Geological Characteristics and Distribution of Submarine Physiographic Features in the Taiwan Region

The sea floor topography around Taiwan is characterized by the asymmetry of its shallow and flat shelves to the west and markedly deep troughs and basins to the south and east. Tectonics and sedimentation are major controls in forming the submarine physiographic features around Taiwan. Three Pliocene-Quaternary shelves are distributed north and west of Taiwan: East China Sea Shelf (passive margin shelf), the Taiwan Strait Shelf (foreland shelf), and Kaoping Shelf (island shelf) from north to south parallel to the strike of Taiwan orogen. Off northeastern Taiwan major morpho/tectonic features associated with plate subduction include E-W trending Ryukyu Trench, Yaeyama accretionary wedge, forearc basins, the Ryukyu Arcs, and the backarc basin of southern Okinawa Trough. Off eastern Taiwan lies the deep Huatung Basin on the Philippine Sea plate with a relatively flat floor, although several large submarine canyons are eroding and crossing the basin floor. Off southeastern Taiwan, the forearc region of the Luzon Arc has been deformed into five alternating N-S trending ridges and troughs during initial arc-continent collision. Among them, the submarine Hengchun Ridge is the seaward continuation of the Hengchun peninsula in southern Taiwan. Off southwestern Taiwan, the broad Kaoping Slope is the major submarine topographic feature with several noticeable submarine canyons. The Penghu Canyon separates this slope from the South China Sea Slope to the west and merges southwards into the Manila Trench in the northern South China Sea. Although most of sea floors of the Taiwan Strait are shallower than 60 m in water depth, there are three noticeable bathymetric lows and two highs in the Taiwan Strait. There exists a close relationship between hydrography and topography in the Taiwan Strait. The circulation of currents in the Taiwan Strait is strongly influenced by seasonal monsoon and semidiurnal tides. The Penghu Channel-Yunchang Ridge can be considered a modern tidal depositional system. The Taiwan Strait shelf has two phases of development. The early phase of the rift margin has developed during Paleoocene-Miocene and it has evolved to the foreland basin in Pliocene-Quaternary time. The present shelf morphology results mainly from combined effects of foreland subsidence and modern sedimentation overprinting that of the Late Pleistocene glaciation about 15,000 years ago.     

Geotechnical Hazards Associated with Desert Environment

The aridity of the Arabian Peninsula's deserts ranges between arid to hyperarid with hot dry climate, scarce precipitation and sparse vegetation. These harsh environmental conditions enhance some geomorphologic processes more than others, cause specific geotechnical problems, and increase desertification.From west to east, the general physiography of Saudi Arabia shows the Red Sea coastal plains and the escarpment foothills called Tihama followed by the Arabian Shield mountains, the Arabian Shelf plateau and finally the Arabian Gulf coastal plains. Sand moves by wind either as drifting sand or migrating dunes in four major sand seas, over the Arabian Shelf, and in the inter-mountain valleys, in the Arabian Shield causing problems of erosion and deposition. Human activities in the deserts may cause more instability to the sand bodies, enlarging the magnitude of the problem. Fine silty soil particles also move by wind, depositing loess mainly in selected areas downwind in the Tihama. These loess deposits subside and may form earth fissures by the process of hydrocompaction upon wetting. The addition of water can be either natural through storms or man-made through human agricultural or civil activities. Extensive sabkhas exist along the coastal plains of both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The sabkha soil may also heave by salt re-crystallization or collapse by wetting. The shallow groundwater brines present in sabkhas also attack and corrode civil structures. Urbanization and excessive groundwater pumping may also deplete the fresh groundwater resources and may cause subsidence, ground fissuring and surface faulting as observed in some locations in the Arabian Shield. Although the average annual precipitation is very low, rain usually falls in the form of torrential storms, collected by dry valley basins and causing floods to unprotected downstream areas on the coastal plains of the Red Sea.The desert environment, being a fragile echo system, needs to be treated with care. Intercommunications between different national and international agencies and education of the layman should help to keep the system balanced and reduce the resulting environmental hazards. In addition, any suggested remedial measures should be planned with nature and engineered with natural materials.     

