In situ tensile fracture toughness of surficial cohesive marine sediments

This study reports the first in situ measurements of tensile fracture toughness, K _IC, of soft, surficial, cohesive marine sediments. A newly developed probe continuously measures the stress required to cause tensile failure in sediments to depths of up to 1 m. Probe measurements are in agreement with standard laboratory methods of K _IC measurements in both potter’s clay and natural sediments. The data comprise in situ depth profiles from three field sites in Nova Scotia, Canada. Measured K _IC at two muddy sites (median grain size of 23–50 μm) range from near zero at the sediment surface to >1,800 Pa m^1/2 at 0.2 m depth. These profiles also appear to identify the bioturbated/mixed depth. K _IC for a sandy site (>90% sand) is an order of magnitude lower than for the muddy sediments, and reflects the lack of cohesion/adhesion. A comparison of K _IC, median grain size, and porosity in muddy sediments indicates that consolidation increases fracture strength, whereas inclusion of sand causes weakening; thus, sand-bearing layers can be easily identified in K _IC profiles. K _IC and vane-measured shear strength correlate strongly, which suggests that the vane measurements should perhaps be interpreted as shear fracture toughness, rather than shear strength. Comparison of in situ probe-measured values with K _IC of soils and gelatin shows that sediments have a K _IC range intermediate between denser compacted soils and softer, elastic gelatin.     

Offshore wind capital cost estimation in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf—A reference class approach

Offshore wind power developed rapidly in Northern Europe in the first decade of the 21st century and is expected to spread to Southern Europe, North America and Asia before 2020. To date, no projects have been built offshore North America because of the high development costs and economic risk and uncertain profitability. The purpose of this paper is to review the development cost of constructing offshore wind farms to inform the U.S. market. The capital expenditures of a reference class of 18 European wind farms constructed after 2005 with monopile foundations are normalized to proxy U.S. capital cost. Regression models are developed to investigate the physical features that influence expenditures. U.S. capital costs are expected to range between $4 and $5.6 million/MW for projects built between 2012 and 2015. Capital costs increase with increasing water depth and steel prices. For most farm components, capital expenditures are expected to be similar in Europe and the U.S., but the installation markets differ and this may impact the reliability of the reference class approach.     

Discretization approach in integrated Hydrologic Model for surface and groundwater interaction

The commonly used discretization approaches for distributed hydrological models can be broadly categorized into four types,based on the nature of the discrete components:Regular Mesh,Triangular Irregular Networks(TINs),Representative Elementary Watershed(REWs) and Hydrologic Response Units(HRUs).In this paper,a new discretization approach for landforms that have similar hydrologic properties is developed and discussed here for the Integrated Hydrologic Model(IHM),a combining simulation of surface and groundwater processes,accounting for the interaction between the systems.The approach used in the IHM is to disaggregate basin parameters into discrete landforms that have similar hydrologic properties.These landforms may be impervious areas,related areas,areas with high or low clay or organic fractions,areas with significantly different depths-to-water-table,and areas with different types of land cover or different land uses.Incorporating discrete landforms within basins allows significant distributed parameter analysis,but requires an efficient computational structure.The IHM integration represents a new approach interpreting fluxes across the model interface and storages near the interface for transfer to the appropriate model component,accounting for the disparate discretization while rigidly maintaining mass conservation.The discretization approaches employed in IHM will provide some ideas and insights which are helpful to those researchers who have been working on the integrated models for surface-groundwater interaction.     

