The effects of surcharge on liquefaction resistance of silty sand

In the recent earthquakes, numerous cases of liquefaction occurred in sands containing both plastic and nonplastic fines that resulted in significant damage. Most previous research efforts have focused on clean sands regardless whether the sand contain fines or not made evident by widespread shallow foundation failures, numerous cases of settlement, and lateral displacement. Still, despite the amount of related research, results seem somewhat contradictory. This study directly demonstrates the beneficial or detrimental effect of uncertainty surcharges on seismic responses. Models were subjected to two destructive realistic events with similar PGA with various frequency contents and duration. In this paper, the dynamic analyses were conducted as fully non-linear elasto-plastic coupled stress-flow analyses with coupled liquefaction triggering which reasonably captured the actual behavior. The silty sand deposits underlying the surcharge are capable of liquefying and developing large shear deformations that can cause serious damage. Therefore, excess pore water pressure ratio cannot be enough by itself to evaluate liquefaction potential, so the deformations should be examined. Numerical results provide an estimate of the seismic performance liquefiable deposits underlying the surcharge; these results can be useful for a realistic practical engineering.     

Rayleigh–Taylor instability in an ionized medium

We study the linear theory of the magnetized Rayleigh–Taylor instability in a system consisting of ions and neutrals. Both components are affected by a uniform vertical gravitational field. We consider ions and neutrals as two separate fluid systems that can exchange momentum through collisions. However, ions have a direct interaction with the magnetic field lines but neutrals are not affected by the field directly. The equations of our two-fluid model are linearized and by applying a set of proper boundary conditions, a general dispersion relation is derived for our two superposed fluids separated by a horizontal boundary. We found two unstable modes for a range of wavenumbers. It seems that one of the unstable modes corresponds to the ions and the other one is for the neutrals. Both modes are reduced with increasing particle collision rate and ionization fraction. We show that if the two-fluid nature is considered, the RT instability would not be suppressed and we also show that the growth time of the perturbations increases. As an example, we apply our analysis to the Local Clouds which seem to have arisen because of the RT instability. Assuming that the clouds are partially ionized, we find that the growth rate of these clouds increases in comparison to the fully ionized case.     

Study of a Neogene basin dynamics: The “Bizerte basin”, northeastern Tunisia: relevance to the global Messinian Salinity Crisis

The Messinian sediments of northeastern Tunisia were deposited under an active tectonic setting. They are organized in sequences indicating a transitional deposit from margin – littoral to lacustrine – continental facies. These series unconformably overlie the Serravallian–Tortonian silty clays packages, and are overlain by the transgressive Early Pliocene marl (Zanclean). The presence of evaporitic strata points out to the Messinian Salinity Crisis described in the peripheral basins of the western Mediterranean. The Messinian sedimentation was found to have been closely controlled by transtensive tectonics and differential subsidence at a large spatio-temporal scale. It is organized in sequences typical of a depositional environment controlled by eustatism, tectonic and maybe by climate changes. Despite the existence of some local specific sedimentological characteristics, our results corroborate previous findings that pointed out to the Messinian times as a singular period all around the Mediterranean Basin. Field and subsurface seismic profile data helped reconstructing either the sedimentary or tectonic unconformities existing between the studied Messinian series and older Neogene successions.     

The prolate Bok globules evidence for the existence of dark matter sub-halo

Although the existence of dark matter is generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community, there is no generally agreed direct detection of it. Also, observations show that some Bok globules are prolate in some regions without suitable explanation for its cause. In this paper, we investigate the effect of dark matter sub-halo in transformation of the Bok globules from spherical to the prolate shape. We limit the investigation to a particular case that the magnetic field and turbulent effects are negligible through the Bok globule. We consider the gravitational effect of dark matter sub-halo on the isothermal Bok globule that is exposed to suitable distance of it. The results show that the dark matter sub-halo can justify the transformation of Bok globules in some regions. In this paper, we introduce a new method for proving the existence of dark matter sub halo.     

