Assessing gaps in irrigated agricultural productivity through satellite earth observations—A case study of the Fergana Valley,Central Asia

Improving crop area and/or crop yields in agricultural regions is one of the foremost scientific challenges for the next decades. This is especially true in irrigated areas because sustainable intensification of irrigated crop production is virtually the sole means to enhance food supply and contribute to meeting food demands of a growing population. Yet, irrigated crop production worldwide is suffering from soil degradation and salinity, reduced soil fertility, and water scarcity rendering the performance of irrigation schemes often below potential. On the other hand, the scope for improving irrigated agricultural productivity remains obscure also due to the lack of spatial data on agricultural production (e.g. crop acreage and yield). To fill this gap, satellite earth observations and a replicable methodology were used to estimate crop yields at the field level for the period 2010/2014 in the Fergana Valley, Central Asia, to understand the response of agricultural productivity to factors related to the irrigation and drainage infrastructure and environment. The results showed that cropping pattern, i.e. the presence or absence of multi-annual crop rotations, and spatial diversity of crops had the most persistent effects on crop yields across observation years suggesting the need for introducing sustainable cropping systems. On the other hand, areas with a lower crop diversity or abundance of crop rotation tended to have lower crop yields, with differences of partly more than one t/ha yield. It is argued that factors related to the infrastructure, for example, the distance of farms to the next settlement or the density of roads, had a persistent effect on crop yield dynamics over time. The improvement potential of cotton and wheat yields were estimated at 5%, compared to crop yields of farms in the direct vicinity of settlements or roads. In this study it is highlighted how remotely sensed estimates of crop production in combination with geospatial technologies provide a unique perspective that, when combined with field surveys, can support planners to identify management priorities for improving regional production and/or reducing environmental impacts.     

Dispersion Pattern of PGE and Ag in Chromiferous Ultramafic Suite of Rocks in Sukinda Valley,India

Potential chromite ore deposits of India are situated in Sukinda, Odisha, which may also be considered as a potential resource for platinum group elements (PGEs). This paper reports on PGE geochemistry in twenty six samples covering chromite ores, chromitites and associated ultramafic rocks of the Sukinda ultramafic complex. Platinum group element contents range from 213 to 487 ppb in the chromite ore body, from 63 to 538 ppb in rocks that have chromite dendrites or dissemination and from 38 to 389 ppb in associated olivine–peridotite, serpentinite, pyroxenite and brecciated rocks. The PGEs are divided into two sub‐groups: IPGE (Ir, Os, and Ru) and PPGE (Pd, Pt, and Rh) based on their chemical behaviour. The IPGE and PPGE in these three litho‐members show a contrasting relationship e.g. average IPGE content decreases from chromite to chromitite and associated rocks while PPGE increases in the same order. Appreciable Ag in chromitite (270–842 ppb) is recorded. Positive correlation between IPGE with Cr₂O₃ and with Al₂O₃ is observed while these are negatively correlated with MgO. Covariant relationships between Au and Mg in rocks devoid of chromite and between Ag and Fe in chromitite sample are observed. Chromite in all seams and some chromitite samples exhibit an IPGE‐enriched chondrite normalized pattern while PPGE are highly fractionated and show a steep negative slope, thereby indicating that PGE in the parental melt fractionates and IPGE‐compatible elements prefer to settle with chromite. The rocks devoid of chromite and rocks containing accessory chromite exhibit a nearly flat pattern in chondrite‐normalized PGE plots and this suggests a limited fractionation of PGE in these rocks. Variation in the distribution pattern of PGE and Ag in three typical litho‐members of the Sukinda Valley may be related to multiple intrusion of ultramafic magma, containing variable volume percentage of chromite.     

四川省甘洛县高丰铅锌矿床地质特征与成因分析

甘洛县高丰铅锌矿床为近年来扬子地块西南缘川滇黔交界区发现的大型铅锌矿床。矿床地质勘查表明,铅锌矿体主要赋存于震旦系灯影组白云岩层间破碎带中,共圈定6条铅锌矿体,其中Ⅰ-1和Ⅱ-1等2条主矿体延伸长、厚度大、品位富,多呈层状、似层状、脉状、团块状、浸染状分布。矿床受区域性断裂、褶皱构造和层间破碎带的控制,同时具有"层控"和后成的特点。根据同位素年代学信息判断,矿床形成于三叠纪末—侏罗纪的造山期构造运动中;综合同位素地球化学和包裹体地球化学特征,铅锌矿形成于中低温、中等盐度、中浅成的地质环境中;铅锌矿为造山期地下热卤水萃取围岩中的成矿物质,形成含矿流体,并在层间破碎带等减压空间聚集、卸载成矿。研究表明,矿床为受中生代构造活动控制、具有"层控"特点的热液交代充填型铅锌矿床,可与密西西比河谷型(MVT)铅锌矿床类比。     

