A SYNOPTIC WEATHER TYPE ANALYSIS OF JANUARY HOURLY PRECIPITATION AT LAKE CHARLES,LOUISIANA

Each measurable hourly precipitation event during January at Lake Charles, Louisiana, over the 1951–80 period has been classified by associated synoptic weather type. Using Muller's synoptic classification, four types were found to produce rainfall over the study period. Frontal Overrunning accounted for 71% of the hourly events with an average hourly intensity of 1.78 mm. Frontal Gulf Return accounted for the greatest hourly intensity of the four types (3.05 mm) and accounted for 24% of the observations. The Gulf Return and Coastal Return types produced few hours of precipitation at this time of year owing to both the cooler surface temperatures which limit convection and the dominance of the frontal activity. The frequency of the events associated with these types varied significantly over the study period. The frontal-related weather types increased dramatically during the colder months, and also increased in association with El Nino events and related cyclogenesis in the western Gulf of Mexico. Non-frontal events were most common in the 1950s. This approach could be applied to hourly precipitation studies elsewhere so that processes underlying monthly and inter-annual climate fluctuations may be better understood. [Key words: Hourly Precipitation, Synoptic weather Types, Climate Fluctuations.]     

香港地区晚更新世的构造活动性

河沥背西北走向的断层最近期的构造活动发生于晚更新世时期,至全新世已经完全停止.晚更新世后期香港地区(如河沥背、黄竹洋、南山和贝澳)滑坡、泥石流和巨型滚石等重力地质事件频繁发生,而且还有原地重复的情况.按照地面地质破坏现象的分布范围、规模和数量等指针综合分析,在晚更新世后期香港地区可能曾经遭受过强烈地震的袭击,其烈度估计可达Ⅸ-Ⅹ度,而且在数万年之内曾经多次发生.1万年以来,构造运动减弱,地震活动降低,地面运动的最大强度相应减小.     

Iberian Plio‐Pleistocene biochronology: micromammalian evidence for MNs and ELMAs calibration in southwestern Europe

A multivariate biochronological analysis of the Plio‐Pleistocene Iberian rodent fossil record is presented. Among more than 300 fossil sites, 49 sites have been selected. The ordination of the fossil sites selected from the Iberian Peninsula has been achieved by the appearance event ordination method. After calibration of this ordination with geochronological dates at some of the localities, numerical dates are proposed for all the localities studied. Hence, mammal fossil sites non‐datable by other means (palaeomagnetism, radiometric dating, etc.) have been dated with a relatively high degree of confidence. Final results allow dating of boundaries between the Plio‐Pleistocene European Land Mammal Ages (ELMAS) or the Mammal Neogene (MN) units. These boundaries agree with previous studies using magnetostratigraphical calibration of these scales. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Middle Pleistocene-Holocene calcareous plankton and benthos biostratigraphy of the Markova Depression,equatorial atlantic

The analysis of nannoplankton, planktonic and benthic foraminifer assemblages provided detailed biostratigraphic characteristics of the upper part of sedimentary cover in the Markova Depression, rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Gephyrocapsa oceanica and Emiliania huxleyi nannofossil zones, (LO) Helicosphaera inversa biohorizon, Emiliania huxleyi Acme Zone, and planktonic foraminiferal Globigerina calida calida, Globigerina bermudezi and Globorotalia fimbriata subzones were recognized. The compiled paleotemperature curve is correlated with the upper 10 oxygen isotope stages. The recovered deposits were accumulated during 400 ka. Changes in abundance and species composition of benthic foraminifer assemblages are suggested to be correlative with hydrothermal activity outbreaks in the rift zone.     

Sand dunes as a major proximal dust source for late Pleistocene loess in the Negev Desert, Israel

Grain size analyses of three hilltop, primary eolian loess sequences in the Negev desert, southern Israel, show a bimodal grain-size distribution at 50-60 μm and 3-8 μm. Using analyses of mineralogy and OSL ages we demonstrate that the coarse mode is composed mostly of quartz grains and its relative magnitude increases regionally with time, suggesting an enhancement of a time-transgressive proximal dust source compared to a distal, Saharan fine-grain dust. The only proximal dust source for large amount of coarse silt quartz grains is the sands that advanced into Sinai and the Negev concurrently with the loess accretion during the late Pleistocene as a result of the exposure of the Mediterranean shelf. We therefore propose that the coarse silt quartz grains were formed through eolian abrasion within the margins of an advancing sand sea. This relationship between desert sand seas as a source for proximal coarse dust and desert margin loess deposits can be applicable to other worldwide deserts such as Northern Africa, China and Australia.     

