Assessment of chemical dispersant effectiveness in a wave tank under regular non-breaking and breaking wave conditions

Current chemical dispersant effectiveness tests for product selection are commonly performed with bench-scale testing apparatus. However, for the assessment of oil dispersant effectiveness under real sea state conditions, test protocols are required to have hydrodynamic conditions closer to the natural environment, including transport and dilution effects. To achieve this goal, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designed and constructed a wave tank system to study chemical dispersant effectiveness under controlled mixing energy conditions (regular non-breaking, spilling breaking, and plunging breaking waves). Quantification of oil dispersant effectiveness was based on observed changes in dispersed oil concentrations and oil-droplet size distribution. The study results quantitatively demonstrated that total dispersed oil concentration and breakup kinetics of oil droplets in the water column were strongly dependent on the presence of chemical dispersants and the influence of breaking waves. These data on the effectiveness of dispersants as a function of sea state will have significant implications in the drafting of future operational guidelines for dispersant use at sea.     

Soil fertility evolution and landscape dynamics in a Mediterranean area: a case study in the Sant Llorenç Natural Park (Barcelona, NE Spain)

The cartography of land covers was used to study fertility and soil evolution in a mountainous Mediterranean area during the anthropocene period ( Crutzen P J 2002 Geology of mankind Nature 415 23). The aim was to determine changes in fertility as agricultural lands were abandoned in the 14 000 hectare area that constitutes Sant Llorenç del Munt Natural Park in a pre-coastal Catalan mountain range (north-eastern Iberian Peninsula). The analysis of land covers using vegetation maps, orthorectified images and aerial photography has allowed us to differentiate six vegetation groups: holm-oak wood, pine grove, oak wood, scrub, active agricultural fields and abandoned agricultural fields. The anthropic covers over the past 100 years were subdivided into five categories: active fields and those abandoned over four time periods. Study variables include field shape (concave, convex, flat), orientation (north, south) and slope (ranging from 12º to 24º). The parameters used for the physical-chemical soil analysis included organic material, phosphorous and potassium; fertility was classified based on groups, types and classes. The results indicate that even when the visual appearance of certain landscapes is similar, the edaphic characteristics may be very different. Changes induced by human disturbance share this phenomenon. Therefore, land management should be considered globally, taking into account vegetation, soils and water as interdependent factors, since it is their interaction that produces landscape and most affects its evolution over time.     

Reactions to define the biotite isograd in the Ryoke metamorphic belt,Kii Peninsula,Japan

Two types of biotite isograd are defined in the low-grade metamorphism of the Wazuka area, a Ryoke metamorphic terrain in the Kii Peninsula, Japan. The first, BI₁, is defined by the reaction of chlorite+K-feldspar= biotite+muscovite+quartz+H₂O that took place in psammitic rocks, and the second, BI₂, by the continuous reaction between muscovite, chlorite, biotite and quartz in pelitic rocks. The Fe/Mg ratios of the host rocks do not significantly affect the reactions. From the paragenesis of pelitic and psammitic metamorphic rocks, the following mineral zones were established for this low-pressure regional metamorphic terrain: chlorite, transitional, chlorite-biotite, biotite, and sillimanite. The celadonite content of muscovite solid solution in pelitic rocks decreases systematically with the grade of metamorphism from 38% in the chlorite zone to 11% in the biotite zone. Low pressure does not prohibit muscovite from showing the progressive change of composition, if only rocks with appropriate paragenesis are chosen. A qualitative phase diagram of the AKF system relevant to biotite formation suggests that the higher the pressure of metamorphism, the higher the celadonite content of muscovite at BI₁, which is confirmed by comparing the muscovites from the Barrovian and Ryoke metamorphism.     

山东海阳所麻粒岩向过渡榴辉岩转化的变质动力学过程及其构造意义

在山东半岛东南端的乳山海阳所,角闪岩和长英质片麻岩呈互层产出.在某些角闪岩层的中心残留有弱变形的麻粒岩和强变形的过渡榴辉岩(斜长石榴辉岩)团块.在弱变形的麻粒岩团块中发育有窄的(<1cm)剪切条带.沿着这些剪切条带和在强变形过渡榴辉岩团块中,原麻粒岩被转化为含斜长石的过渡榴辉岩.变形和流体在这一转化过程中加速了元素扩散和迁移的速度,在变形强和有流体加入的部位麻粒岩向榴辉岩转化的程度明显增强.麻粒岩相矿物组合(Cpx-Ⅰ+Opx+Pl-Ⅰ+ Hbl-Ⅰ + Grt-Ⅰ+ Ilm)及其花岗变晶结构被完好地保存于弱变形的麻粒岩中,其矿物成分显示出0.8～0.9 GPa和780℃～830℃的麻粒岩相变质条件.榴辉岩相叠加在麻粒岩中形成了一系列的环边状矿物和结构:环边状石榴石(Grt-Ⅱ)形成于麻粒岩相斜长石(Pl-Ⅰ)和暗色矿物(如Cpx-Ⅰ、Opx和Hbl-Ⅰ)的交界处,细粒石榴石(Grt-Ⅱ)、富钠单斜辉石(Cpx-Ⅱ)和石英形成于麻粒岩相角闪石(Hbl-Ⅰ)的外缘.同时榴辉岩相叠加造成麻粒岩相单斜辉石边缘钙契尔马克组份的降低和硬玉组份的升高.但在弱变形的麻粒岩中,麻粒岩相单斜辉石(Cpx-Ⅰ)的外缘并无榴辉岩相单斜辉石形成.沿着弱变形麻粒岩中的剪切条带和在过渡榴辉岩中,榴辉岩相矿物[Grt-Ⅱ+ Omp/Di(Cpx-Ⅱ)+ Ab(Pl-Ⅱ)+ Qtz + Hbl-Ⅱ+ Ky + Zo + Rut]广泛发育,它们的定向排列形成了明显的面理.其形成的温压条件为1.0～1.4 GPa和560℃～680℃,为过渡榴辉岩相变质.虽然其中仍然残留有被拉长的麻粒岩相单斜辉石,但它们含有很高的硬玉组份,且其外缘环绕有细粒的钠质透辉石或绿辉石(Cpx-Ⅱ).海阳所榴辉岩相变质的温压条件远远低于位于海阳所东南和东北的苏鲁超高压变质带中柯石英榴辉岩变质的温压条件.因此海阳所地区代表一条不同于超高压变质带的冷榴辉岩带,它可能与大别山南部的冷榴辉岩带相当.苏鲁超高压变质带的南部边界位于海阳所以北.     