Assessing basin storage: Comparison of hydrometric- and tracer-based indices of dynamic and total storage

Storage is a fundamental but elusive component of drainage basin function, influencing synchronization between precipitation input and streamflow output and mediating basin sensitivity to climate and land use/land cover (LULC) change. We compare hydrometric and isotopic approaches to estimate indices of dynamic and total basin storage, respectively, and assess inter-basin differences in these indices across the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) region of southern Ontario, Canada. Dynamic storage indices for the 20 study basins included the ratio of baseflow to total streamflow (baseflow index BFI), Q ₉₉ flow and flow duration curve (FDC) slope. Ratios of the standard deviation of the streamflow stable isotope signal relative to that of precipitation were determined for each basin from a 1 year bi-weekly sampling program and used as indicators of total storage. Smaller ratios imply longer water travel times, smaller young water fractions (F _yw, < ~2–3 months in age) in streamflow and greater basin storage. Ratios were inversely related to BFI and Q ₉₉, and positively related to FDC slope, suggesting longer travel times and smaller F _yw for basins with stable baseflow-dominated streamflow regimes. Inter-basin differences in all indices reflected topographic, hydrogeologic and LULC controls on storage, which was greatest in steep, forest-covered headwaters underlain by permeable deposits with thick and relatively uniform unsaturated zones. Nevertheless, differential sensitivity of indices to controls on storage indicates the value of using several indices to capture more completely how basin characteristics influence storage. Regression relationships between storage indices and basin characteristics provided reasonable predictions of aspects of the streamflow regime of test basins in the ORM region. Such relationships and the underlying knowledge of controls on basin storage in this landscape provide the foundation for initial predictions of relative differences in streamflow response to regional changes in climate and LULC.     

Mediating stream baseflow response to climate change: The role of basin storage

Inter‐basin differences in streamflow response to changes in regional hydroclimatology may reflect variations in storage characteristics that control the retention and release of water inputs. These aspects of storage could mediate a basin's sensitivity to climate change. The hypothesis that temporal trends in stream baseflow exhibit a more muted reaction to changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration for basins with greater storage was tested on the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) in Southern Ontario, Canada. Long‐term (>25 years) baseflow trends for 16 basins were compared to corresponding trends in precipitation amount and type and in potential evapotranspiration as well as shorter trends in groundwater levels for monitoring wells on the ORM. Inter‐basin differences in storage properties were characterized using physiographic, hydrogeologic, land use/land cover, and streamflow metrics. The latter included the slope of the basin's flow duration curve and basin dynamic storage. Most basins showed temporal increases in baseflow, consistent with limited evidence of increases and decreases in regional precipitation and snowfall: precipitation ratio, respectively, and recent increases in groundwater recharge along the crest of the ORM. Baseflow trend magnitude was uncorrelated to basin physiographic, hydrogeologic, land use/land cover, or flow duration curve characteristics. However, it was positively related to a basin's dynamic storage, particularly for basins with limited coverage of open water and wetlands. The dynamic storage approach assumes that a basin behaves as a first‐order dynamical system, and extensive open water and wetland areas in a basin may invalidate this assumption. Previous work suggested that smaller dynamic storage was linked to greater damping of temporal variations in water inputs and reduced interannual variability in streamflow regime. Storage and release of water inputs to a basin may assist in mediating baseflow response to temporal changes in regional hydroclimatology and may partly account for inter‐basin differences in that response. Such storage characteristics should be considered when forecasting the impacts of climate change on regional streamflow.     

