Can modelling enable us to understand the rôle of humans in landscape evolution?     

John Wainwright 《Geoforum》2008,39(2):659-674

Landform-evolution models have typically failed to include human actions, or have done so only in a static, scenario-based way. This failure is despite the extensive empirical data that suggest rates of soil erosion are most sensitive to anthropic pressure. The CybErosion modelling framework overcomes this limitation by using an agent-based approach to simulating the dynamic interactions of people and their landscapes. The interactions simulated relate to basic processes of food acquisition (hunting, gathering and basic agriculture) in prehistoric communities. Simulations demonstrate the value of this approach in supporting the vulnerability of landform evolution to anthropic pressures, and demonstrate the limitations of existing models that ignore human and animal agency, which are likely to produce both quantitatively and qualitatively different results. The model is also a useful heuristic tool for understanding human-landscape interactions and for suggesting directions for future research. Despite the acknowledged limitations of agent-based approaches in simulating human populations, it is suggested that further research will be fruitful, especially if combined with a range of field evidence.  相似文献   

Monitoring and modelling of urban sprawl using remote sensing and GIS techniques     

Mahesh Kumar Jat  P.K. Garg  Deepak Khare 《International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation》2008

The concentration of people in densely populated urban areas, especially in developing countries, calls for the use of monitoring systems like remote sensing. Such systems along with spatial analysis techniques like digital image processing and geographical information system (GIS) can be used for the monitoring and planning purposes as these enable the reporting of overall sprawl at a detailed level.  相似文献   

A numerical model for shore-normal sediment size variation on a macrotidal beach     

Diane P. Horn 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1992,17(8):755-773

This paper describes a computer simulation model which is designed to predict the selective shore-normal sorting of grain sizes in the nearshore environment. The model simulates wave shoaling, wave height attenuation due to frictional losses and breaking, using linear theory up to the break point and a breaker decay model in the surf zone. Peak horizontal orbital velocities at the bed are calculated from Stokes second-order wave theory. The peak onshore and offshore velocities are used with the threshold expression of Komar and Miller (1975) to generate a spatial pattern of size variation of threshold grain diameter along a profile normal to the shore from deep water to the swash zone. The predicted grain size is used in an hydraulic interpretation of grain size distribution on the intertidal profile, based on the hydrodynamic variations over a tidal cycle on a macrotidal beach. The model is successful in predicting the broad pattern of increasing grain size in the onshore direction which has been observed in nature. Comparisons between measured and predicted grain size distributions indicate that the predictions of the model are better than those of previous models, but the model is more successful at predicting sediment size distributions than at predicting mean sizes on a beach profile.  相似文献   

面极化模拟解释激发极化异常的不适用性          下载免费PDF全文

刘崧  陈晦鸣 《地球物理学报》1990,33(4):454-462

在椭球座标系中对均匀外电流场中的面极化椭球体的电场进行了求解.在解拉普拉斯方程时一般解的系数是椭球座标的函数,因而解答不正确,这表明了面极化体激发极化电场分布和求正确解的复杂性.此解答和均匀外电流场中体极化椭球体的电场解答的明显差别,说明两类电场不具有相似性.因此,用面极化模拟解释通常为体极化的实际地质体的激发极化异常显然是不适用的.物理模拟证实了这一理论研究结果.  相似文献   

Agent-based simulation for biogas power plant potential in Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis,Germany: a step towards better economy     

Hafiz Ali Imran  Dietrich Schröder  Bilal Ahmed Munir 《国际地球制图》2017,32(1):59-70

Over the past decade, political framework in the energy sector all over the world has provoked a strong focus on the production of renewable energies. The study focuses on agent-based modelling approach to identify the suitable and economical distribution of biogas power plants over time in the area of interest. For sufficient supply of biomass (silage maize) on a regional basis to run biogas power plants economically and smoothly, different thematic layers with defined rules for Agent Analyst used to simulate the future installations of power plants. In conjunction with ArcGIS, the Agent Analyst software generates simulations that prove the robustness of the model in finding the suitable location of power plants. The resultant location from the model is analysed in different aspects. The designed methodology could be implemented in other areas with minor edits as per requirement of the area.  相似文献   

