Size and spatial distribution of loess slides on the Chinese Loess Plateau

ABSTRACT

The size and spatial distribution of loess slides are important for estimating the yield of eroded materials and determining the landslide risk. While previous studies have investigated landslide size distributions, the spatial distribution pattern of landslides at different spatial scales is poorly understood. The results indicate that the loess slide distribution exhibits a power-law scaling across a range of the size distribution. The mean landslide size and size distribution in the different geomorphic types are different. The double Pareto and inverse gamma functions can coincide well with the empirical probability distribution of the loess slide areas and can quantitatively reveal the rollover location, maximum probability, and scaling exponents. The frequency of loess slides increases with mean monthly precipitation. Moreover, point distance analysis showed that > 80% of landslides are located < 3 km from other loess slides. We found that the loess slides at the two study sites (Zhidan and Luochuan County) in northern Shaanxi Province, China show a significant clustered distribution. Furthermore, analysis results of the correlated fractal dimension show that the landslides exhibit a dispersed distribution at smaller spatial scales and a clustered distribution at larger spatial scales.     

Frequency analysis of nonstationary annual maximum flood series using the time‐varying two‐component mixture distributions

The most popular practice for analysing nonstationarity of flood series is to use a fixed single‐type probability distribution incorporated with the time‐varying moments. However, the type of probability distribution could be both complex because of distinct flood populations and time‐varying under changing environments. To allow the investigation of this complex nature, the time‐varying two‐component mixture distributions (TTMD) method is proposed in this study by considering the time variations of not only the moments of its component distributions but also the weighting coefficients. Having identified the existence of mixed flood populations based on circular statistics, the proposed TTMD was applied to model the annual maximum flood series of two stations in the Weihe River basin, with the model parameters calibrated by the meta‐heuristic maximum likelihood method. The performance of TTMD was evaluated by different diagnostic plots and indexes and compared with stationary single‐type distributions, stationary mixture distributions and time‐varying single‐type distributions. The results highlighted the advantages of TTMD with physically‐based covariates for both stations. Besides, the optimal TTMD models were considered to be capable of settling the issue of nonstationarity and capturing the mixed flood populations satisfactorily. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carboniferous eclogite and garnet–omphacite granulite from northeastern Hainan Island,South China: Implications for the evolution of the eastern Palaeo‐Tethys

High‐P (HP) eclogite and associated garnet–omphacite granulite have recently been discovered in the Mulantou area, northeastern Hainan Island, South China. These rocks consist mainly of garnet, omphacite, hornblende, quartz and rutile/ilmenite, with or without zoisite and plagioclase. Textural relationships, mineral compositions and thermobarometric calculations demonstrate that the eclogite and garnet–omphacite granulite share the same three‐stage metamorphic evolution, with prograde, peak and retrograde P?T conditions of 620–680°C and 8.7–11.1 kbar, 820–860°C and 17.0–18.2 kbar, and 700–730°C and 7.1–8.5 kbar respectively. Sensitive high‐resolution ion microprobe U–Pb zircon dating, coupled with the identification of mineral inclusions in zircon, reveals the formation of mafic protoliths before 355 Ma, prograde metamorphism at c. 340–330 Ma, peak to retrograde metamorphism at c. 310–300 Ma, and subsequent pegmatite intrusion at 295 Ma. Trace element geochemistry shows that most of the rocks have a MORB affinity, with initial ε_Nd values of +2.4 to +6.7. As with similar transitional eclogite–HP granulite facies rocks in the thickened root in the European Variscan orogen, the occurrence of relatively high P?T metamorphic rocks of oceanic origin in northeastern Hainan Island suggests Carboniferous oceanic subduction leading to collision of the Hainan continental block, or at least part of it, with the South China Block in the eastern Palaeo‐Tethyan tectonic domain.     

湘西合仁坪金矿床硫、铅同位素地球化学

湘西柳林汊一带广泛分布钠长石_石英脉型金矿,合仁坪金矿床是其典型代表。文章对合仁坪金矿床的硫、铅同位素进行了研究,并与区域石英脉型金矿床进行对比,探讨了该矿的成矿物质来源,并初步确定了其矿床成因。研究表明,合仁坪金矿床硫化物的δ34S值范围较窄(-4.8‰~4.4‰),平均为-0.6‰,该矿床的硫为深源硫,由深部变质流体带入;铅的同位素组成较均一,并表现出明显的造山带铅的特点。结合区域成矿作用,进一步研究揭示,合仁坪金矿床为一典型的造山型金矿,其成矿可能与湘西雪峰山地区加里东期的造山作用有关。     

