Quantification and modeling of foot trail surface erosion in a dry sub‐tropical setting

Anthropogenic disturbance often increases surface erosion and this may have potential detrimental effects on downstream aquatic resources. Foot trails are often overlooked as they represent only a small fragment of the landscape, yet they can be important sources of sediment, particularly in pristine areas. The trail network above East End Bay on the island of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands is the sole anthropogenic source of terrestrial sediment in the area. Concern over the potential for trail erosion to stress nearshore coral reefs of the East End Marine Park led to trail reconstruction and restoration efforts. The objectives of this study were to: (1) quantify trail erosion rates; (2) identify key factors controlling erosion rates; (3) develop an empirical trail erosion model. Sediment production was measured from 12 trail segments with sediment traps from November 2009 to October 2011. Annual trail erosion rates ranged from 0.6 to 81 Mg ha^?1 yr^?1. The lower values were from abandoned trails with a dense vegetation cover, while the highest rates were associated with devegetated trails immediately following construction or restoration. Trail erosion was a function of rainfall, slope, and vegetation cover density raised to the negative 1.7th power. Annual trail erosion rates were one‐ to three‐orders of magnitude higher than measured surface erosion rates on undisturbed hillslopes. The absence of rills or gullies suggests that traditional parametric or repeated transect monitoring commonly used to assess trail erosion may greatly underestimate actual sediment production rates. The new empirical trail erosion model serves as a tool to assess the effects of trail construction and restoration activities in the generation of sediment from small catchments in East End Bay and in other similar settings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Garnet porphyroblast timing and behaviour during fold evolution: implications from a 3-D geometric analysis of a hand-sample scale fold in a schist

Detailed 3‐D analysis of inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts and matrix foliations preserved around a hand‐sample scale, tight, upright fold has revealed a complex deformation history. The fold, dominated by interlayered quartz–mica schist and quartz‐rich veins, preserves a crenulation cleavage that has a synthetic bulk shear sense to that of the macroscopic fold and transects the axis in mica‐rich layers. Garnet porphyroblasts with asymmetric inclusion trails occur on both limbs of the fold and display two stages of growth shown by textural discontinuities. Garnet porphyroblast cores and rims pre‐date the macroscopic fold and preserve successive foliation inflection/intersection axes (FIAs), which have the same trend but opposing plunges on each limb of the fold, and trend NNE–SSW and NE–SW, respectively. The FIAs are oblique to the main fold, which plunges gently to the WSW. Inclusion trail surfaces in the cores of idioblastic porphyroblasts within mica‐rich layers define an apparent fold with an axis oblique to the macroscopic fold axis by 32°, whereas equivalent surfaces in tabular garnet adjacent to quartz‐rich layers define a tighter apparent fold with an axis oblique to the main fold axis by 17°. This potentially could be explained by garnet porphyroblasts that grew over a pre‐existing gentle fold and did not rotate during fold formation, but is more easily explained by rotation of the porphyroblasts during folding. Tabular porphyroblasts adjacent to quartz‐rich layers rotated more relative to the fold axis than those within mica‐rich layers due to less effective deformation partitioning around the porphyroblasts and through quartz‐rich layers. This work highlights the importance of 3‐D geometry and relative timing relationships in studies of inclusion trails in porphyroblasts and microstructures in the matrix.     

Flow kinematics in the deeper part of a subduction channel, as inferred from inclusion trails in plagioclase porphyroblasts from the Sambagawa metamorphic rocks, south-west Japan

The subduction and exhumation of accretionary prism metasedimentary rocks are accompanied by large‐strain ductile deformations which may be recorded in microstructures. Porphyroblast microstructures have been a key to unravel the kinematics in such deformed belts. Shape‐preferred orientation (SPO) of epidote and amphibole inclusions that define S‐shaped trails in prograde cores of plagioclase porphyroblasts were analysed from the high‐P/T Sambagawa metamorphic rocks. Inclusions are found to be elongate parallel to the [010] and [001] directions, respectively, and their long‐axis orientations define an internal foliation S_i (best‐fit great circle) and lineation L_i (maximum on the S_i). S‐shaped inclusion trails in the orthogonal sections do not exhibit the same geometries, but rather are grouped into two types, where the foliation intersection axes (FIAs) are nearly perpendicular and parallel to L_i, respectively. These two types of S‐shaped inclusion trails are seen in the sections inclined at low and high angles to the L_i, respectively. However, the latter type commonly consists of composite trails, where the S_i is first rotated about an FIA perpendicular to the L_i (i.e. unique axis), and then about an FIA parallel to the L_i. The S‐shaped inclusion trails are interpreted to have formed by the successive overgrowth of matrix minerals and rotation of the plagioclase porphyroblast cores about a unique axis in non‐coaxial deformation. The rotation of S_i about an FIA nearly parallel to the L_i is perhaps an apparent rotation, caused by the deflection of foliation around the growing prismatic plagioclase grain prior to inclusion into the porphyroblast. This study has for the first time documented the 3‐D geometry of S‐shaped inclusion trails in porphyroblasts from accretionary prism metasedimentary rocks and identified their origin, which helps to understand the flow kinematics in the deeper part of a subduction channel.     

