Effect of Bank Deformations on Pollutant Transport in Rivers in Cryolithozone: Laboratory and Mathematical Modeling

The study is focused on pollution transport in rivers flowing in cryolithozone and takes into account possible channel deformations caused by thawing of permafrost rocks in which the channel runs. The methods used are laboratory and mathematical modeling. The mathematical model consists of four blocks: hydrodynamic, thermal, deformation, and pollutant transport. The model was validated and tested against the data of a laboratory experiment. Numerical experiments suggested conclusions regarding the propagation of pollutants entering the flow from sources in thawing bank slopes and on river floodplain.     

A direct scaling analysis for the sea level rise

The estimation of long-term sea level variability is of primary importance for a climate change assessment. Despite the value of the subject, no scientific consensus has yet been reached on the existing acceleration in observed values. The existence of this acceleration is crucial for coastal protection planning purposes. The absence of the acceleration would enhance the debate on the general validity of current future projections. Methodologically, the evaluation of the acceleration is a controversial and still open discussion, reported in a number of review articles, which illustrate the state-of-art in the field of sea level research. In the present paper, the well-proven direct scaling analysis approach is proposed in order to describe the long-term sea level variability at 12 worldwide-selected tide gauge stations. For each of the stations, it has been shown that the long-term sea level variability exhibits a trimodal scaling behaviour, which can be modelled by a power law with three different pairs of shape and scale parameters. Compared to alternative methods in literature, which take into account multiple correlated factors, this simple method allows to reduce the uncertainties on the sea level rise parameters estimation.     

Equilibrium modeling of the beach profile on a macrotidal embayed low tide terrace beach

Eleven-year long time series of monthly beach profile surveys and hourly incident wave conditions are analyzed for a macrotidal Low Tide Terrace beach. The lower intertidal zone of the beach has a pluriannual cycle, whereas the upper beach profile has a predominantly seasonal cycle. An equilibrium model is applied to study the variation of the contour elevation positions in the intertidal zone as a function of the wave energy, wave power, and water level. When forcing the model with wave energy, the predictive ability of the equilibrium model is around 60% in the upper intertidal zone but decreases to 40% in the lower intertidal zone. Using wave power increases the predictive ability up to 70% in both the upper and lower intertidal zones. However, changes around the inflection point are not well predicted. The equilibrium model is then extended to take into account the effects of the tide level. The initial results do not show an increase in the predictive capacity of the model, but do allow the model free parameters to represent more accurately the values expected in a macrotidal environment. This allows comparing the empirical model calibration in different tidal environment. The interpretation of the model free parameter variation across the intertidal zone highlights the behavior of the different zones along the intertidal beach profile. This contributes to a global interpretation of the four model parameters for beaches with different tidal ranges, and therefore to a global model applicable at a wide variety sites.     

Dispersion features of transmitted channel waves and inversion of coal seam thickness

In-seam seismic survey currently is a hot geophysical exploration technology used for the prediction of coal seam thickness in China. Many studies have investigated the relationship between the group velocity of channel wave at certain frequency and the actual thickness of exposed coal beds. But these results are based on statistics and not universally applicable to predict the thickness of coal seams. In this study, we first theoretically analyzed the relationship between the depth and energy distribution of multi-order Love-type channel waves and found that when the channel wave wavelength is smaller than the thickness of the coal seam, the energy is more concentrated, while when the wavelength is greater than the thickness, the energy reduces linearly. We then utilized the numerical simulation technology to obtain the signal of the simulated Love-type channel wave, analyzed its frequency dispersion, and calculated the theoretical dispersion curves. The results showed that the dispersion characteristics of the channel wave are closely related to the thickness of coal seam, and the shear wave velocity of the coal seam and its surrounding rocks. In addition, we for the first time realized the joint inversion of multi-order Love-type channel waves based on the genetic algorithm and inversely calculated the velocities of shear wave in both coal seam and its surrounding rocks and the thickness of the coal seam. In addition, we found the group velocity dispersion curve of the single-channel transmitted channel wave using the time–frequency analysis and obtained the phase velocity dispersion curve based on the mathematical relationship between the group and phase velocities. Moreover, we employed the phase velocity dispersion curve to complete the inversion of the above method and obtain the predicted coal seam thickness. By comparing the geological sketch of the coal mining face, we found that the predicted coal seam thickness is in good agreement with the actual thickness. Overall, adopting the channel wave inversion method that creatively uses the complete dispersion curve can obtain the shear wave velocities of the coal and its surrounding rocks, and analyzing the depth of the abruptly changed shear wave velocity can accurately obtain the thickness of the coal seam. Therefore, our study proved that this inversion method is feasible to be used in both simulation experiments and actual detection.     

