Experimental Investigation of Reinforced Soil Slopes in a Geotechnical Centrifuge,with the Use of Optical Fibre Sensors

The purpose of this experimental investigation is to obtain strain measurements via optical fibre sensors in the drum geotechnical centrifuge of ETH Zurich. It is part of a test series with main goal to study the behaviour of reinforced slopes subjected to self weight loading and subsequently to an impact from a rockfall event. In total 13 scaled reinforced slope models were built with a height of 180 mm and a slope inclination of 2V:1H, optimising the materials used and the different ways of model making. The maximum g-levels were 50 and 100 g and the impact loading was applied at 50 g. The optical fibre sensors were placed on various layers of the reinforcement and at different positions. Strain measurements that were recorded during different tests are logical and expected, demonstrating that optical fibre sensors can successfully be used for measuring linear strain on reinforcement layers that are tested under enhanced gravity in the geotechnical centrifuge. The experimental set up as well as the opportunities and challenges of these measurements are presented and discussed. Finally, correspondent prototype numerical models were created and analysed and the results of this analysis are compared to the corresponding experimental ones.     

Correlations between fatty acid composition of seston and zooplankton and effects of environmental parameters in a eutrophic Siberian reservoir

During two sampling seasons we analyzed on weekly basis fatty acid (FA) composition of seston fraction <130 μm and zooplankton fraction >130 μm, and compared them using a multivariate canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Besides, we evaluated a possible impact of water temperature and inorganic nutrients on FA composition of the seston and the zooplankton.In spite of significant differences in percentages of several individual FAs, we found very strong canonical correlation (cross-correlation, 1-week lag) between FA composition of the seston and the zooplankton. The most important factor, providing the overall canonical cross-correlation between FA profiles of the seston and the zooplankton fractions was eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5ω3, EPA). FA composition of the zooplankton fraction had comparatively poor correlations with taxonomic composition of the zooplankton. Thus, seasonal variations of FA composition of the zooplankton were determined primarily by seasonal changes in FA composition of the seston, rather than by taxonomic differences of FA profiles between rotifers, cyclopoids and cladocerans. FA composition of the seston was strongly affected by its taxonomic composition, namely by that of phytoplankton. According to CCA, the highest factor loadings pertained to diatoms interacting with their marker acids, including EPA, and cyanobacteria and greens, interacting with their marker acids. Ciliates and small rotifers composed considerable and sometimes major part of the seston biomass, but according to CCA their contributions to seasonal variations of the total FA profile of the seston were insignificant. This finding indirectly support the conclusion of the other authors, that the main source of FAs presented in ciliates and rotifers must be sought in algae and that they do not modify FA composition of food consumed, apart from repackaging it.Water temperature was the principal environmental parameter which drove the overall variations of FA composition. Factor loadings for the inorganic nutrients were comparatively negligible. The main contribution in the seasonal variation of FA composition of the seston was given by negative interaction between water temperature and percentage of EPA in the seston.     

Evidence for xenolith–host basalt interaction from chemical patterns in Fe–Ti-oxides from mafic granulite xenoliths of the Bakony–Balaton Volcanic field (W-Hungary)

We investigate the effects of xenolith–host basalt interaction on lower crustal mafic granulite xenoliths from the Central Pannonian Basin. The xenoliths are devoid of any signs of melting, nevertheless various phenomena are identified, which indicate that the original mineralogy and chemistry of the xenoliths was modified during interaction with the host basalt. The rock-forming silicates are only slightly affected by alteration, but the Fe–Ti-oxides are overprinted to a significant extent. Complex chemical zoning patterns are detected using high-resolution element mapping in ilmenites and in lamellar titanomagnetite–ilmenite intergrowths. The chemical alteration of the Fe–Ti-oxides was diffusion-controlled and, hence, time and temperature dependent. On the basis of diffusion profiles in titanomagnetite we estimate the duration of xenolith–host basalt interaction to be at least 9–20 h. This is comparable to the time necessary for the ascent of the host basalt to the surface. It is too short to reflect alteration during granulite facies metamorphism in the deep crust. The chemical alteration of the titanomagnetite thus reflects the total duration of the xenolith–host basalt interaction.     