Numerical modelling of the morphological response induced by low-crested structures in Lido di Dante,Italy     

Barbara Zanuttigh 《Coastal Engineering》2007

This paper analyses the morphological response induced by low-crested structures on the adjacent seabed, with particular interest in the erosion patterns that frequently develop at gaps and roundheads. The mechanisms responsible for erosion processes are examined by means of morphodynamic simulations with the numerical suite MIKE 21 CAMS developed by DHI Water & Environment. The main purpose of the paper is to verify how and how far a commercial code can predict bed evolution, in vicinity of defence structures in a real case, in order to get information that may be very useful for structure design and possible maintenance of existing works. The code is applied to a long-term simulation on a study site that is characterized by a composite intervention and suffers from severe erosion, Lido di Dante (Italy). The simulation covers the period (one year and a half) between two available multi-beam surveys, in order to have a detailed real bathymetry as starting point and another one, as accurate as the first, to compare numerical with surveyed results. All the other input data for the model, as waves, tide, wind and sediment characteristics, are derived from measurements in the area; moreover, the code is calibrated using wave and current data acquired during a field campaign. The bed evolution derived from simulations shows a good agreement with the survey both in the locations and in the intensity of erosive and depositional areas. A sensitivity analysis of results to some selected modelling parameters is performed on a shorter simulation period (one month), showing that accounting for bed slope in sediment transport modelling has greater effects in bathymetry evolution than the use of a complex sediment bathymetry or the representation of wave diffraction.  相似文献   

Factors determining the vertical profile of dimethylsulfide in the Sargasso Sea during summer     

A.J. Gabric  P.A. Matrai  R.P. Kiene  R. Cropp  J.W.H. Dacey  G.R. DiTullio  R.G. Najjar  R. Sim  D.A. Toole  D.A. delValle  D. Slezak 《Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography》2008,55(10-13):1505

The major source of reduced sulfur in the remote marine atmosphere is the biogenic compound dimethylsulfide (DMS), which is ubiquitous in the world's oceans and released through food web interactions. Relevant fluxes and concentrations of DMS, its phytoplankton-produced precursor, dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and related parameters were measured during an intensive Lagrangian field study in two mesoscale eddies in the Sargasso Sea during July–August 2004, a period characterized by high mixed-layer DMS and low chlorophyll—the so-called ‘DMS summer paradox’. We used a 1-D vertically variable DMS production model forced with output from a 1-D vertical mixing model to evaluate the extent to which the simulated vertical structure in DMS and DMSP was consistent with changes expected from field-determined rate measurements of individual processes, such as photolysis, microbial DMS and dissolved DMSP turnover, and air–sea gas exchange. Model numerical experiments and related parametric sensitivity analyses suggested that the vertical structure of the DMS profile in the upper 60 m was determined mainly by the interplay of the two depth-variable processes—vertical mixing and photolysis—and less by biological consumption of DMS. A key finding from the model calibration was the need to increase the DMS(P) algal exudation rate constant, which includes the effects of cell rupture due to grazing and cell lysis, to significantly higher values than previously used in other regions. This was consistent with the small algal cell size and therefore high surface area-to-volume ratio of the dominant DMSP-producing group—the picoeukaryotes.  相似文献   

Green's function for three-dimensional elastic wave equation with a moving point source on the free surface with applications     

Jing-Bo Chen  Jian Cao 《Geophysical Prospecting》2020,68(4):1281-1290

High-speed train seismology has come into being recently. This new kind of seismology uses a high-speed train as a repeatable moving seismic source. Therefore, Green's function for a moving source is needed to make theoretical studies of the high-speed train seismology. Green's function for three-dimensional elastic wave equation with a moving point source on the free surface is derived. It involves a line integral of the Green's function for a fixed point source with different positions and corresponding time delays. We give a rigorous mathematical proof of this Green's function. According to the principle of linear superposition, we have also obtained the Green's function for a group of moving sources which can be regarded as a model of a traveling high-speed train. Based on a temporal convolution, an analytical formula for other moving sources is also given. In terms of a moving Gaussian source, we deal with the issue of numerical calculations of the analytical formula. Applications to modelling of a traveling high-speed train are presented. We have considered both the land case and the bridge case for a traveling high-speed train. The theoretical seismograms show different waveform features for these two cases.  相似文献   

