Acquiring high-resolution topography and performing spatial analysis of loess landslides by using low-cost UAVs

The Loess Plateau is a region in China prone to frequent geological disasters, where thousands of loess landslides can be found. Conventional field survey methods are inadequate for the requirements of fine spatial analysis of landslides. Due to its numerous advantages (fast, efficient, low cost, safe, and able to acquire high-resolution data), structure from motion (SfM) technique to photogrammetric orientation of flights and modeling applied to photographs taken by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a camera has become a powerful new tool for the generation of high-resolution topography that has emerged in recent years, which has become a powerful new technique for acquiring high-resolution topographic data. In this study, we conducted nearly two months of field UAV surveys of loess landslides on the Loess Plateau, eventually established 3D digital models for 11 loess landslides, and produced high-resolution digital orthophoto maps (DOMs) and digital elevation models (DEMs). High-resolution spatial analysis of the loess landslides (mainly including characteristic parameter extraction, topography profile analysis, surface feature analysis, and hydrologic analysis) was performed using Agisoft PhotoScan, ArcGIS 10.2, Global Mapper 17, and Origin Pro 9.0. The UAV technique allows us to further understand the micro-level internal spatial and structural characteristics of loess landslides. Moreover, not only does it allow us to accurately measure the characteristic geometric parameters but also enables us to detect the surface details of loess landslides (e.g., textures, fissures, and micro-landforms). Manifestly, we can also deduce the original structural characteristics and possible inducement mechanism of landslides based on a combination of high-resolution data acquired by UAVs, proper ground surveys, and theoretical knowledge. In summary, the low-cost UAVs are highly and especially suitable for surveys and digital terrain analysis of landslides on the Loess Plateau with sparse vegetation.     

Spatial and temporal analyses of air pollutants and meteorological driving forces in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region,China

Due to its negative impact on the living environment of human beings, ambient air pollution has become a global challenge to human health. In this study, surface observations of six criteria air pollutants, including PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, CO and O₃, were collected to investigate the spatial and temporal variation in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region during 2013–2016 and to explore the relationships between atmospheric pollutants and meteorological variables using quantile regression model (QRM) and multiple linear regression model (MLRM). The results show that BTH region has experienced significant air pollution, and the southern part generally has more severe conditions. The annual average indicates clear decreasing trends of the particulate matters, SO₂ and CO concentrations over the last 4 years and slight increasing trends of NO₂ and O₃ in several cities. The seasonal and monthly characteristics indicate that the concentrations of five species reach their maxima in the winter and their minima in the summer, whereas O₃ has the opposite behaviour. Finally, the pseudo R² values show that the QRMs have the best performance in the winter, followed by spring, fall, and summer. Specifically, all the meteorological factors have significant impacts on air pollution but change with pollutants and seasons. The MLRM results are generally consistent with the QRM results in all seasons, and the inconsistencies are more common in the fall and winter. The results of this research provide foundational knowledge for predicting the response of air quality to climate change in the BTH region.     

岸滩侧蚀崩塌速率的试验量测方法

岸滩侧蚀崩塌现象普遍存在于冲积河流演变过程中,是河道治理需重点关注的问题之一,岸滩侧蚀崩塌速率的准确量测则是崩岸机理及其治理措施研究的关键基础。基于图像处理技术,建立了河岸侧蚀崩塌速率试验量测系统,通过图像追踪河岸模型上边缘示踪网格位置变迁,提出了一种河岸侧蚀崩塌速率测量方法。以试验水槽为例,对河岸侧蚀崩塌速率进行了量测,并与经验公式计算值进行了比对,两者基本吻合,可较好地反映流速、土体级配等岸滩侧蚀崩塌速率的影响因素及其变化规律。研究成果可为江河崩岸机理的深入研究提供技术支撑。     

Network-based triple-frequency carrier phase ambiguity resolution between reference stations using BDS data for long baselines

Network-based ambiguity resolution (AR) between reference stations is the prerequisite to realize a precise real-time kinematic positioning service. With the help of BDS triple-frequency signals, we can efficiently deal with the ionospheric delay and tropospheric delay, and achieve rapid and reliable AR. To overcome the inaccurate ionospheric delay estimated by the geometry-free three carrier ambiguity resolution (GF TCAR) technique, which leads to failure in the original ambiguity resolution, we propose an ionospheric-free (IF) TCAR method to resolve the ambiguity between the reference stations over long baselines. Taking full advantage of the known positions of the reference stations, the easily resolved extra-wide-lane (EWL) ambiguity, and the IF phase combinations, we can reliably fix the wide-lane (WL) ambiguity. A Kalman filter is applied to estimate precise IF ambiguities and the original ambiguity is resolved with the fixed WL ambiguity. A numerical analysis with triple-frequency BDS data from three long baselines of a CORS network is provided to compare the AR performance of GF TCAR with that of IF TCAR. The results show that both methods can reliably resolve the WL ambiguity with a remarkable correctly-fixed rate of higher than 99%, and the reliably-fixed rates of the IF TCAR slightly increase from 92.19, 94.67 and 94.61–98.26, 99.54 and 97.51% for the three baselines. Herein “correctly-fixed” and “reliably-fixed” mean the difference between the float ambiguity and the true one are less than ± 0.5 and ± 0.25 cycles, respectively. On the other hand, the AR performance of the original signals with the IF TCAR method is much better than that with the GF TCAR method attaining a 100% correctly-fixed rate, while the GF TCAR method can hardly fix the original ambiguity with the largest bias being as much as 4 cycles because of the amplified systematic bias.     

