Geological development of Heard Island,Central Kerguelen Plateau

We report ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar laser step-heating age determinations on 15 stratigraphically controlled lava flows and intrusive rocks from Heard Island, Central Kerguelen Plateau (Indian Ocean). The island history began with uplift of pelagic limestone intruded by 22 Ma gabbro sills. Subaerial and wave erosion levelled the early island, producing an unconformity onto which pillow lavas, tuffaceous sediments and shallow-water, fossiliferous marine siltstone (Drygalski Formation) were deposited, beginning in late Miocene time. Two volcanic systems then formed in the late Quaternary. Big Ben dominates the larger southeast part of the island, while Mount Dixon occupies the northwest Laurens Peninsula. Feeder dykes and the early lava flows in both systems are 400–200 ka. Lava flows with evolved compositions (trachytes, trachyandesites) erupted 100–20 ka. Well-preserved parasitic cones exposed at low elevations are 15–10 ka and younger. Mawson Peak, near the summit of Big Ben, has erupted lava flows as recently as 2007. Heard Island, and nearby active McDonald Island, are subaerial features of a larger Neogene volcanic region of Central Kerguelen Plateau that includes several large sea knolls and recently identified submarine fields of small cones. This broadly distributed volcanic activity is linked to incubation of plume material at the base of the nearly stationary overlying Central Kerguelen Plateau.     

SAR图像海岸线检测的区域距离正则化几何主动轮廓模型

合成孔径雷达(SAR)卫星遥感图像可以极大地提高全国海岸线覆盖频率,然而受到海洋波浪所引起的随机海水表面粗糙度的影响,海岸目标与海水背景边界易混淆不清,因此本文提出了基于区域距离正则化几何主动轮廓模型(RDRGAC),引入距离正则项,解决重复初始化水平集函数为符号距离函数的问题,提高了算法收敛速度。此外,将区域面积项系数与SAR图像等效视数(ENL)建立非线性拟合关系,实现RDRGAC模型根据不同SAR遥感图像的自适应调整,改善海岸线自动提取精度。通过河北省北戴河和大连市金州湾SAR数据海岸线提取对比试验,验证了所提方法的有效性。     

Temporal replication of the national land cover database using active machine learning

Regional and national level land cover datasets, such as the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) in the United States, have become an important resource in physical and social science research. Updates to the NLCD have been conducted every 5 years since 2001; however, the procedure for producing a new release is labor-intensive and time-consuming, taking 3 or 4 years to complete. Furthermore, in most countries very few, if any, such releases exist, and thus there is high demand for efficient production of land cover data at different points in time. In this paper, an active machine learning framework for temporal updating (or backcasting) of land cover data is proposed and tested for three study sites covered by the NLCD. The approach employs a maximum entropy classifier to extract information from one Landsat image using the NLCD, and then replicate the classification on a Landsat image for the same geographic extent from a different point in time to create land cover data of similar quality. Results show that this framework can effectively replicate the land cover database in the temporal domain with similar levels of overall and within class agreement when compared against high resolution reference land cover datasets. These results demonstrate that the land cover information encapsulated in the NLCD can effectively be extracted using solely Landsat imagery for replication purposes. The algorithm is fully automated and scalable for applications at landscape and regional scales for multiple points in time.     

The effects of the North Anatolian Fault on the geomorphology in the Eastern Marmara Region,Northwestern Turkey

North-western Anatolia has been actively deformed since Pliocene by the right-lateral North Anatolian Fault (NAF). This transform fault, which has a transtensional character in its western end due to effects from the Aegean extensional system, is a major control on the regional geomorphologic evolution. This study applied some geomorphic analyses, such as stream longitudinal profiles, stream length-gradient index, ratio of valley floor width and valley height, mountain front sinuosity, hypsometry and asymmetry factor analyses, to an area just east of the Sea of Marmara in order to understand the tectonic effects on the area’s geomorphological evolution. The active and fastest northern branch of the NAF lies within a topographic depression connecting Sea of Marmara in the east to the Adapazar? Basin in the west. This depression filled with early Pleistocene and younger sediment after a series of pull-apart basins opened along the NAF. North of this depression lies the Kocaeli Peneplain, whose southern edge the NAF uplifted. Meandering streams on the central peneplain were incised possibly due to baselevel changes in the Black Sea. South of the depression, an E-trending mountainous area has a rugged morphology. Based on geomorphic analyses, uplifted Pliocene sediment, marine terraces, and recent earthquake activity, this area between northern and southern branches of the NAF is actively uplifting. The geomorphic indices used in this study are sensitive to vertical movements rather than lateral ones. The bedrock lithology that played an important role on the area’s geomorphologic evolution also affects the geomorphic indices used here.     

