HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT: UNPREDICTABILITY AND THE PRIMACY OF PLACE

Landscapes, environments, and ecosystems (i.e., places) are historically and spatially contingent and therefore unique. Generalizations and laws are based on “all other things being equal.” Owing to historical and spatial contingency, all other things are never completely equal and often do not approach that ideal closely enough to allow for reliable prediction. The problem is illustrated by examining effects of grazing and fire suppression on transitions between grass and woody vegetation communities. In three different environments in the southern United States (central Texas, southwestern Virginia, and eastern North Carolina), three different relationships exist between grazing and fire regime, and vegetation. Other examples are common in the geographic and environmental literature. This suggests that the search for a single applicable generalization or predictive model of a given human-induced environmental change that can be applied without accounting for the particular characteristics of places may be futile. Several general ways to address this issue are suggested. First is the recognition that place matters. Conditions specific to a location or region will influence what, how, or even if generalizations apply. Second is the adoption of a “demographic” approach. This is based on the idea that for places, like people, it is possible to make aggregate or probabilistic generalizations or predictions, but these cannot be applied to deterministic prediction of individuals. Third is a synoptic approach based on forecasting not via simple cause-effect relationships, but based on a typology of situations that recognizes and incorporates the unique characteristics of site and situation. Several converging threads of inquiry in geography and geosciences explicitly or implicitly address the issue of historical and spatial contingency. [Key words: landscape, environment, place, prediction.]     

ISSUES CONFRONTING GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATORS IN EUROPE AND THE U.S.S.R.

Bedrock forms of etch origin result from the interaction of groundwaters and bedrock at the weathering front at the base of the regolith. They are significant for general theories of landscape and landform genesis because they are azonal with respect both to climate and lithology. Two stages of etch form development are recognized: one involves weathering and the formation of a regolith; the second consists of stripping of the regolith and the exposure of the bedrock forms. Although etch forms have been recognized for some two centuries, the concept of etching as a process of landform development has been neglected, particularly in North America.     

ETCHING AS A PROCESS OF LANDFORM DEVELOPMENT *

Bedrock forms of etch origin result from the interaction of groundwaters and bedrock at the weathering front at the base of the regolith. They are significant for general theories of landscape and landform genesis because they are azonal with respect both to climate and lithology. Two stages of etch form development are recognized: one involves weathering and the formation of a regolith; the second consists of stripping of the regolith and the exposure of the bedrock forms. Although etch forms have been recognized for some two centuries, the concept of etching as a process of landform development has been neglected, particularly in North America.     

VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF WIND-BLOWN SAND FLUX IN THE SURFACE LAYER,TAKLAMAKAN DESERT,CENTRAL ASIA

The vertical distribution of the wind-blown sand flux in a 40-cm flow layer above the ground surface was investigated through laboratory wind-tunnel tests and field measurements on the mobile dune surface during sand storms in the Taklamakan Desert of China. Results show that vertical distribution of the horizontal mass flux of drifting sand is a discontinuous function of height. More than 90% of the total material is transported in the flow layer from the surface to 14 cm. From 2 to 4 cm above the surface, a distinct transition zone occurs wherein mixed transport by creep, saltation, and suspension becomes saltation and suspension. The flow layer from 14 to 15 cm represents a further transition from saltation to suspension, where the distribution curves of the transport rate against height converge. The basic natural exponential function cannot describe well the vertical distribution of the saltation mass flux in the Taklamakan Desert. As a function of height, saltation mass flux follows a function q_salt = a'Z^-bZ, and the distribution of suspension mass flux fits the power function very well. A total transport rate from surface creep to saltation and suspension in the measured flow layer, which is directly proportional to the effective wind speed squared (V - V_t)², can be predicted by integrating Q = a'Z^-bZ + cZ^-d. The height distribution of the average quantities of transported materials varies as an exponential function of wind speed, and deceases with the increase in total transport quantity. Higher wind speed results in a higher transport rate and a higher vertical gradient for the particle concentration. The increment of relative transport quantity in the higher flux layer increases as wind speed increases, which generates a higher concentration of drifting particles in the upper flow layer. [Key words: aeolian geomorphology, aeolian transport, horizontal sand flux, sand dune, vertical sediment distribution, Taklamakan Desert.]     

Weathering Pits as Indicators of the Relative Age of Granite Surfaces in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland

Weathering pits 1–140 cm deep occur on granite surfaces in the Cairngorms associated with a range of landforms, including tors, glacially exposed slabs, large erratics and blockfields. Pit depth is positively correlated with cosmogenic exposure age, and both measures show consistent relationships on individual rock landforms. Rates of pit deepening are non‐linear and a best fit is provided by the sigmoidal function D = b1 + exp(b2+b3/t). The deepest pits occur on unmodified tor summits, where ¹⁰Be exposure ages indicate that surfaces have been exposed to weathering for a minimum of 52–297 ka. Glacially exposed surfaces with pits 10–46 cm deep have given ¹⁰Be exposure durations of 21–79 ka, indicating exposure by glacial erosion before the last glacial cycle. The combination of cosmogenic exposure ages with weathering pit depths greatly extends the area over which inferences can be made regarding the ages of granite surfaces in the Cairngorms. Well‐developed weathering pits on glacially exposed surfaces in other granite areas are potential indicators of glacial erosion before the Last Glacial Maximum.     

