PHYSIOGRAPHIC STAGES OF CENTRAL CHINA~1

Among the far-reaching plans envisaged by the late Dr. Davidson Black as part of the work of the Cenozoic Laboratory was a correlation of the Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of the whole of China on the basis of geomorphology. This called for a study of the physiography of the major     

A new CGMW map： The structural map of the Indian Ocean： An attempt at ocean cartography

The Commission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW), an IUGS affiliated body, has just issued the first edition of the Structural Map of the Indian Ocean which was presented during the 32nd IGC (Florence). During the 1980‘s, the Commission published the Geological Atlas of the World, which included the maps of the 5 oceans of the globe. Two decades have elapsed and the knowledge of the sea-floor experienced very significant progress; therefore some 5 years ago, the Commission decided to launch a new type of ocean mapping. The Structural Map of the Indian Ocean is the first of this new series of maps.     

The Present Research and Prospect of Chinese Geosciences History

It has been over a hundred years since the birth of research on Chinese geosciences history, which was accompanied by the continuous progress of Chinese geosciences. For hundreds of years, it has grown out of nothing to brilliant performance by several generations of Chinese geologists committing their hearts and minds with the spirit of exert and strive without stop to promote the process of China's industrialization and to produce the significant impact on serving the society. The study of Chinese geosciences history reflects objectively and historically the history of geosciences in China, which has recorded, analyzed and evaluated the dynamic process sitting in the background and clue of the history of Chinese geosciences development. The study of the history of geological science has roughly experienced two stages in China. The first stage is the study of individual researchers. It spanned approximately 70 years from the early 20th century to the end of the 1970s. The research contents were mainly based on the evolution of geological organizations, the development and utilization of individual mineral species, the history of deposit discovery and the research of geological characters. The main representatives are Zhang Hongzhao, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao and Li Siguang, Ye Liangfu, Huang Jiqing, Yang Zhongjian, Xie Jiarong, Gao Zhenxi, Wang Bingzhang and etc. The most prominent feature of this period is the accumulation of a very valuable document for the study of the history of China's geological history and lays a foundation for the exchange of geological science between China and foreign countries. The second stage is organized group study. It took around 60 years from the 1920s to 1980s. It includes the history of Chinese geology, the history of geological organizations, the history of geological disciplines, the history of geological education, the history of geological philosophy, the history of Chinese and foreign geological science communication, the history of geologists and etc. The most chief feature of this stage is the birth of academic research institute―the establishment of the Commission on the History of Geology of the Geological Society of China.     

Radiolarians from the Pohang Basin,Southeast Korea and Paleoceanographic Implications

We identified a total of 101 species and two subspecies of radiolarians belonging to 56 genera from 95 samples collected from the Hagjeon and Duho Formations in the Pohang Basin of the southeastern Korean Peninsula. On the basis of the biostratigraphic range of Cyrtocapsella cornuta and Theocorys redondoensis, the depositional period of the upper Hagjeon and lowest Duho Formations was determined to be early to late Middle Miocene. The occurrence of deep-dwelling radiolarians indicates that the paleobathymetry seems to become gradually progressing toward an upper bathyal environment in the middle part of the Hagjeon Formation. However, we prefer to accept another interpretation for the occurrence of deep-sea indicators in the Hagjeon and the lowest part of the Duho Formations, and consider the presence of a region of upwelling cold water that might have simulated a deep-water environment in relatively shallow water. This interpretation is based on the present upwelling of a cold-water mass off the southeast coast of Korea, the occurrence of upwelling microfossils from the Pohang Basin, and the effect of the closing of the Korea Strait approximately 15 Ma. We also considered that the uppermost part of the studied section represents a shallow-water environment.     

REMAINS OF JURASSIC PLANTS FROM PATAOHO, MANCHURIA

All the forms undoubtedly prove the Jurassic age of the coal-beering strata of Pataohol.A more exact age of the deposits is difficult owing to the small uumber of spscies represented Nevertheless the presence of Dioonites kotoi which is typical as it seems,to the npper divission of the east-asiatic Jurassic,and shows the probability that the series at Pataoho corresponds nearer to the Nicanian Series of the Maritime Province or to the Upper Division of Jurassic deosits developed in the Ussuri Region.     

