Late Holocene estuarine–inner shelf interactions; is there evidence of an estuarine retreat path for Tampa Bay, Florida?

The purpose of this study was to determine if and how a large, modern estuarine system, situated in the middle of an ancient carbonate platform, has affected its adjacent inner shelf both in the past during the last, post-glacial sea-level rise and during the present. An additional purpose was to determine if and how this inner shelf seaward of a major estuary differed from the inner shelves located just to the north and south but seaward of barrier-island shorelines. Through side-scan sonar mosaicking, bathymetric studies, and ground-truthing using surface grab samples as well as diver observations, two large submarine sand plains were mapped – one being the modern ebb-tidal delta and the other interpreted to be a relict ebb-tidal delta formed earlier in the Holocene. The most seaward portion of the inner shelf studied consists of a field of lobate, bathymetrically elevated, fine-sand accumulations, which were interpreted to be sediment-starved 3D dunes surrounded by small 2D dunes composed of coarse molluscan shell gravel. Additionally, exposed limestone hardbottoms supporting living benthic communities were found as well. This modern shelf sedimentary environment is situated on a large, buried shelf valley, which extends eastward beneath the modern Tampa Bay estuary. These observations plus the absence of an incised shelf valley having surficial bathymetric expression, and the absence of sand bodies normally associated with back-tracking estuarine systems indicate that there was no cross-shelf estuarine retreat path formed during the last rise in sea level. Instead, the modern Tampa Bay formed within a mid-platform, low-relief depression, which was flooded by rising marine waters late in the Holocene. With continued sea-level rise in the late Holocene, this early embayment was translated eastward or landward to its present position, whereby a larger ebb-tidal delta prograded out onto the inner shelf. Extensive linear sand ridges, common to the inner shelves to the north and south, did not form in this shelf province because it was a low-energy, open embayment lacking the wave climate and nearshore zone necessary to create such sand bodies. The distribution of bedforms on the inner shelf and the absence of seaward-oriented 2D dunes on the modern ebb-tidal delta indicate that the modern estuarine system has had little effect on its adjacent inner shelf.     

青海共和盆地多石在沟河道沙丘现代风水交互过程

选择青海共和盆地多石在沟河道中6道新月形沙丘链作为研究对象,采用Trimble4700DGPS与常规测量手段,结合野外风沙观测与自动气象站数据,初步观测分析了2006年多石在沟河道沙丘在不同季节的形态变化过程,计算出2006年风季前比雨季后多石在沟河道沙丘体积减小了548.3m³,风积量为2351m³,流水的蚀平量为2899m³,2006年风水两相营力对河道沙丘的侵蚀贡献率约为45%∶55%,流水的搬运作用强于风力的堆积作用。但从较长的时间尺度来看,研究区的风力侵蚀作用强于流水侵蚀作用,河道沙丘不断增大。多石在沟河道沙丘是一个典型的风水交互作用系统,河道成为风力与流水交互作用的"中转站",在风水的交替作用下,沉积物由风积环境进入流水环境中。     

泥石流调查遥感解译新方法研究

文章在分析总结近年来遥感技术在地质灾害调查评价工作应用的基础上,针对存在的不足,就区域小流域泥石流地质灾害调查评价的遥感解译应用,提出了基于虚拟GIS和水文空间分析的遥感解译方法（RSVH）。该方法综合利用虚拟GIS、遥感图像数字处理技术和空间分析技术,将大尺度区域降级为较小尺度的空间逻辑单元。针对各单元应用遥感影像和高精度DEM数据创建三维虚拟场景。同时叠加地形、地质、岩性、土壤、灾害等具有丰富属性信息的图层,较好地解决了大尺度区域范围内遥感解译工作面临的困难。为小流域地质灾害的调查工作提供了新思路。     

Progresses in the ice formation of glaciers in China

Glaciers, formed by snowfall and characterized by movement and size, are the most sensitive indicators to climate change. The ice formation of glaciers (the processes, mechanisms and results of transformation from snow to ice) can indicate the growth condition, the formation process and the physical characteristics of glaciers. Its spatial variation can also reflect glacier change, and further reveal climate change. Studies on ice formation of glaciers in China were initiated in 1962, when Xie and others studied the ice formation of Glacier No.1 at the Urumqi River head, Tianshan Mountain. Other researchersfollowed suit and did studies on ice formation of glaciers in Qilian Mountain. As time goes by, the concept of ice formation came into being in China. This paper reviews the development history of glacier zones, and the studies of ice formation of glaciers in China since the 1960s. These studies mainly focus on Qilian Mountain, Tianshan Mountain, Altay Mountain, and the western Kunlun Mountain, Himalaya Mountain, the southeastern Tibetan and Hengduan Mountains. The paper also discusses the significance of ice formation studies, the limitation and deficiency of previous studies, and the prospects and suggestions for future studies. __________ Translated from Advances in Earth Science, 2007, 22(4): 386–395 [译自: 地球科学进展]     

