Regional Scale Seismological Investigation on the Continent Crust Using Airgun Sources——A Perspective Review

The investigations on the structure and temporal variations of the continent crust have been the long-lasting topics of seismology. The artificial sources play the most important role in these studies for their well-known locations and occur times among all the sources producing elastic waves, so that precise results are obtained. In past decades, we have successfully excited the airgun sources in on-land water bodies such as reservoirs, expanding their applications in marine seismology. Large volume airguns have been used to produce low frequency signals which can travel hundreds of kilometers after stacking, providing a source connecting the exploration seismology and traditional seismology at regional scale. In this review, we introduce the changes through which we turn the airgun into scientific instruments by experiments. We also present the advances on imaging the continental crust structure and monitoring the velocity variations using the highly repeatable signals emitted by airgun sources. The potential applications such as imaging the subsurface of urban areas and high resolution illuminating of mines are proposed and the challenges for further investigations are also discussed.     

A fundamental theorem for eco-environmental surface modelling and its applications

We propose a fundamental theorem for eco-environmental surface modelling(FTEEM) in order to apply it into the fields of ecology and environmental science more easily after the fundamental theorem for Earth's surface system modeling(FTESM). The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(BTH) region is taken as a case area to conduct empirical studies of algorithms for spatial upscaling, spatial downscaling, spatial interpolation, data fusion and model-data assimilation, which are based on high accuracy surface modelling(HASM), corresponding with corollaries of FTEEM. The case studies demonstrate how eco-environmental surface modelling is substantially improved when both extrinsic and intrinsic information are used along with an appropriate method of HASM. Compared with classic algorithms, the HASM-based algorithm for spatial upscaling reduced the root-meansquare error of the BTH elevation surface by 9 m. The HASM-based algorithm for spatial downscaling reduced the relative error of future scenarios of annual mean temperature by 16%. The HASM-based algorithm for spatial interpolation reduced the relative error of change trend of annual mean precipitation by 0.2%. The HASM-based algorithm for data fusion reduced the relative error of change trend of annual mean temperature by 70%. The HASM-based algorithm for model-data assimilation reduced the relative error of carbon stocks by 40%. We propose five theoretical challenges and three application problems of HASM that need to be addressed to improve FTEEM.     

Prediction of $$\hbox {PM}_{2.5}$$PM2.5 concentration based on weighted bagging and image contrast-sensitive features

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment - In this paper, we propose an effective method of $$\hbox {PM}_{2.5}$$ prediction based on image contrast-sensitive features and weighted...     

Spatial Variability of Nitrate and Ammonium in Pleistocene Aquifer of Central Yangtze River Basin

It becomes increasingly important and challenging for nitrogen pollution prevention to identify key controls for spatial variability of nitrogen in groundwater that could be affected by multiple factors, including anthropogenic input, groundwater flow, and local geochemistry. This study characterized spatial variability of both nitrate and ammonium in the Pleistocene aquifer of central Yangtze River Basin and assessed the effect of various factors in controlling nitrate and ammonium levels based on multiple statistical approaches (correlation, geostatistics, multiple liner regression). The results indicate that nitrate is mostly influenced by Cl⁻ that represents anthropogenic input, while Eh representing local redox state is a secondary variable influencing nitrate concentrations. The groundwater with elevated nitrate concentrations are estimated to occur mainly in areas with higher-permeability near-surface sediments which can facilitate more anthropogenic nitrate transport and less nitrate removal owing to more oxidized state. Ammonium is mostly correlated to Eh, followed by dissolved organic carbon (DOC), but only DOC improves significantly the accuracy of co-kriging prediction model. The groundwater with elevated ammonium concentrations are estimated to occur mainly in areas with more organic-rich sediments within or around the aquifer which can facilitate more ammonium release owing to natural organic matter consumption accompanying strong reducing conditions. The regional groundwater flow is not a factor significantly controlling nitrate or ammonium levels owing to flat topography and sluggish lateral flow.     

Risks of airborne pollution accidents in a major conurbation: case study of Zhangjiakou,a host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics

The number of airborne pollution accidents is second only to that of water-borne pollution accidents, in recorded environmental disasters. Acute casualties and public health costs have prompted many airborne pollution risk analyses. To date, few assessment methods have been carried out at regional-scale to quantify acute airborne pollution risk. Herein, a Hybrid Simulation and Risk Analysis approach, involving a systematic combination of simulation, risk ranking, and standardized analysis, is proposed at regional scale. Gaussian and heavy-gas models are utilized in the simulation process, and acute exposure limits preferentially adopted in the risk analysis. The case study shows that 34 of 243 townships in Zhangjiakou City of north China, one of the twin cities selected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, are threatened by airborne risk sources. It is found that the accidental air pollution risk is comparatively higher in the Xuanhua and Wanquan conurbations. High-risk chemical enterprises (312–432 risk scores) are mostly located near urban areas with high population density where many people are vulnerable receptors to potential air pollution accidents. The resulting risk map indicates that acute airborne pollution from Zhangjiakou would not be a threat either to the proposed Olympic site at Chongli or to downwind Beijing.     

