Report of a chiton in the genus Leptochiton (Lepidopleurida:Lepidopleurina:Leptochitonidae) from the Yap Trench in the West Pacific Ocean

Two chiton specimens were collected from sedimentary habitat by China＇s manned Jiaolong submersible diving to a depth of 6 754 m in the north of the Yap Trench. This is a new locality record for chiton. Both morphological and molecular data support that the two specimens are the same species belonging to the genus Leptochiton. Morphologically, this species strongly resembles L. vanbellei and L. deforgesi. Phylogenetically, it has a close evolutionary relationship with L. vanbellei, L. deforgesi and L. boucheti. This is the third deepest record for deepsea chitons so far.

Tintinnid diversity in the tropical West Pacific Ocean

In order to investigate the tintinnid diversity, vertical distribution and latitudinal variation in the tropical West Pacific Ocean, water samples of different depths from surface to 200 m were collected along four transects. Totally 124 tintinnid species in 39 genera were detected. Most species preferred to live in the surface and subsurface waters. High tintinnid species richness, abundance and diversity index mainly occurred at depths slight shallower than the layer of deep chlorophyll maximum. Species richness, abundance and Shannon＇s diversity index were significant positive correlation with temperature and chlorophyll a in vivo fluorescence, but significant negative correlation with salinity and depth. The correlations between most dominant species and environmental factors were not significant. Tintinnid diversity was extremely high in this area, species richness ranged from 25 to 52 at each station, Shannon＇s diversity indexes were higher than 3 at most sampling positions from surface to 75 m. Proportions of redundant species were high, accounted for 87.90% of species pool and 60.38% of total abundance, indicating high capacity to response to changes in resource composition and predation pressures of tintinnid communities in the tropical West Pacific Ocean.

Analysis of Long-Range Transmission Loss in the West Pacific Ocean

A long-range sound propagation experiment was conducted in the West Pacific Ocean in July 2013. Linear frequency-modulated signals with a frequency band of 260-360Hz were transmitted by a transducer hung on a floating ship during the experiment and were received by a horizontal line array towed by another ship sailing away from the transducer. The maximum distance between the two ships was 1029km. Signals were received at the distances 34-220 kin, 612-635 km and 926-1029 kin. Transmission loss versus distance between source and receiver was obtained and compared with the theoretical results predicted by the parabolic equation method program RAM. It is shown that RAM is adequate for estimating the transmission loss for distances up to 1029km. When the water depth is larger than the surface conjugate depth, the ocean bottom rarely influences the transmission loss in the convergence zones. However, in the opposite situation, the ocean bottom contributes significantly to the transmission loss.

Systematics, species diversity and new taxa of mesozooplankton in the West Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas: a brief compilation of monographs in China

Research and protection of biodiversity is generally started with species recognizing guided by achievement of cataloguing and illustration obtained through in situ investigation data accumulation and literature learning. Facing the shortage of taxonomist, it is getting harder to maintain important specimen collections and handle loans. The West Pacific Ocean has been operating as a center of the origin of global marine biodiversity result of the richest species diversity of marine taxa found in these waters. The present work is a compilation and summary of systematics, species diversity and new taxa of mesozooplankton major group known in West Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas （0°-45°N, 105°-152°E） according to 6 203 mesozooplankton samples acquired from 701 stations during 1965 and 2008. A total of 2 657 species belonging to 686 genera and 206 families of 10 mesozooplankton groups have been found through taxonomic identification and document consulting. In details, 697 species from 251 genera of 99 families belong to the Medusozoa, 59 species from 22 genera of 12 families to the Ctenophora, 85 species from 36 genera of 14 families to the pelagic Mollusca （Pteropoda and Heteropoda）, 416 species from 91 genera of 8 families to the Ostracoda, 908 species from 156 genera of 51 families to the Copepoda, 202 species from 60 genera of 4 families to the Mysidacea, 56 species from 8 genera of 2 families to the Euphausiacea, 105 species from 23 genera of 8 families to the Decapoda, 48 species from 13 genera of 5 families to the Chaetognatha and 81 species from 26 genera of 5 families to the Tunicata. The dominant species of each group are enumerated. Moreover, 2 new species of Medusozoa, Tubulariidae, Ectopleura, 1 new species of Medusozoa, Protiaridae, Halitiarella, 1 new genus and 1 new species of Medusozoa, Corymorphidae are established. An amount of 806 species are expanded with an increase of 43.5% on the basis of 1 852 species recorded before 2008, including 1.4% increase from tropical sea around equator, 4.0% from the frigid water in high latitude region, and 3.0% of bathypelagic-associated waters. The authors also summarized future prospects into five major areas in marine mesozooplankton research in China. Such information of qualitative phyletic classification could be of high relevance to studies on biodiversity and biogeography of marine mesozooplankton, especially for monographs contributed to make an overall and systematic conclusion on the species of marine life in China after 2008.

