Concentrated flow erosion as a main source of sediments in Galicia,Spain

Knowledge of soil loss rates by water erosion under given climate, soil, topography, and management conditions is important for establishing soil conservation schemes. In Galicia, a region with Atlantic climatic conditions in Spain, field observations over the last decade indicate that interrill, rill and ephemeral gully erosion may be an important sediment source. The aim of this work was to assess concentrated erosion rates, describe types of rills and ephemeral gullies and determine their origin, evolution and importance as sediment sources. Soil surface state and concentrated flow erosion were surveyed on medium textured soils, developed over basic schists of the Ordenes Complex series (Coruña province, Spain) from 1997 to 2006. Soil surface state was characterized by crust development, tillage features and roughness degree. Soil erosion rate was directly measured in the field. Concentrated flow erosion took place mainly on seedbeds and recently tilled surfaces in late spring and by autumn or early winter. During the study period, erosion rates were highly variable and the following situations could be distinguished: (a) no incision or limited rill incision, i.e. below 2 Mg ha^?1 year^?1; (b) generalized rill and ephemeral gully incision in the class of mean values between 2·5 and 6·25 Mg ha^?1 year^?1, this was the most common erosion pattern; and (c) heavy erosion as observed during an extremely wet winter period, between October 2000 and February 2001, with erosion figures that may be about ten orders of magnitude higher, up to 55–60 Mg ha^?1 year^?1. Therefore, low values of soil losses are dominant, but also large values of rill and ephemeral gully erosion occurred during the study period. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bank‐collapse processes in a valley‐bottom gully,western Iowa

Widening and bank‐slope reduction of a valley‐bottom gully in western Iowa was correlated to increasing subsurface flow over a 36‐year period. To study bank collapse at this gully, we measured rainfall, air temperature, hydraulic head near the banks and bank movement nearly continuously over a 2‐year period. Styles of movement ranged from imperceptible creep to rapid slab collapses preceded by the formation of tension cracks parallel to the gully walls. Bank movement was commonly correlated to rainfall or snowmelt and associated head increases in the banks. If the banks are modelled as a two‐dimensional slab with an adjacent tension crack partly filled with water, measured heads were sufficient to cause bank failures through reduction of frictional support at the base of the slab. During winter months, air temperature variations across 0 °C were correlated with bank movement: during mildly subfreezing periods banks expanded, and most, but usually not all, of this movement was recovered during above‐freezing periods. This motion is attributed to frost heave followed by thawing. Deformation of the banks by heaving and thawing during winter may weaken them and prime them for failure during spring rains and snowmelt, when the frequency of mass‐wasting events is highest. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.     

陕北黄土区流域分水线土壤干层分布

陕北黄土区切沟密集,地形支离破碎,地形与植被共同作用下土壤水分状况较为复杂。通过长期定位观测深剖面土壤含水量,分析了流域分水线深层土壤水分时空动态及干层分布特征。研究结果表明:生长季0~3 m土层土壤水分亏缺,生长季后1.2 m以上土层亏缺水分得到补充,但该深度以下土壤水分含量未得到恢复,其中2.6~6.4 m深度范围缺水严重,流域分水线土壤水分含量出现明显的垂直分层现象;各观测点土壤含水量随深度的分布曲线、极值出现深度和干层深度范围不同,剖面干层随各分水线走向表现出不连续分布的特点;分水线干层平均起始深度为2.03 m,厚度为0.4~8 m,干层土壤含水量均值为9.03%,干层厚度与起始深度和干层土壤含水量均呈负相关关系。比较而言,陕北黄土高原干层发育严重程度较突出。相关研究结果可为流域土壤水资源分布及土壤水库功能评价提供理论依据。     

