珠江口盆地白云凹陷新生代构造演化动力学

白云凹陷构造演化史的研究对在白云凹陷开展油气勘探和深水沉积研究具有重要的意义。通过对断裂与沉积结构平面和剖面特点的分析,结合岩浆活动特点,文中提出白云凹陷是一个复式地堑,推测这种结构特点与凹陷下地壳的强烈韧性减薄和颈缩变形有关,表现为热岩石圈的伸展。其发育机制推测与白云凹陷位于构造转换带上有关,特殊的构造位置使白云凹陷成为强烈构造变形区,岩石圈地壳强烈减薄,伴随伸展过程和地幔上涌,脆性地壳或上地幔中部分熔融物质的出现导致岩石圈强度的急剧降低,在区域伸展应力场下以韧性流变方式减薄。岩浆在构造转换带下聚集并发育主岩浆房,由于白云凹陷南北边缘没有发育正断裂系统,岩浆主要沿垂直伸展的方向运移,因此在珠琼运动一幕和二幕南南东向伸展应力作用下,岩浆向白云凹陷的东部和西部运移至北西向基底深大断裂处,那里由于北西向断裂表现为左行张剪性质而成为压力较低的地区,从而成为岩浆上涌和侵位的地方。在岩浆聚集的地区,活动岩浆体附近的脆性变形被分散的韧性变形所取代,因此在凹陷的东北和西南两个角上,发育了张性和张剪性小断裂群,由于热岩石圈弹性较差,白云凹陷长期持续沉降。白云凹陷的断裂活动和沉积演化史还受到南海海盆扩张活动的影响。     

Thermal evolution of an extensional detachment as constrained by organic metamorphic data and thermal modeling: Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex (Eastern Alps)

Following Early Cretaceous nappe stacking, the Eastern Alps were affected by late-orogenic extension during the Late Cretaceous. In the eastern segment of this range, a Late Cretaceous detachment separates a very low- to low-grade metamorphic cover (Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex, GPNC) above a low- to high-grade metamorphic basement. Synchronously, the Kainach Gosau Basin (KGB) collapsed and subsided on top of the section.Metamorphism of organic material within this section has been investigated using vitrinite reflectance data and Raman spectra of extracted carbonaceous material. In the southern part of the GPNC, vitrinite reflectance indicates a decrease in organic maturity towards the stratigraphic youngest unit. The remaining part of the GPNC is characterized by an aureole of elevated vitrinite reflectance values and Raman R2 ratios that parallels the margins of the GPNC. Vitrinite reflectance in the KGB shows a steep coalification gradient and increases significantly towards the western basin margin. The observed stratigraphic trend in the southern GPNC is a result of deep Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous burial. This maturity pattern was overprinted along the margins by advective heat and convective fluids during Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation of basement rocks.During shearing, the fault zone was heated up to ca. 500 °C. This overprint is explained by a two-dimensional thermal model with a ramp-flat fault geometry and a slip rate of 1 to 1.5 cm/year during 5 Ma fault movement. The collapse basin above the detachment subsided in a thermal regime which was characterized by relaxing isotherms.     

Analysis of rock structure stability in coal mines

In this paper, the theory of limit point instability is used to analyse the stability of rock structures in coal mines. A general method of analysing stability of rock structures is put forward and a uniform instability condition of rock structures is set up. Some instability phenomena, such as rock bursts in circular roadways, pillars and long walls, and the outburst of coal and gas from circular roadways, are discussed analytically. At a later stage, the critical point of rock structure instability is determined. The influence of relative parameters (such as the mechanical properties of rock, coal, and the geometric sizes) on the stability of the rock structures is carefully analysed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental policy reform on north-eastern Brazil’s agricultural frontier

The expansion of modern agriculture in developing countries presents numerous challenges for environmental policy makers. Environmental policies for agriculture in north-eastern Brazil’s soybean belt are analyzed, with emphasis on the role of a non-state actor in leading policy reforms. An organization representing large farmers is leading policy reforms to reduce the environmental impacts of modern agriculture. By contrast, state agencies are relatively weak and ineffective. The analysis situates this question conceptually in literatures stressing the political and structural causes of corporate environmentalism and literatures explaining the increasingly strong role of non-state actors in environmental governance. The case study focuses on the content of reforms, reasons why the non-state actor is so prominent, and the implications of policy reforms. State agencies face major challenges in environment-agriculture policy debates in places where environmental subsidies are unlikely, environmental information is poor, and organized private interests are influential.     

