Spatial probabilistic modeling of slope failure using an integrated GIS Monte Carlo simulation approach

Spatial probabilistic modeling of slope failure using a combined Geographic Information System (GIS), infinite-slope stability model and Monte Carlo simulation approach is proposed and applied in the landslide-prone area of Sasebo city, southern Japan. A digital elevation model (DEM) for the study area has been created at a scale of 1/2500. Calculated results of slope angle and slope aspect derived from the DEM are discussed. Through the spatial interpolation of the identified stream network, the thickness distribution of the colluvium above Tertiary strata is determined with precision. Finally, by integrating an infinite-slope stability model and Monte Carlo simulation with GIS, and applying spatial processing, a slope failure probability distribution map is obtained for the case of both low and high water levels.     

Continental subduction and exhumation of UHP rocks. Structural and geochronological insights from the Dabieshan (East China)

In the Dabieshan, the available models for exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks are poorly constrained by structural data. A comprehensive structural and kinematic map and a general cross-section of the Dabieshan including its foreland fold belt and the Northern Dabieshan Domain (Foziling and Luzenguang groups) are presented here. South Dabieshan consists from bottom to top of stacked allochtons: (1) an amphibolite facies gneissic unit, devoid of UHP rocks, interpreted here as the relative autochton; (2) an UHP allochton; (3) a HP rock unit (Susong group) mostly retrogressed into greenschist facies micaschists; (4) a weakly metamorphosed Proterozoic slate and sandstone unit; and (5) an unmetamorphosed Cambrian to Early Triassic sedimentary sequence unconformably covered by Jurassic sandstone. All these units exhibit a polyphase ductile deformation characterized by (i) a NW–SE lineation with a top-to-the-NW shearing, and (ii) a southward refolding of early ductile fabrics.

The Central Dabieshan is a 100-km scale migmatitic dome. Newly discovered eclogite xenoliths in a Cretaceous granitoid dated at 102 Ma by the U–Pb method on titanite demonstrate that migmatization post-dates HP–UHP metamorphism. Ductile faults formed in the subsolidus state coeval to migmatization allow us to characterize the structural pattern of doming. Along the dome margins, migmatite is gneissified under post-solidus conditions and mylonitic–ultramylonitic fabrics commonly develop. The north and west boundaries of the Central Dabieshan metamorphics, i.e. the Xiaotian–Mozitan and Macheng faults, are ductile normal faults formed before Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. A Cretaceous reworking is recorded by synkinematic plutons.

North of the Xiaotian–Mozitan fault, the North Dabieshan Domain consists of metasediments and orthogneiss (Foziling and Luzenguang groups) metamorphosed under greenschist to amphibolite facies which never experienced UHP metamorphism. A rare N–S-trending lineation with top-to-the-south shearing is dated at 260 Ma by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method on muscovite. This early structure related to compressional tectonics is reworked by top-to-the-north extensional shear bands.

The main deformation of the Dabieshan consists of a NW–SE-stretching lineation which wraps around the migmatitic dome but exhibits a consistently top-to-the-NW sense of shear. The Central Dabieshan is interpreted as an extensional migmatitic dome bounded by an arched, top-to-the-NW, detachment fault. This structure may account for a part of the UHP rock exhumation. However, the abundance of amphibolite restites in the Central Dabieshan migmatites and the scarcity of eclogites (found only in a few places) argue for an early stage of exhumation and retrogression of UHP rocks before migmatization. This event is coeval to the N–S extensional structures described in the North Dabieshan Domain. Recent radiometric dates suggest that early exhumation and subsequent migmatization occurred in Triassic–Liassic times. The main foliation is deformed by north-verging recumbent folds coeval to the south-verging folds of the South Dabieshan Domain. An intense Cretaceous magmatism accounts for thermal resetting of most of the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates.

A lithosphere-scale exhumation model, involving continental subduction, synconvergence extension with inversion of southward thrusts into NW-ward normal faults and crustal melting is presented.     

