Late Palaeozoic hydrocarbon migration through the Clair field, West of Shetland, UK Atlantic margin

Geochemical analysis of bitumen- and hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions from the Devonian-Carboniferous Clair field indicates that the reservoirs contain a mixture of oils from different marine and lacustrine sources. Reconstruction of the Clair field oil-charge history using fluid inclusion petrography show that oil-charging occurred at times of K-feldspar, quartz and calcite cementation. Temperature–composition–time data yielded from the integration of fluid inclusion microthermometry with high-resolution Ar–Ar dating, date hydrocarbon-bearing K-feldspar overgrowths at 247 ± 3.3 Ma. These data show that in order for oil to be trapped within primary fluid inclusions in K-feldspar overgrowths, hydrocarbon migration throughout the UK Atlantic margin must have been taking place during the Late Palaeozoic and as such, current industry oil-play models based solely on oil charging from Jurassic-Cretaceous marine sources are clearly incomplete and need revision. Apatite fission track analysis and vitrinite reflectance data were used to reconstruct thermal burial histories and assess potential oil generation from Middle Devonian lacustrine source rocks. Thermal history data from wells along The Rona Ridge adjacent to the Clair field show that the Palaeozoic section was heated to greater than 100 °C at some time between 270 and 230 Ma, confirming that Devonian source rocks were mature and expelling oil during the Late Palaeozoic at the time that authigenic K-feldspar overgrowths were growing in the Clair field.     

Formation of ‘Beach Rock’ at Siesta Key, Florida and its influence on barrier island development

Seaward-dipping strata of carbonate-cemented shell debris located along the coast of Siesta Key on the Gulf Coast of the Florida peninsula have long been interpreted to be beachrock equivalent in age to the Pleistocene Anastasia Formation (Stage 5e) of the east coast of Florida. Detailed examination of thin sections along with radiometric dating and isotopic analyses demonstrates clearly that this is a Holocene deposit that is not beachrock but was lithified in a meteoric environment. Whole rock dates, dates from shells only, and from cement only demonstrate that these beach deposits were in place by at least 1800 yr BP and might have been there as long ago as 4300 yr BP. This means that some type of barrier island was in place at that time. Previous investigations have depicted Siesta Key as having a maximum age of 3000 yr with these deposits being located about 2 km landward of the beach deposits. This suggests that the beach deposits might have been the site of the original position of Siesta Key. These data also indicate that sea level must have been near its present position at the time that these foreshore beach deposits were deposited; sometime between 1800 and 4300 yr ago. This scenario indicates that sea level along this coastal reach probably reached its present level at least about 2000 yr ago.     

Digital preprocessing techniques for GLORIA II sonar images

Image processing techniques are discussed that correct distortions in GLORIA II side scan sonar imagery including water column offset, slant-range distortion, multiple returns, aspect ratio, speckle noise, striping, and cross-track power drop-off. The software operates within NASA's ELAS image processing system and is applied to the original 12-bit GLORIA II data. Procedures are discussed for generating large scale mosaics and three-dimensional overlays with sea floor bathymetry. The results are shown in four sonographs acquired off the southern coast of California.     

The relationship between zooplankton,conductivity and lake-water ionic composition in 111 lakes from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia,Canada

Zooplankton collected from vertical net tows were related to the environmental variables from 98 lakes from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that both salinity and ionic composition (pH and Mg) of the lake-water made major and significant contributions to the first two ordination axes (=0.42 and 0.11 respectively,P<0.05). BothArtemia franciscana andMoina hutchinsoni had their highest relative abundance in meso-hypersaline waters. However,Artemia franciscana preferred waters that were higher in Mg and Ca, whileMoina hutchinsoni was found in waters that were lower in Mg and Ca. Similarly, at intermediate salinities,Daphnia pulex and the calanoid copepods preferred waters slightly lower in Mg and Ca, whereasCeriodaphnia laticaudata andSimocephalus spp. were relatively more common in waters higher in Mg and Ca. Because the freshest lakes studied varied much less in ionic composition, the zooplankton in these lakes did not show a preference to ionic composition. As expected, multi-generic groups, such as the calanoid copepods, cyclopoid copepods and nauplii, had wider tolerances to conductivity than groups identified to lower taxonomic levels. Significant weighted-averaging regression and calibration models of conductivity were developed based on zooplankton species composition from the study lakes (r ²=0.56,P<0.05). Samples composed largely of multi-generic taxa yielded the worst estimates of salinity in the reconstruction model. This study suggests that zooplankton community composition may be developed into a useful proxy for paleosalinity reconstruction.     

