Stability study on the northern batter of MBC Open Pit using Plaxis 3D

Cracks appeared on the northern batter at Maddingley Brown Coal Open Pit Mine, Victoria, Australia, on 8 November 2013 and a 2-day rainfall event happened 5 days later. This study models the stability of the northern batter considering the effect of the rainfall event and an emergency buttress using finite element method (FEM) encoded in Plaxis 3D. It is found that the batter tended to lead to block sliding after overburden removal. The observed vertical crack would be a combined action of the overburden removal and groundwater flow. The simulated location of cracks agrees well with the actual location, and the simulated heave of the coal seam is in good agreement with the experience in Victoria brown coal open pit mining. The rainfall accelerated the development of the cracks. With the construction of the emergency buttress, the batter became stable that is in good agreement with the monitored data.     

In situ investigation into fracture and subsidence of overburden strata for solid backfill mining

Controlling the subsidence of overburden strata is the main objective for backfill mining technology. In order to understand the controlling effect of filling body, a detection scheme with three direction boreholes was designed in the tailgate of T₃290 mining face in Tangshan Coal Mine to monitor the fracture developing process of overburden strata. In addition, a few displacement and stress sensors used for monitoring the roof subsidence and filling body stress were arranged behind the longwall face to monitor and record the force and deformation of gangue. The field investigation shows that the solid backfill mining technology can effectively reduce the fracture of overburden strata, i.e., the fracture height and the damage degree. The subsidence of overburden strata is mainly caused by the subsidence of roof which is divided into four stages: roof subsidence stage of mining face, rapid subsidence stage of gob roof, relatively stable stage, and long-term rheological stage. The gauge plays an essential role in slowing down the subsidence in each stage of the overburden subsidence, especially the relatively stable stage.     

Position-domain integrity risk-based ambiguity validation for the integer bootstrap estimator

Integrity monitoring for ambiguity resolution is of significance for utilizing the high-precision carrier phase differential positioning for safety–critical navigational applications. The integer bootstrap estimator can provide an analytical probability density function, which enables the precise evaluation of the integrity risk for ambiguity validation. In order to monitor the effect of unknown ambiguity bias on the integer bootstrap estimator, the position-domain integrity risk of the integer bootstrapped baseline is evaluated under the complete failure modes by using the worst-case protection principle. Furthermore, a partial ambiguity resolution method is developed in order to satisfy the predefined integrity risk requirement. Static and kinematic experiments are carried out to test the proposed method by comparing with the traditional ratio test method and the protection level-based method. The static experimental result has shown that the proposed method can achieve a significant global availability improvement by 51% at most. The kinematic result reveals that the proposed method obtains the best balance between the positioning accuracy and the continuity performance.     

Defining the geochemical baseline: a case of Hong Kong soils

A geochemical baseline provides the means to distinguish between the pedogenic origin and the anthropogenic origin of the trace element in the environmental compartments. We collected 271 soil samples representative of different parent rocks and soil types from the whole territory of Hong Kong and analyzed the composition of clay mineralogy and the contents of 15 chemical elements (Fe, Cd, As, etc.) for these samples. The baseline was predicted with the method of the normalization procedure combined with the relative cumulative frequency curve. The result indicated that Fe was the best reference element for the normalization procedure among the five potential reference elements (Fe, Al, Sc, Ti, and Mn), followed by Sc and Ti. A poor correlation was found between Sc, Ti, and Cu. The predicted baseline was much lower than the A-value of the Dutch List used usually in screening the polluted soil of Hong Kong, implying that the extent of heavy metal pollution might have been underestimated with respect to local lands. We also applied the cluster analysis to distinguish the geochemical associations of the trace elements due to its importance to the baseline. Approximately three major associations including the Fe–Mn-oxides related, Al oxides or Al-bearing-clay-mineralogy related and sulfide- related associations were observed from the dendrogram.     

