Latitudinal change in benthic foraminiferal fauna by ITCZ movement along the ~131°W transect in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

Modern and fossil benthic foraminifera were examined from nine surface sediments and two piston cores along the ~131°W transect in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This study was conducted to clarify the biotic response of abyssal benthic foraminifera during the last 220 ka to changes in the seasonal extent of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The abundance of modern benthic foraminifera was high at stations between the equator and 6°N, whereas it was low at stations north of 6°N, which is generally consistent with the latitudinal CaCO₃ distribution of surface sediments. The northward increase of Epistominella exigua from the equator to ~6°N is similar to the seasonal variations in chlorophyll-a concentrations in the surface water and ITCZ position along ~131°W. This species was more common at core PC5103 (~6°N) than at core PC5101 (~2°N) after ~130 ka, when the Shannon-Wiener diversity (H’) between the two cores started to diverge. Hence, the presentday latitudinal difference in benthic foraminifera (E. exigua and species diversity) between ~2°N and ~6°N along ~131°W has been generally established since ~130 ka. According to the modern relationship between the seasonality of primary production and seasonal ITCZ variations in the northern margin of the ITCZ, the latitudinal divergence of benthic foraminiferal fauna between ~2°N and ~6°N since ~130 ka appear to have been induced by more distinct variations in the seasonal movement of ITCZ.     

Isotope Geochronologic and Geochemical Constraints on the Magmatic Associations of the Collisional Orogenic Zone in the West Kunlun Orogen,China

The Jiajiwaxi pluton in the southern portion of the West Kunlun Range can be divided into two collision–related intrusive rock series, i.e., a gabbro–quartz diorite–granodiorite series that formed at 224±2.0 Ma and a monzonitic granite–syenogranite series that formed at 222±2.0 Ma. The systematic analysis of zircon U-Pb geochronology and bulk geochemistry is used to discuss the magmatic origin(material source and thermal source), tectonic setting, genesis and geotectonic implications of these rocks. The results of this analysis indicate that the parent magma of the first series, representing a transition from I-type to S-type granites, formed from thermally triggered partial melting of deep crustal components in an early island–arc–type igneous complex, similar to an I-type granite, during the continental collision orogenic stage. The parent magma of the second series, corresponding to an S-type granite, formed from the partial melting of forearc accretionary wedge sediments in a subduction zone in the late Palaeozoic–Triassic. During continued collision, the second series magma was emplaced into the first series pluton along a central fault zone in the original island arc region, forming an immiscible puncture-type complex. The deep tectonothermal events associated with the continent–continent collision during the orogenic cycle are constrained by the compositions and origins of the two series. The new information provided by this paper will aid in future research into the dynamic mechanisms affecting magmatic evolution in the West Kunlun orogenic belt.     

Constraint energy minimizing generalized multiscale finite element method in the mixed formulation

This paper presents a novel mass-conservative mixed multiscale method for solving flow equations in heterogeneous porous media. The media properties (the permeability) contain multiple scales and high contrast. The proposed method solves the flow equation in a mixed formulation on a coarse grid by constructing multiscale basis functions. The resulting velocity field is mass-conservative on the fine grid. Our main goal is to obtain first-order convergence in terms of the mesh size which is independent of local contrast. This is achieved, first, by constructing some auxiliary spaces, which contain global information that cannot be localized, in general. This is built on our previous work on the generalized multiscale finite element method (GMsFEM). In the auxiliary space, multiscale basis functions corresponding to small (contrast-dependent) eigenvalues are selected. These basis functions represent the high-conductivity channels (which connect the boundaries of a coarse block). Next, we solve local problems to construct multiscale basis functions for the velocity field. These local problems are formulated in the oversampled domain, taking into account some constraints with respect to auxiliary spaces. The latter allows fast spatial decay of local solutions and, thus, allows taking smaller oversampled regions. The number of basis functions depends on small eigenvalues of the local spectral problems. Moreover, multiscale pressure basis functions are needed in constructing the velocity space. Our multiscale spaces have a minimal dimension, which is needed to avoid contrast dependence in the convergence. The method’s convergence requires an oversampling of several layers. We present an analysis of our approach. Our numerical results confirm that the convergence rate is first order with respect to the mesh size and independent of the contrast.     

