A grid-based collaborative virtual geographic environment for the planning of silt dam systems

To improve the efficiency of planning and designing silt dam systems, this article employs theories and technologies of collaboration and distributed virtual geographic environments (VGEs) to construct a collaborative virtual geographic environment (CVGE) system. The CVGE system provides geographically distributed users with a shared virtual space and a collaborative platform to implement collaborative planning. Many difficulties have been found in integrating data resources and model procedures for the planning of silt dam systems because of their diversity in heterogeneous environments. Unlike most of the current distributed system applications, the proposed CVGE system not only supports multi-platform and multi-program-language interoperability in the dynamically changing network environment, but also shares programs, data and software in the collaborative environment. Based on creating a shared 3D space by virtual reality technology, agent and grid technologies were tightly coupled to develop the CVGE system. A grid-based multi-agent system service framework was designed to implement this new paradigm for the CVGE system, which efficiently integrates and shares geographically distributed resources as well as having the ability to build modelling procedures on different platforms. At the same time, mobile agent computing services were implemented to reduce the network load, process parallel tasks, enhance communication efficiency and adapt dynamically to the changing network environment. Using Java, JMF (Java Media Framework API), Globus Toolkits (GT) core, Voyager, C++, and the OpenGL development package, a prototype system was developed to support silt dam systems planning in the case study area, the Jiu-Yuan-Gou watershed of the Loess Plateau, China. Compared with the traditional workflow, the CVGE system can reduce the workload by between one third and a half.     

Extracting urban landmarks from geographical datasets using a random forests classifier

ABSTRACT

Urban landmarks are of significant importance to spatial cognition and route navigation. However, the current landmark extraction methods mainly focus on the visual salience of landmarks and are insufficient for obtaining high extraction accuracy when the size of the geographical dataset varies. This study introduces a random forests (RF) classifier combining with the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) in urban landmark extraction. Both GIS and social sensing data are employed to quantify the structural and cognitive salience of the examined urban features, which are available from basic spatial databases or mainstream web service application programming interfaces (APIs). The results show that the SMOTE-RF model performs well in urban landmark extraction, with the values of recall, precision, F-measure and AUC reaching 0.851, 0.831, 0.841 and 0.841, respectively. Additionally, this method is suitable for both large and small geographical datasets. The ranking of variable importance given by this model further indicates that certain cognitive measures – such as feature class, Weibo popularity and Bing popularity – can serve as crucial factors for determining a landmark. The optimal variable combination for landmark extraction is also acquired, which might provide support for eliminating the variable selection requirement in other landmark extraction methods.     

Flood evacuation simulations using cellular automata and multiagent systems -a human-environment relationship perspective

ABSTRACT

A flood evacuation represents a complex geographic phenomenon that includes comprehensive interactions among humans, the flood and urban environments; thus, the simulation of flood evacuations requires crowd simulation models to be coupled with flood models. This paper studies the human-environment relationship during flooding and promotes a simulation model that combines cellular automata and a multiagent system to simulate crowd evacuations in flood disasters. A case study of Niaodao Island was used to evaluate the performance of flood evacuation experiments, and real-participant experiments based on the virtual reality (VR) environment were employed for bench-mark comparisons. The integrated model can provide a comprehensive solution to assist flood risk analysis.     

Legal Geographies of Catastrophe: Forests,Fires, and Property in Colonial Algeria

Forest fires in Algeria in the 1850s and 1860s suggest a link between environmentally induced catastrophes and the geographies of property and territory in the colony. In eastern Algeria, these fires helped fuel a discussion over the security and reliability of European settlers’ property rights and of the colonial state's ability to guarantee them. Following a brief analysis of forestry policy in France and Algeria, this paper analyzes some of the correspondence and official reports that emerged in the wake of major conflagrations. By the early 1860s, settlers and private forestry companies were calling the colonial state's credibility into question and demanding far‐reaching changes to the property law and land‐use regimes in place in the colony. Eventually, colonial authorities moved to help cement settlers’ property claims, eliminating enclaves and imposing new rules on “native” Algerians’ rights to use the forest. This essay concludes by suggesting that the process of making property private, in Algeria and elsewhere, is informed by perceptions of risk and by the modes of awareness inspired by environmentally induced catastrophic events.     

The Impact of 9/11 on the Geography of Financial Services in New York: A Few Years Later

An economic census and a survey of seventy-nine firms revealed a changing geography of financial services after 11 September 2001. Although the suburbs benefited from the outward relocation of financial services from Manhattan immediately afterward, they lost considerably two years later, demonstrating the interdependence of the central city and its suburbs. Executives of financial services firms ranked highly locational attributes such as prestige, public transportation, and proximity to clients and other financial services before 11 September, but terrorism also emerged as a major locational factor after 11 September. The impact of terrorism and how it interacts with agglomeration economies, technological changes, and globalization to shape the geography of financial services is examined under the framework of quaternary place theory.     

