Using trace elements in skin to discriminate the populations of minke whales in southern hemisphere

Concentrations of 12 trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, Rb, Sr, Cd, Cs, Ba, and Hg) were determined in liver and skin tissues of minke whales from various regions within the Antarctic Ocean. Cd concentrations in livers of southern minke whale were apparently higher than those in cetaceans from other regions, while Hg concentrations were lower. There were significant positive correlations between body length and concentrations of Cd and Hg in the liver. The concentrations of all trace elements in the skin were lower than those in other cetaceans reported previously. Significant positive correlations between liver and skin were found for Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Rb, Cd, and Cs, implying that the concentrations of these trace elements in the skin reflect those of internal organs. Large interannual variation of the accumulation pattern of trace elements in the skin was observed for the southern minke whales from Area V. There were significant differences in the skin element concentrations among Areas III, IV, and V, especially for males. Also, discriminant analysis between geographically two different groups collected during 1995/1996 austral summer season, based on the concentrations of trace elements in the skin, allowed for a correct classification of 90% of these minke whales. These results suggest that measurement of trace elements in skin samples could provide valuable information on the status of contamination and possible geographic differences in the accumulation levels in southern minke whales.     

THE SINIAN SYSTEM

Ⅰ. INTRODUDTION The Name Sinian System("Sinische Formationsreihe")was firstemployed in a stratigraphic sense by Ferdinand von Richthofen whosegeographic and geologic explorations in China must for all time form the     

Hybrid-optimization algorithm for the management of a conjunctive-use project and well field design

Hi-Desert Water District (HDWD), the primary water-management agency in the Warren Groundwater Basin, California, plans to construct a waste water treatment plant to reduce future septic-tank effluent from reaching the groundwater system. The treated waste water will be reclaimed by recharging the groundwater basin via recharge ponds as part of a larger conjunctive-use strategy. HDWD wishes to identify the least-cost conjunctive-use strategies for managing imported surface water, reclaimed water, and local groundwater. As formulated, the mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) groundwater-management problem seeks to minimize water-delivery costs subject to constraints including potential locations of the new pumping wells, California State regulations, groundwater-level constraints, water-supply demand, available imported water, and pump/recharge capacities. In this study, a hybrid-optimization algorithm, which couples a genetic algorithm and successive-linear programming, is developed to solve the MINLP problem. The algorithm was tested by comparing results to the enumerative solution for a simplified version of the HDWD groundwater-management problem. The results indicate that the hybrid-optimization algorithm can identify the global optimum. The hybrid-optimization algorithm is then applied to solve a complex groundwater-management problem. Sensitivity analyses were also performed to assess the impact of varying the new recharge pond orientation, varying the mixing ratio of reclaimed water and pumped water, and varying the amount of imported water available. The developed conjunctive management model can provide HDWD water managers with information that will improve their ability to manage their surface water, reclaimed water, and groundwater resources.     

青藏高原北缘阿尔金东段中生代南北向伸展作用

青藏高原北缘的阿尔金山脉东段发育了延伸大于300 km、东西走向的拉配泉断裂,为南倾的正断层,局部倾角可以低至30°以下。断层中段表现为30~50 m厚的韧性剪切带,发育有较好的糜棱岩组构和矿物伸展线理;东段和西段以碎裂变形为特征。断裂带内运动学标志,如不对称香肠构造、不对称褶皱和次级脆性和韧性断裂,都指示了上盘向南的正滑移剪切方式。两方面证据控制了拉配泉断裂的活动时代。首先,拉配泉断裂上盘局部产出早-中侏罗世沉积地层。侏罗系地层中的砾石,特别是其中的含叠层石硅质灰岩和紫色石英岩,可以与断裂下盘的岩石相对比。早-中侏罗世地层可能为拉配泉断裂之上的伸展盆地沉积。其次,拉配泉断裂下盘岩石的40Ar/39Ar热年代学分析给出2个明显的冷却事件。较老的事件出现在约220~187 Ma之间的三叠纪末期至侏罗纪早期,而年轻的事件出现在早白垩世的晚期(约100 Ma).约220~187 Ma之间的冷却年龄在拉配泉断裂下盘岩石中普遍存在,代表了拉配泉断裂正断作用的主要阶段。约100 Ma时,断裂东段的正断作用再次活动,该事件可能被南倾的恰什坎正断层运动所叠加而增强,并与拉配泉断裂的东段合并。这2条断裂具有共同的上盘向南的正滑移运动方式。青藏高原和东亚其它地区的中生代伸展作用可以归结为特提斯洋向北和太平洋向西俯冲形成的弧后伸展作用。      

