Ar/Ar ages of tephras intercalated in astronomically tuned Neogene sedimentary sequences in the eastern Mediterranean

We present new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data for sanidine and biotite derived from volcanic ash layers that are intercalated in Pliocene and late Miocene astronomically dated sequences in the Mediterranean with the aim to solve existing inconsistencies in the intercalibration between the two independent absolute dating methods. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar sanidine ages are systematically younger by 0.7-2.3% than the astronomical ages for the same ash layers. The significance of the discrepancy disappears except for the upper Ptolemais ashes, which reveal the largest difference, if an improved full error propagation method is applied to calculate the absolute error in the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages. The total variance is dominated by that of the activity of the decay of ⁴⁰K to ⁴⁰Ar (∼70%) and that the amount of radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar_p in the primary standard GA1550 biotite (∼15%). If the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages are calculated relative to an astronomically dated standard, the influence of these parameters is greatly reduced, resulting in a more reliable age and in a significant reduction of the error in ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating.Astronomically calibrated ages for Taylor Creek Rhyolite (TCR) and Fish Canyon Tuff (FCT) sanidine are 28.53±0.02 and 28.21±0.04 Ma (±1 S.E.), respectively, if we start from the more reliable results of the Cretan A1 ash layer. The most likely explanation for the large discrepancy found for the younger Ptolemais ash layers (equivalent to FCT of 28.61 Ma) is an error in the tuning of this part of the sequence.     

非静力中尺度模式的现状及发展趋势

随着高性能计算机与大气探测技术的发展 ,使得非静力中尺度数值预报模式的业务化成为可能 ,世界上主要的气象中心最近几年纷纷发展非静力中尺度模式 ,并取得了重要进展 ,这其中尤以英国气象局新发展的非静力通用模式最为突出。基于此 ,介绍了近年来国际上发达国家的非静力中尺度预报模式的现状及发展方向 ,并对该类模式设计中应注意的一些问题进行了阐述     

三峡大坝建成后长江输沙量的减少及其对长江三角洲的影响

三峡大坝建成之后,大量泥沙滞留于库区,出库泥沙量减少,坝下河床冲刷而提供相当数量的泥沙,支流湖泊供沙也发生变化,这将使进入河口地区的泥沙有所减少。三峡大坝以上长江干流和支流建设新的大坝,南水北调、封山育林、退耕还林以及减少水土流失都将进一步减少长江进入河口地区的泥沙。由此估计,三峡大坝建成后的百年内长江输入河口地区的泥沙约为2.0×10⁸～2.5×10⁸t/a;冰后期长江三角洲形成和发育期间的长江年均输沙量为1.84×10⁸～2.28×10⁸t。二者的数值相当接近,然而与近50年的观测(4.33×10⁸t/a)相差甚远,长江流域的气候变化和人类活动可能是造成这一现象的原因。文章着重说明中国和长江上游人口的增长、种植作物的改变可能是水土流失、长江泥沙量增长的主要原因。     

A furrow runs through it: An example of sustainable traditional irrigation in Western Cape Province,South Africa

Water and water related matters are important issues in water scarce countries like the Republic of South Africa. This is especially true for the agricultural sector that relies heavily on the availability of water for irrigation to ensure a secure food supply. In South Africa, present day irrigation projects rely on government subsidies and are usually large undertakings beyond the reach of individuals or small communities. The sustainability of such large irrigation projects is still a matter of debate. A 100 years ago a different set of rules applied. Irrigation could only be achieved by hand-dug furrows that supplied water in relatively small quantities to small farming communities. This paper investigated such a small community, the Leeukloof farming community in the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. For the past 93 years this community has maintained a furrow that supplies water not only to farms bordering the Perdeberg River, which supplies the furrow with water, but also to farms not bordering the river. The authors try to reconstruct the changes in agricultural practices brought about by the furrow, methods of water extraction during each phase, as well as the development and role of the furrow system. The perception by the community of the necessity of this method of water extraction from the river system is also investigated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Weathering: Toward a Fractal Quantifying

Weathering occurs over a wide range of scales. To link features through these scales is a major challenge for interdisciplinary weathering studies. Fractal approach seems to be specially useful for this purpose. We introduce a multistep fractal weathering assessment scheme devoted to extract fractal weathering classifiers from texture analysis of the mineral's image. Our scheme enables to quantitatively estimate the global and local information about the geometry of the weathering pattern. This information is basic to develop geometrical indices of weathering, which can significantly enrich the common qualitative and semiquantitative weathering assessment schemes. To justify the fractal approach, a strong statistical self-similarity has been documented for both the weathering and fresh features of two common silica minerals: quartz and biogenic A-opal (phytolith) over four orders of length scales. The procedure is fast, drastically reduces thresholding bias, promises to be universal, it is valid for genetically different minerals and rock types, scale independent, and specially useful for monitoring the changes in the mineral's roughness during the alteration. Two of the proposed classifiers seem to be potentially useful for direct application in the field and be used by nonspecialist.     

西南地区中药产业发展

本文总结西南地区中药产业发展现状,分析西南地区中药产业中药材、生产加工和研发能力上的竞争优势,提出西南地区中药产业的发展对策。     

基于受限汉语的GIS路径重建研究

主要研究基于自然语言 (汉语 )的GIS路径重建问题 ,通过分析带有路径表述信息的汉语文本 ,建立了汉语的NLRP句法模型 ,它是由带有空间语义的动作以及作为动作对象的地理要素构成的集合。考虑到自然语言理解实现的需求 ,论文基于NLRP句法模型定义了受限汉语的NLRP文法 ,在此基础上 ,描述了路径重建算法PRA ,并探讨了算法实现中由于空间认知原因带来的不确定性问题以及其解决方案。最后 ,基于该算法进行了相关实例研究 ,从而验证了该算法的正确性     

利用现有重力场模型求定CHAMP卫星加速度计修正参数

CHAMP卫星加速度计数据的标定是通过确定其尺度因子和偏差参数来完成的.本文基于能量守恒方程,给出利用现有重力场模型标定CHAMP卫星加速度数据的基本原理和数学模型;提出相邻历元间差分算法,大大简化了观测方程,同时避免积分常量的计算.该算法既能同时解算尺度因子和偏差参数,也可任意求解其中之一.基于实测的CHAMP卫星加速度数据,利用EGM96模型和最新公布的EIGEN-2模型进行计算与比较,验证该方法的有效性.