Beach tar accumulation, transport mechanisms, and sources of variability at Coal Oil Point, California

A new field method for tar quantification was used at Coal Oil Point (COP), California to study the mechanisms transporting oil/tar from the nearby COP natural marine hydrocarbon seep field. This method segregates tar pieces into six size classes and assigns them an average mass based on laboratory or direct field measurements. Tar accumulation on the 19,927m(2) survey area was well resolved spatially by recording tar mass along twelve transects segmented into 4-m(2) blocks and then integrating over the survey area. A seasonal trend was apparent in total tar in which summer accumulations were an order of magnitude higher than winter accumulations. Based on multiple regression analyses between environmental data and tar accumulation, 34% of tar variability is explained by a combination of onshore advection via wind and low swell height inhibiting slick dispersion.     

A merine seismic refraction study of the Santa Barbara Channel,California

Seismic data from a 186 km-long refraction profile in the Santa Barbara Channel have been interpreted using several velocity inversion techniques. Data were obtained during two cruises in 1978 and 1979. Seismic arrivals from fifty explosions of between 1 and 300 lbs. of TNT were recorded by two ocean bottom seismometers, four permanent ocean bottom stations (University of Southern California), and much of the United States Geological Survey/California Institute of Technology southern California seismic network. Travel-time inversion gives a V _p of 6.3 km sec^-1 at 7.2 km depth above 7.2 km sec^-1 at 14.4 km depth at the western end of the channel. At the eastern end, solutions suggest three sediment refractors overlying V _p of 6.4 km sec^-1 at 7.3 km depth, above 7.0 km sec^-1 at 11.6 km depth, above mantle arrivals with V _p of 8.3 km sec^-1 at 21.8 km depth. The velocity structure determined by these methods suggests that the channel has a sedimentary fill of from 4 to 7 km and a layer of mafic plus ultramafic rock 14 to 17 km thick. The greatest thicknesses of sediments are restricted to east of Point Conception. The velocity data also suggest that the Franciscan formation may not be present beneath the channel. Rather, the crust here may represent a thickened portion of the Coast Range ophiolite.     

The sea-floor spreading history of the eastern Indian Ocean

The geologic history of the eastern Indian Ocean between northwest Australia and the Java Trench is known to involve two separate events of rifting and sea-floor spreading. Late Jurassic spreading in the Argo Abyssal Plain off northwest Australia was followed by Early Cretaceous spreading in the Cuvier and Perth Abyssal Plains off west Australia. However, the evolution and interaction of these events has not been clear. Mesozoic sea-floor spreading anomalies have been identified throughout the Argo Abyssal Plain that define a rifting event and subsequent northward spreading on the northwestern Australian margin at 155 m.y.b.p. Magnetic anomalies northwest of the Argo Abyssal Plain indicate a ridge jump to the south at about 130 m.y.b.p. that is approximately synchronous with east-west rifting along the southwestern Australian margin. The Joey Rise in the Argo Plain was probably formed by volcanism at the intersection of this new rift and the spreading ridge to the north. The southern and northern spreading systems were connected through the Exmouth Plateau which was stretched and faulted as spreading progressed. The RRR triple junction was formed at the intersection of the two spreading systems and appears to have migrated west along the northern edge of the Gascoyne Abyssal Plain. Spreading off northwest Australia cannot be easily related to simultaneous spreading in the west central Pacific via any simple tectonic scheme.     

太湖平原碟形洼地沉积物记录的距今8000年以来植被、气候与地貌演变

利用DGY孔沉积物的岩性、粒度及孢粉分析资料,探讨了太湖平原碟形洼地沉积物记录的8000年以来植被演化、气候波动,流域地貌环境的演变及其对海平面波动的响应。孢粉记录表明:本区距今8000~5000年木本植被由以落叶阔叶乔木和针叶乔木为主变为落叶阔叶乔木和常绿阔叶乔木为主,气候由温和略干转为暖热湿润;距今5000~4000年森林退缩,气候温和偏干;距今4000年左右出现低温事件;距今4000~3,000年木本植被以常绿阔叶乔木为主,气候温暖湿润;距今3000年以来木本植被主要为常绿阔叶乔木、落叶阔叶乔木和针叶乔木,气候总体温暖湿润,有波动变凉干趋势。岩性、粒度及孢粉记录综合显示本区距今8000~5000年发育潟湖相泥质粉砂,反映流域环境开放、与海连通;距今5000~4000年发育淡水沼泽,未受海水作用,反映水域缩小、流域环境封闭;距今4000~3000年水域扩大,并出现海水倒灌,反映内低外高的碟形洼地已经形成;距今3000年以来,发育湖沼平原,发生数次海水倒灌,反映碟形洼地地貌的进一步发育。     

A geological transect across the crest of the East Pacific Rise at 21°N latitude made from the deep submersible ALVIN

