Soil and vegetation seasonal changes in the grazing Andean Mountain grasslands

Andean grasslands ecosystems are fragile environments with rigorous climatologic conditions and low and variable food for the grazing. The Apolobamba area is located in the Bolivian Andean Mountains. Its high grasslands provide a natural habitat for wild and domestic camelids such as vicuna（Vicugna vicugna） and alpaca（Lama pacos）. The botanical diversity plays an essential role in maintaining vital ecosystem functions. The objectives of this research were to determine the seasonal changes in soil properties, to study the vegetation changes during the wet and dry seasons and the influence of soil properties and camelid densities on the vegetation in the Apolobamba grasslands. Four zones with different vicuna populations were selected to be studied. The following soil parameters were determined： total organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorous, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable cations, pH and texture. The vegetation season changes were studied through botanical identification, above-ground biomass, plant cover and species richness. Results showed that some soil properties such as C/N ratio, CEC, silt and clay percentages kept stable against the seasonal changes. Generally, soil nutrients were relatively higher during the dry season in the surface and subsurface. The results did not point out the predominant vegetation growth during the wet season. The seasonal vegetation growth depended on each species. Thegood soil fertility corresponded to the highest plant cover. Soil fertility presented no influence on the above-ground biomass of the collected species. The negative influence of camelid grazing on soil properties could not be assessed. However, overgrazing could affect some plant species. Therefore, protection is needed in order to preserve the biodiversity in the Andean mountain grasslands.     

Tracing infiltration and recharge using stable isotope in Taihang Mt., North China

The groundwater in headwater region is an important recharge source for the adjacent mountain-front plain. In order to reveal the relationship among precipitation, soil water and groundwater, from June to September in 2004, stable isotopes (deuterium and oxygen-18) in precipitation and soil waters at the depths of 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 90, and 110 cm were analyzed at two sites covered by black locust (Robinia Pseudoacia L.) (Site A) and grass predominated by Themeda triandra (T. japonica (Willd.) Tanaka) and Bothriochloa ischaemum (B. ischaemum (L.) Keng) (Site B) in an experimental catchment at Taihang Mt., North China, respectively. The δ¹⁸O of precipitation in daily rain events shows large variations (−13.3 to −4.3‰) with a mean of 8.1‰. The δ¹⁸O and δ D of soil waters along profiles in two sites suggest that the influence of canopy cover was just up to 10 cm in top soil water. The soil water moved over the zero flux plane at 70 cm in-depth is expected to escape the evaporative effect at the end of September in both sites. The results show that the stable isotope, instead of tritium as tradition, can be used to trace the soil water behaviors based on the movement of isotopic peak along the vertical profiles in this semi-arid and semi-humid mountainous region. The infiltration depths of soil water in Taihang Mt. are 12 and 10 mm/day from June to September in 2004 in Site A and Site B, respectively. Tracing by stable isotope, recharge fluxes of soil water to local groundwater are of 3.8 and 3.2 mm/day in Site A and Site B, respectively. The results provide desirable information for assessment of local groundwater resources. An erratum to this article can be found at     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001034

A comprehensive methodology that integrates Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation（RUSLE） model and Geographic Information System（GIS） techniques was adopted to determine the soil erosion vulnerability of a forested mountainous sub-watershed in Kerala,India.The spatial pattern of annual soil erosion rate was obtained by integrating geo-environmental variables in a raster based GIS method.GIS data layers including,rainfall erosivity（R）,soil erodability（K）,slope length and steepness（LS）,cover management （C） and conservation practice（P） factors were computed to determine their effects on average annual soil loss in the area.The resultant map of annual soil erosion shows a maximum soil loss of 17.73 t h^-1 y^-1 with a close relation to grass land areas,degraded forests and deciduous forests on the steep side-slopes（with high LS ）.The spatial erosion maps generated with RUSLE method and GIS can serve as effective inputs in deriving strategies for land planning and management in the environmentally sensitive mountainous areas.     

地震作用下锚固边坡稳定性数值分析

地震诱发的边坡失稳是一种重要的地震地质灾害类型,本文结合工程实例,利用有限差分软件FLAC3D 建立了一个边坡的数值分析模型。对比分析了静力状态下锚固前后边坡的塑性区、水平位移和滑移面,地震作用下锚固前后边坡的塑性区、各个时刻的水平位移、锚杆轴力分布和塑性状态,然后分析了边坡的稳定性,并探讨了边坡破坏的机理。数值分析结果表明:锚杆对边坡的加固效果十分显著; 锚杆在发挥锚固作用时主要受拉,且随着锚杆位置高程的增加,锚杆的轴力减小; 有无锚杆支护的边坡在地震作用下的破坏方式不同。研究结果为锚固边坡的抗震设计提供了参考依据。     

