Predicting lake water quality responses to load reduction: a three-dimensional modeling approach for total maximum daily load

Water quality restoration efforts often suffer the risk of ineffectiveness and failure due to lack of quantitative decision supports. During the past two decades, the restoration of one of China’s most heavily polluted lakes, Lake Dianchi, has experienced costly decision ineffectiveness with no detectable water quality improvement. The governments are planning to invest tremendous amount of funds in the next 5 years to continue the lake restoration process; however, without a quantitative understanding between the load reduction and the response in lake water quality, it is highly possible that these planned efforts would suffer the similar ineffectiveness as before. To provide scientifically sound decision support for guiding future load reduction efforts in Lake Dianchi Watershed, a sophisticated quantitative cause-and-effect response system was developed using a three-dimensional modeling approach. It incorporates the complex three dimensional hydrodynamics, fate and transport of nutrients, as well as nutrient-algae interactions into one holistic framework. The model results show that the model performs well in reproducing the observed spatial pattern and temporal trends in water quality. The model was then applied to three total maximum daily load scenarios and two refined restoration scheme scenarios to quantify phytoplankton responses to various external load reduction intensities. The results show that the algal bloom in Lake Dianchi responds to load reduction in a complex and nonlinear way, therefore, it is necessary to apply the developed system for future load reduction and lake restoration schemes for more informed decision making and effective management.     

Evaluation of adsorption potential of bamboo biochar for metal-complex dye: equilibrium,kinetics and artificial neural network modeling

Metal-complex dyes are widely used in textile industry, but harmful to the environment and human health due to aromatic structure and heavy metal ions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the adsorption potential of bamboo biochar for the removal of metal-complex dye acid black 172 from solutions. Freundlich model was more suitable for the adsorption process of bamboo biochar than Langmuir isotherm, indicating multilayer adsorption of acid black 172 on a heterogeneous bamboo biochar surface. Adsorption kinetics analysis of pseudo-second-order and Weber–Morris models revealed that intraparticle transport was not the only rate-limiting step. The bamboo biochar exhibited a good adsorption performance even at high ionic strength. Analysis based on the artificial neural network indicated that the temperature with a relative importance of 29 % appeared to be the most influential parameter in the adsorption process for dye removal, followed by time, ionic strength, pH and dye concentration.     

Investigating soil thermodynamic parameters of the active layer on the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The soil thermodynamic parameters, including thermal conductivity, diffusivity and volumetric capacity within the active layer on the northern Tibetan Plateau, were calculated using the measured data of soil temperature gradient, heat flux, and moisture at four stations from October 2003 to September 2004. The results showed that the soil thermodynamic parameters exhibited clear seasonal fluctuation. The thermal conductivity and diffusivity in summer and autumn at Beiluhe, Kexinling, and Tongtianhe were larger than those in winter. The volumetric thermal capacity causes an opposite change; it was larger in autumn and winter than in summer. In spring, the soil thermal conductivity at the Kekexili station was larger than that in summer. Generally, fine-grained soils and lower saturation degrees in the topsoil might be a reason for the lower soil thermal conductivity in winter. For a given soil, soil moisture was the main factor influencing the thermodynamic parameters. The unfrozen water content that existed in frozen soils greatly affected the soil thermal conductivity, whose contribution rate was estimated to be 55 %. The thermodynamic parameters of frozen soils could be expressed as a function of soil temperature, volumetric ice content and soil salinity, while for the unfrozen ground the soil moisture content is the dominant factor for those thermal parameters. As for the soil thermal diffusivity, there exists a critical value of soil moisture content. When the soil moisture content becomes less than a critical value, the soil thermal diffusivity increases as the soil moisture content rises.     

Surface characterization of maize-straw-derived biochars and their sorption performance for MTBE and benzene

Biochars generated at various temperatures might show significant differences in sorption for organic contaminants. In this study, a series of biochars, generated from pyrolyzing maize straws at different temperatures, were systematically characterized. The characterization results showed that with increasing pyrolysis temperature, the surface areas, micropore areas and aromaticity of biochars were enhanced. Batch experiments were conducted to study methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene sorption to biochars. The results indicated that the sorption capacity of benzene to biochars was higher than that of MTBE. The higher pyrolyzed temperature of biochars resulted in a stronger sorption affinity for target compounds, and the dominant sorption mechanisms varied for biochars pyrolyzed at different temperatures. The sorption to biochars pyrolyzed at 700 and 800 °C performed a high adsorption capacity, which indicated that they might be a promising sorbent to remove MTBE and benzene from water. Biochar pyrolyzed at 400 °C showed transitional sorption mechanisms from partition to adsorption for MTBE and benzene. Pore-filling was a possible sorption mechanism to biochars pyrolyzed at high temperature.     

