Discussion. Denudational isostatic rebound of intraplate highlands: The Lachlan river valley,Australia

Episodic terrace cutting cannot be a complex response to the steady isostatic rebound forecast by an elastic flexure model because three terraces match epiphreatic passage levels in nearby caves. There is also some doubt about how fluvial incision rates should be extrapolated to catchment-wide rates. At the local scale of the Lachlan River highlands, active tectonic compression may be more important than flexure, which is more important at a regional scale.     

Long-term drainage evolution in the shoalhaven catchment,southeast highlands,Australia

The long-term evolution of streams in the Shoalhaven catchment of southeast New South Wales has been a contentious issue for decades. Several authors have suggested that the Shoalhaven River was captured at the sharp eastward bend near Tallong: this has been used as evidence for the westward migration of the east Australian divide in this area. Other workers, however, have argued that capture did not occur and that the location of the divide has been stable throughout the Tertiary. A vast sheet of sediments which spread across and infill a palaeovalley network cut into a broad undulating plain in the middle Shoalhaven catchment provides a record of stream behaviour since at least the start of the Tertiary. This record shows that the Shoalhaven River and many of its tributaries have maintained almost the same courses since at least the very Early Tertiary. This provides strong evidence against the capture hypothesis. The record further suggests that during the Paleogene these streams were graded to a level within the southeast Australian highlands; their depths of incision thus cannot be used as evidence for the extent of uplift of the southeast Australian highlands during this time.     

卡罗琳板块及其附近地区的岩石圈有效弹性厚度

本文利用卡罗琳板块及其附近地区的自由空气重力异常和海水深度数据,结合滑动窗口导纳技术（MWAT）,计算了该地区的岩石圈有效弹性厚度Te.本文使用Multitaper（多窗谱）方法对功率谱密度进行估计,基于实际的海底地形,通过模拟计算得到了MWAT方法较真值的改正,MWAT方法计算的结果偏小20%左右.研究结果显示卡罗琳板块及其附近地区的Te变化范围为1～34 km.研究区域包括了海山、海底高原、俯冲带、扩张洋脊等多种构造,对它们的岩石圈强度的研究为认识西太平洋地区岩石圈的构造和演化提供了重要的依据.Te与加载时的岩石圈年龄、地表热流相关.Te与海底地壳年龄之间的关系显示Te主要位于板块冷却模型的450℃的等温线深度以上.西太平洋的Magellan海山和Marcus-Wake Guyots（MWG）地区的Te主要分布在加载形成时板块冷却模型的200℃的等温线深度附近,较低的等温线可能受太平洋超级地幔柱的影响.我们的研究结果也显示在研究区域内海洋地壳的热流与Te之间存在一定的反相关性.     

华北地区中东部岩石圈挠曲与均衡特性以及地震活动性分析

华北地区中东部涵盖北京、天津以及即将建设的雄安新区等大型城市,区内发育了张渤地震带等多条大型活动断裂,地震活动性较强,历史上发生过多次6级以上地震.本文利用Fan小波的布格重力异常一致性方法研究该区的岩石圈有效弹性厚度和均衡调整初始加载比分布,同时基于均衡调整方法计算该区垂向构造应力分布,并将以上结果与历史地震活动进行统计分析.岩石圈挠曲分析表明,华北地区中东部的岩石圈有效弹性厚度为10~65 km,分布特征为自东南向西北逐渐减小.均衡调整初始加载比为0.5~0.8,表明现今的岩石圈挠曲状态主要由莫霍面加载形成.该区地壳承载的垂向构造应力约为-20~20 MPa,中西部地区垂向构造应力向上,东北和西南地区向下.统计分析结果显示,华北地区中东部的地震活动性随着岩石圈有效弹性厚度和均衡调整初始加载比的增加而减弱,垂向构造应力零值区域地震活动性较弱.雄安新区的岩石圈有效弹性厚度大约为15 km,均衡调整初始加载比为0.5~0.6,垂向构造应力为15~20 MPa,岩石圈参数对应的地震活动性较强,相关结果对于新区建设具有一定参考价值.

     

