SALTATING PARTICLES,PLAYA CRUSTS AND DUST AEROSOLS AT OWENS (DRY) LAKE,CALIFORNIA

As part of the multinational Lake Owens Dust Experiment (LODE), we have studied the generation of dust storms on the south sand sheet of Owens (dry) Lake, California, an anthropogenically desiccated playa reported to be the single greatest source of particulate matter in North America. During March 1993, we performed an intensive field study including eight significant dust storms, building on our prior work (1978–1984) and preliminary studies (1991–1992). We studied sources and magnitude of coarse saltating particles, the meteorological conditions that allow them to become mobile across the flat playa of Owens (dry) Lake, and how the motion of saltating particles across different types of playa surfaces results in the generation of PM₁₀ dusts (aerosol particles smaller than 10 μm aerodynamic diameter). Saltating grains of lacustrine sand and broken crust abrade and disaggregate the playa surface into fine aerosols, and the resulting PM₁₀ concentrations recorded during major dust storms are among the highest ever recorded in North America. On 23 March 1993, we measured a 2 h concentration on the playa of 40 620 μg m⁻³, as far as we can determine the highest ambient PM₁₀ value ever recorded in the U.S.A. Abrasion of salt-silt-clay crusts by saltation is shown to be responsible for all but a small part of one dust storm. The quantity ‘sand run’, saltating particle transport multiplied by wind run, is shown to be very closely correlated with dust aerosol concentration. Finally, we have established that on-lake bed studies are essential for quantitative prediction of dust events on the Owens (dry) Lake bed, despite the difficult conditions encountered.     

日月引潮力与地震

本文通过对 1 90 0～ 1 996年全球的M≥ 7.0的全部地震发生在日、月引潮力极值与非极值附近的轮次检验 ,从而揭示出地震的发生与日月引潮力有着密切的关系。并根据日、月引潮力的计算结果 ,从现代构造应力场特征与强震的震源机制 ,讨论了在地震的触发中起重要作用的可能是引潮力的水平分力。     

Quantitative comparison of river inflows to a rapidly expanding lake in central Tibetan Plateau

The recent rapid expansion of inland lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are a good indicator of the consequences of climate change. Quantifying the hydrological cycle of the lake basin is fundamentally important to understand the causes of lake growth. However, the hydrological processes of the TP interior are very complex and difficult to investigate because of the lack of observations. This is especially true for estimating the lake changes when run‐off inflows are affected by small lakes located in the flow routes within drainage areas. We used an integrated hydrological model, in combination with glacier melt and lake retention models, to analyse the run‐off inflows to Lake Siling Co, the largest endorheic lake in Tibet. It includes four subdrainage basins: Zhajiazangbu, Zhagenzangbu, Alizangbu, and Boquzangbu. Lake Siling Co was characterized by considerable increases during warm season from 1981 to 2012, due to the increased run‐off from Zhajiazangbu accounting for about 51–62% of the total run‐off inflows. Moreover, the dramatic increases exhibited during cold seasons were related to the increased retention water released from the small lakes within Zhagenzangbu and Alizangbu. Of the studied subdrainage basins, Boquzangbu contributed the least during both warm and cold seasons. On average, the annual amount of evaporation from lakes within the drainage area was about 2 times greater than that of glacier melt run‐off. Our results suggest that the retention effects of lakes on river inflows should receive more attention, because understanding these effects is potentially crucial to improved understanding of lake variations in the TP.     

Simulating saturation‐excess surface run‐off in a semi‐distributed hydrological model

The level of complexity, and the number of parameters, to include in a hydrological model is a relatively contentious issue in hydrological modelling. However, it can be argued that explicitly representing important run‐off generation processes can improve the practical value of a model's outputs. This paper explores the benefits of including a new function into an existing semi‐distributed hydrological model (the Pitman model) that is widely used in the sub‐Saharan Africa region. The new function was designed to represent saturation‐excess surface run‐off processes at subcatchment scales and was motivated by the evidence of dambo (low topography riparian areas) type features in many sub‐Saharan river basins. The results for uncertainty versions of the model, with and without the new function, were compared for 25 catchments, which were divided up into those where evidence of dambos exists and those where there is no such evidence. The results suggest that the new function certainly improves the model results for the catchments where dambos exist, but not in situations where saturation‐excess surface run‐off is not expected to occur. The overall conclusion is therefore that the addition of the new function is justified.     

