Characterization of suspended sediment in Meltwater from Glaciers of Garhwal Himalaya

Glacierised basins are significant sources of sediments generated by glacial retreat. Estimation of suspended sediment transfer from glacierised basins is very important in reservoir planning for hydropower projects in Himalaya. The present study indicates that storage and release of sediment in proglacial streams may categorise the pattern of suspended sediment transfer from these basins. Assessment of suspended sediment concentration (SSC), suspended sediment load (SSL) and yield has been undertaken for Dunagiri Glacier basin located in Garhwal Himalaya (30^o33'20”N, 79^o53'36”E), and its results are compared with the Gangotri and Dokriani glaciers sharing close proximity. Out of the total drainage basin area, about 14.3 % of the area is glacierised. Data were collected for five ablation seasons (1984–1989, barring 1986). The mean daily SSCs for July, August and September were 333.9, 286.0 and 147.15 mg/l, respectively, indicating highest concentration of mean daily suspended sediment in July followed by August. SSL trends were estimated to be 93.0, 57.0 and 21.3 tonnes. About 59% of the total SSL of the melt period was transported during the months of August and September. Sediment yield for the study basin was computed to be 296.3 t km^?2 yr ^?1. It is observed that the cumulative proportion of SSC precedes the discharge throughout the melt season except in the year 1987. Release of SSL in terms of total load is less in the early part of melt season than in the later stage as compared to that of discharge. Diurnal variations in SSC reach their maximum at 2400 h, and therefore, SSC was found to be high during night (2000–0400 h). There was a good relationship between SSC and SSL with discharge for the ablation seasons (1988 and 1989). Mean monthly SSC and mean monthly SSL provide a good exponentional relationship with mean monthly temperature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic,discontinuous stream networks: hydrologically driven variations in active drainage density,flowing channels and stream order

Despite decades of research on the ecological consequences of stream network expansion, contraction and fragmentation, surprisingly little is known about the hydrological mechanisms that shape these processes. Here, we present field surveys of the active drainage networks of four California headwater streams (4–27 km²) spanning diverse topographic, geologic and climatic settings. We show that these stream networks dynamically expand, contract, disconnect and reconnect across all the sites we studied. Stream networks at all four sites contract and disconnect during seasonal flow recessions, with their total active network length, and thus their active drainage densities, decreasing by factors of two to three across the range of flows captured in our field surveys. The total flowing lengths of the active stream networks are approximate power‐law functions of unit discharge, with scaling exponents averaging 0.27 ± 0.04 (range: 0.18–0.40). The number of points where surface flow originates obey similar power‐law relationships, as do the lengths and origination points of flowing networks that are continuously connected to the outlet, with scaling exponents averaging 0.36–0.48. Even stream order shifts seasonally by up to two Strahler orders in our study catchments. Broadly, similar stream length scaling has been observed in catchments spanning widely varying geologic, topographic and climatic settings and spanning more than two orders of magnitude in size, suggesting that network extension/contraction is a general phenomenon that may have a general explanation. Points of emergence or disappearance of surface flow represent the balance between subsurface transmissivity in the hyporheic zone and the delivery of water from upstream. Thus the dynamics of stream network expansion and contraction, and connection and disconnection, may offer important clues to the spatial structure of the hyporheic zone, and to patterns and processes of runoff generation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stratigraphic architecture of Solander Basin records Southern Ocean currents and subduction initiation beneath southwest New Zealand