Persistent alternate abundance states in the coral reef sea urchin Diadema savignyi: evidence of alternate attractors

Alternate attractors have been shown to exist in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems, e.g. temperate forests, savannas, shallow lakes, wetlands, coral reefs, kelp forests. The shift from one attractor to another, also referred to as a regime shift, is thought to occur when a system passes some critical threshold such that the trajectory of the system changes direction. Alternate attractors in population dynamics can also exist, leading to alternate stable states in the population abundance of a species. This study explored alternate attractors in the population dynamics of the Indo‐Pacific sea urchin Diadema savignyi and the potential underlying mechanisms that promote its bi‐stability. In Moorea, French Polynesia, the local abundance of D. savignyi, a functionally important herbivore in lagoon habitats, occurs in two states: (i) solitary individuals that occupy crevices in low densities and (ii) aggregations of tens to hundreds of individuals. These different states are temporally stable and are not explained by spatial differences in recruitment rates of juveniles. A field experiment revealed that the per capita mortality rate of adult D. savignyi was substantially lower at sites where urchins occurred in aggregations compared with sites at which they were solitary individuals. An additional experiment showed that per capita mortality decreased with increasing aggregation size. Individuals in high‐density aggregations, however, had significantly smaller test diameters than solitary individuals, indicating that individuals in aggregations may be food limited. Collectively, the evidence suggests that the two different local abundance states of D. savignyi result from negative feedback loops where high local density can be maintained by aggregative behavior that greatly reduces per capita risk of predation when the local number of adult sea urchins is sufficiently large; sites with few sea urchins remain at low density because individuals are more susceptible to predation when crevices are occupied but there are not enough individuals to form large aggregations. Thus, there may be alternate attractors in the population dynamics of D. savignyi that can produce either persistently low or high local population densities.     

近60年来长江河口河势变化及其对水动力和盐水入侵的影响I.河势变化

河势是影响河口水动力和盐水入侵基本因子。本文利用20世纪50和70年代长江河口海图,数值化岸线和水深,结合2012年长江河口实测水深资料,分析长江河口自50年代以来的河势变化。长江河口为分汊河口,50年代仅为二级分汊,至70年代才形成三级分汊,四口入海的河势格局。70年代相比于50年代,北支淤浅严重,其上、中、下段容积变化分别为-64.13×106、-306.60×106和-639.27×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-16.30%、-22.74%和-25.69%,均显著减小;南支的上、中、下段容积变化分别为-28.61×106、-35.69×106和126.43×106 m3,相应的变化率分别为-1.30%、-2.12%和4.36%;北港由于崇明浅滩和横沙浅滩的淤浅,下段容积明显减小,其上段和下段容积变化分别为109.21×106和-797.14×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为5.01%和-15.25%;南港上段由于河道淤浅容积减小,下段北由于铜沙浅滩被冲开形成北槽,导致水深变深、容积增加,其上段、下段北和下段南容积变化分别为-238.95×106、203.58×106和153.34×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-8.96%、6.85%和3.26%。2012年相比于70年代,北支由于大量淤浅和围垦容积大幅减小,其上、中、下段容积变化分别为-199.06×106、-504.61×106和-654.12×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-60.45%、-48.44%和-35.38%;南支的上、中、下段容积变化分别为92.34×106、193.01×106和-163.62×106 m3,相应的变化率分别为4.24%、11.73%和-5.40%;北港上段青草沙水库的围垦和下段横沙东滩的围垦造成面积和容积减小,其上段和下段容积变化分别为-154.64×106和-511.79×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-6.75%和-11.55%;南港由于上段河道刷深而下段九段沙以及南汇边滩淤浅、围垦,导致其容积上段增加,下段减小,上段、下段北和下段南容积变化分别为136.39×106、-658.28×106和-1266.11×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为5.62%、-20.73%和-26.06%。     

Seismic Stability of Gravity Retaining Structures by Pseudo-Dynamic Method

An analytical expression of a gravity retaining wall's seismic stability against sliding and overturning is proposed in this article. The derivation, aiming at the cohesionless soil with inclined backfill surface and nonvertical wall back, is based on limit equilibrium analysis and the pseudo-dynamic method. The variations of the sliding and overturning stability safe factors with the horizontal seismic acceleration are investigated for different seismic amplification factors, soil friction angles, wall friction angles, vertical seismic acceleration coefficients, wall back inclination angles, and backfill surface inclination angles. The results indicate that the soil friction and horizontal seismic action significantly impact the seismic stability. The increase of vertical earthquake action changes the curvature of stability factor curves. The wall friction and back inclination strengthen the gravity retaining wall's resistance to sliding and overturning failure while the backfill surface inclination plays a negative role in the seismic stability. We also found that the seismic stability safe factors calculated by the proposed method are larger but more reasonable than those by the Mononobe-Okabe method.     

