弧后盆地的形成

本文就弧后盆地及其形成的动力学模式进行了简要地讨论，认为在岛（山）弧后方除现今所通称的弧后盆地以外，尚可存在广义上的弧后盆地。它们远离弧体位置，但由于俯冲带的远端“抬头”，同样可引起地壳的裂陷，其构造作用叠加于先期断陷带之上。     

西太平洋典型弧后盆地的地质构造、岩浆作用与热液活动

研究了西太平洋典型弧后盆地冲绳海槽和马努斯海盆的区域地质背景、岩浆岩、喷口流体、热液柱、沉积物以及多金属硫化物。结果表明,冲绳海槽在构造和地球物理特征上南北分异,从北向南地壳厚度减薄,南部重力异常变化大,发育条带状磁异常,中部则具有最高的热流值。马努斯海盆的重力异常变化较小,磁力异常呈东西向展布,海底扩张中心附近出现磁异常条带。马努斯海盆已出现洋壳,冲绳海槽的地壳属于过渡性地壳,在中南部的地堑中可能已出现洋壳。 冲绳海槽与马努斯海盆玄武岩的岩浆是由地幔源区部分熔融产生的原始岩浆与板块俯冲组分混合构成。中酸性岩与基性岩具有相同的岩浆物质来源,是玄武质岩浆结晶分异的产物。与马努斯海盆火山岩相比,冲绳海槽火山岩存在不同程度的地壳混染。 冲绳海槽的喷口流体为富含金属元素（Mn、Fe、Zn、Pb）的酸性高温（高达320 °C）流体,其热液柱中的Zn2 、Cd2 、Pb2 、Cu2 离子浓度明显高于正常海水。马努斯海盆的热液柱呈现出CH4、Mn、Al、δ3He正异常及pH负异常的特征。与马努斯海盆PACMANUS热液区的喷口流体（220–276 °C、pH = 2.5–3.5）相比,DESMOS热液区的喷口流体温度（≥88–120 °C）相对较低,酸性更强（pH ≤ 2.1）,二者较低的δ34SH2S和δD值表明岩浆演化过程中有酸性挥发分进入岩浆流体。冲绳海槽与马努斯海盆含金属沉积物的分布及其元素含量特征具有差异,相应地,两个弧后盆地含金属沉积物中的微生物群落也不同。冲绳海槽和马努斯海盆热液区均具富Zn型、Ba-Pb-Zn型、Si-硫化物型和Si-硫化物-硫酸盐型热液产物。与冲绳海槽的多金属硫化物相比,马努斯海盆中多金属硫化物的Pb和Au含量较低。     

西南太平洋弧后盆地（北斐济海盆和劳海盆）深海热液的生物群落

西南太平洋弧后盆地（北斐济海盆和劳海盆）深海热液的生物群落ＤａｎｉｅｌＤｅｓｂｒｕｙｅｒｅｓ等自１９７６年以来，沿洋中脊所作的调查航次都查明了火山口生物群落很多见，并且不受洋中脊扩张速度影响。这些生物群落在东太平洋海隆、加拉帕戈斯扩张中心、戈尔达海脊...     

远东鄂霍茨克海域弧后盆地形成机制与构造演化

远东鄂霍茨克海域发育多个新生代弧后盆地,这些盆地是西太平洋边缘海盆的重要组成部分,介绍了鄂霍茨克海域的地质结构和构造特征,探讨了海域内盆地形成的动力机制来源及构造演化阶段的划分。认为太平洋板块与欧亚板块碰撞引发区域上挤压与引张作用在时间上相互消长的效应、深部软流圈上涌,共同引发鄂霍茨克海域内多期次弧后扩张作用,导致海域内弧后裂谷盆地的发育;同时,周边板块碰撞导致大型走滑断裂发育和构造反转,对盆地的形成进行改造;共同控制了弧后沉积盆地的形成与演化。盆地构造演化可以划分为4个阶段,即基底拼合阶段(J-K2前)、基底褶皱-张裂变形阶段(K2-E1早期)、盆地裂陷-拗陷作用阶段(E1-N1)及构造反转阶段(N2-第四纪)。     

