On size and boundary effects in scaled model blasts spatial problems

This paper addresses size and boundary effects on wave propagation, fracture pattern development and fragmentation in small scale laboratory-size specimens for model blasting. Small block type specimens are centre-line loaded by linear explosive charges and supersonically detonated. Using elastic wave propagation theory and fracture mechanics it is shown that the type of boundary conditions which prevail at the outer boundary of the cylinder control the extension of bore-hole cracking and fragmentation within the body of the cylinder. In the case of a composite block where a cylindrical core of different material is embedded, the level of fracturing and fragmentation is controlled by the separation of the interface which in turn depends on the relative dimensions of the core and the block. The most important parameter is the ratio between the length of the pulse (space-wise or time-wise) and the characteristic dimensions of the models, i.e. in this case the dimensions of the core and the mantel. Stress wave superposition effects occur in the corner sections of the mantel. Theoretical results are in good agreement with recent experimental findings.     

Underwater microscope for measuring spatial and temporal changes in bed-sediment grain size

For more than a century, studies of sedimentology and sediment transport have measured bed-sediment grain size by collecting samples and transporting them back to the laboratory for grain-size analysis. This process is slow and expensive. Moreover, most sampling systems are not selective enough to sample only the surficial grains that interact with the flow; samples typically include sediment from at least a few centimeters beneath the bed surface. New hardware and software are available for in situ measurement of grain size. The new technology permits rapid measurement of surficial bed sediment. Here we describe several systems we have deployed by boat, by hand, and by tripod in rivers, oceans, and on beaches.     

白云鄂博矿床钍富集过程及空间分布规律

白云鄂博矿床为一特大型Fe-REE多金属矿床,同时伴生有巨量的钍资源。然而,目前开发利用的矿种主要是铁和稀土资源,钍资源利用率几乎为零。查明矿床中钍资源的赋存状态和分布规律及揭示钍资源的富集过程及机制是今后钍资源开发利用的重要基础。本文依托近些年的系统采样及分析测试成果,对白云鄂博主、东、西矿区570个样品进行了详细的矿物学观察和全岩化学分析,在不同类型矿石中识别出以硅钍石为主的独立含钍矿物,硅钍石除少量呈现被稀土矿物包裹现象外,通常以细脉状穿插于稀土矿物内部,显示其明显滞后富集的特点。矿区Th O_-2平均品位达0.0322%,高出地壳钍克拉克值(9.6×10^-6)30多倍,各种矿石类型中Th O₂含量具有明显的差别,在云母型、闪石型、霓石型和萤石型矿石中具有高含量Th O₂,而白云石型矿石中Th O₂含量较低,指示矿区钍矿化主要形成于碱性热液交代和萤石化阶段。此外矿区随深度增加钍矿化作用加强,显示出矿床具有良好的钍资源成矿潜力。     

烟台城市空间扩展的过程与机制研究

城市空间扩展是城市中心的经济、社会、政治和文化等人文因素和土地利用、地貌形态等自然因素在地域上的向外推进与扩散。在遥感影像和统计年鉴等资料的支持下,以烟台市为例,探讨了城市空间扩展的过程与动力机制。烟台市在建国后相当一段时期内城市空间扩展缓慢,1985年城市化开始加速,进入21世纪后城市空间快速扩展;其城市空间扩展机制受自然条件、经济发展水平、交通状况、国家政策与城市规划等诸多因素影响。     

