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During the 82nd cruise of RV Akademik M. A. Lavrentyev a multidisciplinary study of the ecosystems associated with hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in the Bering Sea was conducted. New data on the composition and structure of benthic communities of the Piip's Volcano are obtained. On the Koryak slope of the Bering Sea, a new cold seep region was discovered. Chemosynthesis-based communities on the Koryak slope are the northern-most of their kind in the Pacific, and the Koryak population of Calyptogena is the northern-most Recent population of pliocardiines in the World Ocean.

On cruise 82 voyage of the R/V Akademik M.A. Lavrentyev, comprehensive studies of ecosystems associated with hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in the Bering Sea were carried out. New data on the composition and structure of benthic communities of the Piip volcano were obtained. A new area of cold seeps has been discovered on the Chukchi slope of the Bering Sea. At present, the chemosynthesis communities of the Chukchi slope are the northernmost of their kind known in Pacific, and the Chukotka population of Calyptogena is the northernmost Recent population of pliocardiines in the World Ocean.

The report presents original data on the isotope and chemical composition of the nitric thermal, cold underground, and surface natural waters, along with the water-enclosing rocks, of the Ulsk occurrence of thermal mineral waters (coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk, Khabarovsk krai). The data on the concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen isotopes and rare-earth elements, as well as on the volume activity of radon, in the treated underground and surface waters are obtained for the first time. Based on the data of automated monitoring of the physical parameters, the hydrogeological characteristics of the thermal waters are determined and the balneal properties are evaluated. The results obtained show the atmospheric origin of the nitric thermal waters of the Ulsk spring; however, the indicative chemical elements occurring in the considered waters represent the effects of deep-seated high-temperature processes as well. It is found that the waters warmed to 31°C within fractured Paleocene granites do not show significant variations of temperature, and the chemical composition varies exclusively under the interaction with the water-enclosing rocks. The profiles of the distribution of rare-earth elements (REEs) in the thermal waters represent the REE distribution in the water-enclosing granitoids and point to the limitation of the thermal water circulation with the area of the occurrence of the Paleocene granites of the Bekchi–Ul Massif. The temperature of the deep-seated reservoir measured by geothermometers was 80°C or below, which may indicate a depth of water circulation of 1–2 km or less.

The article discusses the features of the geological structure and composition of the magmatic rocks of the Nizhnetaezhny ore district (North Primorye). It ncludes the East Sikhote-Aligna Volcano-plutonic belt (ESAVPB) and is located in the transition zone Continent Ocean. ESAVPB is the typomorphic link of the East Asian Occinno-Continental Volcanogenic, reconstructed by A. I. Khanchuk as an oversumbays. Other links are known as the Okhotsko-Chukchi, Busan and Southeast Chinese belts. To determine the age of the magmatic arrays, the NTOD selected from the two most representative intrusive bodies of the node of the Malinovsky and Berezovsky massives, between them the main mass of ore mineralization is located. The determination of the ages of the K-Ar method is shown that quartz diorites were formed in Paleocene (64 ± 1 million years), and biotite porphyrene granites in Eocene (47 ± 2 million years). It was previously assumed that the Malinovsky massive is a typical representative of Primorsky, and Berezovsky and the Zavodskoy - Samarka or Bogopolskaya volcanic Plutonic Comlex. Considering that some definitions show (62 ± 1 million years) and characterize porphyry dacites in the Exocontact attacked of the Berezovsky massive, and in the bottom of the incision of the bogopolskaya suites, the lumpy tuffs of rhyolitic and touff-conglomerates contain retalized and half-rolled fragments of the myarol granites common in the Primorsky complex, we can conclude About accessories Malinovsky and Berezovsky massive to the Samarkinskiy complex. In favor of such a conclusion, the determination of the age of monzodiorite (64 ± 1 million years) and pyroxene diorites (57 ± 2 million years) of the Malinovsky massive, which are consistent with the refined rates of the age of the Samargna suite, are appropriate.

