Geomorphic constraints on the active tectonics of southern Taiwan

Taiwan is a region of rapid active tectonics, yet the study of the tectonic processes that shape the interior of the island is difficult due to the high rates of erosion and dense vegetation. We use digital topography to look for indications of active deformation preserved in the local geomorphology. In particular, anomalies in the regional pattern of drainage are used to infer zones of enhanced tectonic activity. The apparent anticlockwise rotation of major river systems in plan view indicates the presence of a diffuse zone of left-lateral shear running down the southeastern side of Taiwan. Asymmetries in the catchments of individual drainage basins show the influence of varying rates of uplift across southern Taiwan, with the most rapid uplift close to Taitung at the indentation point of the Luzon arc with the Chinese continental margin. Our interpretations, though based predominantly on remote-sensing observations, are consistent with the available field evidence. This study demonstrates the usefulness of drainage basins as tectonic markers in the quantification of regional strain and uplift, which may have wider applicability in other deforming parts of the world.     

Holocene-emerged notches and tectonic uplift along the Jalisco coast, Southwest Mexico

This paper presents the preliminary results from a study of Holocene-emerged shorelines, marine notches, and their tectonic implications along the Jalisco coast. The Pacific coast of Jalisco, SW Mexico, is an active tectonic margin. This coast has been the site of two of the largest earthquakes to occur in Mexico this century: the 1932 (Mw 8.2) Jalisco earthquake and the 1995 (Mw 8.0) Colima earthquake. Measurement and preliminary radiocarbon dating of emergent paleoshorelines along the Jalisco coast provide the first constraints upon the timing for tectonic uplift. Along this coastline, uplifted Holocene marine notches and wave-cut platforms occur at elevations ranging from ca. 1 to 4.5 m amsl. In situ intertidal organisms dated with radiocarbon, the first ever reported for the Jalisco area, provide preliminary results that record tectonic uplift during at least the past 1300 years BP at an average rate of about 3 mm/year. We propose a model in which coseismic subsidence produced by offshore earthquakes is rapidly recovered during the postseismic and interseismic periods. The long-term period is characterized by slow tectonic uplift of the Jalisco coast. We found no evidence of coastal interseismic and long-term subsidence along the Jalisco coast.     

台闽北部地区海岸阶地之对比

针对台湾海峡东岸台湾北部的海岸阶地进行调查研究,并与西岸福建东北部的海岸阶地进行分析比较;着重阐述台湾西北部4个海岸区域阶地的特性(阶序、分布、高度、崖差、构成等)及其变动情况(阶地抬升、变窄、延伸等);通过推断形成年代、测算隆升速率等,探讨研究区域的海岸线变化与构造升降运动,结果发现:台湾岛的海阶变化不仅受到海平面变动的影响,尚受到区域性地壳隆升的控制;福建沿海地区受蓬莱造山运动的影响极小,海岸阶地的形成主要是受到数次海平面变化的影响;福建沿海的隆升速率由北向南逐渐减少,总体上低于海峡东岸台湾岛的隆升率(平均2 mm/a).该研究印证了:相对于台湾岛地区,福建沿海地区的地壳活动相对稳定,其海阶发育可能仅受到海平面变动的影响.     

Crustal structure of the Newfoundland rifted continental margin from constrained 3-D gravity inversion

The rifting history of the Atlantic continental margin of Newfoundland is very complex and so far has been investigated at the crustal scale primarily with the use of 2-D seismic surveys. While informative, the results generated from these surveys cannot easily be interpreted in a regional sense due to their sparse sampling of the margin. A 3-D gravity inversion of the free air data over the Newfoundland margin allows us to generate a 3-D density anomaly model that can be compared with the seismic results and used to gain insight into regions lacking seismic coverage. Results of the gravity inversion show good correspondence with Moho depths from seismic results. A shallowing of the Moho to 12 km depth is resolved on the shelf at the northern edge of the Grand Banks, in a region poorly sampled by other methods. Comparisons between sediment thickness and crustal thickness show deviations from local isostatic compensation in locations which correlate with faults and rifting trends. Such insights must act as constraints for future palaeoreconstructions of North Atlantic rifting.     

Last interglacial sea levels on the south coast of New South Wales

Remnants of the Last Interglacial shoreline occur at Middle Lagoon on the far south coast of New South Wales. Relict beach sediments can be traced to a height of at least +4.8 m and are indicative of a former mean sea level of about +3 m. Thermoluminescence (TL) ages of 126 ± 13 ka and 114 ± 15 ka were determined for beach and aeolian facies respectively. Sands in the lower part of an exposure on the adjacent Gillards Beach gave TL ages of 108 ± 13 ka, but sands in the upper part of that exposure gave an age of 19.9 ± 3.5 ka. This chronological evidence of a stratigraphic unconformity in what was initially taken as pedogenic differentiation at Gillards Beach is supported by contrasting electron traps and colour centres in crystal lattices of quartz grains in these two samples. No tectonic displacement is apparent. This site provides the first evidence of the Last Interglacial sea level for 1000 km along the coast between Gippsland and Newcastle.     

