstrate that the model has significant hindcast skill over interior regions of the basin, away from continental boundaries. A damping time scale of 2 to 3 years is close to optimal, although the hindcast skill is not strongly dependent on this parameter.A simplification of the quasi-geostrophic model is considered in which Rossby waves are eliminated, yielding a Markov model driven by local Ekman pumping. The results approximately reproduce the hindcast skill of the more complete quasi-geostrophic model and indicate that the interannual SSH variability is dominated by the local response to wind forcing. There is a close correspondence the two leading empirical orthogonal modes of the local model and those of the observed SSH anomalies. The latter account for over half of the variance of the interannual signal over the region.