Deterioration of the volcanic kerb and pavement stones in a humid environment in the city centre of Izmir, Turkey

?zmir is the third largest city in Turkey and has being the centre of art, culture, tourism and trade activities throughout the 5,000 years of its history. Natural stones brought from different parts of the world have been widely used for construction of the prestigious buildings, monuments and roads etc., in the past in the city. Renovation of the street pavements and public gathering areas in the city centre has been undertaken by the Metropolitan Municipality in 2000 and continued through the year of 2001. These renovation activities have mainly been carried out in the streets running parallel to the sea shore. Volcanic rocks brought from the Central Anatolia Ankara-Gölba?? (andesites) and Kayseri-?ncesu (tuffs) have been used in the renovation works. These rocks have shown extensive deteriorations within 4 years of their usage between 2001 and 2005 under the influence of different environmental factors. In this study, the deteriorations developed in the recently placed volcanic rocks used as kerb and pavement stones in the city centre of ?zmir in the light of their mineralogical, chemical, physical and mechanical properties, used locations and the environmental factors are presented.     

Cacti–shrub interactions in the coastal desert of northern Sinaloa, Mexico

Spatial patterns and replacement in ten cacti were studied on an island of the coastal desert of Sinaloa, México. Four platyopuntias had 74–92% of their individuals beneath shrub canopies, whereas three globose cacti, one columnar cactus and two cylindropuntias had similar or higher percentages of individuals in open spaces. This study advances the idea that open-space colonization is enhanced by less harsh physical and biotic conditions in coastal deserts, and by certain morphological and physiological adaptations of cacti. The absence of nurse-shrub replacement is understood as a result of induced co-existence by physical damage from cyclones in the coastal zone.     

Organic litter: dominance over stones as a source of interrill flow roughness on low‐gradient desert slopes at Fowlers Gap,arid western NSW,Australia

Thirty‐six runoff plot experiments provide data on flow depths, speeds, and Darcy–Weisbach friction coefficients (f) on bare soil surfaces, and surfaces to which were added sufficient extra plant litter or surface stones to provide projected cover of 5, 10 and 20 per cent. Precision flow depth data were derived with a computer‐controlled gantry and needle gauge for two different discharges for each plot treatment. Taking a fixed flow intensity (Reynolds number, Re = 150) for purposes of comparison shows means of f = 17·7 for bare soil surfaces, f = 11·4 for added stone treatments, and f = 23·8 for added litter treatments. Many individual values of f for stone treatments are lower than for the bare soil surface, but all litter treatments show increases in fcompared to bare soil. The lowering of f in stone treatments relates to the submerged volume that the stones occupied, and the associated concentration of flow onto a smaller part of the plot surface. This leads to locally higher flow intensities and lower frictional drag along threads of flow that the obstacles create. Litter causes higher frictional drag because the particles are smaller, and, for the same cover fraction, are 100 times more numerous and provide 20 times the edge or perimeter length. Along these edges, which in total exceed 2·5 m g^?1 (equivalent to 500 m m^?2 for a loading of 2 t ha^?1), surface tension draws up water from between the litter particles. This reduces flow depth there, and as a consequence of the lower flow intensity, frictional drag rises. Furthermore, no clear passage remains for the establishment of flow threads. These findings apply to shallow interrill flows in which litter is largely immobile. The key new result from these experiments is that under these conditions, a 20 per cent cover of organic litter can generate interrill frictional retardation that exceeds by nearly 41 per cent that of a bare soil surface, and twice that contributed by the same cover fraction of surface stones. Even greater dominance by litter can be anticipated at the many dryland sites where litter covers exceed those tested here. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Growth response of the saltbush Atriplex nummularia L. to inoculation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices

Plantlets of Atriplex nummularia were inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices in a pot experiment. Plants were grown in a low P soil. Highly significant growth response of a Chenopodiaceae was recorded for the first time. Mycorrhizal colonization of roots was well developed, internal hyphae and vesicles were observed, but not arbuscules. These observations suggest that arbuscules are not necessary to obtain significant growth stimulation from mycorrhizal inoculation. Atriplex nummularia is already used as forage crops, its high mycorrhizal dependency offers possibilities to develop this production and revegetation strategies.     

