Holocene environments and climate in the Mongolian Altai reconstructed from the Hoton-Nur pollen and diatom records: a step towards better understanding climate dynamics in Central Asia   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Natalia Rudaya  Pavel Tarasov  Nadezhda Dorofeyuk  Nadia Solovieva  Ivan Kalugin  Andrei Andreev  Andrei Daryin  Bernhard Diekmann  Frank Riedel  Narantsetseg Tserendash  Mayke Wagner 《Quaternary Science Reviews》2009,28(5-6):540-554

This study presents the results of the palynological and diatom analyses of the sediment core recovered in Hoton-Nur Lake (48°37′18″N, 88°20′45″E, 2083 m) in 2004. Quantitative reconstruction of the Holocene vegetation and climate dynamics in the semiarid Mongolian Altai suggests that boreal woodland replaced the primarily open landscape of northwestern Mongolia at about 10 kyr BP (1 kyr = 1000 cal yr) in response to a noticeable increase in precipitation from 200–250 mm/yr to 450–550 mm/yr. A decline of the forest vegetation and a return to a predominance of open vegetation types occurred after 5 kyr BP when precipitation sums decreased to 250–300 mm/yr. Prior to 11.5 kyr BP diatom concentrations are relatively low and the lake is dominated by planktonic Cyclotella and small Fragilariaceae, suggesting the existence of a relatively deep and oligotrophic/mesotrophic lake. The great abundance of Staurosirella pinnata from the beginning of the record until 10.7 kyr BP might imply intensified erosion processes in the catchment and this is fully consistent with the presence of scarce and dry vegetation and the generally arid climate during this period. From about 10.7 kyr BP, more planktonic diatom taxa appeared and increased in abundance, indicating that the lake became more productive as diatom concentration increased. This change correlates well with the development of boreal woodland in the catchment. Decrease in precipitation and changes in the vegetation towards steppe are reflected by the rapid increase in Aulacoseira distans from about 5 kyr BP. The Holocene pollen and diatom records do not indicate soil and vegetation cover disturbances by the anthropogenic activities, implying that the main transformations of the regional vegetation occurred as a result of the natural climate change. Our reconstruction is in agreement with the paleomonsoon records from China, demonstrating an abrupt strengthening of the summer monsoon at 12 kyr BP and an associated increase in precipitation and in lake levels between 11 and 8 kyr BP, followed by the stepwise attenuation of the monsoon circulation and climate aridization towards the modern level. The records from the neighboring areas of Kazakhstan and Russia, situated west and north of Hoton-Nur, demonstrate spatially and temporally different Holocene vegetation and climate histories, indicating that the Altai Mountains as a climate boundary are of pivotal importance for the Holocene environmental and, possibly, habitation history of Central Asia.  相似文献   

Maximum entropy method: an unconventional approach to explore observables related to the electron density in phengites     

Marcello Merli  Alessandro Pavese  Nadia Curetti 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2009,36(1):19-28

The maximum entropy method (MEM) is used here to get an insight into the electron density [ρ(r)] of phengites 2M ₁ and 3T, paying special attention to the M1-formally empty site and charge distribution. Room temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction data have been used as experimental input for MEM. The results obtained by MEM have been compared with those from conventional structure refinement which, in turn, has provided the prior-electron density to start the entropy maximization process. MEM reveals a comparatively non-committal approach, able to produce information related to the M1-site fractional occupancy, and yields results consistent with those from the difference Fourier synthesis, but free of the uncertainties due to the abrupt truncation of the series. The charge distribution is investigated by means of the notion of ‘‘site basin’’, i.e., those site-centered volumes delimited by a surface such as ∇ρ·n = 0. In particular, we observe: (1) the overall partitioning of the basin total charge between cation and anion sites, and the interlayer site charge seems to depend on sample composition, and (2) the apical-oxygen plane total basin charge and hydroxyl basin charge are presumably related to the polytype. The MEM-determined electron density does not allow full exploration of the critical points for very complex structures as micas, insofar as conventional room temperature experimental diffraction data are used.  相似文献   

Analytical and numerical results on the stability of a planetary precessional model     

Gabriella Della Penna 《Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy》1999,75(2):103-124

A model for planetary precession is investigated using analytical and numerical techniques. A Hamiltonian function governing the model is derived in terms of action-angle Andoyer-Déprit variables under the assumption of equatorial symmetry. As a first approximation a simplified Hamiltonian with zero-eccentricity is considered and stability estimates are derived using KAM theory. A validation of the analytical results is performed computing Poincaré surfaces of section for the circular and elliptical model. We also investigate the role of the eccentricity and its connection with the appearance of resonances. Special attention is devoted to the particular case of the Earth–Moon system. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Geomagnetic paleosecular variation at Hawaii around 3 Ma from a sequence of 107 lava flows at Kaena Point (Oahu)     

