Carbon isotopic record of foraminifers in surface sediments from the South China Sea and its significance

Since the 1990s, the papers and data involved withthe South China Sea (SCS) have been emerging in largenumbers in the world as people pay more attention to thepaleoceanography of the SCS. There have been more than100 cores mentioned in papers containing p…     

Mineralogy of smectites in the surface sediments from the East Pacific and its significance

XRD, TEM, SEM and EDS are employed to analyze smectites in the clay fraction of the surface sediments from the East Pacific. It is shown from the XRD results that the clay fraction consists of about 20% smectites.Three types of smectites are identified, Fe-rich (Type Ⅰ), Fe,Mg-rich (Type Ⅱ) and Na,Ca smectite (Type Ⅲ), and most of them are not well-crystallized. Type Ⅰ is widely distributed in sediments, showing honeycomblike in the SEM, and aggregated or dispersive hairlike, or cloudy assemblage with a bit curl near its edge in the TEM. This type is considered to be typomorphic type of authigenic smectite in the East Pacific. Type Ⅱ is similar to Type Ⅰ in micromorphology in the TEM, showing a transition micronite, while Type Ⅲ is tabletlike in the TEM with an unclear edge. Type Ⅰ may be altered from voleanics and some of them even precipitated from the low subthermal water. Type Ⅱ could also be formed in the ocean floor, while Type Ⅲ comes from dry and distant continental area. This study suggests that the characteristic of chemical composition and morphology of smectite may give a clue to understand sediment source, origin of minerals and sedimentation in the deep sea.     

Evolution of the South China Sea and monsoon history revealed in deep-sea records

As the third summary report of ODP Leg 184 to the South China Sea (SCS), this paper discusses the evolution of the East Asian monsoon and the SCS basin. A multi-proxy approach, involving geochemistry, micropale-ontology, pollen and other analyses, was adopted for reconstructing the evolutionary history of the East Asian monsoon, which was characterized by a series of paleo-climate events especially at 8, 3.2, 2.2 and 0.4 Ma. The new record indicates similar stages in the development of the East and South Asian monsoons, with an enhanced winter monsoon over East Asia being the major difference. The rich spectrums of monsoon variability from the southern SCS also reveal other characteristic features of the low latitude ocean. Evidence for the evolution of the SCS includes the hemipelagic Oligocene sediments, implying the existence of deep water environments during the early seafloor spreading stage of the SCS basin. The four major unconformities and some remarkabl ediagenetic features in upper Oligocene deposits indicate the strongest tectonic events in the region. From a careful comparison of lithologies and sedimentation rates, we conclude that the prominent differences in sedimentary environments between the southern and northern SCS were established only by ～3 Ma.     

Dynamics of sediment resuspension and the conceptual schema of nutrient release in the large shallow Lake Taihu,China

On the basis of investigations in situ, it was found that mass exchange on the water-sediment interface occurred chiefly on the superficial sediment within 5-10 cm. The spatial physicochemical character of sediment was distributed uniformly. The observation of lake currents and waves indicated that the dynamic sources, which act on the interface of water and sediment, came mainly from waves under strong wind forcing, while the critical shear stresses     

Clay minerals in surface sediments of the Pearl River drainage basin and their contribution to the South China Sea

Clay minerals have played a significant role in the study of the East Asian monsoon evolution in the South China Sea by being able to track oceanic current variations and to reveal contemporaneous paleoclimaUc changes prevailing in continental source areas. As one of the most important rivers inputting terrigenous matters to the northern South China Sea, the Pearl River was not previously paid attention to from the viewpoint of clay mineralogy. This paper presents a detailed study on clay minerals in surface sediments collected from the Pearl River drainage basin （including all three main channels, various branches, and the Lingdingyang in the estuary） by using the X-ray diffraction （XRD） method. The results indicate that the clay mineral assemblage consists dominantly of kaolinite （35%-65%）, lesser abundance of chlorite （20%-35%） and illite （12%-42%）, and very scare smectite occurrences （generally 〈5%）. Their respective distribution does not present any obvious difference throughout the Pearl River drainage basin. However, downstream the Pearl River to the northern South China Sea, the clay mineral assemblage varies significantly： kaolinite decreases gradually, smecUte and illite increase gradually. Additionally, illite chemistry index steps down and illite crystallinity steps up. These variations indicate the contribution of major kaolinite, lesser illite and chlorite, and very scarce smecUte to the northern South China Sea from the Pearl River drainage basin. The maximum contribution of clay minerals from the Pearl River is 72% to the northern margin and only 15% to the northern slope of the South China Sea. In both glacials and interglacials, kaolinite indicates that the ability of mechanical erosion occurred in the Pearl River drainage basin.     

Opening of the Tethys in southwest China and its significance to the breakup of East Gondwanaland in late Paleozoic:Evidence from SHRIMP U-Pb zircon analyses for the Garzêophiolite block

The orogeny in the Sanjiang area in southwest Chinahas traditionally been considered as the product of theevolution of the Tethys in the late Paleozoic to the earlyMesozoic, and strongly affected by India-Asia collision inthe Cenozoic. Geological mappings showed that the San-jiang area contains four tectonic mélanges, named theGarzê-Litang, Jinshajiang-Ailaoshan, Lancangjiang-Men-glian-Changning and Dingqing-Basu ophiolite mélanges,associated with the Yidun, Jomda-Weixi, Suiba-Nanzu…     

1, 3-dioxolane pretreatment to improve the interracial characteristics of a lithium anode

1,3-dioxolane （DOL） was originally used to pretreat a lithium metal electrode to improve its interracial characteristics. Electrochemical impedance spectra （EIS） measurements revealed that, after the DOL pretreatment, the lithium electrode had better interfacial stability during immersion in electrolyte and as repeated charge/discharge cycles. It was proved by SEM that the pretreated one has smoother morphology and less dendrite after repeated charge/discharge cycles. Consequentially, benefiting from the better interface characteristics of the lithium electrode.     

