Anthropogenic influences on Zuni agricultural soils

Farmers in the Zuni area of the semiarid American Southwest have successfully cultivated maize and other crops for over three millennia without using artificial fertilizers. Zuni agricultural fields are among the oldest, more or less continuously cultivated areas in the United States. Traditional Zuni agriculture is based on runoff farming, a system whereby runoff and organic‐rich sediment generated in small watersheds are captured and directed onto fields for crop use. We conducted a study to compare soil properties associated with paired and unpaired cultivated, abandoned, and uncultivated fields to evaluate the long‐term effects of cultivation on soil quality. Sampling and analytical methods of this research are especially applicable to geoarchaeological studies of anthropogenic effects on soil fertility and agricultural sustainability in ancient and traditional historical farming systems. Results of the Zuni soil study indicate that cultivation has altered some soil properties, including bulk density, organic carbon, total nitrogen, and C:N ratios in paired fields, but there is no indication that agricultural soils are degraded. This assessment supports the perception of Zuni farmers that long‐term cultivation has not caused a decline in agricultural productivity. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Rain-induced slope instability in Hong Kong

Catastrophic geological disasters frequently occur on slopes with obliquely inclined bedding structures (also referred to as obliquely inclined bedding slopes), where the apparent dip sliding is not readily visible. This phenomenon has become a focal point in landslide research. Yet, there is a lack of studies on the failure modes and mechanisms of hidden, steep obliquely inclined bedding slopes. This study investigated the Shanyang landslide in Shaanxi Province, China. Using field investigations, laboratory tests of geotechnical parameters, and the 3DEC software, this study developed a numerical model of the landslide to analyze the failure process of such slopes. The findings indicate that the Shanyang landslide primarily crept along a weak interlayer under the action of gravity. The landslide, initially following a dip angle with the support of a stable inclined rock mass, shifted direction under the influence of argillization in the weak interlayer, moving towards the apparent dip angle. The slide resistance effect of the karstic dissolution zone was increasingly significant during this process, with lateral friction being the primary resistance force. A reduction in the lateral friction due to karstic dissolution made the apparent dip sliding characteristics of the Shanyang landslide more pronounced. Notably, deformations such as bending and uplift at the slope’s foot suggest that the main slide resistance shifts from lateral friction within the karstic dissolution zone to the slope foot’s resistance force, leading to the eventual buckling failure of the landslide. This study unveils a novel failure mode of apparent dip creep-buckling in the Shanyang landslide, highlighting the critical role of lateral friction from the karstic dissolution zone in its failure mechanism. These insights offer a valuable reference for mitigating risks and preventing disasters related to obliquely inclined bedding landslides.     

Gamma emitters in Hong Kong water

Water samples, representing seawater, river water, reservoir water, drinking water, and underground water were studied through gamma-ray spectral analysis. Only gamma emitters in the²³⁸U and²³²Th series and⁴⁰K were detected. No fission product was detected with specific activity above 0.1 Bq/kg. The present data could be the baseline for future monitoring of the radioactivity released from a nuclear plant being built at a 50-km distance from Hong Kong. The variation of detected specific activities may be due to geological differences and the effect of plants.     

香港区域地层划分

本文在研究前人大量工作的基础上,以香港地区的地质演变历史为主要线索,重新拟定了泥盆纪以来香港的地层层序;对各主要地层单位,尤其是近年来新建的地层单位进行了讨论;将香港的地层与广东和中国南方进行了对比,并对香港今后进一步地层工作的方向提出了一些建议。本文的目的是建立一个简要的、索引式的有关香港地层的回顾,以便使读者能迅速掌握香港地层划分和对比的概况以及基本的地质演化历史。     

Devonian fluviodeltaic sedimentation in Hong Kong

Twenty-three distinct sedimentary facies have been distinguished in the Devonian Bluff Head Formation exposed around the Tolo Channel area of northeastern Hong Kong. These facies have been combined into five facies associations: channel, aeolian, sheetflood, deltaic and palaeosol, with the bulk of the formation belonging to the channel association. The lower part of the Bluff Head Formation, around Plover Cove, consists of upwards-coarsening cycles, each typically 3 m thick. The basal parts of some cycles contain distinctive marine fossils of Early to Middle Devonian age. Sedimentation occurred on a marine-influenced delta plain, with eustatic sea level rises controlling cycle development. The middle and upper parts of the formation contrast strongly with the lower part and show a distinct change to alluvial plain sedimentation. Upward-fining cycles, each approximately 40 m thick, comprise basal multistorey, braided, conglomerate-filled channel deposits at the base passing upwards into finer-grained sheetflood, aeolian and channel sandstones at the top. Palaeosols in the higher parts of the cycles indicate periods of non-deposition under semi-arid climatic conditions. These cycles represent repeated abandonments of the fluvial system which we suggest were controlled by tectonic pulses.     

