Accordant summit heights, summit levels and the origin of the “upper denudation level” in the Serra do Mar (SE-Brazil, São Paulo): A study of hillslope forms and processes

In southern São Paulo the Serra do Mar is characterized by three distinct terrain types: 1) highly dissected areas with closely spaced ridges and accordant summit heights; 2) multiconvex hills; and 3) terrains with highly elevated watershed areas, irregular summit heights, and locally subdued relief. The development of this landscape is considered to be the result of the Cenozoic block-faulting and of the influences that are exerted by the differing lithological and structural setting of block-faulted compartments on weathering and erosion processes.In areas characterized by pronounced accordant summits the close coincidence between hillslope angle and the angle of limiting stability against landsliding points to a close adjustment of hillslope gradients and the mechanical properties of the regolith. The relative height of the hillslopes is functionally related to the spacing of the valleys and the gradient of the hillslopes. In areas with a regular spacing of v-shaped valleys and uniform rocks, this leads to the intersection of valley-side slopes in summits and ridges at a certain elevation. This elevation is determined by the length and steepness of the valley-side slopes. Therefore, the heights of the summits are geometrically constrained and are likely to indicate the upper limit of summit heights or an “upper denudation level” that is adjusted by hillslope processes to the incising streams. Accordant summit heights of this type are poor indicators of formerly more extensive denudation surfaces as it is also likely that they are a result of the long-term adjustment of hillslopes to river incision.The steep mountain flanks of block-faulted compartments on the other hand, comprise regolith-covered hillslopes that are closely adjusted to the maximum stable gradient as well as rock-slopes that are controlled by the rock-mass strength. Their summits are usually not accommodated into uniform summit levels. Highly elevated watershed areas exhibiting a subdued relief are detached from the base level response. On granitoid rocks these areas are often characterized by the rocky hills and domal rock outcrops. However, differences in the elevation of interfluves and summits between rocks of differing resistance and in the elevation of lithologically distinct individual fault-blocks imply that long-term weathering and erosion has transformed and lowered these landscapes. Therefore, these areas cannot be interpreted as a remnant of a pre-uplift topography and it appears to be unlikely that the height of the summits correlates with formerly more widespread planation surfaces in the far hinterland.The studies indicate that concepts such as the parallel retreat of hillslopes cannot account for the observed differences in the landscape. It is suggested that the Serra do Mar is consumed from the Atlantic and the inland side by spatially non-uniform developmental states. These states are determined by local differences in the coupling and distance to the regional base level and sea-level or are due to lithological and structural controls between and within the block-faulted compartments.     

Raw materials activities of the manhattan project on the colorado plateau

The Manhattan Project was a highly secret project during World War II to develop the atomic bomb, and included the acquisition of raw materials. It was carried out by the Army’s Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District. In the United States, 2,698,000 pounds of uranium oxide were acquired at various vanadium mills on the Colorado Plateau, mainly from the treatment of tailings. Geologic investigations conducted by a contractor, Union Mines Development Corporation, laid the ground work for the exploration activities of the Atomic Energy Commission which succeeded the Manhattan Engineer District in 1947     

Focal mechanisms of small earthquakes in the southeastern Brazilian shield: a test of stress models of the South American plate

Focal mechanisms of small earthquakes with magnitudes of about 3 in the SE Brazilian shield are calculated using S / P amplitude ratios. Low attenuation ( Q _p from 400 to 800) in the shield upper-crustal layers allowed sharp S arrivals to be recorded up to distances of 100 km. Besides P -wave polarities, SH -wave first motions were also used to constrain the nodal-plane orientations. Normal and reverse faulting mechanisms with strike-slip components were found. The inversion of four mechanisms to estimate the stress tensor indicated a strike-slip stress regime with roughly E–W-orientated σ ₁ and N–S σ ₃. Both the orientations and the shape factor ( φ =0.7) of the inverted stress are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for that part of Brazil from the driving-force model of Coblentz & Richardson (1996) . Good agreement with the nature of the stress, as well as its orientation, was also found for the model of Meijer (1995) . Both of these theoretical models include spreading stresses along the continent/ocean lithospheric transition. Because the earthquakes are more than 300 km from the continental shelf they should not be affected by the local flexural forces caused by sediment load in the marginal basins. The agreement between observed and theoretical stresses then confirms the importance of continental spreading forces in modelling intraplate stresses.     

