河南登封地区寒武系第三统张夏组米级旋回及其演化

河南登封地区寒武系第三统张夏组是一套167m厚的碳酸盐岩地层,出露连续且完整,发育以微生物岩主导和以后生动物扰动灰岩主导的两种米级旋回类型。通过对米级旋回的演化及其沉积学和古遗迹学特征分析,张夏组自下而上由以微生物岩主导的米级旋回逐渐让位于以后生动物扰动灰岩主导的米级旋回;沉积体系由无鲕粒滩的碳酸盐岩台地逐渐向发育厚层鲕粒滩的碳酸盐岩台地演化;沉积环境从潮下低能深水演变为开阔台地,并逐渐变浅形成鲕粒滩、局限台地;沉积岩类型从叠层石、凝块石灰岩等微生物岩逐渐变化为生物碎屑灰岩、生物扰动灰岩和含生物扰动鲕粒灰岩。     

Orbitally forced sedimentary rhythms in the stratigraphic record: is there room for tidal forcing?

The imprint of orbital cycles, which result from the varying eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit and changes in the orientation of its axis, have been recognised throughout the Phanerozoic rock record. Variations in insolation and their effect on climate are generally considered to be the sole transfer mechanism between the orbital variables and cyclic sedimentary successions. Common oceanographic principles, however, show that the ocean tide also responds to variations in the orbital parameters. The ocean tide has not yet been considered to be a valid, additional transfer mechanism for the orbital variations. In geological studies of Milankovitch cycles in sedimentary successions the insolation paradigm offers satisfying explanations, and the role of long‐term variations of the ocean tide has not yet been appreciated. Variations in the ocean tide, related to changing eccentricity (at present 0·0165, theoretical maximum 0·0728), affect a variety of oceanographic and sedimentary processes. In addition to the widely accepted paradigm of orbitally forced insolation changes, the tidal transfer of orbital signals may explain certain less well‐understood aspects of orbitally induced cycles in the stratigraphic record related to ocean mixing, organic productivity, and tidal processes in shallow seas and deep water. Variations of the ocean tide in relation to the 18·6 year lunar nodal cycle, which has no insolation counterpart by which they may be obscured, indeed show that these relatively small variations can produce significant effects in sedimentary environments that are sensitive to variations in the strength of the ocean tide. In analogy with the 18·6 year lunar nodal cycle, orbital variations of the tide on Milankovitch time scales are likely to have affected sedimentary systems in the past.     

藏北雁石坪夏里组高频岩相旋回的驱动机制研究

Walsh频谱分析引用不连续的方波代替傅里叶频谱分析中连续的正弦波和余弦波,由于Walsh函数的不连续性,它广泛应用于地层旋回周期的检测。藏北雁石坪地区中侏罗统夏里组发育一套以砂岩、泥岩为主的高频岩相旋回,在地层颜色上也表现出较好的旋回性。对该组地层岩性和颜色进行Walsh频谱分析对比发现,岩性频谱曲线及颜色频谱曲线的主频周期与米兰科维奇旋回周期之间均具有极好的对应关系,认为海平面的周期性变化是夏里组高频岩相旋回的驱动机制。同时根据岩性旋回频谱和颜色旋回频谱计算得出夏里组的沉积速率约为0．111m／ka,沉积持续时间约为3．689Ma。     

Examining regulatory reform for bus operations in Latin America

Governments in Latin American cities are pursuing regulatory reforms to address the negative externalities of informal public transportation service providers. This is achieved by regulatory actions that work to consolidate many small operators competing “in the market” into fewer larger companies competing “for the market.” This reform addresses problems in the previous phase of the regulatory cycle, but requires a larger role for public authorities. The cities of Bogotá, Santiago and Mexico City took different approaches and have achieved different levels of formalization. Under these cities’ new regulatory regimes, bus companies have consolidated and public authorities now rely on renegotiation of contracts instead of open rebidding. However, industry formalization increases costs, requiring public subsidy or higher fares, and puts financial pressure on the public sector. These results imply a continued instability in the regulatory cycle; without increased public sector capacity, it is possible that large, entrenched operators and increasing costs will create a new market opening for informal service.     

