Candidate precursors: pulse-like geoelectric signals possibly related to recent seismic activity in Japan

Telemetric network observations of pulse-like geoelectric charge signals using a vertical dipole buried under the ground were undertaken at various observation sites over a wide area in Japan from April 1996. From continuous records of the signals during the six months following that, we attempted to select anomalous signals, possibly related to seismic electric activity. Special attention was paid to the elimination of noise resulting from industrial and meteorological electric activity, comparison with other electromagnetic signals in the VLF band and the relation between the precursor period and the distance from the eventual main shock that occurred in Japan. Four candidate precursor electric signals, which were not contaminated by industrial and meteorological electric activity, were then selected, of which the second appeared before the Akita-ken Nairiku-nanbu earthquake swarm, for which the maximum M = 5.9 occurred on 1996 August 11, and the third and fourth before the Chiba-ken Toho-oki earthquake, M = 6.6, on 1996 September 11. A tentative qualitative model explaining why the candidate precursory signal is related to stress building up before an earthquake is presented in terms of the electrification of gases released from fracturing rocks immediately prior to the main shock.     

跨孔条件下椭球模型的视电阻率异常特征

在跨孔条件下，利用积分方程法计算了孔区内外不同位置、不同产状的三维椭球体模型视电阻率异常。根据所得的典型数值模拟结果，借助视电阻率异常信息剖面图，对异常进行研究，总结了异常特征及其变化规律，并以此为基础分析和认识了其他模型的异常特征。     

电法勘探的发展和展望

电法勘探在经历了近一个世纪的发展后，其方法理论、仪器设备、野外数据采集、处理和解释等方面都经历了一系列重大变化．本文以方法理论的进展为主线，回顾、展望了目前电法勘探中几个重要而令人关注的研究焦点．这些问题的研究进展将会对21世纪的电法勘探产生深远的影响．     

Water exchange between Tokyo Bay and the Pacific Ocean during winter

Variability in water-exchange time between Tokyo Bay and the Pacific Ocean during winter is investigated based on the results of intensive field observation from November 2000 to March 2001. Water-exchange time between Tokyo Bay and the Pacific Ocean during winter mainly depends on the strength of northerly monsoon, being about 16 days under the weak monsoon and about 12 days under the strong monsoon. Moreover, it becomes longer by about 1 day in spring tide and shorter in neap tide due to the coupling effect of estuarine circulation and vertical mixing. Water-exchange time also varies depending on the open-ocean condition. When the warm water mass approaches from the Pacific Ocean to the mouth of Tokyo Bay through the eastern channel of Sagami Bay, which connects Tokyo Bay and the Pacific Ocean, water-exchange time becomes longer by about 2 days because the warm water mass is blocked in the surface layer at the bay mouth. On the other hand, when the warm water mass approaches to the mouth of Tokyo Bay through the western channel of Sagami Bay, water-exchange time becomes shorter by about 1 day because the warm water mass intrudes into the middle or lower layers of Tokyo Bay. Such different behavior of warm water mass at the mouth of Tokyo Bay is due to the difference in density of approaching warm water masses, that is, the density of the warm water mass through the eastern channel is smaller than that of the warm water mass through the western channel of Sagami Bay.Responsible Editors: Yens Kappenberg     

2003 - 08 - 24 咸阳市大暴雨过程分析

利用高空、地面天气图、红外云图、多普勒雷达图等资料对临汾市2004年6月16日局地降雹的天气背景、形势演变、层结稳定度、云图和雷达回波等变化特征进行了综合分析，结合以往冰雹预报经验对新一代雷达的探测能力进行了初步检验。分析发现，这次降雹过程属典型的西北冷涡影响型，此类型降雹相对于西北气流型和西风槽型降雹具有其自身特征；从多普勒速度图上，可分析出降雹过程中飑线前后较明显的中尺度天气系统。     

Beds comprising debrite sandwiched within co-genetic turbidite: origin and widespread occurrence in distal depositional environments

Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds occur in a variety of modern and ancient turbidite systems. Their basic character is distinctive. An ungraded muddy sandstone interval is encased within mud‐poor graded sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The muddy sandstone interval preserves evidence of en masse deposition and is thus termed a debrite. The mud‐poor sandstone, siltstone and mudstone show features indicating progressive layer‐by‐layer deposition and are thus called a turbidite. Palaeocurrent indicators, ubiquitous stratigraphic association and the position of hemipelagic intervals demonstrate that debrite and enclosing turbidite originate in the same event. Detailed field observations are presented for co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds in three widespread sequences of variable age: the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines; the Silurian Aberystwyth Grits in Wales; and Quaternary deposits of the Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Deposition of these sequences occurred in similar unchannellized basin‐plain settings. Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds were deposited from longitudinally segregated flow events, comprising both debris flow and forerunning turbidity current. It is most likely that the debris flow was generated by relatively shallow (few tens of centimetres) erosion of mud‐rich sea‐floor sediment. Changes in the settling behaviour of sand grains from a muddy fluid as flows decelerated may also have contributed to debrite deposition. The association with distal settings results from the ubiquitous presence of muddy deposits in such locations, which may be eroded and disaggregated to form a cohesive debris flow. Debrite intervals may be extensive (> 26 × 10 km in the Marnoso Arenacea Formation) and are not restricted to basin margins. Such long debris flow run‐out on low‐gradient sea floor (< 0·1°) may simply be due to low yield strength (? 50 Pa) of the debris–water mixture. This study emphasizes that multiple flow types, and transformations between flow types, can occur within the distal parts of submarine flow events.     