The effect of amplitude scaling limits on conditional spectrum-based ground motion selection

Amplitude scaling is commonly used to select ground motions matching a target response spectrum. In this paper, the effect of scaling limits on ground motion selection, based on the conditional spectrum framework, is investigated. Target spectra are computed for four probabilistic seismic hazard cases in Western United States, and 16 ground motion suites are selected using different scaling limits (ie, 2, 5, 10, and 15). Comparison of spectral acceleration distributions of the selected ground motion suites demonstrates that the use of a scaling limit of 2 yields a relatively poor representation of the target spectra, because of the small limit leading to an insufficient number of available ground motions. It is also shown that increasing scaling limit results in selected ground motions with generally increased distributions of Arias intensity and significant duration Ds_5-75, implying that scaling limit consideration can significantly influence the cumulative and duration characteristics of selected ground motions. The ground motion suites selected are then used as input for slope displacement and structural dynamic analyses. Comparative results demonstrate that the consideration of scaling limits in ground motion selection has a notable influence on the distribution of the engineering demand parameters calculated (ie, slope displacement and interstory drift ratio). Finally, based on extensive analyses, a scaling limit range of 3 to 5 is recommended for general use when selecting ground motion records from the NGA-West2 database.     

日本Mw9.0强震的高频GPS形变波特征初探

利用高频GPS数据长基线双差精密定位技术,获取2011年3月日本Mw9.0强震近场和远场GPS连续参考站的瞬时动态形变。分析表明：距震源较近的IGS站（USUD）的同震动态形变水平方向幅度超过60 cm,震后水平形变达到30 cm;位于远场的GPS连续参考站（JLYJ）的动态形变,清晰地给出了地震面波引起的地表形变波形。对JLYJ站的谱分析表明,地震面波引起的动态形变周期为10～17 s,并出现了两次峰值,东西向和垂向上的动态位移量远大于北南向,说明JLYJ站的形变主要由Rayleigh波及其谐波所主导,Rayleigh波的传播速度为3.5 km/s,波长约50 km。     

2017年9月23日朝鲜振动事件记录特征分析

2017年9月23日16时29分在朝鲜丰溪里核试验场发生3.4级地震。本文基于中国地震台网对该地震事件的波形记录,分析认为:该事件不是一次简单的单独过程,虽然事件开始时发生爆破,但事件主体是由断层错动产生的天然地震。这次事件是爆破和天然地震相继发生的复合型事件。     

活动断层探察数据的信息编码优化研究

从20世纪90年代起,研究人员就开始探索活动断层探察数据的制作、存储与管理。迄今为止,已经获得了大量的活动断层探察数据,建成了一套系统的数据组织体系,为减轻地震灾害的相关研究提供了数据和技术支撑。近年来,随着活动断层数据库信息的扩充,初期设计的部分属性信息编码已不适用。为了形成适应当前工作的属性信息编码体系,本文以活动断层数据库建设体系为基础,对数据库属性值代码进行信息分类和编码优化。文章将数据库属性值代码分为字符型单一含义值、数值型单一含义值及复合含义值,分别进行编码规则设计,最终优化了数据库属性信息编码体系,提高了从建库到数据应用的数据录入、检测、制图自动化、数据分析等环节的效率。     

An application of 4D seismic monitoring technique to modern coal mining

To study the impact of modern coal mining on the overlying formation, a full‐life‐cycle four‐dimensional seismic monitoring study has been carried out. Four seismic data campaigns have been performed using flexi‐bin geometry with square bins, with total duration of 171 days. The four seismic datasets have been processed with the same processing workflow and parameters; major problems such as statics correction, signal‐to‐noise ratio, resolution, and consistency processing are addressed taking into account the geological features of the research area. This guarantees that remaining four‐dimensional differences between the time‐lapse datasets show mostly geological factors due to the coal mining and effects such as surface subsidence. Our four‐dimensional seismic monitoring of modern coal mining shows that mined and unmined areas have significant zoning characteristics; coal mining has a direct impact on the overlying formation. The mining leads to obvious event subsidence, which reflects that overlying formations undergo subsidence during the mining process. The overlying formation appears as two zones called caving zone and fractured zone. We determine the fault dip of the overlying formation at one end of the working face to be 56°or so by calculation and conversion. We also see that, during the coal mining process, over time, the overlying formation has a self‐recovery capability, which gradually strengthens from the roof siltstone upward to the Aeolian sandstone near the surface. The stability of 20‐m coal pillars between working faces displays a strengthening trend and remains safe during the mining process due to both coal seam supporting and formation compaction effects.