Geochemical characteristics and petrogenesis of Mesozoic basalts from the North China Craton： A case study in Fuxin, Liaoning Province

Occurrence of Cretaceous basalts in Fuxin County, Liaoning Province provides us an opportunity to understand Mesozoic mantle processes beneath the northern margin of the North China Craton (NNCC). Fuxin Jianguo basalts occur as volcanic channel phases with well-developed columnar jointings and contain few spinel lherzolite and pyroxenite xenoliths. They are poor in silica and rich in alkalis, Ti and Al, belonging to alkaline basalts. In trace element compositions, Jianguo basalts are moderately enriched in LREE and LILE, but not depleted in HFSE. They have low Sr and high Nd and Pb isotopic ratios. These geochemical characteristics suggest that Jianguo basalts originated from the depleted asthenosphere, representing an undifferentiated and uncontaminated primitive magma. Presence of these basalts indicates that the lithosphere beneath the region had thickness less than 65 km at the time of basalt eruption and was mainly composed of fertile pargasite-bearing spinel Iherzolite and plagioclase pyroxenite. The voluminous basaltic-andesitic magmatism during the early Jurassic-late Cretaceous time indicates that the commencement and accomplishment of lithosphere thinning in the NNCC was much earlier than that in the southern margin, since the mafic-intermediate volcanism only occurred at the Cretaceous time in the southern margin and the basalts with an asthenosphere isotopic signature at the Tertiary. This shows that highly spatial and temporal heterogeneity existed in the Mesozoic lithosphere evolution.     

Eolian origin of the Miocene loess-soil sequence at Qin’an, China: Evidence of quartz morphology and quartz grain-size

Recent study revealed that the so-called Neogene Gansu System in the western Loess Plateau contains loess-soil sequences of Miocene age[1]. A most com- plete sequence (QA-I) covers a time interval from ~22 to ~6.2 Ma BP, consisting of more than 230 visual…     

Eolian origin of the Miocene loess-soil sequence at Qin’an, China: Evidence of quartz morphology and quartz grain-size

Recent study revealed that the so-called Neogene Gansu System in the western Loess Plateau contains loess-soil sequences of Miocene age. A most complete sequence （QA-I） covers a time interval from ～22 to ～.6.2 Ma BP, consisting of more than 230 visually definable paleosols interbedded with loess layers. A loess-soil sequence of late Miocene-Pliocene age, synchronous with the Hipparian Red Clay in the eastern Loess Plateau, was also recognized, and extends the Miocene sequences into the Pliocene, ～3.5 Ma BP. Recently, Miocene eolian deposits were also reported from the high terraces near Xining.     

Oxygen isotope geochemistry of phosphorite and dolomite and palaeo-ocean temperature estimation: A case study from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, Guizhou Province,South China

The Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an in Guizhou Province of South China consists of phosphorites and dolomites.Three types of samples are recongnized for the phosphate-bearing rocks.In Type I samples, interstitial phosphates occur within the dolomite rocks, whereas in Type III samples, interstitial dolomites occur within the phosphorites; both of them may have diagenetic origin.The Type II samples are interbedded phosphorites and dolomites.Oxygen isotopic compositions of phosphate and coeval carbonate were analyzed.Phosphates of Type I and II samples show similar low δ18Ophos (SMOW) values of 10.9‰～12.1‰ and 10.7‰～12.8‰, respectively, whereas Type III phosphates show higher δ18Ophos (SMOW) values of 13.2‰～15.0‰.Dolomites from Type I and II samples have δ18Ocarb (PDB) and δ13Ccarb (PDB) values of -6.2‰～-3.4‰ and -2.2‰～-0.7‰, respectively, whereas interstitial dolomites from Type III samples show lower δ18Ocarb (PDB) and δ13Ccarb (PDB) values of -12.9‰～-8.6‰ and -4.4‰～-2.6‰.Petrology and oxygen isotope data suggest that diagenetic alteration may have partially affected the studied rocks, but the dolomites from Type I and phosphates from Type III samples represent the most pristine isotopic compositions of primary carbonates and phosphates precipitated from seawater.Calculations of palaeocean temperatures from the most 18O enriched dolomite and phosphate indicate a temperature range of 32.2 ℃ to 34.0 ℃ for the seawater of the Doushantuo Formation period.Ce anomaly also suggests more oxic conditions and possibly shallower water depth in the upper strata of the Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, Guizhou Province.     

