Subjects: Biology >> Ecology submitted time 2023-10-17 Cooperative journals: 《干旱区科学》
Abstract：In the Anthropocene era, human activities have become increasingly complex and diversified. The natural ecosystems need higher ecological resilience to ensure regional sustainable development due to rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as other intensified human activities, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. In the study, we chose the economic belt on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (EBNSTM) in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China as a case study. By collecting geographic data and statistical data from 2010 and 2020, we constructed an ecological resilience assessment model based on the ecosystem habitat quality (EHQ), ecosystem landscape stability (ELS), and ecosystem service value (ESV). Further, we analyzed the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of ecological resilience in the EBNSTM from 2010 to 2020 by spatial autocorrelation analysis, and explored its responses to climate change and human activities using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results showed that the ecological resilience of the EBNSTM was at a low level and increased from 0.2732 to 0.2773 during 20102020. The spatial autocorrelation analysis of ecological resilience exhibited a spatial heterogeneity characteristic of high in the western region and low in the eastern region, and the spatial clustering trend was enhanced during the study period. Desert, Gobi and rapidly urbanized areas showed low level of ecological resilience, and oasis and mountain areas exhibited high level of ecological resilience. Climate factors had an important impact on ecological resilience. Specifically, average annual temperature and annual precipitation were the key climate factors that improved ecological resilience, while average annual evapotranspiration was the main factor that blocked ecological resilience. Among the human activity factors, the distance from the main road showed a negative correlation with ecological resilience. Both night light index and PM2.5 concentration were negatively correlated with ecological resilience in the areas with better ecological conditions, whereas in the areas with poorer ecological conditions, the correlations were positive. The research findings could provide a scientific reference for protecting the ecological environment and promoting the harmony and stability of the human-land relationship in arid and semi-arid areas.
Subjects: Geosciences >> Geology submitted time 2021-06-22
Abstract： Plate boundary evolution and interpreted paleogeography commonly involve the interaction between oceanic ridges and trenches. Western Junggar and Central-North Tianshan, NW China, have previously been regarded as independent orogens, but this model was challenged by the discovery of their similar tropic-subtropic coral assemblages and of Precambrian and Early Paleozoic clasts transmitted from the Central Tianshan in Early to Middle Paleozoic sediments in SW Junggar, suggesting they had been in contact by then. The presence of Late Silurian-Early Devonian adakitic rocks in northern SW Junggar was explained by slab roll-back, which required an active subducting slab in SW Junggar. However, this model is inconsistent with the cessation of arc magmatism immediately after the adakitic magmatism indicating there was no subduction in SW Junggar at those times. By re-evaluating the relevance of four diagnostic features of modern Californian ridge subduction, we propose a new model to explain the Late Silurian-Early Devonian orogenic framework of NW China in terms of sub-parallel ridge-trench interaction. The transmitted clasts from Central Tianshan in Early Paleozoic sediments in SW Junggar, at the same time as the Late Ordovician and Middle Silurian coral assemblages, and the complementary accretionary complex in SW Junggar and magmatic arc in Central Tianshan, are all contributary evidence for an Early Paleozoic subduction system. This subduction zone was intruded by two 446-380 Ma double magmatic belts: 1. A ridge subduction-generated adakitic gabbro-basalt-andesite-diorite-granite-rhyolite suite that intruded a 504-446 Ma accretionary complex in SW Junggar, and 2. a magmatic arc in Central Tianshan. A buoyant subducting ridge rifted and separated these magmatic belts resulting in the opening of a new 414-325 Ma ocean, which is preserved in OIB- and MORB-type ophiolites in SW Junggar and North Tianshan. These geological and geochemical relationships