Uranium-series dating and growth characteristics of the deep-sea scleractinian coral: Enallopsammia rostrata from the Equatorial Pacific     

Fanny Houlbrèque  Malcolm McCulloch  Brendan Roark  Anders Meibom  Graham Mortimer  Robert Dunbar 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2010,74(8):2380-2395

The deep-sea coral, Enallopsammia rostrata, a member of the Dendrophylliidae family, is a major structure-forming species that creates massive dendroid colonies, up to 1 m wide and 0.5 m tall. Living colonies of E. rostrata have been collected using the PISCES submersibles from three locations from 480 to 788 m water depth in the Line Islands (∼160°W) in the Equatorial Pacific. We have applied to these colonies a high sensitivity, low blank technique to determine U-series ages in small quantities (70 ± 15 mg) of modern and near modern calcareous skeletons using MC-ICP-MS (Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer). The application of this method to living slow-growing colonies from a range of sites as well as the observations of axial growth patterns in thin sections of their skeletons offer the first expanded and well constrained data on longevity, growth pattern and mean growth rates in E. rostrata. Absolute dated specimens indicate life spans of colonies ranging from 209 ± 8 yrs to 605 ± 7 yrs with radial growth rates from 0.012 to 0.072 mm yr⁻¹ and vertical extension rates from 0.6 to 1.9 mm yr⁻¹. The linear growth rates reported here are lower than those reported for other deep-sea scleractinian corals (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata). The U-series dating indicates that the growth ring patterns of E. rostrata are not consistent with annual periodicity emphasizing the importance of absolute radiometric dating methods to constrain growth rates. Slow accretion and extreme longevity make this species and its habitat especially vulnerable to disturbances and impacts from human activities. This dating method combined with observation of growth patterns opens up new perspectives in the field of deep-sea corals since it can provide quantitative estimates of growth rates and longevity of deep-sea corals in general.  相似文献   

Organochlorinated compounds in Caspian Sea sediments   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

de Mora S  Villeneuve JP  Sheikholeslami MR  Cattini C  Tolosa I 《Marine pollution bulletin》2004,48(1-2):30-43

Several organochlorinated contaminants, including numerous pesticides, were determined in coastal sediments from the Caspian Sea. The most important contaminants were p,p'-DDT (up to 7400 pg g(-1)) and its breakdown products, p,p'-DDD (up to 3400 pg g(-1)) and p,p'-DDE (up to 1300 pg g(-1)). Although the contamination was most severe in Azerbaijan, the sediment concentrations and percentage distribution of the three DDT-related compounds indicated that such contamination constitutes a contemporary and ubiquitous problem in the Caspian Sea. Lindane represented the second most significant contaminant, particularly in the Russian Federation, with concentrations up to 609 pg g(-1). The concentrations of HCB and other chlorinated pesticides (cis- and trans-chlordane, methoxychlor, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, aldrin, endrin, and endosulfans) were lower and not generally of concern, but the pesticides did demonstrate markedly different distributions reflecting differing agricultural usage in the region. The concentrations of Sigma PCBs were also quite low and ranged from 0.03 to 6.4 ng g(-1), with the highest amounts in the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan.  相似文献   

Relative importance of dissolved and food pathways for lead contamination in shrimp     

Boisson F  Cotret O  Teyssié JL  El-Baradeï M  Fowler SW 《Marine pollution bulletin》2003,46(12):1549-1557

The relative importance of dissolved and food pathways and the influence of food type in the bioaccumulation and retention of lead in the shrimp Palaemonetes varians were examined using a radiotracer method. Shrimp were exposed to ²¹⁰Pb-labelled seawater or fed two types of ²¹⁰Pb-labelled food, viz. mussels or worms. The amount of radiotracer accumulated by shrimp was examined over a 7-day period, followed by a 1-month and a 7-day depuration period for the dissolved and food source, respectively. Steady state in the uptake was reached after 2 days exposure to dissolved lead, with a resultant estimated concentration factor of 98 ± 3. Transfer factors following ingestion of contaminated mussels and worms were lower than unity for both food types, with lead transfer from worms being significantly higher than that from mussels. Accumulation of dissolved Pb by shrimp was found to occur mainly through adsorption on the exoskeleton with a minor accumulation in the internal tissues probably resulting from the intake of seawater for osmoregulation. In contrast, lead taken up from contaminated food was readily absorbed and bound in the internal tissues of P. varians. Although the transfer of lead to P. varians through the ingestion of contaminated food was low (TF < 1%), it still represented 4 to 8% of the lead content in the prey which is a significant additional contribution of lead to the shrimp body burden. Independent of food type, following ingestion of contaminated food, approximately 23–27% of total lead accumulated in shrimp was located in the edible parts (e.g. muscle). Therefore, the food pathway is suggested to be a significant contributor to the lead transfer to humans through ingestion of contaminated shrimp. After exposure to contaminated food, lead loss kinetics were described by a two-component model, whereas Pb loss following direct uptake from seawater was best described by a three-component model. The additional compartment representing 64% of total Pb retained and characterized by a turnover < 10 min, corresponded to lead weakly adsorbed on the exoskeleton and incorporated in the hepatopancreas. Nevertheless, a significant fraction of lead accumulated from the dissolved (2%) and food (52–57%) pathways remained irreversibly retained in the tissues, suggesting that this organism could also serve as an effective long-term bioindicator of lead contamination in marine waters.  相似文献   

