Late Palaeozoic NE–SW ductile–brittle extension in the La Serre horst,eastern France

In the La Serre horst of the Alpine foreland, the pre-Triassic La Serre median fault zone separates a Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous granite from an ignimbrite of unknown age and from Permian deposits. Motion along this fault zone took place first in ductile conditions and then evolved in brittle conditions. Both ductile and brittle shear criteria indicate a top-NE normal-dextral displacement. Similar motions are reported along faults bounding Late Palaeozoic intramontane coal basins located in the Massif Central and correspond to a widespread NE–SW Late to Post-Orogenic extension that affected the Variscan basement during Late Carboniferous to Early Permian times. To cite this article: G. Coromina, O. Fabbri, C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

祁连山海北高寒草甸地区紫外辐射特征及其对植物生理作用的探讨

利用祁连山海北高寒草甸地区 2 0 0 0年植物生长期内的太阳辐射观测资料 ,分析了该地区太阳紫外辐射 (UV)在植物生长期内的日、季节变化特征 ,以及在太阳总辐射 (Eg)中所占的比例 (η)。结果表明 :海北站地区UV较强 ,瞬时极大值可达 77W·m-2 ,日总量最大达 1.8MJ·m-2 以上 ;实际天气状况下月总量最大可达 4 1.6 2 0MJ·m-2 (5月 ) ,植物生长期内的 4月到 10月总量达 2 18.6 5 1MJ·m-2 。UV有明显的日、季节变化规律。日间UV所表现的单峰式曲线变化过程 ,与总辐射变化有关。在晴天状况下 ,η的变化下午高于上午 ,日平均约为 0 .0 4 8;阴天状况下在 13:0 0～ 14 :0 0较高 ,早晚低 ,且随云层厚薄而发生显著的变化。同时表明 ,阴天状况下的η值 (0 .0 5 3)高于晴天。就生长期实际情况来看 ,η值在植物生长的前期较高 ,植物生长后期较低 ,植物生长期内平均约为 0 .0 5 2。受强UV的影响 ,高寒草甸几种主要植物 ,其植物根、茎、叶的可溶性糖含量、淀粉含量、非结构性碳水化合物均较高 ,且表现出日出后迅速增加 ,植物根茎粗壮等 ,植物的生理适应性及其植物体的结构发生改变 ,致使高寒草甸植物具有明显的抗寒性功能机制和形态结构。     

The modern distribution of chironomid sub-fossils (Insecta: Diptera) in the Sierra Nevada, California: Potential for paleoclimatic reconstructions

Surface lake sediment was recovered from 57 lakes along an elevation gradient in the central, eastern Sierra Nevada of California. The surface sediment was analysed for subfossil chironomid remains in order to assess the modern distribution of chironomids in the region. The lakes sampled for the calibration dataset were between 2.0 and 40.0 m in depth, spanned an altitudinal gradient of 1360 m and a surface water temperature gradient of approximately 14 °C. Redundancy analysis (RDA) identified that five of the measured environmental variables – surface water temperature, elevation, depth, strontium, particulate organic carbon – accounted for a statistically significant amount of the variance in chironomid community composition. Quantitative transfer functions, based on weighted-averaging (WA), partial least squares (PLS) and weighted-averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS), were developed to estimate surface water temperature from the chironomid assemblages. The best model was a WA model with classical deshrinking, which had a relatively high coefficient of determination (r² = 0.73), low root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP = 1.2 °C) and a low maximum bias (0.90 °C). The results from this study suggest that robust quantitative estimates of past surface water temperature can be derived from the application of these models to fossil chironomid assemblages preserved in late-Quaternary lake sediment in this region.     

大亚湾核电站建筑物变形规律的研究

通过广东大亚湾核电站建筑物的几次实地变形监测，以及收集到的有关变形监测资料，经过数据处理与变形分析，总给出大亚湾核电站建筑物的变形规律。结果表明：核电站是安全的，其水平位移、沉降量符合客观规律，属正常的形变，为今后解决核电站建筑物变形观测问题提供了可靠的依据。     

The geodynamic evolution of the Internal Zone of the Betic Cordilleras (south-east Spain): a model based on structural analysis and geothermobarometry

ABSTRACT The Internal Zone of the Betic Cordilleras consists of several superimposed major thrust sheets with different P-T-t evolutions. On the basis of an integrated field, microscopic and laboratory study, the tectono-metamorphic history of the Mulhacen Complex and Almanzora Unit has been reconstructed in detail. The Mulhacen Complex has been affected by at least five phases of penetrative deformation, which have been labelled D_x-1, D_x, D_x+1, D_x+2 and D_x+3. D_x-1, and D_x are related to continent-continent collision, which is indicated by high pressure-low temperature (HP/LT) and subsequent intermediate P/T metamorphic conditions. D_x+1 is related to crustal thinning and heterogeneous extension. During this event the Almanzora Unit was juxtaposed against the Mulhacen Complex. This phase was succeeded by the establishment of low pressure-high temperature (LP/HT) conditions and at least two phases of folding and overthrusting. The Almanzora Unit shows a comparable tectono-metamorphic evolution post D_x+1. However, the P/T conditions prior to D_x+1 indicate a higher crustal position with respect to the Mulhacen Complex during the collisional event.     

