The Jurassic-Cretaceous transition of Southern Sweden—palynological and sedimentological interpretation

Palynological studies on the Vitab?ck Clay help resolve the position of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in southern Sweden. Well-preserved assemblages of terrestrial pollen and spores, together with abundant algae (Botryococcus), and for the first time, dinoflagellates have been identified in the Vitab?ck Clay. A Berriasian age is corroborated for the Vitab?ck Clay based on the palynological data; the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary being placed around the contact of this unit with the underlying “Nytorp Sand”. The terrestrial vegetation was dominated by coniferous forest with an understorey of ferns in a warm, temperate climate. The palynoflora shows compositional similarities to the Northern Chinese Floral Province and especially the Jehol Group. The majority of the Vitab?ck Clay represents a moderate-to low-energy paralic succession. However, the basal part of the unit incorporates anomalously coarse material of mixed terrestrial and marine origin. This sedimentary package is herein interpreted to represent tsunami deposits and is similar to coeval tsunami-related deposits in France.     

On the boundary value problem for harmonic maps of the Poincaré disc

The boundary value problem for harmonic maps of the Poincare disc is discussed. The emphasis is on the non-smoothness of the given boundary values in the problem. Let T . be a subspace of the universal Teichmüller space, defined as a set of normalized quasisymmetric homeomorphisms h of the unit circle S onto itself where h admits a quasiconformal extension to the unit disc D with a complex dilatation μ satisfying where ρ(z)|dz|2 is the Poincare metric of D. Let B . be a Banach space consisting of holomorphic quadratic differentials φ in D with norms It is shown that for any given quasisymmetric homeomorphism h : S1→S1∈ T . , there is a unique quasiconformal harmonic map of D with respect to the Poincare metric whose boundary corresponding is h and the Hopf differential of such a harmonic map belongs to B .     

Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in northeastern China: placement based on buchiid bivalves and dinoflagellate cysts

Global environments changed greatly during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, particularly during the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. Separation of the world into Tethyan, Boreal and other biogeographic realms complicates international correlation, and even the pelagic ammonites cannot play their characteristic role of principle correlation criteria. In the Boreal and North Pacific realms, the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous buchiid bivalve zones have very good calibration to Boreal ammonite zones, which, in turn, have approximate correlations to Tethyan ammonite zones. Therefore, buchiid bivalves provide a means to identify Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous stages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The base of the Buchia unschensis Zone is roughly coincident with the Boreal ammonite Craspedites exoticus subzone, Upper Volgian Craspedites okensis Zone, which in turn closely corresponds to the base of the Tethyan ammonite basal Berriasian Berriasella jacobi Zone. The top of the underlying Buchia russiensis Zone approximately coincides with that of the uppermost Middle Volgian, Boreal ammonite Epivirgatites variabilis Zone, which approximately corresponds to the Tethyan ammonite Durangites Zone of uppermost Tithonian. Buchia and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from two regions in eastern Heilongjiang of northeastern China indicate the presence of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The Dong’anzhen Formation of Dong’an, Raohe County contains Middle Volgian-Lower Valanginian Buchia assemblages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is tentatively assigned to either the base of the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis assemblage or between the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis and Buchia russiensis-Buchia fischeriana assemblages. The Dongrong Formation from boreholes at Suibin, Suibin County, yields uppermost Oxfordian to basal Berriasian Buchia assemblages and Oxfordian-Barremian dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. Here, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval is probably between the Buchia cf. mosquensis-Buchia cf. rugosa assemblage (including Buchia ex gr. russiensis and Buchia ex gr. taimyrensis) and the overlying non-Buchia-bearing deposits.     

Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in northeastern China: placement based on buchiid bivalves and dinoflagellate cysts

Global environments changed greatly during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, particularly during the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. Separation of the world into Tethyan, Boreal and other biogeographic realms complicates international correlation, and even the pelagic ammonites cannot play their characteristic role of principle correlation criteria. In the Boreal and North Pacific realms, the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous buchiid bivalve zones have very good calibration to Boreal ammonite zones, which, in turn, have approximate correlations to Tethyan ammonite zones. Therefore, buchiid bivalves provide a means to identify Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous stages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The base of the Buchia unschensis Zone is roughly coincident with the Boreal ammonite Craspedites exoticus subzone, Upper Volgian Craspedites okensis Zone, which in turn closely corresponds to the base of the Tethyan ammonite basal Berriasian Berriasella jacobi Zone. The top of the underlying Buchia russiensis Zone approximately coincides with that of the uppermost Middle Volgian, Boreal ammonite Epivirgatites variabilis Zone, which approximately corresponds to the Tethyan ammonite Durangites Zone of uppermost Tithonian. Buchia and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from two regions in eastern Heilongjiang of northeastern China indicate the presence of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval. The Dong’anzhen Formation of Dong’an, Raohe County contains Middle Volgian-Lower Valanginian Buchia assemblages and the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is tentatively assigned to either the base of the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis assemblage or between the Buchia fischeriana-Buchia unschensis and Buchia russiensis-Buchia fischeriana assemblages. The Dongrong Formation from boreholes at Suibin, Suibin County, yields uppermost Oxfordian to basal Berriasian Buchia assemblages and Oxfordian-Barremian dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. Here, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary interval is probably between the Buchia cf. mosquensis-Buchia cf. rugosa assemblage (including Buchia ex gr. russiensis and Buchia ex gr. taimyrensis) and the overlying non-Buchia-bearing deposits.     

Effects of surface tension on bubble growth in an extensive uniformly superheated liquid

The study of bubble growth in an extensive pool of liquid provides considerable insight into the mechanisms that play a role in bubble growth near a heated surface and in the cavitation phenomenon. This work focuses on analyzing the effects of surface tension on the growth rate for the thermally controlled stage of a single bubble in such a liquid. The conservation of energy equations, including the internal energy term for the bubble and that within boundary layer around it, are numerically solved. The complete temporal variations of the bubble in water and liquid nitrogen are investigated based on the assumption that the bubble growth is controlled only in sequence by inertia and heat. Thus, the two stages are subject to the continuity of the bubble growth, while the inertia-controlled stage is only formulated by the well-known Rayleigh solution. The thickness of the boundary layer around the bubble is also determined. The results are comparable with the Plesset-Zwick models and Forster-Zuber models, as well as available experimental data. It is found that the influence of internal energy on the rate of bubble growth is small enough to be ignored; however, the accumulative effects of the surface tension are significant and increase with a decrease in the degree of superheat.     

Drag characteristics of power law fluids on an upstream moving surface

The specific problem to be considered here concerns the boundary layer problem of a non-Newtonian fluid on a flat plate in length, whose surface has a constant velocity opposite in the direction to that of the mainstream with U_W>>U_∞ or alternatively when the plate surface velocity is kept fixed but the stream speed is reduced to zero. A theoretical analysis for a boundary layer flow is made and the self-similar equation is determined. Solutions are presented numerically for special power index and the associated transfer behavior is discussed.     

Evolution of zinc morphology during continuous electrodeposition

The morphology evolution of zinc continuous electrodeposits with nano-sized crystals on the ferrite substrate has been studied by in-situ scanning tunnel spectroscopy (STM). It is found that the morphology of zinc electrodeposits varies from initial granules with a size of about 30nm to layered platelets with increasing deposition time. Meanwhile, the crystal structure of the zinc electrodeposits is identified to be hexagonal η-phase by X-ray diffraction. The orientation relationship between zinc crystals and the substrate surface can be interpreted in terms of the misfit and the atomic correspondence of the interphase boundary between the η-phase deposits and α-Fe substrate.     

