A Note On Surface Humidity Measurements In The Cold Canadian Environment

In the cold Canadian environment, humidity measurements can be verydifficult to conduct. In this brief communication, humidity observationstaken by two different sensors at six remote Canadian Arctic locations arecompared. The observations collected by Vaisala HMP35CF sensors displaya strong tendency toward the ice saturation point whereas dew cell instrumentsexhibit significantly lower values of relative humidity with respect to ice (RH_i).Humidity data collected by HMP35CF hygrometers are therefore unreliable sincethey are subject to persistent icing that lead them to record values of RH_i near 100%, irrespective of the air temperature. The high humidity bias emerges atmeteorological stations mounted with the HMP35CF probes since these instrumentsare usually neither sheltered nor heated, and are not attended to at regular intervals. Thus, great care must be taken in utilizing humidity data recorded by HMP35CF sensors across the network of climate autostations in Canada.     

宁镇地区中更新世环境演变的沉积学研究

句容放牛山剖面ESR测年、粒度以及磁化率的研究结果表明,下蜀黄土作为一种受后生成土作用强烈的风尘堆积,其性状与北方黄土差别很大,主要表现为由于成壤作用及次生风化作用导致粘粒含量增多。该剖面揭示出本区中更新世 5个气候暖湿期,分别是 :15 9~ 16 3ka,192ka,195~ 198ka,2 0 3~ 2 30ka与 311~ 35 0ka。其中第一个相对暖湿期不十分明显,在大致同时期的深海氧同位素 (V2 1- 14 6孔 ) 6阶段当中为一个小的气候回暖波动,第 2、3、4气候暖湿期可大致与西峰黄土S2古土壤层所反映的气候温暖事件相对应,可与深海氧同位素 (V2 1- 14 6孔 )第 7氧同位素阶段大致相对比。其中,前 4个温暖期可大致与老虎山下蜀黄土的标准剖面自上而下的 4个埋藏古土壤层相对应。旧石器考古发掘发现 6、7层有石器,从剖面测年资料及各环境代用指标综合分析得出,当时为暖湿的生态环境(即第 5个气候暖湿期 ),较适宜人类活动,与南京汤山猿人洞研究结果相一致。东北地区庙后山下层文化 (14 0 0~2 30ka)以大石片石器为主,文化面貌兼有华北大小两个石器系统的特征。这与该遗址发掘的石器相类似,这可能说明至少在中更新世中期长江河道应在句容以南。     

两个冰期-间冰期旋回的黄土记录及其古气候意义

北京邻区枣沟、斋堂和赤峰黄土－古土壤剖面粒度和磁化率变化在幅度和相位上都有明显的差异。在两个冰期－间冰期旋回，磁化率记录具有冰量变化模式，而粒度记录具有轨道周期特点，粒度和磁化率之间的相位关系在从冰期向间冰期转换和冰期向间冰期过渡的过程中，既有滞后也有超前的表现，很难单纯以成土作用来解释。由于黄土粒度主要反映粉尘源区环境和古风场强度的变化，而磁化率主要记录的是沉积区的成壤作用，反映夏季风的强度变化，因此剖面粒度和磁化率变化的不协调说明古风场和粉尘源区变化与粉尘沉积区气候变化之间不统一。这可能意味着控制夏季风强度变化和控制冬季风强度变化的机制存在差异。     

Inferring erosional resistance of bedrock units in the east Tennessee mountains from digital elevation data

Measures of local relief, regional relief, and slope were calculated from digital elevation models (DEMs) for 50 bedrock units in the Ridge and Valley and Blue Ridge provinces of Tennessee. Each of these measures was normalized and the three were then averaged to produce the erosional resistance index (ERI). Bedrock units with higher ERI values include coarse clastics, intermediate clastics, and metaplutonics. Units with lower values include shales, limestones, limestones plus dolostones, and carbonates plus fine clastics. Dolostones tend to have intermediate values. The calculated ERI values were compared with subjective ratings by a geologist with decades of field experience in east Tennessee. Generally, the agreement between the two ratings was good, the most glaring exception being several shales with improbably high ERI values. These turned out to be thin units cropping out beneath very hard sandstones, allowing them to stand higher and steeper than would otherwise be possible. A systematic method for detecting such erroneously high ERI values is suggested. Inspection of a drainage map superimposed on the geology map shows that in a given area, streams tend to flow on rock units with the lowest ERI values. In addition, statistical analysis shows that bedrock units with the lowest ERI values are, on average, almost three times closer to the nearest stream and six times as likely to have streams flowing on them than are units with highest values. Further, the effect of ERI on stream location is strongest for streams with drainage areas between 1 and 30 km². Thus, small streams appear to be subject to greater lithologic control than are larger streams.     

