Onset of aridity in southern Western Australia—a preliminary palaeomagnetic appraisal

The timing of the onset of full arid conditions in southern Western Australia during the late Cenozoic remains uncertain. The playas and associated sedimentary sequences preserved as part of the Tertiary palaeodrainage networks, which are widely developed in Western Australia, provide the stratigraphic evidence necessary to resolve this issue. Lake Lefroy forms part of a chain of playas that occur in the eastern Yilgarn Craton. These lake chains are the remnants of a once external palaeodrainage system, developed in pre-Eocene times. Eocene non-marine to marginal marine sequences were deposited in the palaeodrainage as channel infills. The low relief area of the palaeodrainage featured a permanent to semi-permanent lacustrine environment during post-Eocene times, and fine-grained red–brown clastic clay up to 10 m in thickness was deposited over an extensive area. A significant hydrological transition, as inferred by the litho-sedimentary change from freshwater clay to evaporitic gypsum-dominated sedimentation, took place in the late Cenozoic. The extensive freshwater system changed to the saline/deflation playas that characterises this landscape today. A detailed palaeomagnetic study was carried out on the lacustrine clay unit and the overlying evaporitic gypsum unit in Lake Lefroy. Results from drill core and pit wall exposures have provided the first time constraints for these sequences. Age estimates, based on extrapolation from the Brunhes/Matuyama geomagnetic boundary, suggest that the gypsum-dominated sedimentation and by inference, full arid conditions in Lake Lefroy, commenced within the Brunhes Normal Polarity Chron, probably within the last 500 Ka. This age is considerably younger than previously thought, but appears to bear some correspondence to similar claims to the age of the onset of aridity in southeast and central Australia. Evidence emerging from the inland dune field to the surrounding oceans suggests a trend of increasing aridity during the Quaternary in Australia. The onset of full aridity may well indicate that the impact of global glacial–interglacial cycles on Australian climate, especially the large scale glacial ‘dryness' resulted from the 100 Ka astronomic variations reached beyond its threshold.     

SAR图像分块CFAR迭代的极地冰山检测

通过迭代CFAR算法,本文发展了一种针对分块SAR图像的冰山检测方法。考虑到滑动窗口运算负担大、计算效率低,首先对SAR图像进行分块,以提取分块内的亮目标冰山。利用高斯模型表征后向散射系数的统计分布,冰山检测阈值可简单地表达为均值和方差的线性组合,将分块内像素逐个比对阈值以检测冰山。考虑到同一场景中尺寸变化大的冰山影响检测精度,以识别的冰山像素做种子执行区域生长,从而提取大尺寸的冰山。针对单个分块迭代上述处理,以降低高斯模型表征分块统计分布的误差,提高冰山检测精度。利用2013年11月22日和29日获取自极地海域的两景RADARSAT-2图像开展验证试验。结果表明,数量多、尺寸变化大并嵌入在海冰等极地常见情形下的冰山,能被文中方法有效识别,选取区域内正确率高达85%以上,且具有良好的运行效率。     

前兆地电阻率资料处理的剥皮法

在台址下电阻率分层均匀的前提下，针对我国绝大多数前兆地电台单极距观测的事实与现状，提出一种试图从这种观测所获得的视电阻率时间序列中识别电阻率表层变化和深部变化的等效模型方法．分析表明，在保持布极方式和观测结果不变的前提下，任意多层的地电结构都可以视为一个二层地电结构——等效模型．本文中，等效模型上层的地电参数（电阻率和厚度）与实际模型第一层相同，下层的地电参数（电阻率）则根据等效要求，由实际模型第二层及其以下各层的地电参数经计算得到，因此，等效模型的下层包含了实际模型第二层及其以下各层的综合影响．初步研究表明，这种方法是可行的．      

High-resolution plate reconstruction of the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge

We use recently acquired magnetic and SeaBeam bathymetric data to examine the spreading rates and plate boundary geometry of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 30°–36° S. Using a statistically rigorous estimation of rotation poles we develop a precise spreading history of the African—South American plate boundary. The total opening rate for 1–4.23 Myr (Plio-Pleistocene) is nearly constant at 32.3 ± 1 km Myr^–1. The spreading rate apparently is faster in the Late Miocene (7.3-5.3 Myr), though this may reflect inaccuracies in the geomagnetic time scale. The rotation poles enable a plate boundary reconstruction with an accuracy of 2–3 km. The reconstructions also show that the plate boundary geometry underwent several changes since the late Miocene including the growth of one ridge segment from 40 to 105 km in length, and the reorientation of another ridge segment which has spread obliquely from 7 to 1 Myr. Pole calculations using both right- and left-stepping fracture zones show an offset of 1–2 km between the deepest, most linear part of a fracture zone trough and the former plate boundary location. The high-resolution plate kinematics suggests that the plate boundary, as a whole, evolves 2-dimensionally as prescribed by rigid plates. On a local scale, asymmetric accretion, asymmetric extension, small lateral ridge jumps (< 3 km), and intra-segment propagation result in minor plate boundary adjustments and deformation to the rigid plates.     

Interfacing the DIGICO flux-gate spinner magnetometer to an APPLE IIe microcomputer

Summary. A hardware configuration and program are described for interfacing a DIGICO spinner rock magnetometer to an APPLE microcomputer. This configuration provides full control of measurements and permits storage of the results on floppy or hard discs. A similar configuration can be used to operate the anisotropy unit.     

地震观测传递函数的精度问题

数字地震观测的传递函数由反馈地震计和地震数据采集器的传递函数合成。地震数据采集器的传递函数主要用数字算法生成,其精度可以做得很高。反馈地震计是机电一体化的模拟传感部件,其传递函数的精度和稳定性均欠佳。尤其是由反馈地震计生成的主导二阶极点,对应传统地震观测的周期和阻尼两个重要参数,其精度和稳定性往往较低,不利于地震学研究深入发展的需要。以四川地震观测的标定数据为例,说明数字地震观测传递函数的精度和稳定性急待改进。     

移极旋转坐标系中的大气动力学方程

本文仅研究无粘、无地形和绝热运动假定下的大气动力学问题，用分析力学的方法求得了固定在地球上的移极旋转坐标系， 如直角坐标系， 球坐标系和柱坐标系中的第二类 Lagrange方程。从而求得普遍的大气动力学方程。所谓的视示力 —— Coriolis力和离心力 —— 与其它各种力统一处理。当地球自转轴不为坐标系的z轴时，不存在大气运动的对称和反对称性。特别值得提出的是以往很多学者利用柱坐标系来数值模拟台风(飓风)的轴对称和非轴对称性时所使用的基本方程是含糊的， 本文给出了准确的基本方程。