Spatial heterogeneous response of land use and landscape functions to ecological restoration: the case of the Chinese loess hilly region

Ecological restorations over time may have profound effects on ecological and socio-economic systems. However, land-use changes and landscape functions that accompany ecological restorations can have spatial differentiations due to varied biophysical and socio-economic contexts. Therefore, these spatial differentiations caused by ecological restoration must be understood for better planning and management of restoration activities. The Baota District, with 576 villages in the center of the Chinese Loess Plateau, was selected as the study area because of its dramatic transition from cropland to grassland and shrubland from 1990 to 2010. Using the ArcGIS software and a k-means clustering analysis, an approach to identify types of land-use change patterns (TLCPs) at the village level was developed, and four TLCPs were delineated. The analysis indicated a general pattern of cropland decline by 21.6 %, but revealed significant spatial variations between villages in different TLCPs. Vegetation cover and soil retention, which are key proxies for landscape functions, increased by 22.70 and 108 %, respectively, from 2000 to 2010 with significant spatial heterogeneity. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was employed for the assessment of soil retention. The analysis of landscape metrics revealed a major trend of fragmentation and regularity on the county and village scale; however, spatial variations remained. Physical attributes were used to characterize different TLCPs, and notable differences were found. The spatial heterogeneous change in land use and landscape functions on the village scale may be useful for land use and ecological restoration management policy makers.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping based on GIS and information value model for the Chencang District of Baoji,China

The main objective of this study was to apply a statistical (information value) model using geographic information system (GIS) to the Chencang District of Baoji, China. Landslide locations within the study area were identified using reports and aerial photographs, and a field survey. A total of 120 landslides were mapped, of which 84 (70 %) were randomly selected for building the landslide susceptibility model. The remaining 36 (30 %) were used for model validation. We considered a total of 10 potential factors that predispose an area to a landslide for the landslide susceptibility mapping. These included slope degree, altitude, slope aspect, plan curvature, geomorphology, distance from faults, lithology, land use, mean annual rainfall, and peak ground acceleration. Following an analysis of these factors, a landslide susceptibility map was produced using the information value model with GIS. The resulting landslide susceptibility index was divided into five classes (very high, high, moderate, low, and very low) using the natural breaks method. The corresponding distribution area percentages were 29.22, 25.14, 15.66, 15.60, and 14.38 %, respectively. Finally, landslide locations were used to validate the results of the landslide susceptibility map using areas under the curve (AUC). The AUC plot showed that the susceptibility map had a success rate of 81.79 % and a prediction accuracy of 82.95 %. Based on the results of the AUC evaluation, the landslide susceptibility map produced using the information value model exhibited good performance.     

基于地质异常的甘肃省铅锌矿成矿定量预测

查明地质异常是成矿预测的基础、找矿的前提、靶区圈定的依据。本文以"三联式"成矿预测理论为指导,着重探讨了甘肃省铅锌矿地质、地球物理以及地球化学异常的识别、提取与圈定,运用定量分析方法,厘定地质异常与铅锌矿种之间的关联,在此基础上,运用证据权成矿预测方法实现对甘肃省铅锌矿床的成矿定量预测及成矿远景区圈定。     

中国地热研究的进展与展望(1995～2014)

地热是主要地球物理场之一,地热能是地球的本土能源。李四光在20世纪60年代开创了我国地热科学。到90年代,学科体系基本建立。在过去20年里,我国地热研究得到了进一步深化和拓展。本文从大地热流、岩石圈热结构、地热系统、油气盆地地热、矿山地热、天然气水合物以及气候变化等方面回顾地热研究代表性的创新进展,并对深层地热、海洋地热、环境地热等研究方向作了展望。本文认为,过去20年我国地热研究成果丰硕,国际影响力得到提高,未来发展势头强劲。在经历了由浅入深,从今到古的成长之后,地热研究还将不断拓展领域,为我国地球科学,特别是能源与环境安全做出更大贡献。     

成藏期砂岩孔隙度对油气分布的控制作用——以东营凹陷牛庄洼陷沙三中亚段岩性油藏为例

在具有相同储集砂体和相似断层输导情况下,牛庄洼陷沙三中亚段砂岩体油藏长期存在以下难以解释的现象：1）现今砂岩孔隙度分布与油气分布不一致,高孔隙砂岩不含油而低孔隙砂岩含油;2）相同物性砂岩有的含油而有的不含油,含油砂体现今物性接近,但含油级别却存在很大差异。本文从古孔隙度恢复方面分析了牛庄洼陷西部地区沙三中砂岩储层在成藏期的储集条件,并探讨了成藏期储层临界孔隙度。研究发现：1）虽然现今储层物性下限很低,部分砂岩已经致密化,但成藏期的古孔隙度分布在18%～25%范围内,远大于成藏期临界孔隙度13.9%。但由于埋藏过程的差异导致砂岩储层后期减孔幅度不同,因而现今储层物性不能反映成藏期储层物性,成藏期孔隙度高并不能代表现今孔隙度高;2）成藏期高孔隙度带与现今油气分布范围高度一致,表明在相似断层输导条件下,由于储层物性级差优势形成油气优势运移通道,导致高孔隙度带砂体含油,因此,沙三中亚段岩性油藏富集在成藏期高孔隙带中,成藏期砂岩古孔隙度是油气成藏的重要控制因素,而现今砂岩储层高孔隙带在成藏期并不一定高。牛庄洼陷西部地区沙三中亚段储层中具有高古孔隙度的砂岩仍有较大勘探潜力。