A Brief Analysis of the Applicability of the Archipelago Waters System in China

The archipelagic waters system is stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is closely related to China＇s marine legislation and maritime law enforcement. It is not only related to the integrity of our country＇s national sovereignty, but also to the maintenance of our maritime rights and interests. However, there is no comprehensive fundamental law governing the overall situation of marine development in our country, also no relevant legal code on the archipelagic waters system. Therefore, we should learn from the world＇s marine legislation and practice which the archipelagic waters system was written into China＇s marine legislation.

Post-Rifting Magmatism and the Drowned Reefs in the Xisha Archipelago Domain

Fourteen isolated drowned reefs have been identified around the Xisha Uplift by multibeam and seismic data. The drowning processes of these reefs can be divided into three different stages, which correspond to three different accelerated tectonic subsidence periods. The drowning of the Xisha reefs is the result of the combined action of tectonic subsidence and sea level fluctuations, and the tectonic subsidence rate had to remain above 0.2 mm yr^(-1 )for a long time. Three abrupt accelerated tectonic subsidence events that occurred in the late Miocene, Pliocene and early Quaternary in the Xisha Uplift were closely related to the thermal subsidence processes after three stages of post-rifting magmatism. The magmatism of the middle Miocene and the following thermal subsidence resulted in the drowning of reefs in the northwestern Xisha uplift(Zone A). During the early Pliocene, massive magmatic intrusions and volcanic eruptions occurred in the Xisha Uplift. Then, the subsequent thermal subsidence started the drowning process of reefs in the northeastern and western regions of the Xisha Uplift(Zone B and C). During the early Quaternary, large-scale magmatism also occurred in the Xisha Uplift. The subsequent thermal subsidence resulted in a new rapid tectonic subsidence, which caused the reefs in the southern and southeastern regions of the Xisha Uplift to drown(Zone D and E).

Summertime community structure of intertidal macrobenthos in Changdao Archipelago,Shandong Province,China

The community structure of intertidal macrobenthos in Changdao Archipelago(north of Shandong Peninsula,between Bohai Bay and the northern Yellow Sea) was examined based on samples collected from 14 stations in five transects in June 2007.Three stations corresponding to high,medium and low tidal areas were set up for each transect.A total of 68 macrobenthic species were found in the research region,most of which belonged to Mollusca and Crustacea.The average abundance and biomass of the macrobenthos was 1 383 ind./m2 and 372.41 g/m2,respectively.The use of an arbitrary similarity level of 20% resulted in identification of five groups among the 14 stations in the research region.There were remarkable differences in the biomass,abundance and Shannon-Wiener diversity index of the different sediments.Specifically,the order of biomass was rocky shores > gravel > mud-sand > coarse sand > stiff mud,while the order of abundance was rocky shores > coarse sand > mud-sand > gravel > stiff mud,and that of the diversity index was mud-sand > gravel > stiff mud > rocky shores > coarse sand.The above results revealed that the sediment type was the most important factor affecting the structure of the macrobenthic community of the intertidal zone.

Suspended Sediment Transport and Deposition in the Zhoushan Archipelago Sea Area

The transport mechanism and settlement characteristics of suspended sediments are analyzed in this article on the basis of measured data. Results indicate that the concentration and flux of suspended sediments decrease sharply from Hangzhou Bay to the offshore area. Suspended sediment transport is mainly controlled by advection transport and gravitational circulation transport. The settling velocity of suspended sediments gradually decreases from Hangzhou Bay to the offshore area. The settlement of suspended sediments mainly takes place during the turning phase of the tidal currents.

Regional characteristics of sea ice thickness in Canadian shelf and Arctic Archipelago measured by Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground Penetrating Radar （GPR） measurements of sea ice thickness including undeformed ice and ridged ice were carried out in the central north Canadian Archipelago in spring 2010. Results have shown a significant spatial heterogeneity of sea ice thickness across the shelf. The undeformed multi-year fast ice of （2.05±0.09） m thick was investigated southern inshore zone of Borden island located at middle of the observational section, which was the observed maximum thickness in the field work. The less thick sea ice was sampled across a flaw lead with the thicknesses of （1.05±0.11） m for the pack ice and （1.24±0.13） m for the fast ice. At the northernmost spot of the section, the undeformed multi-year pack ice was （1.54±0.22） m thick with a ridged ice of 2.5 to 3 m, comparing to the multi-year fast ice with the thickness of （1.67±0.16） m at the southernmost station in the Prince Gustaf Adolf Sea.

