Analysis of the environmental sensitivities of a typical dynamic epikarst system at the Nongla monitoring site, Guangxi, China

Nongla, a typical karst dynamic system (KDS) monitoring site, is located at Nongla Village, Mashan County, Guangxi, China. The data from a Greenspan CTDP300 multichannel data logger indicates that the KDS is highly sensitive to environmental changes. Multi-day and diurnal physico-chemical composition of epikarst spring water is quite different under different climatic conditions. During a day with no rainfall, water temperature and air temperature have similar variations. Electrical conductivity (EC) has good positive correlation with pH value and water temperature. During rainstorms, the physico-chemical composition of the spring water is initially strongly effected by dilution, pH and EC drop rapidly. However, half to one hour later, EC returns to normal and the CO₂ effects will be the dominant physical effect. This is due to the high fissure rates and high permeability in the epikarst zone. Dilution effects were observed during the entire rainstorm event,whereas, it only acts during the earliest period of light rain. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the water–rock–CO₂ combination as a whole system to explain the hydrochemical behavior of epikarst processes.     

Landscape change and sandy desertification in arid areas: a case study in the Zhangye Region of Gansu Province, China

The Zhangye Region of Gansu Province is an important agricultural base in arid northwestern China. During the twentieth century, especially in the last five decades, the region has experienced sandy desertification. To document the status and causes of this deterioration, satellite images, meteorological and socioeconomic data to assess landscape change from 1993 to 2002 were interpreted and analyzed. The results show that during the intervening 9-year period the area of sandy lands has increased by 642.2 km², which consist of aeolian sand dune (357.1 km²) and potential sandy land (216.3 km²). Although the development and reversion of sandy desertification co-exist, the sandy desertification in this area seems serious and is attributable to the irrational use of water and land.     

Hydrochemical characteristics and salinity of groundwater in the Ejina Basin, Northwestern China

A hydrochemical investigation was conducted in the Ejina Basin to identify the hydrochemical characteristics and the salinity of groundwater. The results indicate that groundwater in the area is brackish and are significantly zonation in salinity and water types from the recharge area to the discharge area. The ionic ration plot and saturation index (SI) calculation suggest that the silicate rock weathering and evaporation deposition are the dominant processes that determine the major ionic composition in the study area. Most of the stable isotope δ¹⁸O and δD compositions in the groundwater is a meteoric water feature, indicating that the groundwater mainly sources from meteoric water and most groundwater undergoes a long history of evaporation. Based on radioactive isotope tritium (³H) analysis, the groundwater ages were approximately estimated in different aquifers. The groundwater age ranges from less than 5 years, between 5 years and 50 years, and more than 50 years. Within 1 km of the river water influence zone, the groundwater recharges from recent Heihe river water and the groundwater age is about less than 5 years in shallow aquifer. From 1 km to 10 km of the river water influence zone, the groundwater sources from the mixture waters and the groundwater age is between 5 years and 50 years in shallow aquifer. The groundwater age is more than 50 years in deep confined aquifer.     

Permo-Carboniferous Radiolarians from the Wupata＇erkan Group, Western South Tianshan, Xinjiang, China

The Wupata‘erkan Group, also called Wupata‘erkan Formation, distributed in the South Tianshan, Xinjiang,China, mainly consists of gray and dark gray fine-grained clastic rocks, interlayered with volcanic rocks, carbonates and cherts. Some ultra-basic rocks (blocks) punctuate the formation. The formation was variously assigned to Silurian-Middle Devonian, Silurian-Lower Devonian, and pre-Devonian, mainly based on Atrypa bodini Mansuy, Hypothyridina parallelepipedia (Brour.) and Prismatophyllum hexagonum Yoh collected from the limestone interlayers, respectively.However, radiolarian fossils obtained from 24 chert specimens of the Wupata‘erkan Group, mainly include Albaillella sp.cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon, Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto, Albaillella sp. and Latentifistulidae gen. et. sp.indet., are earliest Carboniferous and Late Permian. The earliest Carboniferous assemblage is characterized by Albaillella sp. cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon and Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, and the Late Permian assemblage by Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto. This new stratigraphic evidence indicates that the Wupata‘erkan Group is possibly composed of rocks with different ages from Silurian to Permian, and therefore, it is probably an ophiolite mrlange. The discovery of Late Permian Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa provides more reliable evidence supporting the existence of a Permian relic ancient oceanic basin in the western part of Xinjiang South Tianshan.     

