North Pacific Subtropical Mode Waters Observed in Long XBT Cross Sections along 32.5°N Line

The S/V Shoyo, of the Hydrographic Department, Japan Coast Guard, has conducted high-density expendable bathythermograph (XBT) measurements along the 32.5°N line in the North Pacific every year from 1990 to 1993 as a part of the Japanese-World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). These XBT data are analyzed here, focusing on year-to-year variations of the inventory and core layer temperature (CLT) of the North Pacific subtropical mode water (NPSTMW). Large year-to-year changes are found in the NPSTMW CLTs estimated in longitudes between 140°E and 160°E. CLT values were found of 17.4°C in 1990, 17.1°C in 1991, 17.3°C in 1992 and 17.6°C in 1993. Inspection of the wintertime westerlies over the formation area and sea surface temperature distribution revealed that this change in CLT can be qualitatively attributed to the strength of atmospheric cooling in the formation area in the previous winter. Although a large year-to-year variation of NPSTMW inventory was also found, it is hard to state any relationship between CLT and atmospheric forcing. There is a possibility that different observational seasons may affect the inventory. It has also been found that the thermocline depth in 1991 was shallower in the sea area east of 180° than in 1992 and 1993. Associated with this change, the North Pacific central mode water (NPCMW), characterized by thermostad with temperatures ranging from 14°C to 11°C, appears in the sea area east of 180° in the 1992 and 1993 cross sections. The 1993 cross section, which ranged from the Japanese coast to the west coast of North America, possessed another thermostad in the surface layer, with a temperature of about 17°C in the eastern part of the cross section, off California. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Chemical Fluxes of Asian Rivers into Oceans and their Controlling Factors

Chemical fluxes of Asian rivers into oceans bear different regional variations. Three zones are characteristic of distinct dissolved sediment loads and yields and ionic concentration.Rivers into oceans in China play an important role in Asia because of their different chemical fluxes, among which those draining the Loess Plateau have high ionic concentration, low water discharges and dissolved sediment loads and yields.Climate, vegetation, soil and strata lithology, chemical weathering intensity and tectonic activity dominate chemical fluxes of Asian rivers into oceans, and different factors have different effects on the chemical fluxes of separate regional rivers. Rising of the Tibet Plateau also exerts an important influence on chemical compositions of rivers originating from it.     

晚新生代亚洲干旱气候发展与全球变冷联系的风尘沉积证据

在干旱气候背景下常常有风尘物质的释放和传输,风尘沉积被认为是干旱环境变化良好的地质记录。在亚洲中部和中国北方,大面积的干旱区被沙漠戈壁覆盖,这些地区是粉尘物质的重要源地,释放的风尘物质影响局地和区域环境,并通过参与生物地球化学循环等影响更大空间尺度的气候变化。因此,亚洲中部干旱气候的形成和演化以及发展趋势一直受到重视。长期以来,关于晚新生代亚洲中部干旱气候发展的驱动机制至少有两种解释:一是青藏高原的隆升控制着亚洲中部的干旱化过程,随着高原的阶段性隆升亚洲干旱气候逐步增强;二是晚新生代全球变冷直接驱动着亚洲变干,全球变冷是主导因素。中国黄土高原及其周边地区堆积的黄土-红粘土序列是指示亚洲干旱化过程良好的地质记录,通过对新获得的风尘堆积记录的分析,发现在晚新生代中国风尘堆积的时空演化与全球变冷有较好的对应,全球变冷可以促使亚洲中部干旱气候发展并加强粉尘活动,而青藏高原隆升的幅度和时间还不清楚,进而认为是全球变冷而不是青藏高原隆升直接驱动亚洲内陆的阶段性变干。基于这些结果,我们认为以前关于青藏高原隆升影响全球气候的结论可能高估了青藏高原在地球环境演化中的作用,关于高原隆升直接驱动亚洲干旱化的结论还需要检验。     

Sedimentary characteristics of terrigenous debris at site MD05-2905 in the northeastern part of the South China Sea since 36 ka and evolution of the East Asian monsoon

Sediments with high sedimentation rate at site MD05-2905 in the Northeastern slope of the South China Sea provide unique materials for a high-resolution study on the paleoenvironment. Based on precise dating of AMS ¹⁴C, grain size analysis of terrigenous debris at core MD05-2905 was conducted after organic matter, biological carbonate and biogenic opal were removed. The results show that 15.5–63.5 μm coarse grain size ingredients may indicate East Asian winter monsoon changes and that 2–9 μm fine grain size ingredients may be used as a proxy of evolution of the East Asian summer monsoon. The results of grain size analysis, which suggest East Asian monsoon intensity, reveal that a winter monsoon dominated the glacial regime and a summer monsoon dominated the Holocene regime. It was also shown that the summer monsoon increased gradually, experienced several abrupt changes and reached a culmination in the early Holocene (11200–8500 a B.P.) since 36 ka. Controlled by precession periodicity, it may be related with the amount of solar radiation at the highest stage, which needs further study. __________ Translated from Advances in Earth Science, 2007, 22(10): 1012–1018 [译自: 地球科学进展]     

Provenance of Conglomerate and Sandstone from Early Permian Shoushangou Formation in Xi Ujimqin, Inner Mongolia: Implications for Understanding Paleo-Asian Ocean Subduction

