Outburst mechanism of Yindapu Glacial Lake in Tibet

At present, the mechanism research on glacial lake outburst mainly focuses on the ice quake and ice landslide, etc. To some glacial lakes, the seepage deformation is the dominant factor in outburst process. Taking the Yindapu Glacial Lake in Tibet as an example, using SEEP/W module of FEM software (GEO-STUDIO), the authors analyzed seepage stability of terminal moraine ridge dam. The leading role of seepage deformation in some glacial lake outburst mechanism is proposed and proved.     

川藏公路然乌-鲁朗段冰碛高边坡稳定性分析

在帕隆藏布北岸的川藏公路上,有许多冰碛高陡切坡.这些冰碛切坡具有独特的结构力学特征,其几何形态(高度与坡度的组合值)不同于一般经验值的范围.根据其物理力学性质,采用圆弧法对边坡进行稳定性分析,取得了与实际相符的结果.     

山东临朐柳山地区发现早白垩世冰碛砾岩及其意义

20世纪90年代在山东临朐县柳山镇地区的早白垩世莱阳群城山后组底部砾岩中发现具压坑、冰川擦痕、压裂张裂隙、压磨蚀平面的石英岩质、石灰岩质砾石和塑性变形形成的灯盏石、马鞍石石灰岩质砾石,经研究认为其成因属冰碛砾石,组成了冰碛砾岩。并探讨分析该冰川事件形成的古地理和古气候条件,指出为大陆上升局部形成的高山寒冷气候小冰期,形成了大陆型高原山岳山谷冰川。依据古生物和同位素地质年龄推断该小冰期发生在距今128~130Ma早白垩世热河期早期,建议称为临朐柳山小冰期。推断在我国东部地区其分布具一定区域性,应引起广大工作者的关注和研究。     

波堆藏布谷地冰碛丘陵形成机制及其环境意义

波堆藏布谷地中分布着大面积的冰碛丘陵, 通过考察发现其个体大小、外形、分布规模及内部砾石组成等方面都与高纬大冰盖外围形成的冰碛丘陵有很大的区别. 以冰川沉积学理论为基础, 从沉积动力学的角度讨论中低纬度波堆藏布谷地中冰碛丘陵的形成机制. 结果表明: 气候变化造成冰川的大面积死冰加之宽阔的河谷、海洋性冰川的特性促使波堆藏布谷中形成如此大面积的冰碛丘陵; 同时,大规模的冰碛丘陵表明气候转暖(抑或变干)的过程是突变的.     

东帕米尔高原喀拉库勒湖的成因及其年代

喀拉库勒湖位于东帕米尔高原的康西瓦河流域.研究区的地质构造资料显示,断层活动形成的慕士塔格-公格尔山之间的断层谷是喀拉库勒湖形成的基础.对本区的地貌考察得知,源自慕士塔格峰东坡和公格尔山西坡的古冰流曾数次占据整个河源区,形成规模较大的山麓冰川.现存的喀拉库勒湖为一冰碛堰塞湖,其形成时间与最后一次古冰流填充河源区,阻塞慕士塔格峰西北侧自西南向东北汇入康西瓦河的阔克萨依克河水流的时间相一致.应用OSL测年技术对采自喀拉库勒湖外围冰碛丘陵中的砂质透镜体进行定年,获其年代范围为(26.8±1.3)~(41.7±4.4)ka.结合本区已有的ESR年代学资料(37.8±3.6)~(48.2±4.6)ka、邻近区域的古气候记录以及我国西部第四纪冰川演化序列综合分析可以得出,喀拉库勒湖主要形成于末次冰期中冰阶,时间上可对应于MIS3中期.     

Quantifying soil loss with in-situ cosmogenic 10Be and 14C depth-profiles

Conventional methods for the determination of past soil erosion provide only average rates of erosion of the sediment's source areas and are unable to determine the rate of at-a-site soil loss. In this study, we report in-situ produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be, and ¹⁴C measurements from erratic boulders and two depth-profiles from Younger Dryas moraines in Scotland, and assess the extent to which these data allow the quantification of the amount and timing of site-specific Holocene soil erosion at these sites. The study focuses on two sites located on end moraines of the Loch Lomond Readvance (LLR): Wester Cameron and Inchie Farm, both near Glasgow. The site near Wester Cameron does not show any visible signs of soil disturbance and was selected in order to test (i) whether a cosmogenic nuclide depth profile in a sediment body of Holocene age can be reconstructed, and (ii) whether in situ ¹⁰Be and ¹⁴C yield concordant results. Field evidence suggests that the site at Inchie Farm has undergone soil erosion and this site was selected to explore whether the technique can be applied to determine the broad timing of soil loss. The results of the cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ¹⁴C analyses at Wester Cameron confirm that the cosmogenic nuclide depth-profile to be expected from a sediment body of Holocene age can be reconstructed. Moreover, the agreement between the total cosmogenic ¹⁰Be inventories in the erratics and the Wester Cameron soil/till samples indicate that there has been no erosion at the sample site since the deposition of the till/moraine. Further, the Wester Cameron depth profiles show minimal signs of homogenisation, as a result of bioturbation, and minimal cosmogenic nuclide inheritance from previous exposure periods. The results of the cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ¹⁴C analyses at Inchie Farm show a clear departure from the zero-erosion cosmogenic nuclide depth profiles, suggesting that the soil/till at this site has undergone erosion since its stabilisation. The LLR moraine at the Inchie Farm site is characterised by the presence of a sharp break in slope, suggesting that the missing soil material was removed instantaneously by an erosion event rather than slowly by continuous erosion. The results of numerical simulations carried out to constrain the magnitude and timing of this erosion event suggest that the event was relatively recent and relatively shallow, resulting in the removal of circa 20–50 cm of soil at a maximum of ∼2000 years BP. Our analyses also show that the predicted magnitude and timing of the Inchie Farm erosion event are highly sensitive to the assumptions that are made about the background rate of continuous soil erosion at the site, the stabilisation age of the till, and the density of the sedimentary deposit. All three parameters can be independently determined a priori and so do not impede future applications to other localities. The results of the sensitivity analyses further show that the predicted erosion event magnitude and timing is very sensitive to the ¹⁴C production rate used and to assumptions about the contribution of muons to the total production rate of this nuclide. Thus, advances in this regard need to be made for the method presented in this study to be applicable with confidence to scenarios similar to the one presented here.     