Land use/cover, landforms and fragmentation patterns in a tropical dry forest in the southern Pacific region of Mexico

In spite of widely documented studies of deforestation rates and land use/cover changes in tropical dry forests in Mexico, relatively little is known about fragmentation patterns in such forests. This study defines the spatial distribution of landforms and land use/cover types the lower Papagayo River basin and examines their influence on fragmentation patterns and biological diversity in a tropical dry forest in that southern Pacific region. The land use/cover map was constructed from aerial photographs, Landsat TM imagery (2000) and fieldwork. Landform units were defined based on altitude, slope, lithology and morphology. Landscape fragmentation parameters were obtained using FRAGSTATS (version 3.3) considering the numbers of patches, mean, minimum and maximum patch size, edge density, total edge and connectivity. Results show tropical dry forest to be remnant vegetation (~11 per cent), characterized by isolation and low connectivity. Land use/cover types have different effects on fragmentation patterns. Agriculture and cattle raising produce similar numbers of patches, but with a different mean size; and human settlements have a scattered distribution pattern. The abandonment of rural agricultural livelihoods has favoured the expansion of secondary tropical dry forest characterized by continuity and high connectivity, which suggests a high regeneration potential from land abandonment. It can be concluded that tropical dry forest fragmentation and recovery at regional scales depend on such landscape attributes as lithology, slope, geomorphology and management.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠南缘典型绿洲ET0模型适用性评价及修正

ET₀模型在不同地区具有不同的适用性,而对极端干旱的塔克拉玛干沙漠南缘绿洲的ET₀模型的适用性研究较为稀缺。利用2006—2014年生长季（4—10月）策勒气象站逐日气象资料,以自动称重式蒸渗仪实测数据为标准,采用最大绝对误差（MAE）、均方根误差（RMSE）、模型效率（EF）和一致性指数（d）4个指标,在日、月时间尺度上评价了6种常用ET₀模型在策勒绿洲的适用性,并使用回归修正法和比例修正法分别修正了这6种模型。结果表明：（1）日、月时间尺度上,Hargreaves-Samani（H-S）模型高估程度较大,其余模型均不同程度低估,拟合度由高到低依次为FAO-56PM、Jensen-Haise（J-H）、Priestley-Taylor（P-T）、Makkink、Turc、H-S。（2）所有ET₀模型月值变化趋势与蒸渗仪实测值基本一致,除FAO-56PM和Turc模型计算的ET₀月值在6月达到峰值外,其余模型均在7月达到峰值,在生长季尺度所有模型ET₀月值与蒸渗仪实测值呈显著相关。（3）日、月时间尺度上,回归修正法和比例修正法修正后的ET₀模型计算结果与蒸渗仪实测值均呈极显著相关,回归修正法优于比例修正法。（4）相关性分析表明,对策勒绿洲ET₀影响由高到低的气象因子依次为T_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{n}}>T_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}}>P>T_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{x}}>R_s>U_{\mathrm{2}}>R{H}_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{n}}。     

Drowned shelf-edge deltas, barrier islands and related features along the outer continental shelf north of the head of De Soto Canyon, NE Gulf of Mexico

Four drowned shelf-edge delta complexes, two drowned shelf deltas, three drowned barrier islands, large areas of “hardground”, and fields of bedforms on the mid and outer continental shelf and uppermost slope north of the head of De Soto Canyon, NE Gulf of Mexico were mapped with high-resolution multibeam echosounder. Deltas formed not during the last eustatic low stand, but during one or more interstadials when eustatic sea levels were only 60 to 80 m below present sea level. The barrier islands and deltas must have been cemented prior to rapid falls of eustatic sea level that occurred during global glaciations. Cementation is necessary to have preserved the barrier islands from erosion and subsequent destruction by the rapid sea-level rise during the last deglaciation. The preservation of the relict bathymetry is so good that features that superficially resemble trough blowouts are found in association with one of the relict barrier islands. Asymmetric bedforms on the midshelf in water depths of 50 to 60 m indicate transport directions to the SW but asymmetric bedforms in water depths of the upper slope between 100 and 120 m on the S and SE flanks of the drowned shelf-edge deltas indicate a different current direction, a separate flow that is a continuation of a SW-flowing current that was previously found on the upper slope off NW Florida.     