Morphology of four Miliolinella species (Foraminifera, Protozoa) with description of a new species, Miliolinella obesa nov. spec., from the tropical West Pacific Ocean

Foraminiferal oozes were sampled from the tropical West Pacific seamount and seabed of deep sea, by a remotely operated vehicle （ROV） in December 2014 and March 2016. Using standard morphological method, four Miliolinella species, including Miliolinella obesa, M. circularis, M. suborbicularis and M. subrotunda were described. Among the four species, M. obesa is a new species. It is a large member （about 500 μm in length） of the genus. This species is characterized by having a very stout and transverse broadly circular outline, and its body width is greater than the body length. In addition, its chamber demarcations are obscure from the exterior appearance. Three chambers are unclearly visible on one side and two chambers are visible on the opposite. Finally, we provided very detailed taxonomic microphotographs and the ecological distribution information for each species.

Zonal discrepancy of iodine in the West Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas

The species of iodine in the water samples collected from the west Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas were analysed. Results show that the concentration of total inorganic iodine appears higher in the south than that in the north of the Equator. The iodide concentration is distributed symmetrically on both sides of the Equator in tropic and subtropic zones and it decreases away from the Equator. Around the Antarctic Divergence iodide concentration approaches its minimum in the surface waters .which only accounts for 10% of the total iodine. The dissolved organic iodine concentration keeps constant generally either in horizontal or in vertical. Discussions on the relationships of iodine with chemical, biological and hydrological factors reveal that iodine has a transitional behavior between conservative and biodepleting elements; I/S ratio is of a certain stability on a vast scale, however, it may be largely affected by organism activity in some zones. Besides, evidence shows that iodine is adsorbed by organic particles in surface water but released as the remineral-ization of the organic particles occurs near the bottom of euphotic layer, which makes iodine look as if it is depleted by organisms like the nutrients.

West Pacific and North Indian Ocean Seafloor and Their Ocean-Continent Connection Zones: Evolution and Debates

The Indian Ocean and the West Pacific Ocean and their ocean-continent connection zones are the core area of ＂the Belt and Road＂. Scientific and in-depth recognition to the natural environment, disaster distribution, resources, energy potential of ＂the Belt and Road＂ development, is the cut-in point of the current Earth science community to serve urgent national needs. This paper mainly discusses the following key tectonic problems in the West Pacific and North Indian oceans and their ocean-continent connection zones （OCCZs）： 1. modern marine geodynamic problems related to the two oceans. Based on the research and development needs to the two oceans and the ocean-continent transition zones, this item includes the following questions. （1） Plate origin, growth, death and evolution in the two oceans, for example, 1） The initial origin and process of the triangle Pacific Plate including causes and difference of the Galapagos and West Shatsky microplates; 2） spatial and temporal process, present status and trends of the plates within the Paleo- or Present-day Pacific Ocean to the evolution of the East Asian Continental Domain; 3） origin and evolution of the Indian Ocean and assembly and dispersal of supercontinents. （2） Latest research progress and problems of mid-oceanic ridges： 1） the ridge-hot spot interaction and ridge accretion, how to think about the relationship between vertical accretion behavior of thousands years or tens of thousands years and lateral spreading of millions years at 0 Ma mid- oceanic ridges; 2） the difference of formation mechanisms between the back-arc basin extension and the normal mid-oceanic ridge spreading; 3） the differentials between ultra-slow Indian Ocean and the rapid Pacific spreading, whether there are active and passive spreading, and a push force in the mid-oceanic ridge; 4） mid-oceanic ridge jumping and termination： causes of the intra-oceanic plate reorganization, termination, and spatial jumps; 5） interaction of mantle plume and mid-oceanic ridge. （3） On the intra- oceanic subduetion and tectonics： 1） the origin ofintra-oceanic arc and subduction, ridge subduction and slab window on continental margins, transform faults and transform-type continental margin; 2） causes of the large igneous provinces, oceanic plateaus and seamount chains. （4） The oceanic core complex and rheology of oceanic crust in the Indian Ocean. （5） Advances on the driving force within oceanic plates, including mantle convection, negative buoyancy, trench suction and mid-oceanic ridge push, is reviewed and discussed. 2. The ocean-continent connection zones near the two oceans, including： （1） Property of continental margin basement： the crusts of the Okinawa Trough, the Okhotsk Sea, and east of New Zealand are the continental crusts or oceanic crusts, and origin of micro-continent within the oceans; （2） the ocean-continent transition and coupling process, revealing from the comparison of the major events between the West Pacific Ocean seamount chains and the continental margins, mantle exhumation and the ocean-continent transition zones, causes of transform fault within back-arc basin, formation and subduction of transform-type continental margin; （3） strike-slip faulting between the West Pacific Ocean and the East Asian Continent and its temporal and spatial range and scale; （4） connection between deep and surface processes within the two ocean and their connection zones, namely the assembly among the Eurasian, Pacific and India-Australia plates and the related effect from the deep mantle, lithosphere, to crust and surface Earth system, and some related issues within the connection zones of the two oceans under the super-convergent background. 3. On the relationship, especially their present relations and evolutionary trends, between the Paleo- or Present-day Pacific plates and the Tethyan Belt, the Eurasian Plate or the plates within the Indian Ocean. At last, this paper makes a perspective of the related marine geology, ocean-continent connection zone and in-depth geology for the two oceans and one zone.

