Transport rate of calcareous sand in unidirectional flow

This paper examines the transport of calcareous sand in unidirectional flow and its prediction through existing sediment transport models. A flume experiment of four sand samples collected on Oahu, Hawaii, provides 29 sets of sediment transport data in the bed-form and suspended transport stages. The measured transport data are compared with direct predictions from four energy-based transport models developed for siliceous particles. Corrections for the grain-size, fall velocity, and critical velocity of calcareous sand based on recent research are applied to the models and the results are compared with the direct calculations and measured data. The comparison illustrates the important role particle shape plays in the transport of calcareous sand. All four sediment transport models give consistent predictions and good agreement with the majority of the measured data. Two of the models respond positively to the corrections in both the bed-form and suspended transport stages indicating that such an approach may provide an interim solution for the transport of calcareous sand.     

Natural Partial Melting of Spinel Lherzolite

Spinel lherzolite nodules from Dreiser Weiher, Germany, containsmall glass bearing microcrystalline blebs that were formedfrom a partial melt. The partial melting occurred during contactanatexis of lherzolite surrounding a deep seated magma chamberin the mantle. The blebs formed from melt drops that were isolatedfrom each other and not from an intergranular film. The resultssuggest that primary magma originates as small melt drops ina lherzolitic matrix. This evidence indicates a limited mobilityof traces of partial melt in the mantle, and suggests that theaccumulation of primary magmas formed at very small degreesof partial melting is unlikely.     

An Overview of Nowcasting Development, Applications, and Services in the Hong Kong Observatory

The Hong Kong Observatory （HKO） has been developing a suite of nowcasting systems to support op- erations of the forecasting center and to provide a variety of nowcasting services for the general public and specialized users. The core system is named the Short-range Warnings of Intense Rainstorm of Localized Systems （SWIRLS）, which is a radar-based nowcasting system mainly for the automatic tracking of the movement of radar echoes and the short-range Quantitative Precipitation Forecast （QPF）. The differential, integral （or variational）, and object-oriented tracking algorithms were developed and integrated into the nowcasting suite. In order to predict severe weather associated with intense thunderstorms, such as high gust, hail, and lightning, SWIRLS was enhanced to SWIRLS-II by introduction of a number of physical models, especially the icing physics as well as the thermodynamics of the atmosphere. SWIRLS-Ⅱ was further enhanced with non-hydrostatic, high resolution numerical models for extending the forecast range up to 6h ahead. Meanwhile, SWIRLS was also modified for providing nowcasting services for aviation community and specialized users. To take into account the rapid development of lightning events, ensemble nowcasting techniques such as time-lagged and weighted average ensemble approaches were also adopted in the nowcasting system. Apart from operational uses in Hong Kong, SWIRLS/SWIRLS-Ⅱ was also exported to other places to participate in several international events such as the WMO/WWRP Forecast Demon- stration Project （FDP） during the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games and the Shanghai Expo 2010. Meanwhile, SWIRLS has also been transferred to various regional meteorological organizations for establishing their nowcasting infrastructure. This paper summarizes the history and the technologies of SWIRLS/SWIRLS-Ⅱ and its variants and the associated nowcasting applications and services provided by the HKO since the mid 1990s.     

The latest vertebrates are the earliest

The teeth, or elements, ofconodonts are among the most important Palaeozoic microfossils. Despite this, the biological relationships of conodonts have long remained enigmatic. Recent evidence of their soft anatomy, and of the ultrastructure of the elements, has finally revealed that they are vertebrates. These discoveries push vertebrate origins firmly back into the Cambrian and add a large cohort of specialists to the ranks of the vertebrate palaeontologists.     

DYNAMIC CROSS-INTERACTION BETWEEN FLEXIBLE SURFACE FOOTINGS BY COMBINED BEM AND FEM

A combined boundary and finite element method is developed and applied to study the dynamic behaviour of a system of flexible surface footings of arbitrary shape bearing on an elastic half-space. The proposed method employs the frequency domain Green's function for the surface of the elastic half-space while a layered plate model is used for the flexible footing. Both the footing and the surface of the half-space are discretized by 8-noded quadratical isoparametric elements, and the meshes are identical. Thus, the compatibility of displacements and equilibrium of forces between the footing and the half-space are fully satisfied. This model provides a better approximation of the stress concentration at edges of relatively rigid footings. Numerical examples demonstrating the effects due to the excitation frequency, the relative rigidity and the distance between footings on the interaction between two square footings are presented. The external forces can be either harmonic or transient.     

