Vegetation and hydraulic-morphological interactions at the individual plant, patch and channel scale

Interactions between vegetation, flow and sediment are a key ingredient for the development of vegetated islands in highly dynamic, fluvial alpine ecosystems such as the Tagliamento River, north-east Italy. There has been substantial research on factors influencing the establishment of vegetation and feedback mechanisms between vegetation, hydraulic, and geomorphological processes in such environments. This has yielded the development of conceptual models identifying different trajectories of vegetation and landform development from bare gravel to established floodplain forest. Nevertheless, some of the finer-scale processes underpinning such interactions are not well understood and parameterisation concepts that augment our knowledge from process understanding to quantified data and prediction models are not available until now. This paper identifies mechanisms and parameters of vegetation-flow interaction at the individual scale that are reflected at a patch or even at the channel scale. These mechanisms are reviewed from a multi-disciplinary perspective and concepts and analogies are proposed that provide ideas to progress research towards the development of predictive vegetation-flow models. Such models must incorporate both hydraulic and ecological components and this is demonstrated for a simplified force-bending model of Salicaceae seedlings. The development of such models demands advances in the individual disciplines of hydraulics, morphology, plant ecology and biomechanics, which offers many possibilities for multidisciplinary research between these disciplines.     

活动断裂地震危险性的研究现状和展望

本文综述了活动断裂地震危险性研究的历史、发展现状、存在的问题及发展方向。在活动断裂地震危险性研究中,重点论述了在概率分析研究阶段地震复发模式、概率模型、断裂间相互作用以及最大震级的评估等问题,指出未来活动断裂地震危险性分析研究的主要发展方向是多学科资料和研究手段、动力环境分析和力学模型的引入。     

Biodegradation in contaminated aquifers: incorporating microbial/molecular methods

In order to evaluate natural attenuation in contaminated aquifers, there has been a recent recognition that a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating microbial and molecular methods, is required. Observed decreases in contaminant mass and identified footprints of biogeochemical reactions are often used as evidence of intrinsic bioremediation, but characterizing the structure and function of the microbial populations at contaminated sites is needed. In this paper, we review the experimental approaches and microbial methods that are available as tools to evaluate the controls on microbially mediated degradation processes in contaminated aquifers. We discuss the emerging technologies used in biogeochemical studies and present a synthesis of recent studies that serve as models of integrating microbiological approaches with more traditional geochemical and hydrogeologic approaches in order to address important biogeochemical questions about contaminant fate.     

The WELSONS experiment: overview and presentation of first results on the surface atmospheric boundary-layer in semiarid Spain

This study presents the preliminary results of the local energy budget and dynamic characteristics of the surface atmospheric boundary-layer (SBL) during the WELSONS (wind erosion and losses of soil nutrients in semiarid Spain) experiment. Some Mediterranean regions suffer land degradation by wind erosion as a consequence of their particular soil and climate conditions and inappropriate agricultural practice. In Spain, where land degradation by water erosion is well known, the lack of field studies to quantify soils losses by wind erosion resulted in the European Community organizing a scientific program for this specific issue. The European programme known as WELSONS was devoted to study the wind erosion process in central Aragon (NE Spain). This multidisciplinary experiment, which began in 1996 and finished in 1998, was carried out over an agricultural soil which was left fallow. Within the experimental field, two plots were delimited where two tillage treatments were applied, a mould-board ploughing (or conventional tillage denoted CT) and chisel ploughing (reduced tillage denoted RT). This was to study on bare soil the influence of tillage method on surface conditions, saltation flux, vertical dust flux, erosion rates, dynamics characteristics such as friction velocity, roughness length, etc., and energy budget. The partitioning of the available energy, resulting from the dynamics of the SBL, are quite different over the two plots because of their own peculiar soil and surface properties. The first results show that the RT treatment seems to provide a wind erosion protection. Because of the long data recording time and particular phenomena (formation of a crust at the soil surface, very dry conditions, high wind speed for instance), these microclimatological data acquired during the WELSONS programmes may be helpful to test atmospheric boundary-layer models coupled with soil models.     

