Explosive volcanism on the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean

Roughly 60% of the Earth's outer surface is composed of oceanic crust formed by volcanic processes at mid-ocean ridges. Although only a small fraction of this vast volcanic terrain has been visually surveyed or sampled, the available evidence suggests that explosive eruptions are rare on mid-ocean ridges, particularly at depths below the critical point for seawater (3,000 m). A pyroclastic deposit has never been observed on the sea floor below 3,000 m, presumably because the volatile content of mid-ocean-ridge basalts is generally too low to produce the gas fractions required for fragmenting a magma at such high hydrostatic pressure. We employed new deep submergence technologies during an International Polar Year expedition to the Gakkel ridge in the Arctic Basin at 85 degrees E, to acquire photographic and video images of 'zero-age' volcanic terrain on this remote, ice-covered ridge. Here we present images revealing that the axial valley at 4,000 m water depth is blanketed with unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits, including bubble wall fragments (limu o Pele), covering a large (>10 km(2)) area. At least 13.5 wt% CO(2) is necessary to fragment magma at these depths, which is about tenfold the highest values previously measured in a mid-ocean-ridge basalt. These observations raise important questions about the accumulation and discharge of magmatic volatiles at ultraslow spreading rates on the Gakkel ridge and demonstrate that large-scale pyroclastic activity is possible along even the deepest portions of the global mid-ocean ridge volcanic system.     

Evidence of recent volcanic activity on the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge

Seafloor spreading is accommodated by volcanic and tectonic processes along the global mid-ocean ridge system. As spreading rate decreases the influence of volcanism also decreases, and it is unknown whether significant volcanism occurs at all at ultraslow spreading rates (<1.5 cm yr(-1)). Here we present three-dimensional sonar maps of the Gakkel ridge, Earth's slowest-spreading mid-ocean ridge, located in the Arctic basin under the Arctic Ocean ice canopy. We acquired this data using hull-mounted sonars attached to a nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Hawkbill. Sidescan data for the ultraslow-spreading (approximately 1.0 cm yr(-1)) eastern Gakkel ridge depict two young volcanoes covering approximately 720 km2 of an otherwise heavily sedimented axial valley. The western volcano coincides with the average location of epicentres for more than 250 teleseismic events detected in 1999, suggesting that an axial eruption was imaged shortly after its occurrence. These findings demonstrate that eruptions along the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge are focused at discrete locations and appear to be more voluminous and occur more frequently than was previously thought.     

Magmatic and amagmatic seafloor generation at the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge,Arctic Ocean

A high-resolution mapping and sampling study of the Gakkel ridge was accomplished during an international ice-breaker expedition to the high Arctic and North Pole in summer 2001. For this slowest-spreading endmember of the global mid-ocean-ridge system, predictions were that magmatism should progressively diminish as the spreading rate decreases along the ridge, and that hydrothermal activity should be rare. Instead, it was found that magmatic variations are irregular, and that hydrothermal activity is abundant. A 300-kilometre-long central amagmatic zone, where mantle peridotites are emplaced directly in the ridge axis, lies between abundant, continuous volcanism in the west, and large, widely spaced volcanic centres in the east. These observations demonstrate that the extent of mantle melting is not a simple function of spreading rate: mantle temperatures at depth or mantle chemistry (or both) must vary significantly along-axis. Highly punctuated volcanism in the absence of ridge offsets suggests that first-order ridge segmentation is controlled by mantle processes of melting and melt segregation. The strong focusing of magmatic activity coupled with faulting may account for the unexpectedly high levels of hydrothermal activity observed.     

Discovery of abundant hydrothermal venting on the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge in the Arctic Ocean

Submarine hydrothermal venting along mid-ocean ridges is an important contributor to ridge thermal structure, and the global distribution of such vents has implications for heat and mass fluxes from the Earth's crust and mantle and for the biogeography of vent-endemic organisms. Previous studies have predicted that the incidence of hydrothermal venting would be extremely low on ultraslow-spreading ridges (ridges with full spreading rates <2 cm x yr(-1)-which make up 25 per cent of the global ridge length), and that such vent systems would be hosted in ultramafic in addition to volcanic rocks. Here we present evidence for active hydrothermal venting on the Gakkel ridge, which is the slowest spreading (0.6-1.3 cm x yr(-1)) and least explored mid-ocean ridge. On the basis of water column profiles of light scattering, temperature and manganese concentration along 1,100 km of the rift valley, we identify hydrothermal plumes dispersing from at least nine to twelve discrete vent sites. Our discovery of such abundant venting, and its apparent localization near volcanic centres, requires a reassessment of the geologic conditions that control hydrothermal circulation on ultraslow-spreading ridges.     

Minimum speed limit for ocean ridge magmatism from 210Pb-226Ra-230Th disequilibria

Although 70 per cent of global crustal magmatism occurs at mid-ocean ridges-where the heat budget controls crustal structure, hydrothermal activity and a vibrant biosphere-the tempo of magmatic inputs in these regions remains poorly understood. Such timescales can be assessed, however, with natural radioactive-decay-chain nuclides, because chemical disruption to secular equilibrium systems initiates parent-daughter disequilibria, which re-equilibrate by the shorter half-life in a pair. Here we use 210Pb-226Ra-230Th radioactive disequilibria and other geochemical attributes in oceanic basalts less than 20 years old to infer that melts of the Earth's mantle can be transported, accumulated and erupted in a few decades. This implies that magmatic conditions can fluctuate rapidly at ridge volcanoes. 210Pb deficits of up to 15 per cent relative to 226Ra occur in normal mid-ocean ridge basalts, with the largest deficits in the most magnesium-rich lavas. The 22-year half-life of 210Pb requires very recent fractionation of these two uranium-series nuclides. Relationships between 210Pb-deficits, (226Ra/230Th) activity ratios and compatible trace-element ratios preclude crustal-magma differentiation or daughter-isotope degassing as the main causes for the signal. A mantle-melting model can simulate observed disequilibria but preservation requires a subsequent mechanism to transport melt rapidly. The likelihood of magmatic disequilibria occurring before melt enters shallow crustal magma bodies also limits differentiation and heat replenishment timescales to decades at the localities studied.     

