Finite Element Modeling of Swelling Soil Pressures Using Joint/Interface Elements

There could be some discontinuities in a soil media such as layers, earth structures, cracks, and fissures so that estimation of stresses and deformations in these types of soil masses are somewhat different from continuous masses. The discontinuities in a soil mass could be considered as a special link between two blocks. Transmitted swelling pressures affected by the soil properties of the backfill especially at the interface between the backfill and retaining wall. In order to estimate the transmitted swelling pressure distribution behind a retaining wall, using with interface element, a new finite element model and a code (SWELPRES) have been developed. To evaluate the effect of backfill characteristics and interface element from the transmitted lateral swelling pressures, four cases of thickness of backfills with or without interface elements are investigated.     

Monitoring Large-Scale Tests for Nuclear Waste Disposal

Two large-scale “in situ” demonstration experiments and their instrumentation are described. The first test (FEBEX Experiment) involves the hydration of a compacted bentonite barrier under the combined effect of an inner source of heat and an outer water flow from the confining saturated granite rock. In the second case, the progressive de-saturation of Opalinus clay induced by maintained ventilation of an unlined tunnel is analyzed. The paper shows the performance of different sensors (capacitive cells, psychrometers, TDR’s) and a comparison of fill behaviour with modelling results. The long term performance of some instruments could also be evaluated specially in the case of FEBEX test. Capacitive sensors provide relative humidity data during long transient periods characterised by very large variations of suction within the bentonite.     

渤海三维海洋温度和海流数值预报

"十·五"期间,我国开展了三维海洋温度和海流数值预报的业务化研究工作.经过3年的努力,渤海三维海洋温度和海流数值预报系统研制完成,并于2003年10月,开始试预报.本文对该预报系统以及运行情况进行了介绍,并分析了所存在的问题和发展方向.     

Constraining the origin and evolution of confined turbidite systems: southern Cretan margin,Eastern Mediterranean Sea (34°30–36°N)

Bathymetric, 9.5-kHz long-range sidescan sonar (OKEAN), seismic reflection and sediment-core data are used in the analysis of two tectonic troughs south of Crete, Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Here, up to 1.2 s two-way travel time (TWTT) of strata have accumulated since the Middle Miocene in association with extension in the South Aegean region. The study area comprises >100-km- long by >25-km-wide basins filled by sediments subdivided into two seismic units: (1) an upper Unit 1 deposited in sub-basins which follow the present-day configuration of the southern Cretan margin; (2) a basal Unit 2, more than 500 ms (TWTT) thick, accumulated in deeper half-graben/grabens distinct from the present-day depocentres. Both units overlap a locally stratified Unit 3 comprising the pre-Neogene core complex of Crete and Gavdos. In this work, the interpreted seismic units are correlated with the onshore stratigraphy, demonstrating that denudation processes occurring on Crete and Gavdos in response to major tectonic events have been responsible for high sedimentation rates along the proximal southern Cretan margin. Consequently, topographically confined sedimentary units have been deposited south of Crete in the last 12 Ma, including turbidites and other mass-flow deposits fed by evolving transverse and axial channel systems. Surface processes controlling facies distribution include the direct inflow of sediment from alluvial-fan systems and incising mountain rivers onto the Cretan slope, where significant sediment instability processes occur at present. In this setting, seismic profiles reveal eight different types of stratigraphic contacts on basin-margin highs, and basinal areas show evidence of halokinesis and/or fluid escape. The acquired data also show that significant changes to the margin’s configuration occurred in association with the post-Alpine tectonic and eustatic episodes affecting the Eastern Mediterranean.     

