The Upper Pleistocene to Holocene sediments on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa (Italy)

The island of Lampedusa lies on the northern edge of the African continental shelf, but during some Quaternary marine lowstands it was joined to the African continent. The study and dating of the aeolian, alluvial, detrital sediments, calcareous crusts and speleothems have established that the climatic–environmental variations recorded on the island can be related chronologically to those known for northern Libya, Tunisia and the Italian peninsula. During the Last Glacial Maximum, phases of Saharan dust accumulation on Lampedusa occurred, and were coeval with dust accumulation in crater lakes and on high mountains in central‐southern Italy, and with phases of glacial advance in the Apennines and in the Alps. During the late Holocene, accumulation of Saharan dust on Lampedusa occurred but there was little accumulation of dust on the northern side of the Mediterranean Sea. With the new data from Lampedusa, it is possible to envisage two different scenarios of atmospheric circulation relating to the Last Glacial Maximum and to the late Holocene. During the Last Glacial Maximum, southerly atmospheric circulation brought rainfall to the southern slopes of the Alps and to the Apennines. During the late Holocene, a prevalent westerly atmospheric circulation became established in the northern Mediterranean. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GPS水汽遥感中的大气干延迟局地订正模型研究

在GPS遥感水汽过程中,大气干延迟模型的精度直接影响水汽遥感的精度。根据广东清远站1995～2001年的气象探空资料,计算了GPS水汽测量中的实际大气干延迟。在此资料基础上,利用地面气象要素建立了大气干延迟的年和分月局地订正模型。分析结果表明,年模型的精度优于目前广泛使用的普适模型;月模型与年模型相比,效果不是很明显,建立局地分月订正模型意义不大;在对高度角的敏感程度上,局地模型略大些;当高度角小于75时,大气干延迟弯曲路径与直线路径之差ΔS随天顶角增大而迅速增大。     

长江中下游地区地下水中Mn元素的背景特征及其形成

该文论述了长江中下游地区地下水锰元素的背景特征及其与地下水的含水介质成分、上覆岩土性质、氧化还原环境、地下水的迳流条件、地下水及土壤酸碱度的关系.研究结果表明,长江中下游地区地下水中Mn元素含量,在区域上分布特点为江汉平原东部区〉长江三角洲南部区〉鄱阳湖区.     

Thick and thin models of the evolution of carbon dioxide on Mars

We present results from a new simulation code that accounts for the evolution of the reservoirs of carbon dioxide on Mars, from its early years to the present. We establish a baseline model parameter set that produces results compatible with the present (i.e., Patm?6.5 mbar with permanent CO₂ ice cap) for a wide range of initial inventories. We find that the initial inventory of CO₂ broadly determines the evolutionary course of the reservoirs of CO₂. The reservoirs include the atmosphere, ice cap, adsorbed CO₂ in the regolith, and carbonate rocks. We track the evolution of the free inventory: the atmosphere, ice cap and regolith. Simulations begin at 4.53 Gyr before present with a rapid loss of free inventory to space in the early Noachian. Models that assume a relatively small initial inventory (?5 bar) have pronounced minima in the free inventory of CO₂ toward the end of the Noachian. Under baseline parameters, initial inventories below ∼4.5 bar result in a catastrophic loss of the free inventory to space. The current free inventory would be then determined by the balance between outgassing, sputtering losses and chemical weathering following the end of the late bombardment. We call these “thin” models. They generically predict small current free inventories in line with expectations of a small present CO₂ ice cap. For “thick” models, with initial inventories ?5 bar, a surplus of 300-700 mbar of free CO₂ remains during the late-Noachian. The histories of free inventory in time for thick models tend to converge within the last 3.5 Gyr toward a present with an ice cap plus atmospheric inventory of about 100 mbar. For thick models, the convergence is largely due to the effects of chemical weathering, which draws down higher free inventories more rapidly than the low. Thus, thick models have ?450 mbar carbonate reservoirs, while thin models have ?200 mbar. Though both thick and thin scenarios can reproduce the current atmospheric pressure, the thick models imply a relatively large current CO₂ ice cap and thin models, little or none. While the sublimation of a massive cap at a high obliquity would create a climate swing of greenhouse warming for thick models, under the thin model, mean temperatures and pressures would be essentially unaffected by increases in obliquity.     

The effects of topographically-controlled thermal tides in the martian upper atmosphere as seen by the MGS accelerometer

Mars Global Surveyor accelerometer observations of the martian upper atmosphere revealed large variations in density with longitude during northern hemisphere spring at altitudes of 130-160 km, all latitudes, and mid-afternoon local solar times (LSTs). This zonal structure is due to tides from the surface. The zonal structure is stable on timescales of weeks, decays with increasing altitude above 130 km, and is dominated by wave-3 (average amplitude 22% of mean density) and wave-2 (18%) harmonics. The phases of these harmonics are constant with both altitude and latitude, though their amplitudes change significantly with latitude. Near the South Pole, the phase of the wave-2 harmonic changes by 90° with a change of half a martian solar day while the wave-3 phase stays constant, suggesting diurnal and semidiurnal behaviour, respectively. We use a simple application of classical tidal theory to identify the dominant tidal modes and obtain results consistent with those of General Circulation Models. Our method is less rigorous, but simpler, than the General Circulation Models and hence complements them. Topography has a strong influence on the zonal structure.     

