Remote sensing analysis of desert vegetation and its landscape changes: The case in middle reaches of Tarim River Basin,Xinjiang, China

Based on remote sensing information sources including B/W aerial photos of 1983, pseudo-color aerial photos of 1992 and JERS-1/OPS VNIR image of 1996, vegetation types of Yingbazha, in the middle reaches of the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang, China are mapped using ARC/INFO and related software. The changes in vegetation areas and distribution conditions are analyzed. As a result of natural and human influences, vegetation changes have temporal and spatial characteristics. According to the principles of landscape ecology and geographical information science, the landscape changes are indicated. Moreover, the remote sensing and GIS techniques are integrated to study vegetation and its landscape.     

Damage and recovery of the Gurbantunggut Desert vegetation following engineering activities

The fragile ecological environment of the Gurbantunggut Desert is damaged/disturbed by human activities relating to the development of oil-gas resources and the constructions of desert road and great engineering in the Jungger Basin. It was mainly represented: soil compaction, vegetation cleaning, burial of vegetation, oil polluting, and soil disturbance. With investigation and experiment, we found that when the way and intensity of engineering activities disturbing the eco-environment does not make its ecological stability disintegrated, the desert vegetation has a capacity of natural recovery. To speed and strengthen the process of vegetation recovery efficient assistant measurements, including stabilizing mobile sands promptly and sowing seeds of shrub and herb plants in good time will be needed.     

2001年四川省雅江-康定6.0级地震烈度考察及发震构造背景雏议

2001年2月23日四川省发生的6.0级地震，其宏观震中位于雅江县与康定县之间的高山峡谷地带．极震区烈度可达Ⅷ 度，Ⅷ 度区、Ⅶ 度区和Ⅵ 度区面积分别为180km2，1472 km2和3998 km2，等震线分布总体形态呈椭圆形，长轴近南北向．震区建筑物普遍受损，极震区山地灾害较为严重．初步分析认为，此次地震的发生与理塘断裂和玉农希断裂的长期活动有关，主干断裂活动造成的地壳应力调整和集中，最终在块体内部的次级断裂上释放而产生地震．      

2001年1月2 6日印度古杰拉特(Gujarat)Ｍem>Ssub>7.8地震时空破裂过程

从全球数字地震台网的长周期记录中，选择了震中距小于90的27个台站的54个P波震相和44个S波震相资料．首先，用波形反演方法确定了2001年1月26日印度古杰拉特(Gujarat)ＭS7.8地震的地震矩张量、震源机制、震源时间函数和时空破裂过程等震源参数．通过矩张量反演，并根据Kutch Mainland断层的走向、地震烈度的空间分布、余震震源的空间分布和震害的空间分布，确认2001年1月26日印度古杰拉特ＭS7.8地震的发震断层的走向为92、倾角为58、滑动角为62，即一走向近东-西向、断层面向南倾斜、以逆冲为主的左旋-逆断层．这次地震所释放的地震矩为3.51020 Nm，矩震级ＭW＝7.6．然后，借助合成地震图，采用频率域求谱商的方法，得到了依赖于台站方位的27个P波震源时间函数、22个S波震源时间函数以及平均的P波震源时间函数和S波震源时间函数．对震源时间函数的分析表明，这次地震是一次连续的破裂事件，开始比较急遽，但结束比较迟缓，总持续时间约19 s．最后，以所提取的P波和S波震源时间函数为资料，采用时间域的反演技术得到了断层面上滑动的时空分布．滑动量在断层面上的静态分布表明，断层面上的最大滑动量约为7 m．断层面上的最大应力降约为30 MPa，平均应力降约为7 MPa．滑动量大于0.5 m的区域在走向方向长85 km，在断层面倾斜方向宽约60 km(相应地，在深度方向约51 km)．破裂向东扩展约50 km，向西扩展约35 km．滑动量大于0.5 m的区域的主要部分呈椭圆形，其长轴取向与断层滑动方向一致．表明此区域破裂扩展的方向即是断层错动的方向．这种现象对于走滑断层情形是多见的，但对逆冲断层情形却少见．断层面上初始破裂点以东、以上部分面积大于初始破裂点以西、以下部分的面积，这是破裂非对称性的表现，表明破裂具有自西向东、自下向上单侧破裂的特征．从滑动率随时空变化的快照可以看出，滑动率在第4 s达到最大值，此时滑动率约为0.2 m/s，滑动基本上发生在破裂起始点及其周围．从第6 s开始，起始点的破裂基本结束，破裂开始向外围扩展．破裂向西的扩展速度明显小于向东的扩展速度．在第15 s，这种环形的扩展基本结束．自16 s以后，主要是一些零星的破裂点分布在破裂区的外围．从滑动量随时空变化的快照看，破裂自起始点开始后，逐渐向四周扩展．主要的破裂(滑动量大于5 m的区域)在6～10 s，具有明显的自西向东、向上的单侧破裂特征．在第11～13 s，破裂的西端向西、向下有所扩展．整个破裂过程持续约19 s．在整个破裂过程中的平均破裂速度约为3.3 km/s．      

