40Ar/39Ar Age of Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Tektites from Haiti

(40)Ar/(39)Ar dating of tektites discovered recently in Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary marine sedimentary rocks on Haiti indicates that the K-T boundary and impact event are coeval at 64.5 +/- 0.1 million years ago. Sanidine from a bentonite that lies directly above the K-T boundary in continental, coal-bearing, sedimentary rocks of Montana was also dated and has a (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 64.6 +/- 0.2 million years ago, which is indistinguishable statistically from the age of the tektites.     

Age and Duration of Weathering by 40K-40Ar and 40Ar/39Ar Analysis of Potassium-Manganese Oxides

Supergene cryptomelane [K(1-2)(Mn(3+)Mn(4+))(8)O(16). chiH(2)O] samples from deeply weathered pegmatites in southeastern Brazil subjected to (40)K-(40)Ar and (40)Ar/(39)Ar analysis yielded (40)K-(40)Ar dates ranging from 10.1 +/- 0.5 to 5.6 +/- 0.2 Ma (million years ago). Laser-probe (40)Ar/(39)Ar step-heating of the two most disparate samples yielded plateau dates of 9.94 +/- 0.05 and 5.59 +/- 0.10 Ma, corresponding, within 2 sigma, to the (40)K-(40)Ar dates. The results imply that deep weathering profiles along the eastern Brazilian margin do not reflect present climatic conditions but are the result of a long-term process that was already advanced by the late Miocene. Weathering ages predate pulses of continental sedimentation along the eastern Brazilian margin and suggest that there was a time lag between weathering and erosion processes and sedimentation processes.     

Age and origin of carlsbad cavern and related caves from 40Ar/39Ar of alunite

40Ar/39Ar dating of fine-grained alunite that formed during cave genesis provides ages of formation for the Big Room level of Carlsbad Cavern [4.0 to 3.9 million years ago (Ma)], the upper level of Lechuguilla Cave (6.0 to 5.7 Ma), and three other hypogene caves (11.3 to 6.0 Ma) in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico. Alunite ages increase and are strongly correlative with cave elevations, which indicates an 1100-meter decline in the water table, apparently related to tectonic uplift and tilting, from 11.3 Ma to the present. 40Ar/39Ar dating studies of the hypogene caves have the potential to help resolve late Cenozoic climatic, speleologic, and tectonic questions.     

40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Brunhes-Matuyama Geomagnetic Field Reversal

Magnetostratigraphic studies are widely used in conjunction with the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS) to date events in the range 0 to 5 million years ago. A critical tie point on the GPTS is the potassium-argon age of the most recent (Brunhes-Matuyama) geomagnetic field reversal. Astronomical values for the forcing frequencies observed in the oxygen isotope record in Ocean Drilling Project site 677 suggest that the age of this last reversal is 780 ka (thousand years ago), whereas the potassium-argon-based estimate is 730 ka. Results from 4039; Ar incremental heating studies on a series of lavas from Maui that straddle the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal give an age of 783 + 11 ka, in agreement with the astronomically derived value. The astronomically based technique appears to be a viable tool for dating young sedimentary sequences.     

40Ar/39Ar dates from the West Siberian Basin: Siberian flood basalt province doubled

Widespread basaltic volcanism occurred in the region of the West Siberian Basin in central Russia during Permo-Triassic times. New 40Ar/39Ar age determinations on plagioclase grains from deep boreholes in the basin reveal that the basalts were erupted 249.4 +/- 0.5 million years ago. This is synchronous with the bulk of the Siberian Traps, erupted further east on the Siberian Platform. The age and geochemical data confirm that the West Siberian Basin basalts are part of the Siberian Traps and at least double the confirmed area of the volcanic province as a whole. The larger area of volcanism strengthens the link between the volcanism and the end-Permian mass extinction.     