Post-glacial relative sea level, isostasy, and glacial history in Icy Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA

We use the radiocarbon ages of marine shells and terrestrial vegetation to reconstruct relative sea level (RSL) history in northern Southeast Alaska. RSL fell below its present level around 13,900 cal yr BP, suggesting regional deglaciation was complete by then. RSL stayed at least several meters below modern levels until the mid-Holocene, when it began a fluctuating rise that probably tracked isostatic depression and rebound caused by varying ice loads in nearby Glacier Bay. This fluctuating RSL rise likely reflects the episodic but progressive advance of ice in Glacier Bay that started around 6000 cal yr BP. After that time, RSL low stands probably signaled minor episodes of glacier retreat/thinning that triggered isostatic rebound and land uplift. Progressive, down-fjord advance of the Glacier Bay glacier during the late Holocene is consistent with the main driver of this glacial system being the dynamics of its terminus rather than climate change directly. Only after the glacier reached an exposed position protruding into Icy Strait ca. AD 1750, did its terminus succumb - a century before the climate changes that marked the end of the Little Ice Age - to the catastrophic retreat that triggered the rapid isostatic rebound and RSL fall occurring today in Icy Strait.     

Exposure age chronology of the last glaciation in the eastern Pyrenees

We present a chronology of ice recession in the eastern Pyrenees based on in situ-produced ¹⁰Be data obtained from the Têt paleoglacier complex. The sampling strategy is based on the relative chronology provided by a detailed geomorphological map of glacial landforms. Results indicate that the last maximum ice advance occurred late (i.e., during Marine Isotope Stage 2) compared to the chronology currently established for the rest of the Pyrenees. Despite debatable evidence for a glacial readvance during the Oldest Dryas stade, ice-cap melt-out was rapid, residual cirque glaciers having disappeared by the Allerød interstade. This is consistent both with North Atlantic excursions established by the Greenland ice cores and paleoenvironmental data for the region. The rapid response of the east-Pyrenean ice cap to temperature variations is primarily linked to its small size compared to larger Pyrenean ice fields, to the dry Mediterranean climate, and to topography-related nonlinearities in which a small vertical rise in equilibrium line altitude generates a large change in ice mass. Possible sources of age uncertainty are discussed in the context of sampling design for single-nuclide (¹⁰Be) dating of landform sequences in formerly glaciated landscapes.     

内蒙古河套盆地晚更新世晚期化石动物群

河套盆地上更新统地层发育,在盆地北侧的山前构成台地,为一套黄色、灰白色河湖相砂砾石层,夹黄绿色粉砂、细砂层,产多种哺乳动物化石,包括5目19属,其中诺氏古菱齿象化石点9处、披毛犀7处、马鹿7处、大角鹿2处,并发现了属于大角鹿演化晚期阶段的新种化石包头大角鹿。哺乳动物群化石中既有喜冷的披毛犀、普氏野马、马鹿等,也有喜温湿的诺氏古菱齿象。除了象类以树干、干草类为食、虎和鬣狗为肉食类外,其余均为以草原生存的大型食草动物。地层和化石的年龄表明该动物群较萨拉乌苏动物群更为年青,建议定名为包头动物群,地质年代为晚更新世晚期,同位素年龄为距今4.0～2.2万年,是在河套古湖周边生息繁演、适应于较为温凉气候条件和稀树草原环境下生存的一个食草动物群,末次冰期以后大多数哺乳动物已灭绝。包头动物群明显地晚于萨拉乌苏动物群,与峙峪动物群和北京周口店山顶洞动物群具有较多的相似处,应同属晚更新世晚期动物群。     

长白山现代理论雪线和古雪线高度

根据冰川地貌和地形特征、岩性、冰川沉积物的风化程度以及OSL测年结果,认为长白山地区发育两期冰川作用,即末次冰盛期和晚冰期,测年结果分别为20.0±2.1ka和11.3±1.2ka。根据平衡线（ELA）处6～8月多年平均气温（T）和年降水量（P）的关系,计算长白山现代理论雪线高度为3380±100m。通过积累区面积比率AAR（accumulation-arearatio）、冰川末端到山顶高度TSAM（the terminal to summit altitudinal）,冰川末端至分水岭平均高度Hofer（the terminal to average elevation of the catchment area）、末端至冰斗后壁比率THAR（toe-to headwall altitude ratios）、冰斗底部高程CF（cirque-floor altitudes method）、侧碛堤最大高度法MELM（maximum elevation of lateral moraines）等方法计算该区末次冰盛期雪线高度为2250～2383m,平均值2320±20m。考虑到末次冰盛期后地壳上升20m,当时雪线的实际高度为2300±20m,冰盛期的雪线降低值为10⁸0±100m。晚冰期北坡和西坡的雪线高度分别为2490m和2440m,平均值2465m,考虑新构造运动后的雪线实际高度2454m,降低值926±100m。长白山新构造运动（LGM上升约20m,晚冰期上升约11m）在末次冰盛期以来对冰川发育的影响不明显。     

西藏札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层多重地层划分与对比

根据札达盆地河湖相地层实测剖面中的接触关系、沉积旋回、沉积体系、岩相、岩性、古生物特征和ESR、古地磁测年结果,笔者对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了重新划分和时代确定。结合该套河湖相沉积的岩石地层、生物地层、年代地层、磁性地层、层序地层和地质构造事件,对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了多重地层的划分与对比。将札达盆地河湖相地层划分为3个组、4个沉积相、7个沉积亚相、11个岩性段。由新到老划分为：早更新统香孜组（Qp^1-1X）、上新统古格组（N22g）和上新统托林组（N2^1t）。