1952~2003年我国区域经济发展不均衡的 长期变化态势

文中分别利用Gini、GE等指数，以实际人均国内生产总值(GDP)为指标，详细考查了从1952~2003年，我国省市区间经济发展不均衡的变化态势及其在东部-内陆、南方-北方、高城镇化-低城镇化地区等方向上的变化。人均实际GDP的Gini、GE等指数显示，从1952~2003年，我国省级区域经济发展不均衡的总体态势是以较缓慢的速度逐步增加。具体的变化是，随着时间的推移区域经济不均衡呈周期性地上升、下降运动。就我国省市区经济发展不均衡在空间上的变化而言，一是在沿海-内陆和高城镇化-低城镇化方向上，分别在1990s中期和1980s中期以前，我国省市区经济不均衡主要表现为区域内部不均衡，但区域之间不均衡则不断增加，并逐步成为省市区经济不均衡主要部分；一是，在北方-南方方向上，我国省市区经济不均衡则是一直表现为区域内部不均衡，区域之间不均衡对省市区经济不均衡的贡献一直显得微不足道。     

中国城市职能分类研究综述

城市职能分类的研究一直以来就是城市地理学研究的重要领域。在简要回顾中国城市职能分类研究的主要成果和观点的基础上，从研究的阶段性角度将城市职能分类分为研究初步展开、研究发展、研究逐步完善3个时期；并提出为适应新形势的发展，城市职能分类研究将在拓展研究对象、创新研究方法、完善数据指标体系、充分利用研究成果等方面得到完善和提高。     

The Blake Event recorded near the Eemian type locality – A diachronic onset of the Eemian in Europe

Multidisciplinary analysis including paleomagnetic, sedimentologic, sea-level change, luminescence dating and palynologic research was performed on a 25 m long orientated core taken at Rutten, close to Eemian key localities in the Netherlands. The main goal of our research was to test a possible delayed onset of temperate conditions in this region compared to Southern Europe, occurring within the Last Interglacial. The sediments revealed the presence of the paleomagnetic Blake Event in ca. 10 m of lower-deltaic floodbasin sediments that contain a pollen record covering the Eemian. The position of the Blake Event in relation to the pollen stratigraphy concurs with the earlier studied Neumark Nord 2 site. Paleomagnetic correlation to core MD95-2042 off SW Iberia indicates ca. 5 kyr diachroneity between the pollen-based onset of temperate interglacial conditions between northern and southern Europe. The onset of the Eemian in north-western and central Europe (ca. 121.0 ka) post-dates the Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e transition by ca. 10 kyr. In addition, the Rutten data provide evidence for a relatively long duration of the Blake Event of at least 8 kyr. The late onset of the temperate conditions that define the base of the Eemian, imply that NW Europe with the Eemian type area is not the most suited region to define the beginning of the Last Interglacial and Late Pleistocene for global chronostratigraphic use.     

Ageing,migration and familial support in rural China

Accelerated by economic reforms, a large scale migration of younger workers from rural to urban China has taken place since the 1990s. This has separated many adult children from their ageing parents and imposed significant challenges on traditional patterns of familial support for rural older people. These challenges are augmented by the fact that in rural China the elderly have been deprived a state pension and other welfare provisions available to urban residents.Drawing upon qualitative data from a project on ageing in rural China, this article examines the agency of older people and their families in responding to geographical separation resulting from the migration of the economically active to the cities. Through 32 life history interviews with multiple generations of nine households in one rural village, this article sheds light on the resilience and flexibility of rural households which have experienced migration and highlights the webs of interdependence that feature in the daily strategies of householding. It shows how members of the household across different geographical locations worked together to build and maintain the collective welfare of the family. In particular, this article argues that it would be over simplistic to suggest that migration is always detrimental to the older generation who stay behind. Contrary to assumptions in some migration studies and ageing literature in China, it shows that it is the breakdown of the webs of interdependence and reciprocity rather than the event of migration that will have inevitable negative effects upon old age care for the seniors in the household. Further, while highlighting the significance of householding, this article reveals the internal dynamics within a household. It identifies the role of gender in daily householding and suggests that the caring, supportive and kin-keeping roles performed mainly by women played a critical role in ensuring social and physical reproduction across generations. The article finds that while daughters took over some responsibilities which were traditionally expected from their brothers and sisters-in-law in old age support, the persistence of gendered practices and traditions in rural villages allowed sons more symbolic status and material benefits.     

A nonstationary extreme value distribution for analysing the cessation of karst spring discharge

The effects of climate change and population growth in recent decades are leading us to consider their combined and potentially extreme consequences, particularly regarding hydrological processes, which can be modeled using a generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution. Most of the GEV models were based on a stationary assumption for hydrological processes, in contrast to the nonstationary reality due to climate change and human activities. In this paper, we present the nonstationary generalized extreme value (NSGEV) distribution and use it to investigate the risk of Niangziguan Springs discharge decreasing to zero. Rather than assuming the location, scale, and shape parameters to be constant as one might do for a stationary GEV distribution analysis, the NSGEV approach can reflect the dynamic processes by defining the GEV parameters as functions of time. Because most of the GEV model is designed to evaluate maxima (e.g. flooding, represented by positive numbers), and spring discharge cessation is a ?minima’, we deduced an NSGEV model for minima by applying opposite numbers, i.e. negative instead of positive numbers. The results of the model application to Niangziguan Springs showed that the probability of zero discharge at Niangziguan Springs will be 1/80 in 2025, and 1/10 in 2030. After 2025, the rate of decrease in spring discharge will accelerate, and the probability that Niangziguan Springs will cease flowing will dramatically increase. The NSGEV model is a robust method for analysing karst spring discharge. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.