Financing rapid community reconstruction after catastrophic disaster: lessons from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

Catastrophic disasters can change the course of urban development and challenge the long-run sustainability of cities and regions. How to rapidly reconstruct communities impaired by catastrophic disaster is a world-wide challenge. The reconstruction after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China was an unusual case of very rapid reconstruction after a catastrophic disaster. Over US$147 billion was invested to rebuild the damaged areas within 3 years. The reconstruction was not simply building back what was destroyed, but was used as an opportunity to advance national goals for urbanization, rural transformation, and poverty reduction. In this article, we review how the reconstruction was planned, budgeted, and financed in the sociopolitical context of 2008 China. Particularly, we discuss two innovative programs, namely pair assistance and land-based financing. Despite the unique circumstances of China, lessons can be learned to speed up post-disaster reconstruction and urban development in other countries. Conversely, this case illustrates that a narrow focus on physical reconstruction may overlook broader economic and social issues.

     

Perceptions of climate engineering in the South Pacific,Sub-Saharan Africa,and North American Arctic

Nearly all research on public perceptions of climate engineering has been conducted in wealthy, developed countries. However, understanding perspectives from vulnerable populations is critical to inclusive, democratic debate on both research and governance. This study utilized in-depth interviews to explore the perspectives of vulnerable populations in the South Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the North American Arctic. Interviewees in this study were desperate for solutions to climate change and therefore willing to consider climate engineering. However, their willingness to consider climate engineering could be characterized as both deeply reluctant and highly conditional. Interviewees expressed a number of concerns about potential social and political implications of engineering the climate. They also described conditions that may need to be met to ensure that future climates (engineered or otherwise) are more equitable.     

Effects of an Omnivorous Katydid,Salinity, and Nutrients on a Planthopper-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Spartina</Emphasis> Food Web

Top–down and bottom–up effects interact to structure communities, especially in salt marshes, which contain strong gradients in bottom–up drivers such as salinity and nutrients. How omnivorous consumers respond to variation in prey availability and plant quality is poorly understood. We used a mesocosm experiment to examine how salinity, nutrients, an omnivore (the katydid Orchelimum fidicinium) and an herbivore (the planthopper Prokelisia spp.) interacted to structure a simplified salt marsh food web based on the marsh grass Spartina alterniflora. Bottom–up effects were strong, with both salinity and nutrients decreasing leaf C/N and increasing Prokelisia abundance. Top–down effects on plants were also strong, with both the herbivore and the omnivore affecting S. alterniflora traits and growth, especially when nutrients or salt were added. In contrast, top–down control by Orchelimum of Prokelisia was independent of bottom–up conditions. Orchelimum grew best on a diet containing both Spartina and Prokelisia, and in contrast to a sympatric omnivorous crab, did not shift to an animal-based diet when prey were present, suggesting that it is constrained to consume a mixed diet. These results suggest that the trophic effects of omnivores depend on omnivore behavior, dietary constraints, and ability to suppress lower trophic levels, and that omnivorous katydids may play a previously unrecognized role in salt marsh food webs.     

Calibrating the middle and late Permian palynostratigraphy of Australia to the geologic time-scale via U–Pb zircon CA-IDTIMS dating

The advent of chemical abrasion-isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) has revolutionised U–Pb dating of zircon, and the enhanced precision of eruption ages determined on volcanic layers within basin successions permits an improved calibration of biostratigraphic schemes to the numerical time-scale. The Guadalupian and Lopingian (Permian) successions in the Sydney, Gunnedah, Bowen and Canning basins are mostly non-marine and include numerous airfall tuff units, many of which contain zircon. The eastern Australian palynostratigraphic scheme provides the basis for much of the local correlation, but the present calibration of this scheme against the numerical time-scale depends on a correlation to Western Australia, using rare ammonoids and conodonts in that succession to link to the standard global marine biostratigraphic scheme. High-precision U–Pb zircon dating of tuff layers via CA-IDTIMS allows this tenuous correlation to be circumvented—the resulting direct calibration of the palynostratigraphy to the numerical time-scale highlights significant inaccuracies in the previous indirect correlation. The new data show: the top of the Praecolpatites sinuosus Zone (APP3.2) lies in the early Roadian, not the middle Kungurian; the top of the Microbaculispora villosa Zone (APP3.3) lies in the middle Roadian, not the early Roadian; the top of the Dulhuntyispora granulata Zone (APP4.1) lies in the Wordian, not in the latest Roadian; the top of the Didecitriletes ericianus Zone (APP4.2) lies in the first half of the Wuchiapingian, not the latest Wordian; the Dulhuntyispora dulhuntyi Zone (APP4.3) is exceptionally short and lies within the Wuchiapingian, not the early Capitanian; and the top of the Dulhuntyispora parvithola Zone (APP5) lies at or near the Permo-Triassic boundary, not in the latest Wuchiapingian.     

