The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine: Multi-decadal whole-watershed experimental acidification

The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) is a long-term research site established to study the response of forest ecosystem function to environmental disturbances of chronic acidic deposition and ecosystem nitrogen enrichment. Starting in 1989, the West Bear (treated) watershed received bimonthly applications of ammonium sulfate [(NH₄)₂SO₄] fertilizer from above the canopy, whereas East Bear (reference) received ambient deposition. The treatments were stopped in 2016, marking the beginning of the recovery phase. Research at the site has focused on soils, streams, and vegetation. Here, we describe data collected over three decades at the BBWM—input and stream output nutrient fluxes, quantitative soil pits and soil chemistry, and soil temperature and moisture.     

The Natural Resource Management Planning Portal: Perspectives for NRM Planning and Reporting

Natural Resource Management (NRM) is often conducted as a partnership between government and citizens. In Australia, government agencies formulate policy and fund implementation that may be delivered on-ground by community groups (such as Landcare). Since the late 1980s, over AUS$8b of Commonwealth investment has been made in NRM. However, quantitative evidence of environmental improvements is lacking. The NRM Planning Portal has been developed to (1) provide an online spatial information system for sharing Landcare and agency data; and (2) to facilitate NRM priority setting at local and regional planning scales. While the project successfully federates Landcare NRM activity data, challenges included (1) unstructured, non-standardized data, meaning that quantitative reporting against strategic objectives is not currently possible, and (2) a lack of common understanding about the value proposition for adopting the portal approach. Demonstrating the benefit of technology adoption is a key lesson for digital NRM planning.     

Tsunami risk assessment: economic,environmental and social dimensions

Natural Hazards - In this study, we present a novel methodology that may be used to analyze tsunami risk along coastal regions. The application of the proposed methodology is demonstrated for the...     

Petrography of Late Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert in Kazakhstan with special reference to the emergence of benthic animals in the pelagic realm

Upper Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert successions from Kazakhstan were studied to clarify the history of the emergence of benthic animals in ocean floor sediments. Radiolarian tests and clay were deposited for a period of 30 Myr without experiencing an influx of continent-derived coarse clastic materials. Red, grey and black cherts of the Upper Cambrian to the upper mid-Darriwilian are thinly laminated, and no trace of benthic animal activity is recognized in that time interval. Bioturbation structures and burrow traces in mid-Darriwilian stage red chert in Kazakhstan suggest that benthic animals colonized the location where radiolarian chert formed, but that there was a significant delay in colonization when compared with similar reported occurrences in Australia and Canada.     

Forest operations,tree species composition and decline in rainfall explain runoff changes in the Nacimiento experimental catchments,south central Chile

Few long-term studies have explored how intensively managed short rotation forest plantations interact with climate variability. We examine how prolonged severe drought and forest operations affect runoff in 11 experimental catchments on private corporate forest land near Nacimiento in south central Chile over the period 2008–2019. The catchments (7.7–414 ha) contain forest plantations of exotic fast-growing species (Pinus radiata, Eucalyptus spp.) at various stages of growth in a Mediterranean climate (mean long-term annual rainfall = 1381 mm). Since 2010, a drought, unprecedented in recent history, has reduced rainfall at Nacimiento by 20%, relative to the long-term mean. Pre-drought runoff ratios were <0.2 under 8-year-old Eucalyptus; >0.4 under 21-year-old Radiata pine and >0.8 where herbicide treatments had controlled vegetation for 2 years in 38% of the catchment area. Early in the study period, clearcutting of Radiata pine (85%–95% of catchment area) increased streamflow by 150 mm as compared with the year before harvest, while clearcutting and partial cuts of Eucalyptus did not increase streamflow. During 2008–2019, the combination of emerging drought and forestry treatments (replanting with Eucalyptus after clearcutting of Radiata pine and Eucalyptus) reduced streamflow by 400–500 mm, and regeneration of previously herbicide-treated vegetation combined with growth of Eucalyptus plantations reduced streamflow by 1125 mm (87% of mean annual precipitation 2010–2019). These results from one of the most comprehensive forest catchment studies in the world on private industrial forest land indicate that multiple decades of forest management have reduced deep soil moisture reservoirs. This effect has been exacerbated by drought and conversion from Radiata pine to Eucalyptus, apparently largely eliminating subsurface supply to streamflow. The findings reveal tradeoffs between wood production and water supply, provide lessons for adapting forest management to the projected future drier climate in Chile, and underscore the need for continued experimental work in managed forest plantations.     