Makran ophiolitic basalts (SE Iran) record Late Cretaceous Neotethys plume-ridge interaction

ABSTRACT

The Makran complex in southeast Iran provides a spectacular subduction-related accretionary complex to understand the mechanism of oceanic accretion and the evolution of subduction zones. In this paper, we present new major and trace element data as well as isotopic compositions of mafic volcanic blocks from the Makran ophiolitic mélange complex (OMC). Our aim is to assess the genesis of these rocks and discuss their implications on the evolution of Neotethys Ocean. These volcanic blocks are composed mainly of basalts with minor trachytes. The Makran lavas are occasionally interlayered with tuff layers. Zircons from these tuffs give U-Pb ages of 95 Ma, which is well in accordance with the reposted microfossil data for the interlayered pelagic limestones with pillow lavas. Makran basalts can be geochemically subdivided into four groups; normal to transitional MORB, enriched-MORB, Plume-type MORB and alkaline (-OIB-like) basalts. The OIB-like pillow lavas are represented by high values of Th/Tb (6.3–7.4) which are higher than other basalts (group 1 = 0.3–0.8; groups 2 = 0.7–1.6; group 3 = 1.58–1.36).¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(t) ratios for basalts ranges from 0.51247 to 0.51292, whereas ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(t) isotopic composition of the OMC lavas varies from 0.704433 to 0.709466. The Pb isotopic composition of the lavas are quite high, ranging from 15.49–15.66 for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t), 18.09–19.12 for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t) and 37.80–39.23 for ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t). The chemistry of these rocks suggests that they were formed most likely in an oceanic setting with clear plume-ridge interaction. These rocks can form from partial melting of a highly heterogeneous mantle source, which is extensively metasomatized with deep mantle OIB-type components. We suggest these rocks have been generated in an oceanic ridge with plume-ridge interaction, similar to the Iceland-Reykjanes Ridge, before being fragmented and accreted into the Makran accretionary complex.     

A feasible approach to predicting time-dependent bearing performance of jacked piles from CPTu measurements

Acta Geotechnica - In this paper, a simple but feasible approach is proposed to predict the time-dependent load carrying behaviours of jacked piles from CPTu measurements. The corrected cone...     

The Oldest Vendian (Ediacaran) Fossils of Eurasia: U–Pb Isotope Age of the Basa Formation (Asha Group,Southern Urals)

Doklady Earth Sciences - U–Th–Pb (SHRIMP II) isotopic dating of accessory zircons from Vendian (Ediacaran) ash tuffs of the Basa formation section (Asha Group, Southern Ural) was...     

Estimation of the Ionospheric Effects of Geomagnetic Disturbances Based on Data from Wakkanai Station

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Ionosonde measurements of the critical frequency of the ionospheric F2 layer (foF2) at Wakkanai station (Japan) are analyzed with the method of superposed epochs. The...     

Modified 3D Model of a Facular KNOT

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The paper presents a modified version of a previously published 3D model of the solar facular knot (Solov’ev and Kirichek, 2019), which successfully describes the...     

Evaluating the Diffuse Runoff from Urban Territories in the Volga Basin: Case Study of Rostov City

Water Resources - The study is focused on examining and simulating the formation processes of the runoff and pollution export in the case of Rostov (Rostov Velikii), a town in the Volga basin. The...