Automatic mapping of lunar landforms using DEM-derived geomorphometric parameters

Developing approaches to automate the analysis of the massive amounts of data sent back from the Moon will generate significant benefits for the field of lunar geomorphology. In this paper, we outline an automated method for mapping lunar landforms that is based on digital terrain analysis. An iterative self-organizing (ISO) cluster unsupervised classification enables the automatic mapping of landforms via a series of input raster bands that utilize six geomorphometric parameters. These parameters divide landforms into a number of spatially extended, topographically homogeneous segments that exhibit similar terrain attributes and neighborhood properties. To illustrate the applicability of our approach, we apply it to three representative test sites on the Moon, automatically presenting our results as a thematic landform map. We also quantitatively evaluated this approach using a series of confusion matrices, achieving overall accuracies as high as 83.34% and Kappa coefficients (K) as high as 0.77. An immediate version of our algorithm can also be applied for automatically mapping large-scale lunar landforms and for the quantitative comparison of lunar surface morphologies.     

陕西泾阳南塬滑坡干湿黄土快速大剪切力学特性

借助于先进的多功能大型高速高压环剪试验机,针对陕西泾阳南塬滑坡中的饱和黄土、干燥黄土在快速大剪切位移条件下的力学响应特性进行了环剪试验研究。研究结果表明:1)在相同试验条件下,与干燥状态黄土相比,泾阳南塬黄土在饱和条件下抗剪强度指标降低。2)在连续快速剪切条件下,泾阳南塬滑坡饱和与干燥黄土均表现出应变软化特征,饱和黄土比干燥黄土的软化特征更加显著。3)在相同法向应力条件下,剪切速率对饱和和干燥黄土峰值强度均有显著影响,但两种状态下土体峰值强度随剪切速率变化特征不同。饱和黄土峰值强度随剪切速率的增大而增大,而干燥黄土峰值强度随剪切速率的增大而减小。4)在不同含水状态下,泾阳南塬滑坡黄土剪切力学特性变化规律具有不同的产生机理。其中,干燥黄土抗剪强度在连续剪切过程中主要受黏土颗粒间摩擦(阻)力、颗粒运移与定向排列以及剪切面形态的控制。与干燥黄土相比,饱和黄土峰值抗剪强度变化主要受土黏聚力的控制并受水的影响;土体内水的作用能够加剧其应变软化程度并可形成光滑平整的剪切面形态,进而对其峰后剪切应力变化产生影响。     

二元同位素测温技术及其在白云岩储层成因研究中的应用——以塔里木盆地中下寒武统为例

作为近年来新兴的实验技术,二元同位素(D47)测温技术已被应用于碳酸盐岩成岩环境的研究中。简要介绍了二元同位素测温技术的原理及应用方法,并以塔里木盆地中下寒武统白云岩为例,优选11块样品,测试其D47值和白云石的碳氧同位素,并计算出样品的成岩温度和古流体的δ~(18)O值。综合分析认为:样品中,颗粒白云岩形成于低温准同生—浅埋藏环境,成岩流体为海水;细晶白云岩为深埋藏成岩环境中原岩受到了高温重结晶作用的改造,成岩流体为地下热卤水;孔缝中的白云石胶结物是深埋藏成岩环境富镁热卤水沉淀作用的产物。研究证明二元同位素测温技术可以较好地恢复白云岩的成岩温度,减少储层成因的多解性,它为今后储层成因研究提供了一种新的手段和依据。     

Detecting the water depth of the South China Sea reef area from WorldView-2 satellite imagery

The accurate and efficient detection of the water depth of coral reefs through remote sensing imagery is crucial for navigation, marine engineering, and marine safety, among others. This study proposed a water depth inversion method that is processed using a two-step strategy. First, a log-dual-band ratio transform model is employed by combining blue, yellow, red, and red edge bands. Second, a multivariable linear regression model is constructed to determine water depth. The experimental study is conducted in a reef island in the South China Sea, and the WorldView-2 satellite data is used as the test data. Results demonstrated that the proposed method needs a few parameters in the model, and can effectively and reliably characterize the correlation between the spectral features and water depth.     

Effect of hydrochloric acid on grain size analysis of the Quaternary red clay rich in tiny ferromanganese nodules,Jiangxi province,southern China

There are many tiny ferromanganese nodules that cannot be found and eliminated easily in Quaternary red clay in southern China. The existence of these tiny ferromanganese nodules may influence grain size analysis results. Therefore, this paper focuses on the effects of the ferromanganese nodules on the grain size analysis and the effects of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on removing these nodules. The experimental results showed that the nodules clearly influenced the results of grain size analysis. The tiny ferromanganese nodules increased the coarse fraction and show a low peak in the coarse fraction of >100 μm on the frequency curves. The addition of HCl in the pretreatment process of grain size analysis can eliminate the effects of these tiny nodules effectively. Additionally, the HCl reacts with clay minerals and causes a reduction of the <4 μm fraction.     