南极洲东部普里兹湾海域重磁场特征及地壳结构

普里兹湾位于南极洲东部大陆边缘,其深部地壳结构特征对认识白垩纪冈瓦纳古陆裂解和新生代大陆边缘形成具有重要意义.本文利用重磁、多道反射地震、声纳浮标折射地震和ODP钻井数据对普里兹湾海域的深部地壳结构进行了研究.研究结果显示,普里兹凹陷表现为典型的盆地负重力异常特征,其沉积基底较深,而在四夫人浅滩为高幅重力正异常,其沉积基底普遍抬升.在大陆架中部存在SW-NE向条带状基底的抬升,且呈朝NE向逐渐变深的趋势.在中大陆架外侧,均衡残余重力异常呈V字形负异常条带状分布,其两翼分别与四夫人浅滩和弗拉姆浅滩外的大陆坡相连.该异常带在大陆架中部向陆的偏移可能是由于古大陆架边缘的地形影响,推测其与普里兹冲积扇同属于洋陆过渡带向陆的部分,在重力模拟剖面表现为地壳向海逐渐减薄.普里兹冲积扇的地壳厚度较薄,平均为6 km,最薄处可达4.6 km,并且根据洋陆过渡带向海端的位置,推测可能属于接近洋壳厚度的过渡壳.重力异常分区的走向与兰伯特地堑在普里兹湾的构造走向基本一致,可能主要反映了二叠纪—三叠纪超级地幔柱对普里兹湾的裂谷作用的影响.该区域的自由空间重力异常和均衡残余异常均表现为超过100×10-5m/s2的高幅正异常特征,可能由位于大陆架边缘的巨厚沉积体负载在高强度岩石圈之上的区域挠曲均衡作用所导致,可能与该区域第二期裂谷期之后的沉积间断以及快速进积加厚的演化过程有关.普里兹湾磁力异常的走向与重力异常明显不同,大致可分为东北高幅正异常区和西南低幅异常区.重磁异常在走向上的差异反映高磁异常主要来源于岩浆作用形成的铁镁质火成岩的影响,并且岩浆作用的时代不同于基底隆升的时代,而可能形成于前寒武纪或者南极洲和印度板块裂谷期间(白垩纪).     

Continental rifting and drainage reversal: The clarence river of Eastern Australia

The Clarence River on Australia's east coast has an anomalous drainage pattern. Its right-bank tributaries are markedly barbed, suggesting reversal, whereas Tertiary volcanism has disrupted its left-bank drainage. The southeast-flowing Clarence is closely aligned with the northwest-flowing Condamine River just across the Continental Divide. The Condamine-Clarence alignment is continued by a large southern tributary, the Orara River, which flows northwest, away from the sea, to meet the southeast-flowing Clarence. A broad river with a quite different character flows east from near the Orara-Clarence junction to the sea. This is essentially an overflow channel. This series of aligned streams, the Condamine-Clarence-Orara, represents the remains of an earlier northwest-flowing stream that extended the full length of the Clarence-Moreton Basin, an eastern extension of the Great Artesian Basin. During the Jurassic, the Clarence-Moreton Basin was filled with sediments from the surrounding highlands, including those to the east of the present coastline. Continental rifting from Late Cretaceous times onwards led to the opening of the Tasman Sea, causing the reversal and beheading of the original northwest-flowing streams and the formation of the Great Escarpment. The evolution of the Clarence River does not fit into most conventional geomorphic paradigms such as cycles, climatic geomorphology or steady-state landforms. It is the result of a succession of unique events on a very long timescale, and as such is a classic example of evolutionary geomorphology.     

Channel avulsion and river metamorphosis: The case of the Thomson River,Victoria, Australia

Channel avulsion occurred on the Thomson River in Victoria, Australia, in 1952 along a 12 km length of the valley. A comparison of the old and new channels reveals considerable differences in channel characteristics. The old channel was perched above the floodplain on an alluvial ridge such that when bankfull capacity was exceeded, floodwaters concentrated on the lowest part of the floodplain some distance away. This is where the new channel formed. It is an incised channel with larger capacity and longer meander wavelength than the old channel and is also shorter and steeper. The new channel is subject to larger floodflows and a more variable flood regime than the old course because of the differences in the channel/floodplain relationship and channel capacity. The resulting concentration of stream power along the new course is responsible for the contrast in channel characteristics and for the more rapid meander migration. This example shows that river metamorphosis can occur without major environmental changes. Measures of channel geometry such as gradient, sinuosity, and meander wavelength therefore cannot be used in palaeohydrological work to infer climatic or other environmental changes without independent supporting evidence. Differences in channel geometry can arise simply from changes in the relationship between the channel and its loodplain.     

The Whitsunday Volcanic Province, Central Queensland, Australia: lithological and stratigraphic investigations of a silicic-dominated large igneous province

