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.     

First record of Lower Triassic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Undichna</Emphasis> spp. fish swimming traces from Emei,Sichuan Province,China

We discuss traces from the ichnospecies Undichna unisulca recorded from the Triassic that are reported for the first time in this paper. These fossils are also some of the oldest vertebrate ichnites discovered in China to date. The fish swimming traces (Undichna unisulca) described originate from the Lower Triassic. These traces were found in the Jialingjiang Formation and are located at a gorge ~7.5 km from Emei, Sichuan Province, China. The ichnospecies Undichna unisulca consists of a regular sinusoidal wave. The wavelengths and amplitudes are quite constant between each specimen ranging between 28-32 mm and 9-12 mm, respectively. The fish swimming traces and distribution within the same bed are preserved as hypichnial ridges at the undersurface.     

Pyrite framboids associated with the Mesozoic Jehol Biota in northeastern China: Implications for microenvironment during early fossilization

Despite of the recent influx of reports describing important fossil specimens from the Mesozoic Jehol Biota, detailed information on the mechanism of fossilization and paleoenvironment in which these fossils were deposited is scanty. We present an analysis of microenvironment based upon scanning electron microscope observations of in situ pyrite framboids and microcrystallines of plant and vertebrate feather fossils in the Jehol Biota. Pyrite microcrystallines and framboids occur extensively inside and on surface of plant fossils.Framboids found on feathers and in sedimentary matrix were in a lower abundance. These framboids have diameters ranging from 6 μm to 31 μm with an average of 20 μm, indicating a dysoxic aqueous condition with free oxygen level less than 30 μmol/L for the microenvironment where these framboids were formed. The outgrowth of framboids inside plant tissues suggests the presence of water molecules and free oxygen at the cellular level during pyritization; the relative timing between tissue decay and framboid formation implies a rapid tissue degradation occurred during the very early stage of fossilization. This line of reasoning is consistent with the observation that cell level structure of plant fossils from these deposits is rarely preserved. We propose a "fossil envelop" model to accommodate the different geochemical conditions between the microenvironment surrounding the fossil material and the macroenvironment of background lake bottom water.     

New finding of micro-diamonds in eclogites from Dabie-Sulu region in central-eastern China

Micro-diamonds were only found ten years ago in eclogite associated with marble at Xindian in the Dabie Mountains. This paper reports our new finding of micro-diamonds not only in eclogites at Maobei in the Sulu region and at Xindian and Laoyoufang in the south part of the Dabie Mountains (South Dabie), but also in eclogites at Baizhangya and Huangweihe in the northern part of the Dabie Mountains (North Dabie) that has usually been considered not to experience ultrahigh pressure metamorphism.Except the micro-diamond at Huangweihe that was found from the artificial heavy sands of zircons used for isotopic dating, the micro-diamonds from other localities were identified in thin sections of the eclogites. Besides a few interstitial grains, most of the micro-diamond grains in thin sections occur as inclusion in garnet. Three crystals of microdiamond at Maobei in the Sulu region are sized in 120, 60 and 30 lira, respectively. Crystal forms look like octahedron and the composite of octahedron and hexahedron. The largest micro-diamond crystal comes from Xindian, which is measured to be 180 lira in diameter with distinct zonal structure and inclusions. The zonal structure occurs as an inclined octahedron inside rounded by an incomplete hexagonal girdle. A smaller micro-diamond inclusion occurs inside the central octahedron, and a larger graphite inclusion is within the outer zone. The Laoyoufang micro-diamond is partially retrograded to graphite. Micro-diamond from the Baizhangya eclogite in the ultramafic rock belt of North Dabie is an aggregate of 70 lira X 90 lira in size. All the micro-diamonds are confirmed by the Raman spectrum analysis. The occurrence of the micro-diamonds from the eclogites in the ultramafic rock belt of North Dabie demonstrates that this region was also subjected to ultrahigh pressure metamorphism as well as the South Dabie did.     

