Land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River, northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau: classification and evaluation

Land degradation imposes a great threat to the world. It is not merely an environmental issue, but also a social and economic problem. Land desertification is among the main aspects of environment changes in the source region of the Yellow River. Previous studies focused on water resource utilization and soil erosion, but land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River even the whole Qinghai-Xizang Plateau received little attention. Based on the data obtained by field investigation and TM satellite images of 2000, this study provides the classification and evaluation information of the land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River. There are six types of land degradation in this region: water erosion in the northern mountains around the Gonghe Basin, sandy desertification in the Gonghe Basin and Upland Plain Area, aridization in the lower reaches, salinization in the Gonghe Basin, vegetation degradation in the intramontance basin and freezing and thawing erosion in the high mountains. The total degraded area is 34,429.6 km², making up 37.5% of the land in the study area. Finally, land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River was evaluated according to changes in the physical structure and chemical component of soils, land productivity, secondary soil salt and water conditions.     

中国中西部前陆盆地的地质特征及油气聚集

中国中西部前陆盆地具有十分丰富的油气资源,近年来油气勘探也取得了很大的成果,但总体上来说其地质情况复杂、研究程度较低。世界上典型的前陆盆地一般位于造山带和稳定的克拉通之间的狭长槽地,而在中国中西部则主要为与古特提斯造山带在新特提斯阶段再活动有关的陆内会聚形成的“再生”前陆盆地,因此与世界典型前陆盆地相比中国中西部前陆盆地具有一定的“特殊性”。根据两期前陆的叠合程度差异造成的盆地几何形态、挠曲沉降、地层层序、沉积充填、构造变形特征的特点,将中国中西部前陆盆地归纳为改造型、新生型、叠加型和早衰型四种组合类型的前陆盆地。中西部不同组合类型前陆盆地具有不同的结构特征,决定了不同组合类型前陆盆地成藏特征和油气勘探潜力上的差异。     

燕山造山带构造变形格局研究及相关问题

燕山造山带具有极其复杂的地质结构构造，其复杂性在现有公开出版的地质图件中未能有效地反映出来。从事地学研究的科研人员，以公开出版的地质图件为基础所衍生的相关分析图件和由此作出的结论与野外实际地质情况往往相去甚远。本文作者近年来所做基础地质调查成果显示，基础地质调查成果的缺陷成为制约国家地学科研发展的严重障碍。影响基础地质调查成果质量提高的原因很多，但较为重要的是国家对基础地学科研资金的政策性投入存在问题。     

北黄海盆地构造几何学研究新进展

北黄海盆地是发育于隆起背景之上的中、新生代沉积盆地。新一轮资源调查研究表明，北黄海中、新生代沉积盆地的基底由古生界沉积岩层和前寒武纪变质岩系等组成，盆地不同程度地发育下构造层（J3-K1）、中构造层（E2-E3）和上构造层（N）；从油气资源和中、新生代地层发育情况出发，将北黄海海域划分为辽东-海洋岛隆起区、北黄海盆地和胶北．刘公岛隆起区等3个一级构造单元，其中北黄海盆地包括6个二级构造单元和24个三级构造单元；盆地褶皱、断裂构造十分发育，褶皱构造可划分为区域挤压型、局部伴生型和披盖型等三类，断裂构造主要可见近EW—NE向、NW向和NNE向三组，其中近EW—NE向和NNE向断裂比较发育，控制着盆地隆、坳分布格局和沉积特征。     

Watershed delineation using hydrographic features and a DEM in plain river network region

Watershed delineation is a required step when conducting any spatially distributed hydrological modelling. Automated approaches are often proposed to delineate a watershed based on a river network extracted from the digital elevation model (DEM) using the deterministic eight‐neighbour (D8) method. However, a realistic river network cannot be derived from conventional DEM processing methods for a large flat area with a complex network of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and polders, referred to as a plain river network region (PRNR). In this study, a new approach, which uses both hydrographic features and DEM, has been developed to address the problems of watershed delineation in PRNR. It extracts the river nodes and determines the flow directions of the river network based on a vector‐based hydrographic feature data model. The river network, lakes, reservoirs, and polders are then used to modify the flow directions of grid cells determined by D8 approach. The watershed is eventually delineated into four types of catchments including lakes, reservoirs, polders, and overland catchments based on the flow direction matrix and the location of river nodes. Multiple flow directions of grid cells are represented using a multi‐direction encoding method, and multiple outflows of catchments are also reflected in the topology of catchments. The proposed approach is applied to the western Taihu watershed in China. Comparisons between the results obtained from the D8 approach, the ‘stream burning’ approach, and those from the proposed approach clearly demonstrate an improvement of the new approach over the conventional approaches. This approach will benefit the development of distributed hydrological models in PRNR for the consideration of different types and multiple inlets and outlets of catchments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural geometry and controls on basement‐involved deformation in the northern Flinders Ranges,Adelaide Fold Belt,South Australia

In the northern Flinders Ranges, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian sedimentary rocks were deformed and variably metamorphosed during the ca 500 Ma Cambro‐Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny. Balanced and restored structural sections across the northern Flinders Ranges show shortening of about 10–20%. Despite the presence of suitable evaporitic detachment horizons at the basement‐cover interface, the structural style is best interpreted to be thick‐skinned involving basement with only a minor proportion of the overall shortening accommodated along stratigraphically controlled detachments. Much of the contractional deformation was localised by the inversion of former extensional faults such as the Norwest and Paralana Faults, which both controlled the deposition of Neoproterozoic cover successions. As such, both faults represent major, long‐lived structures which effectively define the present boundaries of the northern Flinders Ranges with the Gawler Craton to the west and the Curnamona Craton to the east. The most intense deformation, which resulted in exhumation of the basement along the Paralana Fault to form the Mt Painter and Babbage Inliers, coincides with extremely high heat flows related to extraordinarily high heat‐production rates in the basement rocks. High heat flow in the northern Flinders Ranges suggests that the structural style not only reflects the pre‐Delamerian basin architecture but is also a consequence of the reactivation of thermally perturbed, weakened basement.     

Monitoring over‐winter soil water dynamics in a freezing and snow‐covered environment using a thermally insulated tensiometer

Water potential below a frozen soil layer was continuously monitored over an entire winter period (using thermally insulated tensiometers sheltered in a heated chamber) along with other soil, snow and atmospheric variables. In early winter, the freezing front advanced under a thin snow cover, inducing upward soil water flow in the underlying unfrozen soil. The freezing front started to retreat when the snow cover became thick enough to insulate the soil, resulting in the reversal of the flow direction in the unfrozen zone. These data provide a clear illustration of soil water dynamics, which have rarely been monitored with a tensiometer. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.