Holocone paleovegetation and paleohydrology of a prairie pothold in southern Saskatchewan, Canada

The Andrews site represents one of countless prairie potholes found in areas of hummocky moraine on the northern Great Plains. Sediments from a depth of 5.8 to 3.1 m at this 'kettle-fill' site in the Missouri Coteau upland of southern Saskatchewan, Canada, provides a record of vegetation, climate, and hydrologic changes within a small, ca 30 m diameter, closed-drainage basin from ca 10.2 to 5.8 ka. Plant macrofossil analyses of 67 samples, 6 ¹⁴C ages, and stratigraphy were used to identify 5 zones, representing the paleohydrological changes that followed deglaciation in southern Saskatchewan.Results of this study indicate that with the melting of residual stagnant ice a pond (>2 m deep) with abundant aquatic, emergent, and shoreline plants developed in the basin at ca 10.2 ka and persisted until at least ca 8.8 ka. During this time there was a shift in upland vegetation from a white spruce forest (Zone II) to a deciduous parkland at ca 10 ka (Zone III). As climate warmed, brackish and alkaline conditions developed coincident with shallowing of the pond at the end of Zone III. The perennial water phase ended at ca 8.8 ka and was followed by a low-water stand lasting ca 1100 years. Prairie fires and slopewash from unstable slopes were dominant sedimentological processes until ca 7.7 ka (Zone IV). Water levels began to rise and between ca 7.7 and 5.8 ka a semi-permanent pond was established in a grassland setting (Zone V). After ca 5.8 ka this prairie pothole wetland became ephemeral, to the point that plant macrofossils could not be preserved, a situation continuing today. Interactions between climate change, variability in local groundwater supply, and sedimentological processes likely account for the paleohydrologic events reconstructed at the Andrews site.     

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of 1994 Lake Winnipeg cores

Conventional radiocarbon dating of Lake Winnipeg core samples has produced erroneously old ages due to the incorporation of pre-Quaternary carbon derived from carbonaceous rocks, soils and sediments in the watershed, as well as a hard-water effect resulting from leaching of calcareous rocks and soils. To circumvent these problems and develop a reliable chronology for the Lake Winnipeg core series, a total of 64 samples from the Lake Winnipeg core series were processed to isolate well preserved macrofossils suitable for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. Here we report six radiocarbon ages derived from plant macrofossils and ostracodes, and reconstruct aspects of the depositional environment of each sample based on the associated macrofossil assemblage.     

早白垩世Ruffordia goepperti的原位孢子及与分散孢子的关系

海金沙特的Ｒｕｆｆｏｒｄｉａ ｇｏｅｐｐｅｒｔｉ（Ｄｕｎｋｅｒ）Ｓｅｗａｒｄ是世界上早白垩世极为重要的蕨类植物。通过对比发现,Ｒｕｆｆｏｒｄｉａ ｇｏｅｐｐｅｒｔｉ原位孢子的形态和细微纹饰与地层中分散孢子Ｃｉｃａｔｒｉｃｏｓｉｓｐｏｒｉｔｅｓ ａｕｓｔｒａｌｉｅｎｓｉｓ（Ｃｏｏｋｓｏｎ）Ｐｏｔｏｎｉｅ和Ｃ．ｍｉｎｏｒ（Ｂｏｌｃｈ．）Ｐｏｃｏｃｋ一致,而且大化石与分散孢子的地史、地理分布范围也相同,     

Topographically moderated soil water seasons impact vegetation dynamics in semiarid mountain catchments: Illustrations from the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed,Idaho, USA

Water stored in soils, in part, controls vegetation productivity and the duration of growing seasons in wildland ecosystems. Soil water is the dynamic product of precipitation, evapotranspiration and soil properties, all of which vary across complex terrain making it challenging to decipher the specific controls that soil water has on growing season dynamics. We assess how soil water use by plants varies across elevations and aspects in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA, a mountainous, semiarid catchment that spans low elevation rain to high elevation snow regimes. We compare trends in soil water and soil temperature with corresponding trends in insolation, precipitation and vegetation productivity, and we observe trends in the timing, rate and duration of soil water extraction by plants across ranges in elevation and aspect. The initiation of growth-supporting conditions, indicated by soil warming, occurs 58 days earlier at lower, compared with higher, elevations. However, growth-supporting conditions also end earlier at lower elevations due to the onset of soil water depletion 29 days earlier than at higher elevations. A corresponding shift in peak NDVI timing occurs 61 days earlier at lower elevations. Differences in timing also occur with aspect, with most threshold timings varying by 14–30 days for paired north- and south-facing sites at similar elevations. While net primary productivity nearly doubles at higher elevations, the duration of the warm-wet period of active water use does not vary systematically with elevation. Instead, the greater ecosystem productivity is related to increased soil water storage capacity, which supports faster soil water use and growth rates near the summer solstice and peak insolation. Larger soil water storage does not appear to extend the duration of the growing season, but rather supports higher growing season intensity when wet-warm soil conditions align with high insolation. These observations highlight the influence of soil water storage capacity in dictating ecological function in these semiarid steppe climatic regimes.     

