Isotope variations in a Sierra Nevada snowpack and their relation to meltwater

Isotopic variations in melting snow are poorly understood. We made weekly measurements at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, California, of snow temperature, density, water equivalent and liquid water volume to examine how physical changes within the snowpack govern meltwater δ¹⁸O. Snowpack samples were extracted at 0.1 m intervals from ground level to the top of the snowpack profile between December 1991 and April 1992. Approximately 800 mm of precipitation fell during the study period with δ¹⁸O values between −21.35 and −4.25‰. Corresponding snowpack δ¹⁸O ranged from −22.25 to −6.25‰. The coefficient of variation of δ¹⁸O in snowpack levels decreased from −0.37 to −0.07 from winter to spring, indicating isotopic snowpack homogenization. Meltwater δ¹⁸O ranged from −15.30 to −8.05‰, with variations of up to 2.95‰ observed within a single snowmelt episode, highlighting the need for frequent sampling. Early snowmelt originated in the lower snowpack with higher δ¹⁸O through ground heat flux and rainfall. After the snowpack became isothermal, infiltrating snowmelt displaced the higher δ¹⁸O liquid in the lower snowpack through a piston flow process. Fractionation analysis using a two-component mixing model on the isothermal snowpack indicated that δ¹⁸O in the initial and final half of major snowmelt was 1.30‰ lower and 1.45‰ higher, respectively, than the value from simple mixing. Mean snowpack δ¹⁸O on individual profiling days showed a steady increase from −15.15 to −12.05‰ due to removal of lower δ¹⁸O snowmelt and addition of higher δ¹⁸O rainfall. Results suggest that direct sampling of snowmelt and snow cores should be undertaken to quantify tracer input compositions adequately. The snowmelt sequence also suggests that regimes of early lower δ¹⁸O and later higher δ¹⁸O melt may be modeled and used in catchment tracing studies.     

Predicting average annual groundwater levels from climatic variables: an empirical model

On the basis of one-dimensional theoretical water flow model, we demonstrate that the groundwater level variation follows a pattern similar to recharge fluctuation, with a time delay that depends on the characteristics of aquifer, recharge pattern as well as the distance between the recharge and observation locations. On the basis of a water budget model and the groundwater flow model, we propose an empirical model that links climatic variables to groundwater level. The empirical model is tested using a partial data set from historical records of water levels from more than 80 wells in a monitoring network for the carbonate rock aquifer, southern Manitoba, Canada. The testing results show that the predicted groundwater levels are very close to the observed ones in most cases. The overall average correlation coefficient between the predicted and observed water levels is 0.92. This proposed empirical statistical model could be used to predict variations in groundwater level in response to different climate scenarios in a climate change impact assessment.     

云南省金沙江流域水土流失基本特征分析

在应用新近建立的云南金沙江流域土壤流失方程测算该流域各县(市、区)年均土壤流失总量和各地类年均 土壤流失量基础上,分析了该流域水土流失的总体特征、各地类水土流失特征和不同坡度级坡耕地的水土流失特 征,为因地制宜地防治水土流失提供了依据。     

美国西部地震烈度衰减规律

在国家和地区地震动区划和重大工程的地震安全性评价工作中，区域地震动衰减规律的确定是重要环节，而借用法是目前常用的建立区域地震动衰减的方法。我国借用法通常都把美国西部作为参考地区，但一般都采用调整美国学者已有烈度衰减规律的办法确定美国西部烈度衰减规律。本文讨论美国西部已有烈度衰减规律，并直接采用美国西部烈度调查资料建立烈度衰减规律，结果可供我国工程地震工作者参考。     

利用GIS进行地震滑坡分析

地震滑坡是由地震引发的一种十分严重的震害，它对人类生命财产所造成的损失是巨大的。地震滑坡事件是一个复杂的过程．影响因素多种多样，滑坡的形成机制十分复杂。为正确认识地震滑坡，以1920年宁夏海原大地震为例，利用GIS强大的空间分析功能，多角度、多层次地对地震滑坡的形成、发生、发展机制进行了研究。指出了用GIS技术研究地震烈度等对地震滑坡的影响作用、合理评价和预测某一地区地震滑坡发生的可能性。     

1303年山西洪洞8级大地震研究综述

叙述了1967年至2002年间国内有关研究1303年山西洪洞8级大地震的进展情况。综合叙述了有关这次地震的地震参数、地震破坏、地震断层、地震形变遗迹、地震发生的新构造与深部构造等。     

江淮地区地震烈度衰减关系的研究

地震烈度衰减关系具有较强的地区性,这是由于不同地区的震源特性、传播介质和场地条件的不同而引起.研究区(北纬29°～35°,东经114°～120°)位于华北地震区和华南地震区之间的过渡地区,地震活动性总体水平不高,烈度衰减关系有其自身的震源特性、传播介质和场地衰减特性等.本次工作重新挑选震例,对研究区的地震烈度衰减规律进行了统计回归分析,并与该地区已有的地震烈度衰减关系进行认真的比较分析.     

Discussion on the feature of strong earthquake: Orderly distribution in time, space and intensity before the Western Kunlun Mountain Pass M=8.1 earthquake

Introduction The Western Kunlun Mountain Pass M=8.1 earthquake occurred on November 14, 2001 is the other M=8 earthquake occurred 50 years after Dangxiong, Tibet M=8.0 earthquake in Chinese mainland. The earthquake has caused the attention of the seismologists in the following aspects: 1) The fracture length is more than 400 km, which is far away from the estimated length by the statistic empirical function between the magnitude and the fracture length (WANG, et al, 2002); 2) The aftersh…     

New national seismic zoning map of China

1 Background of the new national seismic zoning map The policy of seismic disaster mitigation in the Chinese mainland is prevention first. According to the law, the earthquake design for ordinary structures must fit the demand of national seismic zoning map. Seismic zoning map is the basis of the earthquake design (TANG, 1998; WU, et al, 1998). The seismic zoning map must be updated with the progress in methodology and accumula-tion of the data. There are three generations of national seis…     

山东省龙卷风发生的气候特征

根据藤田-皮尔森强度分类法对1950年～2000年山东省出现的351次龙卷风进行分类，其中F0级61次，F1级256次，F2级34次。山东半岛、鲁中、鲁南出现次数较多，鲁西北较少。1950～1972年发生次数明显高于1973～2000年。龙卷风发生存在明显的季节变化，夏季发生较多。龙卷风主要发生于午后至傍晚，多数龙卷风仅能维持几分到十几分钟。