Precipitation variability assessment of northeast China: Songhua River basin

Variability in precipitation is critical for the management of water resources. In this study, the research entropy base concept was applied to investigate spatial and temporal variability of the precipitation during 1964–2013 in the Songhua River basin of Heilongjiang Province in China. Sample entropy was applied on precipitation data on a monthly, seasonally, annually, decade scale and the number of rainy days for each selected station. Intensity entropy and apportionment entropy were used to calculate the variability over individual year and decade, respectively. Subsequently, Spearman’s Rho and Mann–Kendall tests were applied to observe for trends in the precipitation time series. The statistics of sample disorder index showed that the precipitation during February (mean 1.09, max. 1.26 and min. 0.80), April (mean 1.12, max. 1.29 and min. 0.99) and July (mean 1.10, max. 1.20 and min. 0.98) contributed significantly higher than those of other months. Overall, the contribution of the winter season was considerably high with a standard deviation of 0.10. The precipitation variability on decade basis was observed to increase from decade 1964–1973 and 1994–2003 with a mean value of decadal apportionment disorder index 0.023 and 0.053, respectively. In addition, the Mann–Kendall test value (1.90) showed a significant positive trend only at the Shangzhi station.     

固体聚合膜电解浓集法测量天然水中低含量氚的化学淬灭效应研究

固体聚合膜电解浓集法是浓缩氚含量较低(1 Bq/m~3)的天然水样的常用方法,但因水样自身含有杂质离子或电解装置聚合膜带入杂质进入浓集液,使浓集液偏酸性,在测量过程中易产生化学淬灭效应,导致氚的测量值偏低。本文研究了水样自身存在的杂质离子和聚合膜上残留的杂质离子、样品溶液的pH值及其电导率所产生的化学淬灭效应的影响,实验表明,为减少化学淬灭效应,提高测量低含量氚的准确性,需保证水样溶液呈中性,电导率≤1μS/cm,同时避免杂质沉积在聚合膜上。如果水样溶液的pH值偏酸性、电导率大于1μS/cm,可采用酸碱混合型离子交换树脂去除水样中自身的杂质;对于聚合膜引入的杂质,可在电解后的水样中加入微量氨水将其pH值调节至中性。     

Characteristics of the two active stages of lightning activity in two hailstorms

Two hailstorms that occurred in Beijing and Tianjin, respectively, are investigated, based mainly on the total lightning data observed by the System d’Alerte Fondre par Interferometric Radioelecctrique (SAFIR3000), the cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning data of a CG lightning location system, and the echo data of a Doppler radar. Both hailstorms exhibited two lightning frequency peaks: the first was before the hailfall and the second was after the hailfall, with the second peak greater than the first. The dominant polarity of the CG lightning was positive in the stage around the first frequency peak, but changed to negative in the stage around the second frequency peak. The evolution of radar echoes and the height distribution of lightning radiation sources are explored, revealing that both hailstorms had stronger convection and the main positive charge occurred at mid levels during the stage around the first frequency peak. However, whilst the Beijing hailstorm experienced the enhancement of convection, with the main positive charge at upper levels around the second frequency peak, the Tianjin hailstorm generated its second frequency peak during the period when the convection kept weakening and the main positive charge dropped to mid–lower levels. Through evaluation of the radar parameters, we investigate the mechanisms responsible for the second stage of active lightning discharge. Furthermore, the lightning activity exhibited a close relationship with radar echo parameters and hailfall. Lightning jump signals were found before the hailfall and were associated with the change ratio of the 40-dBZ echo volume above the ?15°C level, which demonstrates the application value of lightning data in severe weather warning.     

2015年汛期气候预测先兆信号的综合分析

文章全面回顾了发布2015年汛期预测时考虑的先兆信号及其应用情况。2015年春夏季厄尔尼诺事件进一步发展,并由中部型向东部型转变,热带印度洋为一致偏暖模态发展;冬、春季北大西洋三极子为正位相;冬、春季北极海冰较常年略偏少,南极海冰偏多;冬季欧亚积雪增量略少,青藏高原积雪略多但气温偏高。通过诊断分析,认为2015年汛期预测的主导外强迫信号是太平洋厄尔尼诺事件和印度洋海温一致偏暖模态。同时参考动力气候模式的预测,在4月初的预报中,重点考虑了厄尔尼诺事件的强度和空间型变化对东亚夏季风环流的影响,有利于东亚夏季风偏弱,西太平洋副热带高压偏强偏西,季风季节内进程偏晚,我国降水呈南多北少型。在5月底的订正预报中,进一步考虑热带印度洋偏暖模态对副热带高压偏强偏西偏南的影响,以及南半球越赤道气流强度偏弱特征及对夏季风季节进程和强度的影响。经过综合分析,准确地预测了2015年东亚夏季风偏弱、我国夏季降水南多北少的布局,以及季节内主要气候事件的演变。最后对汛期气候预测存在的不足进行了初步分析和讨论。