A magnetic polarity time scale for the Early Cretaceous and Late Jurassic

The ages of polarity chrons in previous M-sequence magnetic polarity time scales were interpolated using basal sediment ages in suitably drilled DSDP holes. This method is subject to several sources of error, including often large paleontological age ranges. Magnetostratigraphic results have now tied the Early Cretaceous and Late Jurassic paleontological stage boundaries to the M-sequence of magnetic polarity. The numeric ages of most of these boundaries are inadequately known and some have been determined largely by intuition. An examination of relevant data suggests that 114 Ma, 136 Ma and 146 Ma are optimum estimates for the ages of the Aptian/Barremian, Cretaceous/Jurassic and Kimmeridgian/Oxfordian stage boundaries, respectively. Each of these boundaries has a good correlation to the M-sequence of magnetic reversals. The magnetostratigraphic tie-level ages are linearly related to the spreading distance and have been used to calculate a new magnetic polarity time scale for the Early Cretaceous and Late Jurassic. All stage boundaries in this time interval were correlated by magnetic stratigraphy to the proposed new time scale which was then used to estimate their numeric ages. These are, with the approximate relative errors of placement within the M-sequence:The absolute errors of these interpolated stage boundary ages depend on the accuracy of the tie-level ages.     

Completing the Neogene geological time scale between 8.5 and 12.5 Ma

A much improved high-resolution magnetostratigraphy is presented for the interval between 8.5 and 12.5 Ma in the deep marine astronomically tuned Monte dei Corvi Beach section in northern Italy. This section contains the formally designated boundary between the Middle and Upper Miocene defined by the Tortonian GSSP. The natural remanent magnetization is carried by an unusual low-temperature component of primary origin. According to interpretations of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) acquisition curves, the palaeomagnetic signal is most probably carried by iron sulphides, such as greigite or pyrrhotite. The resultant magnetostratigraphy is reliable and can be straightforwardly calibrated to the Astronomically Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS2004) showing that the section ranges from Chron C5An.2n up to C4.2r-1. The inferred correlation of the Tortonian GSSP to the older part of Chron C5r.2n is confirmed, thereby guaranteeing global correlation potential. In addition, the Monte dei Corvi Beach section has been re-tuned to the new numerical solution La2004 for the interval between 8.5 and 12.9 Ma. This exercise shows that the characteristic cycle patterns are not consistent with a single solution with fixed values for dynamical ellipticity and tidal dissipation. For the younger part of the section, sedimentary cycles show an excellent fit with intricate details of precession/obliquity interference in the nominal La2004_(1,1) solution. However, this solution produces serious mismatches between the sedimentary cycles and the precession/obliquity interference in the interval older than ∼ 10.2 Ma. For this interval changes in tidal dissipation value (while keeping dynamical ellipticity constant at its present-day value) are necessary to maintain a perfect fit. A detailed visual comparison reveals a very good to excellent fit with La2004_(1,1.2) and, to lesser extent, with La2004_(1,0.5). However, La2004_(1,1.2) is the preferred tuning target for the moment in the interval older than 10.2 Ma. The astronomical (re)tuning on precessional scale to La2004_(1,1) yielded slightly different astronomical ages for each basic cycle and, hence, also for the calcareous plankton events and magnetic reversal boundaries with uncertainties ranging within a few thousand years. The age of the Tortonian GSSP turns into 11.625 Ma instead of the previously published 11.608 Ma. Our ages should replace existing ages in the Astronomically Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS2004).     

Distribution characteristics and petroleum geological significance of the Silurian asphaltic sandstones in Tarim Basin