西太平洋弧后盆地的热液系统及其岩浆环境研究

研究海底热液系统及其岩浆环境,可为了解西太平洋流固界面跨圈层物质与热交换过程,揭示板块俯冲过程的岩浆活动和资源环境效应提供研究支撑。为此,研究了冲绳海槽热液活动的岩浆环境、马努斯海盆的热液柱以及弧后盆地和洋中脊背景下的硫化物与玄武岩的同位素组成,对冲绳海槽热液区附近玄武岩、安山岩、粗安岩、英安岩、流纹岩及其基性岩浆包体进行了岩相学、矿物学以及主量元素、微量元素和同位素组成分析,对马努斯海盆PACMANUS和Desmos热液区的热液柱及海水进行了测量,在海底热液区岩浆混合过程及时间尺度、透视冲绳海槽深部岩浆房及岩浆演化过程和岩浆对热液系统物质贡献研究方面获新进展,揭示了俯冲蛇纹岩对琉球构造带南部岩浆活动的影响,论证了熔体包裹体对弧后盆地岩浆演化的指示,获得了冲绳海槽玄武质岩浆来源新证据,揭示了弧后盆地与洋中脊硫化物和玄武岩中铁、铜、锌的来源及其同位素在硫化物形成和岩浆活动过程中的分馏情况,明确了热液柱的物理、化学空间结构与物质组成特征,以及热液柱的扩散受深度和底流流速的影响,且热液柱扩散过程中溶解铁浓度异常比溶解锰的维持时间更长。未来,发展非传统稳定同位素和挥发份测试技术,进一步了解西太平洋板块俯冲环境下热液活动与岩浆作用的关系,将有助于海底热液系统及其成矿过程研究获得新进展。     

西太平洋岛弧-弧后盆地热液活动与硫化物特征

基于国内外研究成果对西太平洋岛弧-弧后盆地热液活动的分布规律、扩张速率、水深以及热液硫化物的矿物组成与金属品位等特征进行探讨。西太平洋岛弧-弧后盆地热液硫化物区以活动型热液区为主,受扩张速率的影响明显主要分布在20～60 mm/a地区;水深分布规律主要受所处构造单元的水深特征控制,而非由热液硫化物区的形成特征所决定;研究区内的热液产物主要为富Zn-Cu、富Ba-Zn以及富Fe-Cu型硫化物;热液硫化物中冲绳海槽具有最高的Ag、Pb含量,劳海盆具有最高的Zn含量,马努斯海盆和伊豆-小笠原-马里亚纳海槽具有较高的Au含量,北斐济海盆具有最高的Cu含量。本研究将进一步为西太平洋岛弧-弧后盆地地区热液硫化物资源的勘探与潜在资源量的估算提供参考。     

Novel active kinetoplastids associated with hypersaline anoxic basins in the Eastern Mediterranean deep-sea

The combination of nearly saturated salt concentration and corresponding high density, high hydrostatic pressure, absence of light, anoxia, and a sharp chemocline make the deep hypersaline anoxic basins in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea some of the most polyextreme habitats on Earth. Using kinetoplastid-specific primers, we detected kinetoplastid flagellates in some of the harshest deep-sea environments known to date, including some whose small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences are not closely related to cultured representatives. Kinetoplastids, including presumably novel representatives appear to be specialists of halocline environments in the Eastern Mediterranean, and to comprise a significant fraction of the protist communities in the brines and haloclines of several basins. Fluorescent in situ hybridization data indicate a novel ‘unidentified’ sequence clade of kinetoplastids related to bodonids represents as much as 10% of the total protist community in the Discovery Basin halocline. Different kinetoplastid groups are unevenly represented in the different basins and habitats we sampled, which we discuss as a result of environmental selection.     

