Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Algal and Animal Communities in a Posidonia oceanica Meadow

Abstract. Investigations were carried out in a Posidonia oceanica meadow at Ischia (Gulf of Naples) along a depth gradient from 1 to 32 m in November 1979 and May 1981.
In these two months, different discontinuities were found at the sampling stations (1, 5, 10, 20, 30 m) at 10 m for leaf features, between 1 and 5 m for the algal community and the vagile fauna. The leaf features (length, surface, and biomass) along the transects show a delay in leaf production toward the deeper stations, below the thermocline.
The algal community shows in both seasons and in all stations a persistence of an encrusting layer, mostly represented by Corallinaceae and the brown alga Myrionema orbiculare , while at the shallowest station (1 m) the community is characterized by a more developed upright layer.
The vagile fauna of the leaf stratum, mostly represented by Polychaeta, Mollusca , and Crustacea (Peracarida and Decapoda) , shows a consistent zonation in both seasons along the transect. A superficial community at I m, characterized by a low number of species and individuals and specialized for high environmental energy levels, and a deeper community, persistent in time and more strictly related to the Posidonia oceanica meadows, are identified.
The influence of environmental factors and the importance of meadow structure for the zonation of the algal and animal communities are discussed.     

End Bearing Capacity of Drilled Shafts in Sand: A Numerical Approach

In this paper, a modeling procedure is carried out to numerically analyze the end bearing capacity of drilled shafts in sand. The Mohr–Coulomb elastic plastic constitutive law with stress dependent elastic parameters is used for all numerical analyses performed in this study. The numerical results are compared with the available experimental equations. It is seen that numerical results are in good agreement with experimental equations. The variation of the end bearing capacity of drilled shafts versus embedment depth is also studied. Numerical results show that with increase in pile embedment depth, the end bearing capacity increases. However, the rate of increase becomes smaller as the pile embedment depth increases. Also, numerical analyses show that, for equal settlement, the end bearing decreases with increase in the pile diameter. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to obtain the separate effect of each sand parameter on the end bearing capacity of drilled shafts, and the parameters that are most influential are identified.     

The earthquake sequence of May 1951 at Jucuapa, El Salvador

Three earthquakes that happened over two days in May 1951 caused extensive damage to villages in a small area of eastern El Salvador (Central America). Contemporary hypocentral solutions indicated focal depths, confirmed by re-calculations using available seismic data, of the order of 90 km, suggesting events associated with the subducted Cocos plate. Macroseismic observations strongly indicate that the earthquakes were of very shallow focus and this is supported by wave-form modeling and the appearance of seismograms recorded in Guatemala. A re-evaluation of the location and source characteristics for these events is presented, together with a fault plane solution and additional macroseismic evidence. The implications for seismic hazard and risk assessment in Central America, where shallow earthquakes of moderate magnitude, frequently occurring in clusters, pose the greatest threat to settlements which, like the area affected by these events, are concentrated along the axis of Quaternary volcanoes.     

基于HJ-1数据的木孜塔格峰地区雪深时空变化

以木孜塔格峰地区为研究区,从不同坡度、坡向的样方内测量雪深和采集光谱,通过分析归一化差分雪盖指数（Normalized Difference Snow Index,NDSI）、反照率、HJ-1卫星的红外波段反射率与雪深的相关关系,建立了适用于HJ-1星的积雪深度反演模型,估算出2012年4月14日-25日木孜塔格峰地区的雪深时空变化,并结合实测数据进行验证。结果表明:反照率反演模型的复相关系数为0.992;通过NDSI阈值区分混合雪盖像元和积雪像元,雪深估测精度可达92.78%。冰川区的反照率、NDSI与海拔的相关系数分别为0.626和0.733,且高海拔带反照率值明显高于低海拔带的反照率值。受西风带降雪的影响,非冰川区的北坡雪深值较大;西坡、南坡次之;东坡最小,且雪深最大值出现在坡度约等于10°处。雪深估测的相对误差随着样地的坡度增大而增加,坡度为15°时相对误差较大。     

