MODELING OF THE DIVERSION CHANNEL CLOSURE FOR THE THIRD STAGE OF THE THREE GORGES PROJECT

The closure of third stage diversion channel for the Three Gorges Dam is characterized by large closure discharge, large drop in water surface, and high gap velocity. 1D and 2D flow mathematical models were used in this paper to simulate the hydraulic conditions during the closure. The variation of discharge in the diversion channel and the drops in water surface shared by the upstream and downstream cofferdams were computed using the ID model, and the detailed hydraulic patterns in the diversion channel were simulated using the 2D model. The computed results indicate that the designed closure scheme for discharge of 9,010 m^3/s was feasible for construction, while the designed closure scheme for discharge of 12,200 m^3/s was inapplicable.     

FLOW FIELD IN SCOURED ZONE OF CHANNEL CONTRACTIONS

Experiments were conducted in a laboratory flume to measure the two-dimensional turbulent flow field in the scoured zone of channel contractions under a clear-water scour condition. The Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used to detect the flow field at different vertical lines along the centerline of uncontracted (main channel) and contracted zones of the channel. The distributions of time-averaged velocity components, turbulent intensity, turbulent kinetic energy, and Reynolds stresses are presented in nondimensional graphical form. The bed shear stresses are computed from the measured Reynolds stresses being in threshold condition within the zone of contraction where bed was scoured. The data presented in this paper would be useful to the investigators for the development of kinematic flow model and morphological model of scour at a channel or river contraction.     

黄渤海大风的客观相似预报

以MICAPS资料为基础，海平面气压资料为指标，设计了一种通过计算相似系数查找相似形势，制作黄、渤海地区24h大风的客观预报方法，并建立了包括109个大风历史个例资料库。试验结果表明，风速预报的平均误差在20％以下，满足大风预报业务的要求。相似法具有不需依赖国外资料及计算简单迅速的特点，它不仅是现在日常业务的一个补充，更重要的是，它是一种可以在战争等非常情况下使用的预报方法。     

A detailed receiver function image of the sedimentary structure in the Bohai Bay Basin

If the site at which receiver functions are constructed is filled by sediments, then the waveforms from these receiver functions are dominantly controlled by the sedimentary structures within the first few seconds after the direct P arrival. Based on this observation, waveform data collected at 44 temporary seismic stations have been used to image the sedimentary structure of the Bohai Bay Basin, a major continental petroliferous basin in Eastern China. An adapted hybrid global waveform inversion method was applied to the receiver functions to extract structural information beneath each of the stations. The derived S-velocity structure provides for the first time, a basin-scale seismic image of detailed sedimentary stratification. The sedimentary cover of the basin is about 2-12 km thick, consisting of Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic strata from top to bottom. The structural features presented in the S-velocity image coincide quite well with the depression-uplift type of tectonic system in the Bohai Bay Basin. The reconstructed morphology of the sedimentary layers provides seismological evidence for the two-stage evolution of the intracontinental basin that were caused by an intensive tectonic regime transition in late Mesozoic immediately following the lithospheric reforming of the Eastern China continent.     

Channel geometry of mountain streams in New Zealand

A dataset of 21 study reaches in the Porter and Kowai rivers (eastern side of the South Island), and 13 study reaches in Camp Creek and adjacent catchments (western side of the South Island) was used to examine downstream hydraulic geometry of mountain streams in New Zealand. Streams in the eastern and western regions both exhibit well-developed downstream hydraulic geometry, as indicated by strong correlations between channel top width, bankfull depth, mean velocity, and bankfull discharge. Exponents for the hydraulic geometry relations are similar to average values for rivers worldwide. Factors such as colluvial sediment input to the channels, colluvial processes along the channels, tectonic uplift, and discontinuous bedrock exposure along the channels might be expected to complicate adjustment of channel geometry to downstream increases in discharge. The presence of well-developed downstream hydraulic geometry relations despite these complicating factors is interpreted to indicate that the ratio of hydraulic driving forces to substrate resisting forces is sufficiently large to permit channel adjustment to relatively frequent discharges.     