塔里木盆地南缘沉积物磁化率、δ13C与粒度及其气候环境意义

本文研究表明,塔里木盆地南缘湖沼相沉积物质量磁化率与碳酸盐δ¹³C呈正相关关系,与粒度参数中056～3557μm各组分呈显著负相关,其中同1783～3170μm部分负相关性最为显著;与5637～2244μm之间各组分显著正相关,其中与7096～200μm各组分正相关性最为显著。其气候环境背景与意义表现为:在寒冷期中,δ¹³C偏轻,相对湿度和植被盖度增加,地表侵蚀减弱,只有较细物质才能向湖泊沼泽搬运加积,地表氧化环境减弱,磁化率减小;而在温暖期中,则相反。在区域对比基础上,根据上述指标将近40ka以来此地区气候环境变化划分了8个阶段。本文的各种指标（特别是粒度指标）与GreenlandGISP2冰芯δ¹⁸O记录之间有很好的吻合,表明研究区近40ka以来的气候与环境变化可能具有全球背景。     

热烈的祝贺(发刊词)

《南极研究》与广大读者见面了.我怀着十分高兴的心情为它的创刊致以热烈的祝贺!我国的南极考察工作起步较晚,但发展较快,尤其是近几年,建成了南极长城站,已在长城站地区进行了三次较大规模的多学科考察,初步取得了可喜的成果.我国已经具备了独立开展南极考察的能力,并取得了一些经验.这些成绩是在党中央、国务院的关怀和支持下取得的,     

Sequence stratigraphy of a Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession (Ottawa Embayment,central Canada): Evidence for tectonic control on sequence architecture along southern Laurentia

The Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession of the Ottawa Embayment in central Canada is divided into nine transgressive‐regressive sequences that defines net deepening of a platform succession over ~15 m.y. from peritidal to outer ramp settings, then a return to peritidal conditions over ~3 m.y. related to basin filling by orogen‐derived siliciclastics. With a backdrop of net eustatic rise through the Middle to Late Ordovician, there are several different expressions of structural influence on sequence development in the embayment. During the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian), foreland‐basin initiation was marked by regional onlap with abundant synsedimentary deformation across a faulted trailing‐margin platform interior; subsequent craton‐interior uplift resulted in voluminous influx of siliciclastics contemporary with local structurally influenced local channelization; then, a formation of a platform‐interior shale basin defines continued intrabasin tectonism. During the Late Ordovician (Sandbian, early Katian), structural influence was superimposed on sea‐level rise as indicated by renewed local development of a platform‐interior shale basin; differential subsidence and thickness variation of platform carbonate successions; abrupt deepening across shallow‐water shoal facies; and, micrograben development coincident with foreland‐platform drowning. These stratigraphic patterns are far‐field expressions of distal orogen development amplified in the platform interior through basement reactivation along an inherited buried Precambrian fault system. Comparison of Upper Ordovician (Sandbian‐lower Katian) sequence stratigraphy in the Ottawa Embayment with eustatic frameworks defined for the Appalachian Basin reveals greater regional variation associated with Sandbian sequences compared to regional commonality in base level through the early Katian.     

Palaeoenvironmental evolution of Cenote Aktun Ha (Carwash) on the Yucatan Peninsula,Mexico and its response to Holocene sea-level rise

A 61-cm core was obtained from 4 m below the water table in Cenote Aktun Ha, on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The cenote is 8.6 km from the Caribbean coast and its formation and evolution have been largely affected by sea-level change. The base of the core dates to 6,940–6,740 cal year BP and overlying sediments were deposited rapidly over the subsequent ~200 years. The pollen record shows that the cenote evolved from a marsh dominated by red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) and fern (Polypodiaceae) to an open-water system. These vegetation changes were controlled by water level and salinity and are thus useful indicators of past sea level. At the base, the δ¹³C_org isotopic ratios reveal the influence of terrestrial vegetation (−29‰ VPDB), but shift to more negative values up-core (−33‰), indicating an influence from particulate matter in the flooded cenote pool. Although microfossil populations were nearly absent through most of the core, the microfossil assemblage in the upper 6 cm of the core is dominated by the juvenile foraminifer Ammonia tepida and the thecamoebian genus Centropyxis. These populations indicate open-water conditions in the cenote and a major environmental shift around 6,600 cal year BP, which is related to sea-level rise in the Caribbean basin. These data fit well with previously established sea-level curves for the Caribbean Sea. Our reconstruction of the environmental history of Cenote Aktun Ha helps elucidate the floral and hydrological history of the region, and highlights the utility of cenote sediments for studying the Holocene sea-level history of the Caribbean Sea.     