从第23届IUGG大会看地球科学的未来

本文扼要介绍了笫23届国际大地测量与地球物理学联合会(IUGG)的主要学术活动及其特点，包括大会的4个主题报告和8个联合会学术大会的情况，其共同特点是强调对地球系统过程的多学科综合研究，充分展示了当今地球科学学科交叉和融合的态势。此外，对IUGG理事会会议和大会决议等也作了简短的报导。     

Effects of uncertainty in rock-physics models on reservoir parameter estimation using seismic amplitude variation with angle and controlled-source electromagnetics data

This paper investigates the effects of uncertainty in rock-physics models on reservoir parameter estimation using seismic amplitude variation with angle and controlled-source electromagnetics data. The reservoir parameters are related to electrical resistivity by the Poupon model and to elastic moduli and density by the Xu-White model. To handle uncertainty in the rock-physics models, we consider their outputs to be random functions with modes or means given by the predictions of those rock-physics models and we consider the parameters of the rock-physics models to be random variables defined by specified probability distributions. Using a Bayesian framework and Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling methods, we are able to obtain estimates of reservoir parameters and information on the uncertainty in the estimation. The developed method is applied to a synthetic case study based on a layered reservoir model and the results show that uncertainty in both rock-physics models and in their parameters may have significant effects on reservoir parameter estimation. When the biases in rock-physics models and in their associated parameters are unknown, conventional joint inversion approaches, which consider rock-physics models as deterministic functions and the model parameters as fixed values, may produce misleading results. The developed stochastic method in this study provides an integrated approach for quantifying how uncertainty and biases in rock-physics models and in their associated parameters affect the estimates of reservoir parameters and therefore is a more robust method for reservoir parameter estimation.     

Electrical Structure in Marine Tectonic Settings

This review paper presents recent research on electrical conductivity structure in various marine tectonic settings. In at least three areas, marine electromagnetic studies for structural exploration have increasingly progressed: (1) data accumulations, (2) technical advances both for hardware and software, and (3) interpretations based on multidisciplinary approaches. The mid-ocean ridge system is the best-studied tectonic setting. Recent works have revealed evidence of conductive zones of hydrothermal circulation and axial magma chambers in the crust and partial melt zones of the mid-ocean ridge basalt source in the mantle. The role of water or dissolved hydrogen and its redistribution at mid-ocean ridges is emphasized for the conductivity pattern of the oceanic lithosphere and asthenosphere. Regions of mantle upwelling (hotspot or plume) and downwelling (subducting slab) are attracting attention. Evidence of heterogeneity exists not only in the crust and the upper mantle, but also in the mantle transition zone. Electrical conductive zones frequently overlap seismic low-velocity zones, but discrepancies are also apparent. Some studies have compared conductivity models with the results of seismic and other studies to investigate the physical properties or processes. A new laboratory-based conductivity model for matured oceanic lithosphere and asthenosphere is proposed. It takes account of both the water distribution in the mantle as well as the thermal structure. It explains observed conductivity patterns in the depth range of 60–200 km.     

A review of the LATEX project: mesoscale to submesoscale processes in a coastal environment

The main objective of the LAgrangian Transport EXperiment (LATEX) project was to study the influence of coastal mesoscale and submesoscale physical processes on circulation dynamics, cross-shelf exchanges, and biogeochemistry in the western continental shelf of the Gulf of Lion, Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. LATEX was a five-year multidisciplinary project based on the combined analysis of numerical model simulations and multi-platform field experiments. The model component included a ten-year realistic 3D numerical simulation, with a 1 km horizontal resolution over the gulf, nested in a coarser 3 km resolution model. The in situ component involved four cruises, including a large-scale multidisciplinary campaign with two research vessels in 2010. This review concentrates on the physics results of LATEX, addressing three main subjects: (1) the investigation of the mesoscale to submesoscale processes. The eddies are elliptic, baroclinic, and anticyclonic; the strong thermal and saline front is density compensated. Their generation processes are studied; (2) the development of sampling strategies for their direct observations. LATEX has implemented an adaptive strategy Lagrangian tool, with a reference software available on the web, to perform offshore campaigns in a Lagrangian framework; (3) the quantification of horizontal mixing and cross-shelf exchanges. Lateral diffusivity coefficients, calculated in various ways including a novel technique, are in the range classically encountered for their associated scales. Cross-shelf fluxes have been calculated, after retrieving the near-inertial oscillation contribution. Further perspectives are discussed, especially for the ongoing challenge of studying submesoscale features remotely and from in situ data.     

Arma models for earthquake ground motions

This paper outlines the use of discrete, autoregressive/moving-average (ARMA) models for identification and estimation of parameters in models derived from analysis of uniformly digitized earthquake ground motion acceleration data. Such models are of equal generality as compared to continuous-time models and have a number of significant advantages for purposes of digital analysis and simulation. The structure of ARMA models is briefly described, their relation to continuous models noted, and results of their application to a number of recorded accelerograms summarized.     