Contrary to general belief, not all large igneous provinces (LIPs) are characterised by rocks of basaltic composition. Silicic-dominated LIPs, such as the Whitsunday Volcanic Province of NE Australia, are being increasingly recognised in the rock record. These silicic LIPs are consistent in being: (1) volumetrically dominated by ignimbrite; (2) active over prolonged periods (40–50 m.y.), based on available age data; and (3) spatially and temporally associated with plate break-up. This silicic-dominated LIP, related to the break-up of eastern continental Gondwana, is also significant for being the source of >1.4×10⁶ km³ of coeval volcanogenic sediment preserved in adjacent sedimentary basins of eastern Australia.The Whitsunday Volcanic Province is volumetrically dominated by medium- to high-grade, dacitic to rhyolitic lithic ignimbrites. Individual ignimbrite units are commonly between 10 and 100 m thick, and the ignimbrite-dominated sequences exceed 1 km in thickness. Coarse lithic lag breccias containing clasts up to 6 m diameter are associated with the ignimbrites in proximal sections. Pyroclastic surge and fallout deposits, subordinate basaltic to rhyolitic lavas, phreatomagmatic deposits, and locally significant thicknesses of coarse-grained volcanogenic conglomerate and sandstone are interbedded with the ignimbrites. The volcanic sequences are intruded by gabbro/dolerite to rhyolite dykes (up to 50 m in width), sills and comagmatic granite. Dyke orientations are primarily from NW to NNE.The volcanic sequences are characterised by the interstratification of proximal/near-vent lithofacies such as rhyolite domes and lavas, and basaltic agglomerate, with medial to distal facies of ignimbrite. The burial of these near-vent lithofacies by ignimbrites, coupled with the paucity of mass wastage products such as debris-flow deposits indicates a low-relief depositional environment. Furthermore, the volcanic succession records a temporal change in: (1) eruptive styles; (2) the nature of source vents; and (3) erupted compositions. An early explosive dacitic pyroclastic phase was succeeded by a later mixed pyroclastic-effusive phase producing an essentially bimodal suite of lavas and rhyolitic ignimbrite. From the nature and distribution of volcanic lithofacies, the volcanic sequences are interpreted to record the evolution of a multiple vent, low-relief volcanic region, dominated by several large caldera centres.     

Sediment transfer and transformation of an alluvial valley floor: The river South Tyne,Northumbria, U.K.

The amounts of alluvial storage and the mechanisms responsible for the dispersal of sediment associated with historic metal mining are examined for a 115 year timespan on a 22 km reach of the River South Tyne, northern England. Analysis of lateral and vertical channel change over this period, the extent of actively reworked gravels, and identification of metals in alluvial units, show five ‘sedimentation zones’ separated by more stable reaches. Aggradation in the late nineteenth century was followed by a period of storage and local reworking, and then incision. Some reaches show short-term storage of sediment injected from tributaries which may be dispersed by floods. There is some evidence of transfer of sediment bodies downvalley within sedimentation zones, and of a sediment ‘wave’ movement between zones in lower parts of the South Tyne investigated. Present-day incision, the variation in the area of actively reworked gravel spreads, and the widespread dispersal of fine-grained toxic metal mining wastes all have practical implications. The intricate response of the channel system to historic changes in sediment supply is not readily described by either a complex response model or a simple translatory wave.     

The long-term stability of engineered landforms of the Ranger Uranium Mine,Northern Territory,Australia: application of a catchment evolution model

There is a need to assess the long-term stability of engineered landforms associated with the rehabilitation of Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Territory, Australia, as it is a requirement that mill tailings must be contained for periods in excess of 1000 years. The geomorphic model, SIBERIA, is calibrated on hydrologic and erosion data collected by a combination of monitoring and rainfall simulation experiments on the waste rock dumps of Ranger. Preliminary analysis of Ranger's preferred above-grade option suggests that erosion of the order of 7 to 8 m will occur on the structure in a period of 1000 years. This depth of erosion may be sufficient to compromise the integrity of containment. It is shown that SIBERIA has significant advantages over steady-state erosion models. Suggestions are made for the design that will enhance the stability of the structure and extend the structural life of the containment. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The historical and palaeoflood record of Katherine river,northern Australia: evaluating the likelihood of extreme discharge events in the context of the 1998 flood

The discharge regimes of the large rivers of northern Australia are characterized by the occurrence of extreme flood events with far‐reaching environmental and societal impacts. In January 1998 the largest flood ever recorded on the Katherine River, northern Australia, resulted in widespread inundation and resultant damage to the town of Katherine. The occurrence of the flood emphasized the unreliability of the then available flood probability estimates and prompted a palaeoflood approach to estimate the recurrence interval of the event. The location of Katherine is ideal for such a study, as the town is located immediately downstream from Katherine Gorge, which provides the necessary bedrock‐confined channel required for such an approach. In addition, previous work in Katherine Gorge had demonstrated that the gorge sections hold suitable deposits for palaeoflood stage reconstruction. The results of the present study show that at least two flow events with discharges similar to the 1998 flood have occurred within the last 600 years, and that high‐magnitude floods are a general feature of the discharge record of the Katherine River over the last c. 2000 years. Furthermore, because the study was undertaken within a few months of the occurrence of the 1998 flood, it provided the opportunity to evaluate the previously obtained flood discharge estimates and draw attention to the general uncertainties associated with palaeoflood studies. Our results emphasize that palaeoflood stage estimates based on slackwater deposits need to be treated as conservative estimates only. More specifically, with respect to the 1998 event, our study demonstrates that the controls of flood peak were more complex than simply flood routing through the gorge sections. It is clear that the areas downstream from Katherine Gorge made an important contribution to the flood peak of the 1998 event. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.