Early evolution of angiosperms

While many characters have been used to define the nature of the angiosperms in living plants, the list must be reduced to a single character that can be found in the fossil record in order to proceed with our search for the earliest flowering plants.     

The critical state and steady state of sand: A literature review

Abstract

The critical state and steady state theories are widely accepted for simulating the soil behavior and providing a basis for liquefaction evaluation and constitutive modeling. However, there was conflicting evidence regarding the critical state and steady state of sands in the last decades. In some cases, the critical state and steady state are taken to be identical and in others they differ significantly. Whether they are the same or not remain a hot academic debate to date. This paper provides a critical review on the origin and history of the critical state and steady state of sands, which identifies conflicting evidences and discusses the influencing factors on the existence and uniqueness of critical state and steady state. Based on a critical review of literature, it is concluded that the steady state concept is a refinement of the critical state concept and the uniqueness of the critical state and steady state was affirmed. Special care should be paid in the laboratory techniques in order to accurately measure the critical state and steady state due to the numerous influencing factors of them.     

Wet-dry changes in the borderland of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia from 1208 to 1369 based on historical records

More than 240 items of historical records containing climatic information were retrieved from official historical books, local chronicles, annals and regional meteorological disaster yearbooks. By using moisture index and flood/drought (F/D) index obtained from the above information, the historical climate change, namely wet-dry conditions in borderland of Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (BSGN, mainly included Ningxialu, Hezhoulu, Gongchanglu, Fengyuanlu and Yan’anlu in the Yuan Dynasty) was studied. The results showed that the climate of the region was generally dry and the ratio between drought and flood disasters was 85/38 during the period of 1208–1369. According to the frequencies of drought-flood disasters, the whole period could be divided into three phases. (1) 1208–1240: drought dominated the phase with occasional flood disasters. (2) 1240–1320: long-time drought disasters and extreme drought events happened frequently. (3) 1320–1369: drought disasters were less severe when flood and drought disasters happened alternately. Besides, the reconstructed wet-dry change curve revealed obvious transition and periodicity in the Mongol–Yuan Period. The transitions occurred in 1230 and 1325. The wet-dry change revealed 10- and 23-year quasi-periods which were consistent with solar cycles, indicating that solar activity had affected the wet-dry conditions of the study region in the Mongol–Yuan Period. The reconstructed results were consistent with two other study results reconstructed from natural evidences, and were similar to another study results from historical documents. All the above results showed that the climate in BSGN was characterized by long-time dry condition with frequent severe drought disasters during 1258 to 1308. Thus, these aspects of climatic changes might have profound impacts on local vegetation and socio-economic system.     

2008年乌恰-塔什库尔干6.5±0.5级地震危险区短临跟踪与定点前兆异常分析

新疆乌恰-塔什库尔干地区为2008年度圈定的6.5级左右地震危险区,1年来对该地震危险区进行了短临跟踪,2008年10月5日发生了预期地震.总结了震前定点前兆异常实时跟踪分析及震情监视情况:① 监测区及其附近多数台站近一半监测手段,约1/3的台项出现异常;②异常以应力、应变、形变异常为主;③异常以短期、短临异常为主;④ 多学科有异常配套性,但同一测项、同一台站异常配套性不佳;⑤异常有协同性,不同台站、不同手段、不同距离的观测项目几乎同时出现异常;⑥ 震前有确定性、无争议性异常,也有不确定性、有争议的异常;⑦ 震前对资料的分析和震情判断基本是正确的,但也有吃不准的一面.震情跟踪实践证实,震前异常的认定与观测资料本身、工作的细致性及预报人员的经验关系极大,跟踪要比不跟踪好,只要用心工作,震前就有可能捕捉到用于地震预测的地球物理前兆信息,有可能在震前有所作为.     

利用主动震源检测汶川地震余震引起的浅层波速变化

为了监测汶川地震后断裂带附近的波速变化,2008年6月,我们利用快速响应探测系统,在龙门山断裂带北端进行了为期3周的连续观测实验.实验使用电动落锤作为主动震源,GPS连续同步授时的高精度数采作为接收系统.利用记录到的高时间精度观测数据,结合互相关时延检测技术,计算了P波和面波走时的相对变化,来表征地下波速的变化.我们观测到两次面波波速的异常变化,变化幅度最高达到2%,远远大于气压变化所能引起的波速变化.结合该时段内地震活动记录,我们认为面波的波速变化是由在附近发生的两次地震事件的同震效应引起的,该观测结果同理论计算结果相符.     

