Incremental growth of normal faults: Insights from a laser-equipped analog experiment

We conducted a laser-equipped analog experiment aimed at quasi-continuously monitoring the growth of a dense population of normal faults in homogeneous conditions. To further understand the way geological faults progressively gain in slip and length as they accumulate more strain, we measured with great precision the incremental slip and length changes that the analog faults sustain as they grow. These measurements show that the analog faults share common features with the natural ones. In particular, during their growth, the faults develop and maintain cumulative slip profiles that are generally triangular and asymmetric. The growth takes place through two distinct phases: an initial, short period of rapid lateral lengthening, followed by a longer phase of slip accumulation with little or no lengthening. The incremental slip is found to be highly variable in both space (along the faults) and time, resulting in variable slip rates. In particular, ‘short- and long-term’ slip rates are markedly different. We also find that slip measurements at local points on fault traces do not contain clear information on the slip increment repeat mode. Finally, while the fault growth process is highly heterogeneous when considered at the scale of a few slip events, it appears homogeneous and self-similar at longer time scales which integrate many slip increments. This is likely to be the result of a feedback between stress heterogeneities and slip development. The long-term scale homogeneity also implies that the long-term faulting process is primarily insensitive to the short-term heterogeneities that are rapidly smoothed or redistributed. We propose a new conceptual scenario of fault growth that integrates the above observations and we suggest that faults grow in a bimodal way as a result of a self-driven and self-sustaining process.     

Fishery analysis using gradient-dependent optimal interpolation

The current lack of high-precision information on subsurface seawater is a constraint in fishery research. Based on Argo temperature and salinity profiles, this study applied the gradient-dependent optimal interpolation to reconstruct daily subsurface oceanic environmental information according to fishery dates and locations. The relationship between subsurface information and matching yellowfin tuna(YFT) in the western and central Pacific Ocean(WCPO) was examined using catch data from January 1...     

长江三峡地区全新世环境演变及其古文化响应

依据长江三峡地区大九湖和玉溪剖面AMS14C测年数据(校正为日历年)建立了约9.3～2ka BP高分辨率多环境代用指标(δ13C、K、腐殖化度、抱粉总浓度、Rb、Sr及Rb/Sr)的变化曲线,并在此基础上与研究区周边反映全新世气候环境变化的不同沉积记录进行综合对比分析.与此同时,本文还通过对研究区古遗址和古洪水层的统计分析,获取了本区新石器以来古文化兴衰变迁和古洪水发生的完整信息.研究结果表明:(1)本区全新世大暖期约出现在7.6～4 ka BP.9.3～7.6 ka BP,本区气候极不稳定,波动幅度大,总体上冷湿,多次出现显著的降温或干旱事件(9.1、8.2和7.7 ka BP前后);4～2 ka BP,本区气候较此前偏干凉,且波动频繁.(2)7.6～ka BP的大暖期分为三个演变阶段:即6～5 ka BP为大暖期的鼎盛期,气候稳定,温暖湿润,植被及生态条件优越,洪水发生频率低;7.6～6 ka BP和5～4 ka BP为大暖期中具有不稳定特征的过渡期,其中5～4 ka BP及4 ka BP前后的降温事件仍较显著,且多发洪水.(3)本区史前古文化的主要形成发展期与大暖期持续阶段相对应,其中耕作业相对发达的大溪文化繁荣期出现在大暖期中的鼎盛阶段(约6～5 ka BP),大溪文化前后处于低潮及表现为衰退现象的古文化则对应气候环境的不稳定期,总体上,研究区古文化响应气候环境变化的主要方式是通过改变其生业结构的途径来实现的.     

松辽盆地滨北地区区域构造特征及意义——地震长剖面给出的证据

松辽盆地位于西太平洋大陆边缘北部,其主体部分位于黑龙江板块群的中部。松辽盆地整个上部地壳所受到的挤压应力场在南北两大地区存在空间差别。在板块构造理论指导下,利用研究区内的地震长剖面资料,研究松辽盆地滨北地区区域构造特征。通过分析认为,滨北地区东、西部多为隆起或斜坡区,而中部多是凹陷,从南向北,地层沉积厚度逐渐变薄。早期的断层活动导致了凹陷内凹隆相间的构造特点。     

天山哈密庙尔沟平顶冰川和奎屯河哈希勒根51号冰川成冰带与雪层pH值和电导率对比研究

对天山哈密庙尔沟平顶冰川和奎屯河哈希勒根51号冰川的雪层剖面及雪坑中pH值和电导率的变化特征进行了初步研究.结果表明:哈密庙尔沟平顶冰川以渗浸-冻结成冰作用为主,一年成冰,成冰带由消融带和渗浸-冻结带组成,渗浸-冻结带的垂直高度在60 m左右或者更大一点;奎屯河哈希勒根51号冰川的成冰作用以暖型为主,成冰带由消融带、渗浸-冻结带和渗浸带组成,渗浸-冻结带的垂直高度不大于70 m.雪坑中pH值和电导率的较高值一般出现在冰片和污化层附近,这与冰的阻碍、引起可溶性离子在冰面上部的高浓度值和可溶性离子的淋溶过程与污化物的迁移过程密切联系直接相关.哈密庙尔沟平顶冰川雪坑中pH值和电导率之间的相关性异于奎屯河哈希勒根51号冰川,由于雪坑的资料有限,有待进一步的深入研究.     

乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川不同时期雪层剖面及成冰带对比研究

对20世纪60年代、80年代和21世纪初天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川(以下简称1号冰川)雪层剖面特征、成冰带的对比分析研究,发现自20世纪60年代以来,1号冰川雪层剖面厚度明显减薄,结构变得简单,各层界限变得模糊.成冰带类型及其分布发生了明显变化,60年代存在于冷气候条件下的冷渗浸带,80年代被渗浸带所替代.21世纪初,1号冰川成冰带变化更为显著,尤其是东支,顶部已具有消融带特征.研究表明,20世纪80年代以来河源区气候变暖是导致上述变化的主要原因.     

An XMM‐Newton survey of broad iron lines in AGN

We report on the iron Kα line properties of a sample of Seyfert galaxies observed with the XMM‐Newton EPIC pn instrument. Using a systematic and uniform analysis, we find that complexity at iron‐K is extremely common in the XMM‐Newton spectra. Once appropriate soft X‐ray absorption, narrow 6.4 keV emission and associated Compton reflection are accounted for, ∼75% of the sample show an improvement when a further component is introduced. The typical properties of the broad emission are both qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with previous results from ASCA. The complexity is in general very well described by relativistic accretion disk models. In most cases the characteristic emission radius is constrained to be within ∼50R _g, where strong gravitational effects become important. We find in about 1/3 of the sample the accretion disk interpretation is strongly favoured over competing models. In a few objects no broad line is apparent. We find evidence for emission within 6R _g in only two cases, both of which exhibit highly complex absorption. Evidence for black hole spin based on the X‐ray spectra therefore remains tentative. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Tracking the last sea-level cycle: seafloor morphology and shallow stratigraphy of the latest Quaternary New Jersey middle continental shelf

Seafloor geomorphology and surficial stratigraphy of the New Jersey middle continental shelf provide a detailed record of sea-level change during the last advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet (120 kyr B.P. to Present). A NW–SE-oriented corridor on the middle shelf between water depths of 40 m (the mid-shelf “paleo-shore”) and 100 m (the Franklin “paleo-shore”) encompasses 500 line-km of 2D Huntec boomer profiles (500–3500 Hz), an embedded 4.6 km² 3D volume, and a 490 km² swath bathymetry map. We use these data to develop a relative stratigraphy. Core samples from published studies also provide some chronological and sedimentological constraints on the upper <5 m of the stratigraphic succession.The following stratigraphic units and surfaces occur (from bottom to top): (1) “R”, a high-amplitude reflection that separates sediment >46.5 kyr old (by AMS ¹⁴C dating) from overlying sediment wedges; (2) the outer shelf wedge, a marine unit up to 50 m thick that onlaps “R”; (3) “Channels”, a reflection sub-parallel to the seafloor that incises “R”, and appears as a dendritic system of channels in map view; (4) “Channels” fill, the upper portion of which is sampled and known to represent deepening-upward marine sediments 12.3 kyr in age; (5) the “T” horizon, a seismically discontinuous surface that caps “Channels” fill; (6) oblique ridge deposits, coarse-grained shelly units comprised of km-scale, shallow shelf bedforms; and (7) ribbon-floored swales, bathymetric depressions parallel to modern shelf currents that truncate the oblique ridges and cut into surficial deposits.We interpret this succession of features in light of a global eustatic sea-level curve and the consequent migration of the coastline across the middle shelf during the last 120 kyr. The morphology of the New Jersey middle shelf shows a discrete sequence of stratigraphic elements, and reflects the pulsed episodicity of the last sea-level cycle. “R” is a complicated marine/non-marine erosional surface formed during the last regression, while the outer shelf wedge represents a shelf wedge emplaced during a minor glacial retreat before maximum Wisconsin lowstand (i.e., marine oxygen isotope stage 3.1). “Channels” is a widespread fluvial subarial erosion surface formed at the late Wisconsin glacial maximum 22 kyr B.P. The shoreline migrated back across the mid-shelf corridor non-uniformly during the period represented by “Channels” fill. Oblique ridges are relict features on the New Jersey middle shelf, while the ribbon-floored swales represent modern shelf erosion. There is no systematic relationship between modern seafloor morphology and the very shallowly buried stratigraphic succession.     

Broadening of lines of Be ii, Sr ii and Ba ii by collisions with hydrogen atoms and the solar abundance of strontium

In a previous paper by the present authors the theory of Anstee and O'Mara for the broadening of spectral lines of neutral atoms by collisions with hydrogen atoms was extended to singly ionized atoms. In this paper we apply the method to the resonance and triplet lines of ionized strontium, the infrared triplet of ionized barium, and the resonance lines of ionized beryllium. Analysis of five lines of ionized strontium, previously regarded as too strong for an abundance analysis, and two lines of neutral strontium results in a solar abundance of strontium of log( N _Sr N _H)+12=2.92±0.05, which is entirely consistent with the meteoritic value.