Preliminary organic petrography of Palaeozoic rocks from the Grand Banks,Newfoundland

Samples of lower Palaeozoic bedrock from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland were examined using reflected light microscopy and Rock-Eval pyrolysis. These samples contained organic material which included bitumen (structureless organic material), acritarchs, chitinozoa, scolecodonts and graptolites. The reflectance of the organic material increased from acritarchs towards graptolites with bitumen showing a wide range of reflectance. Multiple phases of oil migration through one sample were inferred by examination of the bitumens: the lowest reflecting being more recent than the highest reflecting bitumen. Combined reflectance and Rock-Eval analysis indicate that these samples are mature to overmature. The two oldest samples (Arenig-Llanvirn, Ordovician) are assessed as mature and as having potential for generation of liquid hydrocarbons, but must be considered as mainly gas prone.     

Peak discharge of a Pleistocene lava-dam outburst flood in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

The failure of a lava dam 165,000 yr ago produced the largest known flood on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. The Hyaloclastite Dam was up to 366 m high, and geochemical evidence linked this structure to outburst-flood deposits that occurred for 32 km downstream. Using the Hyaloclastite outburst-flood deposits as paleostage indicators, we used dam-failure and unsteady flow modeling to estimate a peak discharge and flow hydrograph. Failure of the Hyaloclastite Dam released a maximum 11 × 10⁹ m³ of water in 31 h. Peak discharges, estimated from uncertainty in channel geometry, dam height, and hydraulic characteristics, ranged from 2.3 to 5.3 × 10⁵ m³ s⁻¹ for the Hyaloclastite outburst flood. This discharge is an order of magnitude greater than the largest known discharge on the Colorado River (1.4 × 10⁴ m³ s⁻¹) and the largest peak discharge resulting from failure of a constructed dam in the USA (6.5 × 10⁴ m³ s⁻¹). Moreover, the Hyaloclastite outburst flood is the oldest documented Quaternary flood and one of the largest to have occurred in the continental USA. The peak discharge for this flood ranks in the top 30 floods (>10⁵ m³ s⁻¹) known worldwide and in the top ten largest floods in North America.     

Late Quaternary Spring-Fed Deposits of the Grand Canyon and Their Implication for Deep Lava-Dammed Lakes

One of the most intriguing episodes in the Quaternary evolution of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, Arizona, was the development of vast lakes that are thought to have backed up behind lava erupted into the gorge. Stratigraphic evidence for these deep lava-dammed lakes is expectedly sparse. Possible lacustrine deposits at six areas in the eastern canyon yielded no compelling evidence for sediment deposited in a deep lake. At two of the sites the sediment was associated with late Quaternary spring-fed pools and marshes. Water-lain silt and sand at lower Havasu Creek was deposited 3000 cal yr ago. The deposit contains an ostracode assemblage similar to that living in the modern travertine-dammed pools adjacent to the outcrop. The second deposit, at Lees Ferry, formed in a spring-fed marsh 43,000 cal yr ago, as determined by ¹⁴C and amino acid geochronology. It contains abundant ostracode and mollusk fossils, the richest assemblages reported from the Grand Canyon to date. Our interpretation of these sediments as spring-fed deposits, and their relative youth, provides an alternative to the conventional view that deposits like these were formed in deep lava-dammed lakes that filled the Grand Canyon.     

京杭大运河保护地理信息系统建设研究

京杭大运河是独特的超大型文化遗产,其保护工作面临着复杂的形势和问题,需要新的理论方法和技术手段支持。以地理信息系统（GIS）,遥感（RS）,全球定位系统（GPS）为核心的空间信息技术在空间信息获取、处理、管理和分析上有着强大的优势。本文根据空间信息科学和文化遗产保护理论,结合京杭大运河保护实际业务需求,探讨了基于空间信息技术的京杭大运河保护地理信息系统的建设思路和建设方法,设计和开发了京杭大运河保护地理信息系统并实际应用于京杭大运河历史文化环境保护工作中,产生了一系列专题研究成果。结果表明：空间信息技术可以为大运河保护提供强有力的技术支持和可靠保障。     

Grand canyon—a quantitative approach to the erosion and weathering of a stratified bedrock

A new method is proposed for solving a differential equation arising from weathering-limited development of a valley. Allowance is made for horizontal stratification and overhang can be allowed to develop. The model is applied to the Grand Canyon and comments are included on its relevance.     

