A late Early Pleistocene pollen record from Fontana Ranuccio (central Italy)

A pollen record from a sediment core drilled underneath the Acheulian site of Fontana Ranuccio provides new data on the vegetation characters in central Italy during the late Early Pleistocene, in a forest phase possibly corresponding to a substage of Marine Isotope Stage 21. A number of tree taxa nowadays extinct in Europe (Cathaya, Tsuga, Taxodium type, Carya and Pterocarya) are present at Fontana Ranuccio in a temperate phase characterised by dense forest conditions, dominated by Alnus and Pterocarya. The comparison of the Fontana Ranuccio record with other dated sites distributed along the Italian peninsula indicates that the floristic and vegetational characters of the Mid Pleistocene revolution present a rather distinct succession of biostratigraphic events. Compared to other Early Pleistocene pollen records from southern Europe, the Italian Peninsula shows greater floristic similarities with the Eastern Mediterranean regions than with the Iberian Peninsula. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Watershed delineation using hydrographic features and a DEM in plain river network region

Watershed delineation is a required step when conducting any spatially distributed hydrological modelling. Automated approaches are often proposed to delineate a watershed based on a river network extracted from the digital elevation model (DEM) using the deterministic eight‐neighbour (D8) method. However, a realistic river network cannot be derived from conventional DEM processing methods for a large flat area with a complex network of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and polders, referred to as a plain river network region (PRNR). In this study, a new approach, which uses both hydrographic features and DEM, has been developed to address the problems of watershed delineation in PRNR. It extracts the river nodes and determines the flow directions of the river network based on a vector‐based hydrographic feature data model. The river network, lakes, reservoirs, and polders are then used to modify the flow directions of grid cells determined by D8 approach. The watershed is eventually delineated into four types of catchments including lakes, reservoirs, polders, and overland catchments based on the flow direction matrix and the location of river nodes. Multiple flow directions of grid cells are represented using a multi‐direction encoding method, and multiple outflows of catchments are also reflected in the topology of catchments. The proposed approach is applied to the western Taihu watershed in China. Comparisons between the results obtained from the D8 approach, the ‘stream burning’ approach, and those from the proposed approach clearly demonstrate an improvement of the new approach over the conventional approaches. This approach will benefit the development of distributed hydrological models in PRNR for the consideration of different types and multiple inlets and outlets of catchments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early‐middle Holocene land snail shell stable isotope record from Grotta di Latronico 3 (southern Italy)

This paper compares stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) records of early–middle Holocene land snail shells from the archaeological deposits of Grotta di Latronico 3 (LTR3; southern Italy) with modern shell isotopic data. No substantial interspecific variability was observed in shell δ¹⁸O (δ¹⁸Os) of modern specimens (Pomatias elegans, Cornu aspersum, Eobania vermiculata, Helix ligata and Marmorana fuscolabiata). In contrast, interspecific shell δ¹³C (δ¹³Cs) variability was significant, probably due to different feeding behaviour among species. The δ¹⁸Os values of living land snails suggest that species hibernate for a long period during colder months, so that the signal of ¹⁸O‐depleted winter rainfall in their δ¹⁸Os is lost. This suggests that δ¹⁸Os and δ¹³Cs values of Pomatias elegans from this archaeological succession provide valuable clues for seasonal (spring–autumn) climatic conditions during the early–middle Holocene. The δ¹⁸Os values of fossil specimens are significantly lower than in modern shells and in agreement with other palaeoclimatic records, suggesting a substantial increase of precipitation and/or persistent changes in air mass source trajectories over this region between ca. 8.8 cal ka BP and 6.2–6.7 ka ago. The δ¹³Cs trend suggests a transition from a slightly ¹³C‐enriched to a ¹³C‐depleted diet between early and middle Holocene compared to present conditions. We postulate that this δ¹³Cs trend might reflect changes in the C3 vegetation community, potentially combined with other environmental factors such as regional moisture increase and the progressive decrease of atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

武汉中心城区热岛效应模拟

针对传统的模拟热环境时空演变模型欠缺可推广性,该文提出运用CA-Markov模型研究热环境变化趋势,既能有效模拟元胞时空格局变化,又能提高元胞转化预测精度,经验证Kappa指数为73.46%,具有较高的可信度。基于CA-Markov模型模拟的武汉中心城区热环境表明:2009—2018年低温区和次低温区呈现减少趋势,中温区显著增加,热岛略有增长,总体强度增大,热岛效应愈发明显;2009—2018年热岛演变呈西南-东北方向,有向西-东方向发展的趋势,热岛重心南偏西方向移动;2009—2018年热岛区域在景观水平上破碎度较高,热环境趋于复杂化。研究结果对武汉中心城区城市规划、生态环境改善等具有一定的参考价值。     

