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1.
本文根据类似荒漠境况的出现是判断荒漠化发生与否的重要标志这一原则,并结合在中国南方开展的一些研究,对湿润地区的荒漠化进行了初步的探讨。研究表明,湿润地区的荒漠化并不包含所有存在侵蚀作用的退化土地,而专指人为侵蚀作用导致的出现了具类似荒漠境况的退化土地。中国南方湿润地区土地荒漠化分布最显著的特征为斑点状分布于丘陵山区或河、湖、海滨的冲积平原,面积为1．98×105km2,其中流水作用导致的荒漠化面积为1．78×105km2,风力作用的为0．11×105km2,其它0．09×105km2。自然因素,特别是气候和地貌因素对荒漠化的形成和发展起着积极的影响作用,但不是决定作用。人为不合理的经济活动,才是造成荒漠化的主要原因。文章最后还简要介绍了湿润地区荒漠化的防治问题。 相似文献
2.
关于黄土线与黄河河道发育的问题[1], 笔者很欣幸地得到王乃楔先生提出的宝贵意见[2]并基本上同意黄土是流水堆积的看法。 相似文献
3.
科学分析人为因素在沙漠化过程中的作用是沙漠化研究的关键问题之一。研究普遍认为,人为因素是当前沙漠化的主要原因,滥垦、滥牧、滥樵是其主导因素,其中尤以滥垦的作用为主。现以西藏中部雅鲁藏布江流域为研究区域,探讨人为因素在沙漠化过程中的作用。回土地沙漠化现状区内有沙漠化土地314．IX104m2,占区域面积13．l％,其中轻度、中度和重度沙漠化土地分别为133．9X104m2,164．4X104m2和15．8x104m2。区内沙漠化土地分布广泛且又相对集中,并造成了多方面危害,计有2．88X104m2耕地、331．28X10‘hln‘草地、462个村庄、292．3kin公路、186．0k 相似文献
4.
中国高度重视天然气水合物资源的调查研究。自上世纪90年代中期开始先后经历了资源预测、调查、试采三个发展阶段,迄今已在南海神狐、东沙、琼东南、台西南斜坡及祁连山木里地区发现水合物样品5处,在南海、东海冲绳海槽及青藏高原发现地质、地球物理、地球化学等赋存标志7处,显示出良好的资源前景。综合多位学者的估算结果,中国天然气水合物的资源量约126×1012m3,是中国常规天然气资源量的2倍,资源潜力巨大。自2011年起,先后在祁连山木里地区和南海神狐地区进行了5次天然气水合物试验性开采,累计产气量达117×104m3,且使得位于“金字塔”塔基且规模巨大的细粒储层中的水合物也有可能成为开发利用对象。中国是能源短缺国家,如何尽快开发利用这一规模巨大的潜在能源,需要全方位、多层次地开展各项调查研究,并进行技术、经济和环境评价,加快商业化开发进程,使这一潜在能源能在不久的将来真正造福于社会。 相似文献
5.
硅铋石是一种极为罕见的铋的硅酸盐矿物,本次报道的天然硅铋石产于我国内蒙古自治区东乌旗朝不楞矽卡岩型铁多金属矿床中,附生在蔷薇辉石晶洞或裂隙中的透闪石纤维上。常见四面体{111}及三角三四面体晶形,一般粒径为0.07～0.15mm,颜色多为浅黄色,透明,玻璃光泽,性脆,条痕为无色,维氏硬度VHN（100g）=487～583kg/mm2,平均535kg/mm2,摩氏硬度5,计算密度7.11g/cm3,计算折射率N=2.15。矿物化学分子式为Bi4Si3O12。X射线衍射强线[d（Å）（I）]为4.26（85）、3.29（100）、2.77（79）、2.11（45）和1.67（33）,结构精修晶胞参数a=10.116（2）Å,V=1035.2（7）Å3,空间群为I43d,Z=4。本文还对硅铋石的成因进行了初步探讨。 相似文献
6.
