Sustainable shellfish aquaculture in Saldanha Bay,South Africa

The carrying capacity for bivalve shellfish culture in Saldanha Bay, South Africa, was analysed through the application of the well-tested EcoWin ecological model, in order to simulate key ecosystem variables. The model was set up using: (i) oceanographic and water-quality data collected from Saldanha Bay, and (ii) culture-practice information provided by local shellfish farmers. EcoWin successfully reproduced key ecological processes, simulating an annual mean phytoplankton biomass of 7.5 µg Chl a l^–1 and an annual harvested shellfish biomass of about 3 000 tonnes (t) y^–1, in good agreement with reported yield. The maximum annual carrying capacity of Small Bay was estimated as 20 000 t live weight (LW) of oysters Crassostrea gigas, or alternatively 5 100 t LW of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis, and for Big Bay as 100 000 t LW of oysters. Two production scenarios were investigated for Small Bay: a production of 4 000 t LW y^–1 of mussels, and the most profitable scenario for oysters of 19 700 t LW y^–1. The main conclusions of this work are: (i) in 2015–2016, both Small Bay and Big Bay were below their maximum production capacity; (ii) the current production of shellfish potentially removes 85% of the human nitrogen inputs; (iii) a maximum-production scenario in both Big Bay and Small Bay would result in phytoplankton depletion in the farmed area; (iv) increasing the production intensity in Big Bay would probably impact the existing cultures in Small Bay; and (v) the production in Small Bay could be increased, resulting in higher income for farmers.     

Petrology, geochemistry and isotopic ages of eclogites from the Dulan UHPM Terrane, the North Qaidam, NW China

The Dulan eclogite–gneiss region is located in the eastern part of the North Qaidam eclogite belt, NW China. Widespread evidence demonstrates that this region is a typical ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terrane. Eclogites occur as lenses or layers in both granitic and pelitic gneisses. Two distinguished sub-belts can be recognized and differ in mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry. The North Dulan Belt (NDB) has tholeiitic protoliths with high TiO₂ and lower Al₂O₃ and MgO contents. REE patterns and trace element contents resemble those of N-type and E-type MORB. In contrast, eclogites in the South Dulan Belt (SDB) are of island arc protoliths with low TiO₂, high Al₂O₃ and show LREE-enriched and HFSE-depleted patterns. Sm–Nd isotope analyses give isochron ages of 458–497 Ma for eclogite-facies metamorphism for the two sub-belts. The ages are similar to those of Yuka and Altun eclogites in the western extension of the North Qaidam-Altun eclogite belt. The Dulan UHP metamorphic terrane, together with several other recently recognized eclogite-bearing terrenes within the North Qaidam-Altun HP-UHP belt, constitute the key to the understanding of the tectonic evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau. The entire UHP belt extends for more than 1000 km from the Dulan UHP terrane in the southeast to the Altun eclogite–gneiss terrane in the west. This super-belt marks an early Paleozoic continental collision zone between the Qaidam Massif and the Qilian Massif.     

Particle trajectories of nonlinear gravity waves in deep water

The paper presents a numerical method for calculating the particle trajectories of nonlinear gravity waves in deep water. Particle trajectories, mass-transport velocity and Lagrangian wave period can be accurately determined by the proposed method. The high success rate of the proposed method is examined by comparing the present results with those of (a) Longuet-Higgins, M.S., 1986, 1987. Eulerian and Lagrangian aspects of surface waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 173, 683-707 and (b) Lagrangian moments and mass transport in Stokes waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 179, 547-555. It is shown that the dimensionless mass-transport velocity can exceed 10% for large waves, and the Lagrangian wave period is much larger than the Eulerian wave period for large waves.     

我国西北部分地区地壳-上地幔电性横向变化特征与地震活动的关系

由50余个测点的大地电磁测深资料,讨论了该区的地壳-上地幔电性横向变化特征。按照上地幔第一低阻层顶面埋深,将测区划分为四类地区:浅埋深(55-90公里)、中浅埋深(90-110公里)、中深埋深(110-160公里)和深埋深(160-250公里)。讨论了本区六次大震例的深部电性背景。指出了上地幔顶部的梯度带地区、地壳内电性横向变化剧烈的地区和地壳内存在局部特殊增厚的低阻层地区将可以作为潜在震源区的深部电性判据之一     