西秦岭北缘构造带新生代盆地南部边界断层带结构与构造变形演化

西秦岭北缘构造带是青藏高原东北缘的主要构造边界之一,北缘断层及其所控制的新生代沉积盆地是青藏高原东北缘新生代盆—山格局演化、高原扩展隆升与变形的地质记录。因此,西秦岭北缘构造带的断裂构造和断裂控制的沉积盆地研究对于理解青藏高原构造系统形成和高原隆升过程都具有重要的科学意义。本文通过对西秦岭北缘新生代盆地的南部边界断层F1断层结构分带、断层岩类型、几何学—运动学特征分析,获得如下认识：1）F1断层总体走向为290°～300°,倾向北北东,倾角60°～80°,发育近百米宽的由韧性、韧脆性和脆性断层岩等组成的结构复杂的断层带;2）构造分析揭示了F1断层至少经历了 3期构造变形事件,第一期为韧性—韧脆性伸展正断层作用,第二期为脆性高角度挤压逆冲断层作用,第三期为近直立的脆性斜向左旋走滑作用;3）该断层近百米宽的断层带内形成于不同构造层次的韧性、韧脆性、脆性等变形现象叠加交织出现在现今地壳浅表层次,说明该断层带经历了从早期较深层次韧性变形域逐渐抬升而进入晚期较浅层次的脆韧性变形域到现今的脆性变形域的韧—脆性变形机制转换;4）根据F1断层对西秦岭北缘渐新统—中新统漳县含盐红层盆地的空间构造配置、控制和改造以及新生代区域构造变形演化历史分析,认为第一期韧性—韧脆性伸展正断层作用与渐新世—中新世断陷盆地形成相匹配,活动时代为晚渐新世—晚中新世;第二期脆性高角度挤压逆冲作用与渐新世—中新世地层翘起、褶皱和底部抬升剥蚀及上新世磨拉石盆地充填相对应,活动时代应该始于中新世末期或上新世早期,持续至第四纪早期;第三期斜向左旋走滑则与西秦岭北缘断层带第四纪以来广泛发育的左旋走滑作用相对应。综上所述,西秦岭北缘新生代漳县盆地南部边界断层F1,虽然仅是北缘构造带中一条断层,但作为构造敏感带,其多期变形历史应该代表了青藏高原东北缘新生代以来的构造变形演化及构造体制转换过程。如果这一新生代沉积盆地边界断层F1在渐新世—中新世一直处于伸展正断作用,那么西秦岭北缘在这个阶段应该处于地壳伸展拉张状态,渐新世—中新世漳县盆地只能是伸展断陷盆地而不可能是挤压挠曲前陆盆地或压陷盆地。因此,我们认为印度—欧亚板块碰撞汇聚产生的构造挤压缩短和地壳隆升效应在中新世尚未波及到西秦岭北缘区域。F1断层在中新世末—上新世初的构造反转挤压冲断和上新世具有再生前陆磨拉石堆积出现才标志着西秦岭北缘卷入青藏高原挤压构造动力学系统。     

Remote estimation of terrestrial evapotranspiration by Landsat 5 TM and the SEBAL model in cold and high‐altitude regions: a case study of the upper reach of the Shule River Basin,China

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important expenditure in water and energy balances, especially on cold and high‐altitude land surfaces. Daily ET of the upper reach of the Shule River Basin was estimated using Landsat 5 TM data and the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) model. Based on observations made at the Suli station, the algorithms of land surface temperature and soil heat flux in SEBAL were modified. Land surface temperature was retrieved and compared with ground truth via three methods: the radiative transfer equation method, the mono‐window algorithm, and the single‐channel method. We selected the best of these methods, mono‐window algorithm, for estimating ET. The average error of daily ET estimated by the modified SEBAL model and measured by the eddy covariance system was 16.4%, with a root‐mean‐square error of 0.52 mm d^?1. The estimated ET means were 3.09, 2.48, and 1.48 mm d^?1 on June 9 (DOY 160), June 25 (DOY 176), and July 27 (DOY 208) of the year 2010, respectively. The average estimated ET on the glacier surface of all days was more than 3 mm d^?1, a measurement that is difficult to capture in‐situ and has rarely been reported. This study will improve the understanding of water balance in cold, high‐altitude regions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PROTEM-37瞬变电磁测深系统及应用实例

