The lateglacial Quercus expansion in the southern European Alps: rapid vegetation response to a late Allerød climate warming?

A pollen‐inferred vegetation shift, from pioneer birch–pine woodland to mixed pine–summergreen oak forests, in the southern Alpine forelands, is commonly attributed to a centennial‐scale warming that occurred between the Gerzensee Oscillation (GO) and the Younger Dryas. Two microtephra layers bracketing the Younger Dryas onset (the Laacher See Tephra and the Vedde Ash) improve the chronology at Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (northern Italy) and allowed accurate correlation with Central European records where the GO is clearly detected. We used pollen percentages, pollen accumulation rates (PARs) and plant macrofossils to assess the population dynamics of Quercus, and leaf‐cuticle analysis for a better taxonomic identification of Quercus. Our results indicate that the species that was locally present was probably Quercus robur. PARs suggest that the population expansion started as early as the Bølling and followed an exponential increase through time. We attribute this gradual shift to increasing summer temperatures and longer growing seasons which contrast with a gradually decreasing temperature trend as recorded in Greenland ice cores and in Central Europe. Breaks or set‐backs in the PAR record may indicate the biotic response to minor Lateglacial cooling events of different life‐history stages in the Quercus population. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐analytical solution to one‐dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loading

This paper presents semi‐analytical solutions to Fredlund and Hasan's one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loadings. Two variables are introduced to transform two coupled governing equations of pore‐water and pore‐air pressures into an equivalent set of partial differential equations, which are easily solved by the Laplace transform. The pore‐water pressure, pore‐air pressure and settlement are obtained in the Laplace domain. Crump's method is adopted to perform the inverse Laplace transform in order to obtain semi‐analytical solutions in time domain. It is shown that the present solutions are more general and have a good agreement with the existing solutions from literatures. Furthermore, the current solutions can also be degenerated into conventional solutions to one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with homogeneous boundaries. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to illustrate consolidation behavior of unsaturated soils under four types of time‐dependent loadings, including instantaneous loading, ramp loading, exponential loading and sinusoidal loading. Parametric studies are illustrated by variations of pore‐air pressure, pore‐water pressure and settlement at different values of the ratio of air–water permeability coefficient, depth and loading parameters. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vegetation history of the penultimate glacial period (Marine isotope stage 6) at Ioannina,north‐west Greece

The vegetational history of the penultimate glacial period, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 (c. 185–135 ka), has remained relatively unexplored. Here we present a new record from the Ioannina basin, north‐west Greece, which constitutes the highest‐resolution terrestrial pollen record for this interval produced to date. It shows that the vegetation history of MIS 6 in this region can be divided into two parts: an early period (185–155 ka) with pronounced oscillations in tree population extent, and a later period (155–135 ka) with much smaller tree populations and subdued oscillations. This pattern is analogous to the MIS 3/MIS 2 division during the last glacial in the same sequence, although the early part of MIS 6 had larger Pinus populations and fewer temperate trees relative to the equivalent interval in MIS 3. This implies cooler and wetter conditions, which is somewhat counterintuitive given the high summer insolation during MIS 6e, but is in line with other palaeoclimatic evidence from the Mediterranean. Comparison with North Atlantic records suggests that despite the absence of pronounced iceberg discharges during MIS 6, North Atlantic millennial‐scale variability had a significant downstream impact on tree populations in north‐west Greece. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limitations of suction‐controlled triaxial tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils

Behavior of unsaturated soils is influenced by many factors, and the influences of these factors are usually coupled together. Suction‐controlled triaxial (SCTX) tests are considered to allow researchers to investigate influences of individual variables on unsaturated soils under specified stress path with controls of stresses, pore water, and air pressures. In the past 50 years, SCTX testing method has been established as a standard approach to characterize constitutive behavior of unsaturated soils. Most important concepts for modern unsaturated soil mechanics were developed upon results from the SCTX tests. Among these, one of the most important contributions in the constitutive modeling of elasto‐plastic behavior for unsaturated soils is the Barcelona basic model (BBM) proposed by Alonso et al. in 1990. The BBM successfully explained many features of unsaturated soils and received extensive acceptance. However, the SCTX tests are designed based upon the divide‐and‐conquer approach in which an implicit assumption is used: soil behavior is stress‐path independent. However, it is well‐established that unsaturated soil behavior is elasto‐plastic and stress‐path dependent. It is found that the SCTX tests in fact cannot control the stress path of an unsaturated soil during loading. This incapability, in combination with complicated loading/collapse behavior of unsaturated soils, makes the SCTX tests for characterizing unsaturated soil questionable. This paper discusses the limitations of the SCTX tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils. A possible solution to the problem was proposed based on a newly developed modified state surface approach. The discussions are limited for isotropic conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

