Structural controls on the occurrence and morphology of karstified assemblages in northeastern Vietnam: a regional perspective

Karstified assemblages occur widely in, and distinctively shape, the geological landscape of the northeastern part of Vietnam. These carbonate rocks were deposited during three major periods of basinal evolution including: (1) Late Cambrian, (2) Early Devonian to Early Carboniferous, and (3) Carboniferous to Earliest Triassic. These sedimentary units contain primary sedimentary structures and have undergone numerous post-depositional geological processes including multiple deformational events, which can be regionally correlated. Several thrusting events and associated folding have led to significant thickening of the carbonate units. The subsequent post-thrusting cross-folding events, followed by several phases of brittle faulting and fracturing further modified the spatial geometry and outcrop of these rocks. The combination and interaction of the primary structures with those formed during the long-lived and complicated deformational history is an important controlling factor in local and regional hydrogeological systems in the region. The geological structures now recorded in the carbonate units ultimately govern the formation of the unique modern surface and sub-surface geomorphology of the karstic terrains in northeastern Vietnam. These structures should be further investigated in the context of water resource assessment and natural hazard prediction and mitigation.     

The Sin Quyen Cu–Fe–Au–REE deposit (northern Vietnam): composition and formation conditions

The Sin Quyen Cu–Fe–Au–REE deposit is localized in the Proterozoic deposits of the Phan Xi Pang zone, northern Vietnam. The mineralization is formed by lenticular and sheet-like bodies occurring concordantly with the host rocks. Seventeen orebodies have been recognized in the deposit, which form an ore horizon up to 140 m in total thickness, about 2 km in strike, and up to 350 m in dip. The ores are of simple mineral composition: Au-rich copper and iron sulfides (chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite) and iron oxides (magnetite, hematite). Gold and silver are distributed unevenly in the ores: Their contents vary from hundredths and tenths of ppm to 1.8 ppm. Copper sulfide ores are the main concentrator of gold and silver. All ores are characterized by high REE contents, tens and hundreds of times exceeding the element clarkes. The highest contents have been revealed for Ce and La. Orthite is the main carrier of REE. No correlation between REE and ore elements of sulfide-oxide ores has been revealed, which points to the independent formation of the mineralization. Orebodies together with the host rocks underwent metamorphism at 500–600 to 630–685 °C and 3–7 kbar. The spatial association of the mineralization with amphibolites (metamorphosed basites) and the mineral composition of ores suggest that the Sin Quyen deposit is of Cyprian volcanogenic type.     

Influence of hydraulic characteristics on stability of unsaturated slope under transient seepage conditions

This paper examines the current procedure for determining the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) model with a particular focus on its application to slope stability analysis under transient unsaturated seepage conditions. A series of laboratory experiments was performed to determine the SWCC of different soils, ranging from high plasticity clay to silty sand, found across the Korean Peninsula. The experimental results were utilized to identify the suitable SWCC model for each soil type based on the fitting criterion. Also, this paper developed a numerical framework for infinite slope stability analysis under transient unsaturated seepage conditions. The significant advantage of the proposed framework, from the practical viewpoint, is to directly predict the timing of failure and potential failure plane based on rainfall recording. The effect of choice of SWCC models on predictability in stability analysis was evaluated by adopting the present framework along with the identified SWCC models. Furthermore, a case study of landslides after a 3-month rainfall in Pohang, Korea, was revisited to assess the performance of the proposed framework. The obtained results demonstrate the significant role of SWCC model on the results of slope stability analysis. The analysis using the SWCC model satisfying the fitting criterion could still not capture the real behavior of unsaturated soil. The comprehensive transient analysis is strongly suggested as a complementary means to the current fitting criterion for determining the suitable SWCC model for stability analysis under transient seepage conditions.     

Hydrogeological investigation in the Mekong Delta around Ho-Chi-Minh City (South Vietnam) by electric tomographyInvestigation hydrogéologique dans le delta du Mékong,autour de la ville de Ho-Chi-Minh (Sud-Vietnam), par tomographie électrique

In the Mekong Delta (South Vietnam), the agglomeration of Ho-Chi-Minh (HCM) City, with more than 5 million inhabitants, is confronted with a dramatic shortage of fresh water supply because of the pollution of several aquifers at different depths. The electric tomography, obtained by concurrent inversion of two complementary geoelectrical methods, the Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and the Magneto-Telluric Sounding (MTS), turned out to be very efficient to provide a complete electrical image of the underground from the surface until about 800 m depth. This methodology constitutes a very cheap guide for the evaluation of the quality of the groundwater resources in the vast alluvial plain of the Mekong Delta. To cite this article: V.N. Pham et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 733–740.     

