Amplitude Ratio of Regional Seismic Phases: An Efficient Indicator of Thermal State of the Lithosphere

By analyzing seismograms of short period records at the Beijing SeismoJogicaJ Observatory, the present paper investigates the amplitude ratio of seismic phases. The results indicate that the amplitude ratio of Sn/Lg is correlated with the lithosphere structure, the thermal state, and strong earthquake occurrence in the region the seismic rays pass through. The significance of such a correlation in the study on the genesis and prediction of strong earthquakes is discussed.     

论自动安平水准仪补偿作用的工作模式

本文提出了自动安平水准议补偿作用工作模式的概念;研究了几种典型的实际工作模式通过等效变换而成为基本工作模式的方法。分析了Ni-007及Ni-1二个型号自动安平水准仪的实例,导出了上述仪器总补偿量的计算公式及实现自动安平的几何条件。     

Combining AHP and genetic algorithms approaches to modify DRASTIC model to assess groundwater vulnerability: a case study from Jianghan Plain,China

Accurate identification of vulnerability areas is critical for groundwater resources protection and management. The present study employed the modified DRASTIC model to assess the groundwater vulnerability of Jianghan Plain, a major farming area in central China. DRASTICL model was developed by incorporating the land use factor to the original model. The ratings and weightings of the selected parameters were optimized by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and genetic algorithms (GAs) method, respectively. A combined AHP–GAs method was proposed to further develop this methodology. The unity-based normalization process was employed to categorize the vulnerability maps into four types, such as very high (>0.75), high (0.5–0.75), low (0.25–0.5), and very low (<0.25). The accuracy of vulnerability mapping was validated by Pearson’s correlation coefficient between vulnerability index and the nitrate concentration in groundwater and analysis of variance F statistic. The results revealed that the modified DRASTIC model had a large improvement over the conventional model. The correlation coefficient increased significantly from 41.07 to 75.31% after modification. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the depth to groundwater with 39.28% of mean effective weight was the most critical factor affecting the groundwater vulnerability. The developed vulnerability model proposed in this study could provide important objective information for groundwater and environmental management at local level and innovation for international researchers.     

The behaviour of geosynthetic-reinforced pile foundation under long-term dynamic loads: model tests

In order to reduce the effects of the low strength and high compressibility of soft soil, geosynthetic-reinforced pile foundations (GRPF) are widely applied for the construction of high-speed railways. Though its reinforcement effect is proved acceptable in practices so far, it is unclear whether it will keep this performance as the train speed continues increasing. Since it is impossible to study the problem in field tests, only mathematical and physical models can be used. However, the nonlinear behaviour of the soft soil complicates the use of analytical models. Therefore, this paper presents a small-scale model test to study the possible changes in stress distribution and deformation in the GRPF under increasing dynamic loads. One test with a natural foundation, without piles or geosynthetic, shows the difference with a similar construction with GRPF foundation. Furthermore, three GRPF tests show the influence of the embankment thickness. The results show the long-term dynamic loading significantly affects the dynamic stress and displacements of the subsoil between the piles of the GRPF. This effect can be divided into three stages with an increasing level of load amplitude: no impact, advantageous impact, and adverse impact. When the dynamic load reaches the adverse impact stage, the long-term dynamic loads reduce the dynamic pile–soil stress ratio, which means that more soil settlement will develop, because more dynamic stress is applied to the soft soil. The test results show that the reduction in dynamic stress on the subsoil in the GRPF construction is clearly lower than the dynamic stress on the natural foundation, due to the existence of rigid piles. Moreover, a thicker embankment gives significantly lower dynamic stresses on the subsoil between the piles. For the thickest embankment tested, the adverse impact stage was not found at all: the arching kept enhancing under long-term dynamic loading with high load amplitudes.

     

Study on Three-dimensional Visualization for Rock Structure

The visualization of rock structure is a very useful and important technique in many aspects in geological and geotechnical engineering such as investigating and evaluating the stability of a high rock slope. The conventional method used to visualize rock structure is limited to plotting the orientation of individual discontinuities by using the Schmidt stereographic net. The present paper shows a new technique to visualize the three-dimensional structure of rock masses. The fitting function for three-dimensional rock structure was established based on data gathered from field survey. Two fitting methods by which the discontinuous points gathered from a plane and discrete points from field survey were fitted respectively are suggested. The technique to visualize the three-dimensional structure of rock masses includes many aspects such as projection transformation, blanking and mutual cutting, are investigated. Based on the visualizing technique, the rock structure at the site of Xilupdu dam which is being built in Southwest of China was investigated.     

