Study of the flood control scheduling scheme for the Three Gorges Reservoir in a catastrophic flood

The Three Gorges Project is the world's largest water conservancy project. According to the design standards for the 1,000‐year flood, flood diversion areas in the Jingjiang reach of the Yangtze River must be utilized to ensure the safety of the Jingjiang area and the city of Wuhan. However, once these areas are used, the economic and life loss in these areas may be very great. Therefore, it is vital to reduce this loss by developing a scheme that reduces the use of the flood diversion areas through flood regulation by the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), under the premise of ensuring the safety of the Three Gorges Dam. For a 1,000‐year flood on the basis of a highly destructive flood in 1954, this paper evaluates scheduling schemes in which flood diversion areas are or are not used. The schemes are simulated based on 2.5‐m resolution reservoir topography and an optimized model of dynamic capacity flood regulation. The simulation results show the following. (a) In accord with the normal flood‐control regulation discharge, the maximum water level above the dam should be not more than 175 m, which ensures the safety of the dam and reservoir area. However, it is necessary to utilize the flood diversion areas within the Jingjiang area, and flood discharge can reach 2.81 billion m³. (b) In the case of relying on the TGR to impound floodwaters independently rather than using the flood diversion areas, the maximum water level above the dam reaches 177.35 m, which is less than the flood check level of 180.4 m to ensure the safety of the Three Gorges Dam. The average increase of the TGR water level in the Chongqing area is not more than 0.11 m, which indicates no significant effect on the upstream reservoir area. Comparing the various scheduling schemes, when the flood diversion areas are not used, it is believed that the TGR can execute safe flood control for a 1,000‐year flood, thereby greatly reducing flood damage.     

西南矿区山体崩塌成因机制分析及防治对策

西南地区的矿区具有相似的地理、地质环境,通过四川芙蓉煤矿白岩崩塌的典型实例,对西南矿区山体崩塌的成灾环境进行调查研究,揭示了西南矿区山体崩塌的成因机制,并简要提出了对该煤矿开发与综合治理建议,指出了加强防治工作的紧迫性,强调开展系统工程防灾的重要性,并为该煤矿解决正常采掘接替及工作面的布置问题作出了科学的指导.     

成都及附近地区旅游气候资源研究

通过对成都及附近等7个地区多年气候资源及人体舒适指数进行分级比较，得出了7个地区的人体舒适指数的时间分布特征及对当地旅游的影响。     

AREAL DIFFERENTIATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF OASIS AGRICULTURAL ECOSYSTEM IN THE SHIYANG RIVER BASIN

On the basis of the study on areal differentiation of the natural environment of oasis agriculture ecosystems in the Shiyang River Basin, this paper comparatively analyzes the natural productivities, water economic benefits, production efficiency, ecological stabilities and developmental conditions of the Wuwei Oasis agricultural ecosystem in the middle reaches of the river basin and the Minqin Oasis agricultural ecosystem in the lower reaches. Under a same management level and investment of . material and energy, primary productiveness and economic benefits of the former are higher than those of the latter. Construction directions of Wuwei and Minqin oases should be different in order to alleviate the water- use contradiction between the middle and lower reaches. The construction objective of Wuwei Oasis should be efficient irrigated farming production system and Minqin Oasis should become a mixed forestry-pastoral-farming ecosystem taking ecological protection as its major function.     

Theory of stability, and regulation and control of ecological system in oasis

Starting with analysis on the evolving course of oasis and the characteristics and evolution of transitional zone between oasis and desert, in consideration of ecological elements including plant stomata resistance, area covered by vegetation, and physical elements including albedo of vegetation and bare soil, atmosphere temperature, and humidity, under the condition of the balance among net radiation flux, latent heat flux, and sensible heat flux, the following are calculated: temperatures of vegetation and bare soil in different conditions, as well as the evapotranspiration rate of ecosystem. Analysis on evapotranspiration rate indicates that it depends on both the climate of environment and the physiological and ecological conditions of plants. On certain conditions, the evapotranspiration rate of transitional zone between oasis and desert (i.e. area covered by vegetation less than 20%), in some parameter domains, appears in bifurcation or multiequilibrium state. Meanwhile, in such area, ecosystem is extremely unstable. Any minor change to the balance will cause either increase or reduction of area covered by vegetation in ecosystem, on the basis of discussion on the emergency of these phenomena. This paper is attempting to propose an effective way of destruction and rebuilt ecosystem in transitional zone. The way is to control the evaporation of plant through selecting anti-drought country plant with big stomata resistance, and modify the roughness of the underlying surface in ecosystem by establishing rational interspace structure of plant community, so as to put the degenerative ecosystem into the natural succession track. This primary theory is being verified through observation and analysis on historical data.     

