Volcanology and petrology of Nisyros Island (Dodecanese,Greece)

Nisyros is a totally volcanic island located at the eastern limit of the quaternary calc-alkaline island arc system of the South Aegean Sea. Its age is rather young since K/Ar dating has given an age of 0.2 m.y. B.P. for one of the oldest outcropping products of this volcano. The volcanological evolution of Nisyros has tentatively been reconstructed as follows:

1. after a period (from 3.0? to 0.2 m.y. B.P.) of submarine activity, evidenced by the presence of pillow-lavas and hyaloclastites, the volcano grew above sea level;
2. effusive and explosive subaerial activity from different vents built up a complex stratovolcano, probably around 0.2 m.y. B. P.;
3. at the end of an intense explosive activity (between 0.2 m.y. B.P. and Present) the top of the volcano collapsed forming a caldera which is still perfectly preserved. A post-caldera activity with eruptions of huge and viscous domes and lava flows of uniform composition, both inside and outside the caldera, concluded this stage of the volcano evolution;
4. in historical times, spectacular phreatic explosion craters formed on the caldera floor;
5. presently, a large area of the caldera floor is affected by a considerable hydrothermal activity. The hypothesis is formed that Nisyros volcano is not yet extinct.

Four small volcanic islets — Yali, Stronjili, Pakia and Perigusa — located a few miles on the North and West of Nisyros, although volcanologically independent of one another, are composed of products which are attributable, from the petrologic point of view, to the Nisyros magma. The volcanic rocks of Nisyros and of its neighbouring minor islands as well as the volcanics of the coeval volcanoes of the South Aegean Sea arc (Aegina, Milos, Santorini, etc.) belong to a typical orogenic calc-alkaline series (from basic andesites through andesites-dacites-rhyodacites to strongly silicic rhyolites) with normal K₂O contents. The potassium contents of these rocks are compatible with the depth of 150 km (as inferred from geophysical data) for the inclined seismic zone underneath the active volcanic arc. The existence of a top-caldera as well as the occurrence of a huge amount of xenoliths (hornblende-rich cumulates and contact-metamorphic calcareous rock derivatives) suggest the presence of a magma chamber at a relatively shallow depth beneath the volcano. The rhyolitic obsidians of Yali can be considered as residual liquids from the Nisyros rhyodacites, thus representing the end-members of a fractionation process. Volcanological and petrological arguments are in favour of fractional crystallization as the most probable genetic process for the calc-alkaline differentiation series of Nisyros and of its neighbouring minor islands. However, the lack of any rock with a high alumina basalt composition makes it difficult to define exactly the nature of the parent magma. According to recent geophysical data, continental collision is already in progress at the Hellenic trench. Therefore, Nisyros and the other active volcanoes of the South Aegean Sea arc are approaching the senile stage. What would follow could be a transition to shoshonitic magmatism as a consequence of the deepening of the lithospheric slab under the Aegean microplate. The limited extension and the relatively short-lived calc-alkaline activity of the South Aegean Sea arc could be related to the particular geodynamic pattern of the Mediterranean area which is characterized by a microplates mosaic between the two converging African and Eurasian major plates.     

岩石声发射Kaiser效应应用于地应力测试的研究

介绍了声发射Kaiser效应测定岩体地应力的原理、方法和测试技术,应用弹性力学理论推导出地下岩体测点处的地应力表示和地应力椭球基本方程。通过在定向岩芯9个特殊方向取样,进行声发射试验得到了各方向的单向正应力值,将其值代入地应力计算公式中得到了3个主应力的大小、方向。其实验研究结果可为工程提供借鉴和参考。     

Evaluation on tourism ecological security in nature heritage sites —Case of Kanas nature reserve of Xinjiang, China

The nature heritages are the precious legacy of nature with outstanding scientific and aesthetic value. They are quite different from other common ecotourism areas, because of its original and unique system, sensitive and vulnerable landscape, and peripheral cultural features. Therefore, the tourism development in the nature heritage sites should be on the premise of ecological security. The evaluation index system of tourism ecological security in nature heritage sites was constructed in this article by AHP and Delphi methods, including nature ecological security, landscape visual security and local culture ecological security, and the security thresholds of indices were also established. In the indices’ weights of the evaluation model, the nature ecological security ranked the highest, followed by tourist landscape visual security and culture ecological security, which reflected the influence degree of the limited factor to tourism ecological security. Then, this paper carried out an empirical study of Kanas of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, which has the potential to be the World Nature Heritage. On the basis of the data attained from survey and observation on the spot, as well as questionnaire answered by tourists and local communities, the ecological security status in Kanas was evaluated. The result showed that the status of Kanas tourism ecological security was better, but there had some limiting factors. Lastly, effective measures were put forward to ensure its ecological security. Foundation item: Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40671057), Knowledge Innovation Programs of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX3-SW-355)     

