A new method for determining weathering rates in weathering pits

Determining the rates of rock weathering is difficult because, firstly, the weathering rate of rocks is usually so slow that it is difficult to measure; secondly, it is also difficult to determine the start time and duration of weathering. The Shanxi River Valley in Fujian, China dried up after a reservoir was built upstream in 1959, and became a stone quarry site. Quarrying ceased in 1977, so a large amount of quarry wastes with artificially excavated surfaces were left in the valley. The concave-upward curved rocky surface, broken by manual excavation, easily contains rainwater in its central part, which was easily weathered into a more concave surface. Plaster mould casting was performed in situ on such a concave surface of an excavated stone rock in the valley and scanned with a high-precision 3D scanner to obtain 3D data of the concave-upward rock surface and its more concave middle part, which was considered as an initial weathering pit. The 3D model provided an in-depth understanding of the initial formation process of weathering pits, indicating that: (1) the average weathering rate of a weathering pit is 10.8 ± 0.49 cm ka⁻¹; (2) weathering pits are generally formed by standing water in depressions on a flat near-horizontal rock surface due to weathering actions involving water; (3) the deepening rate of a weathering pit is about four times greater than that of the surrounding area; (4) the growth of a weathering pit can begin in some small concavities on the flat rock surface without pre-existing depressions and gradually expands; (5) a weathering pit is generally wider than deep or with a flat bottom due to expansion with a lateral weathering rate that is greater than that of the vertical, and the lamination of the host rock is not necessary for the formation of flat-floored weathering pits. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

铀系不平衡测年法在我国秦岭南麓黄土钙结核中的应用

秦岭南麓汉江流域上游地区分布着厚达二、三十米的黄土堆积,与秦岭以北地区黄土相比差异明显。汉江流域黄土中的钙结核分布十分广泛,钙结核内壁附着纯净致密的碳酸盐晶体,而秦岭以北黄土钙结核中却少有碳酸盐晶体析出。铀系不平衡测年是一门发展成熟、测年精度高、测年范围相对较广的第四纪重要测年方法,本文尝试利用铀系测年法对汉江流域上游柳陂黄土剖面钙结核样品内的碳酸盐晶体进行了铀系测年分析。柳陂剖面厚约17 m,可辨认出多层古土壤与黄土地层。自柳陂剖面中下部获取的4件钙结核样品测年结果分别为距今115.57±0.66 ka、130.15±0.65 ka、303.97±14.47 ka和356.40±11.60 ka,随着地层深度增加,^230Th年代增长,且与磁化率揭示的土壤地层序列基本一致。所以初步推断柳陂黄土剖面的地层序列为S1、L2、S2-I、S2-II、L3和S3。研究表明,秦岭南麓钙结核的^230Th年龄可为黄土地层的独立定年提供重要参考。根据碳酸盐钙结核形成机制,认为钙结核中碳酸盐晶体的^230Th年代能够指示相应黄土地层的最小年龄。     

穿越东非大裂谷工程地质与线路比选分析——以内罗毕—马拉巴铁路为例

内罗毕-马拉巴铁路工程是东非"北方走廊"的重要组成部分,是非洲内陆国家发展经济的主干线。铁路线路工程穿越的东非大裂谷,地质复杂、火山地貌、断裂带和拉张裂缝等不良地质极为发育,而东非大裂谷铁路工程建设的研究资料十分匮乏。为了研究穿越东非大裂谷的铁路线路,本文首先介绍了东非大裂谷地形、地貌、裂谷的发育机理、区域断裂分布,然后以铁路沿线经济控制点为主轴,制定了穿越东非大裂谷铁路线路3大通道。分别对线路3大通道穿越的地形、地貌比选,穿越的地层、断裂和地裂缝比选,穿越地震、火山发育比选以及穿越的不良地质灾害比选,最后比选各线路通道的投资以及优、缺点,最终推荐南线通道方案。该线路方案得到肯尼亚政府的肯定和采纳。目前内马铁路正试运营,实践表明内马铁路裂谷段选线是较为成功的,可为同类工程提供借鉴。     

