Fluctuation of Picea timberline and paleo-environment on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains during the late Holocene

The fluctuation of alpine timberline, which can serve as a good indicator for Holocene climate, is the syn-thetically effective results of many environmental fac-tors during geological and historical periods and mod-ern times. In recent years, researches …     

A test of Snowmelt Runoff Model （SRM） for the Gongnaisi River basin in the western Tianshan Mountains, China

The Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM) is one of a very few models in the world today that requires remote sensing derived snow cover as model input. Owing to its simple data requirements and use of remote sensing to provide snow cover information, SRM is ideal for use in data sparse regions, particularly in remote and inaccessible high mountain watersheds. In order to verify the applicability of SRM in an environment of continental climate, a test of SRM is performed for the Gongnaisi River basin in the western Tianshan Mountains, the results show that two SRM average goodness-of-fit statistics for simulations, Nash-Sutcliff coeffident (R2) and volume difference (Dv), are 0.87 and 0.90%,respectively. As compared with the application results over 80 basins in 25 different countries around the world, SRM performs well in the Gongnaisi River basin. The results also show that SRM can be a validated snowmelt runoff model capable of being applied in the western Tianshan Mountains.On the basis of snowmelt runoff simulation, together with a set of simplified hypothetical climate scenarios, SRM is also used to simulate the effects of climate change on snow cover and the consecutive snowmelt runoff. For a given hypothetical temperature increase of 4℃, the snow coverage and snowmelt season shift towards earlier dates, and the snowmelt runoff, as a result, is changed significantly at the same time. The simulation results show that the snow cover is sensitive to changes of climate, especially to the increase of temperature, the major effect of climate change will be a time shifting of snowmelt runoff to early spring months, resulting in a redistribution of seasonally runoff throughout the whole snowmelt season.     

SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating of the Gangou granitoids, Central Tianshan Mountains, Northwest China and tectonic significances

Two types of granitoids, highly deformed eugen grenitoids end undeformed fine-grained grenitoids, ere widely distributed in Gangou area, Central Tianshen Mountains, Northwest China. The augen grenitoids are high-K calc-alkaline characterized by high K20, Rb, Y and Th, and low Sr and Sr/Y. They also have high contents of large ion lithophile elements （LILE）, such as Be, Rb, K and Th, and relatively low contents of high field strength elements （HFSE）, such as Zr, Y and Nb. The fine-grained granitoids are calc-alkaline cherecterlzed by high Sr, low Y and HREE, similar to adakitic rocks, and with Na20/K20〈2 （1.76-1.91）, high/sr （0.70689--0.70981）, and negative εNd（t） （-2.4-5.3）. High-precision SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating results indicate that the Gangou augen greniUods were formed at 428 ± 10 Me, and the fine-grained granitoids were emplaced at 361 -368 Me. These geochemical and U-Pb zircon data have significant implications for the timing of closure of the Mishigou-Gangou Ocean and the evolution of the Central Tianshan orogenic belt.     

Southwest monsoon changes indicated by oxygen isotope of ostracode shells from sediments in Qinghai Lake since the late Glacial

The δ 18O records of ostracode shells in sediments of core QH-2000 from Qinghai Lake can be used as a better proxy to reflect monsoon changes. Low monsoon precipitation between 17.5 and 11 cal. ka BP is indicated by positive δ 18O values averaging 2.37‰. A fast shift in δ 18O from positive at 11 cal. ka BP to negative at 10 cal. ka BP indicates sharp increase of monsoon precipitation. An interval of generally high monsoon precipitation is observed between 10 and 6 cal. ka BP with δ 18O values averaging -2.15‰. Decrease of monsoon precipitation between 6 and 2.5 cal. ka BP is indicated by positive δ 18O values. δ 18O keeps positive values averaging 3.0‰ between 2.5 and 0 cal. ka BP suggesting low high monsoon precipitation. The climatic changes indicated by δ 18O records of ostracode shells in sedi- ments of core QH-2000 from Qinghai Lake and our broader regional comparison show that the climate in Qinghai Lake since the late Glacial is probably controlled by southwest monsoon other than southeast monsoon.     

Synthesis and magnetic properties of one-dimensional Mn（Ⅱ） complexes linked by dithiooxalato

Three dithiooxalato (Dto) bridging one-dimensional Mn(Ⅱ) complexes [Mn(L)Dto](L=Phen (1), Bpy (2) and en (3)) were synthesized. All of the complexes have the similar one-dimensional structure through Dto bridge. The measurement of the variable temperature magnetic susceptibility of complex 1 showed that there are weak antiferromagnetic interactions between the Mn(Ⅱ) ions.     

