Fracture in Westerly Granite under AE Feedback and Constant Strain Rate Loading: Nucleation, Quasi-static Propagation, and the Transition to Unstable Fracture Propagation

New observations of fracture nucleation are presented from three triaxial compression experiments on intact samples of Westerly granite, using Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring. By conducting the tests under different loading conditions, the fracture process is demonstrated for quasi-static fracture (under AE Feedback load), a slowly developing unstable fracture (loaded at a `slow' constant strain rate of 2.5 × 10<sup>−6</sup> /s) and an unstable fracture that develops near instantaneously (loaded at a `fast' constant strain rate of 5 × 10⁻⁵ /s). By recording a continuous ultrasonic waveform during the critical period of fracture, the entire AE catalogue can be captured and the exact time of fracture defined. Under constant strain loading, three stages are observed: (1) An initial nucleation or stable growth phase at a rate of ~ 1.3 mm/s, (2) a sudden increase to a constant or slowly accelerating propagation speed of ~ 18 mm/s, and (3) unstable, accelerating propagation. In the ~ 100 ms before rupture, the high level of AE activity (as seen on the continuous record) prevented the location of discrete AE events. A lower bound estimate of the average propagation velocity (using the time-to-rupture and the existing fracture length) suggests values of a few m/s. However from a low gain acoustic record, we infer that in the final few ms, the fracture propagation speed increased to 175 m/s. These results demonstrate similarities between fracture nucleation in intact rock and the nucleation of dynamic instabilities in stick slip experiments. It is suggested that the ability to constrain the size of an evolving fracture provides a crucial tool in further understanding the controls on fracture nucleation.     

Nature minéralogique et rôle nutritionnel des argiles de sols céréaliers en région subhumide à semi-aride (Tunisie)

The cereal soils of the Northwest of Tunisia derive most of the time, from alluvial deposits or altered remains of carbonated and clayey rocks. Extraction of the clayey fraction permitted to reveal the presence of the following clayey minerals: kaolinite, illite, smectite, chlorite, as well as an illite–smectite interstratified layer, which is present in the deep horizons of the vertisol and in the isohumic soil. The presence of such types of clays shows that the evolution mechanism of soils is weathering of primary minerals inherited from the sedimentary rocks of the Northwest of Tunisia. These clays ensure to soils most of their cationic exchange capacity. Thanks to these clays, which have Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺ and K⁺ as exchangeable cations, the chemical fertility of these soils is ensured. It may be improved by increasing contents of organic matter, which is naturally few abundant in these soils. To cite this article: H. Ben Hassine, C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

组合压气机中尾迹与势流同频/异频干涉的叠加特性

为揭示多级压气机中上下游叶轮对中间叶片叠加气动影响特性,阐述不同叠加干涉情况下下游叶轮进气角度变化,采用数值方法模拟了一级轴流和一级离心组成的组合压气机非定常流场。详细讨论了上游动叶尾迹和下游动叶势流对中间导流叶栅段气流非定常流动的异频和同频叠加干涉特性,依据计算结果,直观地展示了静叶通道中两种干涉间相互激励和抑制作用的位置和时间,与数学公式的推导结果相互印证。研究结果表明:当上下游动叶对中间静叶段异频干涉时,干涉的激励、抑制区域的轴向位置随时间发生变化;当上下游动叶对中间静叶干涉频率相同时,干涉的相互激励、抑制区域的轴向位置不随时间发生变化,但干涉的激励、抑制区域的轴向位置受时序位置影响。另外,上游动叶尾迹与下游离心叶轮势流的不同叠加情况,决定着下游离心叶轮进口相对气流角的大小及波动幅值。      

Measurements of Atmospheric Extinction at a Ground Level Observatory

In order to determine the atmospheric extinction at Physics Department Astronomical Observatory of the University of Extremadura, located at Badajoz (Spain), several stars were observed during some clear nights of atmospheric stability in the period 1998–2000, at optical wavelengths corresponding to the filters of the Kron-Cousins and Strömgren photometric systems. The determination of the extinction coefficients was made by assuming the Bouguer's law, which was shown to be a good approximation for this study. The results exhibited temporal variations and can be considered to be associated with clean atmospheres at locations of low altitude.     

中国城市群多中心网络的拓扑结构

在既有理论基础上扩展了城市群多中心网络的度量工具,考察中国12个城市群总部—分支机构的企业关联网络,比较梳理了地级城市空间联系的拓扑结构。实证研究发现：①包括长三角、珠三角和京津冀三大典型城市群在内,中国城市群内部网络系统的拓扑结构依然发育不完善,在联系数据方面均呈现出一定的稀疏矩阵特征,空间组合关系均为树状结构。②总部区位(出度)的层级性差异均高于分支机构区位(入度)的层级性差异,显示出城市群内部空间“流”的不对称性。③针对12个城市群内部网络的拓扑结构聚类分析表明：长三角、珠三角、京津冀、山东半岛、海峡西岸地区的城市群内部网络联系较为紧密,呈现出一定程度的一体化网络特征;其中三大典型城市群存在明显的企业总部集聚核心,其余城市群内部的网络联系松散,跨城企业联系比重较低,在拓扑结构上大多呈现出以省会或副省级城市为指向的向心式联系。     