为了研究祁连山大雪山地区大气PM2.5细粒子中可溶性无机离子组分的变化特征, 于2010年7月至2011年7月在祁连山冰川与生态环境综合观测站附近采集46个大气PM2.5的Telfon滤膜样品, 并应用离子色谱对可溶性离子进行了分析.结果显示: 所测样品的阴、 阳离子中, SO42-、 NO-3、 Ca2+和NH+4的质量浓度分别为1.54μg·m-3、 0.38μg·m-3、 0.73μg·m-3和0.22μg·m-3, 累计约占到水溶性离子总量的88%.可溶性离子浓度呈现出春夏季节明显高于秋冬季节的特征, 夏季的浓度最高, 其次是春季、 冬季和秋季. Cl-、 Ca2+、 Na+和Mg2+之间的相关性极高, SO42-和NO-3与大部分阳离子的相关性都很高, 说明大部分硫酸盐是来自于中亚沙尘源区的自然源, 而并非是通过人类活动造成的一次污染物通过二次反应过程得到的. NH+4仅与SO42-通过相关性检验说明, 该地区NH3主要中和了大气中硫酸并生成(NH4)2SO4.该地区的大气环境主要来源于自然源的影响, 但夏季风期间人为污染排放已经不可忽视, 这也得到HYSPLIT后向轨迹模式的计算验证. 相似文献
7.
绿洲防护林系统的最优控制模式及其应用研究 总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3
以河西地区绿洲防护林系统为研究对象，分析了防护林资源分布的时空特征及建群种的增长动态，运用生物控制理论，构建了防护林区生物资源管理的最大持续产量模型、生态经济意义下的最优控制模型及多资源种群控制模型。根据有关模型和试验观测结果，确定了防护林建群种的资源保护指标、生态经济意义下的最优种群水平和人工调控措施。该防护林主要建群种二白杨胸径的保护指标为 k/2＝18．22cm，在不同成本与价格比下计算了主要建群种二白杨胸径指标的个最优控制量。估算了防护林系统的生态需水量，其中农田生态需水量为 1 796 m3/hm2，固沙林和阻沙防护林生态需水量为57 100m3/hm2，并提出了相应的持续发展对策。 相似文献
8.
长江三角洲水环境水资源研究 总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7
长江三角洲包括三角洲平原及周边丘陵山地,天然的水环境良好,多年平均当地水资源量为537.79×108m3,长江干流多年平均过境水量9730×108m3,水资源丰富。目前,长江总体水质尚好,主泓水质多为Ⅱ类,沿岸部分具有Ⅲ类水。太湖是上海、苏州、无锡的主要饮用水源,但水质一直在下降,总体为Ⅲ类水(占70%),Ⅱ类水仅占15%,其他河道、小湖泊均为Ⅳ类和Ⅴ类水。钱塘江水系以Ⅱ类、Ⅲ类水为主。京杭运河为Ⅴ类、劣Ⅴ类水。随着人口增加、城镇扩展和乡镇企业快速发展,水环境污染日趋严重,清洁淡水水源日益缩减。长江三角洲平原地区出现水质性缺水,浙东宁波舟山主要是缺乏工程调剂用水。文章建议:1)应用GIS技术,作流域性水环境水资源模型,以解决平原水网区水质、水量的调控、决策和管理;2)浙东缺水区需从全省范围规划建设大区域水利工程,解决供水,避免各县市单独、分散局部规划建设;3)三角洲的洪涝灾害主要是不合理开发引起的。建议按水系自然规律整治河道,去除障碍,减少淤积,降低水位,让洪水流量有畅通去路,同时配合非工程防洪措施以综合防治洪水灾害。长江三角洲由于水环境污染造成的水质性缺水提供了人们研究人和自然环境和谐地相关发展的一个最好例证。 相似文献
9.
【研究目的】地热资源特征研究及开发潜力分析是开发区域地热资源的重要依据。【研究方法】本文将前人研究成果与最新钻井资料相结合,通过对沧县隆起北部地区地热地质背景、热储分布、地温场特征、水化学资源类型等主要因素进行剖析,建立了该区的地热成藏模式。【研究结果】沧县隆起北部地区是在渤海湾伸展型沉积盆地高大地热流值背景下,由北部燕山裸露区基岩接受的大气降水作为近源补给水源,进入基岩的冷水在深层循环过程中受到深部热源加热增温,沿断裂破碎带和不整合面向上运移富集,形成的以传导型传热机制为主的地热系统。【结论】本区地热资源特点为热储类型多、盖层地温梯度高、补给速度快、资源量巨大。主要表现为：区内分布馆陶组砂岩热储,奥陶系、蓟县系雾迷山组岩溶热储三套主力热水储集层;地温场分布主要受基底构造形态控制,基岩凸起区的平均地温梯度为45℃/km;地下水类型随着埋深的增加由HCO3-Na、HCO3·SO4-Na型水向成熟的Cl-Na型水过渡;本区内三套热储的可采地热资源量为1.67×1010GJ,折合标煤5.72×108t,年可开采地热资源量可满足供暖面积2亿m2,若在采灌平衡的条件下,沧县隆起北部地区年可采地热资源量为7.06×107GJ,折合标煤2.41×106t,可满足供暖面积0.85亿m2,具有良好的地热市场开发前景。 相似文献
10.