越南西北部PhanSiPan地区新生代埃达克质侵入岩时代、成因及构造意义——U-Pb锆石年龄、元素地球化学和Hf同位素证据

越南西北部PhanSiPan地区新生代花岗岩,高SiO2(69.95%～70.52%)、A12O3(15.77%～17.11%)、K2O(4.97%～5.63%)、Na2O(4.29%～4.98%),K2O/Na2O=1.02～1.31、Sr(744×10-6～1316×10-6),贫Y(6.93×10-6～8.06×10-6),低MgO和CaO,富集LILE元素及LREE,亏损HREE具有典型的埃达克岩特征。采用LA-ICPMS方法对该岩体进行了U-Pb同位素定年和Hf同位素分析,结果表明该岩体为始新世(38Ma)岩浆活动的产物。锆石Hf同位素研究结果显示,εHf(t)变化范围为-5.5至+7.3,二阶段Hf模式年龄(tDM2)为652Ma至1466Ma、集中在1.1～1.3Ga,说明花岗岩岩体主要由中-(新)元古代地壳物质部分熔融形成。部分锆石具有正的εHf(t)值,可能指示花岗岩岩浆形成的过程中存在壳-幔混合相互作用。越南西北部Phan Si Pan地区新生代花岗岩和扬子地块-(哀牢山-金沙江-红河带)高钾富碱的岩石形成的时代和机制具有密切的关系,可能与印度-亚洲大陆的碰撞导致红河带区域性走滑断裂系统的形成有关。     

Groundwater resources management under environmental constraints in Shiroishi of Saga plain, Japan

A sinking of the land surface due to the pumping of groundwater has long been recognized as an environmental issue in the Shiroishi plain of Saga, Japan. Land subsidence can have several negative economic and social implications such as changes in groundwater and surface water flow patterns, restrictions on pumping in land subsidence prone areas, localized flooding, failure of well casings as well as shearing of structures. To minimize such an environmental effect, groundwater management should be considered in this area. In this study, a new integrated numerical model that integrates a three-dimensional numerical groundwater flow model coupled with a one-dimensional soil consolidation model and a groundwater optimization model was developed to simulate groundwater movement, to predict ground settlement and to search for optimal safe yield of groundwater without violating physical, environmental and socio-economic constraints. It is found that groundwater levels in the aquifers greatly vary from season to season in response to the varying climatic and pumping conditions. Consequently, land subsidence has occurred rapidly throughout the area with the Shiroishi plain being the most prone. The predicted optimal safe yield of the pumping amount is about 5 million m³. The study also suggests that pumping with this optimal amount will minimize the rate of land subsidence over the entire area. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility in western Serbia using hybrid support vector regression (SVR) with GWO,BAT and COA algorithms

In this study, we developed multiple hybrid machine-learning models to address parameter optimization limitations and enhance the spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility models. We created a geographic information system database, and our analysis results were used to prepare a landslide inventory map containing 359 landslide events identified from Google Earth, aerial photographs, and other validated sources. A support vector regression (SVR) machine-learning model was used to divide the landslide inventory into training (70%) and testing (30%) datasets. The landslide susceptibility map was produced using 14 causative factors. We applied the established gray wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm, bat algorithm (BA), and cuckoo optimization algorithm (COA) to fine-tune the parameters of the SVR model to improve its predictive accuracy. The resultant hybrid models, SVR-GWO, SVR-BA, and SVR-COA, were validated in terms of the area under curve (AUC) and root mean square error (RMSE). The AUC values for the SVR-GWO (0.733), SVR-BA (0.724), and SVR-COA (0.738) models indicate their good prediction rates for landslide susceptibility modeling. SVR-COA had the greatest accuracy, with an RMSE of 0.21687, and SVR-BA had the least accuracy, with an RMSE of 0.23046. The three optimized hybrid models outperformed the SVR model (AUC = 0.704, RMSE = 0.26689), confirming the ability of metaheuristic algorithms to improve model performance.     

A Novel Classifier Based on Composite Hyper-cubes on Iterated Random Projections for Assessment of Landslide Susceptibility

In this paper, the main objective is to discover an application of a novel classifier based on Composite Hyper-cubes on Iterated Random Projections (CHIRP) for assessment of landslide susceptibility at the Uttarakhand Area (India). For this, 1295 historical landslides events and landslide affecting parameters were collected and used for creating training and testing datasets. Other benchmark models namely Logistic Regression (LR), RBF neural network (ANN-RBF), and Naïve Bayes (NB) were chosen for comparison. Analysis results indicate that the CHIRP is the best, followed by the LR, the ANN-RBF, and the NB, respectively. Overall, the CHIRP indicates as a promising and good alternative method that could be used to assess landslide susceptibility in other landslide prone areas.