福贡地区石炭系地层可能属于拉萨地块:来自碎屑锆石年龄谱的指示

欧亚与印度大陆的碰撞使得印度大陆的北东角强烈挤入欧亚大陆内部,形成东构造结,其引发的强烈变形将南羌塘地块、北羌塘地块、拉萨地块、保山地块、兰坪-思茅地块以及地块之间的缝合带挤压于很窄的范围内,造成青藏高原腹地与其东南缘之间构造单元划分、对比困难。滇西福贡地区位于青藏高原东南缘,东构造结影响范围内,是三江造山带及青藏高原相关地块的汇聚处。福贡地区石炭系岩石组合表明其形成于较为稳定的浅海相沉积环境中,具有被动大陆边缘沉积特征。三件石炭系二云母石英片岩碎屑锆石表面年龄数据(194个有效分析点)形成五个主要年龄区间:2550~2400Ma、1800~1550Ma、1200~1080Ma、1000~850Ma和600~480Ma,峰值分别为~2502Ma、~1724Ma、~1120Ma、~886Ma和~512Ma。对比其他地块同时代地层的碎屑锆石年龄谱表明,福贡地区石炭系可能是拉萨地块的一部分,与腾冲地块一样,属于其南延部分。结合中新生代岩浆岩带的构造连续性,我们认为,印度板块东北角向北、北东方向的强烈挤压导致拉萨地块及冈底斯岩浆岩带弯曲、缩颈、并发生分离与旋转。     

Effect of a thermokarst lake on soil physical properties and infiltration processes in the permafrost region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

Changes in the hydrological processes in alpine soil constitute one of the several key problems encountered with studying watershed hydrology and ecosystem stability against the background of global warming. A typically developing thermokarst lake was chosen as a subject for a study using model simulation based on observations of soil physical properties, infiltration processes, and soil moisture. The results showed that the selected thermokarst lake imposed certain changes on the soil infiltration processes and, with the degree of impact intensifying, the initial infiltration rate decreased. The greatest reduction was achieved in the area of moderate impact. However, the stable infiltration rate and cumulative infiltration gradually increased in the surface layer at a depth of 10 and 20 cm, both decreasing initially and then increasing, which is correlated significantly with soil textures. Moreover, the cumulative infiltration changed in line with steady infiltration rate. Based on a comparative analysis, the Horton model helps better understand the effect on the soil infiltration processes of the cold alpine meadow close to the chosen thermokarst lake. In conclusion, the formation of the thermokarst lake reduced the water holding capacity of the alpine meadow soil and caused the hydraulic conductivity to increase, resulting in the reduction of runoff capacity in the area of the thermokarst lake.     

基于T213集合预报的延伸期产品释用方法及初步试验

基于T213集合预报系统2008年1月中国及附近区域500 hPa高度和850 hPa温度的1~15 d预报资料,构建延伸期产品释用方法,通过对逐日11~15 d预报资料做集合平均和后向衰减权重系数滑动平均,进而得到延伸期(11~15 d)候平均和候距平预报,并对预报效果进行检验,结果表明:对11~15 d预报场做集合平均和后向衰减权重系数滑动平均均能降低预报误差,改善整体预报效果。由此得到的500 hPa高度场和850 hPa温度场11~1 5 d候平均预报误差与逐日控制预报第5d的水平相当,候距平相关系数均接近0.6,整体而言效果较好,具备一定的应用价值。500 hPa高度场和850 hPa温度场11~15 d候距平预报在中国大陆地区位相准确率均较高,东南沿海和东北部分地区稍差,且850 hPa温度场的位相准确率整体高于500 hPa高度场。候距平预报对延伸期(11~15 d)的大范围持续性异常距平具有较强的捕捉能力,对异常距平出现的范围和分布、强距平中心的位置的预报均较好,但强度整体偏弱。     

