An ichnofossil assemblage from the fluvial deposits of the Upper Pliocene–Pleistocene Pinjor Formation (Siwalik Group), northwestern Himalayas,India: Palaeoenvironmental implications     

Ashu Khosla  Spencer G Lucas 《Journal of Earth System Science》2018,127(5):69

Continental (fluvial) strata of the Pinjor Formation (Siwalik Group), northwestern Himalayas, India, contain an invertebrate trace fossil assemblage containing Planolites beverleyensis, Palaeophycus isp., Scoyenia gracilis, Taenidium barretti and other undifferentiated traces. The traces are found in an \(\sim \)26 m thick interval of alternating pinkish red siltstone, which is intercalated with mudstone, and thickly-bedded buff and greenish coloured sandstone. These sediments are interpreted as the deposits of floodplains and channel-bars of fluvial environments and low-energy overbank floodplain deposits. The trace fossils studied here are the first well documented ichnofossil assemblage from the vast, late Cenozoic Siwalik depositional system. They are not only of palaeoenvironmental significance, but they add to the growing ichnofossil database in facies of fluvial origin and should be an impetus to further ichnological studies of the Siwalik Group.  相似文献   

Effects of ocean acidification and high temperatures on the bryozoan Myriapora truncata at natural CO2 vents     

Riccardo Rodolfo‐Metalpa  Chiara Lombardi  Silvia Cocito  Jason M. Hall‐Spencer  Maria Cristina Gambi 《Marine Ecology》2010,31(3):447-456

There are serious concerns that ocean acidification will combine with the effects of global warming to cause major shifts in marine ecosystems, but there is a lack of field data on the combined ecological effects of these changes due to the difficulty of creating large‐scale, long‐term exposures to elevated CO₂ and temperature. Here we report the first coastal transplant experiment designed to investigate the effects of naturally acidified seawater on the rates of net calcification and dissolution of the branched calcitic bryozoan Myriapora truncata (Pallas, 1766). Colonies were transplanted to normal (pH 8.1), high (mean pH 7.66, minimum value 7.33) and extremely high CO₂ conditions (mean pH 7.43, minimum value 6.83) at gas vents off Ischia Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). The net calcification rates of live colonies and the dissolution rates of dead colonies were estimated by weighing after 45 days (May–June 2008) and after 128 days (July–October) to examine the hypothesis that high CO₂ levels affect bryozoan growth and survival differently during moderate and warm water conditions. In the first observation period, seawater temperatures ranged from 19 to 24 °C; dead M. truncata colonies dissolved at high CO₂ levels (pH 7.66), whereas live specimens maintained the same net calcification rate as those growing at normal pH. In extremely high CO₂ conditions (mean pH 7.43), the live bryozoans calcified significantly less than those at normal pH. Therefore, established colonies of M. truncata seem well able to withstand the levels of ocean acidification predicted in the next 200 years, possibly because the soft tissues protect the skeleton from an external decrease in pH. However, during the second period of observation a prolonged period of high seawater temperatures (25–28 °C) halted calcification both in controls and at high CO₂, and all transplants died when high temperatures were combined with extremely high CO₂ levels. Clearly, attempts to predict the future response of organisms to ocean acidification need to consider the effects of concurrent changes such as the Mediterranean trend for increased summer temperatures in surface waters. Although M. truncata was resilient to short‐term exposure to high levels of ocean acidification at normal temperatures, our field transplants showed that its ability to calcify at higher temperatures was compromised, adding it to the growing list of species now potentially threatened by global warming.  相似文献   

Editorial—geomorphic response to sea-level rise: Existing evidence and future impacts     

Jonathan R. French  Thomas Spencer  Denise J. Reed 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1995,20(1):1-6

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Potentialities,uncertainties and complexities in the response of coral reefs to future sea-level rise     

T. Spencer 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1995,20(1):49-64

Coral islands formed of largely unconsolidated sands only a few metres above sea level are thought to be particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise consequent upon global warming. However, scenarios which predict catastrophic flooding and loss of island area need reassessment, particularly in the light of the continued downwards revision of projected rates of future sea-level rise. Revised questions concern the interactions between reef growth and sea-level change, biophysical constraints on coral growth, and the importance to reef systems of potential changes in the magnitude, frequency and location of tropical cyclones and hurricanes. It is clear that most reefs have the growth potential to meet even the highest of future sea-level rise scenarios, but too little is known about physiological and physical constraints to reef growth to adequately evaluate the importance of these two factors in constraining this potential at the present time. Future sea-level rise in the tropical oceans, and coral reef responses, will take place against a backdrop of inter-regional differences in Holocene sea levels, resulting from the varying interaction of eustatic and hydro-isostatic processes. These differences have generated varying constraints on the development of modern reefs and varying inherited topographies upon which future sea-level changes will be superimposed. These controls are particularly important in assessing differences in vulnerability to future sea-level rise for reef islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.  相似文献   

