北京石花洞地质遗迹环境和地质灾害问题

通过北京石花洞地质遗迹保护区实地调查和有关资料分析,提出了保护区的环境问题和治理建议。     

贵州绥阳阴河洞洞穴壶穴的演化过程

通过对贵州绥阳寒武系中上统娄山关组中发育洞穴之阴河洞地下河河床基岩面上49个壶穴进行详细测量和统计学定量分析,对其形态特征及空间分布进行描述,并探讨其形成演化过程和影响因素。主要结论为：阴河洞壶穴的整体形态以极浅的倒“Ω”型和“锅”型壶穴为主,并且壶穴发育相对较年轻;壶穴长短轴具有一定的相关性,但平均口径与深度的相关性较差,说明壶穴在发育的过程在洪水期以口径增大为主,枯水期以溶蚀深度加深为主,且表现为地下河河床下切的形式之一;从发育阶段看,阴河洞壶穴的形成演化主要分为3个阶段：“碟型”壶穴形成阶段;倒“Ω”型壶穴发育阶段;“锅”型壶穴发育阶段,其形成主要受水动力条件、构造条件、推移质、基岩性质和溶蚀作用等因素耦合的作用;洞穴壶穴主要是流水的侵—溶蚀作用形成的,并非冰川作用的结果,与“冰臼”的发育存在本质上的区别。     

Formation of mud clast breccias and the process of sedimentary autobrecciation in the hominin-bearing (Homo naledi) Rising Star Cave system,South Africa

Unconsolidated mud clast breccia facies in the hominin-bearing (Homo naledi) Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, are interpreted to have formed through a process termed sedimentary autobrecciation in this study. This process, by which most of the angular mud clast breccia deposits are thought to have formed autochthonously to para-autochthonously via a combination of erosion, desiccation, diagenesis and microbial alteration of laminated mud deposits, is thought to have taken place under relatively dry (i.e. non-flooded) conditions inside the cave. Subsequently, gravitational slumping and collapse was the dominant mechanism that produced the mud clast breccia deposits, which commonly accumulate into debris aprons. The mud clast breccia is typically associated with (micro) mammal fossils and is a common facies throughout the cave system, occurring in lithified and unlithified form. This facies has not been described from other cave localities in the Cradle of Humankind. Additionally, sedimentary autobrecciation took place during the deposition of some of the fossils within the Rising Star Cave, including the abundant Homo naledi skeletal remains found in the Dinaledi Subsystem. Reworking of the mud clast breccia deposits occurs in some chambers as they slump towards floor drains, resulting in the repositioning of fossils embedded in the breccias as evidenced by cross-cutting manganese staining lines on some Homo naledi fossil remains. The formation of the unlithified mud clast breccia deposits is a slow process, with first order formation rates estimated to be ca 8 × 10⁻⁴ mm year⁻¹. The slow formation of the unlithified mud clast breccia facies sediments and lack of laminated mud facies within these deposits, indicates that conditions in the Dinaledi Chamber were probably stable and dry for at least the last ca 300 ka, meaning that this study excludes Homo naledi being actively transported by fluvial mechanisms during the time their remains entered the cave.     

Morphometry and distribution of isolated caves as a guide for phreatic and confined paleohydrological conditions

Isolated caves are a special cave type common in most karst terrains, formed by prolonged slow water flow where aggressivity is locally boosted. The morphometry and distribution of isolated caves are used here to reconstruct the paleohydrology of a karstic mountain range. Within a homogenous karstic rock sequence, two main types of isolated caves are distinguished, and each is associated with a special hydrogeologic setting: maze caves form by rising water in the confined zone of the aquifer, under the Mt. Scopus Group (Israel) confinement, while chamber caves are formed in phreatic conditions, apparently by lateral flow mixing with a vadose input from above.     

Paleoflood events recorded by speleothems in caves

Speleothems are usually composed of thin layers of calcite (or aragonite). However, cemented detrital materials interlayered between laminae of speleothemic carbonate have been also observed in many caves. Flowstones comprising discontinuous carbonate layers form due to flowing water films, while flood events introduce fluviokarstic sediments in caves that, on occasion, are recorded as clayey layers inside flowstones and stalagmites. This record provides a potential means of understanding the frequency of palaeofloods using cave records. In this work, we investigate the origin of this type of detrital deposit in El Soplao Cave (Northern Spain). The age of the lowest aragonite layer of a flowstone reveals that the earliest flood period occurred before 500 ka, though most of the flowstone formed between 422 +69/‐43 ka and 400 +66/‐42 ka. This suggests that the cave was periodically affected by palaeoflood events that introduced detrital sediments from the surface as a result of occasional extreme rainfall events, especially at around 400 ka. The mineralogical data enable an evolutionary model for this flowstone to be generated based on the alternation of flood events with laminar flows and carbonate layers precipitation that can be extrapolated to other caves in which detrital sediments inside speleothems have been found. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

