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.     

Contemporary crustal deformation of the Chinese continent and tectonic block model

We obtain the preliminary result of crustal deformation velocity field for the Chinese continent by analyzing GPS data from the Crustal Motion Observation Network of China (CMONOC), particularly the data from the regional networks of CMONOC observed in 1999 and 2001. We delineate 9 technically active blocks and 2 broadly distributed deformation zones out of a dense GPS velocity field, and derive block motion Euler poles for the blocks and their relative motion rates. Our result reveals that there are 3 categories of deformation patterns in the Chinese continent. The first category, associated with the interior of the Tibetan Plateau and the Tianshan orogenic belt, shows broadly distributed deformation within the regions. The third category, associated with the Tarim Basin and the region east of the north-south seismic belt of China, shows block-like motion, with deformation accommodated along the block boundaries only. The second category, mainly associated with the borderland of the Tibetan Plateau, such as the Qaidam, Qilian, Xining (in eastern Qinghai), and the Diamond-shaped (in western Sichuan and Yunnan) blocks, has the deformation pattern between the first and the third, i.e. these regions appear to deform block-like, but with smaller sizes and less strength for the blocks. Based on the analysis of the lithospheric structures and the deformation patterns of the regions above, we come to the inference that the deformation modes of the Chinese continental crust are mainly controlled by the crustal structure. The crust of the eastern China and the Tarim Basin is mechanically strong, and its deformation takes the form of relative motion between rigid blocks. On the other hand, the northward indentation of the Indian plate into the Asia continent has created the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Tianshan Mountains, thickened their crust, and raised the temperature in the crust. The lower crust thus has become ductile, evidenced in low seismic velocity and high electric conductivity observed. The brittle part of the crust, driven by the visco-plastic flow of the lower crust, deforms extensively at all scales. The regions of the second category located at the borderland of the Tibetan Plateau are at the transition zone between the regions of the first and the third categories in terms of the crustal structure. Driven by the lateral boundary forces, their deformation style is also between the two, in the form of block motion and deformation with smaller blocks and less internal strength.     

Fine structure of Pn velocity beneath Sichuan-Yunnan region

We use 23298 Pn arrival-time data from Chinese national and provincial earthquake bulletins to invert fine structure of Pn velocity and anisotropy at the top of the mantle beneath the Sichuan-Yunnan and its adjacent region. The results suggest that the Pn velocity in this region shows significant lateral variation; the Pn velocity varies from 7.7 to 8.3 km/s. The Pn-velocity variation correlates well with the tectonic activity and heat flow of the region. Low Pn velocity is observed in southwest Yunnan, Tengchong volcano area, and the Panxi tectonic area. These areas have very active seismicity and tectonic activity with high surface heat flow. On the other hand, high Pn velocity is observed in some stable regions, such as the central region of the Yangtze Platform; the most pronounced high velocity area is located in the Sichuan Basin, south of Chengdu. Pn anisotropy shows a complex pattern of regional deformation. The Pn fast direction shows a prominent clockwise rotation pattern from east of the Tibetan block to the Sichuan-Yunnan diamond block to southwest Yunnan, which may be related to southeastward escape of the Tibetan Plateau material due to the collision of the Indian Plate to the Eurasia Plate. Thus there appears to be strong correlation between the crustal deformation and the upper mantle structure in the region. The delay times of events and stations show that the crust thickness decreases from the Tibetan Plateau to eastern China, which is consistent with the results from deep seismic sounding.