COVER Water exchange through the sea-land interface is a major component of the hydrologic cycle. This exchange, called submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), comprises fresh inland groundwater and recycled seawater. SGD is an important pathway as surface runoff for material transport to the marine environment. Owing to the importance of SGD for the marine geochemical cycling of elements, coastal aquifer systems can be regarded as subterranean estuaries. The photo cover shows the interaction between groundwater and ocean associated with SGD within a typical subterranean estuary. The schematic diagram shows that SGD is driven by terrestrial hydraulic gradients, density difference between seawater and inland fresh groundwater, and any number of oceanic processes such as wave pumping, tidal pumping, and thermal gradients. SGD is widespread and, in some areas, of greater marine ecological significance than surface runoff. In particular, terrestrially recharged water (or fresh inland groundwater), which is a component of SGD, may seriously affect the coastal ecological environment. Thus, it is important to carefully consider groundwater issues such as groundwater contamination, circulation, evolution, overexploitation, and seawater intrusion (see the special topic: Groundwater). Volume 58 Number 25 September 2013 Journal Ownership by Science China Press; Copyright of Articles: © The Author(s) 2013 Journal’s Policy for Open Access All articles published in the journal Chinese Science Bulletin are subject to the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Publishing an article with open access leaves the copyright with the author and allows user to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works from the material, as long as the author of the original work is cited. 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Copyright and License Agreement For copyright regulations and license agreement, please go to www.springeropen.com/about/copyright Abstracted/indexed in: Academic Search Alumni Edition EMBio Academic Search Complete Environmental Engineering Abstracts Academic Search Elite Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Academic Search Premier Google Scholar ASFA 1: Biological Sciences and Living Resources Inspec ASFA 2: Ocean Technology, Policy and Non-Living Resources Mathematical Reviews Biological Abstracts MathSciNet Biological Sciences Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts BIOSIS Previews Pollution Abstracts CAB Abstracts Science Citation Index Chemical Abstracts SCOPUS Chemical and Earth Sciences Water Resources Abstracts Current Contents/Physical Zentralblatt MATH Current Mathematical Publications Zoological Record Digital Mathematics Registry CONTENTS Volume 58 Number 25 September 2013 CONTENTS SPECIAL TOPIC: Groundwater EDITORIAL 3043 A small but important step to enhance groundwater research in China LIN XueYu REVIEWS 3044 Review of the uncertainty analysis of groundwater numerical simulation WU JiChun & ZENG XianKui 3053 Quantifying tidal contribution to submarine groundwater discharges: A review LI HaiLong & JIAO JiuJimmy ARTICLES 3060 Delayed drainage of aquitard in response to sudden change in groundwater level in adjacent confined aquifer: Analytical and experimental studies ZHOU ZhiFang, GUO QiaoNa & DOU Zhi 3070 Spatial and temporal evolutions of groundwater arsenic approximately along the flow path in the Hetao basin, Inner Mongolia GUO HuaMing, ZHANG Yang, JIA YongFeng, ZHAO Kai & KIM Kangjoo 3080 Coseismic response of groundwater level in the Three Gorges well network and its relationship to aquifer parameters SHI ZheMing, WANG GuangCai, LIU ChengLong, MEI JianChang, WANG JinWei & FANG HuiNa 3088 Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river HUANG TianMing, PANG ZhongHe, CHEN YaNing & KONG YanLong 3098 Suitability assessment of deep groundwater for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, north China SHI JianSheng, MA Rong, LIU JiChao & ZHANG YiLong ARTICLES Geochemistry 3111 Precise measurement of stable (δ88/86Sr) and radiogenic (87Sr/86Sr) strontium isotope ratios in geological standard reference materials using MC-ICP-MS MA JinLong, WEI GangJian, LIU Ying, REN ZhongYuan, XU YiGang & YANG YongHong Geology 3119 Synchronous drying and cooling in central Asia during late Oligocene DONG XinXin, DING ZhongLi, YANG ShiLing, LUO Pan, WANG Xu & JI JunLiang 3125 Palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental significance of some important spores and micro-algae in Quaternary deposits TANG LingYu, MAO LiMi, LÜ XinMiao, MA QingFeng, ZHOU ZhongZe, YANG ChunLei, KONG ZhaoChen & BATTEN David J Geography 3140 The hydrological linkage of mountains and plains in the arid region of northwest China QIN Jia, DING YongJian & YANG GuoJing 3148 Mass change study on Arctic glacier Pedersenbreen, during 1936-1990-2009 AI SongTao, WANG ZeMin, TAN Zhi, E DongChen & YAN Ming Atmospheric Science 3155 Extremely cold and persistent stratospheric Arctic vortex in the winter of 2010–2011 HU YongYun & XIA Yan www.scichina.com | csb.scichina.com | www.springer.com/scp | www.springerlink.com i CONTENTS CONTENTS FORUM Geography 3161 Societal response to challenges of global change and human sustainable development XU GuanHua, GE QuanSheng, GONG Peng, FANG XiuQi, CHENG BangBo, HE Bin, LUO Yong & XU Bing Vol. 58 No. 25 September 5, 2013 (Published three times every month) Supervised by Chinese Academy of Sciences Sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Natural Science Foundation of China Published by Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg Subscriptions China Science China Press, 16 Donghuangchenggen North Street, Beijing 100717, China Email: [email protected] Fax: 86-10-64016350 North and South America Springer New York, Inc., Journal Fulfillment, P.O. Box 2485, Secaucus, NJ 07096 USA Email: [email protected] Fax: 1-201-348-4505 Outside North and South America Springer Customer Service Center, Customer Service Journals, Haberstr. 7, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany Email: [email protected] Fax: 49-6221-345-4229 Printed by Beijing Artownprinting Co., Ltd., Chuangyeyuan Road, Taihu Town, Tongzhou District, Beijing 101116, China Edited by Editorial Board of Chinese Science Bulletin, 16 Donghuangchenggen North Street, Beijing 100717, China Editor-in-Chief XIA JianBai CN 11-1785/N 邮发代号: 80-214 (英) 广告经营许可证: 京东工商广字第0429号 国内每期定价: 116元 ii www.scichina.com | csb.scichina.com | www.springer.com/scp | www.springerlink.com Article Geology September 2013 Vol.58 No.25: 31193124 doi: 10.1007/s11434-013-5821-3 Synchronous drying and cooling in central Asia during late Oligocene DONG XinXin1,2*, DING ZhongLi1, YANG ShiLing1, LUO Pan3, WANG Xu1 & JI JunLiang4 1 Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Petroleum Geology Research and Laboratory Center, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China; 4 Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Received December 31, 2012; accepted March 4, 2013; published online April 12, 2013 Aridification of central Asia during late Oligocene and Early Miocene has been documented by numerous eolian records from the North Pacific and central Asia. However, direct evidence of aridity from the interior of the arid zone is still rather scarce. To better reconstruct the climate history in central Asia during the late Oligocene, we have analyzed ostracod assemblages and gypsum content in the sediments from the lacustrine Jingou River section in the northern Tianshan Mountains. Our results show that the cold water species Candona cf. Neglecta and Pseudocandona albicans replaced the warm water species Ilyocypris bradyi and Ilyocypris sp. to become the dominant species at 23.8 Ma, indicating significant cooling in central Asia at that time. At the same time, a substantial increase in gypsum content indicates the intensification of central Asian drying. The synchronous cooling and drying approximately coincided with the Oi2b.1 and/or Mi1 events, implying a causal linkage between