Probabilistic Prediction Models for Aggregate Quarry Siting

Weights-of-evidence (WofE) and logistic regression techniques were used in a GIS framework to predict the spatial likelihood (prospectivity) of crushed-stone aggregate quarry development. The joint conditional probability models, based on geology, transportation network, and population density variables, were defined using quarry location and time of development data for the New England States, North Carolina, and South Carolina, USA. The Quarry Operation models describe the distribution of active aggregate quarries, independent of the date of opening. The New Quarry models describe the distribution of aggregate quarries when they open. Because of the small number of new quarries developed in the study areas during the last decade, independent New Quarry models have low parameter estimate reliability. The performance of parameter estimates derived for Quarry Operation models, defined by a larger number of active quarries in the study areas, were tested and evaluated to predict the spatial likelihood of new quarry development. Population density conditions at the time of new quarry development were used to modify the population density variable in the Quarry Operation models to apply to new quarry development sites. The Quarry Operation parameters derived for the New England study area, Carolina study area, and the combined New England and Carolina study areas were all similar in magnitude and relative strength. The Quarry Operation model parameters, using the modified population density variables, were found to be a good predictor of new quarry locations. Both the aggregate industry and the land management community can use the model approach to target areas for more detailed site evaluation for quarry location. The models can be revised easily to reflect actual or anticipated changes in transportation and population features.     

Natural seed input as a factor in the reclamation of limestone quarry wastes at Marulan,New South Wales,Australia

Seed traps consisting of plastic germination trays filled with steam pasteurized soil were set out on spoil banks in a limestone quarry to monitor the seed rain in the area. The traps were returned to a greenhouse for germination where the average number of seedlings counted was 148.7 m^?2. This was approximately seven times the density of the established plant cover on the waste materials. The spoil materials were very coarse textured, subject to settling and rilling, and, with the exception of calcium, low in essential plant nutrients. The adverse effects of the physical and chemical nature of the rooting medium is discussed and a reclamation scheme for the quarry is proposed.     

Effect of the development of notches and tension cracks on instability of limestone coastal cliffs in the Ryukyus, Japan

Notches cut by waves are currently developing at the base of vertical coastal limestone cliffs in Okinawa, Japan. The cliff height varies from 3.0–22.1 m, and the maximum notch depth is 8.8 m. Many rectangular or cubic blocks, which appear to have originated from cliff failures, are found on platforms in front of the cliffs. On the flat top surface of the cliff, tension cracks often run parallel to the cliff face. The vertical face of the cliffs displays small undulations but no sliding striation, suggesting that cliff failures have been caused by toppling rather than by shearing or sliding. We use slope stability analysis to determine the critical condition for toppling failure. Physical and mechanical properties of the cliff material were first obtained from laboratory tests. The results indicate that the strength of limestone shows a scale effect, such that the strength decreases with increasing size of the test specimens. Based on this result, we estimated the strength of a rock mass corresponding to the size of the coastal cliff. Cliff stability was then analyzed using a cantilever beam model. Comparison of the stability analysis and the dimension of fallen blocks indicates that toppling failure is strongly associated with the development of notches and tension cracks.     

A GIS Analysis to Evaluate Areas Suitable for Crushed Stone Aggregate Quarries in New England,USA