风沙流起动阶段沙粒输运特征

为了探究风沙流起动过程中沙粒输运特征,利用PTV测量技术在风洞中对风沙流起动过程进行了测量,分析了沙粒空间分布、沙粒平均水平速度、输沙率、沙粒数密度和输沙通量随时间的变化规律。结果表明：风沙流起动时间大约为1.5 s。起动过程中,输沙率随时间迅速增加,气流中沙粒总数目随时间的变化可表示为指数函数,沙粒数密度和输沙通量随高度的变化均可近似表示为负指数衰减函数。在t=1.0 s时刻的沙粒平均水平速度大于相同高度处以后时刻的沙粒平均水平速度,同一高度处t=1.5 s以后的沙粒数密度大于t=0.5 s、1.0 s时刻的沙粒数密度,同一高度处t=1.5 s以后的输沙通量大于t=1.0 s时刻的输沙通量。沙粒数密度随高度的衰减率一般随时间的增加而减小,并在t=1.5 s后逐渐接近稳定值。     

Spatial analysis of factors controlling the presence of closed depressions and gullies under forest: Application of rare event logistic regression

Although numerous studies have reported on past geomorphic change, it is a common difficulty to identify the relative role of driving human or climatic forces. To that end, the possibilities of rare events logistic regression are explored in a 1300-hectare large, ancient forest in central Belgium. Here, 43 permanent gullies and 71 closed depressions were observed that were probably caused by an anthropogenically induced land use change in the past. This human origin was confirmed for a limited number of case-study areas by recent geomorphic research, with dating and soil profile analysis. The objective of this study is to analyze the factors controlling the position of all gullies and closed depressions in the study area and investigate their mutual relation. This will indicate whether or not the results obtained for the small case-study areas can be extrapolated to the rest of the geomorphic features found in the whole study area.The obtained logistic regression models show that both anthropogenic and physical factors are important in the spatial distribution of both geomorphic features. For the prediction of the occurrence of closed depressions, anthropogenic factors are most important however. The probability of finding a depression is larger close to reported prehistoric and Roman archaeological sites, on well-developed, undisturbed Luvisols and on northeast- to southeast-facing slopes. The local slope gradient of the soil surface is the most important factor in the multivariate model for predicting the presence of the permanent gullies. The occurrence probability of permanent gullies is also larger on northeast- to southeast-facing slopes. The anthropogenic factor expressed by the distance to the closed depressions is significant as a univariate model. This suggests that a critical slope gradient is a prerequisite for gully incision, but gully formation still needs to be triggered by a human-induced land use change. It can therefore be concluded that both the gullies and the closed depressions in the Meerdaal Forest are related to past human activity, either directly, through mining of loess or indirectly, through runoff production on cropland. This study also showed the potential of rare events logistic regression for analyzing the spatial pattern of geomorphological features in relation to environmental factors.     

丘陵半干旱区沟壑分类及治理开发模式研究

应用沟壑纵剖面信息熵、主成份分析、聚类分析等方法,将丘陵半干旱区沟壑分为初期“Ⅴ”型发展沟,中期“U”发展沟、后期扩展“V”型稳定三大类。研究建立了乔灌草混交综合防护型;经济林果立体型;水井－养殖－林果型;窖－棚－果（林）型;沟道大棚－葡萄－食用菌三位一体型等不同类型沟壑治理开发模式,可为同类地区山地沟壑资源高效治理开发,实现农业经济可持续发展提供科学决策依据。     

骊山北缘山前断层的活动特征

骊山北缘山前断层是渭河盆地东部一条具重要地震地质意义的活断层,第四纪以来活动标志明显。断层一带的断错地貌显示,该断层以引张倾滑兼反扭活动为特征;断层泥中石英碎屑的SEM形貌特征显示,断层粘滑活动标志显著;断面擦痕电算结果显示,断裂带引张构造应力场格局为:σ~1—NE64°∠12°,σ_2—NE20°∠74°,σ_3—SE154°∠2°;冲沟裂点的实测分析结果显示,全新世以来该断层可能有过七次以上的快速活动;陡坎扩散方程计算和热释光测年确定出了该断层距今12万年左右的一次强烈活动的年代。     

Some observations on diamondiferous bedrock gully trapsites on Late Cainozoic, marine-cut platforms of the Sperrgebiet, Namibia

