Late Cretaceous-Paleogene Palynostratigraphy from the Arkhara-Boguchan Brown Coal Mine of Zeya-Bureya Depression, Russia

1IntroductionThe Arkhara-Boguchan brown coal mine is lo-cated in the western Arkhara depression,southeast-ern part of the Zea-Bureya Basin (Fig.1). Late Creta-ceous-Paleogene coal-bearing strata are well out-cropped at the Arkhara-Boguchan quarry. It contains four coal-bearing beds (in descending order): “Ve-likan”, “Promezhutochny”,“Dvoinoy”and “Nyzhny”, and composed of three sedimentary cycles (Fig.2). The lower cycle can be divided into two sub-cycles:the lowest sub-cycle is …     

In-Situ Observation of Fluid Mud in the North Passage of Yangtze Estuary, China

Observations of fluid mud were made in the lower North Passage of the Yangtze Estuary in February 2000, on 10 -11 August 2000, on 30 - 31 August 2000 (after two strong typhoons), on 21 - 24 August 2000 (neap tide) and on 3 -6 September 2000 (mean tide) respectively. In situ data show that the fluid mud in this area consists of fine cohesive sediment (median size 7.23 μm). The formation and movement of fluid mud varied during the neap-spring and flood-ebb tidal cycle. Observations suggest that fluid mud phenomena in this area may be categorised in a three-fold manner as slack water, storm and saltwedge features. The thickness of the fluid mud layer of slack water during the neap tide ranged from 0.2 to 0.96 m, whereas during the mean tide, the thickness ranged from 0.17 to 0.73 m, and the thickness of the fluid mud layer was larger during slack water than at the flood peak. Shoals cover an area of 800 km^2 with a water depth smaller than 5 m. Erosion of these extensive intertidal mudflats due to storm action provides an abundant sediment source. This is particularly significant in this estuary when the tidal level is lower than 5 m. The lower North Passage is a typical zone of saltwater wedging, so the saltwedge fluid mud has the most extensive spatial range in the estuary.     

Numerical Simulation of Non-Linear Wave Propagation in Waters of Mildly Varying Topography with Complicated Boundary

In this paper, the characteristics of different forms of mild slope equations for non-linear wave are analyzed, and new non-linear theoretic models for wave propagation are presented, with non-linear terms added to the mild slope equations for non-stationary linear waves and dissipative effects considered. Numerical simulation models are developed of non-linear wave propagation for waters of mildly varying topography with complicated boundary, and the effects are studied of different non-linear corrections on calculation results of extended mild slope equations. Systematical numerical simulation tests show that the present models can effectively reflect non-linear effects.     

Paleosols and prehistoric populations in the high plains

Excavations in 1980–1981 at sites (32MZ319 and 32MZ380) along Cinnamon Creek Ridge in the Little Missouri River Badlands of McKenzie County, North Dakota, unexpectedly revealed at each locality the presence of one or more deeply buried paleosols with associated cultural materials. At both sites, 32MZ319 and 32MZ380, multiple paleosols are present, each of which is terminated by an episode of aeolian deposition. Fifteen radiocarbon dates on these paleosols establish an incipient chronology for paleosol development in the study area and permit correlation with other High Plains archaeological complexes. Geological and archaeological data for the two multiple paleosol sites are summarized.     

Late Pleistocene to Holocene sedimentation and hydrocarbon seeps on the continental shelf of a steep,tectonically active margin,southern California,USA

