双通道能见度自动测量仪研究

从透射和散射的原理出发,推导了基于红外测量的双通道能见度仪的工程测量方程,比较了单通道和双通道能见度测量仪的性能,结果表明,双通道能见度测量仪具有精度高、性能稳定、使用可靠、维护量小的特点。     

泥盆系弗拉阶/法门阶之交事件沉积和海平面变化

在华南板块南部被动大陆边缘和西伯利亚板块南部活动大陆边缘弗拉阶/法门阶之交识别出7种物理事件相: 细粒钙屑浊积岩相、钙质角砾岩相、软变形灰岩相、含微球粒的粒泥灰岩相、凝灰质砾岩相、黑色页岩相和火山喷溢相.它们在法门阶下Palmatolepis triangularis带底部和/或上Palmatolepis rhenana带底部具有广泛的分布, 可能是两次陨击事件记录, 是良好的高分辨率年代地层对比标志.弗拉期/法门期之交的海平面变化不具有同步性和一致性, 可分辨出2种型式(阶跃型和渐进型) 和5种状态(弗拉期最末期下降→法门期最初期上升、弗拉期最末期上升→法门期最初期下降、弗拉期最末期上升→法门期最初期上升、弗拉期最末期下降→法门期最初期下降、弗拉期最末期与法门期最初期海平面变化不明显).弗拉阶/法门阶之交生物的阶梯状绝灭可能与从上Palmatolepis rhenana带底部至Palmatolepis crepida带不均匀分布的6次陨击事件密切相关.      

Fractal Analysis of the Complexity of United States Coastlines

Coastlines have long been used as a principal example of a natural feature that exhibits fractal structure. With the advent of large digitized databases, it has become possible to examine in detail large regions of coast and to examine differences in complexity, as measured by the fractal dimension, among regions. In this study, we have determined the fractal dimension of the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of the conterminous United States. The traditional divider method was used in obtaining the fractal dimension of each coastline arc from the NOAA Medium-Resolution Shoreline Data Set. On average, the Atlantic coast has much higher fractal dimension than the Pacific coast. The results also indicate that the complexity of the Atlantic coast increases toward low latitudes. These results have implications for the interpretation of species distributions and diversity patterns along the coast and for the understanding of the dynamics of biotic recovery from mass extinctions.     

The standard theory of extinction and the spectrum of stars with very little reddening

This paper examines the relationship between spectra of stars of same spectral type with extremely low reddenings. According to the standard theory, the relationship between the spectrum of stars with same spectral type and small, but different reddenings should be different in the optical and in the UV. This difference is not observed: the ratio of the spectra of two stars in directions where the reddening is large enough to be detected and low enough not to give a noticeable 2200 Å bump is an exponential of 1/λ from the near-infrared to the far-UV. This result is in conformity with the ideas introduced in preceding papers: the exponential optical extinction extends to the UV, and the spectrum of stars with enough reddening is contaminated by light scattered at close angular distance from the stars. An application will be the determination of the spectrum of a non-reddened star from the spectrum of a star of same spectral type with little reddening.     

下扬子PTB界线深水相区粘土岩的火山成因研究及其对LPME的指示意义

全球,尤其是特提斯域二叠—三叠纪之交(PTB)剖面中普遍发育火山成因的粘土岩,对理解晚二叠世末生物大灭绝(LPME)的触发机制及相关基础地质问题具有重要意义。本文报道了在华南下扬子区新发现两条深水PTB剖面(皖南牛山和蔡村)的粘土岩工作,包括岩石学、矿物学和全岩地球化学等,填补了区域研究空白。研究结果发现,粘土岩主要由伊利石等粘土矿物,以及石英、岩浆锆石、长石等斑晶矿物组成。在地球化学上具有高K_2O、低Na_2O、相对富集大离子亲石元素(LILE)、相对亏损高场强元素(HFSE)等特征。据此,认为这些粘土岩为火山成因的钾质斑脱岩,其原岩可能为中酸性流纹英安岩,具有弧岩浆作用的源区背景。对比华南其他地区已发现的PTB界线粘土岩,发现它们成因类似,可能来源于古特提斯洋周缘陆陆碰撞,抑或是泛大洋俯冲潘吉亚大陆东缘(包括华南板块)所导致的长英质火山岩浆喷发,且具有多期多源性特点。PTB时期全球活跃的火山岩浆活动(包括镁铁质火山作用和华南地区火山灰所指征的长英质火山作用)可能是导致LPME的主要原因。     

Is the spring water responsible for the fossilization of faunal remains at Florisbad, South Africa?

It is has been suggested that faunal remains at Florisbad were fossilized in a spring context due to the mineralized spring water. However, the environment conducive to the precipitation of CaCO₃ and other authigenic minerals was formed largely through the salinization of the organic layers and clay, and the mineralization of the groundwater. Factors contributing to this favorable environment include: CaCO₃ saturation, pH, the decomposition of halophytes, Eh, rainfall, biomineralization, and aeolian deposition. With the exception of pH, none of the above factors feature in a spring context, with evidence suggesting that the spring water may historically never have carried sufficient minerals for fossilization, and that contact with the spring water may actually have resulted in the demineralization of previously fossilized material. In light of this evidence, it is concluded that the fossilization of faunal remains at Florisbad took place in a sedimentary organic matter and clay environment and could not have taken place in the spring vents where there is an undersaturation of Ca.     

