Seismic potential of the North Qazvin zone,Alborz

The North Qazvin region is a part of the Central Alborz Mountains in Iran and has experienced destructive earthquakes. This region is a popular and industrial zone near Tehran, capital of Iran. To identify the highest and lowest seismic hazard location and consequently the seismic zonation of this region, different parameters, such as topography, geology, tectonics and seismicity, have been focused. Accordingly, the north of Qazvin region can be divided into three subzones: western, eastern and southern. Seismic activity of the western zone is higher than the other ones and seismic potential of the eastern zone is higher than the other two zones. This zoning is also necessary for all seismic active areas to find the most dangerous zone.     

Purang Ultramafic Complex and Their Geological Origin, Southwest Tibet

<正>Neoproterozoic ophiolitic Serpentinites are common in the Arabian–Nubian Shield(ANS)of the Eastern Desert(ED)of Egypt,which were formed in arc stage in different tectonic setting.Thus they might subject to exchange with the crustal material derived from recycling subducting oceanic lithosphere.This caused metasomatism enriching     

Sensitivity analysis of parameters influencing the ice–seabed interaction in sand by using extreme learning machine

Ice gouging problem is a significant challenge threatening the integrity of subsea pipelines in the Arctic (e.g., Beaufort Sea) and even non-Arctic (e.g., Caspian Sea) offshore regions. Determining the seabed response to ice scour through the subgouge soil deformations and the keel reaction forces are important aspects for a safe and cost-effective design. In this study, the subgouge soil deformations and the keel reaction forces were simulated by the extreme learning machine (ELM) for the first time. Nine ELM models (ELM 1–ELM 9) were developed using the key parameters governing the ice–seabed interaction. The number of neurons in the hidden layer was optimized and the best activation function for the ELM network was identified. The premium ELM model, resulting in the lowest level of inaccuracy and complexity and the highest level of correlation with experimental values was identified by performing a sensitivity analysis. The gouge depth ratio and the shear strength of the seabed soil were found to be the most influential input parameters affecting the subgouge soil deformations and the keel reaction forces. A set of the ELM-based equations were proposed to approximate the ice gouging parameters. The uncertainty analysis showed that the premium ELM model slightly underestimated the subgouge soil deformation.

     

On the implementation of Prabhu’s exact solution of the stochastic reservoir equation

After 50 years of Prabhu’s paper on the exact solution of the stochastic reservoir equation for the important class of gamma inflow distributions with an integral shape parameter, a detailed implementation of the exact solution is still lacking, despite its potential usefulness from both theoretical and practical points of view. This paper explores some properties of Prabhu’s exact solution and investigates the numerical difficulties associated with its implementation. The solution is also extended to derive the distributions of deficit, spillage, yield, and actual release from the reservoir. Explicit analytical solutions for three relatively simple cases are given in detail as examples and comparisons with approximate numerical solutions are made, which reveal some shortcomings of approximate methods. The implementation of the solution in the general case reveals some numerical problems associated with large values of the shape parameter of the inflow distribution and large ratios of reservoir size to draft, mainly due to accumulation of round-off errors. A Matlab program has been developed to calculate emptying and filling probabilities over a wide range of reservoir parameters using extended precision. Comparison of Prabhu’s solution with the numerical solution of the reservoir integral equation highlights possible problems with the numerical solution, which may produce inaccurate or even invalid results for large reservoirs, large drift, and large skewness of the inflow distribution. A comparison between gamma and lognormal distributions as models of skew revealed that as the reservoir size, drift, and skewness increase, the probability of emptying of the reservoir becomes smaller for the case of gamma inflow than in the case of lognormal flow having the same skewness coefficient.     

Extended Kalman filter for material parameter estimation in nonlinear structural finite element models using direct differentiation method

This paper presents a novel nonlinear finite element (FE) model updating framework, in which advanced nonlinear structural FE modeling and analysis techniques are used jointly with the extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate time‐invariant parameters associated to the nonlinear material constitutive models used in the FE model of the structural system of interest. The EKF as a parameter estimation tool requires the computation of structural FE response sensitivities (total partial derivatives) with respect to the material parameters to be estimated. Employing the direct differentiation method, which is a well‐established procedure for FE response sensitivity analysis, facilitates the application of the EKF in the parameter estimation problem. To verify the proposed nonlinear FE model updating framework, two proof‐of‐concept examples are presented. For each example, the FE‐simulated response of a realistic prototype structure to a set of earthquake ground motions of varying intensity is polluted with artificial measurement noise and used as structural response measurement to estimate the assumed unknown material parameters using the proposed nonlinear FE model updating framework. The first example consists of a cantilever steel bridge column with three unknown material parameters, while a three‐story three‐bay moment resisting steel frame with six unknown material parameters is used as second example. Both examples demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed parameter estimation framework even in the presence of high measurement noise. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable soil stabilisation with ground granulated blast-furnace slag activated by olivine and sodium hydroxide

Acta Geotechnica - Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), activated with olivine (Mg2SiO4) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), was used to stabilise a clayey soil. Mechanical and microstructural...     

