珠穆朗玛峰绒布冰川水文过程初步研究

2005年4月8日至10月11日对珠峰地区绒布河水文过程进行了连续6个多月的观测.结果表明:该地区的水文过程与温度有较好的相关性,6~8月3个月流量约占观测期内总流量的80%.对比该地区1959年和2005年的水文观测数据,发现2005年同期总径流量比1959年有较大幅度增加,6~8月3个月月均流量2005年较1959年分别增加69%、35%、14%.分析冰芯恢复的降水量资料和珠峰附近长时间序列气象数据,降水自1950年以来保持下降趋势,而气温却呈缓慢升高.气温升高是径流量增大的关键因素.2005年观测期内控制流域径流深为622 mm,径流模数为38.52 L·s^-1·km^-2.     

MIGRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROELEMENTS IN PROCESS OF LANDSCAPE GEOCHEMISTRY IN MT.NAMJAGBARWA AREA

To provide scientific basis for appraising natural resources in Mt. Namjagbarwa area, the migration characteristics of geochemical microelements, such as Zn, V, Ti, Pb, Ni, Cu, Cr, Co, Be and Ba, in the landscape zones of alpine scrub and meadow, the mountainous dark coniferous forest, the mountainous mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest, the mountainous quasi-subtropical semi-evergreen broadleaf forest, the mountainous subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest, and the valley quasi-tropical monsoon rainforest have been described in the paper.     

Effusive Activity at Mount Etna Volcano (Italy) During the 20th Century: A Contribution to Volcanic Hazard Assessment

Mount Etna is an open conduit volcano, characterised by persistent activity, consisting of degassing and explosive phenomena at summit craters, frequent flank eruptions, and more rarely, eccentric eruptions. All eruption typologies can give rise to lava flows, which represent the greatest hazard by the volcano to the inhabited areas. Historical documents and scientific papers related to the 20th century effusive activity have been examined in detail, and volcanological parameters have been compiled in a database. The cumulative curve of emitted lava volume highlights the presence of two main eruptive periods: (a) the 1900–1971 interval, characterised by a moderate slope of the curve, amounting to 436 × 10⁶ m³ of lava with average effusion rate of 0.2 m³/s and (b) the 1971–1999 period, in which a significant increase in eruption frequency is associated with a large issued lava volume (767 × 10⁶ m³) and a higher effusion rate (0.8 m³/s). The collected data have been plotted to highlight different eruptive behaviour as a function of eruptive periods and summit vs. flank eruptions. The latter have been further subdivided into two categories: eruptions characterised by high effusion rates and short duration, and eruptions dominated by low effusion rate, long duration and larger volume of erupted lava. Circular zones around the summit area have been drawn for summit eruptions based on the maximum lava flow length; flank eruptions have been considered by taking into account the eruptive fracture elevation and combining them with lava flow lengths of 4 and 6 km. This work highlights that the greatest lava flow hazard at Etna is on the south and east sectors of the volcano. This should be properly considered in future land-use planning by local authorities.     

Geo-volcanological, mineralogical and environmental aspects of quarry materials related to pleural neoplasm in the area of Biancavilla, Mount Etna (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

The town of Biancavilla, located on the lower flanks of Mt. Etna volcano, eastern Sicily (Italy), showed high mortality rates owing to malignant pleural neoplasms, a cause of death specifically related to exposure to asbestos fibres. An environmental survey indicated the stone quarry site of Il Calvario as a possible source of asbestos fibre exposure, while a mineralogical study allowed to identify the new asbestiform mineral fluoro-edenite. A joint epidemiological and environmental study was conducted to assess the characteristics of the outbreak of malignant mesothelioma and to test the assumption of a causal relation with exposure to fluoro-edenite. Due to the lack of awareness of fluoro-edenite releases, Il Calvario may not be the only source of the fibre, but is probably the main one. The evolution of the volume of material quarried from Il Calvario was studied on the basis of maps printed from 1896 to 1995, by using a digital elevation model. The natural and anthropogenic causes of the territorial spread of the newly discovered amphibole fibres are discussed relatively to a geo-volcanological, territorial and environmental evolution of the area affected.     

Intrusive Mechanisms at Mt. Etna Forerunning the July-August 2001 Eruption from Seismic and Ground Deformation Data

In this work we present seismological and ground deformation evidence for the phase preparing the July 18 to August 9, 2001 flank eruption at Etna. The analysis performed, through data from the permanent seismic and ground deformation networks, highlighted a strong relationship between seismic strain release at depth and surface deformation. This joint analysis provided strong constraints on the magma rising mechanisms. We show that in the last ten years, after the 1991–1993 eruption, an overall accumulation of tension has affected the volcano. Then we investigate the months preceding the 2001 eruption. In particular, we analyse the strong seismic swarm on April 20–24, 2001, comprising more than 200 events (M_max = 3.6) with prevalent dextral shear fault mechanisms in the western flank. The swarm showed a ca. NE-SW earthquake alignment which, in agreement with previous cases, can be interpreted as the response of the medium to an intrusive process along the approximately NNW-SSE volcano-genetic trend. These mechanisms, leading to the July 18 to August 9, 2001 flank eruption, are analogous to ones observed some months before the 1991–1993 flank eruption and, more recently, in January 1998 before the February-November 1999 summit eruption.     

