Assessment and exploitation of the waterfront resources in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

Waterfront resources are important and special kind of natural resources in the marginal area between land and wat er. The Yangtze River, the longest river in China, is not only rich in waterfront resources, but also has favorable development conditions with gr eat potentiality. Aided by large-scale underwater topographic map, the maj or factors of the waterfront resources in the middle and lower reache s of the Yangtze River, such as the stability, the water depth and the natural conditions for port construction, are assessed in this pap er respectively on the basis of the overall investigations. The result s show that: (1) the waterfront resources are abundant in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but lack of perfectly combined high grade waterfront; (2) there exists an obvious regional difference in the natural quality of the waterfront along the Yangtze; (3) the fore-bank water depth and waterfront stability are the main natural fa ctors related to the waterfront quality in the middle and lower reach es of the Yangtze River; (4) the waterfronts along the Yangtze are mainl y used for port, warehouse and industrial purposes; and (5) the waterfronts near important cities are highly used, especially the high-quality waterfronts. In addition, some suggestions for the development and utilization of the waterfron t resources are presented in this paper.

Problems and countermeasures for land exploitation and utilization in China's development areas

s: The planning area and developing area in China's l29 national and 584 provincial development areas cover 8000 km2 and l500 km2 respectively. By typical field investigations we found that China's development areas have the characteristics of abundant categories, excessive quantities, large scales and dense localities in coastlands, border areas and river banks. And their utilization have 4 features of mainly collecting and occupying agricultural lands, minor rebuilding of old city; mainly taking up cultivated lands, minor exploiting and utilizing barren mountains and bleak sloping lands; collecting and occupying lands at first, utilizing afterwards; using large quantities of lands but obtaining comparatively fewer benefits. According to the analyses, China's development areas can be concluded into one of the four categories: constructed from cultivated lands, reconstructed from old cities, constructed from coastlands and islands, and constructed from barren mountains and desolate sloping lands. Their corresponding problems of unsuitable planning and distribution leaving cultivated lands unused, low remission price and chaotic management measures are analyzed in detail and the countermeasures are put forward. These include planning and distribution the lands in an integrated way, managing all these lands in a unified system. improving the growth pattern of their economy, and advancing their utilization and output ratios.

Preliminary Announcement for International Symposium on Exploitation and Utilization of Titaniferrous Vanadio-magnetite

--An international symposium hostedby Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co.,co-orga-nized by The Chinese Society of Metalsand The Nonferrous Metals Society ofChina

Progress and Prospects of Salt Lake Research in China

China has unique salt lake resources, and they are distributed in the east of Eurasian salt lake subzone of the Northern Hemisphere Salt Lake Zone, mainly concentrated in the regions with modern mean annual precipitation lower than 500 mm. This paper preliminarily reviews the progress made in salt lake research in China for the past 60 years. In the research of Paleoclimate and paleoenvironment from salt lake sediments, a series of salts have been proposed to be indicators of paleoclimate, and have been well accepted by scholars. The chloride-sulfate depositional regions of the west Qaidam and the east Tarim have been revealed to be the drought center of China since the Quaternary, and more than 6 spreading stages of arid climate （salt forming） have been identified. Five pan-lake periods with highstands have been proved to exist during the late Quaternary on the Tibetan Plateau. In mineral resource prospecting and theories of the forming of salt deposits： the atlas （1：2500000） of hydrochemical zoning of salt lakes on the Tibetan Plateau has been compiled for the first time, revealing the zonal distribution and transition from carbonate type to chloride type from south to north and presenting corresponding mineral assemblages for different type of salt lakes; several large continental salt deposits have been discovered and the theory of continental potash deposition has been developed, including the salt deposition in deep basins surrounded by high mountains, the mineral deposition from multistage evolution through chains of moderate or shallow lakes with multilevels, the origin of potassium rich brines in gravel layers, and the forming of potassium deposits through the inheriting from ancient salt deposits, thus establishing the framework of ＂Continental Potash Deposition Theory＂; several new types of Mg-borate deposits have been discovered, including the ulexite and pinnoite bed in Da Qaidam Lake, Qinghai, the pinnoite and kurnakovite bed in Chagcam Caka, Tibet, the kurnakovite bed in Lake Nyer, and the corresponding model of borate deposition from the cooling and dissolution of boron rich brines was proposed based on principles of geology, physics and chemistry. The anti-floatation-cold crystallization method developed independently has improved the capacity of KCI production to 3 million tons per year for the Qarham, serving the famous brand of potash fertilizer products. One 1.2 million ton K-sulfate production line, the biggest in the world, has been built in Lop Nor, and K-sulfate of about 1.6 million tons was produced in 2015. Supported by the new technology, i.e. brine preparation in winter-cooling-solarization-isolation-lithium deposition from salt gradient solar pond＂ the highest lithium production base at Zabuye Lake （4421 m）, Tibet, has been established, which is the first lithium production base in China that reaches the year production of 5000 tons of lithium carbonate. The concept of Salt lake agriculture （Salt land agriculture） has been established based on the mass growth of Dunaliella and other bacillus-algae and the occurrence of various halophytes in saltmarsh and salt saline-alkali lands, finding a new way to increase arable lands and develop related green industry in salt rich environments. Finally this paper presents some new thoughts for the further research and development on salt science, and the further progress in salt science and technology will facilitate the maturing of the interdisciplinary science ＂Salinology＂.