冀中平原深部地下热水资源可更新特征与依据——以辛集馆陶组地下热水系统为例

针对冀中平原深部地下热水资源可更新性问题,以辛集馆陶组地下热水系统为例,采用相同开采强度下地下热水位降幅异常变化的识别方法,通过2000年以来该地下热水位年际及月际降幅与开采量和上游山区年降水量之间响应变化特征研究,结果表明:(1)冀中平原辛集地区馆陶组地下热水资源具有一定的可更新能力,与上游山区年降水量变化相关,还与地下水位埋深、当年开采引起的水位降幅大小和开采疏干层位砾粗砂岩及细砂岩占比状况有关;(2)辛集地区馆陶组地下热水大规模开采,是该地下水系统获得上游区侧向流入补给的必要条件,属于开采激发型补给,更新补给的资源数量有限;(3)从2000年以来该区地下热水水位动态变化趋势来看,目前该区地下热水资源已处于超采状态,需要压采或人工回灌增大补给,否则难以可持续开发利用。     

北京平原区地质剖面的初步建立——太古宙结晶基底和元古宙地层

北京平原目前尚未建立系统的地质剖面。1867年庞培莱将北京西山分为3大系,1871年李希霍芬提出震旦系、划分12层。1922年葛利普将震旦系限定在前寒武系,1923年田奇镌将南口剖面划分为7个岩组,1934年高振西将震旦系3分(南口群、蓟县群、青白口群)。1976年乔秀夫3分青白口群(下马岭组、龙山组和景儿峪组),1980年汪长庆等将十三陵剖面分为4系12组,1991版《北京市区域地质志》将十三陵剖面分为3系12组。本文初步建立平原区地层表,详细描述太古宙结晶基底和元古宙地层剖面,在京南大兴区的榆垡(兴热-1井)和安定(兴热-2井)发现太古宙片麻岩,在京热-70井、京热-59井、京热-71井和京热-75井编录蓟县纪地层,利用亦庄小学钻孔厘定待建系下马岭组、青白口纪龙山组和景儿峪组。     

上海中心城就业中心体系测度————基于手机信令数据的研究

利用手机信令数据识别上海市域内手机用户的工作地和居住地,获取就业者的通勤数据,测度上海中心城的就业中心体系.首先用就业者工作地数据生成就业密度分布图,基于中心城的就业密度识别就业中心.随后,用就业者工作地和居住地数据分别从就业密度和通勤联系两方面测度各中心的能级,分析各中心的腹地和势力范围.研究发现:① 上海中心城的就业中心呈主中心强大的弱多中心体系;② 就业密度越高的中心与其他地区的通勤联系一般也越强,但通勤联系在各中心间的差异更显著;③ 能级越高的中心腹地面积越大,但势力范围不一定越大;④ 相比于能级,职住功能混合度对职住平衡的影响更大;⑤缺少就业中心的地区势力范围呈交替状.本研究一定程度上能有助于解决既往就业中心体系研究因空间单元较大,缺少通勤数据在中心识别,通勤联系测度等方面受到的局限,希望能为构建上海中心城就业多中心体系提供帮助.     

Regional Variability in Occurrence and Distribution of Polymetallic Nodules in the Central Indian Basin

Regional scale morphological studies on different-sized polymetallic nodules from the Central Indian Basin show that only 2–5 cm sized nodules have highest occurrence per station (92–94% along latitudes; 88–94% along longitudes). A nodule size shows an inverse relationship with the nodule distribution, grade, and abundance. Interestingly, only 3–4 and 4–5 cm sized nodules have highest grade, abundance, and distribution percentages along longitudes in P₁, first generation mine site and relinquished area, which further implies that the nodule mining along the longitude would be beneficial. Different-sized nodule groups suggest their formation under variable environmental conditions that existed in the Central Indian Basin. The coexistence of different-sized nodules suggests different environmental conditions existed in the Central Indian Basin.     

Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Early to Middle Miocene Sequence in West Central Sinai,Egypt, as Revealed from Fossil Diatoms

A detailed analysis of the diatoms from the sedimentary sequence exposed in Abu Qada basin, west central Sinai, was used to determine the palaeoenvironmental changes during the Lower to Middle Miocene. A total of 85 diatom species and varieties belonging to 37 genera were identified from 154 samples collected throughout the stratigraphic succession. The lithological characters of the studied samples varied between sandstone, silty interbeds, sandy shales, shales, and terminated with anhydrite and limestones. These rock units are included in two lithostratigraphic formations (Rudies and Kareem), which are separated by a marked unconformity. The distribution and preservation of fossil diatoms in the sedimentary record are examined with the aim of outlining the temporal and spatial variation in the composition of the diatom assemblages, in order to estimate the changes in depositional environments during the Lower to Middle Miocene. The distributional pattern of the recorded diatom taxa distinguished four diatom eco-zones. The environment of each eco-zone is deduced and a proposed paleobathymetric change and depositional history of the Miocene sediments in the studied area are given.