The article discusses the results of research on benthos, carried out in south-western Bering Sea using remotely operated vehicle Comanche. The vertical distribution of the dominant animals on the northern slope of the Volcanologov Massif and fauna associated with the hydrothermal vents of Piip Volcano was studied.

Lockated in the noth part of Primorsky region, the Kumirnoe silver deposit is very interesting object from a geological point of view. Data about isotopic mineralogical characteristics of its ore mineralization was first presented in this essay. More than 80 ore bodies are known at the deposit. They mostly contain quartz, hydromica, sericite, adularia, chlorite, montmorillonite and kaolinite. Ore mineralization is represented by silver-bearing minerals: acanthite, pyrirargyrite, polybasite, stephanite, freibergite, selenium-containing aguilarite and eletrum. The obtained isotope data indicate that sulfur composition is close to meteorite standard, this is indicated by the narrow positive interval of its sulfur ratios (2,0-2,8‰). It gives the reason to assume that homogeneous hydrothermal ore-forming solutions participated in its formation. Its comparison with isotopic data of gold-silver deposits located in the continental marginal volcano-plutonic belts (Ducat, Mnogovershinnoe, Sergeevskoye) shows that the formation of the Kumirnoe deposit was at the same time: Cretaceous- Paleogene, it’s possible it was under similar geological conditions. This is confirmed by the age data obtained by us earlier for Kumirnoe deposit (it matches Cretaceous- Paleogene).

This article is about features of geological structure and composition of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Low Taiga area (Russia, Primorsky region). This area is a part of the east Sihote-Alin volcanoplutonic belt, is located in the area of transit from the continent to the ocean. Studings of geological and chemical composition, structure and patterns of placement of the Low Taiga Area’s volcanic sedimentary rocks allow us to complete information about geological and geochemical features of Mesozoic-Cenozoic stage of the formation of the said structure. Unever igneous formations are distributed within this area, classified to Primorsky (turonian senonian), Samarga (maastrichtian), Bogopolsky (Paleocene) and Kizinsky (Miocene) volcanic complexes. Matching volcanic rocks complex’s chemical composition with published data testifies to significant similarity with petrotypes of ternei volcano structure. Besides it was found that the Low Taiga Area’s complexes contain high potassium varieties and vary in contents of rare and rare earth elements. Distribution of incoherent elements of primorsky complex’s volcanics are characterized by increased concentrations of tungsten, zinc, plumbum, thorium, lanthanum, cerium, by low content of niobium, strontium, zirconium and titanium. Samarga complex is characterized by low content of titanium and strontium, by low content of neodymium. Bogopolsky and Kizinsky complexes in the distribution of rare and trace elements have a similar trend appearance with petrotypes, but differ in the level of their concentration.

In August 2013, anoxia of the bottom waters was established in the southern region of the Far East Marine Biosphere Reserve, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Science, in the depression between Furugelm Island and coastal waters. Death of the benthic community was registered using a remotely operated underwater vehicle. The hydrochemical studies revealed that the area of the absence and/or presence of low oxygen contents corresponds to an area of anomalously high contents of ammonium, phosphates, and silicates, a high partial pressure of carbon dioxide and normalized alkalinity, and the presence of hydrogen sulfide. The microbiological decomposition of diatoms precipitated on the seafloor in the absence of oxygen regeneration was the reason for anoxia. Its formation in summer of 2013 was caused by anomalously abundant precipitates in the Far East.