Evolution of undercut slopes on abandoned incised meanders in the Eastern Highland Rim of Tennessee, USA

Field surveys, location-for-time reasoning, and computer modeling were used to study the evolution of slopes on valley walls of abandoned bedrock meanders on the Eastern Highland Rim, Tennessee. Hillslopes on the undercut slopes of cutoff incised meanders were ordered as to relative age by the height of their meander floors above the modern stream level. The assumption is that the undercut slope is actively eroded by the stream until abandonment of the meander, at which time the slope begins to evolve to a different form. More-advanced stages of evolution occur on walls of higher meanders that were abandoned earlier. The most rapid change in this initial form is the elimination of a free face, which occurs soon after the meander is abandoned. In addition, the hillslopes associated with even the lowest (youngest) cutoff meanders show somewhat gentler overall gradients than the actively undercut slopes. Hillslopes associated with meanders 3 to about 20 m above modern stream level maintain straight segments with angles showing only a slight decrease from the 36–38° associated with the lowest cutoffs; overall angles decrease, however, as the straight segment becomes shorter. The oldest slopes, those on cutoffs 30 m or greater above modern stream level, have developed into convex–concave slopes with maximum slopes of 15°.A hillslope evolution model based on previously published algorithms was used to simulate the transition of actively undercut hillslopes into hillslopes on abandoned meanders. Hillslope modeling is particularly useful in this setting. If the valley incision rate is known, an age can be estimated for the cutoff and hence for the hillslope. Alternatively, if hillslope process rates are known, a model age obtained for the hillslope can be used to estimate an incision rate. Even where both incision rates and hillslope process rates are poorly constrained, as in the present setting, modeling allows assumptions about specific rates to be evaluated by determining their implications for other rates. For example, for three cutoff meanders along one stream, best-fit criteria were used to select process rates for the model. Model ages of hillslopes were then obtained and compared with those calculated from a valley-incision rate measured elsewhere in the same physiographic province. For two of the hillslopes, model ages were found to be much younger than those calculated from the incision rate. In order to make the two ages agree, unreasonably low process rates had to be used in the model, thus implying that the incision rate probably underestimates the actual incision rate in this valley.Experimentation with heights of initial profiles, again using best-fit criteria, suggests that since abandonment of the highest cutoff, the plateau has been downwasting at a rate about one-fourth that of the valley incision rate, a finding in agreement with published rates of chemical denudation in the area.     

Postglacial development of a marl and peat complex on the Precambrian Shield of northwestern Ontario

This paper presents the first paleolimnological study of the postglacial development of a marl and peat complex on the Canadian Precambrian Shield. Ring Lake (48° 46 N, 85° 51 W), situated within the carbonate glacial drift area of northwestern Ontario, originated about 9000 BP in a basin exposed by the retreating waters of proglacial Lake Superior. The development of Ring Lake was interpreted from pollen and diatom analysis of one sediment core from the littoral zone and another core from near the lake centre.The sequence of postglacial vegetation development parallels published accounts of forest history in northern Ontario. The predominant diatom throughout the littoral core was the alkaliphilous Cymbella diluviana. The central core was dominated by circumneutral and alkaliphilous species of Achnanthes Navicula, Fragilaria, and Cymbella, except in recent samples where acidophilous species of Anomoeoneis were common.Diatom-inferred (DI) pH shows that the early lake was alkaline because of drainage from base-rich tills. The presence of marl in the littoral core indicates deposition of calcareous materials until the site dried out during the Hypsithermal period. There is evidence that beaver activity around 5000 BP caused a temporary change in lake hydrology. A decline in DI pH over much of the postglacial reflects gradual exhaustion of carbonates in the drainage area. An increase in acidophilous diatoms in samples representing the past 3500 y is consistent with gradual acidification of the system and development of a littoral peatland in a cooler neoglacial climate.     

Impact of a pre-existing transverse drainage system on active rift stratigraphy: An example from the Corinth Rift,Greece