Phosphorous concentration,solubility and species in the groundwater in a semi-arid basin,southern Malayer,western Iran

In areas of intensive crop production, continual phosphorous (P) applications as P fertilizer and farmyard manure have been made at levels exceeding crop requirement. As a result, surface soil accumulations of P have occurred to such an extent that loss of P in surface runoff and a high risk for P transfer into groundwater in concentrations exceeding the groundwater quality standard has become a priority management concern. Phosphorous content of groundwater was determined in order to examine dissolved P concentration and species in the groundwater and mineral solubilitiy in a semi-arid region of southern Malayer, western Iran. The speciation for P in groundwater was calculated using geochemical speciation model PHREEQC. The concentration of total P in the groundwater (0.01–2.56 mg P l⁻¹) and estimated concentrations of HPO₄ ²⁻ (49.5–89%), H₂PO₄ ⁻ (1.5–17.3%), CaHPO₄ ⁺ (5.7–36.1%), and CaPO₄ ⁻ (1.4–12.2%) varied considerably amongst the groundwater. Results suggest that the concentration of P in the groundwater could be primarily controlled by the solubility of octacalcium phosphate and β-tricalcium phosphate. Large amounts of P fertilizer, inadequate management of P fertilization, and low irrigation efficiency, coupled with sandy soils in some parts of the study area could be mainly responsible for the greater P in the groundwater. In general, the greater the dissolved P concentration in the groundwater, the closer the solution was to equilibrium with respect to the more soluble Ca-phosphate minerals. The groundwater P content could be potentially used to identify areas where management approaches, such as P applied and crop type planted, could be adjusted to different types of soils, geology and topography.     

Magnetothermal condensation modes including the effects of charged dust particles

We study thermal instability in a magnetized and partially ionized plasma with charged dust particles. Our linear analysis shows that the growth rate of the unstable modes in the presence of dust particles strongly depends on the ratio of the cooling rate and the modified dust-cyclotron frequency. If the cooling rate is less than the modified dust-cyclotron frequency, then the growth rate of the condensation modes does not modify due to the existence of the charged dust particles. But, when the cooling rate is greater than (or comparable to) the modified dust-cyclotron frequency, the growth rate of unstable modes increases because of the dust particles. Also, the wavenumber of the perturbations corresponding to the maximum growth rate shifts to the smaller values (larger wavelengths) as the cooling rate becomes larger than the modified dust-cyclotron frequency. We show that the growth rate of the condensation modes increases with the electrical charge of the dust particles.     

Metal fractionation and pollution risk assessment of different sediment sizes in three major southwestern rivers of Caspian Sea

To assess the risk of release and percentage of heavy metals in river sediment, nine stations were set up to sample surface sediments from three important rivers situated southwest of the Caspian Sea (the Shafaroud, Karaganroud, and Choubar Rivers). Chemical analyses were conducted on sediment with particle sizes of >38, 63–38, 63–125, 125–250, 250–500 and 500–1000 µm using metal fractionation to determine the degree of risk release and the heavy metal pollution. Common risk indices were used including the cumulative indices of pollution intensity assessment and risk release standards (the modified pollution degree and ecological risk). Generally, when sediment sizes are decreased, the concentration of heavy metals is both larger and greater than the mean concentration of global sediments and earth crust. However, in this research, the concentration of all the metals did not necessarily increase with a decrease in the size of particles. In fact, concentration of cobalt, vanadium, cadmium, and chromium was greater in sediment particle sizes over 63 μm. The results of chemical fractionation analyses indicated that the release risk of metals has two initial phases for: (1) exchangeable bond (F1) and (2) carbonated bond (F2). When compared with other metals, nickel had the greatest tendency to bond within the loose exchangeable phase (F1) across all the stations. Furthermore, with changes in the size of particles, the percentage of heavy metal changes across different bond phases, but will be the greatest in the loose exchangeable phase (F1). This was observed with cobalt, nickel, and chromium at particle sizes larger than 63 μm. The results of ecological risk and modified pollution degree indices indicated that the highest level of pollution was related to sediments with sizes between 63 and 250 μm. Eventually, in order to assess the risk extent of metals present in sediment, a cumulative index referred to as the modified risk assessment code was utilized. It suggested that the greatest risk of toxicity in some stations has been related to particles larger than 63 μm.