The July 2007 rock and ice avalanches at Mount Steele, St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada

A large rock and ice avalanche occurred on the north face of Mount Steele, southwest Yukon Territory, Canada, on July 24, 2007. In the days and weeks preceding the landslide, several smaller avalanches initiated from the same slope. The ice and rock debris traveled a maximum horizontal distance 5.76 km with a maximum vertical descent of 2,160 m, leaving a deposit 3.66 km² in area on Steele Glacier. The seismic magnitude estimated from long-period surface waves (M _s) is 5.2. Modeling of the waveforms suggests an estimated duration of approximately 100 s and an average velocity of between 35 and 65 m/s. This landslide is one of 18 large rock avalanches known to have occurred since 1899 on slopes adjacent to glaciers in western Canada. We describe the setting, reconstruct the event chronology and present a preliminary characterization of the Mount Steele ice and rock avalanches based on field reconnaissance, analysis of seismic records and an airborne LiDAR survey. We also present the results of a successful dynamic simulation for the July 24 event.     

Stratigraphic architecture and evolution of a deep-water slope channel-levee and overbank apron: The Upper Miocene Upper Mount Messenger Formation,Taranaki Basin

This paper re-examines the Upper Miocene Upper Mount Messenger Formation, Taranaki Basin, to characterize its architecture and interpret its environmental evolution. Analysis of stratal architecture, lithofacies distributions, and paleotransport directions over the 250 m thick formation shows the outcrops provide a nearly dip parallel section displaying the lateral relationships between contemporaneous channel-levee and overbank depositional environments. At least five 30–40 m thick upward fining units are recognized in the north-central parts of the outcrop and are interpreted as large-scale overbank avulsion cycles. Each unit consists of thick- to medium-bedded predominantly planar laminated sandstone turbidites at the base that fine upward into thin- to very thin-bedded, planar laminated and ripple cross-laminated mud-rich turbidites. The units are traceable laterally over a distance exceeding 3 km where they are cut by channels that show basal mudstone draped by medium- to thin-bedded sandstone, and onlapped by thick-bedded planar laminated sandstone at the margin. The channels are separated by tapered packages of medium- to thin-bedded turbidites containing climbing-ripple cross-lamination interpreted as levees. The individual channel-levee and overbank avulsion cycles formed through four stages: 1) a channel avulsion spread sand into the overbank as an unconfined splay, 2) preferential scouring in one area of the splay led to development of a channel with small levees that prograded across the splay, 3) a deep incision followed by abandonment of the channel deposited a mud lining. Alternatively, the mud lining was formed during the first stage as the downdip portion of the channel was abandoned. 4) The channel filled at first by thick-bedded planar laminated and then by climbing-ripple cross-laminated sand. At this time, the growth of constructional levees progressively limited sand into the overbank. Ratios of Bouma division thicknesses calculated over a stratigraphic interval present a new method to distinguish deep-water depositional environments.     

Local Knowledge on Plants and Domestic Remedies in the Mountain Villages of Peshkopia（Eastern Albania）

Ethnobotanical studies in the Balkans are crucial for fostering sustainable rural development in the region and also for investigating the dynamics of change of Traditional Ecological Knowledge（TEK）,which has broad-sweeping implications for future biodiversity conservation efforts.A survey of local botanical and medical knowledge and practices was conducted in four mountainous villages of the Peshkopia region in northeast Albania,near the Macedonian border.Snowball sampling techniques were employed to recruit 32 informants for participation in semi-structured interviews regarding the use of the local flora for food,medicinal,veterinary and ritual purposes.The uses of 84 botanical taxa were recorded as well as a number of other folk remedies for the treatment of both humans and livestock.Comparison of the collected data with another ethnobotanical field study recently conducted among Albanians living on the Macedonian side of Mount Korab shows a remarkable divergence in medicinal plant uses,thus confirming the crucial role played by the history of the last century in transforming TEK.Most noteworthy,as a legacy of the Communist period,a relevant number of wild medicinal taxa are still gathered only for trade rather than personal/familial use.This may lead to unsustainable exploitation of certain taxa（i.e.Orchis and Gentiana spp.） and presents some important conservation challenges.Appropriate development and environmental educational frameworks should aim to reconnect local people to the perception of limitation and renewability of botanical resources.     