ENDOLITHIC LICHENS,RAPID BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING AND SCHMIDT HAMMER R‐VALUES ON RECENTLY EXPOSED ROCK SURFACES: STORBREEN GLACIER FORELAND,JOTUNHEIMEN, NORWAY

The endolithic lichen Lecidea auriculata is known to enhance rock surface weathering on the Little Ice Age moraines of the glacier Storbreen in Jotunheimen, central southern Norway. This study demonstrates the reduction in Schmidt hammer Rvalues that followed the rapid colonization by this lichen of pyroxene‐granulite boulders on terrain deglaciated over the last 88 years. In the absence of this lichen, the characteristic mean R‐value of boulder surfaces is 61.0 ± 0.3; where this lichen is present, R‐values are lower by at least 20 units on surfaces exposed for 30–40 years. A similar reduction in rock hardness on rock surfaces without a lichen cover requires about 10 ka. The rapid initial weakening of the rock surfaces is indicative of rates of biological weathering by endolithic lichens that may be two orders of magnitude (200–300 times) faster than rates of physico‐chemical weathering alone. If not avoided, the effects of this type of lichen are likely to negate the effectiveness of the Schmidt hammer and other methods for exposure‐age dating, including cosmogenic‐nuclide dating, in severe alpine and polar periglacial environments. The results also suggest a new method for dating rock surfaces exposed for <50 years.     

红色风化壳地球化学特征及对古气候演变的响应——以辽南石槽剖面为例

以辽南地区石槽剖面红色风化壳为研究对象,通过研究剖面的常量元素和地球化学指标,揭示剖面的地球化学特征,探讨剖面化学风化过程以及对古气候环境演变过程的响应。结果表明：石槽剖面红色风化壳中Ca元素重度亏损,其他常量元素均出现了相对富集;石槽剖面风化强度总体上低于南方红色风化壳,属于中等风化阶段;多个地球化学指标的垂向变化表明石槽剖面风化强度表现为风化很强-风化减弱-风化加强-风化较弱4个阶段的变化,指示辽南地区在石槽剖面发育期内古气候环境经历了湿热-暖湿-回暖-相对暖湿的演变过程。     

The Rise and Fall of the Davisian Cycle of Erosion: Prelude,Fugue, Coda,and Sequel

The Cycle of Erosion formulated by the American geographer William Morris Davis in the 1880s remained the dominant paradigm in geomorphology well into the 20th century, before it waned in response to improved understanding of Earth's crustal and surface behavior. The Davisian model sought to explain landforms in terms of structure, process, and stage. Following initial rapid tectonic uplift, landforms were presumed to evolve on a quiescent crust through stages of youth, maturity, and old age, to culminate in a peneplain. A new cycle would be initiated by landform rejuvenation in response to a changing base level of erosion. This model was a reflection of its time, of the cycle mania of the 19th century, which in turn was founded on Hutton's limitless "succession of worlds" and dissatisfaction with earlier notions of landscape origins constrained by limited Earth time. Davis's model was derived from ideas regarding orogenic cycles favored by Dana and Le Conte, and of prolonged subaerial denudation toward base-level observed by Powell and Dutton. The model's supremacy was challenged from time to time, notably by the Pencks (father and son) and by alternative cyclic denudation models that invoked pediplanation and etchplanation rather than peneplanation. The relevance of the Davisian model declined after 1940 in response to a growing awareness of Earth's crustal mobility, changing climates and geomorphic processes, and refined dating of geologic time. The subsequent quantitative revolution in geomorphology, with its emphasis on measurement of form and process aided by rapidly improving technologies, and based in part on lingering antecedents, sounded the death knell for the Davisian model but also triggered something of a theoretical hiatus. In recent years, resurrection of the concept of isostasy, defined by Dutton but ignored by Davis, has led to the formulation of a more realistic but more complex model, briefly introduced here, in which landforms may be viewed as responses to more-or-less continuous interaction between tectonic activity, subaerial denudation, and isostatic adjustment.     