POSITIVE INVERSION STRUCTURE OF THE CENTRAL STRUCTURE BELT IN TURPAN-HAMI BASIN

The central structure belt in Turpan-Hami basin is composed of the Huoyanshan structure and Qiketai structure formed in late Triassic-early Jurassic, and is characterized by extensional tectonics. The thickness of strata in the hanging wall of the growth fault is obviously larger than that in the footwall, and a deposition center was evolved in the Taibei sag where the hanging wall of the fault is located. In late Jurassic the collision between Lhasa block and Eurasia continent resulted in the transformation of the Turpan-Hami basin from an extensional structure into a compressional structure, and consequently in the tectonic inversion of the central structure belt of the Turpan-Hami basin from the extensional normal fault in the earlier stage to the compressive thrust fault in the later stage. The Tertiary collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate occurred around 55Ma, and this Himalayan orogenic event has played a profound role in shaping the Tianshan area, only the effect of the collision to this area was delayed since it culminated here approximately in late Oligocene-early Miocene. The central structure belt was strongly deformed and thrusted above the ground as a result of this tectonic event.     

Origin and tectonic significance of a Mesozoic multi-layer over-thrust system within the Yangtze Block (South China)

In the Yangtze Block (South China), a well-developed Mesozoic thrust system extends through the Xuefeng and Wuling mountains in the southeast to the Sichuan basin in the northwest. The system comprises both thin- and thick-skinned thrust units separated by a boundary detachment fault, the Dayin fault. To the northwest, the thin-skinned belt is characterized by either chevron anticlines and box synclines to the northwest or chevron synclines to the southeast. The former structural style displays narrow exposures for the cores of anticlines and wider exposures for the cores of synclines. Thrust detachments occur along Silurian (Fs) and Lower Cambrian (Fc) strata and are dominantly associated with the anticlines. To the southeast, this style of deformation passes gradually into one characterized by chevron synclines with associated principal detachment faults along Silurian (Fs), Cambrian (Fc) and Lower Sinian (Fz) strata. There are, however, numerous secondary back thrusts. Therefore, the thin-skinned belt is like the Valley and Ridge Province of the North American Applachian Mountains. The thick-skinned belt structurally overlies the thin-skinned belt and is characterized by a number of klippen including the Xuefeng and Wuling nappes. It is thus comparable to the Blue Ridge Province of Appalachia.The structural pattern of this thrust system in South China can be explained by a model involving detachment faulting along various stratigraphic layers at different stages of its evolution. The system was developed through a northwest stepwise progression of deformation with the earliest delamination along Lower Sinian strata (Fz). Analyses of balanced geological cross-sections yield about 18.1–21% (total 88 km) shortening for the thin-skinned unit and at least this amount of shortening for the thick-skinned unit. The compressional deformation from southeast to northwest during Late Jurassic to Cretaceous time occurred after the westward progressive collision of the Yangtze Block with the North China Block and suggests that the orogenic event was intracontinental in nature.     

Theoretical Study on Stochastic Modeling of Combined Gravity-Magnetic-Electric-Seismic Inversion and Its Application

As gravity field,magnetic field,electric field and seismic wave field are all physical fields,their object function,reverse function and compound function are certainly infinite contiuously differentiable func-tions which can be expanded into Taylor (Fourier) series within domain of definition and be further reduced in-to solving stochastic distribution function of series and statistic inference of optimal approximation,This is the basis of combined gravity-magnetic-electric-seismic inversion built on the basis of separation of field and source gravity-magnetic difference-value(D-value)trend surface,taking distribution-independent fault sys-tem as its unit,depths of seismic and electric interfaces of interests as its corresponding bivariate compound re-verse function of gravity-magnetic anomalies and using high order polynomial(high order trigonometric func-tion)approximating to its series distribution,The difference from current dominant inversion techniques is that,first,it does not respectively create gravity-seismic,magnetic-seismic deterministic inversion model from theoretical model,but combines gravity-magnetic-electric-seismic stochastic inversion model from stochastic model;second,after the concept of equivalent geological body being introduced,using feature of independent variable of gravity-magnetic field functions,taking density and susceptibility related to gravity-magnetic func-tion as default parameters of model,the deterministic model is established owing to better solution to the con-tradictioc of difficulty in identifying strata and less test analytical data for density and susceptibility in newly explored area;third,under assumption of independent parent distribution,a real modeling by strata,the prob-lem of difficult plane closure arising in profile modeling is avoided,This technology has richer and more detailed fault and strata information than sparse pattern seismic data in newly explored area,successfully inverses and plots structural map of Indosinian discontinuty in Hefei basin with combined gravity-magnetic-electric-seismic inversion,With development of high precision gravity-magnetic and overall geophysical technology,it is certain for introducing new methods of stochastic modeling and computational intelligence and promoting the develop-ment of combined gravity-magnetic-electric-seismic inversion to open a new substantial and promoting the develop-ment of combined gravity-magnetic-electric-seismic inversion to open a new substantial path.     