大容量气枪震源的实验与模拟研究

气枪震源是一种新兴、环保、绿色的人工震源,在区域尺度深部探测中有重要的应用前景.本文通过实验模拟研究了用于深部探测的大容量气枪震源,主要工作为:(1)根据陆上气枪实验分析了大容量气枪震源的特征;(2)采用自由气泡振荡理论模拟气枪信号,探讨深部探测中增强气泡效应从而增大气枪低频部分能量的方法;(3)研究气枪容量、工作压力和沉放深度等对单枪信号的影响及枪阵激发时刻和气枪间距对枪阵信号的影响,指导深部探测中气枪震源工作参数的选择;(4)研究不同类型水底对反射透射系数的影响,其结果对于选择合适的场地条件有指导意义.     

1999年轮台5.1级地震近场地倾斜资料异常分析

利用小波分析独特的时—频分析特性,对轮台5,1级地震前近场多台地倾斜连续观测资料进行了多尺度分解,分析结果发现在地震前震中附近的地倾斜台站几乎都接收到了相同频段的异常信号,周期为几天到十几天,异常信号出现在各个台站的时间也大致相同,主要集中在震前3-4个月：震前异常具有从外围向震中发展且幅度明显增强的时空演化特征。分析认为：这些异常可能与1999年轮台5,1级地震的孕育过程有关。     

中国天气发生器降水模拟参数的气候变化特征

利用中国672个站点1951-2007年的逐日降水资料,分1951-1978和1979-2007两个时段分析了中国天气发生器BCC/RCG-WG降水模拟参数的气候变化特征.结果表明,在气候变化背景条件下,我国各地干日到湿日的降水转移概率P(WD)和湿日到湿日的降水转移概率P(WW)除了西部部分地区有增大的趋势外,其余大部地区均有减小的趋势.相对于P(WW),全国各地P(WD)的减小幅度更大.日降水量GAMMA分布形态参数ALPHA除西北地区西部部分地区有减小趋势外,其余大部地区略有增大趋势,尺度参数BETA在全国各地基本都保持增大的趋势,其中西北地区西部等地增大趋势尤为明显.相对于BETA的变化幅度,ALPHA的减小幅度较小,基本在6%以内.     

四川省大雾时空分布特征研究

采用1986~2007年四川省157个站22年大雾资料,初步统计分析了四川省大雾时空分布特征。结果表明:年平均雾日数最多的主要在四川盆地;雾日有明显的季节和月际变化,春、夏季年均雾日数较少,分布范围较小,秋、冬季年均雾日数较多,分布较广;雾大多开始于晚上20时~次日早上8时,结束于8~12时;其中持续0~3小时的大雾所占比例最大。近22年雾日年际变化趋势:约40%的观测站呈显著下降趋势,且分布集中在四川盆地,有少数的站点呈显著上升趋势。      

基于城市功能分区的碳收支平衡时空分异研究

研究城市主导功能影响下区域碳平衡时空分异,有助于理解城市功能格局与碳循环过程之间的作用机制。本研究以厦门市6个区为例,采用各区历史统计数据以及卫星影像处理的土地利用数据,通过构建简化的区域碳收支计算模型,核算各行政区不同历史时期的碳平衡,结果表明：厦门市整体上呈现碳收支失衡逐渐加剧的趋势,2003年CO₂排放量是吸收量的1.91倍,2013年增长至7.44倍;各区碳代谢以及碳平衡表现出不同的时空分异特征。结合厦门市城市建设总体规划中制订的主导功能分类,阐明主导功能影响下时空分异的社会经济、自然景观等驱动因素对城市碳平衡时空变化的影响机制与过程。在此基础上针对各区不同的碳平衡状况,制订适应各自主导功能的减排以及碳补偿政策。研究有助于直接服务城市的规划和建设实践,从城市生态服务角度指导建设规划,合理城市功能分区。