利用遥感综合分析西风引导气流与地形对沙尘运移路径的影响

沙尘暴的发生受大气环流、地表状况、降雨的影响，还受到局部地区地形的影响。一次规模较大的沙尘暴过程，沙尘可以从蒙古国和我国西部沙源地输送到我国东部、韩国、日本乃至夏威夷、美国西海岸。中日亚洲沙尘暴ADEC项目对亚洲沙尘暴的起沙、传输和降落的运行机制已经作了深入的研究，并建立了亚洲沙尘暴的数值模拟系统。本文以影响北京地区的沙尘暴事件为例，利用遥感技术，综合DEM地形数据和地面实测数据分析西风引导气流和地形对沙尘运移路径影响，将MODIs影像数据和DEM地形数据以及地面观测站点实测数据相结合，进行综合分析，结果表明在一次沙尘暴过程中，沙尘在运移过程中的运移路径明显地受到西风引导气流、沙尘粒子自然沉降规律以及局部地形的影响，要预防(减少)北京地区的沙尘暴仅仅作好北京地区的生态环境建设是不够的，加强北京周边地区，尤其是张家口地区、官厅水库库区及库区周围地区的生态环境建设尤为重要。     

Energetic Particles Observed in the CUSP Region During a Storm Recovery Phase

In this paper we report energetic ion behavior and its composition variations observed by the Cluster/RAPID instrument when the spacecraft was travelling in the high latitude magnetospheric boundary region on the day of the 31 March, 2001, strongest magnetic storm in the past 50 years. The Dst index reached −360 nT at about 09:00 UT. During its early recovery phase, large amounts of oxygen and helium ions were observed; the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in the RAPID energy range reached as high as 250%, which suggests that the observed energetic particles might be of magnetospheric origin. The observations further show that enhanced energetic electron fluxes are confined in a very narrow region, while protons have occupied a larger region, and heavy ions have been observed in an even larger region. The flux of energetic electrons show a slight enhancement in a region where the magnetic field magnitude is around zero. These observed energetic ions could be quasi-trapped by the current sheet in the stagnation region of the cusp.     

Flow processes and sedimentation in unidirectionally migrating deep‐water channels: From a three‐dimensional seismic perspective

Three‐dimensional seismic data were used to infer how bottom currents control unidirectional channel migration. Bottom currents flowing towards the steep bank would deflect the upper part of sediment gravity flows at an orientation of 1° to 11° to the steep bank, yielding a helical flow circulation consisting of a faster near‐surface flow towards the steep bank and a slower basal return flow towards the gentle bank. This helical flow model is evidenced by the occurrence of bigger, muddier (suggested by low‐amplitude seismic reflections) lateral accretion deposits and gentle channel wall with downlap terminations on the gentle bank and by smaller, sandier (indicated by high‐amplitude seismic reflectors) channel fills and steep channel walls with truncation terminations on the steep bank. This helical flow circulation promotes asymmetrical depositional patterns with dipping accretion sets restricted to the gentle bank, which restricts the development of sinuosity and yields unidirectional channel migration. These results aid in obtaining a complete picture of flow processes and sedimentation in submarine channels.     

Thresholds of intrabed flow and other interactions of turbidity currents with soft muddy substrates

Controlled laboratory experiments reveal that the lower part of turbidity currents has the ability to enter fluid mud substrates, if the bed shear stress is higher than the yield stress of the fluid mud and the density of the turbidity current is higher than the density of the substrate. Upon entering the substrate, the turbidity current either induces mixing between flow‐derived sediment and substrate sediment, or it forms a stable horizontal flow front inside the fluid mud. Such ‘intrabed’ flow is surrounded by plastically deformed mud; otherwise it resembles the front of a ‘bottom‐hugging’ turbidity current. The ‘suprabed’ portion of the turbidity current, i.e. the upper part of the flow that does not enter the substrate, is typically separated from the intrabed flow by a long horizontal layer of mud which originates from the mud that is swept over the top of the intrabed flow and then incorporated into the flow. The intrabed flow and the mixing mechanism are specific types of interaction between turbidity currents and muddy substrates that are part of a larger group of interactions, which also include bypass, deposition, erosion and soft sediment deformation. A classification scheme for these types of interactions is proposed, based on an excess bed shear stress parameter, which includes the difference in the bed shear stress imposed by the flow and the yield stress of the substrate and an excess density parameter, which relies on the density difference between the flow and the substrate. Based on this classification scheme, as well as on the sedimentological properties of the laboratory deposits, an existing facies model for intrabed turbidites is extended to the other types of interaction involving soft muddy substrates. The physical threshold of flow‐substrate mixing versus stable intrabed flow is defined using the gradient Richardson number, and this method is validated successfully with the laboratory data. The gradient Richardson number is also used to verify that stable intrabed flow is possible in natural turbidity currents, and to determine under which conditions intrabed flow is likely to be unstable. It appears that intrabed flow is likely only in natural turbidity currents with flow velocities well below ca 3·5 m s^?1, although a wider range of flows is capable of entering fluid muds. Below this threshold velocity, intrabed flow is stable only at high‐density gradients and low‐velocity gradients across the upper boundary of the turbidity current. Finally, the gradient Richardson number is used as a scaling parameter to set the flow velocity limits of a natural turbidity current that formed an inferred intrabed turbidite in the deep‐marine Aberystwyth Grits Group, West Wales, United Kingdom.