Remote sensing analysis of desert vegetation and its landscape changes: The case in middle reaches of Tarim River Basin,Xinjiang, China

Based on remote sensing information sources including B/W aerial photos of 1983, pseudo-color aerial photos of 1992 and JERS-1/OPS VNIR image of 1996, vegetation types of Yingbazha, in the middle reaches of the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang, China are mapped using ARC/INFO and related software. The changes in vegetation areas and distribution conditions are analyzed. As a result of natural and human influences, vegetation changes have temporal and spatial characteristics. According to the principles of landscape ecology and geographical information science, the landscape changes are indicated. Moreover, the remote sensing and GIS techniques are integrated to study vegetation and its landscape.     

Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Damage and recovery of the Gurbantunggut Desert vegetation following engineering activities

The fragile ecological environment of the Gurbantunggut Desert is damaged/disturbed by human activities relating to the development of oil-gas resources and the constructions of desert road and great engineering in the Jungger Basin. It was mainly represented: soil compaction, vegetation cleaning, burial of vegetation, oil polluting, and soil disturbance. With investigation and experiment, we found that when the way and intensity of engineering activities disturbing the eco-environment does not make its ecological stability disintegrated, the desert vegetation has a capacity of natural recovery. To speed and strengthen the process of vegetation recovery efficient assistant measurements, including stabilizing mobile sands promptly and sowing seeds of shrub and herb plants in good time will be needed.     

Expansion and contraction of Chinese deserts during the Quaternary

Episodic dune formations during the Quaternary are found in many deserts of China. The causes of desert expansions on different time scales are not the same. Desert extension at about 1.1 and 0.9 Ma ago were the response to the active tectonic movements, whereas the desert evolutions on the ten-thousand years time scale were the response to the orbital scale climatic changes. Spatial scale studies on desert evolution indicate that desert margins shifted greatly during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the Holocene optimum, its changing from 125°E of the LGM to 105°E of the climatic optimum. Historical desertification in the semiarid China is not a response to climate drought but largely associated with the human impacts (mainly over-cultivation) since about 2300 years ago, which leads to the reworking of the underlying LGM sands.     

Utilization of water resources,ecological balance and land desertification in the Tarim Basin,Xinjiang

Because of the human exploitation and utilization of water resources in the Tarim Basin, the water resources consumption has changed from mainly natural ecosystem to artificial oasis ecosystem, and the environment has changed correspondingly. The basic changes are: desertification and oasis development coexist, both “the human being advance and the desert retreat” and “the desert advance and the human being retreat” coexist, but the latter is dominant. In the upper reaches, water volume drawing to irrigated agricultural areas has increased, artificial oases have been enlarging and moving from the deltas in the lower reaches of many rivers to the piedmont plains. In the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River, the stream flow has decreased, old oases have declined, natural vegetations have been degenerating, desertification has been enlarging, and the environment has deteriorated. The transition regions, which consist of forestlands, grasslands and waters between the desert and the oases, have been decreasing continuously, their shelter function to the oases has been weakened, and the desert is threatening the oases seriously.     

Getting ‘holistic’ about land rehabilitation in hot arid regions

The paper describes Western Australian examples and causes of land degradation. It outlines shortcomings in the methodologies used to rehabilitate these areas. From this a protocol is suggested for an ‘holistic’ approach to land rehabilitation.     

由GPS观测结果推导中国大陆现今水平应变场

以中国大陆及周边近400个GPS测站的水平运动速率为基础，给出了现今地壳水平应变场结果表明:①中国大陆水平应变为西强东弱，剪应变数值大于正应变数值(绝对值)，应变量级一般为10-8/a，局部区域达到10-7/a，但应变分布不均匀；②南北向应变最突出的部位为中国西南部西段的喜马拉雅条带、西北部的36N~42N段及柴达木断块的北缘；③东西向应变西边缘变化最大．此外，由西向东还具有正负交替的变化特征；④REN(东-北向剪切应变)与Rmax(最大剪切应变)数值较大的区域分别是喜马拉雅条带、西北部的36N～42N段、柴达木断块的西部、川滇菱形块体，以及阿拉善、祁连及塔里木断块的交界区；⑤青藏块体周边以面收缩为主，内部则以面膨胀为主．其以北的地区以面收缩为主．西界数值最大，东部数值最小(除燕山构造带外)；⑥西部西区主压应变为南北向，主张应变为东西向．西部东缘区主压应变为近东西向，主张应变为近南北向．川滇菱形块体主应变的方向发生了很大的变化，北部地区为东西压南北张，南部地区则恰好相反；⑦中国大陆的应变模式可能是断块模式与连续模式的组合．此外，小尺度优势应变可能是剪切应变．造成上述结果除与印度板块的碰撞及边界耦合有关外，还与深部物质的活动及地壳介质的物性有密切的关系．必须指出，由于GPS测站在空间上分布的不均匀性，那么，由此而来的应变场，其应变尺度也不一样．      

1996年包头6.4级地震的地壳应变特征

根据GPS观测资料求出的水平地应变和由跨断层垂直形变计算出的速率强度累积率，研究了包头-大同地区1992～1995年、1995～1996年和1996～1999年的各时期的应变特征，并对包头6.4级(1996年5月3)地震前后的地应变进行对比，认为以压应变为主导的高值区可能是未来强震孕育的地区．面应变、主压应变、剪应变和趋势累积率同时较高的地区，强震危险性较大．一般低应变区和张应变为主导的地区，孕育强震的可能性小，属于比较稳定的地区．1992～1999年包头-大同地区的GPS水平应变的演变，反映了1996～1998年地震幕的孕育发展及结束的全过程．以压应变为主的高应变区和应变梯度带可作为未来强震危险区的判定标志之一．      

天津市地震经济损失模型和生命损失模型的预测研究

文中主要探讨了由地震引起的天津市经济损失和生命损失的预测问题。首先阐述了天津市震害预测的 5个背景特点 :建筑物特点、地质条件特点、建筑场地划分特点、基本设防烈度特点以及地震烈度衰减关系特点 ,根据这 5个特点将天津市划分为含有 7种建筑结构形式的 4个区域的震害预测模式。在此基础上 ,分析了天津市地震经济损失模型和生命损失模型 ,考虑了时间因素 ,然后与1976年唐山大地震的实际震害结果进行了对比及修正 ,给出了天津市 4个区域的建筑物地震经济损失率模型、社会财富损失率模型和建筑物毁坏率模型 ,并给出了计算天津市建筑物地震经济损失、天津市国内生产总值GDP地震经济损失和天津市地震生命损失的表达式 ;最后 ,将天津市地区划分为2 85 8个震害评估单元 ,以近百年来在天津市区域内曾经发生的最大地震作为假想地震 ,预测分析了天津市建筑物地震经济损失分布和地震生命损失分布结果