Impacts of primary deforestation upon limestone slopes in northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Effects of deforestation upon slopes in limestones and in volcanic rocks in the Benson River valley, northern Vancouver Island, have been investigated quantitatively. Postlogging soil erosion and vegetal regeneration success were assessed by measuring soil depth, percent bare rock and moss cover, and the numbers and diversity of trees, shrubs, and plants on 25 sampling sites, each containing ten measuring quadrats selected at random. Sixteen sites were on the Quatsino Formation, a well-karstified limestone, and nine on the Karmutsen Formation of basaltic lavas. Eight sites were of virgin forest, 16 were logged between 1970 and 1983, and one (on limestone) was logged in 1911. Both bedrock types were significantly affected by the cutting. There was greater loss of soil and an increase in bare rock on the limestones. Erosion was increased significantly by burning on the limestones but not on the volcanics. Within-group comparisons on the limestones determined that steeper slopes and harder burned areas suffered the most and are slowest to regenerate. Volume of timber on the 1911 site was 19 percent of that in similar uncut forest sites. It appears that complete recovery on the barren limestone slopes will require at least some centuries.     

Estimated mass and stiffness matrices of shear building from modal test data

A method that estimates mass and stiffness matrices of shear building from modal test data is presented in this paper. The method depends on only measurable points that are less in number than the total structural degrees of freedom, and on the first two orders of structural mode measured. So it is applicable to most of the general test. Based on this method modal data of unmeasurable points are estimated, then global mass and stiffness matrices of structure are obtained by using the first two orders of modal data. Taking advantage of iteration the optimum global mass and stiffness matrices are gained. Finally, an example is studied in this paper. Its result shows that this method is reliable. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

频率域全波形反演方法研究进展

全波形反演是一种利用地震波传播的动力学特征来获取地下介质物性参数的反演方法,可为揭示地下精细结构提供重要依据。本文以弹性波方程作为数学模型来模拟地震波传播规律并进行相应的反演方法研究。为提高计算效率与反演结果的准确性,可将近似解析离散化（NAD）算子用于频率域弹性波方程的正演模拟。本文在频率域NAD离散的基础上推导阻抗矩阵的稀疏分块结构与反演目标函数对模型参数的梯度计算公式,由此建立基于NAD算子的频率域弹性波全波形反演方法。为验证该方法的有效性,文中通过数值实验对多种典型介质模型进行反演计算,均得到了理想的反演结果。

     

Application of saddlepoint approximation in reliability analysis of dynamic systems

The application of the saddlepoint approximation to reliability analysis of dynamic systems is investigated. The failure event in reliability problems is formulated as the exceedance of a single performance variable over a prescribed threshold level. The saddlepoint approximation technique provides a choice to estimate the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the performance variable. The failure probability is obtained as the value of the complement CDF at a specif ied threshold. The method requires computing the saddlepoint from a simple algebraic equation that depends on the cumulant generating function (CGF) of the performance variable. A method for calculating the saddlepoint using random samples of the performance variable is presented. The applicable region of the saddlepoint approximation is discussed in detail. A 10-story shear building model with white noise excitation illustrates the accuracy and effi ciency of the proposed methodology.     

Microbial community dynamics and biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in polluted marine sediments in Hong Kong

Dynamics of microbial community and biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in polluted marine sediments, artificially spiked with a mixture of PAHs (fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene), were examined for a period of 60 days. Microbial communities were characterised by bacterial counts, ester-linked fatty acid methyl ester (EL-FAME) analysis and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). A noted reduction in species diversity occurred only in the high PAH level treatment at onset. Both EL-FAME and DGGE demonstrated a marked shift in microbial community, in all the PAH level treatments, afterwards, with increases in the number of fatty acid degraders, the relative abundance of fatty acid biomarkers for gram-negative bacteria and a decrease in species diversity. The shift was also accompanied by the significant decrease in PAH concentrations. By the end of the experiment, diversity indices, based on both approaches, recovered when PAH concentrations declined to their background levels, except in the high PAH level treatment.     