Aggregate is a low unit-value mineral commodity. Costs to move aggregate from the mine site to the point of use is a large fraction of the resource cost to users. Production sites for aggregate occur where suitable source materials exist and where transportation and market conditions are favorable. The increasing demand for aggregate and the difficulty of developing and permitting new sites and of renewal of permits on existing sites of aggregate production indicates that aggregate will be supplied from sources yet to be developed or delineated in many areas. Site development and permitting for aggregate production is difficult because many land management plans and zoning actions fail to anticipate prospective source areas for aggregate in a way that is consistent with both the source rock quality and the transportation and socioeconomic factors that define the economic viability of the industry. Spatial analysis provides a method to integrate both geology and economic (transportation and marketplace) parameters in a regional model. Weights of evidence (WofE) analysis has been used to measure the spatial correlation of geologic map, transportation network, and population data with current production sites for crushed stone aggregate in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Weighted logistic regression (WLR) is used with the WofE results to rank areas in terms of their relative suitability for production of crushed stone. Spatial analysis indicates that 85% of the 106 crushed stone aggregate quarries in New England are sited within 1.6 km (1 mile) of either a principal highway or rail line in the region. Seventy-eight percent of crushed stone aggregate quarries are sited in census tracts with population densities exceeding 100 people/mile². These relations illustrate the importance of proximity to both transportation corridors and developing areas where aggregate is predominately used. Only one active crushed stone quarry is located in a census tract with a population density less than 15 people/mile², reflecting the lack of sufficient market demand in many rural areas to develop an operation there. However, since 1990, almost all new quarries have been developed in census tracts with population densities less than 200 people/mile², indicating the difficulty of permitting new quarry sites in highly populated areas. Crushed stone aggregate is produced predominately from three hard rock types that are distributed widely in New England; 28% of sites use granitic rock, 25% use carbonate rocks, and 25% use mafic rock types that are categorized as trap rock by the aggregate industry. The other crushed stone aggregate sources include a variety of fine-grained metamorphic rock types. Carbonate rocks and Jurassic basalt (the primary trap rock source) are the most prevalent source rocks on an area-weighted basis. Spatial analysis can be used on a regional scale to rank areas by their relative suitabilityfor crushed stone aggregate production based on geology, transportation, and population parameters. The results of this regional analysis can identify areas for more detailed evaluation. As transportation or population features change, the model can be revised easily to reflect these changes.     

Estimation of Blast-Induced Air Overpressure in Quarry Mines Using Cubist-Based Genetic Algorithm

In the present work, blast-induced air overpressure is estimated by an innovative intelligence system based on the cubist algorithm (CA) and genetic algorithm (GA) with high accuracy, called GA–CA model. Herein, CA initialization model was developed first and the hyper-parameters of the CA model were selected randomly. Subsequently, the GA procedure was applied to perform a global search for the optimized values of the hyper-factors of the CA model. Root-mean-square error (RMSE) is utilized as a compatibility function to determine the optimal CA model with the lowest RMSE. Gaussian process (GP), conditional inference tree (CIT), principal component analysis (PCA), hybrid neural fuzzy inference system (HYFIS) and k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) models are also developed as the benchmark models in order to compare and analyze the quality of the proposed GA–CA algorithm; 164 blasting works were investigated at a quarry mine of Vietnam for this aim. The results revealed that GA significantly improved the performance of the CA model. Based on the statistical indices used for model assessment, the proposed GA–CA model was confirmed as the most superior model as compared to the other models (i.e., GP, CIT, HYFIS, PCA, k-NN). It can be applied as a robust soft computing tool for estimating blast-induced air overpressure.

     

Characterizing Content Distributions of Impurities in a Limestone Mine Using a Feedforward Neural Network

The factors determining the suitability of limestone for industrial use and its commercial value are the amounts of calcium oxide (CaO) and impurities. From 244 sample points in 18 drillhole sites in a limestone mine, southwestern Japan, data on four impurity elements, SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, MnO, and P₂O₅ were collected. It generally is difficult to estimate spatial distributions of these contents, because most of the limestone bodies in Japan are located in the accretionary complex lithologies of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age. Because the spatial correlations of content data are not clearly shown by variogram analysis, a feedforward neural network was applied to estimate the content distributions. The network structure consists of three layers: input, middle, and output. The input layer has 17 neurons and the output layer four. Three neurons in the input layer correspond with x, y, z coordinates of a sample point and the others are rock types such as crystalline and conglomeratic limestones, and fossil types related to the geologic age of the limestone. Four neurons in the output layer correspond to the amounts of SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, MnO, and P₂O₅. Numbers of neurons in the middle layer and training data differ with each estimation point to avoid the overfitting of the network. We could detect several important characteristics of the three-dimensional content distributions through the network such as a continuity of low content zones of SiO₂ along a Lower Permian fossil zone trending NE-SW, and low-quality zones located in depths shallower than 50 m. The capability of the neural network-based method compared with the geostatistical method is demonstrated from the viewpoints of estimation errors and spatial characteristics of multivariate data. To evaluate the uncertainty of estimates, a method that draws several outputs by changing coordinates slightly from the target point and inputting them to the same trained network is proposed. Uncertainty differs with impurity elements, and is not based on just the spatial arrangement of data points.     

