Water and nutrient fluxes off Northwest Africa

A historical data set is used to describe the coastal transition zone off Northwest Africa during spring 1973 and fall 1975, from 17° to 26°N, with special emphasis on the interaction between subtropical (North Atlantic Central Waters) and tropical (South Atlantic Central Waters) gyres. The near-surface geostrophic circulation, relative to 300 m, is quite complex. Major features are a large cyclonic pattern north of Cape Blanc (21°N) and offshore flow at the Cape Verde front. The large cyclone occurs in the region of most intense winds, and resembles a large meander of the baroclinic southward upwelling jet. The Cape Verde frontal system displays substantial interleaving that may partly originate as mesoscale features at the coastal upwelling front. Property–property diagrams show that the front is an effective barrier to all properties except temperature. The analysis of the Turner angle suggests that the frontal system is characterized by large heat horizontal diffusion as a result of intense double diffusion, which results in the smoothing of the temperature horizontal gradients. Nine cross-shore sections are used to calculate along-shore geostrophic water-mass and nutrient transports and to infer exchanges between the coastal transition zone and the deep ocean (import: deep ocean to transition zone; export: transition zone to deep ocean). These exchanges compare well with mean wind-induced transports and actual geostrophic cross-shore transport estimates. The region is divided into three areas: southern (18–21°N), central (21–23.5°N), and northern (23.5–26°N). In the northern area geostrophic import is roughly compensated with wind-induced export during both seasons. In the central area geostrophic import is greater than wind-induced export during spring, resulting in net import of both water (0.8 Sv) and nitrate (14 kmol s⁻¹), but during fall both factors again roughly cancel. In the southern area geostrophy and wind join to export water and nutrients during both seasons, they increase from 0.6 Sv and 3 kmol s⁻¹ during fall to 2.9 Sv and 53 kmol s⁻¹ during spring.     

井水温度微动态及其形成机制

介绍了我国地震地下水温度观测概况及已获得的微动态现象, 即水温固体潮、 水温同震效应、 水温前兆异常等, 并对其形成机理做了理论分析。 提出水温微动态形成机理研究应从二个地温梯度、 二个对流、 一个传导、 一个扩散等热系统与热过程去考虑。     

Diffusive dehydration and bubble resorption during open-system degassing of rhyolitic melts

Degassing through open paths such as bubble and/or fracture networks is considered to be the principal mode of degassing in silicic magmas. However, its detailed mechanisms remain unclear. To investigate the behavior of bubbles in a hypothetical open-system condition, we performed a series of vesiculation experiments on natural rhyolitic obsidian using a newly designed semipermeable cell, which artificially maintains a pressure difference between its inside and outside. The thick-wall cell maintains a constant volume within the sample chamber, while allowing water vapor to escape the cell during the experimental runs. The cells containing obsidian cores with ca. 0.66 wt.% initial water content were externally heated to 1000 °C for a period of 1–288 h. The run charges generally showed a zonal structure composed of two contrasting regions: a central region within which the bubbles were concentrated (bubble-rich core, BC) and a bubble-free melt region surrounding the BC (bubble-free margin, BFM). With increased heating duration, the thickness of the BFM increased via dissolution of the outermost bubbles in the BC. The water content was nearly uniform throughout the BC, whereas an outward-decreasing gradient was observed in the BFM. We found that diffusive dehydration occurred from the sample surface, and the bubbles were resorbed into the melt. Thus, the BFM–BC boundary moved inwards. These processes were modelled numerically, and the calculation results were in good agreement with the experimental data. If a “lifetime” of open paths is approximated as the relaxation time of a melt in a shallow volcanic environment, then the paths have to be pinched off quickly (1.2 h at maximum pressure difference between the open path and the melt) and thus the thickness of the bubble-free layer reaches at most ~ 0.1 mm. For the formation of bubble-free obsidian layers with a width of a few millimeters, which are often observed in natural obsidian flows, open paths should be maintained for at least a few hundred hours.     

