Compositions of early Islamic glass along the Iranian Silk Road

The composition of archaeological glass reflects the geochemical nature of its raw materials. To determine the origins and distribution of early Islamic glasses from Iran, a set of 169 glass samples from five different sites was analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of 58 elements. The glasses were classified into six different plant ash glass groups, three of which were attributed to a Mesopotamian origin, while three further groups are presumed to represent regional Iranian productions. The ratios of MgO/CaO and K₂O/P₂O₅ of the different groups reflect variations in the plant ash component. Minor elements Cr, Ti, Zr, La and Th and their ratios proved effective in distinguishing the base glass types. Mapping their frequency across the Iranian plateau revealed the relative movement of glass and likely source areas. The decline in the frequency of glass types with elevated Cr/La ratios east of the Zagros Mountain range confirms that elevated Cr/La ratios together with an augmentation of the magnesium levels are features of Mesopotamian glass production apparently inherited from the geochemical environment of the Euphrates and Tigris river valleys. Some exceptionally clean Mesopotamian glasses made from a quartz-rich silica with low levels of accessory minerals are consistent with ninth-century glass from Samarra, which was evidently traded widely along the Silk Road network. No evidence of local glass production was detected in Nishapur. The Iranian groups were produced from a quartz-rich silica source, high in thorium but with different zirconium contents resulting in different Th/Zr ratios. Aluminium concentrations tend to increase from west to east, with the highest values found among glass assemblages from Central Asia.     

Tectonic environments of ancient civilizations in the eastern hemisphere

The map distribution of ancient civilizations shows a remarkable correspondence with tectonic boundaries related to the southern margin of the Eurasian plate. Quantification of this observation shows that the association is indeed significant, and both historical records and archaeoseismological work show that these civilizations commonly suffered earthquake damage. Close association of ancient civilizations with tectonic activity seems to be a pattern of some kind. In the hope that dividing the civilizations into subsets might clarify the meaning of this relation, primary and derivative civilizations were compared. Derivative civilizations prove to be far more closely related to the tectonic boundaries. Similarly, the civilizations that endured the longest (and that have been described as most static) are systematically the farthest from plate boundaries. It is still unclear how the relation actually worked in ancient cultures, i.e., what aspects of tectonism promoted complexity. Linkages to water and other resources, trade (broadly construed), and societal response seem likely. Volcanism appears not to be involved. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

海上丝绸之路沿线深水油气资源勘探方向

深水油气成为全球常规油气最重要的接替领域。海上丝绸之路（简称海丝路）沿线油气资源丰富,是全球油气勘探开发最活跃的地区,深水油气已取得了重大突破,但是部分地区勘探程度较低,发现的油气田较少,勘探潜力巨大。海丝路沿线深水盆地主要呈"一横一纵"的分布格局,"一横"主要指近东西向的新特提斯构造域深水盆地群,"一纵"主要指近南北向的东非陆缘深水盆地群。最新深水油气发现证实,海丝路沿线盆地具备形成大油气田的物质基础,存在高效的油气运移通道。海丝路沿线深水油气整体勘探程度较低,未来深水区油气以寻找构造和岩性两大类圈闭为主。孟加拉湾深水区以新生代浊积砂体形成的岩性圈闭为目标。巴基斯坦深水区以新生代生物礁和河道砂体形成的岩性圈闭为目标。东非海岸深水区以近岸的中—新生代发育的生物礁、海底浊积砂体形成的岩性地层圈闭为目标。东南亚深水区以寻找大型构造型油气田为目标。     

