ALBERT

Description: The global climate system has experienced a series of drastic changes during the Cenozoic. These include the climate transformation in Asia, from a zonal pattern to a monsoon-dominant pattern, the disappearance of subtropical aridity related to a planetary circulation system and the onset of inland deserts in central Asia. Despite of the major advances in the last two decades in characterizing and understanding these climate phenomena, disagreements persist relative to the timing, behaviors and underlying causes. This paper addresses these issues mainly based on two lines of evidence. Firstly, we newly collected the available Cenozoic geological indicators of environment in China to compile the paleoenvironmental maps of ten intervals with a more detailed examination within the Oligocene and Miocene. In confirming the earlier observation that a zonal climate pattern was transformed into a monsoonal one, the new maps within the Miocene indicate that this major change was achieved by the early Miocene, roughly consistent with the onset of loess deposition in China. Although a monsoon-like regime would have existed in the Eocene, it was restricted in the tropical-subtropical regions. The observed latitudinal oscillations of the climate zones during the Paleogene are likely attributable to the imbalanced evolution of polar ice-sheets between the two hemispheres. Secondly, we examine the relevant depositional and soil-forming processes of the Miocene loess-soil sequences to determine the circulation characteristics with special emphasis given to the early Miocene. Continuous eolian deposition in the middle reaches of the Yellow River since the early Miocene firmly indicates the formation of inland deserts, which has been constantly maintained in the past 22 Ma. Inter-section grain-size gradients indicate northerly dust-carrying winds and source location, as is regarded as the main criteria of the Asian winter monsoon system. Meanwhile, the well-developed Luvisols evidence the existence of circulations from the ocean, which brought moisture to northern China. These imply the coexistence of two kinds of circulations, one from the ocean as moisture carrier and another from the inland deserts as dust transporter. The accretionary properties of the early Miocene paleosols, resulted from interactive soil-forming and dust deposition processes, evidence two seasonally alternative circulations, i.e. a monsoonal climate regime. The much stronger development of the early Miocene soils compared to those in the Quaternary loess indicates significantly stronger summer monsoons. These lines of evidence indicate a joint change in circulations and inland aridity by the early Miocene, and suggest a dynamic linkage of them. Our recent numerical experiments reconfirm the potential roles of Tibetan uplift and Paratethys shrinkage in triggering this major climate reorganization, as revealed in peer studies, but yielded more details about their combined scenarios. These two factors would have coacted with the help of South China Sea spreading. Although the realistic effects of each factor remain to be further discriminated, probably through more paleoaltimetrical and tectonic approaches, the Miocene loess record provides a vital insight that tectonics had evolved to a threshold by the early Miocene to cause this major climate reorganization in Asia.

Description: The global climate system experienced a series of drastic changes during the Cenozoic. In Asia, these include the climate transformation from a zonal pattern to a monsoon-dominated pattern, the disappearance of typical subtropical aridity, and the onset of inland deserts. Despite major advances in the last two decades in characterizing and understanding these climate phenomena, disagreements persist relative to the timing, behaviors and underlying causes. This paper addresses these issues mainly based on two lines of evidence. First, we compiled newly collected data from geological indicators of the Cenozoic environment in China as paleoenvironmental maps of ten intervals. In confirming the earlier observation that a zonal climate pattern was transformed into a monsoonal one, the maps within the Miocene indicate that this change was achieved by the early Miocene, roughly consistent with the onset of loess deposition in China. Although a monsoon-like regime would have existed in the Eocene, it was restricted to tropical-subtropical regions. The latitudinal oscillations of the climate zones during the Paleogene are likely attributable to the imbalance in evolution of polar ice-sheets between the two hemispheres. Secondly, we examine the relevant depositional and soil forming processes of the Miocene loess-soil sequences to determine the circulation characteristics with emphasis on the early Miocene. Continuous eolian deposition in the middle reaches of the Yellow River since the early Miocene firmly indicates the formation of inland deserts, which have been constantly maintained during the past 22 Ma. Grain-size gradients between loess sections indicate northerly dust-carrying winds from northern sources, a clear indication of an Asian winter monsoon system. Meanwhile, well-developed Luvisols show evidence that moisture from the oceans reached northern China. This evidence shows the coexistence of two kinds of circulations, one from the ocean carrying moisture and another from the inland deserts transporting dust. The formation of the early Miocene paleosols resulted from interactive soil forming and dust deposition processes in these two seasonally alternating monsoonal circulations. The much stronger development of the early Miocene soils compared to those in the Quaternary loess indicates that summer monsoons were either significantly stronger, more persistent through the year, or both. These lines of evidence indicate a joint change in circulation and inland aridity by the early Miocene and suggest a dynamic linkage of them. Our recent sensitivity tests with a general circulation model, along with relevant geological data, suggest that the onset of these contrasting wet/dry responses, as well as the change from the "planetary" subtropical aridity pattern to the "inland" aridity pattern, resulted from the combined effects of Tibetan uplift and withdrawal of the Paratethys seaway in central Asia, as suggested by earlier experiments. The spreading of South China Sea also helped to enhance the south-north contrast of humidity. The Miocene loess record provides a vital insight that these tectonic factors had evolved by the early Miocene to a threshold sufficient to cause this major climate reorganization in Asia.