In this work, to study the vertical extent of mineralization, determine the level of erosion, and identify signs of longitudinal placement of silver mineralization of the Nizhnetaezhny ore district (NOD) For this, the main indicator indicators Ag, Au, Cu, Zn, Pb were identified based on the maximum correlation coefficient, Sn, Sb, As, Mo. Then, the ratios of the linear productivities of the indicator elements for the main ore zones of the Scientific and Technological Logging were made: Kumirnoe - Sb * Ag * As / Cu * Sn, Kabaniy - Sb * As * Ag / Cu * Sn, SredniySukhoy - Sn * Pb * Zn / Au * As, Levoberezhnoe -Sn * Pb * Zn / W * Mo. The obtained geochemical data of changes in the multiplicative coefficients allowed us to identify areas according to their erosion: weakly eroded (Kumirny, SredniySukhoy) and significantly eroded (Kabany, Levoberezhnoe), and then divide them into upper ore, ore and under ore. At all sites (except for the SredniySukhoy), at the level of the conditionally subsided horizon, a tendency of gradual increase in productivity was revealed, which indicates the long-range placement of productive ore zones and makes it possible to suggest the presence of powerful and productive silver zones hidden at depth. The data obtained provide the prerequisites for the revaluation of the prospects of the deep horizons of the NOD silver mineralization.

Alien species pose a continuously growing problem around the world. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are believed to protect marine ecosystems from the human interference. Nevertheless, no physical barriers in the marine environment can prevent introduction of alien species. Russian MPAs do not have an effective system to prevent introduction of new and to monitor already existing alien species in their territories and waters. Currently, the necessity of development of a program for the control over alien species in MPAs has become especially urgent. The Far Eastern Marine Biosphere Reserve, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is chosen as a model object for the study. Among 19 Russian biosphere reserves with marine waters, the biological diversity of marine and insular biota in this one has been studied the most thoroughly. As a result of long-term investigations, more than 5100 species of terrestrial and marine species have been registered here. The issue of presence of alien species and probable ways of their introduction to MPAs is analyzed by the example of the Marine Biosphere Reserve. The conducted studies have shown that the reserve, being a standard of natural ecosystems in Peter the Great Bay, the Sea of Japan, nevertheless is exposed to invasion of alien species. A total of 137 new taxa have been found in the Marine Biosphere Reserve and adjacent territories and waters; 131 of them were identified to species. The largest number of newly recorded species is observed among planktonic microalgae (63) and diatom algae of periphyton (53). Many fewer alien species have been registered both in the biofouling of hydrotechnical structures and in benthos (7). Insects are represented by 5 species; the ichthyofauna and meroplankton number 2 and 1 species, respectively. In order to establish the probability of invader status (ISP), the scale of presence/absence of species character was developed. By using this method, a total of 194 alien species have been revealed within the reserve and in adjacent waters. Almost half of the studied invasive species here have the lowest ISP, 30%; those 80 species with the ISP value of 100% can be regarded as naturalized ones. Vascular plants are a significant portion of naturalized species (72). On the basis of obtained results, the need for monitoring and control of alien species in all marine reserves of Russia becomes obvious.

Pliocardiines (Bivalvia: Vesicomyidae: Pliocardiinae) are symbiotrophic vesicomyid molluscs harbouring symbiotic sulphide-oxidizing chemoautotrophic bacteria in their gills. The pliocardiines, Phreagena soyoae and Archivesica gigas, are a common component of numerous deep-sea chemosynthesis-based communities in the Eastern and Western North Pacific. We examined the stable isotope composition of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur as well as the fatty acid composition of P. soyoae and A. gigas from two methane seep sites, Clam Hill (1427 – 1443 m) and Barite Ridge (1455 – 1548 m) in the Deryugin Basin in the Sea of Okhotsk. For identification of bacterial endosymbiont lineages, we determined the nucleotide sequences of COI genes of symbionts of P. soyoae and A. gigas and confirmed that both species have the same bacterial lineages as their Eastern Pacific counterpart populations. Stable isotope analysis showed that site-specific differences between pliocardiines from the two seeps of the Deryugin Basin far exceeded interspecies variations. There were obvious differences in the sulphur isotopic compositions among pliocardiines from Clam Hill and from Barite Ridge suggesting that the intensity of anaerobic methane oxidation and methane flow varied in different cold seeps from the Deryugin Basin. The δ13C values recorded for P. soyoae and A. gigas samples were in the narrow range typical for studied pliocardiines. Both species showed an unusually broad range of δ15N values (∼18‰) that overlapped the known range of this signature for pliocardiines. The main polyunsaturated fatty acids in P. soyoae and A. gigas were nonmethylene-interrupted 20:2(5,13), 20:3(5,13,16) and 20:4(5,13,16,19), which were synthesized by the molluscs themselves and not by their symbionts.