Weathering-pedogenesis of Carbonate Rocks and Its Environmental Effects in Subtropical Region

We investigated the weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks and its environmental effects in subtropical regions of China. The investigation demonstrated that the weathering- pedogenesis of carbonate rocks is the process of a joint action of corrosion and illuviation and metasomatism in subtropical region. It is characterized by multi-stage, multi-path and multi-style. With the persisting development of weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks, metasomatic pedogenesis progressively became the main process of the weathering-pedogenesis and the dominant style of formation of minerals. And it proceeds through the whole process of evolution of the weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks. The stage evolution of weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks and the fractionation evolution of newly produced minerals are characterized by obvious vertically zoning structures and the rules of gradation of elements geochemical characteristics in the carbonate rocks weathering profiles. The geochemical process of weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks can be divided into three geochemical evolution stages, i.e., the Ca, Mg-depletion and Si, Al-enrichment stage; the Fe, Mn enrichment stage and the Si-depletion and Al-enrichment stage in the subtropical regions. Consistent with the three geochemical evolution stages, the sequence of formation and evolution of minerals can be divided into the clay mineral stage; the Fe, Mn oxide and the gibbsite stage. The influence of weathering-pedogenesis of carbonate rocks on the chemical forms of heavy elements is mainly affected via newly produced components and minerals in the process of weathering-pedogenesis, e.g., iron oxide minerals and organic matters. The important mechanism for the mobilization, transport and pollution of F and As is affected the selective adsorption and desorption of F and As on the surface of iron oxide minerals in the subtropical karst zones, i.e., the selective adsorption and desorption on mineral surfaces of newly produced minerals in the process of weath     

Paleozoic and Mesozoic Basement Magmatisms of Eastern Qaidam Basin,Northern Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau: LA‐ICP‐MS Zircon U‐Pb Geochronology and its Geological Significance

The eastern margin of the Qaidam Basin lies in the key tectonic location connecting the Qinling, Qilian and East Kunlun orogens. The paper presents an investigation and analysis of the geologic structures of the area and LA-ICP MS zircon U-Pb dating of Paleozoic and Mesozoic magmatisms of granitoids in the basement of the eastern Qaidam Basin on the basis of 16 granitoid samples collected from the South Qilian Mountains, the Qaidam Basin basement and the East Kunlun Mountains. According to the results in this paper, the basement of the basin, from the northern margin of the Qaidam Basin to the East Kunlun Mountains, has experienced at least three periods of intrusive activities of granitoids since the Early Paleozoic, i.e. the magmatisms occurring in the Late Cambrian (493.1±4.9 Ma), the Silurian (422.9±8.0 Ma-420.4±4.6 Ma) and the Late Permian-Middle Triassic (257.8±4.0 Ma-228.8±1.5 Ma), respectively. Among them, the Late Permian - Middle Triassic granitoids form the main components of the basement of the basin. The statistics of dated zircons in this paper shows the intrusive magmatic activities in the basement of the basin have three peak ages of 244 Ma (main), 418 Ma, and 493 Ma respectively. The dating results reveal that the Early Paleozoic magmatism of granitoids mainly occurred on the northern margin of the Qaidam Basin and the southern margin of the Qilian Mountains, with only weak indications in the East Kunlun Mountains. However, the distribution of Permo-Triassic (P-T) granitoids occupied across the whole basement of the eastern Qaidam Basin from the southern margin of the Qilian Mountains to the East Kunlun Mountains. An integrated analysis of the age distribution of P-T granitoids in the Qaidam Basin and its surrounding mountains shows that the earliest P-T magmatism (293.6-270 Ma) occurred in the northwestern part of the basin and expanded eastwards and southwards, resulting in the P-T intrusive magmatism that ran through the whole basin basement. As the Cenozoic basement thrust system developed in the eastern Qaidam Basin, the nearly N-S-trending shortening and deformation in the basement of the basin tended to intensify from west to east, which went contrary to the distribution trend of N-S-trending shortening and deformation in the Cenozoic cover of the basin, reflecting that there was a transformation of shortening and thickening of Cenozoic crust between the eastern and western parts of the Qaidam Basin, i.e., the crustal shortening of eastern Qaidam was dominated by the basement deformation (triggered at the middle and lower crust), whereas that of western Qaidam was mainly by folding and thrusting of the sedimentary cover (the upper crust).     

A Climatic Sequence Stratigraphic Model in the Terrestrial Lacustrine Basin:A Case Study of Green River Formation,Uinta Basin,USA

In recent years,with the development of terrestrial sequence stratigraphy,more attention has been focused on the study of the terrestrial lacustrine sequence stratigraphic model globally. Different viewpoints are preferred by researchers.Under the guidance of the theory of sequence stratigraphy,the findings of this paper indicate that climate is a major factor controlling the formation of the fourth-order sequence,based upon the study of the sequence stratigraphy in the Green River Formation of the Uinta...     

