Water soluble components of PM10 Chongqing, China

The concentrations of water soluble ions (Na⁺, NH₄ ⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, NO₃ ^-, Cl^-, and SO ₄ ^2- ) in PM₁₀ samples collected on cellulose filters by a medium-volume cascade impactor were determined, which were obtained from three kinds of areas in Chongqing: industrial area (Jiulongpo district), commercial and residential area (Jiangbei district) and background area (Jinyun Mountain in the Beibei district). The results showed that except for the background site, the annual average values of PM₁₀ are 23% – 61% higher than the national air quality standard (GradeII) (0.1 mg/m³), even that the value of the control site is still 20% higher than American standard (0.05 mg/m³). This implied that serious pollution of fine particles occurred in Chongqing. Nine kinds of soluble ions in water of PM₁₀ were analyzed by ion chromatography (IC) and the annual average concentrations follow the order of [SO ₄ ^2- ] > [NO³ _-] > [Cl^-] > [F^-], and [Ca²⁺] > [NH₄ ⁺] > [K⁺] > [Na⁺] > [Mg²⁺]. Their values were different in these areas: the industrial area > the commercial and living area > the control area. As for NH_{4 +}, K⁺, Ca²⁺, NO₃ ^- and SO ₄ ^2- , their seasonal average concentrations show a similar variation trend: the values in spring and fall were higher than those in summer and winter. The seasonal average concentrations of [Cl^-], [F^-], [Na⁺] and [Mg²⁺] are much lower than those of other ions. However, the concentrations of [Na⁺] changed more greatly in different seasons than those of the other three ions. Correlation coefficients showed that the three areas have been polluted by coal smoke and dust to different extents, while some local resources of pollution should be taken into consideration as well.     

Landscape change and sandy desertification in arid areas: a case study in the Zhangye Region of Gansu Province, China

The Zhangye Region of Gansu Province is an important agricultural base in arid northwestern China. During the twentieth century, especially in the last five decades, the region has experienced sandy desertification. To document the status and causes of this deterioration, satellite images, meteorological and socioeconomic data to assess landscape change from 1993 to 2002 were interpreted and analyzed. The results show that during the intervening 9-year period the area of sandy lands has increased by 642.2 km², which consist of aeolian sand dune (357.1 km²) and potential sandy land (216.3 km²). Although the development and reversion of sandy desertification co-exist, the sandy desertification in this area seems serious and is attributable to the irrational use of water and land.     

An alternative Boussinesq equation considering the effect of hysteresis on coastal groundwater waves

This paper presents an alternative Boussinesq equation considering hysteresis effect via a third‐order derivative term. By introducing an improved moisture–pressure retention function, this equation describes, with reasonable precision, groundwater propagation in coastal aquifers subject to Dirichlet boundary condition of different oscillation frequencies. Test results confirmed that it is necessary to consider horizontal and vertical flows in unsaturated zone, because of their variable influences on hysteresis. Hysteresis in unsaturated zone can affect the water table wave number of groundwater wave motion, such as wave damping rate and phase lag. Oscillations with different periods exert different hysteresis effect on wave propagation. Truncation/shrinkage of unsaturated zones also affects the strength of hysteresis. These impacts can be reflected in the alternative Boussinesq equation by adjusting the parameter representing the variation rate of moisture associated with pressure change, as opposed to traditional computationally expensive hysteresis algorithms. The present Boussinesq equation is simple to use and can provide feasible basis for future coupling of groundwater and surface water models. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validating the ability of the discontinuous deformation analysis method to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures

The effects of fractures on wave propagation problems are increasingly abstracting the attention of scholars and engineers in rock engineering field. This study aims to fully validate the ability of discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures. The effects of a single fracture and multiple parallel fractures are all tested. The results indicate that DDA can accurately reflect the fracture effects, including the fractures stiffness, the fracture spacing and the fracture number, and the effects of incident wave frequency on one‐dimensional P‐wave propagation problems. Thus, DDA is able to deal well with normal incident P‐wave propagation problems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Enclosure on Plant and Soil Nutrients in Different Types of Alpine Grassland

Enclosure is one of the most widely used management tools for degraded alpine grassland on the northern Tibetan Plateau, but the responses of different types of grassland to enclosure may vary, and research on these responses can provide a scientific basis for improving ecological conservation. This study took one site for each of three grassland types (alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert) on the northern Tibetan Plateau as examples, and explored the effects of enclosure on plant and soil nutrients by comparing differences in plant community biomass, leaf-soil nutrient content and their stoichiometry between samples from inside and outside the fence. The results showed that enclosure can significantly increase all aboveground biomass in these three grassland types, but it only increased the 10-20 cm underground biomass in the alpine desert. Enclosure also significantly increased the leaf nutrient content of the dominant plants and contents of total nitrogen (N), total potassium (K), and organic carbon (C) in 10-20 cm soil in alpine desert, thus changing the stoichiometry between C, N and P (phosphorus). However, enclosure significantly increased only the N content of dominant plant leaves in alpine steppe, while other nutrients and stoichiometries of both plant leaves and soil did not show significant differences in alpine meadow and alpine steppe. These results suggested that enclosure has differential effects on these three types of alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau, and the alpine desert showed the most active ecological conservation in the responses of its soil and plant nutrients.     