The Distribution of Petroleum Resources and Characteristics of Main Petroliferous Basins along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, abbreviated as the Belt and Road Initiative, is a primary development strategy of China’s future international cooperation. Especially, the energy resource cooperation, including oil and gas resources cooperation, is an important part of this initiative. The Belt and Road has undergone complicated geological evolution, and contains abundant mineral resources such as oil, gas, coal, uranium, iron, copper, gold and manganese ore resources. Among these, Africa holds 7.8% of the world’s total proven oil reserves. The oil and gas resources in Africa are relatively concentrated, with an overall low exploration degree and small consumption demand. Nigeria and Libya contain the most abundant oil resources in Africa, accounting for 2.2% and 2.9% of the world’s total reserves, respectively. Nigeria and Algeria hold the richest natural gas resources in Africa, occupying 2.8% and 2.4% of the world’s total reserves, respectively. Africa’s oil and gas resources are mainly concentrated in Egypt, Sultan and Western Sahara regions in the northern Africa, and the Gulf of Guinea, Niger River and Congo River area in the western Africa. The Russia–Central Asia area holds rich petroleum resources in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The potential oil and gas areas include the West Siberia Basin, East Siberia Basin and sea continental shelf in Russia, the northern and central Caspian Basin in Kazakhstan, the right bank of the Amu-Darya Basin, the East Karakum uplift and the South Caspian Basin in Turkmenistan, and the Amu–Daria Basin, Fergana Basin, Afghan–Tajik Basin and North Ustyurt Basin in Uzbekistan. The Middle East oil and gas resources are mainly distributed in the Zagros foreland basin and Arabian continental margin basin, and the main oil-producing countries include Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. The Asia Pacific region is a new oil and gas consumption center, with rapid growth of oil and gas demand. In 2012, this region consumed about 33.6% of the world’s total oil consumption and 18.9% of the world’s total natural gas consumption, which has been ranked the world’s largest oil and gas consumption center. The oil and gas resources are concentrated in China, Indosinian, Malaysia, Australia and India. The abundant European proven crude oil reserves are in Norway, Britain and Denmark and also rich natural gas resources in Norway, Holland and Britain. Norway and Britain contain about 77.5% of European proven oil reserves, which accounts for only 0.9% of the world’s proven reserves. The Europe includes main petroliferous basins of the Voring Basin, Anglo–Dutch Basin, Northwest German Basin, Northeast German–Polish Basin and Carpathian Basin. According to the analysis of source rocks, reservoir rocks, cap rocks and traps for the main petroliferous basins, the potential oil and gas prospecting targets in the Belt and Road are mainly the Zagros Basin and Arabic Platform in the Middle East, the East Barents Sea Basin and the East Siberia Basin in Russia–Central Asia, the Niger Delta Basin, East African rift system and the Australia Northwest Shelf. With the development of oil and gas theory and exploration technology, unconventional petroleum resources will play an increasingly important role in oil and gas industry.     

Water supply for agriculture and industry along the Silk Road (Hexi Corridor,Gansu, China)

Gansu suffers from a long, severe winter (average Januar temperature in Jiuquan-9,7° C, July 21,8° C) and enjoys a hot summer; only 80–130 mm of rain falls on the Silk Road. About the precipitation in the Qilian montains, different altitude gradients are discussed. The glaciers and the ground water are huge reservoirs, but greenhouse effect and excessive pumping mobilize more water for consumption, than is replaced by precipitation.     

On the birth of ancient civilizations: Comments on a paper by Eric R. Force

Force's (2008) theory cannot explain the birth of several major ancient civilizations, including those in Egypt and China. In addition, most of the ancient civilizations considered in Force's research were not primary civilizations and they had been influenced to some extent by other, earlier civilizations. If one considers the world's major primary civilizations, then rivers and their cyclic nature of annual floods—not tectonic plate boundaries and earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions—were a greater catalyst to the birth of the world's oldest civilizations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

西藏浪卡子-洛扎公路沿线泥石流

特殊的地理位置,复杂的地质构造,丰富的松散固体物质,陡峭的地形加上降水集中的气候,为泥石流的发生创造了客观条件。西藏浪卡子-洛扎公路沿线的泥石流多为山坡、粘性、稀性或过渡型泥石流,其危害主要是淤埋公路。结合当地的环境和公路的等级,主要采用过水路面、涵洞等疏排措施进行治理。     

Distribution,enrichment and sources of trace metals in the topsoil in the vicinity of a steel wire plant along the Silk Road economic belt,northwest China

The West Development Program, initiated in 2000 by the central government of China, has attracted huge investments in the arid and semiarid regions of northwest China. As a consequence of this development, environmental pollution and ecological degradation have been widely reported. The Silk Road economic belt proposed by China promotes further economic development in the regions, but rational planning and regular monitoring are essential to minimize any additional negative impacts of the anthropogenic activities. This article reports an investigation on the distribution, enrichment and sources of trace metals in the topsoil in and around the Ningxia Hengli Steel Wire Plant (HSWP) situated along the Silk Road economic belt. The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, V and Co in the surface soils of the study area vary, respectively, in the following ranges: 0.083–18.600, 21.9–2681.0, 58.0–100.0, 14.6–169.9, 59.0–4207.3, 19.3–40.8, 411–711, 55.2–76.6 and 7.46–25.21 mg/kg. The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn and Co are significantly higher than their local background values. Pollution levels of these trace metals in the surface soils were assessed using contamination index (C _f ⁱ ), geo-accumulation index (I _geo), modified contamination degree (mC _d) and pollution load index. The potential ecological risks caused by the metal pollution were assessed by means of potential ecological risk factor (E _f ⁱ ) and potential ecological risk index. The Spearman correlation and cluster analysis were applied to determine the contamination sources. The HSWP zone, associated with very high potential ecological risk caused by Pb and Cd, is more seriously contaminated by trace metals than the residential zone. This study indicates that Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Co mainly originate from industrial pollution, whereas Cr, Mn, Ni and V result from both industrial activities and natural processes.     