Neotectonics of the Kharaulakh sector of the Laptev Shelf

Seismotectonic deformation and crustal stress pattern have been studied comprehensively in major seismogenic structures of the Kharaulakh sector of the Verkhoyansk fold system and adjacent parts of the Chersky seismotectonic zone. The study focuses on neotectonic structures, deep structure, and systems of active faults, as well as tectonic stress fields inferred by tectonophysical analysis of Late Cenozoic faults and folds. The results, along with geological and geophysical data, reveal main strain directions and structural patterns of crustal stress and strain in the Arctic segment of the Eurasia-North America plate boundary. The area is a junction of mid-ocean and continental structures evolving in a mixed setting of extension, compression, and their various combinations. The rotation pole of the two plates is presumably located near Buor-Khaya Bay. In this case, extension is expected to act currently upon the neotectonic structures north of the bay and compression to control those in the south and southeast. This inference is consistent with the identified zoning of stress and strain in the Kharaulakh sector.     

Petrology,geochemistry and geodynamic setting of Eocene-Oligocene alkaline intrusions from the Alborz-Azerbaijan magmatic belt,NW Iran

The Kaleybar, Razgah and Bozqush (KRB) intrusions were studied to better understand subduction-related Eocene-Oligocene alkaline magmatism in NW Iran. The bulk of intrusions mainly consist of Si-undersaturated rocks including foid-bearing monzonite and syenite (nepheline syenite, pseudoleucite syenite) with some foid-bearing diorite and gabbro. In addition, they are spatially associated with Si-saturated rocks ranging in composition from monzo-diorite to syeno-granite. The main mafic rock-forming minerals of the studied rocks are olivine (Fo₄₄Fa₅₆), clinopyroxene (diopside to augite), biotite (Mg-biotite through Fe-biotite), amphibole (ferro-pargasite and magnesio-hastingsite with Mg#<0.55), and garnet (Ti-andradites). Based on whole rock geochemistry, the foid-syenites and associated rocks show mildly alkaline (shoshonitic) affinity. The content of SiO₂, K₂O?+?Na₂O, and K₂O/Na₂O ratio ranges from 47.8 to 60.7?wt.%, 5.31 to 16.33?wt.%, and 0.6 to 3.2, respectively. The intrusions are commonly metaluminous, with an aluminum-saturation index (ASI) ranging from 0.66 to 1.01. Almost all the rocks display similar arc-related geochemical features characterized by the enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE) together with the depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE). The chondrite-normalized REE patterns show no to marked negative Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu*?=?0.55 to 1.12), (La/Yb)_N?=?8.16 to 31, (La/Sm)_N?=?2.80 to 10.59, and (Tb/Yb)_N?=?0.84 to 2.40. The evaluation of the REE patterns for the KRB magmas and the comparison of the trace element ratios with experimental studies indicate a chemically enriched lithospheric mantle source composed of garnet-spinel-lherzolite that have underwent a low degree of partial melting <5% to generate the KRB intrusions. Based on the present data, we infer that the mantle source was contaminated by a subduction component and the melting of the mantle lithosphere occurred by local extension in an overall convergent regime in NW Iran. The extension regime during the Eocene is proposed to be the result of the Neo-Tethys slab roll-back and the Sevan-Akera-Qaradagh (SAQ) slab break-off.     

基于GIPL2模型的青藏高原活动层土壤热状况模拟研究

青藏高原活动层土壤热状况,对深入了解高原活动层的厚度变化特征、下垫面的热力作用以及对气候变化预测均有重要意义。利用GIPL2模型模拟青藏高原多年冻土区不同植被状况下活动层土壤热状况。模拟结果表明：模型在高寒草原（QT06）试验点模拟效果较好,高寒沼泽草甸（QT03）试验点的模拟效果较差,高寒草甸（QT01）、高寒荒漠草原（QT05）和高寒草原化草甸（QT04）试验点的模拟效果介于高寒草原试验点和高寒沼泽草甸试验点之间。QT01、QT03、QT04、QT05和QT06的土壤温度模拟值与观测值相比,均方根误差分别为0.67、1.29、0.73、0.7和0.56℃;相关系数分别为0.99、0.87、0.98、0.98和0.96;平均误差分别为0.37、0.61、0.31、0.45和0.16℃。QT06模拟结果较好,原因在于此点土壤质地变化不大,模型的分层与所取的参数更加接近此点的实际状况。QT03模拟结果较差,可能由于此地区土壤中存在砾石,在导热率参数化方案中没有考虑砾石含量,导致模拟结果偏差较大。总体而言,GIPL2模型对青藏高原活动层土壤热状况的模拟具有一定的优势,是一种模拟多年冻土区活动层土壤热状况较为理想的模型。