Organic carbon fluxes and ecological recovery from the cretaceous-tertiary mass extinction

Differences between the carbon isotopic values of carbonates secreted by planktic and benthic organisms did not recover to stable preextinction levels for more than 3 million years after the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction. These decreased differences may have resulted from a smaller proportion of marine biological production sinking to deep water in the postextinction ocean. Under this hypothesis, marine production may have recovered shortly after the mass extinction, but the structure of the open-ocean ecosystem did not fully recover for more than 3 million years.     

Glacier oxygen-18 content and pleistocene ocean temperatures

The mean oxygen-18 content of continental ice sheets during the last glacial maximum is estimated to deltaO(18)=-30 per mille or less, and the consequent change in the isotopic composition of the oceans at that time to 1.2 per mille or more. This means that at least 70 percent of the oxygen-18 variations found in shells of planktonic foraminifera from deep-sea cores between times of glacial maximums and minimums are due to isotopic changes in ocean water, and at most 30 percent to changes in ocean surface temperature. Hence, Emiliani's "paleotemperature" curve rather depicts the amount of ice on the continents in excess of that present today. In this sense it may be renamed a "paleoglaciation" curve.     

Pore Fluid Constraints on the Temperature and Oxygen Isotopic Composition of the Glacial Ocean

Pore fluids from the upper 60 meters of sediment 3000 meters below the surface of the tropical Atlantic indicate that the oxygen isotopic composition (delta18O) of seawater at this site during the last glacial maximum was 0.8 ± 0.1 per mil higher than it is today. Combined with the delta18O change in benthic foraminifera from this region, the elevated ratio indicates that the temperature of deep water in the tropical Atlantic Ocean was 4°C colder during the last glacial maximum. Extrapolation from this site to a global average suggests that the ice volume contribution to the change in delta18O of foraminifera is 1.0 per mil, which partially reconciles the foraminiferal oxygen isotope record of tropical sea surface temperatures with estimates from Barbados corals and terrestrial climate proxies.     

Live iron-60 in the early solar system

Isotopic analyses of nickel in samples from the differentiated meteorite Chervony Kut revealed the presence of relative excesses of (60)Ni ranging from 2.4 up to 50 parts per 10(4). These isotopic excesses are from the decay of the now extinct short-lived nuclide (60)Fe and provide clear evidence for the existence of (60)Fe over large scales in the early solar system. Not only was (60)Fe present at the time of melting and differentiation (that is, Fe-Ni fractionation) of the parent body of Chervony Kut but also later at the time when basaltic magma solidified at or near the surface of the planetesimal. The inferred abundance of (60)Fe suggests that its decay alone could have provided sufficient heat to melt small (diameters of several hundred kilometers) planetary bodies shortly after their accretion.     

Remobilization in the cratonic lithosphere recorded in polycrystalline diamond

Polycrystalline diamonds (framesites) from the Venetia kimberlite in South Africa contain silicate minerals whose isotopic and trace element characteristics document remobilization of older carbon and silicate components to form the framesites shortly before kimberlite eruption. Chemical variations within the garnets correlate with carbon isotopes in the diamonds, indicating contemporaneous formation. Trace element, radiogenic, and stable isotope variations can be explained by the interaction of eclogites with a carbonatitic melt, derived by remobilization of material that had been stored for a considerable time in the lithosphere. These results indicate more recent formation of diamonds from older materials within the cratonic lithosphere.     

Continental pleistocene climatic variations from speleothem age and isotopic data

Speleothems from continental North American caves have been dated by means of the (230)Th/(234)U method. Oxygen isotopic variations in the dated samples and phases of speleothem deposition can be interpreted in terms of climatic change. A glacial chronology constructed from the age and isotopic data lends support to the astronomical theory of climatic change.     

Evolution of ocean temperature and ice volume through the mid-Pleistocene climate transition

Earth's climate underwent a fundamental change between 1250 and 700 thousand years ago, the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT), when the dominant periodicity of climate cycles changed from 41 thousand to 100 thousand years in the absence of substantial change in orbital forcing. Over this time, an increase occurred in the amplitude of change of deep-ocean foraminiferal oxygen isotopic ratios, traditionally interpreted as defining the main rhythm of ice ages although containing large effects of changes in deep-ocean temperature. We have separated the effects of decreasing temperature and increasing global ice volume on oxygen isotope ratios. Our results suggest that the MPT was initiated by an abrupt increase in Antarctic ice volume 900 thousand years ago. We see no evidence of a pattern of gradual cooling, but near-freezing temperatures occur at every glacial maximum.     