Namibia's southwestern coast, the Sperrgebiet, hosts one of the world's largest gem diamond placer deposits consisting of fluvial, marine and desert deflation/aeolian placer types. To date, the richest onshore placer discovered in the Sperrgebiet comprises several, Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene, littoral marine packages distributed northwards from the Orange River mouth for some 120 km to Chameis Bay. In this zone, known as Mining Area No. 1 (MA1), these Quaternary marine deposits are floored predominantly by siliciclastic rocks of the Late Proterozoic Gariep Belt that have been bevelled into a number of marine-cut platforms during the different Quaternary high sea level stands (notably, at + 30 m, + 8 m, + 4 m and + 2 m). In many places, these bedrock platforms are extensively gullied and potholed, forming abundant fixed trapsites that promote diamond concentration in the Late Cainozoic littoral sediments. Some observations on the distribution, orientation and incision of bedrock gullies in MA1 are presented here.Three principal bedrock gully types, all of which constitute good diamond trapsites, have been identified in the bedrock footwall between the Orange River mouth northwards to Chameis Bay, a distance of some 120 km: (i) swash-parallel gullies in the southern, proximal sector where the bedrock s₂ dips 45°W and the abrasive gravels are most abundant, thus overriding lithological and structural controls in the footwall; (ii) strike-parallel gullies in the central reach where the bedrock s₂ dips between 80° and 85°W and the abrasive bedload is reduced, resistant lithological units promote the formation of such features along the orientation of the metsediments; and (iii) joint gullies in the northern, distal portion where the bedrock s₂ dips 45–60° to the E and coarse abrasive bedload is virtually absent, the structural pattern in the bedrock is exploited by marine erosion.In these Late Cainozoic placers, diamond concentration is further linked to the depth of the gullies incised into the marine-cut platforms. Maximum incision is noted on the seaward margins of the marine-cut platforms where high-energy littoral processes, acting in a micro-tidal range of ca. 1.8 m under strong prevailing southerly wind and South Atlantic derived southwesterly swell regimes, promote marine erosion and deep gully formation.Therefore, the most favourable diamondiferous trapsites in the Late Cainozoic marine packages of the southwestern Sperrgebiet are those developed in deep bedrock gullies of either swash-parallel, strike-parallel or joint pattern origin on the seaward margins of marine-cut platforms that represent discrete high sea level stands during the Quaternary.     

盐岩地下储库围岩界面变形与破损特性分析

鉴于盐岩地下储库界面对储气（油）库稳定性和密闭性的重要影响,分别从细观和宏观方面对其变形与破损特性开展研究。细观方面：开展含界面盐岩的电镜扫描试验,分析表明：盐岩与夹层界面处颗粒结合紧密、相互嵌合,胶结良好,为储库密闭性提供有利条件。宏观方面：基于复合岩体理论构建层状盐岩交接界面的应力表达式,进而分析界面的变形及破损特性。分析表明,界面附近应力状态极为复杂,硬夹层对盐岩体具有约束锚固作用,且界面处易产生应力集中,进而诱发储库围岩体裂纹扩展直至破坏。综合细观、宏观分析表明,裂纹起裂机制和渗透通道形成是界面的细观结构特性及其应力状态共同影响的结果。研究成果为进一步分析地下盐岩储库的稳定性和密闭性提供一定参考。     

Transparent gemstones and the most recent supercontinent cycle

Certain hard and normally opaque minerals, both rare and common, occasionally crystallize as transparent or partly transparent ‘gem’ crystals. Such stones, designated ‘crystalline coloured gemstones’ (CCGs), form under highly constrained just-so ‘Goldilocks’ conditions that did not exist prior to the last supercontinent cycle. One set of gem-forming conditions arises during continent-to-continent collisions. Another comes into existence during the breakup of continents and produces distinctively different gems. Over 50 different CCG-forming metamorphic and pegmatitic minerals of the first type crystallize in certain orogenic areas near the edges of continents. In East Africa, the Himalayas, Pamirs and Hindu Kush, groups of CCG deposits formed near the leading edge of the upper plate during the collisions, and are associated with large scale circular arcs. Gems of the second type, which are for the most part blue–green–yellow magmatic sapphires, occur in conjunction with continental volcanism in eastern Australia, far eastern Russia, eastern China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Rwanda, Cameroon, Nigeria and elsewhere. Orogeny causes deep fractures to be regenerated upward into younger rocks. CCG deposits of the first type are systematically associated with ancient fractures originating from below, vestiges of the Earth’s early history. Fractures may be older than the rocks in which they are observed.