During the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, a rift was formed by post-collisional extension after ocean closure or an island arc-related basin formed by Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO) subduction in the Xi Ujimqin area. Nevertheless, the closure time of the PAO is still under debate. Thus, to identify the origin of the PAO, the geochemistry and U-Pb age of zircons were analyzed for the extra-large deep marine, polymict clastic boulders and sandstones in the Shoushangou Formation within the basin. The analyses revealed magmatic activity and tectonic evolution. The conglomerates include megaclasts of granite (298.8 ± 9.1?Ma) and granodiorite porphyry (297.1 ± 3.1?Ma), which were deposited by muddy debris flow. Results of this study demonstrated that the boulders of granitoids have the geochemistry of typical I-type granite, characterized by low Zr + Nb + Ce + Y and low Ga/Al values. The granitoid boulders were formed in island arc setting, indicating the presence of arc magmatism in the area that is composed of the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian subduction-related granitoid in southern Xi Ujimqin. Multiple diagrams for determining sedimentary provenance using major and trace elements indicate that Shoushangou sediments originated from continental island arc-related felsic rocks. Detrital zircon U-Pb age cluster of 330–280?Ma was obtained, indicating input from granite, ophiolite, Xilin Gol complex, and Carboniferous sources to the south. The basin was geographically developed behind the arc during the Early Permian period because the outcropped intrusive rocks in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian form a volcanic arc. The comprehensive analyses of source areas suggest that Shoushangou sediments developed in a backarc basin in response to the northward subduction of the PAO. The backarc basin and intrusive rocks, in addition to previously published Late Carboniferous to Early Permian magmatic rocks of arc unit in Xilin Gol, confirm the presence of an Early Permian trench-arc-basin system in the region, represented by the Baolidao arc and Xi Ujimqin backarc basin. This study highlights the importance and potential of combined geochemical and geochronological studies of conglomerates and sandstone for reconstructing the geodynamic setting of a basin.     

地质单位财务管理咨询刍议

地质单位对自身无力解决的重要财务管理问题应该寻求外部咨询机构的有效帮助，针对地质单位财务管理中存在的主要问题提出需要咨询课题，而咨询机构通过对地质单位的财务状况进行调查分析后，提出科学、合理有效的财务管理改善方案和指导实施方案。     

青藏高原云-辐射-加热效应和南亚夏季风--1985年与1987年对比分析

文中首先利用NCEP NCAR再分析的风场资料 ,分析了南亚夏季风的时空特征 ,选取了有代表性的典型强、弱夏季风年 ,继而利用ISCCP C2、ERBE S4卫星观测资料和NCEP NCAR再分析资料 ,对比分析了强、弱夏季风前期青藏高原地区的云—辐射—加热状况及其在海、陆差异中的作用。分析结果表明 ,南亚夏季风强或弱 ,其前期青藏高原地区的云—辐射—加热效应有明显的差异。在强 (弱 )南亚夏季风的前期 ,青藏高原大部分地区为相对少 (多 )云区 ,其云量变化不仅表明了此区的云—辐射—加热效应的不同 ,更重要的是与此同时出现的海、陆之间云量分布的“跷跷板”现象 ,进一步改变了海、陆之间的热力差异。而且 ,在强南亚夏季风年 ,这种热力差异不但开始得早 ,而且持续时间长、作用范围大 ,从而对南亚夏季风的形成和变化产生重要的影响     

CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE ONSET OF ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON AS REVEALED BY HIRS-Tb12 AND DROUGHT AND FLOODS IN EASTERN CHINA

As shown in comparison and study of the HIRS-Tb12 data and conventional data, temperature, humidity and vertical motion are structured differently in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, which are well depicted with the HIRS-Tb12 data. When high pressures rapidly decrease over the regions of South China Sea and Arabian Sea with the HIRS-Tb12 less than 200 W/m2, monsoons will set off in the South China Sea, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, respectively. From a year of significant drought to one of significant floods, the trend of evolution is significantly different in the downdraft areas of the subtropical highs between the two hemispheres.     

Reconstruction of the climate in the Tianmu Mountain area, Zhejiang Province, in the last 160 years by ? 13C sequence of tree ring α-cellulose

Based on cross-dating tree rings from the Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang Province, the tree rings α-cellulose δ 13C time series was measured. By spectrum analysis, the variation of tree-ring δ13C sequence shows a quasi periodicity of 4.4 years, which is coincident with the standard cycle of El Nino. After removing the long-term decrease trend of the δ13C variation related to atmospheric CO2 concentration, the response of the δ13C to climate elements was analyzed using meteorology data from a nearby weather station. The results suggest that there is a distinct relativity between high-frequency variation of tree ring δ 13C series and seasonal climate parameters, e.g. Temperature and precipitation, with a significant time-lag effect. In addition, the high frequency also reflects the strength change of the East Asian Monsoon. The multiple regression method was employed to reconstruct the historical climate, and to analyze the climate change and trend in the last 160 years in the northern Zhejiang Province.     

Crisis, coincidences and strategic market behaviour: the internationalization of Indonesian clothing brand-owners

Despite the fact that most Indonesian brand-owners continue to emphasize their marketing activities in the domestic market, several brand-owners have started to export clothing under their own label. This has been particularly the result of the economic crisis in the late 1990s, which affected companies serving the domestic market. Companies were trying to compensate for the loss of sales on the domestic market by redirecting their marketing activities to foreign countries. This export strategy has been driven largely by the sole aim to survive. However, in addition to these export activities, some companies have rather sophisticated, long-standing business relations to their distributors in overseas markets. This paper explores these export activities in the context of the global commodity chain framework.