沙漠型景区游步道沿线生态环境对踩踏干扰的响应

植被是沙漠景区水土保持和防风固沙的重要屏障。选取宁夏沙坡头和黄沙古渡景区,采用既成事实法就景区游步道沿线生态环境对踩踏干扰的响应进行调查研究。结果表明:①自然状态下,踩踏干扰主要集中在道路边缘4 m范围内,但不同性质道路差异较大;②采用地表覆盖物响应指数来衡量道路沿线生态环境响应程度,在道路边缘1 m范围内各调查样区受冲击均达到非常严重的程度,只有沙坡头北区沙漠栈道调查路段地表覆盖物响应指数值全部在44.9%以下,属于中等-轻微程度干扰,这是由于栈道两侧木栏作用明显;③游客对游步道沿线沙漠植被盖度可接受改变限度为16.4%,沙漠植被覆盖率应在此水平以下,其中沙坡头北区沙漠栈道两侧植被盖度达到了难以接受程度,说明游客在沙漠中的空旷、苍凉的体验需求与沙漠生态治理之间是天然的难以调和的对立体;④游步道沿线生态环境响应强弱与道路坡度、边坡坡度、游步道两侧生态系统以及游步道宽度具有一定相关性。研究结果也表明,目前游客踩踏干扰已对沙漠景区道路沿线生态环境以及游客游憩体验产生了一定的负面影响。研究对沙漠景区景观和游步道设计、规范游客行为、建立沙漠景区环境容量预警机制、实现宁夏沙漠旅游可持续发展具有指导价值。     

中层顶区域钾层静态模型的初步建立

以流星烧蚀为源, 大气沉降为汇, 并利用连续方程和涡旋扩散方程为动力学控制方程, 求解总含钾成分随高度的分布, 再根据各含钾成分之间闭合的化学反应, 计算每个高度处各含钾成分的浓度配比, 初步建立了一个钾层静态模型.本文详细的阐述了钾层静态模型的建立过程, 输入参数和模拟结果.此模型能够模拟出钾原子浓度随高度的分布, 并与北京激光雷达观测的钾原子浓度的夜间年平均曲线进行了对比.钾层峰值密度和质心高度的模拟值与观测值仅相差0.2%和0.7%, 但柱密度和RMS宽度的模拟值却比观测值明显偏小.模拟结果与观测并不完全一致, 其差别主要来自于钾层的下部.钾层静态模型的建立和不断完善为研究钾层的特性和演化规律提供了有力的支撑.

     

Correlating multiple deformation events across the Mesoproterozoic NE Australia using foliation intersection axes (FIA) preserved within porphyroblasts

Foliation Intersection/Inflection Axes within porphyroblasts (FIAs) allow the chronological and kinematic linking of deformation episodes with associated metamorphism. Measurement of FIAs in the Mesoproterozoic Eastern Fold Belt (EFB) of the Mount Isa Inlier, NE Australia, has revealed phases of deformation and metamorphism that could not previously be distinguished from one another. Both the ‘asymmetry switch’ and ‘FitPitch’ FIA measurement techniques have been applied to key localities of polymetamorphosed and multiply deformed EFB, and they yielded the same result. These independent techniques have revealed (1) E–W trending structures that formed during N–S bulk shortening (D₁) and associated metamorphism (M₁) formed during a period of orogenesis (O₁) and N–S oriented structures that formed during E–W bulk shortening (D₂) and associated metamorphism (M₂) during a period of orogenesis (O₂), and (2) the crustal scale tectonic processes associated with polymetamorphism. Middle to upper amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions occurred during O₁ with crustal thickening followed by near-isothermal decompression leading to low-pressure/high-temperature (LP/HT) conditions with the emplacement of Williams and Naraku Batholiths around 1550 Ma. This was followed by a second period of middle-to upper-amphibolite facies metamorphism, O₂. This history not only correlates better across the EFB, but also with the tectono-metamorphic model recently proposed for the Mesoproterozoic Georgetown Inlier of the north Australian Craton.     