Models to explain alluvial system development in rift settings commonly depict fans that are sourced directly from catchments formed in newly uplifted footwalls, which leads to the development of steep-sided talus-cone fans in the actively subsiding basin depocentre. The impact of basin evolution on antecedent drainage networks orientated close to perpendicular to a rift axis, and flowing over the developing hangingwall dip slope, remains relatively poorly understood. The aim of this study is to better understand the responses to rift margin uplift and subsequent intrabasinal fault development in determining sedimentation patterns in alluvial deposits of a major antecedent drainage system. Field-acquired data from a coarse-grained alluvial syn-rift succession in the western Gulf of Corinth, Greece (sedimentological logging and mapping) has allowed analysis of the spatial distribution of facies associations, stratigraphic architectural elements and patterns of palaeoflow. During the earliest rifting phase, newly uplifted footwalls redirected a previously established fluvial system with predominantly southward drainage. Footwall uplift on the southern basin margin at an initially relatively slow rate led to the development of an overfilled basin, within which an alluvial fan prograded to the south-west, south and south-east over a hangingwall dip slope. Deposition of the alluvial system sourced from the north coincided with the establishment of small-scale alluvial fans sourced from the newly uplifted footwall in the south. Deposits of non-cohesive debris flows close to the proposed hangingwall fan apex pass gradationally downstream into predominantly bedload conglomerate deposits indicative of sedimentation via hyperconcentrated flows laden with sand- and silt-grade sediment. Subsequent normal faulting in the hangingwall resulted in the establishment of further barriers to stream drainage, blocking flow routes to the south. This culminated in the termination of sediment supply to the basin depocentre from the north, and the onset of underfilled basin conditions as signified by an associated lacustrine transgression. The evolution of the fluvial system described in this study records transitions between three possible end-member types of interaction between active rifting and antecedent drainage systems: (a) erosion through an uplifted footwall, (b) drainage diversion away from an uplifted footwall and (c) deposition over the hangingwall dip slope. The orientation of antecedent drainage pathways at a high angle to the trend of a developing rift axis, replete with intrabasinal faulting, exerts a primary control on the timing and location of development of overfilled and underfilled basin states in evolving depocentres.     

Establishment of wetlands on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain: Paleolimnological evidence of a mid-Holocene hydrologic threshold from a South Carolina pond

The series of climatic events affecting landscapes on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain over the past several thousand years is poorly understood. This is due, in part, to the paucity of depositional basins in this region containing adequately preserved microfossils for paleoecological analyses. This research reconstructs past hydrologic environments from the microfossil record of Peat Bay, a small, peat-filled pond in south-central South Carolina. We cored the deepest location in the pond and retrieved 120 cm of sediment representing 5200 yr of deposition. Fine clays at the base of the core resembled sediments deposited in abandoned channels of the nearby Savannah River, suggesting the basin may have functioned as an oxbow wetland prone to periodic flooding and drying. Overlying peats containing planktonic diatom assemblages mark the onset of persistent open-water conditions ca. 4600 B.P. These data, in conjunction with a small body of paleoecological evidence from other southeastern wetlands, suggest that a hydrologic 'threshold' was surpassed during the mid-Holocene that resulted in flooding and expansion of low-lying depressions that characterize the regional landscape. This is likely the culmination of long-term hydrologic trends related to glacial retreat, including increased precipitation and a rise in ground water levels corresponding to a global rise in sea level. In Peat Bay, lake-like conditions persisted until about 3800 B.P., after which time aerophilic diatoms and remains of other temporary pond organisms dominated the fossil record. Episodic drying of pond sediments during the late-Holocene may have been a response to decreased precipitation, stabilization of the water table and infilling of the pond by decaying vegetation and terrigenous clastics. The microfossil record indicates that temporary pond conditions persisted until recent years (ca. 1985) when the basin returned to a permanently flooded state due to groundwater connection to a large reservoir constructed nearby.     

The effects of the identity of shrub species on the distribution and diversity of ground arthropods in a sandy desert ecosystem of northwestern China

Shrub is an important factor on structuring ground arthropod communities in desert ecosystems. In this study, in order to determine how shrubs and their species influence ground arthropod distribution patterns in a sandy desert scrubland dominated by two different shrub species, Calligonum mongolicum and Nitraria sphaerocarpa, the ground arthropods were sampled with pitfall traps during spring, summer and autumn. At the community level, total arthropod abundance was shown to be significantly higher under shrubs than in intershrub bare areas in spring; similar patterns occurred in terms of the richness of arthropod groups in the spring and over three seasons, suggesting season-specific shrub presence effects on arthropod activity. In addition, more arthropods were found under N. sphaerocarpa shrubs than under C. rnongolicum shrubs in autumn, suggesting season-specific effects of shrub species of arthropod activity, whereas more arthropods taxa were captured under C. mongoIicum than N. sphaerocarpa. At the trophic group level, the abundances of predator and herbivore arthropods were significantly greater under shrubs than in intershrub bare habitats, whereas herbivore arthropods were more abundant under N. sphaerocarpa than C. rnongolicum, and an opposite rule was detected for predator arthropods At the family level, the mean abundances of Carabidae, Curculionidae, Gnaphosidae and Lycosidae were significantly higher in the shrub microhabitats than in the intershrub bare habitat, there was no significant difference between habitats on the mean abundances of Formicidae and Tenebrionidae. The study results suggested that shrub presence and shrub species variation are important determinants of ground arthropod assemblages in this desert ecosystem, but the responses of ar- thropods differed among trophic and taxonomic groups.     