Stability of patches of oasis landscape in arid areas:A case study of Sangong River Watershed,Xinjiang,China

The stability of oases is one of the key scientific issues in the process of evolution and management of oases in arid areas. The stability of oases and its representation are also different at different scales. This paper deals with the stability of oases at the landscape patch scale with a case study in the Sangong River Watershed of Tianshan Mountains. We employed the remote sensing, geographic information system and mathematical statistical methods to process the remote sensing images of three periods in 1978, 1987 and 1998, and put forward the approaches for representing the oasis stability at the landscape patch scale. The landscape control capacity of oasis patches is a kind of natural driving forces of the dynamic landscape change. The control capacity of a certain patch type on landscape change increases with its area and shape complexity and contrasts between it and other patches, and reduces with its spatial distances between it and other patches. The patch type with the strongest control capacity should be the matrix of landscape. The conversion of oasis landscape patches results from both natural and anthropogenic driving forces, particularly the anthropogenic driving forces. The higher the conversion proportion is, the lower the stability of patch types is and the stronger the anthropogenic disturbance is. The patch type with the strongest net control capacity in the Sangong River Watershed in 1987 was the desert grassland, which was the matrix of landscapes; but the matrix of landscapes had been changed into the irrigated lands in 1987 and 1998. The control capacities of landscape patches on the oasis landscape evolution have gradually reduced with time in the Sangong River Watershed, and the change extents also have reduced gradually. This reveals that the interaction among the landscape patch types generally tends to reduce, and the natural stability of the oasis landscape patches generally tends to increase. However, the conversion among the landscape patches occurs more frequently due to the increase of intensive human activities, which probably causes the lower stability of environmental resources patch and higher stability of introduced patches in the oasis landscape.     

Discovery of a Miaohe-type Biota from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Jiangkou County, Guizhou Province, China

A megascopic algal fossil assemblage was first discovered by Ma Guogan and Chen Meng‘e in the black shales of the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in Miaohe Town, Zigui County, Hubei Province in 1978. Formal naming of the Miaohe Biota was proposed by Cheng Meng‘e and Xiao Zongzheng in 199112j, and eleven morphological genera have been previously described. including megascopic algae and putative metazoans .Ding et al. greatly expanded the scope of the Miaohe Biota to 9 phyla consisting of 140 genera, including microphytoplanctons, megascopic algae, metazoans, spongesand trace fossils. Xiao et al. further restudied this fossil assemblage, concluding that only about 18 distinct taxa could be recognized and that many Miaohe taxa are poorly defined or svnonvmous.     

Discovery of phosphatized gastrula fossils from the Doushantuo Formation, Weng’an, Guizhou Province, China

Globular fossils from Doushantuo phosphorites at the Weng’an area are for the first time identified as a gastrulation stage of phosphatized embryos. They are got from the fossiliferous remains after acetic acid maceration. The fossils are found together with formerly reported animal resting eggs and embryos of the earlier cleavage stage. The oblate-shaped fossils with the same size as those reported embryos and invaginate at the middle part into the embryos, show the characteristics of the late blastula to the early gastrula stage of the embryo development. This discovery convinces the existence of animal embryos at Doushantuo age and offers new facts for the studying of the affinity of related fossils, which are still controversial at present.     