Seismic modelling for reservoir studies: a comparison between convolutional and full-waveform methods for a deep-water turbidite sandstone reservoir

Two seismic modelling approaches, that is, two-dimensional pre-stack elastic finite-difference and one-dimensional convolution methods, are compared in a modelling exercise over the fluid-flow simulation model of a producing deep-water turbidite sandstone reservoir in the West of Shetland Basin. If the appropriate parameterization for one-dimensional convolution is used, the differences in three-dimensional and four-dimensional seismic responses from the two methods are negligible. The key parameters to ensure an accurate seismic response are a representative wavelet, the distribution of common-depth points and their associated angles of incidence. Conventional seismic images generated by the one-dimensional convolutional model suffer from lack of continuity because it only accounts for vertical resolution. After application of a lateral resolution function, the convolutional and finite-difference seismic images are very similar. Although transmission effects, internal multiples and P-to-S conversions are not included in our convolutional modelling, the subtle differences between images from the two methods indicates that such effects are of secondary nature in our study. A quantitative comparison of the (normalized root-mean-square) amplitude attributes and waveform kinematics indicates that the finite-difference approach does not offer any tangible benefit in our target-oriented seismic modelling case study, and the potential errors from one-dimensional convolution modelling are comparatively much smaller than the production-induced time-lapse changes.     

Meteorites from the Lut Desert (Iran)

We present for the first time a detailed report on the discovery of a new meteorite collection region in the Lut Desert, eastern–southeastern Iran, describing its geological, morphological, and climatic setting. Our search campaigns, alongside with the activity of meteorite hunters, yielded >200 meteorite finds. Here, we report on their classification, spatial distribution, and terrestrial weathering. All the collected meteorites are ordinary chondrites (OCs). The most abundant by far are the highly weathered paired H5 distributed in the northwest of Kalut area (central Lut, Kerman dense collection area). The second are well‐preserved paired L5 also found in Kalut region. A detailed study of the geochemistry and mineralogy of selected meteorites reveals significant effects of terrestrial weathering. Fe,Ni metal (hereafter simply metal) and troilite are transformed into Fe oxyhydroxides. A rather unusual type of troilite weathering to pyrite/marcasite is observed in most of the Lut Desert meteorites. Magnetic measurements and X‐ray diffractometry confirm the occurrence of terrestrial weathering products, with the dominance of maghemite, goethite, and hematite. Mobile elements, such as Li, Sr, Mo, Ba, Tl, Th, and U, are enriched with respect to fresh falls. Meanwhile, a decrease in the V, Cr, Co, Rb (and possibly Fe) due to terrestrial weathering is detectable. The total carbon and CaCO₃ is higher than in samples from other hot deserts. The weathering effects observed in the Lut Desert OCs can be used as distinctive indicators to distinguish them from meteorites from other regions of the Earth. Measurements of terrestrial age (¹⁴C) show a range of 10–30 ka, which is in the range of ages reported for meteorites from other hot deserts except the Atacama Desert (Chile). Considering the high potential of the Lut Desert in meteorite preservation, systematic works should lead to the discovery of more samples giving access to interesting material for future studies.     

Modification of REE distribution of ordinary chondrites from Atacama (Chile) and Lut (Iran) hot deserts: Insights into the chemical weathering of meteorites

The behavior of rare earth elements (REEs) during hot desert weathering of meteorites is investigated. Ordinary chondrites (OCs) from Atacama (Chile) and Lut (Iran) deserts show different variations in REE composition during this process. Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) data reveal that hot desert OCs tend to show elevated light REE concentrations, relative to OC falls. Chondrites from Atacama are by far the most enriched in REEs and this enrichment is not necessarily related to their degree of weathering. Positive Ce anomaly of fresh chondrites from Atacama and the successive formation of a negative Ce anomaly with the addition of trivalent REEs are similar to the process reported from Antarctic eucrites. In addition to REEs, Sr and Ba also show different concentrations when comparing OCs from different hot deserts. The stability of Atacama surfaces and the associated old terrestrial ages of meteorites from this region give the samples the necessary time to interact with the terrestrial environment and to be chemically modified. Higher REE contents and LREE‐enriched composition are evidence of contamination by terrestrial soil. Despite their low degrees of weathering, special care must be taken into account while working on the REE composition of Atacama meteorites for cosmochemistry applications. In contrast, chondrites from the Lut desert show lower degrees of REE modification, despite significant weathering signed by Sr content. This is explained by the relatively rapid weathering rate of the meteorites occurring in the Lut desert, which hampers the penetration of terrestrial material by forming voluminous Fe oxide/oxyhydroxides shortly after the meteorite fall.