Revisiting and rethinking regional urbanization in Changjiang River Delta, China

China is entering a critical and accelerating phase of urbanization.As one of the most urbanized regions in China,the Changjiang(Yangtze)River Delta has experienced dramatic urbanization and urban transformation.However,in the recent years,many changes have taken place in this region and there is limited attention to the regional urbanization path evolution,its problems and the way to solve these problems.Therefore,we should revisit the urbanization process in the Changjiang River Delta again.In this paper,we revisited urbanization paths of the Changjiang River Delta by data analysis,influence factors of urbanization by the Gray Relational Analysis,and major challenges to urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta by theoretical considerations.We found that the urbanization of the Changjiang River Delta had experienced several stages of large-scale spatial and urban system restructuring.Within the Changjiang River Delta,Shanghai,Zhejiang and Jiangshu had experienced different urbanization path with local characteristics.But with their development model gradually converging,their urbanization model is also converging.We also found that the major influence factors affecting the Changjiang River Delta urbanization were dynamic change and urbanization was driven by different key factors in different socio-economic development stages.Meanwhile,the Changjiang River Delta urbanization is facing many problems such as existing institutional arrangements,including the hukou(household registration)system and others which can not meet the needs of current socioeconomic development and urbanization.Therefore,it is imperative to promote institutional innovation and adopt a new urbanization development strategy for the sake of the orderly and sustainable urbanization development in the Changjiang River Delta.     

Role of pore pressure generation in sediment transport within half-grabens

Sediment transport and overpressure generation are coupled primary through the impact of effective stress on subsidence and compaction. Here, we use mathematical modeling to explore the interactions between groundwater flow and diffusion-controlled sediment transport within alluvial basins. Because of lateral variation in permeability, proximal basin facies will have pore pressure close to hydrostatic levels while distal fine-grained facies can reach near lithostatic levels. Lateral variation in pore pressure leads to differential compaction, which deforms basins in several ways. Differential compaction reduces basin size, bends isochron surfaces across the sand–clay interface, restricts basinward progradation of sand facies, and reduces the amplitude of oscillation in the lateral position of the sand–clay interface especially in the deepest part of the section even when temporal sediment supply are held constant. Overpressure generation was found to be sensitive to change in sediment supply in permeable basins (at least 10⁻¹⁷ m² in our model). We found that during basin evolution, temporal variations in overpressure and sediment supply fluctuations are not necessarily in phase with each other, especially in tight (low permeability) basins (<10⁻¹⁷ m² in our model).     

Surface wave tomography for azimuthal anisotropy in a strongly reduced parameter space

Large scale seismic anisotropy in the Earth's mantle is likely dynamically supported by the mantle's deformation; therefore, tomographic imaging of 3-D anisotropic mantle seismic velocity structure is an important tool to understand the dynamics of the mantle. While many previous studies have focused on special cases of symmetry of the elastic properties, it would be desirable for evaluation of dynamic models to allow more general axis orientation. In this study, we derive 3-D finite-frequency surface wave sensitivity kernels based on the Born approximation using a general expression for a hexagonal medium with an arbitrarily oriented symmetry axis. This results in kernels for two isotropic elastic coefficients, three coefficients that define the strength of anisotropy, and two angles that define the symmetry axis. The particular parametrization is chosen to allow for a physically meaningful method for reducing the number of parameters considered in an inversion, while allowing for straightforward integration with existing approaches for modelling body wave splitting intensity measurements. Example kernels calculated with this method reveal physical interpretations of how surface waveforms are affected by 3-D velocity perturbations, while also demonstrating the non-linearity of the problem as a function of symmetry axis orientation. The expressions are numerically validated using the spectral element method. While challenges remain in determining the best inversion scheme to appropriately handle the non-linearity, the approach derived here has great promise in allowing large scale models with resolution of both the strength and orientation of anisotropy.     

Encounters with an unearthly mudstone: Understanding the first mudstone found on Mars

The Sheepbed mudstone forms the base of the strata examined by the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on Mars, and is the first bona fide mudstone known on another planet. From images and associated data, this contribution proposes a holistic interpretation of depositional regime, diagenesis and burial history. A lake basin probably received sediment pulses from alluvial fans. Bed cross‐sections show millimetre to centimetre‐scale layering due to distal pulses of fluvial sediment injections (fine‐grained hyperpycnites), fall‐out from river plumes, and some aeolian supply. Diagenetic features include mineralized synaeresis cracks and millimetre‐scale nodules, as well as stratiform cementation. Clay minerals were initially considered due to in situ alteration, but bulk rock chemistry and mineralogy suggests that sediments were derived from variably weathered source rocks that probably contained pre‐existing clay minerals. X‐ray diffraction analyses show contrasting clay mineralogy in closely spaced samples, consistent with at least partial detrital supply of clay minerals. A significant (ca 30 wt%) amorphous component is consistent with little post‐depositional alteration. Theoretical modelling of diagenetic reactions, as well as kinetic considerations, suggest that the bulk of diagenetic clay mineral formation occurred comparatively late in diagenesis. Diagenetic features (synaeresis cracks and nodules) were previously thought to reflect early diagenetic gas formation, but an alternative scenario of synaeresis crack formation via fabric collapse of flocculated clays appears more likely. The observed diagenetic features, such as solid nodules, hollow nodules, matrix cement and ‘raised ridges’ (synaeresis cracks) can be explained with progressive alteration of olivine/glass in conjunction with centrifugal and counter diffusion of reactive species. Anhydrite‐filled fractures in the Sheepbed mudstone occurred late in diagenesis when fluid pressures built up to exceed lithostatic pressure. Generating fluid overpressure by burial to facilitate hydraulic fracturing suggests a burial depth of at least 1000 m for the underlying strata that supplied these fluids.     

