Monitoring surface change on a Namib linear dune

In tackling the apparently intractable problem of linear dune initiation and maintenance there has been a move away from large-scale deductive models to smaller-scale field studies of individual dunes. This paper reports a study of surface change on a large, complex linear dune in the Namib Desert, southern Africa. The dune surface responds to a markedly seasonal wind regime. In summer westerly winds erode sand from the west flank of the dune and deposit it on the easterly lee side of the dune crest. In winter this pattern is reversed. Easterly winds erode sand from the east slope and deposit it on the west slope. The crest therefore moves back and forth some 15 m each year returning at the end of a year's cycle to its position at the beginning. The position of the base of the dune appears to remain fixed, even though sand is moving throughout the dune system. The dune does extend northward along some resultant of the westerly and easterly winds. Despite relatively high levels of activity, especially at the dune crest, there is no evidence of the breakdown of the linear dune form. The conclusion must therefore be that linear dunes can be maintained in bimodal wind regimes and are not necessarily related to unidirectional parallel regimes as others have suggested.     

麻扎塔格山隆起的时代,形式,幅度及意义

根据对麻扎塔格山的考察以及样品分析，指出这一地区有厚层的下更新统存在，它的底界约为２．５ＭａＢ．ｐ．。麻扎塔格山可做为塔里木盆地第三系、第四系分界线的典型地点。通过这一发现从而确定了该山的隆起时代、形式与幅度，对麻扎塔格山隆起前后的以及隆起后的地质，地理意义也做了初步讨论。     

乌兰布和沙漠东北部风沙灾害与防护林带参数探讨

本文分析了乌兰布和沙漠东北部风沙灾害的季节性、风沙运动矢量特征及其与林带参数之间的关系。认为：当地新垦绿洲农田防护林带主带走向与ＭＷ向垂直；主带间距采用树高１０倍的保守设计；结构设计应尽可能使冬季相疏透度在０．３５附近。     

塔克拉玛干沙漠北部全新世地层中的元素分布与古气候

以14C年龄数据为年代标尺，对塔克拉玛干沙漠北部全新世地层中元素分布与古气候的关系进行了初步研究，表明这里自11000年来经历了早期温凉略温、中期暖干多风和晚期相对寒冷湿润的气候变迁过程。     

中国沙区铁路沙害防治综述

简要介绍了中国沙区铁路分布、风沙危害情况和形式；并论述了中国铁路防沙技术措施；提出了风沙地区修筑铁路应注意的技术要点。     

Characteristics and occurrence of wind erosion features in the Namib Desert

Small scale features resulting from wind erosion are widespread in the Namib Desert. They include selective erosion of lithological variations (etching), flutes and grooves, facetting of clasts and residual boulders, and smoothing and polishing of rock surfaces. Large scale features are tentatively identified and are restricted to the southern Namib, with its high energy, unidirectional wind regime. Wind erosion features are best developed on fine-grained rocks of intermediate hardness. They are oriented towards or parallel to modern strong winds. The turbulent flow of wind armed only with dust particles is probably more important than wind driven sand in creating smooth polished rock surfaces, flutes, and grooves. Wind driven sand appears to be significant only in facetting rock masses.     

Development of spatially diverse and complex dune-field patterns: Gran Desierto Dune Field, Sonora, Mexico

The pattern of dunes within the Gran Desierto of Sonora, Mexico, is both spatially diverse and complex. Identification of the pattern components from remote‐sensing images, combined with statistical analysis of their measured parameters demonstrate that the composite pattern consists of separate populations of simple dune patterns. Age‐bracketing by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) indicates that the simple patterns represent relatively short‐lived aeolian constructional events since ～25 ka. The simple dune patterns consist of: (i) late Pleistocene relict linear dunes; (ii) degraded crescentic dunes formed at ～12 ka; (iii) early Holocene western crescentic dunes; (iv) eastern crescentic dunes emplaced at ～7 ka; and (v) star dunes formed during the last 3 ka. Recognition of the simple patterns and their ages allows for the geomorphic backstripping of the composite pattern. Palaeowind reconstructions, based upon the rule of gross bedform‐normal transport, are largely in agreement with regional proxy data. The sediment state over time for the Gran Desierto is one in which the sediment supply for aeolian constructional events is derived from previously stored sediment (Ancestral Colorado River sediment), and contemporaneous influx from the lower Colorado River valley and coastal influx from the Bahia del Adair inlet. Aeolian constructional events are triggered by climatic shifts to greater aridity, changes in the wind regime, and the development of a sediment supply. The rate of geomorphic change within the Gran Desierto is significantly greater than the rate of subsidence and burial of the accumulation surface upon which it rests.     

Geologic relationships and mineralization of peralkaline/alkaline granite-syenite of the Zargat Na''am ring complex, Southeastern Desert, Egypt

The Zargat Na'am ring complex crops out 90 km NW of Shalatin City in the Southeastern Desert of Egypt. The ring complex forms a prominent ridge standing high above the surrounding mafic-ultramafic hills. It is cut by two sets of joints and faults which strike predominantly NNW-SSE and E-W,and is injected by dikes, porphyritic alkaline syenites, and felsite porphyries. It consists of alkali syenites, alkali quartz syenites, and peralkaline arfvedsonite-bearing granitic and pegmatitic dikes and sills.The complex is characterized locally by extreme enrichments in REEs, wolframite and rare, high field strength metals (HFSM), such as Zr and Nb. The highest concentrations ( 1.5 wt% Zr, 0.25 wt% Nb,0.6 wt% ∑REEs) occur in aegirine-albite aplites that formed around arfvedsonite pegmatites. Quartzhosted melt inclusions in arfvedsonite granite and pegmatite provide unequivocal evidence that the peralkaline compositions and rare metal enrichments are primary magmatic features. Glass inclusions in quartz crystals also have high concentrations of incompatible trace elements including Nb (750 × 10-6), Zr (2500 × 10-6) and REEs (1450 × 10-6). The REEs, Nb and Zr compositions of the aegirine-albite aplites plot along the same linear enrichment trends as the melt inclusions, and Y/Ho ratios mostly display unfractionated, near-chondritic values. The chemical and textural features of the aegirine-albite aplites are apparently resultant from rapid crystallization after volatile loss from a residual peralkaline granitic melt similar in composition to the melt inclusions.     

半干旱地区城市化进程对区域沙漠化的影响

在“3S”技术和统计分析的支持下,对库布齐沙漠典型地区1987-2003年间的沙漠化和城市化进程进行了研究。结果显示:达拉特旗的城市化水平呈逐渐增加的趋势,变化在9.1%~19.1%之间,从1998年开始城市化水平进入了相对高增长时期,由之前的平均每年0.53%增加到0.7%。而同期的沙漠化程度呈下降的趋势,由1987年的0.269下降到2003年的0.214。沙漠化程度的变换主要是由半流动和半固定沙丘的变化所导致,其中在1987-1995年期间,半流动和半固定沙丘分别只有2.6%和12.3%保持不变,其余部分主要转移成其他沙丘类型和农田。城市化与沙漠化的相互关系分析表明,在城市化水平较低的1987-1995年(城市化水平变化在9.1%~13.5%之间),城市化与沙漠化之间有显著的线性回归关系[y=-0.0038x 0.3132(R=0.667>0.632=α0.05)];而在城市化水平较高的1995-2003年(大于14%),二者之间的关联程度降低,我国北方半干旱地区的城市化进程对区域沙漠化的影响具有明显的阶段性。