Boundary-Layer Adjustment Over Small-Scale Changes of Surface Heat Flux

Four months of eddy correlation data collected over a grass field and a nearby sage brush community are analyzed to examine the adjustment of the boundary-layer structure as it flows from the heated brush to the snow-covered grass. The grass site includes a 34-m tower with seven levels of eddy correlation data. The midday heat flux over the snow-covered grass and bare ground surfaces is often downward particularly with melting conditions, while the corresponding heat flux over the brush is almost always upward. For most of these cases, a stable internal boundary layer over the snow is well defined in terms of vertical profiles of the buoyancy flux over the snow-covered grass. The stable internal boundary layer is generally embedded within a deeper layer of flux divergence corresponding to increasing upward heat flux with height above the internal boundary layer. With thin snow cover, the surface heat flux over the grass is weak upward due to heating of grass protruding above the snow so that the flow adjusts to a decrease of the upward surface heat flux in the downwind direction. This common case of an adjusting boundary layer contrasts with the formation of an internal boundary layer due to a change of sign of the surface heat in flux the downwind direction. The adjustment of the boundary layer to the decrease of the surface heat flux leads to vertical divergence of the upward heat flux in contrast to the usual heated boundary layer over homogeneous surfaces. The consequences of the cooling due to the vertical divergence of the heat flux are discussed in terms of the heat budget of the adjusting and internal boundary layers.     

Average slip rate,earthquake rupturing segmentation and recurrence behavior on the Litang fault zone,western Sichuan Province,China

The Litang fault zone (LFZ) is an important active fault within the northwestern Sichuan sub-block. To-gether with the Garzê-Yushu, Xianshuihe, and An-ninghe fault zones on its northern, eastern and south-eastern sides, the LFZ constitutes the lateral extrusion tectonic system in the southeastern part of the Qing-hai-Tibetan Plateau[1,2] (Fig. 1). According to instru-mental records, historical recordings and field investi- gation, an earthquake (Ms7.3) occurred on its middle to south se…     

Volcanic risk ranking for Auckland, New Zealand. I: Methodology and hazard investigation

Volcanic eruptions typically produce a number of hazards, and many regions are at risk from more than one volcano or volcanic field. So that detailed risk assessments can be carried out, it is necessary to rank potential volcanic hazards and events in terms of risk. As it is often difficult to make accurate predictions regarding the characteristics of future eruptions, a method for ranking hazards and events has been developed that does not rely on precise values. Risk is calculated individually for each hazard from each source as the product of likelihood, extent and effect, based on the parameters order of magnitude. So that multiple events and outcomes can be considered, risk is further multiplied by the relative probability of the event occurring (probability_e) and the relative importance of the outcome (importance_o). By adding the values obtained, total risk is calculated and a ranking can be carried out.This method was used to rank volcanic hazards and events that may impact the Auckland Region, New Zealand. Auckland is at risk from the Auckland volcanic field, Okataina volcanic centre, Taupo volcano, Tuhua volcano, Tongariro volcanic centre, and Mt. Taranaki volcano. Relative probabilities were determined for each event, with the highest given to Mt. Taranaki. Hazards considered were, for local events: tephra fall, scoria fall and ballistic impacts, lava flow, base surge and associated shock waves, tsunami, volcanic gases and acid rain, earthquakes and ground deformation, mudflows and mudfills, lightning and flooding; and for distal events: tephra fall, pyroclastic flows, poisonous gases and acid rain, mudflows and mudfills, climate variations and earthquakes. Hazards from each source were assigned values for likelihood, with the largest for tephra fall from all sources, earthquakes and ground deformation, lava flows, scoria fall and base surge for an Auckland eruption on land, and earthquakes and ground deformation from an Auckland eruption in the ocean. The largest values for extent were for tephra fall and climate variation from each of the distal centres. However, these parameters do not give a true indication of risk. In a companion paper the effect of each hazard is fully investigated and the risk ranking completed.     

辽南北瓦沟长英质岩石应变组构演化

岩石的应变组构型式与岩石成分、变形环境和应变过程有着密切关系。北瓦沟地区低角闪岩相条作下的长英质岩石,表现脆性、韧性和韧脆性过渡,因而在剪切作用过程中形成了相应的应变组构型式,即脆性应变组构、韧性应变组构和脆-韧性应变组构。而且随着应变过程的发展,应变组构也表现出一定的演化规律。     

