The rate of grain release by pore-ice sublimation in cold-aeolian environments

Pore‐ice sublimation is a prerequisite for aeolian activity in cold environments where surface sediments hold significant amounts of frozen water. Few quantitative studies have defined the rate of grain release from cemented surfaces by pore‐ice sublimation. In 1996–1997, controlled field experiments at Presqu'ile Beach, Ontario, were implemented to measure sediment release from frozen surfaces. The release rates were compared to the local wind regime, ambient temperature and humidity. In additional field experiments, the effect of sediment water content on grain release by sublimation was examined. From the experimental results, an equation which predicts grain release based on local wind speed, ground temperature, humidity, and surface water content is proposed. Predicted release rates show reasonable agreement with natural deflation measured on the beach at Presqu'ile Provincial Park.     

Wind erosion from military training lands in the Mojave Desert, California, U.S.A.

Military training activities reduce vegetation cover, disturb crusts, and degrade soil aggregates, making the land more vulnerable to wind erosion. The objective of this study was to quantify wind erosion rates for typical conditions at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, CA, U.S.A. Five Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) sampler stations were installed at each of five sites. Each BSNE station consisted of five BSNE samplers with the lowest sampler at 0·05 m and the highest sampler at 1·0 m above the soil surface. Once a month, sediment was collected from the samplers for analysis. Occurrence of saltating soil aggregates was recorded every hour using Sensits, one at each site. The site with the most erosion had a sediment discharge of 311 kg m⁻¹ over a period of 17 months. Other sites eroded much less because of significant rock cover or the presence of a crust. Hourly sediment discharge was estimated combining hourly Sensit count and monthly sediment discharge measured using BSNE samplers. More simultaneously measured data are needed to better characterize the relationship between these two and reconstruct a detailed time-series of wind erosion. This measured time-series can then be used for comparison with simulation results from process-based wind erosion models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS), once it has been adapted to the unique aspects of military lands.     

Flexural subsidence by 29 Ma on the NE edge of Tibet from the magnetostratigraphy of Linxia Basin, China

This study provides a detailed magnetostratigraphic record of subsidence in the Linxia Basin, documenting a 27 Myr long sedimentary record from the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Deposition in the Linxia Basin began at 29 Ma and continued nearly uninterruptedly until 1.7 Ma. Increasing rates of subsidence between 29 and 6 Ma in the Linxia Basin suggest deposition in the foredeep portion of a flexural basin and constrain the timing of shortening in the northeastern margin of the plateau to Late Oligocene–Late Miocene time. By Late Miocene–Early Pliocene time, a decrease in subsidence rates in the Linxia Basin associated with thrust faulting and a 10° clockwise rotation in the basin indicates that the deformation front of the Tibetan plateau had propagated into the currently deforming region northeast of the plateau.     

Towards non-linear inversion for characterization of time-lapse phenomena through numerical modelling

We compare two geophysical survey measurements of the same type made at different times in order to characterize the change in the geological medium during the elapsed time. The aim of this study is to develop a strategy using a full non-linear inversion algorithm as the interpretation tool. In this way, not only the location and the form of the changes are recovered, but also the changes in the material parameters of the geological medium can be estimated. In order to solve this fully non-linear problem, the so-called ‘multiplicative regularized contrast source inversion’ (MR-CSI) method is employed. The unique property of this iterative method is that it does not solve the forward problem at each iterative step. This makes it possible to use the non-linear inversion algorithm for large-scale computation problems. The numerical results show that by taking into account the non-linear nature of the problem, interpretation of the time-lapse data can be significantly improved, compared with that obtained using linear inversion.     

西藏南部郎杰学群碎屑物质来源的古水流证据

新近对西藏山南琼果和贡嘎地区(特提斯喜马拉雅北亚带)弱变质的上三叠统深海—半深海沉积地层——郎杰学群地质填图调查,在出露槽模沉积构造的37个古水流点获得了43组数据。赤平投影数据恢复后发现,这一地区主力古水流有南东140°～160°和南西190°～210°两个方向。这一分析结果为郎杰学群沉积物来自北边(未知块体)而非印度次大陆的观点提供了有力证据。     

非活动大陆边缘的天然气水合物及其成藏过程述评

非活动陆缘是板块活动相对较弱的地区，也是水合物发育的有利地区。通过对世界各地非活动陆缘地区水合物富集情况的系统分析，发现断褶组合构造、底辟构造以及“麻坑”地貌（Pockmark)与水合物的关系密切。尽管模拟海底反射层（Bottom Simulating Reflector,简称BSR，下同）是最重要的水合物识别标志，但水合物与BSR之间并不存在严格的一一对应关系。非活动陆缘具有丰富的烃类物质来源和适宜的温压条件，而断裂－褶皱组合构造、垒堑式构造和底辟构造等则为烃类气体的运移、富集和成藏提供了有利的构造环境，便于最终形成水合物。非活动陆缘的深水区往往发育有多期叠合盆地，因其物源、温压、构造和沉积条件的内在关联性，常常形成深部石油、中部天然气、浅部水合物的“三位一体”烃类能源结构模式。