Field emission study of CNTs on metal tips

The field emission characteristics of multiwalled carbon nanotubes grown on metal tips are studied at various temperatures. It is found that emission current at a given applied electric field increased with the temperature, and the stability of the current did not change. The dependence upon temperature varies quite differently with the metal substrates. This may result from the asymmetry of the CNTs and the interface effect between CNT and underlay.     

Evidence for tritium production in the Earth’s interior

We have made a new investigation on the vertical profiles of tritium and helium isotopes in Lakes Van and Nemrut （Eastern Turkey）, using experimental data from the reference by Kipfer et al. for study of long-term vertical mixing and deep water renewal in Lake Van. Lakes Van and Nemrut are crater lakes. Lake Nemrut is at the western border of Lake Van. The ^3He and ^4He are injected at the bottom of Lakes Van and Nemrut, and the both helium isotopes are confirmed from the mantle source. From ^3H （tritium） data in Lakes Van and Nemrut, we have observed ＂^3H anomaly＂ at the vertical profile of ^3H concentrations in Lake Nemrut. The ^3H concentration at the lake bottom is 10% higher than at the surface. The difference of ^3H concentrations between surface and bottom is about 3.7±1.2 TU. This excess ^3H should be injected from the lake bottom. An investigation on the origin of the injected tritium has been made. The results show the conventional origins are excluded, such as residence of precipitation tritium from nuclear testing in the early 1950s--1960s and tritium from known nuclear reactions. Based on the correlation of excess ^3H with ^3He and heat flow in Lake Nemrut, we infer that the ^3He and ^3H might be all from the mantle source, and produced by the supposed natural-nuclear-fusion, which might occur in an environment rich in water （H） and （U ＋ Th） at high temperature and high pressure in the deep Earth. Detection of tritium in the Earth＇s interior is a key evidence for exploration of natural nuclear fusion in the deep Earth. Based on the published data, we have found that the excess ^3He and ^3H injected at the bottom of Lake Laacher （Germany） were also released from the mantle source. The present work will be helpful to the further study of mechanism of natural nuclear fusion in the Earth＇s interior.     

A preliminary report on the newly found Tianyuan Cave, a Late Pleistocene human fossil site near Zhoukoudian

The Tianyuan Cave is the only human fossil-bearing site containing rich mammalian fossils found in the last decades near Zhoukoudian. Up to now more than 34 specimens of the human body have been recovered, and the mammalian fossils can be put into 29 species. Cervids dominate the fauna, and carnivores are very rare. Based on the primary examination, the human fossils can be attributed to the species Homo sapiens. All the mammalian fossils, except one between tooth of Crocuta belong to the species that still exist today. But some of them are the first records in fossil form north of the Yellow River, such as Arctonyx and Capricornis. Based on the mammalian fauna study, it seems that the Tianyuan Cave can be correlated with the Upper Cave.Sixty-three percent of the species of the mammalian fauna from the Tianyuan Cave are also present in the Upper Cave.The characters of the deposits also share some similarities between the Tianyuan Cave and the Upper Cave; both of them are mainly composed of breccia without cement. The dating using the U-series method on deer tooth samples indicates that the geological age of the new site is around 25 thousand years B.P. This is the first discovery of human sites outside the core area of the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian,which throws new light onto this world famous site complex.     

Vermicular fossils in the Early Cambrian Xidashan Formation in the Quruqtagh region of Xinjiang, China

Large amounts of vermicular fossils and a minor amount of sponge animal fossils have been found in the Early Cambrian Xidashan Formation in the region of Quruqtagh, Xinjiang. Vermicular fossils are generally more than 50 mm long and 0.3?1.4 mm wide; their wrinkled lamellae are microfine with 3?10 pieces within the length of every each millimeter. The fossils are considered to be Sabellidites cambriensis Sokolov (1965). The Xidashan Formation is the highest stratum in which Sabellidites occur, as has been so far reported.     

