Some geological implications of average Quaternary glacial conditions   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Stephen C. Porter 《Quaternary Research》1989,32(3)

Analyses of Quaternary landscape evolution tend to focus on events associated with culminations of glacial and interglacial ages, but for most of Quaternary time, environments were intermediate in character. Average Quaternary glacial conditions, based on assessment of the marine isotope record, approximated those near the stage 2/stage 1 transition and during substages 5b and 5d; isotope stages 3 and 4 and substages 5a-d lie within one standard deviation of the mean value. Under average glacial conditions, ice sheets lying over northern North America and Europe were much more contracted than their full-glacial counterparts, and the distribution of mountain glaciers reflected a snowline depression of some 500 m. Geomorphic processes operating under average Quaternary conditions contributed importantly to landscape evolution. Examples of landscapes that may represent such average conditions include cirques and fluvial deposits of the Pacific Northwest, the fjords and strandflat of western Norway, and atolls of the tropical oceans. By examining the geologic record from the perspective of average conditions, rather than those of climatic extremes, added insight can be gained regarding the evolution of Quaternary landscapes.  相似文献   

Observations of a lee wave and rotor episode in central California     

Stephen H. Holets  Robert N. Swanson 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》1988,44(1-2):97-103

Acoustic sounders and in-situ meteorological sensors were used to record the boundary-layer flow structure along the eastern slopes of the Altamont Hills in central California during a wind energy field program. Oscillating speeds in this area suggest the development of quasi-stationary lee waves and rotors under certain atmospheric conditions. Data averaging of 15 minutes or less is needed to study these phenomena.  相似文献   

Arsenic in Ground Water of the Western United States   总被引：12，自引：0，他引：12  

Alan H. Welch  Michael S. Lico  Jennifer L. Hughes 《Ground water》1988,26(3):333-347

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READERS' FORUM     

Stephen Foster 《Ground water》1988,26(3):363-363

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Climate-Volcanism Feedback and the Toba Eruption of 74,000 Years Ago     

Michael R. Rampino  Stephen Self 《Quaternary Research》1993,40(3)

A general feedback between volcanism and climate at times of transition in the Quaternary climate record is suggested, exemplified by events accompanying the Toba eruption (74,000 yr ago), the largest known late Quaternary explosive volcanic eruption. The Toba paroxysm occurred during the δ¹⁸O stage 5a-4 transition, a period of rapid ice growth and falling global sea level, which may have been a factor in creating stresses that triggered the volcanic event. Toba is estimated to have produced between 10¹⁵ and 10¹⁶ g of fine ash and sulfur gases lofted in co-ignimbrite ash clouds to heights of at least 32 ± 5 km, which may have led to dense stratospheric dust and sulfuric acid aerosol clouds. These conditions could have created a brief, dramatic cooling or "volcanic winter," followed by estimated annual Northern Hemisphere surface-temperature decreases of 3° to 5°C caused by the longer-lived aerosols. Summer temperature decreases of 10°C at high northern latitudes, adjacent to regions already covered by snow and ice, might have increased snow cover and sea-ice extent, accelerating the global cooling already in progress. Evidence for such climate-volcanic feedback, following Milankovitch periodicities, is found at several climatic transitions.  相似文献   

Bifurcation of volcanic plumes in a crosswind     

Gerald G. J. Ernst  John P. Davis  R. Stephen J. Sparks 《Bulletin of Volcanology》1994,56(3):159-169