甘肃省明舒井地区高光谱蚀变异常及找矿分析

正明舒井地区位于甘肃省北西侧,敦煌市北侧、瓜州县北西侧。前人在该区及周边区域开展了区调、矿调及相关多金属矿的勘查工作(王瑞军等,2014,2017),在遥感地质方面,仅开展了多光谱遥感的应用工作,而针对高光谱遥感的研究工作还未开展。明舒井地区基岩出露好、地形起伏小、切割弱,地表蚀变发育,矿床、矿点分布较多,具备开展高光谱遥感技术的地质和自然地理条件,有利于发挥高光谱的技术优势。     

Late Pleistocene baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) forest deposit on the continental shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico

Approximately 13 km south of Gulf Shores, Alabama (United States), divers found in situ baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) stumps 18 m below the ocean surface. These trees could have only lived when sea level fell during the Pleistocene subaerially exposing the tectonically stable continental shelf. Here we investigate the geophysical properties along with microfossil and stratigraphical analyses of sediment cores to understand the factors that lead to this wood’s preservation. The stumps are exposed in an elongated depression (~100 m long, ~1 m deep) nested in a trough of the northwest–southeast trending Holocene sand ridges and troughs with 2–5 m vertical relief and ~0.5 km wavelength. Radiocarbon ages of the wood were infinite thus optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was used to constrain the site’s age. Below the Holocene sands (~0.1–4 m thick), separated by a regional erosional unconformity, are Late Pleistocene mud-peat (72±8 ka OSL), mud-sand (63±5, 73±6 ka OSL), and palaeosol (56±5 ka OSL) facies that grade laterally from west to east, respectively. Foraminiferal analysis reveals the location of the terrestrial-marine transitional layer above the Pleistocene facies in an interbedded sand and mud facies (3940±30 (1σ) ¹⁴C a BP), which is part of a lower shoreface or marine-dominated estuarine environment. The occurrence of palaeosol and swamp facies of broadly similar ages and elevation suggests the glacial landscape possessed topographic relief that allowed wood, mud and peats to be preserved for ~50 ka of subaerial exposure before transitioning to the modern marine environment. We hypothesize that rapid sea-level rise occurring ~60 or ~40 ka ago provided opportunities for local flood-plain aggradation to bury the swamp thus preserving the stumps and that other sites may exist in the northern Gulf of Mexico shelf.     

东非海岸坦桑尼亚和鲁伍马盆地天然气成藏机理

东非海岸盆地天然气资源丰富,是世界天然气勘探的热点地区.东非海岸重点盆地的天然气为腐泥型高温裂解气,主要来源于下侏罗统局限海相优质烃源岩.大型断裂控制了东非海岸重点盆地天然气的垂向运移,研究区主要发育大型伸展断裂和大型走滑断裂.大型走滑断裂是坦桑尼亚盆地南部天然气藏的主要运移通道,其主要活动时期为晚白垩世-古新世,控制了白垩系-古近系浊积砂岩气藏的油气运移成藏.大型伸展断裂是鲁伍马盆地天然气藏的主要运移通道,其主要活动时期为古新世、渐新世和新近纪,控制了古近系浊积砂岩气藏的油气运移成藏.砂体规模控制了深水区岩性或构造-岩性圈闭的大小,进而控制了天然气藏的规模.受天然气运移方式的控制,东非海岸盆地形成了大型走滑断裂控藏模式和大型伸展断裂控藏模式.      

川东北普光地区深层富钾卤水钾资源提取研究

四川盆地地下卤水资源丰富,尤其川东北地区地下卤水富含高品质钾资源。本项目以四川普光地区富钾卤水为研究对象,根据卤水组成,采用模拟计算并结合实验验证的方法,研究了高温蒸发时,氯化钠、氯化钾、光卤石、硼酸等矿物的析出阶段及特点。研究结果表明,当蒸失水率约80%时,体系中约85%的NaCl析出,同时KCl达到饱和,继续蒸发可获取钾石盐。控制总蒸失水率94%~95%时分离,体系中大于80%的钾可在这一阶段析出,且湿基中KCl品位可高达约45%;析出钾石盐后的卤水降至室温可获得NaCl、KCl、KCl·MgCl₂·6H₂O及H₃BO₃的混合物,硼的析出率可达到约80%。同时,研究表明,将蒸失水率约80%时分离石盐后的卤水直接降温可以获得湿基品位约高达70%的钾石盐矿,钾析出率约50%。综合对比分析,提出两条以钾资源开发为主的工艺路线:其一为“高温蒸发析氯化钠-高温蒸发析氯化钾-冷却析钾硼混盐”,通过加工获得KCl及H₃BO₃产品;其二为“高温蒸发析氯化钠-冷却析钾”,通过加工获得高端KCl产品。     

黄河北煤田10号煤煤层气储层物性及特征研究

煤层气是一种备受国家重视和开发利用的非常规清洁能源,煤层气储层物性的研究对煤层气资源的评价与开发具有重要意义。以黄河北煤田煤层气开发资料为基础,结合区域地质特征,应用煤层气地质理论对煤田内10号煤煤层气储层物性特征进行了研究。研究发现:10号煤层宏观煤岩类型以半亮煤为主,煤中有机显微组分以镜质组为主,无机显微组分以黏土为主;煤的变质程度比较高,整体进入成熟阶段;10号煤层储层孔裂隙发育、渗透率较低;10煤层对甲烷的吸附能力较强;10号煤层储层压力为2.16~4.20MPa,压力梯度为0.418~0.797MPa/100m,为低压储层至常压储层;黄河北煤田呈单斜构造,10号煤层埋藏深度较深,含水性较好,有利于煤层气保存。