Groundwater and surface water interactions in an alluvial plain, Tuul River Basin, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Drinking water supplies in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, are completely dependent on groundwater sourced from pumping wells located in an alluvial plain of the Tuul River which flows through Ulaanbaatar. The interaction between groundwater in the alluvial plain and river surface water was investigated using a hydrological and multi-tracers approach. The observed groundwater contour map clearly shows that the Tuul River recharges the floodplain groundwater and groundwater flows from east to west. The similarity of chemical and stable isotopic compositions suggests that groundwater is mainly recharged by Tuul River water in the vicinity of the river. In addition, considering groundwater contours and chemical composition, groundwater in the northern and southern mountain sides contribute to floodplain groundwater. Stable isotopic information suggests that winter season precipitation also contributes to the groundwater, because groundwater in a specific region has a considerably lower isotopic ratio. Using the End Member Mixing Analysis applying oxygen-18, SiO₂ and HCO₃ ^- as tracers, the contribution ratios of the Tuul River, groundwater in the northern and southern mountain regions, and winter season precipitation to floodplain groundwater are estimated to be 58% to 85%, 1% to 54%, 0% to 16%, and 0% to 12%, respectively.     

Study on uncertainty of inversion and resolution limit in the presence of noise

This study analyzed the uncertainty of inversion and the resolution limit in the presence of noise by means of statistical experiments. The exhaustive method is adopted to obtain the global optimal solution in each experiment. We found that even with small level of noise, solutions fluctuate in a large range for the thin bed. The distribution of solutions in the presence of noise is closely related to the spread of the cost function in the absence of noise. As a result, the area of a certain neighborhood around the true solution on the spread of the cost function in the absence of noise is used to evaluate the uncertainty of inversion and the resolution limit in the presence of noise. In the case that the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is 5 in this study, solutions focus around the true solution with a very small uncertainty only when the bed thickness is greater than the reciprocal of the double predominant frequency of the convoluting wavelet.     

地层证据--对大别造山带汇聚历史的制约

大别造山带的汇聚演化历史一直存在不同的认识,来自扬子陆块和华北陆块显生宙以来的地层记录以及北淮阳地区的地层记录可能为两个陆块的汇聚模式提供制约。通过对扬子陆块与华北陆块显生宙以来岩相古地理进行比较,其中3个阶段相似, 2个阶段差别很大。以浊积岩发育作为俯冲阶段的标志,磨拉石建造出现作为闭合的标志,显生宙以来,大别造山带曾经历了两次俯冲和两次汇聚,俯冲时间分别是晚奥陶世—早志留世和早三叠世,汇聚的时间分别为中 晚泥盆世和中三叠世,早期的汇聚具有软碰撞特征,以上认知得到了北淮阳地区地层、古生物和沉积记录的支持,同时也与大别山造山带榴辉岩的同位素年龄数据基本吻合。高压 超高压变质岩在晚三叠世处于快速折返阶段,早侏罗世以前到达地表,其平均折返隆升速率为39～66mm/a。     

Caledonian Low-Temperature Granulite-Facies Metamorphism in the West Kunlun Orogenic Belt—SHRIMP Chronological Evidence from Zircon

The West Kunlun orogenic belt is located at the conjunction of the paleo-Asian tectonic system and the Tethys tectonic system. Petrological and mineralogical studies of the Early Cambrian metamorphic surface crust in this region have shown that in case the metamorphism reached low-temperature granulate facies, the typical mineral assemblage is biotite-garnet-silimanite-K feldspar-plagioclase-quartz. The peak metamorphic temperatures are within the range of 720–740°C and the pressure is 0.6 GPa ±. Three types of metamorphic zircon have been detected in the metamorphic rocks: the complex inclusion-bearing type ; the early relic zircon inclusion-bearing type; and the inclusion-free type. SHRIMP age determination of these three types of metamorphic zircon have revealed that these zircons were formed principally during 400–460 Ma, indicating that pre-Cambrian metamorphic surface crust rocks underwent low-temperature granulite facies metamorphism during the Caledonian. In combination with the geological characteristics of this region, it is considered that when the oceanic basin was closed, there occurred intense intracontinental subduction (type A), bringing part of the Early Cambrian metamorphic basement in this region downwards to the lower crust. Meanwhile, there were accompanied with tectonic deformation at deep levels and medium- to high-grade metamorphism. This study provided important chronological and mineralogical evidence for the exploration of the evolutionary mechanism and process of the West Kunlun Early Paleozoic. Part of the results from the research project “ Research on the West Kunlun pre-Cambrian tectonic events” under the program “ Research on the important geological problems of China’ s pre-Cambrian” (No. 200113900070) sponsored by the China National Geological Surveying Bureau.