Quantifying fracture geometry with X-ray tomography: Technique of Iterative Local Thresholding (TILT) for 3D image segmentation

This paper presents a new method—the Technique of Iterative Local Thresholding (TILT)—for processing 3D X-ray computed tomography (xCT) images for visualization and quantification of rock fractures. The TILT method includes the following advancements. First, custom masks are generated by a fracture-dilation procedure, which significantly amplifies the fracture signal on the intensity histogram used for local thresholding. Second, TILT is particularly well suited for fracture characterization in granular rocks because the multi-scale Hessian fracture (MHF) filter has been incorporated to distinguish fractures from pores in the rock matrix. Third, TILT wraps the thresholding and fracture isolation steps in an optimized iterative routine for binary segmentation, minimizing human intervention and enabling automated processing of large 3D datasets. As an illustrative example, we applied TILT to 3D xCT images of reacted and unreacted fractured limestone cores. Other segmentation methods were also applied to provide insights regarding variability in image processing. The results show that TILT significantly enhanced separability of grayscale intensities, outperformed the other methods in automation, and was successful in isolating fractures from the porous rock matrix. Because the other methods are more likely to misclassify fracture edges as void and/or have limited capacity in distinguishing fractures from pores, those methods estimated larger fracture volumes (up to 80 %), surface areas (up to 60 %), and roughness (up to a factor of 2). These differences in fracture geometry would lead to significant disparities in hydraulic permeability predictions, as determined by 2D flow simulations.     

Geotechnical assessment of the bearing capacity of coal mine floors

Summary This investigation concerns 3 longwall faces having variable strata and mining conditions, but supported by 202 tonnes hydraulic 6-leg chocks. Bearing capacity tests along the faces were conducted to evaluate the factors influencing floor deformation and failure. The effect of size, shape and perimeter of the base plates, thickness of the floor layer, time and moisture on the ultimate bearing capacity of the floor was measured and discussed. Application of this work is the prediction of stability and support performance of face ends, as well as the design of support systems and ground control on production faces.     

Analysis of a high-amplitude event in component A of the gravitational lens QSO 2237+0305

We present an analysis of a high-amplitude event in the flux curve of component A of the gravitational lens QSO 2237+0305 observed by the OGLE and GLITP groups in autumn 1999. Hypothesizing this event to be associated with microlensing of a fold caustic, we analyzed the observational data using a method for the successive reconstruction of branches of the one-dimensional strip brightness distribution across the source corresponding to positive and negative arguments. The search for the branches was carried out on compact sets of nonnegative, monotonically nonincreasing, convex downward functions. The resulting shape of the strip brightness distribution for the accretion disk of the quasar is in agreement with results obtained earlier via model fitting. Features in the lensing curve that could be associated with curvature of the caustic, nearness of a cusp, or the influence of nearby caustics are noted.     

An orthotropic interface damage model for simulating drying processes in soils

The study of drying process in soils has received an increased attention in the last few years. This is very complex phenomenon that generally leads to the formation and propagation of desiccation cracks in the soil mass. In recent engineering applications, high aspect ratio elements have proved to be well suited to tackle this type of problem using finite elements. However, the modeling of interfaces between materials with orthotropic properties that generally exist in this type of problem using standard (isotropic) constitutive model is very complex and challenging in terms of the mesh generation, leading to very fine meshes that are intensive CPU demanding. A novel orthotropic interface mechanical model based on damage mechanics and capable of dealing with interfaces between materials in which the strength depends on the direction of analysis is proposed in this paper. The complete mathematical formulation is presented together with the algorithm suggested for its numerical implementation. Some simple yet challenging synthetic benchmarks are analyzed to explore the model capabilities. Laboratory tests using different textures at the contact surface between materials were conducted to evaluate the strengths of the interface in different directions. These experiments were then used to validate the proposed model. Finally, the approach is applied to simulate an actual desiccation test involving an orthotropic contact surface. In all the application cases the performance of the model was very satisfactory.     