The Tarim Basin is a typical superimposed basin in which there have occurred multiphase adjustment and destruction of the reservoirs. The widely distributed asphaltic sandstones of the Silurian are the very product after destruction of the reservoirs. Studies show that the Silurian asphaltic sandstones distributed in both the middle and western parts on the basin are controlled chiefly by the Caledonian oil source area and by the Tazhong, Tabei and Bachu uplifts, whereas the distribution of the asphaltic sandstones on local structural belts is controlled by the reservoir's sedimentary system. Vertically, most of the asphaltic sandstones are under the regional caprock of red mudstones and the upper sandstone section of compact lithology. Due to the difference of hydrocarbon destruction in the early stage and the influence of hydrocarbon recharge in the late stage, the asphaltic sandstones and oil-bearing sandstones in the Tazhong area can be vertically divided into the upper and lower sections and they have an interactive distribution relationship as well. Asphaltic sandstones exist not only in intergranular pores but also inside the grains of sand and between the crevices, proving the destruction of early reservoirs due to uplifting. The existence of asphaltic sandstones over a large area reveals that the large-scale migration and accumulation and the subsequent destruction of hydrocarbons in the Craton area. The destruction caused a loss of the reserve resources of the Palaeozoic amounting to nearly 13.3 billion tons. Asphaltic sandstones formed after the destruction of oil and gas may serve as an effective caprock which is beneficial to accumulation of hydrocarbons and formation of the pool sealed by asphaltic sandstones in the later stage. The destruction of the early Silurian hydrocarbons depends on the stratigraphic burial depth. The deep part under the northern slope of Tazhong is an area favorable to search of undestroyed Silurian oil reservoirs.     

华南二叠系卡匹敦阶高分辨率浮点年代标尺

基于详细的生物地层学研究,以磁化率为古气候替代指标,对广西来宾铁桥剖面卡匹敦阶地层开展时间序列分析,建立高分辨率浮点年代标尺(FPTS).结果表明,磁化率记录了铁桥剖面中二叠世晚期沉积序列中的米兰科维奇旋回,卡匹敦阶上部磁化率突然增加与峨眉山玄武岩喷发和卡匹敦晚期全球性海退有关,这些事件导致同期沉积物中碎屑物质增加.铁桥剖面瓜德鲁普—乐平统界线附近磁化率和蓬莱滩剖面(乐平统底界GSSP)表现出一致的变化趋势,具可对比性.利用多窗谱法(MTM)和傅里叶变换(FT)从磁化率序列中识别出五个米兰科维奇周期:长偏心率周期(E2,405 ka)、短偏心率周期(E1,100 ka)、长地轴斜率周期(O2,44.1 ka)、长岁差周期(P2,20.95 ka)和短岁差周期(P1,17.7 ka).对比基于E2周期建立的磁性地层磁化率(MSS)带和标准参考带(SRZ),建立整个沉积序列的高分辨率(200 ka)FPTS,提出卡匹敦阶的时限为3.85 Ma(存在+0~0.28 Ma误差),整段沉积序列的平均沉积速率为2.91 cm·ka-1.同时计算出卡匹敦阶内部七个牙形石带的时限,从最短26.6 ka到最长2.3 Ma.另外,估算出峨眉山大火成岩省喷发启动时间为262.67 Ma,位于瓜德鲁普—乐平统界线之下1.42 Ma.     

Optical dating of young deltaic deposits on a decadal time scale

Modern Mississippi Delta sediments were analyzed to investigate quartz OSL signal resetting in large river deltas and test the accuracy of OSL dating on a decadal time scale with the early background subtraction and a recently proposed burial dose estimation procedure. Both fine silt-sized and sand-sized quartz were measured with a modified single-aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) protocol and equivalent dose (D_e) was calculated using different background subtraction methods. Evidence of insufficient bleaching was observed, but the residual signal is equivalent to ∼100 a on average for both sandy quartz and fine silt-sized quartz. It is shown that dose distributions of sandy quartz are affected by the background subtraction. The proportion of aliquots that have D_e in agreement with expectation is significantly larger when an early background is subtracted compared to the late background subtraction. This is, in contrast, not observed for fine silt-sized quartz. Accurate OSL ages were obtained by employing the unlogged minimum age model to D_es of sandy quartz obtained with the early background subtraction method.     

Review of the geomagnetic secular variations on the historical time scale

In view of the classification of the geomagnetic field into its axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric parts, studies of geomagnetic secular variations on the historical time-scale are reviewed. The westward drift of the geomagnetic field, which is one of the most conspicuous features of its secular variation, is examined first. The non-axisymmetric field during the past several hundred years can be well approximated by the superposition of two constant-magnitude fields, a standing and a drifting field, whose lifetimes are supposed to be longer than 1000 years. It is pointed out that the sectorial term of the non-dipole standing field is small compared with the drifting one. The lack of the n = M = 2 term of the standing field is particularly remarkable.

On the other hand, the equatorial dipole field is likely to consist of two components which are both drifting. One drifts westwards with a normal velocity and the other eastwards with a small velocity.

