Accuracy Assessment of Digital Elevation Model Generated by SAR Stereoscopic Technique Using COSMO-Skymed Data

Radargrammetry technique using the stereoscopic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is used for the generation of a digital elevation model (DEM) of a region requires only the amplitude images. SAR stereoscopic technique is analogous to the stereo-photogrammetric technique where the optical stereoscopic images are used for DEM generation. While the advantages of the SAR images are their indifference to atmospheric transparency and solar illumination conditions, the side-looking geometry of the SAR increases the complexity in the SAR stereo analysis. The availability of high spatial and temporal resolution SAR data in recent years has facilitated generation of high-resolution DEM with greater vertical accuracy using radargrammetric technique. In the present study, attempt has been made to generate the DEM of Dehra Dun region, India, from the COSMO-Skymed X-band SAR data-pair acquired at 8 days interval through the radargrammetry technique. Here, radargrammetric orientation approach has been adopted to generate the DEM and various issues and processing steps with the radargrammetry technique have been discussed. The DEM was validated with ground measured elevation values using a differential global positioning system and the root-mean-square error of the DEM was found as 7.3 m. The DEM was compared with the reference DEM of the study area generated from the Cartosat-1 stereo data with a model accuracy of 4 m.     

Mechanical behavior and micro-structure of cement kiln dust-stabilized expensive soil

In this study, the effects of cement kiln dust (CKD) on the swelling properties, strength properties, and microstructures of CKD-stabilized expansive soil were investigated. Samples were prepared and stabilized with different CKD content ratios, ranging from 0 to 18% by dry mass. The results obtained show that the maximum swelling pressures decrease exponentially with increases in CKD content. Both the cohesion and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) increase at ratios below 10% CKD and then decrease slightly, above that ratio. CKD can also improve the strength of saturated, expansive soil. There is no visible change of UCS for soil without CKD when cured, while the UCS of a sample with 10% CKD content after curing for 90 days is higher than that after curing for only 1 day. This indicates that CKD can improve the long-term strength of expansive soil. Finally, microstructure analysis reveals that the addition of CKD reduces the montmorillonite content of expansive soil and decreases its swelling properties. The addition of CKD also changes the pore volume distribution, both the size and amount of macro-pores and micro-pores decrease with increase in CKD content. For saturated samples, the size of macro-pores is obviously reduced, while that of micro-pores is slightly increased for both treated and untreated soils. Hydration and saturation processes make the soil structure become dispersive which results in a lower strength, and adding CKD can restrain this process. The suggested optimal CKD content is between 10 and 14% and with a curing time of more than 27 days.     

A review of the metallogeny and tectonics of the Lachlan Orogen

Future mineral exploration within eastern Australia will be enhanced by resolving the tectonic evolution of the Lachlan Orogen to establish the spatial and temporal terrane distribution of the various mineral deposits. The Lachlan Orogen, from north-eastern Tasmania through to central and eastern New South Wales, is host to a number of major mineral deposit styles—including orogenic gold (e.g. Stawell, Ballarat, Bendigo), volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (e.g. Woodlawn, Currawong), sediment-hosted Cu–Au (e.g. Cobar Basin deposits), porphyry Au–Cu (e.g. Cadia, Parkes, Cowal) and granite-related Sn (e.g. Ardlethan, Beechworth). Each of these mineral deposit styles is a sensitive and diagnostic indicator of the prevalent tectonic environment during their formation. In this review, we briefly summarise the deposit- to large-scale factors that define the diverse metallogenic evolution of the Lachlan Orogen. This overview is intended to “set the scene” for subsequent specialist papers published in this thematic issue on the metallogeny and tectonics of the Lachlan Orogen in south-east Australia.     

Biomarkers in the Molar Tooth （MT）-Bearing Limestones in the Jilin-Liaoning Area of China

The origin of Molar Tooth (MT) carbonates has been argued for more than 100 years, which are a kind of Proterozoic carbonates especially composed of microsparite with ptygmatically folded and sheet-like structures. Biomarkers detected in the microcalcsparite from the Wanlong and Xingmincun formations in the Jilin-Liaoning area showed there are abundant normal alkanes, isoprenoids, hopanes, steranes, alkylmethylcyclohexanes, and alkyleyclohexanes, indicating a diversity of biological source: long-chain isoprenoids, the major components of chlorophyll, such as C19, C20, a kind of major biomarkers synthesized early by isoprenoid monomers; hopanes a type of characteristic biomarkers from prokaryote, such as archaebacteria and cyanobacteria; sterane a biomarker for eukaryote; and two kinds of alkanes with C17, C18 as the main peaks representing aquatic bacteria and with C23, C24 as the main peaks representing fungi, respectively. Biomarker analysis showed that MT is the result of bacterial and algal activities, which is a kind of organisms between aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, reproducing well in normal or slightly saline sea water under weak oxidation-reduction conditions, resulting in rapid deposition of calcite as microsparite clue to some mechanisms.     

Geochemistry and genotoxicity of the heavy metals in mine-abandoned areas and wasteland in the Hetai goldfields,Guangdong Province,China

The article presents the geochemical and biogeochemical characteristics of heavy metal elements within the soil–plant system in the Hetai mine-abandoned areas and wasteland, China. The cytogenetic toxic effects of gold mine wastelands environment on the chromosome and micronucleus were analyzed by genetic methods. The results showed that abundances of Au and Au-associated heavy metal elements such as Cu, As, Cd, Pb and Hg in soils, plants and the pigments in those abandoned mine areas were much higher than those in the background region. The cell structures of the plants in the abandoned mine areas were anomalous and aberrant, and there were many nano-metal particles diffused in the cells. Moreover, the heavy metal elements in those abandoned mine areas had entered the ultrastructure and caused toxicities to the organism.     

