Influence of livestock on the regeneration of fodder trees along ephemeral rivers of Namibia

Faidherbia albida and Acacia erioloba (Mimosoideae) are important fodder trees for livestock and wildlife along the westward flowing ephemeral rivers of the Namib Desert. Together with other, mainly woody vegetation, F. albida and A. erioloba line these rivers and present a linear oasis in a resource poor environment. For centuries nomadic to semi-nomadic inhabitants seasonally utilised the resources of these ephemeral rivers to survive in the otherwise harsh desert environment. In the past decades, more permanent settlements were established along these rivers, with small stock subsistence farmers making a living from the available resources. Livestock (mainly goats) usually moves freely around, feeding on the available vegetation.This study investigated the influence of free moving animals on the regeneration and recruitment of F. albida and A. erioloba along the Kuiseb ephemeral river. It was found that a large numbers of recently emerged seedlings were removed soon after germination. In addition, tree densities of adult versus juvenile individuals differed in areas with large numbers of livestock. The overall height increase and health of juvenile plants were influenced negatively by browsing livestock. In general, browsing pressure differed spatially and was higher close to the main water channel.     

海南岛土壤有机碳空间分布特征及储量

利用2005年海南岛生态地球化学调查获得的8713件表层土壤和2197件深层土壤样品,计算分析海南岛土壤有机碳的空间分布特征,结果显示:0～20 cm、0～100 cm、0～180 cm 3个深度的土壤有机碳密度分别为2.86、9.48、13.72 kg/m2,与国内其他典型地区相比,几乎处于最低水平.区域土壤有机碳密度图显示,海南岛土壤有机碳的分布与地貌类型关系密切,高值区分布在山地、丘陵、火山岩台地等地区,其次是平原区,最低为滨海地区.统计显示,土地利用类型、土类不同,土壤有机碳密度差异明显,不同地类土壤有机碳密度:园地＞林地＞其他土地＞耕地,土壤有机碳主要贮存在林地和耕地中;不同土类土壤有机碳密度:黄壤＞赤红壤＞砖红壤＞水稻土＞燥红土,土壤有机碳主要贮存在砖红壤、赤红壤和水稻土中;0～180 cm土壤有机碳库储量为478.13 Mt.     

人口密度的空间降尺度分析与模拟——以贵州猫跳河流域为例

人口调查统计以行政区划为基本单元,数据精度不能满足较高分辨率的空间结构分析,也难以在地理综合研究中与自然地理要素数据相匹配.因此,人口密度空间化成为地理学的重要研究方向之一.本文基于贵州省猫跳河流域的乡镇人口数据,采用GIS空间分析技术与统计学方法,分析了人口密度与空间因子的关系;并采用多元回归的方法建立了人口密度数据...     

A 352-year record of summer temperature reconstruction in the western Tianshan Mountains,China, as deduced from tree-ring density

Three robust tree-ring density chronologies were developed for the western Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. The chronologies were significantly correlated and form a regional chronology (GLD). The GLD had significant and positive correlations with temperature of warm seasons. Based on this relationship, the mean minimum temperatures of May to August were reconstructed using the GLD chronology for the period AD 1657 to 2008. The temperature reconstruction exhibited temperature patterns on interannual to centennial timescales, and showed that the end of the 20th century is the warmest period in the past 352 years. The reconstructed temperature variation has a teleconnection with large-scale atmospheric–oceanic variability and captures long- and broad-scale regional climatic variations.     

Crustal structure of the western Arafura Sea from ocean bottom seismograph data

Refraction data taken from ocean bottom seismograph recordings in the western Arafura Sea indicate a continental‐type structure for the region. This structure is characterised by a thin column (2 km) of sediments, with velocities ranging from about to 2 to 4 km s^‐1, overlying an essentially two layer crust. The compressional wave velocities in the upper and lower crust are 5.97 and 6.52 km s^‐1, respectively, with the boundary between the layers at a depth of 11 km. Very weak mantle‐refracted arrivals with a velocity of about 8.0 km s^‐1 were recorded. Large‐amplitude, later arrivals, beginning at distances near 100 and 150 km, have been interpreted to be part of the retrograde branches from the 8.0 and 7.33 km s^‐1 layers, respectively. Model studies indicate that a small positive velocity gradient is required between 17 and 30 km, and that the Moho is at a depth of 34 km. A third set of large amplitude, later arrivals starting at a distance near 250 km has been interpreted as most probably multiple refraction‐reflection arrivals from the 5.97 and 6.52 km s^‐1 layers. Correlation of this structure with the stratigraphic logs from exploratory oil wells in the Arafura Sea using layer velocities indicates that rocks younger than Jurassic appear to thin towards the east.     

