Study of weathering processes developed on old piedmont surfaces in Western Spain: new contributions to the interpretation of the “Raña” profiles

The Hercynian basement of the Iberian Peninsula was uplifted by the Alpine orogeny during the Tertiary. It gave rise to a set of block mountains and tectonic grabens, one of which is the Ciudad Rodrigo Basin. It is located in Western Spain and forms a westward extension of the great Tertiary Duero Basin. The sediments filling this graben are of continental origin, their ages ranging from Palaeogene to Quaternary. Morphologically, the southern part of this basin forms a set of piedmont surfaces (the “Raña” surfaces) appearing above the terrace system of the present rivers. This paper examines the weathering processes developed over these old piedmont surfaces using micromorphological, XR diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microporosity techniques.The Raña sediments are rich in quartzite pebbles and gravel within a clayey matrix. Once deposited, these materials underwent important in situ weathering processes under somewhat hydromorphic conditions, of which hydrolysis, ferrolysis and xerolysis were the most important. All these processes gave rise to: (1) transformation of most of the clasts of shists and slates into a matrix causing the destruction of the original sedimentary structures and a relative concentration of the resistant lithologies (quartzites and quartz); (2) important changes in the clay fraction, leading to a predominance of kaolinite in the upper levels of the profiles, (3) release of elements from primary minerals, Fe being one of the most important, and (4) redistribution of matter, mainly clay and Fe oxyhydroxides, within the profiles.The coexistence of seasonal periods with pF higher than 4.2 repeated over a long time, together with poor internal and external drainage conditions, are the cause of the special features displayed by Raña deposits.     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics Barbara A. Weightman, Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia Henry J. Bruman, Alcohol in Ancient Mexico Brian W. Blouet, Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century M. A. B. Siddique (ed.), International Migration into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Reginald Appleyard Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel (eds.), A Population History of North America Emilio Moran, Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology Jeremy Leggett, The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era Susan B. Marriott and Jan Alexander (eds.), Floodplains: Interdisciplinary Approaches William S.Logan, Hanoi: Biography of a City Alex Krieger and David Cobb (eds.) with Amy Turner, Mapping Boston Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Carl Abbott, Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest Arthur D. Murphy, Colleen Blanchard and Jennifer A. Hill (eds.), Latino Workers in the Contemporary South Yanek Mieczkowski, The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections     

国外开发欠发达地区的经验教训对中国西部城镇化的启示

美国、英国、日本、意大利、巴西等国先后对本国欠发达地区进行了开发建设。它们以城镇化为动力、大力发展城镇工业，已经取得许多成功经验，也有着深刻的教训。中国西部大开发可从国外开发欠发达地区的经验教训中受到启迪，以城镇化为增长点带动区域经济的全面发展，重视生态环境的保护和建设，加强以交通运输为重点的城镇基础设施建设，探索出西部地区城镇工业独特的发展道路，实现经济、社会和环境的可持续发展。     

Transition and Diversity in Rural Housing Provision: The case of Narrogin,Western Australia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing dynamics of housing markets in an Australian rural community. With reference to the case of Narrogin, Western Australia, it argues that there is an increasing disjuncture between the social and demographic characteristics of rural residents and the modal form of housing in country towns, namely the detached family house. Factors contributing to this disjuncture include the ageing of the population, the loss of traditional blue-collar employment, sub-regional restructuring of service provision, retirement migration patterns, and growing acceptance of the particular housing needs of groups such as the aged, the disabled, young and indigenous people. While it is clear that there is currently something of a mismatch between the characteristics of the population and the housing stock in Narrogin, it is also evident that a combination of political, cultural and economic factors form a significant barrier to adjustment in the local housing market.     