柴油机轴承设计、使用和维修的几个问题

在保证轴承安全而经济的运转条件下,轴承装配间隙取最小值,根据流体润滑理论,选择合适的润滑油;对于厚壁轴瓦,在磨合之后应调整到运转间隙。这样就可以充分利用轴承的使用寿命。     

Environmental effects on the reproduction and fecundity of the introduced calcareous sponge Paraleucilla magna in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

The calcareous sponge Paraleucilla magna (Porifera, Calcarea) has been the subject of several studies in the last decade. It was first described along the Brazilian coast, where it is considered cryptogenic, and was subsequently found in the Mediterranean, where it is considered invasive. The wide artificial distribution of this species allows us to compare different aspects of the biology of an introduced species in different locations. Here, we analysed the effects of selected environmental parameters on the reproductive dynamics of P. magna in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) over 18 months and compared our results with those obtained for the same species in the Mediterranean Sea. Specimens were collected monthly and analysed through histological methods. The density of reproductive elements in each month was calculated, and the effects of environmental parameters (photoperiod, precipitation, temperature, phytoplankton and bacterioplankton) were analysed using a regression tree analysis. Paraleucilla magna was reproductive throughout the study period. The densities of the reproductive elements (oocytes, embryos and larvae) showed no seasonality, and this species presented one of the highest reproductive efforts documented to date in the phylum Porifera (99.0 oocytes · mm^?3; 89.0 embryos · mm^?3; 319.0 larvae · mm^?3). The main environmental parameters related to the reproduction of P. magna were temperature, photoperiod and bacterioplankton. Temperature was the main driver associated with the densities of oocytes and embryos, while bacterioplankton was the main driver of larvae (positive relationships). In Rio de Janeiro, larvae were present and continuously released. This strategy is different from that observed in the Mediterranean, where a larger larval output was observed but only during the summer months. Our results show that P. magna is a species with a strong invasive potential, considering its high and continuous reproductive effort. This high fecundity stimulated by high temperatures may be a key factor contributing to the growth of P. magna populations and its invasion of new areas.     

冰激直立腿海洋平台疲劳寿命分析

由于渤海特殊环境条件与油藏分布决定了该海域导管架油气平台属于典型的柔性抗冰结构。多年现场观测发现,该类结构存在显著的冰激振动现象。冰振不仅能激起较大的甲板加速度响应,还会引起明显的导管架管节点交变应力。在结构设计与安全保障中进行疲劳分析及寿命估计是必要的。对于直立腿抗冰结构,精确的冰激疲劳寿命计算方法还不成熟。基于多年的现场监测,首先分析了冰与直立腿抗冰结构相互作用过程;其次,提出了冰激直立腿平台的疲劳寿命分析流程;最后,选取渤海某典型直立腿平台,利用ANSYS数值模拟,对比了稳态冰力和随机冰力下结构的疲劳损伤,进而计算出疲劳寿命。本研究为寒区柔性结构抗冰设计与安全保障提供了理论基础。     

基于GIS的土地储备业务管理系统的研究与实现

土地是支撑城市社会经济发展和基础设施建设的空间基础,作为自然物的土地具有价值属性。土地储备涉及市土地开发中心前期部、征地部、出让部、工程部、合同部、计财部等内部职能部门,涉及测绘、规划、房管、农业、城市更新、发改、人民政府等外部单位,交互业务较多,因此土地的规划、审批、征收、出让、工程等流程复杂、管理困难。本文介绍了土地储备业务管理系统的实现思路,系统实现建立业务审批体系。规范资金使用和管理,达到海量数据高效处理、图属档一体化、实时信息在线共享、流程优化协同办理、短信督办提醒的目标,满足对土地储备情况的宏观监管和微观审批,形成完善的土地储备业务管理体系。     

Microbial life in martian ice: A biotic origin of methane on Mars?

Despite the fact that microbial cells are unlikely to be found in the Martian soil in the near future, this paper is written on the assumption that some of the seasonally varying concentration of Martian methane is due to ongoing methanogenesis. It is first pointed out that life might have arisen on Mars first and been transported to Earth later. A case is made that an icy origin of life is more likely than a hot origin, especially if biomolecules take advantage of the high encounter rates and stability against hydrolysis, and that microorganisms feed on the ions that comprise eutectic solutions in ice. Although certain difficulties are avoided if RNA and DNA grow while adsorbed on clay grains, double strand-breaks of microbial DNA due to alpha radioactivity are a far greater threat to microbial survival on clay or other rock types than in ice. Developing a relation between the rate of microbial metabolism in ice and the experimentally determined rate of production of trapped gases of microbial origin, one can estimate the concentration of methanogens that could account for the methane production rate as a function of temperature of their habitat. The result, of order 1 cell cm⁻³ in the Martian subsurface, seems an attainable goal provided samples are taken from at least 1 or 2 m below the hostile surface of Mars. Instruments on NASA’s 2011 Mars Science Lab will measure stable isotopes for methane, water, and carbon dioxide, which on Earth served to distinguish abiotic, thermogenic, and microbial origins. Future measurements of chirality of biomolecules might also provide evidence for Martian life.     

Marine debris review for Latin America and the wider Caribbean region: from the 1970s until now, and where do we go from here?

The available literature on marine debris from Latin America and the Wider Caribbean Region was collected and linked, reviewing their methodologies and principal results (quantities, composition and spatial-temporal patterns). The study region comprises 52 coastal countries of which only 14 had registers of works on marine debris. A total of 70 works were available and 69 had their full contents accessed. Brazil dominated the available literature with 70% of the documents. Beaches were the most studied environment, and plastics the prevalent form of contamination in the whole region. The exposure of marine biota (species, type of contact, consequences) was highlighted. The studied region, although still little exploited by this sort of research, shows the same contamination patterns observed world-wide. We also contacted 40 researchers in the area, collecting scientific contributions, opinions and suggestions for improvement of this research field. Further advances and new (urgently needed) lines of research are also discussed.