Exploration and discovery in Yellowstone Lake: results from high-resolution sonar imaging, seismic reflection profiling, and submersible studies     

L. A. Morgan  W. C. Shanks  III  D. A. Lovalvo  S. Y. Johnson  W. J. Stephenson  K. L. Pierce  S. S. Harlan  C. A. Finn  G. Lee  M. Webring  B. Schulze  J. Dühn  R. Sweeney  L. Balistrieri 《Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research》2003,122(3-4):221-242

‘No portion of the American continent is perhaps so rich in wonders as the Yellow Stone’ (F.V. Hayden, September 2, 1874)Discoveries from multi-beam sonar mapping and seismic reflection surveys of the northern, central, and West Thumb basins of Yellowstone Lake provide new insight into the extent of post-collapse volcanism and active hydrothermal processes occurring in a large lake environment above a large magma chamber. Yellowstone Lake has an irregular bottom covered with dozens of features directly related to hydrothermal, tectonic, volcanic, and sedimentary processes. Detailed bathymetric, seismic reflection, and magnetic evidence reveals that rhyolitic lava flows underlie much of Yellowstone Lake and exert fundamental control on lake bathymetry and localization of hydrothermal activity. Many previously unknown features have been identified and include over 250 hydrothermal vents, several very large (>500 m diameter) hydrothermal explosion craters, many small hydrothermal vent craters (1–200 m diameter), domed lacustrine sediments related to hydrothermal activity, elongate fissures cutting post-glacial sediments, siliceous hydrothermal spire structures, sublacustrine landslide deposits, submerged former shorelines, and a recently active graben. Sampling and observations with a submersible remotely operated vehicle confirm and extend our understanding of the identified features. Faults, fissures, hydrothermally inflated domal structures, hydrothermal explosion craters, and sublacustrine landslides constitute potentially significant geologic hazards. Toxic elements derived from hydrothermal processes also may significantly affect the Yellowstone ecosystem.  相似文献   

The stability of a remediated bed in Hamilton Harbour,Lake Ontario,Canada     

Carl L. Amos  Ian G. Droppo  Eduardo A. Gomez  Tom P. Murphy 《Sedimentology》2003,50(1):149-168

ABSTRACT In situ measurements of lakebed sediment erodibility were made on three sites in Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario, using the benthic flume Sea Carousel. Three methods of estimating the surface erosion threshold (τ_c(0)) from a Carousel time series were evaluated: the first method fits measures of bed strength to eroded depth (the failure envelope) and evaluates threshold as the surface intercept; the second method regresses mean erosion rate (E_m) with bed shear stress and solves for the floc erosion rate (E_f) to derive the threshold for E_m = E_f = 1 × 10^?5 kg m^?2 s^?1; the third method extrapolates a regression of suspended sediment concentration (S) and fluid transmitted bed shear stress (τ₀) to ambient concentrations. The first field site was undisturbed (C) and acted as a control; the second (W) was disturbed through ploughing and water injection as part of lakebed treatment, whereas the third site (OIP) was disturbed and injected with an oxidant used for remediation of contaminated sediment. The main objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate the three different methods of deriving erosion threshold; (2) to compare the physical behaviour of lacustrine sediments with their marine estuarine counterparts; and (3) to examine the effects of ploughing and chemical treatment of contaminated sediment on bed stability. Five deployments of Sea Carousel were carried out at the control site. Mean erosion thresholds for the three methods were: τ_c(0) = 0·5 (±0·06), 0·27 (±0·01) and 0·34 (±0·03) Pa respectively. Method 1 overpredicted bed strength as it was insensitive to effects in the surface 1–2 mm, and the fit of the failure envelope was also highly subjective. Method 2 exhibited a wide scatter in the data (low correlation coefficients), and definition of the baseline erosion rate (E_f) is largely arbitrary in the literature. Method 3 yielded stable (high correlation coefficients), reproducible and objective results and is thus recommended for evaluation of the erosion threshold. The results of this method correlated well with sediment bulk density and followed the same trend as marine counterparts from widely varying sites. Mass settling rates, expressed as a decay constant, k, of S(t), were strongly related to the maximum turbidity at the onset of settling (S_max) and were also in continuity with marine counterparts. Thus, it appears that differences in salinity had little effect on mass settling rates in the examples presented, and that biological activity dominated any effects normally attributable to changes in salinity. Bedload transport of eroded aggregates (2–4 mm in diameter) took place by rolling below a mean tangential flow velocity (U_y) of 0·32 ms^?1 and by saltation at higher velocities. Mass transport as bedload was a maximum at U_y = 0·4 ms^?1, although bedload never exceeded 1% of the suspended load. The proportion of material moving as bedload was greatest at the onset of erosion but decreased as flow competence increased. Given the low bulk density and strength of the lakebed sediment, the presence of a bedload component is notable. Bedload transport over eroding cohesive substrates should be greater in estuaries, where both sediment density and strength are usually higher. Significant differences between the ploughed and control sites were apparent in both the erosion rate and the friction coefficient (φ), and suggest that bed recovery after disruption is rapid (< 24 h). τ_c(0) increased linearly with time after ploughing and recovered to the control mean value within 3 days. The friction coefficient was reduced to zero by ploughing (diagnostic of fluidization), but increased linearly with time, regaining control values within 6 days. No long‐term reduction in bed strength due to remediation was apparent.  相似文献   