Flabellariopteris,a new aquatic fern leaf from the Late Triassic of western Liaoning,China

An aquatic fern leaf, Flabellariopteris mii Sun gen. et sp. nov. from the Late Triassic of Western Liaoning, China, is described and proposed as the type species of the new morphortaxon of the Marsileaceae. The fossil leaves are preserved as impression. No fertile and rhizomatic materials are found. The leaves attached at a common point on the top of the petiole are composed of two leaflets joined basally in an opposite arrangement. The petiole is slender. The leaflet is fan-shaped or semi-circular, and commonly divided into four wedge-shaped lobes. Terminal margin of lobes is usually incised, incisions shallow or deep, with bluntly rounded or notched apex. The veins are conspicu- ously dichotomous, but anastomoses and marginal vein are absent. The unique morphological features, including two- parted thin leaflets, size, shape, veins and slender petiole, indicate that the present specimen represents an aquatic fern, which is the oldest fossil record and the first megafossil evidence assignable to Marsileaceae from the Triassic floras.     

Study of the ionospheric anomaly before the Wenchuan earthquake

The behavior of the ionosphere before the Wenchuan earthquake is analyzed with the global TEC and ionospheric foF2 observed at Xiamen. It can be found from TEC maps that in the afternoon (16―18LT) on May 9, 2008, 3 days before the earthquake, there is an enhancement of TEC with an amplitude of 10―15 TECU appearing in the east-south direction of Wenchuan, and another enhancement appears at the conjugate region of the Southern Hemisphere with an amplitude of 10 TECU, but no obvious in-crement or decrement can be seen in other regions on global scale. It can also be found that on May 6 (6 days before the great earthquake), there is a decrement of TEC with small amplitude of 4TECU and larger area with 80° along the longitude in southern China, and there is no synchronous decrement observed at the conjugate region of the Southern Hemisphere. There are also many anomalies ob-served by ionosondes across China. The result shows that foF2 and TEC abnormally increased, which is different from pervious results that ionospheric parameters decreased prior to earthquakes. Pre-liminary results suggest that the enhancement on May 9 maybe has a close relationship with the pos-sible enhancement of ionospheric electric fields, and it may be an ionospheric precursor of earth-quakes. Whereas the decrement on May 6 may be attributed to the geomagnetic disturbance appearing on May 5.     

Growth ages of ferromanganese crusts from the western and central Pacific： Comparison between nannofossil analysis and ^10Be dating

Based on results of nannofossil analysis and 10Be dating in ferromanganese crusts M1-1 and A1-1 (no nannofossils were found in it),from the western and central Pacific respectively,it is found that the crust growth ages from nannofossil biostrati-graphy agree well with those based on 10Be isotope analysis. Both crusts have three growth layers,and the oldest layer was deposited in Miocene at about 12.80 Ma. The maximum,minimum,and average growth rates of crust A1-1 (from the central Pacific) are 8.11,1.92 and 3.47 mm/Ma,and those of crust M1-1 (from the western Pacific) are 2.93,0.47,and 0.94 mm/Ma.     

Characterization and mapping of a white panicle mutant gene in rice

A spontaneous white panicle mutant was found from the F6 progenies of an indicajaponica cross.The mutant exhibits white stripes on its basal leaves while the panicles,rachis and pedicel are milky white colored at flowering stage.Genetic analysis in an F2 population from the cross of Zhi7/white panicle mutant indicates that the white panicle phenotype is controlled by a single recessive nuclear gene,tentatively termed as wp(t).Using microsatellite markers,the wp(t) gene was anchored between the markers of SSR101 and SSR63.9 with a map distance of 2.3 and 0.8cM,respectively,and co-segregated with the marker of SSR17 on rice chromosome 1.     

