Spatial and Temporal Patterns in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Thalassia testudinum</Emphasis> Leaf Tissue Nutrients at the Chandeleur Islands,Louisiana, USA

Seagrasses are submerged marine plants that are anchored to the substrate and are therefore limited to assimilating nutrients from the surrounding water column or sediment, or by translocating nutrients from adjacent shoots through the belowground rhizome. As a result, seagrasses have been used as reliable ecosystem indicators of surrounding nutrient conditions. The Chandeleur Islands are a chain of barrier islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico that support the only marine seagrass beds in Louisiana, USA, and are the sole location of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum across nearly 1000 km of the coastline from west Florida to central Texas. Over the past 150 years, the land area of the Chandeleur Islands has decreased by over half, resulting in a decline of seagrass cover. The goals of this study were to characterize the status of a climax seagrass species at the Chandeleur Islands, T. testudinum, in terms of leaf nutrient (nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P]) changes over time, from 1998 to 2015, and to assess potential drivers of leaf nutrient content. Thalassia testudinum leaf nutrients displayed considerable interannual variability in N and P content and molar ratios, which broadly mimicked patterns in annual average dissolved nutrient concentrations in the lower Mississippi River. Hydrological modeling demonstrated the potential for multiple scenarios that would deliver Mississippi River water, and thus nutrients, to T. testudinum at the Chandeleur Islands. Although coastal eutrophication is generally accepted as the proximate cause for seagrass loss globally, there is little evidence that nutrient input from the Mississippi River has driven the dramatic declines observed in seagrasses at the Chandeleur Islands. Rather, seagrass cover along the Chandeleur Islands appears to be strongly influenced by island geomorphological processes. Although variable over time, the often elevated nutrient levels of the climax seagrass species, T. testudinum, which are potentially driven by river-derived nutrient inputs, raises an important consideration of the potential loss of the ecosystem functions and services associated with these declining seagrass meadows.     

A landslide inventory system as a base for automated process and risk analyses

Landslide research requires consistent and widespread data. Many countries within the European Union have national landslide inventories to fulfill these demands for their respective research. However, those inventories were usually not intended to provide the technical basis for automated process and risk analyses during their design phase. The ongoing development of Germany’s national landslide database offers the opportunity to do this differently. This paper introduces a landslide inventory system called WISL suitable for data handling as well as for novel automated process and risk analyses on a national scale. WISL is designated to form the technical infrastructure for a German national database. Its core consists of an open source relational database management system (PostgreSQL), standardized input and registration methods as well as integrated analyses modules, which avoid large data movement and allow for rapid risk analyses. We present proof-of-concept results of endangered infrastructure related to automated risk mappings based on topography and proximity of active landslides. The use of open source software and the application of a standardized input and data acquisition system for experts, coupled with custom analysis modules, constitutes a step toward automated risk maps by a mere ‘button-press’. Future developments for the inventory lie in the field of refining and inventing analysis modules and collecting data, for which WISL provides a firm technical base.     

An integrated object-based image analysis and CA-Markov model approach for modeling land use/land cover trends in the Sarab plain

The present paper is an attempt to integrate a semi-automated object-based image analysis (OBIA) classification framework and a cellular automata-Markov model to study land use/land cover (LULC) changes. Land use maps for the Sarab plain in Iran for the years 2000, 2006, and 2014 were created from Landsat satellite data, by applying an OBIA classification using the normalized difference vegetation index, salinity index, moisture stress index, soil-adjusted vegetation index, and elevation and slope indicators. The classifications yielded overall accuracies of 91, 93, and 94% for 2000, 2006, and 2014, respectively. Finally, using the transition matrix, the spatial distribution of land use was simulated for 2020. The results of the study revealed that the number of orchards with irrigated agriculture and dry-farm agriculture in the Sarab plain is increasing, while the amount of bare land is decreasing. The results of this research are of great importance for regional authorities and decision makers in strategic land use planning.     

An integrated technology for gas control and green mining in deep mines based on ultra-thin seam mining

With the increasing demand for coal resources, coal mining has gradually entered into the deep strata of coal seams. Although the increase in mining depth improves energy security, it is associated with severe hazards, especially coal and gas outburst. Protective seam mining is an efficient method for gas control and has been widely used in major coal-producing countries. However, studies on deep ultra-thin protective seam (thickness 0.1–1 m, average thickness 0.5 m) mining and its related problems have been rarely reported. Focusing on the challenges resulting from deep mining (mining depth >1100 m) and the research gap, a coal and gas co-exploitation technique, which combines the gas control technology and green mining (including coal preparation and backfilling), has been proposed in this work. Significant benefits have been achieved in the twelfth coal mine of the Pingdingshan coalfield (study area) following the implementation of this technique. The application of the gas control technology markedly improved the gas drainage efficiency, promoted increased gas utilization, and reduced the greenhouse gas emission, providing notable economic and environmental benefits. In addition, implementation of green mining improved the coal quality, relieved the burden of the transport system, and, in particular, effectively prevented surface subsidence, thus protecting the ecological environment of the mining area, which offered significant economic, environmental, and social benefits. The practice in the twelfth coal mine could be used as a valuable example for coal mines with similar geological conditions.     

