The Singapore River thematic zone: sustainable tourism in an urban context

This paper explores the concept of sustainable tourism and how it applies to urban destinations such as Singapore. As tourism is an important industry in Singapore, in terms of employment, business activity and an income generator, the Singapore Tourism Board is continuously looking at potential avenues to make Singapore a competitive destination. We examine the use of thematic zones in Singapore as a strategy to achieve its ambition of becoming a tourism capital of the world. By focusing on a case study of the Singapore River thematic zone (one of the 11 thematic zones identified by the Singapore Tourism Board), we assess the viability of thematic zones in ensuring sustainable urban tourism. The paper closes with some theoretical reflections and policy implications arising from our key findings.     

Estimation of regional material yield from coastal landslides based on historical digital terrain modelling

High‐resolution historical (1942) and recent (1994) digital terrain models were derived from aerial photographs along the Big Sur coastline in central California to measure the long‐term volume of material that enters the nearshore environment. During the 52‐year measurement time period, an average of 21 000 ± 3100 m³ km^?1 a^?1 of material was eroded from nine study sections distributed along the coast, with a low yield of 1000 ± 240 m³ km^?1 a^?1 and a high of 46 700 ± 7300 m³ km^?1 a^?1. The results compare well with known volumes from several deep‐seated landslides in the area and suggest that the processes by which material is delivered to the coast are episodic in nature. In addition, a number of parameters are investigated to determine what influences the substantial variation in yield along the coast. It is found that the magnitude of regional coastal landslide sediment yield is primarily related to the physical strength of the slope‐forming material. Coastal Highway 1 runs along the lower portion of the slope along this stretch of coastline, and winter storms frequently damage the highway. The California Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining this scenic highway while minimizing the impacts to the coastal ecosystems that are part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This study provides environmental managers with critical background data on the volumes of material that historically enter the nearshore from landslides, as well as demonstrating the application of deriving historical digital terrain data to model landscape evolution. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rock albedo and monitoring of thermal conditions in respect of weathering: some expected and some unexpected results

Broadly speaking, there is, at least within geomorphic circles, a general acceptance that rocks with low albedos will warm both faster and to higher temperatures than rocks with high albedos, reflectivity influencing radiative warming. Upon this foundation are built notions of weathering in respect of the resulting thermal differences, both at the grain scale and at the scale of rock masses. Here, a series of paving bricks painted in 20 per cent reflectivity intervals from black through to white were used to monitor albedo‐influenced temperatures at a site in northern Canada in an attempt to test this premise. Temperatures were collected, for five months, for the rock surface and the base of the rock, the blocks being set within a mass of local sediment. Resulting thermal data did indeed show that the dark bricks were warmer than the white but only when their temperatures were equal to or cooler than the air temperature. As brick temperature exceeded that of the air, so the dark and light bricks moved to parity; indeed, the white bricks frequently became warmer than the dark. It is argued that this ‘negating’ of the albedo influence on heating is a result of the necessity of the bricks, both white and black, to convect heat away to the surrounding cooler air; the darker brick, being hotter, initially convects faster than the white as a product of the temperature difference between the two media. Thus, where the bricks become significantly hotter than the air, they lose energy to that air and so their respective temperatures become closer, the albedo influence being superceded by the requirement to equilibrate with the surrounding air. It is argued that this finding will have importance to our understanding of weathering in general and to our perceptions of weathering differences between different lithologies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

致密砂岩的形成机制及其地质意义——以塔里木盆地英南2井为例

砂质岩的孔隙和喉道被网格状粘土矿物和次生加大矿物充填成微细孔喉状结构时,形成具有较高毛细管压力的致密砂岩。它与地层水发生水锁效应,可大大降低渗透率,成为致密砂岩盖层。当含水饱和度在50%以下时,束缚水饱和度比较低,致密砂岩储层可以产气;当含水饱和度在50%～90%区间时,具有较高的束缚水饱和度,相对渗透率非常低,它既不能产气也不能产水,反映为渗透率瓶颈区(具有盖层性质);当含水饱和度大于90%以上时,致密砂岩储层仅微量产水。塔里木盆地英南2井侏罗系气藏盖层由致密砂岩构成,不含水时的气体渗透率在(0.027～0.081)×10-3μm2,不能构成封堵;当含水饱和度达到60%以上时,相对渗透率几乎为零,构成有效盖层。     

鲁东南岚山头超高压变质岩流体包裹体特征与板片折返史

鲁东南岚山头含柯石英榴辉岩主要产于花岗质片麻岩内,是苏鲁超高压变质带主要榴辉岩体密集分布区之一。流体包裹体研究表明,榴辉岩矿物及细脉石英中捕获有四种类型包裹体:在超高压-高压榴辉岩相条件下捕获的 N_2±CO_2包裹体;在高压榴辉宕重结晶阶段被捕获的 CO_2-H_2O 包裹体和含子矿物高盐度 H_2O 溶液包裹体:在超高压岩石折返过程中的最晚(角闪岩相退变质甚至更晚)阶段捕获的低盐度 H_2O 溶液包裹体。利用榴辉岩矿物及脉体石英中捕获的流体包裹体相互期次关系,可以对本区超高压变质作用板片折返过程中的流体演化史进行重建。     

宁东煤田枣泉矿井综合物探效果

为探明宁东煤田枣泉矿井首采区煤层自然范围及充水性，根据采区内地球物理物征，采用高精度磁法，直流电测深法和激发极化法进行综合勘探。在磁法勘探中结合测区曲线特征，建立数据体模型，正演计算烧变岩边界；电法勘探利用烧变岩含水后电阻率降低的特征确定其含水范围及富水性。     

Numerical Modeling of Basin-Range Tectonics Related to Continent-Continent Collision

Continent-continent collision is the most important driving mechanism for the occurrence of various geological processes in the continental lithosphere. How to recognize and determine continent-continent collision,especially its four-dimensional temporal-spatial evolution, is a subject that geological communities have long been concerned about and studied. Continent-continent collision is mainly manifested by strong underthrnsting (subduction) of the underlying block along an intracontinental subduction zone and continuous obduction (thrusting propagation) of the overlying block along the intracontinental subduction zone, the occurrence of a basin-range tectonic framework in a direction perpendicular to the subduction zone and the flexure and disruption of the Moho. On the basis of numerical modeling, the authors discuss in detail the couplings between various amounts and rates of displacement caused by basin subsidence, mountain uplift and Moho updoming and downflexure during obduction (thrusting propagation) and subduction and the migration pattern of basin centers. They are probably indications or criteria for judgment or determination of continent-continent collision.