ALPINE AND SUBALPINE SOIL PROPERTIES AS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

This paper discusses the use of soils as indicators of environmental change in the alpine and sub-alpine zones of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Textural, miner-alogical, and chemical properties of soils developed on Quaternary glacial moraines are examined. A clear discontinuity in soil properties is observed between surface and subsurface horizons. Surface horizons are commonly finer grained and less strongly weathered than subsurface horizons. The soil-property discontinuity is interpreted to be a reflection of parent-material change. Surface horizons are interpreted to have developed in eolian sediments, while subsurface horizons have developed in glacial till. The duplex soils are believed to reflect alternating changes from cold moist climates and glacial advance to cold dry climates and loess deposition. [Key words: alpine soils, alpine weathering, alpine loess, climate change.]     

CHARACTERIZATION OF ALPINE SOILS,EAGLE CAP,WALLOWA MOUNTAINS,OREGON

This study examines alpine soil development along a toposequence on Eagle Cap, Wallowa Mountains, northeast Oregon. Soils studied are from Wind Blown (WB) and Minimal Snow Cover (MSC) sites in the Ridge-Top Tundra geomorphic province. The soils are predominantly loamy sands, and exhibit minimal structural development. Soil pH ranges from 6.5 to 7.3 increasing with depth, and organic carbon ranges from 3.9% in the A horizon to 0.8% in the C horizon. The soils display significant input from Cascade volcanic ash infall and eolian influx from the weathered marble nearby. It is postulated that the ash content in the soils originates from Mazama Ash deposits. Though Eagle Cap soils have developed for the most part on granodiorite, the strong influence of the volcanic ash on pedogenesis leads to a preliminary classification of Andisols, most probably Typic and Lithic Haplocryands. [Key words: Alpine soils, Andisols, Wallowa Mountains.]     

WEATHERING TRENDS IN FINE DEBRIS BENEATH A SNOW PATCH,NIWOT RIDGE,FRONT RANGE,COLORADO

Seven soil pits dug in a downhill sequence beneath Martinelli snow patch, Niwot Ridge, Front Range, Colorado, reveal that soils are coarse-grained with only limited evidence of silt translocation. Clay mineralogy within the pits exhibits a widespread and distinct change at a depth of ～15–20 cm. The most common characteristic of this change is a distinct increase in vermiculite in the lower layer, usually accompanied by a decrease in kaolinite and/or smectite. This pattern is interpreted to reflect decreased weathering intensity with depth. Microenvironments beneath the snow patch which exhibit high chemical weathering rates on coarse surficial debris also appear to experience high rates of clay production relative to referenced dry alpine sites, with specific clay mineralogies varying in a fashion commonly found in humid temperate environments. Data generated in this study appear to provide site-specific support for the regionally-developed Synthetic Alpine Slope Model. Spatial variations in eolian additions and meltwater produce complex patterns in chemical weathering of fines beneath large snow patches, although the nature of clay-mineral change is typical of humid, temperate, mid-latitude environments. [Key words: chemical weathering, alpine environments, clay mineralogy, Synthetic Alpine Slope Model.]     

Response of eolian geomorphic systems to minor climate change: examples from the southern Californian deserts

Eolian processes and landforms are sensitive to changes in atmospheric parameters and surface conditions that affect sediment supply and mobility. The response of eolian geomorphic systems to minor climate change can be examined through process-response models based on a combination of relations between short-term changes in climatic variables and eolian activity and the geologic and geomorphic record of Holocene eolian activity.At both time scales, eolian activity in southern Californian deserts is strongly controlled by variations in precipitation. Wind energy is not a limiting factor in this region. Formation of eolian deposits is a product of climatic changes that increase sediment supply from fluvial and lacustrine sources and may, therefore, be closely tied to periods of channel cutting and geomorphic instability. During intervening periods, eolian deposits migrate away from sediment source areas and are reworked, modified, and degraded. Remobilization of existing dormant dunes is a product of reduced vegetation cover and soil moisture in periods of drier climates. The major control on these processes is decadal to annual changes in rainfall that determine vegetation cover and soil moisture content.     

Relationships Between Flow Hydraulics, Sediment Supply, Bedload Transport and Channel Stability in the Proglacial Virkisa River, Iceland

We present data from a proglacial river in Iceland that exhibits very different sedimentological characteristics when compared to its alpine counterparts. The braidplain is characterised by coarse outburst gravels that inhibit sediment transport and channel change. Bedload transport is restricted to the movement of fine-grained gravels that pass through the channel system without promoting significant changes in channel geometry. Bar forms are erosional features, inherited from the last major peak flow, rather than depositional in nature. On the basis of our observations we conclude that braidplain morphology is controlled by low frequency, high magnitude flow events, possibly associated with glacial outburst floods. This is in marked contrast to process-form relationships in more dynamic alpine proglacial channels that are characterised by high rates of sediment transport and channel change.     

