The Mechanical Coupling of Fluid-Filled Granular Material Under Shear

The coupled mechanics of fluid-filled granular media controls the physics of many Earth systems, for example saturated soils, fault gouge, and landslide shear zones. It is well established that when the pore fluid pressure rises, the shear resistance of fluid-filled granular systems decreases, and, as a result, catastrophic events such as soil liquefaction, earthquakes, and accelerating landslides may be triggered. Alternatively, when the pore pressure drops, the shear resistance of these geosystems increases. Despite the great importance of the coupled mechanics of grain–fluid systems, the basic physics that controls this coupling is far from understood. Fundamental questions that must be addressed include: what are the processes that control pore fluid pressurization and depressurization in response to deformation of the granular skeleton? and how do variations of pore pressure affect the mechanical strength of the grains skeleton? To answer these questions, a formulation for the pore fluid pressure and flow has been developed from mass and momentum conservation, and is coupled with a granular dynamics algorithm that solves the grain dynamics, to form a fully coupled model. The pore fluid formulation reveals that the evolution of pore pressure obeys viscoelastic rheology in response to pore space variations. Under undrained conditions elastic-like behavior dominates and leads to a linear relationship between pore pressure and overall volumetric strain. Viscous-like behavior dominates under well-drained conditions and leads to a linear relationship between pore pressure and volumetric strain rate. Numerical simulations reveal the possibility of liquefaction under drained and initially over-compacted conditions, which were often believed to be resistant to liquefaction. Under such conditions liquefaction occurs during short compactive phases that punctuate the overall dilative trend. In addition, the previously recognized generation of elevated pore pressure under undrained compactive conditions is observed. Simulations also show that during liquefaction events stress chains are detached, the external load becomes completely supported by the pressurized pore fluid, and shear resistance vanishes.     

中国北方典型沙尘天气特征研究

 根据API、风速、风向及相关气象数据初步研究了中国北方两次典型沙尘天气的天气特征。两次沙尘天气过程中极大风速大于7.2 m·s-1的气象站占88%。2005年4月27日极大风速超过17.2 m·s-1的气象站有31个,出现频率最高的风向为西西北,28日达到81个,风向为北风,极大风速高值区由内蒙古中东部向东北方向迅速扩大。2007年3月30日极大风速超过17.2 m·s-1的气象站有57个,31日达到68个,风向均为西西北,极大风速高值区分布较为稳定。受沙尘暴影响的地区API显著升高。2005年4月28日呼和浩特、大同、北京3个城市的API分别为418、500、500。2007年3月31日呼和浩特、赤峰、大同3个城市的API分别为500、500、423。对PM10与气象因子的相关性进行分析得出,沙尘暴期间,大气中可吸入颗粒物的浓度与风速存在显著的正相关关系,风速越高的地区,可吸入颗粒物的浓度越大。     

Dunes on Titan observed by Cassini Radar

Thousands of longitudinal dunes have recently been discovered by the Titan Radar Mapper on the surface of Titan. These are found mainly within ±30° of the equator in optically-, near-infrared-, and radar-dark regions, indicating a strong proportion of organics, and cover well over 5% of Titan's surface. Their longitudinal duneform, interactions with topography, and correlation with other aeolian forms indicate a single, dominant wind direction aligned with the dune axis plus lesser, off-axis or seasonally alternating winds. Global compilations of dune orientations reveal the mean wind direction is dominantly eastwards, with regional and local variations where winds are diverted around topographically high features, such as mountain blocks or broad landforms. Global winds may carry sediments from high latitude regions to equatorial regions, where relatively drier conditions prevail, and the particles are reworked into dunes, perhaps on timescales of thousands to tens of thousands of years. On Titan, adequate sediment supply, sufficient wind, and the absence of sediment carriage and trapping by fluids are the dominant factors in the presence of dunes.     