An eSnake model for medical image segmentation

A novel scheme of external force for detecting the object boundary of medical image based on Snakes (active contours) is introduced in the paper. In our new method, an electrostatic field on a template plane above the original image plane is designed to form the map of the external force. Compared with the method of Gradient Vector Flow (GVF), our approach has clear physical meanings. It has stronger ability to conform to boundary concavities, is simple to implement, and reliable for shape segmenting. Additionally, our method has larger capture range for the external force and is useful for medical image preprocessing in various applications. Finally, by adding the balloon force to the electrostatic field model, our Snake is able to represent long tube-like shapes or shapes with significant protrusions or bifurcations, and it has the specialty to prevent Snake leaking from large gaps on image edge by using a two-stage segmentation technique introduced in this paper. The test of our models proves that our methods are robust, precise in medical image segmentation.     

Contact position controlling for two-dimensional motion bodies by the boundary element method

An algorithm is presented for controlling two-dimensional motion contact bodies with conforming discretization. Since a kind of special boundary element is utilized in the algorithm, the displacement compatibility and traction equilibrium conditions at nodes can be satisfied simultaneously in arbitrary locations of the contact interface. In addition, a method is also proposed in which the contact boundary location can be moved flexibly on the possible contact boundary. This method is effective to deal with moving and rolling contact problems on a possible larger moving or rolling contact region. Numerical examples show effectiveness of the presented scheme.     

Lower Cambrian small shelly faunas from Zhejiang (China)and their biostratigraphical implications

Despite a long history of research on the Early Cambrian in China most available data on small skeletal fossils concern fossil associations of the shallow carbonate platform. Information on skeletal fossils from marginal shelf environments of the Yangtze Platform is scanty, which may reflect the rarity of fossils in deeper sedimentary environments but is also due to limitation of carbonate distribution and outcrops, difficulties in fossil extraction, and a general research focus on the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary beds on the carbonate platform. Here we present a documentation of Meishucunian to Qiongzhusian small skeletal fossils from the lower Hetang Formation and the chert unit at its base from the Jiangshan region, Zhejiang Province, representing a relatively deep shelf environment compared to the inner shelf region. The earliest association (Meishucunian) from the chert unit underlying the Hetang Formation is mainly characterized by the occurrence of Protohertzina anabarica, P. unguliformis, Fengzuella zhejiangensis, and Kaiyangites novilis, which differs somewhat in composition from SSF-associations of typical inner shelf deposits. The enigmatic skeletal fossil Fengzuella zhejiangensis, which exhibits an unusual secretional growth mode previously unrecognized from the Early Cambrian, is described in detail. A younger (Qiongzhusian) fossil association contains numerous arthropod remains, such as disarticulated spines of arthropods (Jiangshanodus- and Kijacus-type), which have previously been considered as conodont-like fossils, and bradoriid valves.     

Value of ecosystem services in China

The function and services are the important components of the life-support system in the planet, as well as the basic elements for sustainable development of environment and society.It is a must to evaluate it for incorporating it with the social-economic system.It is also an important approach to draw the public attention on the environmental and ecosystem conservation.In this study, the ecosystem function and services in China were estimated by employing the classification and economic parameters from Costanza et al.The type and area of terrestrial ecosystems were extracted from Vegetation Map of China (1:4 000 000), and then the distribution map of ecosystem services of China was drawn.According to our calculation, the total value of ecosystem services in China is 77 834.48′108 RMB yuan per annum.The value for terrestrial ecosystem is 56 098.46′108 yuan per annum, and that for marine ecosystem is 21 736.02′108 yuan per annum.The value of ecosystem services in China is 1.73 times bigger than GDP in 1994.The value for forest ecosystem services is 15 433.98′108 yuan per annum, which is 27.51% of the total annual ecosystem services in China.Although wetland is little in area, its ecosystem service value is huge, which is 26 736.9′108 yuan per annum.The value for grassland ecosystem is 8 697.68′108 yuan per annum.Coastal ecosystem service is 12 223.04′108 yuan per annum.Overall, the ecosystem service in China contributes 2.71% to that of our planet.The estimation method employed in this study was a conservative one, and should be improved in the future studies.     