Post-emplacement tilting of lava flows inferred from magnetic fabric study: the example of Oligocene lavas in the Jeanne d’Arc Peninsula (Kerguelen Islands)

Statistical analysis of the magnetic fabric of samples from several successive lava flows emplaced under similar conditions can allow determination of the mean flow direction when magnetic fabric data from individual flows do not lead to reliable results. A difference between the obtained flow direction and the present dip direction indicates that the flows were tilted after emplacement. For 2 successive series of flows on the Jeanne d’Arc Peninsula presently NNW dipping, this method shows lava emplacement along a SSW–NNE direction. This indicates a gentle tilting acquired during a period of weak deformation in the whole archipelago. Additionally, the magnetic fabric data allow the reconstruction of the different conditions of emplacement of these two series of lava flows and of formation of the local thick conglomerate interbedded between these series.     

山西宁武陆相二叠系-三叠系界线剖面的磁化率研究

通过对山西宁武陆相二叠系—三叠系剖面的孙家沟组至刘家沟组磁化率的研究，发现该剖面自孙家沟组顶部的粘土岩层至刘家沟组底部，存在着明显的磁化率值升高的现象，认为该现象是由于气温升高和火山事件的影响。对比山西宁武剖面与浙江长兴海相剖面以及贵州威宁陆相剖面二叠系—三叠系界线附近的磁化率研究成果，发现三者具有很好的一致性。这表明，该磁化率值明显升高的现象具有跨区(晋、淅、黔)和跨相(陆、海)的区域性特征，可用于地层的划分和对比。根据磁化率的研究结果，建议将山西宁武剖面的二叠系—三叠系界线设在磁化率值明显升高的地方，印17层顶部纹层粉砂岩之下的粘土岩层。     

Landslide susceptibility analysis using GIS and artificial neural network

The purpose of this study is to develop landslide susceptibility analysis techniques using an arti?cial neural network and to apply the newly developed techniques to the study area of Yongin in Korea. Landslide locations were identi?ed in the study area from interpretation of aerial photographs, ?eld survey data, and a spatial database of the topography, soil type and timber cover. The landslide‐related factors (slope, curvature, soil texture, soil drainage, soil effective thickness, timber age, and timber diameter) were extracted from the spatial database. Using those factors, landslide susceptibility was analysed by arti?cial neural network methods. The landslide susceptibility index was calculated by the back‐propagation method, which is a type of arti?cial neural network method, and the susceptibility map was made with a geographic information system (GIS) program. The results of the landslide susceptibility analysis were veri?ed using landslide location data. The validation results showed satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide location. A GIS was used to ef?ciently analyse the vast amount of data, and an arti?cial neural network to be an effective tool to maintain precision and accuracy. The results can be used to reduce hazards associated with landslides and to plan land use and construction. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of Geomorphological Information in Indirect Landslide Susceptibility Assessment

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the importance of geomorphological expert knowledge in the generation of landslide susceptibility maps, using GIS supported indirect bivariate statistical analysis. For a test area in the Alpago region in Italy a dataset was generated at scale 1:5,000. Detailed geomorphological maps were generated, with legends at different levels of complexity. Other factor maps, that were considered relevant for the assessment of landslide susceptibility, were also collected, such as lithology, structural geology, surficial materials, slope classes, land use, distance from streams, roads and houses. The weights of evidence method was used to generate statistically derived weights for all classes of the factor maps. On the basis of these weights, the most relevant maps were selected for the combination into landslide susceptibility maps. Six different combinations of factor maps were evaluated, with varying geomorphological input. Success rates were used to classify the weight maps into three qualitative landslide susceptibility classes. The resulting six maps were compared with a direct susceptibility map, which was made by direct assignment of susceptibility classes in the field. The analysis indicated that the use of detailed geomorphological information in the bivariate statistical analysis raised the overall accuracy of the final susceptibility map considerably. However, even with the use of a detailed geomorphological factor map, the difference with the separately prepared direct susceptibility map is still significant, due to the generalisations that are inherent to the bivariate statistical analysis technique.     

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility in biotite, muscovite and chlorite single crystals

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of single crystals of biotite, muscovite and chlorite has been measured in order to provide accurate values of the magnetic anisotropy properties for these common rock-forming minerals. The low-field AMS and the high-field paramagnetic susceptibility are defined. For the high-field values, it is necessary to combine the paramagnetic deviatoric tensor obtained from the high-field torque magnetometer with the paramagnetic bulk susceptibility measured from magnetization curves of the crystals. This leads to the full paramagnetic susceptibility ellipsoid due to the anisotropic distribution of iron cations in the silicate lattice. The ellipsoid of paramagnetic susceptibility, which was obtained for the three phyllosilicates, is highly oblate in shape and the minimum susceptibility direction is subparallel to the crystallographic c-axes. The anisotropy of the susceptibility within the basal plane of the biotite has been evaluated and found to be isotropic within the accuracy of the instrumental measurements. The degree of anisotropy of biotite and chlorite is compatible with previously reported values while for muscovite the smaller than previously published values. The shape of the chlorite AMS ellipsoid for all the samples is near-perfect oblate in contrast with a wide distribution of oblate and prolate values reported in earlier studies. Reliable values are important for deriving models of the magnetic anisotropy where it reflects mineral fabrics and deformation of rocks.