Modern systematics and environmental significance of stable isotopic variations in Wanxiang Cave, Wudu, Gansu, China

This paper presents the stable isotopic compositions from the cave dripwater and actively forming soda straw stalactites collected from Wanxiang Cave, Wudu, Gansu, located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Loess Plateau transition zone, China. The δ^18Odw and δDdw of dripwater samples in the cave plot directly on the local MWL, constructed by using GNIP data from 3 sites surrounding the cave regions (Lanzhou, Xi‘an, and Chengdu), the nearest site to the cave, suggesting that there is a close relationship be-tween the δ^18Odw of the cave water and the δ^18O of the pre-cipitations. Using the measured δ^18Odw and δ^18Omc values from the mid-farthest parts from the cave entrance and the carbonate paleotemperature equation, the calculated temperatures range from 8.9 to 12.4℃, with the mean value of 10.7℃ and the temperature calculated at 8 locations in the farthest part of the cave is in the range of 10.I--12.4℃, with the mean value of 11.5℃, being consistent with the survey value(10.99℃)in the cave, slightly lower than the mean annual temperature (14.4℃) in Wudu. This suggests that modern speleothems are forming under isotopic equilibrium and their isotopic composition accurately reflects the mean annual temperature at the surface, indicating that the isotopic composition of the modern speleothems records local temperature change with credibility.     

Ecosystem valuation and the conservation of wild lands in vigorous economic regions:A case study in Jiuduansha Wetland,Shanghai

As the loss of wild lands to satisfy traditional economic development has become a global environmental problem in recent decades, using ecosystem valuation to estimate the total economic value (TEV) of an ecosystem has become popular. The main purpose of the ecosystem valuation is to strengthen the importance of ecosystems, and bring the ecosystem services into the traditional cost-benefit analyses of land use strategy. Some studies have illustrated that in remote areas, wilderness can produce more value if it is conserved, rather than converted to traditional agricultural or industrial uses. The same situation does not seem to exist in vigorous economic regions. Thus, a case study was conducted on the Jiuduansha Wetland in Shanghai using three approaches: the direct market valuation, the replacement valuation and the contingent valuation. The net present TEVs of three land use scenarios over one hundred years were evaluated. The results proved that simply based on ecosystem valuation, when compared with the other two scenarios of "conservation" and "selective use", "partial conversion into terrene (dry land)" of Jiuduansha might be the optimal scenario for the well-being of the people in Shanghai. Land price was identified as the most important factor. This situation is likely due to the scarcity of land available for traditional economic development in Shanghai. Thus, we speculated that the fate of the wilderness to "be destroyed" in vigorous economic regions could not be changed simply based on ecosystem valuation. However, the variety of interest by local residents in wilderness might enhance the TEVs of scenarios such as "conservation" and "selective use", and affect the valuation results. Since some important benefits of natural ecosystems remain unknown and others are underestimated, we suggested that any land use decisions regarding the Jiuduansha Wetland should be conservative and cautious as converting wetlands into terrene is an irreversible process.     

Variations of geochemical compositions and the paleoclimatic significance of a loess-soil sequence from Garzê County of western Sichuan Province, China

The West Sichuan Plateau is located in the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau, where the climate is mainly influenced by the Indian southwest summer monsoon and the Tibetan Plateau monsoon. In this study, detailed geochemical analysis has been carried out on Ganzisi loess-paleosol sequence in Ganzê County of western Sichuan Province. The results indicate that Ganzê loess and paleosol have experienced the incipient stage of chemical weathering in dust source regions, characterized by the decomposition of plagioclase which caused the depletion of mobile elements Na and Ca. The post-depositional chemical weathering is characterized by carbonate dissolution and oxidation of Fe2＋. The variations of some geochemical indexes （such as CIA values, Na/K and Fe2＋/ Fe3＋ ratios） in Ganzisi loess-paleosol sequence indicate a gradually decreased chemical weathering intensity in the dust source regions and deposition areas since 1.15 Ma BP consistent with the general increase of global ice volume, reflecting that the arid trend since 1.15 Ma BP in the southeast Tibetan Plateau is a regional response to the global climate change. The geochemical indexes in this section also reveal an obvious drying step occurred at about 250 ka BP in this region. We interpret this drying step as a result of decreased influence of the Indian southwest summer monsoon. This decrease in monsoon moisture is probably attributable to the uplift of the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau at about 250 ka BP.     