Analysis on Structural Control of Coal Distribution in the Northern Qaidam Basin, NW China

The distribution of the Jurassic coal measures in the northern Qaidam Basin is obviously controlled by the regional structures. Based on the existing data of coalfield exploration and combined with the analysis of coalfield basement structures, features of the main faults, and the distribution of coal measures, this paper brings forward a scheme of coalfield tectonic divisional units and the definition of the coal-controlling structural styles in the northern Qaidam Basin. The structure control of the distribution of coal measures is further discussed. Several stages of regional tectonic activities since the Indosinian has led to the distribution of coal measures into the characteristics of zonation from the north to south and block from east to west. The results indicate that the structural deformations are the most intense in the front of the three uplifted belts, which are characterized by the combination of thrusts. The coal measures are uplifted to the shallow formations, and are easy to be exploited, but the scale of mines is small because of serious damages by the coal distribution. On the contrary, the stress and strain are weak in the three depressions, with the coal-controlling structural styles being mainly the thrust-fold and thrust-monocline combinations. The distribution of coals in the depressions is relatively stable. The shallower part of the depression will become the key areas for exploration and development of coal resources in the northern Qaidam Basin.     

Influence of borehole quantity and distribution on lithology field simulation

This paper aims to study the influence of the number and distribution of drill samples on the simulation accuracy of the lithology field. This research mainly applies the variation function method in geo-statistics, and determines important indicators such as the variation, and then the lithology field is simulated by sequence index simulation. It is shown that(1) simulation error decreases with the increase of sampling density;(2) at the scale and complexity of this study, when the sampling density reaches 40/km^2, the average error of the lithology field simulation can be less than 2.0%;(3) in the study mode of examples, the simulation results of random sampling in the whole region are the most ideal, with an average error of 5.4%. The average error of the simulation results of the centralized sampling is about 10 times that of the random sampling method;(4) known from the influence analysis of the degree of study sample unevenness influence on the imitation results, under the same sample size, the simulation error decreases with the increase of the most adjacent index. When the nearest index reaches 1, the simulation error will be less than 6%, and the error variable range is within 3%.     

Statistical considerations for grain-size analyses of tills

Relative percentages of sand, silt, and clay from samples of the same till unit are not identical because of different lithologies in the source areas, sorting in transport, random variation, and experimental error. Random variation and experimental error can be isolated from the other two as follows. For each particle-size class of each till unit, a standard population is determined by using a normally distributed, representative group of data. New measurements are compared with the standard population and, if they compare satisfactorily, the experimental error is not significant and random variation is within the expected range for the population. The outcome of the comparison depends on numerical criteria derived from a graphical method rather than on a more commonly used one-way analysis of variance with two treatments. If the number of samples and the standard deviation of the standard population are substituted in at-test equation, a family of hyperbolas is generated, each of which corresponds to a specific number of subsamples taken from each new sample. The axes of the graphs of the hyperbolas are the standard deviation of new measurements (horizontal axis) and the difference between the means of the new measurements and the standard population (vertical axis). The area between the two branches of each hyperbola corresponds to a satisfactory comparison between the new measurements and the standard population. Measurements from a new sample can be tested by plotting their standard deviation vs. difference in means on axes containing a hyperbola corresponding to the specific number of subsamples used. If the point lies between the branches of the hyperbola, the measurements are considered reliable. But if the point lies outside this region, the measurements are repeated. Because the critical segment of the hyperbola is approximately a straight line parallel to the horizontal axis, the test is simplified to a comparison between the means of the standard population and the means of the subsample. The minimum number of subsamples required to prove significant variation between samples caused by different lithologies in the source areas and sorting in transport can be determined directly from the graphical method. The minimum number of subsamples required is the maximum number to be run for economy of effort.     

Stress-strain analysis of geogrid-supported liners over subsurface cavities

Summary Finite element analyses were conducted to investigate the magnitude of tensile strains imposed on landfill liners due to the formation of subsurface cavities. The study incorporated the significance of using geogrids to reduce the magnitude of strains and possibly the potential for collapse of landfill liners. Variations of key parameters included depth of overburden (D) and diameter of the cavity (B). Estimated stress distributions were compared to theoretical values obtained from a model reported in the literature. Results indicated that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the critical area based on the mechanics of arching was above the edge of the cavity where stress concentration occurred. Incorporation of geogrid reinforcement reduced the magnitude of tensile strains. The tensile force in the geogrid was dependent upon the size of the cavity, the depth of the overburden, and the applied pressure.     