An exceptional cosmic influence and its bearing on the evolution of human culture as evident in the apparent early development of mathematics and astronomy

The proposal that cometary dust particles play a significant role in the emergence and evolution of both life and disease on suitable planets was first made some 25 years ago by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe. Fundamental to this proposal was a process of punctuated seeding by particular (bio)chemical species believed to originate naturally and predominantly in larger comets, say those with diameters greater than about 100 kilometres. Rather less well known is a parallel proposal likewise favoured by Hoyle that a particular giant comet, the most recent to settle in cis-Jovian space, accounting for the latest significant phase of evolution on Earth, also had a significant part to play in the cultivation by homo sapiens of its civilization and culture. Such proposals may be seen by many as examples of excessively lateral thinking but they by no means lack independent support and have important implications for the otherwise uncertain origin of the latest ice-age (basic to climatology) and for the otherwise uncertain generation of early calendars (basic to the management of society). Aspects of these proposals are considered here in relation to a much respected supposedly Chaldean calendar probably passed down by the dynastic Isins (also the Essenes?) which evidently bears witness to known early mathematical and astronomical skills but which largely ceased to be available to subsequent scholarship beyond the Early Christians (ca. 100 CE) pending its (recent) recovery through the medium of Dead Sea Scrolls.     

Efficacy of Cement-stabilized Fly Ash Cushion in Arresting Heave of Expansive Soils

Expansive clays swell and shrink seasonally when subjected to changes in the moisture regime causing substantial distress to the structures built in them. Techniques like sand cushion and cohesive non-swelling soil (CNS) layer have been tried to arrest heave and consequent damages to structures. Sand cushion has been proved to be counter-productive. Studies have indicated that even though CNS layer was effective initially, it became less effective after the first cycle of swelling and shrinkage. Research carried out by the authors, using cement-stabilized fly ash as a cushioning material, has shown that it was quite effective in arresting heave. Fly ash cushion, stabilized with 10% cement with thickness equal to that of the expansive soil bed reduces heave by about 75% in the first instance. With subsequent swell-shrink cycles, the performance further improves, unlike in the case of a black cotton soil provided with a CNS cushion. At the end of fourth cycle of swelling, the reduction in the amount of heave is as high as 99.1%.     

Confluence and intersection of interacting conjugate faults: A new concept based on analogue experiments

Examination of the interaction area of conjugate faults yields evidence of a yet unknown structural pattern. Analogue experiments revealed the evolution of this pattern during the interaction process. A fault propagating towards the highly active section of another conjugate fault becomes increasingly deflected towards the obtuse angle side of the conjugate system while approaching until joining it. During this process, the tip of the curved propagating fault retains its shear sense until immediately before joining with the highly active fault—a process called “confluence” in this report. Under constant remote stress, the deflected fault now becomes dominant. A fault branch splits off at the point where deflection commences, propagating straight ahead of the original direction, and may dissect the former master fault. Alternating activity at both of the faults finally produces the known intersection patterns. Further studies of the proposed concept on natural examples are recommended due to the close geometric similarity of the evolutionary structural stages and natural fault patterns.     

Development of carbonate platforms on an extensional (rifted) margin: the Valanginian–Albian record of the Prebetic of Alicante (SE Spain)

Within the upper Valanginian to upper Albian deposits of the easternmost part of the Prebetic Zone of the Betic Cordillera (Iberian Peninsula), seven lithostratigraphic formations made up of shallow-water carbonate and carbonate-siliciclastic sediments and of outer-platform hemipelagic sediments have been recognized. These formations were deposited in the most distal part of a platform that developed on the Southern Iberian Continental Palaeomargin. The geodynamic context was a margin affected by extensional or transtensional faults that produced tilted blocks. The interval studied records three major second-order transgressive-regressive facies cycles: (I) A late Valanginian to earliest Aptian cycle, mostly represented by hemipelagic and condensed sedimentation, with the development of a tectonically controlled high without sedimentation that separated two sectors with different sedimentary evolution and that ended with an episode of shallow-water carbonate platform development; (II) An earliest to latest Aptian cycle, with a transgressive phase represented by a retrogradational shallow-water carbonate platform capped by a drowning event leading to hemipelagic sedimentation, which was affected by an anoxic event (OAE 1a); the regressive phase is represented by progradation and aggradation of shallow-water carbonate deposits. Finally (III) a latest Aptian to early-late Albian cycle that records the expansion of mixed platform deposits in the entire area, ending with a phase of shallow-water carbonate platform development. Extensional tectonics leading to spatial and temporal changes in subsidence patterns is envisaged as the main control on sedimentation at a local scale, resulting in notable lateral changes in thickness as the main signature. Tectonics exerted a strong control on the distribution of sedimentary environments only during Cycle I. At a higher order, sea-level fluctuations are responsible for sequential organization, and environmental factors determined shallow-water carbonate platform development and demise, as well as oceanic anoxic events. The relevant continuity of the stratigraphic record in the distal part of the Prebetic platform has led to the recognition of events related to cycle boundaries, which result mainly from a combination of tectonics and sea-level changes.     

