Linguistics,geography, and the potential of Australian island toponymies

Australian placename studies have focused on documenting toponymic histories and issues of concern mainly for placename taxonomy and etymology. Language-external factors such as geographical and environmental conditions have not been of great interest to Australian toponymists. This article assesses the role of geographical and environmental constriction of island places on their toponymy. It considers whether or not island locations breed ‘insular toponymies’ or placename histories inaccessible and not readily accessible to outsider researchers. The case studies are Norfolk Island, South Pacific, and Dudley Peninsula, South Australia, two island environments within political Australia. The results demonstrate that the degree of insularity of the toponymies of the two island environments is driven more by geographical and social factors than linguistic elements. The results put forward several ways in which geographers, linguists, historians, toponymists, and Australian studies scholars could work together and collaborate to better understand Australian island places.     

Denudational isostatic rebound of intraplate highlands: The lachlan river valley,Australia

A range of evidence from the Lachlan valley in the southeast Australian highlands is consistent with Neogene isostatic rebound in response to denudational unloading. This evidence is found along the inland edge of the highlands in the transition zone between the highlands proper and the Lachlan's inland alluviated valley and the intracratonic Murray Basin. The amounts and rates of uplift indicated by offsets of suballuvium bedrock profiles and the long profiles of Tertiary valley-filling basalts are consistent with modelling of denudational rebound using known rates of highland denudation and basinal sedimentation, and reasonable crustal properties. The modelling shows that weak to moderately strong strong lithosphere (effective elastic thickness, T_e = 1-25 km) and strong lithosphere (T_e = 100 km) are all consistent with the observed amounts of rebound. Strong lithosphere must be broken, however, to be consistent with the field data. Even in the Australian setting, which is characterized by very low rates of denudation, isostatic rebound in response to denudational unloading must be a significant factor in maintaining highland elevation and must be incorporated in models of long-term landscape evolution. It would be expected that denudational isostatic rebound would be an even more significant component of long-term landscape evolution in areas of higher denudation rates.     

Late-glacial and early Holocene lake sediments,ground-water formation and climate in the Atacama Altiplano 22–24°S

Precipitation rates in the Atacama Altiplano 22–24°S were 400–500 mm yr^–1 during late glacial and early Holocene times as opposed to 200 mm yr^–1 today. This humid phase (Tauca phase) was likely due to strengthened tropical (monsoonal) circulation, which brought continental moisture to the Atacama Altiplano. The lake level of Laguna Lejía (23°30S, 4350 m) at that time was up to 25 m higher than it is today. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca data from lake sediments show that, what today is a highly saline lake was a freshwater lake at that time. Seasonally-laminated calcareous sediments were deposited between 13 500 and <10 400 yr B.P. indicating the maximum of the humid phase. Climatic changes in the past are important for current groundwater resources.¹⁴C and³H data from lake-, ground- and well water suggest that modern groundwater formation (i.e. water <40 years) in the Altiplano is very limited under current arid conditions. We conclude that significant amounts of the water resources in this area originated during the time of the late-glacial and early Holocene humid climate. Tritium data from snow samples show that the moisture in the Altiplano at 22–24°S is mainly of continental origin, whereas precipitation from the westerlies hardly contributes to the water supply in this area. This precipitation pattern matches the paleodata, and we suggest that current precipitation formation may provide an analogue framework for late-glacial circulation in this area.This is the 3rd in a series of papers published in this special AMQUA issue. These papers were presented at the 1994 meeting of the American Quaternary Association held 19–22 June, 1994, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Linda C. K. Shane served as guest editor for these papers.     

