Compressibility and swelling characteristics of Al-Khobar Palygorskite, eastern Saudi Arabia

Expansive soils are found in different locations in eastern Saudi Arabia. The area is arid with high temperatures, highly variable humidity and an excessive rate of evaporation compared to the low precipitation. This resulted in the formation of water sensitive soils. In the present investigation, line valve buildings for a sweet water feeder (1118 mm in diameter) were constructed on a highly expansive material consisting mainly of brown palygorskite and gray palygorskite with thin sheets of gypsum and limestone. Block samples from both palygorskites were brought to the laboratory and cores as well as remolded samples were obtained from the blocks. The two palygorskites were found to be highly plastic and have a very high swelling potential. The liquid limit (LL) and plastic limit (PL) values for the brown palygorskite are 261% and 140%, respectively. The gray palygorskite has a LL of a 285% and a PL of 123%. The oedometer free swell tests for the two palygorskites produced an expansion ranging between 31.8% and 42.5% for the remolded samples. However, the expansion for cores ranges between 8.3% and 19.3%. The constant volume pressure tests produced a stress in excess of 4240 kPa. The swell potential reached a steady state after four days while the swelling pressure reached a steady state in about 3 h. The paper addresses the geology of the area, the characterization of the geomaterial including mineralogical composition using X-ray diffraction and SEM techniques and the swelling characteristics of the material.     

A simple test and predictive models for assessing swell potential of Ankara (Turkey) Clay

During the past three decades, damage due to swelling action of Ankara Clay has been observed more clearly in some parts of Ankara where rapid expansion of the city led to the construction of various kinds of structures. In this study, a comprehensive research program has been conducted (i) to investigate the effect of remoulding and desiccation on the swelling behavior of Ankara Clay and its swelling anisotropy, (ii) to estimate depth of active zone, (iii) to develop a simple technique in determining the magnitude of swelling based on water content of the soaked specimen after 24 and 72 h (w_max24,72), and (iv) to produce predictive models which could be used to estimate the swelling potential of Ankara Clay from its mineralogical and simply measured engineering characteristics. A laboratory testing program was carried out using both undisturbed, and remoulded and desiccated samples selected from 20 different locations. Montmorillonite was identified as being the main clay mineral present. Based on the moisture content variation with depth, the active expansive zone was considered to be about 2 m. The test results suggest that swelling pressure of the clay considerably decreases and/or dies out when the water content is greater than 30%. It is also noted that the measured lateral swelling is significantly in excess of the vertical equivalent indicating an anisotropy with respect to swelling. Statistical assessments indicate that a new parameter (w_max24,72) from a simple test, suggested in this study, is a very strong parameter for predicting swelling parameters of Ankara Clay. Based on 60 empirical predictive equations with coefficients of correlation between 0.96 and 0.66 from multiple regression analyses, w_max24,72, methylene blue value, liquid limit, dry unit weight and smectite content are the most important index and mineralogical properties to predict the swelling parameters of Ankara clay with small deviations from the measured values.     

李四光和卡尔宾斯基金质奖章

中国地质学家李四光与当时苏联地学界来往交流紧密,他对地质学的贡献得到了苏联地质学家的高度评价。1958年,苏联科学院全体大会选举李四光为苏联科学院院士,并授予卡尔宾斯基金质奖章;该奖章是1947年由当时的苏联科学院和俄罗斯科学院共同发起的、对地质科学有突出贡献的科学家最高单人奖励,李四光是第六位获奖人,也是至2017年止唯一获此殊荣的外籍地质学家,他的获奖理由是:在地质、古生物、地层和矿产研究工作的综合贡献。李四光有两部著作在苏联被译成俄文出版,分别是1952年的《中国地质学》和1958年的《中国西北部的旋卷构造》,这两部译作对当时的苏联地质界产生了很大影响,极大地推动了李四光学术思想的广泛认知;"地质无国界",中国地调百年的发展历程也有着俄罗斯地学理论、规范、方法实践的烙印,在新的"一带一路"合作倡议和李四光学术精神传承下,中俄、中国与中亚在地学领域的交流合作将不断深化,硕果累累。      