New Circulation Features in the Okhotsk Sea from a Numerical Model

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - Using the eddy-permitting model, circulation in the Okhotsk Sea and in an adjacent area of the Pacific Ocean is retrospectively simulated from 1991 to...     

欠固结地层静止侧压力简化计算方法

大量工程实践表明：正确预估欠固结地层的静止侧压力大小对工程的稳定性分析和安全设计十分重要。因此，通过理论分析和数值模拟深入探讨了固结排水过程中地层侧向压力的变化规律，建立了静止侧压力与超固结比OCR的联系，提出了等效静止土压力系数的概念和计算公式，形成了考虑OCR影响的欠固结地层静止侧压力简化计算方法，并用数值模拟和试验结果进行了验证。提出的等效静止土压力系数实现了欠固结地层和正常固结地层侧压力计算的统一。研究结果表明：欠固结地层的静止侧压力随超固结比OCR的增大而线性减小，且随土体有效内摩擦角的增大，OCR对侧向压力的影响越大。上述研究成果可为欠固结地层的土压力计算提供技术支撑。     

黔北镇远牛蹄塘组黑色页岩沉积环境与有机质富集关系

通过矿物组分、主量元素、微量元素、碳氧同位素等特征，分析了黔北地区镇远县ZX井牛蹄塘组黑色页岩的岩相类型和不同岩相页岩的沉积环境及其与有机质富集间的关系。结果表明，牛蹄塘组下段以硅质页岩为主，TOC含量4. 96%~10. 10%；上段以富泥硅质页岩为主，TOC含量1. 43%~9. 04%。下段硅质页岩沉积于水流停滞的深水陆棚环境，沉积古水体为贫氧的还原状态；上段富泥硅质页岩沉积时期，仍为贫氧的还原环境，但水体滞留程度、还原性较下段硅质页岩沉积期弱。贫氧的还原环境是影响牛蹄塘组黑色页岩有机质富集的主要因素，热液作用和陆源碎屑对牛蹄塘组黑色页岩有机质富集的影响较小。     

江西省宁都县陂下地热地质特征及资源评价

摘要: 利用江西省宁都县陂下地区ZK1钻孔取得的相关数据,通过分析该区地温场、基底温度、循环深度、岩石生热率、大地热流、水化学等地热地质特征,对该区地热资源进行了初步评价,并计算了ZK1钻孔的可采资源量和地热产能。研究区地热水井口温度45 ℃,属于HCO₃·SO₄-Na型地热水,可命名为氟水、硅水、温水、淡水; ZK1钻孔可开采资源量为759.89 m³/d,热功率为964.76 kW,年产能5.07×10⁷ MJ。     

Hydrological trends and the evolution of catchment research in the Alptal valley,central Switzerland

When the observation of small headwater catchments in the pre-Alpine Alptal valley (central Switzerland) started in the late 1960s, the researchers were mainly interested in questions related to floods and forest management. Investigations of geomorphological processes in the steep torrent channels followed in the 1980s, along with detailed observations of biogeochemical and ecohydrological processes in individual forest stands. More recently, research in the Alptal has addressed the impacts of climate change on water supply and runoff generation. In this article, we describe, for the first time, the evolution of catchment research at Alptal, and present new analyses of long-term trends and short-term hydrologic behaviour. Hydrometeorological time series from the past 50 years show substantial interannual variability, but only minimal long-term trends, except for the ~2°C increase in mean annual air temperature over the 50-year period, and a corresponding shift towards earlier snowmelt. Similar to previous studies in larger Alpine catchments, the decadal variations in mean annual runoff in Alptal's small research catchments reflect the long-term variability in annual precipitation. In the Alptal valley, the most evident hydrological trends were observed in late spring and are related to the substantial change in the duration of the snow cover. Streamflow and water quality are highly variable within and between hydrological events, suggesting rapid shifts in flow pathways and mixing, as well as changing connectivity of runoff-generating areas. This overview illustrates how catchment research in the Alptal has evolved in response to changing societal concerns and emerging scientific questions.