土结构性本构模型研究现状综述

土本构模型的建立是一个重要而又复杂的问题,到目前为止,国内外学者们已提出数以百计的土本构模型,诸多文献也对这些模型进行了评述和归纳。然而这些土本构模型多是在扰动土或砂土的基础上发展和建立起来的,它们难以描述由于土结构性引起的各种非线性行为,其计算结果与实际情况相差甚远。天然土体一般都具有一定的结构性,所以有必要建立考虑土结构性影响的土本构模型。针对这个现实,目前有些学者已基于各种理论和方法,提出了一些可以考虑土结构性影响的土本构模型,并得了较好的应用。但在目前的文献中还很少有对土的结构性本构模型研究进行归纳,基于此,本文简要介绍了一下目前土的结构性本构模型研究现状,并提出了这些本构模型在应用中所存在的问题。     

Response of the soil water content of mobile dunes to precipitation patterns in Inner Mongolia,northern China

We analyzed the relationship between soil water content (SWC) dynamics in mobile dunes to a depth of 100 cm and precipitation patterns from June to July 2010 in the Horqin Sand Land. The precipitation was dominated by small events of 0.1–3.0 mm, which accounted for 52% of the total events. Precipitation >20 mm had the highest intensity, accounting for 50% of the total precipitation. SWC differed significantly among the soil layers: mean SWC was greatest from 80 to 100 cm and lowest from 40 to 60 cm. SWC from 0 to 100 cm was significantly affected by relative humidity, water barometric pressure and minimum temperature, and the SWC of 0–40 cm was obviously influenced by precipitation amount and wind velocity. Precipitation <5 mm did not replenish SWC, precipitation between 5 and 20 mm provided some replenishment to SWC from 0 to 40 cm, and precipitation >20 mm increased significantly SWC from 0 to 100 cm. In addition, precipitation intensity significantly affected the infiltration rate, with higher intensity leading to deeper and faster infiltration. At longer intervals between precipitation events, SWC in each soil layer decreased continuously over time; however, SWC from 0 to 80 cm changed little within the first 3 days, and SWC from 0 to 100 cm started to decrease greatly after 5 days.     

CHANNEL EROSION DAMAGES AND PROTECTION MEASURES IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

1INTRODUCTIONThesouthwesternregionoftheUnitedStates,includingSoutheastArizona,ischaracterizedbyasemiaridclimatewithhotsummers,mildwinters,andephemeralstreamsdrainingsparselyvegetatedareas.ChannelmorphologyoftheephemeralstreamsinSoutheastArizonaisinfluencedbybothlateralandverticalchannelchangesoccurringduringmajorfloods.Lateralchannelchangesoccurinthreewaysbankerosion,meandermigration,andchannelavulsion.Verticalchannelchangesinclude,beddegradationoraggradation,andmayoccurseparatelyorinco…     

二维海陆风环流的数值研究

本文对Nickerson的中尺度模式作了一些修改,加入了地表热量平衡方程和一个13层的土壤层模式,并对Therry等的行星边界层参数化形式作了调整.使之较好地模拟出太阳辐射和地表温度的日变化.对不同地形、纬度和夏、冬季海陆风的模拟表明,本模式具有较强的海陆风模拟能力.     

Effect of Inter-Column Spacing on Soil Stresses due to Vibro-Installed Stone Columns: Interesting Findings

This paper reveals the interesting relation between the inter-column spacing and the corresponding alteration of soil state of stresses due to the vibro-installation technique. This relation is inferred from analyses for load settlement records of various field load tests, performed for stone columns arrangements with different inter-column spacing values. In order to have adequate confidence in the findings, a well-documented case history, involving three columns patterns along with their relevant field and laboratory test results, is utilized for this study. Moreover, a well-tested finite element model, capable of simulating both elasto-plastic and time dependent soil deformations as well as pore water pressure building and dissipation, is employed in the analysis. Instead of determining the soil response to the test load, based on known initial soil stresses and material properties, the analysis is inversely posed to determine the soil initial stresses, based on the recorded settlements and the post-installation material properties. The alteration in the soil state of stress is represented by the increase in the post-installation horizontal to vertical stress ratio, K*, as a function of the inter-column spacing. It is found that this alteration experiences a systematic decrease in its magnitude as the inter-column spacing increases.     

河南省土壤湿度年变化规律

利用河南省土壤墒情预报模型中建立的河南省台站土壤墒情数据库资料，对不同类型土壤湿度进行分析，从而确定不同类型土壤湿度差异、地下水对土壤湿度的影响及河南省土壤湿度的年变化规律。