resemble those generated by oceanic spreading in the modern Gulf of California, which led to separation of magmatic belts in Baja California and mainland Mexico. The new ocean split the Central Tianshan magmatic arc from the Early Paleozoic Mt. Xiemisitai-Barleik-Mayile accretionary complex in SW Junggar, which changed to a new passive continental margin that led to deposition of Devonian shallow marine-terrestrial sediments, and to cessation of magmatism at 379-349 Ma. These features, including the Middle Paleozoic orogenic architecture and the geochemical properties of specific magmatic rocks, indicate the development of a Late Silurian-Early Devonian sub-parallel-to-trench ridge subduction. This model not only interprets phenomena mentioned in the above earlier models, but also reconciles unresolved spatial relationships between Western Junggar and the Tianshan. Subsequent closure of the new ocean and subduction of its ridge in the Late Paleozoic gave rise to the archipelagic framework that we see today in NW China. An analysis of worldwide examples of sub-parallel ridge-trench interaction demonstrates that a ridge can undergo multiple episodes of subduction before a terminal ocean closure. In this context our new tectonic model for the western Junggar and Tianshan regions may provide an improved understanding of the structure and evolution of ridge-subduction events in ancient orogenic belts.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Biology >> Zoology submitted time 2022-04-16 Cooperative journals: 《古脊椎动物学报》
Abstract： A new genus and species of the family Eugaleaspidae (Eugaleaspiformes, Galeaspida), Xitunaspis magnus gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Devonian Xitun Formation in Qujing, Yunnan Province, China. The new genus displays the diagnostic characters of the Eugaleaspidae, including a slit-like median dorsal opening, no inner cornual process, developed median dorsal canals, and only three pairs of lateral transverse canals extending from lateral dorsal canals. Different from the other eugaleaspids, X. magnus possesses a large headshield with thick dermal bone and a more plesiomorphic sensory canal system. The phylogenetic analysis of the Galeaspida reveals that Xitunaspis clusters with Dunyu and Eugaleaspis to form a monophyletic clade Eugaleaspidae Liu, 1965, and has a closer relationship with Dunyu than Eugaleaspis by sharing the thick dermal bone of the headshield. The new finding represents the first convincing fossil record of the Eugaleaspiformes in the middle Lochkovian Xitun Formation and adds to our knowledge about the morphology of eugaleaspiforms and the evolutionary pattern of the sensory canal system in the Eugaleaspiformes and even Galeaspida.
Subjects: Geosciences >> Geology submitted time 2021-12-01
Abstract： Indochina developed continental-scale shear zones that record Cenozoic tectonic processes in SE Asia. Previous extrusion models that linked these shear zones with the northward indentation of the Indian continent, conflict with distributed conjugate strike-slip pairs and post-Oligocene rotation in Indochina. This paper presents evidence of coeval shearing along the Mogok-Shan Scarp fault in Myanmar, the western boundary of the Indochina block, previously proposed as a product of northward indentation of Indian Plate. The Kyanigan quarry along the northern Mogok-Shan Scarp fault exposes paragneiss, marble and quartzite schist. ‘σ’ structures, cored with garnet, in paragneiss record right-lateral shear sense, consistent with ‘σ’ and ’δ’ structures in L-tectonites in the Moulmein granitic mylonite to the south. U-Pb ages of metamorphic zircons of paragneiss and a biotite 39Ar-40Ar age of quartzite schist constrain deformation in the Kyanigan quarry to 33-21 Ma; a biotite 39Ar-40Ar age of mylonite at Moulmein is 26 Ma. These ages demonstrate Oligocene right-lateral shearing along the Mogok-Shan Scarp fault, coeval with other shear zones in Indochina. These Oligocene shear zones and strike-slip faults are conjugate structures recording left-lateral shear sense on NW-striking and right-lateral shear sense on N-S to NE-striking features. After restoration of ~80° clockwise rotation, the Oligocene conjugate strike-slip pairs in Indochina reflect approximate N-S-directed shortening, corresponding to northward subduction of the Indian ocean. This suggests that continental-scale intra-continental shearing may have been triggered by syn-subduction compression in SE Asia.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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