SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN THE YANGTZE RIVER ESTUARY

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN TIIE YANGTZE RIVER ESTUARYSHEN Zhigang'ANSTa^CTThe hy~ntalc and the sedimen tranSport Patter'nS within the estUaIy of the YangtZe mver arecomPlex because of intemehon of fluvial and the hdal forCes, depending on freshwate discharge andhdal range. Based on the data measuIed in meent years, thes papo discusses the characterishcs of flowand sNnt movemen in the tw forer EstUaIy and their iIifluences on the evolution of theestuaryKey W: YangtZe mver…     

Fault propagation and climatic control of sedimentation on the Ghoubbet Rift Floor: insights from the Tadjouraden cruise in the western Gulf of Aden

A detailed geophysical survey of the Ghoubbet Al Kharab (Djibouti) clarifies the small-scale morphology of the last submerged rift segment of the propagating Aden ridge before it enters the Afar depression. The bathymetry reveals a system of antithetic normal faults striking N130°E, roughly aligned with those active along the Asal rift. The 3.5 kHz sub-bottom profiler shows how the faults cut distinct layers within the recent, up to 60 m thick, sediment cover on the floor of the basin. A large volcanic structure, in the centre of the basin, the 'Ghoubbet' volcano, separates two sedimentary flats. The organization of volcanism and the planform of faulting, with en echelon subrifts along the entire Asal–Ghoubbet rift, appear to confirm the westward propagation of this segment of the plate boundary. Faults throughout the rift have been active continuously for the last 8400 yr, but certain sediment layers show different offsets. The varying offsets of these layers, dated from cores previously retrieved in the southern basin, imply Holocene vertical slip rates of 0.3–1.4 mm yr⁻¹ and indicate a major decrease in sedimentation rate after about 6000 yr BP, and a redistribution of sediments in the deepest troughs during the period that preceded that change.     

Synoptic circulation and stream discharge in the Great Lakes basin, USA

Impacts on water resources caused by human activity, natural climate variation and long-term climate change are unclear in the US Great Lakes region. Improved understanding of the impact of atmospheric circulation on stream discharge variability into the Lakes is thus important. In this analysis, monthly surface and mid-tropospheric circulation patterns suggest that surface pressure variations over Missouri and Illinois are most strongly correlated to discharge. The mid-tropospheric patterns most directly related to discharge place the Great Lakes in a trough-to-ridge flow pattern. The analysis confirms that at this scale, lee shore advection resulting in ‘lake-effect’ precipitation is not very important to regional discharge, and neither are variations in the Pacific–North American teleconnection.     

Predicting channel patterns

The proposed distinction between meandering and braided river channel patterns, on the basis of bankfull specific stream power and bed material size, is analysed and rejected. Only by using regime-based estimates of channel widths (rather than actual widths) has discrimination been achieved, and it is argued that this procedure is unacceptable.An alternative is to explore the patterning processes underlying the marked pattern scatter on bankfull stream power/bed material size plots. Of the five sets of patterning processes, large-scale bedform development and stability is seen as especially important for meandering and braiding. For gravel-bed rivers, bedforms developed at around or above bankfull stage appear important for pattern generation, with braiding relating to higher excess shear stress and Froude number. There seems to be an upper threshold to both meandering and braiding which is achieved at extreme discharges and steep gradients, as on steep alluvial fans, rather than for the rivers with available flow data here considered. For sand-bed rivers with greater excess shear stress, the equivalent upper plane bed threshold may occur below bankfull, with bed material mobility and bedform modification occurring over a wider range of sub-bankfull discharges. Sand-bed channel margin outlines appear to be less perturbed by bedform effects than gravel bed planforms, and they may have naturally straight or sinuous planforms. Bedform relief may nevertheless lead to some being designated as braided when viewed at low flows.It is concluded that the use of a single-stage stream power measure and bed material size alone is unlikely to achieve meandering/braiding discrimination.     

