Accurate U-Pb Age and Trace Element Determinations of Zircon by Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Various zircons of Proterozoic to Oligocene ages (1060-31 Ma) were analysed by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Calibration was performed using Harvard reference zircon 91500 or Australian National University reference zircon TEMORA 1 as external calibrant. The results agree with those obtained by SIMS within 2s error. Twenty-four trace and rare earth elements (P, Ti, Cr, Y, Nb, fourteen REE, Hf, Ta, Pb, Th and U) were analysed on four fragments of zircon 91500. NIST SRM 610 was used as the reference material and ²⁹Si was used as internal calibrant. Based on determinations of four fragments, this zircon shows significant intra-and inter-fragment variations in the range from 10% to 85% on a scale of 120 μm, with the variation of REE concentrations up to 38.7%, although the chondrite-normalised REE distributions are very similar. In contrast, the determined age values for zircon 91500 agree with TIMS data and are homogeneous within 8.7 Ma (2 s ). A two-stage ablation strategy was developed for optimising U-Pb age determinations with satisfactory trace element and REE results. The first cycle of ablation was used to collect data for age determination only, which was followed by continuous ablation on the same spot to determine REE and trace element concentrations. Based on this procedure, it was possible to measure zircon ages as low as 30.37 0.39 Ma (MSWD = 1.4; 2 s ). Other examples for older zircons are also given.     

Crustal structure of the southern Dabie ultrahigh-pressure orogen and Yangtze foreland from deep seismic reflection profiling

A new 140‐km‐long seismic reflection profile provides a high‐resolution crustal‐scale image of the southern Dabieshan high‐pressure (HP) metamorphic belt and the Yangtze foreland fold‐and‐thrust belt. The seismic image of the stacked section shows that the southern Dabieshan metamorphic terrane and Yangtze foreland belt are separated by a large north‐dipping fault. In the foreland the upper crust is dominated by a series of folds and thrusts formed during the collisional stage in the mid‐Triassic; it was reworked by crustal extension resulting in the formation of a late Jurassic and Cretaceous red‐bed basin. The southern Dabieshan profile shows stacked crustal slabs developed along the margin of the collisional orogenic belt. The Moho reflectors at 10–11 s (～30–33 km) are seismically prominent and segmented by a number of south‐verging thrusts that were probably developed by foreland‐directed thrusting of the deeply subducted continental crust during exhumation. The seismic reflection profile suggests that structures related to the Triassic–Jurassic subduction and exhumation of the Yangtze plate are preserved despite the severe crustal extension superimposed during the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic.     

矢量地形图拓扑等问题的研究与实践

对矢量地图生产过程中常见的图形拓扑、数据冗余问题进行分析和研究；在此基础上结合生产实践，提出了相应的解决办法。研制了基于AutoCAD2000平台的相关程序。     

Possible Impacts of the Arctic Oscillation on the Interdecadal Variation of Summer Monsoon Rainfall in East Asia

The influences of the wintertime AO (Arctic Oscillation) on the interdecadal variation of summer monsoon rainfall in East Asia were examined. An interdecadal abrupt change was found by the end of the 1970s in the variation of the AO index and the leading principal component time series of the summer rainfall in East Asia, The rainfall anomaly changed from below normal to above normal in central China, the southern part of northeastern China and the Korean peninsula around 1978. However,the opposite interdecadal variation was found in the rainfall anomaly in North China and South China.The interdecadal variation of summer rainfall is associated with the weakening of the East Asia summer monsoon circulation. It is indicated that the interdecadal variation of the AO exerts an influence on the weakening of the monsoon circulation. The recent trend in the AO toward its high-index polarity during the past two decades plays important roles in the land-sea contrast anomalies and wintertime precipitation anomaly. The mid- and high-latitude regions of the Asian continent are warming, while the low-latitude regions are cooling in winter and spring along with the AO entering its high-index polarity after the late 1970s. In the meantime, the precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau and South China is excessive, implying an increase of soil moisture. The cooling tendency of the land in the southern part of Asia will persist until summer because of the memory of soil moisture. So the warming of the Asian continent is relatively slow in summer. Moreover, the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean which are located southward and eastward of the Asian land, are warming from winter to summer. This suggests that the contrast between the land and sea is decreased in summer. The interdecadal decrease of the land-sea heat contrast finally leads to the weakening of the East Asia summer monsoon circulation.     