本溪水洞洞穴空气CO2浓度与温、湿度的空间分布和昼夜变化特征

洞穴空气CO2浓度是影响洞穴次生化学沉积物沉积和溶蚀的重要因素之一。基于对本溪水洞洞穴空气CO2浓度、温度和湿度连续两个昼夜的系统观测结果,结合洞外大气CO2浓度、温度和湿度数据,初步分析了本溪水洞洞穴空气CO2浓度空间分布特征和昼夜变化规律：（1）洞穴空气CO2浓度自洞口开始快速增高至一定深度后趋于稳定,这个快速升高的距离与不同季节洞穴交换能力有关,秋季大约是370 m。洞穴CO2浓度稳定区的空间差异可能主要与洞穴结构和裂隙发育情况有关,在洞体变小的倚天长剑景点附近出现峰值,而在洞体变大的石瀑布景点和游客无法进入的源头区出现低谷。（2）观测期间,洞穴空气CO2浓度总体上呈递降趋势,基本上与游客数量有关。（3）在洞穴空气CO2浓度急剧上升的近洞口段,洞穴空气CO2浓度每个昼夜出现两个峰值,分别对应正午12时和午夜前后。本溪水洞洞穴空气CO2浓度的这种变化特点,受游客与工作人员的呼吸排放和洞穴与大气间的气体交换作用的双重影响。     

辽宁本溪晶花洞碳酸钙沉积物颜色多样性分析

辽宁本溪晶花洞发育于中奥陶统马家沟组(O2m)中厚层白云质灰岩中,洞内碳酸钙沉积物具有白色、黄色、肉红色、浅蓝色和黑褐色等多种原生色彩。在洞穴考察的基础上,通过对围岩和洞穴碳酸钙沉积物X荧光分析以及显微镜薄片鉴定,认为洞穴中白色的次生化学沉积物主要由质纯的CaCO3形成;浅蓝色、黑褐色的形成则多由沉积物含有铜、锶和锰、锌所致;而黄色、红色则为不同环境下铁、锰等变价元素所产生。      

Coupled ESR and U-series dating of early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus faunas at Mohui and Sanhe Caves,Guangxi, southern China

Several caves of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China, have delivered Gigantopithecus blacki remains, an extinct Pleistocene giant ape, in association with abundant mammalian faunas. To determine their geological ages, fossil teeth from Mohui and Sanhe Caves were dated using the coupled ESR/U-series method. The teeth from Mohui Cave gave age estimates of 1.69 ± 0.22 Ma and 1.29 ± 0.11 Ma. The Sanhe Cave samples had age estimates ranging from 910 ± 200 ka to 600 ± 150 ka with error weighted mean ages of 890 ± 130 ka and 720 ± 90 ka for the layers 5 and 4, respectively. Our results and previous paleomagnestism data place the Gigantopithecus fauna at Mohui Cave between Olduvai and Jaramillo subchrons and suggest that it was coeval with Chuifeng, Longgupo and Liucheng assemblages. The Sanhe fauna is younger, of late early Pleistocene age, and can be dated to the period between Jaramillo subchron and B/M boundary.     

中晚全新世湘西莲花洞石笋旋回沉积速率变化及其古气候意义

石笋旋回沉积速率是按照石笋沉积旋回测年得到的沉积速率,是石笋沉积过程的重要参数和反演古气候变化的有效代用指标。旋回沉积速率的波动可能反应了地表温度和降雨量的变化,与夏季风强度存在关联。文章以湖南湘西莲花洞LH2石笋为材料,利用42个230Th年龄获得的石笋旋回沉积速率序列重建了8.6 ka BP以来湖南湘西地区温度和降雨雨量的变化历史: 8.6-4.2 ka BP期间,气候以高温多雨为特征,夏季风强,石笋生长率高,但气候并不稳定,存在一系列千年-百年尺度的波动;4.2-0.05 ka BP期间,气候整体偏冷干,旋回沉积速率偏低。总体上,在轨道尺度上,LH2石笋的旋回沉积速率与该石笋的δ18O值之间存在负相关关系。旋回沉积速率的重复性检验证明了旋回沉积速率古气候记录的有效性。石笋旋回沉积速率变化主要受北半球夏季太阳辐射量的控制和ITCZ的直接影响,在百年尺度上,旋回沉积速率的波动可能与中晚全新世的弱季风事件存在关联。      

Interpretation of epikarstic cave drip water recession curves: a case study from Velika Pasica Cave,central Slovenia

ABSTRACT

Recession curves are widely used in hydrological studies and projects, such as in rivers, streams or springs. However, no cave drip water has been analysed with recession curves. In this paper, four cave drips were monitored in the Velika Pasica Cave, in order to discover the water flow and storage properties of the epikarst. Various methods were applied in the recession analysis, combining the hydrological characteristics of the four drips: for the slow water in the epikarst, the matching strip method was the identified as the appropriate model for the drip water recession analysis. According to the recession coefficient k, the water flow in the epikarst was divided into fast flow, intermediate flow and slow flow. The volume of water retained in the reservoir (the epikarst storage) could be presented as a function of its specific recession coefficient.

EDITOR D.Koutsoyiannis; ASSOCIATE EDITOR X. Chen