Palaeoenvironmental and diagenetic reconstruction of a closed‐lacustrine carbonate system – the challenging marginal setting of the Miocene Ries Crater Lake (Germany)

Chemostratigraphic studies on lacustrine sedimentary sequences provide essential insights on past cyclic climatic events, on their repetition and prediction through time. Diagenetic overprint of primary features often hinders the use of such studies for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Here the potential of integrated geochemical and petrographic methods is evaluated to record freshwater to saline oscillations within the ancient marginal lacustrine carbonates of the Miocene Ries Crater Lake (Germany). This area is critical because it represents the transition from shoreline to proximal domains of a hydrologically closed system, affected by recurrent emergent events, representing the boundaries of successive sedimentary cycles. Chemostratigraphy targets shifts related to subaerial exposure and/or climatic fluctuations. Methods combine facies changes with δ ¹³C–δ ¹⁸O chemostratigraphy from matrix carbonates across five closely spaced, temporally equivalent stratigraphic sections. Isotope composition of ostracod shells, gastropods and cements is provided for comparison. Cathodoluminescence and back‐scatter electron microscopy were performed to discriminate primary (syn‐)depositional, from secondary diagenetic features. Meteoric diagenesis is expressed by substantial early dissolution and dark blue luminescent sparry cements carrying negative δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁸O. Sedimentary cycles are not correlated by isotope chemostratigraphy. Both matrix δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁸O range from ca −7·5 to +4·0‰ and show clear positive covariance (R  = 0·97) whose nature differs from that of previous basin‐oriented studies on the lake: negative values are here unconnected to original freshwater lacustrine conditions but reflect extensive meteoric diagenesis, while positive values probably represent primary saline lake water chemistry. Noisy geochemical curves relate to heterogeneities in (primary) porosity, resulting in selective carbonate diagenesis. This study exemplifies that ancient lacustrine carbonates, despite extensive meteoric weathering, are able to retain key information for both palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and the understanding of diagenetic processes in relation to those primary conditions. Also, it emphasizes the limitation of chemostratigraphy in fossil carbonates, and specifically in settings that are sensitive for the preservation of primary environmental signals, such as lake margins prone to meteoric diagenesis.     

冻融循环对硅酸钠固化黄土力学性质的影响

硅酸钠作为一种灌浆材料,常被用于湿陷性黄土的固化工程。冻融循环会影响季节冻土区固化黄土的结构,从而导致其力学性质发生变化。以兰州黄土为研究对象,分别对冻融循环前后掺量为3%的硅酸钠固化黄土进行压汞试验和力学强度试验,从强度、刚度、能量耗散和土体微观孔隙结构等方面探讨冻融循环作用对硅酸钠固化黄土力学特性的影响。结果表明：一方面,冻融作用会增大土中平均孔隙直径,降低微孔隙含量,导致土样产生裂隙;另一方面,硅酸钠反应生成的Na⁺在水分梯度作用下迁移至土样和裂隙表面并重结晶,上述作用破坏了土颗粒间胶结,最终大幅度劣化了固化黄土力学性能。随着冻融次数的增加,硅酸钠固化黄土无侧限抗压强度在单轴加卸载过程中的能耗值、弹性变形量和滞回环回弹模量均呈现下降趋势,冻融20次后强度降幅高达85.33%,而能耗均值与回弹模量均值分别为未冻融状态下的8.68%和20.70%,即固化土消振性与刚度大幅劣化。鉴于此情况,季节冻土区盐渍黄土硅酸钠的固化处理措施应慎重使用。