膏体增稠剂底流固相分数和屈服应力的循环变化行为

The trouble-free and efficient operation of paste thickeners requires an optimal design and the cooperation of each component. When underflow discharging is suspended, alleviating the vast torque that the remaining solids within the thickeners may place on rakes mainly lies in the circulation unit. The mechanism of this unit was analyzed, and a mathematical model was developed to describe the changes in underflow solid content and yield stress. The key parameters of the circulation unit, namely, the height and flow rate, were varied to test its performance in the experiments with a self-designed laboratorial thickening system. Results show that the circulation unit is valid in reducing underflow solid fraction and yield stress to a reasonable extent, and the model could be used to describe its efficiency at different heights and flow rates. A suitable design and application of the circulation unit contributes to a cost-effective operation of paste thickeners.     

Effects of sub-lithospheric small-scale convection with a Newtonian rheology on the seafloor topography and heat flux

Scafloor topography and heat flux show clear dependence on the age of seafloor. A half-space cooling (HSC)model can reproduce seafloor topography and heat flux data for younger seafloor, but for older seafloor the observations show reduced variations with the age in comparison with the HSC model predictions. The deviation was attributed to the sub-lithospheric small-scale (SSC) convection first by Parsons and McKenzie (1978). While there is little doubt that the SSC can enhance heat flux at relatively old seafloor, questions were raised as to whether or not the SSC can actually lead to a reduced topography. In this study, the effects of SSC on scafloor topography and heat flux are investigated by formulating a 2-D thermal convection model that is parallel to plate motion. Instead of using closed boundary conditions,which will bring large pressure effects because of return flow,a flow through boundary condition is adopted. The results show that although the SSC enhances the surface heat flux, it has little effects on topography for the fluids with a more realistic rheology. The reason for this is that the SSC transports the heat from the bottom to the top and cools down the whole fluids, and with the existence of a stagnant lid, the whole effects on topography are negligible.     

An Adaptive Boundary Collocation Method for Plate Bending Problems

A boundary collocation method based on the least-square technique and a corresponding adaptive computation process have been developed for the plate bending problem. The trial functions are constructed using a series of the biharmonic polynomials, and the local error indicators are given by the residu- als of the energy density on the boundary. In comparison with the conventional collocation methods, the solution accuracy in the present method can be improved in an economical and efficient way. In order to dem- onstrate the efficiency and advantages of the adaptive boundary collocation method proposed in this paper, two numerical examples are presented for circular plates subjected to uniform loads and restrained by mixed boundary conditions. The numerical results for the examples show good agreement with ones presented in the literature.     

Unit-cell design for two-dimensional phase-field simulation of microstructure evolution in single-crystal Ni-based superalloys during solidification

Phase-field simulation serves as an effective tool for quantitative characterization of microstructure evolution in single-crystal Ni-based superalloys during solidification nowadays. The classic unit cell is either limited to γdendrites along 001 crystal orientation or too ideal to cover complex morphologies for γ dendrites. An attempt to design the unit cell for two-dimensional(2-D) phase-field simulations of microstructure evolution in single-crystal Ni-based superalloys during solidification was thus performed by using the MICRESS(MICRostructure Evolution Simulation Software) in the framework of the multi-phase-field(MPF) model,and demonstrated in a commercial TMS-113 superalloy. The coupling to CALPHAD(CALculation of PHAse Diagram) thermodynamic database was realized via the TQ interface and the experimental diffusion coefficients were utilized in the simulation. Firstly, the classic unit cell with a single γ dendrite along 001 crystal orientation was employed for the phase-field simulation in order to reproduce the microstructure features.Then, such simple unit cell was extended into the cases with two other different crystal orientations, i.e., 011 and 111 . Thirdly, for 001 crystal orientations, the effect of γ dendritic orientations and unit cell sizes on microstructure and microsegregation was comprehensively studied, from which a new unit cell with multiple γdendrites was proposed. The phase-field simulation with the newly proposed unit cell was further performed in the TMS-113 superalloy, and the microstructure features including the competitive growth of γ dendrites,microsegregation of different solutes and distribution of γ′ grains, can be nicely reproduced.     