联合GPS和GRACE数据分析陕甘宁地区地表垂直形变

采用甘肃省CORS网和中国大陆构造环境监测网络中共48个台站的GPS观测数据，解算得到观测台站的垂直位移，并与GRACE时变重力场Mascon模型解CSR RL05M数据计算得到的垂直形变进行比较，分析区域地表垂直形变特征。结果表明，研究区内台站垂直形变存在局部特征，甘肃庆阳和平凉地区垂直形变与其他地区存在明显差异，相关系数、均方根减少量和周年信号减少量均高于其他地区；扣除趋势项后，观测台站GPS垂直位移与GRACE垂直形变时间序列相关系数均值为0.72，GPS和GRACE周年信号振幅均值分别为6.00 mm和3.70 mm，周年信号减少量和均方根误差减少量均值分别为0.51和0.29；研究区内GPS垂直位移和GRACE垂直形变时间序列一致性较强，GRACE垂直形变能有效解释50%以上的GPS垂直位移周年信号，GPS垂直位移时间序列包含的非构造形变中平均约29%来源于环境负载变化所引起的负荷形变。     

ISA model: A constitutive model for soils with yield surface in the intergranular strain space

In this article, a new constitutive model for soils is proposed. It is formulated by means of plasticity, but in contrast to the precedent works, it presents a yield function describing a surface within the intergranular strain space. This latter is a state variable providing information of the recent strain history. An expression for the plastic strain rate has been proposed to guarantee the stress rate continuity. Under the application of medium or large strain amplitudes, the constitutive equation becomes independent of the intergranular strain and delivers a mathematical structure similar to some Karlsruhe hypoplastic models. Some simulations of monotonic and cyclic triaxial test are provided to evaluate and analyze the model performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil‐pile interaction in the pile vertical vibration considering true three‐dimensional wave effect of soil

The dynamic response of an end bearing pile embedded in a linear visco‐elastic soil layer with hysteretic type damping is theoretically investigated when the pile is subjected to a time‐harmonic vertical loading at the pile top. The soil is modeled as a three‐dimensional axisymmetric continuum in which both its radial and vertical displacements are taken into account. The pile is assumed to be vertical, elastic and of uniform circular cross section. By using two potential functions to decompose the displacements of the soil layer and utilizing the separation of variables technique, the dynamic equilibrium equation is uncoupled and solved. At the interface of soil‐pile system, the boundary conditions of displacement continuity and force equilibrium are invoked to derive a closed‐form solution of the vertical dynamic response of the pile in frequency domain. The corresponding inverted solutions in time domain for the velocity response of a pile subjected to a semi‐sine excitation force applied at the pile top are obtained by means of inverse Fourier transform and the convolution theorem. A comparison with two other simplified solutions has been performed to verify the more rigorous solutions presented in this paper. Using the developed solutions, a parametric study has also been conducted to investigate the influence of the major parameters of the soil‐pile system on the vertical vibration characteristics of the pile. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

北京后沙峪凹陷的第四纪地层划分与构造演化

通过对北京平原北部昌平、顺义、朝阳等区域的多个深孔资料、尤其后沙峪地区G3钻孔资料的深入分析,并开展磁性地层学及孢粉测试成果研究,建立了钻孔的磁性地层序列,结合南口—孙河断裂、顺义断裂以及黄庄—高丽营断裂的活动性研究成果,确定了后沙峪凹陷的第四纪地层格架,分析了凹陷的构造演化过程。结果表明,后沙峪凹陷上G3孔下更新统底界为511.7 m,中更新统底界为175.5 m,上更新统底界为31.6 m。在燕山期晚期,黄庄—高丽营断裂形成,控制了北京凹陷的西部边界,在北东向顺义断裂和北西向南口—孙河断裂共同作用下形成后沙峪凹陷。进入第四纪后,G3钻孔地层在早、中、晚更新世的沉积速率分别为0.198 mm/a、0.255 mm/a和0.243 mm/a;各条断裂活动速率的差异性客观反映出各块体之间的升降特点。由于后沙峪凹陷处于黄庄—高丽营断裂的上盘,同时也是顺义断裂的下盘,因此,断裂间的相互运动在第四纪沉积作用下形成了后沙峪凹陷。