Use of magnetic measures to assess soil redistribution following deforestation in hilly region

Limited information is available about the use of magnetic susceptibility property to determine soil redistribution in hilly areas of the semi-arid regions. This study was conducted to evaluate the use of magnetic properties to determine soil redistribution along a hill slope following deforestation. The study area is located in the Quaternary hilly region of Lordegan district in west Iran. Ten transects were established in two land uses that included natural Querqus forested and cultivated lands. Soil samples were collected at different positions along the slope and magnetic properties (χlf, χhf, SIRM, ARM, and χfd) and selected physico-chemical properties were determined. The results (based on the χfd, SIRM/ARM) showed that the magnetic susceptibly in the calcareous materials is pre-dominantly derived during the pedogenic processes and the superparamagnetic particles which were transported to lower positions of hill slope following deforestation. The results confirmed that this methodology could be applied for monitoring soil redistribution along the slope in calcareous hilly areas in the semi-arid regions.     

淄博市及其邻近地区活断层地震危险性评价

本文是山东省防震减灾“十五”重点项目(SD10503)—淄博市活断层探测与地震危险性评价项目的一个子课题和山东省自然科学基金青年基金(Q97E1142)——郯庐断裂带强震孕育动力学模型及其数值模拟研究部分研究成果的总结.在分析研究地震地质、地球物理、断层综合地球物理探测、探槽开挖、断层活动性鉴定等技术手段获得的反映区域地震构造环境、深部构造背景、活动断裂长期滑动习性的定性和定量资料、历史与现代地震活动性和地球动力学资料的基础上,甄别出具有发生破坏性地震的活断层段.同时利用定性、定量和综合判定方法,评价了淄博市及其邻近地区主要断层的地震危险性.本项研究成果为淄博市城区地震小区划、震害预测和断层危害性评价提供了基础依据.     

Evaluation of brine discharge to rivers and streams: Methodology of rapid impact assessment

Induced by a brine discharge study for a submerse gas storage cavern project, a suitable methodology for rapid impact assessment had to be found. In this paper a simple stochastic, stationary model is described for assessment of intensity and temporal variability of chloride pollution at the regional scale of the rivershed. Chloride concentration is used as a proxy of salinity. It is assumed to be the result of deterministic process (flow-dependent) and stochastic variation (estimated for boundary conditions and tributaries by an additive error term based on PERT distribution). This approach is suited to conduct Monte Carlo simulations in order to calculate long-time means and percentiles of the prospective in-stream chloride concentration (exposure model). The biocoenoses exposed to this pollution has to be evaluated in terms of chloride tolerance. Herefore Maximum Field Distributions (MFD) of relevant species (aquatic macrophytes, macroinvertebrates, fish) were compiled and merged to Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSDs). Critical aspects of MFD data quality are discussed. Chloride model simulations representing different discharge scenarios provide exposure parameters (e.g. 90th percentile) that can be compared with SSD-derived protection levels (e.g. maximum loss of 10% of taxa) to quantify and evaluate possible adverse effects as well as potential recolonisation in case of load removal. Crosslinks to conservation issues are relevant in the selection and position of rare or protected species in the SSD. As an analysis of the German legal framework and technical guidelines revealed lack of guidance and best practices for such assessment and impact evaluation, recent experience highlights serious needs in applied research.     

Paleogene carbon isotope excursions in the Bunkers Hill borehole: Hampshire Basin, UK

This study demonstrates that the Bunkers Hill borehole, which is located within the Hampshire Basin, contains a carbon isotope excursion (CIE) in the Upnor Formation followed by a positive recovery from another CIE within the overlying Reading Formation. This study has also shown that the CIE in the Upnor Formation predates the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), while the carbon isotope recovery at the base of the Reading Formation is most likely related to it. The positive carbon isotope trend, before a return to more negative values, seen throughout the majority of the Reading Formation can also be seen in coeval deposits in the Jubilee 404T borehole in the London Basin and in the Tienen Formation in the Doel and Kallo boreholes from the Belgium Basin. This indicates that this post-PETM carbon isotope signal may, therefore, be regional if not global in nature.     

Deglaciation, basin formation and post-glacial climate change from a regional network of sediment core sites in Ohio and eastern Indiana

Many paleoclimate and landscape change studies in the American Midwest have focused on the Late Glacial and early Holocene time periods (~ 16–11 ka), but little work has addressed landscape change in this area between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial (~ 22–16 ka). Sediment cores were collected from 29 new lake and bog sites in Ohio and Indiana to address this gap. The basal radiocarbon dates from these cores show that initial ice retreat from the maximal last-glacial ice extent occurred by 22 ka, and numerous sites that are ~ 100 km inside this limit were exposed by 18.9 ka. Post-glacial environmental changes were identified as stratigraphic or biologic changes in select cores. The strongest signal occurs between 18.5 and 14.6 ka. These Midwestern events correspond with evidence to the northeast, suggesting that initial deglaciation of the ice sheet, and ensuing environmental changes, were episodic and rapid. Significantly, these changes predate the onset of the Bølling postglacial warming (14.8 ka) as recorded by the Greenland ice cores. Thus, deglaciation and landscape change around the southern margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet happened ~ 7 ka before postglacial changes were felt in central Greenland.     

