Geomorphological effects of plate movement during Quaternary in China'' s tropics

China'stropicsliesintheregionsouthofabout24oN,occupyinganareaofabout51.85×104km2(5.4%ofChina).InChina,thistropicalregionisquiteclosetotheeasternandwesternconvergentboundariesbetweentwoplatessothatthegeomorphologicaleffectsofplatetectonicsaremoreobviousthanthoseinnorthernChina.Thisstudywillpresentsevenexamplesofappearanceofplatemovementingeomorphology.1ThesourceoftectonicforceTheregionofChina'stropicsundergoesconvergingattackfromeasternandwestern"fronts"ofplatemovement.Thewesternfrontofther…     

Geomorphological effects of plate movement during Quaternary in China’s tropics

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110oE.     

Geomorphological effects of plate movemen during Quaternary in China＇s tropics

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110°E.     

气候和地貌对晚第四纪冰川发育差异性的影响

中国第四纪冰川作用极大地推动了高亚洲乃至全球冰川形成机制的探讨。青藏高原以及喜马拉雅山地冰川作用的时限和规模研究得到了广泛关注,为西风带与西南季风带对晚第四纪冰川作用差异性问题的解决提供了有利条件。然而,对于中亚西风环流与东亚季风环流影响下的冰川演化差异性关系不甚明确,两大气候系统控制下的山地第四纪冰川的冰进时序、冰期历史和冰川规模显示出不同特点,其差异性主要体现在:西部山地的冰期启动时间早,冰川规模随时间而逐渐缩小,冰川历史较为完整,绝对年代证据显示冰川作用的启动时间是450 ka 左右的中梁赣冰期(MIS12);东部山地的冰期历史较短,仅保留末次冰期(~75 ka)的冰川遗迹,冰川作用的阶段性明显;冰川演化时间与空间的差异性表明,影响冰川发育的因素不仅仅是区域气候,构造因素也起着相当重要的作用。     

云南千湖山第四纪冰川发育特点与环境变化

千湖山(4249 m) 是横断山脉中段保存确切第四纪冰川遗迹的山地,受西南季风影响强烈。对于研究青藏高原边缘山地冰川发育与气候和构造之间的耦合关系具有十分重要的科学意义。在千湖山海拔3500 m以上保存着古冰川侵蚀与堆积地貌,冰川发育依托海拔4000~4200 m的夷平面及其支谷地形。冰川形态类型为小型的冰帽以及由冰帽边缘溢流进入山谷的山谷冰川。应用相对地貌法,光释光(OSL) 年代测试,本文确定千湖山地区的冰进系列:末次冰盛期(LGM,22.2±1.9 ka BP)、末次冰期中期(MIS3b,37.3±3.7 ka BP、45.6±4.3 ka BP45.6±4.3 ka BP)、末次冰期早期(MIS4)。千湖山冰川前进规模是MIS3b 阶段大于末次冰盛期,主要原因是末次冰期中期(MIS3b) 时本区气候相对湿润,而在末次冰盛期(MIS2) 时气候条件比较干燥。在总体相似的气候背景下,与横断山其它存在多期次冰川作用的山地相比,千湖山只发育末次冰期的冰川作用,其差异性说明该地区冰川发育主要受山体构造抬升控制。     

Deformed Messinian markers in the Cyprus Arc: tectonic and/or Messinian Salinity Crisis indicators?

This paper focuses on Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) evaporites in the Cyprus Arc (eastern Mediterranean) using high‐resolution reflection seismic and multi‐beam data. The results shed new light on the Miocene to Present tectonic evolution of this area and contribute to our general knowledge of the MSC in a deep basin setting. The evaporites and overlying formations show a complex deformation pattern due to a combination of thick‐skinned plate‐tectonic convergence and thin‐skinned disharmonic deformation related to the mobile evaporite‐bearing unit. Several MSC markers are identified and precisely mapped: the base of the MSC unit is a ‘decollement’ level, whereas the top is clearly identified as a toplap surface. Intra‐MSC markers and two MSC subunits are identified and mapped over the entire study area. The geometry of MSC markers shows that the lower MSC subunit was deposited in a relatively quiet tectonic setting. The nature of the anisopachous upper unit indicates a syn‐depositional phase of large‐scale plate‐tectonic activity. A thin‐skinned phase of compressional deformation during the Late Miocene affected the entire MSC unit, overlain by undeformed Pliocene–Quaternary layers. A second thin‐skinned phase, well expressed in the bathymetry, occurred from the Pliocene to Recent, resulting in extensional gravity‐gliding within the evaporites and the Pliocene–Quaternary sequence. We show that the MSC had a dramatic impact on the regional structure. For instance, the erosive nature of the top of the MSC unit is linked to the desiccation episode rather than to the cessation of tectonic activity. This particularly strong and short‐lived erosion may have been enhanced by the regional effects of the MSC, owing to differential uplift/subsidence caused by the drawdown. The evaporites are essential markers for constraining the tectonic framework, provided that active deformation can be distinguished from passive gliding associated with extensional/contractional deformation.     

