Numerical Simulation of Andhra Severe Cyclone (2003): Model Sensitivity to the Boundary Layer and Convection Parameterization

The Andhra severe cyclonic storm (2003) is simulated to study its evolution, structure, intensity and movement using the Penn State/NCAR non-hydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric model MM5. The model is used with three interactive nested domains at 81, 27 and 9 km resolutions covering the Bay of Bengal and adjoining Indian Peninsula. The performance of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and convective parameterization on the simulated features of the cyclone is studied by conducting sensitivity experiments. Results indicate that while the boundary layer processes play a significant role in determining both the intensity and movement, the convective processes especially control the movement of the model storm. The Mellor-Yamada scheme is found to yield the most intensive cyclone. While the combination of Mellor-Yamada (MY) PBL and Kain-Fritsch 2 (KF2) convection schemes gives the most intensive storm, the MRF PBL with KF2 convection scheme produces the best simulation in terms of intensity and track. Results of the simulation with the combination of MRF scheme for PBL and KF2 for convection show the evolution and major features of a mature tropical storm. The model has very nearly simulated the intensity of the storm though slightly overpredicted. Simulated core vertical temperature structure, winds at different heights, vertical winds in and around the core, vorticity and divergence fields at the lower and upper levels—all support the characteristics of a mature storm. The model storm has moved towards the west of the observed track during the development phase although the location of the storm in the initial and final phases agreed with the observations. The simulated rainfall distribution associated with the storm agreed reasonably with observations.     

Thermal history of the Rio Muni (West Africa)–NE Brazil margins during continental breakup

We document the thermal record of breakup of the conjugate Rio Muni (West Africa) and NE Brazil margins using apatite fission track analysis, vitrinite reflectance data and stratigraphic observations from both margins. These results permit determination of the timing of four cooling episodes, and the temperature of samples at the onset of each episode. All samples are interpreted to have experienced higher temperatures in the geological past due to i) elevated basal heatflow (palaeogeothermal gradient in Rio Muni-1 well decaying from 58 °C/km during the Mid Cretaceous to 21.5 °C/km in the Late Cenozoic) and ii) progressive exhumation from formerly greater burial depth. A well constrained history of changing palaeogeothermal gradient allows for much more precise quantification of the thickness of eroded section (exhumation) than if a constant heatflow is assumed. Cooling episodes identified from the palaeotemperature data at 110–95 Ma (both margins) and 85–70 Ma (Rio Muni only) coincide with major unconformities signifying, respectively, the cessation of rifting (breakup) and compressional shortening that affected the African continent following the establishment of post-rift sedimentation (drift). The interval between these separate unconformities is occupied by allochthonous rafts of shallow-water carbonates recording gravitational collapse of a marginal platform. The rift shoulder uplift that triggered this collapse was enhanced by local transpression associated with the obliquely divergent Ascension Fracture Zone, and thermal doming due to the coeval St Helena and Ascension Plumes. The data also reveal a c.45–35 Ma cooling episode, attributed to deep sea erosion at the onset of Eo-Oligocene ice growth, and a c.15–10 Ma episode interpreted as the record of Miocene exhumation of the West African continental margin related to continent-wide plume development. Integration of thermal history methods with traditional seismic- and stratigraphy-based observations yields a dynamic picture of kilometre-scale fluctuations in base level through the breakup and early drift phases of development of these margins. Major unconformities at ocean margins are likely to represent composite surfaces recording not only eustasy, but also regional plate margin-generated deformation, local ‘intra-basinal’ reorganization, and the amplifying effect of negative feedbacks between these processes.     

Heat influx and exhumation of the Shimanto accretionary complex: Miocene fission track ages from the Kii Peninsula, southwest Japan

Abstract   To determine how local geological events contributed to the evolution of accretionary complexes and eventual exposure of rocks with different structural levels, geochronological mapping was carried out using fission track (FT) analysis at the Kii Peninsula, southwest Japan. At this site, the original zonal structure of Cretaceous accretionary complexes parallel to the subduction zone is disturbed by the northward projection of the Shimanto accretionary complex. Twenty-six zircon FT ages were obtained from an area of ∼12 km in an east–west direction and ∼15 km in a north–south direction, and classified into three groups: (i) ages ∼15 Ma (range ∼10–20 Ma), which are distributed along the northwest–southeast valley; (ii) ages of ∼50 Ma in the northwest of the study area; and (iii) ages older than those in Groups 1 and 2. Based on results from eight zircon FT length distributions, the Miocene ages appear to be the result of spatial variations in heat influx and cooling after the regional exhumation of the area, as recorded by FT ages of ∼50 Ma.     

一种基于知识的航空影像中道路半自动提取方法

利用线特征算子和多种线状地物跟踪方法建立了一种基于知识的航空影像中道路半自动提取方法。该算法计算量小 ,判断速度快 ,准确率较高 ,并且有较好的适应性。试验表明这是一种良好的道路提取方法。     

Duluth Complex apatites: Age reference material for LA–ICP–MS‐based fission‐track dating

Anorthositic series apatites of the Duluth Complex, Minnesota, USA, have high spontaneous fission‐track densities of up to ~10⁷ cm^–2 and a homogeneous age of ~900 Ma, allowing high‐precision fission‐track dating based on LA–ICP–MS U analysis. Absolute fission‐track dating, track‐length measurement and chemical composition analysis were performed to evaluate a cooling history, which is essential for age reference materials. Preliminary inverse modelling for a sample with a shortened track‐length distribution yielded a monotonic cooling history from ~100°C at 925 Ma. The apatites incur an over‐etching problem when employing the commonly used etching protocol involving 5.5 M HNO₃.     

