Mosaic desert pavement influences water infiltration and vegetation distribution on fluvial fan surfaces

Desert pavements (DPs) are critical for maintaining ecological stability and promoting near-surface hydrological cycling in arid regions. However, few studies have focused on eco-hydrological processes of DPs in the ecological systems of fluvial fans. Although DP surfaces appear to be barren and flat, we found that the surfaces are characterized by surface mosaic patterns of desert pavement (mosaic DP) and bare ground (mosaic BG). We investigated the effects of mosaic DP on water infiltration and vegetation distribution at six sites in fluvial fans (one on a hillside and five within the sectors of fans) along a southwest belt transect in northern Linze County, in the central Hexi Corridor (China). We found significant differences in mosaic DP between the hillside and sector sites in terms of pavement thickness and vesicular horizon thickness (Av thickness), particle composition, and bulk density, although significant differences were absent for mass soil water content, gravel coverage, and surface gravel size. The mosaic DP inhibited water infiltration by the pavement layer, where the sorptivity (S), initial infiltration rate (i_int), steady-state infiltration rate (i_sat) and infiltration time (T) averaged 1.19 cm/min^-0.5, 0.64 cm/min, 0.13 cm/min and 12.76 min, respectively. Where the pavement layer was scalped, the S, i_int, and i_sat increased by 0.27 cm/min^-0.5, 0.52 cm/min, and 0.40 cm/min, respectively, and the T reduced by 7.42 min. Water infiltration was mainly controlled by the pavement layer thickness (+), Av thickness (−), surface gravel coverage (−), fine earth (+) and fine gravel (−) in the pavement layer. The DP surfaces only had a sparse covering of shrubs, but an abundance of herbs. Few shrubs were present on the mosaic DP, but a greater number of shrubs and herbs grew on the mosaic BG. It can be concluded that DPs can maintain vegetation stability for different surface mosaic patterns. This study deepens our understanding of the eco-hydrological cycle of DP landscapes in arid regions.     

Stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of a Late Pleistocene subaqueous moraine complex,southwest Ireland

Glacigenic sediments exposed in coastal cliffs cut through undulatory terrain fronting the Last Glacial Maximum laterofrontal moraine at Waterville on the Iveragh Peninsula, southwest Ireland, comprise three lithofacies. Lithofacies 1 and 2 consist of interdigitated, offlapping and superimposed ice‐proximal subaqueous outwash and stacked sequences of cohesionless and cohesive subaqueous debris flows, winnowed lag gravels and coarse‐grained suspension deposits. These are indicative of sedimentation in and around small grounding line fans that prograded from an oscillating glacier margin into a proglacial, interlobate lake. Lithofacies 3 comprises braided river deposits that have undergone significant syn‐sedimentary soft‐sediment deformation. Deposition was likely related to proglacial outwash activity and records the reduction of accommodation space for subaqueous sedimentation, either through the lowering of proglacial water levels or due to basin infilling. The stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of the moraine at Waterville highlight the role of ice‐marginal depositional processes in the construction of morphostratigraphically significant ‘end moraine’ complexes in Great Britain and Ireland. Traditional ‘tills’ in these moraines are often crudely stratified diamictons and gravelly clinoforms deposited in ice‐proximal subaqueous and subaerial fans. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

云南腾冲山寨盆地水下冲积扇特征及对砂锡的控矿作用

水下冲积扇是山间谷地被堵截堰塞,山麓堆积进入水盆地的一种特殊“相”,以重力流堆积为主体,间夹湖沼和上迭河流沉积。熔岩流多次堵塞增高,堰塞坝的侵蚀和盆地的沉积充填,这三种因素综合作用的结果,形成了具有一定厚度的不同沉积类型组合。各类沉积因其搬运分选机制不同而形成不同的聚锡能力,决定了对砂锡的控矿作用。     

济阳坳陷上第三系的沉积特征及沉积相的纵向演化规律

本文根据岩性特征、沉积构造、砂体厚度和测井曲线特征等资料，对4口岩心井进行了沉积相分析，详细研究了不同时期的河流类型及沉积相的演化规律，从而认为济阳凹陷上第三系沉积大体经历了3个阶段：早期的冲积扇一辫状河阶段，中期的辫状河一低弯度曲流河阶段及晚期的高弯度曲流河阶段，同时分析了不同砂体的油气储集性能。     

西秦岭岷县地区二叠纪裂陷带斜坡沉积及其构造意义

秦岭造山带西段，二叠纪裂陷作用非常活跃。位于西秦岭中部的岷县红崖、梅州一带，二叠系以粉碎屑沉积为主，泥质较少。根据对其岩石类型、沉积构造、岩石组合和生物特征的分析，认为这套地层主要形成于海底扇体系的内扇和中扇环境，外扇不发育，系由碎屑流和浊流沉积组成，包括内扇的水道和水下天然堤沉积及中扇的网状水道和朵叶体沉积。这套地层沿中秦岭南缘呈ＮＷＷ－ＳＥＥ方向延伸，代表了二叠纪西秦岭裂谷的存在及其继续裂陷的活动特征。     

Hillslope gullying in the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region, Great Britain: Responses to human impact and/or climatic deterioration?