Grain‐size distributions on high‐energy sandy beaches and their relation to wave dissipation

Grain size and sorting represent two key parameters when characterizing sediments or modelling beach morphology and sediment transport. Traditionally, an average value for grain size or sorting is often assumed for the entire area, determined from only a few sediment samples, ignoring any spatial (or temporal) variability in sediment characteristics. This contribution uses a data set of physical surface sediment samples from 53 beach locations around the south‐west peninsula of the United Kingdom, in addition to bi‐monthly, high spatial resolution (mean 240 samples) digital grain‐size surveys from a high‐energy, oceanic, sandy beach (Perranporth, North Cornwall). Systematic spatial variations in grain size and sorting were consistently observed in the seaward direction across the intertidal zone of sandy beaches, with grain‐sizes coarsening and sorting improving by up to 51·7% and 64·3%, respectively. This variability was deterministically related to the time‐averaged, antecedent‐adjusted energy dissipated by breaking waves, with the observed maximum grain‐size and sorting values correlating with the location of peak wave energy dissipation (r² = 0·998, P < 0·01).     

Magnetostratigraphic correlation of the Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian boundary

A magnetic polarity pattern for Boreal and Sub-Boreal ammonite zones of the Upper Oxfordian to Lower Kimmeridgian was established and confirmed in four British sections, including the proposed Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) on the Isle of Skye (Scotland) to define the base of the international Kimmeridgian Stage. A coeval pattern for Sub-Mediterranean ammonite zones was compiled from seven sections in Poland, one German section and multi-section composites from France and Spain. The mean paleopole for the European Craton (excluding Spain) at the Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian boundary is 74.2°N, 181.3°E (Α₉₅ = 3.8°). The common magnetic polarity scale enables inter-correlation of ammonite subzones among these three faunal provinces and to the marine magnetic-anomaly M-Sequence. The proposed GSSP at the base of the Pictonia baylei Zone is near the base of an extended interval dominated by reversed polarity, which is interpreted to be Chron M26r. This GSSP level projects to the lower to middle part of the Epipeltoceras bimammatum Subzone, which is the middle subzone of this E. bimammatum Zone in the Sub-Mediterranean standard zonation. In contrast, the traditional placement of the Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian boundary in that Sub-Mediterranean standard zonation (base of Sutneria platynota Zone) is at the base of Chron M25r, or nearly 1 million years younger.     

Conforming Falcon‡ gravity and the global gravity anomaly

Gravity derived only from airborne gravity gradient measurements with a normal error distribution will have an error that increases with wavelength. It is straightforward in principle to use sparsely sampled regional gravimeter data to provide the long wavelength information, thereby conforming the derived gravity to the regional gravity. Regional surface or airborne gravimeter data are not always available and can be difficult and expensive to collect in many of the areas where an airborne gravity gradiometer survey is flown. However the recent release by the Danish National Space Centre of the DNSC08 global gravity anomaly data has provided regional gravity data for the entire earth of adequate quality for this purpose. Studies over three areas, including comparisons with ground, marine and airborne gravimetry, demonstrate the validity of this approach. Future improvements in global gravity anomaly data are expected, particularly as the product from the recently launched Gravity field and steady‐state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite becomes available and these will lead directly to an improvement in the very wide bandwidth gravity available after conforming gravity derived from gravity gradiometry with the global gravity.