Hydrological variability in southern Siberia and the role of permafrost degradation

Among the different elements of the mountain cryosphere, ice caves still represent the lesser known part of it. Here we present a seven-year-long record of air and rock temperature in a cave of the southeastern European Alps. We demonstrate how the presence of a permanent ice deposit in the cave is not only related to the net cooling effect of the air circulation, as it is well known, but also to the occurrence of relict permafrost. Through a detailed representation of temperature patterns inside the cave, both air and rock data show how after a period of perennially subzero (cryotic) conditions in the rock, ongoing anthropogenic climate warming is responsible for permafrost degradation despite the cooling effect of the air circulation in the cave. Data support the important role of cryotic conditions in the rock in preserving a permanent ice cave deposit in the present climate, even once the possible relict permafrost inherited from the past disappears. A thickness of 29–44 m of permafrost, possibly formed during the Little Ice Age, has now almost completely disappeared. The present abrupt ice degradation observed in this cave is further exacerbated by positive feedbacks related to warmer air circulation in the cave system.

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Pilgrims, Fieldworkers, and Secret Agents: Buryat Buddhologists and the History of an Eurasian Imaginary

Inner Asia ◽

10.1163/000000009793066578 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 23-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anya Bernstein

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Late Nineteenth Century ◽

Southern Siberia ◽

Eurasian Continent ◽

History Of ◽

Late Nineteenth ◽

The Many ◽

Revolutionary History

AbstractThis article looks at the pre-Revolutionary history of Buryats' engagement with greater Eurasia, drawing on the legacies of the long underappreciated Russian Buddhological school and exploring the intellectual and political context of its emergence in the late nineteenth century. Exploring the role of Russian Orientalists and political figures such as the Orientalists V.P. Vasil'ev and Prince E.E. Ukhtomskii, and taking a close look at the fieldwork of the first Russian-trained indigenous Buryat Buddhologists G.Ts. Tsybikov and B.B. Baradiin, I demonstrate that this ultimately Eurasianist school of Buddhology was borne out of conflicting sentiments towards Russia's cosmopolitanism, statehood, and imperial destiny in Asia, as well as representations of indigenous peoples of southern Siberia. As a conclusion, I map the emergent forms of what I call 'Asian Eurasianism', linking it to contemporary cultural debates in Buryatia. I suggest that the term offers us a better way to understand the many ways by which many non-Russians position themselves in relation to the vast Eurasian continent.

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The role of hypergenetic process in forming the subsidence properties of loesses in southern Siberia

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment ◽

10.1007/bf02635459 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 83-85

Author(s):

A. V. Minervin

Keyword(s):

Southern Siberia

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The impact of ground-ice thaw on landslide geomorphology and dynamics: two case studies in northern Iceland

Landslides ◽

10.1007/s10346-021-01661-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Costanza Morino ◽

Susan J. Conway ◽

Matthew R. Balme ◽

Jón Kristinn Helgason ◽

Þorsteinn Sæmundsson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Slope Instability ◽

Permafrost Degradation ◽

Ground Ice ◽

Long Runout ◽

Loose Deposits ◽

Landslide Event ◽

Multiple Pulses ◽

Steep Terrain ◽

The Impact

AbstractAs consequence of ongoing climate change, permafrost degradation is thought to be increasingly affecting slope stability in periglacial environments. This is of growing concern in Iceland, where in the last decade, permafrost degradation has been identified among the triggering factors of landslides. The role of ground ice in conditioning the morphology and dynamics of landslides involving loose deposits is poorly understood. We show the geomorphological impact of the Móafellshyrna and Árnesfjall landslides that recently occurred in ice-cemented talus deposits in northern Iceland. Using field and aerial remote-sensing measurements of the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the landslides, we assess the influence of thawing ground ice on their propagation style and dynamics. The two mass movements are complex and are similar to rock- and debris-ice avalanches, changing trajectory and exhibiting evidence of transitioning their style of motion from a dry granular mass to a debris flow-like movement via multiple pulses. We infer that the thawing of ground ice together with the entrainment of saturated material provided the extra fluid causing this change in dynamics. The hazardous consequences of permafrost degradation will increasingly affect mountain regions in the future, and ground-ice thaw in steep terrain is a particularly hazardous phenomenon, as it may induce unexpected long-runout failures and can cause slope instability to continue even after the landslide event. Our study expands our knowledge of how landslides develop in unstable ice-cemented deposits and will aid assessment and mitigation of the hazard that they pose in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.

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The role of conodonts in the global stratigraphic correlation on example of southern Siberia (Russia) and eastern Serbia

Geoloski anali Balkanskog poluostrva ◽

10.2298/gabp1576011r ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 11-17

Author(s):

Sergei Rodygin

Keyword(s):

Geological Structure ◽

Kuznetsk Basin ◽

Stratigraphic Correlation ◽

Magmatic Activity ◽

Southern Siberia ◽

Lower Carboniferous ◽

Western Margin ◽

Middle Paleozoic ◽

North Western

Conodonts are very precise tools for global stratigraphic correlation of Devonian deposits. They can be correlated at the level of standard conodont zones even for basins having very different geological structure. In this paper Devonian conodont correlations between north-western margin of the Kuznetsk Basin (Siberia) and eastern Serbia are demonstrated. The geology of both regions is quite different. East Serbian zone is the southern tip of the Carpathian folded area (Carpatho-Balkanides). Middle Paleozoic carbonate and terrigenous deposits (Silurian, Devonian and Lower Carboniferous) are replaced by Hercynian molasse, and sedimentation continued throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras. Rocks were exposed to repeatedly tectonic effects, olistoliths, olistostromes are widespread. Middle Paleozoic sediments, including Devonian, are localized within separate small tectonic blocks, often shifted from its place and form allochthons. In the western part of the Altai-Sayan folded area the Middle Paleozoic sediments have undergone folding and orogeny during the Hercynian phase of tectonic and magmatic activity, but since that time the continental conditions have been dominant in this region. The Devonian deposits are well represented in the marginal parts of the Kuznetsk Basin. In both regions the Devonian rocks have been well studied and the standard conodont zones varcus, gigas (rhenana) - linguiformis, crepida, expansa and praesulcata were established.

