青藏高原喀斯特的若干问题

青藏高原灰岩出露面积不广,但具多种成因的喀斯特形态。现代山区的石峰等是由寒冻风化和冰川作用所形成,属冰缘冰川喀斯特;高原内部的许多洞穴及其堆积物,以及东南部的丘陵洼地等由溶蚀侵蚀作用所形成,属古喀斯特;高原内部和边缘地区,在钙华或河成钙华形成中,生物残体仅起凝结核作用,喀斯特泉物理化学性质的变化起决定作用。因此青藏高原兼有在现代气候条件下和古气候条件下形成的喀斯特。     

Quantification of permafrost creep provides kinematic evidence for classifying a puzzling periglacial landform

Mechanical processes operating on the slope surface or at depth control the dynamics of alpine landforms and hold critical information of their geomorphological characteristics, yet they often lack systematic quantification and in-depth interpretation. This study aims to address a long-standing issue concerning geomorphological classification from a kinematic perspective. A group of periglacial landforms consisting of several lobes were discovered in the East Kunlun Mountains of China 30 years ago but were ambiguously classified as rock glaciers and later as gelifluction deposits. Here, we use satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to quantitatively characterize the spatial and temporal changes of the surface movement of these landforms. We observe that: (1) its 17 lobes show a pattern of landform-scale and uniform surface movement, especially during May to October; (2) the lobes move at a spatial mean downslope velocity of 10 to 60 cm/yr and a maximum velocity as high as 100 cm/yr in summer; (3) the landforms are nearly inactive from winter to late spring. Based on these observations, we postulate that the movement of the lobes are driven by deep-seated permafrost creep which typically occurs in rock glaciers. The debris of Lobe No.4 is composed of both boulders and pebbles supported by fine-grained matrix generated from the in situ weathering process. It develops a talus-like oversteepened front around 40° and a convex transverse profile perpendicular to the creep direction, which are also characteristic features of a rock glacier. Piecing these observations together, we identify Lobe No.4 as a debris-mantled-slope-connected rock glacier, with the gelifluction process occurring on the surface as small-scale and discrete events. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution of a periglacial landscape in the Late Devensian: environments and palaeobotany of the Mepal area,Cambridgeshire, England

The landscape evolution of the Mepal area from Late Devensian Block Fen Terrace times to the beginning of the Flandrian, a period of ca. 8000 radiocarbon years, is reconstructed. Stratigraphy is based on borehole transects and single boreholes, centred on a depression between the Block Fen Terrace and the Isle of Ely. Within the depression is a Devensian late‐glacial sequence, with the Windermere Interstadial represented by radiocarbon‐dated organic sediments. Pollen and plant macroscopic remains of the late‐glacial sediments are analysed. Plant communities with Betula developed in the interstadial. Before and after the interstadial there is much reworked pollen in the inorganic sediments, derived from local pre‐Devensian Pleistocene sediments, including temperate Ipswichian Stage sediments, and from mass‐wasting of the local Jurassic bedrock. Periods of such mass‐movement occur before and after the deposition of the late‐glacial lake sediments. Deposition of aeolian sediment occurs later than the main period of mass movement, but before the Windermere Interstadial. The relationship of the aeolian sediments in time and space to permafrost, indicated by local contraction polygons and cracks, is discussed. Solifluction diverted the flow of the River Great Ouse from a northeast direction in Block Fen Terrace times to a southwest direction as a channel developed to the west of the Chatteris–March ‘island’. This led to a drainage divide in Flandrian times. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A reinterpretation of the Lateglacial environmental history of the Isle of Skye,Inner Hebrides,Scotland

This paper presents a major revision of the Late Devensian Lateglacial environmental history of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, based upon a combination of geomorphological, biostratigraphical and radiocarbon evidence. The distribution of glacial and periglacial landforms, and of raised shorelines, suggests that there was only one extensive readvance of local glaciers in southern Skye following the wastage of the Late Devensian ice sheet. Pollen-stratigraphic evidence from 10 sites inside and 4 sites outside the mapped ice limits indicates that this readvance occurred during the Loch Lomond Stadial. At that time over 180km² of the uplands of south-central Skye were covered by glacier ice, a much more extensive glaciation than previously envisaged. Palynological evidence from four Lateglacial profiles implies that degree of exposure to strong westerly winds was the principal factor determing vegetational contrasts on the island, and that regional differences in vegetational type were less pronounced than has hitherto been suggested. The glacial and palaeobotanical reconstructions reported here are more compatible with Lateglacial data from the Scottish mainland and Hebridean islands than were the previously-published accounts for the Isle of Skye.     

北京西山灵岳寺古冰川沉积物何在?

