SHAPED CHARGE—A POWERFUL EXPLOSIVE SURFACE SEISMIC SOURCE *

The directional effect of shaped charge is a well-known feature used for a long time in military weapons, oil well guns, and steel industry. This charge was successfully applied as a seismic energy source by Petrobrás during the past three years under different surface and geological conditions. Preliminary amplitude measurements taken with fixed gain shallow refraction instruments showed a consistent difference between conventional and shaped charges. Lately, a similar difference has been noted in deep reflection energy recorded with digital binary gain instruments as well as in deep oil well velocity surveys. Direct comparisons along more than 50 km of multiple coverage field reflection shooting are in agreement with these results and have proved the practical advantage of this source as compared to conventional dynamite. This source has been used since 1971 in routine seismic operation in the Amazon jungle with 300 gram unit charges distributed in small and large shot arrays increasing substantially the coverage and halving the cost at a higher record quality. A large amount of production seismic field work has been carried out in several other areas attesting the successful application of the shaped charges.     

Compression studies of gibbsite and its high-pressure polymorph

Various X-ray diffraction methods have been applied to study the compression behavior of gibbsite, Al(OH)₃, in diamond cells at room temperature. A phase transformation was found to take place above 3 GPa where gibbsite started to convert to its high-pressure polymorph. The high-pressure (HP) phase is quenchable and coexists with gibbsite at the ambient conditions after being unloaded. This HP phase was identified as nordstrandite based on the diffraction patterns obtained at room pressure by angle dispersive and energy dispersive methods. On the basis of this structural interpretation, the bulk modulus of the two polymorphs, i.e., gibbsite and nordstrandite, could be determined as 85 ± 5 and 70 ± 5 GPa, respectively, by fitting a Birch-Murnaghan equation to the compression data, assuming their K_o ^′ as 4. Molar volume cross-over occurs at 2 GPa, above which the molar volume of nordstrandite is smaller than that of gibbsite. The differences in the molar volume and structure between the two polymorphs are not significant, which accounts for the irreversibility of the phase transition. In gibbsite, the axial compressibility behaves as c/c _o > a/a _o > b/b _o. This is due to the fact that the dioctahedral sheets along the c-axis are held by the relatively weak hydrogen bonding, which results in the greater compressibility along this direction. In nord- strandite, the axial compressibility is b/b _o > c/c _o > a/a _o, which can also be interpreted as resulting from the the existence of hydrogen bonds along the b-axis. Received: 28 September 1998 / Revised, accepted: 22 December 1998     

Utilization of data bank on grid square basis for regional planning

This paper deals with results of case studies using actual magnetic tape records of Statistics on Grid Square Basis and Digital National Land Information which have been compiled since 1965 by governmental agencies on the same grid square basis from census and map reading covering the whole country. The number of items on the records has been increasing, including land information and socio-economic statistics which seem to be useful for land development/conservation planning and regional planning. However, in reality a majority of local governments have not used to date these records enough. In this study the combination analysis of two or more items is made in order to make more effective use of the records for these plannings. The number of grid squares under fixed conditions are calculated and the distribution maps are drawn by means of line printer or X-Y plotter. The themes are as follows: 1. Population distribution and population growth and land use type by landform classification, 2. Proportion of built-up area in city planning area, 3. Selection of possible space for housing development, 4. Division of a given area based on natural conditions for daily life into three areas, namely suitable areas, possible but rather difficult areas, and unsuitable areas. 5. Selection of suitable areas for sightseeing and recreation. The items used for combination analysis are 1970 and 1975 Population Census, ground elevation, angle of inclination, value of relief, landform classification, surface geology classification, soil classification, land use classification, and city planning area. The data of land value and distance from nearest station are produced by map reading for the test area in this study. From these combinations an objective and detailed distribution can be determined. Finally, several examples of the studies are shown.     

A note on estimating the vertical eddy diffusion coefficient from LANDSAT imagery

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - The vertical eddy diffusion coefficient (K z) for five smoke plumes entrapped in a stable marine layer is estimated from the published LANDSAT imagery data sets of...     