西安地区地热水和渭北岩溶水同位素特征及相互关系   总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7  

秦大军庞忠和  Jeffrey V．TURNER 翁修荣赵耀东徐小丽刘涛 《岩石学报》2005,21(5):1489-1500

依据采自西安地区300到3000米深地热井中地热水的水化学成分和同位素成分,确定出地热水的主要补给源和循环路径。地热水δ~(18)O 值变化于-11.8‰～-3.1‰VSMOW 之间,而δD 值变化幅度很小,在-87～-80‰VSMOW 之间,与西安市区现代大气降水的δD 值(～-60‰VSMOW)明显不同。在δ~(18)O～δD 关系图上,浅层地热水(〈1500米〉落在大气降水线上,而深层地热水(>1500米)向右侧偏离了大气降水线,呈现显著的氧同位素正向漂移现象。氧同位素由秦岭山前向盆地内部逐渐富集,在盆地内部随井深成正相关。据此判断,西安地热水的补给区位于秦岭山区。~(14)C 值表现为与氧同位素相反的变化趋势,~(14)C 年龄值在6,000～30,000年之间,表明地热水的地下循环时间很长。由井间~(14)C 年龄差异估算出从南到北地热水平均流速为1.7米/年,从西到东为2.5米/年。这些特征与渭北岩溶水截然不同,表明西安地区地热水与渭北岩溶水之间,虽然在空间上有密切联系,但分属于不同的水文地质单元,有各自独立的补径排系统。  相似文献   

The importance of paleoseismology in seismic hazard studies for critical facilities   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Aybars Gürpinar   《Tectonophysics》2005,408(1-4):23

This paper is intended to provide a perspective on the use of paleoseismological studies in the seismic hazard assessment of critical facilities, such as dams, chemical/petrochemical facilities and nuclear power plants. In particular, the use of data obtained from paleoseismological studies for probabilistic seismic hazard analyses, when the required probabilities of exceedance are very low (e.g. 10^{− 6}–10^{− 7}) is considered. Recent revisions to the IAEA Safety Standards that provide guidance to Member States in their work related to the seismic safety of nuclear power plants are presented to illustrate the importance of this emerging discipline.  相似文献   

Refinements in BaSO₄ to CO₂ Preparation and δ¹⁸ O Calibration of the Sulfate Reference Materials NBS-127, IAEA SO-5 and IAEA SO-6     

Stanislaw Halas  Janina Szaran  Maciej Czarnacki  Ahmad Tanweer 《Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research》2007,31(1):61-68

Refinements have been made to achieve over 99% yield in the conversion of CO to CO₂ in order to improve the reproducibility and accuracy of δ¹⁸ O measurements in sulfates. BaSO₄ (10-15 mg) was mixed with an identical amount of spectrographic-grade graphite and loaded into a Pt boat. The mixture was gradually heated to 1100 °C to reduce sulfate to CO and CO₂; the former gas was simultaneously converted to CO₂ by a glow discharge between Pt electrodes immersed in a magnetic field (produced by a pair of external neodymium magnets). A small memory effect was noticed during the analysis (less than 0.3‰ per 10‰ difference in δ¹⁸ O between two subsequently analysed samples). The memory effect, however, was suppressed by repetitive preparation of the same specimen. CO₂ produced in this way from sulfate reference samples was analysed on a dual inlet and triple collector mass spectrometer along with CO₂ equilibrated with VSMOW, GISP and SLAP water reference samples. To avoid large departures of measured isotope ratios from ¹⁸O/¹⁶O of the working calibrator we used CO₂ gas prepared from ocean water sulfate for this purpose. The calibrated δ¹⁸ O values (in ‰) obtained in this way for NBS-127, IAEA SO-5 and IAEA SO-6 reference materials were 8.73 ± 0.05, 12.20 ± 0.07 and -10.43 ± 0.12, respectively.  相似文献   