Carlo Laj  Herv Guillou  Nadia Szeremeta  Robert Coe 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》1999,170(4):191-376

We have sampled a sequence of 107 lava flows in the Waianae series on Oahu, Hawaii, in two separate stretches. The first (51 flows) at Kaena Point extends from sea level to an altitude of 190 m, and the second (56 flows) follows the Satellite Tracking Station road from 218 m to 360 m above sea level. Thermal and af demagnetization yield very similar results, and reveal only normal polarities. K/Ar dating at five different horizons combined with the paleomagnetic results indicate that the sequence was emplaced entirely in the normal polarity interval between the Upper Mammoth and the Lower Kaena polarity transitions (3.22–3.11 Ma). Some of the flows are serially correlated. Filtering does not, however, drastically affect the final results. Inclinations are shallower than those expected from a centered dipole field. Although large (13°), the inclination anomaly is consistent with results from other sites at the same latitude. The scatter of the VGPs about the geographic pole is consistent with available data from other regions at similar latitudes. The scatter of the directions is also consistent with the predictions of recent statistical models of paleosecular variation. Therefore, these results do not support the hypothesis of a Pacific dipole window.  相似文献   

Using the applied element method for modelling calcium silicate brick masonry subjected to in‐plane cyclic loading          下载免费PDF全文

Daniele Malomo  Rui Pinho  Andrea Penna 《地震工程与结构动力学》2018,47(7):1610-1630

The response of calcium silicate unreinforced masonry construction to horizontal cyclic loading has recently become the focus of experimental and numerical research, given its extensive use in some areas of the world that are now exposed to induced earthquakes (eg, north of the Netherlands). To assess the seismic behaviour of such construction, a relatively wide range of modelling methodologies are available, amongst which the discrete elements approach, which takes into account the intrinsic heterogeneity of a brick‐mortar assembly, can probably be deemed as the most appropriate computational procedure. On the other hand, however, since discrete elements numerical methods are based on a discontinuum domain, often they are not able to model every stage of the structural response adequately, and because of the high computational burden required, the analysis scale should be chosen carefully. The applied element method is a relatively recent addition to the discrete elements family, with a high potential for overcoming the aforementioned limitations or difficulties. Initially conceived to model blast events and concrete structures, its use in the earthquake engineering field is, of late, increasing noticeably. In this paper, the use of the applied element method to model the in‐plane cyclic response of calcium silicate masonry walls is discussed and scrutinised, also through the comparison with experimental results of in‐plane cyclic shear‐compression tests on unreinforced masonry walls.  相似文献   

Damage classification and derivation of damage probability matrices from L’Aquila (2009) post-earthquake survey data     

A. Rosti  M. Rota  A. Penna 《Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering》2018,16(9):3687-3720

Post-earthquake damage data represent an invaluable source of information for the seismic vulnerability assessment of the exposed building stock, as they are a direct evidence of the actual buildings’ performance under real seismic events. This paper exploits a robust and homogeneous database of damage data collected after the 2009 L’Aquila (Italy) earthquake, to derive damage probability matrices for several building typologies representative of the Italian building stock. To this aim, the first part of the work investigates several issues related to the definition of damage to be associated with each inspected building. Different approaches and damage conversion rules are applied, pointing out advantages and weaknesses of each one. Considering the widespread seismic damage observed on masonry infill panels and partitions of reinforced concrete constructions, the impact of this type of non-structural damage on empirical damage and functional loss distributions is explored. The second part of the study proposes different possible interpretations of the repartition of the observed damage in the different damage levels, showing in some cases a bimodal trend. Two novel hybrid procedures are outlined and compared with the classical binomial approach for predicting the subdivision of damage in the different levels. The application of the proposed methodologies to the different building typologies allows the selection, for each one, of the method providing the best fit to empirical results. The parameters required for the application of the optimal approach are reported in the paper, so that results can be used for forecasting the expected seismic damage in sites with similar seismic hazard and exposed buildings.  相似文献   

Predicting groundwater level of wells in the Diyala River Basin in eastern Iraq using artificial neural network          下载免费PDF全文

