Links between bulk sediment particle size and magnetic grain‐size: general observations and implications for Chinese loess studies

Using a combination of particle size analysis, magnetic measurements, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy imaging, this study shows that in a wide range of depositional environments, there is a strong link between particle size classes and magnetic response, especially below the upper limit of stable single domain magnetic behaviour. Ferrimagnetic grain assemblages dominated by stable single domain magnetosomes regularly have peak susceptibility and remanence values in coarser grades than do those containing finer‐grained, viscous and superparamagnetic secondary magnetic minerals formed during pedogenesis. This effect is despite the fact that there is a one to two orders of magnitude size difference between the particle size boundaries (at 1 or 2 μm) and key domain state transitions (mostly below 0·05 μm). The implications of these results are explored using samples spanning 22 Myr of loess accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The results from the loess sections, complemented by data from low‐temperature magnetic experiments, show that there are subtle distinctions in mean ferrimagnetic grain‐size between the Pleistocene and Miocene parts of the record, thus allowing more refined rock magnetic interpretations of the fine‐grained ferrimagnetic mineral assemblages arising from the effects of weathering, pedogenesis and possibly diagenesis in the sections studied.     

Effects of topography and land use on woody plant species composition and beta diversity in an arid Trans-Himalayan landscape,Nepal

Distribution patterns of plant species are believed to be impacted by small-scale habitat heterogeneity. However, there have been few comparative studies examining how woody vegetation composition and diversity varies with aspects of different orientations in the Trans-Himalayan region at a local scale. Here, we examined the effects of incoming solar radiation on variation in woody species composition and compared the diversity between the northeast- and southwest-facing slopes in a Trans-Himalayan valley of Nepal. We also examined the implicit interactions between slope orientation and land use in determining the compositional variations between the slopes. We selected two pairs of northeast- and southwest-facing slopes where the first pair has a similar land use and differs in exposure only（Pisang site） while the other pair has clear differences in land use in addition to slope exposure（Braka site）. In each site, we sampled 72 plots（36 on each slope） in which the presence and absence of woody species, environmental variables, and disturbance were recorded. Correspondence Analysis（CA） results suggested that the woody species composition significantly varied between northeast- and southwest-facing slopes at both sites, and was significantly correlated with measured environmental variables such as radiation index, altitude, and canopy openness. In the Braka site,mean alpha diversity was significantly higher on southwest-facing slopes. In contrast, beta diversity and gamma diversity were greater on northeast-facing slopes at both sites. Our results suggest that topographic variables（e.g., radiation index） affect species composition between the slopes, likely due to their influence on small scale abiotic environmental variables. However, the effects of land use, such as livestock browsing/grazing may interact with the effects of slope exposure, effectively reducing differences in species composition within slopes but enhancing the differences in beta diversity between contrasting slopes in the Br     

Environmental geochemistry of the Guanajuato Mining District, Mexico

The Guanajuato Mining District, once one of the major silver producers in the world, has been exploited for silver and gold from low-sulfidation quartz- and calcite-rich epithermal veins since 1548. Currently, there are some 150 million tonnes of low-grade ore piles and mine-waste material (mostly tailings) piles, covering a surface area of 15 to 20 km² scattered in a 100-km² region around the city of Guanajuato. Most of the historic tailings piles were not deposited as formal tailings impoundments. They were deposited as simple valley-filling piles without concern for environmental issues. Most of those historical tailings piles are without any vegetation cover and undergo strong eolian and hydrologic erosion, besides the natural leaching during the rainy season (which can bring strong thunderstorms and flash flows). There is public concern about possible contamination of the local aquifer with heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, As and Se) derived from the mining activities.Experimental and field data from this research provide strong geochemical evidence that most of the mine-waste materials derived from the exploitation of the epithermal veins of the region have very low potential for generation of acid mine drainage due to the high carbonate/sulfide ratio (12:1), and very low potential for leaching of heavy metals into the groundwater system. Furthermore, geochemical evidence (experimental and modeled) indicates that natural processes, like metal adsorption onto Fe-oxy-hydroxides surfaces, control the mobility of dissolved metals. Stable isotope data from surface water, groundwater wells (150-m depth) and mine-water (300- to 500-m depth) define an evaporation line (δD=5.93 δ¹⁸O=13.04), indicating some deep infiltration through a highly anisotropic aquifer with both evaporated water (from the surface reservoirs) and meteoric water (not evaporated). Zinc concentrations in groundwater (0.03 to 0.5 ppm) of the alluvial aquifer, some 15 km from the mineralized zone, are generally higher than Zn concentrations in experimental tailings leachates that average less than 0.1 ppm. Groundwater travel time from the mineralized area to the alluvial valley is calculated to range from 50 to several hundred years. Thus, although there has been enough time for Zn sourced from the tailings to reach the valley, Zn concentrations in valley groundwater could be due to natural dissolution processes in the deep portions of the epithermal veins.     