东秦岭金堆城大型斑岩钼矿床同位素及元素地球化学研究

文章系统研究了金堆城钼矿床的含矿钾长斑岩、围岩、矿石、矿石中的黄铁矿及矿化围岩的地球化学特征,深入探讨了矿区成矿物质的来源.金堆城含矿斑岩的稀土元素分布和特征地球化学参数显示,金堆城含矿斑岩富集LREE(LaN/YbN=540～1684),轻、重稀土元素分馏较明显,Eu异常不明显或无Eu异常(δEu=070～096).矿石中黄铁矿富集LREE(LaN/YbN=315～2628),具有弱的Eu负异常,无Ce异常(δEu=064～081, δCe=088～103),并与金堆城含矿钾长斑岩和矿石具有一致的球粒陨石标准化配分曲线和特征的地球化学参数,显示金堆城钼矿床的成矿物质来源与钾长斑岩同源.矿床铅、硫、碳和氢-氧同位素地球化学综合研究表明,成矿物质来源于深部,与钾长斑岩同源.围岩在矿化和蚀变过程中元素的迁移计算结果表明,在热液成矿过程中Mo随成矿流体加入到围岩并使围岩发生蚀变和矿化.钼矿床的成矿物质主要来自钾长斑岩,围岩不提供成矿物质.金堆城含矿斑岩和钼矿化的发生处于秦岭造山带在中新生代的挤压-伸展转变期,受板片断离作用和壳幔边界附近发生的基性岩浆底侵作用影响,加厚的华北地块南缘下地壳物质发生熔融形成花岗质岩浆,并沿构造薄弱带上升到浅部侵位,形成金堆城等同熔型斑岩和斑岩型矿床.     

Ore deposits and epithermal evidences associated with intra-magmatic faults at Aïn El Araâr-Oued Belif ring structure (NW of Tunisia)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Hydrothermal ore deposits at Aïn El Araâr-Oued Belif location are classified as epithermal deposits type. The ore bodies are hosted by upper...     

Fast lagrangian particle tracking in unstructured ocean model grids

Ocean Dynamics - Lagrangian particle tracking, based on currents derived from hydrodynamic models, is an important tool in quantifying bio-physical transports in the ocean. Particle tracking in the...     

Diffusion gradients in an eclogite xenolith from the Roberts Victor kimberlite pipe: (2) kinetics and implications for petrogenesis

In a bimineralic eclogite xenolith (sample JJG41) from the Roberts Victor kimberlite, compositional gradients in clinopyroxene are related to garnet exsolution. Two principal reactions involving clinopyroxene and garnet occur: (i) The net-transfer Al₂Si^-1Mg^-1 which is responsible for garnet growth according to the equation 2Di+Al₂Si^-1Mg^-1=Grossular+MgCa^-1 (reaction 1). This has created substantial compositional gradients in Al, Si and Mg within clinopyroxene. (ii) The exchange of Fe–Mg between garnet and clinopyroxene (reaction 2). During the stage of garnet growth (reaction 1) the lamellae crystallized sequentially as a result of a temperature decrease from around 1400 to 1200° C. This exsolution growth-stage was under the control of Al diffusion in clinopyroxene and at around 1200° C further growth of garnet lamellae became impeded by the sluggishness of Al diffusion in the clinopyroxene host. However, reaction 2 continued during further cooling down to about 1000° C; this temperature being inferred from the constant Fe–Mg partitioning at clinopyroxene-garnet interfaces for the whole set of lamellae. The initial clinopyroxene in JJG41 was probably formed by crystallization from a melt in Archaean time. The cessation of Fe–Mg exchange between garnet and clinopyroxene at about 1000° C may well predate the eruption of the eclogite in kimberlite at around 100 Ma. Kinetic models of reaction are examined for both reactions. Modelling of reaction 1, involving both diffusion and interface migration, allows several means of estimating the diffusion coefficient of Al in clinopyroxene; the estimates are in the range 10^-16-10^-20 cm²/s at 1200° C. These estimates bracket the experimentally determined data for Al diffusion in clinopyroxene, and from these experimental data a preferred cooling rate of about 300° C/Ma is obtained for the period of growth of garnet exsolution lamellae. A geospeedometry approach (Lasaga 1983) suitable for a pure-exchange process (reaction 2) is used to estimate the cooling rate in the later stages of the thermal history (after garnet growth); values 4–40° C/Ma are consistent with the shape of the Fe-diffusion gradients in the clinopyroxene. The extensive thermal history recorded by JJG41, including probable melt involvement at ca. 1400° C, demonstrates the complex evolution of rocks within the mantle. Whilst the notion of formation of mantle eclogites from subducted oceanic crust has become fashionable, it is clear that tracing eclogite geochemical and P-T characteristics backwards from their nature at the time of xenolith eruption, through high-temperature mantle events to the characteristics of the original subducted oceanic crust, will be very complex.     

近30a台湾非台风暴雨研究回顾

从1987年开始,台湾暴雨研究进入一个新纪元,由早期定性描述分析进入定量计算与模拟,其中包括新观测设施的建设与数值天气预报系统的建立。近年来,随着全球气候变暖,台湾极端降雨事件有所增加,其中不少极端降雨事件是由非台风暴雨所致,往往给当地社会经济和人民生命财产造成严重影响,这就迫切需要不断提高强降雨定量预报业务水平。本文通过对近30 a台湾在非台风暴雨研究发展方面取得的主要进展的回顾,重点介绍了台湾气象部门为了提高强降雨定量预报业务水平所做出的努力,同时对未来台湾非台风暴雨研究规划与方向作了简要介绍。