Environmental Monitoring and Peat Assessment Using Multivariate Analysis of Regional-Scale Geochemical Data

A compositional multivariate approach was used to analyse regional-scale soil geochemical data obtained as part of the Tellus Project generated by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. The multi-element total concentration data presented comprise X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses of 6862 rural soil samples collected at 20-cm depth on a non-aligned grid at one site per \(2\,\hbox {km}^{2}\). Censored data were imputed using published detection limits. Each soil sample site was assigned to the regional geology map, resulting in spatial data for one categorical variable and 35 continuous variables comprised of individual and amalgamated elements. This paper examines the extent to which soil geochemistry reflects the underlying geology or superficial deposits. Since the soil geochemistry is compositional, log-ratios were computed to adequately evaluate the data using multivariate statistical methods. Principal component analysis (PCA) and minimum/maximum autocorrelation factors (MAF) were used to carry out linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as a means to discover and validate processes related to the geologic assemblages coded as age bracket. Peat cover was introduced as an additional category to measure the ability to predict and monitor fragile ecosystems. Overall prediction accuracies for the age bracket categories were 68.4 % using PCA and 74.7 % using MAF. With inclusion of peat, the accuracy for LDA classification decreased to 65.0 and 69.9 %, respectively. The increase in misclassification due to the presence of peat may reflect degradation of peat-covered areas since the creation of superficial deposit classification.     

Origins and evolution of rhyolitic magmas in the central Snake River Plain: insights from coupled high-precision geochronology,oxygen isotope,and hafnium isotope analyses of zircon

We present new high-precision CA-ID-TIMS and in situ U–Pb ages together with Hf and O isotopic analyses (analyses performed all on the same grains) from four tuffs from the 15?10 Ma Bruneau–Jarbidge center of the Snake River Plain and from three rhyolitic units from the Kimberly borehole in the neighboring 10?6 Ma Twin Falls volcanic center. We find significant intrasample diversity in zircon ages (ranges of up to 3 Myr) and in δ¹⁸O (ranges of up to 6‰) and ε_Hf (ranges of up to 24 ε units) values. Zircon rims are also more homogeneous than the associated cores, and we show that zircon rim growth occurs faster than the resolution of in situ dating techniques. CA-ID-TIMS dating of a subset of zircon grains from the Twin Falls samples reveals complex crystallization histories spanning 10⁴–10⁶ years prior to some eruptions, suggesting that magma genesis was characterized by the cyclic remelting of buried volcanic rocks and intrusions associated with previous magmatic episodes. Age-dependent trends in zircon isotopic compositions show that rhyolite production in the Yellowstone hotspot track is driven by the mixing of mantle-derived melts (normal δ¹⁸O and ε_Hf) and a combination of Precambrian basement rock (normal δ¹⁸O and ε_Hf down to ??60) and shallow Mesozoic and Cenozoic age rocks, some of which are hydrothermally altered (to low δ¹⁸O values) by earlier stages of Snake River Plain magmatism. These crustal melts hybridize with juvenile basalts and rhyolites to produce the erupted rhyolites. We also observe that the Precambrian basement rock is only an important component in the erupted magmas in the first eruption at each caldera center, suggesting that the accumulation of new intrusions quickly builds an upper crustal intrusive body which is isolated from the Precambrian basement and evolves towards more isotopically juvenile and lower-δ¹⁸O compositions over time.     

南岭东部定南大湖沉积物粒度敏感组分及末次冰消期环境记录

为进一步探究定南大湖湖沼晚冰期以来的水文特征及气候变化,对研究区K02钻孔的粒度特征进行了详细的分析,采用粒级-标准偏差法和主成分分析法对348个沉积样品提取了对环境变化比较敏感的三个粒级组分:0.6~7.1 μm（组分1）,20~44.8 μm（组分2）和89.3~447.7 μm（组分3）。结合湖泊沉积物粒度一般分布规律,并根据敏感组分2和14C测年数据探讨了该区域近16 ka B.P.以来的气候变化。结果表明在过去的16 000年里,大湖地区的水文及气候变化可以分为4个阶段:1）在16.0~11.5 ka B.P.期间,气候总体偏冷干,敏感组分含量增降比较明显,能较好的对应老、中、新仙女木事件和B/A暖期;2）11.5~6.0 ka B.P.期间,大湖地区进入了湿润的全新世适宜期,敏感组分总体含量偏低;3）6.0~3.8 ka B.P.期间,敏感粒度组分含量迅速升高且波动较大,大湖湖沼地区进入一个相对干冷的时期;4）3.8 ka B.P.至今为第四阶段,敏感粒度组分含量总体偏低,考虑到人为干扰因素,暂不做详细讨论。通过对大湖地区水文状况的研究发现,大湖湖沼地区自晚冰期以来气候变化很不稳定。与格陵兰GISP 2冰芯、董哥洞D4石笋及其K02钻孔其他指标的记录对比可以发现,敏感组分2对仙女木、9.5 ka、8.2 ka等冷事件的记录更加明显,也说明了大湖地区的气候变化具有全球性,这种气候变化可能与太阳活动有关。     

