Effect of environmental factors on the flora of alluvial fans in southern Sinai

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the floristic and structural characteristics of simple alluvial fan vegetation of southern Sinai and to relate them to environmental variation. The main question addressed was: how does the floristic composition of fan habitats, species richness and life-form vary in relation to environmental change? Thirty-seven alluvial fans, randomly selected in two mainwadis(WadiFeiran andWadiDahab) were analysed quantitively. Two-way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) classification and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were applied in successive stages of the data analysis to describe vegetational variation in relation to physical gradients. Seven main clusters of fans were defined on the basis of environmental variation. These clusters are divided into three main groups of species richness. Species richness varied along a moisture gradient. The richest fans were the driest habitats, indicating that maximum species richness did not occur at high moisture availability. The moisture gradient is a complex gradient correlated with elevation, slope, climatic aridity, soil texture and the nature of the soil surface. Fine sand, silt plus clay and calcium carbonate showed significant differences between the internal groups and subgroups of the first and second level of the TWINSPAN classification.     

The paleoclimate of the eastern desert of Jordan during marine isotope stage 9

Two Cardium horizons from the topmost Azraq Formation in the eastern desert of Jordan were investigated and dated by U/Th at 330 ka; MIS 9. Fossil diversity and abundance, especially for Charophytes and gastropods with the absence of palygorskite, dolomite and evaporites, suggest the presence of a fresh water lake changing to a brackish environment at certain time intervals. A lake or possibly several smaller and shallower lakes occupied an area of about 50 km wide within the Azraq Basin. The present-day arid climate cannot support the presence of lakes in the eastern desert of Jordan, and thus MIS 9 in Jordan must have been much wetter. The source of humidity was most probably more intense Mediterranean cyclones associated with warmer than present MIS 9. However, the possibility of summer monsoon rain from the south cannot be fully excluded.     

Variations in trace element geochemistry in the Seine River Basin based on floodplain deposits and bed sediments

Between 1990 and 1995 a series of bed sediment, suspended sediment and fresh floodplain samples were collected within the Seine River Basin, in France, to evaluate variations in trace element geochemistry. Average background trace element levels for the basin were determined from the collection and subsequent analyses of bed sediment samples from small rural watersheds and from a prehistoric (5000 BP) site in Paris. Concentrations are relatively low, and similar to those observed for fine‐grained bed sediments from unaffected areas in the United States and Canada. However, the concentrations are somewhat higher than the reference levels presently adopted by French water authorities for areas north of the Seine Basin, which have similar bedrock lithologies. Downstream trace element variations were monitored in 1994 and 1995 using fresh surficial floodplain samples that were collected either as dried deposits a few days after peak discharge, or immediately after peak discharge (under ≤30 cm of water). Chemical comparisons between fresh floodplain deposits, and actual suspended sediments collected during flood events, indicate that, with some caveats, the former can be used as surrogates for the latter. The floodplain sediment chemical data indicate that within the Seine Basin, from the relatively unaffected headwaters through heavily affected urban streams, trace element concentrations vary by as much as three orders of magnitude. These trace element changes appear to be the result of both increases in population as well as concomitant increases in industrial activity. (This article is a US government work and is in the public domain in the United States.)     

Growth of estuarine fish is associated with the combined concentration of sediment contaminants and shows no adaptation or acclimation to past conditions

We tested whether the growth rates of small benthic fish (Gillichthys mirabilis) in three southern California estuaries corresponded with the local concentrations of contaminants. Fish originating from each estuary were transplanted to cages in each estuary in two reciprocal transplant experiments. The growth rates of caged fish, and the size-distribution of natural populations, showed the same pattern of difference among estuaries. Twelve metals and organic contaminants occurred in bulk sediments at concentrations close to their individual ERL values, and a simple index of their combined concentration (the mean ERL quotient) was inversely correlated to the growth of caged fish. Metals in the water column occurred at lower concentrations, relative to toxicity thresholds, than those in sediments and were unrelated to fish growth. Fish used in the field caging experiments, and other fish held in the laboratory under constant conditions, showed no difference in growth according to their estuary of origin. Fish originating from different estuaries also showed no consistent differences in their tissue burden of organic contaminants. Our results thus suggested no genetic adaptation or physiological acclimation to the past contaminant regime, but revealed a possible association between fish growth rates and the combined concentration of multiple sediment contaminants.     

石英原料在太阳能产业及其他高科技工业中的应用前景——以哈萨克斯坦和埃及为例(英文)

人类开发应用石英具有悠久的历史:早在石器时代,人类就曾将石英作为装饰品、工具、法器、武器、日用品等应用;在工业时代,石英主要作为玻璃原料及冶金熔剂使用;当代,石英广泛应用于许多工业和高科技领域。近年来,石英作为可再生能源及其它高科技领域用的材料,特别是以石英为原料制备多晶硅及单晶硅作为微电子学材料及太阳能利用材料方面展示了广阔的前景。但这个领域对石英纯度的要求很高,通过传统的提纯和晶体生长技术将石英转化为硅很不经济,因为传统方法大量使用氯、氯化氢及四氯化硅对环境有负面影响。而开发闭路循环技术系统或使用高纯度石英原料是解决这个问题的重要途径,前者取决于化学冶金技术水平,而后者则取决于矿产地质。因此,高纯度石英的找矿评价及工业硅的提纯是大力发展太阳能产业的重要途径。目前,以石英为原料进行高纯半导体材料和微电子材料等的合成在有些国家已经大规模工业化,并形成产业,如太阳能产业和高科技工业。据预测,在2010至2012年间,高纯石英原料将会短缺且竞争激烈。根据发达国家的实践经验,在哈萨克斯坦建立用于太阳能和其它高科技工业的高纯石英基地具有重要的理论和现实意义。哈萨克斯坦高纯石英资源丰富,在哈萨克斯坦中部,变质成因的石英脉及交代型的石英岩很普通,在东部、中部、南部和西部,石英结晶花岗岩则很多,水晶矿床则主要集中在哈萨克斯坦的西南地区,花岗岩侵入体的水晶矿以及粒状石英脉几乎在哈萨克斯坦到处都有分布,结晶花岗岩则分布在哈萨克斯坦北部和南部地区,但是该国针对高纯石英的工业化研究与应用则很少。埃及的石英原料也很丰富,主要矿床位于该国中部和东南部地区,工业化研究与应用也很少。建议这两个国家将高纯石英原料作为太阳能产业及其它高科技产业发展的重点研究领域。