Blind testing of rock varnish microstratigraphy as a chronometric indicator: results on late Quaternary lava flows in the Mojave Desert, California

Rock varnish is a manganiferous dark coating ubiquitous in desert landscapes. To test the validity of varnish microstratigraphy as a chronometric indicator, varnish samples were collected from radiometrically dated and undated late Quaternary lava flows in Amboy, Cima, and Pisgah volcanic fields (AVF, CVF, PVF) in the Mojave Desert of California, western United States. Varnish microstratigraphies show a replicable layering sequence that appears to record regional climate changes that likely correspond in time to the Younger Dryas and Heinrich events in the North Atlantic region. Microstratigraphic patterns on these volcanic fields match patterns found in varnishes from other western US sites with available radiometric age constraints. Based on this regional chronology, varnishes from the A flow, H flow, and a stone pavement surface in the Cima volcanic field were estimated to be 16.5–24, 74–85, and 74–85 ka, respectively; these ages are consistent with previously published cosmogenic ³He ages of 18–20, 72–74, and 80–85 ka for these geomorphic surfaces. Varnishes from the I flow at Cima yielded a puzzling age estimate of 39 ka, which is consistent with an older ³He age of 37±6 ka reported for the I flow, but inconsistent with a younger ³He age of 31±7 ka and a cosmogenic ³⁶Cl age of 27±1.3 ka for the same flow. Reinterpretation of the original varnish age data, with knowledge of then available field mapping results of the I flow, suggests that the I cone is polycyclic and different flow units were probably unintentionally sampled in the field. The revised varnish ages of 30 and 39 ka for the I flow thus may be in good agreement with their corresponding ³He and ³⁶Cl ages. In a blind test of the method, varnishes from the Phase 1 flow at Pisgah, an unnamed flow (called here the I′ flow) at Cima, and the Amboy flow were estimated to be 24–30, 46–60, and 74–85 ka, respectively; these ages agree well with ³⁶Cl ages of 22.5±1.3, 46±2, and 79±5 ka reported for the same flows by Phillips [Geomorphology (2002).]. These test results provide convincing evidence that varnish microstratigraphy, once radiometrically calibrated, can be used as a valid dating tool to estimate surface exposure ages of desert landforms in the western US drylands.     

南水北调河北省受水区近50年生态环境演变研究

选取人类活动对河北省生态环境影响最剧烈的1950s—2000s初期,从气候、水环境、土壤及环境地质、土地利用/覆盖、社会经济等角度,分析河北省中南部平原,即南水北调河北受水区的生态环境演变状况,为研究南水北调工程实施对生态环境变化的影响及河北省生态省建设提供科学依据。     

南疆尼雅地区4000a来的地化元素分布特征与古气候环境演化的初步研究

通过应用因子分析法对尼雅剖面中的多种地化元素和氧化物的分析,在R、Q型因子分析的基础上,提取出古气候信息。初步的研究表明:近4000a来,尼雅地区气候环境仍以干旱化为主,但此期间出现过多次不同程度的干湿变化,大致可分为5个气候期:4.0~3.0kaB P.相对暖干期;3.0~2.2kaB.P.相对冷湿期;2.2~1.6kaB.P.相对暖干期;1.6~1.0kaB.P.相对冷湿期;1.0kaB.P.左右之后的相对暖干期。     

黄河流域绿色发展效率时空演进

识别黄河流域绿色发展效率及其时空演进规律,有助于区域产业布局、环境规制与政策制定,进而实现黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展。针对黄河流域异质化发展,结合经济发展和环境治理的区域发展规律,构建多周期两阶段DEA模型（Multi-period two-stage DEA model）,通过测算绿色经济效率与绿色创新效率,实现黄河流域省市的绿色发展效率测度,同时借助ArcGIS10.6软件对黄河流域省域绿色发展的时空格局进行了动态演进并分析其发展路径。结果表明：黄河流域空间维度呈现上游较差、中游一般、下游最优的发展不均衡现状;时间维度呈现“W”型波动式上升趋势,但整体一般;存在省份绿色发展水平较高、黄河段城市却较差的发展不一致现象。针对黄河流域省市的各种发展情境,从省市协同治理、政府引导、产业结构、科技研发、税收政策等方面提出了建议。     

文化产业成长对城市空间形态演变的影响——以西安市核心区为例

基于扩展强度指数、等扇分析法、核密度分析及空间句法等方法,运用1998年、2008年、2018年3个时期的文化产业企业地理数据、夜间灯光数据及城市道路网轴线模型分析西安市核心区文化产业空间成长与城市空间形态演变的特征,探究二者空间关系与作用机制.结果表明:①西安市核心区文化产业沿"东北-西南"走向扩展,其空间集聚格局逐...     