基于Weibull函数和Gamma函数的环境污染与经济增长的关系

环境库兹涅茨曲线是研究环境污染与经济增长之间关系的有效工具。传统的环境库兹涅茨曲线研究大多采用线性模型或对数线性模型,其在采用模型描述关系的问题上存在一定的不足。为克服这些不足,本文采用Weibull函数和Gamma函数形式的面板数据模型对中国29个省区1989~2005年四种环境污染指标人均排放量与人均收入之间的关系予以研究。结果表明Weibull函数和Gamma函数的面板数据模型拟合效果较好,且参数具有较好的解释能力;人均废水和人均SO₂都随人均收入增加先上升后减少,在25000元附近出现结构转变点,而人均固体废弃物和人均废气随人均收入增加则呈现单调增加的变化趋势,没有出现结构转变点。     

交通性体力活动与空气污染暴露交互作用下的健康综合效应评价——以南京市为例

针对空气污染问题严重的中国,仅单纯的强调主动式干预建成环境来促进居民体力活动水平,但可能造成居民长期暴露于有害气体中,反而使得居民的健康效益受损。为此,本文以南京市为例,尝试从个体视角分析居民进行交通性体力活动所收获的健康效益。研究发现,并不是只要进行体力活动就是有益身体健康的,需要根据不同的天气状况而定。在空气质量比较好的情况下,体力活动的健康效益占主导地位,而在空气质量比较差的情况下,居民进行体力活动的健康效益不能抵消空气污染暴露造成的危害,活动越多,健康风险越高;在城市内部不同建成环境中进行体力活动的健康效应差异显著,老城区居民交通性体力活动的健康效益高于新城区和主城区,新城区空气污染暴露的健康负效益高于老城区和主城区,而老城区居民进行交通性体力活动的健康“净”效益大于新城区,主城区次之;不同交通小区的健康效应差异显著,体力活动健康“净”效益的热点集聚区是在功能集聚、交通便捷和绿地、水体景观覆盖率较高的区域,而靠近城市主干道、隧道等交通复杂的区域和工业园区是体力活动健康“净”效益的冷点集聚区。本文以期为提出更高效、合理的土地利用规划、设施布局与制定相关的交通政策提供科学依据。     

中国环境考古学研究综述

近十几年来，环境考古学在中国取得了令人瞩目的发展。回顾十几年来的研究实践可以发现，我国旧石器时代的环境考古工作，主要集中于古代人类生存环境的重建，在研究方法上经历了传统分析阶段和多元分析阶段，现在试图进入综合研究阶段。而新石器和铜石并用阶段的环境考古工作，则集中于探讨考古文化的兴衰、更替、中断和转移的环境背景。实践证明，现阶段的环境考古学需要考古学和地学各分支学科之间的紧密结合，需要基础理论上的突破与研究方法上的改进。     

Progress and opportunities for monitoring greenhouse gases fluxes in Mexican ecosystems: the MexFlux network

Understanding ecosystem processes from a functional point of view is essential to study relationships among climate variability, biogeochemical cycles, and surface-atmosphere interactions. Increasingly during the last decades, the eddy covariance (EC) method has been applied in terrestrial, marine and urban ecosystems to quantify fluxes of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO₂, H₂O) and energy (e.g., sensible and latent heat). Networks of EC systems have been established in different regions and have provided scientific information that has been used for designing environmental and adaptation policies. In this context, this article outlines the conceptual and technical framework for the establishment of an EC regional network (i.e., MexFlux) to measure the surface-atmosphere exchange of heat and greenhouse gases in Mexico. The goal of the network is to improve our understanding of how climate variability and environmental change influence the dynamics of Mexican ecosystems. First, we discuss the relevance of CO₂ and water vapor exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Second, we briefly describe the EC basis and present examples of measurements in terrestrial and urban ecosystems of Mexico. Finally, we describe the conceptual and operational goals at short-, medium-, and long-term scales for continuity of the MexFlux network.     