川西地区小震重新定位及其活动构造意义

使用双差地震定位法对川西地区1992～2002年的13367个小震进行重新定位, 初步分析了地震活动性与地表活动构造的关系及其揭示的构造信息. 重新定位后,地震活动沿活动断裂成线（带）状分布现象非常突出,呈现出与地表活动构造的密切关系：结构简单的单一走滑断层具有上宽下陡的花状结构特征,拉分盆地与逆断裂具有线性而发散的分布式结构特征,逆断裂之下还存在缺震层. 此外,沿活动断裂带地震活动还具有空间分段性,揭示出局部地段存在着隐伏活动断裂和可圈定为地震危险区的地震空区. 震源深度分布显示,川西高原在15～20km的深度范围内普遍存在厚度约5km的缺震层,以高温高压实验结果为基础,通过计算川西地区地壳强度表明,大约14～19km的深度范围花岗岩处于塑性流变状态,说明缺震层的出现具有地壳物质塑性变形基础.     

琼北火山群形成的动力学机制及地震现象的新认识

分析世界火山分布图发现琼北火山群分布在一南北向的火山带上,应用有限元方法模拟计算了双俯冲作用下海南岛所在雷琼\|越东火山带的形成机制,结合海南岛精确定位的地震数据和形变观测结果,认为琼北地区可能存在岩墙侵入或张性断裂膨胀,并根据地震数据模拟分析了岩墙侵入对区域应力场及形变的影响.琼北地区精确地震（2000~2006）定位结果表明地震主要集中在一个垂直面上,并且地震带两端有分叉现象.通过地震时空分布特征推测存在岩墙侵入,并通过数值模拟很好地解释了琼北地区地震的分布特征（狗骨头状）以及地表垂向形变东升西降的特征.     

A helium stratified and ingassed lower mantle: resolving the helium paradoxes

It is generally believed a variation of 3He/4He isotopic ratios in the mantle is due to only the decay of U and Th,which produces4 He as well as heat.Here we show that not only3He/4He isotopic ratios but also helium contents can be fractionated by thermal diffusion in the lower mantle.The driving force for that fractionation is the adiabatic or convective temperature gradient,which always produces elemental and isotopic fractionation along temperature gradient by thermal diffusion with higher light/heavy isotopic ratio in the hot end.Our theoretical model and calculations indicate that the lower mantle is helium stratified,caused by thermal diffusion due to*400℃temperature contrast across the lower mantle.The highest3He/4He isotopic ratios and lowest He contents are in the lowermost mantle,which is a consequence of thermaldiffusion fractionation rather than the lower mantle is a primordial and undegassed reservoir.Therefore,oceanicisland basalts derived from the deepest lower mantle with high3He/4He isotopic ratios and less He contents—the long-standing helium paradox,is solved by our model.Because vigorous convection in the upper mantle had resulted in disordered or disorganized thermal-diffusion effects in He,Mid-ocean ridge basalts unaffected by mantle plume have a relatively homogenous and lower!3He/4He isotopic compositions.Our model also predicts that 3He/4He isotopic ratios in the deepest lower mantle of early Earth could be even higher than that of Jupiter,the initial He isotopic ratio in our solar system,because the temperature contrast across the lower mantle in the early Earth is the largest and less4 He had been produced by the decay of U and Th.Moreover,the early helium-stratified lower mantle owned the lowest He contents due to over-degassing caused by the largest temperature contrast.Consequently,succeeding evolution of the lower mantle is a He ingassed process due to secular cooling of the deepest mantle.This explains why significant amount of He produced by the decay of U and Th in the lower mantle were not released,another long-standing heat–helium paradox.     