Precambrian phosphatized embryos and larvae from the Doushantuo Formation and their affinities, Guizhou （SW China）

Weng＇an phosphates of the Precambrian Doushantuo Formation, Guizhou （southwestern China） preserve a large number of exquisite biological structures, which are mostly micro-spherical and represent seaweeds, acritarchs and developing eggs related to various groups of metazoans. Here is a report of a variety of developing eggs and larvae, which are most probably of Cnidarian affinity. The eggs examined in the study are composed of early cleavage embryos and two-layered gastrulae. The early cleavage embryos are radial and total cleavage with equal-size blastomeres. The gastrulae mostly bear a large archenteron, which is filled with yolk-degrading organic matter. Ovoid to fusiform planula-like larvae identified in thin sections under light microscope are mostly mouthless and their gastrovascular cavity is filled with possible yolk-degrading organic matter. They are likely representatives of non-feeding larva. The uncommon planula-like structures are hollow, with each having a mouth-like structure on its narrow end. We interpret them as feeding larva. Study of these embryos with possible Cnidarian affinities shed new insight on the origin of metazoans.     

Discovery of marine fossils in the upper part of the Permian Linxi Formation in Lopingian, Xingmeng area, China

Two important geological issues have a long history of debate in the Xingmeng area. The first concerns the final closure of the North China plate, Siberia plate and several intermediate massifs in the area, and the other con- cerns the folding and lifting of the Xingmeng Trough. Dis- agreements arise because of issues involving the tectonic- palaeogeographical environment of the Upper Permian deposits of the Linxi Formation. The Linxi Formation （Upper Permian） is generally considered to be either an exclusively continental deposit or separated into marine- terrigenous facies deposited during the Lower to Middle Linxi Period and continental deposits in the Upper Linxi Period. However, in this study, large numbers of bryozoan and sponge spicule fossils were discovered for this first time in the thick limestone layers and lenses of the upper part of the Linxi Formation found in the Guandi section of Linxi county in eastern Inner Mongolia. At the same time, abun- dant bryozoan fossils were also found in sedimentary tuff slices that were collected from the upper part of the Tao- huayingzi Formation from the Taohuayingzi section in Ar Horqin Banner, and abundant small connecting body crinoid stem fossils were found in the dark shale of the Yangjiagou Formation from the Yangjiagou section of Jiutai county, Jilin Province. These marine fossils provide the first evidence that the Xingmeng area was still a marine or mainly marine environment at the end of the late Permian. This not only provides conclusive evidence for the recognition of the above two major geological issues but also promotes chan- ges in the approach towards research, exploration and development of oil and gas, shale gas （oil）, and other mineral resources that are preserved in the late Permian layers of the Northeast-Xingmeng area.     

Numerical investigation on the cluster effect of an array of axial flow fans for air-cooled condensers in a power plant

The aerodynamic behavior of tens of axial flow fans incorporated with air-cooled condensers in a power plant is different from that of an individual fan.Investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of axial flow fan array benefits its design optimization and running regulation.Based on a representative 2600 MW direct-dry cooling power plant,the flow rate of each fan and the overall flow rate of the fan array are obtained in the absence of ambient wind and at various wind speeds and directions,using CFD simulation.The cluster factor of each fan and the average cluster factor of the fan array are calculated and analyzed.Results show that the cluster factors are different from each other and that the cluster effect with ambient wind is significantly different from the cluster effect with no wind.The fan at the periphery of the array or upwind of the ambient wind generally has a small cluster factor.The average cluster factor of the array decreases with the increasing wind speeds and also varies widely with wind direction.The cluster effect of the axial flow fan array can be applied to optimize the design and operation of air-cooled condensers in a power plant.     