福建海岸的风成沉积

福建沿岸多处发育现代海岸风成沉积, 采用现代风砂所总结的特征作为识别标志, 研究了3000-4000年前产生的某些生物碎屑岩和3-4万年前开始形成并广泛分布的老红砂, 证明它们皆为风成, 因此晚更新世以来这里就具有风成沉积发育的条件。海岸风成沉积大规模发育出现在高海面之时, 分布也不遵循地带性规律, 这些均与沙漠地区的风砂不同。     

Comparison of radiocarbon and OSL dating methods for a Late Quaternary sediment core from Lake Ulaan,Mongolia

Both radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods were applied to test their suitability for establishing a chronology of arid-zone lacustrine sediments using a 5.88-m-long core drilled from Lake Ulaan, southern Mongolia. Although the radiocarbon and OSL ages agree in some samples, the radiocarbon ages are older than the corresponding OSL ages at the 550-cm depth horizon (late Pleistocene) and in the 100–300-cm interval (early to late Holocene). In the early to late Holocene, radiocarbon ages are consistently older than OSL ages by 4,100–5,800 years, and in the late Pleistocene by 2,700–3,000 years. Grain-size analysis of early to late Holocene sediments and one late Pleistocene sediment sample (550-cm depth) indicates that eolian processes were the dominant sediment-transport mechanism. Also, two late Pleistocene sediments samples (from 400- to 500-cm depths) are interpreted to have been deposited by both eolian and glaciofluvial processes. Accordingly, the radiocarbon ages that were older than the corresponding OSL ages during the Holocene seem to have been a consequence of the influx of ¹⁴C-deficient carbon delivered from adjacent soils and Paleozoic carbonate rocks by the westerly winds, a process that is also active today. In addition to the input of old reworked carbon by eolian processes, the late Pleistocene sediments were also influenced by old carbon delivered by deglacial meltwater. The results of this study suggest that when eolian sediment transport is suspected, especially in lakes of arid environments, the OSL dating method is superior to the radiocarbon dating method, as it eliminates a common ‘old-carbon’ error problem.     

Development of tongue-shaped and multilobate rock glaciers in alpine environments – Interpretations from ground penetrating radar surveys

Rock glaciers occur as lobate or tongue-shaped landforms composed of mixtures of poorly sorted, angular to blocky rock debris and ice. These landforms serve as primary sinks for ice and water storage in mountainous areas and represent transitional forms in the debris transport system, accounting for ~ 60% of all mass transport in some alpine regions. Observations of active (flowing) alpine rock glaciers indicate a common association between the debris that originates from cirque headwalls and the depositional lobes that comprise them. The delivery of this debris to the rock glacier is regulated primarily by the rate of headwall erosion and the point of origin of debris along the headwall. These factors control the relative movement of individual depositional lobes as well as the overall rate of propagation of a rock glacier. In recent geophysical studies, a number of alpine rock glaciers on Prins Karls Forland and Nordenskiöldland, Svalbard, Norway, and the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, USA, have been imaged using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to determine if a relationship exists between the internal structure and surface morphology. Results indicate that the overall morphologic expression of alpine rock glaciers is related to lobate deposition during catastrophic episodes of rockfall that originated from associated cirque headwalls. Longitudinal GPR profiles from alpine rock glaciers examined in this study suggests that the difference in gross morphology between the lobate and tongue-shaped rock glaciers can be attributed primarily (but not exclusively) to cirque geometry, frequency and locations of debris discharge within the cirque, and the trend and magnitude of valley gradient in relation to cirque orientation. Collectively, these factors determine the manner in which high magnitude debris discharges, which seem to be the primary mechanism of formation, accumulate to form these rock glaciers.     