广西北部湾海岸风沙记录的千年来风暴潮演化的阶段性

本文以广西防城港市江平镇巫头剖面（21°32′8.25″N, 108°06′59.9″E）晚全新世厚393 cm含风暴沉积层的风成沙—潟湖相—弱成壤沉积序列为研究对象,结合野外观测的风暴层沉积特点,在6个AMS-¹⁴C、OSL测年数据和沉积物粒度、重矿物分析的基础上重建了广西北部湾沿海千年来风暴潮演化史。分析结果显示,风暴沉积层平均粒径粗、分选差,重矿物成熟度高、稳定度低,是海岸后滨沙丘向陆一侧受风暴潮增水影响快速堆积的产物;千年来巫头剖面记录的9个风暴潮高发期主要集中于1400 AD之后的小冰期内,风暴潮高发期与西太平洋SST、ENSO活动趋势呈反相关,其中一些风暴潮高发期和历史文献记录的4次“海溢”事件与太阳黑子活动曲线有近乎同步的变化趋势。这意味着巫头剖面风暴潮高发期除受西太平洋暖池、ENSO的影响外,可能还在相当程度上受到太阳活动的强迫。     

Alluvial terraces on the Ionian coast of northern Calabria, southern Italy: Implications for tectonic and sea level controls

In this paper we present the results of an integrated geomorphological, pedological and stratigraphical study carried out along the Ionian coast of northern Calabria (southern Italy). This area is characterised by the occurrence of five orders of alluvial terraces that are striking features of the landscape, where large and steep catchments debouch from the mountain front to the hilly coastal belt.Field investigations indicate that the deposits of all five terraces are suggestive of shallow gravel-bed braided streams.On the basis of the age of the Pleistocene substratum and morphostratigraphic correlation with marine terraces cropping out in the nearby areas, each order has been associated to specific marine oxygen isotope stages.Consequently, we focused on the interplay of allocyclic factors influencing stream aggradation/degradation. Soil features and other climatic proxies suggest that climate didn't play an important role with respect to tectonic and base-level changes in controlling fluvial dynamics.In particular, we recognised that during the middle Pleistocene the study area experienced a period of subaerial landscape modelling, as suggested by the thick and complex alluvial sequence of the highest terrace (T1). The onset of regional uplift marks a change in the geomorphic scenario, with tectonic and eustatically driven changes in base-level working together in causing switches in fluvial aggradational/erosional phases (T2–T5 terraces). Because of the uplift, river dissection occurred during phases of sea level fall, whereas aggradation phases occurred during periods of climate amelioration (sea level rise) just before highstands were attained.As a consequence, the stepped terraces in the study area reflect the interplay between tectonics (uplift) and sea level changes, in which terraces define episodes of relative sea level fall during the late Quaternary.     

Local- and watershed-scale controls on the spatial variability of natural levee deposits in a large fine-grained floodplain: Lower Pánuco Basin, Mexico

This study examines spatial variations in natural levee deposits within the lower reaches of a large coastal plain drainage system. The Pánuco basin (98,227 km²) drains east-central Mexico, and is an excellent setting to examine the influence of watershed and local controls on the morphology and sedimentology of natural levees. Although many fluvial systems in the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain have been investigated, the rivers in the Mexican Gulf Coastal Plain have received comparatively little attention. Lateral and downstream characteristics of natural levee morphology and sediment texture are considered within the context of meandering river floodplain deposits. Data sources include total-stations surveying, sediment samples of surficial levee deposits, topographic maps (1:50,000), and aerial photographs (1:40,000). The slope of natural levees average 0.0049 m/m, whereas the texture (D₈₄) of levee deposits averages 0.12 mm. Natural levee characteristics vary due to local- and watershed-scale controls. The lateral reduction in levee height displays a curvilinear pattern that coincides with an abrupt change in sediment texture. The downstream pattern of natural levee texture exhibits the influence of local-scale perturbations superimposed upon a larger watershed-scale trend. Disruption to the fining trend, either by tributary inputs of sediment or reworking of Tertiary valley deposits, is retained for a limited distance. The influence of the channel planform geometry on levee morphology is examined by consideration of the radius of curvature (R_c) of meander bends, and is inversely related to natural levee width. This suggests that the planform geometry of river channels exerts a control on the dispersal of flood sediments, and is responsible for considerable local variability in the floodplain topography. The average width of natural levees increases with drainage area, from an average of 747 m in the Moctezuma to an average of 894 m in the Pánuco. However, in the lower reaches of the Pánuco valley the width of natural levees rapidly decreases, which is associated with fining of the suspended sediment load. Thus, the reduction in natural levee width signifies an abrupt change in the directionality of cause–effect relationships at the watershed-scale. Findings from this study elucidate linkages between meandering river channels and floodplains for a large lowland alluvial valley.