Surface Geophysical Methods used to Verify the Karst Geological Structure in the Built-up Area: A Case Study of Specific Engineering-Geological Conditions

This article presents a research study of complex limestone karst engineering-geological conditions in the municipality Valaská near Banská Bystrica in Slovakia. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the impossibility of spatial identification of cave spaces using surface geophysical methods due to the specific engineering-geological conditions of a thick surface layer of anthropogenic fill containing highly heterogeneous anthropogenic material. Its maximum thickness is 3 m. Another specificific condition of the study area is its location in the built-up area, due to which the applicability of geophysical methods was limited. The article contains methodological recommendations to be used in analogous geological conditions with karst structures topped with anthropogenic fill, which complicates the identification of cave spaces. The recommended solution herein is the identification of the cave system using underground mapping of the karst and its projection onto the surface for which surface geophysical methods have been combined.     

Confronting the nitrogen challenge: Options for governance and target setting

The release of excessive anthropogenic nitrogen contributes to global climate change, biodiversity loss, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Despite being an urgent global problem, the excess nitrogen is not governed globally. This paper considers possible governance options for dealing with excessive nitrogen through target setting, which is an approach commonly adopted to address global environmental problems. The articulation of the nitrogen problem and the numerous international institutions dealing with it, provide evidence of a nitrogen regime characterised by limited coordination and targets covering sources and impacts only partially. This calls for improving the nitrogen governance in the direction of more integrated approaches at the global scale. In this vein, the paper investigates two opposite governance options – here labelled as ‘holistic’ and ‘origin-based’ – and evaluates them for their capability to define solutions and targets for human-induced nitrogen. From the analysis, it emerges that origin-based solutions can be preferable to holistic solutions as they can be more specific and potentially have greater immediate results. Independent from which governance arrangement is chosen, what matters most is the speed at which an arrangement can deploy solutions to combat (fast-growing) nitrogen pollution.     

Design and installation of a combined automatic tensiometer-piezometer system

Currently available systems for monitoring both negative and positive pore pressures have certain restrictions as to their use. A system design is described that seeks to overcome some of the potentially more restrictive elements insofar as site investigations in tropical slopes are concerned. In particular, the system uses an integrated approach to both pore pressure and ancillary (e.g. raingauge) monitoring. Initial trials of the instrumentation suggest its suitability for pore pressure recording where high temporal resolution is needed in both negative and positive pressures.     

Hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary, East China Sea

Sedimentary aliphatic (AH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied in the Changjiang Estuary and the adjacent East China Sea. Total AH ranged from 2.20 to 11.82 μg g⁻¹ and consisted of n-alkanes and a dominant petroleum-related unresolved complex mixture (UCM). Within the n-alkanes, terrestrial plant wax compounds prevailed at nearly all stations. Of the PAHs, biogenic perylene dominated at stations receiving riverine inputs. Anthropogenic PAHs originating from combustion/pyrolysis processes varied from 17 to 157 ng g⁻¹, while fossil PAH concentrations ranged from 42 to 187 ng g⁻¹. Both biogenic and anthropogenic hydrocarbons are primarily derived from riverine discharges and accumulate at shallow-water stations. Distinct phase associations lead, nevertheless, to different sedimentation patterns. Fossil PAHs are enhanced at offshore stations where they are introduced directly by shipping activities. Biomarker fingerprints ascribe their source to Chinese crude oils. The overall levels of anthropogenic hydrocarbons are low compared to relevant areas worldwide and reveal a low/moderate level of hydrocarbon pollution.     

Capillary pressure for the sand–CO2–water system under various pressure conditions. Application to CO2 sequestration

Accurate modeling of storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in heterogeneous aquifers requires experiments of the capillary pressure as function of temperature and pressure. We present a method with which static drainage and imbibition capillary pressures can be measured continuously as a function of saturation at various temperature (T) and pressure (P) conditions. The measurements are carried out at (T, P) conditions of practical interest. Static conditions can be assumed as small injection rates are applied. The capillary pressure curves are obtained for the unconsolidated sand–distilled water–CO₂ system. The experimental results show a decrease of drainage and imbibition capillary pressure for increasing CO₂ pressures and pronounced dissolution rate effects for gaseous CO₂. Significant capillary pressure fluctuations and negative values during imbibition are observed at near critical conditions. The measurement procedure is validated by a numerical model that simulates the experiments.     

