Sedimentational,structural and migmatitic history of the Archaean Dharwar tectonic province,southern India

The earliest decipherable record of the Dharwar tectonic province is left in the 3.3 Ga old gneissic pebbles in some conglomerates of the Dharwar Group, in addition to the 3.3–3.4 Ga old gneisses in some areas. A sialic crust as the basement for Dharwar sedimentation is also indicated by the presence of quartz schists and quartzites throughout the Dharwar succession. Clean quartzites and orthoquartzite-carbonate association in the lower part of the Dharwar sequence point to relatively stable platform and shelf conditions. This is succeeded by sedimentation in a rapidly subsiding trough as indicated by the turbidite-volcanic rock association. Although conglomerates in some places point to an erosional surface at the contact between the gneisses and the Dharwar supracrustal rocks, extensive remobilization of the basement during the deformation of the cover rocks has largely blurred this interface. This has also resulted in accordant style and sequence of structures in the basement and cover rocks in a major part of the Dharwar tectonic province. Isoclinal folds with attendant axial planar schistosity, coaxial open folds, followed in turn by non-coaxial upright folds on axial planes striking nearly N-S, are decipherable both in the “basement” gneisses and the schistose cover rocks. The imprint of this sequence of superposed deformation is registered in some of the charnockitic terranes also, particularly in the Biligirirangan Hills, Shivasamudram and Arakalgud areas. The Closepet Granite, with alignment of feldspar megacrysts parallel to the axial planes of the latest folds in the adjacent schistose rocks, together with discrete veins of Closepet Granite affinity emplaced parallel to the axial planes of late folds in the Peninsular Gneiss enclaves, suggest that this granite is late-tectonic with reference to the last deformation in the Dharwar tectonic province. Enclaves of tonalite and migmatized amphibolite a few metres across, with a fabric athwart to and overprinted by the earliest structures traceable in the supracrustal rocks as well as in a major part of the Peninsular Gneiss, point to at least one deformation, an episode of migmatization and one metamorphic event preceding the first folding in the Dharwar sequence. This record of pre-Dharwar deformation and metamorphism is corroborated also by the pebbles of gneisses and schists in the conglomerates of the Dharwar Group. Volcanic rocks within the Dharwar succession as well as some of the components of the Peninsular Gneiss give ages of about 3.0 Ga. A still younger age of about 2.6 Ga is recorded in some volcanic rocks of the Dharwar sequence, a part of the Peninsular Gneiss, Closepet Granite and some charnockites. These, together with the 3.3 Ga old gneisses and 3.4 Ga old ages of zircons in some charnockites, furnish evidence for three major thermal events during the 700 million year history of the Archaean Dharwar tectonic province.     

Contemporary and palaeo channel patterns and the late quaternary stratigraphy of Cooper Creek,Southwest Queensland,Australia

Braided and anastomosing channels make up two major coexistent networks in the mud-dominated fluvial system of Cooper Creek, Southwest Queensland. The floodplain is characterized by a system of mud braids operative when floods inundate the whole alluvial surface. Anastomosing channels are inset deeper into the floodplain, operate at modern flows, and transport a traction load of sand. Shallow stratigraphic data show that an underlying sand sheet is unrelated to surface channel patterns and was formed by a system of meandering streams. According to preliminary dates based on thermoluminescence, the change from a sand- to mud-dominated fluvial regime took place between 50 000 and 200 000 years B.P., and probably reflects increasing aridity.     

The Evolutionary History of Ore-forming Processes of Metallic Ore Deposits in Northern Guangxi

The northern Guangxi region is an important rare metal, rare earth metal and polymetallic metallogenic province. In the region there exist five metallogenic series and two metallogenic subseries, whose metallogenesis shows features of polycyclic spiral evolution throughout the geological history. As far as various cycles are concerned, mantle-derived ore substances were reduced while crust-derived ore substances increased from early to late timesfin the whole geological evolutionary history, mantle-derived substances decreased gradually while crust-derived ones increased. Meanwhile ore element associations became more and more varied. In terms of space, mineralization migrated from the old basement outwards, i.e. from west to east during the Precambrian, and from north to south during the Phanerozoic, and again from east to west during the Yanshanian.     