Grain size,areal thickness distribution and controls on sedimentation of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo tephra layer in the South China Sea

The June 15, 1991 climactic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo produced an extensive, largely co-ignimbrite-derived airfall ash layer on Luzon Island and across the central South China Sea. The layer covers an area of ~4×10⁵ km² with a volume of 5.5 km³. Near the coast of Luzon, the deposit consists of two units: a normally graded basal ash bed, unimodal in grain size, and a finer-grained, internally structureless upper ash bed showing grain size bimodality. With increasing distance from the source, the coarse particle populations of the two units merge and migrate towards a near-constant fine population (~11 m); the distal region is covered by a fine-mode dominated, virtually ungraded single ash layer. The reversal of the winds from easterly directions at upper-tropospheric and stratospheric levels to westerly directions in the middle and lower troposphere indicates that both the coarse- and fine-mode components fell out from high-altitude eruption clouds. The high-velocity upper-level winds, however, would have transported fine-grained ash particles far beyond the South China Sea, which suggests that their settling was accelerated by aggregation. The boundary between the units thus marks a change from fallout of predominantly discrete pyroclasts to simultaneous fallout of aggregated fines and freely falling, coarse-grained particles. The particle populations composing the upper ash bed were almost completely removed from the proximal areas by the upper-level winds. At lower elevations, the counterclockwise circulation of a typhoon over the coastal area advected the ash south and eastward, producing a thickness maximum in the medial region (at about 160 km from source). The strong displacement of fines, possibly aided by wind turbulence, led to a break in bulk tephra thinning rates close to the coastline. In the distal region, outside the influence of the typhoon, southwest monsoonal winds caused a distinct lobe axis inflection and thickness asymmetry. Within this region, at about 420 km from source, fallout of particle aggregates created a second thickness maximum. Comparison of the field data with previous experimental observations and tephra flux records in the deep sea (Wiesner et al. 1995; Carey 1997; McCool 2002) implies that the transport of ash in the water column was largely determined by vertical density currents. Differences in the reaction of coarse and fine particles to turbulence in the descending plumes probably suppressed the segregation of fines but allowed the coarser pyroclasts to maintain their initial order of arrival at the sea surface. Considering typical fall rates of convective plumes, modifications of the initial fallout position of the particles by the South China Sea current system are on the order of only a few kilometers. The results suggest that convective sedimentation processes ensure the preservation of atmospheric particle transport directions, distances, and fallout modes in the deep sea.Editorial responsibility: R. CioniAn erratum to this article can be found at     

Continuous soil CO<Superscript>2</Superscript> and discrete plume SO<Subscript>2</Subscript> measurements at Mt. Etna (Italy) during 1997–2000: a contribution to volcano monitoring

Continuous monitoring of soil CO₂ dynamic concentration (which is proportional to the CO₂ flux through the soil) was carried out at a peripheral site of Mt. Etna during the period November 1997–September 2000 using an automated station. The acquired data were compared with SO₂ flux from the summit craters measured two to three times a week during the same period. The high frequency of data acquisition with both methods allowed us to analyze in detail the time variations of both parameters. Anomalous high values of soil CO₂ dynamic concentration always preceded periods of increased flux of plume SO₂, and these in turn were followed by periods of summit eruptions. The variations were modeled in terms of gas efflux increase due to magma ascent to shallow depth and its consequent depressurization and degassing. This model is supported by data from other geophysical and volcanological parameters. The rates of increase both of soil CO₂ dynamic concentration and of plume SO₂ flux are interpreted to be positively correlated both to the velocity of magma ascent within the volcano and to lava effusion rate once magma is erupted at the surface. Low rates of the increase were recorded before the nine-month-long 1999 subterminal eruption. Higher rates of increase were observed before the violent summit eruption of September-November 1999, and the highest rates were observed during shorter and very frequent spike-like anomalies that preceded the sequence of short-lived but very violent summit eruptions that started in late January 2000 and continued until late June of the same year. Furthermore, the time interval between the peaks of CO₂ and SO₂ in a single sequence of gas anomalies is likely to be controlled by magma ascent velocity.Editorial responsibility: H. Shinohara     

A desktop image processing and photogrammetric method for rapid volcanic hazard mapping: application to air-photo interpretation of Mount Pelée,Martinique

 A desktop image processing and photogrammetric method was developed for digitizing black-and-white aerial photographs. The technique was applied to airborne optical images of Mt. Pelée, Martinique, a historically active volcano in the tropical Lesser Antilles island arc, to evaluate its utility for rapid geologic mapping and hazard assessment in vegetated areas. The digital approach provides several advantages over traditional air-photo interpretation by allowing for change detection in time-series images, morphologic characterization, development of digital elevation models from stereopairs, and geo-referencing with other digital data sets. A digital mosaic of Mt. Pelée was created from air photos acquired in 1951, which covered the region affected by the 1902 eruption. Severe mismatches occurred along edges of adjacent photographs prior to correction, which precluded quantitative morphologic analysis of the volcanic edifice. Geometric corrections and histogram equalization of digitized air photos allowed creation of a continuous mosaic. Comparison of the mosaic and a map based on differences in gray scale and texture to a volcanostratigraphic map revealed that not only the various deposits produced during the 1902 event were easily differentiated, but that older eruptive products were identified, suggesting that this approach may be used for rapid hazard evaluation of historically active tropical volcanoes. Received: 22 January 1996 / Accepted: 26 July 1996