Three-dimensional distribution analysis of phosphorus content of limestone through a combination of geostatistics and artificial neural network

One of the factors that determines the suitability of limestone for industrial use and its commercial value is phosphorus (P) content, i.e., the weight percentage of phosphorus contained in small quantities of limestone. Because P content changes locally, geostatistical techniques including semivariogram, ordinary kriging, and conditional indicator sequential simulation were used in this study to identify the spatial correlation of P content and to estimate its three-dimensional distribution in an open-pit mine. The P content data at 43,000 points of five different bench levels were analyzed. It was found that the horizontal semivariograms produced by using the data at the same bench level show anisotropic behavior and are represented by the sum of two spherical models with different ranges and sills. The twelve vertical semivariograms were also constructed from P content in boring cores. After these semivariograms were classified into four types, a multilayered neural network was applied to clarify the horizontal distribution of each one. One of the twelve semivariograms was assigned to an arbitrary grid point in the study area by the criterion that its type is the same as the one estimated at the point and the borehole site producing the semivariogram is the nearest to the point. With this technique, ordinary kriging combined with the semivariogram of borehole data provided a proper estimation of P content in the depth direction.     

Environmentalism and Natural Aggregate Mining

Sustaining a developed economy and expanding a developing one require the use of large volumes of natural aggregate. Almost all human activity (commercial, recreational, or leisure) is transacted in or on facilities constructed from natural aggregate. In our urban and suburban worlds, we are almost totally dependent on supplies of water collected behind dams and transported through aqueducts made from concrete. Natural aggregate is essential to the facilities that produce energy—hydroelectric dams and coal-fired powerplants. Ironically, the utility created for mankind by the use of natural aggregate is rarely compared favorably with the environmental impacts of mining it. Instead, the empty quarries and pits are seen as large negative environmental consequences. At the root of this disassociation is the philosophy of environmentalism, which flavors our perceptions of the excavation, processing, and distribution of natural aggregate. The two end-member ideas in this philosophy are ecocentrism and anthropocentrism. Ecocentrism takes the position that the natural world is a organism whose arteries are the rivers—their flow must not be altered. The soil is another vital organ and must not be covered with concrete and asphalt. The motto of the ecocentrist is man must live more lightly on the land. The anthropocentrist wants clean water and air and an uncluttered landscape for human use. Mining is allowed and even encouraged, but dust and noise from quarry and pit operations must be minimized. The large volume of truck traffic is viewed as a real menace to human life and should be regulated and isolated. The environmental problems that the producers of natural aggregate (crushed stone and sand and gravel) face today are mostly difficult social and political concerns associated with the large holes dug in the ground and the large volume of heavy truck traffic associated with quarry and pit operations. These concerns have increased in recent years as society's demand for living space has encroached on the sites of production; in other words, the act of production has engendered condemnation. Many other environmental problems that are associated with dust and noise and blasting from quarry and pit operations have been reduced through the efficient use of technology. Recycling concrete in buildings, bridges, and roads and asphaltic pavements will ultimately reduce the demand for virgin natural aggregate. The impact created by the large holes in the ground required for the mining of natural aggregate can be greatly reduced by planning their reclamation before mining begins.     

A hybrid genetic algorithm with local optimiser improves calibration of a vegetation change cellular automata model

Cellular automata (CA) models are commonly used to model vegetation dynamics, with the genetic algorithm (GA) being one method of calibration. This article investigates different GA settings, as well as the combination of a GA with a local optimiser to improve the calibration effort. The case study is a pattern-calibrated CA to model vegetation regrowth in central Victoria, Australia. We tested 16 GA models, varying population size, mutation rate, and level of allowable mutation. We also investigated the effect of applying a local optimiser, the Nelder?Mead Downhill Simplex (NMDS) at GA convergence. We found that using a decreasing mutation rate can reduce computational cost while avoiding premature GA convergence, while increasing population size does not make the GA more efficient. The hybrid GA-NMDS can also reduce computational cost compared to a GA alone, while also improving the calibration metric. We conclude that careful consideration of GA settings, including population size and mutation rate, and in particular the addition of a local optimiser, can positively impact the efficiency and success of the GA algorithm, which can in turn lead to improved simulations using a well-calibrated CA model.     