Dynamics of the mid-ocean ridge plate boundary: Recent observations and theory

The global mid-ocean ridge system is one of the most active plate boundaries on the earth and understanding the dynamic processes at this plate boundary is one of the most important problems in geodynamics. In this paper I present recent results of several aspects of mid-ocean ridge studies concerning the dynamics of oceanic lithosphere at these diverging plate boundaries. I show that the observed rift valley to no-rift valley transition (globally due to the increase of spreading rate or locally due to the crustal thickness variations and/or thermal anomalies) can be explained by the strong temperature dependence of the power law rheology of the oceanic lithosphere, and most importantly, by the difference in the rheological behavior of the oceanic crust from the underlying mantle. The effect of this weaker lower crust on ridge dynamics is mainly influenced by spreading rate and crustal thickness variations. The accumulated strain pattern from a recently developed lens model, based on recent seismic observations, was proposed as an appealing mechanism for the observed gabbro layering sequence in the Oman Ophiolite. It is now known that the mid-ocean ridges at all spreading rates are offset into individual spreading segments by both transform and nontransform discontinuities. The tectonics of ridge segmentation are also spreading-rate dependent: the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge is characterized by distinct bulls-eye shaped gravity lows, suggesting large along-axis variations in melt production and crustal thickness, whereas the fast-spreading East-Pacific Rise is associated with much smaller along-axis variations. These spreading-rate dependent changes have been attributed to a fundamental differences in ridge segmentation mechanisms and mantle upwelling at mid-ocean ridges: the mantle upwelling may be intrinsically plume-like (3-D) beneath a slow-spreading ridge but more sheet-like (2-D) beneath a fast-spreading ridge.     

南极海冰、冰穴和冰川冰及其对水团形成和变性的作用

本文利用前人的成果及笔者1992/1993年的南极海冰观测和收集的资料以及水文观测资料数据阐述了南极海冰的特性,特别是南极海冰过程、冰穴以及冰川冰对南极水团(南极表层水、南极底层水、南极陆架水、南极中层水以及南极冰架水)的形成和变性所起的特殊作用。 南极海冰覆盖面积的年际变化,夏季最大年份是最小年份的2倍多,冬季年间变化较小,最大仅为20％;但其季节变化非常大,冬季平均覆盖面积通常是夏季的5倍。南极海冰对大气-海洋间相互作用有重大影响,特别是深海洋区中冬季的结冰和发育造成的垂向对流、夏季的融化是形成南极表层水(含南极冬季水和南极夏季表层水),进而形成南极中层水的主要原因;南极陆架区的的海冰兴衰过程是形成南极陆架水的直接原因,它与变性南极绕极深层水混合并受到冰川冰的进一步冷却作用,成为形成南极底层水的主要水团;南极冰架底部的冷却、融化和冰架以下水体的结冰作用形成的高盐对流过程产生的南极冰架水,亦是形成南极底层水的贡献者。 冰穴是70年代以来卫星观测的重大发现。对其形成和对大气、海洋的影响作用尚不完全清楚,初步的研究成果表明,冰穴中产生的热盐对流对南极水团的形成、变性、大洋深层的翻转以及海洋-大气间的热量传输和气体交换起有非常重要的作用。     

塔里木河源区冰川系统变化趋势预测

塔里木河源区是我国冰川分布最集中的地区之一,总面积达17 745.51 km2,占全国冰川总面积的30%;同时本区又属于我国升温幅度最大的地区之一。应用冰川系统变化的功能模型,对塔里木河源区冰川系统在本世纪对气候变化的趋势进行预测。结果表明:到2050年,如气温比1961~1990年高出1.9~2.3℃,本区冰川面积将减少4%~6%,冰川径流将增加22%~34%,零平衡线将上升62~94 m;如此升温率持续到本世纪末,则本区冰川面积将减少10%~16%,冰川径流将会回落,但仍比本世纪初多11%~13%,零平衡线将上升156~233 m。     

金沙江干热河谷区土壤侵蚀危险度评价——以云南元谋为例

利用空间主成分分析方法，选取降水、坡度、植被、土地利用、土壤类型、人口、高程等作为评价指标，建立空间主成分评价模型Pi=0．78X1＋0．06X2＋0．05X3＋0．04X4，将研究区分为无险型、轻险型、危险型、强险型和极险型五种类型，较为准确地得到了危险度综合评价结果。因此，空间主成分分析模型，在土壤侵蚀危险程度评价方面的应用较为成功，是一种科学有效的研究方法。     

Documentary Evidence of an Economic Character as a Source for the Study of Meteorological and Hydrological Extremes and their Impacts on Human Activities

This paper deals with documentary evidence of an economic character as a proxy for direct study of meteorological and hydrological extremes. Taxation records and reports of those who administrated domains and estates are described with respect to information about meteorological and hydrological extremes. Based on data from eight domains or estates from Moravia (in the Czech Republic), frequency series of floods and convective storms (including hailstorms) were developed for the period 1650–1849. One example of disastrous weather, which took place on 10 August 1694 in the Pern?tejn domain, is used to demonstrate the potential for such studies of the intensity of extremes and their impact on human activities. The importance of economic evidence in the instrumental period is shown through tax rebate data contingent upon hailstorm damage in Moravia (1896–1906). The benefits of employing documentary economic evidence for historical climatology and the study of the impact of meteorological and hydrological extremes on human activities are discussed.