Understanding the implications of the EU-LULUCF regulation for the wood supply from EU forests to the EU

Background

In June 2018, the European Parliament and Council of the European Union adopted a legislative regulation for incorporating greenhouse gas emissions and removals from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (EU-LULUCF) under its 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. The LULUCF regulation aim to incentivise EU Member States to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and increase removals in the LULUCF sector. The regulation, however, does not set a target for increasing the LULUCF carbon sink, but rather includes a ‘no net debit’ target for LULUCF (Forests and Agricultural soils). For Managed Forest Land (MFL) an accounting framework with capped credits for additional mitigation against a set forest reference level (FRL) was agreed for 2021–2030. The FRL gives the projected future carbon sink in the two compliance periods 2021–2025 and 2026–2030 under “continuation of forest management practices as they were in the reference period 2000–2009”. This FRL was disputed by some Member States as it was perceived to put a limit on their future wood harvesting from MFL. Here we simulated with the EFISCEN European forest model the “continuation of forest management practices” and determined the corresponding wood harvest for 26 EU countries under progressing age classes.

Results

The simulations showed that under “continuation of forest management practices” the harvest (wood removals) in the 26 EU countries as a whole can increase from 420 million m³/year in 2000–2009 to 560 million m³/year in 2050 due to progressing age classes. This implies there is a possibility to increase absolute wood harvests without creating debits compared to the forest reference level. However, the manner in which ‘continuation of forest management’ developed with a progressing age class development over time, meant that in some countries the future harvesting exceeded 90% of the increment. Since this generally is considered to be unsustainable we additionally set a harvesting cut-off as max 90% of increment to be harvested for each individual country as a possible interpretation of sustainability criteria that are included in the regulation. Using this additional limit the projected harvest will only increase to 493 million m³/year.

Conclusions

The worry from Member States (MS) that the FRL will prevent any additional harvesting seems unwarranted. Due to differences between Member States concerning the state of their forest resources, the FRL as a baseline for harvesting works out very differently for the different Member States. The FRL may have other unforeseen consequences which we discuss. Under all scenarios the living forest biomass sink shows a decline. This can be counteracted through incentivising measures under Climate Smart Forestry.

     

1961—2016年我国区域性暴雨过程的客观识别及其气候特征

利用全国2287个气象观测站1961—2016年逐日降水资料,基于对暴雨区进行连续追踪的思路,采用暴雨相邻站点数和暴雨区中心距离确定了中国区域性暴雨过程的客观识别方法;根据区域性暴雨过程的平均强度、持续时间和平均范围构建了区域性暴雨过程的综合强度评估模型。利用该客观方法对1961—2016年中国的区域性暴雨过程进行识别,并分析其气候和气候变化特征。结果显示：我国区域性暴雨过程年均38.5次;区域性暴雨过程一年各月均可出现,但主要出现在4—9月,其中7、8月发生最为频繁,6月区域性暴雨过程持续时间长、范围广、综合强度强,这与长江中下游地区梅雨现象有关。一年中,区域性暴雨过程首次出现日期平均为3月6日,末次出现日期平均为11月14日;1961—2016年,我国年区域性暴雨过程首次出现日期呈明显提前、末次日期呈显著推后、暴雨期呈显著延长的变化趋势;年发生总频次呈微弱增多,较强区域性暴雨过程次数呈明显增加趋势;区域性暴雨过程的覆盖范围和综合强度均呈显著增大趋势。南方型区域暴雨过程变化趋势与全国的基本一致;北方型首次日期呈提前、末次日期呈推后趋势,发生频次有微弱减少趋势,覆盖范围、持续时间、综合强度均无明显变化趋势。