Using a fluvial archive to place extreme flood sediment (dis)connectivity dynamics in context of a longer-term record

The aim of this study was to establish the source and provenance of sediments deposited in a large floodplain sink during extreme floods in the Lockyer Creek catchment, Australia, in 2011 and 2013. We place the sediment source patterns in context of the longer-term record to determine whether coarse-grained sediment sources (i.e., very fine sand to very coarse sand) and the spatio-temporal pattern of (dis)connectivity have changed over time. We do this by matching the geochemical properties and age structure of a sediment profile located in a downstream floodplain sink to the elemental composition of source sediments. One hundred and fifty-seven sediment samples from 20 sites across the catchment are analysed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry to compare the elemental ratio composition of the downstream floodplain sink to its source materials. We use Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating to determine the age structure of the sediments in the floodplain sink. The northern tributaries and parts of the Lockyer River trunk stream are the primary sources of coarse sediment. These areas are connected (coupled) to the lower trunk stream and floodplain sediment sink. Southern tributaries are largely disconnected (decoupled) and supply little sediment to the floodplain sediment sink. This pattern of sediment source contribution has remained similar over the last 6.8 ka at least. Sediment sources as observed in the 2011 flood have predominated over the mid-late Holocene whilst those in the 2013 flood are rare.     

Sedimentary and drainage evolution of the Condamine Valley Transition Zone (eastern Australia)

The basal succession of the Condamine Valley, which overlays the boundary between the Surat and Clarence-Moreton basins (eastern Australia), contains a clay-rich horizon ‘the Transition Zone’ that marks a pronounced unconformity between the Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures and the Quaternary Condamine Alluvium. This paper provides insights into the tectonic and drainage evolution of the Condamine Valley through integrated analysis of U–Pb ages of detrital zircon from three samples (494 concordant analyses), stable oxygen isotope analysis on eight authigenic clay samples, X-ray fluorescence of primary and trace elements, and hyperspectral mineral analysis from two drill cores (Lone Pine 17 and Daandine 164). The Transition Zone is interpreted to consist of both weathered Jurassic sediments and Cenozoic clay deposits. Two sequential cycles of erosion, deposition and pedogenesis, related to geomorphological and climatic conditions are recognised. Distinctive oxygen isotope signatures of the two weathering fronts demonstrated an initial Early Cretaceous phase (δ¹⁸O?=?11.9–15.7‰ VSMOW) associated with laterisation and possible uplift, followed by Paleogene (δ¹⁸O?=?16.4–17.3‰ VSMOW) silcretisation of reworked Jurassic sediments. Detrital zircon geochronology yielded Jurassic maximum constraints for the age of deposition of three samples that are indistinguishable within error, the oldest of which (163?±?8?Ma from the lateritic profile) corresponds to the age of the underlying Walloon Coal Measures. The two overlaying samples from a silcrete profile and granular alluvium yielded overlapping yet younger ages of 150?±?6?Ma and 156?±?9?Ma, respectively. Vitrinite reflectance used as a proxy for the thermal condition of the coal strata enabled an estimated 2–3?km of burial and subsequent (likely Early Cretaceous) uplift. Geochemical insights from the Condamine Valley correspond to broad-scale climatic and tectonic conditions, suggesting that ‘transition zone equivalents’ and corresponding groundwater dynamics may occur in similar sedimentary settings throughout eastern Australia.     

Mapping and assessing crop diversity in the irrigated Fergana Valley,Uzbekistan

Crop diversity (e.g. the number of agricultural crop types and the level of evenness in area distribution) in the agricultural systems of arid Central Asia has recently been increased mainly to achieve food security of the rural population, however, not throughout the irrigation system. Site-specific factors that promote or hamper crop diversification after the dissolvent of the Soviet Union have hardly been assessed yet. While tapping the potential of remote sensing, the objective was to map and explain spatial patterns of current crop diversity by the example of the irrigated agricultural landscapes of the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan. Multi-temporal Landsat and RapidEye satellite data formed the basis for creating annual and multi-annual crop maps for 2010–2012 while using supervised classifications. Applying the Simpson index of diversity (SID) to circular buffers with radii of 1.5 and 5 km elucidated the spatial distribution of crop diversity at both the local and landscape spatial scales. A variable importance analysis, rooted in the conditional forest algorithm, investigated potential environmental and socio-economic drivers of the spatial patterns of crop diversity. Overall accuracy of the annual crop maps ranged from 0.84 to 0.86 whilst the SID varied between 0.1 and 0.85. The findings confirmed the existence of areas under monocultures as well as of crop diverse patches. Higher crop diversity occurred in the more distal parts of the irrigation system and sparsely settled areas, especially due to orchards. In contrast, in water-secure and densely settled areas, cotton-wheat rotations dominated due to the state interventions in crop cultivation. Distances to irrigation infrastructure, settlements and the road network influenced crop diversity the most. Spatial explicit information on crop diversity per se has the potential to support policymaking and spatial planning towards crop diversification. Driver analysis as exemplified at the study region in Uzbekistan can help reaching the declared policy to increase crop diversity throughout the country and even beyond.     