Hydrologic changes resulting from urban cover in seasonally snow‐covered catchments

There are few multibasin analyses of the effects of urban land cover on seasonal stream flow patterns within northern watersheds where winter snow cover is the norm. In this study, the effects of urban cover on stream flow were evaluated at nine catchments in southern Ontario, Canada, which vary greatly in urban impervious cover (1–84%) but cluster into two groups having ≥54% urban impervious area (‘urban’) and ≤11% impervious cover (‘rural’), respectively. Annual and seasonal run‐off totals (millimetres) were similar between the rural and urban groups and were relatively insensitive to urban cover. Instead, urban streams had significantly greater high flow frequency, flow variability and quickflow and lower baseflow compared with rural streams. Furthermore, differences in high flow frequency between urban and rural stream groups were largest in the summer and fall and less extreme in the winter and spring, perhaps because of the homogenizing effect of winter snow cover, frozen ground and spring melt on surface imperviousness. Although the clear clustering of streams into urban and rural groups precluded the identification of a threshold above which urban cover is the primary cause of flow differences, relatively high extreme flow frequency and flow variability in the two most urbanized of the rural streams (10–11% impervious) suggest that it may lie close to this range. Furthermore, whereas total run‐off volumes were not affected by urban cover, increases in stream flashiness and a greater frequency of high flow events particularly during the summer and fall may negatively impact stream biota and favour the transfer of surface‐deposited pollutants to urban streams. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Did annual run‐off and low flow decrease with reduced forestry practices in Japan?

Japan developed large areas of coniferous plantations for timber production between the 1950s and 1970s; however, forestry practices such as thinning, pruning, and harvesting in most of the plantations have declined since the 1980s. Researchers speculated that reduced forestry practices could reduce run‐off and therefore available water resources. As a countermeasure to this potential risk, many local governments have introduced local taxes to stimulate forestry practices in the plantations. However, no studies have presented evidence for decreased annual run‐off and/or low flow in watersheds where forestry practices have declined. As a starting point for assessing this risk, this study examined potential changes in the annual run‐off and low flow in the Terauchi watershed. A large area of this watershed was covered with coniferous plantations. We first surveyed the annual investment in forestry operations and the number of forest owners in the city of Amagi. (Note that Amagi includes the Terauchi watershed.) Both decreased during the period 1979–2007, indicating reduced forestry practices. The frequency distribution of plantation tree ages in the watershed also suggested reduced forestry practices. After excluding the effect of precipitation, we examined potential changes in the annual run‐off and low flow during the period 1979–2007. We did not observe significant decreases in the annual run‐off and low flow during the period. Thus, the risk of decreased water resources might be less than expected, and countermeasures to the risk should be reconsidered. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of rock fragment cover on hydrological processes under rainfall simulation in a semi‐arid region of China

Rock fragment cover has long been an important agricultural crop production technique on the Loess Plateau, China. Although this approach plays an important role in controlling hydrological processes and preventing soil erosion, inconsistent results have been recovered in this field. In this study, we investigated the effects of rock fragment cover on infiltration, run‐off, soil erosion, and hydraulic parameters using rainfall simulation in the field in a semi‐arid region of China. Two field plots encompassing 6 rock fragment coverages (0%, 10%, 20%, 25%, 30%, and 40%), as well as 2 rock fragment positions and sizes were exposed to rainfall at a particular intensity (60 mm h^?1). The results of this study showed that increasing the rock fragment coverage with rock fragments resting on the soil surface increased infiltration but decreased run‐off generation and sediment yield. A contrasting result was found, however, when rock fragments were partially embedded into the soil surface; in this case, a positive relationship between rock fragment coverage and run‐off rate as well as a nonmonotonic relationship with respect to soil loss rate was recovered. The size of rock fragments also exerted a positive effect on run‐off generation and sediment yield but had a negative effect on infiltration. At the same time, both mean flow velocity and Froude number decreased with increasing rock fragment coverage regardless of rock fragment position and size, whereas both Manning roughness and Darcy–Weisbach friction factor were positively correlated. Results show that stream power is the most sensitive hydraulic parameter affecting soil loss. Combined with variance analysis, we concluded that the order of significance of rock fragment cover variables was position followed by coverage and then size. We also quantitatively incorporated the effects of rock fragment cover on soil loss via the C and K factors in the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. Overall, this study will enable the development of more accurate modelling approaches and lead to a better understanding of hydrological processes under rock fragment cover conditions.     

