Separation of rifting and lithospheric folding signatures in the NW-Alpine foreland

The development of the Alpine mountain belt has been governed by the convergence of the African and European plates since the Late Cretaceous. During the Cenozoic, this orogeny was accompanied with two major kinds of intraplate deformation in the NW-European foreland: (1) the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS), a left-lateral transtensional wrench zone striking NNE-SSW between the western Mediterranean Sea and the Bohemian Massif; (2) long-wavelength lithospheric folds striking NE and located between the Alpine front and the North Sea. The present-day geometry of the European crust comprises the signatures of these two events superimposed on all preceding ones. In order to better define the processes and causes of each event, we identify and separate their respective geometrical signatures on depth maps of the pre-Mesozoic basement and of the Moho. We derive the respective timing of rifting and folding from sedimentary accumulation curves computed for selected locations of the Upper Rhine Graben. From this geometrical and chronological separation, we infer that the ECRIS developed mostly from 37 to 17 Ma, in response to north-directed impingement of Adria into the European plate. Lithospheric folds developed between 17 and 0 Ma, after the azimuth of relative displacement between Adria and Europe turned counter-clockwise to NW–SE. The geometry of these folds (wavelength = 270 km; amplitude = 1,500 m) is consistent with the geometry, as predicted by analogue and numerical models, of buckle folds produced by horizontal shortening of the whole lithosphere. The development of the folds resulted in ca. 1,000 m of rock uplift along the hinge lines of the anticlines (Burgundy–Swabian Jura and Normandy–Vogelsberg) and ca. 500 m of rock subsidence along the hinge line of the intervening syncline (Sologne–Franconian Basin). The grabens of the ECRIS were tilted by the development of the folds, and their rift-related sedimentary infill was reduced on anticlines, while sedimentary accumulation was enhanced in synclines. We interpret the occurrence of Miocene volcanic activity and of topographic highs, and the basement and Moho configurations in the Vosges–Black Forest area and in the Rhenish Massif as interference patterns between linear lithospheric anticlines and linear grabens, rather than as signatures of asthenospheric plumes.

晋东南山西组主煤层热演化生烃史及热源分析

以晋城矿区山西组主煤层为代表,利用时间-温度指示法、有机质变质程度法、挥发分产率法对该煤层煤化作用历史进行了定量分析,指出其埋藏历史经历了4个发展阶段:(1)P₁-T₃的快速沉降阶段,平均沉降速度达94m/Ma;(2)J₁的逐渐抬升阶段,抬升幅度大于750m;(3)J₂的缓慢沉降阶段,平均沉降速率为10m/Ma;(4)J₃-现代的再次回返阶段。主煤层热演化主要发生在埋藏历史的第1阶段和第4阶段的J₃-K时期,前者为深成变质作用,主要生成湿气且难于保存;后者为异常高热古地温场所致,促使主煤层出现二次生烃作用,为裂解气阶段,主要生成干气,易于保存。最后指出晚中生代异常高温古地温场是由于上地幔顶界面隆起、地壳变薄、岩浆作用加剧、热流值增高所致。而上地幔顶界面的隆起则与幔柱构造中的热幔柱上涌辐射有关。     

Shortage in the midst of plenty: Labour strategies in four Central and Eastern European cities

Labour shortage was an integral feature of the communist system of economic management and one that seemed most unlikely to persist in the face of systemic transformation. A casual examination of the unemployment rates that have emerged throughout most of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during the course of the past decade might suggest that this early assumption was correct. However, within the region the aggregate rate of joblessness, as well as the behaviour of national output, mask the fact that certain, major urban centres appear to have weathered well the storms caused by exposure to western markets and stringent fiscal and monetary policies. In these centres transformation has meant, to a greater or lesser degree, industrial modernisation and this begs the question of whether the human capital portfolios of the inherited labour force match up to the requirements of the new environment. This paper examines the meaning of the concept of labour shortage and presents the findings from a survey of employers in four leading cities of three major CEE economies designed to elicit if, and how, manpower requirements are being met in the present climate. The results indicate that, somewhat paradoxically, labour shortage persists in the more flexible markets of the post-communist era and that firms do not expect the situation to change radically in the near future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Seasonal circulation in the southeastern Huanghai Sea