Solander Basin is characterized by subduction initiation at the Pacific‐Australia plate boundary, where high biological productivity is found at the northern edge of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Sedimentary architecture results from tectonic influences on accommodation space, sediment supply and ocean currents (via physiography); and climate influence on ocean currents and biological productivity. We present the first seismic‐stratigraphic analysis of Solander Basin based on high‐fold seismic‐reflection data (voyage MGL1803, SISIE). Solander Trough physiography formed by Eocene rifting, but basinal strata are mostly younger than ca. 17 Ma, when we infer Puysegur Ridge formed and sheltered Solander Basin from bottom currents, and mountain growth onshore increased sediment supply. Initial inversion on the Tauru Fault started at ca. 15 Ma, but reverse faulting from 12 to ca. 8 Ma on both the Tauru and Parara Faults was likely associated with reorganization and formation of the subduction thrust. The new seabed topography forced sediment pathways to become channelized at low points or antecedent gorges. Since 5 Ma, southern Puysegur Ridge and Fiordland mountains spread out towards the east and Solander Anticline grew in response to ongoing subduction and growth of a slab. Solander Basin had high sedimentation rates because (1) it is sheltered from bottom currents by Puysegur Ridge; and (2) it has a mountainous land area that supplies sediment to its northern end. Sedimentary architecture is asymmetric due to the Subtropical Front, which moves pelagic and hemi‐pelagic sediment, including dilute parts of gravity flows, eastward and accretes contourites to the shelf south of Stewart Island. Levees, scours, drifts and ridges of folded sediment characterize western Solander Basin, whereas hemi‐pelagic drape and secondary gravity flows are found east of the meandering axial Solander Channel. The high‐resolution record of climate and tectonics that Solander Basin contains may yield excellent sites for future scientific ocean drilling.     

Extensional tectonics during the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin formation and a new morpho‐tectonic map

We present a new tectonic map focused upon the extensional style accompanying the formation of the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin. Our basin‐wide analysis synthetizes the interpretation of vintage multichannel and single‐channel seismic profiles, integrated with modern seismic images, P‐wave velocity models, and high‐resolution morpho‐bathymetric data. Four distinct evolutionary phases of the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin opening are further constrained, redefining the initial opening to Langhian/Serravallian time. Listric and planar normal faults and their conjugates bound a series of horst and graben, half‐graben and triangular basins. Distribution of extensional faults, active throughout the basin since Middle Miocene, allows us to define an arrangement of faults in the northern/central Tyrrhenian mainly related to a pure shear which evolved to a simple shear opening. At depth, faults accommodate over a Ductile‐Brittle Transitional zone cut by a low‐angle detachment fault. In the southern Tyrrhenian, normal, inverse and transcurrent faults appear to be related to a large shear zone located along the continental margin of the northern Sicily. Extensional style variation throughout the back‐arc basin combined with wide‐angle seismic velocity models allows to explore the relationships between shallow deformation, faults distribution throughout the basin, and crustal‐scale processes as thinning and exhumation.     

A comparison of TRMM to other basin-scale estimates of rainfall during the 1999 Hurricane Floyd flood

The volumetric rainfall attributed to Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was computed for the bulk of the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear River Basins in eastern North Carolina, USA from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) research product, and compared with volumes computed using kriged gauge data and one centrally located radar. TMPA showed similar features in the band of heaviest rainfall with kriged and radar data, but was higher in the basin-scale integrations. Furthermore, Floyd’s direct runoff volumes were computed and divided by the volumetric rainfall estimates to give runoff coefficients for the three basins. The TMPA, having the larger storm totals, would suggest greater infiltration during Floyd than the gauge and radar estimates would. Finally, we discuss a concept for adjusting the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service rainfall-runoff model when predicting discharge values from real-time TMPA in ungauged river basins.

被动陆缘盆地陆隆斜坡对盐构造形成的影响 ——来自物理模拟实验的启示

被动陆缘盆地盐构造形成的影响因素及时空演化分析受到了国内外学者的高度重视.丰富的油气资源促进了被动陆缘盆地地震资料品质的不断提升,高精度地震数据的解译结果表明,被动陆缘盆地盐层下的地形往往具有大型的起伏特征,而前人在基底构造形态对盐构造形成影响方面的研究并未取得共识,仍需要深入研究和探讨.为此,本文基于前人的研究认识,...     

