Mid and late Holocene forest fires and deforestation in the subalpine belt of the Iberian range,northern Spain

The conversion of subalpine forests into grasslands for pastoral use is a well-knownphenomenon, although for most mountain areas the timing of deforestation has not been determined. The presence of charcoal fragments in soil profiles affected by shallow landsliding enabled us to date the occurrence of fires and the periods of conversion ofsubalpine forest into grasslands in the Urbión Mountains, Iberian Range, Spain. We found that the treeline in the highest parts of the northwestern massifs of the Iberian Range(the Urbión, Demanda, Neila, and Cebollera massifs) is currently between 1500 and 1600 m a.s.l., probably because of pastoral use of the subalpine belt, whereas in the past it would have reached almost the highest divides(at approximately 2100–2200 m a.s.l.). The radiocarbon dates obtained indicate that the transformation of the subalpine belt occurred during the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Middle Ages. Forest clearing was probably moderate during fires prior to the Middle Ages, as the small size of the sheep herds and the local character of the markets only required small clearings, and therefore more limited fires. Thus, it is likely that the forest recovered burnt areas in a few decades; this suggests the management of the forest and grasslands following a slash-andburn system. During the Middle and Modern Ages deforestation and grassland expansion affected most of the subalpine belt and coincided with the increasing prevalence of transhumance, as occurred in other mountains in the Iberian Peninsula(particularly the Pyrenees). Although the occurrence of shallow landslides following deforestation between the Neolithic and the Roman Period cannot be ruled out, the most extensive shallow landsliding processes would have occurred from the Middle Ages until recent times.     

Exploring seven hundred years of transhumance,climate dynamic,fire and human activity through a historical mountain pass in central Spain

A high-altitude peat sequence from the heart of the Spanish Central System (Gredos range) was analysed through a multi-proxy approach to determine the sensitivity of high-mountain habitats to climate, fire and land use changes during the last seven hundred years, providing valuable insight into our understanding of the vegetation history and environmental changes in a mountain pass close to a traditional route of transhumance. The pollen data indicate that the vegetation was dominated by shrublands and grasslands with scattered pines in high-mountain areas, while in the valleys cereals, chestnut and olive trees were cultivated. Strong declines of high-mountain pines percentages are recorded at 1540, 1675, 1765, 1835 and 1925 cal AD, which may be related to increasing grazing activities and/or the occurrence of anthropogenic fires. The practice of mountain summer farming and transhumance deeply changed and redesigned the landscape of the high altitudes in central Spain (Gredos range) since the Middle Ages, although its dynamics was influenced in some way by climate variability of the past seven centuries.     

“海上丝绸之路”沿线重要港口竞争力评价

“海上丝绸之路”是促进亚欧和亚非互联互通的重要通道,对其沿线重要港口的竞争力研究,可以为海上丝绸之路的建设提供参考。本文综合考虑港口的自然条件、腹地环境、基础设施、服务水平、政府廉洁度,及其在航运网络中的地位差别等因素,运用熵权-层次分析法对沿线51个国家的99个重要港口的竞争力进行评价。结果表明,① 港口综合竞争力空间分布呈明显的区域化特征,且与国家经济发展水平显著相关,地中海地区港口竞争力普遍较强,亚洲次之,非洲最弱。② 港口的网络地位对竞争力的影响最大,竞争力强的港口多位于重要水域的战略通道,网络地位高,辐射范围广。③ 我国投资的部分沿线港口综合竞争力与成熟港口之间还存在一定差距,但是具备较大的竞争力提升空间。     

QUANTITATIVE MODELING OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT IN MIDDLE CHANGJIANG RIVER FROM MODIS

1INTRODUCTIONThe quality of water is traditionally determined by col-lectingwatersamplesandanalyzingthesamplesin a lab-oratory. However, sampling is very much hard sledding,time-consuming, slow and expensive, and easily in thecontrol of weather conditions, and does not include allwater areas. Satellite estimates of water quality havefound widespread application. Remote sensing instru-ments have been applied in water quality monitoringwith varying success (DANA and RICHARD, 1999;RUDD…     

扬子板块西缘攀西地区白草矿区黄铁矿标型元素特征及其指示意义

黄铁矿是重要的金属硫化物矿物,在多种矿床中均有产出,其标型特征对矿床成因、矿体空间分布等具有重要的指示意义.以扬子板块西缘攀西地区白草矿区黄铁矿为研究对象,利用矿相学、电子探针等分析方法来对比研究浸染状、致密块状、斑杂状、网脉状矿石中黄铁矿的标型元素特征.结果表明:白草矿区黄铁矿Fe、S平均含量(质量分数,下同)分别为...     

A first look at the effects of ionospheric signal bending on a globally processed GPS network

This study provides a first attempt at quantifying potential signal bending effects on the GPS reference frame, coordinates and zenith tropospheric delays (ZTDs). To do this, we homogeneously reanalysed data from a global network of GPS sites spanning 14 years (1995.0–2009.0). Satellite, Earth orientation, tropospheric and ground station coordinate parameters were all estimated. We tested the effect of geometric bending and dTEC bending corrections, which were modelled at the observation level based, in part, on parameters from the International Reference Ionosphere 2007 model. Combined, the two bending corrections appear to have a minimal effect on site coordinates and ZTDs except for low latitude sites. Considering five days (DOY 301–305, 28 October–1 November 2001) near ionospheric maximum in detail, they affect mean ZTDs by up to ~1.7 mm at low latitudes, reducing to negligible levels at high latitudes. Examining the effect on coordinates in terms of power-spectra revealed the difference to be almost entirely white noise, with noise amplitude ranging from 0.3 mm (high latitudes) to 2.4 mm (low latitudes). The limited effect on station coordinates is probably due to the similarity in the elevation dependence of the bending term with that of tropospheric mapping functions. The smoothed z-translation from the GPS reference frame to ITRF2005 changes by less than 2 mm, though the effect combines positively with that from the second order ionospheric refractive index term. We conclude that, at the present time, and for most practical purposes, the geometric and dTEC bending corrections are probably negligible at current GPS/reference frame precisions.     