THE EVOLUTION OF SERVICE ECONOMIES: A GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE1

Of the several classifications of services, each emphasizes different characteristics. The International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) is used for a comparative study on the transformation into service economies of the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and Japan. Service economies are defined as national economies in which employment in services surpassed that in manufacturing. The pace of the evolution of service economies has been rapid with North America leading, followed in order by Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and West Germany. Service economies have important implications for urban growth, intercity competition, and international trade.     

Participation in payments for ecosystem services: Case studies from the Lacandon rainforest, Mexico

Understanding people’s willingness to participate in projects and programmes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has not been a key analytical concern of the scholarly literature around this new field of environmental policy and practice. This paper analyses participation in four communities benefiting from payments for biodiversity and carbon fixation in Mexico, and contrasts the results for each case with neighbouring communities that do not receive payments. We take a holistic approach that accounts for procedural rules, actors’ interactions, institutions and values, and individuals’ characteristics. We show that the nature of PES rules and the effectiveness of communication with government officers and NGOs influence resource managers’ ability and willingness to participate. We highlight community size, resource managers’ ability to diversify livelihood activities and local perspectives on the conservation of common forests, particularly sacred values and intergenerational concerns on forest conservation, as critical participation drivers. This analysis provides insights on why and how these new institutions may be attractive for some resource managers and permits to draw some recommendations for the future design of PES projects and programmes.     

Water and power in Santiago de Chile: Socio-spatial segregation through network integration

The analysis of the history of the management and distribution of electricity, water and sanitation networks in Santiago de Chile throws light on a problem which is central to thinking on the relationship between urban services management and territorial splintering: what is the impact of urban policy, in particular housing policy and urban planning, on access to services and on the potential levels of social segregation and institutional splintering of metropolises?The Chilean example is eminently anchored in its political and institutional history. We shall see, for example, that the authoritarian urban policy of the military government, associated with early liberal reform, enabled the improvement of access to networks in every municipality of the Greater Santiago area. However, this success, leading to the integration by urban services of a large territory, does not signify that networks remained neutral as regards the process of spatial segregation. Inversely, we can defend the theory that the presence of an integrated service was a necessary condition and a reinforcing factor of the process of urban spread and residential segregation. This paradoxical argument is a result of the ambivalent liberal network and urban policies of the military government. Urban expansion was largely sustained by the development of integrated infrastructures and universal services. The processes of liberalising land and urban services were mutually sustaining and provided the necessary conditions for the birth of an extremely intense movement of urban sprawl and segregation between 1985 and 2000.     

Modeling households’ decisions on reconstruction of houses damaged by earthquakes––Japanese case study

In this study, households’ decisions on reconstruction of damaged houses were modeled, using questionnaire data in Japan. Characteristics of households’ decisions were investigated using parameter estimation results. The effects of subsidizing policy were evaluated as follows. First, subsidy for rebuilding may be effective for the households whose houses were heavily damaged. Second, there is a possibility that subsidy accelerated rebuilding of houses by the households having children. Third, subsidy for rebuilding may not be effective for elderly people’s households and households in depopulated areas.     

松辽盆地三肇凹陷葡萄花油层成藏模式初探

运用源控含油气系统理论与综合分析技术,按成藏“层次分析”方法,通过对生、储、盖、圈(闭)静态要素及其内生、排、运、聚、散(失)动态过程的综合研究,对松辽盆地中央坳陷的三肇凹陷葡萄花油层成藏条件进行探讨,提出了以次级凹陷为中心、不同类型的油气聚集带紧邻并围绕次级凹陷最低部位呈环带状分布的大型凹陷内成藏模式,并进一步提出永乐次级凹陷中心及其三级聚油环带及徐家围子次级凹陷以西为"网式"运聚特征;在凹陷级成藏模式的指导下,通过对大面积密井网开发区综合解剖,提出三级构造带中单个的局部构造圈闭(群)、单个的(局部构造——)岩性圈闭(群)控油和成藏规律,为认识本区基本控油单元、油水分布规律、油气勘探及扩大新探区提供重要的理论依据。