Development and Extension of An Aggregated Scale Model: Part 1 – Background to ASMITA

Whilst much attention has been given to models that describe wave, tide and sediment transport processes in sufficient detail to determine the local changes in bed level over a relatively detailed representation of the bathymetry, far less attention has been given to models that consider the problem at a much larger scale (e.g. that of geomorphological elements such as a tidal flat and tidal channel). Such aggregated or lumped models tend not to represent the processes in detail but rather capture the behaviour at the scale of interest. One such model developed using the concept of an equilibrium concentration is the Aggregated Scale Morphological Interaction between Tidal basin and Adjacent coast (ASMITA). In this paper we provide some new insights into the concepts of equilibrium, and horizontal and vertical exchange that are key components of this modelling approach. In a companion paper, we summarise a range of developments that have been undertaken to extend the original model concept, to illustrate the flexibility and power of the conceptual framework. However, adding detail progressively moves the model in the direction of the more detailed process-based models and we give some consideration to the boundary between the two.     

Assessing suitability of rural settlements using an improved technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution

Land suitability assessment is a prerequisite phase in land use planning; it guides toward optimal land use by providing information on the opportunities and constraints involved in the use of a given land area. A geographic information system-based procedure, known as rural settlement suitability evaluation (RSSE) using an improved technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), was adopted to determine the most suitable area for constructing rural settlements in different geographical locations. Given the distribution and independence of rural settlements, a distinctive evaluation criteria system that differed from that of urban suitability was established by considering the level of rural infrastructure services as well as living and working conditions. The unpredictable mutual interference among evaluation factors has been found in practical works. An improved TOPSIS using Mahalanobis distance was applied to solve the unpredictable correlation among the criteria in a suitability evaluation. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses obtained via Monte Carlo simulation were performed to examine the robustness of the model. Daye, a resource-based city with rapid economic development, unsatisfied rural development, and geological environmental problems caused by mining, was used as a case study. Results indicate the following findings: 1) The RSSE model using the improved TOPSIS can assess the suitability of rural settlements, and the suitability maps generated using the improved TOPSIS have higher information density than those generated using traditional TOPSIS. The robustness of the model is improved, and the uncertainty is reduced in the suitability results. 2) Highly suitable land is mainly distributed in the northeast of the study area, and the majority of which is cultivated land, thereby leading to tremendous pressure on the loss of cultivated land. 3) Lastly, 12.54% of the constructive expansion permitted zone and 8.36% of the constructive expansion conditionally permitted zone are situated in an unsuitable area, which indicates that the general planning of Daye lacks the necessary verification of suitability evaluation. Guidance is provided on the development strategy of rural settlement patches to support decision making in general land use planning.     

Enrichment characteristics and risk assessment of Hg in bird feathers from Caohai wetland in Guizhou Province,China

Based on the analysis of the enrichment characteristics of Hg and MeHg in bird feathers from Caohai National Nature Reserve in Guizhou, the risks of Hg pollution to the birds from Caohai wetland have been evaluated. The total Hg content of bird feathers ranges from 40 to 5058 ng/g with an average of 924 ng/g. The content of MeHg is significantly correlated with total Hg (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), and the content are among 0.75 and 113 ng/g. The total Hg content in the birds feathers is significantly dependent on their feeding habits, which is mainly in accordance with the following rule: carnivorous birds > omnivorous birds that are mainly carnivorous > omnivorous birds that are mainly herbivorous. There are also differences in the Hg enrichment ability in the different parts of bird feathers, and the total Hg and MeHg content in the wing feathers are significantly higher than that in the other parts of feathers. The bioaccumulation coefficients of aqueous Hg and MeHg by bird feathers are 0.9 × 10⁴–112.13 × 10⁴ (mean value is 20.47 × 10⁴) and 0.47 × 10⁴–70.4 × 10⁴ (mean value is 9.52 × 10⁴), respectively. Although the whole Hg level in Caohai bird feathers is not too high, the Hg content in some carnivorous birds exceeds over or approaches the abnormal threshold when birds are breeding (5 μg/g), which indicates that the birds in Caohai wetland are faced with some risks of ecological Hg pollution.     

Water system characteristics of Karst river basins in South China and their driving mechanisms of hydrological drought

Natural Hazards - It is common knowledge that drought is considered one of the most damaging natural disasters in terms of economic costs, societal problems, and ecological impacts. In this study,...     

