Ruthenium-ion-catalyzed oxidation of asphaltenes and oil-source correlation of heavy oils from the Lunnan and Tahe oilfields in the Tarim Basin, NW China

The identification of marine source rocks in the Tarim Basin is debated vigorously. The intention of this paper is to investigate the asphahenes in heavy oils from the Lunnan and Tabe oilfields and Well TD2 with ruthenium-ions-catalyzed oxidation technique (RICO), in order to explore its role in oil-oil and oil-source correlations, The RICO products included n-alkanoic acids, α,ω-di-n-alkanoic acids, branched alkanoic acids, tricyclic terpanoic acids, hopanoic acids, gammacerane carboxylic acid , regular sterane carboxylic acids and 4-methylsterane carboxylic acids. The n-alkyl chains and biomarkers bounded on the asphaltenes were of unsusceptibility to biodegradation. The distribution and absolute concentrations of n-alkanoic acids in the RICO products of heavy oils from the Lunnan and Tabe oilfields are different from those of Well TD2. The biomarkers bounded on the asphahenes, especially steranes, have a distribution trend similar to that of the counterparts in saturates. The sterane carboxylic acids and 4-methylsterane carboxylic acids in the RICO products of heavy oils from the Lunnan and Tahe oilfields, dominated by C30 sterane and C31 4-methylsterane carboxylic acids, respectively, are significantly different from those of the heavy oils of Well TD2, whose dominating sterane and 4-methylsterane carboxylic acids are C28 sterane and C29 4-methylsterane acids, respectively. The RICO products of the asphaltenes further indicate that the Middle-Upper Ordovician may be the main source rocks for heavy oils from the Lunnan and Tabe oilfields.     

Water uptake of riparian plants in the lower Lhasa River Basin,South Tibetan Plateau using stable water isotopes

Riparian plants can adapt their water uptake strategies based on climatic and hydrological conditions within a river basin. The response of cold-alpine riparian trees to changes in water availability is poorly understood. The Lhasa River is a representative cold-alpine river in South Tibet and an under-studied environment. Therefore, a 96 km section of the lower Lhasa River was selected for a study on the water-use patterns of riparian plants. Plant water, soil water, groundwater and river water were measured at three sites for δ¹⁸O and δ²H values during the warm-wet and cold-dry periods in 2018. Soil profiles differed in isotope values between seasons and with the distance along the river. During the cold-dry period, the upper parts of the soil profiles were significantly affected by evaporation. During the warm-wet period, the soil profile was influenced by precipitation infiltration in the upper reaches of the study area and by various water sources in the lower reaches. Calculations using the IsoSource model indicated that the mature salix and birch trees (Salix cheilophila Schneid. and Betula platyphylla Suk.) accessed water from multiple sources during the cold-dry period, whereas they sourced more than 70% of their requirement from the upper 60–80 cm of the soil profile during the warm-wet period. The model indicated that the immature rose willow tree (Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb) accessed 66% of its water from the surface soil during the cold-dry period, but used the deeper layers during the warm-wet period. The plant type was not the dominant factor driving water uptake patterns in mature plants. Our findings can contribute to strategies for the sustainable development of cold-alpine riparian ecosystems. It is recommended that reducing plantation density and collocating plants with different rooting depths would be conducive to optimal plant growth in this environment.     

PMODTRAN: a parallel implementation based on MODTRAN for massive remote sensing data processing

MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission (MODTRAN) is a commercial remote sensing (RS) software package that has been widely used to simulate radiative transfer of electromagnetic radiation through the Earth's atmosphere and the radiation observed by a remote sensor. However, when very large RS datasets must be processed in simulation applications at a global scale, it is extremely time-consuming to operate MODTRAN on a modern workstation. Under this circumstance, the use of parallel cluster computing to speed up the process becomes vital to this time-consuming task. This paper presents PMODTRAN, an implementation of a parallel task-scheduling algorithm based on MODTRAN. PMODTRAN was able to reduce the processing time of the test cases used here from over 4.4 months on a workstation to less than a week on a local computer cluster. In addition, PMODTRAN can distribute tasks with different levels of granularity and has some extra features, such as dynamic load balancing and parameter checking.     

