Downscaling reveals diverse effects of anthropogenic climate warming on the potential for local environments to support malaria transmission

The potential impact of climate warming on patterns of malaria transmission has been the subject of keen scientific and policy debate. Standard climate models (GCMs) characterize climate change at relatively coarse spatial and temporal scales. However, malaria parasites and the mosquito vectors respond to diurnal variations in conditions at very local scales. Here we bridge this gap by downscaling a series of GCMs to provide high-resolution temperature data for four different sites and show that although outputs from both the GCM and the downscaled models predict diverse but qualitatively similar effects of warming on the potential for adult mosquitoes to transmit malaria, the predicted magnitude of change differs markedly between the different model approaches. Raw GCM model outputs underestimate the effects of climate warming at both hot (3-fold) and cold (8–12 fold) extremes, and overestimate (3-fold) the change under intermediate conditions. Thus, downscaling could add important insights to the standard application of coarse-scale GCMs for biophysical processes driven strongly by local microclimatic conditions.     

Erratum to: Numerical simulation of changes in tropical cyclone intensity using a coupled air-sea model

正Erratum to:Acta Meteor Sinica DOI 10.1007/sl3351-013-0506-z The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.The presentation of DOI number was incorrect.The corrected DOI number is 10.1007/sl3351-013-0503-2     

Metallogenic and Metamorphic Age of the Hongtoushan Copper–Zinc Massive Sulfide Deposit,Liaoning Province,China

The Hongtoushan copper–zinc deposit is the only large Archean volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit in China. This paper presents new information on the timing of metallogenesis and metamorphism of the deposit, including new cathodoluminescence (CL) images, and Th U^?1 and LA–ICP–MS U–Pb dating on zircons of the biotite–plagioclase gneiss and plagioclase–amphibole gneiss that host the deposit. The CL images and Th U^?1 ratios indicate that the zircons within the gneiss are of metamorphic origin. LA–ICP–MS dating of the plagioclase–amphibole gneiss yielded the upper intercept ages of 2549 Ma, and the biotite–plagioclase gneiss yielded the upper intercept ages of 2552 Ma and 2550 Ma correspondingly, indicating that the mineralization of the deposit occurred at around 2550 Ma. The rims of zircons within these host rocks yielded younger U–Pb ages at 2529, 2520 and 2515 Ma, identical to the age of felsic intrusive rocks in the study area. This suggests that the Hongtoushan VMS deposit underwent initial metamorphism and deformation at around 2520 Ma by the intrusion of granite magmas.     

江西省鄱阳湖信江决口三角洲沉积特征及模式

利用实地考察、浅钻孔、探槽及卫星影像等方法,对鄱阳湖信江决口三角洲进行了系统研究。该决口三角洲是洪水冲破信江西岸天然堤流入附近的河漫湖泊形成的,其平面形态为鸟足状,总体延伸方向与主河道近垂直。在横切剖面上整个决口三角洲沉积体呈透镜状覆盖在早期的湿地或河漫湖泊沉积之上。鄱阳湖信江决口三角洲可分为3个亚相:决口三角洲平原、决口三角洲前缘和决口前三角洲。决口三角洲平原主要发育决口河道、决口天然堤、废弃决口河道和湿地,其中决口河道又可以进一步划分为决口水道、边滩、汊口滩;决口三角洲前缘主要发育河口坝、支流间湾。河漫湖泊规模小、深度浅、波浪能量弱,对河口坝和决口河道砂体的改造较弱,不易形成连片分布的席状砂;决口前三角洲不发育。决口三角洲沉积受河流作用和河漫湖泊作用的共同控制,其演化可以划分为主河道天然堤生长阶段、决口初期阶段、进积分汊阶段及分汊—废弃阶段4个阶段。     

晋冀低山丘陵区人工扰动植被花粉组合特征

54个晋冀低山丘陵区人工和人工扰动植被表土花粉样品分析表明:花粉组合以草本植物花粉(74.5％)为主,乔木花粉含量低于20％。人类活动较强的农田以谷物禾本科、蒿属和藜科花粉为主,人类活动较弱的荒地以蒿属、藜科和杂草禾本科花粉为主。人类活动强度不同,指示种不同,孢粉浓度亦不同;农田指示种为谷物禾本科、葡萄科和胡桃科,孢粉浓度约4380粒/g;而蒿属、蓼科和蔷薇科则为荒地指示种,孢粉浓度约10983粒/g。农作物种植方式不同,谷物禾本科花粉含量不同,单一禾本科作物种植区谷物禾本科花粉含量(40.2％)高于多种作物混作区(18.8％)和荒地(3.8％)的含量。谷物禾本科含量的变化可以为利用化石花粉提取和检测人类活动信息提供依据,也可为利用地层中谷物禾本科花粉判断古代农业活动提供依据。     