贵阳市及邻近地区地表和地下水的化学与Sr同位素组成变化反映了典型喀斯特地区地表/地下水文系统的水-岩反应和城市污染特征:水体中的化学溶解物质主要来源于碳酸盐岩(石灰岩和白云岩)的风化作用和膏岩层的溶解,其次为人为污染物的输入;污染物以K+,Na+,Cl-,SO2-4,NO-3为主,枯水期因大气降水补给小而受人为活动影响较大;丰水期和枯水期地表/地下水的化学组成变化说明地表/地下水交换活跃,地下水环境容易受到人为活动影响。 相似文献
11.
Interaction between aeolian, fluvial and playa environments in the Permian Upper Rotliegend Group, UK southern North Sea 总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7
Sweet 《Sedimentology》1999,46(1):171-187
The Permian Upper Rotliegend Group in offshore UK Quadrants 42, 43, 47 and 48 comprises a sequence of mixed aeolian/fluvial/playa deposits. These deposits are up to 300 m thick and contain a record of the interaction between desert fluvial systems and adjacent aeolian and playa environments. The relative dominance of water vs. wind transport and deposition in this stratigraphic package was a function of fluctuations in the discharge of ephemeral fluvial systems and changes in water table/playa level driven by a combination of climatic change and syndepositional tectonics. The Rotliegend sedimentary record is punctuated by numerous surfaces recording erosion by wind and water. The origin of these surfaces is mostly climatic, with periods of increased runoff resulting in fluvial incision, especially near active faults. During periods of reduced runoff, wind erosion of fluvial deposits occurred, with fluvially derived sand being reworked into expanding aeolian dune fields. Wind erosion also occurred as a rising water table isolated dunes from their sediment supply, resulting in deflation of dunes down to the water table. These surfaces formed in a basin that was subsiding. Thus, even in a background of overall increasing accommodation space, climatically driven falls in the water table allowed for periods of erosion. The occurrence of significant erosion, especially near syndepositional fault zones, resulted in a sedimentary record that shows pronounced lateral as well as vertical facies variations. 相似文献
12.
Aeolian sand transport during winter and the snow-free season was assessed quantitatively by direct year-round field measurements along transects on the lee side of parabolic dunes in subarctic Québec. In 1987–1988, niveo-aeolian deposition was more important than aeolian sedimentation in three of the four study sites, and contributed > 75% of the total annual accumulation in exposed sites and < 25% in protected forest sites. The maximum depth of interstratified snow and sand deposits (3.5 m) was recorded in March. Semi-permanent snow lenses may persist longer than 2 years in the aeolian sediments. After dissipation of snow, 22 cm of sand (as a maximum) accumulated on the slipface of the most active dunes, whereas only minor sand accumulation occurred in distant areas from active sand erosion. Wind-driven sand was dispersed over 7.4 km2 in the Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik area. The acumulation of snow and sand during the snow season, together with spring thaw and collapse of the niveo-aeolian deposit, caused different types of injuries to trees, especially in 1985 and 1987 when a maximum of torn branches was recorded over the last 10 year period. 相似文献
13.
14.
This paper describes aspects of the 1988 Orange River flood. The Orange River is a perennial, bedrock-controlled river which experienced severe flooding (flood peak: 8300 m3 s-1) during February-April of 1988. This flood resulted in the loss of life and damage in excess of $126 million. Negligible bank erosion took place in the main channel margins due to the stabilizing effect of tree-lined banks. In contrast, areas removed from the channel margin were characterized by erosion and deposition. Within the confines of the natural flood channels, macroturbulence gave rise to scour holes which sometimes amalgamated into large erosion fields acres in extent. In many cases scour holes were present but macroturbulence-originating obstacles were not, and it is suggested that these were removed by flood-erosion processes. In some instances amalgamation of scour-hole trails (orientated down-current) led to the formation of steep-sided flood channels. Deposition took the form of large sandsheets constructed from fluvial-dune fields and braid-bar accumulations. Post-flood winds reworked some of the deposited sand into aeolian dunes. 相似文献
15.
JUAN PEDRO RODRÍGUEZ‐LÓPEZ NIEVES MELÉNDEZ POPPE L.