国家大剧院深基坑地下水控制设计及施工技术

国家大剧院基坑地下水控制是大剧院工程的三大难题之一,也是专家们讨论的焦点。经过水文地质试验和充分论证,确定了地下水控制方案和施工方法,即采用反循环成井工艺施工引渗井,将上层滞水和潜水引渗到第一层承压含水层中消纳,保证第一步基坑开挖至-15 7m;在-15 7m位置采用连续墙阻隔第一层承压水,并使用旋挖钻机在槽内施工降水井,疏干槽内承压含水层并进行越流补给控制,保证基坑开挖至-26m;在歌剧院台仓局部加深部份(-32 5m),采用封闭布设减压井,解决基坑开挖和台仓地下结构施工时基坑突涌的问题;最后采用特殊的封井技术,将井管内高于槽底约10m的承压水头封堵在槽底以下0 5m,安全截断井管,保证了基础施工。     

Gullying and erosion control at archaeological sites in Grand Canyon,Arizona

Gully erosion of cultural sites in Grand Canyon National Park is an urgent management problem that has intensified in recent decades, potentially related to the effects of Glen Canyon Dam. We studied 25 gullies at nine sites in Grand Canyon over the 2002 monsoon–erosion season to better understand the geomorphology of the gully erosion and the effectiveness of erosion‐control structures (ECS) installed by the park under the direction of the Zuni Conservation Program. Field results indicate that Hortonian overland flow leads to concentrated flow in gullies and erosion focused at knickpoints along channels as well as at gully heads. Though groundcover type, soil shear strength and permeability vary systemat‐ically across catchments, gradient and, to a lesser degree, contributing drainage area seem to be the first‐order controls on gully extent, location of new knickpoints, and ECS damage. The installed ECS do reduce erosion relative to reaches without them and initial data suggest woody checkdams are preferable to rock linings, but maintenance is essential because damaged structures can exacerbate erosion. Topographic data from intensive field surveys and detailed photogrammetry provide slope–contributing area data for gully heads that have a trend consistent with previous empirical and theoretical formulations from a variety of landscapes. The same scaling holds below gully heads for knickpoint and ECS topographic data, with threshold coefficients the lowest for gully heads, slightly higher for knickpoints, and notably higher for damaged ECS. These topographic thresholds were used with 10‐cm digital elevation models to create simple predictive models for gully extent and structure damage. The model predictions accounted for the observed gullies but there are also many false‐positives. Purely topographical models are probably inadequate at this scale and application, but models that also parameterize the variable soil properties across sites would be useful for predicting erosion problems and ECS failure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupled changes in sand grain size and sand transport driven by changes in the upstream supply of sand in the Colorado River: Relative importance of changes in bed-sand grain size and bed-sand area

Sand transport in the Colorado River in Marble and Grand canyons was naturally limited by the upstream supply of sand. Prior to the 1963 closure of Glen Canyon Dam, the river exhibited the following four effects of sand supply limitation: (1) hysteresis in sediment concentration, (2) hysteresis in sediment grain size coupled to the hysteresis in sediment concentration, (3) production of inversely graded flood deposits, and (4) development or modification of a lag between the time of a flood peak and the time of either maximum or minimum (depending on reach geometry) bed elevation. Construction and operation of the dam has enhanced the degree to which the first two of these four effects are evident, and has not affected the degree to which the last two effects of sand supply limitation are evident in the Colorado River in Marble and Grand canyons. The first three of the effects involve coupled changes in suspended-sand concentration and grain size that are controlled by changes in the upstream supply of sand. During tributary floods, sand on the bed of the Colorado River fines; this causes the suspended sand to fine and the suspended-sand concentration to increase, even when the discharge of water remains constant. Subsequently, the bed is winnowed of finer sand, the suspended sand coarsens, and the suspended-sand concentration decreases independently of discharge. Also associated with these changes in sand supply are changes in the fraction of the bed that is covered by sand. Thus, suspended-sand concentration in the Colorado River is likely regulated by both changes in the bed-sand grain size and changes in the bed-sand area. A physically based flow and suspended-sediment transport model is developed, tested, and applied to data from the Colorado River to evaluate the relative importance of changes in the bed-sand grain size and changes in the bed-sand area in regulating suspended-sand concentration. Although the model was developed using approximations for steady, uniform flow, and other simplifications that are not met in the Colorado River, the results nevertheless support the idea that changes in bed-sand grain size are much more important than changes in bed-sand area in regulating the concentration of suspended sand.     

京杭大运河的功能与苏北运河段的发展利用*

京杭大运河历史时期的主要功能是运输和灌溉,增强军事防卫能力,维系政治统治,促进文化交流与经济发展。苏北段跨越黄淮平原和江淮平原,串联众多湖泊,北接鲁西南能源基地,南接经济发达的长江三角洲地区,是苏北地区重要的运输通道。在文献资料汇集整理和实地考察的基础上,提出当代大运河应充分发挥沟通乡镇、"北煤南运"及"南水北调"通道的作用,同时,还应在科学规划的基础上,发挥其历史文化遗迹、旅游民俗休闲与公众教育的功能。针对大运河苏北段水质污染、环境质量下降,航道堵塞及缺乏统一的管理机构等问题,建议加大水污染的防治力度,重视作为运河水源的湖泊水环境保护; 整治航道,在工程中注意保护运河沿岸文物; 成立大运河专门机构,统一规划部署; 加强运河航道管理以及协同地方政府与有关机构保护和利用大运河旅游资源,为申报世界遗产增强实力。