地质导向技术在煤层气水平井中的应用——以柳林区块某多分支水平井为例

地质导向技术能有效提高煤层气水平井施工成功率和煤层钻遇率,但由于其具有导向参数多、工艺要求高、易受地质因素影响等特点,使其在实际应用中还存在诸多难点。以柳林区块内某多分支水平井为例,针对该井现场地质导向作业面临的资料缺乏、参数受欠平衡钻进干扰、煤层结构复杂等难点,建立合适的地质导向模型,优选合理的导向参数和导向系统,对地质导向技术在实际应用中的工艺与流程进行了系统论述。实践表明,地质导向技术在该井的应用效果良好:煤层钻遇率达到了93.1%;截至目前,该井的产气量达8600m3/d,且还在进一步提升。     

A developed technique for measuring water content in oil-contaminated porous media

Water content is an important physical parameter for soil, vadose zone, and porous aquifer. Accurate measurement of water content in oil-contaminated porous media is critical for the research on oil pollution process and remediation in soil and groundwater systems. In this study, an improved water content calculation formula for oil-contaminated porous media was proposed based on the theory of oven-drying method, and laboratory experiments were conducted to test the applicability and accuracy of the formula for several types of manually prepared oil-contaminated porous media with different water contents. Furthermore, the measuring method and calculation formula, which can be used to determine the water content of porous media sampled from the oil-contaminated sites, were proposed for the first time in this study based on the improved formula. The experimental results showed that the improved formula was very accurate when used to calculate the water contents of diesel-contaminated sand, gasoline-contaminated mild clay, and engine oil-contaminated sand, indicating that it was widely applicable to oils with different volatile ability as well as porous media with different texture. This study meets the urgent need for accurate determination of water content in oil-contaminated porous media, and it solves the technical problem that the existing water content measuring methods cannot be applied directly in the field study.     

Immobilization of phosphorus,copper, zinc and arsenic in swine manure by activated red mud

Red mud (RM), the solid waste of alumina industry, is high in silicon, calcium, aluminum and iron oxides. In this study, RM was activated by heat treatment at different temperatures and characterized with BET nitrogen gas sorption, scanning electron microscopy analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis. Immobilization of phosphorus, copper, zinc, and arsenic in swine manure by activated RM was studied as a function of RM dosage, pH and time. The immobilization efficiency of phosphorus, copper, zinc and arsenic increased with the increase in RM dosage, reaching 77, 39, 42, and 78 % when the proportion of RM to swine manure was 20 %. The pH of the solution had a significant impact on the immobilization and it was found that the efficiency increased with the increase in pH. During the 24-h immobilization, the efficiency increased with time and achieved equilibrium after 12 h. Chemical variations of phosphorus, copper, zinc, and arsenic during the immobilization process were investigated with sequential chemical extraction method and the results showed that the contents of non-labile fractions of phosphorus, heavy metals and arsenic increased obviously, whereas the contents of labile fractions decreased.     

Accumulation and risk of heavy metals in relation to agricultural intensification in the river sediments of agricultural regions

The enrichment characteristics and risk of heavy metals were studied in the sediments of Liucha River in Chao Lake Valley, where agricultural intensification has developed rapidly since the 1980s. The results revealed that Cd, Pb and Zn showed the lowest levels in the upper reaches and peak values in the lower reaches, increasing from 0.064, 7.75 and 59.75 mg/kg to 0.176, 12.33 and 96.82 mg/kg on average, respectively. Enrichment factor (EF) analysis showed that the EF values of Cd, Pb and Zn (maximum 4.76, 2.51 and 2.74, respectively) all increased from the upper reaches to the lower reaches (>1.5), while correlation analysis and cluster analysis showed that they primarily originated from the extensive use of phosphate fertilizer. In addition, the comprehensive potential ecological risk due to Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in the sediments showed low degree, but Cd showed moderate and high risk at some sites. Therefore, heavy metal pollution due to agricultural intensification in the agricultural regions of Chao Lake Valley should be given great attention during management of the water environment.     

Past atmospheric trace metal deposition in a remote lake (Lake Ngoring) at the headwater areas of Yellow River,Tibetan Plateau

A complete record derived from a core dated both by ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs chronologies from Lake Ngoring at the headwater areas of the Yellow River provides new insight into the changing atmospheric deposition of trace metals including Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. This study showed that there was an inflection in the early 1960s, before which both fluxes and contents of Cd, Ni, Pb, and Zn remained relatively steady or slowly increased, and thereafter continued increases both in fluxes and contents were found. Taking Pb as an example, the flux increased from 0.13 (before 1960) to 0.25 mg m^?2 a^?1 (averaged 1963–2006). According to atmospheric flux calculations using Al as a reference element, atmospheric fluxes of trace metals generally showed a rapid increase and peaked in recent years, closely following the historical economic development of the neighboring region, mainly for Qinghai and Gansu provinces. The atmospheric inventory for Zn was the highest, reaching 1.068 g m^?2, while the lowest was for Cd, at only 0.079 gm^?2. The percentage proportions of atmospheric deposition for Cd, Ni, and Zn were 37, 12, and 8.7 %, respectively. Hence, the atmospheric contribution to the trace metal content via long range transport is not negligible when considering input of materials to lake ecosystems.