Grassland degradation in Northern Tibet based on remote sensing data

This study selected vegetation cover as the main evaluation index, calculated the grassland degradation index (GDI) and established the remote sensing monitoring and evaluation system for grassland degradation in Northern Tibet, according to the National Standard (GB19377-2003), based on the remote sensing data such as NDVI data derived from NOAA/AVHRR with a spatial resolution of 8 km of 1981-2000, from SPOT/VGT with a spatial resolution of 1 km of 2001 and from MODIS with a spatial resolution of 0.25 km of 2002-2004 respectively in this area, in combination with the actual condition of grassland degradation. The grassland degradation processes and their responses to climate change during 1981-2004 were discussed and analyzed in this paper. The result indicated that grassland degradation in Northern Tibet is very serious, and the mean value of GDI in recent 20 years is 2.54 which belongs to the serious degradation grade. From 1981 to 2004, the GDI fluctuated distinctly with great interannual variations in the proportion of degradation degree and GDI but the general tendency turned to severe-grade during this period with the grassland degradation grade changed from light degraded to serious degraded in Northern Tibet. The extremely serious degraded and serious degraded grassland occupied 1.7% and 8.0% of the study area, the moderate and light degraded grassland accounted for 13.2% and 27.9% respectively, and un-degraded grassland occupied 49.2% of the total grassland area in 2004. The grassland degradation was serious, especially in the conjunctive area of Naqu, Biru and Jiali counties, the headstream of the Yangtze River lying in the Galadandong snow mountain and glaciers, the area along the Qinghai-Tibet highway and railway, and areas around the Tanggula and Nianqingtanggula snow mountains and glaciers. So the snow mountains and glaciers as well as their adjacent areas in Northern Tibet were sensitive to climate change and the areas along the vital communication line with frequent human activities experienced relatively serious grassland degradation.     

Spatial and temporal relationships between compression, strike-slip and extension in the Central Venezuelan Andes: Clues for Plio-Quaternary tectonic escape

The geometry of tectonic structures, attributed to the Neogene–Quaternary time interval, is described in the active setting of the Venezuelan Andes. Our methodology is based on the analysis of radar satellite and Digital Elevation Model imagery, complemented by structural fieldwork and the compilation of seismotectonic data to make a structural analysis on a regional scale. Radar images provide first class data for morphostructural analysis in areas of dense vegetation and frequent cloud covering, like the Venezuelan Andes. We focused our analysis in the Burbusay–Río Momboy and Boconó faults corner located in the central part of the belt.We have described three stages of deformation during the Neogene–Quaternary. The first one, Mio-Pliocene in age, is a NW–SE compression responsible for the uplift of the Venezuelan Andes. The second tectonic stage corresponds to a strike-slip regime of deformation marked by shearing along the Boconó, Burbusay and Valera faults, which separates two triangular wedges in the larger Trujillo block. This strike-slip faulting-dominated compressional-extensional tectonic regime allowed the Trujillo crustal block to move towards the NE. Wrenching has therefore started at some point between the Pliocene and the Quaternary. These two tectonic events are consistent with ongoing strain partitioning in the Venezuelan Andes. The third stage corresponds to extensional deformation limited to the Trujillo block and is still active today. Extension is associated with the motion of crustal blocks moving relative to each other, probably above the upper-lower crust boundary. Such extensional deformation can be understood considering that the crust extends and stretches at the same time as it moves towards the NE. The combination of both horizontal lateral motion and extension is characteristic of a tectonic escape process. The northeastward escape of the Trujillo block, which belongs to the larger North Andes block, occurs as a result of the combination of the NW–SE intracontinental convergence between the South-American plate and the Maracaibo block, and the presence to the north of the Caribbean oceanic plate considered as a free boundary. We have showed that the kinematics of the Caribbean plate offers not only a favorable environment, but may also be considered as the driving force of the tectonic escape of the North Andes block.     

Geochronological and isotopical review of pre-Devonian crustal basement of the Colombian Andes

Under the flatlands east of the Andes, the crustal basement is exposed in a few places, composed mainly of the Mitú migmatitic complex and the Parguaza granite, whose ages range between 1.78 and 1.45 Ga. Extensive outcrops of high-grade metamorphic rocks are found in several places. Two metamorphisms are dated between 1.2–1.1 and 1.0–0.9 Ga. They are considered blocks that formed during the Grenville orogeny and have Sm–Nd T_DM model ages of 1.87–1.47. The Andaquí terrane is formed mainly by the Garzón Massif, composed of granulites, migmatites, and granites, and the metamorphic rocks of the Sierra de la Macarena, which are covered by undeformed Cambrian sediments. It is believed that after the Grenville orogeny, this unit remained attached to the Amazonic Craton. All the other areas grouped in the Chibcha terrane, though they formed during the Grenville orogeny, are believed to have remained either as part of another continental block or dispersed islands to be amalgamated to the Amazonic Craton during the Lower Paleozoic orogeny, which in the Quetame Massif is dated between the Silurian and Devonian and is named the Quetame orogenic event.     