从中下三叠统膏盐特征看中下扬子早印支运动

中下扬子早 中三叠世膏盐层是对早印支运动的沉积响应,本文从膏盐的成因、中下扬子膏盐层位的差异、沉积环境的变迁、膏盐的厚度变化和产状特征、沉积中心和沉降中心的分布等方面,分析早印支运动的表现形式。中下扬子早 中三叠世依次出现陆棚台地（碳酸盐岩）、潟湖—潮坪（白云岩与膏盐）和滨海（碎屑岩）,这种大规模海退,正是早印支运动表现为构造抬升的结果。抬升过程中,残留海水在炎热干燥的气候条件下蒸发形成膏盐层,而中扬子的膏盐层位比下扬子低,据此推测中扬子先于下扬子与华北板块碰撞而抬升。平面上,现今构造格局（主要由中印支—早燕山运动形成复向斜、复背斜和推覆构造）的坳陷区主要为白云岩与（硬）石膏互层或石膏夹少量白云岩或云质石膏,膏盐层厚度大,现今构造的隆坳过渡区主要为石膏假晶、含膏云岩、石膏质白云岩、白云岩夹石膏等,膏盐层厚度小,而膏盐的厚度和产状与沉积时的水深和地势直接相关; 另外,地层等厚图显示膏盐层主要分布于当时的沉降中心。这些沉积特征显示膏盐沉积时的地势与现今隆坳相间的构造地貌存在一定程度的吻合,说明膏盐沉积时的地层已经发生了轻微的褶皱变形（未见角度不整合和地层缺失）。     

下地壳流变与造山带同挤压期地壳伸展的动力学关系

应用不可压缩非牛顿粘性流体的本构关系,对造山带同挤压期下地壳流变及其与上地壳构造伸展的动力学关系进行了二维有限元数值模拟. 结果表明,在板块侧向挤压下,当造山带山根下陷和地表隆起达一定程度后,地壳不同层圈岩石将发生复杂的粘性流变. 流变的运动学方式和分布范围不仅与时间有关、同时还受地壳厚度转变带形态的制约. 在构造挤压和山体荷载达到弹性平衡状态后,地壳流变首先发生在造山带下地壳山根,但经一定的Maxwell时间后,流变将不断局限于造山带前缘的厚度转变带. 这一流变方式的变化是导致造山带浅部地壳动力学转变的主要原因. 它造成造山带内上地壳最小主应力从近水平挤压不断转化为近水平拉张,由此使造山带前陆发生挤压冲断的同时,山体的核部发生上地壳的拉张伸展. 最后,应用这一结果讨论了青藏高原南缘南北向地壳伸展的动力学性质.     

IR spectroscopy of COmosphere dynamics with the CO ?rst overtone band

We discuss observations of the weak ?rst overtone (Δν = 2) CO absorption band near 2300 nm with the U.S. National Solar Observatory Array Camera (NAC), a modern mid‐infrared detector. This molecular band provides a thermal diagnostic that forms lower in the atmosphere than the stronger fundamental band near 4600 nm. The observed center‐to‐limb increase in CO line width qualitatively agrees with the proposed higher temperature shocks or faster plasma motions higher in the COmosphere. The spatial extent of chromospheric shock waves is currently at or below the diffraction limit of the available CO lines at existing telescopes. Five minute period oscillations in line strength and measured Doppler shifts are consistent with the p‐mode excitation of the photospheric gas. We also show recent efforts at direct imaging at 4600 nm. We stress that future large‐aperture solar telescopes must be teamed with improved, dynamic mid‐infrared instruments, like the NAC, to capitalize on the features that motivate such facilities (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Dynamical implications of Jupiter's tropospheric ammonia abundance

Groundbased radio observations indicate that Jupiter's ammonia is globally depleted from 0.6 bars to at least 4-6 bars relative to the deep abundance of ∼3 times solar, a fact that has so far defied explanation. The observations also indicate that (i) the depletion is greater in belts than zones, and (ii) the greatest depletion occurs within Jupiter's local 5-μm hot spots, which have recently been detected at radio wavelengths. Here, we first show that both the global depletion and its belt-zone variation can be explained by a simple model for the interaction of moist convection with Jupiter's cloud-layer circulation. If the global depletion is dynamical in origin, then important endmember models for the belt-zone circulation can be ruled out. Next, we show that the radio observations of Jupiter's 5-μm hot spots imply that the equatorial wave inferred to cause hot spots induces vertical parcel oscillation of a factor of ∼2 in pressure near the 2-bar level, which places important constraints on hot-spot dynamics. Finally, using spatially resolved radio maps, we demonstrate that low-latitude features exceeding ∼4000 km diameter, such as the equatorial plumes and large vortices, are also depleted in ammonia from 0.6 bars to at least 2 bars relative to the deep abundance of 3 times solar. If any low-latitude features exist that contain 3-times-solar ammonia up to the 0.6-bar ammonia condensation level, they must have diameters less than ∼4000 km.