Throughfall and its spatial variability in a temperate rainforest of simple structure

There are few throughfall data from southern hemisphere closed-forest, and none from Tasmanian callidendrous cool-temperate rainforest, which has a simpler structure than most primary rainforests. We determined throughfall, measured its local spatial variation, and tested its relationships with rainfall, rainfall intensity, wind speed, canopy dryness, canopy cover, and other structural variables in a cool-temperate callidendrous rainforest in Tasmania. Eighty-two percent of the precipitation was measured as throughfall, which occurred after 2.3 mm of rain fell on dry canopies. The cumulative rainfall in 25 randomly located funnel rain gauges on the forest floor varied from 160 to 567 mm. Canopy cover and other structural variables did not predict the spatial pattern of throughfall. While throughfall in rainfall events was related to rainfall amount and intensity, wind speed did not affect throughfall as a percentage of rainfall. Percentages of throughfall to rainfall over 100 for many low rainfall events may indicate a contribution of fog drip to precipitation on the forest floor. The high local spatial variability in throughfall indicates the mean moisture conditions on the forest floor may not be a good indicator of the potential for localised fire damage.     

Defining and Delineating the Central Areas of Towns for Statistical Monitoring Using Continuous Surface Representations

In the UK, the increasing availability of very high spatial resolution data using the unit post code as its geo-reference is making possible new kinds of urban analysis and modelling. However, at this resolution the granularity of the data used to represent urban functions makes it difficult to apply traditional analytical and modelling methods. An alternative suggested here is to use kernel density estimation to transform these data from point or area 'objects' into continuous surfaces of spatial densities. The use of this transformation is illustrated by a study in which we attempt to develop a robust, generally applicable methodology for identifying the central areas of UK towns for the purpose of statistical reporting and comparison. Continuous density transformations from unit post code data relating to a series of indicators of town centredness created using Arc/InfoTM are normalised and then summed to give a composite 'Index of Town Centredness'. Selection of key contours on these index surfaces enables town centres to be delineated.     

THE RANK-SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF MEDIEVAL ENGLISH TAXATION HIERARCHIES WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Although much work has been undertaken on urban rank-size distribution, their rural counterparts have generally been ignored. This paper considers the rank-size distributions disclosed by medieval English taxation documents, both in one county through time and in contrasting counties at one date in the 14th century. It finds that the distributions tend to be curved in a convex-upward fashion on double-logarithmic paper regardless of date, area chosen, or documents used. This appears to be the result of a right-skewed frequency distribution of settlement size.     

Measurement of the drift of auroral radar echoes with the radar auroragraph

The auroragraph is a device for the analysis of any movements of patterns on movie films. Its application to the PPI record from an auroral radar is described, and examples from Syowa Station, Antarctica are given. The radar auroragraph has advantages over other more conventional methods of deriving the speed and direction of movement of auroral radar echoes in space.     

八达岭基性岩和高Ba—Sr花岗岩地球化学特征及成因探讨：华北和大别—苏鲁造山带中生代岩浆岩的对比

八达岭杂岩侵位于华北北部，由辉长闪长岩岩、石英闪长岩、石英二长岩、二长闪长岩、二长花岗岩、碱长花岗岩和石英正长岩等组成，主要属高钾钙碱性系列。除了含V-Ti磁铁矿的堆晶辉长闪长岩，整套岩石的主量元素变化范围较大，SiO2=46.5%-75.3%,MgO=5.6%-0.2%，中酸性岩石的K2O/NaO为0.59-1.09。碱长花岗岩和少数石英二长岩Ba和Sr含量较低，且具有明显（Eu）负异常。大多数中酸性岩石（高Ba-Sr花岗岩）具有如下显著的微量元素地球化学特征：Ba,Sr和轻稀土（LREE）富集，Y和重稀土（HREE）亏损，LREE/HREE强烈分离，Sr/Y和La/Yb比值较高；在原始地幔标准化的蛛网图中具有显著的Nb,Ta和Ti亏损，不具明显的Sr和Eu亏损。在Harker图解中，基性岩石和高Ba-Sr花岗岩的主量元素相关性明显，两者还具有相似的微量元素和稀土（REE）分配特征，并且，REE,Y,Sr,P和Ti含量从基性到酸性逐渐降低。辉长闪长岩和高Ba-Sr花岗岩的Sr-Nd同位素初始值呈EMI特征（Isr=0.7051-0.7068,εNdi=-8.2-20.2），大致呈负相关。地球化学特征表明基性岩浆为富集的大陆岩石圈地幔部分熔融形成，而高Ba-Sr花岗岩则为基性岩浆通过陆壳混染和结晶分离形成；富P和Ti的副矿物（如磷灰石和的榍石）的分离结晶导致了REE,P和Ti丰度的逐渐降低。另外，华北板块内部和大别-苏鲁造山带基性岩和高Ba-Sr花岗岩分别具有相似的地球化学特征，这表明，上述地区燕山期大规模岩浆活动具有相似的地球动力学机制，大别-苏鲁造山带岩浆岩的地球化学特征并不反映其地幔源区一定受到过来自深俯冲的扬子板块的流体的富集作用。岩石圈的拆沉和减簿作用可能导致了华北板块和大别-苏鲁造山带下古老岩石圈地幔的部分熔融，岩石圈地幔的富集作用可能主要性发生于元古代。