Characterisation of hydroclimatological trends and variability in the Lake Naivasha basin,Kenya

Recent hydro‐climatological trends and variability characteristics were investigated for the Lake Naivasha basin with the aim of understanding the changes in water balance components and their evolution over the past 50 years. Using a Bayesian change point analysis and modified Mann–Kendall tests, time series of annual mean, maximum, minimum, and seasonal precipitation and flow, as well as annual mean lake volumes, were analysed for the period 1960–2010 to uncover possible abrupt shifts and gradual trends. Double cumulative curve analysis was used to investigate the changes in hydrological response attributable to either human influence or climatic variability. The results indicate a significant decline in lake volumes at a mean rate of 9.35 × 10⁶ m³ year^?1. Most of the river gauging stations showed no evidence of trends in the annual mean and maximum flows as well as seasonal flows. Annual minimum flows, however, showed abrupt shifts and significant (upward/downward) trends at the main outlet stations. Precipitation in the basin showed no evidence of abrupt shifts, but a few stations showed gradual decline. The observed changes in precipitation could not explain the decline in both minimum flows and lake volumes. The findings show no evidence of any impact of climate change for the Lake Naivasha basin over the past 50 years. This implies that other factors, such as changes in land cover and infrastructure development, have been responsible for the observed changes in streamflow and lake volumes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accuracy of numerical simulations of contaminant transport in heterogeneous aquifers: A comparative study

This work deals with a comparison of different numerical schemes for the simulation of contaminant transport in heterogeneous porous media. The numerical methods under consideration are Galerkin finite element (GFE), finite volume (FV), and mixed hybrid finite element (MHFE). Concerning the GFE we use linear and quadratic finite elements with and without upwind stabilization. Besides the classical MHFE a new and an upwind scheme are tested. We consider higher order finite volume schemes as well as two time discretization methods: backward Euler (BE) and the second order backward differentiation formula BDF (2). It is well known that numerical (or artificial) diffusion may cause large errors. Moreover, when the Péclet number is large, a numerical code without some stabilising techniques produces oscillating solutions. Upwind schemes increase the stability but show more numerical diffusion. In this paper we quantify the numerical diffusion for the different discretization schemes and its dependency on the Péclet number. We consider an academic example and a realistic simulation of solute transport in heterogeneous aquifer. In the latter case, the stochastic estimates used as reference were obtained with global random walk (GRW) simulations, free of numerical diffusion. The results presented can be used by researchers to test their numerical schemes and stabilization techniques for simulation of contaminant transport in groundwater.     

双稀疏字典和FISTA的地震数据去噪

地震数据的随机噪声去除是地震数据处理中的一项重要步骤,双稀疏字典提供了两层稀疏模型,比单层稀疏模型可以更好地去除噪声.该方法首先利用contourlet变换对地震数据进行稀疏表示,然后在contourlet域中使用快速迭代收缩阈值算法（fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm,FISTA）对初始字典系数进行更新,接着采用数据驱动紧标架（data-driven tight frame,DDTF）在contourlet域中得到DDTF字典并通过FISTA得到更新后的字典系数,最后通过DDTF字典和更新后的字典系数获得新的contourlet系数,并对新的contourlet系数进行硬阈值和contourlet反变换得到去噪后的数据.通过模拟数据和实际数据的实验证明：与固定基变换去噪方法相比,该方法可以自适应地对地震数据进行稀疏表示,在地震数据较为复杂时得到更高的信噪比;与字典学习去噪方法相比,该方法不仅拥有较快的去噪速度,而且克服了字典学习因为缺少先验约束造成瑕疵的缺点.

     

2017年9月4日河北临城M_L4.4地震震源深度测定

震源深度是地震定位中的重要参数之一。对于一个地震,sPn与Pn震相到时差是一个常量,与震中距无关,只与震源深度和地壳模型有关。基于该理论,以河北数字台网数据为基础,识别sPn震相和Pn震相,计算2017年9月4日河北临城ML4.4地震震源深度,结果为6.86km。双差定位法是目前确定震源深度比较精确的方法,双差定位得到的震源深度为7.01km。双差定位法所用数据量比较大,计算过程繁杂。利用sPn与Pn到时差计算震源深度的结果与双差定位法结果接近,计算快速、简单,所需数据量小。因此,将该方法应用到实际工作中,可以快速、准确地测定近震震源深度。