PROTEM - 37仪器具有分辨率高、动态范围大、抗干扰能力强、探测深度较大等优良性能。简要介绍了该仪器的测深原理、工作装置、野外施工步骤以及资料的处理解释。对TEM和MT资料的联合反演作了有益的尝试。介绍了该仪器在探测地下洞穴、勘察金属矿以及煤田水文地质调查等方面     

A double-differenced cycle slip detection and repair method for GNSS CORS network

The difficulty to detect and repair cycle slip of carrier phase measurements is a key limit for continuously high accuracy of GNSS positioning and navigation services. We propose an automated cycle slip detection and repair method for data preprocessing of a CORS network. The method jointly uses double-differenced (DD) geometry-free (GF) combination and ionospheric-free observation corrected for the computed geometrical distance (IF-OMC) to estimate the cycle slips in dual-frequency observations. The DD GF combination, which is only affected by the ionospheric residual, can be used to detect cycle slips with high reliability except for special pairs such as (77, 60) on GPS L1/L2 frequencies. The detection principle of the IF-OMC observable is such that there is a large discontinuity related to the previous epoch when cycle slips occur at the present epoch. The disadvantages of these two combinations can be overcome employing the proposed detection method. The cycle slip pair (77, 60) has no effect on the GF combination, while a change of 14.65 m is derived from GPS L1/L2 observations using the IF-OMC algorithm. Using pre-determined station coordinates as precise values, we found that the accuracy of the DD IF-OMC combination was 18 mm for a 200-km CORS baseline. Therefore, cycle slips in dual-frequency observations can be correctly and uniquely determined using DD GF and IF-OMC equations. The proposed method was verified by adding simulated cycle slips in observations collected from the CORS network under a quiet ionosphere and shown to be effective. Moreover, the method was assessed with observations made during intense ionospheric activity, which generated extensive cycle slips. The results show that the algorithm can detect and repair all cycle slips apart from two exceptions relating to long data gaps.     

Vertical variations and transport mechanism of soil moisture in response to vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau of China

Soil moisture is essential for vegetation restoration in arid and semi-arid regions. Ascertaining the vertical distribution and transportation of soil moisture under different vegetation types has a profound effect on the ecological construction. In this study, the soil moisture at a depth of 500 cm for four typical vegetation types, including Robinia pseudoacacia, Caragana korshinskii, Stipa bungeana, and corn, were investigated and compared in the Zhifanggou watershed of the Loess plateau. Additionally, hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes were detected to identify the transport mechanism of soil moisture. The results showed vertical distribution and transportation of soil moisture were different under different vegetation types. Depth-averaged soil moisture under S. bungeana and corn generally increased along the profile, while C. korshinskii and R. pseudoacacia showed weakly increasing and relatively stable after an obvious decreasing trend (0–40 cm). The soil moisture under R. pseudoacacia was lower than that under other vegetation types, especially in deep layer. However, the effect of R. pseudoacacia on soil moisture in the topsoil (< 30 cm) could be positive. For R. pseudoacacia (160–500 cm), C. korshinskii (0–500 cm), and S. bungeana (0–100 cm), the soil moisture declined with increased in vegetation age. Planting arbor species such as R. pseudoacacia intensified the decline of soil moisture on the Loess Plateau. The capacity of evaporation fractionation of soil moisture followed the sequence: corn > S. bungeana > R. pseudoacacia > C. korshinskii. The δ¹⁸O values in soil water fluctuated across the profile. The δ¹⁸O values changed sharply in upper layer and generally remained stable in deep layer. However, in middle layer, the vertical distribution characteristics of the δ¹⁸O values were different under different vegetation types. We estimated that piston flow was the main mode of precipitation infiltration, and the occurrence of preferential flow was related to vegetation types. These results were helpful to improve the understanding of the response of deep soil moisture to vegetation restoration and inform practices for sustainable water management.