Investigating soil thermodynamic parameters of the active layer on the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The soil thermodynamic parameters, including thermal conductivity, diffusivity and volumetric capacity within the active layer on the northern Tibetan Plateau, were calculated using the measured data of soil temperature gradient, heat flux, and moisture at four stations from October 2003 to September 2004. The results showed that the soil thermodynamic parameters exhibited clear seasonal fluctuation. The thermal conductivity and diffusivity in summer and autumn at Beiluhe, Kexinling, and Tongtianhe were larger than those in winter. The volumetric thermal capacity causes an opposite change; it was larger in autumn and winter than in summer. In spring, the soil thermal conductivity at the Kekexili station was larger than that in summer. Generally, fine-grained soils and lower saturation degrees in the topsoil might be a reason for the lower soil thermal conductivity in winter. For a given soil, soil moisture was the main factor influencing the thermodynamic parameters. The unfrozen water content that existed in frozen soils greatly affected the soil thermal conductivity, whose contribution rate was estimated to be 55 %. The thermodynamic parameters of frozen soils could be expressed as a function of soil temperature, volumetric ice content and soil salinity, while for the unfrozen ground the soil moisture content is the dominant factor for those thermal parameters. As for the soil thermal diffusivity, there exists a critical value of soil moisture content. When the soil moisture content becomes less than a critical value, the soil thermal diffusivity increases as the soil moisture content rises.     

Exploring the effects of data quality,data worth,and redundancy of CO2 gas pressure and saturation data on reservoir characterization through PEST inversion

This study examined the impacts of reservoir properties on carbon dioxide (CO₂) migration after subsurface injection and evaluated the possibility of characterizing reservoir properties using CO₂ monitoring data such as spatial–temporal distributions of gas pressure, which can be reasonably monitored in practice. The injection reservoir was assumed to be located 1,400–1,500 m below the ground surface such that CO₂ remained in the supercritical state. The reservoir was assumed to contain layers with alternating conductive and resistive properties, which is analogous to actual geological formations such as the Mount Simon Sandstone unit. The CO₂ injection simulation used a cylindrical grid setting in which the injection well was situated at the center of the domain, which extended out 8,000 m from the injection well. The CO₂ migration was simulated using the latest version of the simulator, subsurface transport over multiple phases (the water–salt–CO₂–energy module), developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. A nonlinear parameter estimation and optimization modeling software package, Parameter ESTimation (PEST), is adopted for automated reservoir parameter estimation. The effects of data quality, data worth, and data redundancy were explored regarding the detectability of reservoir parameters using gas pressure monitoring data, by comparing PEST inversion results using data with different levels of noises, various numbers of monitoring wells and locations, and different data collection spacing and temporal sampling intervals. This study yielded insight into the use of CO₂ monitoring data for reservoir characterization and how to design the monitoring system to optimize data worth and reduce data redundancy. The feasibility of using CO₂ saturation data for improving reservoir characterization was also discussed.     

Scale matching of multiscale digital elevation model (DEM) data and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model: a case study of meteorological simulation in Hong Kong

It is becoming easier to combine geographical data and dynamic models to provide information for problem solving and geographical cognition. However, the scale dependencies of the data, model, and process can confuse the results. This study extends traditional scale research in static geographical patterns to dynamic processes and focuses on the combined scale effect of multiscale geographical data and dynamic models. The capacity for topographical expression under the combined scale effect was investigated by taking multiscale topographical data and meteorological processes in Hong Kong as a case study. A meteorological simulation of the combined scale effect was evaluated against data from Hong Kong Observatory stations. The experiments showed that (1) a digital elevation model (DEM) using 3 arc sec data with a 1 km resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model gives better topographical expression and meteorological reproduction in Hong Kong; (2) a fine-scale model is sensitive to the resolution of the DEM data, whereas a coarse-scale model is less sensitive to it; (3) better topographical expression alone does not improve weather process simulation; and (4) uncertainty arising from a scale mismatch between the DEM data and the dynamic model may account for 38 % of the variance in certain meteorological variables (e.g., temperature). This case study gives a clear explanation of the significance and implementation of scale matching for multiscale geographical data and dynamic models.     