地文期与地文期研究

在20世纪初期至中期,地文期研究帮助解决了中国新生代地形发育和地层划分的相对时序难题。由于W.M.Davis侵蚀循环学说适用于追溯作整体抬升的高原的“构造运动、过程和阶段”发育特征,所以,如今地文期研究对取得青藏高原隆起历史证据、寻求云贵高原喀斯特发育历史与高原地文发育各阶段间的对应关系,以及重建新生代早期中国地理环境等重要理论与实践问题都具有重要意义。随着地球科学的发展与科学技术的进步,侵蚀循环在理论和方法上应当作些相应补充和修正:侵蚀期所对应的堆积物———初始冲积、断块抬升区边缘的相关沉积,以及年代学问题等,均需要作进一步的研究。     

Spatially Located Platform and Aerial Photography for Documentation of Grazing Impacts on Wheat

Abstract

Goose populations that winter in Oregon's Lower Willamette Valley have increased from 25 000 to more than 250 000 birds in the last 25 years, resulting in heavy grazing of wheat and other crops. To map and document the extent and intensity of goose impacts on wheat fields, we combined rectified aerial photography with both globally positioned ground observations and vertical platform photographs. Aerial photos revealed areas of fields with sparse wheat cover while platform photos documented the cause. We estimated wheat cover in ground level photographs by ratioing red, green and blue digital numbers. From platform photographs we recorded occurrence of grazing (from grazed leaf tips), intensity of grazing (from residual plant cover and leaf length), and other indicators of goose use (footprints and droppings). Because the ground photographs were spatially positioned, we could use this information to verify the cause of “thin” wheat. Crop damage from grazing/trampling, water submergence, and other factors was evident. Our results illustrate practical ways to combine aerial and ground‐level image analysis, spectral observations, and global positioning systems to quantify field conditions in wheat.     

Assessment of salt affected soils in India using GIS

Salt affected soils are characterized by variable distribution and dynamic nature. Based on Landsat data from 1986/1987 supported by ground truth, salt affected soil maps were prepared at 1:250,000 scale for 14 states and a union territory (UT). A map legend was evolved that described the nature, degree and extent of salt affected soils suitable for varied physiographic and agroclimatic regions of the country. Fifteen categories of salt affected soil were identified for the entire country. These were merged to two categories – saline and sodic – for management purposes. Digitized maps were developed in a geographical information system (GIS) depicting salt affected areas of the country. An area of 6.73 million ha of salt affected soils was estimated for the entire country. State-wise estimates showed that this extensive area is distributed over the Gangetic plain of Uttar Pradesh; the arid and semiarid regions of Gujarat and the peninsular plains of Maharashtra state. A significant area is also located in the coastal region covering seven states. The salt affected soils are primarily saline in deltaic (C), coastal (D) and mud flats/mangrove swamps (G) and sodic in alluvial (A), aeofluvial/aeolian/arid (B) and peninsular (F) plains. The distribution of salt affected soils in agroclimatic zones (ACZs) showed occurrence in Gujarat plain, East Coast plains, Upper-Gangetic plain, Trans-Gangetic plain, Central Plateau, Lower-Gangetic plain and Southern Plateau of the country.     

Regional geomorphology of the continental slope of NW India: Delineation of the signatures of deep‐seated structures

Geomorphological features (derived from 16,000 lkm of echo‐sounding and bathymetric data) and deep‐seated tectonic structures of the continental margin off NW India are presented. The shelf break over the entire region occurs between 80 to 154 m water depth, and adjacent to Saurashtra and Bombay High the depth and orientation of the shelf edge show marked variations. The boundary of the slope is shallower in the northern portion (about 1450 m in the vicinity of the Indus) than in the southern region (2900 m off Bombay).

