Tephra isochrons and chronologies of colonisation

This paper demonstrates the use of tephrochronology in dating the earliest archaeological evidence for the settlement of Iceland. This island was one of the last places on Earth settled by people and there are conflicting ideas about the pace and scale of initial colonisation. Three tephra layers, the Landnám (‘land-taking’) tephra layer (A.D. 877 ± 1), the Eldgjá tephra (A.D. 939) and the recently dated V-Sv tephra (A.D. 938 ± 6) can be found at 58% of 253 securely-dated early settlement sites across the country. The presence of the tephras permits both a countrywide comparison, and a classification of these settlement sites into pre-Landnám, Landnám and post-Landnám. The data summarised here for the first time indicate that it will be possible to reconstruct the tempo and development of the colonisation process in decadal resolution by more systematically utilising the dating potential of tephrochronology.     

The problem of underpowered rivers

This study has hypothesized that for many rivers the trade-off between flow accumulation and the decrease in slope along channel length means that stream power increases downstream and, moreover, that given the low slope angles in headwater and low-order streams, they would have insufficient stream power to erode let alone transport sediment. The study considered the stream power profile, the particle travel distances and the application of the Hjulström curve based on the velocity profile of nine, large UK catchments. The study showed that:

1. Some rivers never showed a maximum in their longitudinal stream power profile, implying that some rivers never develop a deposition zone before they discharge at the tidal limit.
2. Particle travel distances during a bankfull discharge event showed that for some rivers 91% of the upper main channel would not be cleared of sediment. Furthermore, while some rivers could transport a 2 mm particle their entire length in one bankfull event, for another river it would take 89 such events.
3. The Hjulström curve shows that for three of the study rivers the upper 20 km of the river was not capable of eroding a 2 μm particle.
4. The study has shown that for all rivers studied, erosion is focused downstream and deposition upstream. Many UK rivers have a dead zone where, on time scales of the order of centuries, no erosion or transport occurs and erosion only occurs in the lower courses of the channel where discharge rather than slope dominates – we propose these as underpowered rivers.

© 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

区域地质调查中对沉积混杂岩的识别与工作方法

介绍了沉积混杂岩的识别方法 , 提出了造山带沉积混杂岩区区调研究的技术路线 , 建议沉积混杂岩的制图单位采用三级划分体制 :一级为沉积混杂岩带、二级为沉积混杂岩层、三级为沉积混杂岩体。以中甸地区为例示范了这些制图单位在地质图上的表示方法。     

A method of searching for radial velocity anomalies in the lower mantle using interfering signals

Radial velocity anomalies in the lower mantle that give rise to triplications in the travel-time curve for short-periodP waves will produce arrivals havingdT/d values that differe by roughly 0.2–0.5 s/deg. The first two arrivals associated with such triplications will be separated by less than one second over a distance range of 4°–10° they may not, therefore, be separable visually on single seismograms, so that their presence can only be inferred from some measurable property that depends on their mutual interference. If there are lateral variations in the regions of anomalous velocity gradients, the interfering signals will also have different azimuths of arrival. Using two synthetic wavelets we have investigated the effect of interference on bothdT/d and azimuth measurements at the Yellowknife Array. We found that if the interfering pulses have a dominant frequencyv, there is a range of time separations (0.30/v0.55/v) over which the measureddT/d and azimuth values may fluctuate by much more than the differences indT/d and azimuth between the interfering signals. We have evaluated the following empirically defined functions for three different primary signals, and for three different relative amplitudes of the interfering signals:f (t), the drift function, which expresses how the measured slownesses,p, and azimuths, , differ from the slownesses and azimuths of the primary wavelets; f(), the range function, which describes the behaviour of the upper and lower bounds ofp and as a function of the difference in arrival times of the signals, andf , studied the properties of these functions, and have outlined how these properties provide criteria based on the numerical and statistical characteristics of the arrival vectors, and on the waveform of the signal that will enable small radial velocity anomalies to be more clearly delineated.Contribution No. 863 from the Earth Physics Branch.     

有限元与改进单纯形法联合编程技术在位移反分析中的应用

根据弹性地基梁法基本思想,考虑基坑分步开挖和逐级加撑的动态施工因素,通过有限元计算模拟基坑实际开挖过程。结合现场监测数据,采用位移反分析方法反演各土层m 值,并准确预测后续工况支护体的变形。采用有限元通用软件ANSYS内嵌的APDL语言编程建立支护体有限元计算模型,并应用数学软件MATLAB编制“改进单纯形法”优化程序,编写了接口程序,实现了MATLAB对ANSYS模型的实时循环调用和逐步寻优。武汉长江隧道武昌明挖段基坑工程算例证明,基于单纯形法的联合编程技术能方便、高效地被应用于支护体位移反分析预测中。建立了基于本工况预测下一工况或相邻断面的扩展型位移反分析预测模型,预测结果与实测结果拟合程度较高。     

New interpretation of the Franciscan mélange at San Simeon coast,California: tectonic intrusion into an accretionary prism