末次冰期冰碛垄系列的形态特征及其形成探讨 ——以帕隆藏布江谷地为例

冰碛的形态特征是气候变化的标记.以往的野外考察发现末次冰期的冰碛具有近乎统一的发育模式.选取藏东南帕隆藏布江流域的10条冰川, 研究其前方末次冰期冰川堆积特征, 以揭示其所反映的气候变化过程. 结果表明: 末次冰期MIS2形成最高大的冰碛垄, 我们称之为主冰碛垄, 这套冰碛垄示意当时冰期气候持续稳定时间最长.为主冰碛垄所部分覆盖而由其底部延伸出来的, 尚有至少两套范围更大、 但规模较小的冰碛垄, 表明MIS2之前冰期气候可能曾更加严酷, 但持续时间相对要短, 可能反映MIS4和/或MIS3的冰期气候特点.主冰碛垄内侧一直到现代冰川相当长的河谷段, 通常呈现多道冰碛垄, 规模均较主冰碛小, 它们有的不排除作为后退冰碛(recessional moraine)的可能性, 但晚冰期(YD)、 抑或H1事件应当是值得注意的.临近现代冰川末端, 一般能够辨别新冰期和小冰期冰碛垄. 因此, 藏东南这样一系列的冰川堆积, 以其形态、 范围和规模特征, 辅之以高精度的系统测年, 几乎可恢复出气候变化曲线来, 了解与全球氧同位素曲线之间的齿合关系.     

祁连山小冰期冰碛垄差分GPS测量及其地貌意义

小冰期冰碛垄形态特征受到众多因素的影响,采用后差分GPS测量方法对祁连山东段、中段共6条冰川的小冰期冰碛垄形态进行了实地测量与研究,其中3条冰川朝北,3条冰川朝南,得到了关于小冰期冰碛垄有关面积、表面积、体积等较详细的参数.结果表明:祁连山小冰期冰碛垄的规模具有从东到西逐渐减小的趋势,最东段冷龙岭7号冰川小冰期冰碛垄规模最大,面积为11.4×105m2,表面积为13.8×105m2,体积为11.8×107m3;规模最小的为最西边的团结峰3号冰川小冰期冰碛垄,其面积为1.9×105m2,表面积为2.67×105m2,体积为1.36×107m3.祁连山地区而言,区域气候差异很可能是造成小冰期冰碛垄规模差异的主要因素.     

Lateroglacial valleys and landforms in the Karakoram Mountains (Pakistan)

Lateroglacial landforms play a major role in the geomorphological landscape assemblage of the Karakoram Mountains. Nevertheless, in the past they have received only little attention in the glacial-geomorphological literature. In this article, the lateroglacial landscape will be presented as a geomorphological landscape unit. The Karakoram glaciers with lengths of up to 60 km are accompanied by lateroglacial sediment complexes over tens of kilometers. Besides their large horizontal distribution, they are spread over a considerable vertical range and occur between 2500 m–5000 m.The traditional view is that primary processes of rock disintegration such as ice avalanches and freeze-thaw processes as well as glaciofluvial sediments are the main debris suppliers for the formation of lateroglacial sediment complexes. However, the investigation of the lateroglacial sediment landscape of the Karakoram glaciers showed, that firstly the secondary debris supply in form of reworking of older glacigenic deposits (Late glacial slope moraines) represents a major debris source. Secondly, the lateroglacial sediments are composed to a major part of debris supplies from the tributary valleys. In this regard, the sediment input by mudflow events accords a prominent role. Therefore a considerable proportion of the lateroglacial sediments is of non-glacial origin. This fact has to be taken into consideration regarding glacier reconstruction in recent unglaciated mountain valleys. Further on, resedimented mudflow deposits could be identified as important parent material for recent lateral moraine formation. The distribution of lateroglacial valleys (`lateral moraine valleys') was traditionally closely linked to differences in insolation, which are in the subtropical latitude very high (`ablation valleys'). Therefore the S-faced valley flank was seen as the favourable location for lateroglacial valleys. However, field observations on more than 20 glaciers in the Karakoram Mountains proved that lateroglacial valleys occur in all exposures, and can be even absent in S-exposure. Topographical factors seem to be more important than insolation differences for the distribution pattern. Only the distribution of `true ablation valleys' can be regarded as a result of insolation differences. In fact, they can act as initial form for the formation of lateral moraine valleys.