The present-day stress field of New South Wales,Australia

The Australian continent displays the most complex pattern of present-day tectonic stress observed in any major continental area. Although plate boundary forces provide a well-established control on the large-scale (>500 km) orientation of maximum horizontal stress (S_Hmax), smaller-scale variations, caused by local forces, are poorly understood in Australia. Prior to this study, the World Stress Map database contained 101 S_Hmax orientation measurements for New South Wales (NSW), Australia, with the bulk of the data coming from shallow engineering tests in the Sydney Basin. In this study we interpret present-day stress indicators analysed from 58.6 km of borehole image logs in 135 coal-seam gas and petroleum wells in different sedimentary basins of NSW, including the Gunnedah, Clarence-Moreton, Sydney, Gloucester, Darling and Bowen–Surat basins. This study provides a refined stress map of NSW, with a total of 340 (A–E quality) S_Hmax orientations consisting of 186 stress indicators from borehole breakouts, 69 stress measurements from shallow engineering methods, 48 stress indicators from drilling-induced fractures, and 37 stress indicators from earthquake focal mechanism solutions. We define seven stress provinces throughout NSW and determine the mean orientation of the S_Hmax for each stress province. The results show that the S_Hmax is variable across the state, but broadly ranges from NE–SW to ESE–WNW. The S_Hmax is approximately E–W to ESE–WNW in the Darling Basin and Southeastern Seismogenic Zone that covers the west and south of NSW, respectively. However, the present-day S_Hmax rotates across the northeastern part of NSW, from approximately NE–SW in the South Sydney and Gloucester basins to ENE–WSW in the North Sydney, Clarence-Moreton and Gunnedah basins. Comparisons between the observed S_Hmax orientations and Australian stress models in the available literature reveal that previous numerical models were unable to satisfactorily predict the state of stress in NSW. Although clear regional present-day stress trends exist in NSW, there are also large perturbations observed locally within most stress provinces that demonstrate the significant control on local intraplate sources of stress. Local S_Hmax perturbations are interpreted to be due to basement topography, basin geometry, lithological contrasts, igneous intrusions, faults and fractures. Understanding and predicting local stress perturbations has major implications for determining the most productive fractures in petroleum systems, and for modelling the propagation direction and vertical height growth of induced hydraulic fractures in simulation of unconventional reservoirs.     

The present-day state of tectonic stress in the Darling Basin,Australia: Implications for exploration and production

Knowledge of the full present-day stress tensor and pore pressure has significant applications in the exploration and production of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. The Darling Basin of New South Wales, Australia, is an old sedimentary basin (Late Cambrian/Silurian to Early Carboniferous) in which there was limited information about the present-day stress field prior to this study. In this paper we evaluate the contemporary stress field of the Darling Basin using a dataset from recent exploration wells and perform a geomechanical risk assessment with respect to borehole stability, fracture/fault generation and reactivation. Our interpretations of borehole failures in borehole image logs reveal a prevailing east-west orientation of the maximum horizontal stress throughout the Darling Basin. The estimates of the magnitudes for the vertical, minimum and maximum horizontal stress in the studied wells indicate a transition between thrust and strike-slip faulting stress regime at 600–700 m depths, where the magnitude of vertical stress and minimum horizontal stress are close to each other. However, the presence of borehole breakouts and drilling-induced tensile fractures, that we observe in the image logs at greater depths (900–2100 m) indicate a transition into a strike-slip tectonic stress regime below a depth range of approximately 700–900 m. These findings are in agreement with overcoring stress measurements east and west of the investigated wells. Furthermore, there are several Neogene-to-Recent geological structures in the study area that indicate thrust faulting with an east-west oriented maximum horizontal stress orientation around this old sedimentary basin. The consistency between the orientation of maximum horizontal stress determined from wellbore data and neotectonic structures is significant, and implies that horizontal stress orientations derived from very recent geological features may be valuable inputs to geomechanical models in the absence of wellbore or other data. However, the recent surface geological structures suggest a thrust faulting stress regime that is in slight contrast to the transition between thrust and strike-slip stress regime (S_H > S_h ∼ S_v) indicated by petroleum data, and highlights a potential pitfall of using neotectonic structures in geomechanical models. In particular, careful attention and verification should be made when using neotectonic structures for input, calibration or confirmation of geomechanical models, especially in intraplate tectonic settings such as Australia.     

Magnetostratigraphy of the Plio‐Pleistocene carbonate section of the Great Australian Bight

ODP Leg 182 drilled two north‐south transects in the western Great Australian Bight close to longitude 128°E. These transects penetrated a remarkably thick section of uppermost Pliocene and Pleistocene carbonate sediments, which are separated from Miocene sections by a major hiatus. In the eastern transect, at sites 1129, 1131 and 1127, the Brunhes‐Matuyama boundary (onset of C1n) was found at 343 m, between 280 and 300 m, and at 343 m below the sea floor, respectively. In the western transect, at sites 1132 and 1130, it was found between 170 and 181 m, and at 200 m, respectively. Within the Brunhes chron, inclination and intensity fluctuations and correlations between susceptibility and standard δ¹⁸O records were used to give age‐depth relations. These age relations from the palaeomagnetics are broadly consistent with the biostratigraphy and the δ¹⁸O results from Leg 182, but do not provide an entirely independent dataset. Rock magnetism stratigraphy at site 1131 revealed the principal bryozoan buildup to be at the time of the last glacial lowstand, as suggested by previous workers. At all sites the sedimentation rate increases from the basal unconformity up into the thick Upper Pleistocene section. In the western transect there appears to be a partial record of most of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene chron boundaries (C1r1n to C2An3n) in a condensed section, but in the eastern transect only the Jaramillo (C1r1n) is observed.     