Seismic response of L��Aquila downtown from comparison between 2D synthetics spectral ratios of SH, P-SV and Rayleigh waves and observations of the 2009 earthquake sequence

This is the first part of a study on the seismic response of the L’Aquila city using 2D simulation and experimental data. We have studied two velocity-depth models with the aim of outlining the behavior of a velocity reversal in the top layer, which is associated with the stiff Brecce de L’Aquila unit (BrA). In this setting, the SMTH model is topped by a layer with about 2:1 impedance contrast with the underlying layer while the NORV model has no velocity reversal. We have simulated the propagation of SH and P-SV wavefields in the range 0–10 Hz for incidence 0°–90°. Earthquake spectral ratios of the horizontal and vertical components at six sites in L’Aquila downtown are compared to corresponding synthetics spectral ratios. The vertical component of P-SV synthetics enables us to investigate a remarkable amplification effect seen in the vertical component of the recorded strong motion. Sites AQ04 and AQ05 are best matched by synthetics from the NORV model while FAQ5 and AQ06 have a better match with synthetics spectral ratios from the SMTH model. All simulations show this behavior systematically, with horizontal and near-horizontal incident waves predicting the overall pattern of matches more clearly than vertical and near-vertical incidence. The model inferences are in agreement with new geological data reporting lateral passages in the top layer from the stiff BrA to softer sediments. Matches are good in terms of frequency of the first amplification peak and of spectral amplitude: the horizontal components have spectral ratio peaks predominantly at 0.5 Hz in the simulations and at 0.7 Hz in the data, both with amplitudes of 4, while the vertical component spectral ratios reach values of 6 at frequencies of about 1 Hz in both data and simulations. The vertical component spectral ratios are very well matched using Rayleigh waves with incidence at 90°. The NORV model without the velocity reversal predicts spectral ratio peaks for the horizontal components at frequencies up to 6 Hz. The reversal of velocity acts as a low-pass frequency filter on the horizontal components reducing the amplification effect of the sediment filled valley.     

华北地区上部地壳结构的三维有限差分层析成像

采用正方形网格对华北地区速度模型进行参数化、网格维数为649×90×16,网格间距为1km. 通过对华北地区30条深地震测深剖面的Pg波三维有限差分速度层析成像反演,获得了该地区上部地壳的三维速度结构. 反演结果显示,低速的"棱形"华北盆地被高速的隆起所包围;而华北盆地又由两个大的断陷带中间夹一个隆起所组成.两个大的断陷带又被分割为多个小的断陷盆地.研究区内的断层多为铲式正断层,结晶基底深度变化较大. 所有这些表明华北地区具有复杂的地质构造和发生强震的深部背景.     

Low multipath antennas for GNSS-based attitude determination systems applied to high-altitude platforms

High-altitude platforms (HAPs) are a flexible and attractive technology for providing innovative wireless services. These aerial platforms can be successfully employed for mobile or broadband communications and for disaster monitoring or response. However, one of the open issues is whether HAP stations can provide reliable services without temporal outages owing to stratospheric winds that can cause positional and attitude instabilities thus affecting the communication system operation. To counteract this issue, one possible solution is to use reconfigurable antennas whose pointing direction can be adjusted depending on the platform spatial orientation. However, this would require real-time three-axial attitude data. As a possible solution, this paper will review the potential of GNSS-based attitude determination systems with reference to HAP stations. In particular, it will be shown how the use of a particular class of low multipath and lightweight antennas can provide a high degree of accuracy without altering the avionic ballast.     

Evaluating a modified point-based method to downscale cell-based climate variable data to high-resolution grids

To address the demand for high spatial resolution gridded climate data, we have advanced the Daymet point-based interpolation algorithm for downscaling global, coarsely gridded data with additional output variables. The updated algorithm, High-Resolution Climate Downscaler (HRCD), performs very good downscaling of daily, global, historical reanalysis data from 1° input resolution to 2.5 arcmin output resolution for day length, downward longwave radiation, pressure, maximum and minimum temperature, and vapor pressure deficit. It gives good results for monthly and yearly cumulative precipitation and fair results for wind speed distributions and modeled downward shortwave radiation. Over complex terrain, 2.5 arcmin resolution is likely too low and aggregating it up to 15 arcmin preserves accuracy. HRCD performs comparably to existing daily and monthly US datasets but with a global extent for nine daily climate variables spanning 1948–2006. Furthermore, HRCD can readily be applied to other gridded climate datasets.