Hydrological characterization of dammed rivers in the NW Mediterranean region

Water scarcity and climatic variability in the Mediterranean region have traditionally required the construction of dams to guarantee water supply for irrigation, industrial and urban uses and hydropower production. Reservoirs affect the hydrology of the river downstream, but the magnitude and persistence of these effects are still poorly unknown. Understanding the magnitude of these effects is the objective of this paper, in which we analyse the flow regimes of twelve rivers located in the NW Mediterranean region. Different temporal scales (daily, monthly and annual) are used for the analysis and also to estimate flow variables associated with flow magnitude, frequency, duration and variability. It is shown that dams alter the hydrological regime of most of the studied rivers, with special influence on monthly flows and flood magnitude and frequency. The most altered rivers (Muga and Siurana, NE Iberian Peninsula) experience a complete overturn in their flow regime with, for instance, flood reduction reaching up to 76% for the 2‐year flood event. Other rivers showed lower changes in hydrology (e.g. Orb and Têt). Annual runoff showed a pattern of decrease in all the studied rivers (regulated and non‐regulated) indicating that besides dams (i.e. reservoir evaporation), other factors likely affect water yield. A general recovery downstream from dams is also observed at all temporal scales, mainly because of the inflow from tributaries. Although dams have a clear impact on the hydrology of Mediterranean rivers, water withdrawals and diversions for irrigation and other consumptive uses also affected the hydrological patterns. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The June 2013 Alberta catastrophic flooding event – part 2: fine‐scale precipitation and associated features

Data obtained from a variety of sources including the Canadian Lightning Detection Network, weather radars, weather stations and operational numerical weather model analyses were used to address the evolution of precipitation during the June 2013 southern Alberta flood. The event was linked to a mid‐level closed low pressure system to the west of the region and a surface low pressure region initially to its south. This configuration brought warm, moist unstable air into the region that led to dramatic, organized convection with an abundance of lightning and some hail. Such conditions occurred in the southern parts of the region whereas the northern parts were devoid of lightning. Initially, precipitation rates were high (extreme 15‐min rainfall rates up to 102 mm h^?1 were measured) but decreased to lower values as the precipitation shifted to long‐lived stratiform conditions. Both the convective and stratiform precipitation components were affected by the topography. Similar flooding events, such as June 2002, have occurred over this region although the 2002 event was colder and precipitation was not associated with substantial convection over southwest Alberta. Copyright © 2016 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. Hydrological Processes. © John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of river water temperature: a comparison between a new family of hybrid models and statistical approaches

River water temperature is a key physical variable controlling several chemical, biological and ecological processes. Its reliable prediction is a main issue in many environmental applications, which however is hampered by data scarcity, when using data‐demanding deterministic models, and modelling limitations, when using simpler statistical models. In this work we test a suite of models belonging to air2stream family, which are characterized by a hybrid formulation that combines a physical derivation of the key equation with a stochastic calibration of parameters. The air2stream models rely solely on air temperature and streamflow, and are of similar complexity as standard statistical models. The performances of the different versions of air2stream in predicting river water temperature are compared with those of the most common statistical models typically used in the literature. To this aim, a dataset of 38 Swiss rivers is used, which includes rivers classified into four different categories according to their hydrological characteristics: low‐land natural rivers, lake outlets, snow‐fed rivers and regulated rivers. The results of the analysis provide practical indications regarding the type of model that is most suitable to simulate river water temperature across different time scales (from daily to seasonal) and for different hydrological regimes. A model intercomparison exercise suggests that the family of air2stream hybrid models generally outperforms statistical models, while cross‐validation conducted over a 30‐year period indicates that they can be suitably adopted for long‐term analyses. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

江西城门山铜矿床伴生稀散金属矿化特征及其地质意义北大核心CSCD

江西城门山铜矿床通过开展深边部找矿勘查,发现其探明的伴生稀散金属资源量达到大型甚至超大型规模,其中碲、铊、镉、硒等稀散金属已综合回收利用,但研究程度还很低。本文收集整理城门山矿床的编录及化验资料,总结该矿床稀散金属的矿化特征和空间分布规律,并探讨稀散金属富集机理和控制因素。结果表明,城门山矿床的稀散元素多倾向于富集在似层状硫化物型矿石中,赋存状态以独立稀散金属矿物和赋存于黄铁矿、黄铜矿和闪锌矿等硫化物晶格为主,具有随金属硫化物总量变化而变化的空间分带特征。矿石中的w(Cd)与w(Zn)具明显的正相关性(R^(2)=0.65),其他稀散元素的含量与Cu多呈弱正相关性。本文提出碲与铊与似层状硫化物矿石密切相关,镉的超常富集主要与锌的成矿作用有关,它们在热液流体萃取、运移、沉淀过程中元素分离相对较少,岩浆结晶分异导致热液流体中铟含量降低,铼主要赋存在辉钼矿中,与幔源物质参与密切相关。同时,还建立了城门山含稀散金属铜矿床的成矿模式。