Viscous effects on penetrating shafts in clays

The penetration of rigid objects such as piles and penetrometers into soils creates a zone of soil disturbance around them. The extent of this disturbed zone influences the resistance of the moving rigid body. This paper presents a theoretical framework to analyze the resistance in the disturbed zone created by a shaft penetrating a clay soil. The soil is modeled as a viscous material after it reaches failure [critical state (CS)]. The results of this analysis show that the viscous drag stress component on the shaft surface is influenced by the size of disturbed zone that has reached CS around the shaft, the shear viscosity of the soil and the velocity profile (or strain rate) in the CS zone around the shaft. The size of CS zone, the velocity profile and the viscosity of soil are interdependent. Large variation in viscous drag occurs when the size of the CS soil zone is less than four times the shaft’s radius. Limiting drag occurs when the size of the CS soil zone exceeds six times the shaft’s radius. The theoretical velocity distribution of the movement of soil in the CS zone shows that the soil is dragged along with shaft in the near field (close to the shaft surface) and moves upwards in the far field.     

具彩色斑纹颅形贝在广西桂林下石炭统黄金组中的发现:兼论颅形贝属的地质地理分布

文中描述了产自广西桂林地区下石炭统黄金组下部的颅形贝属一新种,桂林颅形贝(Cranaena guilinensis)。新种以平直的前结合缘和背壳上发育中槽为特征。在4枚标本上发现保存有放射状的彩色条带,表明该种当时生活在温暖海域的浅水环境。对该属70个种的地质地理分布和生物多样性变化的初步分析表明,该属可能起源于早泥盆世欧美大陆西北缘的老世界区,之后的地理分布和生物多样性发展以北美地区为中心,经历了中泥盆世—晚泥盆世早期和早石炭世2次比较明显的辐射演化、迁移扩散高峰和晚泥盆世晚期的1次严重衰退。第1次高峰是中泥盆世—晚泥盆世早期,该属的生物多样性达到巅峰,生物地理分布范围扩大到欧美大陆之外的西伯利亚板块、哈萨克斯坦板块和华南板块等;第2次高峰是早石炭世,该属的生物多样性虽不及前一次,但获得了最广泛的地理分布,不仅在北方大陆有分布,而且已进入到冈瓦纳大陆边缘。晚泥盆世晚期该属的1次严重衰退显然与F/F灭绝事件有关。早石炭世之后,该属进入衰退阶段,最终在二叠纪初灭绝。     

Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) stratigraphy and structure of the Walterstown-Kentstown area,Co. Meath,Ireland

Stratigraphic units are defined and described for the Lower Carboniferous succession in the Walterstown-Kentstown area of Co. Meath, Ireland. A complete (unexposed) Courceyan succession from the terrestrial red bed facies of the Baronstown Formation to the Moathill Formation of the Navan Group has been penetrated in several boreholes. Although the lower part of the sequence is comparable with the Courceyan succession at Navan and Slane, the middle part of the sequence differs markedly in the Walterstown-Kentstown area and two new members, the Proudstown and Walterstown Members, are defined in the upper part of the Meath Formation. Syndepositional faulting was initiated during the Courceyan, probably in latest Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus or early Polygnathus mehli latus time. Movement on the ENE trending St. Patrick's Well Fault influenced the deposition of the Walterstown Member and the overlying Moathill Formation and was probably associated with the development of the East Midlands depocentre to the south of the area. A second episode of tectonism in the latest Courceyan or early Chadian resulted in uplift and erosion and the development of ‘block and basin’ sedimentation. Subsequent transgression of the uplifted block led to the establishment of the Kentstown Platform, bounded to the north, west and south by rocks of basinal facies. The Milverton Group (Chadian-Asbian), confined to this platform, unconformably overlies Courceyan or Lower Palaeozoic strata and is subdivided into three formations: Crufty Formation (late Chadian), Holmpatrick Formation (late Chadian-Arundian) and Mullaghfin Formation (late Arundian-Asbian). The Walterstown Fault controlled the western margin of the Kentstown Platform at this time. Contemporaneous basinal sediments of the Fingal Group (Lucan and Naul Formations) accumulated to the west of the Walterstown Fault and are much thicker than age-equivalent platform facies. Platform sedimentation ceased in latest Asbian to early Brigantian time with tectonically induced collapse and drowning of the platform; platform carbonates of the Mullaghfin Formation are onlapped northwards by coarse proximal basinal facies of the Loughshinny Formation. A distinct gravity anomaly in the Kentstown area suggests the presence of a granitoid body within the basement. The Kentstown Platform is therefore considered to have formed on a buoyant, granite-cored, footwall high analogous to the Askrigg and Alston Blocks of northern England.     

