Analogue study of particle segregation in pyroclastic density currents, with implications for the emplacement mechanisms of large ignimbrites

Abstract Analogue flume experiments were conducted to investigate the transport and sedimentation behaviour of turbulent pyroclastic density currents. The experimental currents were scaled approximately to the natural environment in three ways: (1) they were fully turbulent; (2) they had a very wide range of particle sizes and associated Rouse numbers (the ratio of particle settling velocity to effective turbulent eddy velocity in the current); and (3) they contained particles of two different densities. Two sets of surge‐type experiments were conducted in a 5 m long, water‐filled lock‐exchange flume at five different volumetric particle concentrations from 0·6% to 23%. In one set (one‐component experiments), the currents contained just dense particles; in the other set (two‐component experiments), they contained both light and dense particles in equal volume proportions. In both sets of experiments, the population of each component had a log‐normal size distribution. In the two‐component experiments, the size range of the light particle population was selected in order to be in hydrodynamic equivalence with that of the dense particles. Dense particles were normally graded, both vertically and downstream, in the deposits from both sets of experiments. The mass loading (normalized to the initial mass of the suspension) and grain size of the dense component in the deposits decreased with distance from the reservoir and were insensitive to initial total particle concentration in the currents. On the other hand, in the two‐component experiments, the light particles were extremely sensitive to concentration. They were deposited in hydrodynamic equivalence with the dense particles from dilute currents, but were segregated efficiently at concentrations higher than a few per cent. With increasing particle concentration, the large, light particles were carried progressively further down the flume because of buoyancy effects. Deposits from the high‐concentration currents exhibited reverse vertical grading of the large, light particles. Efficient segregation of the light component was observed even if the bulk density of the current was less than that of the light particles. In both sets of experiments, marked inflexions in the rate of downstream decline in mass loading and maximum grain size of the dense component can be attributed to the presence of two different particle settling regimes in the flow: (1) particles with Rouse numbers >2·5, which did not respond to the turbulence and settled rapidly; and (2) particles with Rouse numbers <2·5, which followed the turbulent eddies and settled slowly. The results are applied to the transport and sedimentation dynamics of pyroclastic density currents that generate large, widespread ignimbrites. Field data fail to reveal significant departures from aerodynamic equivalence between pumice and lithic clasts in three such ignimbrites: the particulate loads of some large ignimbrites are transported principally in turbulent suspensions of low concentration. In some ignimbrites, the well‐developed inflexions in curves of maximum lithic (ML) size vs. distance can be attributed to the existence of distinct high and low Rouse number particle settling regimes that mark the transition from an overcharged state to one in which the residual particulate load is transported more effectively by turbulence.     

Probability Density Functions as Botanical-Climatological Transfer Functions for Climate Reconstruction

We present a new procedure, the pdf method (pdf=probability density function), for reconstructing Quaternary climate utilizing botanical data. The procedure includes the advantages of the indicator species method by considering the fossil and modern presence and absence of taxa rather than their frequencies, thus avoiding the need for modern analog plant communities. Overcoming the problematic use of absolute limits to describe climate response ranges is the main progress of the pdf method in comparison to the indicator species method. This advantage results from estimating probability density functions (pdfs) for monthly mean January and July temperature conditional on the present day occurrence of single taxa. Gaussian distributions sufficiently approximate pdfs of many, although not all, studied taxa. On the assumption of statistical independence, the procedure calculates a joint pdf as the product of the pdfs of the individual taxa. This algorithm weights each taxon according to the extent of its climate response range expressed by its covariance structure. We interpret the maximum of the resulting pdf as the most likely climate and its confidence interval as the uncertainty range. To avoid an artificial reduction of uncertainty arising from the use of numerous similar pdfs, a preselection method is proposed based on the Mahalanobis distance between pdfs. The pdf method was applied to the Carpinus phase of a profile from Gröbern, Germany, that spans the last interglaciation (Eemian). The reconstructed most probable January and July temperatures of about 0.0°C and 18.4°C barely differ from the modern values of −0.5°C and 18.3°C.     

Reconciling pyroclastic flow and surge: the multiphase physics of pyroclastic density currents

Two end-member types of pyroclastic density current are commonly recognized: pyroclastic surges are dilute currents in which particles are carried in turbulent suspension and pyroclastic flows are highly concentrated flows. We provide scaling relations that unify these end-members and derive a segregation mechanism into basal concentrated flow and overriding dilute cloud based on the Stokes number (S_T), the stability factor (Σ_T) and the dense-dilute condition (D_D). We recognize five types of particle behaviors within a fluid eddy as a function of S_T and Σ_T: (1) particles sediment from the eddy, (2) particles are preferentially settled out during the downward motion of the eddy, but can be carried during its upward motion, (3) particles concentrate on the periphery of the eddy, (4) particles settling can be delayed or ‘fast-tracked’ as a function of the eddy spatial distribution, and (5) particles remain homogeneously distributed within the eddy. We extend these concepts to a fully turbulent flow by using a prototype of kinetic energy distribution within a full eddy spectrum and demonstrate that the presence of different particle sizes leads to the density stratification of the current. This stratification may favor particle interactions in the basal part of the flow and D_D determines whether the flow is dense or dilute. Using only intrinsic characteristics of the current, our model explains the discontinuous features between pyroclastic flows and surges while conserving the concept of a continuous spectrum of density currents.     

