Access routes to high mountain huts facing climate-induced environmental changes and adaptive strategies in the Western Alps since the 1990s

ABSTRACT

In the European Alps, high mountain environments are subject to major impacts resulting from climate change, which strongly affect human activities such as mountaineering. The purpose of the study was to examine changes in access routes to 30 high mountain huts in the Western Alps since the 1990s. Data were derived from the use of two different methods, geo-historical studies and a questionnaire, and were used to identify both the climate-related processes affecting the climbing routes and the strategies implemented by public entities, Alpine clubs, guide companies, and hut keepers to maintain acceptable safety and technical conditions. The case studies revealed issues affecting three access routes and the results from the questionnaire showed that the main processes affecting access routes were loss of ice thickness and retreat from the front of the glaciated areas. Commonly, in situ equipment was installed to facilitate access for mountaineers and/or a part of a route was relocated to a safer area. The authors conclude that in most cases, the measures were effective but they were limited by financial, ethical and legal issues, especially in protected or classified areas that could jeopardise their durability and effectiveness.     

国外开发欠发达地区的经验教训对中国西部城镇化的启示

美国、英国、日本、意大利、巴西等国先后对本国欠发达地区进行了开发建设。它们以城镇化为动力、大力发展城镇工业，已经取得许多成功经验，也有着深刻的教训。中国西部大开发可从国外开发欠发达地区的经验教训中受到启迪，以城镇化为增长点带动区域经济的全面发展，重视生态环境的保护和建设，加强以交通运输为重点的城镇基础设施建设，探索出西部地区城镇工业独特的发展道路，实现经济、社会和环境的可持续发展。     

Burning for zebu: The complexity of deforestation issues in western Madagascar

This study takes a human-geographical approach to examine the crucial problem of deforestation in Madagascar. Current land-use practices on the west coast threaten the survival of the dry primary forest, which exists in a delicate ecological balance under a climate bordering on aridity. A shifting-agriculture system, encouraged by government policy aimed at expanding crop cultivation, is the major factor contributing to the reduction of forested land. The forest is set on fire and the burns used to cultivate maize. After three years, yields drop dramatically, and people search for new areas of forest to clear. The practice is likely to lead to the complete disappearance of the western forests if nothing is done to change the current situation. The main practitioners are migrant Tandroy from the south of Madagascar. They migrate for reasons related to widespread local poverty and cultural practices linked to their reverence for cattle. They destroy the forests less for immediate survival than in order to gain possession of as many zebu as possible, which for them is the only way to acquire social status. Because Androy, their home region, is too poor to permit such acquisitions, migration to and deforestation of the western forest becomes an attractive alternative. The sale of maize to private exporters at a high price provides profits that can be used to buy cattle. This cultivation contributes little to food production in Madagascar, and the Tandroy , motivated by cultural considerations, stand at the base of a chain of exploitation that ends overseas. Agricultural and conservation policies in Madagascar currently do not address cultural and economic complexities such as these.     

清代东蒙农业开发的消长及其气候变化背景

利用档案史料、建置沿革史研究成果等提取信息,建立历史代用指标序列,对清代（1644～1911）内蒙古东部地区农业开发的时空进程进行描述,结合当地农业气候资源条件（温度、降水）及清代气候变化（温度）探讨其中的气候因素。结果显示：（1）清代东蒙农业开发集中在现代年均≥10℃积温2500℃、降水量400mm以上区域之内;（2...     

Emplacement at granulite facies conditions of the Sesia–Lanzo metagabbros: an early record of Permian rifting?

The evolution of the pre-Alpine Corio and Monastero metagabbros points to strong chemical and mineralogical similarities with that of other Permian gabbro bodies of the Alps, which are concentrated in the Southalpine and Austroalpine domains. The structural and metamorphic pre-Alpine evolution of these gabbros records a re-equilibration following the emplacement in the deep crust (P=0.6–0.9 GPa and T=850±70 °C), exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions (P=0.5–0.35 GPa and T=570–670 °C), followed by a greenschist facies imprint (0.25≤P≤0.35 GPa and T<550 °C). This retrograde P–T evolution suggests that the exhumation occurred in a high thermal gradient regime, such as that induced by upwelling of an asthenospheric plume during continental rifting. This would be consistent with the crustal thinning known to have occurred in both the Southalpine and Austroalpine domains during Permian times. The gabbros and their country acid granulites are spatially associated with the serpentinised subcontinental mantle of the Lanzo Massif. This lithologic association and the metamorphic evolution is similar to that of the Fedoz gabbro (Austroalpine Domain of the Central Alps) and completely different from that observed in passive margins, where no remnants of the lower crust occur and the upper granitic crust directly overlies the serpentinized lherzolites. The location of Permian gabbro bodies in the Austroalpine and Southalpine domains and their absence in the Helvetic domain is evidence for asymmetric rifting.     