大河三角洲河口海岸演化机理模型研究:(II)模型构建与实证

本文以z坐标下的三维斜压海洋动力学数值模式为基本模式原型,在整理渤海基本数据并诊断计算风生环流和热盐环流作为背景环流场基础上,初步建立了渤海海域动力环境数值模式。模式采用了经校正的Bagnold型方程来计算渤海底移质沉积物输运,悬移质计算则是取二维深度平均悬移质输运方程和河床变形方程,计算含沙量分布以及由悬移物引起的冲淤厚度。利用这种方法建立的沉积物输运模式,定量模拟了渤海沿岸和海底的沉积物输运方向和冲淤分布。模拟结果与通过多年实测水深估算获得的渤海海底沉积物的冲淤变化分布相比较,两者之间在基本结论上是比较一致的     

大河三角洲河口海岸演化机理模型研究:(II)模型构建与实证

本文以z坐标下的三维斜压海洋动力学数值模式为基本模式原型 ,在整理渤海基本数据并诊断计算风生环流和热盐环流作为背景环流场基础上 ,初步建立了渤海海域动力环境数值模式。模式采用了经校正的Bagnold型方程来计算渤海底移质沉积物输运 ,悬移质计算则是取二维深度平均悬移质输运方程和河床变形方程 ,计算含沙量分布以及由悬移物引起的冲淤厚度。利用这种方法建立的沉积物输运模式 ,定量模拟了渤海沿岸和海底的沉积物输运方向和冲淤分布。模拟结果与通过多年实测水深估算获得的渤海海底沉积物的冲淤变化分布相比较 ,两者之间在基本结论上是比较一致的     

基于高分辨率格点数据的1961-2013年青藏高原雪雨比变化

基于国家气象信息中心发布的1961-2013年全国0.5° × 0.5°逐日降水量和日平均气温格点数据集以及气象站点日降水量和日平均气温实测资料,采用森斜率,M-K突变分析,IDW空间插值以及小波分析等方法,对近53年来青藏高原的降水量,降雨量,降雪量以及雪雨比的时空变化,突变和周期等特征进行了分析.结果表明:① 从时间尺度上看,青藏高原的降水量和降雨量总体呈增加趋势,增加幅度分别为0.6 mm·a^-1(p < 0.05)和1.3 mm·a^-1(p < 0.001);而降雪量和雪雨比均呈下降趋势,下降幅度分别为0.6 mm·a^-1(p < 0.01)和0.5% a^-1(p < 0.001).② 从空间分布上看,青藏高原的大部分地区降水量和降雨量呈增加趋势,而降雪量却呈现减少趋势.因此,雪雨比在青藏高原相应呈现减少趋势.③ 突变和周期分析表明,青藏高原降水量,降雨量,降雪量和雪雨比的突变时间分别出现在2005,2004,1996和1998年左右,而周期变化集中为5年,10年,16年,20年左右.④ 青藏高原降水量倾向率和降雨量倾向率均随海拔的升高呈现出先降低后升高的变化趋势,降雪量倾向率随海拔的升高而降低,雪雨比倾向率随海拔的升高呈微弱的下降趋势.     

1200 years of fire impact on biogeochemistry as inferred from high resolution diatom analysis in a kettle lake from the Picea mariana-moss domain (Quebec, Canada)

The consequences of fire on water chemistry are important considering that major changes in the frequency and intensity of forest fires are anticipated as a result of global warming. Due to the important differences in succesionnal vegetative trends after fire between mixed-wood and coniferous-dominated forests in Quebec (Canada), we undertook a long-term paleoecological study of the impact of fires on the biogeochemistry of Lac à la Pessière, a small lake located in a conifer-dominated boreal forest ecoregion (Picea mariana-moss domain). The paleolimnological study was carried out using diatom assemblages (class:Bacillariophyceae) to reconstruct changes in environmental variables of limnological interest [pH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and, epilimnetic carbon dioxide (CO₂)] potentially associated with fire over the last 1200 calendar years. Diatom composition and related reconstructed limnological variables were compared before and after fire events. No significant changes were systematically observed in lake chemistry associated with fire events. However, diatom-inferred epilimnetic CO₂showed a clear decreasing trend over the last 400 cal. yrs BP. The results suggest that fire-induced changes in lake chemistry are limited in catchments dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana). We hypothesize that this fact result of excess moisture associated to the thick humus layer, which likely limits the mobilization of nutrients and major ions even during a fire event.