Holocene vegetation cover in Qin’an area of western Chinese Loess Plateau revealed by n-alkane

Previous studies have found that wetlands prevailed in western Chinese Loess Plateau and pine pollen could reach up to 80% in Qin＇an area of the plateau during middle Holocene. It was then deduced that forest vegetation covered Qin＇an area in a warm and wet climate during middle Holocene. The proxies of molecule biomarkers from two Holocene sections, a swamp-alluvial loess section and a typical Ioess-paleosol section are used to reconstruct regional vegetation history. It is found that the heavy-molecular-weight （HMW） homologues of the n-alkanes in all samples exhibit a pronounced odd-over-even predominance, maximizing at C31 and the abundance of the nC27-alkanes is the lowest in nC27, nC29, nC31, i.e. C27〈C29〈C31, a typical grass n-alkanes model. The results are the same as those of model surface soil samples under grass cover but different from both forest cover and modern pine leaves, which yield preferentially nC29-alkanes peak. It could be inferred that the area was dominated by grass cover but not forest cover during whole Holocene epoch. The study shows that combining both molecule biomarkers and pollen analysis can avoid the disadvantage of pollen analysis in reconstruction of regional vegetation cover.     

Study of ionizable drugs transfer across the water／1,2-dichloroethane interface with phase volume ratio equal to unity using a three-electrode system

The electrochemical behavior of ionizable drugs (Amitripty/ine, Diphenhydramine and Trihexyphenedyl) at the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface with the phase volume ratio (r=Vo/Vw) equal to 1 are investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The system is composed of an aqueous droplet supported at an Ag/AgCI disk electrode and it was covered with an organic solution. In this manner, a conventional three-electrode potentiostat can be used to study the ionizable drugs transfer process at a liquid/liquid interface.Physicochemical parameters such as the formal transfer potential, the Gibbs energy of transfer and the standard partition coefficients of the ionized forms of these drugs can be evaluated from cyclic voltammograms obtained. The obtained results have been summarized in ionic partition diagrams, which are a useful tool for predicting and interpreting the transfer mechanisms of ionizable drugs at the liquid/liquid interfaces and biological membranes.     

Sponge spicules in phosphorites of the Early Cambrian Gezhongwu Formation, Zhijin, Guizhou

Phosphorites occurring at the bottom of the Cambrian system contain abundant small shelly fossils, which are the product of the first episode of life explosion in the Cambrian. It was previously reported that the small shelly fossils are dominated by hyolithids, olivooids, zhijinitids, conodontomorphs, yubelichitids, camenitids and algae, with minor amounts of sponge fossils. Large amounts of sponge spicules, diverse in form, have been found for the first time in the Gezhongwu Formation phosphorites at Shixing, Zhijin County, Guizhou Province, of which such spicules as diaxon-triactins, diaxon-tetractins, pentaxon-pentactins and hexon-hexactins account for 30%. These spicules constitute the sponge clastic phosphorites made up of sponge clastics. Meanwhile, it is also expected that the radiation and diversity of sponge animals started as early as in the earliest Early Cambrian. Habit and burying environment of sponge animal are discussed in the paper.     

Lower Cambrian phosphatized Punctatus from southern Shaanxi and their ontogeny sequence

Phosphatized and three-dimensionally preserved embryos and spherical fossils of metazoan recovered from the Kuanchuanpu Member, Dengying Formation in southern Shaanxi, China provide nice devel- opmental sequence for the studies of origination, taxonomy, phylogenic evolution and developmental biology of early animals. Ontogeny of these larva fossils has not been systemically studied mainly due to their poor preservation and limited identification. The Kuanchuanpu Member, predominated by phosphorites and cherts, yields phosphatized animal embryos, particularly those of Olivooides and Punctatus which have high resolution in fine structures and different ontogeny developmental stages. An ontogenetic sequence of the Punctatus is established mainly base on its developmental transitions from body part to oral one, which is perfectly consistent with the embryonic ontogeny sequence pro- posed by Bengtson and Yue (1997). Furthermore, a new genus Quadrapyrgites gen. nov is erected to receive a larva with tetraradial body plan.