Besides the pronounced westward drift in an east-west direction, the poleward movements of particular foci of the secular variation are noted. This may, however, be related to the rapid growth of the axisymmetric quadrupole field.

The time variation of the dipole field is briefly examined. As far as the data on the historical time scale are concerned, an antiparallel relationship seems to exist between the variations in the dipole and the quadrupole field. As the dipole moment decreases, the magnitude of the quadrupole moment increases. Finally, characteristic oscillation periods of the dipole field are examined. Although the data are few, a 60–70-year period, a 400–600-year and a 8000-year period emerge as the dominant periods.     

ENSO循环之中的海气相互响应——对次表层海温和大气旋度的资料分析

利用美国国家环境预测中心（NCEP）和联合环境数据分析中心（JEDAC）资料,分别定义了表征海洋和大气变异的风场涡度指数和温度场指数,对热带太平洋海域的极值曲面上的温度距平、850 hPa风应力旋度进行了分析.结果显示,大气对海洋热力强迫的响应主要是Gill型,而大气又可以通过风应力旋度造成的Ekman抽吸作用来影响海洋,这种海气相互作用影响着ENSO循环的发展.通过简单的统计分析,解释了二者在ENSO循环之中所起的作用,并从资料中验证了El Nio事件具有3～4年的循环周期.这在一定程度上支持了ENSO的时滞振荡子和自然振荡子理论.     

Water resources and climate change impact modelling on a daily time scale in the Peruvian Andes

Abstract

Estimating water resources is important for adequate water management in the future, but suitable data are often scarce. We estimated water resources in the Vilcanota basin (Peru) for the 1998–2009 period with the semi-distributed hydrological model PREVAH using: (a) raingauge measurements; (b) satellite rainfall estimates from the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA); and (c) ERA-Interim re-analysis data. Multiplicative shift and quantile mapping were applied to post-process the TMPA estimates and ERA-Interim data. This resulted in improved low-flow simulations. High-flow simulations could only be improved with quantile mapping. Furthermore, we adopted temperature and rainfall anomalies obtained from three GCMs for three future periods to make estimations of climate change impacts (Delta-change approach) on water resources. Our results show more total runoff during the rainy season from January to March, and temporary storages indicate that less water will be available in this Andean region, which has an effect on water supply, especially during dry season.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor D. Gerten     

Behavior of sporadic Na layers on small time scale

Seventeen sporadic Na (Na_s) layers were observed from ~150 h of the 8-s Na density profiles obtained by lidar measurements at Wuhan, China. Each of them consists of a sequence of small-timescale density enhancement bursts. The burst intensity ranges from 200 to 10,400 cm^?3. The burst duration and interval vary between 16 and 112 s. The instantaneous growth and decay rates often have an order of 100 cm^?3 s^?1. This suggests that there exists a very rapid atom removal process corresponding to the dramatic burst density enhancement if the advection effect by large-scale wind could be ignored. These results provide a new clue for explaining the formation mechanism of sporadic metal layers.     

The extension of the magnetic time scale in sediments of the Central Pacific Ocean

The extension of the magnetic reversal record back to the early Miocene is presented. This record is pieced together with the aid of microfloral analysis from three low sedimentation rate siliceous deep sea cores from the Equatorial Pacific.Nineteen Magnetic Epochs are now recognized from the earliest Miocene to the Present. By correlating the micropaleontological data in our cores with selected foraminiferal datums from DSDP Leg IX we correlate these datums with the following magnetic epochs: the Pulleniatina Datum occurs in the lower part of Epoch 5, the G. acostaensis Datum occurs in Epoch 11, the G. nepenthes Datum occurs in Epoch 12, the Orbulina Datum at the Epoch 15/16 boundary and the G. dissimilis Datum in the lower part of Epoch 16. The Early/Middle Miocene boundary (Orbulina Datum) is tentatively placed at the top of Epoch 16.     