The paleoecological record of human disturbance in wetlands of the Lake Tahoe Basin

Increased human activities since discovery of gold in northern California have changed the structure and function of many ecosystems. To reconstruct the changes in watershed environmental conditions, sediment cores were collected from three montane marshes in northern Sierra Nevada, CA. Pollen analysis was conducted, and water content, bulk density, ash, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, major cations, and lead concentrations of sediments were determined. Cores were dated by the 210Pb method. Pollen analyses showed changes in plant communities in this region due to severe logging in the late-1800s and moderate logging in the 1900s. The local changes were more clearly recorded in small marsh pollen profiles than regional changes. The water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) introduction into Tahoe Basin was inferred from the pollen record and ²¹⁰Pb dating. Road construction and maintenance activities were recorded in physical and chemical characteristics, such as increases in sodium, calcium, and magnesium concentrations. Pollen and physical and chemical records also documented the time line of the expansion of dry meadow, and the decrease of pine forest in one of the watersheds. This study showed that sediments in small marshes were especially useful to reconstruct local disturbance by human activities.     

An Overview of Dissolved and Suspended Matter Fluxes in the Loire River Basin: Natural and Anthropogenic Inputs

The spatial and temporal distributions of major elements were investigated in the surface waters and in associated suspended matter at two sites of the upper Loire basin (Orleans and Brehemont) between 1995 and 1998.According to geochemical and isotopic patterns, the dissolved load appears to result from a process of mixing rainwater inputs, weathering processes of carbonate and silicate bedrock, and agricultural and urban inputs. Natural inputs influence 60% of water chemical composition at both sites. Annual dissolved fluxes were estimated to be 1300 10³ t/y at Orleans and 1620 10³ t/y at Brehemont. Major elements are transported mainly in the dissolved fraction. After correcting for atmospheric and anthropogenic inputs, the silicate specific export rate was calculated to be 11 t/y/km² throughout the basin and the carbonate specific export rate to be from 47 t/y/km² at Orleans to 23 t/y/km² at Brehemont.The suspended load appears to result from at least two particle reservoirs: a silicate reservoir and a carbonate reservoir. The silicate reservoir has a detrital origin, mainly during periods of high flow, while the carbonate reservoir has a detrital origin during periods of high flow and an authigenic origin during periods of low flow. Of the total annual flow of suspended matter, this authigenic material represents 16% at Orleans, 25% at Brehemont and 37% in the fluvial part of the estuary. After correcting authigenic inputs, the specific export rate due to mechanical weathering was estimated to be 8 t/y/km² throughout the Loire basin.     

Physical mechanisms of man-made influences on the magnetosphere

Since the discovery of the Luxembourg effect in the 1930s, it is clear that man-made activities can perturb the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. The anthropogenic effects are mainly due to different kinds of waves coming from the Earth's surface. Acoustic-gravity waves are generated by large explosions, spacecraft launches, or flight of supersonic planes. Electromagnetic waves are active in different frequency ranges. Power line harmonic radiation which is radiated in the ELF range by electrical power systems can be observed over industrial areas. At VLF and HF, the ground-based transmitters used for communications or radio-navigation heat the ionosphere and change the natural parameters. A large variety of phenomena is observed: wave-particle interaction, precipitation of radiation belt electrons, parametric coupling of EM whistler waves, triggered emissions, frequency shift, and whistler spectrum broadening. This paper will review the different physical mechanisms which are relevant to such perturbations. The possibility of direct chemical pollution in the ionosphere due to gas releases is also discussed.     

高围压下冻土强度弱化的机理分析

围压作用下,影响冻结砂土强度弱化的主要原因是孔隙冰的压融,矿物颗粒细化的微裂隙的发育。影响冻结粉质粘土强度弱化的主要原因是孔隙冰的压融和微裂隙的发育,这些过程是不独立存在的,而是共同影响,共同作用,从而导致了冻土强度的弱化。     

地壳运动的机制及动力来源

通过分析各种地壳运动假说，提出了地幔胀缩力和重力是地壳运动的主要动力来源，地球自转离心力和潮汐摩擦力是地壳运动的次要动力来源。地幔软流圈中放射性元素衰变热产生的膨胀使岩石圈产生拉裂，软流圈物质以岩浆形式喷出地表，岩浆柱散热收缩，产生负压，岩石圈在负压和重力作用下形成地壳运动。