Effects of agricultural practices on nitrogen distribution in unsaturated soils

Nitrogen fertilizer consumption is very common in the agricultural practices. Nitrogen application could be an important source of groundwater N pollution. Normally, nitrogen can pass through the unsaturated zone to pollute the groundwater. Different agricultural practices have different cultivation methods, accordingly different fertilization and irrigation techniques. Hence, the agricultural practice determines the environment of the unsaturated zone, which subsequently determines the extent of groundwater N pollution. To verify the pollution modes and transformation mechanisms of nitrogen, both in situ and laboratory tests were conducted at four different sites to study the effects of agricultural practices on nitrogen distribution in unsaturated zones. The inorganic nitrogen in soil is extracted by potassium chloride solution, and the soil utilization form and pollution type are identified by δ¹⁵N by comparing with the known standard values. The experimental results indicate that continual fertilization and sewage irrigation in these agricultural regions were the primary sources of nitrogen in the unsaturated zone. In the soils planted with rice, δ¹⁵N–NH₄ ⁺ was relatively elevated due to ammonium volatilization. In the unsaturated zone of rice–wheat rotation fields, NO₃ ^?–N and δ¹⁵N were both elevated because of manure fertilizer. Meanwhile, denitrification also occurred in the hypoxic environment due to the high soil water content.     

Temporal Variability of Total Ozone in the Asian Region Inferred from Ground-Based and Satellite Measurement Data

This paper reports investigation data on the temporal variability of total ozone content (TOC) in the Central Asian and Tibet Plateau mountain regions obtained by conventional methods, as well as by spectral, cross-wavelet, and composite analyses. The data of ground-based observation stations located at Huang He, Kunming, and Lake Issyk-Kul, along with the satellite data obtained at SBUV/SBUV2 (SBUV merged total and profile ozone data, Version 8.6) for 1980–2013 and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and TOU (Total Ozone Unit) for 2009–2013 have been used. The average relative deviation from the SBUV/SBUV2 data is less than 1% in Kunming and Issyk-Kul for the period of 1980–2013, while the Huang He Station is characterized by an excess of the satellite data over the ground-based information at an average deviation of 2%. According to the Fourier analysis results, the distribution of amplitudes and the periods of TOC oscillations within a range of over 14 months is similar for all series analyzed. Meanwhile, according to the cross-wavelet and composite analyses results, the phase relationships between the series may considerably differ, especially in the periods of 5–7 years. The phase of quasi-decennial oscillations in the Kunming Station is close to the 11-year oscillations of the solar cycle, while in the Huang He and Issyk-Kul stations the TOC variations go ahead of the solar cycle.     

全球实施碳税政策对碳减排及世界经济的影响评估

该研究模拟了全球各区域2008-2050年的经济发展和碳排放状况,并将该模拟结果设定为基准情景。在基准情景中全球GDP随时间增长,而全球的碳排放同样表现出增长趋势。为了模拟碳税政策的减排效应及其对经济的影响,本文构建了其他3种碳税政策情景。情景1,将碳税收入作为一般性财政收入,此时全球升温减缓,世界碳排放下降显著,但中国、印度、俄罗斯、马来西亚和印度尼西亚等发展中国家经济发展严重受创,世界经济不均衡加剧。情景2,将各区域的碳税收入汇总之后按照比例统一分配,该情景下,世界碳减排规模较情景1略有下降,但世界各区域的经济较基准情景得到更好的发展。情景3,碳税税率随时间阶段性增长,此时,碳税政策对全球升温的控制更显著;世界各区域,尤其是发展中国家（地区）,经济增长更迅速。另外,碳税收入用来提升区域技术进步,在一定程度上促进了产业的优化升级。碳税政策与技术进步的协同减排政策,考虑了区域经济发展的不均衡性,兼顾了气候治理的公平性,是一种有效、可行的全球气候治理政策。     

Hydraulic properties of concentrated flow of a bank gully in the dry‐hot valley region of southwest China

To quantify spatiotemporal variation in hydraulic properties of bank gully concentrated flow, a series of scour experiments were run under water discharge rates ranging from 30 to 120 l min^?1. Concentrated flows were found to be turbulent and supercritical in the upstream catchment area and downstream gully beds. As discharge increased, values of the soil erosion rate, Reynolds number (Re), shear stress, stream power, and flow energy consumption (ΔE) increased while values of the Froude number (Fr) and the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor (resistance f ) did not. With the exception of gully headcut collapse under discharge rates of 60, 90, and 120 l min^?1, a declining power function trend (P < 0.05) in the soil erosion rate developed in the upstream catchment area, headcuts, and downstream gully beds. However, increasing trends were observed in temporal variations of hydraulic properties for downstream gully beds and the upstream catchment area. Despite significant differences in temporal variation between the soil erosion rate and hydraulic property values, relative steady state conditions of the soil erosion rate and ΔE were attained following an initial period of adjustment in the upstream catchment area, headcuts, and downstream gully beds under different discharge rates. A logarithmic growth of flow energy consumption per unit soil loss (ΔE_u) was observed in bank gullies and the upstream catchment area as the experiment progressed, further illustrating the actual reason behind the discrepancy in temporal variation between soil erosion rates and ΔE. Results demonstrate that ΔE can be used to estimate headcut erosion soil loss, but further quantitative studies are required to quantify coupling effects between hydraulic properties and vertical variation in soil mechanical properties on temporal variation for bank gully soil erosion rates. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.