This paper is a report of geological observations made using the submersible ALVIN on the crest of the East Pacific Rise near 21°N. The profile is 6 km long and crosses a 5–10 km wide plateau which rises 100 m±above the rise flanks. At the axis are exposed fresh glassy pillow lavas with no sediment accumulation in a region termed the neovolcanic zone. This zone is about one kilometer wide and includes elongate ridges of pillow lavas and seventeen hydrothermal vent fields in the study area. Outside the neovolcanic zone the seafloor is extensively fissured in another zone which is up to two kilometers wide. The neovolcanic zone and the fissured zone are included within a rift valley or graben about 3 to 5 km wide and 50 m±deep. This rift valley is asymmetrically located on the west side of the axial plateau; the neovolcanic zone in the study area is asymmetrically located on the east side of the rift graben. Fissured crust is not common outside the rift graben or in the neovolcanic zone; similarly, large throw faults such as those which form the edges of the graben are not found outside of it. These observations can be interpreted according to a volcanic-tectonic cycle in which volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal circulation are followed by a tectonic phase which includes fissuring and vertical movements. When a new cycle starts it may involve a lateral shift of the spreading axis. Lavas along the dive profile are suggested to be no older than a few thousand years based on sediment accumulation. In contrast, seafloor spreading rates here predict crust up to 10⁵ yr old. This observation suggests that lavas from the neovolcanic zone can spread laterally about a kilometer or more and overlap on older crust.     

超高压变质作用不同阶段的流体变化：碧溪岭榴辉岩的氢、硼同位素分析

大别山碧溪岭榴辉岩中有三种含水矿物:多硅白云母、角闪石和黑云母,它们分别是超高压(UHP)阶段(即柯石英榴辉岩相阶段)或者石英榴辉岩相阶段、退变质后成合晶阶段和角闪岩相退变质阶段的产物,本文利用离子探针技术对它们进行了氢同位素和硼同位素的分析。三种矿物内部的同位素组成都是均一的,多硅白云母的δD为-105‰±9‰,δ~(11)B为-25.9‰±2.0‰;角闪石的δD为-100‰±9‰,δ~(11)B为-24.4‰±0.9‰;黑云母的δD为-65‰±4‰,δ~(11)B为-19.3‰±1.3‰。多硅白云母和角闪石的氢-硼同位素组成在误差范围内是相同的,而和黑云母则有明显的差别,这表明,从UHP阶段或者石英榴辉岩相阶段到随后的后成合晶阶段,变质流体是内部缓冲的,而在角闪岩相变质阶段,则有了外来流体的加入,这个流体是相对富集D和~(11)B的。碧溪岭榴辉岩矿物相对于其地壳原岩表现出低δ~(11)B的特征,说明俯冲过程中板块经历了强烈的脱硼。     

缓变型地球化学灾害:特征、模型和应用

“缓变型地球化学灾害”是通过长期积累而存在于土壤或沉积物中的包括重金属和有机污染物在内的环境污染物,因环境物理化学条件(例如温度、pH值、湿度、有机质含量等)的改变减小了环境容量,某种或某些形态的污染物大量地被重新活化和突然释放出来并造成严重生态和环境损害的灾害现象。这种灾害具有明显的特征,其定量数学模型可较完整地概括出环境系统从“干净”到“污染”再到“灾害”的整个过程,可以用于灾害的风险概率评估、预测、灾害爆发轨迹等方面的研究,为土壤污染防治和灾害预警提供了定量研究工具和可供实际采用的基本手段,对当前国土资源调查中的“生态环境地球化学评价”具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Transient discharges from marine hydrocarbon seeps: spatial and temporal variability

Marine hydrocarbon gas emissions at an intense, 20-m-deep seep in the Santa Barbara Channel, California were studied with a network of three turbine seep-tents and repeated seabed mapping. The tents observed two gas ejection events that are interpreted as due to blockage of constrictions in fractures and subsequent blow-through. Seabed mapping suggests that very large transient emission events occur, are related to tar, and are temporally and spatially variable. Transient emissions have the potential to more efficiently transport methane to the atmosphere than steady-state emissions. We present an electrical model analog of subsurface seepage useful for seepage flux interpretation. The model predicts that variations in resistance at one vent shifts some of its flux to other connected vents, and that the shift is not zero-sum, i.e., a resistance change at one vent causes a flow change for the overall fracture system.     

Side-scan sonar mapping and computer-aided interpretation in the Santa Barbara Channel,California

We have experimented with digital processing of side scan sonar data taken in a 14 sq-km area of continental shelf offshore Southern California. The data were FM tape recorded during the survey and digitized and processed later in the laboratory. The digital image processing included both image correction and image enhancement. Geometric corrections were applied to correct for image distortions due to variable ship position and speed and sonar slant range. Enhancements that were tried included contrast stretching, band-pass filtering, image restoration (inverse filtering), and various edge enhancements such as density slicing and standard deviation filters. Interpretive procedures were also attempted and included digital mosaicking, stereoscopic viewing, and falsecolor display. The most effective processing was geometric correction combined with contrast stretching. Mosaicking proved difficult due to imprecise navigation (±50 m), but was very effective in increasing the understanding of the geologic structure in the survey area.