De BOER ANA ROSA SORIA 《Sedimentology》2010,57(5):1315-1356
Aeolian processes and ephemeral water influx from the Variscan Iberian Massif to the mid‐Cretaceous outer back‐erg margin system in eastern Iberia led to deposition and erosion of aeolian dunes and the formation of desert pavements. Remains of aeolian dunes encased in ephemeral fluvial deposits (aeolian pods) demonstrate intense erosion of windblown deposits by sudden water fluxes. The alternating activity of wind and water led to a variety of facies associations such as deflation lags, desert pavements, aeolian dunes, pebbles scattered throughout dune strata, aeolian sandsheets, aeolian deposits with bimodal grain‐size distributions, mud playa, ephemeral floodplain, pebble‐sand and cobble‐sand bedload stream, pebble–cobble‐sand sheet flood, sand bedload stream, debris flow and hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Sediment in this desert system underwent transport by wind and water and reworking in a variety of sub‐environments. The nearby Variscan Iberian Massif supplied quartzite pebbles as part of mass flows. Pebbles and cobbles were concentrated in deflation lags, eroded and polished by wind‐driven sands (facets and ventifacts) and incorporated by rolling into the toesets of aeolian dunes. The back‐erg depositional system comprises an outer back‐erg close to the Variscan highlands, and an inner back‐erg close to the central‐erg area. The inner back‐erg developed on a structural high and is characterized by mud playa deposits interbedded with aeolian and ephemeral channel deposits. In the inner back‐erg area ephemeral wadis, desiccated after occasional floods, were mud cracked and overrun episodically by aeolian dunes. Subsequent floods eroded the aeolian dunes and mud‐cracked surfaces, resulting in largely structureless sandstones with boulder‐size mudstone intraclasts. Floods spread over the margins of ephemeral channels and eroded surrounding aeolian dunes. The remaining dunes were colonized occasionally by plants and their roots penetrated into the flooded aeolian sands. Upon desiccation, deflation resulted in lags of coarser‐grained sediments. A renewed windblown supply led to aeolian sandsheet accumulation in topographic wadi depressions. Synsedimentary tectonics caused the outer back‐erg system to experience enhanced generation of accommodation space allowing the accumulation of aeolian dune sands. Ephemeral water flow to the outer back‐erg area supplied pebbles, eroded aeolian dunes, and produced hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Fluidization and liquefaction generated gravel pockets and recumbent folds. Dune damming after sporadic rains (the case of the Namib Desert), monsoonal water discharge (Thar Desert) and meltwater fluxes from glaciated mountains (Taklamakan Desert) are three potential, non‐exclusive analogues for the ephemeral water influx and the generation of hyperconcentrated flows in the Cretaceous desert margin system. An increase in relief driven by the Aptian anti‐clockwise rotation of Iberia, led to an altitude sufficient for the development of orographic rains and snowfall which fed (melt)water fluxes to the desert margin system. Quartzite conglomerates and sands, dominantly consisting of quartz and well‐preserved feldspar grains which are also observed in older Cretaceous strata, indicate an arid climate and the mechanical weathering of Precambrian and Palaeozoic metamorphic sediments and felsic igneous rocks. Unroofing of much of the cover of sedimentary rocks in the Variscan Iberian Massif must therefore have taken place in pre‐Cretaceous times. 相似文献
16.
M. L. PORTER 《Sedimentology》1987,34(4):661-680
The Lower Jurassic Aztec Sandstone is an aeolian-deposited quartzose sandstone that represents the western margin of the southerly-migrating Navajo-Nugget sand sea (or erg). Vertical and lateral facies relations suggest that the erg margin encroached upon volcanic highlands, alluvial fan, wadi and sabkha environments. In southern Nevada, 700 m thick facies successions record the arrival of the Aztec sand sea. Initial erg sedimentation in the Valley of Fire consists of lenticular or tongue-shaped aeolian sand bodies interstratified with fluvially-deposited coarse sandstone and mudstone. Above, evaporite-rich fine sandstone and mudstone are overlain by thick, cross-stratified aeolian sandstone that shows an upsection increase in set thickness. The lithofacies succession represents aeolian sand sheets and small dunes that migrated over a siliciclastic sabkha traversed by ephemeral wadis. These deposits were ultimately buried by large dunes and draas of the erg. In the Spring Mountains, a similar facies succession also contains thin, lenticular volcaniclastic conglomerate and sandstone. These sediments represent the distal margin of an alluvial fan complex sourced from the west. Thin aeolian sequences are interbedded with volcanic flow rocks, ash-flow tuffs, debris flows, and fluvial deposits in the Mojave Desert of southern California. These aeolian strata represent erg migration up the eastern flanks of a magmatic arc. The westward diminution of aeolian-deposited units may reflect incomplete erg migration, thin accumulation of aeolian sediment succeptible to erosion, and stratigraphic dilution by arc-derived sediment. A two-part division of the Aztec erg is suggested by lithofacies associations, the size and geometry of aeolian cross-strata, and sediment dispersal data. The leading or downwind margin of the erg, here termed the fore-erg, is represented by a 10–100 m thick succession of isolated pods, lenses, and tongues of aeolian-deposited sediment encased in fluvial and sabkha deposits. Continued sand-sea migration brought large dunes and draas of the erg interior into the study area; these 150–500 m thick central-erg sediments buried the fore-erg deposits. The trailing, upwind margin of the erg is represented by back-erg deposits in northern Utah and Wyoming. 相似文献
17.