北京西山灵岳寺附近的第四纪沉积物不是真正的古冰川沉积物。该处山腰凹地中一套以粗大砾石为主的混杂堆积是较典型的复式稀性泥石流堆积体,其时代为晚更新世之前,而不是晚更新世末期产物。所谓晚更新世末期的冰川堆积体和冰蚀地貌,实际上是不存在的。晚更新世时期,北京西山地区属冰缘环境,而非冰川环境。     

Downscaling of coarse‐grained geomorphological data

One of the basic limitations to the use of geomorphological maps is their coarse resolution relative to the needs of pure and applied geomorphological research. In response to this, attempts have been made to ‘downscale’ geomorphological information to finer spatial resolutions. However, the potential of statistical downscaling in geomorphology has been insufficiently examined. We downscaled four different periglacial features (wind deflation, palsa mire, earth hummock and sorted solifluction sheet) from a 100 ha grid to a 1 ha grid resolution utilizing two different techniques: point sampling (PSA) and direct (DA) approaches. We assessed the predictive accuracy of the models with the area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic plot using independent evaluation data. The PSA technique yielded encouraging results with a mean accuracy of 0·81, whereas the performance of DA was poorer. The predictive performance of the palsa mire and solifluction sheet models was excellent (AUC values from 0·89 to 0·96), whereas the AUC values of deflation and earth hummock models were lower (AUC = 0·57–0·81). The application of a point sampling approach as used here provides an efficient method to translate geomorphological information to finer resolution. However, further testing of the downscaling approaches is required before they can be applied to real‐world situations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gelifluction: viscous flow or plastic creep?

This paper reports results from two scaled centrifuge modelling experiments, designed to simulate thaw‐related geli?uction. A planar 12° prototype slope was modelled in each experiment, using the same natural ?ne sandy silt soil. However two different scales were used. In Experiment 1, the model scale was 1/10, tested in the centrifuge at 10 gravities (g) and in Experiment 2, the scale was 1/30, tested at 30 g. Centrifuge scaling laws indicate that the time scaling factor for thaw consolidation between model and prototype is N², where N is the number of gravities under which the model was tested. However, the equivalent time scaling for viscous ?ow is 1/1. If geli?uction is a viscosity‐controlled ?ow process, scaling con?icts will therefore arise during centrifuge modelling of thawing slopes, and rates of displacement will not scale accurately to the prototype. If, however, no such scaling con?icts are observed, we may conclude that geli?uction is not controlled by viscosity, but rather by elasto‐plastic soil deformation in which frictional shear strength depends on effective stress, itself a function of the thaw consolidation process. Models were saturated, consolidated and frozen from the surface downwards on the laboratory ?oor. The frozen models were then placed in the geotechnical centrifuge and thawed from the surface down. Each model was subjected to four freeze–thaw cycles. Soil temperatures and pore water pressures were monitored, and frost heave, thaw settlement and downslope displacements measured. Pore water pressures, displacement rates and displacement pro?les re?ecting accumulated shear strain, were all similar at the two model scales and volumetric soil transport per freeze–thaw cycle, when scaled to prototype, were virtually identical. Displacement rates and pro?les were also similar to those observed in earlier full‐scale laboratory ?oor experiments. It is concluded therefore that the modelled geli?uction was not a time‐dependent viscosity‐controlled ?ow phenomenon, but rather elasto‐plastic in nature. A ?rst approximation ‘?ow’ law is proposed, based on the ‘Cam Clay’ constitutive model for soils. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Weichselian environmental change in southern Sweden and Denmark

A synthesis is presented of the envronmental and climatic variations that are inferred to have occurred in southern Sweden (up to latitude 59°N) and Denmark during the Weichselian Late-glacial (14-9 ka BP). The chronology and characteristics of the main phases of deglaciation, sea-level change, periglacial activity, soil development, vegetation cover and climate change are summarised. A curve representing the main changes in temperature, including quantitative estimates based upon beetle data and using the ‘mutual climatic range’ method, is presented.     

The significance of cryoturbation phenomena in environmental reconstruction

Cryoturbation results mainly from differential heave related to (1) drainage and thermal conditions and (2) frost susceptibility. Loadcasting and cryostatic pressures are restricted to wet soils such as pure silt or silty sand. The translocation of fine particles resulting from repeated freezing and thawing can promote frost susceptibility in a previously non-susceptible material, as well as a loss in stability of the surface horizons (liquefaction). Small and metric scale cryoturbations can be explained by this process. Large scale deformations and injections may be related to abnormal liquefaction not necessarily associated with frost. Regular patterns are associated with fissure nets. Upturned injections in a downslope direction attest to cryoturbation and frost creep. A lowering of the water table promotes the formation of drop-like cryoturbations, most of which can be related to seasonal frost in imperfectly to poorly drained soils. They are not indicative of permafrost except in well drained situations or in the case of flat bottomed involutions.     

Late Weichselian environmental change in Norway,including Svalbard

A synthesis of the principal environmental changes that are inferred to have occurred in Norway and Svalbard (Fig. 1) during the Late-glacial period (14-9 ka BP) is presented. The paper has three sections dealing separately with (I) western Norway, (II) northern Norway and (III) Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The main conditions described include glacial events, sea-level changes, vegetation history and climatic variations. A summary chart of environmental reconstructions is presented for each of the three areas, each including a curve of temperature reconstructions for the Late-glacial period. These indicate some significant regional variations in contemporaneous thermal conditions during the Late-glacial.