Numerical Simulation of Wind and Temperature Fields over Beijing Area in Summer

1. IntroductionThe basic role of urban-rural boundary layer re-search is to study all kinds of physical process changesin the atmosphere boundary layer over urban and itssurrounding areas. Urban heat island (UHI) is a well-known feature of urban-rural climate. Attempts toincrease the understanding of the causes of the UHIand other urban-rural boundary layer phenomena haveused observational, theoretical and modelling methodssince long before. Seaman (1989) used a hydrostaticmodel, with real …     

The method of design for seismic data database system based on tree structure

Introduction In recent years, with the development of earthquake observation technology, increasing ofobservation stations and improvement of observation instruments which are digitalized and con-nected by network, a great deal of data is recorded, to some extend, which brings difficulty for usto manage and store them. It leads to traditional methods, which use the file system to managemass data, could not satisfy our requirement, and it is necessary to find a new method in place oftradit…     

挤扩支盘桩极限承载力的预测

用双曲线方法对110根挤扩支盘桩的极限承载力进行预测,并与直杆桩预测结果进行对比。结果表明由于支盘桩受力性状复杂,加载前期和中期预测精度较高,后期较低,误差超过15%;支盘桩的沉降曲线出现台阶时预测值与实测值误差较大;支盘桩极限承载力的预测精度与工程地质条件和桩本身的参数密切相关,桩身参数和地质条件相同条件下各桩预测精度比较接近。总体上直杆桩的预测结果优于支盘桩。     

Grassland productivity in an alpine environment in response to climate change

Situated in a climatically stressful environment, alpine grassland is sensitive to subtle climate changes in its productivity. We remedy the current deficiency in studying grassland productivity by taking the integrated effect of all relevant factors into consideration. The relative importance of temperature, rainfall and evaporation to the alpine grassland productivity in western China was determined through analysis of their relationship with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) between 1981 and 2000. Climate warming stimulated grassland productivity in the 1980s, but hampered it in the 1990s. Temperature is more important than rainfall to grassland productivity early in the growing season. However, their relative importance is reversed late in the growing season. Monthly summer month rainfall modified by maximum monthly temperature is a good predictor of alpine grassland productivity at 62.0 per cent. However, the best predictor is water deficiency, which is able to improve the estimation accuracy to 78.3 per cent. Hence, the impact of temperature on grassland productivity is better studied indirectly through evaporation.     

Sedimentation rates in the Wanggang salt marshes, Jiangsu

1 IntroductionLand-ocean interaction in coastalzone is one of the key m atters of the International G eosphereand Biosphere Program (IG BP). The key problem s of the second phase in the next decadeinclude the m aterial cycle, the system evolution process …     

Karst database development in Minnesota: design and data assembly

The Karst Feature Database (KFD) of Minnesota is a relational GIS-based Database Management System (DBMS). Previous karst feature datasets used inconsistent attributes to describe karst features in different areas of Minnesota. Existing metadata were modified and standardized to represent a comprehensive metadata for all the karst features in Minnesota. Microsoft Access 2000 and ArcView 3.2 were used to develop this working database. Existing county and sub-county karst feature datasets have been assembled into the KFD, which is capable of visualizing and analyzing the entire data set. By November 17 2002, 11,682 karst features were stored in the KFD of Minnesota. Data tables are stored in a Microsoft Access 2000 DBMS and linked to corresponding ArcView applications. The current KFD of Minnesota has been moved from a Windows NT server to a Windows 2000 Citrix server accessible to researchers and planners through networked interfaces.