Decoupling of erosion and precipitation in the Himalayas

The hypothesis that abrupt spatial gradients in erosion can cause high strain rates in active orogens has been supported by numerical models that couple erosional processes with lithospheric deformation via gravitational feedbacks. Most such models invoke a 'stream-power' rule, in which either increased discharge or steeper channel slopes cause higher erosion rates. Spatial variations in precipitation and slopes are therefore predicted to correlate with gradients in both erosion rates and crustal strain. Here we combine observations from a meteorological network across the Greater Himalaya, Nepal, along with estimates of erosion rates at geologic timescales (greater than 100,000 yr) from low-temperature thermochronometry. Across a zone of about 20 km length spanning the Himalayan crest and encompassing a more than fivefold difference in monsoon precipitation, significant spatial variations in geologic erosion rates are not detectable. Decreased rainfall is not balanced by steeper channels. Instead, additional factors that influence river incision rates, such as channel width and sediment concentrations, must compensate for decreasing precipitation. Overall, spatially constant erosion is a response to uniform, upward tectonic transport of Greater Himalayan rock above a crustal ramp.     

三塘湖盆地北西向构造变形带的正演

三塘湖盆地北西向构造变形带的形成与演化控制了盆地总的构造格局．平衡剖面的正演表明：控制盆地构造变形的滑脱面位于石炭系内部的泥岩层中,滑脱面的深度约４．４６ｋｍ;盆地北西向构造变形带是海西晚期和喜山期两期构造作用叠加的产物,变形带的扩展顺序呈前展式自南向北扩展;变形机制主要为受重力扩展作用控制的断弯褶皱作用;变形样式主要为断裂及相关褶皱．盆地总的缩短量最大约８．３ｋｍ,海西晚期最大缩短量约４．５ｋｍ,喜山期最大缩短量约５ｋｍ．     

Measuring the onset of locking in the Peru-Chile trench with GPS and acoustic measurements

The subduction zone off the west coast of South America marks the convergence of the oceanic Nazca plate and the continental South America plate. Nazca-South America convergence over the past 23 million years has created the 6-km-deep Peru-Chile trench, 150 km offshore. High pressure between the plates creates a locked zone, leading to deformation of the overriding plate. The surface area of this locked zone is thought to control the magnitude of co-seismic release and is limited by pressure, temperature, sediment type and fluid content. Here we present seafloor deformation data from the submerged South America plate obtained from a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and acoustic transponders. We estimate that the measured horizontal surface motion perpendicular to the trench is consistent with a model having no slip along the thrust fault between 2 and 40 km depth. A tsunami in 1996, 200 km north of our site, was interpreted as being the result of an anomalously shallow interplate earthquake. Seismic coupling at shallow depths, such as we observe, may explain why co-seismic events in the Peruvian subduction zone create large tsunamis.     

山前断褶带构造变形与横向河道作用研究

构造变形与地表过程之间关系是近年来的研究热点,并取得了一些进展,特别是在较小空间尺度上的山前褶皱冲断带变形与地表过程耦合关系研究方面,提出了横向河流的切割作用影响背斜构造变形的新认识,改变了构造变形对地表作用单向控制的传统认识.背斜变形样式受地表过程和构造变形共同影响,背斜变形与横向河流切割之间存在双向耦合关系.山前带...     

Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago

Uplift of mountains driven by tectonic forces can influence regional climate as well as regional drainage patterns, which in turn control the discharge of eroded sediment to the ocean. But the nature of the interactions between tectonic forces, climate and drainage evolution remains contested. Here we reconstruct the erosional discharge from the Indus river over the past 30 million years using seismic reflection data obtained from drill core samples from the Arabian Sea and neodymium isotope data. We find that the source of the Indus sediments was dominated by erosion within and north of the Indus suture zone until five million years ago; after that, the river began to receive more erosional products from Himalayan sources. We propose that this change in the erosional pattern is caused by a rerouting of the major rivers of the Punjab into the Indus, which flowed east into the Ganges river before that time. Seismic reflection profiles from the Indus fan suggest high mass accumulation rates during the Pleistocene epoch partly driven by increased drainage to the Indus river after five million years ago and partly by faster erosion linked to a stronger monsoon over the past four million years. Our isotope stratigraphy for the Indus fan provides strong evidence for a significant change in the geometry of western Himalayan river systems in the recent geologic past.     