An environmental decision‐support system for the management of water pollution in a tidal river network

This paper is about the development of a decision‐support system for water‐pollution management and environmental planning. More specifically, the paper first presents the overall concept and the system architecture of a generic environmental decision‐support system (EDSS) and then develops an EDSS especially for analysing the tidal flow pattern and water quality of China's Pearl River Delta. The EDSS developed here employs the object‐oriented approach to design the environmental database and utilizes the system integration technology to develop the overall user‐friendly system that operates in the Windows environment. Furthermore, the system can be expanded to facilitate automated model selection and analysis. The EDSS should be of value for managing water quality of river networks with complicated flow patterns, such as that found in the Pearl River Delta.     

The Role of Aerosol in Climate Change, the Environment, and Human Health

Aerosol is an important component of the atmosphere, and its source, composition, distribution, and effects are highly complicated. Governments and scientists have given much attention to aerosol problems, and it has become a hot topic due to the important role it plays in climate change and the Earth’s environment. In this paper, 1) the importance of aerosol in climate change, the atmospheric environment, and human health is summarized; 2) the recent serious problems of aerosol pollution and the shortage of current aerosol research in China are pointed out; and 3) the necessity to enhance aerosol research in China is emphasized.     

Social cohesion and passive adaptation in relation to climate change and disease

Climate change affects biophysical processes related to the transmission of many infectious diseases, with potentially adverse consequences for the health of communities. While our knowledge of biophysical associations between meteorological factors and disease is steadily improving, our understanding of the social processes that shape adaptation to environmental perturbations lags behind. Using computational modeling methods, we explore the ways in which social cohesion can affect adaptation of disease prevention strategies when communities are exposed to different environmental scenarios that influence transmission pathways for diseases such as diarrhea. We developed an agent-based model in which household agents can choose between two behavioral strategies that offer different levels of protection against environmentally mediated disease transmission. One behavioral strategy is initially set as more protective, leading households to adopt it widely, but its efficacy is sensitive to variable weather conditions and stressors such as floods or droughts that modify the disease transmission system. The efficacy of the second strategy is initially moderate relative to the first and is insensitive to environmental changes. We examined how social cohesion (defined as average number of household social network connections) influences health outcomes when households attempt to identify an optimal strategy by copying the behaviors of socially connected neighbors who seem to have adapted successfully in the past. Our simulation experiments suggest that high-cohesion communities are able to rapidly disseminate the initially optimal behavioral strategy compared to low-cohesion communities. This rapid and pervasive change, however, decreases behavioral diversity; i.e., once a high cohesion community settles on a strategy, most or all households adopt that behavior. Following environmental changes that reduce the efficacy of the initially optimal strategy, rendering it suboptimal relative to the alternative strategy, high-cohesion communities can fail to adapt. As a result, despite faring better early in the course of computational experiments, high-cohesion communities may ultimately experience worse outcomes. In the face of uncertainty in predicting future environmental stressors due to climate change, strategies to improve effective adaptation to optimal disease prevention strategies should balance between intervention efforts that promote protective behaviors based on current scientific understanding and the need to guard against the crystallization of inflexible norms. Developing generalizable models allows us to integrate a wide range of theories and multiple datasets pertaining to the relationship between social mechanisms and adaptation, which can provide further understanding of future climate change impacts. Models such as the one we present can generate hypotheses about the mechanisms that underlie the dynamics of adaptation events and suggest specific points of measurement to assess the impact of these mechanisms. They can be incorporated as modules within predictive simulations for specific socio-ecological contexts.