伊犁河谷2001-2014年地表温度时空分异特征

地表温度是地表能量平衡、区域和全球尺度地表物理过程的一个重要因子。为了辨析中国西北干旱区“天山湿岛”——伊犁河谷的地表温度时空分异,采用趋势分析法和空间数据统计法,探讨了2001-2014年不同土地利用/覆盖类型下地表温度时空变化规律,分析地表温度的时空分异特征及原因。结果表明：（1） MODIS LST产品的精度（平均R²=0.90）能够满足伊犁河谷地表温度时空变化分析的要求;（2）空间上,地表温度呈现出中部高四周低的变化趋势,高温区面积约占总面积的41%,低温区面积约占总面积的23%;时间上,伊犁河谷平均地表温度的年际波动较大,以2013年、2006年、2007年和2008年尤为突出;地表温度的年内变化呈现出单峰型分布,地表温度高值集中在3-8月,最高值出现在7月;（3）不同土地利用/覆盖类型下年均地表温度分布的总体特征为建设用地最高,稀疏草地、旱地等次之,冰川/积雪最低;（4）伊犁河谷地表温度变化趋势呈严重减少、基本不变和轻微增加区域面积分别占5%、37%和26%,以基本不变和轻微增加为主。伊犁河谷地表温度时空变化不仅受大尺度气候变化影响,还受土地类型差异影响,两者共同构成了不同地理区域及景观的温场格局,绿色植被对地表温度时空分布具有重要的调节作用。     

Sedimentary processes and facies of the waterlaid Anvil Spring Canyon alluvial fan, Death Valley, California

The Anvil Spring Canyon fan of the Panamint Range piedmont in central Death Valley was built entirely by water-flow processes, as revealed by an analysis of widespread 2- to 12-m-high stratigraphic cuts spanning the 9·7 km radial length of this 2·5–5·0° sloping fan. Two facies deposited from fan sheetfloods dominate the fan from apex to toe. The main one (60–95% of cuts) consists of sandy, granular, fine to medium pebble gravel that regularly and sharply alternates with cobbly coarse to very coarse pebble gravel in planar couplets 5–25 cm thick oriented parallel to the fan surface. The other facies (0–25% of cuts) comprises 10- to 60-cm-thick, wedge-planar and wedge-trough beds of pebbly sand and sandy pebble gravel in backsets sloping 3–28°. Both facies are interpreted as resulting from rare, sediment-charged flash floods from the catchment, and were deposited by supercritical standing waves of expanding sheetfloods on the fan. Standing waves were repeatedly initiated, enlarged, migrated, and then terminated either by gradually rejoining the flood or by more violent breakage and washout. The frequent autocyclic growth and destruction of standing waves during an individual sheetflood resulted in the deposition of multiple coarse and fine couplet and backset sequences 50–250 cm thick across the active depositional lobe of the fan. Erosional intensity during washout of the standing wave determined whether early-phase backset-bed deposits or washout-phase sheetflood couplet deposits were selectively preserved in a given cycle. Two minor facies are also found in the Anvil fan. Pebble–cobble gravel lags (0–20% of cuts) are present above erosional scours into the sheetflood couplet and backset deposits. They consist of coarse gravel concentrated through fine-fraction winnowing of the host sheetflood facies by sediment-deficient water flows. This reworking occurred during recessional flood stage or from non-catastrophic discharge during the long intervals between major flash floods. This facies is common at the surface, giving rise to a ‘braided-stream’ appearance. However, it is stratigraphically limited, present as thin, continuous to discontinuous beds or lenses that bound 50- to 250-cm-thick sheetflood sequences. The other minor facies of the Anvil fan consists of clast-supported and imbricated, thickly stratified, pebbly, cobbly, boulder gravel present in narrow, radially aligned ribbons nested within sheetflood deposits. This facies is interpreted as representing deposition in the incised channel of the fan, a subenvironment characterized by greater flow competence resulting from maintained depth from channel-wall confinement, and by more frequent water flows and winnowing events caused by its direct connection with the catchment feeder channel.     

Did Lake Manly overflow at Ash Hill?