Fracture mechanics analysis of multiple cracks in anisotropic media

This paper presents a single‐domain boundary element method (BEM) for linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis in the two‐dimensional anisotropic material. In this formulation, the displacement integral equation is collocated on the un‐cracked boundary only, and the traction integral equation is collocated on one side of the crack surface only. A special crack‐tip element was introduced to capture exactly the crack‐tip behavior. A computer program with the FORTRAN language has been developed to effectively calculate the stress intensity factors of an anisotropic material. This BEM program has been verified having a good accuracy with the previous researches. Furthermore, by analyzing the different anisotropic degree cracks in a finite plate, we found that the stress intensity factors of crack tips had apparent influence by the geometry forms of cracks and media with different anisotropic degrees. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The use of the exponent K(q) function to delimit homogeneous regions in regional frequency analysis of extreme annual daily rainfall

The regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data is a useful methodology in hydrology to obtain certain quantile values when no long data series are available. The most crucial step in the analysis is the grouping of sites into homogeneous regions. This work presents a new grouping criterion based on some multifractal properties of rainfall data. For this purpose, a regional frequency analysis of extreme annual rainfall data from the Maule Region (Chile) has been performed. Daily rainfall data series of 53 available stations have been studied, and their empirical moments scaling exponent functions K(q) have been obtained. Two characteristics parameters of the K(q) functions (γ_max and K(0)) have been used to group the stations into three homogeneous regions. Only five sites have not been possible to include into any homogenous regions, being the local frequency analysis of extreme daily rainfall the most appropriate method to be used at these locations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fossil wood

Plants have been making wood (secondary xylem) for more than 370 million years. This familiar material is one of the keys to their massive success. Wood allows plants to attain breathtaking heights and maximize the capture of sunlight for growth. By creating complex, multi‐layered forests, the evolution of wood, has done more to shape life on land than almost any other innovation. Wood is one of the most common terrestrial fossils encountered in the geological record. Whether preserved as huge petrified logs or as minute chunks of charcoal, fossil wood is abundant in rocks of Late Devonian age and younger. It is of enormous scientific importance, shedding light on the identity and stature of ancient trees. As a record of growth over a sustained period, it also tells us much about the climates and environments in which those trees lived. In this article, I explain some aspects of the origin, evolution, preservation, and identification of fossil wood, and emphasise its great significance for geology.     

The lateglacial Quercus expansion in the southern European Alps: rapid vegetation response to a late Allerød climate warming?

A pollen‐inferred vegetation shift, from pioneer birch–pine woodland to mixed pine–summergreen oak forests, in the southern Alpine forelands, is commonly attributed to a centennial‐scale warming that occurred between the Gerzensee Oscillation (GO) and the Younger Dryas. Two microtephra layers bracketing the Younger Dryas onset (the Laacher See Tephra and the Vedde Ash) improve the chronology at Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (northern Italy) and allowed accurate correlation with Central European records where the GO is clearly detected. We used pollen percentages, pollen accumulation rates (PARs) and plant macrofossils to assess the population dynamics of Quercus, and leaf‐cuticle analysis for a better taxonomic identification of Quercus. Our results indicate that the species that was locally present was probably Quercus robur. PARs suggest that the population expansion started as early as the Bølling and followed an exponential increase through time. We attribute this gradual shift to increasing summer temperatures and longer growing seasons which contrast with a gradually decreasing temperature trend as recorded in Greenland ice cores and in Central Europe. Breaks or set‐backs in the PAR record may indicate the biotic response to minor Lateglacial cooling events of different life‐history stages in the Quercus population. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.