新疆塔什库尔干谷地地热资源研究进展

归纳了新疆塔什库尔干谷地地热地质条件,分析了区内地质构造、地温分布、地热流体化学及同位素特征,研究了地热形成机理,计算了曲曼地热田的地热资源量和可开采量。结果表明: 研究区地热资源受断裂构造控制; 地温变化与盖层、完整基岩、断裂带(热储)表现出明显的一致性,目前实测最高热储温度为161 ℃,深部热储计算温度可达222~268 ℃,地温梯度最高为149.20 ℃/100 m; 地热流体具有深循环特征,与浅表冷水的水化学和同位素特征具有明显的差异; 地热流体来源于大气降水,在断裂及裂隙内储存、运移、富集,在侵入岩体放射性生热和结晶余热的热量供应下,地下流体不断与围岩进行热量及物质交换,在热储围岩和盖层中,热量以传导方式为主,在热储内,热量以对流方式为主; 曲曼地热田储存的热量为55.919×10¹¹ MJ,地热流体可开采量约为12 593 m³/d,产能(热能)约为77.9 MW。因此认为,塔什库尔干谷地热储埋藏深度浅,易开采,具有可观的直接和间接经济价值。     

海拔梯度及典型土地利用类型对北热带山地土壤有机质和综合肥力的影响

为深入了解北热带海拔梯度各山地土壤带及典型土地利用类型（次生林、香蕉园、橡胶林）土壤有机质（SOM）、综合肥力（SIF）分布特征,以云南省金平县蝴蝶谷地区为例,区分表层（0～20 cm）和亚表层（20～40 cm）,测定SOM、pH、全氮、全磷、全钾和速效氮磷钾,采用修正内梅罗指数法评价SIF,分析限制SIF的关键因素。结果表明,研究区海拔与SOM、SIF呈显著正相关,6个山地土壤带表层和亚表层SOM、SIF排序为棕壤带>黄棕壤带>黄壤带>红壤带>赤红壤带>砖红壤带（P<0.05）。无论表层还是亚表层,SOM和SIF均以次生林最大,香蕉园次之,橡胶林最小,次生林SOM显著大于香蕉园和橡胶林（P<0.05）,SIF则无显著差异。随着海拔升高,限制SIF的因素由速效氮、速效磷转变为速效磷和速效钾,且pH的限制逐渐加强,而维持和限制低海拔不同土地利用类型SIF的因素与同海拔段内自然土壤基本一致。未来山地开发利用过程中低海拔区域应该注重补充氮肥和磷肥,中高海拔区域注重补充磷肥和钾肥,同时调节适宜的pH更有助于土壤养分释放和植物吸收利用。综上,海拔梯度和...     

Digital Identification of Ecosystem Structure in the FIrtIna Valley of the Kakar Mountains in the Rize City of Turkey

Identifying the structure of protected mountain ecosystems is an important task for understanding conservation sustainability. The study area, the Firtina Valley, located in the Rize City on the Eastern Blacksea Coast, is one of the biological hotspots and a National Park of Turkey. In order to identify the structure of mountain ecosystems, we generated a GIS database for the main environmental parameters of the study area, including elevation,slope and aspect layers for topographic structure, 10year mean values of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI), data for vegetation structure, annual mean temperature and precipitation layers for climatic structure, main soil groups for soil structure and stream flow accumulation, stream flow length and stream order layers for hydrological structure.To identify the complex relations among environmental factors in the study area a data reduction method is applied with Principal Component Analysis(PCA). PCA is performed using data of 16 layers from Geographical Information Systems(GIS). PCA analysis reduced 16 dimensions into 5 dimensions containing 75% of the variation in all data. It is also revealed that the topographic structure, mainly altitude, dominates the ecosystems of the Firtina Valley, but it should be considered that the interactions of environmental factors in an ecosystem dynamics are very complex. The ecosystem structure is determined by the environmental factors direct or indirect effects on energy regulation of an ecosystem. Therefore the relationship between topographic elements and other abiotic-biotic elements in the Firtina Valley are important for environmental assessment and sustainability of a protected area, and these effects are explained in this study.     