Penny ice cap cores, baffin island, canada, and the wisconsinan foxe dome connection: two states of hudson bay ice cover

Ice cores from Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada, provide continuous Holocene records of oxygen isotopic composition (delta18O, proxy for temperature) and atmospheric impurities. A time scale was established with the use of altered seasonal variations, some volcanic horizons, and the age for the end of the Wisconsin ice age determined from the GRIP and GISP2 ice cores. There is pre-Holocene ice near the bed. The change in delta18O since the last glacial maximum (LGM) is at least 12.5 per mil, compared with an expected value of 7 per mil, suggesting that LGM ice originated at the much higher elevations of the then existing Foxe Dome and Foxe Ridge of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The LGM delta18O values suggest thick ice frozen to the bed of Hudson Bay.     

Regional ground-water mixing and the origin of saline fluids: midcontinent, United States

Ground waters in three adjacent regional flow systems in the midcontinent exhibit extreme chemical and isotopic variations that delineate large-scale fluid flow and mixing processes and two distinct mechanisms for the generation of saline fluids. Systematic spatial variations of major ion concentrations, H, O, and Sr isotopic compositions, and ground-water migration pathways indicate that each flow system contains water of markedly different origin. Mixing of the three separate ground waters exerts a fundamental control on ground-water composition. The three ground waters are: (i) dilute meteoric water recharged in southern Missouri; (ii) saline Na-Ca-Cl water in southeastern Kansas of far-traveled meteoric origin that acquired its salinity by halite dissolution; and (iii) Na-Ca-Cl brines in north-central Oklahoma that may have originated as Paleozoic seawater.     

Climate change as the dominant control on glacial-interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance

Although C4 plant expansions have been recognized in the late Miocene, identification of the underlying causes is complicated by the uncertainties associated with estimates of ancient precipitation, temperature, and partial pressure of atmospheric carbon dioxide (PCO2). Here we report the carbon isotopic compositions of leaf wax n-alkanes in lake sediment cores from two sites in Mesoamerica that have experienced contrasting moisture variations since the last glacial maximum. Opposite isotopic trends obtained from these two sites indicate that regional climate exerts a strong control on the relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants and that in the absence of favorable moisture and temperature conditions, low PCO2 alone is insufficient to drive an expansion of C4 plants.     

近57年中国大陆高温天气的变化特征分析

利用我国740个气象站1951 ～ 2007年气温资料,采用统计分析方法,分析了我国各地区平均最高气温和极端最高气温57年来的多年变化特征.结果表明,我国北方趋势变化并不明显,20世纪80年代后期有明显上升,西南地区80年代后期急剧下降,长江流域以南60年代降温后变化不大,青藏高原变化较小.我国年平均最高气温的变化80年代初为最低时期,此后呈现明显的升温;极端最高温度的变化趋势有明显的地域性差异,长江流域地区、黄河下游地区极端最高温度90年代前表现出降温趋势.中国大陆气温南北变化平均温度、平均最高温度区域差异有很好的一致性,均由北至南逐渐升高,东北地区极端最高气温与平均最高气温差和极端最高气温与平均气温差均为区域间最大,西北西部次之,西南最小;平均最高气温与平均气温差青藏高原为最大,长江中下游和华南地区为最小.     

Glucose naturally labeled with carbon-13: use for metabolic studies in man

The ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 is much higher in most commerical preparations of glucose used for oral glucose tolerance tests than it is in carbon dioxide in expired air. This recent discovery provided a novel and potentially significant means of studying glucose metabolism. The changes in the ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 in carbon dioxide expired after oral glucose administration were determined by mass spectrometry. In six healthy male volunteers, the administration of glucose resulted in a marked, reproducible rise in the isotopic ratio in expired carbon dioxide; the ratio reached its maximum at 4 hours and then declined progressively.     

Ecosystem collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a human role in megafaunal extinction

Most of Australia's largest mammals became extinct 50,000 to 45,000 years ago, shortly after humans colonized the continent. Without exceptional climate change at that time, a human cause is inferred, but a mechanism remains elusive. A 140,000-year record of dietary delta(13)C documents a permanent reduction in food sources available to the Australian emu, beginning about the time of human colonization; a change replicated at three widely separated sites and in the marsupial wombat. We speculate that human firing of landscapes rapidly converted a drought-adapted mosaic of trees, shrubs, and nutritious grasslands to the modern fire-adapted desert scrub. Animals that could adapt survived; those that could not, became extinct.     