Nizhne-Taezhnyi ore node of Northern Primorye is a complex object containing tin-polymetal-silver, polymetal-silver, and proper silver mineralization silver-porphyry mineralization is possible to be found also. Analysis geogimicl element distribution showed that Ag and Sb with good correlation between each other manifested a weak tendency to decrease with depth. The highest concentrations of Sn, Pb, and Zn are fixed at a depth of about 250 m and decrease upwards and downwards from this level, but Mo and Cu contents essentially increase at low levels (Fig. The revealed tendencies of variability of the chalcophile element concentration both laterally and vertically can be explained by the availability of a vertical mineralogical-geochemical zonality of the mineralization.

During the expedition SoJaBio (Sea of Japan Biodiversity studies) a rich collection of peracarid crustaceans from the slope and the deep-sea basin of the Sea of Japan (at depth range from 450 to 3660 m) was made. The superorder Peracarida was recognized as the most abundant taxon of the macrobenthos in the investigated area and comprised 146 species, 85 genera, 42 families and five orders. From these taxa 93 species, 18 genera and 10 families are reported for the first time in the Sea of Japan below 500 m. Among them, 42 species and two genera were apparently new to science. The diversity and species richness as well as abundance of most of the peracarid species were highest at the shallowest slope stations (∼ 450–550 m) and decreased with depth. Conversely, the abundance of three species, Eurycope spinifrons Gurjanova, 1933 (Isopoda), Chauliopleona hansknechti Larsen et Shimomura, 2007 and Paratyphlotanais japonicus Kudinova-Pasternak, 1984 (Tanaidacea) increased distinctly below the slope (∼2600–3300 m). It is assumed that these species are opportunistic taxa which have recently colonized the geologically young pseudo-abyssal habitats of the Sea of Japan. On the basis of faunistic similarity between 24 stations, three distinct faunal assemblages were identified, distributed on the slope (∼450–1500 m), lower slope (∼2500–2700 m) and at the pseudo-abyssal stations. The key peracarid species for each of them were determined.

All aspects of biology, ecology, distribution, fishing and aquaculture of scallops from the Russian part of the northwestern Pacific Ocean are discussed. There are eight species of Pectinidae naturally occurring in coastal waters of this region. The yesso scallop, Mizuhopecten yessoensis, has the highest commercial value among the scallops; Chlamys albida, C. chosenica and C. behringiana are abundant species forming commercial stocks. The commercial reserves of natural scallops along the Russian coast were greatly reduced during the last decade due to irrational catching and poaching. Nowadays, aquaculture is an alternative approach to catching scallops. There are 125 ha used for hanging culture and about 600 ha for sowing culture now. According to experts, the inshore water is suitable for development of mariculture farms account for approximately 376,000 ha in the Russian part of the northwestern Pacific.

A mycological study of ballast waters and sediments of commercial ships plying in the Russian-Japanese and Russian-Chinese lines is carried out in the port of Vladivostok for the first time. Forty-three taxa of mycelial fungi of 11 genera of anamorphic fungi and zygomycetes are found in the ballast waters and in the sediments. The species of genera Aspergillus(14) and Penicillium (9) prevail. The mycelial fungi Aspergillus japonicus and A. sclerotiorum from the ballast waters are not revealed in the marine habitats (seawater, benthic sedimentations) in the coastal areas of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan). The taxonomic composition of mycelial fungi and the ecological-biological characteristics of the discovered species in the ballast waters and the sediments indicate a significant anthropogenic impact on the coastal ecosystems in the region of Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea and the Yangtze River. These data determine the nature of ecological risk associated with bioinvasions of fungi into the Far Eastern seas of Russia.