The spatial and temporal distribution of grain‐size breaks in turbidites

Grain‐size breaks are surfaces where abrupt changes in grain size occur vertically within deposits. Grain‐size breaks are common features in turbidites around the world, including ancient and modern systems. Despite their widespread occurrence, grain‐size breaks have been regarded as exceptional, and not included within idealized models of turbidity current deposition. This study uses ca 100 shallow sediment cores, from the Moroccan Turbidite System, to map out five turbidite beds for distances in excess of 2000 km. The vertical and spatial distributions of grain‐size breaks within these beds are examined. Five different types of grain‐size break are found: Type I – in proximal areas between coarse sand and finer grained structureless sand; Type II – in proximal areas between inversely graded sand overlain by finer sand; Type III – in proximal areas between sand overlain by ripple cross‐laminated finer sand; Type IV – throughout the system between clean sand and mud; and Type V – in distal areas between mud‐rich (debrite) sand and mud. This article interprets Types I and V as being generated by sharp vertical concentration boundaries, controlled by sediment and clay concentrations within the flows, whilst Types II and III are interpreted as products of spatial/temporal fluctuations in flow capacity. Type IV are interpreted as the product of fluid mud layers, which hinder the settling of non‐cohesive grains and bypasses them down slope. Decelerating suspensions with sufficient clay will always form cohesive layers near to bed, promoting the generation of Type IV grain‐size breaks. This may explain why Type IV grain‐size breaks are widespread in all five turbidites examined and are commonplace within turbidite sequences studied elsewhere. Therefore, Type IV grain‐size breaks should be understood as the norm, not the exception, and regarded as a typical feature within turbidite beds.     

Macro- and trace-element concentrations in leaves and roots of Phragmites australis in a volcanic lake in Southern Italy

Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, N, Ni, Pb, S, V and Zn concentrations were determined during a whole seasonal cycle in leaves and in water and sediment roots of the aquatic macrophyte Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel from three sites in the Lake Averno (Naples, Italy), a volcanic lake contaminated by trace elements. At the beginning of the research, elemental analysis was also performed on lake sediments, that showed different trace-element concentrations depending on the sites.     

Macro- and micro-mechanical relationship of the anisotropic behaviour of a bonded ellipsoidal particle assembly in the elastic stage

Acta Geotechnica - In this paper, we study analytically the three-dimensional (3D) stress–strain relationships at the elastic stage with regard to the anisotropic granular materials composed...     

单轴拉伸岩样破坏过程及尺寸效应数值模拟

由于从实验及理论角度研究岩样单轴拉伸条件下的破坏全过程及尺寸效应难度都很大。因此采用拉格朗日元法来研究这些问题。在峰值强度之前后,岩石材料的本构模型分别取为线弹性及拉破坏线性应变软化模型。为了使拉伸塑性区不出现在试样的端部,在试样的两侧面中部预制了2个凹槽。数值模拟结果表明,全程拉应力-拉应变曲线分为峰前和峰后阶段。在接近峰值的峰前阶段,由于两凹槽附近具有明显的拉应力集中现象,拉伸塑性区最先出现在两凹槽附近。随着轴向拉应变的增加,发生拉伸破坏的单元的数目增加,新发生拉伸破坏的单元越来越接近试样的中心,直到两块拉伸塑性区在应变软化阶段贯通。两凹槽连线上各单元拉应力的分布呈现3个阶段,“澡盆型”（“U型”）阶段,“双峰型”（“M型”）阶段及“单峰型”（“Π型”）阶段。“澡盆型”阶段对应于全程拉应力-拉应变曲线的弹性阶段。“双峰型”阶段及“单峰型”阶段对应于全程拉应力-拉应变曲线的非弹性阶段（包括峰值强度之前的一小段,即应变硬化阶段及峰后的应变软化阶段）。增加试样高度及降低试样宽度,拉应力-拉应变曲线的软化段变得越来越陡峭,因而试样越容易发生失稳破坏。由于试样宽度较大时,试样内部的单元并非处于单向拉应力状态,因此,增加试样宽度,全程拉应力-拉应变曲线的峰值强度增加。当试样宽度较小时,从出现塑性区,到塑性区贯通所需要的时间步较小,或应变范围较窄。这说明试样的脆性较强,前兆不明显。前兆不明显的脆性破坏对应常见的是洞室岩爆、冲击地压及地震等灾害。     

Siltstone from Southern Patagonia: Its Source and Archaeological Artifact Distribution in Santa Cruz Province,Argentina

Hunter‐gatherer mobility and spheres of interaction are important characteristics worthy of investigation in Patagonian archaeology. One way to approach these is by studying the distribution of lithic archaeological materials. Siltstone (limolite) artifacts are found along the western strip of southwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Based on geomorphological studies and the high density of archaeological material, a source was located along the western margin of Cardiel Lake. Neutron activation analysis of samples from the source and archaeological sites in several neighboring basins allowed us to model its circulation. Siltstone's archaeological distribution indicates that its regional circulation had a southerly direction dating from the early Holocene. This southern vector shows an important difference when compared to the distribution of obsidian from Pampa del Asador, which has a broader circulation pattern. This could be related to a greater availability of high‐quality lithic materials north of the siltstone source. This work also contributes to the construction of a lithic source database for southern Patagonia.     