Dynamics of lava flow fronts, Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica     

Andrea Borgia  Scott Linneman  Daniel Spencer  Luis Diego Morales  Jose Brenes Andre 《Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research》1983,19(3-4)

Arenal Volcano has effused basaltic andesite lava flows nearly continuously since September, 1968. The two different kinds of material in flows, lava and lava debris, have different rheologic properties and dynamic behavior. Flow morphology depends on the relationship between the amount and distribution of the lava and the debris, and to a lesser extent the ground morphology.Two main units characterize the flows: the channel zone and the frontal zone. The channel zone consists of two different units, the levées and the channel proper. A velocity profile in the channel shows a maximum value at the plug where the rate of shear is zero, and a velocity gradient increasing outward until, at the levées, the velocity becomes zero. Cooling produces a marked temperature gradient in the flow, leading to the formation of debris by brittle fracture when a critical value of shear rate to viscosity is reached. When the lava supply ceases, much of this debris and part of the lava is left behind after the flow nucleus drains out, forming a collapsed channel.Processes at the frontal zone include levée formation, debris formation, the change in shape of the front, and the choice of the flow path. These processes are controlled primarily by the rheological properties of the lava.Frontal zone dynamics can be understood by fixing the flow front as the point of reference. The lava flows through the channel into the front where it flows out into the levées, thereby increasing the length of the channel and permitting the front to advance. The front shows a relationship of critical height to the yield strength (τ₀) surface tension, and slope; its continued movement is activated by the pressure of the advancing lava in the channel behind. For an ideal flow (isothermal, homogeneous, and isotropic) the ratio of the section of channel proper to the section of levées is calculated and the distance the front will have moved at any time t_x can be determined once the amount of lava available to the front is known. Assuming that the velocity function of the front {G(t)} during the collapsing stage is proportional to the entrance pressure of the lava at the channel-front boundary, an exponential decrease of velocity through time is predicted, which shows good agreement with actual frontal velocity measurements taken on two flows. Local variations in slope have a secondary effect on frontal velocities.Under conditions of constant volume the frontal zone can be considered as a machine that consumes energy brought in by the lava to perform work (front advancement). While the front will use its potential energy to run the process, the velocity at which it occurs is controlled by the activation energy that enters the system as the kinetic energy of the lava flowing into the front. A relation for the energy contribution due to frontal acceleration is also derived. Finally the entrance pressure, that permits the front to deform, is calculated. Its small value confirms that the lava behaves very much like a Bingham plastic.  相似文献   

The diagenetic production of α-keto acids in heated and fossil Chione shells     

Spencer M. Steinberg  Jeffrey L. Bada 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1983,47(8):1481-1486

Both pyruvic and α-ketobutyric acids are formed during heating experiments with modern Chione shells. These α-keto acids are also present in fossil specimens. These findings provide additional evidence that the dehydration reaction of free serine and threonine or the β-elimination reaction of peptide bound serine and threonine occurred in fossil materials. These experiments suggest that the formation of α-keto acids occurs early in protein diagenesis. A large fraction of the α-keto acids which were formed have been lost either by subsequent reactions or by diffusion out of the shell matrix.  相似文献   

足尺磁流变阻尼器的建模及动态特性   总被引：15，自引：4，他引：15  

杨广强  B.F.Spencer  Jr.J.D.Carlson  M.K Sain 《地震工程与工程振动》2001,21(4):8-23

在过去三十年左右的时间里,结构保护系统受到了广大研究者的普遍关注.这种保护系统可以用来降低自然灾害(如地震、强风)对上木工程建筑的损害.由于磁流变阻尼器机械结构简单,动态范围大,能耗低,回复力大,鲁棒性良好,能够在满足不同工程项目需求的同时提供有效的结构抗震抗风手段,目前它是一种非常有前途的半主动结构减震装置.本文首先介绍了磁流变液体和装置的主要特性和优点,建立了磁流变阻尼器的伪静力轴对称模型,并将其结果和平行板模型以及阻尼器实验结果进行了比较.尽管伪静力模型对于阻尼器的设计十分有效,但是它们还不足以描述阻尼器的动态特性.对实际工程应用来说,动态响应时间是一项非常重要的性能指标.文章还讨论了影响磁流变阻尼器动态响应时间的因素,建立了基于Bouc-Wen模型的阻尼器动态模型.同时文章也提出了优化阻尼器动态响应的途径和方法以及其实验验证.  相似文献   

A technical comment: Analysis of ‘examination of “global atmospheric temperature monitoring with satellite microwave measurements”’     