贺兰山水系流域数值地貌特征及其构造指示意义

基于Arcgis9.3与ASTER GDEM数据,提取了贺兰山两侧主要水系及其流域边界,根据河流及流域指标提取河流纵剖面、流域的Strahler曲线,并计算其面积高度积分值（Hypsometric Intergral）、河流纵剖面的凹度值（Concavity）。通过HI值、凹度值同河流落差、河流长度、流域面积之间相关性分析发现,后3种地貌参数与HI值、凹度值间的相关性较差。对比分析贺兰山两侧河流HI值及凹度值发现：贺兰山东侧北段活动性大于南段,西侧构造活动性分布规律不明显。结合9条河流所处流域的Strahler曲线、河流纵剖面形态和HI值、凹度值分析发现：汝箕沟及其以北贺兰山地区处于地形演化的老年期,汝箕沟以南贺兰山段处于均衡调整的壮年期。     

第四纪江汉-洞庭盆地东部中段构造-沉积地貌类型划分及特征

以第四纪构造活动、沉积作用以及现今地势高低和地貌形态特征为主要依据,对江汉-洞庭盆地东部中段及其东缘(1:25万岳阳市幅)进行构造-沉积地貌类型的划分与编图。研究区共厘定出9种构造-沉积地貌类型,各地貌类型的地表高程、第四纪地壳升降特征、风化剥蚀和沉积作用等各具特征。构造-沉积地貌类型的划分及其地貌图的编制,既反映出地表地理环境暨地貌特征,又提供直观表达不同地区第四纪地层、构造特征及其反映的地质与环境演化过程的有效途径,有助于促进和深化江汉-洞庭盆地第四纪地质与环境研究。     

Soil-stratigraphic techniques in the study of soil and landform evolution across the Southern Alps, New Zealand

The Southern Alps lie along the convergent Pacific-Indian plate boundary. Geomorphically distinct eastern, axial and western regions reflect the east-west gradient in tectonic uplift (1 to 10 mm a⁻¹) and precipitation (600 to 10,000 mm a⁻¹). The eastern region is divided into front-ange and basin-and-range subregions. Soil-sequence studies on terraces established temporal contrasts in pedogenesis within and between eastern and western regions encompassing Entisols, Inceptisols and Spodosols. On Late Pleistocene and early Holocene terraces Dystrochrepts are persistent soils in the eastern region and Aquods in the western region. These soil sequences are used in the interpretation of relative soil age, stratigraphy and erosion history in hill and mountain drainage basins of the eastern and western regions. In the subhumid to humid eastern front-range subregion, simple soil forms occur as catenary sequences, and there is little evidence of erosion following the destruction of forests in the last millenium. Mollisols are dominant in the subhumid, and Dystrochrepts in humid areas, respectively. Soil-debris mantle regoliths date from the early Holocene and are still developing on slopes. The soil pattern on mountain slopes in the humid, eastern basin-and-range subregion is a complex array of simple, eroded, composite and compound soils. This pattern has resulted from erosion following forest destruction within the last millenium. The oldest surface or buried forest soils are Dystrochrepts dating from the Late Pleistocene to early Holocene. Wind erosion of these low-fertility soils contributes to the loessial sediments in which younger soils have formed. In the western region, soil patterns and soil stratigraphy indicate continous instability with a complex pattern of highly leached, shallow Orthents and bedrock outcrops on slopes. The soils are eroded from slopes within 2 ka. These contrasts in soil development and erosion periodicity in the eastern and western regions of the Southern Alps parallel the east-west contrasts in erosion rates of ca. 1–10 mm a⁻¹.     

Late Quaternary geomorphic evolution of the lower Narmada valley, Western India: implications for neotectonic activity along the Narmada–Son Fault

Geomorphic data combined with stratigraphic studies provide significant information to constrain timing and amount of fault movement. The lower Narmada valley lies astride the Narmada–Son Fault (NSF), an important ENE–WSW-trending tectonic element responsible for the current intraplate seismicity being experienced in the central part of the Indian plate. Varying nature and degree of tectonic movements along the NSF during Late Pleistocene and Holocene have produced four geomorphic surfaces in the lower Narmada valley: the alluvial plain (S₁), ravine surface (S₂), a gravelly fan surface (S₃) and the valley fill terrace surface (S₄). Two major phases of tectonic movements in a compressive stress regime are recorded along the NSF: slow synsedimentary subsidence of the basin during Late Pleistocene due to differential movement, followed by inversion of the basin during the Holocene marked by differential uplift along the NSF. The study suggests that the inversion of the basin is in response to the significant increase in the intensity of compressive stresses in the Indian plate mainly during the Early Holocene. The present incisive drainage and recent seismic activity indicate that the compressive stresses continue to accumulate along the NSF due to continued northward movement of the Indian plate.