Chemical abundance behavior of type I planetary nebulae

In this work 13 Planetary Nebulae have been classified as Type I according to Peimbert's criteria (Peimbert, 1978). These objects have been added to a previous sample (Maciel and Faúndez-Abans, 1985) and diagrams of O/H versus N/H, S/H, Ne/H and Ar/H, as well as N/H versus S/H, Ne/H and Ar/H have been drawn. All of them exhibit a tendency for linear correlation; moreover, the behavior of O and N versus Ar and S are very similar, with approximately the same slope. When the excitation class parameter was included in the diagrams, no clear tendency can be discerned, for any class.     

Temperature–composition–time (T–X–t) data from authigenic K-feldspar: An integrated methodology for dating fluid flow events

Integration of fluid inclusion analysis with high spatial resolution Ar–Ar dating of K-feldspar cements has been used to resolve and reconstruct palaeo-fluid flow. Fluid inclusion analysis allows discrimination of distinct cement phases, thereby identifying discrete episodes of fluid flow. Ar–Ar dating of the same cements via high spatial resolution laserprobe establishes absolute age constraints on the framework previously constructed. Integration of these two datasets yields temperature–composition–time data.     

Adsorption of aluminium by a latosol as affected by phosphate and glutamic acid

The effect of phosphate and glutamic acid on adsorption of aluminium onto a latosol was investigated as a function of pH and ligand concentrations through batch equilibrium experiments. The results showed that adsorption of aluminium by the soil was enhanced after addition of phosphate at low pH, and this promotive effect was gradually eliminated with the increase in pH. The positive effect of phosphate on aluminium adsorption onto latosol was attributed to phosphate-induced surface negative charge and formation of ternary surface complexes involving aluminium and phosphate. While using silica as adsorbent, the inactive surfaces for phosphate, promotion of adsorption of aluminium by phosphate was also found. Then it was proposed that additional aluminium might bind to the phosphate adsorbed onto the silica in the form of surface complexes silica–aluminium–phosphate again, and the mechanism might operate in the soil systems as well. Glutamic acid exhibited no influence on the adsorption of aluminium by the soil at low pH. After increasing the pH, adsorption of aluminium was inhibited especially with the highest addition of glutamic acid, probably owing to weak affinity of complexes between glutamic acid and aluminium to the soil.     

甘青地区中晚全新世植被变化与人类活动

史前时期人类对环境的影响是近几年来国际研究的热点。在甘青地区，全新世的孢粉资料比较多。但在中晚全新世，该区人类对环境的影响作用及其程度仍不清楚，许多孢粉分析资料中并没有充分考虑人类活动的影响。本文选取孢粉分辨率较高、代表性较好的青海湖、兰州、秦安大地湾三地的资料，着重研究了其中乔木成分的变化。分析发现，孢粉组合中乔木成分的变化与气候变化的趋势并不一致。通过对考古及历史资料的分析，笔者认为，该区的植被很早就受到人类活动的影响。自全新世中期，本区植被中的乔木成分波动下降。5000－3000a BP期间，史前农业对植被的影响较大。3000－2000a BP期间，植被略有恢复。2000a BP以后，人为影响加剧，植被中乔木成分迅速下降。研究者认为，依赖孢粉资料重建中晚全新世的气候变化历史应当慎重。     

塔里木盆地地貌过程对绿洲形成演变的影响

第三纪末以来，天山、昆仑山强烈隆起使塔里木盆地相对下沉，山盆高差悬殊大，白山顶至盆地腹部地貌外力作用过程依次由冰川作用→冰缘作用→流水作用→干燥作用→冲→洪积作用→湖积作用→风沙作用过渡。在山区河谷平原、平原区冲积扇、冲积平原、湖积平原等地方形成条带状、串珠状、扇形状绿洲，绿洲平面几何形状与适宜绿洲形成与发展的地貌类型空间分布基本吻合。绿洲荒漠化和荒漠绿洲化与地貌过程的关系密切。纵观区内地貌过程发展趋势可预测，区内流水、风沙和人类活动三大地貌过程将有增无减，流水侵蚀与风蚀风积作用将对绿洲产生不良作用。山区流水侵蚀过程加强导致山麓地带绿洲山洪泥石流危害加重。平原河流下游地区流水作用减弱，风蚀风积过程加剧，由绿洲→荒漠演变，而人类活动可分建设作用与破坏作用两方面，前者可稳定绿洲乃至促进荒漠绿洲化而后者则导致绿洲荒漠化。因此，改善山区、山麓地带，特别是盆地南缘与塔河中、下游等重要地区地貌过程并防止绿洲荒漠化，是保障区域可持续发展的有效途径。