雪峰古陆边缘上石炭统露头层序地层

雪峰古陆边缘沅陵地区的上石炭统岩性特殊,以灰岩为主夹白云质灰岩、砾屑灰岩与砾岩、砂岩相互成层,交替出现,因此,相对海平面升降变化在这种类型沉积中表现明显,利于层序地层的研究。上石炭统为1个三级层序,底部以I型层序边界与震旦系留茶坡组硅质岩接触;顶部仍以I型层序边界与下二叠统黔阳组为邻。包括低水位体系域、海进体系域和高水位体系域;依据准层序的叠覆关系划分为两个准层序组,即海进体系域和高水位体系域。     

The origin and disappearance of the late Pleistocene-early Holocene short-lived coastal wetlands along the Carmel coast, Israel

The formation of short-lived backswamps along the Carmel coast of Israel coincides with the rapid global sea-level rise during the late Pleistocene-early Holocene transition. The current study shows that the wetland phenomena originated around 10,000 yr ago and dried up shortly before the local Pre-Pottery Neolithic humans settled on the wetland dark clay sediments 9430 cal yr BP. Palaeontological and stable-isotope data were used in this study to elucidate previously published sedimentological reconstruction obtained from a core drilled into the western trough of the Carmel coastal plain. The water body contained typical brackish calcareous fauna, with variable numerical abundance and low species richness of ostracods and foraminifera. The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C of the ostracod Cyprideis torosa show close similarity to the present Pleistocene coastal aquifer isotopic values. This study therefore concludes that the wetlands were shallow-water bodies fed by groundwater, with no evidence of sea-water mixing. It seems that they developed as the result of high groundwater levels, transportation of sediments landward, and deposition of sand bars at the paleo-river mouths. It is still not fully understood why these wetlands deteriorated abruptly and disappeared within less than 1000 yr.     

丝绸之路经济带甘肃黄金段找矿勘查新进展

丝绸之路经济带已成为国家战略,赋于了上合组织新的内涵,也给地质工作者提出了新的要求。甘肃是古丝绸之路的锁匙之地,是丝绸之路经济带上的“黄金路段”。2014年甘肃省提出利用拥有古丝绸之路贯穿境内1600 km的战略通道优势,打造丝绸之路经济带的黄金段,使其成为向西开放的战略平台、经贸物流的区域中心、产业合作的示范基地、人才交流的桥梁纽带。本文就甘肃省矿产资源优势、找矿勘查新进展及向西走出去提出建议。     

Late Bronze Age paleogeography along the ancient Ways of Horus in Northwest Sinai,Egypt

The northwest Sinai contained the eastern frontier of New Kingdom Egypt during the Late Bronze Age. The ancient Pelusaic branch of the Nile Delta influenced the environmental setting of this region at that time. Fortresses were built along the coastal byway through the study area known as the Ways of Horus to protect Egyptian‐held territory from immigrants and intruders from Canaan and the Mediterranean Sea. Building on previous geomorphic studies in the region, this paper presents the results of field investigations of Holocene sedimentary deposits, aided by satellite photography, used to create a paleogeographic map that places archaeological sites in their proper environmental context. CORONA satellite photographs from the late 1960s reveal surface features that have been obscured by more recent agricultural development in the region. Canals dug for an agricultural project provided easy access to the shallow subsurface for mapping the extent of Holocene sediments representing barrier coast, lagoon, estuarine, fluvial, and marsh depositional environments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Research on the Silk Road(Shaanxi Section)Heritage Constitution under the Vision of Culture Integrity

The Silk Road is one of the most important cultural routes in human being history and it had survived abundant cultural heritages.Under the vision of culture integrity,the constitution of the Silk Road(Shaanxi section)heritage corridor should involve tangible and intangible heritage elements.It is necessary to recognize the relationship between tangible and intangible culture heritages in order to realize the reasonable conservation of the Silk Road.     

Preservation of earthen heritage sites on the Silk Road,northwest China from the impact of the environment

The Silk Road played an important role in the economic and cultural exchanges between central China, Europe and Central Asia. A number of heritage sites with significant values still remain throughout the Gobi Desert and other desert regions in Northwest China. Most of the heritage sites composed of adobeern materials and the earthen structures have been impacted by adverse environmental conditions for thousands of years causing severe damage with only a small proportion of the structures left surviving to the present day. Analysis of the main environmental factors affecting the heritage sites such as temperature difference, wind storms, rain storms, and the freeze–thaw process and a study of the mechanism of the deterioration are the main topics presented in this paper. The authors have concluded that a Potassium–Silica solution PS invented by one of the authors has been effective in improving the intrinsic properties of heritage site earthen structures with regard to reducing the impact of environmental damage. The results of comparative tests show that samples treated by using the PS solution have performed well, particularly in protecting structures from aeolian erosion and heavy rainfall. Some findings on the effect of PS treatment on earthen structures at heritage sites are discussed in detail in the present paper.