On the origin of rock fragment mulches on Vertisols: A case study from the Ethiopian highlands   总被引：1，自引：2，他引：1  

Jan Moeyersons  Jan Nyssen  Jean Poesen  Jozef Deckers  Mitiku Haile 《Geomorphology》2006,76(3-4):411-429

Many Vertisols in Tigray, Ethiopia, typically carry a discontinuous rock fragment (RF, size 0.5–> 40 · 10^− 2 m) cover with 10 to 100 RFs m^− 2. Such RF mulches are of agricultural and environmental significance because they influence the water balance in the underlying soils and the crop yield. Natural RF concentrations are mostly considered as eolian or hydraulic lag deposits, or as the result of lateral transport over the soil surface from a rock outcrop, upslope. In cultivated areas RF mulches can develop by tillage.This paper presents the case of a natural RF mulch whose lithology indicates that the RFs are up-squeezed by the local Vertisol. The study site is located in the pass of Enda Maryam, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia (39°8′ E and 13°36′ N). A circular area of 10 m diameter, about 200 m away from the water divide in the valley has been cleared annually between 01/1999 and 05/2003. During this period, 625 RFs, 17 being > 7.5 · 10^− 2 m in size, totalling a mass of nearly 62 kg, have been collected. After correction for measurement procedures, the rate of RF up-warping by the Vertisol at Enda Maryam is assessed at 5 RFs m^− 2 in 3 years. At this rate of appearance, the formation of current RF concentrations on top of active valley Vertisols is only a matter of 10^1–2 years, provided the availability of RFs below the soil surface.Although important underground displacements were measured in the Vertisol between 01/1999 and 05/2002, the supposed link between up-squeezing of RFs and plastic deformations of ‘chimney’, ‘diapir’ or ‘intrusion’-like type in the Vertisol could not be evidenced. Instead, RFs are clearly concentrated on the soil surface as well as in depth, along the existing vertical desiccation cracks, often > 1 m deep which display polygonal configurations at the soil surface. Further, bundles of slickensides containing some RFs, have been mapped at the base of the Vertisol. The slickenside configuration suggests that the RF-bearing substrate is being scraped off.While the underground displacement of RFs along active slickensides seems normal, the process of RFs ascending in ‘upright’ position in the edge of desiccation cracks needs explanation. The closure of a desiccation crack is a peristaltic-like movement, following ascent or descent of the capillary fringe. It is hypothesized that this movement gradually pushes the RF to the surface or to another place or level in the soil profile where the crack closes in last instance.The apparent young age of the valley Vertisol mulches in Ethiopia might indicate the very recent formation of yearly recurrent desiccation cracks of Vertisols in the area. Available information confirms that most valleys in the study area used to be perennially marshy. Under these conditions no movements of RFs in the soil profile are expected to occur. Gullying, leading to pronounced seasonal desiccation of the Vertisols, started in several cases not more than 50 years ago.  相似文献   

Planation, bauxites and epeirogeny: One or two paleosurfaces on the West African margin?   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Dominique Chardon  Violaine Chevillotte  Anicet Beauvais  Georges Grandin  Bruno Boulang 《Geomorphology》2006,82(3-4):273-282

Mapping of lateritic bauxites over the West African rifted margin and analysis of the geomorphic properties of these bauxites, combined with available geological data lead to a discussion of the presence of either two Meso-Cenozoic planation surfaces or a single Eocene surface to account for the morphotectonic and paleoclimatic evolution of the Guinean landforms. At large scale, two stepped bauxitic levels are documented. Ongoing or episodic uplift following Gondwana breakup and Meso-Cenozoic climate change are proposed to have allowed the formation and abandonment of an Early mid-Cretaceous surface today preserved as the higher bauxitic level, and the setting of an Eocene planation surface bearing a second generation of bauxites, making the lower bauxitic level. The single Eocene surface hypothesis requires that Paleogene bauxitization preserved large pre-existing relief to explain two stepped bauxitic levels of the same age. The two-surface hypothesis is favored because it would explain rebauxitization of alluvial pebbles of bauxites under the lower lateritic level.  相似文献   

Surface pollen and its relationship to vegetation on the southern slope of the eastern Qilian Mountains     