The seasonal circulation in the southeastern Huanghai Sea has been studied with hydrographic data,which were observed in February and June 1994 and bimonthly during 1970-1990,and numerical model results.Horiwntal distributions of temperature and salinity in 1994 are quite different due to strong tidal mixing so that we need a analysis to see the real distributions of water masses.The mixing ratio analysis with the data of 1970-1990 shows the connection of the waters in the west coasts of Kotea Peninsula with warm and saline waters from the south in summer,which means northward inflows along the west coasts of Korea Peninsula in summer.With this flow,the seasonal circulations,which are deduced from the seasonal change of water mass distributions in the lower layer,are warm inflows in winter and mld outflows in summer in the central Huanghai Sea,and cold outflows in winter and warm inflows in summer along the west coasts of Korea Peninsula.The seasonally changed inflows might be the Huanghai Sea Warm Current.The monsoon winds can drive such circulations.However,summer monsoon winds are weak and irregular.As one of other possible dynamics,the variation of Kuroshio transport is numerically studied with allowing sea level fluctuations.Although it should be studied more,it possibly drives the summer circulations.The real circulations seem to be driven by both of them.     

Timing and seismic origin of the historic Luanshibao rock avalanche in the Maoyaba basin,SE Tibetan Plateau: New evidence from 10Be exposure-ages

Rock avalanche is one of the most notable geological disasters in the mountain areas, such as the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. A typical one therein is the Luanshibao (LSB) rock avalanche that occurred in the Maoyaba basin. This rock avalanche has attracted a great deal of attentions, as it has a potential threat to the construction of Sichuan-Tibet Railway. It has been widely accepted that the LSB rock avalanche was caused by a seismic event. However, it is still an open question as to the timing of the earthquake-triggered rock avalanche. Here, we report twenty new ¹⁰Be exposure-ages obtained from the deposition zone. These tightly clustered exposure-ages, combined with geomorphic evidence, indicate that the LSB rock avalanche occurred during the mid-Holocene, possibly at 5.2 ± 0.2 ka. A comparison between the timing of rock avalanche and seismic events suggests a close correlation of the LSB rock avalanche with recurrent earthquakes around ∼5 ka BP. Such a correlation is well supported by the view from previous studies.     

Cosmogenic 36Cl glacial chronologies of the Late Quaternary glaciers on Mount Geyikdağ in the Eastern Mediterranean

We report the timing of glaciations during the Late Quaternary in the central Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. Forty moraine samples from three glacial valleys on Mount Geyikdağ (36.53°N, 32.10^°E, 2877 m), near the Eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, were dated with in-situ cosmogenic ³⁶Cl. These glacial valleys are located on the southern flank of the mountain and were filled with few km long glaciers that terminated at elevations of about 1750 m above sea level. Three glacial retreats/advances were determined in this study. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), glaciers reached their maximum positions at 20.6 ± 0.6 ka ago (±1σ). This date is in accordance with the timing of local maximum ice extent, represented by piedmont glaciers in the northern side of the mountain. Glaciers started to retreat after the LGM and shortly stabilized or re-advanced two times before they completely vanished out. The first stage ended before 13.7 ± 0.8 ka ago during the Late-glacial. The last glaciation occurred during the Holocene and ended between 9.6 ± 1.4 ka and 5.9 ± 0.5 ka ago. Later, glaciers mostly vanished from the study area, but a few rock glaciers developed during the Late Holocene. Glacial chronologies of Mount Geyikdağ are mostly comparable with the globally observed advances elsewhere.     