An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean

The ocean plays a critical role in supporting human well-being, from providing food, livelihoods and recreational opportunities to regulating the global climate. Sustainable management aimed at maintaining the flow of a broad range of benefits from the ocean requires a comprehensive and quantitative method to measure and monitor the health of coupled human–ocean systems. We created an index comprising ten diverse public goals for a healthy coupled human–ocean system and calculated the index for every coastal country. Globally, the overall index score was 60 out of 100 (range 36–86), with developed countries generally performing better than developing countries, but with notable exceptions. Only 5% of countries scored higher than 70, whereas 32% scored lower than 50. The index provides a powerful tool to raise public awareness, direct resource management, improve policy and prioritize scientific research.     

海洋工程技术进展与对发展我国海洋经济的思考

海洋经济的发展离不开海洋工程技术的发展,回顾海洋工程技术的发展状况,思考我国海洋经济发展的情况及需要,以引起讨论,对明确海洋工程科技工作与教育工作面临的任务将有所裨益。     

英语课堂交互活动中的教师话语分析

教师话语是教师组织课堂教学和传授知识所使用的语言,教师话语的质量直接影响课堂的教学效果,对学生的语言能力的培养起着至关重要的作用。本文运用语言学习理论,从教师的提问形式、语言的输入策略、课堂交互调整方式及反馈方式四个方面对大学英语课堂交互活动中的教师话语做了分析和讨论,旨在增强教师的话语意识,提高教师的话语效度,改进英语教学。     

一类求模逆元的算法

对于同余方程p·χ=1 mod αP求解p-1 mod αp的问题,给出了一个求解公式,且编程实现了求解公式的代码算法.与传统求解方法相比,此算法更为直观、简洁.实际测试结果显示该算法是可靠有效的.     

一种类MOOC课堂在线学习系统方案

将已有的大量国家各级精品课程资源进行MOOC化改造,设计和构建类MOOC课堂在线学习系统,可极大提高已有精品课程资源的利用率,降低MOOC课程建设成本.系统采用B/S模式,应用PHP语言,My SQL数据库实现,视频服务采用流媒体服务器集群和均衡负载.系统运行稳定,功能丰富,操作简捷,界面美观,不仅实现MOOC课堂基本功能,而且对个性化学习进行了探索,有重要应用价值.     

Formation of the Indian ocean

Palaeomagnetic results suggest a possible sequence for the fragmentation of the land masses around the Indian Ocean.     

Oxidation of the Ediacaran ocean

Oxygenation of the Earth's surface is increasingly thought to have occurred in two steps. The first step, which occurred approximately 2,300 million years (Myr) ago, involved a significant increase in atmospheric oxygen concentrations and oxygenation of the surface ocean. A further increase in atmospheric oxygen appears to have taken place during the late Neoproterozoic period ( approximately 800-542 Myr ago). This increase may have stimulated the evolution of macroscopic multicellular animals and the subsequent radiation of calcified invertebrates, and may have led to oxygenation of the deep ocean. However, the nature and timing of Neoproterozoic oxidation remain uncertain. Here we present high-resolution carbon isotope and sulphur isotope records from the Huqf Supergroup, Sultanate of Oman, that cover most of the Ediacaran period (approximately 635 to approximately 548 Myr ago). These records indicate that the ocean became increasingly oxygenated after the end of the Marinoan glaciation, and they allow us to identify three distinct stages of oxidation. When considered in the context of other records from this period, our data indicate that certain groups of eukaryotic organisms appeared and diversified during the second and third stages of oxygenation. The second stage corresponds with the Shuram excursion in the carbon isotope record and seems to have involved the oxidation of a large reservoir of organic carbon suspended in the deep ocean, indicating that this event may have had a key role in the evolution of eukaryotic organisms. Our data thus provide new insights into the oxygenation of the Ediacaran ocean and the stepwise restructuring of the carbon and sulphur cycles that occurred during this significant period of Earth's history.     

一种新的指纹纹线提取方法

指纹图像处理一直是自动指纹识别技术的研究重点。文中从图像的灰度分布规律出发,提出了一种直接从灰度级指纹图像提取纹线信息的指纹纹线提取算法。实验结果表明,该算法具有很强的噪声抑制能力,取得了理想的提取效果。     

大学英语教学中的课堂提问

以学生为中心的大学英语教学模式要求提高教学互动,课堂提问则是这一模式的有效应用.笔者以自己教学经验为依据在本文中分析课堂提问的有效方式及注意事项.     

一类三种群食物链模型解的渐近性

计论了一类具有第1类功能性反应函数和三种群食物链模型.利用代数方程得到了该模型存在的平衡点充分方程,应用Hurwitz判别法则及特征方程给出了该模型的平衡点局部渐近稳定的充分条件,利用计算机进行模拟仿真,得到了直观可视化结果,并且进一步说明了所得结果的生态意义.     

大学英语教学中的课堂提问

以学生为中心的大学英语教学模式要求提高教学互动,课堂提问则是这一模式的有效应用。笔者以自己教学经验为依据在本文中分析课堂提问的有效方式及注意事项。