深海沉积物分类与命名的参数指标和主成分分析

对于南海中部(118个表层沉积物样,水深82~4 420 m)、东部(106个表层沉积物样,水深700~4 508 m)海域的表层沉积物的粒度资料按小于200 m,200~2 000 m,大于2 000 m水深段对水深、平均粒径、黏土含量进行统计分析,结果表明从陆架到陆坡再到深海,平均粒径和黏土含量随水深增加呈非常有规律的变化;把大于2 000 m水深区域再细分为大于2 500 m,大于3 000 m,大于3 500 m,结果表明平均粒径和黏土含量随水深增加几乎无变化,在南海中部水深大于2 000 m海域平均粒径为3.39~3.54μm,黏土平均含量为54.91%~55.47%;在南海东部水深大于2 000 m海域平均粒径为3.25~3.37μm,黏土平均含量为53.91%~54.56%。研究表明2 000 m水深具有划分深海沉积物的指示意义。南海中部水深大于2 000 m海域黏土平均含量为55.19%,平均粒径为3.39μm;在南海东部水深大于2 000 m海域黏土平均含量为53.91%,平均粒径为3.37μm;在南海中部、东部水深大于2 000 m海域平均粒径均小于4μm,黏土平均含量均大于50%,表明深海沉积物粒度特征是平均粒径小于4μm和黏土平均含量大于50%。黏土含量是非生物组分的代表和划分深海沉积物类型的一个独立参数,钙质生物和硅质生物组分是另外两个独立参数。南海东部海域表层沉积物中55种元素总含量为47.50%,硅、铝、钛、钠、钾、磷、钙、镁、铁、锰十种主元素含量为47.03%,其他45种元素含量为0.47%,虽然沉积物来源复杂、成因不同,但沉积物化学主成分并不复杂,主要由前10种主元素和氧元素组成。沉积物主元素铝、钙、硅分别富集于黏土、钙质沉积、硅质沉积中。通过建立沉积物生源组分与碳酸钙、三氧化二铝、二氧化硅的量化关系,可把碳酸钙、生物二氧化硅作为钙质生物和硅质生物的两个替代参数。     

A Least-squares Window Curves Method for Interpretation of Magnetic Anomalies Caused by Dipping Dikes

We have developed a least-squares method to determine simultaneously the depth and the width of a buried thick dipping dike from residualized magnetic data using filters of successive window lengths. The method involves using a relationship between the depth and the half-width of the source and a combination of windowed observations. The relationship represents a family of curves (window curves). For a fixed window length, the depth is determined for each half-width value by solving one nonlinear equation of the form f (z) = 0 using the least-squares method. The computed depths are plotted against the width values representing a continuous curve. The solution for the depth and the width of the buried dike is read at the common intersection of the window curves. The method involves using a dike model convolved with the same moving average filter as applied to the observed data. As a result, this method can be applied to residuals as well as to measured magnetic data. Procedures are also formulated to estimate the amplitude coefficient and the index parameter. The method is applied to theoretical data with and without random errors. The validity of the method is tested on airborne magnetic data from Canada and on a vertical component magnetic anomaly from Turkey. In all cases examined, the model parameters obtained are in good agreement with the actual ones and with those given in the published literature.     

Seismic Activity Around and Under Krakatau Volcano,Sunda Arc: Constraints to the Source Region of Island Arc Volcanics

There is general agreement that calc-alkaline volcanic rocks at convergent plate margins are genetically related to the process of subduction (Ringwood, 1974; Maaloe and Petersen, 1981; Hawkesworth et al., 1997). However, opinions on the mode and site of generation of primary magma for island arc volcanism differ substantially. The site of generation of calc-alkaline magma is thought to be either in the mantle wedge (Plank and Langmuir, 1988; McCulloch and Gamble, 1991) or in the subducting slab (White and Dupré, 1986; Defant and Drummond, 1990; Edwards et al., 1993; Ryan and Langmuir, 1993). We present seismological evidence in favour of the latter concept. A distinctive seismicity pattern around and under the Krakatau volcano was identified during systematic studies of the SE Asian convergent plate margins by means of global seismological data. A column-like cluster of events, probably associated with the dynamics of the volcano, is clearly separated from the events in the Wadati-Benioff zone. The accuracy of hypocentral determinations of the events of the cluster does not differ from the accuracy of the events belonging to the subducting slab. The depths of the cluster events vary from very shallow to about 100 km without any apparent discontinuity. On the other hand, there is a pronounced aseismic gap in the Wadati-Benioff zone directly beneath the volcano at depths between 100-150 km. The Krakatau cluster connects this aseismic gap to the volcano at the surface. The pervasive occurrence of earthquakes in the continental wedge between the subducting slab and the Earth surface bears witness to the brittle character of the continental lithosphere and casts doubt on the existence of large-scale melting of mantle material. The aseismic gap (Hanu and Vank, 1985), interpreted by us as a partially melted domain occurring in subducted slabs in practically all active subduction zones that reach depths greater than 100 km, is here used as evidence for the location of the primary source region of island arc volcanics in the subducting plate.     