Environmental evolution of Xingkai （Khanka） Lake since 200 ka by OSL dating of sand hills

Crossing the Sino-Russian boundary, Xingkai Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast Asia. In addition to the lakeshore, there are four sand hills on the north side of the lake that accumulated during a period of sustainable and stable lacustrine trans gression and were preserved after depression. Analysis of well-dated stratigraphic sequences based on 18 OSL datings combined with multiple index analysis of six sites in the sand hills revealed that the north shoreline of Xingkai Lake retreated in a stepwise fashion since the middle Pleistocene, and that at least four transgressions (during 193-183 ka, 136-130 ka, 24-15 ka and since 3 ka) and three depressions occurred during this process. The results of this study confirmed that transgressive stages were concur- rent with epochs of climate cooling, whereas the period of regression corresponded to the climatic optima. Transgressions and regressions were primarily caused by variations in the intensity of alluvial accumulation in the Ussuri River Valley and fluctuations in regional temperature and humidity that were controlled by climatic change. Moreover, one obvious transgressive process that occurred in MIS3 may have been related to enhanced precipitation that was reportedly widespread in the west of China, while shortterm fluctuations in the lake level might well be a direct response to regional precipitation variations on the millennial scale.     

Genetic consequences of postglacial colonization by the endemic Yarkand hare （Lepus yarkandensis） of the arid Tarim Basin

Orogenesis of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,which occurred in a stepwise manner,contributed to the extreme aridity of the Tarim Basin,resulting in vulnerable and unstable ecosystems.Quaternary climatic oscillations may have affected the ecosystems and,consequently,the distributions and genetic structuring of the Tarim Basin’s biota.We used nucleotide sequence data from 2 mitochondrial (mt) DNA genes (Cyt b and the D-loop) to test hypotheses associated with the matrilineal and demographical histories of the Tarim Basin’s endemic Yarkand hare (Lepus yarkandensis).Range-wide sampling involving 20 populations and 224 individuals detected 126 haplotypes that clustered into 5 major lineages in both the phylogenetic tree and median-joining network.Populations from the northern and eastern Tarim Basin shared a similar history,as did those from the western and southern regions.Demographical analysis and genetic diversity estimations suggested that the western and southern regions might have served as glacial refugia for the Yarkand hare during Quaternary climatic oscillations.The distribution of the Yarkand hare,especially in the northern and eastern parts,probably represented 3 postglacial colonization events,dated to 0.21,0.090 and 0.054 MYA,which corresponded to known interglacial periods.Given the relatively complete geographic isolation between the eastern and southern populations,the Yarkand hare likely dispersed during postglacial periods from the southwest to the north,and then onward to the east.The absence of water likely forced the species into refugia,and this differed from other Pleistocene biogeographical drivers.The demographical and historical patterns have important implications for conservation.     

Erosion of the prismatic layer by the organic matrix during the formation of the nacre-prism transition layer in the shell of Pinctada fucata （Bivalvia, Mollusca）

Three variants of the sequence of formation of the nacre-prism transition layer were observed in Pinctada fucata (Bivalvia, Mollusca) shells. In each case, the layer was formed by the organic matrix secreted by the mantle, together with the interprismatic organic envelope. The continuity of the organic phase throughout the shell was maintained as the new nacreous layer was formed on the nacre-prism transition layer. Changes in the interprismatic organic envelopes on either side of the nacre-prism transition...     

Evidences of rapid erosion driven by climate in the Yarlung Zangbo （Tsangpo） Great Canyon, the eastern Himalayan syntaxis

Climate and tectonism are both particularly intense in the Yarlung Zangbo (Tsangpo) Great Canyon in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis,which is characterized by the most rapid landscape evolution of anywhere in the world.Thus,the eastern Himalayan syntaxis is one of the best locations to study the interactions between climate and tectonics.This paper investigates the cooling ages of the Doxong La-Baibung profile using apatite fission track (AFT) dating on 11 bedrock samples at elevations ranging from 4210 to 710 m.There are topographic,climatic,metamorphic,and thermochronological gradients in the profile,providing good conditions to study interactions between climate and tectonics.AFT ages ranged from 4.6±0.6 Ma to 1.7±0.3 Ma,and the mean fission track lengths ranged from 11.0 to 12.4 μm.It was found that the cooling rates revealed by AFT ages increased with decreasing elevation.However,the tendency of the cooling rates revealed by the 40 Ar-39 Ar ages was different from that indicated by the AFT ages.Moreover,for most districts of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis,the compiled AFT age distribution correlates well with the annual average precipitation,indicating the coupling of the cooling and erosion rates of the near-surface rock and precipitation.The geothermal history modeling results indicate an obvious increase in the cooling and erosion rate between 1.0 and 0.5 Ma.This age is consistent with other research findings for this time,when the vapor channel of the Yarlung Zangbo Great Canyon began to take effect.These evidences suggest that climate,especially precipitation,has acting as a key factor influencing the rapid cooling and erosion in the Yarlung Zangbo Great Canyon since 1-0.5 Ma.     