我国气象科技期刊发展与作用

在对历史资料研究的基础上，对气象科技期刊的发展历程与作用进行了回顾及评述，并对目前气象科技期刊的现状及存在的问题做了简要分析。     

高烈度区连续梁桥的减震设计方法研究

本文以高烈度区的某三跨连续梁桥为例，分别采用基础隔震和消能减震两种措施进行结构的减震分析；针对隔震结构减震效果好但主梁位移过大的特点，提出了在采用铅芯橡胶隔震支座的同时设置粘滞阻尼器的减震方案，其非线性时程分析结果表明，该方案能有效地降低结构的地震反应，可供工程实践参考。     

我国金属矿产成矿区带地球化学普查发展历史

二十世纪60～70年代是我国金属矿产成矿区带地球化学普查发展的初期阶段.1976年,成矿区带地球化学普查规划制订,我国金属矿产成矿区带地球化学普查进入大规模普查实施的第一阶段;随着一系列新技术规定的颁布执行,1992年开始进入第二阶段的成矿区带地球化学异常详细检查评价与综合研究;1993年以后,成矿区带地球化学普查与详查仍然以寻找金属矿产为主要任务,同时,成矿区带地球化学普查成果开始向应用地球化学方向发展,这标志着第三个阶段的开始,即应用成矿区带地球化学普查成果进行生态环境地球化学与人类健康、综合农林业地球化学研究和开发.     

From pastoralism to tourism: The historical impact of changing land use practices in Namaqualand

We use the concept of ecological revolutions to explain the environmental history of Namaqualand, from the advent of pastoralism 2000 years BP, to colonial settlement in the 18th century and finally to the recent trend of de-agrarianization from the middle of the 20th century. Early traveller's records and census data are used to assess changes in the human population of the region and how this affected wildlife and agricultural practices. Pre-colonial indigenous hunter-gatherer (Bushmen) and pastoralist (Khoekhoen) populations in Namaqualand consisted of probably no more than a few thousand individuals. Over the next three centuries, the general population rose steadily to more than 65,000 people but has fallen in recent years. Wildlife appears not to have been abundant in Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes and large springbok ‘treks’ were probably a rare event. The number of domestic livestock in Namaqualand peaked in 1957 largely as a result of an increase in the number of sheep which have fallen steadily since this time. Crop production was absent from Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes but increased to cover nearly 30,000 ha in the early 1970s. The area under cultivation has declined by nearly two thirds since this time largely as a result of the large-scale abandonment of wheat farming in marginal environments. We touch on differences between the communal areas and private farms, particularly in terms of their human populations and agricultural impact on the land. Repeat landscape photographs support our main findings which suggest that both rocky, upland habitats and rivers have not been transformed substantially by land use practices in Namaqualand. Instead, sandy pediments have borne the brunt of human impacts in the region. Finally, we highlight the beginning of a new ecological revolution in Namaqualand due to changes in the global and national political economy.     

A new approach of selecting real input ground motions for seismic design: The most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions

This paper presents a new way of selecting real input ground motions for seismic design and analysis of structures based on a comprehensive method for estimating the damage potential of ground motions, which takes into consideration of various ground motion parameters and structural seismic damage criteria in terms of strength, deformation, hysteretic energy and dual damage of Park & Ang damage index. The proposed comprehensive method fully involves the effects of the intensity, frequency content and duration of ground motions and the dynamic characteristics of structures. Then, the concept of the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motion is introduced. Based on the concept, the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions for rock, stiff soil, medium soil and soft soil site conditions are selected in terms of three typical period ranges of structures. The selected real strong motion records are suitable for seismic analysis of important structures whose failure or collapse will be avoided at a higher level of confidence during the strong earthquake, as they can cause the greatest damage to structures and thereby result in the highest damage potential from an extended real ground motion database for a given site. In addition, this paper also presents the real input design ground motions with medium damage potential, which can be used for the seismic analysis of structures located at the area with low and moderate seismicity. The most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions are verified by analysing the seismic response of structures. It is concluded that the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motion approach can select the real ground motions that can result in the highest damage potential for a given structure and site condition, and the real ground motions can be mainly used for structures whose failure or collapse will be avoided at a higher level of confidence during the strong earthquake. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.