Feeding of benthic foraminifera on diatoms and sewage-derived organic matter: an experimental application of lipid biomarker techniques

Foraminiferal ecology at sewage outfalls has been investigated in numerous field studies over the last 30 years. Foraminifera have been frequently used as biomonitors of sewage pollution since they are both abundant and ubiquitous. Sewage outfalls have been demonstrated to have both positive and negative effects on adjacent foraminiferal populations, but it has never been shown conclusively why sewage affects foraminifera in these ways. Such information on the impact mechanisms of sewage pollution is essential if foraminifera are to be used as sewage pollution biomonitors, and also to understand the ecology of these important protists. One possible cause of a positive effect is the direct consumption of sewage-derived particulate organic matter (POM) by the foraminifera themselves. However this hypothesis has never been tested experimentally. Here, lipid (fatty acid and sterol) biomarker techniques were applied to study the ingestion of two potential food items by the foraminiferan Haynesina germanica in the laboratory. An experiment was conducted to confirm that the laboratory conditions were conducive to the survival and feeding of the foraminifera. In this experiment, foraminifera were provided with the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which was considered to be a suitable food source. After 2 weeks, a four-fold increase in the levels of the diatom fatty acid biomarker, 20:5(n-3), in the foraminifera suggested that they had fed actively on the diatoms and survived under the experimental conditions. These experimental conditions were used in the main experiment, where foraminifera were fed the POM from sewage. Lipid biomarker analysis indicated that H. germanica did not consume secondary treated sewage-derived POM. Neither fatty acid profiles in the sewage nor coprostanol, the diagnostic human faecal sterol, were detected in foraminifera after exposure to the potential sewage food source. However, foraminifera may have consumed bacteria associated with the sewage in the experiment. The findings are discussed in terms of current EU legislation on sewage treatment that has affected the composition of sewage discharges, and therefore possibly reduced the nutritive value of sewage to the marine benthos.     

用现今小震推断洪洞、临汾两次历史大震的震源断层

山西临汾地区是一个历史强震多发区，1303年和1695年发生了洪洞（M＝8）和临汾（M＝73／4）两次特大地震，这两次地震所在区域至今仍在持续不断的小地震活动，具有明显的大震区地震长期活动特征，我们对临汾无线传输地震台网记录的1987－1999年期间发生的1670次中，小地震重新进行了震源定位，根据对这些地震震源位置三维空间分布特征和震源机解制的分析，认为洪洞地震的震源断层应是长80km，埋深5－26km的NNE走向，高倾角的右旋走滑型断层，而临汾地震的震源断层是长70km，埋深5－22km的NWW走向，高倾角的左旋走滑型断层。这与洪洞，临汾两次大震极震区的等震线及该地区应力场的构造环境是吻合的。     

张家口—渤海地震带中小地震应力降分布特征

采用河北测震台网资料,分析了张家口—渤海地震带2008—2018年1220条ML≥2.0地震的应力降.结果表明,应力降可能与应力有关,并且随震级的增加而出现不同尺度的变化,该区域应力降优势分布为0.70—3.00 MPa.     

首都圈数字地震台网交互处理系统的定位稳定性探讨

选取了2003年1月~2004年4月河北省及邻省ML≥2.0级地震149个,针对每个地震记录的具体情况,综合考虑最大空隙角、近台距离、远台距离、台数等因素,选取台站分布相对合理的4~12个台站,利用首都圈数字地震台网交互处理系统提供的Hypo81、GELor-p、Genetic3种定位方法分别进行定位处理,将3种定位结果与全国地震月报目录进行对比得到定位偏差量,定量分析了3种定位方法的定位偏差量随空隙角的变化,探讨了Hypo81、GELor-p、Genetic3种定位方法的定位效果、稳定性及适用性。     

中印度洋海盆沉积岩心中稀土元素的成岩再活化作用

中印度洋海盆沉积岩心中稀土元素的成岩再活化作用ＪＮＰａｔａｎ等稀土元素（ＲＥＥ）是了解沉积物和沉积岩沉积环境的有效示踪剂。中印度洋海盆（ＣＩＢ）的硅质软泥稀土元素丰度通常比钙质软泥高,但是比红粘土低,并且显示出正的Ｃｅ／Ｃｅ异常。Ｔｌｉｇ和Ｓｔｅｉ...     

基于SEED波形文件的运行率统计

介绍了基于SEED波形文件运行率计算的技术和实现方法,介绍了SEED文件中标识时间的特殊掩码、时间片的具体格式和程序的实现,并给出了与其相关的部分源代码.     

遥测地震台网记录限幅时速报震级的估算

以遥测地震台网大量的观测资料为基础，拟合了限幅时间t的对数与近震震级ML的线性回归关系，结果显示二者有很好的相关性，相关系数为0．967，标准误差为0．2121。检验证实结果是可靠的。得出当台网记录限幅时，采用这种方法快速估算震级进行速报是可行的结论。     

Halo Profiles and the Nonlinear Two- and Three-Point Correlation Functions of Cosmological Mass Density

NGC 4945 is one of the brightest Seyfert galaxies on the sky at 100 keV, but is completely absorbed below 10 keV; its absorption column is probably the largest that still allows a direct view of the nucleus at hard X-ray energies. Our observations of it with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite confirm the large absorption, which for a simple phenomenological fit using an absorber with solar abundances implies a column of 4.5+0.4-0.4x1024 cm(-2). Using a more realistic scenario (requiring Monte Carlo modeling of the scattering), we infer the optical depth to Thomson scattering of approximately 2.4. If such a scattering medium were to subtend a large solid angle from the nucleus, it should smear out any intrinsic hard X-ray variability on timescales shorter than the light-travel time through it. The rapid (with a timescale of approximately 1 day) hard X-ray variability of NGC 4945 discovered by us with RXTE implies that the bulk of the extreme absorption in this object does not originate in a parsec-size, geometrically thick molecular torus. Instead, the optically thick material on parsec scales must be rather geometrically thin, subtending a half-angle less than 10 degrees, and it is likely to be the same disk of material that is responsible for the water maser emission observed in NGC 4945. Local number counts of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies show a large population of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) which are proposed to make up the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB). However, for this to be the case, the absorption geometry in the context of axially symmetric unification schemes must have the obscuring material subtending a large scale height-contrary to our inferences about NGC 4945-implying that NGC 4945 is not a prototype of obscured AGNs postulated to make up the CXRB. The small solid angle of the absorber, together with the black hole mass (of approximately 1.4x106 M( middle dot in circle)) from megamaser measurements, allows a robust determination of the nuclear luminosity, which in turn implies that the source radiates at approximately 10% of the Eddington limit.