Landslide Tsunamis: Recent Findings and Research Directions

— Underwater landslides can trigger local tsunamis with high runup, endangering human life and devastating coastal cities, offshore structures, communication cables, and port facilities. Unfortunately, hazards from underwater landslides are not well understood and the extents of their potential damage remain difficult to ascertain at present. There is immediate need for multidisciplinary research to improve our understanding and plan countermeasures for mitigating their hazards. Conceived in the wake of the Papua New Guinea earthquake landslide and tsunami of 1998, this volume summarizes the state-of-the-art knowledge on underwater landslides and their potential to generate tsunamis from the multidisciplinary perspectives of observational and engineering seismology, geotechnical engineering, marine geology, and hydrodynamics. These various fields of engineering and science offer new synergetic opportunities to examine landslide tsunamis. This paper makes recommendations on future research directions, and will hopefully advance scientists' and engineers' understanding of these natural hazards and assist planners in mitigating their risks.     

Water and graphite in the Earth's crust —An approach to interpretation of conductivity models

In the present discussion on the origin of highly conducting layers in the middle and lower crust, water (brines) and graphite are widely accepted as the two most promising explanations. In this review, petrophysical and petrological aspects are summarized aiming at an understanding of how the indispensable interconnectedness of these highly conducting phases within a normally insulating rock matrix may be established and maintained under conditions of the upper and the lower crust. Accordingly, interpretation of conductivity models will be conclusive in cases of conductance values reaching several thousand S for layers at deeper crustal level since they can not be explained other than by the existence of metaanthracitic or graphitic rocks. In cases of low to moderate conductance values as often observed, e.g., at the transition zone from the upper to the lower crust, interpretation may remain ambiguous and may need further multidisciplinary investigations.     

与地震有关的水文及地球化学变化

简要回顾了几十年来对地震发生前、地震过程中和震后地下流体和地球化学变化的研究和成果,这些研究一般都是以探索地震预报可能性为目的的。论述了与地震有关的地下水文及地球化学变化的机理,这些地下流体(包括地下水和气体诸如氢、氧和惰性气体)的起源和迁移流动现象以及详细介绍了早期和近代对有关地震的地下流体和地球化学变化的观测成果。同时指出了对地下流体和地球化学作为地震前兆来观测研究的困难所在以及为了克服这些困难而应该采取的地震前兆观测研究的方向,例如多种手段和多种原理方法,开发有效的地球物理和地球化学模型以及适当的数据分析统计方法等。     

Improving GPS positioning estimates during extreme weather situations by the help of fine-mesh numerical weather models

Space geodetic applications require to model troposphere delays as good as possible in order to achieve highly accurate positioning estimates. However, these models are not capable to consider complex refractivity fields which are likely to occur during extreme weather situations like typhoons, storms, heavy rain-fall, etc. Thus it has been investigated how positioning results can be improved if information from numerical weather models is taken into account. It will be demonstrated that positioning errors can be significantly reduced by the usage of ray-traced slant delays. Therefore, meso-scale and fine-mesh numerical weather models are utilized and their impact on the positioning results will be measured. The approach has been evaluated during a typhoon passage using global positioning service (GPS) observations of 72 receivers located around Tokyo, proving the usefulness of ray-traced slant delays for positioning applications. Thereby, it is possible reduce virtual station movements as well as improve station height repeatabilities by up to 30% w.r.t. standard processing techniques. Additionally the advantages and caveats of numerical weather models will be discussed and it will be shown how fine-mesh numerical weather models, which are restricted in their spatial extent, have to be handled in order to provide useful corrections.     

邢台地震与我国地震预报的发展

详细叙述了自1966年邢台地震以来,我国地震预报研究与实践的主要进展:建设成了多学科的地震观测系统,为地震预报打下了良好基础;进行了大量震例研究,初步建立了地震预报的判据和指标体系;进行了地震预报理论的实验和研究,提出了多种地震孕育发生模型及前兆机理;通过20多年的5次地震预报攻关研究,形成了数十种地震预报方法;边研究,边预报,几十年来成功地预报了20多次破坏性地震,并取得了减灾实效,使我国地震预报的科学水平居于世界前列。本文还对地震预报尚需解决的科学难题进行探讨。     