Environmental perception,decision processes,and population movement: a review of geographical studies

The author reviews a selection of studies on the behavioral aspects of migration, with emphasis on the process leading up to the decision to migrate. The focus of this review is not on the short-term factors leading to the actual migration decision but on the background factors that lead to the contemplation of migration. The perception by potential migrants of the environment in which they are living as opposed to that of the place to which they might move is considered. (summary in ENG, GER)     

Solar rotation, 1966–1978

Photospheric and chromospheric spectroscopic Doppler rotation rates for the full solar disk are analyzed for the period July, 1966 to July, 1978. An approximately linear secular increase of the equatorial rate of 3.7% for these 12 years is found (in confirmation of Howard, 1976). The high latitude rates above 65 ° appear to vary with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 8%, or more, phased to the sunspot cycle such that the most rapid rotation occurs at, or following, solar maximum. The chromosphere, as indicated by H, has continued to rotate on the average 3% faster than the photosphere agreeing with past observations. Sources of error are discussed and evaluated.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Burial and exhumation of the Hoh Xil Basin,northern Tibetan Plateau: Constraints from detrital (U-Th)/He ages

The uplift and associated exhumation of the Tibetan Plateau has been widely considered a key control of Cenozoic global cooling. The south-central parts of this plateau experienced rapid exhumation during the Cretaceous–Palaeocene periods. When and how the northern part was exhumed, however, remains controversial. The Hoh Xil Basin (HXB) is the largest late Cretaceous–Cenozoic sedimentary basin in the northern part, and it preserves the archives of the exhumation history. We present detrital apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He data from late Cretaceous–Cenozoic sedimentary rocks of the western and eastern HXB. These data, combined with regional geological constraints and interpreted with inverse and forward model of sediment deposition and burial reheating, suggest that the occurrence of ca. 4–2.7 km and ca. 4–2.3 km of vertical exhumation initiated at ca. 30–25 Ma and 40–35 Ma in the eastern and western HXB respectively. The initial differential exhumation of the eastern HXB and the western HXB might be controlled by the oblique subduction of the Qaidam block beneath the HXB. The initial exhumation timing in the northern Tibetan Plateau is younger than that in the south-central parts. This reveals an episodic exhumation of the Tibetan Plateau compared to models of synchronous Miocene exhumation of the entire plateau and the early Eocene exhumation of the northern Tibetan Plateau shortly after the India–Asia collision. One possible mechanism to account for outward growth is crustal shortening. A simple model of uplift and exhumation would predict a maximum of 0.8 km of surface uplift after upper crustal shortening during 30–27 Ma, which is insufficient to explain the high elevations currently observed. One way to increase elevation without changing exhumation rates and to decouple uplift from upper crustal shortening is through the combined effects of continental subduction, mantle lithosphere removal and magmatic inflation.     

Data base management system for erosivity values

In order to check the premature siltation of the reservoirs and guard against the drop in the irrigation potential, the Government of India has launched the schemes of soil conservation and integrated watershed management in the catchments of RVPs and Flood Prone rivers. Owing to the large financial and manpower commitments needed to implement and execute soil conservation measures over vast catchment areas, a priority approach for treatment was identified. The methodology developed for prioritization of watersheds of a catchment area conceptualizes sedimentation of the reservoirs as a multiplicative function of erosivity value and the delivery ratio. This paper deals with the development of a computerized data base software module ‘WEIGHT’ for determination of erosivity values for the mapping units comprising assemblages of the varying combinations of climate, physiography and slope, land use and cover conditions, soil characteristics (texture, solumn thickness, permeability and pH) and the existing erosion and soil conservation measures. The WEIGHT software package is coded in FORTRON-4 for PDP 11/83 operating system. the data base comprises storage of the attributes of the different erosivity determinants of the mapping units with predetermined erosivity values sequentially on a disk and comparing the attributes of a new mapping unit to get the most probabilities erosivity value. The objective has been to eliminate the personal bias and bring about the objectivity in the process of assigning erosivity values to the different mapping units. The data base design, design logic and operational sequence of the data base are discussed in the paper.     

西藏波密县古乡沟泥石流模型试验中的模型砂配制

对西藏古乡沟泥石流模型试验中的模型砂配制进行了研究,旨在保证模型试验的合理性和科学性,从而为泥石流灾害防治工程提供可靠的设计依据。通过对泥石流形成区和堆积区样品的粒径分析,根据模型试验的目的和条件,选定模型的几何比尺为1∶100,但模型砂的配制采用泥砂分段模拟法,原型中小于0.1 mm的颗粒不缩小,仍按重量百分比配制;原型中大于0.1 mm的颗粒按相似比尺缩小后用小于0.1 mm模型砂代替。并通过模型样品的选用和粒径组合对泥石流体以及堆积扇的模型砂配制过程进行了详细的分析研究,使模型试验获得了比较好的结果。