Differences in flood hazard projections in Europe – their causes and consequences for decision making

This paper interprets differences in flood hazard projections over Europe and identifies likely sources of discrepancy. Further, it discusses potential implications of these differences for flood risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. The discrepancy in flood hazard projections raises caution, especially among decision makers in charge of water resources management, flood risk reduction, and climate change adaptation at regional to local scales. Because it is naïve to expect availability of trustworthy quantitative projections of future flood hazard, in order to reduce flood risk one should focus attention on mapping of current and future risks and vulnerability hotspots and improve the situation there. Although an intercomparison of flood hazard projections is done in this paper and differences are identified and interpreted, it does not seems possible to recommend which large-scale studies may be considered most credible in particular areas of Europe.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR not assigned     

青藏高原东南缘活动断裂的地震应变能释放系统研究

本文以青藏高原东南缘为研究区域,利用G-R震级能量经验公式和Benioff地震应变能释放曲线,对该区域内1500年以来的历史地震应变能释放进行了系统性的研究。文中给出了各断裂带和断块区的地震应变能释放周期表,及相应的地震危险性。分析发现研究区域地震应变能的释放具有东强西弱,南强北弱的特征,整体上各断层断块区的历史地震应变能释放符合准周期模式,某些断层和断块区上的地震周期具有某种程度上的同步现象。青藏高原东南缘现今处于大释放期中,地震的危险性不能忽视。局部结果显示,安宁河-则木河断裂带、小江断裂带的危险性很高,对于这些危险区要重点跟踪研究。今后仍需结合不同研究方法来提高地震危险性评估的可靠性。     

Trends in aerosol optical properties over Eastern Europe based on MODIS-Aqua

This study provides characteristics of aerosol columnar properties, measured over ten countries in Eastern Europe from 2002 to 2019. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE) were obtained with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6.1 merged Dark Target and Deep Blue aerosol product. The product is validated using ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) situated at Minsk, Belsk, Moldova and Kyiv. The results showed that 76.15% of retrieved AOD data are within the expected error. It was established that 64.2% of AOD points are between 0 and 0.2 and 79.3% of all AE points are over 1. Mean AOD values in the region vary from 0.130 ​± ​0.04 (Moldova) to 0.193 ​± ​0.03 (Czech Republic) with mean value in the region 0.162 ​± ​0.05. Seasonal mean AOD (AE) values were at the maximum during the summer from 0.231 ​± ​0.05 (1.482 ​± ​0.09 in winter) to minimum 0.087 ​± ​0.04 during the winter (1.363 ​± ​0.17 in summer). Gradual AOD reduction is observed in all countries with annual trend from −0.0050 (Belarus) to −0.0029 (Russia). Finally, the relationship between AOD and AE was studied to classify various aerosol types and showed seasonal non-uniformity of their contribution depending on variation in sources. The entire region is under significant impact of various aerosol types, including clean continental (СС), mixed (MX) and anthropogenic/burning (AB) aerosols types that are at 59.77%, 24.72%, and 12.97% respectively. These results form an important basis for further regional studies of air quality and distribution of sources of pollution.     

青藏高原东南缘基于背景噪声的Rayleigh面波方位各向异性研究

青藏高原东南缘地区是现今地壳形变和地震活动最强烈的地区之一,也是研究青藏高原现今变形机制和构造演化规律的重要区域.本研究使用云南区域地震台网的55个宽频带地震台站连续地震背景噪声数据,采用双台站互相关方法获得Rayleigh(瑞利)面波经验格林函数,提取相速度频散曲线,反演得到云南地区周期5~34s范围内方位各向异性分布图像.反演结果揭示:短周期(5~12s)Rayleigh面波快波优势方向与区域断裂走向有很好的一致性,快波方向随着断裂走向的变化而变化.周期16~26s快波优势方向与反映上地壳特性的5~12s图像总体图像相似,但细节略有不同.其中,滇中块体内易门断裂和滇中块体内东侧的普渡河断裂附近,各向异性快波方向从NS向NW方向旋转;易门断裂以西呈NW向.这反映了青藏高原物质东流和川滇块体受到青藏块体的南东向挤压作用.周期30~34s范围的各向异性,滇缅泰块体和印支块体,快波优势方向为NS和NNW向;而在滇中块体内部,各向异性快波方向呈顺时针旋转变化,可能与青藏高原物质向东逃逸有关.本文还开展了与体波各向异性的对比分析,通过与近震S波分裂、Pms转换波分裂和远震SKS、PKS和SKKS(以后简称为XKS)分裂的对比研究,发现随着周期的增大,得到的快波优势方向与XKS剪切波快波偏振方向趋向一致,与地壳快剪切波偏振方向呈一定夹角.本研究认为,青藏高原东南缘地区壳幔各向异性具有不同的特征和形成机制.