The growth of the continent through geological time studied by Nd isotope analysis of shales

We determined the Nd isotopic composition and the Sm/Nd ratios in a series of Australian shales ranging from 0.2 Gy to 3.3 Gy. The first result of this study is the constancy of the Sm/Nd ratio in these shales, as in granitoids. Secondly, the initial (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd) ratio gives a regular curve decreasing through geological time. Both results confirm that shales are representative samples of the continental crust, when insoluble elements, like REE, are studied.We calculated their Nd model ages of crustal differentiation. The model ages regularly decrease with the stratigraphic ages and after 2 Gy, the curve flattens and tends to an asymptotic value at around 1.8 Gy. The significance of the shales is that they represent a mixture of continental materials and we consider the model age of such a mixture directly linked with the mean age of the continental portion feeding the sedimentary basin.From these results, we deduce a quantitative model of the growth curve of the continental source of the shales taking into account the effects of erosion which selectively sample recent mountains relative to shield areas. We propose that the results obtained here are representative of the whole Gondwana continent.Having studied the case of the Australian shales, we try to extend our study. First we applied our quantitative approach to the recent results obtained by O'Nions et al. on North Atlantic provinces. The continental growth curves obtained by our inversion procedure are quite distinct from the Australian shales showing the regional character of shales.With these two cases studied we try to compare our results with the already developed model for continental growth. The consideration of the surface conservative versus surface non-conservative models clearly show the non-uniqueness of the geological interpretation of the growth curve. On the other hand, we have calculated for each case the recycling rate versus geological time by comparing the growth curve with the Hurley-Rand province age curve. Such recycling increases with time in agreement with the data obtained on Nd and Sr initial ratios on granitoids.     

基于长时间尺度下滑坡易发性评价研究———以甘肃省永靖县为例

利用决策树模型,基于五期土地利用评价因子,对甘肃省永靖县进行近40年的长时间尺度下的滑坡易发性评价,五期评价结果均显示研究区内滑坡灾害的极高和高易发性区域主要集中在中部黄河流域(盐锅峡镇至刘家峡水电站段)周边、西南部川城村—红泉镇—王台乡周边区域以及中部偏东的三条岘乡,该区域人口密集,人类活动较多.研究结果与前人研究结果类似,且通过受试者工作特征曲线的精度检验,说明五期评价结果均具有较高的可靠性.另外,研究区内的自然植被和裸土地与滑坡易发性指标之间具有负相关关系,而旱地、水域和城乡建设用地等人类活动频繁的区域则更容易导致滑坡灾害的发生.从时间尺度上来看,极高和高易发性分区面积逐年下降,但自 2000年,极高和高易发性分区面积减少速度出现显著减缓,同期,该区域内的土地利用变化为城乡建设用地面积增加而植被面积减少,这使得区域内边坡稳定性下降,使部分防灾工程措施的减灾能力下降.本研究为该地区的灾害预防、预测和城乡土地规划提供了参考.     

地磁Z分量低点时间季节性变化研究

通过小波分析和频谱分析,发现Z分量低点时间的小波变换结果曲线(α=6)明显地随节气而变化;对地磁Z分量低点时间季节性变化进行了初步的比较分析.     

Evidence for the stimulation of field-aligned electron density irregularities on a short time scale by ionospheric topside sounders

Ionospheric topside sounders can be considered to act as mobile ionospheric heating facilities. They stimulate a wide variety of plasma phenomena that suggests that significant plasma heating can be produced in the vicinity of the spacecraft following the short duration (0.1 ms) high-power (hundreds of watts) sounder pulse. Most of these phenomena are sensitive to the ambient plasma conditions, particularly to the ratio of the plasma frequency to the gyro frequency . Certain stimulated phenomena only occur, or are greatly enhanced, when where n is an integer. One example is a diffuse signal return that appears at a frequency just above the Z mode wave cutoff frequency (the L = 0 condition in the notation of Stix). This signal, which is the subject of the present paper, is present only for moderately large near-integer values for (e.g., n > 3). It is a relatively short-duration echo—usually less than about 10 ms. These characteristics are quite different from the Z mode echoes often observed between or (whichever is greater) and the upper hybrid frequency . These latter echoes occur for smaller values (not necessarily near-integer values) of and are received during the entire 30 ms listening time period following the sounder pulse. They have been attributed to the scattering of sounder Z mode signals from naturally occurring electron density fieldaligned irregularities (FAI). The short-duration echoes observed just above , on the other hand, are here attributed to the ducting of sounder-generated Z mode waves in sounder-stimulated (or sounderenhanced) FAI. These FAI are believed to be generated (or enhanced) on a very short time scale (? 1 s) by the efficient absorption of sounder energy when the plasma/gyro frequency ratio is nearly an integer value significantly greater than one. The most likely generation process is the filamentation instability driven by the ponderomotive force due to the high-power sounder pulse.     