Sheathfolds in rheomorphic ignimbrites

Structural reappraisal of several classic rheomorphic ignimbrites in Colorado, Idaho, the Canary Islands and Italy has, for the first time, revealed abundant oblique folds, curvilinear folds and sheathfolds which formed during emplacement. Like their equivalents in tectonic shear-zones, the sheathfold axes lie sub-parallel to a pervasive elongation lineation, and appear as eye structures on rock surfaces normal to the transport direction. With the recognition of sheathfolds, ignimbrites previously inferred to have undergone complex rheomorphic deformation histories are re-interpreted as recording a single, progressive deformation event. In some examples, the trends of sheathfolds and related lineations change with height through a single ignimbrite suggesting that rheomorphism did not affect the entire thickness of ignimbrite synchronously. Instead, we infer that in these ignimbrites a thin ductile shear-zone rose gradually through the aggrading agglutinating mass whilst the flow direction varied with time. This suggests that, in some cases, both welding and rheomorphism can be extremely rapid, with ductile strain rates significantly exceeding rates of ignimbrite aggradation.Editorial responsibility: T. Druitt     

Geochemical characteristics of the slip zones of a landslide in granitic saprolite,Hong Kong: implications for their development and microenvironments

Geochemical investigations of the slip zones of a landslide in granitic saprolite revealed that they have signatures distinct from their host materials. These distinctions include stronger Si depletion, higher Al enrichment, greater LOI, significant fixations of Mn, Ba and Ce, stronger negative Eu anomalies, and greater accumulations of other rare earth elements (REE). Altogether, these geochemical characteristics indicate that: (a) the slip zones have greater abundance of clays, consistent with field and microscopic observations; (b) concentration of clay size particles within the slip zones may have been from downward leaching and deposition, and lateral transportation of Al-Si solutions and colloids through pores and fractures within the saprolite; and (c) there were prevailing oxidation and poor drainage, and occasional reduction conditions within the slip zones. It was concluded that geochemical analyses could be effective in gathering clues for understanding the development and nature of slip zones in landslide investigations.     

江西金山金矿田东蒋金矿床地质特征及找矿远景

阐述了东蒋金矿床的成矿地质背景,通过对该金矿区地质特征的分析和总结,认为东蒋韧性剪切带为一卓具规模的控矿、容矿构造,其具有构造岩分带、蚀变分带及金矿化强度分带“三位一体”的规律性分布特点。指出该区业已发现韧性剪切带中的似层状金矿体和陡倾斜断裂带(F1)中的脉状金矿体,而该带目前无矿的东段分布有物探激电、航磁、重力异常及化探异常,这些都显示该区尚具有良好的找矿前景。     

Geochemistry of the ophiolite and oceanic island basalt in the Kangxian-Pipasi-Nanping tectonic mélange zone,South Qinling and their tectonic significance

Detailed studies indicate that Kangxian-Pipasi-Nanping tectonic zone is a complicated mélange zone which includes many tectonic slabs of different origins. Ophiolite (MORB-type basalt), oceanic island tholeiite and alkaline basalt have been identified. Moreover, this tectonic mélange zone is eastward connected with the Mianlüe suture zone. The deformation characteristics, consisting components and volcanic rock geochemical features for the Kangxian-Pipasi-Nanping tectonic mélange zone are much similar to those of the Mianlüe suture zone and Deerni ophiolite. Therefore, the Kangxian-Pipasi-Nanping tectonic mélange zone should be the westward extension part of the Mianlüe suture zone. It indicates that the Mianlüe suture zone had extended to the Nanping area.     

Eulerian spatial moments for solute transport in three-dimensional heterogeneous,dual-permeability media

A Eulerian analytical method is developed for nonreactive solute transport in heterogeneous, dual-permeability media where the hydraulic conductivities in fracture and matrix domains are both assumed to be stochastic processes. The analytical solution for the mean concentration is given explicitly in Fourier and Laplace transforms. Instead of using the fast fourier transform method to numerically invert the solution to real space (Hu et al., 2002), we apply the general relationship between spatial moments and concentration (Naff, 1990; Hu et al., 1997) to obtain the analytical solutions for the spatial moments up to the second for a pulse input of the solute. Owing to its accuracy and efficiency, the analytical method can be used to check the semi-analytical and Monte Carlo numerical methods before they are applied to more complicated studies. The analytical method can be also used during screening studies to identify the most significant transport parameters for further analysis. In this study, the analytical results have been compared with those obtained from the semi-analytical method (Hu et al., 2002) and the comparison shows that the semi-analytical method is robust. It is clearly shown from the analytical solution that the three factors, local dispersion, conductivity variation in each domain and velocity convection flow difference in the two domains, play different roles on the solute plume spreading in longitudinal and transverse directions. The calculation results also indicate that when the log-conductivity variance in matrix is 10 times less than its counterpart in fractures, it will hardly influence the solute transport, whether the conductivity field is matrix is treated as a homogeneous or random field.