Environmental impact of aquaculture-sedimentation and nutrient loadings from shrimp culture of the southeast coastal region of the Bay of Bengal

Nutrient loadings were measured for surface seawater and bottom sediments of semi intensive and improved extensive shrimp culture pond, adjacent estuary, and fallow land in the south east coastal region of Bangladesh during August, 2000—January, 2001 to evaluate the impact of shrimp culture. The mean levels of nutrients found in the pond surface water were 108 780 mg/L for CaCO 3, 0 526 mg/L for NH + 4 N, 3 075 wt% for organic carbon, 7 00 mg/L for PO 4 P, 5 57 mg/L for NO 3 N, and 7 33 mg/L for chlorophyll a. The maximum mean value of H 2S(0 232 mg/L) was found in estuarine water. Nutrients loading were found to be decreased with distance from the shrimp farm discharge unit in estuarine water. The mean level of organic matter, total nitrogen, and organic carbon were found in higher concentrations in sediments of cultured pond compared to bottom soil of adjacent fallow land at the same elevation. Extractable Ca values were found in higher concentration(550 33 ppt) in adjacent fallow land, as the shrimps for molting in shrimp ponds use extractable Ca. The relation between seawater H 2S value and sediment pH ( r= -0 94); sediment organic carbon and sediment pH values ( r= -0 76), sediment total nitrogen and sediment pH ( r= - 0 74) were found to be highly negatively correlated. Whereas the relation between seawater H 2S value and sediment total nitrogen ( r= 0 92), water NH + 4 N and sediment pH ( r= 0 66) were found to be positively correlated. The results revealed that load of nutrients at eutrophic level in estuarine water, and decrease of soil pH; leading to acid sulphate soil formation indicates a negative impact of shrimp culture.

Petrological Characteristics and Genesis of the Central Indian Ocean Basin Basalts

The Central Indian Ocean Basin （CIOB） basalts are plagioclase-rich, while olivine and pyroxene are very few. The analyses of 41 samples reveal high FeOT （～10-18 wt%） and TiO 2 （～1.4-2.7 wt%） indicating a ferrobasaltic composition. The basalts have high incompatible elements （Zr 63-228 ppm; Nb ～1-5 ppm; Ba ～15-78 ppm; La ～3-16 ppm）, a similar U/Pb （0.02-0.4） ratio as the normal midoceanic basalt （0.16±0.07） but the Ba/Nb （12.5-53） ratio is much larger than that of the normal midoceanic ridge basalt （～5.7） and Primitive Mantle （9.56）. Interestingly almost all of the basalts have a significant negative Eu anomaly （Eu/Eu＊=0.78-1.00） that may have been a result of the removal of feldspar and pyroxene during crystal fractionation. These compositional variations suggest that the basalts were derived through fractional crystallization together with low partial melting of a shallow seated magma.

Microtexture and Distribution of Minerals in Hydrothermal Barite-Silica Chimney from the Franklin Seamount, SW Pacific: Constraints on Mode of Formation

An extinct hydrothermal barite-silica chimney from the Franklin Seamount of the Woodlark Basin, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, was investigated for mineral distribution and geochemical composition. Six layers on either side of the orifice of a chimney show significant disparity in color, mineral assemblage and major element composition. Electron microscope（SEM） images reveal that the peripheral wall of the chimney is composed of colloform silica, suggesting that incipient precipitation of silica-saturated hydrothermal fluid initiated the development of the chimney wall. Intermediate layers, between the exterior wall and the inner fluid-orifice, dominate with barite and sulfides. Low Sr-to-Ba ratios（SrO/BaO = 0.015–0.017） indicate restricted fluid-seawater mixing, which causes relatively high-temperature formation of the intermediate layers. Whereas the innermost layer bordering the chimney orifice is characterized by more silica and a higher Sr-to-Ba ratio（SrO/BaO = 0.023）, could have formed due to a paragenetic shift from a high-temperature active phase to a cooler waning stage of formation. A paragenetic shift is also probably responsible for the change in mineral formation mechanism that resulted in the textural variation of barite and colloform silica developed during different growth phases of this barite-silica chimney.