柴达木盆地昆北油田路乐河组辫状三角洲沉积特征

柴达木盆地昆北油田路乐河组主要为砂砾岩、含砾砂岩、砂岩、粉砂岩及泥岩构成的陆源碎屑岩组合,通过详细的岩心特征和区域地质分析,将其确定为辫状三角洲沉积,其微相包括(水下)分流河道、河口坝、席状砂、泛滥平原、分流间湾和前三角洲泥等,其中以(水下)分流河道沉积为主体。该辫状三角洲的纵向岩石组合序列反映为典型的退积型三角洲,即发育于可容纳空间与沉积物补给速率比值(A/S比值)逐渐增大的湖侵环境。沉积旋回早期发育辫状三角洲平原,旋回中后期发育辫状三角洲前缘和前三角洲。辫状三角洲整体呈自南西向北东的扇形展布,平面上发育两期分支物源体系,分别位于Q6和Q16井区。实验分析测试、试油等资料揭示辫状三角洲(水下)分流河道砂体储集性能较好,它的发育控制路乐河组油气的纵向与平面分布。     

Solute and geothermal flux monitoring using electrical conductivity in the Madison,Firehole, and Gibbon Rivers,Yellowstone National Park

The thermal output from the Yellowstone magma chamber can be estimated from the Cl flux in the major rivers in Yellowstone National Park; and by utilizing continuous discharge and electrical conductivity measurements the Cl flux can be calculated. The relationship between electrical conductivity and concentrations of Cl and other geothermal solutes (Na, SO₄, F, HCO₃, SiO₂, K, Li, B, and As) was quantified at monitoring sites along the Madison, Gibbon, and Firehole Rivers, which receive discharge from some of the largest and most active geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Except for some trace elements, most solutes behave conservatively and the ratios between geothermal solute concentrations are constant in the Madison, Gibbon, and Firehole Rivers. Hence, dissolved concentrations of Cl, Na, SO₄, F, HCO₃, SiO₂, K, Li, Ca, B and As correlate well with conductivity (R² > 0.9 for most solutes) and most exhibit linear trends. The 2011 flux for Cl, SO₄, F and HCO₃ determined using automated conductivity sensors and discharge data from nearby USGS gaging stations is in good agreement with those of previous years (1983–1994 and 1997–2008) at each of the monitoring sites. Continuous conductivity monitoring provides a cost- and labor-effective alternative to existing protocols whereby flux is estimated through manual collection of numerous water samples and subsequent chemical analysis. Electrical conductivity data also yield insights into a variety of topics of research interest at Yellowstone and elsewhere: (1) Geyser eruptions are easily identified and the solute flux quantified with conductivity data. (2) Short-term heavy rain events can produce conductivity anomalies due to dissolution of efflorescent salts that are temporarily trapped in and around geyser basins during low-flow periods. During a major rain event in October 2010, 180,000 kg of additional solute was measured in the Madison River. (3) The output of thermal water from the Gibbon River appears to have increased by about 0.2%/a in recent years, while the output of thermal water for the Firehole River shows a decrease of about 10% from 1983 to 2011. Confirmation of these trends will require continuing Cl flux monitoring over the coming decades.     

地球化学块体法在滇中层控型铜矿资源评价中的应用

以滇中地区1∶20万水系沉积物区域化探扫面资料为基础,应用地球化学块体理论与方法,对研究区内Cu地球化学块体特征及层控型铜矿资源特征进行了系统分析。共圈出5个地球化学块体、10个面积相对较小的地球化学亚块体,并根据区域成矿地质背景划分为2个Cu地球化学分区。以1km矿床勘探深度为准则,计算各(亚)块体的铜金属供应量及铜矿产资源量,预测全区潜在铜矿资源总量为586.1万t。通过追踪地球化学块体谱系,揭示了元素在地球化学块体中逐步浓集成矿的轨迹,并结合区域控矿要素,确定了11个层控型铜矿成矿远景区,其中以3-1,3-2,10-1-1-1-1-1,10-1-1-2-1-1,10-1-1-2-1-2子块体的成矿潜力较大。     

概述渭河地堑的形成发育和邻区的耦合关系

将秦岭造山带、渭河地堑和鄂尔多斯盆地作为相互联系的动力学系统,研究造山带-盆地系统中,渭河地堑的发生、发育过程和造山带隆升以及鄂尔多斯盆地构造变动之间的关系。将渭河地堑的发育过程分为：晚白垩世-古新世（1（2-E1）,始新世-上新世（E2-N2）,第四系（Qp,Qh）三个阶段。20±（2-4）MaBP是青藏高原演化的转折期,青藏高原开始对周围邻区产生整体影响和远程效应,渭河地堑的沉积可以与青藏运动、昆黄运动、共和运动相对应起来,为渭河地堑对青藏高原演化的远程响应。     

Timing of regional deformation of the hill end trough: A reassessment

Layered and differentiated mafic/ultramafic sills are an important component of greenstones in the Eastern Goldfields Province and can be grouped into tholeiitic and high‐Mg associations. These associations can be further subdivided according to geochemical parameters and order of crystallization of the main mineral phases. The distribution of sills is consistent with models that envisage the Kalgoorlie Terrane (abundant komatiitic and MORB‐like tholeiitic volcanics and intrusive equivalents) as an ancient continental margin basin. Although mafic volcanic rocks and sills encompass a similar range of compositions, chemostratigraphic trends for sills in the Ora Banda domain oppose those of the enclosing volcanic rocks. Plagioclase‐rich (leucodolerite) sills in the Melita area (Gindalbie Terrane) have alumina‐rich, TiO₂‐poor compositions comparable to island‐arc tholeiites and were derived by partial melting of an enriched mantle source. The geochemistry and distribution of sills is not compatible with a simple, craton‐scale plume model for the formation of the greenstone belts.