Integrated “plume winter” scenario for the double-phased extinction during the Paleozoic–Mesozoic transition: The G-LB and P-TB events from a Panthalassan perspective

The event across the Paleozoic–Mesozoic transition involved the greatest mass extinction in history together with other unique geologic phenomena of global context, such as the onset of Pangean rifting and the development of superanoxia. The detailed stratigraphic analyses on the Permo-Triassic sedimentary rocks documented a two-stepped nature both of the extinction and relevant global environmental changes at the Guadalupian–Lopingian (Middle and Upper Permian) boundary (G-LB, ca. 260 Ma) and at the Permo-Triassic boundary (P-TB, ca. 252 Ma), suggesting two independent triggers for the global catastrophe. Despite the entire loss of the Permian–Triassic ocean floors by successive subduction, some fragments of mid-oceanic rocks were accreted to and preserved along active continental margins. These provide particularly important dataset for deciphering the Permo-Triassic paleo-environments of the extensive superocean Panthalassa that occupied nearly two thirds of the Earth’s surface. The accreted deep-sea pelagic cherts recorded the double-phased remarkable faunal reorganization in radiolarians (major marine plankton in the Paleozoic) both across the G-LB and the P-TB, and the prolonged deep-sea anoxia (superanoxia) from the Late Permian to early Middle Triassic with a peak around the P-TB. In contrast, the accreted mid-oceanic paleo-atoll carbonates deposited on seamounts recorded clear double-phased changes of fusuline (representative Late Paleozoic shallow marine benthos) diversity and of negative shift of stable carbon isotope ratio at the G-LB and the P-TB, in addition to the Paleozoic minimum in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratio in the Capitanian (Late Guadalupian) and the paleomagnetic Illawarra Reversal in the late Guadalupian. These bio-, chemo-, and magneto-stratigraphical signatures are concordant with those reported from the coeval shallow marine shelf sequences around Pangea. The mid-oceanic, deep- and shallow-water Permian records indicate that significant changes have appeared twice in the second half of the Permian in a global extent. It is emphasized here that everything geologically unusual started in the Late Guadalupian; i.e., (1) the first mass extinction, (2) onset of the superanoxia, (3) sea-level drop down to the Phanerozoic minimum, (4) onset of volatile fluctuation in carbon isotope ratio, 5) ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of the Paleozoic minimum, (6) extensive felsic alkaline volcanism, and (7) Illawarra Reversal.The felsic alkaline volcanism and the concurrent formation of several large igneous provinces (LIPs) in the eastern Pangea suggest that the Permian biosphere was involved in severe volcanic hazards twice at the G-LB and the P-TB. This episodic magmatism was likely related to the activity of a mantle superplume that initially rifted Pangea. The supercontinent-dividing superplume branched into several secondary plumes in the mantle transition zone (410–660 km deep) beneath Pangea. These secondary plumes induced the decompressional melting of mantle peridotite and pre-existing Pangean crust to form several LIPs that likely caused a “plume winter” with global cooling by dust/aerosol screens in the stratosphere, gas poisoning, acid rain damage to surface vegetation etc. After the main eruption of plume-derived flood basalt, global warming (plume summer) took over cooling, delayed the recovery of biodiversity, and intensified the ocean stratification. It was repeated twice at the G-LB and P-TB.A unique geomagnetic episode called the Illawarra Reversal around the Wordian–Capitanian boundary (ca. 265 Ma) recorded the appearance of a large instability in the geomagnetic dipole in the Earth’s outer core. This rapid change was triggered likely by the episodic fall-down of a cold megalith (subducted oceanic slabs) from the upper mantle to the D″ layer above the 2900 km-deep core-mantle boundary, in tight association with the launching of a mantle superplume. The initial changes in the surface environment in the Capitanian, i.e., the Kamura cooling event and the first biodiversity decline, were probably led by the weakened geomagnetic intensity due to unstable dipole of geodynamo. Under the low geomagnetic intensity, the flux of galactic cosmic radiation increased to cause extensive cloud coverage over the planet. The resultant high albedo likely drove the Kamura cooling event that also triggered the unusually high productivity in the superocean and also the expansion of O₂ minimum zone to start the superanoxia.The “plume winter” scenario is integrated here to explain the “triple-double” during the Paleozoic–Mesozoic transition interval, i.e., double-phased cause, process, and consequence of the greatest global catastrophe in the Phanerozoic, in terms of mantle superplume activity that involved the whole Earth from the core to the surface biosphere.     

Middle Permian organic carbon isotope stratigraphy and the origin of the Kamura Event

Large carbon cycle perturbations associated with the Middle Permian (Capitanian) mass extinction have been widely reported, but their causes and timing are still in dispute. Low resolution carbon isotope records prior to this event also limit the construction of a Middle Permian chemostratigraphic framework and global or local stratigraphic correlation, and hence limit our understanding of carbon cycle and environmental changes. To investigate these issues, we analyzed the ¹³C_org values from the Middle Permian chert-mudstone sequence (Gufeng Formation) in the Lower Yangtze deep-water basin (South China) and compared them with published records to build a chemostratigraphic scheme and discuss the underlying environmental events. The records show increased δ¹³C_org values from late Kungurian to early Guadalupian, followed by a decrease to the late Wordian/early Capitanian. The early-mid Capitanian was characterized by elevated δ¹³C_org values suggesting the presence of the “Kamura Event”: an interval of heavy positive values seen in the δ¹³C_carb record. We propose that these heavy Capitanian δ¹³C values may be a response to a marked decline in chemical weathering rates on Pangea and associated reduction in carbonate burial, which we show using a biogeochemical model. The subsequent negative δ¹³C excursion seen in some carbonate records, especially in shallower-water sections (and in a muted expression in organic carbon) coincide with the Capitanian mass extinction may be caused by the input of isotopically-light carbon sourced from the terrestrial decomposition of organic matter.