基于Duffing振子混沌系统的地震速度分析方法

强随机噪声干扰是导致地震勘探资料低信噪比的主要原因,如何在强随机噪声干扰下获取有效的信息是值得关注的问题.Duffing振子混沌系统是一个非线性的动力学系统,其对强随机噪声具有免疫能力,而对特定的周期性信号具有敏感性.本文提出一种基于Duffing振子混沌系统的速度分析方法.对CMP道集按照时距曲线关系进行移动窗口截取,将所截取的信号构建为待测信号加入Duffing振子混沌系统,通过相图网格分割方法(GPM)判断系统状态的改变,从而在强随机噪声背景下获得高分辨率的速度谱.理论模型和实际资料的处理结果表明,与传统的水平叠加速度分析方法相比,本方法能够在强随机噪声背景下获得更准确的速度分析结果.     

Wave-induced drift of large floating sheets

In this article we study the wave-induced drift of large, flexible shallow floating objects, referred to as sheets. When surface waves propagate through a sheet, they provide a mean stress on the sheet, resulting in a mean drift. In response, the sheet generates an Ekman current. The drift velocity of the sheet is determined by (i) the wave-induced stress, (ii) the viscous stress due to the Ekman current, and (iii) the Coriolis force. The sheet velocity and the current beneath the sheet are determined for constant and depth-varying eddy viscosities.     

上海淤泥质潮滩潮锋作用及其形成机制初步探讨*

本文具体讨论了上海淤泥质潮滩的潮锋作用过程,定性给出了潮锋的形成机制,认为潮锋作用及其水体高含沙量现象的本质在于“潮锋带水体水流加速效应”,即,由于潮滩坡面变化平缓的特殊性,涨潮水体前锋沿程存在着一持续时间可达数十分钟的水流加速过程.最后,本文初步探讨了潮锋作用在滩面塑造过程中的地位,并重新定义了潮锋作用的内容.     

Extreme wave event along the Guyana coastline in October 2005

The objective of the research is to analyze in detail the causes and consequences of the unusual event at the coast of Guyana (South America) during October 16–19, 2005. Several sea defense structures were damaged and flooding of low-lying areas occurred. A data analysis of offshore wave and water level characteristics shows an abrupt change in wave direction from east to almost north on October 16, 2005 and a sudden increase in the offshore peak period up to extreme values. The offshore significant wave height was also relatively high, and these wave characteristics coincided with springtide conditions. The long-wave periods and the sharp transition in wave direction indicate that this event is associated with swell waves generated by a depression far away. An analysis of hurricanes and depressions reveals that a severe depression in the Northern Atlantic Ocean during October 11–15 was the origin of this swell event. Numerical computations with SWAN have been carried out to investigate the propagation of the offshore wave characteristics towards the shoreline. The SWAN model includes wave damping due to the presence of soft mud deposits. A calibration of the parameters has been carried out using joint offshore and onshore wave data from November 2006. The numerical simulations of the event in October 2005 clearly demonstrate that the mud banks damp the wave heights, but have almost no effect on the peak period. The resulting waves at the steep sea walls can be classified as surging waves causing severe runup and overtopping. The obtained insights are translated into practical recommendations for the Guyana Sea and River Defence Division in Guyana to build a sustainable management and maintenance of the sea defenses in the future.     

Bowers Swell: Evidence for a zone of compressive deformation concentric with Bowers Ridge, Bering Sea