Reservoir characteristics and main controlling factors of oil sand in Houba area,northwestern Sichuan Basin,China

Houba oil sand in frontier Longmenshan Mountain is one of the most typically important unconventional resources. The basic reservoir characteristics of oil sand and the main factors affecting reservoir quality were examined in this article based on porosity, permeability, and mercury porosimetry measurements; thin section analyses; SEM observation; and X-ray diffraction analysis. This study shows that the oil-bearing sandstone reservoir is mainly medium?coarse-grained sublitharenite and litharenite. The main pore type is intergranular pores, including residual primary intergranular pores, dissolved intergranular pores, and dissolved intragranular pores; fractures are common in this study area. The quality of sandstone reservoir is of high porosity and high permeability with a high oil saturation of 89.84 %. It is indicated that the main controlling factors of the reservoir in the study area include deposition, diagenesis, and tectonism. Deposition laid a foundation to porosity evolution, and channel sand is the most favorable depositional facies for the reservoir. Diagenetic alterations are the keys to reservoir evolution; dissolution and chlorite coatings cementation play an effective role in the generation and preservation of pores. Compaction, carbonate cementation, and quartz overgrowth cause many damages to the reservoir porosity. Fractures caused by structural breakages can improve the reservoir permeability and they also can provide fluid migration pathways to the late corrosion, which formed a lot of corroded fissures as reservoir and percolation spaces.     

Zircon U-Pb ages and geochemistry of the monzonitic granite in Rongguo area in Middle Gangdise Belt

In order to determine the geochronology, petrogenesis and tectonic background of the monzonitic granite in Rongguo area, the authors conducted the research on petrology, LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry. The results show that the zircons from the monzonitic granite are of magmatic genesis, and the zircon ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U dating is (69±1) Ma, belonging to the Late Cretaceous. Al₂O₃, Na₂O, K₂O contents and K₂O/Na₂O ratio are 13.83%~14.41%, 3.68%~3.94%, 4.28%~4.35% and 1.08~1.18 respectively. The average aluminum saturation index (A/CNK) is 1.02, belonging to the weak peraluminous series. The rocks are enriched in LILE (Rb,U,K), strongly depleted in HFSE (Nb, Ta, Ti, etc.). Combined with the study of regional tectonics, the authors insisted that magma activity had not stopped from 80 to 69 Ma. The rock mass is the magmatic product of the subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, forming in the orogenic environment during the whole orogenic movement period.     

Decoupling of the East Asian summer monsoon and Indian summer monsoon between 20 and 17 ka

Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 2, with its profound environmental and climatic changes from before the last glacial maximum (LGM) to the last deglaciation, is an ideal period for understanding the evolution of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and Indian summer monsoon (ISM), two Asian monsoon sub-systems. With 875 stable oxygen isotope ratios and 43 ²³⁰Th dates from stalagmites in Sanxing Cave, southwestern China, we construct and interpret a new, replicated, Asian summer monsoon (ASM) record covering 30.9–9.7 ka with decadal resolution. δ¹⁸O records from this site and other reported Chinese caves display similar long-term orbitally dominated trends and synchronous millennial-scale strong and weak monsoonal events associated with climate changes in high northern latitudes. Interestingly, Sanxing δ¹⁸O and Arabian Sea records show a weakening ISM from 22 to 17 ka, while the Hulu and Qingtian records from East and Central China express a 3-ka intensifying EASM from 20 to 17 ka. This decoupling between EASM and ISM may be due to different sensitivities of the two ASM sub-systems in response to internal feedback mechanisms associated with the complex geographical or land-ocean configurations.     

