Going underground: in search of Carboniferous coal forests     

Howard J. Falcon-Lang  William A. DiMichele  Scott Elrick  & W. John Nelson 《Geology Today》2009,25(5):181-184

The development of coal forests during the Carboniferous is one of the best-known episodes in the history of life. Although often reconstructed as steamy tropical rainforests, these ancient ecosystems were a far cry from anything we might encounter in the Amazon today. Bizarre giant club-mosses, horsetails and tree ferns were the dominant plants, not flowering trees as in modern rainforests. At their height, coal forests stretched all the way from Kansas to Kazakhstan, spanning the entire breadth of tropical Pangaea. Most of what we know of their biodiversity and ecology has been quite literally mined out of the ground through two centuries of hard labour. Without coal mining, our knowledge would be greatly impoverished. Over the past few years, we've been exploring underground coal mines in the United States, where entire forested landscapes have been preserved intact over huge areas. Never before have geologists had the opportunity to walk out through mile upon mile of fossilized forest. In this feature article, we describe some of our recent explorations and attempt to shed new light on these old fossils.  相似文献   

Step-wise and continuous thermal demagnetization and theories of thermoremanence     

P. W. Schmidt  D. A. Clark 《Geophysical Journal International》1985,83(3):731-751

  相似文献   

Zircon U–Pb age, trace element and Hf isotope composition of Kongling terrane in the Yangtze Craton: refining the timing of Palaeoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism     

Y.-B. WU  S. GAO  H.-J. GONG  H. XIANG  W.-F. JIAO  S.-H. YANG  Y.-S. LIU  H.-L. YUAN 《Journal of Metamorphic Geology》2009,27(6):461-477

U–Pb age, trace element and Hf isotope compositions of zircon were analysed for a metasedimentary rock and two amphibolites from the Kongling terrane in the northern part of the Yangtze Craton. The zircon shows distinct morphological and chemical characteristics. Most zircon in an amphibolite shows oscillatory zoning, high Th/U and ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios, high formation temperature, high trace element contents, clear negative Eu anomaly, as well as HREE-enriched patterns, suggesting that it is igneous. The zircon yields a weighted mean ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age of 2857 ± 8 Ma, representing the age of the magmatic protolith. The zircon in the other two samples is metamorphic. It has low Th/U ratios, low trace element concentrations, variable HREE contents (33.8 ≥ Lu_N≥2213; 14.7 ≤ Lu_N/Sm_N ≤ 354) and ¹⁷⁶Lu/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios (0.000030–0.001168). The data indicate that the zircon formed in the presence of garnet and under upper amphibolite facies conditions. The metamorphic zircon yields a weighted mean ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age of 2010 ± 13 Ma. These results combined with previously obtained Palaeoproterozoic metamorphic ages suggest a c. 2.0 Ga Palaeoproterozoic collisional event in the Yangtze Craton, which may result from the assembly of the supercontinent Columbia. The zircon in two samples yields weighted mean two-stage Hf model ( T _DM2) ages of 3217 ± 110 and 2943 ± 50 Ma, respectively, indicating that their protoliths were mainly derived from Archean crust.  相似文献   

AGGLOMERATION AND RADIATION EFFECT OF THE PULL OF URBANIZATION   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1  

QIJin-li 《中国地理科学(英文版)》2003,13(3):224-227

In order to explore the train of thought for China‘s urbanizing development and coordinated rural eco-nomic development, and to find good ways of solving rural problems through urbanization, this paper absorbs the push-and-pull forces theory and the systematic dynamic theory in the traditional population migration theories, views urbanization as a dynamic system, makes research on the push-and-pull mechanism of urbanization. The pulling power of urbanization is analyzed according to two aspects, the agglomeration effect and the radiation effect of cities. The agglomeration effect provides continuous propelling force for urbanization, and the radiation effect further accelerates the urbanization process by pushing forward the development of rural economy. Of course, the slow de-velopment of urbanization can result in the hindrance to rural economic development.  相似文献   

Constraints on a planetary origin for the gap in the protoplanetary disc of GM Aurigae   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

W. K. M. Rice  Kenneth Wood  P. J. Armitage  B. A. Whitney  J. E. Bjorkman 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,342(1):79-85

