Extreme events as drivers of early human behaviour in Africa? The case for variability,not catastrophic drought

Extreme Late Quaternary climatic events, sometimes of considerable continental extent, are being proposed as major contributors to ancestral human behaviour, particularly migration, in Africa. Most recently, a catastrophic drought in the Afro‐Asian monsoon region has been proposed for 16 000–17 000 years ago, driven by global impacts of the Heinrich event 1 (H1), with potentially significant consequences for Palaeolithic cultures. We provide a new analysis of the assertion and find, on examination of a wide set of palaeoenvironmental records, that the scale and extent of the proposed drought is not supported. While some parts of the African tropics, close to the equator, do appear dry at this time, data for the tropics as a whole suggest markedly variable terrestrial conditions, with some environmental systems experiencing very positive hydrological excursions during H1. We contend that in the quest for evidence of climate drivers of ancestral human behaviour, the variability associated with spatially and temporally complex climatic conditions is a significant factor in itself. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国西部大开发中的环境问题

笔者首先从经济、社会的角度阐述了西部大开发战略实施的必要性。依据国际、国内有关经济发展与环境破坏之间联系的研究成果，阐明中国当前发展过程中的环境变化。根据中国西部自然地理条件将广大的西部地区划分为三个地理分区，结合各区的自然条件、资源及产业结构特征，分析了不同分区在经济发展中可能出现的环境问题及可能的解决方法。     

海洋环境污染生物修复技术研究

全球范围内的海洋生态环境恶化,不仅危及海洋经济发展,而且已影响到了人类生存环境和健康。本文根据我国近海海洋环境质量现状,探讨了生物修复技术在海洋环境污染治理中的应用,并提出了工程海藻培育技术研究的有关建议,以期为海洋环境的保护及资源的可持续开发提供新的方法和技术。     

青岛市经济增长引发环境污染的冲击响应模式分析

经济的不断发展造成了极大的环境污染,需要人们用科学的手段对经济发展和造成的环境污染之间的关系进行客观判断。采用主成分分析法、格兰杰因果检验以及基于VAR的脉冲响应函数对青岛市的经济发展与环境污染二者间关系进行分析,结果发现由于环境承载力的存在,经济增长造成环境污染在很大程度上受到时滞的影响,经济增长引发环境问题是渐进的、长期的,所以在发展经济时不能只顾眼前利益而忽视对环境的长期影响,要注重可持续发展。     

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE EASTERN CHINA DURING THE LATE PLEISTOCENE

The environmental changes during the Late Pleistocene were more obvious in the eastern China than in other areas at the same latitude, which either between northern and southern, or between land and sea of the eastern China were mostly non-synchronous. The transitional period prior to the last glaciation came about in the northern part of the eastern China about 115,000 yr. ago. The desert environments of the inland of the north China were developed both in the glacial maximum and in the warm interglacial period, but the loess accumulation mostly took place during the glacial period. The sand dunes and the periglacial solifluctions in the lower Changjiang (Yangtze) River region were formed during the last glacial period. The event of lowest surface temperature occurred at 98,000 yr. B.P. and 59,000 yr. B.P. in the northern part of the South China Sea but not during the full-glacial stage. The phenomena mentioned . above were the result of the following reasons that the paleo-environmental changes in the     

全球环境变化研究的核心领域——土地利用／土地覆被变化的国际研究动向

土地利用／土地覆被变化已列为“国际地圈与生物圈计划”的核心项目，在该领域的研究工作逐渐加强。本文论述了全球环境变化中的土地利用／土地覆被变化的内涵，在全球环境变化中的作用，其主要研究内容，关键问题及研究方法，并介绍了国外有关研究项目的情况。     

Study on the dominant species of Pteropoda in East China Sea

1 INTRODUCTION Pteropoda is a group of marine pelagic mol- lusks, which belongs to Opisthobranchia of Gastro- poda. Although Pteropoda is not a major group in pelagic zooplankton in terms of abundance and number of species, their ecological characters are…     

福建沿海经济带生态地球化学调查与评价

介绍了福建省沿海经济带生态地球化学调查的主要成果。总体上该区地球化学环境质量优良,Ⅰ类和Ⅱ类土壤占全区总面积的98.44%,Ⅲ类和劣Ⅲ类土壤占全区总面积的1.56%,主要分布在中心城市内,主要污染元素为Hg、Cd、Cu;质量好、适合海水养殖的第一类沉积物样品占92.36%,质量较差的第二类沉积物样品占6.84%;地表水和浅层地下水样中大部分元素处于自然低背景含量状态,部分水样Mn、Fe超标。该区存在的生态地球化学问题有:①山地土壤pH值低,Ca、Mg缺乏;②岛屿、半岛及台地土地贫瘠;③河口平原土壤、海湾沉积物重金属元素含量高。较高的自然背景含量、强酸性的表生环境和工业污染的共同作用,造成部分农产品有害元素含量超标。     

新疆和田普阳煤矿开采技术条件分析

和田属南疆严重缺煤地区,布雅煤矿区是和田地区的主要煤产地。普阳煤矿含煤地层为侏罗系下统康苏组和侏罗系中统杨叶组。井田水文地质类型属孔隙、裂隙类简单型;工程地质类型属层状岩类复杂型;环境地质质量中等。     

An application of three-dimensional electrical resistivity imaging for the detection of an underground waste-water system

A 3D electrical resistivity imaging survey is presented in this paper. The objective was to investigate an underground wastewater system at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. Apparent resistivity data were collected along ten parallel lines using a Wenner-Schlumberger configuration; electrode cables were oriented in the x-direction with 3 m spacing. Roll-along measurements using a line spacing of 3 m were carried out covering a grid of 20 × 10 electrodes. All data sets were merged into a single data file in order to perform a 3D inversion. Two different 3D least squares algorithms, based on the robust inversion method and the smoothness-constrained technique, were used for the inversion of the apparent resistivity data. Both the horizontal and vertical extents of the anomalous zones found by inversion are displayed. The results indicate the superiority of the robust inversion method over the smoothness-constrained technique at this site. The results are in sufficient accordance with previously known information about the investigation area. The results show that 3D electrical resistivity imaging surveys, in combination with an appropriate 3D inversion method, can be highly useful for engineering and archaeological investigations as well as for environmental applications.