Chlorinated hydrocarbons in marine biota and coastal sediments from the Gulf and Gulf of Oman     

de Mora S  Fowler SW  Tolosa I  Villeneuve JP  Cattini C 《Marine pollution bulletin》2005,50(8):835-849

The spatial distribution of various organochlorinated compounds was investigated in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman based on marine biota (fish and various bivalves) and coastal sediment collected in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during 2000-2001. Several potential organic contaminants from agricultural (e.g., DDT and its breakdown products, lindane, endrin, dieldrin, endosulfan) and industrial (PCBs) sources were measured. Sediment burdens for all compounds, even for an apparent hot spot near a refinery in Bahrain, were amongst the lowest reported for surface sediments from other seas. Concentrations of DDTs were low in the muscle and liver of all fish (orange spotted grouper and the spangled emperor) analysed. Similarly, the levels of chlorinated hydrocarbons were low in the various bivalve species, notably rock oysters and pearl oysters. These results contribute to the sparse regional database for organochlorinated compounds in the marine environment. Moreover, they can be used as the most recent end point for elucidating temporal trends. Whereas the levels, albeit relatively low, SigmaDDTs in the rock oysters from the Gulf of Oman have remained uniform, there has been an irregular but generally decreasing trend in concentrations of summation SigmaPCBs during the last two decades.  相似文献   

ISOTOPE RECORDS FROM MONGOLIAN AND ALPINE ICE CORES AS CLIMATE INDICATORS   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

U. SCHOTTERER  K. FRÖHLICH  H. W. GÄGGELER  S. SANDJORDJ  W. STICHLER 《Climatic change》1997,36(3-4):519-530

The link between long term changes in the isotopic composition of precipitation and surface air temperature at a given location is of exceptional importance for paleoclimatic studies, as ahs been demonstrated by many recent publications based on the isotope records from polar ice cores. By means of direct comparison with instrumental data, this paper evaluates the potential of the deuterium and oxygen-18 records from two continental glaciers for monitoring climatic trends. The isotopic data presented characterize climatically contrasted enviroments. The records from the Swiss glacier show distinct seasonal variations. Oxygen-18 is fairly well correlated with the instrumental record of atmospheric temperature; the seasonal differences in deuterium excess reflect nearness to the oceanic moisture source. By contrast, the isotope data from the Mongolian site show poor correlation with atmospheric temperature. The seasonal variations in deuterium excess, with higher values during summer time, indicate that precipitation largely originates from re-evaporated continental moisture sources. In both cases however, the correlation with temperature is significantly improved by the elimination of values derived from years where major changes in seasonal distribution and/or snow loss obviously have occurred, thereby distoring the isotopic ratios for that particular year. Depending on the site selected for study, the stable isotope composition of ice cores should therefore be viewed not only as a proxy for atmospheric temperature, but also as an additional hydrometeorological parameter and source indicator for atmospheric moisture.  相似文献   

Anthropogenic Radionuclides in the Caspian Sea     

Oregioni  B.  Gastaud  J.  Pham  M. K.  Povinec  P. P. 《Water Resources》2003,30(1):86-91

Analysis and interpretation of the distribution of anthropogenic radionuclides ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, and ^239,240Pu in the Caspian Sea water are presented. These radionuclides are shown to be of environmental importance and to be useful for studying water mass dynamics.  相似文献   

Investigation of Water-Exchange Processes in the Caspian Sea on the Basis of Isotopic and Oceanographic Data     

Ferronsky  V. I.  Brezgunov  V. S.  Vlasova  L. S.  Polyakov  V. A.  Froehlich  K.  Rozansky  K. 《Water Resources》2003,30(1):10-22

Results of the sampling for temperature, salinity, and isotopic composition of water masses that was performed in the Caspian Sea at deepwater stations along a meridional profile during the international expeditions of 1994–1996 are presented. The water-exchange processes in this basin are analyzed on the basis of the distributions of salinity and isotopes in space and time.  相似文献