Remote sensing

Pictures in digital form taken from space or aircraft can be processed to reveal useful structural and compositional information on geology. Widespread, uniform coverage enhances our understanding of large areas of this and other planets. Continuing improvements in technology suggest that remote sensing will play an increasingly important role in geological research and exploration.     

A geological excursion in the Wadi Fatima area, near Jiddah, Saudi Arabia

Wadi Fatima, east of jiddah on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, is a microcosm of the geology of the jiddah area. Rocks ranging in age from 800-million-year-old metamorphic rocks to Tertiary lava flows are exposed, and illustrate the geological richness of western Saudi Arabia. The valley is a major south-west-trending fault zone that has been active since Precambrian times. A major Tertiary dyke swarm in the vicinity of Wadi Fatima is related to the opening of the Red Sea as the African-Arabian landmass split apart.     

Collating Historic Weather Observations for the East Asian Region:Challenges,Solutions,and Reanalyses

正1.Introduction Historic instrumental weather observations,made on land or at sea from as early as the 17th century(e.g.,Camuffo et al.,2010),are integral to extending our understanding of the decadal and centennial variations of Earth’s climate and for comparison with paleo-proxy data.The potential of such data is shown to best effect when used in dynamical 4D global     

Observational Study of Surface Wind along a Sloping Surface over Mountainous Terrain during Winter

The 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in Pyeongchang, Korea, during February and March. We examined the near surface winds and wind gusts along the sloping surface at two outdoor venues in Pyeongchang during February and March using surface wind data. The outdoor venues are located in a complex, mountainous terrain, and hence the near-surface winds form intricate patterns due to the interplay between large-scale and locally forced winds. During February and March, the dominant wind at the ridge level is westerly; however, a significant wind direction change is observed along the sloping surface at the venues. The winds on the sloping surface are also influenced by thermal forcing,showing increased upslope flow during daytime. When neutral air flows over the hill, the windward and leeward flows show a significantly different behavior. A higher correlation of the wind speed between upper-and lower-level stations is shown in the windward region compared with the leeward region. The strong synoptic wind, small width of the ridge, and steep leeward ridge slope angle provide favorable conditions for flow separation at the leeward foot of the ridge. The gust factor increases with decreasing surface elevation and is larger during daytime than nighttime. A significantly large gust factor is also observed in the leeward region.     

中东亚地区表土碳酸盐含量和pH值的空间变化及其气候代用指标意义

黄土-古土壤以及湖泊沉积物的碳酸盐含量作为常用的气候指标,被人们广泛地应用于干旱、半干旱地区的古气候研究,然而碳酸盐含量的气候意义却缺乏足够的验证.中东亚干旱、半干旱区覆盖我国西北部和蒙古国全境,区域内温度和降水等具有显著的空间分布特征,这为验证包括碳酸盐矿物含量在内的地球化学代用指标的气候意义提供了理想的研究场所.为此,选取了一条横跨该区不同气候带的采样线,对采样线上表土碳酸盐含量、pH值以及气象站的记录资料行了分析和对比.研究发现:(1)表土碳酸盐含量的分布特征沿着纬度呈现出南高北低的总体趋势,在北纬34.50°～42.50°的广大黄土、类黄土地区,碳酸盐含量较高,而北纬42.5°以北地区碳酸盐含量则相对较少,局部地区由于土壤母质为碳酸盐岩而具有较高的碳酸盐含量;(2)表土碳酸盐含量与pH值的非线性拟合特征反映出土壤碳酸盐矿物含量与pH值之间的化学平衡,两者在0.01水平上呈显著的正相关关系(r=0.51).酸性土壤地区的碳酸盐体系难处于饱和状态,碳酸盐易于淋失含量低,此时,碳酸盐矿物含量不宜作为气候指标,而碱性土壤地区的碳酸盐矿物含量变化与气候变化关系密切;(3)高温、干燥的气候环境使降水被迅速蒸发,加剧了碳酸盐类物质的表聚作用,使黄土、类黄土地区表土碳酸盐含量与降水量、温度都呈现出了一定的正相关关系;(4)黄土、类黄土地区表土pH值与多年平均降水量关系密切(PH>7,R2=0.90),可以作为我国黄土高原地区过去大气降水量变化的代用指标.     

Quantifying sample bias in clast fabric measurements

Sampling elongate clasts that protrude from a planar face for clast macro‐fabric analysis introduces a bias into reconstructed fabrics because clasts aligned perpendicular to the sampling face are over‐represented relative to those aligned parallel to the face. This study develops a probability‐based mathematical analysis to quantify sample bias for a variety of clast shapes and population fabrics, including isotropic, clustered and girdled fabric styles. Bias is expressed in terms of sample eigenvalues and eigenvectors relative to those of the parent population. Results indicate that sampling always has the effect of artificially drawing fabrics towards perpendicularity to the sampling face relative to the populations from which they are drawn. This rotation generally has the effect of artificially strengthening population fabrics, by up to 30% in the case of very weakly clustered or girdled populations. However, fabric strengthening is by no means universal and sampling alters different parent populations in different, sometimes complex, ways: the analysis in this paper identifies situations where sampling can strengthen or weaken parent fabrics, where it can rotate parent fabrics (by up to 90° in the case of a very weak population fabric), and where it can even change the style of a population fabric. For example, near‐isotropic population fabrics can appear clustered; weakly clustered and weakly girdled population fabrics can appear isotropic; weakly clustered population fabrics can appear weakly girdled; and girdled population fabrics can appear clustered. Overall, this analysis indicates that weakly orientated population fabrics are most susceptible to bias. Thus, a weakly clustered population fabric aligned parallel to a sample face is particularly susceptible to major sample bias in both fabric strength (artificially overestimated) and orientation (artificially rotated perpendicular to the face). Bias can be reduced either by sampling all the clasts from a cube‐shaped block of sediment excavated from the face, or by sampling equal numbers of clasts from the three orthogonal faces of the same sedimentary unit.