城市公共自行车自愿碳减排机制初探——以北京市为例

公共自行车系统是待开发的交通自愿碳减排项目。本文采用CCER方法学中的“快速公交项目”,计算北京市2012年公共自行车系统自愿碳减排量,并估算收益。结果显示：北京市2012年公共自行车自愿碳减排量为43.95 t CO₂,出售可获得1538元的收益。同时估算得到北京市2015年公共自行车碳减排量为6874.5 t CO₂,出售可获得约24万的收益。因此,北京等交通需求膨胀的特大型城市,随着公共自行车系统的持续壮大发展,公共自行车运营企业的经济效益有望通过碳交易实现较大提升空间。     

Review paper: Exploration geophysics for intrusion‐hosted rare metals

Igneous intrusions, notably carbonatitic–alkalic intrusions, peralkaline intrusions, and pegmatites, represent significant sources of rare‐earth metals. Geophysical exploration for and of such intrusions has met with considerable success. Examples of the application of the gravity, magnetic, and radiometric methods in the search for rare metals are presented and described. Ground gravity surveys defining small positive gravity anomalies helped outline the shape and depth of the Nechalacho (formerly Lake) deposit within the Blatchford Lake alkaline complex, Northwest Territories, and of spodumene‐rich mineralization associated with the Tanco deposit, Manitoba, within the hosting Tanco pegmatite. Based on density considerations, the bastnaesite‐bearing main ore body within the Mountain Pass carbonatite, California, should produce a gravity high similar in amplitude to those associated with the Nechalacho and Tanco deposits. Gravity also has utility in modelling hosting carbonatite intrusions, such as the Mount Weld intrusion, Western Australia, and Elk Creek intrusion, Nebraska. The magnetic method is probably the most successful geophysical technique for locating carbonatitic–alkalic host intrusions, which are typically characterized by intense positive, circular to sub‐circular, crescentic, or annular anomalies. Intrusions found by this technique include the Mount Weld carbonatite and the Misery Lake alkali complex, Quebec. Two potential carbonatitic–alkalic intrusions are proposed in the Grenville Province of Eastern Quebec, where application of an automatic technique to locate circular magnetic anomalies identified several examples. Two in particular displayed strong similarities in magnetic pattern to anomalies accompanying known carbonatitic or alkalic intrusions hosting rare‐metal mineralization and are proposed to have a similar origin. Discovery of carbonatitic–alkalic hosts of rare metals has also been achieved by the radiometric method. The Thor Lake group of rare‐earth metal deposits, which includes the Nechalacho deposit, were found by follow‐up investigations of strong equivalent thorium and uranium peaks defined by an airborne survey. Prominent linear radiometric anomalies associated with glacial till in the Canadian Shield have provided vectors based on ice flow directions to source intrusions. The Allan Lake carbonatite in the Grenville Province of Ontario is one such intrusion found by this method. Although not discovered by its radiometric characteristics, the Strange Lake alkali intrusion on the Quebec–Labrador border is associated with prominent linear thorium and uranium anomalies extending at least 50 km down ice from the intrusion. Radiometric exploration of rare metals hosted by pegmatites is evaluated through examination of radiometric signatures of peraluminous pegmatitic granites in the area of the Tanco pegmatite.     

2013年川滇交界香格里拉—得荣震群序列的重新定位、震源机制及发震构造

2013年8月28日和31日四川得荣县与云南德钦县、香格里拉县交界地区分别发生MS5.2和MS5.9地震.这两次主震连同截至2013年12月31日发生的589次M≥1.5余震,构成香格里拉—得荣震群序列.该序列的震区位于青藏高原东南隅横断山脉的三江构造带地区,地处川滇菱形块体西边界,当地有多组交错的活动断裂.为了了解这一震群序列的震源构造特征以及震区的构造动力环境,我们利用区域地震台网的数字波形资料以及中国地震台网中心的有关震相数据,建立了分区速度结构模型;使用Loc3D(川滇走时表定位软件)重新测定该震群序列中10次MS4.0地震的位置,利用双差法对该序列中的更小地震进行重新定位;同时,采用地震矩张量的时间域反演方法获得10次MS4.0地震震源机制的矩张量解.重新定位结果显示:香格里拉—得荣震群序列的绝大部分地震发生在NW向德钦—中甸—大具断裂中段7~15km深度的基底层,整个序列的震源分布长度约17km,横向宽度约7km;震源分布在横剖面表现为负花状构造的断裂带内,其中,NE倾向的主干活动断裂及其北东侧一条SW倾向的次级断裂分别控制该负花状构造的两个侧边.本研究反演得到的震源机制解显示:该序列所有MS4.0地震均是德钦—中甸—大具断裂中段在近S-N向—NNE-SSW向拉张作用下的正断层作用的结果,右旋走滑作用并不明显.这与该断裂晚第四纪活动的地质地貌特征—右旋走滑为主、正断倾滑为辅—并不吻合.这种不一致可能暗示震区的现今构造运动与以往有所不同,为进一步研究青藏亚板块东南隅与缅甸亚板块以及印度板块交界地区的现今构造动力学提出了问题与线索.