Water resources utilization and eco-environmental safety in Northwest China

Northwest China includes Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shaanxi Province, covering 308×10^4km^2. It is located in the warm-temperate zone and the climate is arid or semi-arid. Precipitation is very scarce but evaporation is extremely high. The climate is dry, the water resources are deficient, the ecoenvironment is fragile, and the distribution of water resources is uneven. In this region, precipitation is the only input, and evaporation is the only output in the inland rivers, and precipitation, surface water and groundwater change with each other for many times, which benefits the storage and utilization of water resources. The average precipitation in this region is 232 mm, the total precipitation amount is 7003×108m^3/a, the surface water resources are 1891×10^8m^3/a, the total natural groundwater resources are 1150×10^8m^3/a, the total available water resources are 438×10^8 m^3/a, and the total water resources are 1996×10^8m^3/a and per capita water resources are 2278 m^3/a. The water resources of the whole area are 5.94×10^4m^3/（a.km^2）, being only one-fifth of the mean value in China. Now, the available water resources are 876×10^8m^3/a, among which groundwater is proximate 130×10^8m^3/a.

An overview on observational instruments and measuring methods for dewfall

This paper systematically summarizes previous measuring methods and observational instruments for the magnitude of dewfall on land surface, analyzes the characteristics of common observational instruments for land surface dewfall, and describes several basic dewfall measurement methods. Moreover, the basic principles of these methods and instruments are interpreted, and their advantages, disadvantages, and applicability are analyzed. Recommendations for the further improvement of these observational instruments and the development of dewfall measuring methods are presented, and new technologies and scientific proposals for exploiting dewfall are elucidated.

Problems for water resources development in typical small karst drainage basins and countermeasures

In karst area water deficit is one of the main factors constraining sustainable economic development. In 1979 the comprehensive karstic observational field station was set up in Houzhai drainage basin located,\ in Puding county of Guizhou Province, which can represent most of the small karst drainage basins on the dividing line of the Guizhou Plateau. Geomorphology, water resources and water chemistry were investigated and observed. Based on comparisons of water supply with water demand and analysis of the main problems in water exploitation and utilization. it is found out that the water deficiency was not directly caused by the scarcity of natural water resources. The true reason is the insufficient capacity of water supply caused by the dismatch of the water and soil water resources which can be dealt with by building more irrigation works. Some solutions such as to build scientific basis for water exploitation and utilization and sustainable economic development in karst drainage basins on dividing line of the Guizhou Plateau.

Development of Geothermal Resources in China: A Review

Geothermal resources in China are distributed throughout the country, with hydrother- real systems of high temperature in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province and Taiwan Island and hydrothermal systems of low-medium temperature mainly in various sedimentary basins. Devel- opment and exploration of geothermal energy in China are below expectations. The purpose of this study is to comparatively review the characteristics （geology, hydrogeology, hydrochemistry and geo- physical data） of typical hydrothermal fields/areas and suggest development and utilization approaches in the future. Hydrothermal systems formed by mountain Hfting contain a considerable amount of en- ergy for geothermal power generation, especially in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province and Taiwan Island. However, geothermal water in the Tatun geothermal field has high TDS （total dis- solved solids）, an issue that requires more research to resolve this problem for power generation. The large storage of geothermal resources has been investigated in Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary basins; it is basically used for heating, bathing or greenhouse plantation. Moreover, hydrothermal resources of low-medium temperature can also be used in binary power plants. Although the enhanced geothermal systems （EGS） in China are promising, the resources have not yet been commercially exploited, because the emerging technologies （hydraulic fracturing） and concerns over environmental impacts （induced miero-seismicity） lead to slow development. On the contrary, shallow geothermal energy has been di- rectly utilized mainly for heating and cooling buildings. Cities like Beijing, Tianjin and Shenyang have established a series of ground-source heat-pump systems, which has led to a massive reduction of CO2 emission of 19.87×10^6 t.