A late quaternary record of eolian silt deposition in a maar lake, St. Michael Island, western Alaska     

Daniel R Muhs  Thomas A AgerJosh Been  J.Platt BradburyWalter E Dean 《Quaternary Research》2003,60(1):110-122

Recent stratigraphic studies in central Alaska have yielded the unexpected finding that there is little evidence for full-glacial (late Wisconsin) loess deposition. Because the loess record of western Alaska is poorly exposed and not well known, we analyzed a core from Zagoskin Lake, a maar lake on St. Michael Island, to determine if a full-glacial eolian record could be found in that region. Particle size and geochemical data indicate that the mineral fraction of the lake sediments is not derived from the local basalt and is probably eolian. Silt deposition took place from at least the latter part of the mid-Wisconsin interstadial period through the Holocene, based on radiocarbon dating. Based on the locations of likely loess sources, eolian silt in western Alaska was probably deflated by northeasterly winds from glaciofluvial sediments. If last-glacial winds that deposited loess were indeed from the northeast, this reconstruction is in conflict with a model-derived reconstruction of paleowinds in Alaska. Mass accumulation rates in Zagoskin Lake were higher during the Pleistocene than during the Holocene. In addition, more eolian sediment is recorded in the lake sediments than as loess on the adjacent landscape. The thinner loess record on land may be due to the sparse, herb tundra vegetation that dominated the landscape in full-glacial time. Herb tundra would have been an inefficient loess trap compared to forest or even shrub tundra due to its low roughness height. The lack of abundant, full-glacial, eolian silt deposition in the loess stratigraphic record of central Alaska may be due, therefore, to a mimimal ability of the landscape to trap loess, rather than a lack of available eolian sediment.  相似文献   

冬春季格陵兰海冰变化与初夏中国气温/降水关系的初步分析   总被引：3，自引：5，他引：3  

陈明轩  管兆勇  徐海明 《高原气象》2003,22(1):7-13

采用英国Hadley中心GISST海冰面积资料，NCEP／NCAR再分析资料以及中国地面降水和气温资料，运用EOF分解，小波分析和合成分析等方法，初步探讨了格陵兰岛两侧附近冬春季海冰面积变化特征及其与初夏6月中国气温和降水的关系，结果表明，格陵兰岛东西两侧海冰面积呈显著反相变化，并且具有明显的年际和年代际周期性振荡，冬春季格陵兰－寻威海海冰与初夏6月中国长江以北气温（降水）正相关（反相关），与长江以南气温（降水）反相关（正相关），而对于戴维斯海峡－拉布拉多海海冰则具有相反的相关型，大尺度500hPa环流合成分析初步表明，冬春季格陵兰附近海冰面积变化伴随着北极极涡环流和北半球阻塞高压的持续异常，海冰变化可能是影响初夏中国气温和降水的因子之一。  相似文献   

西北地区戈壁局地陆面物理参数的研究   总被引：30，自引：4，他引：30       下载免费PDF全文

张强  王胜  卫国安 《地球物理学报》2003,46(5):616-623

采用2000年8月～2001年9月在敦煌戈壁上观测的陆面过程资料，分析了敦煌地区荒漠戈壁地表反照率与太阳高度角和土壤湿度的关系以及土壤热传导率与土壤湿度的关系，初步给出了具有试验基础的戈壁局地反照率和土壤热传导率的多因子参数化公式. 并通过与观测值的比较发现试验资料拟合的参数化公式能够比较好地反映降水等气候因子引起的动态变化.  相似文献   