Spatial distribution of soil erosion and suspended sediment transport rate for Chou-Shui river basin

In this study, a Physiographic Soil Erosion–Deposition Model (PSED) is applied for better management of a watershed. The PSED model can effectively evaluate the key parameters of watershed management: surface runoff discharge, suspended sediment transport rate, quantity of soil erosion, and spatial distribution of soil erosion and deposition. A basin usually contains multiple watersheds. These watersheds may have complex topography and heterogeneous physiographic properties. The PSED model, containing a physiographic rainfall-runoff model and a basin scale erosion–deposition model, can simulate the physical mechanism of the entire erosion process based on a detailed calculation of bed-load transportation, surface soil entrainment, and the deposition mechanism. With the assistance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the PSED model can handle and analyze extremely large hydrologic and physiographic datasets and simulate the physical erosion process without the need for simplification. We verified the PSED model using three typhoon events and 40 rainfall events. The application of PSED to Chou-Shui River basin shows that the PSED model can accurately estimate discharge hydrographs, suspended sediment transport rates, and sediment yield. Additionally, we obtained reasonable quantities of soil erosion as well as the spatial distribution of soil erosion and deposition. The results show that the PSED model is capable of calculating spatially distributed soil erosion and suspended sediment transport rates for a basin with multiple watersheds even if these watersheds have complex topography and heterogeneous physiographic properties.     

Evacuees’ information sources and reentry decision making in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike

In the aftermath of a hurricane, local emergency managers need to communicate reentry plans to households that might be scattered over multiple counties or states. To better understand evacuees’ households’ reliance on different information sources at the time they decided to return home, this study collected data on reentry after Hurricane Ike. The results from a survey of 340 evacuating households indicated that there was low compliance with official reentry plans and that none of the information sources produced greater compliance with official reentry plans. Nonetheless, there were significant changes in the utilization of different sources of emergency information over the course of an evacuation but local news media remained the most common sources throughout the event. There also were significant differences in the relative importance of different sources of reentry information, with people relying most on information from peers. In summary, local authorities need to identify more effective ways to communicate with evacuees that have relocated to distant communities and to motivate them to comply with official reentry plans.     

太阳活动周与全球大震

为研究太阳活动与全球大震的关系, 引入一个无量纲的"地震能量函数√G", 并分析研究了1681—2011故年间全球M≥7.0大震的能量释放的时间序列.由此发现全球大震在太阳活动周4个阶段的分布和活动度, 随震级的强度而异.提出地壳对太阳风暴加卸载响应模式, 用于解释此现象: 通过考察最近331 a, 得出全球共发生了10个M≥9.0超级巨震的时空分布特征, 特别是太阳活动峰年期间没有发生过超级巨震.该研究结果可为判断全球大震提供参考.      

黔西地区煤层埋深与地应力对其渗透性控制机制

基于黔西六盘水煤田和织纳煤田16口井36层次的试井资料, 采用地质统计分析等方法, 探讨了黔西地区煤储层渗透性的展布规律与地应力特征, 论证了煤层埋深与地应力对其渗透性的控制机制.研究表明, 研究区煤储层以特低渗-低渗透率储层(＜0.1×10-9m2)为主, 中渗透率储层(0.1×10-9~1.0×10-9m2)也占有相当大比例; 应力场类型在浅部表现为大地动力场型, 一定深度可能转化为准静水压力状态.煤储层渗透率及其埋深的负幂指数关系较为离散, 但在不同深度渗透率转折点与地应力场类型转变一致; 单井煤储层试井渗透率差异较大, 随地应力增大和埋深增加而降低, 平面展布受地应力强度控制由SW-NE具"低-高-低"发育规律.埋深对渗透率的控制实质是地应力的控制, 区域构造位置及其所处高应力场作用下的煤体形变与破碎致使孔裂隙压缩或闭合是该区渗透性差异的主要控制机制.