Effects of low- to high-angle normal faults on sedimentary architectures in the Eocene Wenchang Formation,Enping Sag,Pearl River Mouth Basin,South China Sea

The effects of low- to high-angle (>30°) normal faults on sedimentary architectural units in the Eocene Wenchang Formation, Enping Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB), South China Sea were investigated utilising a high-quality 3D seismic data set and restored paleogeomorphology. It has been shown that sequence stratigraphic units and sedimentary architecture are significantly controlled by the low- to high-angle normal faults. The Wenchang Formation, a second-order sequence, can be subdivided into two para-second-sequences (the Lower and Upper Wenchang sequences, E₂W^L and E₂W^U) and seven third-order sequences (from base to top: SQ1～SQ7). The low-angle fault confined sequence architecture of the Wenchang Formation is mainly characterised by lateral stacking with the ratio of the vertical subsidence (V) to horizontal slip (H) being reduced from 1/2 for E₂W^L to 1/6 for E₂W^U. In contrast, the high-angle fault confined sequence is characterised by vertical stacking with the ratio of V/H close to 1 for sequences SQ1 to SQ7. In the 3D seismic area, the features of sediment-dispersal pattern were interpreted based on an integrated analysis of paleogeomorphology, seismic reflection characteristics, stratal thickness distribution and multiple attribute clustering. The results show that the large-scale fan delta, belt-shape lacustrine deposit and bird-foot braided delta systems mainly developed in the low-angle fault confined sequences, whereas small-scale fan delta, rhombus-shaped lacustrine deposit and lobe-shaped braided delta systems inherited tectono-sedimentary architectures in the high-angle fault confined sequences.     

高建筑对周围建筑雷击保护距离的模拟

在已有先导连接参数化方案的基础上,选取近地面层为研究区域,保持方案中其他基本参量不变,通过改变闪电的空间形态,在同一建筑分布的背景下进行多次闪电模拟。研究多个建筑之间的屏蔽作用以及建筑雷击保护距离与建筑相关特征参数之间的关系,结果表明:高建筑对矮建筑具有屏蔽作用,并存在一个临界保护距离,当高、矮建筑高度分别为190 m和165 m,宽度均为20 m时,建筑之间的距离在12 m以内,矮建筑受高建筑完全保护不遭受雷击;建筑之间的距离超过12 m,矮建筑遭雷击次数明显增多。     

Use of an inside buffer method to extract the extent of urban areas from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data in North China

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime imagery provides a valuable data source for mapping urban areas. However, the spatial extents of large cities are often overestimated because of the effect of over-glow from nighttime light if a fixed thresholding technique is used. In the work reported here, an inside buffer method was developed to solve this issue. The method is based on the fact that the area overestimated is proportional to the extent of the lit area if a fixed threshold is used to extract urban areas in a region/county. Using this method, the extents of urban areas in North China were extracted and validated by interpretations from Landsat Thematic Mapper images. The results showed that the lit areas had a significant linear relationship with the urban areas for 120 representative cities in North China in 2000, with an R² value of over 0.95. This demonstrates that the inside buffer method can be used to extract urban areas. The validation results showed that the inside buffer model developed in 2000 can be directly used to extract the extent of urban areas using more recent nighttime light imagery. This is of great value for the timely updating of urban area databases in large regions or countries.     

Two Methods for Predicting Reliability Index and Critical Probabilistic Slip Surface of Soil Slopes

Two methods of reliability analysis of soil slopes are studied, and the representative flow charts of both methods are illustrated. Method 1 can predict the reliability index and the critical probabilistic slip surface directly and it is computational efficient, but it needs the development of new codes for integrating the reliability analysis code and the slope stability code. Method 2 makes the reliability analysis code call the slope stability analysis code directly, and each code can be considered as an intact part. The main result of Method 2 is the reliability index of soil slope. Combined with the proposed method for locating the critical slip surface, Method 2 can also predict the probabilistic slip surface. Although Method 2 needs much more callings of the subprogram of slope stability analysis code, it needs not the developing of new computer program. Thus, Method 2 is easy to use and can be applied to different reliability analysis methods and slope stability analysis methods.     

Physical Mechanism of Organic Matter-Mineral Interaction in Longmaxi Shale, Sichuan Basin, China

正Objective Shale gas is as an important kind of unconventional natural gas,with a great resource potential,and its exploration and development has attracted much attention around the world.Organic matter(OM)pores are a common constituent in shales and form the dominant pore network of many shale gas systems.The common viewpoint holds that the development of OM pores is related to thermal maturity