A model for assessing effects of climate change on runoff in China

A model is established for assessing the effects of climate change on runoff in China based on the land surface parameterization scheme variable infiltration capacity (VIC). The entire area of China is represented by 2604 cells with a resolution of 60 km×60 km for each cell. Forcing data, soil and vegetation parameters needed by the VIC model for the entire area of China are prepared. Daily forcing data, which are obtained from 740 stations between 1980 and 1990, are interpolated to the 60 km×60 km grid system. The VIC model is run on every grid cell over the whole China, and a routing scheme is run offline with daily input of surface runoff and drainage from the VIC to get hydrograph at basin outlets. The spatial patterns of simulated runoff and mean annual precipitation are consistent very well. The results of monthly streamflow simulations over the Huaihe and Weihe River basins indicate that there is a good agreement between the observed and simulated values, and also initially indicate the rationality and feasibility of the evaluation model.     

温州湾水流及其与地形的关系

本文采用二维显式有限元方法数值模拟了温州湾内的流态及其变化,并在此基础上,根据温州湾的地形特点分析探讨了温州湾水流变化与湾内地形之间的关系。灵昆浅滩和霓屿山仰舌沙咀在水下的相向延伸,将温州湾分为南北两片,有利于温州湾联岛工程坝轴线的确定。温州湾北片是冲淤变化最活跃的地区。由于瓯江北汊落潮槽与东口涨潮槽方向并不一致,错开处发育的沙洲（中沙、腰子沙等）,沙洲位置随瓯江南北汊水量分配情况而定;北口对瓯江     

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.     

A satellite geodetic survey of large-scale deformation of volcanic centres in the central Andes

Surface deformation in volcanic areas usually indicates movement of magma or hydrothermal fluids at depth. Stratovolcanoes tend to exhibit a complex relationship between deformation and eruptive behaviour. The characteristically long time spans between such eruptions requires a long time series of observations to determine whether deformation without an eruption is common at a given edifice. Such studies, however, are logistically difficult to carry out in most volcanic arcs, as these tend to be remote regions with large numbers of volcanoes (hundreds to even thousands). Here we present a satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) survey of the remote central Andes volcanic arc, a region formed by subduction of the Nazca oceanic plate beneath continental South America. Spanning the years 1992 to 2000, our survey reveals the background level of activity of about 900 volcanoes, 50 of which have been classified as potentially active. We find four centres of broad (tens of kilometres wide), roughly axisymmetric surface deformation. None of these centres are at volcanoes currently classified as potentially active, although two lie within about 10 km of volcanoes with known activity. Source depths inferred from the patterns of deformation lie between 5 and 17 km. In contrast to the four new sources found, we do not observe any deformation associated with recent eruptions of Lascar, Chile.     

辐射沙脊小庙洪水道口门形态演变及其水动力机制研究

 近40年来地形资料对比显示,小庙洪水道口门段存在北淤南冲的演变趋势,口门段北水道深槽不断萎缩直至消失,南水道则充分发展。通过对实测水文资料分析和所建立的潮流数学模型,从动力的角度阐述了小庙洪口门各水道多年来冲淤变化的机制。研究表明小庙洪水道是受潮流控制为主的潮汐水道,水道近年来之所以表现出南冲北淤的状态,与口门水道内部潮流的性质有很大的相关性。北水道呈涨潮水道性质,中、南水道表现出落潮水道性质。南、中水道断面输沙量为净泄,北水道断面为净进,水道口门段悬沙存在“北进南出”趋势,悬沙运移的趋势与近几十年来小庙水道北水道淤积、萎缩;南水道冲刷、发展的态势相符合。     

Coupled spatial variations in precipitation and long-term erosion rates across the Washington Cascades

Past studies of tectonically active mountain ranges have suggested strong coupling and feedbacks between climate, tectonics and topography. For example, rock uplift generates topographic relief, thereby enhancing precipitation, which focuses erosion and in turn influences rates and spatial patterns of further rock uplift. Although theoretical links between climate, erosion and uplift have received much attention, few studies have shown convincing correlations between observable indices of these processes on mountain-range scales. Here we show that strongly varying long-term (>10(6)-10(7) yr) erosion rates inferred from apatite (U-Th)/He cooling ages across the Cascades mountains of Washington state closely track modern mean annual precipitation rates. Erosion and precipitation rates vary over an order of magnitude across the range with maxima of 0.33 mm yr(-1) and 3.5 m yr(-1), respectively, with both maxima located 50 km west (windward) of the topographic crest of the range. These data demonstrate a strong coupling between precipitation and long-term erosion rates on the mountain-range scale. If the range is currently in topographic steady state, rock uplift on the west flank is three to ten times faster than elsewhere in the range, possibly in response to climatically focused erosion.     