莫坝-希拉沟地区水系沉积物地球化学特征及找矿

莫坝-希拉沟地区16个元素水系沉积物测量地球化学特征研究表明,贫乏元素有Au、Hg、Mo;正常元素有Cu、Pb、Zn、Co、Mn、W、Sn、Bi;富集元素有As、Sb、Ag、Fe、Ni;无强富集的元素。通过各元素空间分布研究,对主要地球化学异常进行推断解释,指出三叠系地层、尤其与喷出岩有关的地区是寻找Cu、Pb、Zn、Au、Ag等多金属矿的有利地区。     

Late Palaeozoic 40Ar/39Ar ages of the HP-LT metamorphic rocks from the Kekesu Valley,Chinese southwestern Tianshan: new constraints on exhumation tectonics

abstract

Although numerous ages have been obtained for the Chinese southwestern Tianshan high pressure/ultrahigh pressure-low temperature (HP/UHP-LT) metamorphic belt in the past two decades, its exhumation history is still controversial. The poor age constraint was related to the appealing low metamorphic temperatures and excess Ar commonly present under HP/UHP conditions. This study aims to provide new age constraints on the orogen’s exhumation by obtaining ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mica ages using the conventional step-heating technique, with emphasis on the avoidance of excess Ar contamination. From a cross section along the Kekesu Valley, four samples, three from the HP-LT metamorphic belt (TK050, TK051, and TK081) and one from the southern margin of the low pressure metamorphic belt (TK097), were selected for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating. Phengites from garnet glaucophane schist TK050 and the surrounding rock garnet phengite schist TK051 yield comparable plateau ages of 321.4 ± 1.6 and 318.6 ± 1.6 Ma, respectively, while epidote mica schist TK081 gives a younger plateau age of 293.3 ± 1.5 Ma. Considering the chemical compositions of phengites, mineral assemblages, and microstructures in the thin slices, we suppose that the former represents the time the HP rocks retrograded from the peak stage (eclogite facies) to the (epidote)-blueschist facies, whereas the latter reflects greenschist facies overprinting. Biotite and muscovite from two-mica quartzite TK097 give similar plateau ages of 253.0 ± 1.3 and 247.1 ± 1.2 Ma, interpreted to date movement on the post collisional transcrustal South Nalati ductile shear zone. By combining our new ages with published data, a two-stage exhumation model is suggested for the Chinese southwestern Tianshan HP/UHP-LT metamorphic belt: initial fast exhumation to a depth of about 30–35 km by ~320 Ma was followed by relatively slow (~1 mm year^–1) uplift to ~10 km by ~293 Ma.     

A geological model of London and the Thames Valley,southeast England

Many geological survey organisations have started delivering digital geological models as part of their role. This article describes the British Geological Survey (BGS) model for London and the Thames Valley in southeast England. The model covers 4800 km² and extends to several hundred metres depth. It includes extensive spreads of Quaternary river terraces and alluvium of the Thames drainage system resting on faulted and folded Palaeogene and Cretaceous bedrock strata. The model extends to the base of the Jurassic sedimentary rocks.     

Holocene landscape evolution and geoarcheology of low-order streams in the Rio Grande basin,San Juan Mountains,Colorado, USA

This geoarcheological study investigates soil stratigraphy and geochronology of alluvial deposits to determine Holocene landscape evolution within the Hot Creek, La Jara Creek, and Alamosa River drainage basins in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Geomorphic mapping and radiocarbon dating indicate synchronicity in patterns of erosion, deposition, and stability between drainage basins. In all three basins, the maximum age of mapped alluvial terraces and fans is ~ 3300 cal yr BP. A depositional period seen at both Hot Creek and the Alamosa River begins ~ 3300 to 3200 cal yr BP. Based on soil development, short periods of stability followed by alluvial fan aggradation occur in the Alamosa River basin ~ 2200 cal yr BP. A period of landscape stability at Hot Creek before ~ 1100 cal yr BP is followed by a period of rapid aggradation within all three drainages between ~ 1100 and 850 cal yr BP. A final aggradation event occurred between ~ 630 and 520 cal yr BP at La Jara Creek. These patterns of landscape evolution over the past ~ 3300 yr provide the framework for an archeological model that predicts the potential for buried and surficial cultural materials in the research area.