Isotope hydrogeochemical models for assessing the hydrological processes in a part of the largest continental flood basalts province of India     

《地学前缘(英文版)》2022,13(2):101336

Continental Flood Basalts (CFB) occupy one fourth of the world’s land area. Hence, it is important to discern the hydrological processes in this complex hydrogeological setup for the sustainable water resources development. A model assisted isotope, geochemical, geospatial and geophysical study was conducted to understand the monsoonal characteristics, recharge processes, renewability and geochemical evolution in one of the largest continental flood basalt provinces of India. HYSPLIT modelling and stable isotopes were used to assess the monsoonal characteristics. Rayleigh distillation model were used to understand the climatic conditions at the time of groundwater recharge. Lumped parameter models (LPM) were employed to quantify the mean transit time (MTT) of groundwater. Statistical and geochemical models were adopted to understand the geochemical evolution along the groundwater flow path. A geophysical model was used to understand the geometry of the aquifer. The back trajectory analysis confirms the isotopic finding that precipitation in this region is caused by orographic uplifting of air masses originating from the Arabian Sea. Stable isotopic data of groundwater showed its meteoric origin and two recharge processes were discerned; (i) quick and direct recharge by precipitation through fractured and weathered basalt, (ii) low infiltration through the clayey black cotton soil and subjected to evaporation prior to the recharge. Tritium data showed that the groundwater is a renewable source and have shorter transit times (from present day to <30 years). The hydrogeochemical study indicated multiple sources/processes such as: the minerals dissolution, silicate weathering, ion exchange, anthropogenic influences etc. control the chemistry of the groundwater. Based on the geo-electrical resistivity survey, the potential zones (weathered and fractured) were delineated for the groundwater development. Thus, the study highlights the usefulness of model assisted isotopic hydrogeochemical techniques for understanding the recharge and geochemical processes in a basaltic aquifer system.  相似文献   

A GIS raster technique to optimise contaminated soil removal     

E. E. Hellawell  A. C. Kemp  D. J. Nancarrow 《Engineering Geology》2001,60(1-4):107-116

A geographic information system (GIS) raster technique has been developed and used interactively with remediation designers to evaluate the optimum extent of excavating soil contaminated by chlorinated solvents. The technique and the results of its application are presented. The site was a former chemical storage plant for acids and solvents. Two distinct solvent plumes were detected within the ground using a photo-ionisation detector. The solvents were found to be dissolved in the groundwater and migrating in the general direction of groundwater flow. A remediation strategy was proposed involving the localised excavation of contamination ‘hot spots’ followed by the implementation of a groundwater remediation system. A number of excavation options were discussed and the GIS raster technique was developed to evaluate these options in terms of contaminant removed and excavation cost.

The plumes were initially mapped using a triangular irregular network (TIN). These TIN models were rasterised to produce a regular grid of rectangular cells, each cell having a value relating to the concentration of contaminant at that spatial point. The proposed excavation zones were then overlaid on to the raster models as masks. The relationship between the value of contaminant concentration of cells within the mask (or excavation zone) and the total value of contaminant concentration of cells within the solvent plume was used to determine the efficiency of the excavation.

The excavation options were compared taking into account the percentage of the contaminant plume removed, the excavation area (soil volumes) and related costs. Once the GIS raster technique had been developed, it proved very quick to rerun the analysis for the other excavation zones. The optimum excavation zone, based upon cost and contaminant recovery, was found for the site. The technique helped by targeting the worst area of contamination and provided the client with a cost-benefit analysis of the different remediation options.  相似文献