Plateau 'pop-up' in the great 1897 Assam earthquake

The great Assam earthquake of 12 June 1897 reduced to rubble all masonry buildings within a region of northeastern India roughly the size of England, and was felt over an area exceeding that of the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Hitherto it was believed that rupture occurred on a north-dipping Himalayan thrust fault propagating south of Bhutan. But here we show that the northern edge of the Shillong plateau rose violently by at least 11 m during the Assam earthquake, and that this was due to the rupture of a buried reverse fault approximately 110 km in length and dipping steeply away from the Himalaya. The stress drop implied by the rupture geometry and the prodigious fault slip of 18 +/- 7 m explains epicentral accelerations observed to exceed 1g vertically and surface velocities exceeding 3 m s-1 (ref. 1). This quantitative observation of active deformation of a 'pop-up' structure confirms that faults bounding such structures can penetrate the whole crust. Plateau uplift in the past 2-5 million years has caused the Indian plate to contract locally by 4 +/- 2 mm yr-1, reducing seismic risk in Bhutan but increasing the risk in northern Bangladesh.     

Low electrical resistivity associated with plunging of the Nazca flat slab beneath Argentina

Beneath much of the Andes, oceanic lithosphere descends eastward into the mantle at an angle of about 30 degrees (ref. 1). A partially molten region is thought to form in a wedge between this descending slab and the overlying continental lithosphere as volatiles given off by the slab lower the melting temperature of mantle material. This wedge is the ultimate source for magma erupted at the active volcanoes that characterize the Andean margin. But between 28 degrees and 33 degrees S the subducted Nazca plate appears to be anomalously buoyant, as it levels out at about 100 km depth and extends nearly horizontally under the continent. Above this 'flat slab', volcanic activity in the main Andean Cordillera terminated about 9 million years ago as the flattening slab presumably squeezed out the mantle wedge. But it is unknown where slab volatiles go once this happens, and why the flat slab finally rolls over to descend steeply into the mantle 600 km further eastward. Here we present results from a magnetotelluric profile in central Argentina, from which we infer enhanced electrical conductivity along the eastern side of the plunging slab, indicative of the presence of partial melt. This conductivity structure may imply that partial melting occurs to at least 250 km and perhaps to more than 400 km depth, or that melt is supplied from the 410 km discontinuity, consistent with the transition-zone 'water-filter' model of Bercovici and Karato.     

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.     

一种可提高试井模式识别准确度的改进HT-BP方法

在用BP神经网络进行试井问题模式识别的过程中 ,若将现场试井数据简单地以点对的方式送入BP神经网络进行识别 ,则与训练模式无法对应 ;若在用BP神经网络学习和识别曲线之前进行归一化处理 ,则会引起曲线的尺度变化和空间位移。结合试井问题对Hough变换进行了改进 ,提出了与改进Hough变换相应的比例变换和空间压缩方法。用比例变换和空间压缩方法及改进Hough变换法对试井曲线进行预处理后再送入BP神经网络 ,可以大大改善识别能力。实例说明 ,改进Hough变换与BP神经网络相结合的方法 (MHT BP)对试井模式识别的准确性较高。     

地球物理综合勘探技术在南水北调工程中的应用

南水北调西线一期工程的引水隧洞长达73km，最大埋深1100m，因此软围岩大变形及岩爆等工程地质问题尤为突出。利用地球物理综合探测技术对工程区的工程地质条件进行了研究，并对隧洞开挖过程中可能遇到的工程地质问题进行了分区。对于南水北调西线工程而言，首先应该考虑的地球探测指标是探测深度。因可控源音频大地电磁法（CSAMT法）探测深度为1～2km，所以当各种地球物理探测技术对深部的探测结果相互抵触时，要对CSAMT法的测试结果给予充分的重视。在南水北调西线一期工程玛柯河-贾曲段的工程地质条件勘察过程中，地球物理综合勘探技术对155～239桩段断层破碎带的解释结果与野外岩石露头所反映的地质信息吻合较好，并得到了钻孔资料的验证，说明地球物理综合勘探技术值得在南水北调西线工程中推广。     