The CANALES experiment (1996-1998). Interannual, seasonal, and mesoscale variability of the circulation in the Balearic Channels

Repeated hydrographic casts, mooring time series and satellite sea surface temperature collected during the CANALES experiment (1996–98) are used to describe the thermohaline circulation in the Balearic Channels (western Mediterranean) and to analyze its variability. Mass transports are estimated by inverse calculations. The role played by each channel in the meridional water exchange is clarified: the Ibiza Channel funnels southward cool, saline, northern waters whereas the Mallorca Channel appears as the preferred route for the northward progression of warm, fresh, southern waters. A neat interannual trend is revealed by the continuous decrease of the amount of Western Mediterranean Intermediate Waters (WIW) brought by the Northern Current, reflecting the increase in temperature of the winter mixed layer in the northern Mediterranean that occurred each year between 1996 and 1998. A clear seasonal signal was also seen in the transport of the Northern Current which decreased from 1 to 1.4 Sv in winter to < 0.5 Sv in summer. The current intensified again in fall. A number of mesoscale eddies, from 20 to 70 km in size, most of them anticyclonic vortex eddies were brought by the unstable Northern Current, these eddies strongly perturbed the water exchange in the Ibiza Channel forcing retroflections of northern waters back to the north-east into the Balearic Current. These eddies either stayed stalled for several months in the Gulf of Valencia to the north of the channel, or were slowly funnelled southward through the channel narrows. A decreasing trend was observed in the mesoscale activity of the Northern Current between 1996 and 1998. Conversely, large, anticyclonic eddies, 150-km diameter, progressively invaded the Algerian Basin to the south of the channels in 1997–98 and forcing northward inflows (up to 0.75 Sv) of fresh and warm waters of Atlantic origin (AW) into the Mallorca Channel. The marked interannual differences observed in both northern and southern eddy activity may be linked to the interannual variability of the large scale thermohaline circulation.     

Evaluation of anthropogenic and biogenic inputs into the western Mediterranean using molecular markers

Aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs), sterols (ST), and lipid classes were determined in suspended particles collected in the Catalan Sea, northwestern Mediterranean. Principal Component Analysis of the data set revealed a clustering of samples depending on the sources of organic matter, i.e., coastal influenced, open sea and frontal zone. Terrestrial inputs were recognized in particles collected in the surface waters, at the vicinities of river outflow (i.e., Rhône and Ebro), by a predominance of C₂₉ and C₃₁ n-alkanes, 24-ethylcholest-5-en-3β-ol (S12), and the anthropogenic 5β(H)-cholestan-3β-ol, coprostanol (S1). Phytoplanktonic molecular markers (n-C₁₇, 27-nor-24-methylcholesta-5,22E-dien-3β-ol, cholesta-5,22-dien-3β-ol and 24-methylcholest-5-en-3β-ol) were widespread but relatively more apparent in the open sea and frontal zones. A similar distribution was observed for lipid classes, with higher concentrations of phospholipids, and an enrichment in free fatty acids in the areas influenced by river discharges. Total sterol, the unresolved complex mixture of hydrocarbons and the pristane–phytane ratio were highest at a persistent frontal zone, possibly reflecting the combination of a higher primary productivity and fossil hydrocarbon absorption on to suspended particles. Moreover, vertical profiles exhibited a subsurface concentration maximum at 20–30 m water depth, concurrently with the chlorophyll.     

Low densities of sea urchins influence the structure of algal assemblages in the western Mediterranean

Numerous studies of interactions between urchins and algae in temperate areas have shown an important structuring effect of sea urchin populations. These studies focused almost wholly on the effect of high urchin densities on laminarian forests. In contrast, algal communities below 5–6 m depth in the northwestern Mediterranean are characterised by low sea urchin densities (<5 ind m⁻²) and the absence of laminarian forests. No previous research has addressed sea urchin/algal interactions in this type of community. To determine the effect of the most abundant echinoid species, Paracentrotus lividus, on well-established algal communities in this area, we performed a removal–reintroduction experiment in rocky patches located between 13 and 16 m depth in the northwestern Mediterranean, where sea urchin densities ranged between 0.9 and 3.4 ind m⁻². After 6 months, the cover of non-crustose algae was significantly higher in the plots from which sea urchins had been removed than in control plots (84 vs 67% cover). These removal plots reverted to their original state upon reintroduction of sea urchins. The non-crustose algae consisted of turfing and frondose forms, with the former representing some 70% of the non-crustose algal cover. Change in the cover of turfing algae was responsible for the significant increase in algal development in the sea urchin removal plots. The response of frondose algae to the treatment varied between algal species. It is concluded that grazing by P. lividus exerts a significant effect on habitat structure, even in communities with low sea urchin densities, such as those found in vast areas of the Mediterranean sublittoral.