An Eruv for St Ives? Religion,identity, place and conflict on the Sydney north shore

Religious identity, when marked by physical changes to urban landscapes, has been a cause of tension and conflict in many cities. In the Sydney suburb of St Ives, an attempt to create an eruv, a symbolic and only partly physical boundary around orthodox Jewish space, was vigorously opposed and eventually defeated through the planning system. The religious and physical significance of the eruv resulted in diverse rationales of opposition, centred on the physical and environmental impact, the conceptual nature of boundaries and the role of religion and ‘modernity’ in everyday suburban life. The place of an eruv was opposed with reference to spatial imaginaries of the nation, the suburb and the secular public, as religion and worship intersected with the politics of urban citizenship and belonging. Each of these spatial imaginaries was constructed by opponents in such a way as to deny a place for an eruv in St Ives, and reinforced through the application of planning instruments which eventually refused permission for an eruv. To many residents, public space was seen to be at risk, raising complex questions over amenity, the politics and perception of difference and what is in or out of place. The planning framework adjudicating such development proposals must transcend such imaginaries in the production of public spaces in multicultural cities.     

A global available potential energy‐kinetic energy budget in terms of the two‐dimensional wavenumber for the FGGE year

Abstract

A global vertically integrated available potential energy‐kinetic energy budget in terms of the two‐dimensional wavenumber is formulated using spherical harmonics. Results of the budget equations applied to the four mid‐season months of the FGGE year are given.     

龙虎山丹霞地貌"旅游景观价值-游客审美感知"探讨

通过对龙虎山丹霞地貌类型及其地质遗迹、人文景观的分析,按景区空间组合及代表性景观构建了旅游景观谱系。对这些景观进行评价和游客感知度调查,形成游客感知率与景观评价值矩阵,并用坐标法将矩阵划分为4个象限,分析其间的耦合性、差异性和产生机理。结果显示,总体上符合景观赋分值高、游客感知度高,景观赋分值低、游客感知度低的规律,但对一些典型地质遗迹,专家的评价与游客的感知度相差较大。游客仍以直观的山水审美为主,对其蕴含的科学性认知不够。地质遗迹科考产品和科普产品开发不足,尚未形成大众产品。比较不同游客群体的审美感知差异,为旅游产品的市场细分提供依据,并提出丹霞地貌景区建设建议。     

云微物理过程对黄山云滴谱离散度的影响

利用2008年4—7月、2009年5—8月和2011年5—9月黄山光明顶的云滴谱观测资料,对离散度和体积平均半径之间的关系进行了深入的分析和讨论。结果表明,随着体积平均半径的增大,离散度与体积平均半径之间的相关从正变成负,主要与活化、凝结、蒸发和去活化有关,与以往研究一致。在此基础上,进一步发现负相关比较弱,主要与碰并过程有关。当云雨自动转化阈值函数增大时,碰并增强,离散度与体积平均半径之间的相关性由负转正,且正相关性逐渐增强。碰并导致的正相关削弱了凝结和蒸发导致的负相关。此外,尽管云滴谱出现了双峰谱,但第一档强度(第一档浓度除以总的浓度)仍然可以很好地区分正负相关性。     

珠峰绒布河谷近地面层气象要素及湍流通量变化

利用2006年5～6月和2007年5～6月中国科学院HEST大气科学实验在珠峰绒布寺河谷野外观测期间获得的观测资料,分析了珠峰地区河谷近地层风向、风速、温度、湿度和CO2的日变化特征,讨论了珠峰北坡冰川风和山谷风的特点以及高原地表辐射、地表反照率和近地层湍流通量的变化特征.结果表明:在复杂地形和特殊下垫面影响下,珠峰绒布河谷地区近地面层各个气象要素和湍流通量日变化特征显著,并且明显存在冰川风和山谷风复合的局地环流,冰川风对该地区地气间物质能量交换起着重要作用.     

新疆巴喀勒萨依砂岩型铜(银)矿的发现及其地质意义

通过1：10万水系沉积物综合异常查证，在河谷的水系洪积物中发现孔雀石化中粒砂岩之转石，按照转石找矿法进行矿源层追索，新发现砂1岩型铜（银）矿产于上石炭统科古琴山组微细粒-中细粒砂岩中，是阿吾拉勒地区新发现的一种铜（银）矿床类型．发现铜（银）矿（化）体15条，矿体中铜与银呈正相关关系．该矿床的发现对阿吾拉勒地区普查找矿具有重要的地质意义．     

旅游开发对丹霞山植被的影响研究

本文从植被生态环境质量和景色质量管理的角度,以群落景观重要值,旅游影响系数,敏感水平等定量分析为依据,初步研究了旅游开发对丹霞山植被产生的影响,并提出了几点植被管理对策。