Roy W. Spencer  John R. Christy  Norman C. Grody 《Climatic change》1996,33(4):477-489

The potential for residual hydrometeor contamination effects in the global temperature time series produced by Spencer and Christy from MSU channel 2 (MSU2) data has been addressed by Prabhakara et al. (1995, 1996). They use tropical oceanic MSU channel l (MSU1) data to estimate the hydrometeor effects on MSU2. We present several lines of evidence to show that their technique greatly overestimates the hydrometeor effects on MSU2. This overestimation is due to the faulty assumption that the hydrometeors that cause MSU1 warming are the same as (or always exist with) the hydrometeors that cause cooling in MSU2. Instead, the hydrometeors responsible for MSU1 warming are liquid phase, while those responsible for MSU2 cooling are large ice particles. Because liquid phase clouds are much more widespread than the large-ice portions of deep convective systems, their method greatly overestimates the areal coverage of contaminated tropical MSU2 data. In addition, we show that the convective screening procedure of Spencer and Christy removes the negative correlation between MSU1 and MSU2 their conclusions rest upon. Radiosonde validation of monthly tropical MSU2 anomalies over the tropical West Pacific also support these conclusions.  相似文献   

Mechanical shredding of water hyacinth (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eichhornia crassipes</Emphasis>): Effects on water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,California     

Ben K. Greenfield  Geoffrey S. Siemering  Joy C. Andrews  Michael Rajan  Stephen P. Andrews  David F. Spencer 《Estuaries and Coasts》2007,30(4):627-640

Management actions to control invasive aquatic species can have significant ecosystem-scale effects. We evaluated the water chemistry and nutrient effects of mechanical shredding to control water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in an agricultural slough and a tidal wetland on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, California. Shredding was conducted with two types of shredder boats in fall of 2003 and another boat in spring of 2004. Shredding measurably affected water quality, but specific effects varied as a function of shredding site and season. Significant increases were observed for total Kjeldahl nitrogen and total phosphorus for all experiments. Dissolved oxygen effects varied by site, decreasing after shredding at the agricultural slough but increasing at the tidal wetland. The increase in dissolved oxygen likely resulted from tidal incursions from the adjacent river. A year-long time series of dissolved oxygen data indicated a negative relationship between hyacinth abundance and dissolved oxygen concentrations. Hyacinth contained similar tissue concentrations of mercury to underlying sediments, suggesting that plant harvesting could aid mercury remediation efforts. Simple mass calculations indicated that Delta-wide shredding operations could cause between 0.1% and 9.6% increases in the overall abundance of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the Delta water column. Results suggest that local effects of management actions to control invasive aquatic plants will vary widely as a function of site-specific hydrology, but that estuary-wide effects would be limited.  相似文献   

Petrology and geochronology of basalt breccia from the 1996 earthquake swarm of Loihi seamount, Hawaii: magmatic history of its 1996 eruption     

Michael O. Garcia  Ken H. Rubin  Marc D. Norman  J. Michael Rhodes  David W. Graham  David W. Muenow  Khalil Spencer 《Bulletin of Volcanology》1998,59(8):577-592

 Samples of basalt were collected during the Rapid Response cruise to Loihi seamount from a breccia that was probably created by the July to August 1996 Loihi earthquake swarm, the largest swarm ever recorded from a Hawaiian volcano. ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb dating of two fresh lava blocks from this breccia indicates that they were erupted during the first half of 1996, making this the first documented historical eruption of Loihi. Sonobuoys deployed during the August 1996 cruise recorded popping noises north of the breccia site, indicating that the eruption may have been continuing during the swarm. All of the breccia lava fragments are tholeiitic, like the vast majority of Loihi's most recent lavas. Reverse zoning at the rim of clinopyroxene phenocrysts, and the presence of two chemically distinct olivine phenocryst populations, indicate that the magma for the lavas was mixed just prior to eruption. The trace element geochemistry of these lavas indicates there has been a reversal in Loihi's temporal geochemical trend. Although the new Loihi lavas are similar isotopically and geochemically to recent Kilauea lavas and the mantle conduits for these two volcanoes appear to converge at depth, distinct trace element ratios for their recent lavas preclude common parental magmas for these two active volcanoes. The mineralogy of Loihi's recent tholeiitic lavas signify that they crystallized at moderate depths (∼8–9 km) within the volcano, which is approximately 1 km below the hypocenters for earthquakes from the 1996 swarm. Taken together, the petrological and seismic evidence indicates that Loihi's current magma chamber is considerably deeper than the shallow magma chamber (∼3–4 km) in the adjoining active shield volcanoes. Received: 21 August 1997 / Accepted: 15 February 1998  相似文献