The steep slope off the Gulf of Kachchh has relatively smooth physiography due to higher input of fluvial sediment and burial of structures. The gentler slope off Saurashtra and the Bombay High area has numerous complex features, the most prominent among them being benches at depths of 180–230 m (width 2–10 km) and 650–780 m and a series of bathymetric highs and lows. Slope breaks are also observed between 400 and 600 m off Bombay and between 560 and 960 m off Saurashtra. These features are surface manifestations of the anticlinal features extending along the shelf in this region. Unevenness (order of 100–300 m) due to slumping is also observed at the base of the slope.

Based on the correlation between tectonic structures of this area and these subphysiographic features, extension of the Saurashtra Anticline onto the slope, a new strike slip fault (the southern boundary fault of Narmada graben) and an along‐shelf anticlinal structure off Saurashtra are delineated.     

A comparison of the NW European glaciated margin with other glaciated margins

The present paper provides an overview of glacial related seabed features and sedimentary sequences found along the formerly glaciated NW European margin and compare it with those found on contemporary glaciated margins from both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. A brief review of the seabed physiography and strata architecture of the margins under consideration is followed by comparison of the most relevant similarities and differences. Comparison of the present-day bathymetric setting of both former and contemporary glaciated margins reveals no clear link to the effect of neither ice sheet or sediment load. Three different types of glacially eroded shelf transverse troughs have been identified, while marginal troughs seem connected to similar geological settings everywhere. Beyond the shelf edge interaction between downslope and alongslope processes has occurred resulting, amongst others, in the formation of large sedimentary mounds on the rise. More frequent large-scale mass wasting occurs on the former glaciated NW European margin than the Greenland and Antarctic margins in the latest Neogene to recent times. A two-stage evolution of the shelf prograding wedges is observed on all margins under consideration, which may reflect a general development of an ice cover from an initial phase of non- to restricted glaciation, evolving to a mature stage of expansive glaciation.     

Geological Characteristics and Distribution of Submarine Physiographic Features in the Taiwan Region

The sea floor topography around Taiwan is characterized by the asymmetry of its shallow and flat shelves to the west and markedly deep troughs and basins to the south and east. Tectonics and sedimentation are major controls in forming the submarine physiographic features around Taiwan. Three Pliocene-Quaternary shelves are distributed north and west of Taiwan: East China Sea Shelf (passive margin shelf), the Taiwan Strait Shelf (foreland shelf), and Kaoping Shelf (island shelf) from north to south parallel to the strike of Taiwan orogen. Off northeastern Taiwan major morpho/tectonic features associated with plate subduction include E-W trending Ryukyu Trench, Yaeyama accretionary wedge, forearc basins, the Ryukyu Arcs, and the backarc basin of southern Okinawa Trough. Off eastern Taiwan lies the deep Huatung Basin on the Philippine Sea plate with a relatively flat floor, although several large submarine canyons are eroding and crossing the basin floor. Off southeastern Taiwan, the forearc region of the Luzon Arc has been deformed into five alternating N-S trending ridges and troughs during initial arc-continent collision. Among them, the submarine Hengchun Ridge is the seaward continuation of the Hengchun peninsula in southern Taiwan. Off southwestern Taiwan, the broad Kaoping Slope is the major submarine topographic feature with several noticeable submarine canyons. The Penghu Canyon separates this slope from the South China Sea Slope to the west and merges southwards into the Manila Trench in the northern South China Sea. Although most of sea floors of the Taiwan Strait are shallower than 60?m in water depth, there are three noticeable bathymetric lows and two highs in the Taiwan Strait. There exists a close relationship between hydrography and topography in the Taiwan Strait. The circulation of currents in the Taiwan Strait is strongly influenced by seasonal monsoon and semidiurnal tides. The Penghu Channel-Yunchang Ridge can be considered a modern tidal depositional system. The Taiwan Strait shelf has two phases of development. The early phase of the rift margin has developed during Paleoocene-Miocene and it has evolved to the foreland basin in Pliocene-Quaternary time. The present shelf morphology results mainly from combined effects of foreland subsidence and modern sedimentation overprinting that of the Late Pleistocene glaciation about 15,000 years ago.