西藏中西部风成沙的地球化学特征

研究区位于青藏公路以西、雅鲁藏布江以北。这里存在着明显的风成沙搬运和堆积现象。大部分地区的风成沙中缺失-2～+0.9 mm粒级段,优势粒级出现在-0.3 mm粒级段中,比例高达85%以上。多数样品中元素含量分布均表现出从粗至细粒级逐渐降低,在-0.45～+0.3 mm或-0.3～+0.2 mm粒级降至最低;然后,向细粒级方向含量再次升高。Hg则从粗向细粒级含量逐渐增高,中间变化很小。但在风成沙来源地有矿区存在时,则出现相应元素的明显升高。藏北双层风成沙丘中两层沙子各粒级中元素含量没有明显差异（Hg除外）;推测两次堆积的风成沙来源地是一致的。     

BOOK REVIEW

Eolian landforms as sandy dunes and dune heaps were mapped by the author in 1979–1980 in a zone where vegetation had been destroyed by a forest fire on 30 June 1976, in an area to the east of Elverum, south-east Norway. The mapped eolian landforms are discussed together with information from 40 samples of the eolian sediment. Winds, mostly from the north and north-west, were responsible for the development of these eolian landforms, utilizing the fluvioglacial sediments accumulated as a sandur during the retreat of the inland ice approximately 10,000 years ago. The winds were active during a short period of time, only a century or so before the area became vegetated.     

毛乌素沙地北缘泊江海子剖面粒度特征及环境意义

通过毛乌素沙地现代风成沙的粒度与泊江海子剖面沉积物粒度特征对比分析,确定了剖面中4个层位（290—210 cm、190—160 cm 、153.5—123.5 cm、50—40 cm）基本属于风成砂沉积,并且这些风成砂中间夹杂着三次湖相沉积,结合14C年代测定,我们认为此区域在4 000—5 000 a BP存在以下沉积（气候）旋回:至(4 958±84)a BP,沉积风成砂,反映该时期风沙活动强烈,气候干燥,冬季风强盛;(4 958±84)a BP前后,沉积物为灰绿色湖相层,表明这一时期存在短暂的湖面扩展,沙漠退缩;(4 958±84)—(4 793±74)a BP,沉积风成砂,反映了湖泊的退缩和沙漠的扩展;(4 793±74)—(4 536±70)a BP,湖相沉积物,反映了流域降水量的增多;(4 536±70)—(4 085±67)a BP沉积风成砂后,(4 085±67)a BP前后又出现了短暂的湖相沉积,之后又是风成砂沙沉积。     

海坛岛风成沙基本特征及其开发利用意义

海坛岛是福建省的主要风沙分布区,风成沙同花岗岩、风力并列为岛上的三大自然资源。风成沙是海坛岛风沙土的成土母质,也是高质量的石英砂矿源,但是如果开发利用不当极易酿成沙害。根据风沙地貌类型及其分布特征、风成沙成分特征等,提出了以防风固沙为前提,把风沙地划分为东部沿岸防护林区、内侧农业开发区和西部砂矿开采区三个不同功能区。     

直立阻沙栅栏流场特征的风洞模拟实验

直立栅栏作用于地表深刻地影响了周围气流的流动特性,使原来流经地表的气流成为一种特殊形式的“次生流”。根据PIV所测的非对数-线性风速廓线形态及风速廓线所表现的不同速度梯度,栅栏周围的流场可以划分为6个典型区域。随着栅栏疏透度的增加,流动的区域会随着下风向距离的增加逐渐合并,划分的区域越来越少。这些典型的区域分别表现了气流的不同运移行为及能量传输特征,对栅栏周围的风沙沉积有很大的影响。     

Erosion and sediment yields as influenced by coupled eolian and fluvial processes: The Yellow River,China

Based on data from the middle Yellow River, a model of erosion and sediment yield is proposed to describe coupled eolian and fluvial processes in a transitional zone from arid to sub-humid climates, and to explain rapid erosion and a high sediment yield in the zone. In the study area, wind action predominates from March to June, which erodes weathered bedrock and transports eolian sand to gullies, river channels and floodplains. In the following summer, especially from July to September, rainstorm runoff in gullies and river channels transports large quantities of fine loessic material, in the form of hyperconcentrated flow. As a result, most of the previously stored eolian sand and material supplied by mass-wasting of loess can be transported to the major tributaries and the main stream of the Yellow River, resulting in the high specific sediment yield. There exists an optimal grain size composition which maximizes suspended sediment concentration in the study area, resulted from the combined wind–water processes.     