Many concepts and interpretations on the formation of the Franciscan mélange have been proposed on the basis of exposures at San Simeon, California. In this paper, we show the distribution of chaotic rocks, their internal structures and textures, and the interrelationship between the chaotic rocks and the surrounding sandstones (turbidites). Mélange components, particularly blueschists, oceanic rocks, including greenstone, pillow lava, bedded chert, limestone, sandstone, and conglomerate, have all been brecciated by retrograde deformation. The Cambria Slab, long interpreted as a trench slope basin, is also strongly deformed by fluidization, brecciation, isoclinal folding, and thrusting, leading us to a new interpretation that turbiditic rocks (including the Cambria Slab) represent trench deposits rather than slope basin sediments. These rocks form an accretionary prism above mélanges that were diapirically emplaced into these rocks first along sinistral-thrust faults, and then along dextral-normal faults. Riedel shear systems are observed in several orders of scale in both stages. Although the exhumation of the blueschist blocks is still controversial, the common extensional fractures and brecciation in most of the blocks in the mélanges and further mixture of various lithologies into one block with mélange muddy matrix indicate that once deeply buried blocks were exhumed from considerable depths to the accretionary prism body, before being diapirically intruded with their host mélange along thrust and normal faults, during which retrograde deformation occurred together with retrograde metamorphism. Recent similar examples of high-pressure rock exhumation have been documented along the Sofugan Tectonic Line in the Izu forearc areas, in the Mineoka belt in the Boso Peninsula, and as part of accretionary prism development in the Nankai and Sagami troughs of Japan. These modern analogues provide actively forming examples of the lithological and deformational features that characterize the Franciscan mélange processes.     

新疆卡拉麦里地区晚古生代以来不同构造层特征及大地构造意义

摘要：卡拉麦里地区石炭纪以来的岩石地层系统由三大套构造岩石地层单位构成, 分别是以劈理、紧闭褶皱极为发育的卡拉麦里蛇绿混杂岩带为代表的造山带基底层系,以开阔褶皱为主要构造变形的石炭纪后碰撞构造层,和高角度正断层及平缓褶皱较发育的二叠-侏罗纪陆内湖盆构造层。它们分别记录了卡拉麦里地区前石炭纪碰撞造山阶段、石炭纪后碰撞阶段和二叠纪后板内断陷 坳陷阶段的沉积 变形特征。     

烟台海域海岛自动站大风对比试验

烟台北部面临黄、渤海,海岛自动站分布众多.我们发现,在同一大风过程中,各海岛自动站的风速、风向因为海拔高度、周围地形影响、下垫面摩擦的不同造成明显差异.本文主要以长岛作为渤海海峡大风的代表站,以崆峒岛和芝罘岛作为烟台北部沿海海域大风的代表站,利用便携自动站的观测数据近似代表海面大风的实况,与代表站进行大风的对比试验,对比试验的数据均采用指数廓线公式订正到海面10m高度.分析了三个海岛自动站的不同风向下的海面大风的实际代表性,并给出不同风向下的大风订正值.     

基于Duncan-Chang本构的非线性土压力模型

假设基坑工程中挡土结构的变形和土压力服从双曲线模型,类比Duncan-Chang本构建模思想,在前人关于基坑主动区和被动区变形假设的基础上,建立了可以考虑位移变化的非线性土压力模型。把非线性土压力模型和Duncan-Chang本构模型联系起来,使得本文非线性土压力模型参数确定有根据。把弹性地基梁模型和该非线性土压力联系起来,使得弹性抗力系数的概念更加明确。以m法为例,深入分析了m法的影响因素。     

Radiolarian‐based study on the fabric and the formation process of the Early Cretaceous mélange near Zhongba,Yarlung–Tsangpo Suture Zone,southern Tibet

The Yarlung–Tsangpo Suture Zone (YTSZ), as the southernmost and youngest among the sutures that subdivides the Tibetan Plateau into several east–west trending blocks, marks where the Neo‐Tethys was consumed as the Indian continent moved northward and collided against the Eurasian continent. Mélanges in the YTSZ represent the remnants of the oceanic plate through subduction and collision. Mélanges are characterized by a highly sheared volcanoclastic or siliceous mudstone matrix including blocks of chert, claystone, and basalt. Detailed radiolarian analyses are conducted on the mélange near Zhongba County. Macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic observations are combined in order to elucidate the relationships among age, lithology, and structure of blocks in the mélange. Reconstructed ocean plate stratigraphy includes Lower Jurassic limestone within the chert sequence accumulated at a depth near the CCD (Unit 2), Upper Jurassic thin‐bedded chert interbedded with claystone deposited in the wide ocean basin (Unit 3), and Lower Cretaceous chert with siliceous mudstone (Units 4 and 5), representing the middle parts of ocean plate stratigraphy. The results highlight the fabric of brecciated chert on mesoscopic scale, which is thought to be due to localized overpressure. The formation of mesoscopic and microscopic block‐in‐matrix fabrics in the mélange is proposed for the chert and siliceous mudstone bearing different extents of consolidation and competence during the progressive deformation of accreted sediments at shallow‐level subduction.