Small, steep, uplifting coastal watersheds are prolific sediment producers that contribute significantly to the global marine sediment budget. This study illustrates how sedimentation evolves in one such system where the continental shelf is largely sediment-starved, with most terrestrial sediment bypassing the shelf in favor of deposition in deeper basins. The Santa Barbara–Ventura coast of southern California, USA, is considered a classic area for the study of active tectonics and of Tertiary and Quaternary climatic evolution, interpretations of which depend upon an understanding of sedimentation patterns. High-resolution seismic-reflection data over >570 km² of this shelf show that sediment production is concentrated in a few drainage basins, with the Ventura and Santa Clara River deltas containing most of the upper Pleistocene to Holocene sediment on the shelf. Away from those deltas, the major factor controlling shelf sedimentation is the interaction of wave energy with coastline geometry. Depocenters containing sediment 5–20 m thick exist opposite broad coastal embayments, whereas relict material (bedrock below a regional unconformity) is exposed at the sea floor in areas of the shelf opposite coastal headlands. Locally, natural hydrocarbon seeps interact with sediment deposition either to produce elevated tar-and-sediment mounds or as gas plumes that hinder sediment settling. As much as 80% of fluvial sediment delivered by the Ventura and Santa Clara Rivers is transported off the shelf (some into the Santa Barbara Basin and some into the Santa Monica Basin via Hueneme Canyon), leaving a shelf with relatively little recent sediment accumulation. Understanding factors that control large-scale sediment dispersal along a rapidly uplifting coast that produces substantial quantities of sediment has implications for interpreting the ancient stratigraphic record of active and transform continental margins, and for inferring the distribution of hydrocarbon resources in relict shelf deposits.     

红砂岩修筑浆砌石坝的岩土工程研究

红砂岩为中低强度岩层、岩相复杂多变,较易风化、软化。本文通过工程实践阐述了在红砂岩分布地区利用当地材料建造浆砌块石坝的岩土工程研究,开创了红砂岩筑坝的先例。     

Influence of the surface microlayer on the flux of nonconservative trace gases (CO,H2, CH4, N2O) across the ocean-atmosphere interface

Gas exchange experiments were conducted in the tropical Atlantic Ocean during a ship expedition with FS Meteor using a small rubber raft. The temporal change of the mixing ratios of CO, H₂, CH₄ and N₂O in the headspace of a floating glass box and the concentrations of these gases in the water phase were measured to determine their transfer velocities across the ocean-atmosphere interface. The ocean acted as a sink for these gases when the water was undersaturated with respect to the mixing ratio in the headspace. The transfer velocities were different for the individual gases and showed still large differences even when normalized for diffusivity. Applying the laminar film model, film thicknesses of 20 to 70 m were calculated for the observed flux rates of the different gas species. When the water was supersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO, H₂, CH₄ and N₂O, the transfer velocities of the emission process were smaller than those determined for the deposition process. In case of H₂ and CH₄, emission was even not calculable although, based on the observed gradient, the laminar film model predicted significant fluxes at the air-sea interface. The results are interpreted by destruction processes active within the surface microlayer.     

Comparative compressibilities of majorite-type garnets

Relative compressibilities of five silicate garnets were determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction on crystals grouped in the same high-pressure mount. The specimens include a natural pyrope [(Mg_2.84Fe_0.10Ca_0,06) Al₂Si₃O₁₂], and four synthetic specimens with octahedrally-coordinated silicon: majorite [Mg₃(MgSi)Si₃O₁₂], calcium-bearing majorite [(Ca_0.49Mg_2.51)(MgSi)Si₃0₁₂], sodium majorite [(Na_1.88Mgp_0.12)(Mg_0.06Si_1.94)Si₃O₁₂], and an intermediate composition [(Na_0.37Mg_2.48)(Mg_0.13Al_1.07 Si₀₈₀) Si₃O₁₂]. Small differences in the compressibilities of these crystals are revealed because they are subjected simultaneously to the same pressure. Bulk-moduli of the garnets range from 164.8 ± 2.3 GPa for calcium majorite to 191.5 ± 2.5 GPa for sodium majorite, assuming K′=4. Two factors, molar volume and octahedral cation valence, appear to control garnet compression.     

A factor analytic approach to the identification of geomorphic processes from soil particle size characteristics

Q-mode factor analysis of soil particle size data is used to identify the three dominant geomorphic processes responsible for the spatial variability of particle size in a catchment on the basaltic Darling Downs landsurface. Three factors are shown to account for 95 per cent of the textural variability of a suite of transported and sedentary materials. The spatial characteristics of groups of samples associated with the three factors suggests that the three factors are associated with suspended sediment transport and deposition, weathering, and bedload transport and deposition respectively. These interpretations are supported by the detailed graphical analysis of the cumulative particle size curves. The spatially variable influence of the three factors and related processes is given by their respective factor loadings which are mappable for the surface layer materials.