Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland ice sheet

In West Greenland, early and mid Holocene relative sea level (RSL) fall was replaced by late Holocene RSL rise during the Neoglacial, after 4–3 cal. ka BP (thousand calibrated years before present). Here we present the results of an isolation basin RSL study completed near to the coastal town of Sisimiut, in central West Greenland. RSL fell from 14 m above sea level at 5.7 cal. ka BP to reach a lowstand of ?4.0 m at 2.3–1.2 cal. ka BP, before rising by an equivalent amount to present. Differences in the timing and magnitude of the RSL lowstand between this and other sites in West and South Greenland record the varied interplay of local and non‐Greenland RSL processes, notably the reloading of the Earth's crust caused by a Neoglacial expansion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and the subsidence associated with the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet forebulge. This means that the timing of the sea level lowstand cannot be used to infer directly when the GIS advanced during the Neoglacial. The rise in Late Holocene RSL is contrary to recently reported bedrock uplift in the Sisimiut area, based on repeat GPS surveys. This indicates that a belt of peripheral subsidence around the current ice sheet margin was more extensive in the late Holocene, and that there has been a switch from subsidence to uplift at some point in the last thousand years or so. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The theory of relativity and super-luminal-speeds

According to some local properties of Lorentz transformation, Einstein stated: Velocities greater than that of light have no possibility of existence. He neglected to point out the applicable range of the special theory of relativity. In fact, it could only be applied to the subluminal-speed. This paper shows that if we think of the possibility of the existence of the superluminal-speed and redescribe the special theory of relativity following Einstein's way, a new kinematic theory would be founded. The new theory would retain all kinematical meaning of the special theory of relativity when matters move with subluminal-speed and would give new content when matters move with superluminal-speed. The paper also discusses the observation principle for the motions with superluminal-speed.     

Melting of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle by the Emeishan mantle plume; evidence from the basal alkaline basalts in Dongchuan, Yunnan, Southwestern China

The Emeishan continental flood basalt (ECFB) sequence in Dongchuan, SW China comprises a basal tephrite unit overlain by an upper tholeiitic basalt unit. The upper basalts have high TiO₂ contents (3.2–5.2 wt.%), relatively high rare-earth element (REE) concentrations (40 to 60 ppm La, 12.5 to 16.5 ppm Sm, and 3 to 4 ppm Yb), moderate Zr/Nb and Nb/La ratios (9.3–10.2 and 0.6–0.9, respectively) and relatively high _{Nd (t)} values, ranging from − 0.94 to 2.3, and are comparable to the high-Ti ECFB elsewhere. The tephrites have relatively high P₂O₅ (1.3–2.0 wt.%), low REE concentrations (e.g., 17 to 23 ppm La, 4 to 5.3 ppm Sm, and 2 to 3 ppm Yb), high Nb/La (2.0–3.9) ratios, low Zr/Nb ratios (2.3–4.2), and extremely low _{Nd (t)} values (mostly ranging from − 10.6 to − 11.1). The distinct compositional differences between the tephrites and the overlying tholeiitic basalts cannot be explained by either fractional crystallization or crustal contamination of a common parental magma. The tholeiitic basalts formed by partial melting of the Emeishan plume head at a depth where garnet was stable, perhaps > 80 km. We propose that the tephrites were derived from magmas formed when the base of the previously metasomatized, volatile-mineral bearing subcontinental lithospheric mantle was heated by the upwelling mantle plume.     

Impact of land use covers upon karst processes in a typical Fengcong depression system of Nongla, Guangxi, China

The direction and intensity of karst processes can be deeply affected by soil physical and chemical variations which were resulted from land use. Taking Nongla Fengcong depression area, Mashan County, Guangxi as an example, authors discussed the impact of land use on karst processes based on the data of field limestone tablet. The results showed that the corrosional rates at varied soil depth are quite different. Corrosional rate in woodland and orchard is mostly bigger than 20 mg/a, which is much higher than that in tilled land and shrub. Generally, corrosional rate decreased from orchard, woodland, tilled land, fallow land and shrub successively, in which soil organic matter (OM) and soil pH are two major controlling factors: corrosion process is controlled remarkably by soil OM in woodland and orchard. The higher the organic matter content is and the less the pH value is, the higher the corrosional rate is. Owing to lower organic matter content, the corrosional rate is mainly affected by soil CO₂ in tilled land and shrub.     

Zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopic study of gneissic rocks from the Chinese Altai: Progressive accretionary history in the early to middle Palaeozoic

Gneissic rocks in the Chinese Altai Mountains have been interpreted as either Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks or Precambrian basement. This study reports geochemical and geochronological data for banded paragneisses and associated gneissic granitoids collected along a NE–SW traverse in the northwestern Chinese Altai. Petrological and geochemical data suggest that the protoliths of the banded gneisses were possibly immature sediments with significant volcanic input and that the gneissic granitoids were derived from I-type granites formed in a subduction environment. Three types of morphological features can be recognized in zircons from the banded gneisses and are interpreted to correlate with different sources. Zircons from five samples of banded paragneiss cluster predominantly between 466 and 528 Ma, some give Neoproterozoic ages, and a few yield discordant Paleoproterozoic to Archean ages. Zircon Hf isotopic compositions indicate that both juvenile/mantle and crust materials were involved in the generation of the source rocks from which these zircons were derived. In contrast, zircons occur ubiquitously as elongated euhedral prismatic crystals in the four samples of the gneissic granitoids, and define single populations for each sample with mean ages between 380 and 453 Ma. The general absence of Precambrian inheritance and positive zircon ?Hf values for these granitoids suggest insignificant crustal contribution to the generation of the precursor magmas. Our data can be interpreted in terms of a progressive accretionary history in early to middle Palaeozoic times, and the Chinese Altai may possibly represent a magmatic arc built on a continental margin dominated by Neoproterozoic rocks.     

A combined numerical tidal model for the Hangzhou Bay and Qiantang River

-In order to avoid prescribing open boundary condition on the upstream side of the Hangzhou Bay, in numerical simulation of the tides and residual currents of the Bay, a 1-D model for the Qiantang River is connected to the 2-D model for the Hangzhou Bay. The harmonic constants of diurnal constituent [ (K1 O1)/2],semidiurnal constituent (M2) and shallow water constituent (M4) are obtained. The results produced by the combined model are in better agreement with the observed ones than those produced solely by the original 2-D model. The combined model gives much more reliable results for tide-induced residual water level and current.     

南海温跃层基本特征及一维预报模式

根据现有1907—1990年南海大面调查资料,按1°×1°网格进行逐月的标准水层的温度统计。在此基础上采用3次样条函数的插值方法计算出整个南海温跃层的深度、厚度和强度并予以相应分析。分析表明,南海温跃层主要分为两种类型:第一类为辐射型,主要分布在南海北部的陆架区内,季节变化显著;第二类为不同水体叠置型,主要分布在广大深水区,它长年存在,季节变化较小。一种温跃层的一维积分预报模式,该模式是基于忽略热平流作用和水平热扩散的前提下,从局部热平衡方程出发,建立了受海面热收支及风混合作用下求解温度垂直分布及温跃层的时空变化。在南海北部水深约300m处进行了单站温跃层后报,结果表明,温跃层的深度、厚度和强度的相对误差均在30％以下。     

A method to estimate the forces exerted by internal solitons on cylindrical piles

Internal soliton is the large amplitude wave existing in the pycnocline, induced by internal tide in the condition of special bottom topography. During its propagation process, the induced disturbance can bring about strong convergence of sea water and sudden strong current (wave-induced-current), which can cause severe threat to the ocean engineering structures, such as oil drilling platform and pipeline. In this paper, Morison’s empirical method, modal separation and regression analyses are introduced to estimate the forces and torques exerted by internal soliton on cylindrical piles. As an example, a limited set of observational data recording a passage of the internal soliton near Dongsha Islands is used to estimate the horizontal velocity and its acceleration in a vertical section for computing the force and torque on a supposed pile, and the estimation results are reasonable. It is shown that, the higher number of the modes retained in the calculation, the better the estimation of velocity profile fits the observational one. A better overall approximation to the real solution can be reached if there are more observational current data acquired in a whole vertical profile.     

黄海的风、潮混合特征及其对冷水团边界的影响

本文第一作者早在1985年就提出,潮混合效应控制着夏季黄海冷水团的边界及海面冷水分布(赵保仁,1985)。1987年又进一步通过水文调査资料和卫星图片给出了黄海周围的浅水陆架锋(或称潮汐锋)的分布及强锋区的跨锋断面中的温度、盐度和坏流结构特征,并指出夏季的黄海沿岸流在性质上属沿锋面运动的强流(赵保仁,1987a,b),而后又对黄海西部的陆架锋进行了一次专门调査(赵保仁等,1991)。此外,他还指出黄海的强温跃层的形成和转移现象也与潮混合现象密切相关(赵保仁,1989)。因此,研究潮混合现象对阐明发生在黄海的多水文物理现象都是至关重要的。 为深入了解黄海的潮混合特征,作者把渤海、黄海和东海作为一个整体完成了一次精度较高的潮汐、溯流数值计算,在潮汐、潮流的分布方面,揭示了前人尚未阐明的一些特征。本文根据这些数值结果,计算了近最大潮流流速和层化参数,阐明了渤海、黄海和东海的潮混合特征及其对降温期黄海冷水团分布变化的影响。此外,还用 Sim pson等人(1981)的能量模式计算了南黄海西部的风、潮混合效率。