Aeolian dune fields characterized by partly vegetated bedforms undergoing active construction and with interdune depressions that lie at or close to the water table are widespread on Skei?arársandur, Southern Iceland. The largest aeolian dune complex on the sandur covers an area of 80 km2 and is characterized by four distinct landform types: (i) spatially isolated aeolian dunes; (ii) extensive areas of damp and wet (flooded) interdune flat with small fluvial channels; (iii) small aeolian dune fields composed of assemblages of bedforms with simple morphologies and small, predominantly damp, interdune corridors; and (iv) larger aeolian dune fields composed of assemblages of complex bedforms floored by older aeolian dune deposits that are themselves raised above the level of the surrounding wet sandur plain. The morphology of each of these landform areas reflects a range of styles of interaction between aeolian dune, interdune and fluvial processes that operate coevally on the sandur surface. The geometry, scale, orientation and facies composition of sets of strata in the cores of the aeolian dunes, and their relationship to adjoining interdune strata, have been analysed to explain the temporal behaviour of the dunes in terms of their mode of initiation, construction, pattern of migration, style of accumulation and nature of preservation. Seasonal and longer‐term flooding‐induced changes in water table level have caused episodic expansion and contraction of the wet interdune ponds. Most of the dunes are currently undergoing active construction and migration and, although sediment availability is limited because of the high water table, substantial aeolian transport must occur, especially during winter months when the surface of the wet interdune ponds is frozen and sand can be blown across the sandur without being trapped by surface moisture. Bedforms within the larger dune fields have grown to a size whereby formerly damp interdune flats have been reduced to dry enclosed depressions and dry aeolian system accumulation via bedform climb is ongoing. Despite regional uplift of the proximal sandur surface in response to glacial retreat and unloading over the past century, sediment compaction‐induced subsidence of the distal sandur is progressively placing aeolian deposits below the water table and is enabling the accumulation of wet aeolian systems and increasing the likelihood of their long‐term preservation. Wet, dry and stabilizing aeolian system types all co‐exist on Skei?arársandur and the dunes are variously undergoing coeval construction, accumulation, bypass, stabilization and destruction as a result of interactions between localized factors. 相似文献
18.
Fluvial-aeolian interactions: Part I, modern systems 总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4
R. P. LANGFORD 《Sedimentology》1989,36(6):1023-1035
Two modern fluvial-aeolian depositional systems (Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado and the Mojave River Wash, California) are remarkably similar in spite of different climates, sizes, fluvial sediment textures, and relative directions of aeolian and fluvial transport. Dune growth and migration, and deflation of blowouts create 8–10 m of local relief in unflooded aeolian landscapes. There are six prominent fluvial-aeolian interactions. (1) Fluvial flow extends into the aeolian system until it is dammed by aeolian landforms; (2) interdune areas (overbank-interdunes) upstream of aeolian dams, and alongside channels are flooded; (3) water erodes dunes alongside channels and interdunes; (4) flood waters deposit sediment in interdune areas; (5) fluvially derived groundwater floods interdunes (interdune-playas); (6) wind erodes fluvial sediment and redeposits it in the aeolian system. Unique and characteristic sediments are deposited in overbank-interdunes and in interdune-playas, reflecting alternate fluvial and aeolian processes and rapidly changing flow and salinity conditions. These fluvial-aeolian interdune deposits are characterized by irregular, concave-up bases and flat upper surfaces containing mudcracks or evaporite cement. Characteristic low-relief surfaces form in aeolian systems as an effect of flooding. Fluvial deposits are resistant to aeolian deflation. Aeolian sand is preserved when flood sediments are deposited around the bases of the dunes. Thus repetitive fluvial and aeolian aggradation tends to be ‘stepwise’ as interdune floors are suddenly raised during floods. The effects of flooding should be easy to recognize in ancient aeolianites, even beyond the area covered with overbank muds. 相似文献
19.