Precision abundance analysis of bright H ii galaxies

We present high signal-to-noise ratio spectrophotometric observations of seven luminous H  ii galaxies. The observations have been made with the use of a double-arm spectrograph which provides spectra with a wide wavelength coverage, from 3400 to 10 400 Å free of second-order effects, of exactly the same region as that of a given galaxy. These observations are analysed applying a methodology designed to obtain accurate elemental abundances of oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen, neon, argon and iron in the ionized gas. Four electron temperatures and one electron density are derived from the observed forbidden line ratios using the five-level atom approximation. For our best objects, errors of 1 per cent in t _e([O  iii ]), 3 per cent in t _e([O  ii ]) and 5 per cent in t _e([S  iii ]) are achieved with a resulting accuracy of 7 per cent in total oxygen abundances, O/H.
The ionization structure of the nebulae can be mapped by the theoretical oxygen and sulphur ionic ratios, on the one side, and the corresponding observed emission line ratios, on the other – the η and η' plots. The combination of both is shown to provide a means to test photoionization model sequences presently applied to derive elemental abundances in H  ii galaxies.     

基于GRACE时变重力场的三峡水库补给水系水储量变化

利用22个月的GRACE时变重力场,反演了三峡水库补给水系的水储量变化,并按月给出了数值结果.与水文学同化模型（CPC）的两组比较说明基于GRACE重力的反演结果是合理的.当高斯平均半径为1000 km时,该区总水储量变化的峰谷差为14 cm,其年变化振幅为58 cm,相位为-408天,与CPC模型合成重力数据的反演结果进行比较,其总水储量变化均方差为13 cm,年变化振幅相差01 cm,相位相差10天.为进一步检验GRACE能否监测该区真实水储量变化,还将其反演结果与CPC模型的真实平均结果进行比较,结果发现总体均方差为21 cm,年变化振幅相差17 cm,相位相差93天.因此,第一种比较过高地估计了GRACE监测该区水储量变化的能力,第二种比较则较真实地反映了实际情况,尽管反演结果与水文学的结果差别较大,但仍然显示GRACE能监测该区每月的水储量变化.     

Kimberlitic sources of super-deep diamonds in the Juina area,Mato Grosso State,Brazil

The Juina diamond field, in the 1970–80s, was producing up to 5–6 million carats per year from rich placer deposits, but no economic primary deposits had been found in the area. In 2006–2007, Diagem Inc. discovered a group of diamondiferous kimberlitic pipes within the Chapadão Plateau (Chapadão, or Pandrea cluster), at the head of a drainage system which has produced most of the alluvial diamonds mined in the Juina area. Diamonds from placer deposits and newly discovered kimberlites are identical; they have super-deep origins from the upper-mantle and transition zone. Field observations and petrographic studies have identified crater-facies kimberlitic material at seven separate localities. Kimberlitic material is represented by tuffs, tuffisites and various epiclastic sediments containing chrome spinel, picroilmenite, manganoan ilmenite, zircon and diamond. The diamond grade varies from 0.2–1.8 ct/m³. Chrome spinel has 30–61 wt.% Cr₂O₃. Picroilmenite contains 6–14 wt.% MgO and 0.2–4 wt.% Cr₂O₃. Manganoan ilmenite has less than 3 wt.% MgO and 0.38–1.41 wt.% MnO. The ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratio in kimberlitic zircons is 0.028288–0.28295 with ε_Hf = 5.9–8.3, and lies on the average kimberlite trend between depleted mantle and CHUR. The previously known barren and weakly diamondiferous kimberlites in the Juina area have ages of 79–80 Ma. In contrast, zircons from the newly discovered Chapadão kimberlites have a mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 93.6 ± 0.4 Ma, corresponding to a time of magmatic activity related to the opening of the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The most likely mechanism of the origin of kimberlitic magma is super-deep subduction process that initiated partial melting of zones in lower mantle with subsequent ascent of proto-kimberlitic magma.     