Debris transport by Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers in Northern Scotland: Basin form and the within-valley asymmetry of lateral moraines

Moraines in six cirques in Northern Scotland are shown to be asymmetrically developed, being larger below north- or east-facing valley sides. Moraine asymmetry is strongly correlated with the distribution of free faces in the valleys, a relationship that is interpreted as the result of variation in slope retreat rates. Analysis of clast form and roundness demonstrates that following initial release from bedrock, debris entered both passive high-level glacial transport and tractive transport at the ice-bed interface. The importance of glacier velocities and medial moraines on debris flux is discussed. Consideration is also given to the implications of process asymmetry to long term landform development.     

Landslides in the Tandayapa Valley, northern Andes, Ecuador: implications for landform development in humid and tectonically active mountain ranges

Landslides are common throughout the Ecuadorian Andes, but their causal and controlling factors and their roles in landform development have not yet been systematically investigated. This paper reports observations and hypotheses arising from a reconnaissance study of the Tandayapa Valley in the Cordillera Occidental, approximately 30 km west of Quito. This study area is characterised by high local relief (ca. 800 m) associated with dissected mountainous terrain, high annual rainfall (>2,000 mm), and secondary-succession wet montane ‘cloud forest’. Regolith cover is extremely thin on the very steep (45 to >60°) upper main valley slopes, but there are thick accumulations of tephra on the slope crests and ridgetops. These deposits show periods of soil development separated by deposition events. Natural landslides in this environment comprise rare large deep-seated bedrock failures and occasional shallow failures on the steep upper slopes where potentially unstable thicknesses of tephra have accumulated. Landslides associated with construction of roads and forest trails are more common. Back-analysis of one road-cut landslide, using field and laboratory data to characterise the in situ weathered material where possible, indicated that natural shallow failures are unlikely in the absence of a surficial cover of tephra. By analogy with another mountainous tropical landscape, it is suggested that long-term landform development can be explained in terms of channel incision, driven by uplift, producing steep lower valley slopes that eventually exceed bedrock failure thresholds. Therefore, large deep-seated landslides appear to control valley slope form development, whilst the shallow landslides contribute to general denudation.     

Analytic models for orogenic collapse

The temporal and spatial distribution of the aftershock sequences of the Ruwenzori (February 5, 1994, Mb (5.8)), Masisi (April 29, 1995, Mb (5.1)) and Kalehe (October 24, 2002, Mb (5.9)) earthquakes have been studied. It has been found that most of the aftershocks of the Ruwenzori earthquake are located on the eastern flank of the main escarpment and those of the Masisi earthquake are confined to the northwest of Lake Kivu margin where earthquake occurrence of swarm-type was normally observed. The Kalehe earthquake occurred in the central part of Lake Kivu and it was the largest earthquake observed in the Lake Kivu basin since 1900. The rate of decrease in aftershock activity with the time has shown that the p-value for Ruwenzori and Masisi earthquake equals 0.6, somehow smaller than that found in other geotectonic zones where p is close to 1. The p-value of the Kalehe earthquake is a normal value equal to 1.From an area delimited by spatial distribution of aftershocks, the linear dimension of the fault was estimated. The fault area determined in this study correlates well with those of previous studies which occurred in the Western Rift Valley of Africa including the Tanganyika and Upemba Rift.     

ESR chronology of the Somme River Terrace system and first human settlements in Northern France

The Somme Valley, Northern France, is famous for its archaeological sequence, where numerous rich Palaeolithic sites, such as Saint-Acheul, the type site of the Acheulian, have been discovered. The archaeological levels are often directly associated with fossil alluvial sediments of the River Somme or with slope deposits, including loess and palaeosols. In the middle reaches of the valley, near Amiens, the system of fossil-stepped fluvial terraces is particularly well developed and preserved, and occurs on 10 alluvial formations. These terraces, from +5 to +55 m above the present-day valley bedrock, allow the study of the environmental changes and the human settlement of this area through the Pleistocene.