Near Ash Hill in the Mojave Desert, California, there is an impressive channel that is cut in bedrock. The channel is in a pass through which Lake Manly, the pluvial lake that occupied Death Valley, could have overflowed. Indeed, the channel has been attributed to such overflow. The pass, however, is 500 m above the highest shorelines of Lake Manly in Death Valley, and evidence from cores from dry lakes on either side of the pass does not support the overflow hypothesis. Despite its size, new field observations suggest that the channel was actually eroded by local runoff. Water from several tributaries collects into a single channel at this point, and the resulting discharge is apparently sufficient to cause retreat of a knickpoint from the downstream edge of the basalt flow into which the channel is cut. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大兴安岭西坡比利亚谷银铅锌多金属矿床成因

比利亚谷银铅锌多金属矿床位于大兴安岭西坡的得尔布干成矿带,它是近些年来在该区新发现的一座大型银铅锌多金属矿床。该矿床矿体主要呈脉状、细脉浸染状、角砾状赋存于塔木兰沟组中—基性火山岩和满克头鄂博组酸性火山岩中的NW向断裂体系内。根据矿石的结构、构造以及矿物之间的共生组合、穿切关系,将成矿过程从早到晚划分为硅化石英+黄铁矿阶段（Ⅰ）、石英+黄铁矿+闪锌矿阶段（Ⅱ）、石英+黄铁矿+闪锌矿+方铅矿+辉银矿+黄铜矿±黝铜矿阶段（Ⅲ）、石英+黄铁矿+方解石+萤石±蛋白石阶段（Ⅳ）;详细的石英、闪锌矿流体包裹体研究揭示：成矿早阶段（Ⅰ、Ⅱ）石英中发育WL型、C型包裹体,包裹体完全均一温度为188~254℃,盐度（w（NaCl））为1.83%~4.79%,密度为0.81~0.94 g/cm³,属于中低温、低盐度的H₂O-NaCl-CO₂体系;成矿主阶段（Ⅲ）石英、闪锌矿中发育WL型包裹体,包裹体完全均一温度为160~188℃,盐度为3.69%~7.15%,密度为0.92~0.96 g/cm³,属于低温、中低盐度的H₂O-NaCl-CH₄体系;成矿晚阶段（Ⅳ）石英中发育WL型、L型包裹体,WL型包裹体完全均一温度为130~165℃,盐度为1.22%~3.53%,密度为0.93~0.95 g/cm³,属于低温、低盐度的H₂O-NaCl体系。流体包裹体H-O同位素地球化学特征揭示：早阶段流体的δ¹⁸O_H2O-SMOW值为-6.3‰~-5.9‰,δD_H2O-SMOW值为-163.4‰~-162.7‰;成矿主阶段流体的δ¹⁸O_H2O-SMOW值为-14.4‰,δD_H2O-SMOW值为-165.4‰~-162.0‰;成矿晚阶段流体的δ¹⁸O_H2O-SMOW值为-19.1‰,δD_H2O-SMOW值为-150.7‰;硫化物Pb同位素比值分别为²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=18.435~18.513、²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=15.579~15.675、²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=38.283~38.603。这种特征揭示,该矿床成矿流体为低温、低盐度的H₂O-NaCl-CH₄体系,早期为残余岩浆水和大气降水混合、中—晚期大气降水逐渐增加;成矿物质源于壳幔混合源区;成矿过程以流体混合方式导致成矿元素聚集和沉淀,矿床成因类型为与陆相火山-次火山作用有关的低硫化型浅成热液铜（银）铅锌多金属矿床;其整体与大兴安岭西坡同类型矿床相似,成矿作用发生在早白垩世（131.3 Ma）,与古太平洋板块俯冲产生的弧后伸展环境相关。     

巢湖杭埠河流域湖相沉积物多指标揭示的全新世以来环境演变

在巢湖杭埠河流域中的古湖盆中心——三河圩区获取28.6 m长的湖相岩芯（SZK1507孔）,利用AMS¹⁴C测年技术建立可靠的地层年代序列,通过对SZK1507孔738 cm以上段湖相沉积物平均粒径、磁化率、总氮（TN）、总有机碳（TOC）及C/N的综合分析,高分辨率重建了巢湖杭埠河流域全新世以来的古环境演变过程.结果表明,本区域的环境变化过程可以分为4个阶段,阶段Ⅰ（约10050—9700 cal.a B.P.）与阶段Ⅲ（约9250—5300 cal.a B.P.）气候较为湿润,巢湖水位较高,平均粒径、磁化率值较低,TN、TOC、C/N也偏低;阶段Ⅱ（约9700—9250 cal.a B.P.）与阶段Ⅳ（约5300 cal.a B.P.以来）气候干燥,巢湖水量减少,水位降低,平均粒径、磁化率值、TN、TOC、C/N均较高.一些全球范围内显著发生的气候突变事件在SZK1507孔沉积记录中也有体现,如9.3、8.2和4.2 ka B.P.事件等.将巢湖杭埠河流域10000 cal.a B.P.以来的平均粒径、磁化率、TN、TOC、C/N沉积记录与全新世以来的北纬30°夏季太阳辐射量、太阳黑子数、火山喷发对大气中硫酸盐含量贡献率等进行对比,发现巢湖杭埠河流域全新世气候突变事件主要受控于北半球夏季太阳辐射量变化、太阳活动以及火山活动等因素,并与它们之间复杂的响应机制有关.     