HOLOCENE CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN THE DENMARK STRAIT REGION - A LAND-SEA CORRELATION OF NEW AND EXISTING CLIMATE PROXY RECORDS

ABSTRACT. Two well dated Holocene sediment records bordering the Denmark Strait region have been used to reconstruct past climate variability. The content of biogenic silica, classic and organic material and moss in a lacustrine record from Lake N14 has been used to infer past variability in precipitation and temperature in southern Greenland. Sedimentologic and petrologic composition of sand in a shelf sediment record from the Djúpáll trough is used to infer past variability in the northwestern storm activity on northwestern Iceland, which probably also affected the inflow of polar waters from the East Greenland Current. Our evaluation of these records with a number of previous studies from the region documents Holocene climatic optimum conditions peaking between 8000 and 6500 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Mid-Holocene climate deterioration set in around 5000 cal yr BP followed by a further marked setback around 3500 cal yr BP. A stacking of climate variability on a centennial timescale from previous studies in the area shows a fairly good correspondence to the timing of marked cold and warm events as evidenced from the Lake N14 and the Djúpáll trough records. Cooler periods are explained as the response to marked incursions of ice-laden polar water from the Arctic Ocean to the Denmark Strait region. Cool northerly and northwesterly winds along the East Greenland coast in relation to frequent strong atmospheric low pressure in the Barents Sea, coupled with strong high pressure over Greenland, would have favoured southward export of polar waters. A comparison with the proxy records of nuclide production (¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be) suggests that solar activity may have had some influence on the atmospheric pressure distribution in the Denmark Strait region.     

Rivers turned to rock: Late Quaternary alluvial induration influencing the behaviour and morphology of an anabranching river in the Australian monsoon tropics

Late Quaternary alluvial induration has greatly influenced contemporary channel morphology on the anabranching Gilbert River in the monsoon tropics of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Gilbert, one of a number of rivers in this region, has contributed to an extensive system of coalescing low-gradient and partly indurated riverine plains. Extensive channel sands were deposited by enhanced flow conditions during marine oxygen isotope (OI) Stage 5. Subsequent flow declined, probably associated with increased aridity, however, enhanced runoff recurred again in OI Stages 4–3 (65–50 ka). Aridity then capped these plains with 4–7 m of mud. A widespread network of sandy distributary channels was incised into this muddy surface from sometime after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid Holocene during a fluvial episode more active than the present but less so than those of OI Stages 5 and 3. This network is still partly active but with channel avulsion and abandonment now occurring largely proximal to the main Gilbert flow path.A tropical climate and reactive catchment lithology have enhanced chemical weathering and lithification of alluvium along the river resulting in the formation of small rapids, waterfalls and inset gorges, features characteristic more of bedrock than alluvial systems. Thermoluminescence (TL) and comparative optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of the sediments are presented along with U/Th ages of pedogenic calcrete and Fe/Mn oxyhydroxide/ oxide accumulations. They show that calcrete precipitated during the Late Quaternary at times similar to those that favoured ferricrete formation, possibly because of an alternating wet–dry climate. Intense chemical alteration of the alluvium leading to induration appears to have prevailed for much of the Late Quaternary but, probably due to exceptional dryness, not during the LGM. The result has been restricted channel migration and a reduced capacity for the channel to adjust and accommodate sudden changes in bedload. Consequent avulsions have caused local stream powers to increase by an order of magnitude, inducing knickpoint erosion, local incision and the sudden influx of additional bedload that has triggered further avulsions. The Gilbert River, while less energetic than its Pleistocene ancestors, is clearly an avulsive system, and emphasizes the importance in some tropical rivers of alluvial induration for reinforcing the banks, generating nickpoints, reworking sediment and thereby developing and maintaining an indurated and anabranching river style.     

