Morphotectonics of the Mongolia-Siberian mountain belt

The mountains of north-eastern Inner Asia comprise the Mongolia-Siberian orogenic belt which has a complex structure. The southern flank of the belt consists of a chain of large domal uplifts. The Baikal rift zone is located on the northern flank. The central segment is composed of zones of linear warping. The tectonic landforms rest on a large domal basement uplift. The morphology of the latter is paragenetically connected with the shape of the asthenolith underlying the belt. The neotectonic zones are also connected with the deep structure elements.The Mongolia-Siberian mountain belt is a group of orogenic forms typical of intracontinental mountain areas.     

3D chemical model for geological macromolecules

This study defines a chemical representation of the kerogen macromolecule based on data from physicochemical analyses. The model should permit: creation of various schematic drawings representing an average macromolecule; future integration of new analytical results (for instance on structures of biomarkers or biopolymers); and determination of the distribution of chemical bonds.The models developed in this study can be represented in a 3D space, using classical chemical symbols, in the form of cyclic groups linked to each other by aliphatic chains. One cyclic group is a connected set of aromatic, naphthenoaromatic or naphthenic rings. These cyclic groups are constructed using basic elements such as atoms and bonds defined by their length and direction.Modeling of kerogen is done in three successive steps. A library is first created to define atoms, bonds and cyclic groups. Secondly, starting from a set of equations describing the analytical results, cyclic and aliphatic groups are chosen in the appropriate stoechiometric amount to match the analytical data. Finally the construction is done: cyclic groups are placed randomly in a 3D space, connections are made by aliphatic chains, and functional groups are added.The molecular modeling software Xmol^TM can be operated on APOLLO stations. It allows the creation of libraries, the calculation of chemical bonds corresponding to the analyses and the construction of macromolecules. An example is given for a type III kerogen at the beginning of diagenesis.     

Raman scattering study of the high-temperature vibrational properties and stability of CaGeO3 perovskite

The vibrational properties of metastable Ca-GeO₃ perovskite are investigated as a function of temperature using Raman scattering. Mode-assignments are derived from polarized spectra of optically oriented single crystals. Neither symmetry-breaking structural transformations nor soft-mode behavior is revealed in the Raman spectra between room temperature and 650° C. Only a small decrease in the local static octahedral tilt angles can be inferred from the Raman data over this temperature range. A Landau extrapolation of the lowest frequency A_g modes suggests that these modes become critical near 2000° C, a temperature that is above the extrapolated zero pressure melting point.     

Measurements of flow over an elongated ridge and its thermal stability dependence: The mean field

Measurements of mean wind flow and turbulence parameters have been made over Cooper's Ridge, a 115 m high elongated ridge with low surface roughness. This paper describes measurements of the streamwise and vertical variations in the mean field for a variety of atmospheric stability conditions. In near-neutral conditions, the normalised speedup over the ridge compares well with measurements from Askervein (Mickleet al., 1988). The near-neutral results are also compared to an analytical flow model based on that of Huntet al. (1988a). Measured streamwise variations show less deceleration at the foot of the hill and slightly more acceleration at the crest of the hill than does the model. In non-neutral conditions, the speedup over the ridge reduces slightly in unstable conditions and increases by up to a factor of two in stable conditions. The model is modified to allow boundary-layer stability to change the upwind wind profile and the depths of the inner and middle layers. Such a modification is shown to describe the observations of speedup well in unstable and weakly stable conditions but to overestimate the speedup in moderate to strongly stable conditions. This disagreement can be traced to the model's overestimation of the upstream scaling velocity at the height of the middle layer through its use of a stable wind profile form which has greater shear than that of the observed profiles, in possible combination with the three-dimensionality of the ridge which would allow enhanced flow around, rather than over, the feature in more stable conditions.     

A surface instability detection apparatus

Summary A surface instability detection apparatus for investigating axial splitting and spalling phenomena in rocks and rock-like materials is described. The apparatus simulates the conditions under which these phenomena occur and allows one to accurately measure them. Experimental results from tests on Berea sandstone are presented where the successive formation of spalling fractures was monitored with an acoustic emission system and the location of the seismic events was mapped. The test results show the potential for benchmark tests in determining the spalling tendency and characteristics of different rocks.