Effects of differing coverage of moss‐dominated soil crusts on hydrological processes and implications for disturbance in the Mu Us Sandland,China

To study the effects of biological soil crusts (BSCs) on hydrological processes and their implications for disturbance in the Mu Us Sandland, the water infiltration, evaporation and soil moisture of high coverage (100% BSCs), middle coverage (40% BSCs) and low coverage (0% BSCs, bare sand) of moss‐dominated crusts were conducted in this study, respectively. The conclusions are as follows: (1) the main effects of moss‐dominated crusts in the Mu Us Sandland on the infiltration of rainwater were to reduce the infiltration depths and to retain the limited rainwater in shallow soil; (2) moss‐dominated crusts have no significant effects on daily evaporation when the volumetric water content at 4 cm depth in 100% BSCs (VWC4) was over 24.7%, on enhanced daily evaporation when the VWC4 ranged from 6.5% to 24.7% and on reduced daily evaporation when the VWC4 was less than 6.5%; and (3) decreasing the coverage of moss‐dominated crusts (from 100% to 40%) did not significantly change its effects on infiltration, evaporation and soil moisture. Our results demonstrated that for the growth and regeneration of shrubs, which were dominated by Artemisia ordosica in the Mu Us Sandland, high coverage of moss‐dominated crusts has negative effects on hydrological processes, and these negative effects could not be significantly reduced by decreasing the coverage of moss‐dominated crusts from 100% to 40%. Therefore, for the sustained and healthy development of shrub communities in the Mu Us Sandland, it is necessary to take appropriate measures for the well‐developed BSCs in the sites with high vegetation coverage in the rainy season. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

OSL signal resetting in young deposits determined with a pulsed photon‐stimulated luminescence (PPSL) unit

Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) is a technique that can be used for dating geological materials deposited within the last half‐million years, including sediments transported by air, water or gravity, as well as rocks heated at high temperatures. Recently, several studies have shown that OSL can also provide information on sediment transport. The pulsed photon‐stimulated luminescence (PPSL) unit (also known as a portable OSL reader) developed by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre is an instrument designed to read luminescence signals from bulk (untreated) sediment samples comprising poly‐mineral and poly‐grain fractions. In this contribution, we evaluate the potential of the PPSL unit to assess the degree of OSL signal resetting in 27 young deposits (<2 ka) transported by different geomorphic agents in volcanic, coastal and fluvial depositional settings located in Mexico. Our results are in agreement with previous findings that used the Risø TL/OSL reader, confirming that sediments transported by debrisflows contain the highest inherited luminesce signals. Infrared stimulation (IRSL) values in volcanic ash, lavas, and sand beach and dune deposits exhibit low scatter. However, with blue stimulation (BLSL) these samples reveal a large degree of scattering, attributed to charge transfer in the case of the coastal deposits and to the low sensitivity of quartz in the case of volcanic material. The luminescence signals of fluvial sediments exhibit a highly scattered distribution in both IRSL and BLSL. We conclude that the use of a PPSL unit is a simple approach to assess the degree of OSL signal resetting in deposits sourced from different geological environments. This research contributes to previous studies that have investigated new applications of the PPSL unit to assist in OSL dating of geological materials.     

Effects of different soil and water conservation measures on hydrological extremes and flood processes in the Yanhe River,Loess Plateau,China

The runoff and sediment load of the Loess Plateau have changed significantly due to the implementation of soil and water conservation measures since the 1970s. However, the effects of soil and water conservation measures on hydrological extremes have rarely been considered. In this study, we investigated the variations in hydrological extremes and flood processes during different periods in the Yanhe River Basin (a tributary of the Loess Plateau) based on the daily mean runoff and 117 flood event data from 1956 to 2013. The study periods were divided into reference period (1956–1969), engineering measures period (1970–1995), and biological control measures period (1996–2013) according to the change points of the annual streamflow and the actual human activity in the basin. The results of the hydrological high extremes (HF1_max, HF3_max, HF7_max) exhibit a decreasing trend (P?<?0.01), whereas the hydrological low extremes (HBF1_min, HBF3_min, HBF7_min) show an increasing trend during 1956–2013. Compared with the hydrological extremes during the reference period, the hydrological high extremes increased during the engineering measures period at low (<?15%) and high frequency (>?80%), whereas decreased during the biological control measures period at almost all frequencies. The hydrological low extremes generally increased during both the engineering measures and biological control measures periods, particularly during the latter period. At the flood event scale, most flood event indices in connection with the runoff and sediment during the engineering measures period were significantly higher than those during the biological control measures period. The above results indicate that the ability to withstand hydrological extremes for the biological control measures was greater than that for the engineering measures in the studied basin. This work reveals the effects of different soil and water conservation measures on hydrological extremes in a typical basin of the Loess Plateau and hence can provide a useful reference for regional soil erosion control and disaster prevention policy-making.