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Hydrological Variability in the Arid Region of Northwest China from 2002 to 2013

Advances in Meteorology ◽

10.1155/2018/1502472 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yanping Cao ◽

Zhuotong Nan ◽

Guodong Cheng ◽

Ling Zhang

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Human Activities ◽

Arid Region ◽

Snow Water Equivalent ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Potential Evapotranspiration ◽

Northwest China ◽

Permafrost Degradation ◽

Large Area ◽

Hydrological Variability

The arid region of Northwest China (ANC) has a distinct and fragile inland water cycle. This study examined the hydrological variations in ANC and its three subregions from August 2002 to December 2013 by integrating terrestrial water storage (TWS) anomaly data derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite, soil moisture data modeled by the Global Land Data Assimilation System, and passive microwave snow water equivalent data. The results show that the TWS in ANC increased at a rate of 1.7 mm/a over the past decade, which consisted of an increasing trend of precipitation (0.12 mm/a). Spatially, in the northern ANC, TWS exhibited a significant decreasing trend of −3.64 mm/a (p<0.05) as a result of reduced rainfall, increased glacial meltwater draining away from the mountains, and intensified human activities. The TWS in southern and eastern ANC increased at a rate of 2.14 (p=0.10) and 1.63 (p<0.01) mm/a, respectively. In addition to increasing precipitation and temperature, decreasing potential evapotranspiration in Southern Xinjiang and expanding human activities in Hexi-Alashan together led to an overall increase in TWS. Increased glacier meltwater and permafrost degradation in response to climate warming may also affect the regional TWS balance. The variations in soil moisture, groundwater, and surface water accounted for the majority of the TWS anomalies in southern and eastern ANC. The proposed remote sensing approach combining multiple data sources proved applicable and useful to understand the spatiotemporal characteristics of hydrological variability in a large area of arid land without the need for field observations.

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The role of forest maturity on catchment hydrologic stability

10.5194/hess-2016-471 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Oscar Belmar ◽

José Barquín ◽

Jose Manuel Álvarez-Martínez ◽

Francisco J. Peñas ◽

Manuel Del Jesus

Keyword(s):

Experimental Design ◽

Land Cover ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Hydrological Regime ◽

Land Cover Types ◽

Low Flows ◽

Relative Contribution ◽

Hydrological Variability ◽

Precipitation Regimes

Abstract. Land cover and soil properties largely determine how climatic and hydrological regimes interact and produce hydrological stress in aquatic ecosystems. This study aims to clarify the influence of forests, as well as other majoritarian land cover types, on hydrological regime through an experimental design without the main limitations associated with traditional paired-watershed studies. With this aim, we use more catchments and an additional forest descriptor: forest maturity. We focus on flood and drought regimes, as they constitute the extremes of hydrological variability. Specific objectives were to isolate the relative contribution of precipitation and land cover composition to such flow extremes and to contrast the effectiveness of forests (surface and maturity) and other land cover types to predict them. The study was developed in a heterogeneous region located in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain) with different vegetation types and a long history of human disturbance and land use change that allowed a robust experimental design. Regression and partial correlation analyses were developed using hydrological and meteorological data combined through hydrological modelling using IHACRES. Land cover characteristics showed ability to predict both flood regimes and low flows, although low flows were explained mainly by precipitation regimes. Forests showed a stabilization effect on flow regime (lower floods and greater base flows), but the effect was more evident with forest maturity than with surface. Other land cover types showed different effects. Evaluating the role of land cover on hydrological stability requires the use of comprehensive information involving different descriptors and their temporal changes, not only the current surface occupied by each land cover type.

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Microsphaera palczewskii. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

IMI Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria ◽

10.1079/dfb/20056401375 ◽

1998 ◽

Author(s):

V. P. Heluta

Keyword(s):

Geographical Distribution ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Russian Far East ◽

Ornamental Plants ◽

Far East ◽

European Part ◽

Southern Siberia ◽

Initial Stage ◽

Caragana Arborescens

Abstract A description is provided for Microsphaera palczewskii. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. DISEASE: Powdery mildew of ornamental plants. Mycelium, conidiophores, conidia and ascomata form a covering of damaged green parts of the host which is first white, then dirty-grey. Infected part lose their shape. If infection levels are high, the plants may lose their ornamental qualities. HOSTS: Caragana arborescens, C. boisii, C. brevispina, C. decorticans, C. fruticosa, C. manchurica, C. microphylla, C. mollis, C. spinosa, C. ussuriensis, Robinia pseudacacia. [Type species - Caragana arborescens] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Asia (temperate areas only): China, Kazakhstan, Russia (Altai, Russian far east, southern Siberia), Turkmenistan. Europe (introduced): Belarus, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Russia (European part), Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine. TRANSMISSION: By wind-dispersed conidia. The rôle of ascospores in disease transmission is unknown, although it has been supposed that they can cause the initial stage of the disease. Infection can however also be through colonies surviving in host buds.

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