塔里木盆地中南部麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带变形特征及其意义

麻扎塔格地区地层、地貌及构造变形特征的研究,对于认识塔里木盆地新生代构造演化过程、塔里木—西昆仑的盆山耦合关系、新构造运动对塔里木油气资源分布的影响以及塔克拉玛干沙漠的气候、环境变化都具有重要意义。本文通过卫星照片解译、野外变形观察、剖面实测、地球物理资料解释等手段,对该地区晚新生代的构造特征进行了研究,确定了麻扎塔格构造带为典型的逆冲—褶皱带,并探讨了麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带的构造指向、活动时限、隆升速率及缩短速率、东西方向的延伸等问题,取得如下认识:1)麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带为西昆仑山前陆褶皱冲断带的前缘部位,和田河气田就是处在逆冲前锋背斜顶部,晚新生代变形作用已明显地改造了塔里木盆地南部及中部的古生代和中生代构造,并促成了和田河气田的形成;2)麻扎塔格山在中新世末(约7 Ma)和中更新世(约780 ka B.P.)经历了两次构造隆升,后一次形成了麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带和麻扎塔格山现今的地貌特征;3)估算出麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带中更新世以来的隆升速率约为0.26～0.4 mm/a,缩短速率约为0.9 mm/a;4)认为麻扎塔格逆冲—褶皱带向西应与同属西昆仑山前褶皱—冲断带前缘的喀什背斜相连,东端的突然消失可能是由于东段和田河附近存在北东—南西向的走滑断层造成。     

36Cl, 26Al,and O isotopes in an Allende type B2 CAI: Implications for multiple secondary alteration events in the early solar system

Abstract— We measured ³⁶Cl‐³⁶S and ²⁶Al‐²⁶Mg systematics and O isotopes of secondary phases in a moderately altered type B2 CAI (CAI#2) from the Allende CV3 chondrite. CAI#2 has two distinct alteration domains: the anorthite‐grossular (An‐Grs) domain that mostly consists of anorthite and grossular, and the Na‐rich domain that mostly consists of sodalite, anorthite, and Fe‐bearing phases. Large ³⁶S excesses (up to ～400‰) corresponding to an initial ³⁶Cl/³⁵Cl ratio of (1.4 ± 0.3) × 10^?6 were observed in sodalite of the Na‐rich domain, but no resolvable 26Mg excesses were observed in anorthite and sodalite of the Na‐rich domain (the initial ²⁶Al/²⁷Al ratio < 4.4 × 10^?7). If we assume that the ³⁶Cl‐³⁶S and the ²⁶Al‐²⁶Mg systematics were closed simultaneously, the ³⁶Cl/³⁵Cl ratio would have to be on the order of ～10^?2 when CAIs were formed. In contrast to sodalite in Na‐rich domain, significant ²⁶Mg excesses (up to ～35‰) corresponding to an initial ²⁶Al/²⁷Al ratio of (1.2 ± 0.2) × 10^?5 were identified in anorthite of the An‐Grs domain. The ²⁶Al‐²⁶Mg systematics of secondary phases in CAI#2 suggest that CAIs experienced multiple alteration events. Some of the alteration processes occurred while ³⁶Cl (half‐life is 0.3 Myr) and ²⁶Al (half‐life is 0.72 Myr) were still alive, whereas others took place much later. Assuming that ²⁶Al was homogeneously distributed in the solar nebula, our study implies that alteration of CAIs occurred as early as within 1.5 Myr of CAI formation and as late as 5.7 Myr after.     

扬子克拉通东北缘岩石圈地幔的Re-Os同位素地球化学:大陆岩石圈地幔的形成和演化的制约

苏皖地区新生代碱性玄武岩中有丰富的地幔橄榄岩捕虏体 ,测定了 2 0多个样品的Re Os元素丰度和锇同位素组成 ,结果 :Re =0 .0 2 7× 10 - 9～ 0 .375×10 - 9,Os=0 .112×10 - 9～ 3.35× 10 - 9,1 87Os 1 88Os=0 .117～ 0 .134。由代理等时线法1 87Os 1 88Os Yb获得该区岩石圈地幔早期熔体亏损事件的年龄为 1.7Ga(中元古代 )。苏皖地区岩石圈地幔的古老性表明它是元古代后岩石圈拆沉 减薄作用的残余地幔部分。岩石圈地幔经过了亏损 富集多阶段演化。     

Coarse sediment transport in mountain streams in Colorado and Wyoming,USA

Since the early 1990s, US Forest Service researchers have made thousands of bedload measurements in steep, coarse‐grained channels in Colorado and Wyoming, USA. In this paper we use data from 19 of those sites to characterize patterns and rates of coarse sediment transport for a range of channel types and sizes, including step–pool, plane‐bed, pool–riffle, and near‐braided channels. This effort builds upon previous work where we applied a piecewise regression model to (1) relate flow to rates of bedload transport and (2) define phases of transport in coarse‐grained channels. Earlier, the model was tested using bedload data from eight sites on the Fraser Experimental Forest near Fraser, Colorado. The analysis showed good application to those data and to data from four supplementary channels to which the procedure was applied. The earlier results were, however, derived from data collected at sites that, for the most part, have quite similar geology and runoff regimes. In this paper we evaluate further the application of piecewise regression to data from channels with a wider range of geomorphic conditions. The results corroborate with those from the earlier work in that there is a relatively narrow range of discharges at which a substantial change in the nature of bedload transport occurs. The transition from primarily low rates of sand transport (phase I) to higher rates of sand and coarse gravel transport (phase II) occurs, on average, at about 80 per cent of the bankfull (1·5‐year return interval) discharge. A comparison of grain sizes moved during the two phases showed that coarse gravel is rarely trapped in the samplers during phase I transport. Moreover, the movement and capture of the D₁₆ to D₂₅ grain size of the bed surface seems to correspond with the onset of phase II transport, particularly in systems with largely static channel surfaces. However, while there were many similarities in observed patterns of bedload transport at the 19 studied sites, each had its own ‘bedload signal’ in that the rate and size of materials transported largely reflected the nature of flow and sediment particular to that system. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.