Exhumation of the Mesozoic Guojialing Granodiorite: Implication for the Preservation of Gold Deposits in the Jiaobei Terrane,China

Preservation conditions are very important for mineral systems and a suitable exhumation process is critical for endogenetic deposits, especially for those deposits formed in orogenic settings, where deposits are inclined to erode away due to strong uplift. The G uojialing batholith, intruding into the L inglong granites and the J iaodong G roup right before regional gold mineralization, is one of the most important gold ore‐hosting M esozoic intrusions in the J iaobei terrane. Gold deposits and the intrusion together underwent similar tectonothermal evolutionary processes. Exhumation and denudation process of the G uojialing granodiorite was constrained by biotite geobarometry and apatite fission track (FT ) analysis. Biotite geobarometric data yields an emplacement depth of 3.0 km, while denudation since 110 M a was calculated from the FT data at about 2.7 km. FT inverse modeling revealed a rapid uplift since ca 100 Ma. Compared with the gold ore‐forming depth which is confined between 2.5 and 9.5 km by fluid inclusion studies, great gold potential in the depths is inferred in the J iaobei terrane. Our result is consistent, to some extent, with the hypothesis of a M esozoic paleoplateau in E ast C hina.     

准噶尔盆地周缘造山带裂变径迹研究及其地质意义

通过对准噶尔盆地东西两侧造山带地质剖面观察、系统裂变径迹测年与热演化模拟结果分析,并结合前人研究结果,准噶尔盆地周缘造山带中,主要经历了中生代晚期构造热事件。通过裂变径迹分析对比,准噶尔盆地两侧造山带具有不同的隆升历史,盆地西北缘早于东部隆升,隆升速率亦大于东部。准噶尔盆地西北缘自白垩纪以来经历了由准噶尔盆地边缘向扎伊尔山先后依次隆升事件,表明了准噶尔西北缘逆冲断裂系向盆内后展式逆冲推覆。准噶尔盆地东西两侧造山带岩石裂变径迹数据均反映了白垩纪以来的冷却隆升事件,充分证实了燕山晚期构造运动在准噶尔地区的普遍存在,为详细研究燕山期新疆北部陆内构造活动提供了证据。     

0418号台风"艾利"路径特点分析

本文利用天气学对风场、物理量诊断、卫星云图等方法并结合0418号台风“艾利”路径进行分析研究。结果表明,850hPa正涡度、700hPa较强的垂直上升运动,台湾岛地形及双台风藤原效应对台风路径的预报有一定的指导意义.     

Late Cretaceous reactivation of major crustal shear zones in northern Namibia: constraints from apatite fission track analysis

Namibia's passive continental margin records a long history of tectonic activity since the Proterozoic. The orogenic belt produced during the collision of the Congo and Kalahari Cratons in the Early Proterozoic led to a zone of crustal weakness, which became the preferred location for tectonism during the Phanerozoic. The Pan-African Damara mobile belt forms this intraplate boundary in Namibia and its tectonostratigraphic zones are defined by ductile shear zones, where the most prominent is described as the Omaruru Lineament–Waterberg Thrust (OML–WT). The prominance of the continental margin escarpment is diminished in the area of the Central and Northern Zone of the Damara belt where the shear zones are located. This area has been targeted with a set of 66 outcrop samples over a 550-km-long, 60-km-broad coast-parallel transect from the top of the escarpment in the south across the Damara sector to the Kamanjab Inlier in the north. Apatite fission track age and length data from all samples reveal a regionally consistent cooling event. Thermal histories derived by forward modelling bracket this phase of accelerated cooling in the Late Cretaceous. Maximum palaeotemperatures immediately prior to the onset of cooling range from ca. 120 to ca. 60 °C with the maximum occurring directly south of the Omaruru Lineament. Because different palaeotemperatures indicate different burial depth at a given time, the amount of denudation can be estimated and used to constrain vertical displacements of the continental crust. We interpret this cooling pattern as the geomorphic response to reactivation of basement structures caused by a change in spreading geometry in the South Atlantic and South West Indian Oceans.     

利用ICESat数据确定格陵兰冰盖高程和体积变化

两极冰盖消融是造成海平面上升的重要原因,作为世界第二大冰盖,格陵兰冰盖消融速度在进入21世纪以后明显加快,引起了广泛关注.本文利用ICESat卫星激光测高数据,探讨了坡度改正的方法,通过改进平差模型解决了病态问题,并采用重复轨道方法计算了2003年9月至2009年10月间格陵兰冰盖的体积和高程变化趋势,对格陵兰冰盖各冰川流域系统的变化情况进行了详细分析.结果表明,格陵兰冰盖在这6年间平均高程变化趋势为-16.79±0.84 cm·a^-1,体积变化速率为-301.37±15.16 km³·a^-1,体积流失主要发生在冰盖边缘,其中DS1、DS8等流域的体积损失正在加剧,而高程在2000 m以上的冰盖内陆地区表现出高程积聚的状态,但增长速度明显减缓.与现有研究成果的对比表明,算法优化后的本文结果更具可靠性.