Bowers Swell is a newly discovered bathymetric feature which is up to 90 m high, between 12 and 20 km wide, and which extends arcuately about 400 km along the northern and eastern sides of Bowers Ridge. The swell was first revealed on GLORIA sonographs and subsequently mapped on seismic reflection and 3.5 kHz bathymetric profiles. These geophysical data show that the swell caps an arcuate anticlinal ridge, which is composed of deformed strata in an ancient trench on the northern and eastern sides of Bowers Ridge. The trench fill beneath the swell is actively deforming, as shown by faulting of the sea floor and by thinning of the strata across the crest of the swell. Thinning and faulting of the trench strata preclude an origin for the swell by simple sediment draping over an older basement high. We considered several models for the origin of Bowers Swell, including folding and uplift of the underlying trench sediment during the interaction between the Pacific plate beneath the Aleutian Ridge and a remnant oceanic slab beneath Bowers Ridge. However, such plate motions should generate extensive seismicity beneath Bowers Ridge, which is aseismic, and refraction data do not show any remnant slab beneath Bowers Ridge. Another origin considered for Bowers Swell invokes sediment deformation resulting from differential loading and diapirism in the trench fill. However, diapirism is not evident on seismic reflection profiles across the swell. We favour a model in which sediment deformation and swell formation resulted from a few tens of kilometers of low seismicity motion by intraplate crustal blocks beneath the Aleutian Basin. This motion may result from the translation of blocks in western Alaska to the south-west, forcing the movement of the Bering Sea margin west of Alaska into the abyssal Aleutian Basin.     

Structure of the lithosphere below the southern margin of the East European Craton (Ukraine and Russia) from gravity and seismic data

The present study was undertaken with the objective of deriving constraints from available geological and geophysical data for understanding the tectonic setting and processes controlling the evolution of the southern margin of the East European Craton (EEC). The study area includes the inverted southernmost part of the intracratonic Dnieper-Donets Basin (DDB)–Donbas Foldbelt (DF), its southeastern prolongation along the margin of the EEC–the sedimentary succession of the Karpinsky Swell (KS), the southwestern part of the Peri-Caspian Basin (PCB), and the Scythian Plate (SP). These structures are adjacent to a zone, along which the crust was reworked and/or accreted to the EEC since the late Palaeozoic. In the Bouguer gravity field, the southern margin of the EEC is marked by an arc of gravity highs, correlating with uplifted Palaeozoic rocks covered by thin Mesozoic and younger sediments. A three-dimensional (3D) gravity analysis has been carried out to investigate further the crustal structure of this area. The sedimentary succession has been modelled as two heterogeneous layers—Mesozoic–Cenozoic and Palaeozoic—in the analysis. The base of the sedimentary succession (top of the crystalline Precambrian basement) lies at a depth up to 22 km in the PCB and DF–KS areas. The residual gravity field, obtained by subtracting the gravitational effect of the sedimentary succession from the observed gravity field, reveals a distinct elongate zone of positive anomalies along the axis of the DF–KS with amplitudes of 100–140 mGal and an anomaly of 180 mGal in the PCB. These anomalies are interpreted to reflect a heterogeneous lithosphere structure below the supracrustal, sedimentary layers: i.e., Moho topography and/or the existence of high-density material in the crystalline crust and uppermost mantle. Previously published data support the existence of a high-density body in the crystalline crust along the DDB axis, including the DF, caused by an intrusion of mafic and ultramafic rocks during Late Palaeozoic rifting. A reinterpretation of existing Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) data on a profile crossing the central KS suggests that the nature of a high-velocity/density layer in the lower crust (crust–mantle transition zone) is not the same as that of below the DF. Rather than being a prolongation of the DDB–DF intracratonic rift zone, the present analysis suggests that the KS comprises, at least in part, an accretionary zone between the EEC and the SP formed after the Palaeozoic.     

Improvement in predictability of waves over the Indian Ocean

Accurate prediction of ocean surface waves is a challenging task with many associated difficulties. Availability of good quality wind and wave information from satellite platforms inspired the scientific community to assimilate such data in various spectral wave models for enhancing the accuracy of prediction. Over the Indian Ocean, which is the region of interest for the present study, wave heights in extreme situation can go up to 12–14 m, thereby increasing the probability of coastal hazards. This region is further governed by the southern ocean swells that propagate thousands of kilometers. These are, in general, not well captured by the spectral wave models. Therefore, assimilation of altimeter data in open ocean wave model WAM has been attempted with the aim of enhancing the quality of prediction of significant wave height. Further, simulated wave spectra have been assimilated in a coastal wave model SWAN. This assimilation has been found to significantly improve the prediction of the height of wind waves as well as swell waves. V. Bhatt and S. Surendran are former students of Meteorology and Oceanography Group, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad.