Season‐based rainfall–runoff modelling using the probability‐distributed model (PDM) for large basins in southeastern Brazil

Southeastern Brazil is characterized by seasonal rainfall variability. This can have a great social, economic, and environmental impact due to both excessive and deficient water availability. During 2014 and 2015, the region experienced one of the most severe droughts since 1960. The resulting water crisis has seriously affected water supply to the metropolitan region of São Paulo and hydroelectric power generation throughout the entire country. This research considered the upstream basins of the southeastern Brazilian reservoirs Cantareira (2,279 km²; water supply) and Emborcação (29,076 km²), Três Marias (51,576 km²), Furnas (52,197 km²), and Mascarenhas (71,649 km²; hydropower) for hydrological modelling. It made the first attempt at configuring a season‐based probability‐distributed model (PDM‐CEMADEN) for simulating different hydrological processes during wet and dry seasons. The model successfully reproduced the intra‐annual and interannual variability of the upstream inflows during 1985–2015. The performance of the model was very satisfactory not only during the wet, dry, and transitional seasons separately but also during the whole period. The best performance was obtained for the upstream basin of Furnas, as it had the highest quality daily precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency and logarithmic Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency were 0.92 and 0.93 for the calibration period 1984–2001, 0.87 and 0.88 for the validation period 2001–2010, and 0.93 and 0.90 for the validation period 2010–2015, respectively. Results indicated that during the wet season, the upstream basins have a larger capacity and variation of soil water storage, a larger soil water conductivity, and quicker surface water flow than during the dry season. The added complexity of configuring a season‐based PDM‐CEMADEN relative to the traditional model is well justified by its capacity to better reproduce initial conditions for hydrological forecasting and prediction. The PDM‐CEMADEN is a simple, efficient, and easy‐to‐use model, and it will facilitate early decision making and implement adaptation measures relating to disaster prevention for reservoirs with large‐sized upstream basins.     

Potassium-argon ages and strontium isotope ratio measurements from volcanic rocks in northeastern Nigeria

The Cenozoic volcanic activity in northeastern Nigeria began with the intrusion into the Benue trough of a trachyte-phonolite suite of plugs 22-11 m.y. ago. Later activity, which was more widespread and dominantly basaltic in character, began some 7 m.y. ago and has continued until very recent times. It resulted in basaltic plugs and lava plateaux within the Benue trough, and cinder cones and lavas on the Jos Plateau.The initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of nine of the fifteen analyzed basic and alkalic rocks lie in the range 0.7025–0.7032, and the highest ratio measured is 0.7129.The main group of trachytes and phonolites are considered to be fractional melts derived from the upper mantle, modified in small part by potassium feldspar crystal fractionation. Two Sr-rich phonolite plugs may have a separate origin from the main group of trachytes and phonolites.The Cenozoic volcanic activity in northeastern Nigeria is probably related to the nearby Cameroun volcanic line. The concentration of plugs within the Benue trough may reflect internal adjustments along old lines of weakness within the African lithosphere plate, in response to synchronous changes affecting the plate's external dimensions and internal structure, such as the growth of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and the volcanism of the east African rift valley.     

长江中游地区暴雨过程的500 hPa信号场特征

文中用500 hPa信号场研究了长江中游地区暴雨发生的气候异常环境,并提出用信号场合成图的检验方法来分析暴雨规律.结果表明,暴雨过程与无雨过程在500 hPa信号场中异常信号显著区的出现及分布形势有明显不同.分析14次暴雨过程的合成图,发现在发生暴雨过程第1天,正异常区常常出现在贝加尔湖附近地区(40°～50°N,80°～100°E)和中国华南地区(20°～25°N,100°～130°E),负异常区出现在中国长江中游北部地区.暴雨过程出现的主要特征是在110°E附近,形成南北向的"+-+"分布形势和波列.     

Petrology and CHIME geochronology of Pan-African high K and Sr/Y granitoids in the Nkambe area, Cameroon

The Central African Belt in the Nkambe area, northwestern Cameroon represents a collisional zone between the Saharan metacraton and the Congo craton during the Pan-African orogeny, and exposes a variety of granitoids including foliated and massive biotite monzogranites in syn- and post-kinematic settings. Foliated and massive biotite monzogranites have almost identical high-K calc-alkaline compositions, with 73–67 wt.% SiO₂, 17–13 wt.% Al₂O₃, 2.1–0.9 wt.% CaO, 4.4–2.7 wt.% Na₂O and 6.3–4.4 wt.% K₂O. High concentrations of Rb (264–96 ppm), Sr (976–117 ppm), Ba (3680–490 ppm) and Zr (494–99 ppm), with low concentrations of Y (mostly< 20 ppm with a range 54–6) and Nb (up to 24 ppm) suggest that the monzogranites intruded in collisional and post-collisional settings. The Sr/Y ratio ranges from 25 to 89. K, Rb and Ba resided in a single major phase such as K-feldspar in the source. Garnet was present in the source and remained as restite at the site of magma generation. This high K₂O and Sr/Y granitic magma was generated by partial melting of a granitic protolith under high-pressure and H₂O undersaturated conditions where garnet coexists with K-feldspar, albitic plagioclase. CHIME (chemical Th–U-total Pb isochron method) dating of zircon yields ages of 569 ± 12–558 ± 24 Ma for the foliated biotite monzogranite and 533 ± 12–524 ± 28 Ma for the massive biotite monzogranite indicating that the collision forming the Central African Belt continued in to Ediacaran (ca 560 Ma).     

Field report: Sailing around the exhumed roots of the Mesozoic Patagonian paleo-accretionary wedge(Diego de Almagro Island,Chile)

We undertook a boat expedition to explore the geological framework of a very remote, lesser-known island, in the Chilean Patagonia: the Diego de Almagro Island(latitude S51°330'). This uninhabited, ca.400 km~2 Island is one of the very rare exposures of the Mesozoic accretionary subduction complex along the Chilean margin. Unstable weather, strong winds, steep topography, and very dense vegetation make an on-land mission difficult. Careful preparation based on high-resolution satellite images is advised to optimize shore access and minimize risks of injury. Despite a relatively important degree of regional reequilibration of metamorphic assemblages due to sluggish exhumation through the forearc crust, our results have shown that the island is composed of a nappe stack of ocean-floor derived slivers of metasedimentary units that exhibit very different pressure-temperature-time paths during burial by subduction under the Chilean margin and subsequent exhumation. These rocks are witness to a complex thermal evolution of the subduction zone between Jurassic and Cretaceous times from granulite facies to blueschist facies conditions as well as multiple episodes of accretion at ca. 35 -40 km in depth for almost100 Ma over the Mesozoic era.     

Accelerated climate change and its potential impact on Yak herding livelihoods in the eastern Tibetan plateau

The Tibetan Plateau has experienced rapid warming like most other alpine regions. Regional assessments show rates of warming comparable with the arctic region and decreasing Asian summer monsoons. We used meteorological station daily precipitation and daily maximum and minimum temperature data from 80 stations in the eastern Tibetan Plateau of southwest China to calculate local variation in the rates and seasonality of change over the last half century (1960–2008). Daily low temperatures during the growing season have increased greatly over the last 24 years (1984–2008). In sites of markedly increased warming (e.g., Deqin, Yunnan and Mangya, Qinghai), daily and growing season daily high temperatures have increased at a rate above 5 °C/100 years. In Deqin, precipitation prior to the 1980s fell as snow whereas in recent decades it has shifted to rain during March and April. These shifts to early spring rains are likely to affect plant communities. Animals like yaks adapted to cold climates are also expected to show impacts with these rising temperatures. This region deserves further investigation to determine how these shifts in climate are affecting local biodiversity and livelihoods.