Predicting quantiles of water quality from catchment characteristics

Water quality is often highly variable both in space and time, which poses challenges for modelling the more extreme concentrations. This study developed an alternative approach to predicting water quality quantiles at individual locations. We focused on river water quality data that were collected over 25 years, at 102 catchments across the State of Victoria, Australia. We analysed and modelled spatial patterns of the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles of the concentrations of sediments, nutrients and salt, with six common constituents: total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), filterable reactive phosphorus (FRP), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), nitrate-nitrite (NO_x), and electrical conductivity (EC). To predict the spatial variation of each quantile for each constituent, we developed statistical regression models and exhaustively searched through 50 catchment characteristics to identify the best set of predictors for that quantile. The models predict the spatial variation in individual quantiles of TSS, TKN and EC well (66%–96% spatial variation explained), while those for TP, FRP and NO_x have lower performance (37%–73% spatial variation explained). The most common factors that influence the spatial variations of the different constituents and quantiles are: annual temperature, percentage of cropping land area in catchment and channel slope. The statistical models developed can be used to predict how low- and high-concentration quantiles change with landscape characteristics, and thus provide a useful tool for catchment managers to inform planning and policy making with changing climate and land use conditions.     

Analytical study of ground motion caused by seismic wave propagation across faulted rock masses

Studying seismic wave propagation across rock masses and the induced ground motion is an important topic, which receives considerable attention in design and construction of underground cavern/tunnel constructions and mining activities. The current study investigates wave propagation across a rock mass with one fault and the induced ground motion using a recursive approach. The rocks beside the fault are assumed as viscoelastic media with seismic quality factors, Q_p and Q_s. Two kinds of interactions between stress waves and a discontinuity and between stress waves and a free surface are analyzed, respectively. As the result of the wave superposition, the mathematical expressions for induced ground vibration are deduced. The proposed approach is then compared with the existing analysis for special cases. Finally, parametric studies are carried out, which includes the influences of fault stiffness, incident angle, and frequency of incident waves on the peak particle velocities of the ground motions.     

Explicit stress–strain equations for modeling frictional materials

In this paper, a comprehensive study on simulating the shearing behavior of frictional materials is performed. A set of two explicit equations, describing the relationship among the shear stress ratio and the distortional strain and the volumetric strain, are formulated independently. The equations contain three stress parameters and three strain parameters and another parameter representing the nonuniformity of stress and strain during softening. All the parameters have clear physical significance and can be determined experimentally. It is demonstrated that the proposed equations have the capacity of simulating the complicated shearing behavior of many types of frictional materials including geomaterials. The proposed equations are used to simulate the stress–strain behavior for 27 frictional materials with 98 tests. These materials include soft and stiff clays in both reconstituted and structured states, silicon sands and calcareous sands, silts, compacted fill materials, volcanic soils, decomposed granite soils, cemented soils (both artificially and naturally cemented), partially saturated soils, ballast, rocks, reinforced soils, tire chips, sugar, wheat, and rapeseed. It has been demonstrated that the proposed explicit constitutive equations have the capacity to capture accurately the shearing behavior of frictional materials both qualitatively and quantitatively. A study on model parameters has been performed.     

日照市露天开采矿山地质环境问题及恢复治理措施

通过1∶5万矿山地质环境调查和遥感解译手段,对日照市矿山进行了全面的调查,查明各类矿山546处,主要集中在莒县和五莲县境内。除莒县刘官庄煤矿外,其余全部为露天开采矿山,主要选用直接开挖的方式,不仅破坏了地表环境,而且矿山生产活动产生的固体废弃物占用了大面积的土地。该文根据矿山地理位置及开采方式的不同,将相同类型的多个矿山划分为同一治理区,针对不同治理区的特点,采取科学有效的治理方法,建立健全矿山地质环境监督管理机制,切实解决矿山地质环境问题,改善生态环境。     

察尔汗盐湖西北部典型采区地下卤水赋存状态的地面核磁探测与数值模拟研究

察尔汗盐湖地下晶间卤水蕴藏了宝贵的盐湖矿产资源,如何确定地下卤水的赋存规律以制定科学合理的卤水开采和补给方案,正成为盐湖资源大规模可持续利用亟需解决的重要问题。本文以察尔汗盐湖西北部的典型采卤区作为研究区域,1)利用新型的地面核磁共振找水仪,通过在研究区布设两条十字交叉的测线,探测并反演解译测区地下60米深度内的卤水静态赋存形式,2)结合OpenGeoSys(OGS)多物理场耦合地下水数值模拟软件,对测区地下卤水的动态运移形式进行数值模拟计算。地面核磁探测结果表明研究区含水量整体偏低,最大含水量约0.8%,平均含水量约0.4%。测点结果给出的含水层位分界面与邻近钻孔的地层层位分界面的一致性较高,浅部的层位误差在10%以下,达到了0.5米的精度。考虑到测区南北两边均有采卤渠正在汲取地下卤水,且在测区中心存在两条废弃的采卤渠,OGS地下水数值模拟研究结果表明采卤渠造成测区浅部卤水较大空缺,与研究区浅部含水量总体偏低的探测特征一致。研究结果表明地面核磁共振技术能准确探测卤水当前的赋存状态,地下水运移模拟技术可以深入认识采补活动引起卤水赋存状态的变化规律。探测和模拟结合的联合研究是确定卤水赋存规律的重要手段,研究成果可为盐湖资源合理开采高效利用提供基础资料和相关科学支撑。     

A modified numerical model for moisture-salt transport in unsaturated sandy soil under evaporation

Soil salinization, caused by salt migration and accumulation underneath the soil surface, will corrode structures. To analyze the moisture-salt migration and salt precipitation in soil under evaporation conditions, a mathematical model consisting of a series of theoretical equations is briefly presented. The filling effect of precipitated salts on tortuosity factor and evaporation rate are taken into account in relevant equations. Besides, a transition equation to link the solute transport equation before and after salt precipitation is proposed. Meanwhile, a new relative humidity equation deduced from Pitzer ions model is used to modify the vapor transport flux equation. The results show that the calculated values are in good agreement with the published experimental data, especially for the simulation of volume water content and evaporation rate of Toyoura sand, which confirm the reliability and applicability of the proposed model.     

Spatial measurements of stream baseflow,a relevant method for aquifer characterization and permeability evaluation. Application to a hard‐rock aquifer,the Oman ophiolite

The structure, functioning and hydrodynamic properties of aquifers can be determined from an analysis of the spatial variability of baseflow in the streams with which they are associated. Such analyses are based on simple low‐cost measurements. Through interpreting the hydrological profiles (Q = f(A)) it is possible to locate the aquifer(s) linked to the stream network and to determine the type of interrelated flow, i.e. whether the stream drains or feeds the aquifer. Using an analytical solution developed for situations with a positive linear relationship, i.e. where the baseflow increases linearly with increasing catchment size, it is also possible to estimate the permeability of the aquifer(s) concerned at catchment scale. Applied to the hard‐rock aquifers of the Oman ophiolite, this method shows that the ‘gabbro’ aquifer is more permeable than the ‘peridotite’ aquifer. As a consequence the streams drain the peridotites and ‘leak’ into the gabbro. The hydrological profiles within the peridotite are linear and positive, and indicate homogeneity in the hydrodynamic properties of these formations at the kilometre scale. The permeability of the peridotite is estimated at 5 · 10^?7 to 5 · 10^?8 m/s. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

隧道工程地质评价的内容和方法

结合工程隧道实际,首先阐述了隧道工程的基本地质环境和工程地质条件,然后针对隧道工程可能出现的不良地质现象和可采取的工程措施,从大气降水、围岩稳定、围岩压力、洞口稳定、隧道比选等角度探讨隧道工程地质评价的主要方法和一般内容,进行隧道工程地质评价,为隧道施工、支护提供了依据.     

济宁市嘉祥县石灰岩矿山地质环境评价与治理

在对嘉祥县石灰岩矿进行地质灾害危险性评估、矿山环境地质问题评价的基础上,建立了一套评价体系,其中地质灾害危险性评估分为2个评价指标,矿山环境地质问题评价分为2种要素3个指标,同时将矿山恢复治理难易程度也作为一个评价因子。评价过程中对各指标危害性大、中、小程度均单独赋值,然后将各指标的分值进行叠加,确定出矿山环境地质问题的等级,将概划出的13个评价单元分为极差、差、一般3个区。提出了强化矿山管理、植树造林、科学避让、修建拦水坝等保护与治理措施及建议。     

P‐wave transmission across fractures with nonlinear deformational behaviour

Stress wave attenuation across fractured rock masses is a great concern of underground structure safety. When the wave amplitude is large, fractures experience nonlinear deformation during the wave propagation. This paper presents a study on normal transmission of P‐wave across parallel fractures with nonlinear deformational behaviour (static Barton–Bandis model). The results show that the magnitude of transmission coefficient is a function of incident wave amplitude, nondimensional fracture spacing and number of fractures. Two important indices of nondimensional fracture spacing are identified, and they divide the area of nondimensional fracture spacing into three parts (individual fracture area, transition area and small spacing area). In the different areas, the magnitude of transmission coefficient has different trends with nondimensional fracture spacing and number of fractures. In addition, the study reveals that under some circumstances, the magnitude of transmission coefficient increases with increasing number of fractures, and is larger than 1. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.