Proactive Management of Ecosystem Services in Oil Sands Pre-mining Phase

Natural Resources Research - Ecosystems and their services are essential to human well-being, but mining activities often cause adverse impacts on these services. Although impact of mining...     

A feasible approach to predicting time-dependent bearing performance of jacked piles from CPTu measurements

Acta Geotechnica - In this paper, a simple but feasible approach is proposed to predict the time-dependent load carrying behaviours of jacked piles from CPTu measurements. The corrected cone...     

An on Orbit Determination of Point Spread Functions for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph</Emphasis>

Using the 2016 Mercury transit of the Sun, we characterize on orbit spatial point spread functions (PSFs) for the Near- (NUV) and Far- (FUV) Ultra-Violet spectrograph channels of NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). A semi-blind Richardson–Lucy deconvolution method is used to estimate PSFs for each channel. Corresponding estimates of Modulation Transfer Functions (MTFs) indicate resolution of 2.47 cycles/arcsec in the NUV channel near 2796 Å and 2.55 cycles/arcsec near 2814 Å. In the short (\({\approx}\,1336~\mathring{\mathrm{A}}\)) and long (\({\approx}\,1394~\mathring{\mathrm{A}}\)) wavelength FUV channels, our MTFs show pixel-limited resolution (3.0 cycles/arcsec). The PSF estimates perform well under deconvolution, removing or significantly reducing instrument artifacts in the Mercury transit spectra. The usefulness of the PSFs is demonstrated in a case study of an isolated explosive event. PSF estimates and deconvolution routines are provided through a SolarSoft module.     

Carbonaceous chondrites as analogs for the composition and alteration of Ceres

The mineralogy and geochemistry of Ceres, as constrained by Dawn's instruments, are broadly consistent with a carbonaceous chondrite (CM/CI) bulk composition. Differences explainable by Ceres’s more advanced alteration include the formation of Mg‐rich serpentine and ammoniated clay; a greater proportion of carbonate and lesser organic matter; amounts of magnetite, sulfide, and carbon that could act as spectral darkening agents; and partial fractionation of water ice and silicates in the interior and regolith. Ceres is not spectrally unique, but is similar to a few other C‐class asteroids, which may also have suffered extensive alteration. All these bodies are among the largest carbonaceous chondrite asteroids, and they orbit in the same part of the Main Belt. Thus, the degree of alteration is apparently related to the size of the body. Although the ammonia now incorporated into clay likely condensed in the outer nebula, we cannot presently determine whether Ceres itself formed in the outer solar system and migrated inward or was assembled within the Main Belt, along with other carbonaceous chondrite bodies.     

Mineralogy and temperature of crater Haulani on Ceres

We investigate the region of crater Haulani on Ceres with an emphasis on mineralogy as inferred from data obtained by Dawn's Visible InfraRed mapping spectrometer (VIR), combined with multispectral image products from the Dawn Framing Camera (FC) so as to enable a clear correlation with specific geologic features. Haulani, which is one of the youngest craters on Ceres, exhibits a peculiar “blue” visible to near‐infrared spectral slope, and has distinct color properties as seen in multispectral composite images. In this paper, we investigate a number of spectral indices: reflectance; spectral slopes; abundance of Mg‐bearing and NH₄‐bearing phyllosilicates; nature and abundance of carbonates, which are diagnostic of the overall crater mineralogy; plus a temperature map that highlights the major thermal anomaly found on Ceres. In addition, for the first time we quantify the abundances of several spectral endmembers by using VIR data obtained at the highest pixel resolution (~0.1 km). The overall picture we get from all these evidences, in particular the abundance of Na‐ and hydrous Na‐carbonates at specific locations, confirms the young age of Haulani from a mineralogical viewpoint, and suggests that the dehydration of Na‐carbonates in the anhydrous form Na₂CO₃ may be still ongoing.     

On yoderite: Using calculated phase equilibria to investigate its rarity in the geological record of whiteschists