Effect of polypropylene fibre and lime admixture on engineering properties of clayey soil

In order to reduce the brittleness of soil stabilized by lime only, a recent study of a newly proposed mixture of polypropylene fibre and lime for ground improvement is described and reported in the paper. To investigate and understand the influence of the mixture of polypropylene fibre and lime on the engineering properties of a clayey soil, nine groups of treated soil specimens were prepared and tested at three different percentages of fibre content (i.e. 0.05%, 0.15%, 0.25% by weight of the parent soil) and three different percentages of lime (i.e. 2%, 5%, 8% by weight of the parent soil). These treated specimens were subjected to unconfined compression, direct shear, swelling and shrinkage tests. Through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the specimens after shearing, the improving mechanisms of polypropylene fibre and lime in the soil were discussed and the observed test results were explained. It was found that fibre content, lime content and curing duration had significant influence on the engineering properties of the fibre–lime treated soil. An increase in lime content resulted in an initial increase followed by a slight decrease in unconfined compressive strength, cohesion and angle of internal friction of the clayey soil. On the other hand, an increase in lime content led to a reduction of swelling and shrinkage potential. However, an increase in fibre content caused an increase in strength and shrinkage potential but brought on the reduction of swelling potential. An increase in curing duration improved the unconfined compressive strength and shear strength parameters of the stabilized soil significantly. Based on the SEM analysis, it was found that the presence of fibre contributed to physical interaction between fibre and soil whereas the use of lime produced chemical reaction between lime and soil and changed soil fabric significantly.     

The effects of soil sand contents on characteristics of humic acids along soil profiles

It is generally accepted that the compositions and properties of soil organic matter (SOM) are influenced by many factors. In order to reveal the effects of soil texture on characteristics and dynamics of SOM and its sub-fraction, humic acid (HA), along two soil profiles, a yellow soil profile and a purplish soil profile, under the same climate and vegetation conditions were determined. Results indicate that the decomposition and humification degrees of SOM and HA of the purplish soils are higher than those of the corresponding yellow soils indicated by A/O–A ratios of HAs, TOCs and HA yields of bulk soil samples, nevertheless, the development degree of the purplish soil is lower than that of the yellow soil. The variations of E₄/E₆ ratios of HAs along the soil profiles indicate the overall molecular sizes of HAs decreased downward along the soil profiles. A/O–A ratios of HAs decreased downward along both the soil profiles indicate that humification processes decrease downward along both the soil profiles. Leaching of SOM shows significant effects on the distribution and characteristics of HAs in the yellow soil profile but the purplish soil profile, which is consistent with the higher hydrophobicity of HAs in purplish soils, shows that the distribution characteristics of SOM along the soil profiles are a complex result of the combination of soil texture and characteristics of SOM itself. The remarkably different sand contents are concluded tentatively as one of reasons to the different distributions and dynamics of HAs along the soil profiles, however, to profoundly understand the evolution and transport of SOM along soil profiles needs more researches.     

云南地区背景噪声层析成像

选取云南省区域台网46个地震台从2007年11月—2009年10月的宽频带噪声数据, 通过互相关方法获得经验格林函数, 采用自适应时频分析方法获取相速度频散曲线, 并且反演得到8—40 s的相速度分布图. 研究结果表明： 云南地区短周期相速度低速异常与地表断裂带分布和沉积层厚度密切相关; 在短周期相速度分布图上, 红河断裂南北段呈现差异, 表明红河断裂南北段周边介质存在物性差异, 这可能是造成地震活动南北差异的主要原因; 长周期相速度分布图显示, 红河断裂和小江断裂带存在低速异常, 可能是切穿地壳的超壳断裂, 该低速异常可能与深部热作用有关; 红河断裂和小江断裂带交汇地区存在高速异常, 该高速异常体对川滇块体深部介质向南运动可能起到了阻挡的作用. 本文结果为下一步反演云南地区的三维剪切波速度结构奠定了基础.     

中国东北样带NDVI的季节变化及其与气候因子的关系

NDVI是研究大尺度生态学问题一个非常有用的指数,它可以为估价全球植被动态模型提供足够的信息.中国东北样带是全球变化研究中首选样带之一,本文分析了分辨率为1km×1km的NDVI年内季节变化的两个特征值:年均NDVI(NDVI-I)和NDVI年内极差(NDVI-MM)在样带内5种不同植被类型间的变化及其与年平均气温和降水量之间的相关关系.结果表明,NDVI具有明显的季节变化格局,NDVI-I和NDVI-MM由东到西均呈下降趋势,NDVI-I与降水量具有显著的线性回归关系,降水量能够解释NDVI-I和NDVI-MM空间变异的绝大部分.这一结果说明NDVI反映了植被沿环境梯度的时空变化格局,可用于监测样带植被对气候变化的响应.     

中国干旱半干旱区农业生态地质环境系统工程研究

干旱半干旱区是当前我国农业经济发展最有潜力的地区。可是，该区生态环境脆弱，并受到一定程度的破坏。利用系统工程学的原理，从农业生态地质环境容量的角度出发，对该区的农业生态地质环境的演化过程和演化模式进行了研究，进而提出了农业生态地质环境系统工程研究模式。在调控社会人口和经济发展的基础上，合理开发利用水、土、生物资源，保护治理生态环境，提高自然资源环境的承载力，抑制对资源环境的破坏力，使该区农业生态环境得以恢复和重建，建立起稳定持续发展的农业基地。