  相似文献   

BRINGING FORWARD OF THE CONCEPT OF COGIS AND ITS ARCHITECUTRE RESEARCH     

HUXue-lian CHENGCheng-qi WUDe-wen MAAi-nai 《中国地理科学(英文版)》2003,13(1):84-90

Based on the analysis of the development of GIS technology and application,this paper brought forward the concept of GoGIS,namely Cooperative GIS ,CoGIS is GIS facing group-users and supporting human-human interaction,which makes it differ from the former GISs,Then,the characteristics of general Computer Spport Cooperative Work (CSCW)applications and the complexity of Geographic Information Science were analyzed,and the conclusion the CoGIS was not a simple GIS layer on CSCW was reached,Further,this paper gaver the hierarchical architecture of CoGIS,and analyzed the coperative platform in detail from the following:1)basic elements;2) collaboration patterns;3) cooperation control mechanism;4) synchronization mechanism;5) security and 6) group communication and so on.With those,the problems about GIS applications are discussed,such as 1)distributed multi-source GIS information and knowledge sharing platform;2)the fusion and visualization of GIS information;3)virtual reality cooperative modeling;4) dymamic simulation;5)expert system and 6) decision-making.Finally,this paper analyzed CoGIS application mode in brief.  相似文献   

Astrometric signatures of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs     

W. K. M. Rice  P. J. Armitage  M. R. Bate  I. A. Bonnell 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,338(1):227-232

  相似文献   

Numerical models of subduction and forearc deformation     

Thomas M. Tharp 《Geophysical Journal International》1985,80(2):419-437

Summary. Finite element models for shallow subduction produce realistic behaviour for a wide variety of mechanical strength and density distributions. Characteristic displacements are found to occur even without a discrete low-strength megathrust if there is a high-density subducted plate to localize lithospheric compression. A high-density plate is itself unnecessary in the presence of a low-strength megathrust and regional compression.
Successful finite element models produce an outer arc at the top of the trench slope, and forearc basin with geometry characteristic of natural analogues. These structural features occur by upward inelastic bending of the lithospheric wedge overlying the megathrust. This mechanically unstable behaviour may dissipate significant energy and cause the megathrust to migrate continuously by accretion, tectonic erosion, or abandonment and reinitiation farther offshore. Upward bending in the overriding plate is promoted by low megathrust dip, low megathrust shear strength, and high horizontal compression in the overriding plate.  相似文献   

Approach to Mountain Hazards in Tibet, China   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

MADongtao TUJianjun CUIPeng LURuren 《山地科学学报》2004,1(2):143-154

Tibet is located at the southwest boundary of China. It is the main body of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the highest and the youngest plateau in the world. Owing to complicated geology, Neo-tectonic movements, geomorphology, climate and plateau environment, various mountain hazards, such as debris flow, flash flood, landslide, collapse, snow avalanche and snow drifts, are widely distributed along the Jinsha River (the upper reaches of the Yangtze River), the Nu River and the Lancang River in the east, and the Yarlungzangbo River, the Pumqu River and the Poiqu River in the south and southeast of Tibet. The distribution area of mountain hazards in Tibet is about 589,000 km^2, 49.3% of its total territory. In comparison to other mountain regions in China, mountain hazards in Tibet break out unexpectedly with tremendously large scale and endanger the traffic lines, cities and towns, farmland, grassland, mountain environment, and make more dangers to the neighboring countries, such as Nepal, India, Myanmar and Bhutan. To mitigate mountain hazards, some suggestions are proposed in this paper, such as strengthening scientific research, enhancing joint studies, hazards mitigation planning, hazards warning and forecasting, controlling the most disastrous hazards and forbidding unreasonable human exploring activities in mountain areas.  相似文献   

Multiple longshore sand bars in the upper Chesapeake Bay     

Thomas J. Dolan  Robert G. Dean 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1985,21(5):727-743

In the upper Chesapeake Bay (Maryland, U.S.A.) field surveys were conducted at 18 multiple longshore sand bar sites. The multiple bar systems were found in water depths less than approximately 2 m (mean sea level), and exhibited mild bottom slopes of 0·0052 or less. The number of bars composing each system ranged from four to 17 and the spacing between the crests typically increased in the offshore direction, ranging from 12 to 70 m. Bar height also typically increased with distance offshore and ranged from 0·03 to 0·61 m. A grain size analysis of crest and trough sediment did not reveal any significant differences and the sediment was categorized as ‘fine sand’. A review of the literature data indicated that the Chesapeake Bay multiple bars possessed similar characteristics to those found in Gelding Bay (Baltic Sea); similarities in fetch, wave height and tidal range between the two bays may account for this finding. The surf-scaling parameter indicated that the multiple bar systems were extremely dissipative with regard to wave energy, and wave height appeared to be an important factor in controlling bar spacing and bar height. A multiple wave break point hypothesis was discussed as a possible mechanism for the formation of Chesapeake Bay multiple longshore bars, and limited observational evidence appeared to support such a mechanism.  相似文献