Origin of Geochemical Variability by Arc-Continent Collision in the Biru Area, Southern Sulawesi (Indonesia)

Analyses of igneous rocks from the Eocene calc-alkaline andMiocene potassic volcanic arc in southwest Sulawesi indicatethat magmas became more heterogeneous in their trace elementand Pb–Sr–Nd isotopic signature following the collisionof the Buton microcontinent with the arc at     

Evaluation of cold-water carbonates as a possible paleoclimatic indicator

The common belief currently shared by many geoscientists concerning the climatic interpretation of limestones is that a warm-water environment is essential. This concept is not necessarily true because the rate and extent of terrigenous sediment dilution, rather than water temperature, is the primary factor determining whether or not a limestone forms at nearshore or continental shelf depths. Because carbonate productivity is lowest in cold climates, however, CaCO₃ abundance and the thickness of carbonate accumulations tend to be least at high latitudes. In this regard present-day continental shelves and beaches offer a poor model for comparing cold-water and warm-water carbonates because of the generally emergent continental tectonic framework, recent eustatic sea-level changes, and the presence of ice caps at the modern poles.Typically, the influence of climate on non-reef continental shelf and beach environments cannot be clearly distinguished by the presence or absence of major taxonomic groups. Faunal diversity and equitability are more sensitive in this regard. The absence of shelf-depth inorganic carbonate precipitates, micrite envelopes, and peloids may also point to the cold-water origin of a rock. Skeletal mineralogy and oxygen isotopes of certain unrecrystallized carbonates may be good paleoclimatic indicators; however, trace elements and physical-textural attributes of the carbonate fraction are probably temperature insensitive.Previous studies of high-latitude continental shelves have concentrated merely on the abundance of calcareous material and there is seemingly a disproportionate amount of information with respect to low-latitude carbonate studies. Further research on cold-water carbonates may open up new avenues for alternative paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic interpretations.     

Blaubleibender covellite and its relationship to normal covellite

Both natural and synthetic samples of blaubleibender (blue-remaining) covellite have been studied by reflected light microscopy, electron probe microanalysis and electron microscopy and diffraction. The natural sample of composition Cu_1.20S has a 19a × 19a superstructure based on the hexagonal coveilite subcell (side a). The synthetic sample of composition Cu_1.10S has a 27 a × 2 7a superstructure. In both cases the phases are homogeneous. The evidence suggests that the recognition of two distinct types of blaubleibender covellite may be an oversimplification, and that a series of metastable superstructures based on the covellite structure may exist.Work done while on leave at the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Cambridge     

Tectonothermal history of the basement rocks in the western zone of the North China Craton and its tectonic implications

The basement of the North China Craton can be divided into the eastern, central and western zones, based on lithological, structural, metamorphic and geochronological data. The western zone comprises two different petrotectonic units: Archaean tonalitic–trondhjemitic–granodioritic (TTG) grey gneisses and metamorphic mafic rocks, and Palaeoproterozoic khondalite series. The former is characterized by isobaric cooling (IBC)-type anticlockwise P–T paths in the north-northwestern part of the zone and near-isothermal decompression (ITD)-type clockwise P–T paths in the eastern part, adjacent to the central zone. On the other hand, the tectonothermal evolution of Palaeoproterozoic khondalite series rocks is characterized exclusively by nearly isothermal decompression following the peak of metamorphism and then cooling, defining clockwise P–T paths. The Archaean TTG gneisses and associated mafic rocks with anticlockwise metamorphic P–T paths reflects an origin related to underplating and intrusion of mantle-derived magmas which may be derived from mantle plumes. They represent a late Archaean continental block in the western part of the North China Craton. The Palaeoproterozoic khondalite series rocks represent passive continental margin deposits. They were metamorphosed and deformed in the late Palaeoproterozoic during the amalgamation of the western continental block with another continental block in the east part of the North China Craton. The ITD-type clockwise P–T–t paths of the Palaeoproterozoic khondalite series rocks record the tectonothermal histories of the collision of the western and eastern continental blocks which resulted in the final assembly of the North China Craton at c. 1800 Ma.     

The study of intermittent hydrophysical fields in the vicinity of the frontal zone

CTD data provided by the MGI-4204 and MARK-III probes are used to study the quasistationary subpolar front structure in the north-western Sea of Japan. In order to provide further insights into the intermittent scalar hydrophysical fields, the method of inhomogeneity identification using temperature pulsations calculated by the moving interval is suggested. The experimentally-derived inhomogeneity distribution is satisfactorily approximated by the exponential law.Translated by V. Puchkin.