     

我国深海矿产研究:进展与发现(2011—2020)

深海矿产是地球上尚未被人类充分认识和利用的最大潜在战略矿产资源,近十年我国在该领域的研究取得了重要进展。在太平洋国际海底区域申请到2块多金属结核勘探区、1块富钴结壳勘探区,在西南印度洋中脊申请到1块多金属硫化物勘探区。研究阐明了我国多金属结核和富钴结壳勘探区小尺度成矿规律,揭示了其成矿作用过程及古海洋古气候记录,探讨了关键金属元素富集机制。在西南印度洋、西北印度洋和南大西洋中脊发现了多处热液区,阐述了其成矿作用及控制因素,建立了超慢速扩洋中脊热液循环模型,探讨了拆离断层型热液成矿系统的成矿机制。在太平洋和印度洋划分了4个深海稀土成矿带,在中印度洋海盆、东南太平洋和西太平洋深海盆地发现了大面积富稀土沉积区,初步揭示了深海稀土的富集特征、分布规律、赋存状态和成矿机理。今后在继续加大深海矿产资源调查研究的同时,应聚焦深海关键金属成矿作用研究。     

Three decades of landslide activity in western Nepal: new insights into trends and climate drivers

In recent decades, landslide disasters in the Himalayas, as in other mountain regions, are widely reported to have increased. While some studies have suggested a link to increasing heavy rainfall under a warmer climate, others pointed to anthropogenic influences on slope stability, and increasing exposure of people and assets located in harm’s way. A lack of sufficiently high-resolution regional landslide inventories, both spatially and temporally, has prevented any robust consensus so far. Focusing on Far-Western Nepal, we draw on remote sensing techniques to create a regional inventory of 26,350 single landslide events, of which 8778 date to the period 1992–2018. These events serve as a basis for the analyses of landslide frequency relationships and trends in relation to precipitation and temperature datasets. Results show a strong correlation between the annual number of shallow landslides and the accumulated monsoon precipitation (r = 0.74). Furthermore, warm and dry monsoons followed by especially rainy monsoons produce the highest incidence of shallow landslides (r = 0.77). However, we find strong spatial variability in the strength of these relationships, which is linked to recent demographic development in the region. This highlights the role of anthropogenic drivers, and in particular road cutting and land-use change, in amplifying the seasonal monsoon influence on slope stability. In parallel, the absence of any long-term trends in landslide activity, despite widely reported increase in landslide disasters, points strongly to increasing exposure of people and infrastructure as the main driver of landslide disasters in this region of Nepal. By contrast, no climate change signal is evident from the data.

     

The REM Adjoint System and Its 4DVar Data Assimilation Experiments

The Regional Eta-coordinate Model(REM) has performed well in forecasting heavy rainfalls in China in recent years.A four-dimensional variational assimilation system(4DVar) is developed to improve the forecast skill of the REM.The tangent linear model and adjoint model codes are written according to thecode to coderule,and the establishment of the REM adjoint modeling system is introduced in detail in this paper.The tangent linear and adjoint models of the REM are validated against the observational data,...     

The response of vegetation at the end of the last glacial period (MIS 3 and MIS 2) in littoral areas of NW Iberia

This paper describes and discusses the palaeobotanical data obtained from organic levels of two exposed deposits on the Atlantic shore of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. Radiocarbon dating assigns these levels to a period of marine regression at the end of MIS 3 and the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum. The pollen record shows an initial predominance of tree taxa (mainly deciduous, including the presence of Fagus far from its current limit), followed by an episode of partial forest retraction related to the end of MIS 3 and the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the presence of numerous tree taxa in the record, even during the cold intervals associated with Heinrich events, points to the existence of sheltered refugia for these species during this period, in keeping with the conclusions of recent reviews of the vegetation dynamics of this region for the Lateglacial and the Holocene.     

黔南桂西早中三叠世碳酸盐台地边缘和斜坡沉积模式及其演化

黔南桂西地区(东经105°-107°,北纬24°20＇-26°40＇)地跨扬子准地台和加里东褶皱带(华南褶皱带)两个一级大地构造单元。属于南盘江沉积盆地的北部或西北边缘。区内早、中三叠世碳酸盐地层出露良好、层序完整,为台地边缘和斜坡沉积。详细研究该区碳酸盐台地边缘和斜坡沉积,对了解台地边缘特征和演化、海平面变化以及边缘的构造作用等有着重要的理论意义,为确定三叠糸南盘江沉积盆地的西北或北部边缘的构造性质提供可靠的沉积学依据。     

哈密盆地区域地貌的基本特征

本文对哈密盆地的现代地貌进行了成因分类，并系统地讨论了地貌结构特征，同时结合灾害地貌过程和资源特点提出了合理利用资源的几点意见。     

人机联作重磁资料解释方法的研究

人机联作模拟反演可以充分利用一些已知的地质地球物理信息,充分发挥人的智能作用,提高地质解释效果。本文利用二度、二度半多边型重磁模型,在IBM微机上初步实现了重磁人机联作解释系统。