THE MARBLE BEACHES OF TUSCANY*

ABSTRACT. Beach‐nourishment operations designed to replace sediment lost through erosion change the identity and meaning of coastal landscapes. Seven beaches in Tuscany, nourished with marble‐quarry waste, reveal how an industrial byproduct is naturalized by particle rounding and sorting and can become a positive symbol of human‐altered nature. The marble was placed on formerly sandy beaches, resulting in different grain size and color of sediments, beach morphology, and value for human use. The abrasion rate of marble makes the nourished beaches unsatisfactory when viewed solely as protection structures, but the rapid particle rounding and aesthetic appeal of marble increase the acceptability of the beaches for recreation.     

Surface sediment characteristics and tower karst dissolution, Guilin, southern China

Dissolution of extensive outcrops of limestone and dolostone in humid tropical and subtropical southern China produced numerous caves and residual hills that are referred as tower karst. This study identifies and relates the physical and chemical characteristics of the surface sediment with the limestone bedrock in Guilin to assess the influence of the limestone dissolution process on sediment composition.The results of this study indicated that (i) both limestone and dolostone of the region are very pure (99.5% and 98.5% of CaCO₃ and MgCO₃, respectively); (ii) the material composition of limestone and dolostone is different from that of soil and sediment of the region: constituents of surface sediments are highly related with the clastic sedimentary rocks, such as the mudstone, but show negative correlation with limestone and dolostone; (iii) the limestone formations are highly resistant to physical weathering and disintegration; their durability versus physical weathering and their high susceptibility to chemical dissolution account for why residual towers can form and persist; (iv) a dual-zone environmental structure exists vertically downward from the surface in Guilin: the zone of unconsolidated clastic sediments that is predominantly acidic, and the zone of karstified limestone that is predominantly basic. The evidence suggests that the environment and processes differ in these two zones. The chemical dissolution of limestone that formed tower karst of the region is not mainly responsible for the accumulation of clastic sediment on the surface.     

江苏省太湖流域总氮、总磷排放标准研究

根据太湖流域（江苏省境内）不同类型污水中总氮、总磷的浓度和当前废水治理技术及接纳水体的环境质量和经济承受能力等方面的系统分析，确定了江苏省太湖流域三给保护区内各类排污单位总氮，总磷允许排放浓度，并分析了本标准与其排放标准之间的关系，最后，对实施本标准后的太湖水质影响进行了估算研究。     

池州地区石灰岩分布区茶园土壤*及其形成环境

本文对安徽省池州地区广大茶园分布在石灰岩所构成的丘陵及岗地这一特殊现象进行了探讨。指出:在湿润的亚热季风气候条件下,其成土作用过程仍然是纯淋溶过程和富铝化过程,而地貌条件及本区石灰岩的建造及岩性也强烈地影响了这些过程的进行,因而在广大的茶园中虽随处可见石灰岩露头,但土壤却为酸性或弱酸性的地带性土壤,符合茶树的适生条件。     

Detailed S-wave structure in the Dublin Basin and its northern margin

Summary. The seismic structure has been measured to a depth of about 3 km along a 30 km seismic profile in east central Ireland. This profile is unusual in that it is the S -wave velocity—depth structure that has been measured to a degree of precision more normally associated with P -wave results. One reason for this is that the sources used were quarry blasts which generated strong S -waves and short-period surface waves but rather weak P -waves.
The results show a layer of Carboniferous limestone with shear velocity 2.65 km⁻¹ s overlying a layer with a velocity of 3.06 km s⁻¹. This second layer was interpreted as Lower Palaeozoic strata (Silurian/Ordovician) since this velocity was evident in an inlier seen at the surface at the northern end of the line. A third refraction horizon, shear velocity 3.45 km s⁻¹ and displaying a basinal structure, was also recognized. This may be Cambrian or Precambrian basement.     