Observation Research of the Turbulent Fluxes of Momentum, Sensible Heat and Latent Heat over the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area

This paper describes results of the fluxes of momentum , sensible heat and latent heat for the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area ( 127 ° E - 150 ° E , 5 ° N -3 ° S ). The data were collected by the small tethered balloon sounding system over this ocean area including 6 continuous stations (140 ° E. 0 ° ; 145 ° E, 0 ° ; 150 ° E, 0 ° ; 140° E, 5 ° N; 145 ° E, 5° N and 150 ° E, 5 ° N) from 11 October to 15 December, 1986 . These fluxes were calculated by the semiempirical flux-profile relationships of Monin-Obukhov similarity theory using these observed data. The results show that for this tropical ocean area the drag coefficient CD is equal to (1.53 ± 0.25) × 10 3 and the daily mean latent flux Hl is greater than its daily mean sensible flux HV by a factor of about 9.

Similarities Between Granites on the East and West Coasts of the Pacific Ocean

The traditional idea proposes that granites on the east and west coasts of the Pacific Ocean are different. According to field investigations of the geology of the western United States coupled with the authors' long-term studies on granites in South China, granites both in eastern China and in the western United States are similar.

Morphology and multifractal features of a guyot in specific topographic vicinity in the Caroline Ridge,West Pacific

Massive seamounts have been surveyed and documented in the last decades.However,the morphologies of seamounts are usually described in qualitative manners,yet few quantitative detections have been carried out.Here,based on the high-re solution multi-beam bathymetric data,we report a recentlysurveyed guy ot on the Caroline Ridge in the West Pacific,and the large-scale volcanic structures and smallscale erosive-depositional landforms in the guyot area have been identified.The multifractal features of the guyot are characterized for the first time by applying multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis on the surveyed bathymetric data.The results indicate that the multifractal spectrum parameters of the seafloor have strong spatial dependency on the fluctuations of local landforms.Both small-and large-scale components contribute to the degree of asymmetry of the multifractal spectrum(B),while the fluctuations of B are mostly attributed to the changes in small-scale roughness.The maximum singularity strength(α0)correlates well with the roughness of large-scale landforms and likely reflects the large-scale topographic irregularity.Comparing to traditional roughness parameters or monofractal exponents,multifractal spectra are able to depict not only the multiscale characteristics of submarine landforms,but also the spatial variations of scaling behaviors.Although more comparative works are required for various seamounts,we hope this study,as a case of quantifying geomorphological characters and multiscale behaviors of seamounts,can encourage further studies on seamounts concerning geomorphological processes,ocean bottom circulations,and seamount ecosystems.