Comparison of marine gas hydrates in sediments of an active and passive continental margin

Two sites of the Deep Sea Drilling Project in contrasting geologic settings provide a basis for comparison of the geochemical conditions associated with marine gas hydrates in continental margin sediments. Site 533 is located at 3191 m water depth on a spit-like extension of the continental rise on a passive margin in the Atlantic Ocean. Site 568, at 2031 m water depth, is in upper slope sediment of an active accretionary margin in the Pacific Ocean. Both sites are characterized by high rates of sedimentation, and the organic carbon contents of these sediments generally exceed 0.5%. Anomalous seismic reflections that transgress sedimentary structures and parallel the seafloor, suggested the presence of gas hydrates at both sites, and, during coring, small samples of gas hydrate were recovered at subbottom depths of 238m (Site 533) and 404 m (Site 568). The principal gaseous components of the gas hydrates wer methane, ethane, and CO₂. Residual methane in sediments at both sites usually exceeded 10 mll^?1 of wet sediment. Carbon isotopic compositions of methane, CO₂, and ΣCO₂ followed parallel trends with depth, suggesting that methane formed mainly as a result of biological reduction of oxidized carbon. Salinity of pore waters decreased with depth, a likely result of gas hydrate formation. These geochemical characteristics define some of the conditions associated with the occurrence of gas hydrates formed by in situ processes in continental margin sediments.     

Slowness—time mapping of near offset seismic reflection data

Summary. The transformation of a set of seismograms to the delay time-slowness, τ—p, domain is presented as a sequence of Fourier and Bessel transforms, For a horizontally layered medium, this sequence gives an exact cylindrical wave decomposition of the response to a point source; correctly compensating for the phase shifting and geometrical spreading associated with transmission through the Earth. The resultant τ—p map or 'slant stack' contains true amplitude and phase information. The spatial aliasing properties of the transformation, when applied to a dataset, are greatly improved by the use of only outgoing waves in the Bessel transform. This is equivalent to using Hankel functions rather than Bessel functions, and is justified by the absence of incoming waves from most datasets. The WKBJ approximation to the medium response enables predictions to be made about the shape and amplitude variation with slowness of truncation effects. Theoretically the τ—p transformation is reversible, thus the τ—p domain is a suitable one in which to perform filtering operations before seismogram reconstruction.     

A critical state model for sands dependent on stress and density

An elastoplastic model for sands is presented in this paper, which can describe stress–strain behaviour dependent on mean effective stress level and void ratio. The main features of the proposed model are: (a) a new state parameter, which is dependent on the initial void ratio and initial mean stress, is proposed and applied to the yield function in order to predict the plastic deformation for very loose sands; and (b) another new state parameter, which is used to determine the peak strength and describe the critical state behaviour of sands during shearing, is proposed in order to predict simply negative/positive dilatancy and the hardening/softening behaviour of medium or dense sands. In addition, the proposed model can also predict the stress–strain behaviour of sands under three-dimensional stress conditions by using a transformed stress tensor instead of ordinary stress tensor. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plane of elastic non-resisting tension material under foundation structures

In the frame of 2D-static problems one approaches the problem of elastic-NRT (not-resisting tension) semi-plane loaded on its limit line. This problem is intended to model the stress situation induced in the soil by a foundation structure. The solution, in terms of activated stress field, is searched for in the class of stress fields satisfying equilibrium and admissibility conditions, by applying an energy approach. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Nonlinear Thermal Evolution of Solar Corona Structures

The thermal evolution of structures is investigated for different values of the size of structure. A simplified cooling function and a constant heating mechanism are assumed. Analytical criteria for thermal instability are obtained. It is found that the response of the thermal structure not only depends on the amplitude of the disturbances, but also on whether the disturbance increases or decreases the initial steady temperature. Additionally, the evolution of the structure is examined numerically by using a time-dependent code under the assumption that the inertia terms are small. In particular, the analytical criteria obtained for thermal instability are verified.     

Microwave Type III Burst Group in the 1993 October 2 Flare

Microwave Type III bursts with positive frequency drifting rate were found by Stahli and Benz (1987) for first time. Type III events are especially interesting because they are well-known to be signatures of electron beams in coronal plasma, and they are effective means for diagnosting of source plasma. A microwave burst consisting of some microwave type III burst groups was registered at Beijing Astronomical Observatory with the 2545–2645–2840 MHz synchronous observing system. The distributions of frequency drifting rate, half power duration, and intensity for each impulse in the groups have been statistically analysed. From this analysis, some important parameters for the dynamic process in the flare are deduced and discussed.