Single-Crystal 40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America

Explanations for the causes of climatic changes and associated faunal and floral extinctions at the close of the Eocene Epoch have long been controversial because of, in part, uncertainties in correlation and dating of global events. New single-crystal laser fusion (SCLF) (40)Ar/(39)Ar dates on tephra from key magnetostratigraphic and fossilbearing sections necessitate significant revision in North American late Paleogene chronology. The Chadronian-Orellan North American Land Mammal "Age" boundary, as a result, is shifted from 32.4 to 34.0 Ma (million years ago), the Orellan-Whitneyan boundary is shifted from 30.8 to 32.0 Ma, and the Whitneyan-Arikareean boundary is now approximately 29.0 Ma. The new dates shift the correlation of Chron C12R from the Chadronian to within the Orellan-Whitneyan interval, the Chadronian becomes late Eocene in age, and the North American Oligocene is restricted to the Orellan, Whitneyan, and early Arikareean. The Eocene-Oligocene boundary, and its associated climate change and extinction events, as a result, correlates with the Chadronian-Orellan boundary, not the Duchesnean-Chadronian boundary.     

Mechanisms of Argon Retention in Clays Revealed by Laser 40Ar-39Ar Dating

A method for dating clays is important for studies of weathering, diagenesis, hydrocarbon migration, and the formation of major metalliferous deposits. However, many attempts have produced imprecise or inaccurate results. Data from shales show that, contrary to expectations, the (40)Ar-(39)Ar dating technique can be successfully used to determine the diagenetic age of ancient sediments because (39)Ar losses during irradiation are controlled by release from low retentivity sites in illite equivalent to those that have lost radiogenic (40)Ar in nature, rather than by direct recoil as is generally assumed.     

Coeval 40Ar/39Ar Ages of 65.0 Million Years Ago from Chicxulub Crater Melt Rock and Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Tektites

(40)Ar/(39)Ar dating of drill core samples of a glassy melt rock recovered from beneath a massive impact breccia contained within the 180-kilometer subsurface Chicxulub crater in Yucatán, Mexico, has yielded well-behaved incremental heating spectra with a mean plateau age of 64.98 +/- 0.05 million years ago (Ma). The glassy melt rock of andesitic composition was obtained from core 9 (1390 to 1393 meters) in the Chicxulub 1 well. The age of the melt rock is virtually indistinguishable from (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages obtained on tektite glass from Beloc, Haiti, and Arroyo el Mimbral, northeastern Mexico, of 65.01 +/- 0.08 Ma (mean plateau age for Beloc) and 65.07 +/- 0.10 Ma (mean total fusion age for both sites). The (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages, in conjunction with geochemical and petrological similarities, strengthen the recent suggestion that the Chicxulub structure is the source for the Haitian and Mexican tektites and is a viable candidate for the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact site.     

Lunar impact history from (40)Ar/(39)Ar dating of glass spherules

Lunar spherules are small glass beads that are formed mainly as a result of small impacts on the lunar surface; the ages of these impacts can be determined by the (40)Ar/(39)Ar isochron technique. Here, 155 spherules separated from 1 gram of Apollo 14 soil were analyzed using this technique. The data show that over the last approximately 3.5 billion years, the cratering rate decreased by a factor of 2 to 3 to a low about 500 to 600 million years ago, then increased by a factor of 3.7 +/- 1.2 in the last 400 million years. This latter period coincided with rapid biotic evolutionary radiation on Earth.     

40Ar/39Ar Age of the Lathrop Wells Volcanic Center, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Paleomagnetic and (40)Ar/(39)Ar analyses from the Lathrop Wells volcanic center, Nevada, indicate that two eruptive events have occurred there. The ages (136 +/- 8 and 141 +/- 9 thousand years ago) for these two events are analytically indistinguishable. The small angular difference (4.7 degrees ) between the paleomagnetic directions from these two events suggests they differ in age by only about 100 years. These ages are consistent with the chronology of the surficial geological units in the Yucca Mountain area. These results contradict earlier interpretations of the cinder-cone geomorphology and soil-profile data that suggest that at least five temporally discrete eruptive events occurred at Lathrop Wells approximately 20,000 years ago.     

