Use of an inside buffer method to extract the extent of urban areas from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data in North China

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime imagery provides a valuable data source for mapping urban areas. However, the spatial extents of large cities are often overestimated because of the effect of over-glow from nighttime light if a fixed thresholding technique is used. In the work reported here, an inside buffer method was developed to solve this issue. The method is based on the fact that the area overestimated is proportional to the extent of the lit area if a fixed threshold is used to extract urban areas in a region/county. Using this method, the extents of urban areas in North China were extracted and validated by interpretations from Landsat Thematic Mapper images. The results showed that the lit areas had a significant linear relationship with the urban areas for 120 representative cities in North China in 2000, with an R² value of over 0.95. This demonstrates that the inside buffer method can be used to extract urban areas. The validation results showed that the inside buffer model developed in 2000 can be directly used to extract the extent of urban areas using more recent nighttime light imagery. This is of great value for the timely updating of urban area databases in large regions or countries.     

Two Methods for Predicting Reliability Index and Critical Probabilistic Slip Surface of Soil Slopes

Two methods of reliability analysis of soil slopes are studied, and the representative flow charts of both methods are illustrated. Method 1 can predict the reliability index and the critical probabilistic slip surface directly and it is computational efficient, but it needs the development of new codes for integrating the reliability analysis code and the slope stability code. Method 2 makes the reliability analysis code call the slope stability analysis code directly, and each code can be considered as an intact part. The main result of Method 2 is the reliability index of soil slope. Combined with the proposed method for locating the critical slip surface, Method 2 can also predict the probabilistic slip surface. Although Method 2 needs much more callings of the subprogram of slope stability analysis code, it needs not the developing of new computer program. Thus, Method 2 is easy to use and can be applied to different reliability analysis methods and slope stability analysis methods.     

Early Cretaceous Climate Changes Recorded in Magnetic Susceptibility and Color Index Variations of the Lower Liupanshan Group, Central China

This study carried out comprehensive analysis on sedimentology, magnetic susceptibility(χlf) and color data of the continental sediments of the Liupanshan Group in Central China so as to obtain climatic change information during the 129.14–122.98 Ma interval. Based on the results of the ?lf and of the redness(a*), the section can be divided into two segments:(1) 129.14–126.3 Ma, with the lowest ?lf values and strongly variable relatively high values of redness and(2) 126.3–122.98 Ma, with high ?lf values and relatively low redness. Analysis of the lithology and facies as well as the magnetic minerals and their contents points to a detrital origin of the magnetic minerals and this allow us to interpret the relationship between magnetic susceptibility variations and climate changes. Our study shows that the climate was significantly dry and hot during the whole studied interval although the interval between 126.3 Ma and 122.98 was a little bit cooler with increased humidity.     

河北牛驼镇地热田高温地热水成因分析

牛驼镇地热田以基岩热储层最优,是目前地热田开发利用条件最好的热储层。牛驼镇基岩热储水温60℃~100℃,顶板埋深最浅处小于500m,一般为800~1500m,涌水量50~110 m3/h。基岩地热水水化学类型为Cl—Na型水,偏硅酸浓度46~92mg/L,偏硼酸浓度5.0~33 mg/L,氟浓度5.41~11 mg/L,是优质的理疗矿泉水。本文着重从构造运动的角度分析了牛驼镇高温地热水的形成。阐述了自元古代的吕梁运动开始至二叠纪期间,研究区在经过"三降两升"的五个地史发展期中不仅沉积了良好的基岩热储层,亦储藏了丰富的水源。随着新生代喜山运动的活跃,在牛东等断裂的控制下,牛驼镇凸起发育成熟,在此过程中,牛驼镇凸起暴露地表,沉积了新近系和第四系,构成基岩热储的良好盖层。另外,由于基岩热储岩性的热导率较高及埋藏深度较浅,使得牛驼镇地热田拥有相对较高温度的地热水资源。     

织锦巴非蛤斧足颜色与总类胡萝卜素含量相关分析

斧足是织锦巴非蛤重要的食用部位。本研究检测了94个织锦巴非蛤斧足的总类胡萝卜素含量(TCC)和3个颜色指标L*(明暗度)、a*(红绿值)、b*(黄蓝值),发现织锦巴非蛤斧足总类胡萝卜素含量和颜色指标在不同个体之间存在较大差异。相关性分析表明,织锦巴非蛤斧足的总类胡萝卜素含量与颜色指标L*、a*、b*之间相关极显著(P0.01),相关系数分别为:–0.546、0.569、0.449。本研究表明,斧足颜色越深,其类胡萝卜素含量也越高可能是一个普遍规律,这对我们接下来选育高类胡萝卜素含量贝类提供了一种直观的参考指标。     

Length of stay in urban areas of circular migrants from the mountainous areas in China

Currently, there is limited literature dealing with the length of stay of circular migrants in urban areas (LSCMU), although many studies have discussed the phenomenon of migration and the determinants of migration. This study attempts to fill that gap using survey data from the mountainous areas of Chongqing, Southwest China. From a comparative perspective, this study divided workers into two groups (a young group aged between 16 and 35 years and an old group aged between 36 and 65 years). The average LSCMU values for the young and old groups were 225 days and 174 days, respectively. Two multi-regression models were used to estimate the determinants of LSCMU in the two groups. The results showed that LSCMU was closely related to individual factors in both groups, including gender, age and job training. Family and community factors, including household size, arable land per capita and the distance from market, had much weaker effects on the dependent variable, especially in the older group. It was noticeable that job training had significant positive effects on LSCMU in both groups; these findings have special implications for the urbanization process in China.     