Sanmenxia Loess and Paleoenvironmental Change

INTRODUCTIONThe Sanmenxia area is located at the SE marginof the Loess Plateau,where a thick-layered loess de-posit developed(Fig.1).Previous research has al-ready been carried out on some loess stratigraphy inthe area(Teng,1988;Xie and Jiang,1987;Yue,1985,1984),which concentrated on petrostratigra-phy and magnetostratigraphy.Further environmentalinvestigation has not yet been pursued.After the ge-ological survey(Zheng et al.,1992;An et al.,1989;Ding and Liu,1989),more integrated str…     

澳大利亚东侧环流及海温异常与长江中下游夏季旱涝的关系

利用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料、NOAA的SST资料和1951～2005年中国160站月降水总量资料,研究了南极涛动,特别是澳大利亚东侧的环流及局地海温异常与长江中下游夏季旱涝的关系。研究发现,澳大利亚东侧位势高度异常与长江中下游夏季降水存在显著正相关,并由此定义了一个澳大利亚东侧位势高度指数（GHIEA）。当GHIEA指数偏大（小） 时,也即澳大利亚东侧位势高度偏高（偏低）,这种气压异常扰动可能通过Rossby波传播到北半球副热带地区,形成南北半球高度场的遥相关,使我国南海至菲律宾北部副热带地区位势高度增加（减小）,也即副高较强（弱）且偏南西伸（偏北偏东）,从而造成长江中下游地区降水偏多（少）。夏季南极涛动与长江中下游夏季降水的显著相关的原因主要是澳大利亚东侧局地位势高度异常造成的。澳大利亚东侧位势高度偏高（低）,南极涛动指数（IAO） 也随之偏大（小）,澳大利亚东侧位势高度异常通过南北半球高度场遥相关影响到北半球副热带地区的大气环流, 进而使长江中游夏季降水偏多（少）。另外,从局地海温异常角度也能部分解释澳大利亚东侧位势高度异常与长江中下游夏季降水存在显著正相关的可能成因:当澳大利亚东侧局地海域SST偏高（低）时,对应GHIEA指数偏高（低）,也即澳大利亚东侧位势高度偏高（低）。同时,当澳大利亚东侧局地海域SST偏高（低）时,南海地区SST也易于偏高（低）,使西太平洋副高较强并偏南西伸（较弱并偏北偏东）,从而造成长江中下游降水偏多（少）。     

SVD分析揭示的澳大利亚高压年际变化对中国夏季降水的可能影响

澳大利亚高压是东亚夏季风系统的重要成员之一,其对中国夏季气候存在显著影响.为了进一步弄清年际时间尺度上的澳大利亚高压变化对中国东部夏季降水的影响,利用澳大利哑海平面气压和中国夏季降水站点资料,使用SVD和线性回归方法揭示了澳大利亚高压的年际变化与中国夏季降水异常的联系,得到:SVD的第1模态的时间系数与通常使用的澳大利亚高压指数相关可达到0.98.在有无考虑ENSO的影响时,SVD的第1模态均反映出澳大利亚高压的年际变化与中国江南地区夏季降水存在密切联系,也即澳大利亚高压增强(减弱)时,江南地区降水增多(减少).澳大利亚高压对中国夏季降水的可能影响途径为:澳大利哑高压通过影响赤道纬向气流和越赤道气流并通过类似PJ波列的方式影响到中国东部地区:澳大利亚高压增强时,造成西太平洋副热带高压偏南、偏西,同时,105°E处越赤道气流显著加强,为江南地区提供充足水汽源,利于中国江南地区降水;澳大利亚高压减弱时,情况相反;在强(弱)澳大利哑高压年,印度尼西亚及热带辐合带海区SSTA负(正)异常使得低层风场的异常辐散(辐合),激发了澳大利哑南部以及西太平洋地区异常反气旋(气旋)环流,同时江南地区出现异常辐合(辐散),引起大气异常上升(下沉)运动,有利于中国江南地区夏季降水异常偏多(偏少).     

广西引种澳洲坚果的气候适应性分析

根据澳洲坚果的生物学特性及引种试种结果, 从广西的气候条件出发, 采用模糊相似优选比的方法, 对广西引种澳洲坚果进行农业气候相似分析, 得出广西引种澳洲坚果的气候依据并提出适宜种植区建议。