266nm短脉冲激光对泥鳅鱼的胚胎效应

首次使用266nm激光脉冲对泥鳅受精卵进行辐照,引起畸变。辐照分别对全卵、只对胚盘、只对卵黄三种方式进行。对实验结果的分析说明266nm激光对泥鳅受精卵的作用是光化学作用,而不是光致热效应,可能引起DNA分子结构—碱基的变化。核质关系实验证明了细胞质对细脆发育过程有控制作用。     

渤海湾沿岸泥炭沼泽形成机制与时空分布

渤海湾沿岸的海陆过渡带，优越的水文地理环境有利于泥炭沼泽的形成与发育。海洋海退导致的海岸线变迁，是控制泥炭沼泽发育时间和空间分布的主导因素。间冰期和冰后期的海面上升期间，自海向陆发育了海侵基底泥炭；中全新世高海面期，在山前扇缘洼地和沟谷有泥炭沼泽发育；晚全新世海面下降期，泥炭沼泽主要发育在沿岸的海湾、泻湖、三角洲汊河间洼地及平原上的河滩、阶地、古河道等地。     

Mechanisms controlling the temporal variation of the sea ice edge in the Southern Ocean

This paper examines the mechanism controlling the short time-scale variation of sea ice cover over the Southern Ocean. Sea ice concentration and ice velocity datasets derived from images of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) are employed to reveal this mechanism. The contribution of both dynamic and thermodynamic processes to the change in ice edge location is examined by comparing the meridional velocity of ice edge displacement and sea ice drift. In the winter expansion phase, the thermodynamic process of new ice production off the ice edge plays an important role in daily advances of ice cover, whereas daily retreats are mostly due to southward ice drift. On the other hand, both advance and retreat of ice edges in the spring contraction phase are mostly caused by the dynamic process of the ice drift. Based on the above mechanism and the linear relation between the degree of ice production at the ice edge and northward wind speed, the seasonal advance of ice cover can be roughly reproduced using the meridional velocity of ice drift at the ice edge.     

The Levant Slumps and the Phoenician Structures: collapse features along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

Two distinct series of slumps deform the upper part of the sedimentary sequence along the continental margin of the Levant. One series is found along the base of the continental slope, where it overlies the disrupted eastern edge of the Messinian evaporites. The second series of slumps transects the continental margin from the shelf break to the Levant Basin. It seemed that the two series were triggered by two unrelated, though contemporaneous, processes. The shore-parallel slumps were initiated by basinwards flow of the Messinian salt, that carried along the overlying Plio-Quaternary sediments. Seawater that percolated along the detachment faults dissolved the underlying salt to form distinctly disrupted structures. The slope-normal slumps are located on top of large canyons that cut into the pre-Messinian sedimentary rocks. A layer of salt is found in the canyons, and the Plio-Quaternary sediments were deposited on that layer. The slumps are bounded by large, NW-trending faults where post-Messinian faulted offset was measured. We presume that the flow of the salt in the canyons also drives the slope-normal slumps. Thus thin-skinned halokynetic processes generated the composite post-Tortonian structural patterns of the Levant margin. The Phoenician Structures are a prime example of the collapse of a distal continental margin due to the dissolution of a massive salt layer.     

太平洋表层海温的年代际变化

众所周知，ENSO(El Nino/ Southern Oscillation)是发生在热带太平洋的年际时间尺度上最强的气候信号，与 El Nino (La Nina)相应的正(负)海温距平(SSTA)主要分布于赤道中东太平洋地区(Rasmusson et al.，1982)。相对于热带太平洋的年际ENSO现象，人们注意到北太平洋海平面气压(SLP)存在更长周期的年代际变化(Trenberth et al.，1994)，有人认为这与北太平洋的表层温度(SST)变化有关(Latif et al.，1994)，也有人认为与热带SST的异常关系更为密切(Jacobs et al.，1994)。20世纪80年代后的ENSO事件和20世纪60，70年代有明显的差别(Wang，1995)，20世纪90年后El Nino发生频数增加，并且在1997和1998年出现了20世纪最强的一次Nino事件(McPhaden，1999)。 因此，不论是作为大气年代际变化可能的一个驱动因子，还是作为年际ENSO的背景场，从整体上了解太平洋SST的年代际时间尺度上的时、空变化特征都是十分重要的。