Bent-over buoyant jets distorted by a crosscurrent develop a vortex pair structure and can bifurcate to produce two distinct lobes which diverge from one another downwind. The region downwind of the source between the lobes has relatively low proportions of discharged fluid. Factors invoked by previous workers to cause or enhance bifurcation include buoyancy, release of latent heat at the plume edge by evaporating water droplets, geometry and orientation of the source, and the encounter with a density interface on the rising path of the plume. We suggest that the pressure distribution around the vortex pair of a rising plume may initially trigger bifurcation. We also report new experimental observations confirming that bifurcation becomes stronger for stronger bent-over plumes, identifying that bifurcation can also occur for straight-edged plumes but gradually disappears for stronger plumes which form a gravity current at their final level and spread for a significant distance against the current. Observations from satellites and the ground are reviewed and confirm that volcanic plumes can show bifurcation and a large range of bifurcation angles. Many of the bifurcating plumes spread out at the tropopause level and suggest the tropopause may act on the plumes as a density interface enhancing bifurcation. Even for quite moderate bifurcation angles, the two plume lobes become rapidly separated downwind by distances of tens of kilometers. Such bifurcating plumes drifting apart can only result in bilobate tephra fall deposits. The tephra fall deposit from the 16 km elevation, SE spreading, bifurcating volcanic plume erupted on 15 May 1981 from Mt Pagan was sampled by previous workers and clearly displayed bilobate characteristics. Examples of bilobate tephra fall deposits are reviewed and their origin briefly discussed. Bilobate deposits are common and may result from many causes. Plume bifurcation should be considered one of the possible mechanisms which can account for come examples of bilobate tephra fall deposits.  相似文献   

Prediction of tension crack location and riverbank erosion hazards along destabilized channels     

Stephen E. Darby  Colin R. Thorne 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1994,19(3):233-245

Riverbank erosion, associated sedimentation and land loss hazards are a land management problem of global significance and many attempts to predict the onset of riverbank instability have been made. Recently, Osman and Thorne (1988) have presented a Culmann-type analysis of the stability of steep, cohesive riverbanks; this has the potential to be a considerable improvement over previous bank stability theories, which do not account for bank geometry changes due to toe scour and lateral erosion. However, in this paper it is shown that the existing Osman-Thorne model does not properly incorporate the influence of tension cracking on bank stability since the location of the tension crack on the floodplain is indirectly determined via calculation or arbitrary specification of the tension crack depth. Furthermore, accurate determination of tension crack location is essential to the calculation of the geometry of riverbank failure blocks and hence prediction of land loss and bank sediment yield associated with riverbank instability and channel widening. In this paper, a rational, physically based method to predict the location of tension cracks on the floodplain behind the eroding bank face is presented and tested. A case study is used to illustrate the computational procedure required to apply the model. Improved estimates of failure block geometry using the new method may potentially be applied to improve predictions of bank retreat and floodplain land loss along river channels destabilized as a result of environmental change.  相似文献   

Reply: Bulk sampling of coarse clastic sediments for particle-size analysis     

Stephen J. Gale  Peter G. Hoare 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1994,19(3):263-268

The work of Gale and Hoare (1992) provides a guide to the minimum mass of bulk sample required to obtain a reproducible measure of the complete particle-size distribution of coarse clastic sediments such as till, fluvial gravel and beach gravel. Dunkerley (1994) makes a number of criticisms and misrepresentations of this procedure. These are systematically refuted and corrected here, and further data obtained from till and beach gravel are provided to support the criterion adopted by Gale and Hoare (1992) for sample reliability. The procedure of Gale and Hoare (1992) is confirmed as a practical guide to the mass of bulk sample required to obtain a reliable measure of the particle-size distribution of coarse clastic sediment.  相似文献   

The reserves of extracted resources: Historical data     

Julian L. Simon  Guenter Weinrauch  Stephen Moore 《Natural Resources Research》1994,3(4):325-340

The available data on known reserves of extracted resources have not previously been tabulated and graphed. In this article we compile the reserves data in one place for the first time. This serves to (1) show the trends in the reserves series, (2) make the series available to others, and (3) place the reserves data in the context of price data for which longer series have been available, and with which they can now be seen to be consistent in both showing increasing availability rather than increasing scarcity.  相似文献   

Comment On: 'Early Silurian Palaeolatitude of the Springdale Group Redbeds of Central Newfoundland: A Palaeomagnetic Determination With A Remanence Anisotropy Test For Inclination Error' By J. P. Hodych and K. L. Buchan     

John Stamatakos  Rob Van Der  Voo  Ben Van Der  Pluijm  Stephen Potts  Trond Torsvik 《Geophysical Journal International》1994,119(3):1009-1013

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