In the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region of Great Britain there is evidence for heightened hillslope instability during the late Holocene (after 3000 cal. BP). Little or no hillslope geomorphic activity has been identified occurring during the early Holocene, but there is abundant evidence for late Holocene hillslope erosion (gullying) and associated alluvial fan and valley floor deposition. Interpretation of the regional radiocarbon chronology available from organic matter buried beneath alluvial fan units suggests much of this geomorphic activity can be attributed to four phases of more extensive gullying identified after 2500–2200, 1300–1000, 1000–800 and 500 cal. BP. Both climate and human impact models can be evoked to explain the crossing of geomorphic thresholds: and palaeoecological data on climatic change (bog surface wetness) and human impact (pollen), together with archaeological and documentary evidence of landscape history, provide a context for addressing the causes of late Holocene geomorphic instability. High magnitude storm events are the primary agent responsible for gully incision, but neither such events nor cooler/wetter climatic episodes appear to have produced gully systems in the region before 3000 cal. BP. Increased gullying after 2500–2200 cal. BP coincides with population expansion during Iron Age and Romano-British times. The widespread and extensive gullying after 1300–1000 cal. BP and after 1000–800 cal. BP coincides with periods of population expansion and a growing rural economy identified during Norse times, 9–10th centuries AD, and during the Medieval Period, 12–13th centuries AD. These periods were separated by a downturn associated with the ‘harrying of the north’ AD 1069 to 1070. The gullying episode after 500 cal. BP also coincides with increased anthropogenic pressure on the uplands, with population growth and agricultural expansion after AD 1500 following 150 years of malaise caused by livestock and human (the Black Death) plagues, poor harvests and conflicts on the Scottish/English border. The increased susceptibility to erosion of gullies is a response to increased anthropogenic pressure on upland hillslopes during the late Holocene, and the role of this pressure appears crucial in priming hillslopes before subsequent major storm events. In particular, the cycles of expansion and contraction in both population and agriculture appear to have affected the susceptibility of the upland landscape to erosion, and the hillslope gullying record in the region, therefore, contributes to understanding of the timing and spatial pattern of human exploitation of the upland landscape.     

Large to intermediate-scale aquifer heterogeneity in fine-grain dominated alluvial fans (Cenozoic As Pontes Basin,northwestern Spain): insight based on three-dimensional geostatistical reconstruction

Facies reconstructions are used in hydrogeology to improve the interpretation of aquifer permeability distribution. In the absence of sufficient data to define the heterogeneity due to geological processes, uncertainties in the distribution of aquifer hydrofacies and characteristics may appear. Geometric and geostatistical methods are used to understand and model aquifer hydrofacies distribution, providing models to improve comprehension and development of aquifers. However, these models require some input statistical parameters that can be difficult to infer from the study site. A three-dimensional reconstruction of a kilometer scale fine-grain dominated Cenozoic alluvial fan derived from more than 200 continuously cored, closely spaced, and regularly distributed wells is presented. The facies distributions were reconstructed using a genetic stratigraphic subdivision and a deterministic geostatistical algorithm. The reconstruction is only slightly affected by variations in the geostatistical input parameters because of the high-density data set. Analysis of the reconstruction allowed identification in the proximal to medial alluvial fan zones of several laterally extensive sand bodies with relatively higher permeability; these sand bodies were quantified in terms of volume, mean thickness, maximum area, and maximum equivalent diameter. These quantifications provide trends and geological scenarios for input statistical parameters to model aquifer systems in similar alluvial fan depositional settings.     

苍山十八溪的水石流及其防治

云南省苍山十八溪发育十分典型的水石流,流动时表面为高含沙洪水,底部为粗相沙砾和巨石,固液两相离析为非均质两相流。流体具有很大的动能和冲击力,对富绕的苍洱平坝区造成危害。为了治灾除害,保护生态环境,本文对防治目的、治理目标、防治方针与方法,以及实施顺序、程序、方案、技术措施等问题作了阐述。     

川西地区“西康群”研究工作中若干基本问题的思考

西康群等岩群的研究已取得初步成果,由于构造变形复杂,至今沉积地层层序等基本问题尚未解决。运用沉积地质学理论,从造山带演化观点出发,对海底扁和滨、浅海沉积等关键问题进行了讨论,提出盆地演化的初步设想,并就今后研究提出了若干意见,以促进该项研究工作的深入发展。     

燕山地区长城纪扇三角洲沉积

在燕山地区东部的滦县等地,太古代至早元古代结晶基底之上发育一套百余米厚的陆源粗碎屑沉积。长期以来,许多研究者将其与蓟县地区长城系近底部的陆相沉积地层对比,认为属于常州沟组。1980年,钱祥麟等经过系统的研究,提出这套地层为晚长城纪大红峪期的超覆沉积。此后,这套粗碎屑沉积的性质及其与盆地整体沉积环境系统的关系。一直未能确定。近年来,笔者为此进行了初步的沉积学研究,结果表明这套粗碎屑沉积与其上的碳酸盐沉积构成了较为典型的 Gilbert 型扇三角洲沉积相。该扇三角洲沉积的确立,为燕山地区中一晚元古代坳拉槽南东缘盆地界线的限定以及早期盆地拉张过程中的沉积充填方式的研究,提供了重要的依据。