中国与美国西部平均构造剪应力值的比较

提出了一种估计一个地区平均构造剪应力值的方法．用这种方法，选取哈佛大学公布的1977～1999年共15 993次地震的矩张量数据，估计了美国西部19个地区、中国和邻区43个地区(每个地区为1010范围)的平均环境剪应力值．结果表明，美国西部南加州西部海域和南加州应力最高，达13.7和12.0 MPa，然后向北、向南和向东逐渐递减，但最小也达8.7 MPa，是最高值的63%．中国新疆西北部地区和西藏察隅地区应力水平最高，达17.2和12.9 MPa，比美国高．中国的华北、云南、四川、台湾和美国南加州的应力水平差不多．中国南北地震带的应力水平为13 MPa左右，比南加州略高．两个重要地区的平均剪应力值分布图，提供了地学的基本数据．这些结果可为研究地震活动的大背景提供依据，对研究强地面运动参数(如峰值加速度及反应谱等)的衰减关系也是有用的．      

用应变积累释放模型研究中国大陆地块分区地震活动

依据活动地块假说及活动边界的划分，对中国大陆地震活动进行分区．在此基础上，应用应变积累释放模型，通过地震应变积累释放的计算，研究了中国大陆各活动地块分区的地震活动性，初步探讨了各地块的地震活动阶段划分．此外，还对应变积累释放模型的应用前提条件进行了必要的讨论，并对模型结果中可能出现的问题给予一定分析．      

Efficient methods for solving water flow in variably saturated soils under prescribed flux infiltration

The non-linear solvers in numerical solutions of water flow in variably saturated soils are prone to convergence difficulties. Many aspects can give rise to such difficulties and in this paper we address the gravity term and the prescribed-flux boundary in the Picard iteration. The problem of the gravity term in the Picard iteration is iteration-to-iteration oscillation as the gravity term is treated, by analogy with the time-step advance technique, ‘explicitly’ in the iteration. The proposed method for the gravity term is an improvement of the ‘implicit’ approach of Zhang and Ewen [Water Resour. Res. 36 (2000) 2777] by extending it to heterogeneous soil and approximating the inter-nodal hydraulic conductivity in the diffusive term and the gravity term with the same scheme. The prescribed-flux boundary in traditional methods also gives rise to iteration-to-iteration oscillation because there is no feedback to the flux in the solution at the new iteration. To reduce such oscillation, a new method is proposed to provide such a feedback to the flux. Comparison with traditional Picard and Newton iteration methods for a wide range of problems show that a combination of these two proposed methods greatly improves the stability and consequently the computational efficiency, making the use of small time step and/or under-relaxation solely for convergence unnecessary.     

Screening model for volatile pollutants in dual porosity soils

This paper develops mass fraction models for transport and fate of agricultural pollutants in structured two-region soils. Mass fraction index models, based on a semi-infinite domain solution, are derived that describe leaching at depth, vapor losses through soil surface, absorption, and degradation in the dynamic- and stagnant-water soil regions. The models predict that leaching is the result of the combined effect of the upward vapor-phase transport relative to downward advection, residence time relative to half-life, dispersion, and lateral diffusive mass transfer. Simulations show that leached fraction of volatile compounds does not always decrease monotonically with increased residence time relative to the pollutant half-life, as a result of complex interactions among the different physical and biochemical processes. The results show that leaching, volatilization, and degradation losses can be affected significantly by lateral diffusive mass transfer into immobile-water regions and advection relative to dispersion (i.e. Peclet number) in the mobile-water regions. It is shown that solute diffusion into the immobile phase and subsequent biochemical decay reduces leaching and vapor losses through soil surface. Potential use of the modified leaching index for the screening of selected pesticides is illustrated for different soil textures and infiltration rates. The analysis may be useful to the management of pesticides and the design of landfills.     

Predicting average annual groundwater levels from climatic variables: an empirical model

On the basis of one-dimensional theoretical water flow model, we demonstrate that the groundwater level variation follows a pattern similar to recharge fluctuation, with a time delay that depends on the characteristics of aquifer, recharge pattern as well as the distance between the recharge and observation locations. On the basis of a water budget model and the groundwater flow model, we propose an empirical model that links climatic variables to groundwater level. The empirical model is tested using a partial data set from historical records of water levels from more than 80 wells in a monitoring network for the carbonate rock aquifer, southern Manitoba, Canada. The testing results show that the predicted groundwater levels are very close to the observed ones in most cases. The overall average correlation coefficient between the predicted and observed water levels is 0.92. This proposed empirical statistical model could be used to predict variations in groundwater level in response to different climate scenarios in a climate change impact assessment.