Abdulrahman Th Mohammad  Qassem H Jalut  Nadia L Abbas 《地下水科学与工程》2020,8(1):87-96

Al-Mansourieh zone is a part of Al-Khalis City within the province of Diyala and located in the Diyala River Basin in eastern Iraq with a total area about 830 km2.Groundwater is the main water source for agriculture in this zone.Random well drilling without geological and hydraulic information has led the most of these wells to dry up quickly.Therefore,it is necessary to estimate the levels of groundwater in wells through observed data.In this study,Alyuda NeroIntelligance 2.1 software was applied to predict the groundwater levels in 244 wells using sets of measured data.These data included the coordinates of wells(x,y),elevations,well depth,discharge and groundwater levels.Three ANN structures(5-3-3-1,5-10-10-1 and 5-11-11-1)were used to predict the groundwater levels and to acquire the best matching between the measured and ANN predicted values.The coefficient of correlation,coefficient determination(R2)and sum-square error(SSE)were used to evaluate the performance of the ANN models.According to the ANN results,the model with the three structures has a good predictability and proves more effective for determining groundwater level in wells.The best predictor was achieved in the structure 5-3-3-1,with R2 about 0.92,0.89,0.84 and 0.91 in training,validation,testing and all processes respectively.The minimum average error in the best predictor is achieved in validation and testing processes at about 0.130 and 0.171 respectively.On the other hand,the results indicated that the model has the potential to determine the appropriate places for drilling the wells to obtain the highest level of groundwater.  相似文献   

A framework for the seismic assessment of existing masonry buildings accounting for different sources of uncertainty          下载免费PDF全文

M. Rota  A. Penna  G. Magenes 《地震工程与结构动力学》2014,43(7):1045-1066

The current formulation of Eurocode 8 Part 3 and the Italian building code for the seismic assessment of existing buildings accounts for epistemic (knowledge‐based) uncertainties by means of the identification of knowledge levels with associated values of the so‐called confidence factors, applied only as a reduction of material strengths. This formulation does not always produce consistent results and it does not explicitly account for other sources of uncertainty. The paper proposes a probabilistic methodology for the quantification of appropriately defined factors, allowing consideration of the different sources of uncertainty involved in the seismic assessment of masonry buildings by means of nonlinear static analyses. This simple approach, also including an alternative formulation of the confidence factors related with material properties, allows to obtain results which are consistent with the acquired level of knowledge and correctly account for the different sources of uncertainty without requiring to carry out any stochastic nonlinear analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Performance of masonry buildings during the Emilia 2012 earthquake   总被引：2，自引：2，他引：0  

Andrea Penna  Paolo Morandi  Maria Rota  Carlo Filippo Manzini  Francesca da Porto  Guido Magenes 《Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering》2014,12(5):2255-2273

The earthquake sequence started on May \(20\) th 2012 in Emilia (Italy) affected a region where masonry constructions represent a large part of the existing building stock and the construction of new modern masonry buildings is a common practice. The paper is focused on the performance of common architectural configurations, typical for residential or business use. The large majority of old masonry buildings is made of fired clay bricks. The seismic performance of these buildings is particularly interesting since major past earthquakes in Italy affected areas with mainly stone masonry structures. Apart from examples showing systematic or peculiar structural deficiencies governing the vulnerability of several buildings, the overall seismic performance of these structures to repeated shaking, with PGA as large as 0.25–0.3 g was rather good, despite the major part of them were only conceived for carrying vertical loads. In fact, seismic design is mandatory in the area only since 2003. Modern low-rise masonry buildings erected after this date and incorporating seismic design and proper detailing resulted in most cases practically undamaged. The examples reported in the paper allow an evaluation of the superior performance of seismically designed modern masonry buildings in comparison to older ones.  相似文献   

Spatial variability of soil nutrients in Punta Fort William,Greenwich Island,maritime Antarctic     

Yii Siang Hii  Siti Aisyah Alias  Monica Riofrio  Nadia Ordoniez  Hernain Moreano 《极地研究(英文版)》2013,(4):273-280

This study aims to report baseline soil nutrients, specifically the organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus profile, in soil samples collected from Puntta Fort William on Greenwich Island in maritime Antarctic. Samples were collected along two transect lines during the early summer of 2008. Ward＇s method of hierarchical agglomerative clustering was employed to group the sampling points based on their physico-chemical properties. In this context, the soil samples can be grouped into three major clus- ters： （1） Samples with intensive biological activities, （2） samples from the area recently exposed by glacial retreat and （3） samples from barren and dried areas. Nutrient contents in Punta Fort William are driven by the intensity of biological activities as well as melt water from the Qnito glacier.  相似文献