Lipid distribution in a subtropical southern China stalagmite as a record of soil ecosystem response to paleoclimate change

Lipid extracts from a 61.7-cm-long subtropical stalagmite in southern China, spanning the period of ca. 10,000–21,000 yr ago as constrained by U–Th dating, were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The higher plants and microorganisms in the overlying soils contribute a proportion of n-alkanes identified in the stalagmite. The occurrence of LMW (lower molecular weight) n-alkanols and n-alkan-2-ones in the stalagmite was mainly related to the soil microorganisms. We suggest that HMW (higher molecular weight) n-alkanols and n-alkan-2-ones identified in the stalagmite originate from soil organics and reflect input from contemporary vegetation. Shifts in the ratio of LMW to HMW n-alkanols or n-alkan-2-ones indicative of the variation of soil ecosystems (e.g., microbial degradation of organic matter and/or the relative abundance of soil microorganisms to higher plants) are comparable with the subtropical alkenone-SST (sea surface temperature) record of the same period. The similar trends seen in the δ¹³C data and the lipid parameters in this stalagmite imply that the overlying soil ecosystem response to climate might be responsible for the variation of δ¹³C values.     

南海上层海洋热结构的年循环与半年循环

根据南海季风试验(SCSMEX)期间南海内区的三个ATLAS(Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System)锚碇浮标资料(1998年4月～1999年4月),采用谐波分析方法对南海上层海洋水温年循环、半年循环加以分离,发现无论在年循环还是在半年循环尺度上,18°N附近SCS1站与13°N附近SCS3站的水温变化次表层与表层呈反位相;15°20′N附近SCS2站水温变化基本上次表层与表层同位相.这说明不同区域上层海洋热变化受不同的正压与斜压模态控制.其次,SCS2、SCS3两点水温年循环振幅均在次表层达到极值;而SCS1在表层达到极大值,在100 m深度达到次极大值.3个站位水温半年循环振幅极值均出现在次表层内,这说明该层内的水温半年循环在温度变化趋势中所占的权重比在表层的权重大.     

ENSO事件中纬向异常流反向与东西侧边界反射的联系

建立一个中等复杂程度的海-气耦合模式研究东、西边界反射,纬向平流项-u′(δ)(T+T′)/(δ)x在ENSO循环位相转换中的作用及东、西边界反射与纬向异常流(u′) 符号改变的关系.结果得到:u′超前Nio3区SSTA位相转变的原因是东、西边界反射造成的.Sverdrup 平衡时所产生的地转流(ur)与东、西边界反射所产生的地转流(ur)的方向在大部分时间里是相反的,同时ur与风应力强迫之间大约有9个月的滞后时间(Kelvin波从180°E出发经东边界反射产生的Rossby波到达180°E时间).在模式ENSO事件消亡过程中的某一时刻以后,边界反射产生的调整过程变为主要过程,u′主要由ur来决定,这样就造成了u′的反向先于Nio区SSTA的反向.它实际上是海洋的调整过程与风应力强迫之间滞后关系的一种反映.敏感性数值试验表明,取消东边界反射,耦合模式能够模拟ENSO循环,但其周期比控制试验的周期短一年(3年).取消-u′(δ)(T+T′)/(δ)x,耦合模式能够模拟ENSO循环,但其周期比控制试验的周期长2年(6年).     

天津气象塔风温梯度观测资料的统计特征

利用天津气象塔风温梯度观测资料对其统计特征及平均风温廓线的日变化规律进行了分析，特别是分析了稳定层结的风温廓线特征，还给出了几种典型天气的低层大气结构的个例分析。