Yueqiao Zhang

The interactions between anthropogenic aerosols and the East Asian summer monsoon using RegCCMS

An online coupled regional climate-chemistry model called RegCCMS is used to investigate the interactions between anthropogenic aerosols and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) over East Asia. The simulation results show that the mean aerosol loading and optical depth over the region are 17.87 mg/m2 and 0.25, respectively. Sulfate and black carbon (BC) account for approximately 61.2% and 7.8% of the total aerosols, respectively. The regional mean radiative forcing (RF) is approximately −3.64, −0.55, and +0.88 W/m2 at the top of the atmosphere for the total aerosol effect, the total aerosol direct effect, and the BC direct effect, respectively. The surface direct RF of BC accounts for approximately 31% of the total RF of all aerosols. Because of the total aerosol effect, both the energy budgets and air temperature are considerably reduced in the region with high aerosol loadings, leading to decreases in the land-ocean air temperature gradient in summer. The total column-absorbed solar radiation and surface air temperature decrease by 8.4 W/m2 and 0.31 K, respectively. This cooling effect weakens horizontal and vertical atmospheric circulations over East Asia. The wind speed at 850 hPa decreases by 0.18 m/s, and the precipitation decreases by 0.29 mm/d. The small responses of solar radiation, air temperature, and atmospheric circulations to the BC warming effect are opposite to those of the total aerosol effect. The BC-induced enhancement of atmospheric circulation can increase local floods in south China, while droughts in north China may worsen in response to the BC semidirect effect. The total aerosol effect is much more significant than the BC direct effect. The East Asian summer monsoon becomes weaker due to the total aerosol effect. However, this weakness could be partially offset by the BC warming effect. Sensitivity analyses further indicate that the influence of aerosols on the EASM might be more substantial in years when the southerlies or southwesterlies at 850 hPa are weak compared with years when the winds are strong. Changes in the EASM can induce variations in the distribution and magnitude of aerosols. Aerosols in the lower troposphere over the region can increase by 3.07 and 1.04 µg/m3 due to the total aerosol effect and the BC warming effect, respectively.

Significant concentration changes of chemical components of PM1 in the Yangtze River Delta area of China and the implications for the formation mechanism of heavy haze–fog pollution

Since the winter season of 2013, a number of persistent haze-fog events have occurred in central-eastern China. Continuous measurements of the chemical and physical properties of PM1 at a regional background station in the Yangtze River Delta area of China from 16 Nov. to 18 Dec., 2013 revealed several haze-fog events, among which a heavy haze-fog event occurred between 6 Dec. and 8 Dec. The mean concentration of PM1 was 212μgm(-3) in the heavy haze-fog period, which was about 10 times higher than on clean days and featured a peak mass concentration that reached 298μgm(-3). Organics were the largest contributor to the dramatic rise of PM1 on heavy haze-fog days (average mass concentration of 86μgm(-3)), followed by nitrate (58μgm(-3)), sulfate (35μgm(-3)), ammonium (29μgm(-3)), and chloride (4.0μgm(-3)). Nitrate exhibited the largest increase (~20 factors), associated with a significant increase in NOx. This was mainly attributable to increased coal combustion emissions, relative to motor vehicle emissions, and was caused by short-distance pollutant transport within surrounding areas. Low-volatility oxidized organic aerosols (OA) (LV-OOA) and biomass-burning OA (BBOA) also increased sharply on heavy haze-fog days, exhibiting an enhanced oxidation capacity of the atmosphere and increased emissions from biomass burning. The strengthening of the oxidation capacity during the heavy pollution episode, along with lower solar radiation, was probably due to increased biomass burning, which were important precursors of O3. The prevailing meteorological conditions, including low wind and high relative humidity, and short distance transported gaseous and particulate matter surrounding of the sampling site, coincided with the increased pollutant concentrations mainly from biomass-burning mentioned above to cause the persistent haze-fog event in the YRD area.

New insights into Phanerozoic tectonics of South China: Part 1, polyphase deformation in the Jiuling and Lianyunshan domains of the central Jiangnan Orogen

The central Jiangnan Orogen, genetically formed by the Proterozoic Yangtze-Cathaysia collision, presents as a composite structural feature in the Phanerozoic with multiple ductile and brittle fabrics whose geometries, kinematics, and ages are crucial to decipher the tectonic evolution of south China. New structural observations coupled with thermochronological and geochronological studies of these fabrics document four main stages of deformation. The earliest stage in early Paleozoic time (460–420 Ma) corresponds to combined E-trending dextral and northwest directed thrust shearing that was variably partitioned in anastomosing high-strain zones under greenschist-facies conditions (~400–500°C), related to the continued Yangtze-Cathaysia convergence externally driven by the suturing of south China with Australia. This event was heterogeneously overprinted by the second stage characterized by ~E-oriented folding in middle Triassic time, geodynamically resulting from the continental collision of south China with Indochina and North China. The third stage was locally developed by northwest and southeast vergent thrusts that truncated ~E-oriented folds in the Late Jurassic, due to northwestward subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate. The latest stage involved normal faulting and tectonic unroofing in Cretaceous time, which resulted in basin opening and reset footwall 40Ar/39Ar ages in proximity to the Hengshan detachment fault, associated with roll-back of the subducting Paleo-Pacific plate.

Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the Daba Shan Thrust Belt in the southern Qinling orogen, central China: Constraints from surface geology and reflection seismology

The Daba Shan Thrust Belt is located along the southern margin of the Qinling orogen that separates the north China block in the north from the south China block in the south. Despite decades of research, the total magnitude of shortening accommodated by continent-continent convergence across the Qinling orogen after Triassic ocean closure between north and south China remains poorly constrained. The lack of knowledge on the shortening magnitude in turn limits our ability to test a wide array of tectonic models for the development of the Qinling orogen and thus the convergence history between north and south China. In order to address this issue, we construct a balanced cross section and develop a new kinematic model for the evolution of the Daba Shan Thrust Belt. This work was accomplished by integrating (1) surface geologic mapping, (2) detailed kinematic analysis of key structures, (3) existing geochronologic and thermochronological data, and (4) a recently obtained lithospheric-scale seismic reflection profile. Restoration of the cross section indicates that the minimum shortening strain increases northward from ~10% in the foreland to >45% in the thrust belt interior. The estimated amount of upper crustal shortening across the Daba Shan Thrust Belt is >130 km, which is sufficient to allow the inferred mafic lower crust of the subducted south China lithosphere to have experienced eclogite phase transition. Thus, our work supports that the development of the Daba Shan Thrust Belt may have been driven by slab pull of the subducted mafic lower crust at the leading edge of the down-plunging south China continental lithosphere.