Distribution of Mantle Up-welling Determined from Plate Motions: A Case for Large-scale Bénard Convection

—?The number and geometric distribution of putative mantle up-welling centers and the associated convection cell boundaries are determined from the lithospheric plate motions as given by the 14 Euler poles of the observational NUVEL model. For an assumed distribution of up-welling centers (called “cell-cores”) the corresponding cell boundaries are constructed by a Voronoi division of the spherical surface; the resulting polygons are called “Bénard cells.” By assuming the flow-kinematics within a cell, the viscous coupling between the flow and the plates is estimated, and the Euler poles for the plates are computed under the assumption of zero-net-torque. The positions of the cell-cores are optimized for the HS2-NUVEL1 Euler poles by a method of successive approximation (“subplex”); convergence to one of many local minima occurred typically after ～20,000 iterations. Cell-cores associated with the fourteen HS2-NUVEL1 Euler poles converge to a relatively small number of locations (8 to 10, depending on interpretation), irrespective of the number of convection cells submitted for optimized distribution (from 6 to 50). These locations are correlated with low seismic propagation velocities in tomography, uniformly occur within hotspot provinces, and may specifically be associated with the Hawaiian, Iceland, Reunion/Kerguelen (Indian Ocean), Easter Island, Melanesia/Society Islands (South Pacific), Azores/Cape Verde/Canary Islands, Tristan da Cunha (South Atlantic), Balleny Islands, and possibly Yellowstone hotspots. It is shown that arbitrary Euler poles cannot occur in association with mantle Bénard convection, irrespective of the number and the distribution of convection cells. Nevertheless, eight of the observational Euler poles – including the five that are accurately determined in HS2-NUVEL1 (Australia, Cocos, Juan de Fuca, Pacific, and Philippine) – are “Bénard-valid” (i.e., can be explained by our Bénard model). Five of the remaining six observational poles must be relocated within their error-ellipses to become Bénard-valid; the Eurasia pole alone appears to be in error by ～115°, and may actually lie near 40°N, 154°E. The collective results strongly suggest Bénard-like mantle convection cells, and that basal shear tractions are the primary factor in determining the directions of the plate motions as given by the Euler poles. The magnitudes of the computed Euler vectors show, however, that basal shear cannot be the exclusive driving force of plate tectonics, and suggest force contributions (of comparable magnitude for perhaps half of the plates) from the lithosphere itself, specifically subducting slab-pull and (continental) collision drag, which are provisionally evaluated. The relationship of the putative mantle Bénard polygons to dynamic chaos and turbulent flow is discussed.     

A soil chronosequence in Late Glacial and Neoglacial moraines, Humboldt Glacier, northwestern Venezuelan Andes

Late Glacial and Neoglacial (Little Ice Age) deposits on the Humboldt Massif were analyzed for relative-age dating parameters, including geomorphic and weathering characteristics, geochemical and soil properties. The soil chronosequence, formed in chemically uniform parent materials, provides an important database to study soil evolution in a tropical alpine environment. Extractable and total Fe and Al concentrations, examined to assess their use in relative-age determination, and as paleoenvironmental indicators, provide an important measure of the accumulation and downward profile movement over time of organically-bound Al, ferrihydrite and other crystalline forms (hematite and goethite) of extractable Fe. Ferrihydrite is particularly useful in determining former perched water levels in soils with relation to paleoclimate. The ratios of most Fe extracts are time dependent. The Fe_d/Fe_t ratio, within statistical limits, shows a slow increase from LIA (Little Ice Age) to Late Glacial soils, which closely correlates with other alpine soil studies in the middle latitudes and other tropical alpine locales. Values of Al_d (dithionite) and Al_o (oxalate extractable) generally do not correlate with time; however, Al_p (pyrophosphate extractable) measured against Al_t (total) provides insight on the downward translocation over time of organically-bound Al. Low leaching rates in this chronosequence are further supported by clay mineralogy trends and the geochemical data.     

Impact of fertilizer phosphorus application on phosphorus release kinetics in some calcareous soils

Phosphate reactions and retention in the soil are of paramount importance from the perspective of plant nutrition and fertilizer use efficiency. The objective of this work was to study the kinetics of phosphorus (P) desorption in different soils of Hamadan in fertilized and unfertilized soils. Soils were fertilized with 200 mg P kg⁻¹. Fertilized and unfertilized soils were incubated at 25 ± 1°C for 6 months. After that, release of P was studied by successive extraction with 0.5 M NaHCO₃ over a period of 1,752 h. The results showed that phosphorus desorption from the fertilized and unfertilized soils began with a fast initial reaction, followed by a slow secondary reaction. The amount of P released after 1,752 h in fertilized and unfertilized soils ranged from 457 to 762.4 and 309.6 to 586.7 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. The kinetics of cumulative P release was evaluated using the five kinetic equations. Phosphorus desorption kinetics were best described by parabolic diffusion law, first order, and power function equations. Rate constants of these equations were higher in fertilized than unfertilized soils. Results from this study indicate that release rate of P plays a significant role in supplying available P and released P in runoff.