A model to assess fundamental and realized carrying capacities of island ecosystem:A case study in the southern Miaodao Archipelago of China

Research on carrying capacity, aiming at maintaining the limited ability of the Earth＇s life supporting system to sustain human development, requires a comprehensive and ecosystem-based approach to monitor and assess the localized sustainability of coupled social and ecological systems. A definition termed the ecosystem-based carrying capacity of island（EBCCI） was developed in this paper of which the indices of fundamental and realized carrying capacities of island（FCCI and RCCI） were highlighted to emphasize the inter-dependencies between social systems and ecological systems. In order to avoid the difficulties and uncertainties of direct assessment, the related assessment model was established on the basis of synthetic evaluation of inherent and external factors affecting the EBCCI. The southern Miaodao Archipelago（SMA） located in the intersection of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, China, was taken as a typical example to acquire integrated recognition of the island ecosystem and its carrying capacity so as to discuss its sustainable development. The index scores of FCCI and RCCI in the SMA were 0.818 5 and 0.712 9 out of 1.0, respectively, with acceptable uncertainties. The results showed a relatively well capacity to sustain progress and relatively well realization of the carrying capacity of island ecosystem, owing to a well capacity of ecologically regulating, general performance of both ecologically supporting and resource provisioning, and a relatively high level of social supporting system. The study implied that it was critical to optimize the inter-dependencies and to sustain the relative balance between social systems and ecological systems so as to improve the RCCI and further facilitate the sustainability of SMA. The approach proposed in this paper provides a powerful tool which is well applicative to the regional level of an oceanic island or archipelago to study the sustainable development and can be further popularized to the coastal zone.

Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of phytoplankton diversity and its relation to water environmental factors in the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago,China

To study the water quality influenced by the anthropogenic activities and its impact on the phytoplankton diversity in the surface waters of Miaodao Archipelago, the spatiotemporal variations in phytoplankton communities and the environmental properties of the surface waters surrounding the Five Southern Islands of Miaodao Archipelago were investigated, based on seasonal field survey conducted from November 2012 to August 2013. During the survey, a total of 109 phytoplankton species from 3 groups were identified in the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago, of which 77 were diatoms, 29 were dinoflagellates, and 3 were chrysophytes. Species number was higher in winter（73）, moderate in autumn（70）, but lower in summer（31） and spring（27）. The species richness index in autumn（5.92） and winter（4.28） was higher than that in summer（2.83） and spring（1.41）.The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was high in autumn（2.82）, followed by winter（1.99） and summer（1.92）, and low in spring（0.07）. The species evenness index in autumn（0.46） and summer（0.39） was higher than that in winter（0.32） and spring（0.02）. On the basis of principal component analysis（PCA） and redundancy analysis（RDA）, we found that dissolved inorganic nitrogen（DIN） and chemical oxygen demand（COD） in spring, COD in summer, p H in autumn, and salinity and oil pollutant in winter, respectively, showed the strongest association with the distribution of phytoplankton diversity. The spatial heterogeneity of the southern waters of Miaodao Archipelago was quite obvious, and three zones, i.e., northeastern, southwestern and inter-island water area, were identified by cluster analysis（CA） based on key environmental variables.

Spratlies Archipelago as the Australasian Tektite Impact Crater, Details of Formation &Richard Muller’s Dust Cloud Explanation for the Mid-Pleistocene Ice Age Cycle Transition

