Managing land-use effects on Northland dune lakes: lessons from the past

The Northland region of New Zealand includes numerous high-value, macrophyte-dominated dune lakes. Recent water policy reforms offer limited guidance on managing for aquatic macrophytes. In addition, dune lake histories are poorly known as regular monitoring dates to 2005 AD. Here, ca. 4000 years of lake functional behaviour is reconstructed from sedimentary archives in two Northland dune lakes (Humuhumu and Rotokawau). Results demonstrated that macrophyte dominance is sensitive to catchment erosion and hydrological drawdown. Degradation of macrophyte communities occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, earlier at Lake Humuhumu than Lake Rotokawau (post-1880 AD and post-1930 AD, respectively). In both lakes, increased erosional influx reduced macrophyte productivity, before later increases to wider trophic state (post-1970 AD). Lake-level decline is linked to increased nutrient loading at Lake Rotokawau but less so, Lake Humuhumu which is more strongly groundwater-fed. In Northland dune lakes, water-level reduction and erosional influx from land use have driven macrophyte degradation.     

A field test of a linear stability model for crescentic bars

A morphodynamical linear stability analysis is used to predict the natural development of crescentic bed patterns and rip channels. The purpose is to investigate whether this technique, which is useful for understanding the physics of emerging bed-forms, can be used to make quantitative predictions in the field, which may then be of use for coastal engineers.     

南天山西段南缘断裂构造特征及对乌什凹陷发育的控制

乌什凹陷位于南天山西段以南,新生代受南天山崛起的陆内造山作用制约,与库车坳陷有相同的成盆动力学背景。因乌什凹陷南有温宿凸起阻挡了挤压应力的传播,东与库车坳陷间有北西向的构造变换带(西秋里塔格构造带)所隔,新生代变形与库车地区有不同的特征。以吉迪克组的泥岩层为滑脱面,乌什凹陷的中-新生界可分为上、下两个构造层,总体看上构造层以背冲构造为特征,下构造层则发育基底卷入的对冲构造。乌什凹陷的这一变形特征还与新生代挤压应力场自东向西迁移和走滑作用吸收了部分冲断变形有关,反映了南天山新生代构造对海西-印支期碰撞构造的继承性。文章简述了南天山造山带的构造演化,介绍了乌什凹陷周缘的主要断裂的特征,恢复了乌什凹陷中-新生代的演化并与库车坳陷进行了对比。在此基础上探讨了乌什凹陷的成盆动力学机制,分析了乌什凹陷与南天山造山带的耦合演化,指出该区的油气勘探应以三叠系为主要目的层。     

横向沙丘背风侧沙粒风蚀起动的风洞模拟

通过风洞实验,探讨了横向沙丘背风侧“二次流”的沉积学和形态-动力学意义。在不同迎风坡坡度的横向沙丘模型背风侧,我们观测了不同位置沙粒的起动风速以及在临界状态下沙粒的运动特征。结果表明,沙丘背风侧的颗粒起动风速不仅与其距沙丘顶部的距离有关,也与沙丘迎风坡坡度有密切关系。根据沙丘背风侧颗粒运动特征,可以将其划分为向后运动区域、晃动或摆动区域以及向前运动区域,产生这一现象的原因是在沙丘背风坡气流分离、反向涡和气流重新辐合共同作用的结果。在所有的观测结果中,迎风坡坡度为15°的沙丘具有最大的沙粒起动风速和最远的气流重新辐合距离,其原因尚需进一步研究。     

The Quaternary Lancaster Sound trough‐mouth fan,NW Baffin Bay

The development of the Lancaster Sound Trough Mouth Fan (TMF) and glacial history in Arctic Canada were studied using a high‐resolution seismic profile across the entire fan and two piston cores. Stacked tills separated by erosion surfaces on the shelf pass seaward through till deltas into thick transparent glacigenic debris flow (GDF) deposits on the slope, separated by thin, well‐stratified glaciomarine layers. An age model was built by ties to the Ocean Drilling Program Site 645. The deepest GDF on the seismic profile was indicative of the onset of shelf‐crossing glaciation in the Early Pleistocene. The transition of the growth of Lancaster Sound TMF from an aggradational sequence (unit M) to an aggradational–progradational sequence (unit F) occurred at the Middle Pleistocene transition in glacial cyclicity. In the most recent glacial cycle, GDF sheets were deposited during Heinrich events 4 and 2 according to the correlation of the main detrital carbonate beds in two piston cores. The outmost till wedge reflects the maximum advance of the grounding glacier, far seaward of previously proposed Last Glacial Maximum ice extent. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical approach to estimating population parameters from censored fracture-length distributions

Most fracture data sets are length-censored because of incomplete exposure at the surface, so estimating values of parameters of the sampled populations is difficult. Unless the form of the distribution function of the population is known, or one which is analytically tractable is assumed, length-censoring presents formidable problems in determining population parameters. Tests conducted on experimental fracture patterns developed in clay samples subjected to simple shear loading are the basis of a distribution-free way to estimate population parameters. Comparison of random samples of censored and uncensored fracture lengths shows that a useful, homogeneous data set consists of those cracks which lie entirely within the sampling area (two-ended cracks). The properties of this data set can be used to estimate the mean and variance of uncensored data. Estimates of the maximum fracture length of uncensored data, using the variance and maximum length of these two-ended cracks, show good agreement with measured values. Knowledge of the mean, variance, and maximum value of fracture-length populations are of interest in engineering and hydraulic studies, as well as in remote sensing studies of the Earth and other planets. Application of these results to data on rock masses are subject to the caveat that different crack-growth mechanisms in clay and rock may affect the accuracy of the calculations.     

Settling-velocity distributions and sorting processes on a longitudinal dune: A case study

The processes acting on a longitudinal dune are inferred from the response in the area size-sorting characteristics of the sediment of the active layer. The sediment size distributions are determined by settling and are best described by a log-hyperbolic model which provides the most information on size-sorting processes. Size-sorting characteristics are markedly different across the low round-crested part of the dune from cross-sections of the high more sharp-crested part. This results in changes in textural parameters along the lee-side consistent with changes in the lee-side separation vortex. This is the first time that the effect of wind speed up on the lee-side is observed to be reflected in the sediment; it can only be detected with the very sensitive log-hyperbolic parameters.     

Late quaternary monsoon patterns on the Loess Plateau of China

China's Loess Plateau was formed under special conditions. The tectonic movement, topographical characteristics, and monsoon patterns combined to create a favourable environment for the accumulation of thick loessic deposits. The Loess Plateau itself is part of the ‘Monsoon Triangle’ of China, a region very susceptible to climatic changes. Throughout the Upper Pleistocene the palaeoenvironment on the Loess Plateau alternated from steppe, to deciduous forest and coniferous forest, in response to shifts in the atmospheric circulation. Three monsoon patterns appear to be indicated: (1) a full glacial monsoon pattern (18000–15000 yr BP) which induced a cold and dry climate favouring loess accumulation in steppe conditions; (2) an interglacial monsoon pattern (last interglacial and Holocene) in which a warm humid climate prevailed with deciduous forests, leaving palaeosols interbedded within the loess sequence; and (3) a transitional or interstadial monsoon pattern (50 000–23 000 yr BP) in which the climate was cold and humid in the Loess Plateau, encouraging the development of coniferous forest.