Digital Image Based Approach for Three-Dimensional Mechanical Analysis of Heterogeneous Rocks

Summary This paper presents a digital image based approach for three-dimensional (3-D) numerical simulation and failure analysis of rocks by taking into account the actual 3-D heterogeneity. Digital image techniques are adopted to extract two-dimensional (2-D) material heterogeneity from material surface images. The 2-D image mesostructures are further extrapolated to 3-D cuboid mesostructures by assuming the material surface as a representation of the inner material heterogeneity within a very small depth. The iterative milling and scanning system is set up to generate the 3-D rock mesostructures. A Hong Kong granite specimen is used as an example to demonstrate the procedure of 3-D mesostructure establishment. The mechanical responses and failure process under the conventional Brazilian tensile test condition are examined through numerical analyses. The stress distribution, crack propagation process and failure model of heterogeneous material cases are simulated with a finite difference software. The numerical results indicate that material heterogeneity plays an important role in determining the failure behavior of rocks under external loading.     

Selenium concentration in food and blood of residents of Abeokuta Metropolis,Southwestern Nigeria

Selenium like any other element can both be essential and toxic depending upon the concentration at which it occurs in human diet. This paper assessed the level of this trace element in twenty different (20) types of locally produced food items around Abeokuta town and the blood obtained from the antecubital fossa vein of eighty-eight (88) healthy adults resident in Abeokuta.     

Structural and stratigraphical constraints on the kinematics history of the Southern Tan–Lu Fault Zone during the Mesozoic Anhui Province, China

The Tan–Lu Fault Zone (TLFZ) extends in a NNE–SSW direction for more than 2000 km in Eastern China. It has been considered either as a major sinistral strike-slip fault, as a suture zone or as a normal fault. We have conducted a structural analysis of the southern segment of this fault zone (STLFZ) in the Anhui Province. The ages (Triassic to Palaeocene) of the formations affected by the faults have been re-appraised taking into account recent stratigraphical studies to better constraint the ages of the successive stages of the kinematics of the STLFZ. Subsequently, the kinematics of the faults is presented in terms of strain/stress fields by inversion of the striated fault set data. Finally, the data are discussed in the light of the results obtained by previous workers.We propose the following history of the STLFZ kinematics during the Mesozoic. At the time of collision, a  NNE orientated Tan–Lu margin probably connected two margins located north of the Dabie and Sulu collision belts. During the Middle–Late Triassic, the SCB has been obliquely subducted below the NCB along this margin which has acted as a compressional transfer zone between the Dabie and Sulu continental subduction zones. The STLFZ has been initiated during the Early Jurassic and has acted as a sinistral transform fault during the Jurassic, following which the NCB/SCB collision stopped. A  NW-trending extension related to metamorphic domes was active during the basal Early Cretaceous ( 135–130 Ma); it has been followed by a NW–SE compression and a NE–SW tension during the middle–late Early Cretaceous ( 127 to  105 Ma, possibly  95 Ma); at that time the TLFZ was a sinistral transcurrent fault within the eastern part of the Asian continent. During the Late Cretaceous–Palaeocene, the STLFZ was a normal fault zone under a WNW–ESE tension.     

PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE GRANULOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

The observation that the results of line and point counting analyses of the particle size distribution of the same sand are different leads to the conclusion that these results are biased by the sampling technique¹. The influence of the currently used sampling techniques on the numerical results of a particle size analysis is discussed. Evidence is presented to show that the use of line and point counting methods in granulometric analysis leads to results in which the influence of the sampling method is so strong that the practical value of these techniques is doubtful. It is therefore considered advisable to discontinue line and point counting techniques in granulometric analysis in favour of ribbon sampling methods.     

Botswana gravity reference net

Gravity reference stations for the National Gravity Survey of Botswana have been established at twenty-three sites throughout the country in a net linked to existing bases in South Africa, Kenya and Zambia with an internal accuracy of better than 0.5 gravity units (one gravity unit, gu, equals an acceleration of 10⁻⁶ m.s⁻²). The field procedure and reduction of data are explained and a list is given of the gravity values.     

Ice flow direction during late Paleozoic glaciation in western Paraná Basin, Brazil

The recent discovery of ice-striated surfaces associated with the late Paleozoic Aquidauana Formation suggests that glaciers coming from southwest Africa reached westernmost parts of the Paraná Basin in central Brazil. Abrasion features were developed by glaciers moving from SSE towards NNW, mainly on an unconsolidated bed. These records expand to about 1,050,000 km², the coverage of the late Paleozoic glaciation in the region of the Paraná Basin in Western Gondwana.

Resumen

A recente descoberta de superfícies estriadas associadas à Formação Aquidauana, de idade permocarbonífera, sugere que as geleiras provenientes do sudoeste da África alcançaram as porções ocidentais da Bacia do Paraná, na região central do Brasil. As feições de abrasão foram geradas pelo deslocamento de geleiras de SSE para NNW, principalmente sobre substrato inconsolidado. Estes novos registros evidenciam que a glaciação neopaleozóica cobriu uma área de pelo menos de 1.050.000 km² na região ocupada pela Bacia do Paraná no Gondwana Ocidental.     

Automated Image Registration for Hydrologic Change Detection in the Lake-Rich Arctic

Multitemporal remote sensing provides a unique tool to track lake dynamics at the pan-Arctic scale but requires precise registration of thousands of satellite images. This is a challenging task owing to a dearth of stable features to be used as tie points [(TPs), i.e., control points] in the dynamic landscapes. This letter develops an automated method to precisely register images in the lake-rich Arctic. The core premise of the method is that the centers of lakes are generally stable even if their shorelines are not. The proposed procedures first extract lakes in multitemporal satellite images, derive lake centroids and match them between images, and then use the centroids of stable lakes as TPs for image registration. The results show that this approach can achieve subpixel registration accuracy, outcompeting the conventional manual methods in both efficiency and accuracy. The proposed method is fully automated and represents a feasible way to register images for lake change detection at the pan-Arctic scale.      

Photonic dating of prehistoric irrigation canals at Phoenix,Arizona, U.S.A.*

A number of archeological features, including in‐filled irrigation canals of uncertain prehistoric age, occur within the Holocene floodplain of the Salt River at Phoenix, Arizona. In the first attempt to date irrigation‐canal sediments using luminescence methods, we obtained age estimates of 1640 ± 190 yr B.P. (1σ) (multi‐aliquot or MA) and 1621 ± 95 yr B.P. (post‐IR single‐aliquot‐regenerative‐dose or SAR) for a single sample from the base of the oldest canal‐infilling deposits (all IR‐PSL ages reported in this article are in calendar years before A.D. 2001). For the remaining canal samples, weighted mean luminescence ages of 819 ± 45 yr (MA) and 826 ± 32 yr (post‐IR SAR) were obtained. Thus from photonic dating we can resolve the first and last phases of canal use at this Phoenix site: initiation at ca. 1600 years ago and final use at ca. 800 years ago. These results demonstrate the power of SAR luminescence sediment dating to enhance our understanding of prehistoric irrigation‐canal development and usage here and elsewhere in the world. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.