Several significant events of a geological nature occurred approximately 800 ka before the present: (1) Australasian tektite fall (AA), (2) Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal (BMR), (3) mid-Pleistocene changes in ice age cycles. Add to these the undated fault system (4) in the South-West (SW) of the South China Sea (SCS). Here we offer a unified cause for all four of these in (5), an impact in the SCS of a large, massive cosmic object, likely a comet, obliquely coming from the SW at an extremely shallow angle, striking the Sunda shelf yet unexploded with the shock of its compressed air bow wave, and causing the continual shelf and slope to collapse, resulting in the fault system (4), then traveling almost tangentially to the surface, exploding at impact with the sea surface, ejecting the tektites (1), creating the formation underlying the later atolls of Spratlies Archipelago (6), Nansha Islands in Chinese, & causing the BMR (2). An explanation of event (3) was Richard Muller’s hypothesis of planet Earth passing through an interplanetary dust cloud periodically due to ecliptic precession. Here we hypothesize this cloud actually is a belt of Australasian tektites ejected into space at super-orbital velocities that Earth encounters about every 100 ka.

Landscape changes and their ecological eff ects of Miaodao Archipelago with human disturbances and under natural conditions in the past 30 years

The modern landscape patterns of islands usually show obvious spatial heterogeneity and complex ecological effects due to the vulnerability of ecosystems with natural characteristics under increasing human activities.In this work,we studied the variation in landscape pattern of the Miaodao Archipelago in Bohai Sea,North China,from 1990 to 2019,and an evaluation index system was established to explore the impacts of natural conditions and human disturbances on the ecological effects in the pressure-state-response(PSR)framework.Empirical analysis was conducted on the natural conditions,human disturbances,and ecological effects.The results show that forest was the main component of the landscape pattern in the archipelago.Both of the areas offorest and construction land were increasing,and the areas of cropland and grassland were declining.Other landscape types changed slightly,and the landscape fragmentation was increasing.The natural condition exhibited positive effects while human disturbance showed negative effects on the local ecology.Human disturbances come mainly from shoreline use while the natural conditions were mainly from the elevation change.The ecological effects were resulted mainly from the net primary productivity and water yield.

Sustainable development of marine tourism economy in Zhoushan Archipelago New District

Based on the general and concrete principles of index system of marine economy and the choices of the evaluation index, this paper analyzes the index importance by means of AHP and establishes a set of the evaluation index system of marine economy in the Zhoushan Archipelago New District, to which an overall analysis and appraisal is given. The main factors that have limited the sustainable development of marine economy, in combination with the factors that influence its development, are put forward in accordance with its connotation of sustainable development of marine economy and sustainable development strategy based on marine tourism development.

Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965

The Court finds that the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence and that the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible THE HAGUE, 25 February 2019.

Three Australian leg-flagged Roseate Terns found at Caiyu Archipelago of SE Fujian, China

In undertaking regular surveys on those waterbirds appearing on Fujian coast and on offshore islands,people of Xiamen Bird-watching Society had observed,for five times during 2007-2009,three marked individuals of the Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) on Caiyu Archipelago of south Fujian offshore; it is now quite certain that the leg-flags were marked on birds by people of the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) and at least one of those leg-flagged terns is already over six or seven years old by the time of re-sighting; this record might be useful and helpful for further estimating the life circle as well as the length of generation of those gulls and terns appearing and breeding along the SE Chinese coast,such as the Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris),the Great Crested Tern (Sterna bergii),the Chinese Crested Tern (S.bernsteini),etc.

Responses of macrobenthic communities to patchy distributions of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments:A study in China's Zhoushan Archipelago

This study conducted four cruises during 2014–2017 to investigate relationships between macrobenthic communities and sediment contaminations in sea area around the Zhoushan Archipelago.Fourteen sites were categorized into three groups:high total heavy metal contamination content(HHMC),high total petroleum hydrocarbon content(HTPH),and low content ratio of heavy metal contamination content to total petroleum hydrocarbon content(HMC/TPH)areas.Four main taxa of macrofauna(polychaetes,bivalves,gastropods,and crustaceans)were determined to respond to environmental factors differently.While tolerant polychaetes being the minimal impact by environmental factors,bivalves were threated by heavy metal pollutions in sediment.Additionally,body size distribution frequency demonstrated that macrofauna in the low HMC/TPH areas were less disturbed by contamination than those in the HHMC and HTPH areas.The result represented the presentation of sensitive species while tolerant species are usually considered as small size organisms.Overall,this study confirmed the hypothesis that the contamination levels of small-scale patches is indicated by the condition of macrobenthic communities.