Change of Indonesian Throughflow outflow in response to East Asian monsoon and ENSO activities since the Last Glacial

The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) links upper ocean waters of the west Pacific and Indian Ocean, modulates heat and fresh water budgets between these oceans, and in turn plays an important role in global climate change. The climatic phenomena such as the East Asian monsoon and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exert a strong influence on flux, water properties and vertical stratification of the ITF. This work studied sediments of Core SO18462 that was retrieved from the outflow side of the ITF in the Timor Sea in order to investigate response of the ITF to monsoon and ENSO activities since the last glacial. Based on Mg/Ca ratios and oxygen isotopes in shells of planktonic foraminiferal surface and thermocline species, seawater temperatures and salinity of both surface and thermocline waters and vertical thermal gradient of the ITF outflow were reconstructed. Records of Core SO18462 were then compared with those from Core 3cBX that was recovered from the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP). The results displayed that similar surface waters occurred in the Timor Sea and the WPWP during the last glacial. Since ～16 ka, an apparent difference in surface waters between these two regions exists in salinity, indicated by much fresher waters in the Timor Sea than in the WPWP. In contrast, there is little change in difference of sea surface temperatures (SSTs). With regard to thermocline temperature (TT), it increased until ～11.5 ka since the last glacial, and then remained an overall unchanged trend in the WPWP but continuously decreased in the Timor Sea towards the late Holocene. Since ～6 ka, thermocline waters have tended to be close to each other in between the Timor Sea and the WPWP. It is indicated that intensified precipitation due to East Asian monsoon and possible ENSO cold phase significantly freshened surface waters over the Indonesian Seas, impeding the ITF surface flow and in turn having enhanced thermocline flow during the Holocene. Consequently, thermocline water of the ITF outflow was cooling and thermocline was shoaling towards the late Holocene. It is speculated that, in addition to strengthening of East Asian winter monsoon, increasing ENSO events during the late Holocene likely played an important role in influencing thermocline depth of the ITF outflow.     

Composition,abundance, distribution and seasonality of larval fishes in the shallow nearshore of the proposed Greater Addo Marine Reserve,Algoa Bay,South Africa

The larval fish assemblage was investigated in the shallow, nearshore region of a proposed marine protected area in eastern Algoa Bay, temperate South Africa, prior to proclamation. Sampling was conducted at six sites along two different depth contours at ∼5 m and ∼15 m to assess shore association. Larvae were collected by means of stepped oblique bongo net tows deployed off a ski-boat, twice per season for 2 years between 2005 and 2007. In total, 6045 larval fishes were collected representing 32 families and 78 species. The Gobiidae, Cynoglossidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Sparidae were the dominant fish families. Catches varied significantly among seasons peaking in spring with a mean of ∼200 larvae/100 m³. Mean overall larval density was higher along the deeper contour, at ∼15 m (40 larvae/100 m³). The preflexion stage of development dominated catches at the ∼5 m (80%) and ∼15 m (73%) depth contours. Body lengths of Argyrosomus thorpei, Caffrogobius gilchristi, Diplodus capensis, Heteromycteris capensis and Solea turbynei, all estuary associated species, were larger at the shallow sites nearer to shore. Larvae of coastal species that produce benthic eggs dominated catches (75%) in the shallow sites (∼5 m) but were less abundant (32%) farther from shore at the deeper (∼15 m) sites. All developmental stages of D. capensis, Engraulis capensis, H. capensis, Sardinops sagax and two Pomadasys species were found in the study area. It appears that some species use the shallow nearshore as a nursery area.     

瞬变电磁测深法的研究深度

研究发现,瞬变测深法研究深度除了与采样时间(采样间隔,起始和终止采样时间等)有关外,还与信号源强度、大地电导率、系统噪音水平以及仪器观测精度等因素有关,文中对研究深度与这些量之间的关系作了数学描述。