Description: Magnetic holes (MHs), with a scale much greater than ρ i (proton gyroradius), have been widely reported in various regions of space plasmas. On the other hand, kinetic-size magnetic holes (KSMHs), previously called small size magnetic holes (SSMHs), with a scale of the order of magnitude of or less than ρ i have only been reported in the Earth's magnetospheric plasma sheet. In this study, we report such KSMHs in the magnetosheath whereby we use measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, which provides three-dimensional (3D) particle distribution measurements with a resolution much higher than previous missions. The MHs have been observed in a scale of 10 ~ 20 ρ e (electron gyroradii) and lasted 0.1 ~ 0.3 s. Distinctive electron dynamics features are observed, while no substantial deviations in ion data are seen. It is found that at the 90° pitch angle, the flux of electrons with energy 34 ~ 66 eV decreased while for electrons of energy 109 ~ 1024 eV increased inside the MHs. We also find the electron flow vortex perpendicular to the magnetic field, a feature self-consistent with the magnetic depression. Moreover, the calculated current density is mainly contributed by the electron diamagnetic drift, and the electron vortex flow is the diamagnetic drift flow. The electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) soliton is considered as a possible generation mechanism for the KSMHs with the scale size of 10 ~ 20 ρ e .

Description: We investigate the plasma sheet pressure variations in the near Earth magnetotail (Radius distance, R , from 7.5 R E to 12 R E and Magnetic Local Time, MLT, from 18:00 to 06:00) during substorm growth phase with Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) observations. It is found that, during the substorm growth phase, about 39.4% (76/193) of the selected events display a phenomenon of equatorial plasma pressure ( P eq ) decrease. The occurrence rates of P eq decrease cases are higher in the dawn (04:00 to 06:00) and dusk (18:00 to 20:00) flanks (〉 50%) than in the midnight region (20:00 to 04:00, 〈 40%). The mean values of the maximum percentages of P eq decrease during the substorm growth phases are larger in the dawn and dusk flanks (~ - 20%) than in the midnight region (~ 〉 - 16%). The mean value of P eq increase percentages at the end of substorm growth phase is the highest (~ 40%) in the pre-midnight MLT bin (22:00 to 00:00) and is almost unchanged in the dawn and dusk flanks. Further investigations show that 13.0% of the events have more than 10% of P eq decrease at the end of substorm growth phase comparing to the value before the growth phase, and ~ 28.0% of the events have small changes (〈 10%), and ~ 59.0% events have a 10% increase. This study also reveals the importance of electron pressure ( P e ) in the variation of P eq in the substorm growth phase. The P e variations often account for more than 50% of the P eq changes, and the ratios of P e to ion pressure often display large variations (~ 50%). Among the investigated events, during the growth phase, an enhanced equatorial plasma convection flow is observed, which diverges in the midnight tail region and propagates azimuthally towards the dayside magnetosphere with velocity of ~ 20 km/s. It is proposed that the P eq decreases in the near Earth plasma sheet during the substorm growth phase may be due to the transport of closed magnetic flux towards the dayside magnetosphere driven by dayside magnetopause reconnection. Both solar wind and ionospheric conductivity effects may influence the distributions of occurrence rates for P eq decrease events and the P eq increase percentages in the investigated region.