Possible triggering relationship of six Mw > 6 earthquakes in 2018–2019 at Philippine archipelago

Philippine archipelago (PA) has strong background seismicity,but there is no systematic study of earthquake triggering in this region. There are six earthquakes (M_(w) > 6) occurred between 2018/12/29 and 2019/09/29 in PA,which provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the triggering relationship among these events. We calculate the static Coulomb stress changes of the first five events,and find that the local seismicity after the 2018/12/29 M_(w) 7.0 earthquake is mostly associated with positive Coulomb stress changes,including the 2019/05/31 M_(w) 6.1 event,suggesting a possible triggering relationship. However,we cannot rule out the dynamic triggering mechanism,due to increased microseismicity in both positive and negative stress change regions,and an incomplete local catalog,especially right after the first M_(w) 7.0 mainshock. The dynamic stresses from these M_(w) > 6 events are large enough (from 5 kPa to 3532 kPa) to trigger subsequent events,but a lack of seismicity and waveform evidence does not support delayed dynamic triggering among these events,even the shortest time interval is less than 24 hours. In the past 45 years,the released seismic energy shows certain peaks every 5–10 years. However,earthquakes with M_(w) > 6.0 were relatively infrequent between 2004 and 2018 at PA. Hence,it is possible that several regions are relatively late in their earthquake cycles,which would enhance their susceptibility of being triggered by earthquakes at nearby and regional distances.

Essential metal Zn in sponge <i>Callyspongia aerizusa</i>from Spermonde Archipelago

Spermonde Archipelago has been found to have a high sponge biodiversity. Sponges that have feeding behavior as filter feeder can be exposed to heavy metals, including Zn metal. Zn is an essential metal that is physiologically needed by sponge to catalyze chemical reactions and generally operates on enzymes. A study on Zn pollution level in Spermonde Archipelago from zone I to Zone IV was conducted by analyzing Zn concentration in sponges, sediments, and seawater. Physicochemical parameters measurement in Spermonde Archipelago indicates that Spermonde Archipelago meets the requirements for sponge growth. Callyspongia aerizusa can be used as metal pollution indicator because this sponge can accumulate heavy metal Zn in high level (99.30 mg/kg dry weight). This sponge was derived from Kondingareng Lompo island at zone III. In addition, Kodingareng Lompo island waters had the highest Zn concentration compared to other islands. Sediments from Lae-Lae island at zone I had the highest Zn metal concentration. Lae-Lae island is the nearest island to Makassar coastal line.

Distinctive Features of the Property of Cat Ba Archipelago, Vietnam

The nominated property, Cat Ba Archipelago, includes Cat Ba Archipelago Biosphere Reserve, Cat Ba National Park, and Long Chau Island group, which belongs to Cat Hai District, Hal Phong City, Vietnam. Cat Ba Archipelago represents the ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of Asia＇s characteristic marine and insular ecosystems, both tropical and subtropic. The nominated property is a high biodiversity center with 3,860 species of plants and animals on islands and in the sea, of which 130 species are recorded on the Red Lists of Nationally and Internationally Threatened Species, and 76 species on the IUCN Red List of Globally Threatened Species. The iconic Cat Ba white-headed langur （Trachypithecus poliocephalus） is an endemic species indigenous to Cat Ba Archipelago where at present one population of 63 individuals only survives but nowhere else in the world. The Cat Ba white-headed langur is recognized as a critically endangered species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, thus needing urgent protection. The existence of another 20 endemic species in Cat Ba Archipelago shows that the process of evolution are on-going here, as new species continue to emerge in this unique archipelagic habitat.