中国中西部大型湖盆沉积体系域研究进展及页岩油气勘探*

中国陆相大型湖盆碎屑岩—碳酸盐岩沉积区分布广泛,含油气盆地内新发现了多个油气田,特别是近年来在致密油/页岩油勘探方面获得了突破。根据沉积体系域演化和可容纳空间演变解释层序地层单元,建立层序演化模式,预测油气储集体,适合于研究有成因联系的异旋回地层序列。深水体系的沉积层序体系域研究进展表现为引入强制海退(湖退)的概念,从经典的层序地层学格架三分体系域发展为四分体系域和二分体系域,不同尺度的相对整合序列和体系域分布与命名具有紧密联系。强制海(湖)退条件下形成的下降期体系域(FSST)和强制海(湖)退楔体系域(FRW)有内涵细节上的差异。采用A-P-D(加积-进积-降积)准层序叠加分析方法,分析体系域格架下薄层细粒沉积砂体的沉积搬运机理,提高了体系域识别和油气储集体预测的准确度。柴达木盆地古近系和四川盆地侏罗系研究实例表明,湖侵体系域随湖平面上升,浅湖和半深湖范围扩大,沉积中心地区发育三角洲前缘薄层砂体和深水浊积扇及多旋回泥页岩—泥灰岩组合,有利于页岩油气储集体的发育,成为“甜点”勘探目标区。展望未来,与页岩油气勘探有关的沉积层序体系域领域研究在以下几个方面将取得重要进展: (1)咸化湖盆深水沉积体系的高频旋回体系域研究; (2)与页岩型和混积型页岩油类型相关的湖侵体系域混积体系研究; (3)体系域级别的层序—古地理研究; (4)体系域格架下的源-汇系统及其古湖泊分布特征研究; (5)湖泊古水深、古气候和古环境的地球化学指标分析; (6)富有机质页岩发育的微纳米级孔—缝体系储集能力研究; (7)煤系环境纯湖相泥岩和沼泽相(湖沼或河沼)泥岩对规模天然气生烃贡献率的沉积基础研究。     

全国七大流域设计径流变化分析及成果修订

在全国第二次水资源调查评价基础上,通过对比七大流域径流系列延长前后的变化情况,分析347个水文站点径流系列均值及特枯值的变化幅度,用以反映近10年各流域水文情势的变化情况。经分析,近10年天然来水总体偏枯,松辽、海河、黄河的设计径流呈现一定减小趋势,长江、淮河、太湖、珠江的设计径流变化趋势不显著。本次延长后的径流系列代表性总体较好,同时黄河流域还考虑近期下垫面对降雨径流关系影响,因此本次大多推荐七大流域延长后的设计径流成果,为开展全国第三次水资源调查评价提供一定的技术支撑。     

Tectonostratigraphy and sedimentary architecture of rift basins, with reference to the northern North Sea

A tectonostratigraphic model for the evolution of rift basins has been built, involving three distinct stages of basin development separated by key unconformities or unconformity complexes. The architecture and signature of the sediment infill for each stage are discussed, with reference to the northern North Sea palaeorift system. The proto-rift stage describes the rift onset with either doming or flexural subsidence. In the case of early doming, a proto-rift unconformity separates this stage from the subsequent main rift stage. Active stretching and rotation of fault blocks during the rift stage is terminated by the development of the syn-rift unconformity. Where crustal separation is accomplished, a break-up unconformity commonly marks the boundary to the overlying thermal relaxation or post-rift stage. Tabular architectures, thickening across relatively steep faults, characterize the proto-rift stage. Syn-rift architectures are much more variable. Depending on the ability of the sediment supply to fill the waxing and waning accommodation created during rotation and subsidence, one-, two- or three-fold lithosome architectures are likely to develop. During the post-rift stage, an early phase with coarse clastic infilling of remnant rift topography often precedes late stage widening of the basin and filling with fine-grained sediments.