Controls on the evolution and demise of Lower Carboniferous carbonate platforms,northern margin of the Dublin Basin,Ireland

Shallow water platform limestones of the Chadian–Asbian Milverton Group are restricted to the north-eastern part of the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Dublin Basin. Here, they are confined to two granite-cored fault blocks, the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, known to have been active during the late Dinantian. Three areas of platform sedimentation are delimited (the Kentstown, Drogheda and Milverton areas), although in reality they probably formed part of a single carbonate platform. Resedimented submarine breccias and calciturbidites (Fingal Group) composed of shallow water allochems and intraclasts sourced from the platform accumulated, along with terrigenous muds, in the surrounding basinal areas. Sedimentological evidence suggests that the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks possessed tilt-block geometries and developed during an episode of basin-wide extensional faulting in late Chadian time. Rotation of the blocks during extension resulted in the erosion of previously deposited sequences in footwall areas and concomitant drowning of distal hangingwall sequences. Antithetic faults on the northern part of the Balbriggan Block aided the preferential subsidence of the Drogheda area and accounts for the anomously thick sequence of late Chadian platform sediments present there. Continued subsidence and/or sea-level rise in the late Chadian–early Arundian resulted in transgression of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks; carbonate ramps developed on the hangingwall dip slopes and transgressed southward with time. Subsequent progradation and aggradation of shallow water sediments throughout the Arundian to Asbian led to the development of carbonate shelves. Several coarse conglomeratic intervals within the contemporaneous basinal sequences of the Fingal Group attest to periodic increases of sediment influx associated with the development of the shelves. Sedimentological processes controlled the development of the carbonate platforms on the hangingwall dip slopes of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, though periodic increases of sediment flux into the basinal areas may have been triggered by eustatic falls in sea level. In contrast, differential subsidence along the bounding faults of these blocks exerted a strong control on the margins of the late Dinantian shelves, maintaining relatively steep slopes and inhibiting the progradation of the shelves into the adjacent basins. Tectonically induced collapse and retreat of the platform margins occurred in the late Asbian–early Brigantian. Platform sediments are overlain by coarse-grained proximal basinal facies which fine upwards before passing into a thick shale sequence, indicating that by the late Brigantian carbonate production had almost stopped as the platforms were drowned.     

Nouvelle interprétation tectonique de la montagne Sainte-Victoire (Provence,France)

The explanation normally given for the tectonics of Sainte-Victoire Mountain, a dozen kilometres east of Aix-en-Provence, to the north of the limestone Provence, is incorrect. To the east, the morphology of the Sainte-Victoire is subdued, whereas to the west, before the mountain breaks savagely, the morphology is that of a young mountain as appears in Alpine landscapes. This unusual aspect in the region and the large subvertical faults with vertically striated surfaces that mark the massif to the south and to the west, induce the idea of strong vertical uplifts and caste doubt on the tectonic interpretation given in 1962 by Corroy et al. According to those authors, the Sainte-Victoire is a unit of Jurassic and Cretaceous formations overthrusting 1800 m to the south conglomerates of the Late Cretaceous or Palaeocene. New observations about the conglomerate transgression over the Jurassic and Cretaceous beds, and about the faults around and on the massif do not give evidence of an overthrusting but, on the contrary, induce the idea of a uplift, perhaps still active, in the form of a ‘piano key’ inclined to the northeast. To cite this article: J. Ricour et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Evolution of the European Cenozoic Rift System: interaction of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogens with their foreland lithosphere

