Holocene paleoenvironmental change inferred from two sediment cores collected in the Tibetan lake Taro Co

Journal of Paleolimnology - The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the “Water Tower of Asia” because of its function as a water storage and supply region, responds dramatically to modern...     

Isotope (O-Sr-Nd-Pb) and Fluid Inclusion Distributions in the CCSD Main Hole

1. Introduction The main-hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project (CCSD) in Donghai of the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic belt in East China has reached its final depth of 5118 m in March 2005. As shown in Fig.     

Linking shock textures revealed by BSE,CL, and EBSD with U‐Pb data (LA‐ICP‐MS and SIMS) from zircon from the Araguainha impact structure,Brazil

A silicious impact melt rock from polymict impact breccia of the northern part of the alkali granite core of the Araguainha impact structure, central Brazil, has been investigated. The melt rock is thought to represent a large mass of impact‐generated melt in suevite. In particular, a diverse population of zircon grains, with different impact‐induced microstructures, has been analyzed for U‐Pb isotopic systematics. Backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence images reveal heterogeneous intragrain domains with vesicular, granular, vesicular plus granular, and vesicular plus (presumably) baddeleyite textures, among others. The small likely baddeleyite inclusions are not only preferentially located along grain margins but also occur locally within grain interiors. LA‐ICP‐MS U‐Pb data from different domains yield lower intercept ages of 220, 240, and 260 Ma, a result difficult to reconcile with the previous “best age” estimate for the impact event at 254.7 ± 2.7 Ma. SIMS U‐Pb data, too, show a relatively large range of ages from 245 to 262 Ma. A subset of granular grains that yielded concordant SIMS ages were analyzed for crystallographic orientation by EBSD. Orientation mapping shows that this population consists of approximately micrometer‐sized neoblasts that preserve systematic orientation evidence for the former presence of the high‐pressure polymorph reidite. In one partially granular grain (#36), the neoblasts occur in linear arrays that likely represent former reidite lamellae. Such grains are referred to as FRIGN zircon. The best estimate for the age of the Araguainha impact event from our data set from a previously not analyzed type of impact melt rock is based on concordant SIMS data from FRIGN zircon grains. This age is 251.5 ± 2.9 Ma (2σ, MSWD = 0.45, p = 0.50, n = 4 analyses on three grains), indistinguishable from previous estimates based on zircon and monazite from other impact melt lithologies at Araguainha. Our work provides a new example of how FRIGN zircon can be combined with in situ U‐Pb geochronology to extract an accurate age for an impact event.     

Introduction to the special issue of the 13th International Symposium on River Sedimentation,Stuttgart, Germany: Experimental and measuring/monitoring research related to sediment issues

正The papers in this issue stem from the 13th International Symposium on River Sedimentation held in September 2016 at the University of Stuttgart,Germany.The Symposiums on River Sedimentation aim to provide a platform for scientists and engineers for fruitful and in-depth knowledge exchange.The objectives are to develop sustainable revitalization and management strategies that address the ongoing negative effects of anthropogenic activities,whilst improving river systems toward a healthy ecological status.The fundamental research and understanding of interactive     

Large roots dominate the contribution of trees to slope stability

Tree roots provide surface erosion protection and improve slope stability through highly complex interactions with the soil due to the nature of root systems. Root reinforcement estimation is usually performed by in situ pullout tests, in which roots are pulled out of the soil to reliably estimate the root strength of compact soils. However, this test is not suitable for the scenario where a soil progressively fails in a series of slump blocks – for example, in unsupported soils near streambanks and road cuts where the soil has no compressive resistance at the base of the hillslope. The scenario where a soil is unsupported on its downslope extent and progressively deforms at a slow strain rate has received little attention, and we are unaware of any study on root reinforcement that estimates the additional strength provided by roots in this situation. We therefore designed two complementary laboratory experiments to compare the force required to pull the root out. The results indicate that the force required to pull out roots is reduced by up to 50% when the soil fails as slump blocks compared to pullout tests. We also found that, for slump block failure, roots had a higher tendency to slip than to break, showing the importance of active earth pressure on root reinforcement behaviour, which contributes to reduced friction between soil and roots. These results were then scaled up to a full tree and tree stand using the root bundle and field-measured spatial distributions of root density. Although effects on the force mobilized in small roots can be relevant, small roots have virtually no effect on root reinforcement at the tree or stand scale on hillslopes. When root distribution has a wide range of diameters, the root reinforcement results are controlled by large roots, which hold much more force than small roots. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accuracy assessment of the National Geodetic Survey’s OPUS-RS utility

OPUS-RS is a rapid static form of the National Geodetic Survey’s On-line Positioning User Service (OPUS). Like OPUS, OPUS-RS accepts a user’s GPS tracking data and uses corresponding data from the U.S. Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network to compute the 3-D positional coordinates of the user’s data-collection point called the rover. OPUS-RS uses a new processing engine, called RSGPS, which can generate coordinates with an accuracy of a few centimeters for data sets spanning as little as 15 min of time. OPUS-RS achieves such results by interpolating (or extrapolating) the atmospheric delays, measured at several CORS located within 250 km of the rover, to predict the atmospheric delays experienced at the rover. Consequently, standard errors of computed coordinates depend highly on the local geometry of the CORS network and on the distances between the rover and the local CORS. We introduce a unitless parameter called the interpolative dilution of precision (IDOP) to quantify the local geometry of the CORS network relative to the rover, and we quantify the standard errors of the coordinates, obtained via OPUS-RS, by using functions of the form

Optimizing the yield of Sunyaev–Zel'dovich cluster surveys

We consider the optimum depth of a cluster survey selected using the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect. By using simple models for the evolution of the cluster mass function and detailed modelling for a variety of observational techniques, we show that the optimum survey yield is achieved when the average size of the clusters selected is close to the size of the telescope beam. For a total power measurement, we compute the optimum noise threshold per beam as a function of the beam size and then discuss how our results can be used in more general situations. As a by-product we gain some insight into what is the most advantageous instrumental set-up. In the case of beam switching observations one is not severely limited if one manages to set the noise threshold close to the point which corresponds to the optimum yield. Considering a variety of alternative scenarios, we discuss how robust our conclusions are to modifications in the cluster model and cosmological parameters. The precise optimum is particularly sensitive to the amplitude of fluctuations and the profile of the gas in the cluster.