Dust storm in Asia continent and its bio-environmental effects in the North Pacific： A case study of the strongest dust event in April, 2001 in central Asia

The iron hypothesis, first proposed by John Martin in 1990[1], suggests that some surface oceans such as North and Equatorial Pacific Oceans have high nutrient but low chlorophyll (HNLC). Thus iron coming from terrestrial dusts is the primary factor limit…     

Coral cover as a proxy of disturbance:A case study of the biodiversity of the hermatypic corals in Yongxing Island, Xisha Islands in the South China Sea

The Yongxing Island is the biggest island of Xisha Islands in the middle part of the South China Sea. It occupies 1.8 square kilometers of land area and has permanent residence on it. There are only a few papers on the coral community of the Xisha Islands, reporting the species composition, structure and zonations of the hermatypic coral community in 1970s. The present study describes the hermatypic coral community based on the quadrat survey after almost 30 years in Yongxing Island in August 2002. It was the first time to present the percent cover data of live corals of Yongxing Island via a systematic scheme of quantitative quadrat sampling. The average total percent cover of the live coral is 68.4%. We found the total percent cover (TPC) could be an idea proxy of the overall disturbance regime impinging on the coral community. TPC can be used as an integrated measure of disturbance to coral reef. Using this surrogate, the best fit relation between TPC of the live corals and species richness, species diversity, or the species evenness is the unimodal second-order polymorphic parabola equation. This result is expected by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH). From the fitted parabola equations, we calculated the best TPCs corresponding to the maximal species richness, the highest species diversity, or the most evenness respectively. They are surprisingly stabilized between 55% and 58%. Coralcover is the basic parameter widely available for most observation, research or monitoring programs. The good qualitative characteristics of percent cover provide powerful tool for the experimental, theoretical and modeling studies of coral reef in response to the disturbance.     

Design and compilation of urban geomorpholo-gical maps——A case study in Chongqing city

Ｄｅｓｉｇｎａｎｄｃｏｍｐｉｌａｔｉｏｎｏｆｕｒｂａｎｇｅｏｍｏｒｐｈｏｌｏｇｉｃａｌｍａｐｓ———ＡｃａｓｅｓｔｕｄｙｉｎＣｈｏｎｇｑｉｎｇｃｉｔｙｉａｏＣｈｅｎｇｔａｉ，ＺｈａｎｇＹｏｕｇａｎｇＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＵｒｂａｎＳｃｉｅｎｃｅ，...     

Ecosystem valuation and the conservation of wild lands in visorous economic resions： A case study in Jiuduansha Wetland, Shanshai

As the loss of wild lands to satisfy traditional economic development has become a global environmental problem in recent decades, using ecosystem valuation to estimate the total economic value （TEV） of an ecosystem has become popular. The main purpose of the ecosystem valuation is to strengthen the importance of ecosystems, and bring the ecosystem services into the traditional cost-benefit analyses of land use strategy. Some studies have illustrated that in remote areas, wilderness can produce more value if it is conserved, rather than converted to traditional agricultural or industrial uses. The same situation does not seem to exist in vigorous economic regions. Thus, a case study was conducted on the Jiuduansha Wetland in Shanghai using three approaches： the direct market valuation, the replacement valuation and the contingent valuation. The net present TEVs of three land use scenarios over one hundred years were evaluated. The results proved that simply based on ecosystem valuation, when compared with the other two scenarios of ＂conservation＂ and ＂selective use＂, ＂partial conversion into terrene （dry land）＂ of Jiuduansha might be the optimal scenario for the well-being of the people in Shanghai. Land price was identified as the most important factor. This situation is likely due to the scarcity of land available for traditional economic development in Shanghai. Thus, we speculated that the fate of the wilderness to ＂be destroyed＂ in vigorous economic regions could not be changed simply based on ecosystem valuation. However, the variety of interest by local residents in wilderness might enhance the TEVs of scenarios such as ＂conservation＂ and ＂selective use＂, and affect the valuation results. Since some important benefits of natural ecosystems remain unknown and others are underestimated, we suggested that any land use decisions regarding the Jiuduansha Wetland should be conservative and cautious as converting wetlands into terrene is an irreversible process.     