The evolution of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) and the Alpine orogen is discussed on the base of a set of palaeotectonic maps and two retro-deformed lithospheric transects which extend across the Western and Central Alps and the Massif Central and the Rhenish Massif, respectively.During the Paleocene, compressional stresses exerted on continental Europe by the evolving Alps and Pyrenees caused lithospheric buckling and basin inversion up to 1700 km to the north of the Alpine and Pyrenean deformation fronts. This deformation was accompanied by the injection of melilite dykes, reflecting a plume-related increase in the temperature of the asthenosphere beneath the European foreland. At the Paleocene–Eocene transition, compressional stresses relaxed in the Alpine foreland, whereas collisional interaction of the Pyrenees with their foreland persisted. In the Alps, major Eocene north-directed lithospheric shortening was followed by mid-Eocene slab- and thrust-loaded subsidence of the Dauphinois and Helvetic shelves. During the late Eocene, north-directed compressional intraplate stresses originating in the Alpine and Pyrenean collision zones built up and activated ECRIS.At the Eocene–Oligocene transition, the subducted Central Alpine slab was detached, whereas the West-Alpine slab remained attached to the lithosphere. Subsequently, the Alpine orogenic wedge converged northwestward with its foreland. The Oligocene main rifting phase of ECRIS was controlled by north-directed compressional stresses originating in the Pyrenean and Alpine collision zones.Following early Miocene termination of crustal shortening in the Pyrenees and opening of the oceanic Provençal Basin, the evolution of ECRIS was exclusively controlled by west- and northwest-directed compressional stresses emanating from the Alps during imbrication of their external massifs. Whereas the grabens of the Massif Central and the Rhône Valley became inactive during the early Miocene, the Rhine Rift System remained active until the present. Lithospheric folding controlled mid-Miocene and Pliocene uplift of the Vosges-Black Forest Arch. Progressive uplift of the Rhenish Massif and Massif Central is mainly attributed to plume-related thermal thinning of the mantle-lithosphere.ECRIS evolved by passive rifting in response to the build-up of Pyrenean and Alpine collision-related compressional intraplate stresses. Mantle-plume-type upwelling of the asthenosphere caused thermal weakening of the foreland lithosphere, rendering it prone to deformation.     

青藏高原风火山流域坡面尺度活动层土壤水热时空变化特征

以风火山流域某阴坡坡顶、 坡底和阳坡坡底活动层土壤水热及气象资料为基础, 对青藏高原多年冻土区不同地形条件下的土壤水热时空变化特征进行了分析。结果表明： 在融化阶段, 除表层5 cm外, 阴坡坡底各深度土壤开始融化日期均比坡顶早, 比阳坡坡底晚; 阴坡坡脚各深度土壤含水量均大于坡顶和阳坡坡底。在冻结阶段, 开始冻结日期在阴坡坡底均比坡顶早, 但比阳坡坡底晚; 阴坡坡底各深度土壤含水量均高于坡顶相应土层的含水量, 在20 cm、 100 cm、 160 cm深处高于阳坡相应土层的含水量, 但在5 cm、 50 cm深处, 稳定冻结后两者的含水量差异较小。在整个冻融过程中, 阴坡坡底土壤温度对气温变化的响应弱于坡顶及阳坡坡底, 但其土壤水分对降水的响应强于坡顶及阳坡坡底。植被生长发育受水分和热量条件的制约, 不同地形条件下水热时空变化差异将影响植被空间分布特征。在未来气候变暖情况下, 上坡位植被可能因为水分胁迫而退化, 出现荒漠化现象, 而下坡位由于受侧向流的影响, 土壤水分对降水的响应强烈, 植被不会发生显著退化; 在不同坡向之间, 同一坡位阳坡植被退化程度可能大于阴坡。     

渭河中游宝鸡-扶风北岸斜坡结构及其对大型滑坡形成机理的指示意义

渭河中游宝鸡-扶风段北岸塬边集中发育大型黄土滑坡,体积超过1 000×10⁴ m³的滑坡达58处。在区域活动断裂调查、地球物理勘察、典型斜坡结构与构造调查基础上,研究了大型滑坡结构及其形成机理。研究表明：渭河北缘活动断裂以地堑式结构控制北坡塬边斜坡的地貌,主断裂面倾向南,倾角平均为68°,而次级断面结构组合控制斜坡结构,影响塬边大型黄土滑坡结构;塬边主断裂面与多个大型黄土滑坡后缘滑壁一致,断裂最大下挫距离7.1 m,影响大型滑坡的形态及发生过程;活动断裂呈地堑式结构,局部次级断面控制塬边多级滑动面的结构及其演化过程,如杨家村滑坡,局部滑坡剪出受断裂结构控制,剪出口角度可达72°,大部分剪出口未受到断裂面影响,角度平均为23°;三门组黏土岩黏粒体积分数超过35%,塑限平均值为23,是滑坡的层间剪切带;降雨诱发老滑坡复活是目前新滑坡发育的主要形式,大量的老滑坡形成于0.009 Ma BP二级阶地侵蚀期,而古滑坡形成于0.13 Ma BP三级阶地侵蚀期。