Subduction and retreating of the western Pacific plate resulted in lithospheric mantle replacement and coupled basin-mountain respond in the North China Craton

The North China Craton (NCC) witnessed Mesozoic vigorous tectono-thermal activities and transition in the nature of deep lithosphere. These processes took place in three periods: (1) Late Paleozoic to Early Jurassic (～170 Ma); (2) Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (160–140 Ma); (3) Early Cretaceous to Cenozoic (140 Ma to present). The last two stages saw the lithospheric mantle replacement and coupled basin-mountain response within the North China Craton due to subduction and retreating of the Paleo-Pacific plate, and is the emphasis in this paper. In the first period, the subduction and closure of the Paleo- Asian Ocean triggered the back-arc extension, syn-collisional compression and then post-collisional extension accompanied by ubiquitous magmatism along the northern margin of the NCC. Similar processes happened in the southern margin of the craton as the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys ocean and collision with the South China Block. These processes had caused the chemical modification and mechanical destruction of the cratonic margins. The margins could serve as conduits for the asthenosphere upwelling and had the priority for magmatism and deformation. The second period saw the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean and the shear deformation and magmatism induced by the drifting of the Paleo-Pacific slab. The former led to two pulse of N-S trending compression (Episodes A and B of the Yanshan Movement) and thus the pre-existing continental marginal basins were disintegrated into sporadically basin and range province by the Mesozoic magmatic plutons and NE-SW trending faults. With the anticlockwise rotation of the Paleo-Pacific moving direction, the subduction-related magmatism migrated into the inner part of the craton and the Tanlu fault became normal fault from a sinistral one. The NCC thus turned into a back-arc extension setting at the end of this period. In the third period, the refractory subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) was firstly remarkably eroded and thinned by the subduction-induced asthenospheric upwelling, especially those beneath the weak zones (i.e., cratonic margins and the lithospheric Tanlu fault zone). Then a slightly lithospheric thickening occurred when the upwelled asthenosphere got cool and transformed to be lithospheric mantle accreted (～125 Ma) beneath the thinned SCLM. Besides, the magmatism continuously moved southeastward and the extensional deformations preferentially developed in weak zones, which include the Early Cenozoic normal fault transformed from the Jurassic thrust in the Trans-North Orogenic Belt, the crustal detachment and the subsidence of Bohai basin caused by the continuous normal strike slip of the Tanlu fault, the Cenozoic graben basins originated from the fault depression in the Trans-North Orogenic Belt, the Bohai Basin and the Sulu Orogenic belt. With small block size, inner lithospheric weak zones and the surrounding subductions/collisions, the Mesozoic NCC was characterized by (1) lithospheric thinning and crustal detachment triggered by the subduction-induced asthenospheric upwelling. Local crustal contraction and orogenesis appeared in the Trans-North Orogenic Belt coupled with the crustal detachment; (2) then upwelled asthenosphere got cool to be newly-accreted lithospheric mantle and crustal grabens and basin subsidence happened, as a result of the subduction zone retreating. Therefore, the subduction and retreating of the western Pacific plate is the outside dynamics which resulted in mantle replacement and coupled basin-mountain respond within the North China Craton. We consider that the Mesozoic decratonization of the North China Craton, or the Yanshan Movement, is a comprehensive consequence of complex geological processes proceeding surrounding and within craton, involving both the deep lithospheric mantle and shallow continental crust.     

Investigation of NaCl deliquescence in porous substrates using RH-XRD

We report on the use of X-ray diffractometry under controlled conditions of temperature and relative humidity (RH-XRD) for the investigation of NaCl deliquescence in the pore space of glass filter frits, which were used as model substrates. The study confirms that RH-XRD is an appropriate experimental technique for the in situ observation of phase transformation in porous materials. It is used for an investigation of both the deliquescence kinetics and the deliquescence humidity within pores of different median pore diameter. Several major influences affecting deliquescence rates in the pore space close to the surface of a porous material are discussed. It appears that quite short-term variation of ambient relative humidity, e.g., typical daily fluctuations, might induce damaging deliquescence–crystallization cycles within the pore space of building materials. In agreement with theoretical considerations it was found that confinement of NaCl crystals in pores with median diameters in the range 1.4–70 μm does not affect the deliquescence humidity of the salt.     

Ammonia adsorption and nitritation in sediments derived from the Three Gorges Reservoir,China

The influences of suspended particles (SPs) on NH₄ ⁺ adsorption and nitritation occurring in the water system of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) were evaluated in this study. The results indicated that the adsorption of NH₄ ⁺ was significantly affected by the SPs concentration under the conditions typically present in the TGR. The amount of ammonia adsorbed per unit weight of suspended particles was inverse proportional to the concentration of suspended particles. However, the influences of the particle size and the organic matter concentration existing in SPs were insignificant under the experimental conditions. The effects of suspended particles on nitritation were determined by the use of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) strain SW16, identified as Nitrosomonas nitrosa, which was isolated from sediment samples of the TGR. Suspended particle concentration in water–sediment solution played an important role in the nitritation process. The rate of nitritation enhanced with the increase of the suspended particle concentration. It was found that the critical factor controlling ammonia oxidizing rate was the AOB biomass resulting from the AOB growth rate. Moreover, results demonstrated that both particle size and organic matter content showed little effect on the nitritation process under the experimental conditions.     

Comments on ‘A comparative study of ANN and neuro-fuzzy for the prediction of dynamic constant of rockmass’

Singh et al (2005) examined the potential of the ANN and neuro-fuzzy systems application for the prediction of dynamic constant of rockmass. However, the model proposed by them has some drawbacks according to fuzzy logic principles. This discussion will focus on the main fuzzy logic principles which authors and potential readers should take into consideration.