The Ischigualasto Tetrapod Assemblage (Late Triassic, Argentina) and 40Ar/39Ar Dating of Dinosaur Origins

(40)Ar/(39)Ar dating of sanidine from a bentonite interbedded in the Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina yielded a plateau age of 227.8 +/- 0.3 million years ago. This middle Carnian age is a direct calibration of the Ischigualasto tetrapod assemblage, which includes some of the best known early dinosaurs. This age shifts last appearances of Ischigualasto taxa back into the middle Carnian, diminishing the magnitude of the proposed late Carnian tetrapod extinction event. By 228 million years ago, the major dinosaurian lineages were established, and theropods were already important constituents of the carnivorous tetrapod guild in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin. Dinosaurs as a whole remained minor components of tetrapod faunas for at least another 10 million years.     

The Manson Impact Structure: 40Ar/39Ar Age and Its Distal Impact Ejecta in the Pierre Shale in Southeastern South Dakota

The (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages of a sanidine clast from a melt-matrix breccia of the Manson, Iowa, impact structure (MIS) indicate that the MIS formed 73.8 +/- 0.3 million years ago (Ma) and is not coincident with the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (64.43 +/- 0.05 Ma). The MIS sanidine is 9 million years older than (40)Ar/(39)Ar age spectra of MIS shock-metamorphosed microcline and melt-matrix breccia interpreted earlier to be 64 to 65 Ma. Grains of shock-metamorphosed quartz, feldspar, and zircon were found in the Crow Creek Member (upper Campanian) at a biostratigraphic level constrained by radiometric ages in the Pierre Shale of South Dakota that are consistent with the (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 73.8 +/- 0.3 Ma for MIS reported herein.     

Single-grain 40Ar-39Ar ages of glauconies: implications for the geologic time scale and global sea level variations

The mineral series glaucony supplies 40% of the absolute-age database for the geologic time scale of the last 250 million years. However, glauconies have long been suspected of giving young potassium-argon ages on bulk samples. Laser-probe argon-argon dating shows that glaucony populations comprise grains with a wide range of ages, suggesting a period of genesis several times longer ( approximately 5 million years) than previously thought. An estimate of the age of their enclosing sediments (and therefore of time scale boundaries) is given by the oldest nonrelict grains in the glaucony populations, whereas the formation times of the younger grains appear to be modulated by global sea level.     

缓/控释肥料研究进展及其对农田氮素流失的防控效果

缓/控释肥料的养分可以按照设定的释放规律和释放期缓慢或控制释放,延长植物对养分吸收利用的有效期,对于减少化肥施用和提高利用率至关重要.目前,缓/控释肥料应用的效果,以及对农田氮素流失的防控效果的综合性分析还较少.综合分析了国内15年缓/控释肥料的田间应用数据,从缓控释肥料的种类及作用机理,缓/控释肥料的应用效果,缓/控释肥料对农田氮素流失的防控,以及缓/控释肥料推广瓶颈与建议等几个方面,综述了缓/控释肥料的研究进展及其对农田氮素流失的防控效果,以期为缓/控释肥料在农田更好地推广应用提供支撑.     