Occurrence and conceptual sedimentary model of Cambrian gypsum-bearing evaporites in the Sichuan Basin,SW China

During the Cambrian, gypsum-bearing evaporites formed in the Sichuan Basin, SW China. These rocks are important for oil and gas sealing, but details of their distribution and origin are not well established. This study examines the regional distribution and origin of the gypsum-bearing evaporites using a comprehensive analysis of drilling data from 34 wells, 5 measured cross-sections in the basin and surrounding area, and 96 maps of area-survey data. Results show that in the stratigraphic succession, the gypsum-bearing evaporites occur mainly in the Lower Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation, the Middle Cambrian Douposi Formation, and the Middle-Upper Cambrian Xixiangchi Group. Geographically, the rocks are found mainly in the southeastern part of the basin, and the distribution of deposits shows an overall SW-NE trend. The sedimentary environments for evaporite formation were evaporative lagoon and inter-platform basin in a platform setting. Gypsum was generated by the underwater concentration of sea water in a strongly evaporative environment. Both an evaporative restricted platform and a mixeddeposition restricted platform model appear to be applicable to the development of gypsum in the Sichuan Basin. The gypsum-bearing evaporites with the best sealing capacity are located mostly in the southeastern part of the basin. These constraints can be applied directly to regional exploration, and have implications for the regional paleogeography and paleoclimate.     

Landslides triggered by the 2016 Mj 7.3 Kumamoto,Japan, earthquake

The aim of this study is to establish a detailed and complete inventory of the landslides triggered by the Mj 7.3 (Mw 7.0) Kumamoto, Japan, earthquake sequence of 15 April 2016 (16 April in JST). Based on high-resolution (0.5–2 m) optical satellite images, we delineated 3,467 individual landslides triggered by the earthquake, occupying an area of about 6.9 km². Then they were validated by aerial photographs with very high-resolution (better than 0.5 m) and oblique field photos. Of them, 3,460 landslides are distributed in an elliptical area about 6000 km², with a NE-SW directed 120-km-long long axis and a 60-km-long NW-SE trending short axis. Most of the landslides are shallow, disrupted falls and slides, with a few flow-type slides and rock and soil avalanches. The analysis of correlation between the landslides and several control factors shows the areas of elevation 1000–1200 m, stratum of Q₃-Hvf, seismic intensity VIII and VIII+, and peak ground acceleration (PGA) 0.4–0.6 g register the highest landslide abundance. This study also discussed the relationship between the spatial pattern of the landslides and the seismotectonic structure featured by a strike-slip fault with a normal component and the volcanism in the study area.     

Preservation of thermophilic mixed culture for anaerobic palm oil mill effluent treatment by convective drying methods

The generation of huge amount of liquid waste known as palm oil mill effluent is a major problem in oil palm industry. Meanwhile, anaerobic biodegradation of such organic effluent at thermophilic condition is a promising treatment technology due to its high efficiency. However, storage and transportation of thermophilic mixed culture sludge are challenging due to constant biogas generation and heating requirement. Hence, drying of thermophilic sludge was conducted to obtain dormant thermophiles and thus enables easier handling. In this study, thermophilic sludge was dried using heat pump at 22 and 32 °C as well as hot air oven at 40, 50, 60, and 70 °C. Subsequently, quality of dried sludge was examined based on most probable number enumeration, chemical oxygen demand, and methane yield. Average drying rate was found to increase from 3.21 to 17.84 g H₂O/m² min as drying temperatures increases while average moisture diffusivity values ranges from 5.07 × 10^?9 to 4.34 × 10^?8 m²/s. Oven drying of thermophilic mixed culture resulted in highest chemical oxygen demand removal and lowest log reduction of anaerobes at 53.41% and 2.16, respectively, while heat pump drying resulted in the highest methane yield and lowest log reduction of methanogens at 53.4 ml CH₄/g COD and 2.09, respectively. To conclude, heat pump at 22 °C was most suitable drying technique for thermophilic mixed culture as the original methane-producing capability was largely retained after drying, at a slightly lower yet still comparable chemical oxygen demand removal when palm oil mill effluent was treated with the rehydrated culture.     

Soil column infiltration tests on biomediated capillary barrier systems for mitigating rainfall-induced landslides

Rainfall-induced landslide is a common geohazard in tropical and humid regions. Capillary barrier system (CBS) is a popular and widely studied mitigating measure for rainfall-induced landslides. However, several previous studies have shown that the performance of the conventional CBS under intense rainfalls has not been particularly convincing. This paper aims to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a newly proposed system, known as “biomediated capillary barrier system” (B-CBS) in minimizing water infiltration into soil. A one-dimensional soil column was used to investigate the infiltration characteristics of the proposed system. The results showed that the B-CBS of biomediated residual soil overlying original residual soil (Test IV) could effectively control the infiltration into soil by taking advantage of the less-permeable biomediated soil cover. The B-CBS of biomediated residual soil overlying gravelly sand (Test V) and the three-layered B-CBS of fine sand overlying gravelly sand and biomediated residual soil (Test VI) showed the best performance in terms of minimizing the water infiltration. A suction of about 5 kPa still remained in the soil column after 60 min of infiltration from the ponded water on the soil surface.