LU Xinmiao  CHEN Hui  XU Qinghai 《地理学报》2006,16(2):215-222

The objective of this study is to investigate pollen-vegetation relationship in the Qilian Mountains. The eastern Qilian Mountains are located in the transitional zone of the Tibetan Plateau, the Loess Plateau and the arid region of Northwest China, which is one of the key areas of global environmental change. A total of 13 surface pollen samples from main vegetation have been collected. Pollen percentages were calculated in all samples. In order to reveal the relationship between pollen composition and the vegetation types from which the soil samples have been collected, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) ordination method was employed on the pollen data. The results show that dominating vegetation types can be recognized by their pollen spectra: Picea crassifolia forest, alpine shrub and alpine meadow as well. Altitude and temperature determine the distribution of the surface pollen and the vegetation. The good agreement between modern vegetation and surface samples across this area provides a measure of the reliability of using pollen data to reconstruct paleoenvironment and paleovegetation patterns in this or other similar regions. However the loss of Betula pollen in forest needs further investigation. Pollen oxidation is the most important factor contributing to the damage of modern pollen in the study area. Pollen concentrations decrease with the increase of pH values of soils, and decrease sharply when the pH exceeds 7.6.  相似文献   

The multilevel fast multipole method for forward modelling the multiply scattered seismic surface waves   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Özcan Çakir 《Geophysical Journal International》2006,167(2):663-678

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Surface waves image the top of the Eifel plume   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jan P. Mathar  Joachim R. R. Ritter  Wolfgang Friederich 《Geophysical Journal International》2006,164(2):377-382

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Surface wave tomography: finite-frequency effects lost in the null space   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：2  

Jeannot Trampert  Jesper Spetzler 《Geophysical Journal International》2006,164(2):394-400

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Computation of Large Anisotropic Seismic Heterogeneities (CLASH)     

Éric Beucler  Jean-Paul Montagner 《Geophysical Journal International》2006,165(2):447-468

A general tomographic technique is designed in order (i) to operate in anisotropic media; (ii) to account for the uneven seismic sampling and (iii) to handle massive data sets in a reasonable computing time. One modus operandi to compute a 3-D body wave velocity model relies on surface wave phase velocity measurements. An intermediate step, shared by other approaches, consists in translating, for each period of a given mode branch, the phase velocities integrated along ray paths into local velocity perturbations. To this end, we develop a method, which accounts for the azimuthal anisotropy in its comprehensive form. The weakly non-linear forward problem allows to use a conjugate gradient optimization. The Earth's surface is regularly discretized and the partial derivatives are assigned to the individual grid points. Possible lack of lateral resolution, due to the inescapable uneven ray path coverage, is taken into account through the a priori covariances on parameters with laterally variable correlation lengths. This method allows to efficiently separate the 2ψ and the 4ψ anisotropic effects from the isotropic perturbations. Fundamental mode and overtone phase velocity maps, derived with real Rayleigh wave data sets, are presented and compared with previous maps. The isotropic models concur well with the results of Trampert & Woodhouse. Large 4ψ heterogeneities are located in the tectonically active regions and over the continental lithospheres such as North America, Antarctica or Australia. At various periods, a significant 4ψ signature is correlated with the Hawaii hotspot track. Finally, concurring with the conclusions of Trampert & Woodhouse, our phase velocity maps show that Rayleigh wave data sets do need both 2ψ and 4ψ anisotropic terms.  相似文献   

初至折射波静校正技术在复杂探区地震数据处理中的应用   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

车建英  张伟 《中国煤田地质》2006,18(1):54-56

山区及黄土塬地区近地表结构复杂，地形起伏大、低降速带横向变化剧烈，地震资料处理中的静校正难度加大。长波长静校正容易引起构造形态畸变，短波长静校正影响地震剖面信噪比。针对此类问题，从长波长静校正问题及短波长地表非一致性问题分析入手，提出部分炮检距叠加识别长波长静校正技术及分段统计逼近地表非一致性校正技术。该技术在复杂地表区与其它相关技术综合应用，可有效解决长、短波长静校正问题。  相似文献   

Seismic Hazards Assessment for Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites in Regions of Low Seismic Activity   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Clark H. Fenton  John Adams  Stephen Halchuk 《Geotechnical and Geological Engineering》2006,24(3):579-592

A comparative tectonic quiescence and lack of earthquakes make the stable centres of continents attractive for siting long-term radioactive waste storage facilities. The low rates of deformation in such regions, however, make it difficult to characterize their long-term seismotectonic behaviour, leading to uncertain estimates for the very low probability hazard estimates required by society. In an attempt to overcome the deficiency of both contemporary seismicity and paleoseismic data in central Canada, we have used earthquake histories from regions with similar seismotectonic characteristics from around the world. Substituting space for time, we estimate a long-term rate per 10⁶ km² of 0.004 magnitude ≥6 earthquakes per annum, of which 33–100% might rupture to the surface.  相似文献   

关于求解碾磨机运动问题的相关讨论     

饶黄云  饶瑞昌 《华东地质学院学报》2006,29(3):298-300

针对关于求解碾磨机上一点运动的速度及加速度的问题展开讨论,从运动的不同角度考虑,给出了n种不同的解法。并将此问题拓展到一般情况下进行讨论,得出正确结论。并就一些相关问题进行了分析和解释。  相似文献