Based on a detailed sedimentological analysis of Lower Triassic continental deposits in the western Germanic sag Basin (i.e. the eastern part of the present‐day Paris Basin: the ‘Conglomérat basal’, ‘Grès vosgien’ and ‘Conglomérat principal’ Formations), three main depositional environments were identified: (i) braided rivers in an arid alluvial plain with some preserved aeolian dunes and very few floodplain deposits; (ii) marginal erg (i.e. braided rivers, aeolian dunes and aeolian sand‐sheets); and (iii) playa lake (an ephemeral lake environment with fluvial and aeolian sediments). Most of the time, aeolian deposits in arid environments that are dominated by fluvial systems are poorly preserved and particular attention should be paid to any sedimentological marker of aridity, such as wind‐worn pebbles (ventifacts), sand‐drift surfaces and aeolian sand‐sheets. In such arid continental environments, stratigraphic surfaces of allocyclic origin correspond to bounding surfaces of regional extension. Elementary stratigraphic cycles, i.e. the genetic units, have been identified for the three main continental environments: the fluvial type, fluvial–aeolian type and fluvial/playa lake type. At the time scale of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, these high‐frequency cycles of climatic origin are controlled either by the groundwater level in the basin or by the fluvial siliciclastic sediment input supplied from the highland. Lower Triassic deposits from the Germanic Basin are preserved mostly in endoreic basins. The central part of the basin is arid but the rivers are supplied with water by precipitation falling on the remnants of the Hercynian (Variscan)–Appalachian Mountains. Consequently, a detailed study of alluvial plain facies provides indications of local climatic conditions in the place of deposition, whereas fluvial systems only reflect climatic conditions of the upstream erosional catchments. 相似文献
20.
Architecture and morphodynamics of a 1·6 Ga fluvial sandstone: Ellice Formation of Elu Basin,Arctic Canada 
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下载免费PDF全文 Precambrian fluvial deposits have been traditionally described as architecturally simple, forming shallow and wide braidplains with sheet‐like geometry. The varied architecture and morphodynamics of the 1·6 Ga Ellice Formation of Elu Basin, Nunavut, Canada, are examined from detailed studies of section and planform exposures along coastal platforms and stepped cliffs. The Ellice Formation overlies older Proterozoic sandstones and Archean crystalline rocks, recording sedimentation in fluvial, aeolian, coastal and nearshore‐marine environments. The fluvial deposits display palaeoflow towards the west/north‐west, while overlying shallow‐marine deposits record transgression towards the east/south‐east. The Ellice Formation displays dispersed palaeoflow at its base, and also at higher stratigraphic levels, where fluvial and aeolian deposits are associated. Elsewhere, mainly unimodal palaeoflow points to extensive low‐sinuosity fluvial deposition. Within the terrestrial deposits, fluvial, fluvial–aeolian and coastal architectural elements are recognized. Fluvial elements comprise cross‐bedded sandstone and minor conglomerate, exhibiting an overall fining‐upward trend with associated decrease in preservation, dimension and amalgamation of channel bodies. These motifs are interpreted to portray a shift in depositional environment from proximal trunk rivers to distal alluvial plains. Low‐sinuosity fluvial elements are the most common, and include major channel bodies, elongate side bars and mid‐channel bars with well‐developed scroll topography. High‐sinuosity channel‐bar complexes exhibit upbar‐flow rotation and yield evidence of bar expansion coupled with rotation and translation. Fluvial–aeolian elements are composed of aeolian dunes juxtaposed with isolated channel bodies and bank‐attached bars. Minor mixed fluvial–aeolian sheets record local deposition in unconfined settings (possibly floodbasins) or inter‐distributary highlands. Finally, coastal elements comprise small deltaic complexes composed of sand‐rich distributary‐channel bodies feeding heterolithic mouth bars. Overall, the sedimentary record of the Ellice Formation demonstrates an example from the Precambrian where alluvium was locally characterized by a higher geomorphic variability than previously recognized. 相似文献