Textural attributes, mineralogy and provenance of sand dune fields in the greater Al Ain area, United Arab Emirates

Sand dunes and interdune sediments around Al Ain city have markedly high carbonate contents which increase towards Jabal Hafit mountain and the Arabian Gulf coast. The dunes are composed predominantly of well-sorted fine sands, consisting of unstrained quartz and carbonate grains together with minor proportions of chert and feldspars. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination reveals that quartz grains display various mechanically- and chemically-formed surface textures. The heavy minerals are dominated by opaques and pyroxenes with minor tourmaline, garnet, rutile, epidote, monazite, zircon, hornblende and staurolite.Interdune sediments consist of fine and very fine, poorly- to extremely poorly-sorted sands together with small concentrations of gravel, silt and clay. The light sand fractions compositionally resemble those of dunes but contain, in addition, gypsum, anhydrite, halite and celestite. Percentages of pyroxenes are higher whereas those of zircon, tourmaline and rutile are lower than in dunes. X-ray diffractometry reveals that the clay fractions consist solely of palygorskite. Generally, interdune sediments are much less mature texturally and mineralogically than dune sands; the maturity of both types of sediments decreases toward the NE of the study area.Sand dunes in the various districts of the greater Al Ain area are genetically related. Also, there is a partial genetic relationship between the dunes and interdune sediments; both are mainly multicyclic. Their major parts were brought mainly by the dominant north-west (El Shamal) winds from older dune fields in other localities in U.A.E., Qatar and El-Rub El-Khali. Local contributions to the dune fields from Jabal Hafit mountain, the Oman Mountains and the calcareous coast of the Arabian Gulf were, in cases, significant. Also, authigenesis by groundwater under highly evaporitic conditions played a major role in the formation of interdune sediments through the genesis of the clay and some nonclay minerals.     

Seismic vulnerability of Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries: information base and research needs

This paper points to the need for seismic risk and vulnerability assessment of infrastructure systems, most notably tall structures and coastal facilities, in Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries. Building codes in the region currently lack seismic provisions, despite evidence of a potential threat from large-magnitude earthquakes originating from the southern part of the Zagros fold belt. The historical record of Iranian earthquakes that may have caused significant ground motion in the Gulf region is examined, as are reports of coastal damage from tsunamis. Various specific tasks, expected to constitute research priorities of a Joint Center for Risk Research, a cooperative research program involving Princeton and Kuwait Universities, are outlined.     

Self‐purification in Upland and Lowland Streams

Ecological investigations at four streams in Saxony‐Anhalt have shown that there are considerable differences between the self‐purification power of upland and lowland streams. This result is reflected in chemistry and in microbiology. The structure of the bottom substrate mainly influences the degree of self‐purification in connection with rate of flow and flow velocity. The results and differences are demonstrated using the example of Katzsohlbach in the landscape unit “Mittel‐ and Unterharz” and the stream Olbe in the landscape unit “Magdeburger Börde”.     

太阳风流界面的成因

在日心距离１ＡＵ处的高速流的前沿部位，经常观测到厚度≈１０^４ｋｍ的流界面（ｓｔｒｅａｍｉｎｔｅｒｆａｃｅ）：跨过它密度陡降，温度陡增，风速上升，气压和磁场几乎连续．本文从日心距离０．３ＡＵ处一典型高速流的方位剖面出发，采用二维定态ＭＨＤ模型，研究它在日球赤道面内随日心距离的演化．结果表明，流界面系高速流前沿非线性演化的产物．它先于前、后向激波形成，在日心距离１ＡＵ处得到充分发展，且作为高速流前沿的特征结构之一，可一直延伸到１ＡＵ以远的外日球层．     

黄河上游的阶地与水系变迁

黄河上游于贵德盆地和共和盆地中有７级阶地，再往上游方向存在阶地级数递减的趋势。共和盆地中还有３级古黄河阶地，黄河上游水系是通过一级级河流袭夺相继贯通的，共和盆地与贵德盆地间的黄河古道始于中更新世末期，龙羊峡河段始于６０ｋａ Ｂ．Ｐ．前后，玛多与唐乃亥 间的峡谷河段是２０ｋａ Ｂ．Ｐ．才贯通的。     

On the shot-noise streamflow model and its applications

In this paper we consider the shot-noise model of streamflow series. We show how design discharge can be obtained by the stochastic intensity of thinned Poisson processes describing the peaks over a threshold. The main result concerns the stationary distribution of peaks. We derive an explicit expression for this limit distribution in terms of its Laplace transform. Approximation formulas are developed making use of the saddle point method for the asymptotic evaluation of contour integrals and the Post-Widder formula for inversion of Laplace transforms. We illustrate this methods on the case of Gamma-distributed shots. The stationary peak distribution is used to approximate the maximum value distribution for larger time intervals.