Characteristics of paleoflood deposits archived in unit T0403 of Yuxi Site in the Three Gorges reservoir areas,China

Based on the detailed analyses,multi-proxies such as AMS 14 C dating,grain size,component and morphology of heavy minerals,micromorphology of zircon,magnetic susceptibility,Rb/Sr and Hg content are used to research the paleoflood sediments archived in the Yuxi Site.The research indicates that, since 7.6 kaBP,at least 16 times of paleoflood with water level above Wusong Elevation 147.024 m(a.s.l.) left deposits in the Neolithic layers of unit T0403 from the Yuxi Site.The results are induced from the following aspects:(1)The plaeoflood sediments take on great similarities with modern flood sediments in the Yuxi Site and Zhongba Site in probability cumulative curves which mainly show a pattern of 3 segments in fluvial pattern.(2)There is some resemblance between the heavy mineral components and the zircon shape characteristics of paleoflood deposits and those of modern flood deposits.(3) Magnetic susceptibility values(40.44―70.10SI)are lower than those of sediments from cultural layers (59.59―188.68SI).(4)Hg values(290.71―742.51 ng/g)are lower than those of sediments from cultural layers(344.16―10518.17 ng/g).(5)Rb/Sr values are higher than those of sediments from cultural layers, while those of the 4th,5th,6th,7th,8th cultural layers are high,which shows that they are inundated by paleoflood.The reason for many flood deposits existing is related to the site situated on the first terrace where the Yuxi River joins with the Yangtze River.As there are some similarities between the plaeoflood sediments and those of the Zhongba Site,it is feasible to confirm the existence of paleoflood sediments based on the above points.     

Helium isotope investigation on magnetic reversal boundaries of loess-paleosol sequence at Luochuan, central Chinese Loess Plateau

Extraterrestrial particles have higher 3He/4He ratios than those of terrestrial sediments ( > 100 Ra versus < 0.03 Ra, where Ra is the 3He/4He ratio normalized to the atmospheric value of 1.4×10?6). The inter- planetary dust particles (IDPs), which are very rich in 3He, continuously bombard the Earth and can accumulate in deposits. IDPs sedimentation rate changes can significantly influence 3He concentration in the Earth surface sediments. Since IDPs are not easy to detect in terrestrial deposits, measuring helium isotopes is a helpful approach to examine changes in IDPs. Helium concentration and helium isotopic composition magnetic substances and the quartz particles were examined for helium concen- tration and helium isotopic ratio. Results show that the 3He/4He ratio and the 3He concentrations of the magnetic substances are clearly higher than those of the bulk samples and the quartz particles, and, the 3He/4He ratio of the extracted magnetic substances is also higher than that of the average level of the Earth’s crust. The higher helium content in the magnetic fractions can be explained by an influx of IDPs.     

Maintenance Policy for Multi-Component System with Fuzzy Lifetimes

The application of possibility theory to maintenance policies is proposed in this paper. The lifetime of a component is modeled as a fuzzy variable. Two types of replacement policies-block replacement and age replacement with fuzzy lifetimes are investigated. The theorems show that the long-run average fuzzy reward per unit time in both policies is just the expected cost per unit of time. In order to solve the proposed models,a hybrid intelligent algorithm is employed. Finally, numerical examples are provided for the sake of illustration.     

Matched field noise suppression： Principle with application to towed hydrophone line array

Discrete noise source suppression in underwater acoustic channel has attracted great attention in recent years. The paper proposes a new principle for dealing with the problem. This new principle is called matched field noise suppression (MFNS). Based on a previous work of the authors group, a full understanding about how a discrete noise source shows effects on the performance of a towed hydrophone line array has been obtained. In light of that finding,MFNS is proposed, which explores and utilizes the characteristics of the noise transmission channel to achieve much greater suppression of the noise in comparison with existing approaches. MFNS combines the concept of matched field processing (MFP) and optimal sensor array processing (OSAP) together to suppress the discrete noise source and to maintain an optimal beam for receiving far-field wanted plane wave signals. A MFNS beam-former is deduced in constraint with signal plane-wave response being unit and noise matched field response being zero. A dosed-form solution of the weight vector for the beam-former is given. Computer simulation results agree well to the theoretical analysis.