Holocene climatic and environmental changes recorded in Baahar Nuur Lake core in the Ordos Plateau, Inner Mongolia of China

A 5.3 m lake core was drilled in Baahar Nuur Lake in the Ordos Plateau, and measurements of meangrain size, organic δ 13C (δ 13Corg), organic carbon content (TOC), C/N, carbonate content, carbonate δ 13C(δ 13Ccar) and δ 18O (δ 18Ocar) were conducted for retrieving the Holocene chronosequence of climaticchanges based on 15 AMS 14C dates. The record documented four major stages of climate change inthe Ordos Plateau: (IV) a cold and dry condition before ～7.65 14C ka BP; (III) a warm and humid stagebetween ～7.65 and ～5.40 ka BP; (II) a generally drier and cooler climate since ～5.40 ka BP with twohumid events occurring from ～4.70 to ～4.60 ka BP and from ～4.20 to ～3.70 ka BP, and (I) a dry climatecharacterized by complete desiccation of the lake after 3.70 ka BP. Stage III can be further divided intothree sub-stages: (IIIa) a warm and humid episode from ～7.65 to ～6.70 ka BP, (IIIb) a warm and relativelydry episode from ～6.70 to ～6.20 ka BP, and (IIIc) the magthermal and maghumid episode of the Holo-cene from ～6.20 to ～5.40 ka BP.     

Sr-Nd isotope geochemistry of eolian dust of the arid-semiarid areas in China： Implications for loess provenance and monsoon evolution

Strontium (Sr) is a divalent alkaline earth element. Its ionic radius (0.113 nm) is slightly larger than that of calcium (0.099 nm), and Sr thus substitutes isomor- phously for Ca in many minerals. Neodymium (Nd) is a rare earth element. Its chemical prop…     

Authigenic sulfide minerals and their sulfur isotopes in sediments of the northern continental slope of the South China Sea and their implications for methane flux and gas hydrate formation

This is a report of the study of the authigenic sulfide minerals and their sulfur isotopes in a sediment core (NH-1) collected on the northern continental slope of the South China Sea, where other geo-physical and geochemical evidence seems to suggest gas hydrate formation in the sediments. The study has led to the findings: (1) the pyrite content in sediments was relatively high and its grain size relatively large compared with that in normal pelagic or hemipelagic sediments; (2) the shallowest depth of the acid volatile sulfide (AVS) content maximum was at 437.5 cm (>2 μmol/g), which was deeper than that of the authigenic pyrite content maximum (at 141.5-380.5 cm); (3) δ 34S of authigenic pyrite was positive (maximum: 15‰) at depth interval of 250-380 cm; (4) the positive δ 34S coincided with pyrite enrichment. Compared with the results obtained from the Black Sea sediments by Jorgen-sen and coworkers, these observations indicated that at the NH-1 site, the depth of the sulfate-methane interface (SMI) would be or once was at about 437.5-547.5 cm and the relatively shallow SMI depth suggested high upward methane fluxes. This was in good agreement with the results obtained from pore water sulfate gradients and core head-space methane concentrations in sediment cores collected in the area. All available evidence suggested that methane gas hydrate formation may exist or may have existed in the underlying sediments.     

Identification of 3.5 Ga detrital zircons from Yangtze craton in south China and the implication for Archean crust evolution

The LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of hundreds of detrital zircon grains from the Sinian sandstones of Liantuo formation and tillites of Nantuo formation at Sanxia area in Yichang identified 3319?3508 Ma zircon grains. Their ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages show excellent agreement (concordia degree 99%?100%). Their CL images exhibit well-developed oscillatory zoning and the Th/U ratios are within 0.46?0.76, implying that they are igneous zircons which formed during middle-early Archean. These zircons are the oldest ones discovered in Yangtze craton until now. However, the detrital zircons with ages older than 3.3 Ga in the metamorphic rocks of Kongling group were not found by further investigation, which suggests the presence of crust older than high-grade metamorphic Kongling terrain in Yangtze craton.     

Comparative study on the effect of integrin αvβ3 on secretion of matrix metalloproteinases in human normal and carcinoma trophoblasts

The invasion of cytotrophoblast cells into the maternal endometrium during embryonic implantation is very similar to the metastasis of carcinoma cells. However, the significant difference is that the former is a highly controlled process. In this report, the effects of integrin αvβ3 on the secretion of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) were compared between normal cytotrophoblast cells and choriocarcinoma cells by RT-PCR, gelatin zymography and immunocytochemistry. The results reveal that both normal cytotrophoblast cells and choriocarcinoma cells can express integrin αvβ3. The secretion of MMPs in normal cytotrophoblast cells is up-regulated by anti-αvβ3 antibody, whereas, decreased in choriocarcinoma cells. It was suggested that αvβ3 can modulate the expression of MMPs in trophoblasts, and this action is carried out through distinct mechanisms in normal and carcinoma cytotrophoblast cells.     

Discovery and significance of buried paleoearthquake of the early Shang Dynasty (1260–1520 BC) in Xuecun, Xingyang, Henan Province, China

Due to the South-to-North Water Diversion Project,the salvage archaeological excavations were conducted in Xuecun,Xingyang city,Henan Province,China,by the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province in 2005 and 2006.Ample evidence for a paleoearthquake was found during the excavation in the Xuecun archaeological site.The evidence includes faults,two small grabens and a series of ground fissures.These geological structures are considered to be generated by the earthquake.Based on the rela...