An introduction to ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism

Abstract Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism refers to mineralogical and structural readjustment of supracrustal protoliths and associated mafic-ultramafic rocks at mantle pressures greater than ∼ 25 kbar (80-90 km). Typical products include metapelite, quartzite, marble, granulite, eclogite, paragneiss and orthogneiss; minor mafic and ultramafic rocks occur as eclogitic-ultramafic layers or blocks of various dimensions within the supracrustal rocks. For appropriate bulk compositions, metamorphism at great depths produces coesite, microdiamond and other characteristic UHP minerals with unusual compositions. Thus far, at least seven coesite-bearing eclogitic terranes and three diamond-bearing UHP regions have been documented. All lie within major continental collision belts in Eurasia, have similar supracrustal protoliths and metamorphic assemblages, occur in long, discontinuous belts that may extend several hundred kilometers or more, and typically are associated with contemporaneous high-P blueschist belts. This paper defines the P-T regimes of UHP metamorphism and describes mineralogical, petrological and tectonic characteristics for a few representative UHP terranes including the western gneiss region of Norway, the Dora Maira massif of the western Alps, the Dabie Mountains and the Su-Lu region of east-central China, and the Kokchetav massif of the former USSR. Prograde P-T paths for coesite-bearing eclogites require abnormally low geothermal gradients (approximately 7°C/km) that can be accomplished only by subduction of cold, oceanic crust-capped lithosphere ± pelagic sediments or an old, cold continent. The preservation of coesite inclusions in garnet, zircon, omphacite, kyanite and epidote, and microdiamond inclusions in garnet and zircon during exhumation of an UHP terrane requires either an extraordinarily fast rate of denudation (up to 10 cm/year) or continuous refrigeration in an extensional regime (retreating subduction zone).     

Tectonic evolution of the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) and high-pressure (HP) metamorphic belts from central China

Abstract In the Triassic suture between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons, the Dabie metamorphic Complex in central China includes three tectonic units: the northern Dabie migmatitic terrane, the central ultrahigh-P coesite- and diamond-bearing eclogite belt, and the southern high-P blueschist-eclogite belt. This complex is bounded to the north by a north-dipping normal fault with a Paleozoic accretionary complex and to the south by a north-dipping reverse fault with Yangtze basement plus its foreland fold-and-thrust sequence. Great differences in metamorphic pressure suggests that these units reached different depths during metamorphism and their juxtaposition occurred by wedge extrusion of subducted old continental fragments. These units were subsequently subjected to (i) Barrovian type regional metamorphism and deformation at shallow depths; (ii) intrusion of Cretaceous granitic plutons; and (iii) doming and segmentation into several blocks by normal and strike-slip faults. A new speculative model of tectonic exhumation of UHP rocks is proposed.     

Frequency-domain redigitization method for seismic time histories

This note presents a numerical method for redigitizing a given time history at a smaller time increment than that used to define the time history without changing its original frequency content. Both the theoretical basis and the numerical procedure of this method are presented. A numerical example is also given in order to demonstrate the advantage of this method over the linear interpolation method commonly used in the industry.     

Evolution of the variability of surface temperature and vegetation density in the great plains

This study focuses on how the variability of land surface temperature and vegetation density at the SGP ARM-CART site changes over episodic (day to day) and seasonal time scales using AVHRR satellite data. Four drying periods throughout the year are analyzed. Land surface temperature had an erratic relationship with time exhibiting no deterministic pattern from day-to-day or season-to-season. Furthermore, it did not exhibit spatial pattern persistence. On the other hand, vegetation density had a consistent spatial pattern and temporal decay during average length drying periods (less than 7 days) as well as within a season. However, there were distinct differences in the seasonal pattern of variation between winter and growing seasons. In addition, the paper highlights a methodology to quantify the relationships that exist at the land surface between the primary parameter of interest and the controlling variables.     

GPS radio holography as a tool for remote sensing of the atmosphere, mesosphere, and terrestrial surface from space

GPS radio occultation (RO) signals are highly coherent and precise, and thus sufficient for holographic investigation of the atmosphere, ionosphere, and the Earth's surface from space. In principle, three-dimensional radio-holographic remote sensing is possible by using new radio holographic equations to retrieve the radio field within the atmosphere from a radio field known at some interface outside the atmosphere. A simplified two-dimensional form of the radio-holographic equations which are developed under an assumption of local spherical symmetry can be used to obtain two-dimensional radio images of the atmosphere and terrestrial surface. To achieve this, radio holograms recorded by a GPS receiver onboard a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite at two GPS frequencies can be used and focused synthetic aperture principle applied. Analysis of GPS/MET RO data is presented to show the effectiveness of a radio-holographic approach. It is shown that the amplitude of GPS radio signals (in addition to phase data) can be used to obtain detailed altitude profiles of the vertical gradient of refractivity in the atmosphere and electron density in the mesosphere. The results demonstrate the applicability of GPS radio holography for a detailed global study of the natural processes in the atmosphere and mesosphere. Electronic Publication