对一个特殊的财产损失案的评估分析

通过对一个财产损失案的评估分析认为,在目前资产评估的政策法规还不健全的情况下,应当根据实际情况灵活运用各种具体评估方法,才能取得较为客观、公正的评估结果。     

不同缓控释肥料减氮对洞庭湖区双季稻田氮流失与作物吸收的影响

本文采用田间试验研究了不同缓控释肥料减氮处理对双季稻田氮流失及水稻吸收氮的影响。结果表明,与常规施氮处理(Urea,纯N用量早稻150kg/hm2,晚稻180kg/hm)2相比,减氮30%的膜包衣尿素处理和减氮30%硫包衣尿素处理NH4+-N的径流损失量分别降低了34.1%(P<0.05)、26.6%(P<0.05),比未减氮复混肥处理减少50.2%(P<0.01)、44.6%(P<0.01);减氮30%膜包衣尿素处理的水溶性非无机氮(包括颗粒吸附态及有机态氮)和总氮径流损失较尿素处理减少29.0%(P>0.05)和26.3%(P>0.05);减N30%的膜包衣尿素处理植株氮的吸收量最高,分别比未减氮复混肥和尿素处理提高了9.3%(P<0.05)和5.5%(P>0.05);不同缓控释肥减氮处理对双季稻的产量没有明显影响,其氮肥农学效率早稻提高12.4%～35.8%,晚稻27.4%～56.6%;氮肥偏生产力早稻提高18.4%～39.14%,晚稻25.7%～46.5%;双季稻氮肥利用率以减N30%的膜包衣尿素处理最高,与不减氮的常规尿素处理相比,早、晚稻最高可提高23.5%和21.1%。     

油品蒸发损耗评价软件开发及应用

在已建立的非稳态多变量油品蒸发损耗数学模型的基础上,开发出油品蒸发损耗评价软件,该软件可用来评价油品蒸发和油气排放规律,简洁、方便地计算各种储运设备在不同工况下的油品蒸发损耗,如油罐或油罐车装油过程中气体空间的摩尔分数分布及损耗数量,并能够在线形成油气摩尔分数分布等各种图表。该软件可用来评价油品储运过程各种降耗措施的效果,指导企业节能降耗管理。     

基于AHP的旅游社区增权评价研究——以罗布人村寨与塔西河乡为例

采用问卷调查和访谈的方法,在对新疆罗布人村寨与塔西河乡两个旅游社区参与旅游状况和增权状况进行分析的基础上,建立旅游社区增权评价体系,采用层次分析法对罗布人村寨和塔西河乡两个社区的增权状况进行对比分析,以期为少数民族地区旅游社区增权研究提供现实案例。     

不同耕作方式和雨强对紫色土养分流失的影响

 【目的】揭示紫色土地区坡耕地常用农耕措施在不同雨强条件下对土壤养分流失途径及流失量的影响规律，为紫色土坡耕地培肥及养分流失治理提供理论依据。【方法】本研究采用两因素、三水平、三重复随机区组试验，利用人工降雨装置模拟3种不同强度的降雨，采用模拟径流小区观测地表径流量、壤中流量、泥沙侵蚀量及取样分析养分流失量。【结果】在耕作方式相同时，雨强越大，地表径流量越大，地下径流量减少，总径流量增加，不利于土壤保蓄雨水和含水量的提高。在相同雨强条件下，平作的地表径流量最大，土壤侵蚀也最剧烈。横坡垄作在中小雨强条件下控制地表径流和侵蚀的效果非常明显，但在大雨强条件下，控制径流和泥沙的效果减弱; 横坡垄作有增加地下径流和氮流失量的趋势。在本试验条件下，约1%的化肥氮（速效氮）被雨水淋洗出土体并排放到环境中；而速效磷的流失量只占化肥磷的万分之三至万分之十，流失量很小。【结论】紫色土坡耕地磷素流失的载体是泥沙，流失量更易受雨强的影响，要控制磷的流失，首先应防止土壤侵蚀；横坡垄作能够有效控制土壤侵蚀，因此，也能较好控制磷流失。紫色土坡耕地氮流失载体在雨强较小时是径流，径流中又以地下径流为主，要控制氮流失，首先必须控制地下径流；传统的横坡垄作会加大地下径流量，也就加大了氮的流失。全面控制紫色土的氮、磷损失，必须采用控蚀耕作、增厚土层、提升土壤有机质等综合措施。