Discrete element simulation of the effect of particle size on the size of fracture process zone in quasi-brittle materials

Experimental tests performed on quasi-brittle materials show that a process zone develops ahead of a crack tip. This zone can affect the strength and the deformation pattern of a structure. A discrete element approach with a softening contact bond model is utilized to simulate the development of the fracture process zone in the three-point bending tests. Samples with different dimensions and particle sizes are generated and tested. It is shown that as the material brittleness decreases, the width of the process zone becomes more dependent on the specimen size. Furthermore, the increase in the particle size, results in increase in the width of the process zone. A dimensional analysis together with the numerical results shows that the width of process zone is a linear function of particle size (radius). This finding is discussed and compared with published experimental data in the literature.     

Gully erosion spatial modelling: Role of machine learning algorithms in selection of the best controlling factors and modelling process

This investigation assessed the efficacy of 10 widely used machine learning algorithms (MLA) comprising the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), generalized linear model (GLM), stepwise generalized linear model (SGLM), elastic net (ENET), partial least square (PLS), ridge regression, support vector machine (SVM), classification and regression trees (CART), bagged CART, and random forest (RF) for gully erosion susceptibility mapping (GESM) in Iran. The location of 462 previously existing gully erosion sites were mapped through widespread field investigations, of which 70% (323) and 30% (139) of observations were arbitrarily divided for algorithm calibration and validation. Twelve controlling factors for gully erosion, namely, soil texture, annual mean rainfall, digital elevation model (DEM), drainage density, slope, lithology, topographic wetness index (TWI), distance from rivers, aspect, distance from roads, plan curvature, and profile curvature were ranked in terms of their importance using each MLA. The MLA were compared using a training dataset for gully erosion and statistical measures such as RMSE (root mean square error), MAE (mean absolute error), and R-squared. Based on the comparisons among MLA, the RF algorithm exhibited the minimum RMSE and MAE and the maximum value of R-squared, and was therefore selected as the best model. The variable importance evaluation using the RF model revealed that distance from rivers had the highest significance in influencing the occurrence of gully erosion whereas plan curvature had the least importance. According to the GESM generated using RF, most of the study area is predicted to have a low (53.72%) or moderate (29.65%) susceptibility to gully erosion, whereas only a small area is identified to have a high (12.56%) or very high (4.07%) susceptibility. The outcome generated by RF model is validated using the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristics) curve approach, which returned an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.985, proving the excellent forecasting ability of the model. The GESM prepared using the RF algorithm can aid decision-makers in targeting remedial actions for minimizing the damage caused by gully erosion.     

HIV and AIDS in Africa: a geographic analysis at multiple spatial scales

This study offers an alternative method rooted in GIS techniques and spatial analysis to estimate HIV/AIDS prevalence over space from an incomplete surveillance data set and explain the variation of those estimates. The results clearly show that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is complex and that it is interconnected with other geographic, historical, economic and cultural phenomena which help explain its spatial spread and variation. The regression models which were developed in this paper illustrated that variables which measure the historical context of colonialism such as resource exploitation and labor migration, gender, culture, contemporary global forces, poverty and disease burden have all contributed variously to the rapid spread of this disease both in space and time. The policy implication is that concentrating on behavior change or therapy alone may not turn the epidemic around. The attack needs to be multifaceted and interdisciplinary taking into consideration the context and the economic and social realities at multiple spatial scales.     