蔗渣浆厂废水对地下水影响的研究

我国造纸业废水中的污染因子危及地下水水质安全,通过对野外实地勘察和地下水取样的过程及结果进行分析研究,各地下水取样点的水质均符合国家饮用水卫生标准.用B·M舍斯塔科夫公式计算浸没过程,洪水时期地下水水位升高,研究区废水不会造成地下水的污染.     

Biota: sediment partitioning of aluminium smelter related PAHs and pulp mill related diterpenes by intertidal clams at Kitimat, British Columbia

The question of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioavailability and its relationship to specific PAH sources with different PAH binding characteristics is an important one, because bioavailability drives PAH accumulation in biota and ultimately the biochemical responses to the PAH contaminants. The industrial harbour at Kitimat (British Columbia, Canada) provides an ideal location to study the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of sediment hydrocarbons to low trophic level biota. Samples of soft shell clams (Mya arenaria) and intertidal sediment collected from multiple sites over six years at various distances from an aluminium smelter and a pulp and paper mill were analysed for 106 PAHs, plant diterpenes and other aromatic fraction hydrocarbons. Interpretation using PAH source ratios and multivariate data analysis reveals six principal hydrocarbon sources: PAHs in coke, pitch and emissions from anode combustion from the aluminium smelter, vascular plant terpenes and aromatised terpenes from the pulp and paper mill, petroleum PAHs from shipping and other anthropogenic activities and PAHs from natural plant detritus. Harbour sediments predominantly contain either pitch or pyrogenic PAHs from the smelter, while clams predominantly contain plant derived PAHs and diterpenes from the adjacent pulp mill. PAHs from the smelter have low bioavailability to clams (Biota-Sediment Accumulation Factors; BSAFs <1 for pitch and coke; <10 for anode combustion, decreasing to ∼0.1 for the mass 300 and 302 PAHs), possibly due to binding to pitch or soot carbon matrices. Decreases in PAH isomer ratios between sediments and clams likely reflect a combination of variation in uptake kinetics of petroleum PAHs and compound specific metabolism, with the importance of petroleum PAHs decreasing with increasing molecular weight. Plant derived compounds exhibit little natural bioaccumulation at reference sites, but unsaturated and aromatised diterpenes released from resins by industrial pulping processes are readily accumulated by the clams (BSAFs >500). Thus while most of the smelter associated PAHs in sediments may not be bioavailable to benthic organisms, the plant terpenes (including retene, totarol, ferruginol, manool, dehydroabietane and other plant terpenes that form the chemical defence mechanism of conifers) released by pulp mills are bioavailable and possess demonstrated toxic properties. The large scale release of plant terpenes by some of the many pulp mills located in British Columbia and elsewhere represents a largely undocumented risk to aquatic biota.     

宜昌砾石层重矿物组合特征及物源示踪分析

广泛分布于宜昌至枝江—松滋一带的宜昌砾石层,对江汉平原乃至长江中游的地层划分、地貌演化、古环境变迁以及长江的形成与演化等研究具有重要意义。本研究在课题组前期研究的基础上,以本区内最具代表性的6个剖面为研究对象,对0.125~0.063mm粒级粉细砂质沉积物的重矿物特征进行了分析,结果显示宜昌代表性剖面砾石层细颗粒粉砂质沉积物的重矿物组合基本一致:锆石—绿帘石—白钛石—赤褐铁矿—钛铁矿—磁铁矿。源-汇分析表明,重矿物组成所指示的源区原岩类型除了三峡地区的还有长江三峡以西的金沙江、岷江、嘉陵江及乌江流域;经与长江及江汉平原西缘各河流的重矿物组合比较发现,宜昌砾石层的稳定重矿物组合特征与现代长江河漫滩和低矮阶地沉积物的重矿物组合一致。综合分析认为宜昌砾石层是于早更新世长江贯通三峡时形成的冲积扇,结合前人对宜昌砾石层形成时代的研究,推断三峡贯通的时间应该在1.0Ma BP左右。