风沙运动理论体系的创建与研究

确定风、沙源、风沙流、下垫面和沙地地表形态是构成风沙运动体系的5个基本要素。确定风速的强弱、沙粒的走停、气流含沙量的盈亏、下垫面的扬抑作用和沙地地表的蚀积变化是这些基本要素各自参与风沙运动的主要表现特征。这些表现特征都能一分为二, 于是10个对立侧面的相互作用构成了风沙运动发展变化的总体。系统地研究这些侧面的组合关系、揭示它们相互促进相互制约的演变机理, 进而依其内在联系进行排序, 将其串联成一体, 并绘出图式, 这样便形成了名之曰"强、弱、扬、抑、走、停、盈、亏、蚀、积十纲辩证"的风沙运动理论体系。其中"强、弱、走、停、盈、亏、蚀、积八纲辩证"是本理论体系的核心。     

腾格里沙漠东南缘沙丘形态示量特征及其影响因素

对腾格里沙漠东南缘主要类型沙丘形态示量及其影响因素分析认为,沙丘高度与间距之间具有明显的幂函数关系,而且这种关系所反映的沙丘动态(加积或前移)随沙丘类型、分布而异。影响沙丘规模与间距的因素比较复杂,粒度的影响没有普遍性;背风侧次生气流尺度对简单横向沙丘具有一定的控制作用;输沙率的影响表现在,各尺度等级风成床面形态及规模对输沙率的变化具有不同时空尺度的响应。     

中国暖温带海岸风尘沉积序列的研究现状与展望

中国暖温带海岸的风尘沉积序列是断续分布于渤海-北黄海沿岸的以黄褐色为主的粉砂质或砂质沉积物。通过查阅1960年以来的文献资料，综述了此类沉积的分布规律、地层形态、沉积特征、地质年代、形成机制和古环境演变等方面的成果，认为其主体为陆架沙漠化环境下的衍生沉积，是冬季风搬运近源物质的结果，时代上属中-晚更新世。因此，暖温带海岸风尘沉积序列是渤海-北黄海陆架沙漠化的有力佐证，且较好地记录了中国中更新世以来中纬度沿海地区的气候环境变化：时间上，气候逐渐干冷；空间上，自北向南风化作用增强。基于研究现状，展望了今后的工作重点和方向。     

烟台附近海岸风沙地貌的初步研究

在野外调查基础上,对烟台附近海岸风沙分布、风沙地貌类型及地貌发育过程进行了探讨。指出全新世海岸变迁是海岸风沙地貌发育的基础,6000aB.P.以来有5个风沙堆积期,前4个风沙堆积期与4个海平面下降期一致,第5风沙堆积期与小冰期一致。     

古尔班通古特沙漠南部风沙土粒度分布的空间异质性

系统采集古尔班通古特沙漠南部典型地段纵向沙垄和垄间地浅层风沙土(0～30 cm)样184件,运用常规粒度分析和地统计分析方法研究了古尔班通古特沙漠南部沙垄不同部位风沙土粒度组成、分布特征及空间变异。结果显示:风沙土机械组成的优势粒级是细沙和极细沙,不同地貌部位粒级组成差异明显。粘土和粉沙的含量为垄间地高于沙垄,背风坡高于迎风坡和垄顶。极细沙和细沙的含量是迎风坡最高,垄顶最低。中沙、粗沙和极粗沙的含量则是垄间地低于沙垄,垄顶最高。风沙土粗物质粒径φ1和平均粒径Mz从垄间地→背风坡→迎风坡→垄顶均由细变粗,分选系数σ则由差变好。同时,φ1、Mz和σ具有中等-强空间自相关性,其空间相关范围(变程)大小顺序为φ1<σ相似文献   

The influence of temperature, moisture, and eolian activity on Holocene lake development in West Greenland

Holocene paleolimnological records (diatoms, organic content, spectrally inferred sediment chlorophyll-a) from three West Greenland lakes (~67°N) situated along a transect from the outer coast to a nunatak at the periphery of the Greenland Ice Sheet are used to explore the nature of regional postglacial lake development and its relationship to Holocene climate evolution. The lakes were deglaciated asynchronously by approximately 4?ka (earliest on the coast) and thus their sediment records document different starting points of Holocene ontogeny, both temporally and paleoclimatically. Despite similar time-transgressive characteristics of the diatom stratigraphies, overarching climatic factors, principally effective moisture, and eolian inputs, govern individual lake development. The transition to Neoglaciation between 5.6 and 4?ka BP marks a shift toward a cooler, moister, windier climate from the aridity and higher temperatures of the mid-Holocene (8?C6?ka BP). A shift toward increased aridity, windiness, and eolian activity is documented in the interior lakes over the last 500?years. These lake records demonstrate the sensitivity of freshwater lakes in arid regions to changes in effective moisture and highlight the role of wind and eolian activity in Arctic lake environments.