P–T–t conditions of high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Garzon Massif, Andean basement, SE Colombia

The metamorphic evolution of the Garzón Massif, Colombia, is established on the basis of the textural, goethermobarometric, and geochronological relationships of the metamorphic minerals. The geothermobarometric data define a clockwise, nearly isothermal decompression path (ITD) for rocks from Las Margaritas migmatites, constrained by four P–T areas: 780–826 °C and 6.3–8.0 kbar, 760–820 °C and 8.0–8.8 kbar, 680–755 °C and 6.6–9.0 kbar, and 630 °C and 4 kbar. For the a garnet-bearing charnockitic gneiss from the Vergel granulites, the path is counterclockwise, constrained by geothermobarometric data of 5.3–6.2 kbar and 700–780 °C and 6.2–7.2 kbar and 685–740 °C. The clockwise ITD path represents a loop followed by the orogen during the transitional granulite–amphibolite metamorphic conditions, probably associated with a subduction process followed by a collisional tectonic event. This subduction framework produced continental crust thickening between 1148 and 1034 Ma and later collision with another continental block approximately 1000 Ma ago. The orogenic exhumation occurred with moderate uplift rate. The counterclockwise trajectory and two metamorphic events suggest a vertical displacement between the Vergel granulites and Las Margaritas migmatites units, because there is no isotopic difference that indicates the existence of different terranes. The data confirm that the metamorphic evolution for this domain was more dynamic than previously believed and includes: (1) metamorphic processes with the generation of new crust with a possible mixture of old material and (2) metamorphic recycling of continental crust. These geological processes characterize a complex Mesoproterozoic orogenic event that shares certain features with the Grenvillian basement rocks participating in the formation of Rodinia.     

Environmental changes and the Migration Period in northern Germany as reflected in the sediments of Lake Dudinghausen

Paleolimnological techniques were used to identify environmental changes in and around Lake Dudinghausen (northern Germany) over the past 4800 yr. Diatom-inferred total phosphorus (DI-TP) changes identify four phases of high nutrient levels (2600-2200 BC, 1050-700 BC, 500 BC-AD 100 and AD 1850-1970). During these high DI-TP phases, fossil pollen, sediment geochemistry and archaeological records indicate human activities in the lake catchment. Although the same paleo-indicators suggest increased human settlement and agriculture activity during the late Slavonic Age, the Medieval Time and the Modern Time (AD 1000-1850), DI-TP levels were low during this period. In the sediments, iron and total phosphorus were high from ∼AD 100 to 1850, likely due to increased inflow of iron-rich groundwater into the lake. Increased iron input would have lead to a simultaneous binding and precipitation of phosphate in the upper sediment and overlying water column. As a result, anthropogenic impact on Lake Dudinghausen was masked by these phosphorus-controlling processes from AD 1000 to 1850 and was not evident by means of DI-TP. In accordance with fossil pollen, sediment geochemistry and limited archaeological records, DI-TP levels were low from AD 100-1000. Groundwater levels likely rose during this period as the climate gradually changed toward colder and/or moister conditions. Such climate change likely led to reduced settlement activities and forest regeneration in the catchment area. Our results are concordant with similar studies from central Europe which indicate rapid decreasing settlement activities from AD 100 to 1000.     

中国北方晚第四纪气候变化的沙漠与黄土记录* ——以光释光年代为基础的直接对比

中国北方有约200×10⁴km²的面积被黄土、沙漠和荒漠戈壁沉积物覆盖,这些地区堆积物的形成变化与第四纪气候变化密切相关。关于中国北方沙漠与黄土记录晚第四纪古气候变化的研究不少,但是,由于受到方法和条件等限制,系统的(高密度的)和独立的年代学工作比较薄弱,从而使诸多已经发表的关于沙漠-黄土记录的亚轨道时间尺度气候变化的结论受到质疑。文章通过对黄土高原代表性的4个末次冰期以来的黄土剖面以及毛乌素、浑善达克和科尔沁沙地的20多个末次冰期-全新世的沙-砂质古土壤剖面的研究,获得了150多个独立的光释光年龄数据。在此基础上,结合200多个样品的粒度、有机质含量和磁化率数据,重建末次冰期以来中国北方气候变化过程,对比分析沙地与黄土古气候记录的联系。结果表明,中国北方古气候在57.5~52.5kaB.P.相对干旱,41.5~37.3kaB.P.相对湿润,26~22kaB.P.逐渐干旱,22~18kaB.P.极端干旱,15~10kaB.P.干旱,10~8kaB.P.为干旱减弱的时期,8.0~2.4kaB.P.相对湿润,而2.4kaB.P.以来气候为相对干旱。其间,在8.0~2.4kaB.P.的湿润时期有几次干旱事件,而2.4kaB.P.以来气候变化频繁。具有独立年代控制的黄土和沙漠记录表明,中国北方的气候变化对轨道时间尺度的太阳辐射变化有大约3~4ka的滞后。     

