Historic Dead Sea Level Fluctuations Calibrated with Geological and Archaeological Evidence

The Dead Sea, the Holocene terminal lake of the Jordan River catchment, has fluctuated during its history in response to climatic change. Biblical records, calibrated by radiocarbon-dated geological and archaeological evidence, reinforce and add detail to the chronology of the lake-level fluctuations. There are three historically documented phases of the Dead Sea in the Biblical record: low lake levels ca. 2000–1500 B.C.E. (before common era); high lake levels ca. 1500–1200 B.C.E.; and low lake levels between ca. 1000 and 700 B.C.E. The Biblical evidence indicates that during the dry periods the southern basin of the Dead Sea was completely dry, a fact that was not clear from the geological and archaeological data alone.     

Paleoecology of a Middle Wisconsin Deposit from Southern California

Analysis of a buried deposit in the Diamond Valley of southern California has revealed well-preserved pollen, wood, and diatom remains. Accelerator mass spectrometry dates of 41,200±2100 and 41,490±1380 ¹⁴C yr B.P. place this deposit in marine isotope stage 3. Diatoms suggest a shallow lacustrine environment. Pollen data suggest that several plant communities were present near the site, with grassland, scrub, chaparral, forest, and riparian communities represented. Comparison with modern pollen suggests similarities with montane forests in the nearby San Bernardino and San Jacinto ranges, indicating vegetation lowering by at least 900 m elevation and temperatures 4°–5°C cooler than today. An increase in high-elevation conifer pollen documents climatic cooling near the profile top. Early-profile diatoms are typical of warm water with high alkalinity and conductivity, whereas later diatoms suggest a higher flow regime and input of cooler water into the system. We suggest that the sequence is part of the cooling phase of an interstadial Dansgaard–Oeschger cycle. Records of the middle Wisconsin period are rare in southern California, but the Diamond Valley site is similar to records from Tulare Lake in the San Joaquin Valley and the ODP Site 893A record from Santa Barbara Basin. It is probable that the Diamond Valley assemblage is a local expression of a vegetation type widespread in the ranges and basins of southwestern California during the middle Wisconsin.     

川滇黔桂76种元素地球化学图编制中分析方法与分析质量研究(一) 不同实验室产生地球化学图的相似性——以Ag、Cs、Ga、Ge为例

编制中国76种元素地球化学图将使我们首次了解元素周期表上除氢、氧及惰性气体之外所有元素在中国大陆表层的分布,川滇黔桂76种元素地球化学图的编制是这一研究项目的试点。本文以不同实验室取得的Ag、Cs、Ga、Ge分析数据为例,探索、衡量不同实验室地球化学图相似性的方法,以优选实验室进行川滇黔桂4省区约4000件组合样76种元素的大规模分析工作。     

Fitness-for-Purpose of Reference Material Reference Values in Relation to Traceability of Measurement, as Illustrated by USGS BCR-1, NIST SRM 610 and IAEA NBS28

As in all fields of sample analysis, reference materials play a large role in supporting measurements in the geosciences. While a rather large number of materials are in distribution (> 380), not all are equally effective or fit-for-purpose in supporting laboratory data quality and thereby assuring the desired comparability of measurements between laboratories. Equally important, reference values that are not fit-for-purpose cannot be used effectively to establish traceability links between laboratory measurements and national and international standards. The needed fitness-for-purpose is not achieved for reference values either when more than one reference value has been proposed and a consensus does not exist among users as to which should be used by all, or when reference value uncertainties are too large in comparison to those of routine laboratory measurements. The focus of this review will be, first to outline the current reality, and second to suggest ways in which certifications of RMs can be improved to provide reference values that are universally accepted and more fit-for-purpose in general laboratory use. The discussion will be illustrated largely by current uses of USGS BCR-1, NIST SRM 610 and IAEA NBS28, as these three materials are those for which the largest body of newly published data exists, according to recent bibliographies of the geoanalytical literature published annually in Geostandards Newsletter: The Journal of Geostandards and Geoanalysis.     