Purposeful studies of alien species were performed in the Sea of Japan (Russian territory) in recent decades; however, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea received less attention, and the studies there were occasional, so the data are scarce. An annotated list of 66 nonindigenous species of various degree of acclimatization is presented for the first time for the Far Eastern Seas of Russia. A scale for assessing alien species status is also presented.

Work on the investigation of organisms of ballast water and sediments of ships sailing on Russia-Japan and Russia-China lines was started in the Port of Vladivostok for the first time for the Far East seas of Russia. In total, 145 taxa, 37 microalgal species, 24 holoplankton species, 22 meroplankton taxa, and 10 meiofauna groups were revealed, 24 species of microscopic mycelia fungi were attributed, and 28 morphologically distinct bacterial stains were isolated. Potentially toxic microalgal species were found: the dinoflagellates Dinophysis acuminate and Prorocentrum cordatum and the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia pungens. The tropical-subtropical copepod Pseudocalanus inopinus was recorded in ballast water. Polychaete larvae of the Polydora genus with an unusual morphology, which were not occurring in the Peter the Great Bay previously, were recorded as probable southern migrants from the coastal waters of the southwest coast of Honshu Island. Live larvae of the hermit crab Diogenes nitidimanus were revealed in ballast water, supporting the possibility of introduction of this species in the Peter the Great Bay. Based on an analysis of the total number of colony-forming units of heterotroph microorganisms (within the order of 103–104 cells/ml), the ballast water of ships sailing on the Russia-Japan line was characterized as moderately polluted. The detection of Escherichia coli strains, exceeding the standards quoted in the International Convention by three times or more, showed the potential danger of a mass bioinvasion. Conditionally pathogenic and toxinogenic mycelial fungi, which are able to induce mycoses and mycotoxicoses in invertebrates and fishes, were isolated from ballast water. It was determined that ballast water of the “rusty” type was poorly suited for the existence of zoo- and phytoplankton forms. In the case of the construction of an oil terminal in the Peter the Great Bay, a sharp increase of the introduction of exotic species via the ballast water and foulings of tankers is inevitable

The practical aspects are analyzed of off-axis illumination in optical lithography below the Rayleigh resolution. For major light-source aperture configurations, fundamental lower limits are identified on the lithographic factor \(k_1 = \frac{{L \cdot NA}}{\lambda }\), where L is the mask linewidth,NA is the numerical aperture of the objective, and λ is the wavelength. A practical approach is discussed to the calculation of the attainable values of k1 for different aperture configurations, allowing for the forbidden-pitch phenomenon.

A theoretical analysis is given of ultimate-resolution imaging in optical lithography by off-axis illumination, a common approach to image quality improvement. On this basis, the optimization of light-source aperture configuration is addressed. The types of aperture considered are the circular dipole, the circular quadrupole, the simple annular aperture, the annular dipole, and the annular quadrupole. They are compared in terms of simultaneous transfer of transverse and longitudinal mask features.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the biology and ecology of eight scallop species from the Russian part of the northern Pacific Ocean. Fishery statistics and typical technologies used at these commercial aquaculture farms are also presented. Scallops are the most intensively consumed and fished bivalve molluscs in Russia. There are more than ten scallop species found within the seas of the Russian Federation. The best known is the Yesso scallop, Mizuhopecten yessoensis, also referred to as the Ezo scallop, giant scallop, Japanese scallop, Russian scallop, Primorsky scallop, and common scallop. Production of scallop farms might increase through better scallop farm management and the application of technological innovations for mariculture. One of the promising trends of mariculture is polyculture. Scallop populations that spontaneously developed under kelp plantations at kelp farms, are well known in practice. The chapter also discusses the joint cultivation of kelps and scallops that will help in protecting against excessive eutrophication, which often occurs at mollusc and kelp farms from overcrowding.