Tropical high Andes lakes: A limnological survey and an assessment of exotic rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Tropical high Andes lakes are aquatic ecosystems with peculiar limnological characteristics that are related to their geographical location and high altitude, yet they remained understudied. We present the results of a standardized survey of morphometric, physico-chemical and biotic variables in 32 high altitude lakes of the Cordillera del Tunari (Eastern Andes of Bolivia). Based on the variables measured, we identified three lake types. One group of lakes differed from the other lakes by a relatively high pH and biological productivity (as evidenced from higher densities of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish). A second group of lakes consisted of relatively large and deep water bodies with neutral to slightly acid pH and with a relatively high occurrence of the large cladoceran Daphnia pulex. The third group contained relatively small, shallow, and acid lakes with no Daphnia. Rainbow trout occurred in more than half of the lakes and catch yields were very variable. Overall, the abundances of different organism groups tended to be positively associated (e.g. phytoplankton, copepods, rotifers, fish) indicating the existence of a major productivity gradient. We found no negative associations between trout catches and densities of any of the major zooplankton groups, suggesting moderate to low top-down effects of trout on the zooplankton communities.     

Climate change comparison between Arctic and other areas in the Northern Hemisphere since the last Interstade

Based on temperature reconstruction and proxy data from 14 sites in the Northern Hemisphere, this paper focused on comparing the cycles of temperature variations between the Arctic and other areas, including Atlantic, Europe, China, Asia, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and America during the transition from the last Interstade to the Last Glacial Maximum, from the Last Glacial Maximum to megathermal period in Holocene and the transition of the Little Ice Age (LIA) by the methods of Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) and Maximum Entropy Spec-trum (MES). The results showed that environmental changes in the Arctic are most similar to that in the North American and better similar to Asia, Atlantic and Pacific, the least similar to Indian Ocean and Europe. The 1500-year oscillation of temperature existed both in Arctic and Europe.     

松辽盆地北部上白垩统青山口—姚家组沉积相及层序地层界面特征

青山口组和姚家组形成于盆地演化的坳陷期，此时松辽湖盆北部发育富有特色的大型湖泊三角洲沉积，沿湖盆纵向长轴主要出现三角洲—湖相泥岩充填模式，发育三角洲和湖泊两种沉积相类型。从盆地边缘到盆地中心，沉积相由浅水三角洲逐渐变为湖泊沉积。其中青山口组主要发育滨湖、浅湖、半深湖—深湖沉积亚相；姚家组主要发育三角洲平原、三角洲前缘和前三角洲沉积亚相。岩心观察资料显示，研究区泉头组顶部至姚家组顶部共识别出6个沉积层序，相应有7个沉积层序界面，其中一个同时为超层序界面。层序界面附近主要见古土壤、冲刷面、钙质结核、削截等现象，层序界面之上覆盖鲕粒灰岩、生物屑灰岩，并见虫孔构造、黄铁矿等。     

The effects of the last glacial paleo-aeolian sands on desertification in northern China

In this paper, nine sediment sequences in the inner desert, desert-loess transitional zone (agro-pastoral transitional zone) and the northern margin of the Loess Plateau were investigated to study the sediments of Mu Us (Maowusu) and Otindaq (Hunshandake) sandy land in northern China since the last glaciation. All of these sequences consisted of the upper Holocene dark paleosol and the lower aeolian sand formed during the last glacial stage. The Mu Us and Otindaq sandy land became the active desert since the last glaciation and covered a larger sandy area than at present. Mu Us sandy land began to show a landform of sandy desert and expanded southward towards the northern boundaries of the Loess Plateau. The Holocene was characterized by the advent of warmer and wetter climatic conditions in northern China, resulting in the rapid growth of surface vegetation and Mu Us and Otindaq sandy land became a steppe. The thickness of surface soil reached up to as much as 50–80 cm. Thick paleosol covered the drift sands, and served as a protective layer for the steppe and farmland. Although the last glacial cycle is far away, paleo-aeolian sands formed during that period are still the material sources of regional desertification. Unreasonable cultivation destroying the Holocene paleosol, combined with dry climate and strong wind would result in activation of paleo- aeolian sand leading to the desertification of the study areas.