Environmental change and oyster colonization within the Hudson River estuary linked to Holocene climate

Geophysical mapping and sampling data provide a record of changing environmental and faunal conditions within the Hudson River estuary during the mid- to late Holocene. On the shallow, broad marginal flats of the mesohaline Hudson, fossil oyster beds (Crassostrea virginica) are found exposed on the river bottom and buried by sediment. The shallowest beds are well imaged in chirp sub-bottom and side-scan sonar data and form discrete flow-perpendicular bands, 0.6–1.0 km wide and up to 3 km long, which cover 30% of the river bottom. Radiocarbon-dated sediment cores indicate oysters thrived within two time periods from ~500–2,400 and ~5,600–6,100 cal. years b.p. Sediment and physical property data indicate a changing depositional regime consistent with the oyster chronology. Similar changes in oyster presence are found in local shell midden sites of the Lower Hudson Valley as well as elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, and may reflect climatic controls associated with warm–cool cycles during the Holocene. Oysters flourished during the mid-Holocene warm period, disappeared with the onset of cooler climate at 4,000–5,000 cal. years b.p., and returned during warmer conditions of the late Holocene. The most recent demise of oysters within the Hudson at 500–900 cal. years b.p. may have accompanied the Little Ice Age.     

印尼中加里曼丹波拉湾煤勘探区的构造解析

本文从区域构造背景出发，根据波拉湾煤勘探区地表及钻孔资料综合分析，建立了逆冲断层Ｆ１、Ｆ２及其配套的ｆ１、ｆ２……构造，理顺了错综复杂的构造格局，将推覆构造理论成功地用于援外生产实践。     

Fluid inclusion studies of the Abawso gold prospect,near the Ashanti Belt,Ghana

The major Ghanaian lode gold deposits are preferentially aligned along the western and eastern contacts of the Kumasi Basin with the Ashanti and Sefwi Belts, respectively. The investigated area of the Abawso small-scale concession, covering the workings of the old Ettadom mine, is situated 3 km west of the lithological contact of the Birimian metavolcanic rocks of the Akropong Belt in the east with the Birimian metasedimentary rocks of the Kumasi Basin in the west. The rocks of the Abawso concession represent a steeply NW-dipping limb of a SE-verging anticline with an axis plunging to the SW. Quartz veining occurs predominantly in the form of en échelon dilatational veins along NNE–SSW-striking shear zones of a few metres width and shows evidence of brittle and ductile deformation. Also stockwork-style quartz veining occurs in the vicinity of the main shaft of the old Ettadom mine. Hydrothermal alteration includes sericitisation, sulphidation and locally carbonatisation. The auriferous quartz veins mainly follow the trend of brittle to ductile deformed quartz veins; however, some occur in stockwork. Fluid inclusion studies reveal a large number of H₂O inclusions along intragranular trails in auriferous quartz vein samples, as well as an overall dominance of H₂O and H₂O-CO₂ inclusions over CO₂ inclusions. Textural observations and physico-chemical fluid inclusion properties indicate post-entrapment modifications for all quartz vein samples due to grain boundary migration recrystallisation. This process is interpreted to be responsible for the generation of the CO₂ inclusions from a H₂O-CO₂ parent fluid. In comparison with mineralisation at the Ashanti and Prestea deposits, which are characterised by CO₂±N₂ inclusions, the observed inclusion assemblage may be due to a shallower crustal level of mineralisation, or different degrees and styles of recrystallisation, or a less pronounced development of laminated quartz veins due to comparably restricted pressure fluctuations. Furthermore, the microthermometric observations allow the reconstruction of a possible retrograde P-T path, depicting near-isothermal decompression in the P-T range of the brittle/ductile transition.Editorial handling: E. Frimmel     

Kinetics and Equilibrium Sorption Studies of 4-Nitrophenol on pyrolyzed and activated oil shale residue

Sorption of the organic pollutant 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by pyrolyzed and activated Jordanian oil-shale was studied. Pyrolyzed oil shale was prepared using a fluidized bed reactor at 520 °C in the presence of nitrogen. Physical activation was carried out by treating the pyrolyzed oil shale with CO₂ at 830 °C, while chemical activation was achieved by using KOH and ZnCl₂ as impregnating agents. Batch kinetics and isotherm studies were conducted to evaluate the sorption process. Effects of contact time, initial sorbate concentration, sorbent concentration, temperature, pH and inorganic salts (NaCl and KCl) on the sorption process by the different sorbents were considered. Chemically activated oil shale, pretreated with ZnCl₂, gave the highest uptake of 4-NP. The isotherm experimental data fit reasonably well to Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich-Paterson models. Three kinetic models, namely the Morris-Weber, Lagergren, and Pseudo-Second-Order model (PSOM), were applied to represent the experimental results for both pyrolyzed and ZnCl₂-oil shale sorbents.     

中国区域年代地层研究取得重要进展

近10余年来,特别是2000年召开第三届地层会议后,中国年代地层研究得到很快发展。首先,在全国地层委员会主持下,经各断代工作组专家们的共同努力,编制完成了《中国区域年代地层（地质年代）表》,系统建立了从震旦系至第四系中共102个阶（其中包括52个陆相地层区的阶）和新建3个系级单位。从2001年开始,在中国地质调查局的大力支持下,由全国地层委员会主持,组织全国知名地质科研院所、高校和部分地质调查院的专家,围绕中国区域年代地层表,开展了系统的建阶研究。5年来,共涉及45个阶,9个界线层型和2个新建系及2个统级单位的研究,取得重要进展。先后已有4个全球界线层型（GSSPs）被国际地质科学联合会批准建立在中国,还有3～4个全球界线层型正待国际地质学科学联合会批准建立在中国,另有3～4个界线层型剖面有望争取成为全球的界线层型。其他研究所涉及到的阶、系、统等单位,也有明显进展,成熟度明显提高,为《中国区域年代地层（地质年代）表》的广泛应用奠定了重要基础。     

Investigations and assessment of the landslide hazards of Fengdu county in the reservoir region of the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River

The spatial database of landslides in Fengdu County of the reservoir region of the Three Gorges project (TGP) on the Yangtze River was compiled from a variety of different sources including field investigations on landslides, existing catalogues and archives on landslides, reports of meteorological events and human engineering activities that triggered slope failures. The major factors that are found to have affected the slope stabilities are outlined, and an assessment and zonation of landslide hazards of the region is made using an integrated information model, which is divided into destructive, disastrous, likely disastrous and essentially non-disastrous areas from the assessment of landslide hazards. The destructive and disastrous areas are respectively 1.9 and 13.8% of the total region, mostly being nearby townships, highways along the south bank of the Yangtze River and residential quarters along two flanks of the Yangtze River and its distributaries, that will impose direct impact to highway transportation and residential lives, and may effect to some degree the navigation of the Yangtze River, reservoir banks, and building of cities and towns.     

亚洲地震委员会(ASC)第七次学术大会暨日本地震学会(SSJ)秋季会议在日本筑波召开

由亚洲地震委员会和日本地震学会联合主办,日本多个学术机构参与协办的第七届亚洲地震委员会学术大会暨日本地震学会秋季会议于2008年11月24--28日在日本筑波(Tsukuba)举行.