Quaternary stratigraphy of Hong Kong coastal sediments

Geotechnical borehole data from around Hong Kong record a lithostratigraphic succession extending at least back to the early Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotope Stage 12). From these data, together with seismic data, four unconformity bounded units which accumulated between the mid Pleistocene and Holocene can be identified. This permits the development of an integrated sequence stratigraphy which can be applied to regional investigations.     

香港安山-英安质古火山颈群

香港中侏罗世屯门组火山岩主要由安山质熔岩、凝灰岩和凝灰角砾岩夹少量凝灰质砂岩组成。其中凝灰角砾岩初期曾误认为是沉积砾岩。1990年香港地质调查组重新研究后,确认是火山成因的凝灰角砾岩。按岩相分析,屯门组火山岩可分为火山通道相安山-英安质熔岩和爆发角砾岩,还有爆发空落相凝灰角砾岩。火山通道相又可分为火山颈相和岩墙相,分布在屯门组东西两侧。在青山东麓,出露一列NNW向呈断续、线状分布的火山颈群。近年来新出版的《香港地质考察指引》和《香港工程地质实践》等地质著作仍将该区爆发角砾岩误认为是沉积成因的砾岩,在地质勘探和工程设计上造成混乱,导致不应有的经济和时间上的损失。本文综合最新研究成果并与世界各地同类火山岩的特征进行对比,确证火山通道相爆发角砾岩的存在,并发现呈线状分布的古火山颈群。     

香港花岗岩地貌地质旅游的开发

地质旅游利用现有的地质资源，以一种崭新的角度去发展可持续性的旅游景点。香港地少人多，发展旅游吸引点是极度困难的。香港陆地约有30％为花岗岩覆盖，其中的一半已在城市之下，其余的则拥有相当吸引人的地质景象，有极大潜力发展地质旅游。除吸引地质生态有关游客外，在花岗岩地区开发地质旅游，更容易普及地球科学，同时增强公众对地质地貌之欣赏能力，提高环保及地质保护意识。不过，于香港花岗岩区发展地质旅游所遇到的困难亦不少，主要来自规划、行政及安全的问题，当中需要政府、地区民众及地质旅游工作者并肩合作，寻求最佳解决方法。     

Rockfall Hazard Analysis for Hong Kong Based on Rockfall Inventory

Summary ¶This paper compiles and analyzes the rockfall data in Hong Kong in the last fifty years. A simple rockfall hazard analysis is presented based on this rockfall inventory. A frequency-magnitude relation, which is analogous to the Gutenberg-Richter relation for earthquake occurrence, is proposed for rockfall, and direct correlation between rockfall frequency and the daily rainfall is observed. Data analysis shows that a threshold daily rainfall of about 150–200mm is expected in order to trigger rockfall events in Hong Kong. Among the 368 rockfall events in the 13 year period from 1984 to 1996 in Hong Kong, 35% of the incidents lead to blockage of or damage to roads, 22% lead to damages or evacuation of squatter huts, 21% lead to blockage of pedestrian pavement and footpath, and 15% affect buildings, such as housing apartments and schools. Only 15% of these rockfalls fell onto open space and caused negligible effects on human activities. Most of these rockfall events occurred during heavy rain and when landslide warning should has been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, thus only 6% of these events led to injury or casualty, car damages, and damages to public utilities. Rockfall hazard zonation maps in terms of the spatial distribution of previous rockfalls are proposed for both Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island.     

莫拉克台风暴雨移置香港地区的PMP分析研究

基于台湾66个站点年最大日雨量历史资料、台湾中央气象局2009年8月8~10日莫拉克台风暴雨期间251个台湾雨量站逐时降雨资料和香港地区65个雨量站的历史逐时降雨资料,以及与香港相邻的3个广东省雨量站(西沥站、横岗站和深圳站)资料,利用分时段地形增强因子法(SDOIF),将莫拉克台风暴雨最大24h实测暴雨中的辐合雨分量分割,并将其辐合雨成分移置到香港地区,与香港地区24h平均地形增强因子相结合,估算出香港地区的可能最大降水。结果显示,莫拉克最大24h降雨量中地形的增强幅度约为45%;得出香港地区最大24h平均可能最大降水分布图,其最大中心值1230.2mm(未考虑水汽放大),与香港地区历史暴雨中心一致,均发生在大帽山附近。     

