Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield,Scotland

Plateau icefields are a common form of mountain ice mass, frequently found in mid‐latitude to high‐arctic regions and increasingly recognized in the Quaternary record. Their top‐heavy hypsometry makes them highly sensitive to changes in climate when the equilibriaum line altitude (ELA) lies above the plateau edge, allowing ice to expand significantly as regional ELAs decrease, and causing rapid recession as climate warms. With respect to future climate warming, it is important to understand the controls on plateau icefield response to climate change in order to better predict recession rates, with implications for water resources and sea‐level rise. Improving knowledge of the controls on glacier recession may also enable further palaeoclimatic information to be extracted from the Quaternary glacial record. We use the distribution of moraines to examine topographic controls on Younger Dryas icefield recession in Scotland. We find that overall valley morphology influences the style of recession, through microclimatic and geometric controls, with bed gradient affecting moraine spacing. Ice mass reconfiguration may occur as recession progresses because ice divide migration could alter the expected response based on hypsometric distribution. These results add to a growing body of research examining controls on glacier recession and offer a step towards unravelling non‐linear ice mass behaviour. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The partial equilibration of garnet porphyroblasts in pelitic schists and its control on prograde metamorphism,Glen Roy,Scotland

Garnet porphyroblasts in sillimanite‐bearing pelitic schists contain complex textural and compositional zoning, with considerable variation both within and between adjacent samples. The sillimanite‐bearing schists locally occur in regional Barrovian garnet zone assemblages and are indicative of a persistent lack of equilibrium during prograde metamorphism. Garnet in these Dalradian rocks from the Scottish Highlands preserves evidence of a range of metamorphic responses including initial growth and patchy coupled dissolution–reprecipitation followed by partial dissolution. Individual porphyroblasts each have a unique and variable response to prograde metamorphism and garnet with mainly flat compositional profiles co‐exists with those containing largely unmodified characteristic bell‐shaped Mn profiles. This highlights the need for caution in applying traditional interpretations of effective volume diffusion eliminating compositional variation. Cloudy garnet with abundant fluid inclusions is produced during incomplete modification of the initial porphyroblasts and these porous garnet are then particularly prone to partial replacement in sillimanite‐producing reactions. The modification of garnet via a dissolution–reprecipitation process releases Ca into the effective whole‐rock composition, displacing the pressure–temperature positions of subsequent isograd reactions. This represents the first report of internal metasomatism controlling reaction pathways. The behaviour of garnet highlights the importance of kinetic factors, especially deformation and fluids, in controlling reaction progress and how the resulting variability influences subsequent prograde history. The lack of a consistent metamorphic response, within and between adjacent schists, suggests that on both local and regional scales these rocks have largely not equilibrated at peak metamorphic conditions.     

Hydrological dynamics of prairie pothole wetlands: Dominant processes and landscape controls under contrasted conditions

Numerous studies have examined the impact of prairie pothole wetlands on overall watershed dynamics. However, very few have looked at individual wetland dynamics across a continuum of alteration status using subdaily hydrometric data. Here, the importance of surface and subsurface water storage dynamics in the prairie pothole region was documented by (1) characterizing surface fill–spill dynamics in intact and consolidated wetlands; (2) quantifying water‐table fluctuations and the occurrence of overland flow downslope of fully drained wetlands; (3) assessing the relation (or lack thereof) between intact, consolidated or drained wetland hydrological behaviour, and stream dynamics; and (4) relating wetland hydrological behaviour to landscape characteristics. Focus was on southwestern Manitoba, Canada, where ten intact, three consolidated, seven fully drained wetlands, and a nearby creek were monitored over two years with differing antecedent storage conditions. Hourly hydrological time series were used to compute behavioural metrics reflective of year‐specific and season‐specific wetland dynamics. Behavioural metrics were then correlated to wetland physical characteristics to identify landscape controls on wetland hydrology. Predictably, more frequent spillage or overland flow was observed when antecedent storage was high. Consolidated wetlands had a high degree of water permanence and a greater frequency of fill–spill events than intact wetlands. Shallow and highly responsive water tables were present downslope of fully drained wetlands. Potential wetland–stream connectivity was also inferred via time‐series analysis, while some landscape characteristics (e.g., wetland surface, catchment area, and storage volume) strongly correlated with wetland behavioural metrics. The nonstationarity of dominant processes was, however, evident through the lack of consistent correlations across seasons. This, therefore, highlights the importance of combining multiyear high‐frequency hydrometric data and detailed landscape analyses in wetland hydrology studies.     

Controls on mineral deposit occurrence inferred from analysis of their spatial pattern and spatial association with geological features

In this paper, point pattern analysis, fractal analysis and Fry analysis were employed to study the spatial pattern of known occurrences of mineral deposits of the type sought, whereas distance distribution method was applied to study the spatial associations between various geological features and known occurrences of mineral deposits of the type sought. In the Aroroy district (Philippines), the results of the applications of these spatial analytical techniques support a conceptual model of district-scale mechanism of geologic controls on low-sulphidation epithermal Au mineralization, which involves a more-or-less regular mesh of interlinked zones of extension faults/fractures at and/or around intersections of NNW- and NW-trending strike-slip faults/fractures. Integration of spatial evidential data layers representing these structural controls and surficial geochemical anomalies, via knowledge-guided application of data-driven evidential belief functions, results in delineation of prospective areas occupying about 25% of the district, in which there is about 70% likelihood of undiscovered occurrences of low-sulphidation epithermal Au deposits.     