中纬度地区混合云中稳定同位素分馏的数学模拟——以乌鲁木齐降水为例

文中介绍的数学模型考虑了混合云中液、固相共存时以及冰面过饱和环境下稳定同位素的动力分馏效应.利用该数学模型,模拟不同冷却条件下稳定同位素的温度效应.在相同的湿度条件下,湿绝热冷却过程中δ18O随温度的变化率小于等压冷却过程.冰面过饱和比S;的增大意味着动力分馏效应的增大.与平衡态过程相比,它的作用使得稳定同位素的综合分馏系数减小,从而使得降水中δ18O随温度的变化趋缓.模拟结果显示,湿绝热冷却过程中大气水线(MWLδD=bδ18O+d)的梯度项b和常数项d均大于等压冷却过程.不同的冰面过饱和比对大气水线的影响是不同的.与冰面过饱和比相比,b和d的大小对云中含水量的变化敏感性较低.模拟结果还显示,乌鲁木齐的降水不是来自海洋水汽的初始凝结.在经历了长途输送之后,乌鲁木齐降水中的稳定同位素成分在很大程度上被衰减.模拟的稳定同位素比率/温度、δD/δ18O曲线分别与乌鲁木齐实测的稳定同位素比率/温度回归线以及大气水线有非常好的一致性.     

Meteoric diagenesis during sea-level lowstands: Evidence from modern hydrochemical studies on northern Guam

Hydrochemical data for meteoric waters of the uplifted carbonate platform of northern Guam show that, contrary to recent models of lowstand diagenesis, phreatic dissolution is active beneath a 60–180 m thick vadose zone. Overland flow during high intensity rainfall events is focussed into surface detention ponds, which drain very rapidly via the epikarst and vertical fissures to the freshwater lens. We estimate that these waters contribute 13% of dissolved calcium in samples from pumping wells but may also deliver aggressive and/or organic-rich waters to the lens. Fast-flow vadose waters mix with lens-top waters to form fresher cap that discharges rapidly coastwards via cavernous porosity. Slower vadose percolation, sampled as cave drips, equilibrates with bedrock within the upper 30 m of the vadose zone, accounting for some 46% of dissolved calcium in the lens waters. The remaining 41% calcium is generated by net dissolution within the lens.     

Shear zone vs folding origin for spiral inclusion trails in the Canton Schist

The three-dimensional geometry of spiral inclusion trails from the Canton Schist were measured to determine whether the spirals were a product of porphyroblast rotation within a shear zone, or porphyroblast growth during a series of overprinting fold events. The spiral inclusion trails are composed of three separate, sub-planar inclusion trail surfaces occupying texturally distinct parts of the porphyroblasts. These surfaces are correlated across a >10 km² area using textural criteria and relative timing. Measured patterns of inclusion trail orientation and asymmetry suggest they did not form by porphyroblast rotation within a non-coaxial shear zone. Rather, the porphyroblasts grew during three successive overprinting fold events (F₂–F₄), and the spiral inclusion trails represent the accumulated curvature associated with folding of successive axial plane foliations. The data show that spiral garnets are not peculiar to shear zones, and can form by overprinting crenulations and folds. This is consistent with the common occurrence of spiral garnets in multiply-deformed, regionally metamorphosed fold belts.     

变斑晶包体形迹研究的几个问题

变斑晶是联系变质与变形的重要媒介。变斑晶内的包体按几何形态可分为９大类。在发生递进变形的变质岩中，斑晶成核生长于变形分解作用的递进缩短带内。除少数螺旋状石榴石外，产于共轴或非共轴递进不均匀缩短变形过程中的斑晶不发生旋转。在韧性剪切带中，由于存在变形分解作用，在岩石发生递进变形过程中，产于共轴或非共轴递进缩短带内的变斑晶也不发生旋转。利用未旋转斑晶中包体形迹可以确定早期面理的取向，寻找构造演化时间标志，确定变形变质关系及其演化史。如在大背坞地区，根据黄铁矿变斑晶的旋转演化，可以恢复韧性剪切带的成生演化历史。近十几年来由于计算机模拟的引人，使变斑晶微构造研究从定性步入定量阶段。