Trend and extreme occurrence of precipitation in a mid‐latitude Eurasian steppe watershed at various time scales

The confounding effects of step change invalidate the stationarity assumption of commonly used trend analysis methods such as the Mann–Kendall test technique, so previous studies have failed to explain inconsistencies between detected trends and observed large precipitation anomalies. The objectives of this study were to (1) formulate a trend analysis approach that considers nonstationarity due to step changes, (2) use this approach to detect trends and extreme occurrences of precipitation in a mid‐latitude Eurasian steppe watershed in North China, and (3) examine how runoff responds to precipitation trends in the study watershed. Our results indicate that annual precipitation underwent a marginal step jump around 1995. The significant annual downward trend after 1994 was primarily due to a decrease in summer rainfall; other seasons exhibited no significant precipitation trends. At a monthly scale, July rainfall after 1994 exhibited a significant downward trend, whereas precipitation in other months had no trend. The percentage of wet days also underwent a step jump around 1994 following a significant decreasing trend, although the precipitation intensity exhibited neither a step change nor any significant trend. However, both low‐frequency and high‐frequency precipitation events in the study watershed occurred more often after than before 1994; probably as either a result or an indicator of climate change. In response to these precipitation changes, the study watershed had distinctly different precipitation‐runoff relationships for observed annual precipitations of less than 300 mm, between 300 and 400 mm, and greater than 400 mm. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of expansion ratio on the critical Reynolds number in single fracture flow with sudden expansion

Flow in a single fracture (SF) is an important research subject in groundwater hydrology, hydraulic engineering, radioactive nuclear waste repository and geotechnical engineering. An abruptly changing aperture is a unique type of SF. This study discusses the relation between the values of the critical Reynolds number (Re_c) for the onset of symmetry breaking of flow and the expansion ratio (E) of SF, which is defined as the ratio between the outlet (D) and inlet (d) apertures. This study also investigates the effect of inlet aperture d on Re_c for flow in an SF with abruptly changing apertures (SF‐ACA) using the finite volume method. Earlier numerical and experimental results showed that flow is symmetric in respect to the central plane of the SF‐ACA at small Reynolds number (Re) but becomes asymmetric when Re is sufficiently large. Our simulations show that the value of Re_c decreases with the increasing E, and the relationship between the logarithm of Re_c and E can be described accurately using either a quadratic polynomial function or a logarithmic function. However, the relationship of Re_c and d for a given E value is vague, and Re_c becomes even less sensitive to d when E increases. This study also reveals that the hydraulic gradient (J) and flow velocity (v) follow a super‐linear relationship that can be fitted almost perfectly by the Forchheimer equation. The inertial component (J_i) of J increases monotonically with Re, whereas the viscous component (J_v) of J decreases monotonically with Re. The Re value corresponding to equal inertial and viscous components of J (named as the transitional point Re) decreases when E increases, and such a transitional point Re should be closely related to the critical Reynolds number Re_c, although a rigorous theoretical proof is not yet available. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response of soil aggregate disintegration to the different content of organic carbon and its fractions during splash erosion

Aggregate disintegration is a critical process in soil splash erosion. However, the effect of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions on soil aggregates disintegration is still not clear. In this study, five soils with similar clay contents and different contents of SOC have been used. The effects of slaking and mechanical striking on splash erosion were distinguished by using deionized water and 95% ethanol as raindrops. The simulated rainfall experiments were carried out in four heights (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 m). The result indicated that the soil aggregate stability increased with the increases of SOC and light fraction organic carbon (LFOC). The relative slaking and the mechanical striking index increased with the decreases of SOC and LFOC. The reduction of macroaggregates in eroded soil gradually decreased with the increase of SOC and LFOC, especially in alcohol test. The amount of macroaggregates (>0.25 mm) in deionized water tests were significantly less than that in alcohol tests under the same rainfall heights. The contribution of slaking to splash erosion increased with the decrease of heavy fractions organic carbon. The contribution of mechanical striking was dominant when the rainfall kinetic energy increased to a range of threshold between 9 J m⁻² mm⁻¹ and 12 m⁻² mm⁻¹. This study could provide the scientific basis for deeply understanding the mechanism of soil aggregates disintegration and splash erosion.