Application of principal component-radial basis function neural networks （PC-RBFNN） for the detection of water-adulterated bayberry juice by near-infrared spectroscopy

Near-infrared （NIR） spectroscopy combined with chemometrics techniques was used to classify the pure bayberry juice and the one adulterated with 10% （w/w） and 20% （w/w） water. Principal component analysis （PCA） was applied to reduce the dimensions of spectral data, give information regarding a potential capability of separation of objects, and provide principal component （PC） scores for radial basis function neural networks （RBFNN）. RBFNN was used to detect bayberry juice adulterant. Multiplicative scatter correction （MSC） and standard normal variate （SNV） transformation were used to preprocess spectra. The results demonstrate that PC-RBFNN with optimum parameters can separate pure bayberry juice samples from water-adulterated bayberry at a recognition rate of 97.62%, but cannot clearly detect water levels in the adulterated bayberry juice. We conclude that NIR technology can be successfully applied to detect water-adulterated bayberry juice.     

新疆南天山中志留世生物群及其意义

南天山伊契克巴什组生物群含有腕足、珊瑚、头足和苔藓虫动物化石,通过鉴定,其中有腕足动物Eospirifer tingia,Eospirifer sp．,Tuvaella gigantean,Nalivkinia grunewaldtiaeformis;珊瑚动物Palaeo favosites sp．,头足动物Sichuanoceras sp,和遗迹化石线形迹的Gordia属,根据化石生物群和沉积特征．作者认为该组地层时代大致应归属中志留世。从生物群生态特征来看,反映了稳定低能的正常浅海环境,说明南天山中志留世沉积海域与中国南、北海域是广泛相通的。     

AMS dating on glacial tills at the source area of the Urumqi River in the Tianshan Mountains and its implications

Using accelerating mass spectrometry (AMS) dating method, a dating has been made on the primary calcium carbonate in tills and secondary calcium carbonate coating on till gravel and the roche moutonnee formed since the Last Glaciation at the source area of the Urumqi River valley in the Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China. The results reveal that the carbonate content in the tills in this noncarbonate area is high enough to date by AMS, that the carbon in the coatings on the newly exposed roche moutons and in the modern till is modern carbon and so the¹⁴C dating results in the ancient till can represent the actual ages of the till formation, and that the warm period during the Holocene began as early as 6 500 a B. P. and lasted to 1 800 a B. P.     

Quaternary folding in the south piedmont of central segment of Tianshan Mountains

The Tianshan Mountains are an important active structural belt in the interior of Eurasia. By integrated methods of surface geology survey and interpretation of seismic profiles, we distinguish fold scarps located at the south limb of the Kuqatawu anticline and the north limb of the Dongqiulitag anticline in the Kuqa rejuvenation foreland thrust belt, south piedmont of central segment of the Tianshan Mountains. Fold scarp is a newly found structural phenomenon. Because of the bend of thrust plane and the movement of hanging wall above the thrust plane, the original horizontal deposits of hanging wall and their surface become a monocline structure, resulting from the separating and migration of the active and fixed axial surfaces. Measuring the geometry of fold scarp and using the data of age of the deformed deposits, the crustal shortening rate resulting from the deeply seated subsurface thrust is calculated. The crustal shortening rate reflected by the fold scarp located at the north limb of the Dngqiulitag anticline is (1±0.1) mm/a. The fold scarps of the Dongqiulitag anticline and the Kuqatawu anticline identify that the deformation process of the crustal compressive structures in the Kuqa area extends into the Late Quaternary.     

S-wave velocity of the crust around Tianshan Mountains inverted from seismic ambient noise tomography

We process ambient noise data from seismic stations deployed in central Asia to determine the crustal shear wave velocity structure beneath the Tianshan Mountians and surrounding area. About 748 inter-station Rayleigh wave empirical Green’s functions have been recovered to estimate the phase velocity dispersions over periods from 6 to 50 s using the image transformation technique. Results show that for short periods (6–20 s), the distribution of Rayleigh wave phase velocities is generally consistent with surface geology, with high velocities corresponding to mountain ranges and low velocities to sedimentary basins. Along two profiles, which trend from NE-SW and NW-SE, the shear wave velocity shows a pair of high velocity anomalies dipping in opposite directions beneath the Tianshan Mountains. At shallow depths, those high velocity anomalies roughly correlate with areas where the mountain front and the surrounding basin are connected. The profiles also show a narrow zone beneath the Tianshan Mountains, which may represent a route for the upwelling from upper mantle. Those observations suggest that the underthrusting of the Tarim Basin and Kazakh Shield combine with the weakness of the crust, which is heated by the upwelling from upper mantle, may play an important role on the reactivation of the Tianshan Mountains associated with the India-Eurasia collision.     