Progress in numerical modeling of subducting plate dynamics

The core concerns of plate tectonics theory are the dynamics of subducting plates, which can be studied by integrating multidisciplinary fields such as seismology, mineral physics, rock geochemistry, geological formation studies, sedimentology, and numerical simulations. By establishing a theoretical model and solving it with numerical methods, one can replicate the dynamic effects of a subducting plate, quantifying its evolution and the surface response. Simulations can also explain the observations and experimental results of other disciplines. Therefore, numerical models are among the most important tools for studying the dynamics of subducting plates. This paper provides a review on recent advances in the numerical modeling of subducting plate dynamics. It covers various aspects, namely, the origin of plate tectonics, the initiation process and thermal structure of subducting slab, and the main subduction slab dynamics in the upper mantle, mantle transition zone, and lower mantle. The results of numerical models are based on the theoretical equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation. To better understand the dynamic progress of subducting plates, the simulation results must be verified in comparisons with the results from natural observations by geology, geophysics and geochemistry. With the substantial increase in computing power and continuous improvement of simulation methods, numerical models will become a more accurate and efficient means of studying the frontier issues of Earth sciences, including subducting plate dynamics.     

Seismic analysis of structures with a fractional derivative model of viscoelastic dampers

Viscoelastic dampers are now among some of the preferred energy dissipation devices used for passive seismic response control. To evaluate the performance of structures installed with viscoelastic dampers, different analytical models have been used to characterize their dynamic force deformation characteristics. The fractional derivative models have received favorable attention as they can capture the frequency dependence of the material stiffness and damping properties observed in the tests very well. However, accurate analytical procedures are needed to calculate the response of structures with such damper models. This paper presents a modal analysis approach, similar to that used for the analysis of linear systems, for solving the equations of motion with fractional derivative terms for arbitrary forcing functions such as those caused by earthquake induced ground motions. The uncoupled modal equations still have fractional derivatives, but can be solved by numerical or analytical procedures. Both numerical and analytical procedures are formulated. These procedures are then used to calculate the dynamic response of a multi-degree of freedom shear beam structure excited by ground motions. Numerical results demonstrating the response reducing effect of viscoelastic dampers are also presented.     

沉积盆地构造热演化研究进展：回顾与展望

构造热演化模拟是研究沉积盆地的重要手段之一，其模型依赖于沉积盆地的成因机制.裂谷盆地构造热演化的定量模型在描述盆地沉降和热流演化方面取得了极大的成功，实现了构造和热的完美结合.而前陆盆地的定量模型更多关注的是构造沉降，在构造与热的结合方面尚不够完善.关于克拉通盆地目前还没有很成熟的定量模型，构造热演化研究程度远远低于裂谷盆地和前陆盆地.随着我国陆域海相沉积盆地油气勘探的突破，对海相沉积盆地热体制的研究迫在眉睫.而我国陆域海相沉积盆地，如塔里木和四川盆地，演化历史长且复杂，是古生代海相克拉通与中、新生代前陆盆地组成的叠合盆地.现有的关于沉积盆地构造热演化的单一模式难以适应复杂的构造—热历史.对我国陆域海相大型沉积盆地进行深入全面的动力学分析，发展叠合盆地的构造—热演化模型，建立相应的构造热演化模式及模拟方法技术，将是一项具有开拓意义并极具挑战性的工作.     

Heterogeneous destruction of the North China Craton: Coupled constraints from seismology and geodynamic numerical modeling

The prevailing academic view regards mantle flow and the metasomatism triggered by the subduction of the Pacific plate as the cause and mechanism for the destruction of the North China Craton (NCC). However, the geodynamic destruction process remains ambiguous, necessitating detailed information at this stage. Combining the structural images obtained by the exploration of dense seismic arrays and the geodynamic simulations inspired by numerical modeling, this paper arrives at the following conclusions: the spatial variation of the P- and S-wave velocities, as well as their velocity ratio in the mantle transition zone, are key evidences of the nonuniform dehydration of the Pacific plate, the subducted plate induces hot upwellings in the mantle transition zone (MTZ), resulting in the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid beneath the craton, characterized by small scale anomalies in the seismic velocity field, and as revealed by dense seismic array observation, the heterogeneities in the upper mantle structure and deformation are the synthetic results of lithospheric strain localization and the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid. It is known that the nonuniform dehydration of the Pacific slab and the heterogeneous distribution of the melt/fluid have occured in the Cenozoic. If these scenarios could have already occurred in the Early Cretaceous, their interaction with the NCC lithosphere would be the dynamic mechanism for the heterogeneous lithospheric destruction of the NCC. The inference in this study is significant for further reconciling the multidisciplinary evidences in the NCC.