Since 1988, ESR dating was systematically applied on bleached quartz extracted from the fossil fluvial deposits, in order to better describe the geological evolution of the stepped system. More recently, U-series/ESR dating has also been performed on teeth collected from the different terrace deposits. Here we present a synthetic review of the main ESR results, and propose an ESR chronology for the geological evolution of the Somme fluvial system and for the Middle Pleistocene human settlement of northern France.     

A portable rainfall simulator for field assessment of splash and slopewash in remote locations

This paper describes the design, operation and performance of a field‐portable ‘drip‐type’ simulator and erosion measurement system. The system was constructed specifically for soil erosion research in the humid tropics and has been used extensively in Malaysian Borneo. The simulator is capable of producing replicable storms of up to 200 mm h^?1 intensity and 20–30 minutes duration with a drop‐size distribution close to that of natural storms of such intensity (D₅₀ of simulated rainfall is 4·15 mm at 200 mm h^?1 and 3·65 mm at 160 mm h^?1, D⁵⁰ measured during natural rainfall = 3·25 mm). The simulator is portable and simply constructed and operates without a motor or electronics, thus making it particularly useful in remote, mountainous areas. The erosion measurement system allows assessment of: (1) rainsplash detachment and net downslope transport from the erosion plot; (2) slopewash (erosion transported by overland flow); and (3) infiltration capacity and overland flow. The performance of the simulator–erosion system compared with previous systems is assessed with reference to experiments carried out in primary and regenerating tropical rainforest at Danum Valley (Malaysian Borneo). The system was found to compare favourably with previous field simulators, producing a total storm kinetic energy of 727 J m^?2 (over a 20‐minute storm event) and a kinetic energy rate of 0·61 J m^?2 s^?1, approximately half that experienced on the ground during a natural rainfall event of similar intensity, despite the shorter distance to the ground. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of rehabilitation of Assiut barrage, Nile River, on groundwater rise in urban areas

To make optimum use of the most vital natural resource of Egypt, the River Nile water, a number of regulating structures (in the form of dams and barrages) for control and diversion of the river flow have been constructed in this river since the start of the 20th century. One of these barrages is the Assiut barrage which will require considerable repairs in the near future. The design of the rehabilitation of the barrage includes a headpond with water levels maintained at a level approximately 0.60 m higher than the highest water level in the headpond of the present barrage. This development will cause an increase of the seepage flow from the river towards the adjacent agricultural lands, Assiut Town and villages. The increased head pond level might cause a rise of the groundwater levels and impedance of drainage outflows. The drainage conditions may therefore be adversely affected in the so-called impacted areas which comprise floodplains on both sides of the Nile for about 70 km upstream of the future barrage. A rise in the groundwater table, particularly when high river levels impede drainage, may result in waterlogging and secondary salinization of the soil profile in agricultural areas and increase of groundwater into cellars beneath buildings in the urban areas. In addition, a rise in the groundwater table could have negative impact on existing sanitation facilities, in particular in the areas which are served with septic tanks. The impacts of increasing the headpond level were assessed using a three-dimensional groundwater model. The mechanisms of interactions between the Nile River and the underlying Quaternary aquifer system as they affect the recharge/discharge processes are comprehensively outlined. The model has been calibrated for steady state and transient conditions against historical data from observation wells. The mitigation measures for the groundwater rise in the urban areas have been tested using the calibrated mode.     

九寨沟风景名胜区水循环模式

运用水均衡原理对九寨沟流域进行了专题的水循环研究,初步查明了注以域内各次级含水单元间的水动力联系及量的比例,进而概化出九寨沟流域大气降水气降水－地表水－地下水三者之间关系的水循环模式。