Crustal thickening and crustal extension as controls on the evolution of the drainage network of the central Swiss Alps between 30 Ma and the present: constraints from the stratigraphy of the North Alpine Foreland Basin and the structural evolution of the Alps

The combined information about sedimentary petrography from the North Alpine Foreland Basin and structural geology from the Alps allows a qualitative reconstruction of the drainage network of the central Swiss Alps between 30 Ma and the present. This study suggests that crustal thickening and crustal thinning significantly controlled the location of the drainage divide. It also reveals the possible controls of crustal thickening/thinning on the change of the orientation of the drainage network from across-strike between 30 and 14 Ma to along-strike thereafter. Initial crustal thickening in the rear of the wedge is considered to have formed the drainage divide between north and south at 30 Ma. Because the location of crustal thickening shifted from east to west between ≈30–20 Ma, the catchment areas of the eastern dispersal systems reached further south than those of the western Alpine palaeorivers for the same time slice. Similarly, the same crustal dynamics appear to have controlled two phases of denudation that are reflected in the Molasse Basin by petrographic trends. Uplift in the rear of the wedge caused the Alpine palaeorivers to expand further southward. This is reflected in the foreland basin by increasing admixture of detritus from structurally higher units. However, tectonic quiescence in the rear of the wedge allowed the Alpine palaeorivers to cut down into the Alpine edifice, resulting in an increase of detritus from structurally lower units. Whereas uplift in the rear of the wedge was responsible for initiation of the Alpine drainage systems, underplating of the external massifs some 50 km further north is thought to have caused along-strike deviation of the major Alpine palaeorivers. Besides crustal thickening, extension in the rear of the wedge appears to have significantly controlled the evolution of the drainage network of the western Swiss Alps. Slip along the Simplon detachment fault exposed the core of the Lepontine dome, and caused a 50-km-northward shift of the drainage divide.     

西藏高原南部雅鲁藏布江缝合带地区地壳电性结构研究

为了探测西藏高原南部雅鲁藏布江缝合带地区地壳浅部和深部构造沿东西和南北方向的变化特征,在雅鲁藏布江缝合带地区布设了三条南北向剖面(错那—墨竹工卡、亚东—雪古拉、吉隆—措勤),采用超宽频带大地电磁测深方法进行了地壳、上地幔电性结构探测研究,发现该区主要电性结构特征为：1. 雅鲁藏布江缝合带附近表层发育大规模的高阻体,岩体延伸最深达30km以上,是冈底斯花岗岩体的反映. 2. 雅鲁藏布江缝合带的南部有小规模的良导体,在其下方和北侧发育有大规模良导体. 3. 沿剖面从南往北壳内普遍发育良导体,各良导体主体间是不连续的,规模逐渐增大,总体北倾,在缝合带附近产状较陡. 4. 在雅鲁藏布江缝合带附近良导体由西往东规模逐渐增大,导电性逐渐变好,相对雅鲁藏布江在剖面上的位置逐渐南移. 这些重要的电性特征可能是印度板块向北俯冲所形成的,深部大规模的良导体特征沿东西向的差异可能是板块碰撞引起物质沿东西向运移作用的结果.     

An Intercomparison of Large-Eddy Simulations of the Stable Boundary Layer

Results are presented from the first intercomparison of large-eddy simulation (LES) models for the stable boundary layer (SBL), as part of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Atmospheric Boundary Layer Study initiative. A moderately stable case is used, based on Arctic observations. All models produce successful simulations, in as much as they generate resolved turbulence and reflect many of the results from local scaling theory and observations. Simulations performed at 1-m and 2-m resolution show only small changes in the mean profiles compared to coarser resolutions. Also, sensitivity to subgrid models for individual models highlights their importance in SBL simulation at moderate resolution (6.25 m). Stability functions are derived from the LES using typical mixing lengths used in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and climate models. The functions have smaller values than those used in NWP. There is also support for the use of K-profile similarity in parametrizations. Thus, the results provide improved understanding and motivate future developments of the parametrization of the SBL.