Discovery of the budding phosphatized globular fossils from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation at Weng’an, Guizhou Province, China

There is much debate on biological affinities of the phosphatized globular fossils from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo phosphorites at Weng’an, Guizhou Province. Here we report for the first time the budding structures of some of these globular fossils, which have previously been interpreted as the resting eggs and early cleavage embryos of metazoans. The budding structures are similar to the germinating tubes of the spore and zygote of living algae, suggesting that some globular fossils from the Doushantuo phosphorites bear affinity with algae. The present new information indicated various biological affinity of the phosphatized globular fossils from the Doushantuo phosphorites.     

Coral cover as a proxy of disturbance： A case study of the biodiversity of the hermatypic corals in Yongxing Island, Xisha Islands in the South China Sea

The Yongxing Island is the biggest island of Xisha Islands in the middle part of the South China Sea. It occupies 1.8 square kilometers of land area and has permanent residence on it. There are only a few papers on the coral community of the Xisha Islands, reporting the species composition, structure and zonations of the hermatypic coral community in 1970s. The present study describes the hermatypic coral community based on the quadrat survey after almost 30 years in Yongxing Island in August 2002. It was the first time to present the percent cover data of live corals of Yongxing Island via a systematic scheme of quantitative quadrat sampling. The average total percent cover of the live coral is 68.4%. We found the total percent cover （TPC） could be an idea proxy of the overall disturbance regime impinging on the coral community. TPC can be used as an integrated measure of disturbance to coral reef. Using this surrogate, the best fit relation between TPC of the live corals and species richness, species diversity, or the species evenness is the unimodal second-order polymorphic parabola equation. This result is expected by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis （IDH）. From the fitted parabola equations, we calculated the best TPCs corresponding to the maximal species richness, the highest species diversity, or the most evenness respectively. They are surprisingly stabilized between 55% and 58%. Coral cover is the basic parameter widely available for most observation, research or monitoring programs. The good qualitative characteristics of percent cover provide powerful tool for the experimental, theoretical and modeling studies of coral reef in response to the disturbance.     

Primary investisation of the pollution status of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） in water and soil of Xuanwei and Fuyuan,Yunnan Province,China

Lung cancer incidence in Xuanwei and Fuyuan is extremely high. The air pollution, especially indoor airborne PAHs generated by burning smoky coals, has been considered as the most probable reason. The air pollution may affect drinking water and soil through dry and wet deposition. In this study, the concentrations of PAHs in water and soil samples from Xuanwei and Fuyuan were monitored to investigate the influence of atmospheric PAHs pollution on water and soil. No obvious PAHs pollution in water was found in these two areas, indicating that airborne PAHs have no apparent effect on the drinking water （well water）. The smoky coal combustion from household and industry, such as the activities related to power plants, coking plants and chemical industries, is responsible for the soil PAHs pollution in these two areas. The soil pollution might be the reemission source and would pose long-term threat to the local environment and health of residents.     

Effects of Land Use Change on Eco-environment in Hilly Area of Central Sichuan Basin——A Case Study of Yanting County, Sichuan Province

With the artificial alder and cypress mixed forest being planted, there has been a marked land use change since 1970s‘ in Hilly Area of Central Sichuan Basin, China. Data from meteorological observations or posts operated over long time, measurement and calculation of NPP (net primary production) and biornass of biological community, and analysis of soil organic matter content show that the artificial alder and cypress mixed forest has outstanding eco-environmental effect: adjusting local climate, raising soil fertility, alleviating menace of drought, and raising NPP and biornass of biological community. It is very beneficial for improving ecological environment to afforest artificial alder and cypress mixed forest in populous Hilly Area of Central Sichuan Basin, China.