An estimate of the time taken for a dyke to cool through its curie point

Summary A brief argument is put forward to support the suggestion that dykes such as the members of the Pilandsberg and Tholeiite systems acquire their remanent magnetism in a period of the order of 1 to 10 years. This means that such dykes will cool from, say 550°C to 450°C in that time period.     

The geological record of paleotsunamis striking Shikotan island, in the lesser Kurils, during holocene time

Paleotsunami remains have been studied in Middle/Late Holocene peat bogs and lacustrine deposits on Shikotan I. We determined the age of the events, the inundation areas, and the distance the tsunami waves traveled on shores of varying structures. The frequency of tsunami occurrence was nonuniform; these events were the most frequent in the middle of the Late Holocene. Data are provided for specific areas of the island’s coast, sequences have been identified containing numerous interbeds of tsunamigenic sand, which can be used as markers. The composition of the tsunamigenic sand has been analyzed to reveal its similarities with and differences to other coastal marine facies and to determine the sources of the material. These data could serve as a basis for compiling a highly detailed geological record of these events for the southern Kuril region during the last 6000 years.     

Stochastic modelling of soil moisture dynamics in a grassland of Qilian Mountain at point scale

Stochastic modeling of soil moisture dynamics is crucial to the quantitative understanding of plant responses to water stresses,hydrological control of nutrient cycling processes,water competition among plants,and some other ecological dynamics,and thus has become a hotspot in ecohydrology at present.In this paper,we based on the continuously monitored data of soil moisture during 2002―2005 and daily precipitation date of 1992―2006,and tried to make a probabilistic analysis of soil moisture dynamics at point scale in a grassland of Qilian Mountain by integrating the stochastic model improved by Laio and the Monte Carlo method.The results show that the inter-annual variations for the soil moisture patterns at different depths are very significant,and that the coefficient of variance(CV) of surface soil moisture(20 cm) is almost continually kept at about 0.23 whether in the rich or poor rainy years.Interestingly,it has been found that the maximal CV of soil moisture has not always appeared at the surface layer.Comparison of the analytically derived soil moisture probability density function(PDF) with the statistical distribution of the observed soil moisture data suggests that the stochastic model can reasonably describe and predict the soil moisture dynamics of the grassland in Qilian Mountain at point scale.By extracting the statistical information of the historical precipitation data in 1994―2006,and inputting them into the stochastic model,we analytically derived the long-term soil moisture PDF without considering the inter-annual climate fluctuations,and then numerically derived the one when considering the inter-annual fluctuation effects in combination with a Monte-Carlo procedure.It was found that,though the peak position of the probability density distribution significantly moved towards drought when considering the disturbance forces,and its width was narrowed,accordingly its peak value was increased,no significant bimodality was observed in the soil moisture dynamics under the given intensity of random fluctuation disturbance.     

On the relationships between catchment scale and streamwater mean residence time

The relationship between streamwater mean residence time (MRT) and landscape characteristics is poorly understood. We used tritium (³H) to define our MRT. We tested the hypothesis that baseflow water MRT increases with increasing absolute catchment size at the Maimai catchments. These catchments are simple hydrologic systems relative to many catchments around the world, with uniformly wet climatic conditions, little seasonality, uniform and nearly impermeable bedrock, steep short hillslopes, shallow soils, and well‐characterized hillslope and catchment hydrology. As a result, this is a relatively simple system and an ideal location for new MRT‐related hypothesis testing. Whilst hydrologists have used ³H to estimate water age since the 1960s nuclear testing spike, atmospheric ³H levels have now approached near background levels and are often complicated by contamination from the nuclear industry. We present results for ³H sampled from our set of nested catchments in nuclear‐industry‐free New Zealand. Because of high precision analysis, near‐natural atmospheric ³H levels, and well‐characterized rainfall ³H inputs, we were able to estimate the age of young (i.e. less than 3 years old) waters. Our results showed no correlation between MRT and catchment size. However, MRT was correlated to the median sub‐catchment size of the sampled watersheds, as shown by landscape analysis of catchment area accumulation patterns. These preliminary findings suggest that landscape organization, rather than total area, is a first‐order control on MRT and points the way forward for more detailed analysis of how landscape organization affects catchment runoff characteristics. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.