辽河盆地西部凹陷古近系沙四上亚段沉积相及演化

薄互层砂体研究是湖盆沉积学的研究难点。本文针对辽河西部凹陷沙四上亚段（Es^4上）薄互层砂体,以层序地层学、沉积学、测井地质学等理论为指导,综合岩心、测录井和地震等多种资料,对西部凹陷的薄互层砂体进行精细描述和深入剖析。结果表明,研究区主要发育辫状河三角洲和湖泊沉积相,其中,滩坝砂体是湖泊相的主力砂体。通过考虑不同沉积背景下滩坝在岩相组合、发育位置和成因机理的差异性,将滩坝划分成侧缘改造型滩坝、前缘改造型滩坝、基岩改造型滩坝、淹没改造型滩坝和风暴改造型滩坝5种沉积模式;对薄层滩坝砂体的控制因素进行分析,认为其受到"风场-物源-盆地"三端元的控制。     

Evaluating new fault-controlled hydrothermal dolomitization models: Insights from the Cambrian Dolomite,Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Fault-controlled hydrothermal dolomitization in tectonically complex basins can occur at any depth and from different fluid compositions, including ‘deep-seated’, ‘crustal’ or ‘basinal’ brines. Nevertheless, many studies have failed to identify the actual source of these fluids, resulting in a gap in our knowledge on the likely source of magnesium of hydrothermal dolomitization. With development of new concepts in hydrothermal dolomitization, the study aims in particular to test the hypothesis that dolomitizing fluids were sourced from either seawater, ultramafic carbonation or a mixture between the two by utilizing the Cambrian Mount Whyte Formation as an example. Here, the large-scale dolostone bodies are fabric-destructive with a range of crystal fabrics, including euhedral replacement (RD1) and anhedral replacement (RD2). Since dolomite is cross-cut by low amplitude stylolites, dolomitization is interpreted to have occurred shortly after deposition, at a very shallow depth (<1 km). At this time, there would have been sufficient porosity in the mudstones for extensive dolomitization to occur, and the necessary high heat flows and faulting associated with Cambrian rifting to transfer hot brines into the near surface. While the δ¹⁸O_water and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios values of RD1 are comparable with Cambrian seawater, RD2 shows higher values in both parameters. Therefore, although aspects of the fluid geochemistry are consistent with dolomitization from seawater, very high fluid temperature and salinity could be suggestive of mixing with another, hydrothermal fluid. The very hot temperature, positive Eu anomaly, enriched metal concentrations, and cogenetic relation with quartz could indicate that hot brines were at least partially sourced from ultramafic rocks, potentially as a result of interaction between the underlying Proterozoic serpentinites and CO₂-rich fluids. This study highlights that large-scale hydrothermal dolostone bodies can form at shallow burial depths via mixing during fluid pulses, providing a potential explanation for the mass balance problem often associated with their genesis.     

湘鄂西—渝东褶皱带多重滑脱构造变形特征与构造模型

湘鄂西—渝东褶皱带为多层系、多类型天然气大型聚集区,揭示其结构与成因将为拓展该区勘探新领域提供重要依据,为其它陆内强构造变形区的油气评价提供重要参考。本文利用两条拼接的跨研究区的地震反射剖面,以断层相关褶皱几何学、运动学分析方法为指导,对湘鄂西—渝东褶皱带进行精细构造解析。研究结果表明,湘鄂西—渝东褶皱带构造变形主要与4套区域滑脱层有关,具有多层次拆离、多级别滑脱、多方向冲断及多样式组合的特征。纵向上由深及浅依次以低幅度构造、双重构造和冲褶构造为主要特征,空间上自南东向北西总体为由基底滑脱向盖层滑脱、由单层滑脱向多层滑脱的陆内递进式变形。湘鄂西—渝东地区存在多套“源—储—盖”组合,基于多重滑脱构造变形系统及“相对稳定”保存单元概念,认为未来常规天然气勘探可重点关注寒武系盐下领域,非常规页岩气需继续加强对寒武系、志留系、二叠系构造弱变形区的评价。     