A new activity–composition model is presented for green (Mn³⁺‐absent) yoderite for use in the latest internally consistent thermodynamic data set used by THERMOCALC, for calculations primarily in MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–O system, where O is a proxy for Fe₂O₃. P–T grids calculated with our model in the MASH and MASHO system feature invariant points and univariant reaction bundles that are consistent with existing experimental results. Using this new model, we have explored the stability of yoderite in whiteschists, a rare type of high‐pressure rock that conforms closely to the MASHO system. Using a series of calculated models in which composition varies, it is shown that yoderite stability is a function of bulk‐rock SiO₂, MgO and Al₂O₃, where the most important component for stabilizing yoderite is a function of pressure and temperature. The rarity of yoderite in naturally occurring whiteschists is largely related to these compositional factors, with most whiteschists having rock compositions that are too SiO₂‐rich and Al₂O₃‐poor to allow yoderite formation. However, in addition to compositional factors, the calculated P–T stability field of yoderite occurs over thermal gradients that are generally too high to occur in modern‐style subduction zones. As nearly all known whiteschist occurrences are Phanerozoic in age, the near‐complete absence of yoderite in late Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic whiteschists may be at least partially due to modern subduction systems failing to produce the hotter thermal gradients needed to stabilize yoderite. The provision of this new a–x model for green yoderite allows for more rigorous P–T–X investigations of all whiteschists.     

Rare,metal micrometeorites from the Indian Ocean

Metal in various forms is common in almost all meteorites but considerably rare among micrometeorites. We report here the discovery of two metal micrometeorites, i.e., (1) an awaruite grain similar to those found in the metal nodules of CV chondrites and (2) a metal micrometeorite of kamacite composition enclosing inclusions of chromite and merrillite. This micrometeorite appears to be a fragment of H5/L5 chondrite. These metal micrometeorites add to the inventory of solar system materials that are accreted by the Earth in microscopic form. They also strengthen the argument that a large proportion of material accreted by the Earth that survives atmospheric entry is from asteroidal sources.     

Perceptive of the pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites and their relation to chondrites

We studied 149 pyroxenes from 69 pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites collected from deep-sea sediments of the Indian Ocean and South Pole Water Well at Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole station. The minor elements in pyroxenes from micrometeorites are present in the ranges as follows: MnO ~0.0–0.4 wt%, Al₂O₃ ~0.0–1.5 wt%, CaO ~0.0–1.0 wt%, Cr₂O₃ ~0.3–0.9 wt%, and FeO ~0.5–4 wt%. Their chemical compositions suggest that pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites are mostly related to precursors from carbonaceous chondrites rather than ordinary chondrites. The Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratio of the pyroxenes and olivines in micrometeorites shows similarities to carbonaceous chondrites with values lying between 0 and 0.2, and those with values beyond this range are dominated by ordinary chondrites. Atmospheric entry of the pyroxene-bearing micrometeorites is expected to have a relatively low entry velocity of <16 km s⁻¹ and high zenith angle (70–90°) to preserve their chemical compositions. In addition, similarities in the pyroxene and olivine mineralogical compositions between carbonaceous chondrites and cometary particles suggest that dust in the solar system is populated by materials from different sources that are chemically similar to each other. Our results on pyroxene chemical compositions reveal significant differences with those from ordinary chondrites. The narrow range in olivine and pyroxene chemical compositions are similar to those from carbonaceous chondrites, and a small proportion to ordinary chondrites indicates that dust is largely sourced from carbonaceous chondrite-type bodies.     

城市中心体系研究的理论基础与分析框架

“经济—空间”视角下城市中心体系的理论与实证研究之间缺少相互衔接的分析框架。论文通过对经典理论的系统归纳与演绎,建立整体视角下理解城市中心体系形成与发展的理论框架,将城市中心体系的发展规律概括为空间竞争和空间联系2个机制,体现在本地服务功能和非本地功能的空间组织过程,分别形成等级网状结构和专业化点状结构,并相互融合形成“半网格”的城市中心体系,扮演着本地与宏观区域结构之间的“转换发动机”。最后探讨了对实证研究的若干启示,提出城市中心的定义和识别方法应注意与理论研究相互衔接;认为城市中心的本地/非本地功能特征及相应的发展机制亟待实证;认为中心及其空间影响的调控潜力是制定规划政策的前提。     

山东省优质地下水资源评价研究

地下水是水资源的重要组成部分,山东省作为我国的北方大省,近年来随着人口的增长和经济发展,地下水环境问题日渐突出,表现为水质型缺水和水源型缺水两方面。本文以山东省地下水为研究对象,对全省富水地段及已建水源地逐一进行水质评价及开采潜力评价研究,结果显示:山东省优质水占49.53%,主要分布在鲁中南山区和鲁东低山丘陵区,新圈定的优质地下水富水地段及有开采潜力水源地共计88处,优质地下水允许开采量184.095×10~4m^3/d,可满足一千余万居民生活用水需求。应急情况下富水地段(水源地)允许开采量为434.299×10~4m^3/d,应急开采潜力为279.295×10~4m^3/d,可解决两千余万人生活用水困难。