Zircon U-Pb Geochronology,Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of Early Cretaceous A-type Granites in the Mikengshan Area,Southern Jiangxi ProvinceEI北大核心CSCD

In the Mikengshan-Yanbei area, a special region for the tin mineralization in South China, there are some Yanshanian granites and porphyries and associated porphyry tin deposits (e.g., Yanbei). Although the tin mineralization is closely associated with the granitoids magmatism, the age and petrogenesis of the granites remain controversial. The Mikengshan pluton, which intrudes into the rhyolitic tuff and pyroclastic rocks of the Upper Jurassic Jilongzhang Formation, is the largest one in Mikengshan-Yanbei area and mainly consists of K-feldspar bearing granites. In this study, we report new age and geochemical data for the Mikengshan K-feldspar bearing granites. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb age dating shows that they were generated in the Early Cretaceous (~138 Ma). They have high SiO2 (74.42% to 76.69%), low Al2O3 (12.39% to 13.49%) and Mg# (11 to 19), and negative Eu, Sr and Ba anomalies, and are rich in potassium (most K2O/Na2O=1.37 to 1.94) and high field strength elements (HFSEs), and are weakly peraluminous (A/CNK=1.03 to 1.1) with high 10000×Ga/Al ratios (3.46 to 4.96) and slightly high zircon saturation temperatures (807 ℃ to 817 ℃), showing the characteristics of the typical A-type granites. Moreover, they have high Rb contents 842×10-6 to 1295×10-6, Rb/Sr (90 to 255) ratios and show rare earth elements (REE) tetrad effect, which are similar to those of high fractionated granites. Thus, we suggested that the Mikengshan K-feldspar bearing granites are high fractionated and aluminous A-type granite. Their slightly high εNd(t) values (-3.4 to -4.6) indicate that the mantle components should have played a role during their formation. Taking into account regional igneous rocks and tectonic setting data, we suggest that the Mikengshan K-bearing granites were formed in an extensional setting, which was probably related to the roll-back of the subducted Paleo-Pacific plate. © 2018, Science Press. All right reserved.     

Estimating satellite phase fractional cycle biases based on Kalman filter

Phase fractional cycle biases (FCBs) originating from satellites and receivers destroy the integer nature of PPP carrier phase ambiguities. To achieve integer ambiguity resolution of PPP, FCBs of satellites are required. In former work, least squares methods are commonly adopted to isolate FCBs from a network of reference stations. However, it can be extremely time consuming concerning the large number of observations from hundreds of stations and thousands of epochs. In addition, iterations are required to deal with the one-cycle inconsistency among FCB measurements. We propose to estimate the FCB based on a Kalman filter. The large number of observations are handled epoch by epoch, which significantly reduces the dimension of the involved matrix and accelerates the computation. In addition, it is also suitable for real-time applications. As for the one-cycle inconsistency, a pre-elimination method is developed to avoid iterations and posterior adjustments. A globally distributed network consisting of about 200 IGS stations is selected to determine the GPS satellite FCBs. Observations recorded from DoY 52 to 61 in 2016 are processed to verify the proposed approach. The RMS of wide lane (WL) posterior residuals is 0.09 cycles while that of the narrow lane (NL) is about 0.05 cycles, which indicates a good internal accuracy. The estimated WL FCBs also have a good consistency with existing WL FCB products (e.g., CNES-GRG, WHU-SGG). The RMS of differences with respect to GRG and SGG products are 0.03 and 0.05 cycles. For satellite NL FCB estimates, 97.9% of the differences with respect to SGG products are within ±?0.1 cycles. The RMS of the difference is 0.05 cycles. These results prove the efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Research on Creep Deformation and Control Mechanism of Weak Surrounding Rock in Super Large Section Tunnel

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - In order to solve the difficulties of creep deformation of surrounding rock in super large section tunnel, taking Letuan tunnel of Binlai expressway, a...     

四川盆地东部中二叠统茅口组热液活动特征

四川盆地中二叠统茅口组存在丰富的热液流体活动。在野外剖面和岩心观察的基础上,利用多种分析测试方法,对四川盆地东部茅口组碳酸盐岩中的热液活动特征进行了探讨。研究区茅口组热液活动包括2类,一类为硅质热液,表现为薄层硅质岩或硅质团块;另一类为碳酸盐型热液,表现为粗晶方解石和白云石充填在张性构造裂缝中或呈"雪片状"集合体,偶见少量黄铁矿、闪锌矿等金属硫化物伴生。硅质岩主量元素之间的关系表明硅质来源具有多样性,是热液硅与壳源硅的混合;黄铁矿、闪锌矿原位S同位素δ34S介于-3.91‰~-6.87‰之间,推测可能受到了微生物和基性岩浆岩的双重影响;方解石脉和具鞍状双晶的白云石脉普遍具有Ca O高于标准计量、相对富Sr和U、贫REE和Ti、Ce/Ce*明显负异常、Eu/Eu*主体正异常、Y正异常等特征,表明碳酸盐脉为热液活动的产物,流体来源也呈现出火山活动相关流体与富钙地下水混合的特点。闪锌矿富集Ge和Cd,Zn/Cd及Zn/Fe值反映了中等成矿温度。硅质岩和碳酸盐流体包裹体均一温度变化范围较大,介于54.7~294.3℃之间,与稀土元素和微量元素比值所揭示的特征吻合。研究结果表明,穿层状硅质结核和团块的首次出现往往标志着茅口组热液活动的开始,而张性构造裂缝和碳酸盐型热液活动带来的围岩白云化作用则有效地改善了白云岩储集层的物性。