Remote sensing parameterization of the processes of energy and water cycle over desertification areas

In order to understand the processes of land surface-atmosphere interaction over desertification area, it is indispensable to utilize of satellite remote sensing. Two scenes of Landsat TM were used to produce a set of maps of surface reflectance, MSAVI, vegetation coverage, surface temperature, net radiation, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux. Statistical analysis based on these maps revealed some quantitative significant land surface characteristics. Future developments of the method are also discussed.     

Kosa (yellow sand) components in precipitation collected at central Japan

In east Asia, acidic gases derived from fossil fuel combustion have increased in the past decades. On the other hand, the Asian dust, also called Kosa (yellow sand) is transported following windstorms from arid lands in the Asian continent. Many researchers have been interested in the reaction between acidic aerosols and Kosa aerosols as well as the long-range transport of these emissions. To investigate the characteristics of chemical components in precipitation on a long-term basis over Japan, precipitation was sequentially collected from April 1984 to March 1997 at Kanazawa located near the coast of the Sea of Japan. Precipitation samples were collected at 1 mm intervals for the first 5 mm rainfall and all volume of rainwater after 6 mm for all precipitation events with an automatic wet only precipitation collector. According to the analyses of precipitation including Kosa aerosols during Kosa periods, the reaction in the air between Kosa and acidic components during the long-range transport was discussed.     

Damage and recovery of the Gurbantunggut Desert vegetation following engineering activities

The fragile ecological environment of the Gurbantunggut Desert is damaged/disturbed by human activities relating to the development of oil-gas resources and the constructions of desert road and great engineering in the Jungger Basin. It was mainly represented: soil compaction, vegetation cleaning, burial of vegetation, oil polluting, and soil disturbance. With investigation and experiment, we found that when the way and intensity of engineering activities disturbing the eco-environment does not make its ecological stability disintegrated, the desert vegetation has a capacity of natural recovery. To speed and strengthen the process of vegetation recovery efficient assistant measurements, including stabilizing mobile sands promptly and sowing seeds of shrub and herb plants in good time will be needed.     

Expansion and contraction of Chinese deserts during the Quaternary

Episodic dune formations during the Quaternary are found in many deserts of China. The causes of desert expansions on different time scales are not the same. Desert extension at about 1.1 and 0.9 Ma ago were the response to the active tectonic movements, whereas the desert evolutions on the ten-thousand years time scale were the response to the orbital scale climatic changes. Spatial scale studies on desert evolution indicate that desert margins shifted greatly during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the Holocene optimum, its changing from 125°E of the LGM to 105°E of the climatic optimum. Historical desertification in the semiarid China is not a response to climate drought but largely associated with the human impacts (mainly over-cultivation) since about 2300 years ago, which leads to the reworking of the underlying LGM sands.     

Utilization of water resources,ecological balance and land desertification in the Tarim Basin,Xinjiang

Because of the human exploitation and utilization of water resources in the Tarim Basin, the water resources consumption has changed from mainly natural ecosystem to artificial oasis ecosystem, and the environment has changed correspondingly. The basic changes are: desertification and oasis development coexist, both “the human being advance and the desert retreat” and “the desert advance and the human being retreat” coexist, but the latter is dominant. In the upper reaches, water volume drawing to irrigated agricultural areas has increased, artificial oases have been enlarging and moving from the deltas in the lower reaches of many rivers to the piedmont plains. In the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River, the stream flow has decreased, old oases have declined, natural vegetations have been degenerating, desertification has been enlarging, and the environment has deteriorated. The transition regions, which consist of forestlands, grasslands and waters between the desert and the oases, have been decreasing continuously, their shelter function to the oases has been weakened, and the desert is threatening the oases seriously.     

Getting ‘holistic’ about land rehabilitation in hot arid regions

The paper describes Western Australian examples and causes of land degradation. It outlines shortcomings in the methodologies used to rehabilitate these areas. From this a protocol is suggested for an ‘holistic’ approach to land rehabilitation.     

Geology, Geochemistry and Genesis of the Hongshijing Gold Deposit in Ruoqiang,Xinjiang

1IntroductionTheHongshijinggolddepositislocatedinthenorthofLuobupouLakeofRuoqiang ,about 30 0kmsouthwestofHamiCity ,Xinjiang .ItwasdiscoveredbytheSixthGeologicalTeamofXinjiangduringgeo chemicalexploration .TheHongshijinggolddeposit,whichoccursinthegold bearingformationcomposedofMiddleandLateCarboniferousvolcanicandpyroclasticrocks ,isabrittle ductileshearzonetypegolddepositcontrolledbyariftbelt.TheHongshijinggolddepositislocatedinthesouthwestoftheHongshi jing -Maotoushanmineralizationb…     

Gneiss-Water Interaction and Water Evolution During the Early Stages of Dissolution Experiments at Room Temperature

Gneiss-distilled water interaction at room temperature was investigated with batch-reactors to study water-rock reaction and geochemical evolution of the aqueous phase with time. The ion concentrations in water were controlled not only by the dissolution of primary minerals, but also by the precipitation of secondary minerals. The decreasing fraction sizes of gneiss could favor dissolution and precipitation simultaneously. Ca^2 and K^ were the major cations, and HCO3^- was the major anion in water. All the ions except Ca^2 increased in concentration with time. The Ca^2 release from the rock to the aqueous phase was initially much faster than the release of K^ , Na^2 and Mg^2 . But after about 5 - 24 hours, the Ca^2 concentrations in water decreased very slowly with time and became relatively stable. During the experiment, the water varied from the Ca-( K)-HCO3-type water to the K-Ca-HCO3-type water, and then to the K-(Ca, Na)-HCO3-type water. The water-gneiss interaction was dominated by the dissolution of Kfeldspar in the solution. The remaining secondary minerals were mainly kaolinite, illite and K (Mg) -mica.