Description: We analyzed the seasonal variations of energy balance components over three different surfaces: irrigated cropland (Yingke, YK), alpine meadow (A'rou, AR), and spruce forest (Guantan, GT). The energy balance components were measured using eddy covariance (EC) systems and a large aperture scintillometer (LAS) in the Heihe River Basin, China, in 2008 and 2009. We also determined the source areas of the EC and LAS measurements with a footprint model for each site and discussed the differences between the sensible heat fluxes measured with EC and LAS at AR. The results show that the main EC source areas were within a radius of 250 m at all of the sites. The main source area for the LAS (with a path length of 2390 m) stretched along a path line approximately 2000 m long and 700 m wide. The surface characteristics in the source areas changed with the season at each site, and there were characteristic seasonal variations in the energy balance components at all of the sites. The sensible heat flux was the main term of the energy budget during the dormant season. During the growing season, however, the latent heat flux dominated the energy budget, and an obvious "oasis effect" was observed at YK. The sensible heat fluxes measured by LAS at AR were larger than those measured by EC at the same site. This difference seems to be caused by the so-called energy imbalance phenomenon, the heterogeneity of the underlying surfaces, and the difference between the source areas of the LAS and EC measurements.

Description: Magnetic holes (MHs), characteristic structures where the magnetic field magnitude decreases significantly, have been frequently observed in space plasmas. Particularly, small size magnetic holes (SSMHs) which the scale is less than or close to the proton gyroradius are recently detected in the magnetospheric plasma sheet. In this study of Cluster observations, by the timing method, the minimum directional difference (MDD) method, and the spatio-temporal difference (STD) method, we obtain the propagation velocity of SSMHs in the plasma flow frame. Furthermore, based on electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) theory we calculate the velocity, width and depth of the electron solitary wave and compare it to SSMH observations. The result shows a good accord between the theory and the observation.

Description: The Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) is one of the largest accretionary collages in the world, and records a prolonged sequence of subduction-accretion and collision processes. The Tarim Craton is located at the southernmost margin of the CAOB. In this study, the discovery of early Palaeozoic high-pressure (HP) granulites from the Dunhuang block in the northeastern Tarim Craton is reported, and these rocks are characterized through detailed petrological and geochronological studies. The peak mineral assemblage of the HP mafic granulite is garnet + clinopyroxene + plagioclase + quartz + rutile, which is overprinted by amphibolite facies retrograde metamorphic assemblages. The calculated P–T conditions of the peak metamorphism are ∼1.4–1.7 GPa and ∼800 °C. The retrograde P–T conditions are ∼0.7 GPa and ∼700 °C. The metamorphic zircon grains from the HP mafic granulite show homogeneous CL-images, low Th/U ratios and flat HREE patterns and yield a weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 444 ± 5 Ma. The metamorphic zircon grains from the associated kyanite-bearing garnet gneiss and garnet-mica schist show a similar 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 429 ± 3 and 435 ± 4 Ma, respectively. The c. 440–430 Ma age is interpreted to mark the timing of HP granulite facies metamorphism in the Dunhuang block. The results from this study suggest that the Dunhuang block experienced continental subduction prior to the early Palaeozoic collisional orogeny between the northeastern Tarim Craton and the southern CAOB, and the Dunhuang area could be considered as the southward extension of the CAOB. It is suggested that the continental collision in the eastern part involving the Dunhuang block of the southern CAOB may have occurred c. 120 Ma earlier than in the western part involving the Tianshan orogen.