Comparative assessment of water use and environmental implications of coal slurry pipelines / Evaluation comparative de l'utilisation de l'eau et des implications pour l'environnement des pipelines de bouillie de charbon

Abstract

One of the most talked about issues with respect to development, transportation, and conversion of the energy resources of the Western United States is the water requirement and its consequent impacts upon the ambience of that part of the country. In conjunction with other studies conducted by the US Geological Survey of water use in the conversion and transportation of the West's coal, an analysis of water use and environmental implications of coal slurry pipeline transport is presented.

Simulations of a hypothetical slurry pipeline of 1000 mile length transporting 12.5 million tons per year indicate that pipeline costs and energy requirements are quite sensitive to the coal-to-water ratio. For realistic water prices, the optimal ratio will not vary far from the 50/50 ratio by weight. In comparison to other methods of energy conversion and transport, coal slurry pipelines utilize about a third of the amount of water required for coal gasification, and about a fifth of the amount required for onsite electrical generation.

An analysis of net energy output from operating alternative energy transportation systems for the assumed conditions indicates that both slurry pipeline and rail shipment require approximately 4.5 per cent of the potential electrical energy output of the coal transported and high-voltage, direct-current transportation requires approximately 6.5 per cent. The environmental impacts of the different transport options are so substantially different that a common basis for comparison does not exist.     

A Potential Risk Index Dataset for Landfalling Tropical Cyclones over the Chinese Mainland (PRITC dataset V1.0)

A dataset entitled "A potential risk index dataset for landfalling tropical cyclones over the Chinese mainland" (PRITC dataset V1.0) is described in this paper, as are some basic statistical analyses. Estimating the severity of the impacts of tropical cyclones (TCs) that make landfall on the Chinese mainland based on observations from 1401 meteorological stations was proposed in a previous study, including an index combining TC-induced precipitation and wind (IPWT) and further information, such as the corresponding category level (CAT_IPWT), an index of TC-induced wind (IWT), and an index of TC-induced precipitation (IPT). The current version of the dataset includes TCs that made landfall from 1949–2018; the dataset will be extended each year. Long-term trend analyses demonstrate that the severity of the TC impacts on the Chinese mainland have increased, as embodied by the annual mean IPWT values, and increases in TC-induced precipitation are the main contributor to this increase. TC Winnie (1997) and TC Bilis (2006) were the two TCs with the highest IPWT and IPT values, respectively. The PRITC V1.0 dataset was developed based on the China Meteorological Administration's tropical cyclone database and can serve as a bridge between TC hazards and their social and economic impacts.     

晚古生代冈瓦纳的演化长逾13500 km的基墨利超级地体的裂离及其向亚洲的漂移

The Cimmerian terrane forms an almost unbroken chain stretching >13,500 km, from central southern Europe to western Indonesia, via SE Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Tibet, SW China and Myanmar. Ar-guably, it is Earth’s most spectacular example of a “sliver” terrane, dwarfing in size more recently devel-oped examples, for instance the Palawan Block in the western Philippines, and the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea. The presentation will first outline the in-triguing geological features associated with this unique tectonic entity. Following that, recently obtained results following paleomagnetic investigations of two lower Permian rift-related basalt suites will be summarized (Abor Volcanics in northeastern India and Woniusi Ba-salts in Yunnan, China). The two studies are part of a larger programme of ongoing research aimed at deducing (I) the geodynamic configuration that generated the un-usual rifting system, and (II) exactly how Cimmeria fit-ted against Gondwana prior to its dispersal in the Early Permian. The critical unit is Baoshan, which we fit against Gondwana within a narrow longitudinal belt close to where northern India and northwestern Australia were once in close proximity (Fig. 1). Furthermore, we suggest that Sibumasu lay to directly the east, offshore of Australia; Qiangtang and Lhasa almost certainly sat to the west (off northern Greater India-SE Arabia), but we are uncertain as to their exact configuration. Our findings will be compared with several rather different models that have been published in recent years. The new pa-leomagnetic constraint highlights the flexibility authors currently have in reconstructing the region, principally because of the overall lack of similar high-quality data from the various blocks. We explain how new data could resolve these ambiguities, thereby offering more robust explanations for eastern Gondwana’s late Paleozoic de-velopment.