The climatic impacts of land surface change and carbon management, and the implications for climate-change mitigation policy   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Gregg Marland  Roger A. Pielke Sr. 《Climate Policy》2003,3(2):149-157

Strategies to mitigate anthropogenic climate change recognize that carbon sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere can reduce the build-up of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. However, climate mitigation policies do not generally incorporate the effects of these changes in the land surface on the surface albedo, the fluxes of sensible and latent heat to the atmosphere, and the distribution of energy within the climate system. Changes in these components of the surface energy budget can affect the local, regional, and global climate. Given the goal of mitigating climate change, it is important to consider all of the effects of changes in terrestrial vegetation and to work toward a better understanding of the full climate system. Acknowledging the importance of land surface change as a component of climate change makes it more challenging to create a system of credits and debits wherein emission or sequestration of carbon in the biosphere is equated with emission of carbon from fossil fuels. Recognition of the complexity of human-caused changes in climate does not, however, weaken the importance of actions that would seek to minimize our disturbance of the Earth’s environmental system and that would reduce societal and ecological vulnerability to environmental change and variability.  相似文献   

Comparison of the Langrangian Footprint     

N. Kljun  R. Kormann  M. W. Rotach  F. X. Meixer 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》2003,106(2):349-355

We compare flux and concentration footprint estimates of athree-dimensional Lagrangian stochastic dispersion modelapplying backward trajectories with the results of ananalytical footprint model by Kormann and Meixner.The comparison is performed for varying stability regimesof the surface layer as well as for different measurementheights. In general, excellent correspondence is found.  相似文献   

青藏高原地区地表温度及其取值对大气长波辐射冷却的影响   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

江灏  王可丽 《高原气象》1997,16(3):250-257

针对辐射传输模式在青藏高原地区的应用问题，使用Ｌｉｏｕ－Ｏｕ一维辐射传输模式及１９８２年８月￣１９８３年７月青藏高原热源观测实验期间青藏高原地面、高空与卫星观测资料，在高原辐射传输模式中区分了下垫面温度与地表空气温度的作用，并利用卫星观测资料对模式改进后的实际效果进行了验证；分析了地表温度的日变化和季节变化硬度，得到了下垫面温度的简单参数化方法。  相似文献   

龙门山地区泥盆纪碳酸盐与硅质碎屑的混积相与混积机理   总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7       下载免费PDF全文

李祥辉  刘文均  郑荣才 《沉积与特提斯地质》1997,17(3):1-10

碳酸盐与陆源碎屑的混合沉积研究至今尚未引起足够重视。文献屈指可数。扬子西经缘龙门山地区盆纪发育了了这类良好的混合沉积。作者根据实际材料，首次从这一思路出发，识别该区泥盆纪Ｅｍｓｉａｎ期到Ｇｉｖｅｔｉａｎ早期的混积相四种，混积亚相约１４种，阐明了其优势混积作用；根据混积作用特征、沉积背景关系，划分出两大混积类型，即泥质背景下的混积１型和砂灰质背景下的混积Ⅱ型；对混积作用机理进行了探讨；并指出不同级次  相似文献   

The glacilacustrine sedimentary environment of Bowser Lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada     

Robert Gilbert  Joseph R. Desloges  John J. Clague 《Journal of Paleolimnology》1997,17(3):331-346

Bowser Lake, a fiord lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, contains a thick Holocene fill consisting mainly of silt and clay varves. These sediments were carried into the lake by proglacial Bowser River which drains a high-energy, heavily glacierized basin. Sedimentation in the lake is controlled by seasonal snow and ice melt, by autumn rainstorms, and by rare, but very large jökulhlaups from glacier-dammed lakes in the upper Bowser River basin which complicate environmental inferences from the sedimentary record. Sediment is dispersed through the deep western part of the lake by energetic turbidity currents. The turbidity currents apparently do not overtop a sill that separates the western basin from much shallower areas to the east. Large amounts of silt and clay are deposited from suspension in the eastern part of the lake, but sediment accumulation rates there are much lower than to the west. Several strong acoustic reflectors punctuate the varved fill in the western basin; these may be thick or relatively coarse beds deposited during jökulhlaups or exceptionally large storms. The contemporary sediment yield to Bowser Lake, estimated from sediments in the lake, is about 360 t km^-2a^-1. This is a relatively high value, but it is less than yields insome other, similar montane basins with extensive snow and ice cover.The most likely explanation for the difference is that large amounts of sediment have been, and continue to be, stored on the Bowser delta andin small proglacial lakes.  相似文献