Waning buoyancy in the crustal roots of old mountains

When mountains form through the collision of lithospheric plates, uplift of the Earth's surface is accompanied by thickening of the crust, and the buoyancy of these deep crustal roots (relative to the surrounding mantle) is thought to contribute to the support of mountain topography. Once active tectonism ceases, continuing erosion will progressively wear away surface relief. Here I provide new constraints on how crustal roots respond to erosional unloading over very long timescales. In old collisional mountain belts, ratios of surface relief to the thickness of the underlying crustal root are observed to be smaller than in young mountains. On the basis of gravity data, this trend is best explained by a decrease in the buoyancy of the crustal root with greater age since the most recent mountain-building episode which is consistent with metamorphic reactions produced by long-term cooling. An approximate balance between mountain and root mass anomalies suggests that the continental lithosphere remains weak enough to permit exhumation of crustal roots in response to surface erosion for hundreds of millions of years. The amount of such uplift, however, appears to be significantly reduced by progressive loss of root buoyancy.     

Geothermal field and its relation with coalbed methane distribution of the Qinshui Basin

The average geothermal gradient in the Qin-shui Basin, Shanxi Province, North China, estimated from temperature logging data of 20 boreholes is 28.2±1.03℃/km. The thermal conductivities of 39 rock samples are measured and 20 heat flow values are obtained. The estimated heat flow ranges from 44.75 mW7m2 to 101.81 mW/m2, with a mean of 62.69±15.20 mW/m2. The thermal history reconstruction from the inversion of vitrinite data, using Ther-model for Windows 2004, reveals that the average paleo-heat flow at the time of maximum burial in late Jurassic to early Cretaceous is 158.41 mW/m2 for the north part, 119.57 mW/m2 for the central part and 169.43 mW/m2for the south part of the basin respectively. The reconstruction of the buried history of the strata indicates that the age for the end of sedimentation and the beginning of erosion for the basin is 108-156 Ma, and that the eroded thickness of the strata is 2603 m in the north, 2291 m in the central, and 2528.9 m in the south of the basin respectively. The "higher in the north and the south, lower in the central" distribution pattern of the paleo-heat flow coincides with the distribution of the coal-bed methane spatially and temporally, which shows that the coal-bed methane is controlled by the paleo-geotem-perature field in the basin.     

基于RUSLE模型的喀斯特峰丛洼地土壤侵蚀及其养分流失评估

以中国南方典型喀斯特峰丛洼地为研究对象,基于GIS技术和RUSLE模型,对喀斯特峰丛洼地的土壤侵蚀空间变化特征进行了分析。探讨了峰丛洼地土壤侵蚀与土壤养分流失之间的关系,揭示了该地区不同土壤养分流失之间的空间变化差异。结果表明:2015年研究区土壤侵蚀总量为1 950.21×10~4 t·a~(-1),占研究区国土面积的76.75%。土壤侵蚀空间分布整体上呈现出南北两侧向西中部变化的条带状的空间分布特征。因土壤侵蚀引起的土壤有机碳(SOC)、全氮(TN)、全磷(TP)和全钾(TK)等养分流失总量为57.76×10~4 t·a~(-1),其中SOC、TN、TP和TK的平均流失量分别为38.13、1.18、0.16和6.00 t·km~(-2)·a~(-1)。研究区土壤侵蚀的空间变化整体上是随侵蚀等级增加,侵蚀面积和侵蚀量逐渐减少而平均侵蚀模数增加的过程,土壤侵蚀的空间分布差异决定了土壤养分流失空间分布差异。     

Space geodetic evidence for rapid strain rates in the New Madrid seismic zone of central USA

In the winter of 1811-1812, near the town of New Madrid in the central United States and more than 2,000 km from the nearest plate boundary, three earthquakes within three months shook the entire eastern half of the country and liquefied the ground over distances far greater than any historic earthquake in North America. The origin and modern significance of these earthquakes, however, is highly contentious. Geological evidence demonstrates that liquefaction due to strong ground shaking, similar in scale to that generated by the New Madrid earthquakes, has occurred at least three and possibly four times in the past 2,000 years (refs 4-6), consistent with recurrence statistics derived from regional seismicity. Here we show direct evidence for rapid strain rates in the area determined from a continuously operated global positioning system (GPS) network. Rates of strain are of the order of 10(-7) per year, comparable in magnitude to those across active plate boundaries, and are consistent with known active faults within the region. These results have significant implications for the definition of seismic hazard and for processes that drive intraplate seismicity.