Au–Ag–Te Mineralization of the Low‐Sulfidation Epithermal Aginskoe Deposit,Central Kamchatka,Russia

Mineralogic studies of major ore minerals and fluid inclusion analysis in gangue quartz were carried out for the for the two largest veins, the Aginskoe and Surprise, in the Late Miocene Aginskoe Au–Ag–Te deposit in central Kamchatka, Russia. The veins consist of quartz–adularia–calcite gangue, which are hosted by Late Miocene andesitic and basaltic rocks of the Alnei Formation. The major ore minerals in these veins are native gold, altaite, petzite, hessite, calaverite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. Minor and trace minerals are pyrite, galena, and acanthine. Primary gold occurs as free grains, inclusions in sulfides, and constituent in tellurides. Secondary gold is present in form of native mustard gold that usually occur in Fe‐hydroxides and accumulates on the decomposed primary Au‐bearing tellurides such as calaverite, krennerite, and sylvanite. K–Ar dating on vein adularia yielded age of mineralization 7.1–6.9 Ma. Mineralization of the deposit is divided into barren massive quartz (stage I), Au–Ag–Te mineralization occurring in quartz‐adularia‐clays banded ore (Stage II), intensive brecciation (Stage III), post‐ore coarse amethyst (Stage IV), carbonate (Stage V), and supergene stages (Stage VI). In the supergene stage various secondary minerals, including rare bilibinskite, bogdanovite, bessmertnovite metallic alloys, secondary gold, and various oxides, formed under intensely oxidized conditions. Despite heavy oxidation of the ores in the deposit, Te and S fugacities are estimated as Stage II tellurides precipitated at the log f Te₂ values ?9 and at log fS₂ ?13 based on the chemical compositions of hypogene tellurides and sphalerite. Homogenization temperature of fluid inclusions in quartz broadly ranges from 200 to 300°C. Ore texture, fluid inclusions, gangue, and vein mineral assemblages indicate that the Aginskoe deposit is a low‐sulfidation (quartz–adularia–sericite) vein system.     

Marine electrical resistivity imaging of submarine groundwater discharge: sensitivity analysis and application in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA

Electrical resistivity imaging has been used in coastal settings to characterize fresh submarine groundwater discharge and the position of the freshwater/salt-water interface because of the relation of bulk electrical conductivity to pore-fluid conductivity, which in turn is a function of salinity. Interpretation of tomograms for hydrologic processes is complicated by inversion artifacts, uncertainty associated with survey geometry limitations, measurement errors, and choice of regularization method. Variation of seawater over tidal cycles poses unique challenges for inversion. The capabilities and limitations of resistivity imaging are presented for characterizing the distribution of freshwater and saltwater beneath a beach. The experimental results provide new insight into fresh submarine groundwater discharge at Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, East Falmouth, Massachusetts (USA). Tomograms from the experimental data indicate that fresh submarine groundwater discharge may shut down at high tide, whereas temperature data indicate that the discharge continues throughout the tidal cycle. Sensitivity analysis and synthetic modeling provide insight into resolving power in the presence of a time-varying saline water layer. In general, vertical electrodes and cross-hole measurements improve the inversion results regardless of the tidal level, whereas the resolution of surface arrays is more sensitive to time-varying saline water layer.     

Graphite and diamond formation via the interaction of iron carbide and Fe,Ni-sulfide under mantle <Emphasis Type="Italic">P–T</Emphasis> parameters

Experimental research in the Fe₃C–(Fe,Ni)S system was carried out. The objective of the investigation was to model the reactions of carbide–sulfide interaction related to graphite (diamond) formation in reduced lithosphere mantle domains. T ≤ 1200°C is the formation temperature of the Ni-cohenite + graphite assemblage coexisting with two immiscible melts such as sulfide (Fe₆₀–Ni₃–S₃₇)_L and metal–sulfide (Fe₇₁–Ni₇–S₂₁–C₁)_L containing dissolved carbon. Т ≥ 1300°C is the generation temperature of a unified melt such as (Fe₈₀–Ni₆–S₁₀–C₄)_L characterized by graphite crystallization and diamond growth. The extraction of carbide carbon during the interaction with the sulfide melt can be considered as one of the potential mechanisms of graphite and diamond formation in the reduced mantle.