Correlation analysis between drought indices and terrestrial water storage from 2002 to 2015 in China

Drought monitoring is a key topic in environmental monitoring and assessment although there is still a need to determine the correlation between drought monitoring indices and remote sensing products. We analyzed the correlation between the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc_PDSI), the Standardized Precipitation Index and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and terrestrial water storage monitored through the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) on a monthly timescale from 2002 to 2015 in China. As a consequence of anomalies in the soil water budget, the highly significant correlation between the sc_PDSI and the GRACE satellite-observed terrestrial water storage suggested that these two datasets are the most suitable for use in monitoring droughts. In comparing the three drought indices, the sc_PDSI was introduced as a means of drought monitoring in the Yangtze, Pearl, Huaihe, Southeast and Songhua River Basins, whereas the SPEI was found to be more applicable to other major river basins, such as the Inland River Basin. These diverse spatial behaviors are caused by the differences between the hydrological droughts characterized by these three drought indices.     

A micro–macro investigation of the capillary strengthening effect in wet granular materials

Wet granular materials are three-dimensionally simulated by the discrete element method with water bridges incorporated between particles. The water bridges are simplified as toroidal shapes, and the matric suction is constantly maintained in the material. A comparison with experimental tests in the literature indicates that the toroidal shape approximation may be one of the best choices with high practicability and decent accuracy. Mechanical behaviours of wet granular materials are studied by triaxial tests. Effects of particle size distributions and void ratios are investigated systematically in this study. The hydraulic limit of the pendular state is also discussed. It gives the capillary cohesion function which is not only determined by the degree of saturation but also positively correlated to relative density and particle size polydispersity and inversely proportional to mean particle size. Furthermore, the capillary strengthening effect is also analysed microscopically in aid of the Stress–Force–Fabric relationship, mainly in fabric anisotropy, coordination number and stress transmission pattern, which revealed the micro-mechanisms of the additional effective stress induced by capillary effect.     

Laboratory investigations of inert gas flow behaviors in compact sandstone

The seepage evolution behavior of compact rock is significant for the stability and safety of many engineering applications. In this research, both hydrostatic and triaxial compression tests were conducted on compact sandstone using an inert gas, namely argon. A triaxial compression test with a water permeability measurement was carried out to study the difference between the gas permeability and water permeability evolutions during the complete stress–strain process. Based on the experimental data, the hydrostatic stress-dependent gas permeability was discussed firstly. A second-order function was proposed to predict and explain the gas slippage effect. The mechanical properties and crack development of the sandstone samples were discussed to better understand the permeability evolution with crack growth during the complete stress–strain process. The results show that the gas permeability evolution can be divided into five stages according to the different crack growth stages. Then, the permeability changes in the crack closure stress \( \sigma_{\text{cc}} \), crack initiation stress \( \sigma_{\text{ci}} \), crack damage stress \( \sigma_{\text{cd}} \) and peak stress \( \sigma_{\text{p}} \) with confining pressures were analyzed. Finally, we found that the difference between the corrected gas permeability and water permeability can be attributed to the interaction between the water and sandstone grains.     

Effect of climate change on water resources in the Yuanshui River Basin: a SWAT model assessment

The Yuanshui River Basin is one of the most important river basins ensuring food production and livelihoods in the Hunan and Guizhou Provinces of China. Based on digital elevation model, land use, soil, and meteorological data, the soil and water assessment tool was used to analyze the response of water resources in the basin to climate change. Specifically, the monthly runoff from the Yuanshui River Basin was simulated. Runoff measurements from the 1961–1990 series were used to calibrate model parameters, and measurements from the 1991–2010 series were used for model validation. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient, correlation coefficient, and water balance error were used to evaluate the simulation results; the values obtained for these parameters were 0.925, 0.929, and 2.0%, respectively, indicating that the established model can be applied successfully to runoff simulations. To evaluate the effects of climate change and human activities on runoff, 24 different climate scenarios were modeled. By comparing the model simulation results with the baseline scenario, the effects of climate change were analyzed by year, during the dry season, and during extremely dry conditions. The results showed that runoff decreased with increasing air temperature and decreasing precipitation, and that the effects of rainfall on runoff were greater than those of air temperature. Under the same baseline conditions, the effects of climate change on runoff were most pronounced during extremely dry months.     