Propriétés fractales de la fragmentation et processus stochastiques de fracturation : approche géométrique 3D à l'aide du modèle ObsifracFractal properties of fragmentation and stochastic fracturing processes: geometrical 3D approach by OBSIFRAC model

A numerical rock fragmentation model was elaborated, producing a 3D puzzle of convex polyhedra, geometrically described in a database. In the first scenario, a constant proportion of blocks are fragmented at each step of the process and leads to fractal distribution. In the second scenario, division affects one random block at each stage of the process, and produces a Weibull volume distribution law. Imposing a minimal distance between the fractures, the third scenario reveals a power law. The inhibition of new fractures in the neighbourhood of existing discontinuities could be responsible for fractal properties in rock mass fragmentation. To cite this article: L. Empereur-Mot, T. Villemin, C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 127–133.     

2-D viscoelastic FEM simulation on stress state in the deep part of a subducted slab

Introduction It is found that there are some relationships between the thermal structures of subduction zones and the deep seismicity, while the mechanism relates the thermal structure and the deep seismicity is still unsure (Helffrich, Brodholt, 1991; Furukawa, 1994; Kirby, et al, 1996). From 1980s, geoscientists have constituted a series of numerical simulations on the stress states of subduction slabs. Based on the kinetic computation of Sung and Burns (1976a, b), Goto, et al (1983, 1987…     

有限弹性变形地壳中的地震波

地壳由半无限大的基岩上一层厚度为H^-的表土层组成，入射地震波为垂直的SH波，产生水平地面运动。当浅源大地震发生时，在极震区以外行波传播产生地面运动将使地壳介质有非线性的有限弹性变形。用小参数摄动法使非线性控制方程为线性化的小参数各阶控制方程，得出头两阶线性控制方程的解析解。     

A HORIZONTAL 2-D HYDRAULIC NUMERICAL MODEL AND IT’S APPLICATIONS TO FLOOD FORECAST

1 INTRODUCTION There were many flood disasters in China in recent years. When the water level in a river is very high, weak parts of its dike may be destroyed resulted in the submersion of the protected land and properties. It is of significance for decision-makers to exactly predict the processes of flood propagation during flood control. There are many modes of dike bursting, such as seepage destroying by overflow on top of dike caused by dike body sinking induced by piping and soil fl…     

The use of modern statistical theories in the assessment of earthquake hazard, with application to quiet regions of eastern North America

It is generally accepted that both deterministic and statistical approaches are useful for the characterization of earthquake hazard. Although the most reliable estimates of seismic hazard can only be based on an improved understanding of the earthquake mechanism, efficient utilization of the appropriate methods provided by recent statistical theories is also important in seismic risk analysis. This is especially true in regions where the connection between seismicity and geologic structure is tenuous at best. We are particularly interested in developing better statistical treatments of data for regions with little known seismic activity. To this end, we have applied three statistical methods to the historical record of seismicity in relatively quiet regions of eastern North America. These are: (1) the threshold method for tail inference, a new theory for modeling earthquakes with sizes above a given threshold, (2) the ‘bootstrap’ technique in which the characteristics of an unknown population are simulated by replacing the true population by an estimated one, and (3) a technique to estimate the number of earthquakes below a given size, in order to compensate for the under-reporting of small earthquakes in most catalogs. A combination of these techniques has been used to estimate the probabilities of future large earthquakes for the regions studied. Because of limitations imposed by existing catalogs, the size estimate used has been maximum intensity.     

Modelling of meteorological conditions at an urban scale for the PUMA winter campaign

For the winter 2000 campaign of the Pollution of Urban Midlands Atmosphere project, observation and numerical modelling of meteorological conditions over the West Midlands conurbation, UK, was undertaken. Modelling was performed using the regional atmospheric meteorological system (RAMS). This paper presents a comparison of modelled and observed wind and temperature for 25 and 26 January 2000. The RAMS model uses two nested grids with a mesh size of 2 km for the inner grid which is embedded in the outer grid with a mesh size of 8 km. Statistical evaluation of the model results against the observational data of wind speed, direction and temperature at 10 m was conducted. In general, the modelling results are in a reasonable agreement with observation. The statistical evaluation suggests that model performance is poorer for the inner grid than the outer grid as the model uncertainties (mainly mean bias) transfer from the outer to inner one. The low indices of agreement of temperature and wind are mainly associated with the systematic root-mean-square-difference values. For temperature, the systematic bias may also be affected by representation of cloud amount by the model. For wind, the model tends to have a poor performance for calm conditions, as under a stable anti-cyclonic situation local wind patterns associated with topography may develop, although the topography of the region is relatively flat. The results for the inner grid reveal some subtle spatial patterns at a scale smaller than 10 km near hills and valleys with differences in elevation of a few hundred metres.