北天山东段一次暴雨过程的数值模拟研究：动力与微物理机制

利用WRF中尺度数值模式对2010年6月22日~23日发生在新疆北天山东段的一次暴雨过程进行数值模拟研究,重点探讨了暴雨过程形成演变的动力与微物理机制。结果表明,控制北疆的西北气流遇到博格达山脉,在迎风坡的强迫抬升作用下,形成对流单体并维持加强。降水蒸发冷却与摩擦拖曳产生的下沉气流紧贴迎风坡地表下泄,与环境西北气流对冲辐合引起对流区域由山坡向山前扩展。霰通过收集云水增长是降水形成的主要微物理机制。当云水被上升气流输送至-20℃以上时,能有效促进霰的增长过程,霰碰并雨滴(低层)及冰雪晶(高层)为霰增长的次要机制。     

西天山成矿带铁矿床地质特征及研究进展

 西天山成矿带位于伊犁地块东缘,该成矿带发育大量海相火山岩型铁矿床。近年来,随着新疆新一轮铁矿找矿勘查与评价的开展,西天山成矿带勘查工作取得重大进展,相继发现了查岗诺尔、智博、备战、敦德、松湖等大型富铁矿床,该成矿带已成为新疆乃至全国重要的大型富铁矿成矿带之一。但该成矿带铁矿床研究目前仍处于初步阶段,铁矿床成因机制的研究程度较低,成矿动力学背景的讨论仍存争议,大规模铁矿床富集机制亟待解决,该类型铁矿床的勘查找矿标志急需总结。在综述国内外铁矿床分类及研究进展的基础上,分析了西天山成矿带重要铁矿床的地质特征和研究现状,并据此提出了存在的主要问题和研究展望,旨在推动西天山铁矿床的成因研究和找矿勘查。     

亚洲中部中更新世以来气候环境变化--来自天山北坡黄土沉积的证据

亚洲中部干旱区的形成演化对于理解干旱区大气粉尘的全球气候环境效应等具有极重要的科学价值。天山北坡沙湾县东湾镇厚71m的风成黄土为探讨该区环境演化提供了极好素材。对该剖面气候代用指标分析表明，中更新世以来气候环境经历了3个时期，在0．60和0．25Ma左右发生了重要气候事件，现在干旱气候格局是0．25Ma左右形成延续至今。     

The zircon SHRIMP chronology and trace element geochemistry of the Carboniferous volcanic rocks in western Tianshan Mountains

The genesis of the Carboniferous volcanic rocks in the Dahalajunshan group, mainly consisting of trachytes and trachy-andesites and distributing widely in western Tianshan Mountains, remains to be controversial. It has been proposed to be relevant to “rift” or “plume”. Detailed petrology and geochemical data presented in this paper show that these volcanic rocks represent typical continental arc magmatism. The volcanic rocks are mainly trachy-andesitic, and the magma source is enriched in LILE, Th and Pb, and depleted in HFSE and Ce. Trace element geochemical study suggests that the basalts could be modeled by 7% -11% partial melt of garnet Iherzolite. The volcanic rocks in the Dahalajunshan group are neither the products of “rift” nor so-called “plume”but represent the continental island arc of the Paleo-Southern Tianshan Ocean. The mantle wedge had been modified by the melt generating in subduction zone during a long evolution history of this island arc. The continental crust materials （i.e. mainly sediment on ocean floor） had been added into island arc through melt in subduction zone. Volcanic rocks occurring in different regions might represent magma eruption in different time. The zircon SHRIMP dating indicates that the ages of the basalt varies between 334.0 Ma and 394.9 Ma. The 13 analyses give an average age of 353.7±4.5 Ma （MSWD = 1.7）. The apparent ages of zircons in trachy-andesite vary between 293.0 Ma and 465.4 Ma. All analyses fall on the U-Pb concordant line and are divided into two groups. 8 analyses produce an average age of 312.8±4.2 Ma （MSWD = 1.7）, which represents the crystallizing age of zircon rims in trachy-andesite. The acquired two ages （i.e. 354 and 313 Ma） belong to the Early Carboniferous and Late Carboniferous epochs, respectively. Thus, the Dahalajunshan group would be separated into several groups with the accumulation of high-quality age dating and data of trace element and isotopic geochemistry, in our opinion.     

The 40Ar/39Ar age record of formation and uplift of the blueschists and eclogites in the western Tianshan Mountains

The 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that the eclogite facies rocks of the Hasiate slice in the western Tianshan Mountains were formed at the early stage of Devonian (401 Ma) and had been uplifted to the greenschist facies tectonic level in the middle stage of Devonian (381 Ma). The formation and uplift of the blueschists of the Akesayi slice are constrained to the late stage of Devonian (370─364 Ma). The different tectonic slices in the high-pressure metamorphic belt have experienced the different uplift history.