Behavior of Hydrocarbons in the Mouth Parts of Arctic Rivers

The paper reviews data (acquired in 2007–2016) on aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in comparison with data on concentrations of lipids, C_org, and chlorophyll a in the water and bottom sediments the river–sea geochemical barrier (for the Northern Dvina, Ob, Yenisei, and Lena rivers). It was established that the concentrations of anthropogenic hydrocarbons decrease and these compounds precipitate like other organic compounds and particulate matter, where riverine and marine waters mix. Relatively pure water flows in the pelagic zones of seas. In spite of low temperatures in the Arctic, anthropogenic hydrocarbons transform so rapidly that natural compounds dominate in the water and bottom sediments: autochthonous in the seawater and allochthonous in the bottom sediments.     

云南会泽铅锌矿区地下水化学和同位素分析

本文通过调查和采样测试,分析云南会泽铅锌矿区地下水的水化学特征,划分其水化学类型;根据不同水文年、不同埋深δ2 H和δ18 O的变化,分析了地表水体与地下水的相互关系,认为矿区中部含水层受到地表水的入渗,地表水与深部岩溶水的混合作用加大,中部岩溶含水层水力活动范围不断扩大,相对长江流域同位素分布规律,矿区降雨中重同位素偏富,深部岩溶水有显著的埋深效应,季节效应不明显。提供了一个矿区地下水水化学和同位素研究实例,对同类研究有借鉴价值。     

西藏雅鲁藏布江缝合带中段日喀则地幔橄榄岩中发现金刚石等异常矿物

本文报道了雅鲁藏布江缝合带中段日喀则蛇绿岩地幔橄榄岩中发现与该带东西段蛇绿岩岩体中相似的金刚石和特殊地幔矿物群。日喀则地幔橄榄岩体以方辉橄榄岩为主,含少量二辉橄榄岩和纯橄岩,辉石岩和辉长岩呈脉状产在方辉橄榄岩中。通过重砂分选实验,在465kg的方辉橄榄岩大样中发现了30余种特殊矿物群,包括金刚石、自然金、自然铬、自然铜等自然元素矿物类;碳硅石等碳化物类;方铁矿、赤铁矿、磁铁矿、刚玉、铬尖晶石、金红石、锡石、黑钨矿等氧化物类;镍黄铁矿、方铅矿、辉钼矿、辉锑矿、闪锌矿、毒砂等硫化物类;Ag-Au等合金矿物类;橄榄石、辉石、锆石等硅酸盐岩类;白钨矿等钨酸盐岩类;萤石等氟化物类。金刚石和自然金、自然铬、自然铜连同碳硅石的发现表明岩体存在强还原环境,这套特殊矿物组合指示日喀则地幔橄榄岩可能与雅鲁藏布缝合带其他蛇绿岩一样,经历了深地幔演化过程。     

The Hissar–Alay and the Pamirs: Deep-Seated Structure,Geodynamic Model,and Experimental Evidence

The structural and geodynamic features of the Pamirs and the Hissar–Alay have been revealed based on geological and geophysical evidence supplemented by experimental data. It has been shown that both the Pamirs and the Hissar–Alay are geodynamic systems, the formation of which is related to interference of two geodynamic regimes: (i) global orogeny covering extensive territories of Eurasia and determining their similarity and (ii) regional regimes differing for the Pamirs and the Alay, which act independently within Central Asian and Apline–Himalayan mobile belts, respectively. The Pamirs do not act as an indentor during the formation of structure of the Hissar–Alay and areas to the north. It is stated that the Pamir–Alay segment of Asia is a reflection of the geodynamic countermotion setting (3D flow of mountain masses) of several distinct segments of the continental lithosphere, while the Pamirs are an intracontinental subduction domain at the surface, which represents a special tectonic–geodynamic type of structures.