工程地质区及其在地球各大陆的分布

在地球各大陆上工程地质条件水平和垂直上的变化反映出它们的区域性,它受控于该地区的热量、湿度及其比率。这就是在类似地质结构的地区中,不同的纬度和海拔高度形成了不同的工程地质条件的原因。引入工程地质区这个概念的目的在于说明工程地质条件的区域性。工程地质区一词的意义是指一个大的工程地质地区或省,在其中主要由水的形态决定的岩土状态是均一的并从工程地质观点来看具有区域稳定性。已经确定了以下工程地质区类型:永久性的多年冻土区域、多年冻土和融化沉积共存区域,以及融化和不冻岩石区域,它们再细分为亚区。工程地质条件区域性概念要考虑的主要问题有:分区原则、工程地质区域的类型和种类、地球各大陆上工程地质区域的空间分布规律性、“理想”大陆上的分布模型。     

Calibration of local magnitude scale for Hindukush continental subduction zone

Hindukush is an active subduction zone where at least one earthquake occurs on daily basis. For seismic hazard studies, it is important to develop a local magnitude scale using the data of local seismic network. We have computed local magnitude scale for Hindukush earthquakes using data from local network belonging to Center for Earthquake Studies (CES) for a period of three years, i.e. 2015–2017. A total of 26,365 seismic records pertaining to 2,683 earthquakes with magnitude 2.0 and greater, was used with hypocentral distance less than 600 km. Magnitude scale developed by using this data comes to be M_L = logA + 0.929logr + 0.00298r – 1.84. The magnitude determined through formulated relation was compared with that of standard relation for Southern California and relation developed by the same authors for local network for Northern Punjab. It was observed that Hindukush region has high attenuation as compared to that of Southern California and Northern Punjab which implies that Hindukush is tectonically more disturbed as compared to the said regions, hence, seismically more active as well. We have calculated station correction factors for our network. Station correction factors do not show any pattern which probably owes to the geological and tectonic complexity of this structure. Standard deviation and variance of magnitude residuals for CES network determined using Hutton and Boore scale and scale developed in this study were compared, it showed that a variance reduction of 44.1% was achieved. Average of magnitude residuals for different distance ranges was almost zero which showed that our magnitude scale was stable for all distances up to 600 km. Newly developed magnitude scale will help in homogenization of earthquake catalog. It has been observed that b-value of CES catalog decreases when magnitude is calculated by using newly developed magnitude scale.     

重新评估新马德里地震带

以新马德里地震带(以下简称NMSZ，图1)而知名的美国大陆中部地区，尽管远离板块边界，但却频繁发生特大地震，其发震机制一直是个未解之谜。NMSZ地区并没有大多数活动形变地区构造运动特征的显著地形起伏，但当面对该整个地区地震危险性在某些概率水平上可以与旧金山湾地区相比的证据时，我们多数人感到需要“拧自已一下以看看我们是否在做梦”。尽管在很多方面，评估NMSZ地区的危险性比评价美国西部地区更具挑战性，不确定性更大，但经过细致地科学研究，已经在地震危险性评估的最关键问题上达成了共识。[这里给出的一致性看法反映了美国地质调查局和美国中部地震中心(一个由国家科学基金会资助的大学协会组织)2000年1月主办的一次讨论会上与会的二十几位科学家在会上及会后在国际互联网和专业会议上公开发表的一些看法。]     

八十年代非洲状况

1985年的非洲饥荒引起了世界对这块大陆特别是对撒赫勒地区和埃塞俄比亚的关注。人们可以回忆起,早在十二年前,这些地区曾闹过旱灾和饥荒。干旱是否还在持续?过去几年来,情况有何变化?为防止将来发生类似旱灾和饥荒应该做些什么?在解决这些问题时,地理学家该做些什么?研究者通常把他们的研究局限在情况的有限的几个方面,也许这是明智的作法,但结论常差强人意。在此,本文试图提供一个多方面的见解。