湘南银矿床的分布规律及找矿方向分析

湘南位于南岭中段北缘,是南岭多金属成矿带的重要组成部分,被誉为“有色金属之乡”．向银的成矿多与有色金属成矿系列有着密切的关系．从大地构造单元、构造层、成矿条件和各类银矿床的分布规律入手,初步探讨了湘南银矿床的控矿因素,对湘南银矿床找矿方向进行讨论,认为湘南地区具有寻找大型银矿床的良好前景和广阔的空间．     

Is groundwater response timing in a pre‐alpine catchment controlled more by topography or by rainfall?

Groundwater levels in steep headwater catchments typically respond quickly to rainfall, but the timing of the response may vary spatially across the catchment. In this study, we investigated the topographic controls and the effects of rainfall and antecedent conditions on the groundwater response timing for 51 groundwater monitoring sites in a 20‐ha pre‐alpine catchment with low permeability soils. The median time to rise and median duration of recession for the 133 rainfall events were highly correlated to the topographic characteristics of the site and its upslope contributing area. The median time to rise depended more on the topographic characteristics than on the rainfall characteristics or antecedent soil wetness conditions. The median time to rise decreased with Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) for sites with TWI < 6 and was almost constant for sites with a higher TWI. The slope of this relation was a function of rainfall intensity. The rainfall threshold for groundwater initiation was also a function of TWI and allowed extrapolation of point measurements to the catchment scale. The median lag time between the rainfall centroid and the groundwater peak was 75 min. The groundwater level peaked before peak streamflow at the catchment outlet for half of the groundwater monitoring sites, but only by 15 to 25 min. The stronger correlations between topographic indices and groundwater response timing in this study compared to previous studies suggest that surface topography affects the groundwater response timing in catchments with low permeability soils more than in catchments with more transmissive soils. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The multivariate controls of hydraulic geometry: A causal investigation in terms of boundary shear distribution

Most downstream hydraulic geometry exponents have been found to be very close to the classic values reported by Leopold and Maddock (1953). These have been viewed as the simplified cases to general trends because the hydraulic geometry of alluvial channels is actually the product of ‘multivariate controls’ (Richards, 1982). This paper is an attempt to develop a soundly based foundation for the explanation of the physical mechanisms of these controls. A quantitative relationship between channel shape and boundary shear distribution developed from experimental flume results is found to be applicable in some instances to alluvial channels, particularly to stable canals. On the basis of this relationship, it is shown that downstream hydraulic geometry is determined not only by flow discharge, but also by channel slope, channel average roughness and sediment composition of the channel boundary. This is strongly supported by our analysis of 529 observations from both stable canals and natural rivers in the U.S.A. and the U.K. The difference between regime relations in canals and the hydraulic geometry of rivers appears to be caused mainly by channel slope and average roughness, which can be regarded as constants only in stable canals. The close relationship between discharge and channel average roughness observed in canals is not repeated in natural channels, partly because of the variety of flow values used to define the channel-forming discharge. Furthermore, it is indicated that the effects of the sediment composition of the channel boundary on hydraulic geometry are significant and need further investigation.     

河西走廊东部石炭系展布及找煤方向

河西走廊东部石炭系发育、展布受晚古生代前陆盆地控制。虽然以武威为界的东、西两部存在一定差异，但均具有沉降中心和聚煤中心由南向北迁移，海浸方向由ＳＷ→ＳＷＷ→ＮＷＷ变化的特征。聚煤中心可能主要位于西部中央隆起南缘及东部靖远磁窑一带，北祁连逆冲推覆体下及山前可能也有较好的找煤前景。     

平庄盆地充填沉积特征和聚煤规律

根据地层和构造形迹发育特点，简述了平庄盆地诞生、成长及消亡的演化历史。从岩性、粒度分析、垂向层序、沉积断面结构、砂砾岩体几何形态等方面论述了盆地晚中生代充填沉积相的５种类型、各沉积相的空间配置关系；并进一步论述了盆地含煤地层——下白里统古园组、元宝山组的沉积环境。指出了聚煤构造、沉积环境拉煤的规律及找煤远景区段。     

Metamorphic and metasomatic convergence of basic igneous rocks and lime‐magnesia sediments of the precambrian of North‐western Queensland∗

With increasing intensity of metamorphism, and particularly metasomatism, it becomes more and more difficult to separate amphibolites in North‐western Queensland into ortho‐ and para‐amphibolites, and a stage is reached at which the two are indistinguishable. Field evidence, carefully sought, has enabled the origin of some apparently identical rocks to be determined, and laboratory methods were applied to these rocks to see if grounds for the separation of amphibolites of unknown origin could be determined. None of the six methods tried — mineralogy (including feldspar twinning), chemical analysis (including TiO2 content), spectrography, rock magnetism — proved to be as successful as the field method in distinguishing the two rock groups; some methods used with apparent success elsewhere, such as feldspar twinning or chemical analyses, are found to be unsuccessful here, which suggests that though the problem is world‐wide, solutions are only of local validity.