Sequence stratigraphy of the Dakota Formation (Cenomanian), southern Utah: interplay of eustasy and tectonics in a foreland basin

The Dakota Formation in southern Utah (Kaiparowits Plateau region) is a succession of fluvial through shallow-marine facies formed during the initial phase of filling of the Cretaceous foreland basin of the Sevier orogen. It records a number of relative sea-level fluctuations of different frequency and magnitude, controlled by both tectonic and eustatic processes during the Early to Late Cenomanian. The Dakota Formation is divided into eight units separated by regionally correlatable surfaces that formed in response to relative sea-level fluctuations. Units 1–6B represent, from bottom to top, valley-filling deposits of braided streams (unit 1), alluvial plain with anastomosed to meandering streams (2), tide-influenced fluvial and tide-dominated estuarine systems (3A and 3B), offshore to wave-dominated shoreface (4, 5 and 6A) and an estuarine incised valley fill (6A and 6B). The onset of flexural subsidence and deposition in the foredeep was preceded by eastward tilting of the basement strata, probably caused by forebulge migration during the Early Cretaceous, which resulted in the incision of a westward-deepening predepositional relief. The basal fluvial deposits of the Dakota Formation, filling the relief, reflect the onset of flexural subsidence and, possibly, a eustatic sea-level rise. Throughout the deposition of the Dakota Formation, flexure controlled the long-term, regional subsidence rate. Locally, reactivation of basement faults caused additional subsidence or minor uplift. Owing to a generally low subsidence rate, differential compaction locally influenced the degree of preservation of the Dakota units. Eustasy is believed to have been the main control on the high-frequency relative sea-level changes recorded in the Dakota. All surfaces that separate individual Dakota units are flooding surfaces, most of which are superimposed on sequence boundaries. Therefore, with the exception of unit 6B and, possibly, 3B, most of the Dakota units are interpreted as depositional sequences. Fluvial strata of units 1 and 2 are interpreted as low-frequency sequences; the coal zones at the base and within unit 2 may represent a response to higher frequency flooding events. Units 3A to 6B are interpreted as having formed in response to high-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations. Shallow-marine units 4, 5 and 6A, interpreted as parasequences by earlier authors, can be divided into facies-based systems tracts and show signs of subaerial exposure at their boundaries, which allows interpretation as high-frequency sequences. In general, the Dakota units are good examples of high-frequency sequences that can be misinterpreted as parasequences, especially in distal facies or in places where signs of subaerial erosion are missing or have been removed by subsequent transgressive erosion. Both low- and high-frequency sequences represented by the Dakota units are stacked in an overall retrogradational pattern, which reflects a long-term relative sea-level rise, punctuated by brief periods of relative sea-level fall. There is a relatively major fall near the end of the M. mosbyense Zone, whereas the base of the Tropic shale is characterized by a major flooding event at the base of the S. gracile Zone. A similar record of Cenomanian relative sea-level change in other regions, e.g. Europe or northern Africa, suggests that both high- and low-frequency relative sea-level changes were governed by eustasy. The high-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations of ≈100 kyr periodicity and ≈10–20 m magnitude, similar to those recorded in other Cenomanian successions in North America and Central Europe, were probably related to Milankovitch-band, climate-driven eustasy. Either minor glacioeustatic fluctuations, superimposed on the overall greenhouse climate of the mid-Cretaceous, or mechanisms, such as the fluctuations in groundwater volume on continents or thermal expansion and contraction of sea water, could have controlled the high-frequency eustatic fluctuations.     

煤层气井井身结构的地质适应性与优化方法——以黔西地区为例

结合黔西地区煤层群赋存的地质特点和钻井难点,从工程实际和储层保护出发,分析了现有煤层气参数井、预探井井身结构的地质适应性,划分出4种地层(含煤体)结构条件;提出了不同条件下设计与施工优化的4类8种配套井身结构变化形式,并对其优缺点和适用范围进行了分析评价,以期为复杂地质条件下煤层气探井的井身结构设计提供新的思路。