风成沙最优振筛时间

筛析法是测定沉积物颗粒组分的简单便捷方法,但关于振筛机对不同物料颗粒的最佳筛析时间少有报道。采用顶击式标准振筛机、1/2Φ间隔的套筛,开展了以风成沙为筛析样品、以筛析时间为变量的实验。结果表明：随着筛析时间增加,粒度参数的平均粒径和分选系数有增加且趋于平稳的趋势,但参数级别未发生改变;随筛析时间的增加,个别样品的偏度和峰度级别发生改变,其余均未改变;整体上,≥35目的筛网是决定1/2Φ间隔套筛最佳筛析时间的主要标准筛,但不同特性的风成沙颗粒对不同筛网的最佳筛析时间存在差异;为保证在筛析时间增加的过程中,粒度参数级别不再发生改变,且各筛网上的沙物质颗粒质量变化较小或趋于稳定,选取供试样品的平均最佳筛析时间作为风成沙颗粒筛析的最佳时间,建议风成沙颗粒的最佳筛析时间为14min。     

The role of roadcuts, quarries, and other artificial exposures in geomorphology education

Quarries and roadcuts are time-honored stopping points on geoscience field trips. Artificial exposures are good field sites for learning because of their accessibility, and the potential range of features they present for first-hand examination. On undergraduate-level field excursions, site discussions typically center on stratigraphic unit identification, correlation, depositional environments, paleontology, facies relationships, lithology, mineralogy, and/or structural features. It is rare (in my experience) for geomorphologic features and relationships to be the focus of attention, or even to receive more than passing mention. Yet, roadcuts and quarries offer much potential for learning about basic landform features, forms, and processes. This paper, with illustrated examples, discusses five general characteristics, present in artificial exposures, that offer opportunities for learning about geomorphology. (1) Roadcuts and quarries expose cross sections, not only of structure, but also of landforms, illustrating relationships between subsurface geology and the surface landscape. (2) The faces of roadcuts and quarries are anthropomorphic landforms of relatively well-known age and original form, two qualities that provide opportunities for discussing erosional modification over time. (3) These sites are generally nodes of intense geomorphic activity, useful for directly observing landform processes and their effects. The intensity of degradational and depositional processes at artificial exposures often produces (4) landform miniatures, and (5) landform analogs, both providing instructional examples or illustrations of geomorphic features. In addition to their utility to other geoscience sub-disciplines, roadcuts and quarries also offer important opportunities for students to learn about basic geomorphologic concepts, processes, and forms.     

日本产业集群规划的特征及启示

日本产业集群规划以文化教育省和经济产业省为主导,以需求为导向,分阶段应对日本不同时期经济发展和国土开发目标,有效统筹和促进了日本产业发展和国土开发进程。回顾日本产业发展和国土开发的阶段与特征,对日本产业集群规划的特征和发展进程进行梳理。以“东京-大阪”东海道产业集群为例,简析日本核心区域产业集群规划的特征与作用。针对我国目前产业发展现状,应对产业规划亟需与其他规划相统筹的客观需求,进行产业集群规划层面的研究与借鉴具备紧迫性和必要性。     

FLARED SLOPES REVISITED

Flared slopes are smooth concavities caused by subsurface moisture-generated weathering in the scarp-foot zone of hillslopes or boulders. They are well represented in granitic terrains but also developed in other massive materials such as limestone, sandstone, dacite, rhyolite, and basalt, as well as other plutonic rocks. Notches, cliff-foot caves, and swamp slots are congeners of flared slopes. Though a few bedrock flares are conceivably caused by nivation or by a combination of coastal processes, most are two-stage or etch forms. Appreciation of the origin of these forms has permitted their use in the identification and measurement of recent soil erosion and an explanation of natural bridges. Their mode of development is also germane to the origin of the host inselberg or bornhardt and, indeed, to general theories of landscape evolution. But certain discrepancies have been noted concerning the distribution and detailed morphology of flared slopes. Such anomalies are a result of structural factors (sensu lato), of variations in size of catchment and in degree of exposure, and of several protective factors. Notwithstanding, the original explanation of flared slopes stands, as do their wider implications. [Key words: flared slope, inselberg, soil erosion, weathering, fractures.]