Crust restoration for the western Lachlan Orogen using the strain-reversal,area-balancing technique: implications for crustal components and original thicknesses

Strain reversal of structural/stratigraphic profiles at different scales in the western Lachlan Orogen provides a perspective on original crustal thickness estimates, the former depositional basin width of the proto-western Lachlan Orogen, the original sedimentary-fan thickness, and the possible length extent of lower crust lost by subduction. Retrodeformation using strain-reversal techniques allows basin reconstruction giving an original width of the western Lachlan Orogen basin receptor of between 800 km (minimum) and ～1150 km (maximum), depending on the amount of stratal duplication allowed in the turbidites. Crude area balancing of the regional cross-section, adding in sectional volume lost by erosion and assuming strain compatibility between the upper and lower crust, suggests that the predeformation crustal thickness ranges between 15 km and ～21 km, with a lower crustal thickness (oceanic lithosphere) of ～9 km and a turbidite fan thickness of ～6 km (minimum) and ～12 km (maximum allowable), respectively. Disparity between the calculated fan thickness and that derived from measured stratigraphic sections adjusted for strain (～6 km) indicates that some form of crustal stacking must be important in structural thickening of the turbidite crustal component. By varying shortening due to fault stacking, mass balance dictates the mismatch of the upper crustal (uc) and lower crustal (lc) retrodeformed lengths, and therefore provides an estimate of lower crustal loss by subduction. End members range from: (i) a 12 km-thick fan without fault duplication, a basin width of ～800 km where uc = lc giving no lower crustal loss by subduction; to (ii) a ～6 km fan, requiring duplication by faulting, a basin of ～1150 km where uc > lc, and ～360 km of lower crust length (～30%) lost by subduction. This suggests that the total thickness of underplated igneous material in the western Lachlan Orogen is low, probably < ～2 km.     

Contrasting komatiite belts,associated Ni–Cu–(PGE) deposit styles and assimilation histories

The Agnew–Wiluna greenstone belt in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia is the most nickel-sulfide-endowed komatiite belt in the world. The Agnew–Wiluna greenstone belt contains two mineralised units/horizons that display very different volcanological and geochemical features. The Mt Keith unit comprises >500 m-thick spinifex-free adcumulate-textured lenses, which are flanked by laterally extensive orthocumulate-textured units. Spinifex texture is absent from this unit. Disseminated nickel sulfides, interstitial to former olivine crystals, are concentrated in the lensoidal areas. Massive sulfides are locally present along the base or margins of the lenses or channels. The Cliffs unit is locally >150 m thick and comprises a sequence of differentiated spinifex-textured flow units. The basal unit is the thickest, and contains basal massive nickel-sulfide mineralisation. The Mt Keith and Cliffs units display important common features: (i) MgO contents of 25–30% in inferred parental magmas; and (ii) Al/Ti ratios of ～20 (Munro-type). However, the Mt Keith unit is highly crustally contaminated (e.g. LREE-enriched, high HFSEs), whereas the Cliffs unit does not display evidence of significant crustal assimilation. We argue that the distinct trace-element concentrations and profiles of the two komatiite units reflect their different emplacement style and country rocks: the Mt Keith unit is interpreted to have been emplaced as an intrusive sill into dacitic volcanic units whereas the Cliffs unit was extruded as lava flow onto tholeiitic basalts in a subaqueous environment. The mode of emplacement and nature of country rock is the single biggest factor in controlling mineralisation styles in komatiites. On the other hand, evidence of crustal contamination does not necessarily provide information of the prospectivity of komatiites to host Ni–Cu–(PGE) mineralisation, despite being a good proxy for the style of komatiite emplacement and the nature of country rocks.     

Otway Continental Margin Transect: Crustal architecture from wide‐angle seismic profiling across Australia's southern margin