Structure of Palaeogene sediments in east Ellesmere Island: Constraints on Eurekan tectonic evolution and implications for the Nares Strait problem

The “Nares Strait problem” represents a debate about the existence and magnitude of left-lateral movements along the proposed Wegener Fault within this seaway. Study of Palaeogene Eurekan tectonics at its shorelines could shed light on the kinematics of this fault. Palaeogene (Late Paleocene to Early Eocene) sediments are exposed at the northeastern coast of Ellesmere Island in the Judge Daly Promontory. They are preserved as elongate SW–NE striking fault-bounded basins cutting folded Early Paleozoic strata. The structures of the Palaeogene exposures are characterized by broad open synclines cut and displaced by steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Their fold axes strike NE–SW at an acute angle to the border faults indicating left-lateral transpression. Weak deformation in the interior of the outliers contrasts with intense shearing and fracturing adjacent to border faults. The degree of deformation of the Palaeogene strata varies markedly between the northwestern and southeastern border faults with the first being more intense. Structural geometry, orientation of subordinate folds and faults, the kinematics of faults, and fault-slip data suggest a multiple stage structural evolution during the Palaeogene Eurekan deformation: (1) The fault pattern on Judge Daly Promontory is result of left-lateral strike-slip faulting starting in Mid to Late Paleocene times. The Palaeogene Judge Daly basin formed in transtensional segments by pull-apart mechanism. Transpression during progressive strike-slip shearing gave rise to open folding of the Palaeogene deposits. (2) The faults were reactivated during SE-directed thrust tectonics in Mid Eocene times (chron 21). A strike-slip component during thrusting on the reactivated faults depends on the steepness of the fault segments and on their obliquity to the regional stress axes.Strike-slip displacement was partitioned to a number of sub-parallel faults on-shore and off-shore. Hence, large-scale lateral movements in the sum of 80–100 km or more could have been accommodated by a set of faults, each with displacements in the order of 10–30 km. The Wegener Fault as discrete plate boundary in Nares Strait is replaced by a bundle of faults located mainly onshore on the Judge Daly Promontory.     

OCEANOGRAPHY & MARINE GEOLOGY

正20141900Lan Xianhong(Key Laboratory of Marine Hydrocarbon Resources and Environmental Geology,Ministry of Land and Resources,Qingdao 266071,China);Zhang Zhixun Geochemical Characteristics of Trace Elements of Sediments from Drillhole SFK-1     

Tectono-sedimentary control on modern sand deposition on the forebulge of the Western Taiwan Foreland Basin

Whether the formation of the isolated sand body deposition in the forebulge area of a foreland basin system is structure- or deposition-controlled has puzzled geologists for decades, although sand body deposition is generally believed to be indicative of the position of the flexural forebulge in a foreland basin. The formation of a modern sand body in the forebulge area is thus examined by multi-scale geophysical observations based on combined reflection seismic profiles and compressed high-intensity radar pulse (CHIRP) profiles across the sand deposition along the forebulge of the Western Taiwan Foreland Basin (WTFB), which is a Late Miocene-present foreland basin in the overfilled stage. These profiles suggest that the accumulation of the sand deposits along the forebulge of the WTFB is not directly associated with forebulge faultings. The relief map of the forebulge deposit substratum shows a northwestward tilting slope, and the isopach of the forebulge sand body indicates that a large part of the sand body accumulated along the axis of the Taiwan Strait and the subdued forebulge of the WTFB. The difference between the prevailing directions of tidal currents between the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea reflects the probable sedimentary influence of the cratonward migrating fold-thrust belt within a foreland shelf. We suggest that the formation and distribution of the sand deposits along the forebulge of the WTFB are generally controlled not only by the transverse downslope sedimentation but also longitudinal hydrodynamic processes at distal parts of the foreland basin. Our explanation provides a plausible tectono-sedimentary cause of the sand body deposition in the forebulge area in an overfilled foreland basin. The sedimentary dynamics of the sand body in the Taiwan Strait may be applicable for understanding the formation of isolated sand bodies in the distal part of the Cretaceous Western Interior Foreland Basin.