On the Live Coloration and Partial Mitochondrial DNA Sequences in the Topotypic Population of Goniurosaurus kuroiwae orientalis(Squamata: Eublepharidae), with Description of a New Subspecies from Tokashikijima Island, Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan

Careful investigations of live coloration and other characters in the eublepharid gecko Goniurosaurus kuroiwae orientalis from Tonakijima Island, the type locality of the subspecies in the Central Ryukyus, Japan, revealed its slight but consistent external differences from the consubspecific Tokashikijima population, whose phylogenetically divergent status against the former had been strongly suggested in a previous molecular study. A new subspecies, Goniurosaurus kuroiwae sengokui subsp. nov., is thus described for the Tokashikijima population. In life, Goniurosaurus k. sengokui subsp. nov. can be discriminated from G. k. orientalis in showing tint of reddish or pinkish, instead of yellowish, coloration in dorsal body pattern, and also usually darker and more or less reddish, instead of yellowish or grayish, iris in both adults and juveniles. Recalculation of sequence data at hand with relevant Gen Bank data confirmed substantial sequence divergences of G. k. sengokui from all other congeneric taxa of the Ryukyus described so far.

Stagnate to Extensive： The Design of Capital City Development in Coastal Archipelago Raja Ampat

This discussion of Raja Ampat case, a subdivision of West Papua province, is related to the global warming issue where small islands will be narrowed as a result of sea level rise. Furthermore, it is related to autonomy regulations where each municipality and district has their own policy. The capital of Raja Ampat District in the east of Indonesia is developed from traditional place into central urban area. Raja Ampat, a naturally beautiful island, is located in a remote area famous for its diving spot for foreign tourists, amazing underwater life, bird watching, and to experience a traditional lifestyle with specific tropical fauna and flora. The problem is how to develop a city which needs to be in a stagnant extensive phase but： neither in vertical nor horizontal development to protect forest as conservation area due to limited land area. Identification and design methods used in this research is to develop settlement in Raja Ampat archipelago area which has around 610 large and small islands, atoll, and have 4.860 km shoreline with only 34 islands inhabited. The urban design for this archipelago of 1：6 ratios of land and ocean needs to be different, since it is dominated by water. With the limited land area resources, the development needs to be focused on the ocean area by optimizing land area.

Influence of a Flood Event on Salinity and Nutrients in the Changshan Archipelago Area (Northern Yellow Sea)

River discharge can deliver nutrients to the coastal zone and change the hydrologic properties of the water column. Soon after a flash flood from the Yalu River (Northeast China) in August 2010, we investigated the salinity and nutrient concentrations, as well as other environmental conditions in the Changshan Archipelago area, located approximately 100 km west of the river mouth in the northern Yellow Sea. Diluted water was mainly observed in the upper layers shallower than 15 m, with surface salinity between 18.13 and 30.44 in the eastern study area and between 28.16 and 29.72 in the western area. Surface salinity showed a significant negative correlation with concentrations of dissolved nutrients (P < 0.05), but not with that of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), dissolved oxygen (DO), particulate materials or pH. The average concentrations of nitrite, nitrate, and silicic acid decreased from the surface layer to bottom layer and were significantly higher in the east area than in the west area (P < 0.05). In contrast, average ammonium and phosphate concentrations were highest in the bottom layer of both areas, with no significant spatial differences. DO varied between 6.06 and 8.25 mg L-1 in the surface layer, and was significantly higher in the eastern area than in the western area in the surface and middle layers. Chl-a concentration was constantly below 4.09 μg L-1. Our work demonstrated the strong influences of Yalu River on proportions of various nutrient components in the Changshan Archipelago area. Silicic acid and total inorganic nitrogen levels were significantly elevated comparing to phosphate in the eastern area. Such changes can potentially induce phosphate limit to phytoplankton growth.

The Blue Cave in the Vis Archipelago Paradise,Croatia’s First UNESCO Geopark in the Adriatic

The island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea(Croatia)is a central Adriatic island.This is a small island(89.72 km^(2))but it has a large maritime zone(6,601 km^(2))featuring geologically very attractive open-sea islets known for having rich fishing grounds.The Vis Archipelago was officially declared a UNESCO Geopark on April 18th 2019.This was the first area of the Croatian Adriatic to be included in the Global UNESCO Geopark Network.This paper presents the world-known monument of nature in the Adriatic Sea-the Blue Cave,a sea grotto of exceptional beauty on a small islet of Biševo in the Vis Archipelago Geopark.The author links the Blue Cave’s discovery to the beginning of tourism in Dalmatia,and he presents a few interesting commentaries and impressions of the Blue Cave by various visitors,especially in comparison to the more widely known Grotta Azzurra on the island of Capri near Naples(Italy).