The Otway Basin in southeastern Australia formed on a triangular‐shaped area of extended continental lithosphere during two extensional episodes in Cretaceous to Miocene times. The extent of the offshore continental margin is highlighted by Seasat/Geosat satellite altimeter data. The crustal architecture and structural features across this southeast Australian margin have been interpreted from offshore‐onshore wide‐angle seismic profiling data along the Otway Continental Margin Transect extending from the onshore Lake Condah High, through the town of Portland, to the deep Southern Ocean. Along the Otway Continental Margin Transect, the onshore half‐graben geometry of Early Cretaceous deposition gives way offshore to a 5 km‐thick slope basin (P‐wave velocity 2.2–4.6 km/s) to at least 60 km from the shoreline. At 120 km from the nearest shore in a water depth of 4220 m, sonobuoy data indicate a 4–5 km sedimentary sequence overlying a 7 km thick basement above the Moho at 15 km depth. Major fault zones affect the thickness of basin sequences in the onshore area (Tartwaup Fault Zone and its southeast continuation) and at the seaward edge of the Mussel Platform (Mussel Fault). Upper crustal basement is interpreted to be attenuated and thinned Palaeozoic rocks of the Delamerian and Lachlan Orogens (intruded with Jurassic volcanics) that thin from 16 km onshore to about 3.5 km at 120 km from the nearest shore. Basement rocks comprise a 3 km section with velocity 5.5–5.7 km/s overlying a deeper basement unit with velocity 6.15–6.35 km/s. The Moho shallows from a depth of 30 km onshore to 15 km depth at 120 km from the nearest shore, and then to about 12 km in the deep ocean at the limits of the transect (water depth 5200 m). The continent‐ocean boundary is interpreted to be at a prominent topographic inflection point 170 km from shore at the bottom of the continental slope in 4800 m of water. P‐wave velocities in the lower crust are 6.4–6.8 km/s, overlying a thin transition zone to an upper mantle velocity of 8.05 km/s beneath the Moho. Outstandingly clear Moho reflections seen in deep‐marine profiling data at about 10.3 s two‐way time under the slope basin and continent‐ocean boundary place further strong controls on crustal thickness. There is no evidence of massive high velocity (>7 km/s) intrusives/underplate material in the lower crust nor any synrift or early post‐rift subaerial volcanics, indicating that the Otway continental margin can be considered a non‐volcanic margin, similar in many respects to some parts of the Atlantic Ocean margins e.g. the Nova Scotia ‐ Newfoundland margin off Canada and the Galicia Bank off the Iberian Peninsula. Using this analogue, the prominent gravity feature trending northwest‐southeast at the continent‐ocean boundary may indicate the presence of highly serpentinised mantle material beneath a thin crust, but this has yet to be tested by detailed work.     

新疆阿尔金山喀腊大湾地区玄武岩的地球化学特征及地质意义

对新疆阿尔金山东段喀腊大湾地区玄武岩进行了系统的岩石地球化学分析, 结果表明, 喀腊大湾地区的玄武岩具有低的Mg#值(Mg#=Mg/(Mg+Fe)×100)。稀土元素的含量变化范围较大, 轻重稀土分异不明显, 具有轻微的轻稀土富集, 弱的Eu负异常。微量元素Ni、Co、Cr与MgO呈正相关, 微量元素多元素标准化图解中, 普遍具有Nb、Ta的负异常, 部分样品具有Ti的负异常。在Th/Yb-Ta/Yb和Th/Hf-Ta/Hf构造环境判别图解中, 分别落入活动大陆边缘环境和大陆拉张(或初始裂谷)环境, 结合本区双峰式火山岩中玄武岩的地球化学特征, 以及与北阿尔金蛇绿混杂岩带其它地区玄武岩的对比, 认为喀腊大湾地区的玄武岩可能形成于紧邻北阿尔金地区古洋盆的活动大陆边缘环境。     

树轮最大密度记录的吉尔吉斯斯坦天山山区公元1650年以来的7-8月温度变化

利用吉尔吉斯斯坦天山山区3个采样点的雪岭云杉树轮最大密度数据建立区域树轮最大密度年表（RC）。气候响应分析发现,区域树轮最大密度年表与7-8月平均温度显著相关。在此基础上,利用区域树轮最大密度年表重建了吉尔吉斯斯坦天山山区自1650年以来的7-8月温度变化,重建方程的方差解释量高达45．3％（Radj^2=44．7％,N=95,F=77．029）。重建结果显示,在过去的346a中吉尔吉斯斯坦天山山区7-8月平均温度的异常高温年份为40a,异常低温年份为46a,且存在11个低温时段（16501654,1662-1678,1693-1703,1779-1794,1801-1805,1811-1819,1834-1854,1882-1910,1917-1923,1952-1975和1986-1992年）和11个高温时段（1655-1661,1679-1692,1704-1778,1795-1800,1806-1810,1820-1833,1855-1881,1911-1916,1924-1951,1976-1985和1994-至今）。突变和周期分析揭示该地区的温度变化受到了火山、太阳活动和海陆气交互作用的共同影响。此外,在过去的346a来气候以暖干／冷湿为主,近20a来出现了明显暖湿化趋势。