Ecological modernisation and policy learning in Hong Kong

Whilst ecological modernisation theory emphasizes the potential for modern societies to recognize and respond to their environmental impacts by finding new ways of governing environment-economy relations, concepts of policy learning focus on the scope for new forms of environmental policy to be generated within and transferred between different contexts. Within this paper we explore the conceptual and practical linkages between the two areas of debate - a hitherto neglected area in the literature - and we set this discussion in the context of environmental policy-making in Hong Kong. We suggest that the practical relevance of the concepts of ecological modernisation and policy learning depends upon the presence of a reflexive society with rational, responsive institutions. While many theorists assume that such institutions exist, our analysis of policies for water and air quality management in Hong Kong highlights the need for theories to consider the embeddedness of existing institutions and the significance of the capacities for, and the barriers to, change more fully. We find that capacities for some forms of ecological modernisation and policy learning do exist in Hong Kong. However, we argue that the nature of these capacities often limits the potential for change to those local environmental problems that can be addressed through more technically and economically viable forms of policy intervention and that can be easily accommodated within existing political and economic structures. We also conclude that the capacities for ecological modernisation and policy learning that are needed if Hong Kong is to tackle the effects of the trans-boundary environmental problems that it is increasingly encountering have yet to emerge.     

Anthropogenic influences on hydrocarbon contents of sediments deposited in eastern Lake Ontario since 1800

 The amounts and types of extractable hydrocarbon components in sediment cores from the Rochester Basin of eastern Lake Ontario provide a record of environmental changes that have accompanied the settlement and population growth of the surrounding land areas. Sediments deposited prior to the mid-1800s contain low concentrations of hydrocarbons that are dominated by land-plant wax components. Concentrations begin to rise in the late 1800s as erosion of soil and nutrients from watershed areas accelerated. This pattern continues into modern times. Episodes of enhanced aquatic productivity are sometimes recorded in twentieth-century sediments by the dominance of algal hydrocarbons, but land-plant components typically predominate. Petroleum residues begin to appear in sediments deposited in the late 1800's but remain minor constituents of the hydrocarbon contents of modern sediments in the Rochester Basin. Received: 21 March 1995 · Accepted: 11 August 1995     

香港地区边坡防护与治理

自开埠以来香港地区边坡事故一直不断。香港政府多年来积极进行边坡的防护治理,成效显著。讨论了香港地区岩土边坡破坏的主要原因、防治滑坡的工程措施及边坡管理系统。香港的边坡防治经验值得内地借鉴。     

Structurally controlled landslides in saprolitic soils in Hong Kong

A number of large slope failures which have occurred in Hong Kong have highlighted the important influence that discontinuities in saprolitic soils can have on slope stability. Conventional stability analyses normally adopted for such soils, which assume failure through intact materials of uniform shear strength, are not appropriate if discontinuity-controlled failures can be postulated. Stress history and present-day weathering effects should also be taken into consideration in the assessment of the long-term stability of slopes in weathered rocks in tropical and subtropical regions. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998     

香港九龙复活破火山的鉴别及其地质意义

香港主城区座落在香港岛一九龙地区的九龙花岗岩体上,该花岗岩体平面形态呈直径约11km的圆形,周边火山岩群山环绕,构成特殊的圆形盆地地貌,以往曾有人认为是陨石坑。笔者根据前人地质资料分析并经实地考察,认为该地貌形态实为大致以尖沙咀为中心的一个大型晚中生代复活破火山机构,九龙花岗岩体为破火口塌陷后侵位的中央侵入体,周围火山地层产状围斜内倾,发育环形断裂（主要为高角度正断层）和放射状断裂,具典型复活破火山特征,可称之为“九龙复活破火山”。     

Land reclamation in Singapore,Hong Kong and Macau

The spatial and temporal significance of land reclamation from the sea in relation to the development of the three SE Asian small coastal territories of Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau are examined and compared. In all three territories the rate of reclamation has been an index of the rate of economic development. Four phases of land reclamation are identified: (1) pre-1900: involved relatively unplanned and uncostly projects in shallow water and swamplands around the main focus of settlement; (2) 1900–1945: involved military projects outside the main settlement core; (3) 1945–1980: this phase of large-scale projects unconstrained by natural conditions because of advances in technology and high rate of reclamation was driven by rapid industrial and population growth; (4) 1980 to date: a period marked by large infrastructure projects designed to maintain and extend the status of the territories as world economic and commercial centres. Currently 10%, 5% and 33% of the total land surfaces of Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau respectively comprise land reclaimed from the sea and these proportions will continue to rise.     

中国香港国家地质公园的资源类型与建设特色

以香港郊野公园和海岸公园为基础建立的中国香港国家地质公园具有典型而独特的地质遗迹,包括世界罕见的酸性火山岩柱状节理景观,多类的地质构造遗迹,典型的海岸地貌类型和优美的海岛自然风光,已经成为了地质科学知识普及基地和游览胜地.在香港地质公园申报、建设和发展过程中,无论是特区政府还是公园管理者,在许多方面体现了明显的特点.正...