Late‐glacial and Holocene history of the dry forest area in the south Colombian Cauca Valley

Two sedimentary cores with pollen, charcoal and radiocarbon data are presented. These records document the Late‐glacial and Holocene dry forest vegetation, fire and environmental history of the southern Cauca Valley in Colombia (1020 m). Core Quilichao‐1 (640 cm; 3° 6′N, 76° 31′W) represents the periods of 13 150–7720 ¹⁴C yr BP and, following a hiatus, from 2880 ¹⁴C yr BP to modern. Core La Teta‐2 (250 cm; 3° 5′N, 76° 32′W) provides a continuous record from 8700 ¹⁴C yr BP to modern. Around 13 150 ¹⁴C yr BP core Quilichao‐1 shows an active Late‐glacial drainage system and presence of dry forest. From 11 465 to 10 520 ¹⁴C yr BP dry forest consists mainly of Crotalaria, Moraceae/Urticaceae, Melastomataceae/Combretaceae, Piper and low stature trees, such as Acalypha, Alchornea, Cecropia and Celtis. At higher elevation Andean forest comprising Alnus, Hedyosmum, Quercus and Myrica was common. After 10 520 ¹⁴C yr BP the floral composition of dry forest changed, with extensive open grass vegetation indicative of dry climatic conditions. This event may coincide with the change to cool and dry conditions in the second part of the El Abra stadial, an equivalent to the Younger Dryas. From 8850 ¹⁴C yr BP the record from La Teta indicates dry climatic conditions relative to the present, these prevailing up to 2880 ¹⁴C yr BP at Quilichao and to 2720 ¹⁴C yr BP at La Teta. Severe dryness reached maxima at 7500 ¹⁴C yr BP and 4300 ¹⁴C yr BP, when dry forest reached maximum expansion. Dry forest was gradually replaced by grassy vegetation, reaching maximum expansion around 2300 ¹⁴C yr BP. After 2300 ¹⁴C yr BP grassy vegetation remains abundant. Presence of crop taxa (a.o. Zea mays), disturbance indicators (Cecropia) and an increase in charcoal point to the presence of pre‐Columbian people since 2300 ¹⁴C yr BP. After 950 ¹⁴C yr BP, expansion of secondary forest taxa may indicate depopulation and abandonment of previously cultivated land. After 400 ¹⁴C yr BP, possibly related to the Spanish conquest, secondary forest expanded and charcoal concentrations increased, possibly indicating further reduction of cultivated land. During the past century, Heliotropium and Didymopanax became abundant in an increasingly degraded landscape. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence of Self‐Organized Criticality in riverbank mass failures: a matter of perspective?

A growing body of field, theoretical and numerical modelling studies suggests that predicting river response to even major changes in input variables is difficult. Rivers are seen to adjust rapidly and variably through time and space as well as changing independently of major driving variables. Concepts such as Self‐Organized Criticality (SOC) are considered to better reflect the complex interactions and adjustments occurring in systems than traditional approaches of cause and effect. This study tests the hypothesis that riverbank mass failures which occurred both prior to, and during, an extreme flood event in southeast Queensland (SEQ) in 2011 are a manifestation of SOC. Each wet‐flow failure is somewhat analogous to the ‘avalanche’ described in the initial sand‐pile experiments of Bak et al. (Physical Review Letters, 1987, 59(4), 381–384) and, due to the use of multitemporal LiDAR, the time period of instability can be effectively constrained to that surrounding the flood event. The data is examined with respect to the key factors thought to be significant in evaluating the existence of SOC including; non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events within the system; an inverse power‐law relation between the magnitude and frequency of the events; the existence of a critical state to which the system readjusts after a disturbance; the existence of a cascading processes mechanism by which the same process can initiate both low‐magnitude and high‐magnitude events. While there was a significant change in the frequency of mass failures pre‐ and post‐flood, suggesting non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events, the data did not fit an inverse power‐law within acceptable probability and other models were found to fit the data better. Likewise, determining a single ‘critical’ state is problematic when a variety of feedbacks and multiple modes of adjustment are likely to have operated throughout this high magnitude event. Overall, the extent to which the data supports a self‐organized critical state is variable and highly dependent upon inferential arguments. Investigating the existence of SOC, however, provided results and insights that are useful to the management and future prediction of these features. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.