实验室合成石盐包裹体的均一温度以及古气候意义

石盐是表生环境下形成蒸发岩系的主要矿物,在形成过程中捕获大量的原生包裹体。通过低温冷冻测温技术,可以得到石盐中原生包裹体的一系列均一温度,如何正确理解这些数据是应用石盐原生包裹体恢复古气候的关键。石盐沉积可以发生在气水界面以及水体底部,其均一温度记录了卤水结晶的温度。Lowenstein et al. (1998) 曾经用水浴法在恒定水温下合成了人工合成石盐,进行原生包裹体的均一温度研究,然而如何用水温来恢复古气温是古环境解释的关键。本次实验通过40℃下(气温,烘箱中蒸发)人工合成石盐,在岩相学观察基础上,对形成于气水界面漏斗晶中的包裹体和在底水沉积人字晶中的包裹体的均一温度进行低温冷冻测温法测定。测温过程中石盐包裹体可以得到一系列均一温度(10.6~39.9℃),而只有最大均一温度才能反映卤水结晶时的温度,两种类型的包裹体也显示了相似的最大均一温度。因此在浅水环境下,两种包裹体都可以用来反映古气温。     

Analysis of clustering and selection algorithms for the study of multivariate wave climate

Recent wave reanalysis databases require the application of techniques capable of managing huge amounts of information. In this paper, several clustering and selection algorithms: K-Means (KMA), self-organizing maps (SOM) and Maximum Dissimilarity (MDA) have been applied to analyze trivariate hourly time series of met-ocean parameters (significant wave height, mean period, and mean wave direction). A methodology has been developed to apply the aforementioned techniques to wave climate analysis, which implies data pre-processing and slight modifications in the algorithms. Results show that: a) the SOM classifies the wave climate in the relevant “wave types” projected in a bidimensional lattice, providing an easy visualization and probabilistic multidimensional analysis; b) the KMA technique correctly represents the average wave climate and can be used in several coastal applications such as longshore drift or harbor agitation; c) the MDA algorithm allows selecting a representative subset of the wave climate diversity quite suitable to be implemented in a nearshore propagation methodology.     

末次盛冰期长江南京下关-栖霞山段的古河槽

选择长江南京下关-栖霞山段作为研究河段,根据南京长江大桥、四桥附近的地质钻孔资料,运用Mapinfo软件,绘制南京长江大桥、四桥附近长江古河槽地质剖面示意图.在拟建南京长江四桥附近的6个钻孔采集了年代样品,在-59.33 m深度上河床相圆砾石层中沉积物样品中有机质的14C年代为14 682±110 aBP,据此判断,位于该沉积层下部的上一期沉积旋回应在15 000 aBP之前.结论认为,该研究河段约-65～-90 m的深槽为末次盛冰期时的长江河槽.古河槽相对狭窄陡峭,形成局部深切.槽中充填了一次从粗到细的沉积旋回.     

Asynchroneity of maximum glacier advances in the central Spanish Pyrenees

The deglaciation history of the Escarra and Lana Mayor glaciers (Upper Gállego valley, central Spanish Pyrenees) had been reconstructed on the basis of detailed geomorphological studies of glacier deposits, sedimentological and palynological analyses of glacial lake sediments and an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C chronology based on minimum ages from glacial lake deposits. The maximum extent of the Pyrenean glaciers during the last glaciation was before 30 000 yr BP and pre‐dated the maximum advances of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and some Alpine glaciers. A later advance occurred during the coldest period (around 20 000 yr BP), synchronous with the maximum global ice extent, but in the Pyrenees it was less extensive than the previous one. Later, there were minor advances followed by a stage of debris‐covered glaciers and a phase of moraine formation near cirque backwalls. The deglaciation chronology of the Upper Gállego valley provides more examples of the general asynchroneity between mountain and continental glaciers. The asynchroneity of maximum advances may be explained by different regional responses to climatic forcing and by the southern latitude of the Pyrenees. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Desert margins near the Chinese Loess Plateau during the mid-Holocene and at the Last Glacial Maximum: a model–data intercomparison

Expansion and contraction of desert margins around the globe have been inferred from a variety of proxy data and have since been linked, particularly in northern China and in the sub-Sahel, to changes in freshwater flux, vegetation cover, sea surface temperatures and, perhaps most importantly, monsoon circulations. We present a direct comparison of results from numerical general circulation model experiments for the mid-Holocene and for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with the climatic conditions that have been inferred from loess–paleosol sequences taken from the Chinese Loess Plateau.During the mid-Holocene in northern China, the northwestward migration of the southeast desert margin that has been suggested by grain size analysis is also expressed in the model results. There is a statistically significant wetting of the Plateau region, and increased soil moisture is a consequence of an enhanced summer monsoon whose latent heat release deepens the cyclonic Tibetan low and brings increased low-level convergence and precipitation to the area. North of the desert region, this circulation dries the soil through enhanced atmospheric subsidence, although the northern margin of the desert does not migrate significantly.Expansion of the desert margin toward the southeast at the LGM is small, but there is a statistically significant drying of the Plateau. The local hydrological cycle is reduced, and there is an increase in large-scale atmospheric subsidence over the region that is caused by the presence of the Fennoscandian ice sheet upwind. Model results therefore suggest that, in addition to local micro- and mesoclimatic conditions, regional effects, such as monsoon circulations and distal orography, are also important factors in determining the location of desert margins.