Miocene stable isotope record: a detailed deep pacific ocean study and its paleoclimatic implications

Deep Sea Drilling Project site 289 in the western equatorial Pacific has yielded an extremely detailed record of the carbon and oxygen isotopic changes in the Miocene deep ocean. The isotopic record reflects major changes in paleoclimate and paleoceanography, probably dominated by a major phase of Antarctic ice-cap growth. The transition from a relatively unglaciated world to one similar to today occurred between 16.5 x 10(6) and 13 x 10(6) years before the present, with the greatest change occurring between approximately 14.8 x 10(6) and 14.0 x 10(6) years before the present.     

几种磷矿粉中磷和钙溶出动力学特性

采用间歇实验方法,研究4种磷矿粉在1M NH4OAc(pH4.8)酸性溶液中磷和钙溶出动力学规律,结果表明:磷矿粉中磷的溶出分为2个阶段,0～30min为快反应过程,30min后为慢反应过程,它能较好地符合Elvoich方程,磷的溶出速率(b)与枸溶性磷含量有较好的相关性,主要受磷矿粉中SiO2和碳酸钙含量的影响,枸溶性磷含量愈高,磷的溶出速率愈大,溶出磷的浓度也愈高。磷矿粉中钙的溶出也符合Elvoich方程,且与游离的碳酸钙含量有关,与其他磷矿粉不同,在PR1中钙的溶出浓度较高,很可能来自于碳酸钙的溶解。因而,磷矿粉不仅可以提供磷素营养,还提供植物生长所需的钙素营养。     

The Source and Fate of Massive Carbon Input During the Latest Paleocene Thermal Maximum

Lithologic, faunal, seismic, and isotopic evidence from the Blake Nose (subtropical western North Atlantic) links a massive release of biogenic methane approximately 55.5 million years ago to a warming of deep-ocean and high-latitude surface waters, a large perturbation in the combined ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle (the largest of the past 90 million years), a mass extinction event in benthic faunas, and a radiation of mammalian orders. The deposition of a mud clast interval and seismic evidence for slope disturbance are associated with intermediate water warming, massive carbon input to the global exogenic carbon cycle, pelagic carbonate dissolution, a decrease in dissolved oxygen, and a benthic foraminiferal extinction event. These events provide evidence to confirm the gas hydrate dissociation hypothesis and identify the Blake Nose as a site of methane release.     

湖北省武汉市新洲区40年来气温变化特征分析

利用1971-2010年本站年平均气温、年平均最高气温、平均最低气温,对新洲近40年来,尤其是近10年来的气温的变化特征作了较为详细的统计分析。结果表明:新洲区年平均气温、年平均最低气温、年平均最高气温自20世纪80年代中期以来都呈上升趋势,进入90年代以后,这种趋势进一步加快,而进入21世纪后,上升趋势非常明显。     

2001～2008年中华秋沙鸭弋阳越冬区种群数量的变化

2001～2008年,通过对江西省上饶市弋阳越冬区中华秋沙鸭种群数量和越冬区生态因子进行研究,结果发现,2001～2005年间,中华秋沙鸭的种群数量在逐渐减少:而在2006～2008年间,又呈显著增加的变化趋势.且中华秋沙鸭在越冬区的生活不稳定,常沿河流逐步迁徙,只作短暂停留,越冬区的范围分布较散.越冬区生态因子的改变和人为干扰是其种群数量下降的主要原因,而其生境的改善和食物来源的丰富与其种群数量的增加有着密切的关系.     

Sibling Species in Montastraea annularis, Coral Bleaching, and the Coral Climate Record

Measures of growth and skeletal isotopic ratios in the Caribbean coral Montastraea annularis are fundamental to many studies of paleoceanography, environmental degradation, and global climate change. This taxon is shown to consist of at least three sibling species in shallow waters. The two most commonly studied of these show highly significant differences in growth rate and oxygen isotopic ratios, parameters routinely used to estimate past climatic conditions; unusual coloration in the third may have confused research on coral bleaching. Interpretation or comparison of past and current studies can be jeopardized by ignoring these species boundaries.     

柠檬酸对酸沉降下高岭石的溶解作用

采用间歇法(batch method)模拟研究酸沉降下的高岭石在柠檬酸溶液中的长期溶解效应。研究表明:柠檬酸能显著促进高岭石Al和Si的释放,且Al、Si的释放能力随柠檬酸浓度的增加而增强;高岭石溶解同步性与柠檬酸浓度有关,随着柠檬酸浓度的提高,其溶解的同步性增强,且反应前期高岭石都表现为Al的优先释放,而在反应后期Al、Si趋于同步释放。柠檬酸对高岭石的溶解速率一般较无机酸高1个数量级左右,且其溶解速率表现出对柠檬酸浓度的饱和性。