吉林省发展绿色食品的农业生态环境优势分析

发展绿色食品生产是吉林省实施“生态省”建设工程的主导产业之一，本文按照绿色食品产地环境质量标准要求，客观评价了吉林省发展绿色食品的产地环境条件，得出吉林省具有发展绿色食品生产的显著农业生态环境优势。基于吉林省良好的农业生态环境质量，结合区域自然条件和资源优势，将全省分为东部山区、中部松辽平原区、西部松嫩平原区和大、中城市郊区四种区域类型，并分别提出了其发展绿色食品生产的宏观策略。     

河北平原水系密度与隐伏活动构造的关系

以1926年出版的比例尺为1：5万的顺直地形图作为基础图件，用地理信息系统技术对河北平原作水系密度计量分析，揭示隐伏在第四纪巨厚的沉积物之下活动构造的信息，研究结果证实水系线密度统计图与使用其它地球科学方法获得的成果，例如基底活动断块图，地貌类型图和第四纪厚度图都有很好的对应，特别与布格重力图对应更好，研究结果发现水系密度图与布格重力异常图在总体一致性较好的前提下，多处反向异常区均为近代强震发生的区域，提出这种地表水系密度统计研究的成果不仅可以揭示深部隐伏的活动构造，而且具有较明确的时间含义。     

近20年海南岛森林生态系统碳储量变化

热带森林在碳循环研究中有重要作用。根据目前森林碳储量的计算方法和海南森林资源二类调查数据 ,估算了不同时段的碳储量 ,并分析其动态变化特点。结果表明 :海南森林碳储量从 1979年的 30 4 5TgC增加到 1998年的 37 74TgC ,年均增加 0 36 4 5TgC ,增长率为1 19% ,是全国平均增长率的 2 5倍 ;海南森林在碳循环中起不断增强的碳汇作用 ;森林碳密度呈加速减少趋势 ,储碳潜力将很大 ;随着海南全面禁止采伐和封育等林业措施的实施 ,森林面积扩大 ,林龄结构改善 ,储碳能力将进一步提高 ,海南森林在全国或全球碳循环中的作用和社会价值与意义将日渐突出。通过对碳储量计算不确定性的分析和讨论 ,提出应加强对森林群落各层次生物量的实测与实地监测研究 ,统一计算方法 ,以提高碳储量计算的精度     

Soil degradation: a global problem endangering sustainable development

1 Introduction Soil is not only the major natural resource on which human being depends for the production of food, feed, fiber, renewable energy and raw materials, but also plays a key role in maintaining the complex terrestrial ecosystems and climate systems of this planet. Recent rapid increase in the human population is placing a great strain on the worlds soil resources. Only about 11% of the global land surface covered by the soils are being used to raise crops and livestock, in other …     

The Mobile Street Food Service Practice in the Urban Economy of Kumba, Cameroon

The mobile food service practice is one of multiple survival strategies adopted by poor urban households in Cameroon to maintain and expand the base of subsistence incomes, especially in the current surge of economic crisis. Though a fast-growing informal sector enterprise, it is still at an artisanal stage in urban Cameroon, creating an urgent need for a supportive policy environment that could have measurable positive impacts on improving the productivity, welfare and income levels of the micro-entrepreneurs. This study looks at the mobile food service practice in Kumba, Cameroon, in terms of its basic characteristics, the locational factors influencing its socio-spatial distribution, the critical success factors (CSFs) determining customer choices, and its impacts on the local environmental resources and quality of urban life. The mobile food service practice creates employment, generates income, and acts as a food energy-support instrument to the urban poor and local economic activities operating in Kumba. The vendors, who are mostly women, can make incomes that are 405 per cent of the national minimum wage and, thus, contribute financially towards the education, health and survival of their families. The paper provides some recommendations on ways to improve the efficiency of this sector so as to achieve sustainable economic and social development and to enhance empowerment thereof.     

Virtual vegetables and adopted sheep: ethical relation, authenticity and Internet-mediated food production technologies

Associating ideas related to cultural geographies of 'quality' food production and consumption with recent discussion of Internet technologies, virtuality and simulation, this paper examines two newly constituted Internet enterprises offering customers 'virtual' experiences of food production, and 'quality' food products in which they have invested. The paper shows how these enterprises are associated with particular types of geographical and ethical relation, and a search for 'authentic', connected, relationships with food, farming, locality and 'nature'. These relationships are constituted in an assemblage of things held together by flows of food, products, money and electronic communication. The paper ends by suggesting a number of theoretical ideas that might usefully be explored in empirical research into Internet-mediated food production.