Temporal replication of the national land cover database using active machine learning

Regional and national level land cover datasets, such as the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) in the United States, have become an important resource in physical and social science research. Updates to the NLCD have been conducted every 5 years since 2001; however, the procedure for producing a new release is labor-intensive and time-consuming, taking 3 or 4 years to complete. Furthermore, in most countries very few, if any, such releases exist, and thus there is high demand for efficient production of land cover data at different points in time. In this paper, an active machine learning framework for temporal updating (or backcasting) of land cover data is proposed and tested for three study sites covered by the NLCD. The approach employs a maximum entropy classifier to extract information from one Landsat image using the NLCD, and then replicate the classification on a Landsat image for the same geographic extent from a different point in time to create land cover data of similar quality. Results show that this framework can effectively replicate the land cover database in the temporal domain with similar levels of overall and within class agreement when compared against high resolution reference land cover datasets. These results demonstrate that the land cover information encapsulated in the NLCD can effectively be extracted using solely Landsat imagery for replication purposes. The algorithm is fully automated and scalable for applications at landscape and regional scales for multiple points in time.     

Niveo-aeolian deposits and denivation forms,with special reference to the great Kobuk Sand Dunes,Northwestern Alaska

The geomorphology, lithology and chronostratigraphy of extensive, late Pleistocene inland and river dune sands, aeolian sand sheets (‘cover sands’) and loess deposits of periglacial origin in northwestern Europe are well known. However, the idea that some of these aeolian sediments result from niveo-aeolian processes is still an open question, as no diagnostic sedimentary features have yet been reported. Moreover, actual niveo-aeolian sediments and related denivation forms, reported from various cold-climate regions, are not suitable analogues. Recent observations in active dune fields in northwestern Alaska indicate that interstratification of wind-driven snow and sand preferentially occurs on slip faces of transverse, barchanoid or parabolic dune ridges. Annual denivation forms develop: e.g. snow ramparts, sinkholes, snow hummocks, snow meltwater fans and tensional cracks. The surface consists of a cracked wet sand layer with a dimpled surface and spongy structure. Although the preservation potential of these features is low in this specific case, similar features may be observed in ancient sediments elsewhere and provide useful palaeoclimatic indicators. The niveo-aeolian concept should therefore not specifically be related to late Pleistocene cover sand deposition in northwestern Europe, as previously assumed.     

逆断裂在浅部松散层中的破裂传播方式

根据实际资料分析研究，逆断裂破裂位错向上传播至松散层中有４种消减形式：端部分叉、从断裂向褶皱转换、破裂在松散层中的吸收与尖灭及逆断层前方碎砾物质的扰动变形等。端部分叉与扰动变形的消减可能与突发性位错相关；上覆层的褶皱及位错在松散层中的尖灭则多属弹－塑转换型的消减方式     

云南省40年降水的基本特征

根据云南省１９５１－１９９０年１８个站的降水资料，用正交函数展开，由方差贡献最大的前三个特征向量场分析了云南省降水距平均的典型分布，指出云南省全省范围内的降水距平同号较少发生，而是较多的发一降水距平异号。进而分析了四十年降水的年际变化特征，并分析了青藏高原积雪对云南降水的影响。     

北极海冰面积变化与大气遥相关型

本文综述了北极海注面积变化与大气遥相关型研究工作中的一些主要结果。诊断分析表明，北极海冰面积变化具有３－４年的振荡周期，大气中的遥相关型不仅与海冰面积变化的区域有关，还与海冰面积的振荡频率有关。海冰面积变化与大气遥相关型是互相维持的，一方的加强有利于另一方的加强，本文最后还对北极海冰和赤道中，东太平洋海温对北半年冬半年中纬度大气环流影响的相似性等问题进行了讨论。     

辽东半岛南部早古生代馒头组—冶里组沉积盆地演化

辽东半岛南部早古生代地层发育,其中馒头组—冶里组的沉积过程,具有完整的陆源碎屑岩—碳酸盐岩堆积特点。从层序划分、沉积环境演化、古气候变迁等方面分析,馒头组—冶里组反映了一个完整的碳酸盐岩台地的发展过程,可划分出准备阶段（形成碎屑岩垫板）、生长—发育阶段（形成碳酸盐岩缓坡）及衰亡阶段（发育白云岩盖层）。