Lithospheric Electrical Structure across the Eastern Segment of the Altyn Tagh Fault on the Northern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Project INDEPTH (InterNational DEep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalaya) is an interdisciplinary program designed to develop a better understanding of deep structures and mechanics of the Tibetan Plateau. As a component of magnetotelluric (MT) work in the 4th phase of the project, MT data were collected along a profile that crosses the eastern segment of the Altyn Tagh fault on the northern margin of the plateau. Time series data processing used robust algorithms to give high quality responses. Dimensionality analysis showed that 2D approach is only valid for the northern section of the profile. Consequently, 2D inversions were only conducted for the northern section, and 3D inversions were conducted on MT data from the whole profile. From the 2D inversion model, the eastern segment of the Altyn Tagh fault only appears as a crustal structure, which suggests accommodation of strike slip motion along the Altyn Tagh fault by thrusting within the Qilian block. A large-scale off-profile conductor within the mid-lower crust of the Qilian block was revealed from the 3D inversion model, which is probably correlated with the North Qaidam thrust belt. Furthermore, the unconnected conductors from the 3D inversion model indicate that deformations in the study area are generally localized.     

基于图像测量的花键套端面尺寸检测

设计了一套基于图像测量技术的花键套端面尺寸检测系统,采用高分辨率工业相机获取零件图像信息,使用相机标定技术标定相机参数,以校正光学系统导致的零件图像畸变,通过图像处理技术处理并分析图像,得到图像特征尺寸信息,最后采用分区域标定像素当量的方法得到零件实际尺寸.使用该检测系统与三坐标测量仪检测系统进行对比实验,实验结果显示,该系统尺寸检测结果与三坐标测量仪检测结果比照相差不超过10 μm.每个零件检测时间不超过20 s,速度远远快于平均检测时间需约2 min的三坐标测量仪检测方法,因此在满足检测精度的基础上大大提高了检测速度,实现了花键套尺寸批量检测.     

Distribution of CMEs with Different Angular Widths and Comparison with the Phase of Sunspot Number in the 23rd Solar Cycle

The variation of the number of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) with different angular widths in the period of 1996-2008 is analyzed statistically in this paper, together with a comparison of the feature of time variation between the number of CMEs with some typical angular widths and the number of sunspots.     

Geology in the Falkland Islands

In the next few years we are likely to hear and learn much about the offshore geology of the Falkland Islands as exploratory drilling for hydrocarbons begins. The offshore geology may become better known than the onshore, of which there has been little detailed investigation in the 200+ years since settlements were established. Here we outline the history of geological investigations and present information gathered during recent fieldwork.     

Terrigenous sand in Labrador Sea hemipelagic sediments and paleoglacial events on Baffin Island over the last 100,00 years

Eight Labrador Sea piston cores with faunal and ash-zone stratigraphies correlated to deep-sea oxygen isotope stages were used to compute Labrador Sea terrigenous sand input rates (mg/cm²/1000 years) during the last 100,000 years. Sources of the sand in Labrador Sea cores are likely to be ice-rafting, turbid glacial meltwater inflow or deflation and wind erosion of unvegetated landscapes in the wake of retreating continental ice sheets. High levels of sand input to the Labrador Sea are therefore undoubtedly glacier-related while low levels of sand input are not. Comparison of the history of Labrador Sea sand input with the chronology of glacial and non-glacial events on Baffin Island reveals that the era of highest sand input rates, the isotopic stage 5a/4 transition, closely coincided with an episode of early Foxe glacier advance to tidewater (Ayr Lake Stade) along the outer coast of Baffin Island ca. 80,000 B.P. to 60,000 B.P. The period of lowest Labrador Sea sand input rates, late isotopic stage 3 to the present, largely corresponds to a major disconformity in the raised marine and glacigenic sediments on Baffin Island, but includes also the late Foxe/early Holocene Cockburn glacial advance (which did not reach the outer coast of the island) and the modern glacial minimum. Labrador Sea and central-subpolar North Atlantic sand input histories are reciprocally related over the last 80,000 years. Accelerated sand input in the Labrador Sea during times of reduced sand input in the North Atlantic implies: (1) major early Wisconsin glacier expansion in the circum Labrador Sea/Baffin Bay region and/or; (2) a surface circulation pattern in the North Atlantic which inhibited iceberg melting there while delivering icebergs and relatively warm surface water into the Labrador Sea. Conversely, reduced sand input in the Labrador Sea during times of accelerated sand input in the North Atlantic implies: (1) late Wisconsin glacier recession in the circum Labrador Sea/Baffin Bay region and/or; (2) a circulation pattern which carries icebergs southward and eastward away from the Labrador Sea. These implications are discussed in the light of paleoceanographic evidence for three periods - 80,000 B.P. to 57,000 B.P.; 25,000 B.P. to 13,000 B.P.; and 13,000 B.P. to 9800 B.P     

Charles Darwin's geologist's field guide

From observations carried out on his 'Beagle' voyage, Charles Darwin made a number of important contributions to geological science. He showed himself to be a meticulous observer and an imaginative field worker. His methods are probably best summarized in a contribution on field geology that he made to the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry, published in 1849. That paper contains some important clues for the historian of early nineteenth-century geology.     

The latest vertebrates are the earliest

The teeth, or elements, ofconodonts are among the most important Palaeozoic microfossils. Despite this, the biological relationships of conodonts have long remained enigmatic. Recent evidence of their soft anatomy, and of the ultrastructure of the elements, has finally revealed that they are vertebrates. These discoveries push vertebrate origins firmly back into the Cambrian and add a large cohort of specialists to the ranks of the vertebrate palaeontologists.