Beyond the census: a spatial analysis of health and deprivation in England

Whilst the UK is planned to have a census in 2021, it may well be the last and there is official acknowledgement that the country’s statistical system should be enhanced by greater use of administrative data. Thus, there is a pressing need to understand whether alternative data sources are fit for social science purposes. This study assesses the potential of utilizing administrative statistics for investigating the relationships between health and socioeconomic distributions for small areas; a type of study regularly carried out using census data. Pairs of administrative measures of health and deprivation indicator variables are compared with census equivalents for lower super output area geographies in England in 2001. The administrative datasets are then used to derive health measures and deprivation indexes for the time points 2001, 2006 and 2010. Inequalities in health are then analysed using administrative data derived area measures with health found to be poorer in areas with socioeconomic disadvantage. Overall, the administrative datasets used here reveal very similar patterns of health and deprivation to the decennial census suggesting they are viable alternatives and have great potential to enhance the country’s statistical system given their availability outside census years.     

Explaining foreign diplomatic presence in the U.S. with spatial models: a liberal spatial perspective

This paper examines the effect of economic interdependence, intergovernmental organizations, political freedom, and spatial relationship on foreign diplomatic presence in the U.S. from 1980 to 2000. Spatial perspective is largely missing in the mainstream international theories. Spatial relationship has three measures: spatial proximity measured as distance, spatial dependency measured as neighborhood effect, and spatial heterogeneity measured as regional effect. We found that the effect of economic interdependence is directional. The U.S. sensitivity to foreign trade rather than foreign sensitivity to trade with the U.S. explains much of the variation in the foreign diplomatic presence in the U.S. Spatial effect is mainly manifested as spatial dependency; the effects of geographic proximity and geographic regions on foreign diplomatic presence are, however, mild. Spatial dependency in the variation of foreign diplomatic presence in the U.S. could not be well explained by the liberal perspective without using the spatial model.

Observed oil and gas field size distributions: A consequence of the discovery process and prices of oil and gas

If observed oil and gas field size distributions are obtained by random samplings, the fitted distributions should approximate that of the parent population of oil and gas fields. However, empirical evidence strongly suggests that larger fields tend to be discovered earlier in the discovery process than they would be by random sampling. Economic factors also can limit the number of small fields that are developed and reported. This paper examines observed size distributions in state and federal waters of offshore Texas. Results of the analysis demonstrate how the shape of the observable size distributions change with significant hydrocarbon price changes. Comparison of state and federal observed size distributions in the offshore area shows how production cost differences also affect the shape of the observed size distribution. Methods for modifying the discovery rate estimation procedures when economic factors significantly affect the discovery sequence are presented. A primary conclusion of the analysis is that, because hydrocarbon price changes can significantly affect the observed discovery size distribution, one should not be confident about inferring the form and specific parameters of the parent field size distribution from the observed distributions.This paper was presented at Emerging Concepts, MGUS-87 Conference, Redwood City, California, 13–15 April 1987.     

Composite methodology for interpreting sediment transport pathways from spatial trends in grain size: A case study of the Lithuanian coast

To achieve a more robust interpretation of sediment conditions and transport based on grain size, this study combines the perspectives of two different interpretation techniques that have been developed separately and applied in the literature: (i) ‘grain size trend analysis’ interprets changes between interrelated sampling sites assuming that sediment in the direction of transport should become either coarser, better sorted and more positively skewed, or finer, better sorted and more negatively skewed; and (ii) the ‘population anomalies’ method, which estimates the balance between erosion and accumulation processes at each sampling site based on individual site deviations compared with average values for grain‐size parameters in the area of interest. The simultaneous use of both approaches enables sedimentological conditions and transport alternatives to be distinguished. This improvement is necessary because site‐specific changes and general textural trends provide information that complements the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective. The methods are implemented here using two‐dimensional Geographic Information System tools and illustrated for the Lithuanian coast. Grain‐size characteristics of 712 surface samples of sandy sediments are used to interpret sediment transport pathways and predominant sedimentological conditions in the Lithuanian coastal zone. In general, coast‐parallel sediment transport dominates the entire investigation area, although wave‐induced movement perpendicular to the coastline is inferred in the shallow nearshore zone. The deepest areas offshore are characterized by sea floor erosion in the north, whereas an accumulation zone occurs in the relatively deep central part of the study area.