Spatial variation of early season surface water chemistry in Kärkevagge, Swedish Lapland

This study examines the spatial variability of early season water chemistry in the arctic-alpine valley of Kärkevagge, Sweden. The data demonstrate the spatially heterogeneous nature of water chemistry and the general patterns of chemical weathering in the valley. Water chemistry in this valley is dominated by two anions, bicarbonate and sulfate. Bicarbonate is derived from the dissolution of atmospheric CO₂ and the weathering of carbonate units in the local metamorphic rocks, while the sulfate is derived from the oxidation of pyrite in the Seve-Koli tectonic nappe. Spatial patterns of chemical constituents reflect the broad effects of local geology on surface water chemistry. In particular, they demonstrate the effects that mineral species present in minor amounts have on basin-wide water chemistry. However, solute flux rates derived from water chemistry and discharge demonstrate less variability.     

松嫩平原杜蒙沙地地表物质的地化组成及风化特征

本文分析了杜蒙沙地表土样品各粒级组分（全样、>63 μm、63~30μm、30~11 μm和<11 μm）的常量元素组成。结果表明：杜蒙沙地地表物质化学元素组成以Si、Al为主,与上地壳相比,除Si、Mn和Ti外,Fe、Mg、Ca和P严重亏损,Al和Na中度亏损,K轻微亏损;除Si、Al、Na、K外,Fe、Mg、Ca、Ti、P、Mn的变异系数均很高;常量元素在不同粒级中的变化程度按照Al相似文献   

Identification of Quaternary subsurface glacial deposits using 3D databases and GIS

To solve the problem of handling numerous data from drillings and geophysical surveys for specific information of subsurface geological formations, the use of databases and geographic information systems (GIS) is demonstrated. Geological formations are in 3D and commercial GIS packages are normally in 2D. This problem is solved here by a 1D database of the layering of the drillings and export of query results from the database to a 2D GIS. The queries will ask for grain size and altitude for the actual sedimentary layers. To include point data from ground penetrating radar (GPR) data survey profiles in a 2D GIS, a stepwise technique of dynamic segmentation has been developed. The points are digitized along sedimentary boundaries from 2D GPR profiles. The concept was applied on a small area of glacial sediments in Telemark, Norway. Results from the processes were clustering of points with properties connected to specific geological formations. The clustering subsurface geological formations were moraine ridges, a diamict layer, gravel and coarse sand above and below the diamict layer, till above bedrock, and glaciomarine deposits of gravel and sand. Information about extension of these geological formations is useful and essential for modelling of sedimentary environments and for aquifer modelling.     

Effects of direct and indirect heating on the validity of rock weathering simulation studies and durability tests

Rock surface and subsurface temperature responses in samples exposed to direct heating (insolation) under natural hot desert conditions reveal considerable variability between lithologies related to differences in thermal properties, especially albedo and thermal conductivity. However, when the same samples are heated indirectly by air in an oven-based environmental cabinet, lithological differences in temperature response disappear and all samples attain temperatures similar to the air temperature within the cabinet. Rates and patterns of rock decay produced in such environmental cabinets may not, therefore, reflect those encountered under natural conditions, where breakdown is related to micro-environmental conditions at the rock/air interface and where rock temperature is one of the most important controlling factors. In addition to implications for assessment of weathering effectiveness, use of only indirect forms of heating affects the determination of comparative rock durability because all rock types are cycled through the same temperature regimes. Because temperature exerts such a major control on rock breakdown through its control on physical and chemical weathering processes, all significant factors influencing it must be included in the design of weathering simulations and durability tests.     

The Influence of Surface Inhomogeneities On Deep Electromagnetic Soundings of the Earth

Summary. Asymptotic expressions for components of the electromagnetic field of a grounded electric dipole are considered for the model consisting of a thin surface-layer overlapping a stratified medium with a highly resistive screen on the roof. It is shown that the method of spatial derivatives makes it possible to obtain proper estimates of the impedance at distances of r ≥|λ₀| from the nearest edge of the surface anomaly (|λ₀| being the effective depth of the field penetration in the underlying section). the magnetotelluric methods allow one to obtain the true values of impedance, provided r ≥ max {|λ₀|, |/( S ⁻¹+ Z ⁻₀|^1/2} where S is the integrated conductivity of the surface layer, is the transverse resistance of the screen, and Z ⁻₀ is the Tikhonov—Cagniard impedance for the medium underlying the surface layer.     

陕西省丹凤县茶房村黄土古土壤剖面风化程度及对气候变化的响应

对陕西丹凤县茶房村黄土剖面的地层学、沉积学特征以及常量元素、磁化率、粒度等进行了研究。结果表明：茶房村剖面具有表土（MS）→全新世黄土（L₀）→古土壤（S₀）→过渡黄土（L_t）→马兰黄土（L₁）的地层序列;化学风化过程中元素Ca、Na、Mg、K和Si表现为迁移特征,Fe则相对富集,呈现Na>Si>Mg>K>Ca>Al>Fe的迁移序列;剖面总体风化程度处于初等向中等过渡的阶段,不同地层的风化强弱顺序为S₀>L_t>L₁>L₀。化学风化强度的变化表明该区自晚更新世以来气候经历了气候干冷→气候回暖→温暖湿润→气候转凉的变化过程。     

Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic palaeomagnetism of Australia–I. A redetermined apparent polar wander path

Summary. Palaeomagnetic measurements have been carried out on one Cretaceous and five Cenozoic sedimentary sequences of Australia; of those, one is in the Carnarvon Basin of north-western Australia, and the others are in the Otway Basin of south-eastern Australia. The new results are used together with those published previously to define a revised late Mesozoic–Cenozoic apparent polar wander path for Australia. This path differs from earlier, basalt-derived paths by the absence of a large westward excursion and zig-zag irregularities. It is characterized instead by a substantially straight Cenozoic trajectory, a sharp bend in the Late Cretaceous, and a non-uniform rate of apparent polar wander.
The early Tertiary segment of the new path lies north of the original paths, thus eliminating a discrepancy that has been noted previously between the Indian and Australian palaeomagnetic data (Luyendyk & Rennick, Peirce and Klootwyk & Peirce). A re-examination of the original data suggests that this discrepancy, as well as two others in the Australian results, may have been caused principally by incomplete time-averaging of remanence directions, because the volcanics on which the results were based had been extruded episodically.     

主社区居民对旅游效应的感知研究--以敦煌市为例

文章以敦煌市为例,进行了主社区居民对旅游效应的感知实证研究。结果表明,目前正处于“成熟巩固阶段”的敦煌旅游地．其居民对旅游积极效应的感知明显强于对消极效应的感知,且对经济效应的感知强于对社会文化和环境效应的感知;敦煌市已形成了较为鲜明的热爱者、现实主义者、谨慎的热爱者、顾虑者和憎恨者等5类群体。与国内其它案例研究的比较结果,在一定程度上验证了居民感知会随着旅游地生命周期阶段的演变而呈现阶段性变化的特征。     

模拟酸雨对福建四种山地土壤的淋溶与风化作用

在不同pH值 (2 .0、3.5、5 .0、6 .0及蒸馏水 )的模拟酸雨作用下 ,对福建四种类型山地土壤进行了为期 12 0d的淋溶试验。结果表明 ,盐基离子的淋溶量随模拟酸雨pH值的降低而增加 ,尤其当pH≤ 3.5时 ,增加最明显。 4种类型土壤中各离子淋失量大小均为 :Ca2 >Mg2 >K >Na ,这与原土壤中交换性盐基含量一致。在pH≥ 3.5的酸雨作用下 ,土壤中铝的淋失较少 ,而当酸雨pH =2 .0时 ,铝的淋失骤然升高。pH2 .0的模拟酸雨不仅增加了土壤铝离子的释放 ,而且加速了矿物的风化。在pH2 .0的模拟酸雨淋溶下 ,红壤、黄壤、山地草甸土和紫色土中由矿物风化输入的 5种阳离子总量分别为 2 .94、4 .33、4 .35和 6 .0 4 (cmol kg)土 ,显著大于其它酸雨处理。土壤对酸沉降的缓冲作用由阳离子交换、氢氧化铝水解以及原生矿物风化缓冲作用三部分组成 ,其相对重要性不仅决定于土壤酸度、盐基饱和度和矿物组成 ,而且与酸雨的pH值密切相关     

Mass Movement of Mancos Shale Crust Near Caineville, Utah: A 30-year Record

Rates of soil creep were studied periodically over a 30-year period in southeastern Utah on Mancos Shale badland slopes averaging 35 degrees. More intensive studies were carried out over a 10-year period on slopes averaging 40 degrees. On the 35 degree slope the average rate of movement was 2.71 cm yr⁻¹.On the 40 degree slopes, rates varied from 3.14 to 5.94 cm yr⁻¹.
Individual rates of movement varied widely, but average movement of a given line was consistent. No statistical differences in rates of movement were found between north- and south-facing slopes.
About two-thirds of the total movement occurred during the winter/spring period; episodes of rapid movement coincided with years in which storms deposited at least 0.6 cm of precipitation per day for at least two consecutive days. Downslope rotation of nails indicates that creep involves only the top few centimeters of soil.     

地温示踪地表暖化过程中的气候变化和城市热岛效应

对日本熊本平原城区和郊区28口观测井温度进行测量,利用一维非稳定水－热流运移方程解析解反演地表温度变化率,同时与研究区域7个气象站气温数据进行对比验证。结果表明：1987－2012年研究区域城区地表温度增加1.51°C,近地表气温增加1.13°C;郊区地表温度增加0.81°C,近地表气温增加0.59°C。研究区域气候变化和城市热岛效应对地表暖化过程的贡献率基本一致,通过对城区和郊区地温进行测量分析,能有效量化区分两者对地表暖化过程的影响。