Radiometric ages of Alpine metamorphic rocks in the western and central Alps

Abstract The chronological characteristics of Alpine metamorphic rocks are described and Alpine metamorphic events are reinterpreted on the basis of chronological data for the western and central Alps from 1960 to 1992. Metamorphic rocks of the Lepontine, Gran San Bernardo, Piemonte, Internal Crystalline Massifs and Sesia-Lanzo mostly date Alpine metamorphic events, but some (along with granitoids and gneisses from the Helvetic and Southern Alps) result from the Variscan, Caledonian or older events and thus predate the Alpine events. Radiometric age data from the Lepontine area show systematic age relations: U-Pb monazite (23-29 Ma), Rb-Sr muscovite (15–40 Ma) and biotite (15–30 Ma), K-Ar biotite (10-30 Ma), muscovite (15–25 Ma) and hornblende (25-35 Ma), and FT zircon (10-20 Ma) and apatite (5-15 Ma), which can be explained by the different closure temperatures of the isotopic systems. A 121 Ma U-Pb zircon age for a coesite-bearing whiteschist (metaquartzite) from the Dora-Maira represents the peak of ultra-high pressure metamorphism. Coesite-free eclogites and blueschists related to ultra-high pressure rocks in the Penninic crystalline massifs yield an ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar plateau age of about 100 Ma for phengites, interpreted as the cooling age. From about 50 Ma, eclogites and glaucophane schists have also been reported from the Piemonte ophiolites and calcschists, suggesting the existence of a second high P/T metamorphic event. Alpine rocks therefore record three major metamorphic events: (i) ultra-high and related high P/T metamorphism in the early Cretaceous, which is well preserved in continental material such as the Sesia-Lanzo and the Penninic Internal Crystalline Massifs; (ii) a second high P/T metamorphic event in the Eocene, which is recognized in the ophiolites and calcschists of the Mesozoic Tethys; and (iii) medium P/T metamorphism, in which both types of high P/T metamorphic rocks were variably reset by Oligocene thermal events. Due to the mixture of minerals formed in the three metamorphic events, there is a possibility that almost all geochronological data reported from the Alpine metamorphic belt show mixed ages. Early Cretaceous subduction of a Tethyan mid-ocean ridge and Eocene continental collision triggered off the exhumation of the high pressure rocks.     

古植代陆地维管植物的多样性演化和绝灭

本文描述了石炭—二叠纪陆地维管植物在物种、生态和遗传方面的多样性。并根据古生代末这些植物在时空上的演化过程和数量统计数字,确认二叠—三叠纪集群绝灭事件同样在植物中存在。进而还探讨了植物集群绝灭事件发生的原因,笔者认为其直接外部原因,可能是局部地质事件(如:构造活动、火山爆发)引起热带雨林大面积消失,使气候变干旱所致。又根据当今对化石植物生殖生物学的研究结果,认为当时大部分植物(即古植代植物)的生殖方式较单一,胚在发育时无休眠期,成熟的胚缺少良好的保护结构,不适合在干旱环境下传种繁殖是这次植物集群绝灭事件发生的主要内部原因。     

Temporal variations in the spatial distribution of shoot density in a Posidonia oceanica meadow and patterns of genetic diversity

The meadows of the Mediterranean endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica exhibit relatively high variations of structural and biometric features at various spatial scales. An investigation performed in 1992 in the meadow off Lacco Ameno (Island of Ischia, Gulf of Naples, Italy) detected peculiar spatial patterns of plant distribution, characterized by nestlike structures with radially increasing or decreasing shoot densities. Eight years later (2000), geo‐referenced collections at selected points were repeated to trace the temporal variations of shoot density and investigate the recurrence of the density cores previously detected. In addition, shoots for molecular analyses were collected to check the hypothesis that nestlike patterns exhibit highest levels of genetic variability, due to the confluence of several genetically distinct stolons. The 2000 survey confirmed the presence of the main density cores detected in 1992, although their spatial distribution was slightly shifted and a general decrease of spatial anisotropy was observed, probably due to an increased disturbance, mainly due to pleasure boat anchoring. Patterns of genetic diversity showed a more complex picture, well related to the shoot density spatial pattern, especially when compared with the previous 1992 survey. Patterns of genetic diversity confirmed our previous hypotheses on the genesis of shoot density cores, suggesting they are produced over long time, due to a slow stolonization process and a convergence of different genotypes. Regression of the meadow and decrease of density may lead, in short periods, to a homogenization of the density patterns, while genetic diversity cores represent a long‐term ‘memory’ of their previous distribution.