Late Caledonian Ductile Thrusting Deformation in the Central East Kunlun Belt, Qinghai, China and Its Significance: Evidence from Geochronology

A high-angle ductile thrusting deformation with top-to-the-north movement penetratively developed in the Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic metamorphic rocks along the Central East Kunlun belt. The deformed rocks suffered epidote-amphibolite facies metamorphism. On the basis of our previous study, we present more data in this paper to further support that the ducdle thrust deformation occurred in the later Caledonian and more detailed information about the deformation. A zircon U-Pb concordant age of 446±2.2 Ma of a deformed granodiorite in the ductile thrust zone was obtained and can be interpreted as the lower limit of the deformation. A syntectonically crystallized and also strongly deformed hornblende Ar/ Ar dating gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 426.5±3.8 Ma, which represents the deformation age. A strongly orientated muscovite gives an Ar/Ar plateau age of 408±1.6Ma, representing the cooling age after the peak temperature, constraining the upper limit of the ductile thrust deformation. This ductile thru     

西天山伊耳曼得型金矿流体特征及成矿环境

西天山一种以伊耳曼得和恰布坎卓它等金矿为代表的金矿类型,其成矿流体液相成分以K⁺离子为主,其次是Na⁺、Cl^-、SO₄^2-及少量的Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺.流体气相成分以H₂O为主,其次是CO₂、H₂,少量的O₂、N₂、CH₄和CO.流体的矿化度平均为8.28g/L,盐度比较低,其范围为1.5%~0.39%(NaCl),流体的pH值在2.8~5.5之间.流体离子强度为0.146~0.18.氧逸度为lgf o₂=-35.2~-38.9,流体的pH-lgf o₂稳定范围与冰长石-绢云母型和酸性硫酸盐型金矿床的稳定范围不一致.流体温度范围为93~151.4℃.流体压力范围为5.6~17 MPa.表明成矿流体具有低温、低压和低盐度的特点.流体属于H₂O-NaCl-CO₂体系,来自大气降水.大气降水渗滤到地下,受到火山和地温梯度的影响,形成了沿一定深度运动的热循环流体.成矿流体的物理化学环境是一种过渡类型.成矿流体沿火山碎屑岩孔隙和微裂隙多次渗透交代而成矿.     

辽西朝阳盆地早白垩世一新的无齿翼龙化石

采自辽西朝阳盆地早白垩世九佛堂组的一翼龙化石被记述。化石材料是一接近完整骨架的无齿的翼龙，带有一不完全的头骨。作者将其归于翼手龙类(Pteroclactyloidea)，并建一新属、新种一无齿吉大翼龙(Jidapterus edentus gen．et sp．nov．)。     

Seismicity anomalies before the great earthquake of M_S=8.1 in the Kunlun Pass and its significance to earthquake prediction

Introduction The MS=8.1 earthquake occurred in west of the Kunlun Pass on November 14, 2001. It is the greatest earthquake occurred in China since the last half of the century and is an important event in recent seismic history of China. Some specialists consider that the earthquake occurred in the area where the earthquake monitoring capability is lowest in Chinese mainland; no striking precursory seismicity was found. The study on the precursory seismicity before the earthquake has not b…     

Absence of Archean basement in the South Kunlun Block: Nd-Sr-O isotopic evidence from granitoids

Abstract   The West Kunlun mountain range along the northwestern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is crucial in understanding the early tectonic history of the region. It can be divided into the North and South Kunlun Blocks, of which the former is considered to be part of the Tarim Craton, whereas consensus was not reached on the nature and origin of the South Kunlun Block. Samples were collected from the 471 Ma Yirba Pluton, the 405 Ma North Kudi Pluton and the 214 Ma Arkarz Shan Intrusive Complex. These granitoids cover approximately 60% of the Kudi area in the South Kunlun Block. Sr, Nd, and O isotope compositions preclude significant involvement of mantle-derived magma in the genesis of these granitoids; therefore, they can be used to decipher the nature of lower–mid crust in the area. All samples give Mesoproterozoic Nd model ages (1.1–1.5 Ga) similar to those of the exposed metamorphic complex of this block but significantly different from those of the basement of the North Kunlun Block (2.8 Ga). This indicates that the South Kunlun Block does not have an Archean basement, and, thus, does not support the microcontinent model that suggests the South Kunlun Block was a microcontinent once separated from and later collided back with the North Kunlun Block.     

GIS在西部生态环境建设中的应用初探

GIS与西部生态环境建设的有机结合将是一项长期的、复杂的系统工程。笔者在严格论证了该项目实施的可行性之后,在可持续发展理论的指导下,运用空间分析方法,提出了项目实施的方案。在该方案中,对生态环境信息数据进行了分类,详述了空间数据文件存贮结构,查询管理子系统的开发,最后得出生态环境地理信息系统的总体结构,并简述了其功能。