Failure mechanism of the Yaoba loess landslide on March 5, 2020: the early-spring dry spell in Southwest China

Landslides - On March 5, 2020, a shallow loess landslide occurred in Yaoba Village, Songpan County, Sichuan Province, posing a severe threat to the lives and properties of 130 villagers. In this...     

Numerical modelling of multiphase immiscible flow in double‐porosity featured groundwater systems

A numerical model describing the flow of multiphase, immiscible fluids in a deformable, double‐porosity featured soil has been developed. The model is focused on the modelling of the secondary porosity features in soil, which is more relevant to groundwater contamination problems. The non‐linear saturation and relative permeabilities were expressed as functions of the capillary pressures. The governing partial differential equations in terms of soil displacement and fluid pressures were solved numerically. Galerkin's weighted‐residual finite element method was employed to obtain the spatial discretization whereas temporal discretization was achieved using a fully implicit scheme. The model was verified against established, peer‐reviewed works, and the assumption that the immiscible fluids (non‐aqueous phase liquids) will flow preferentially through the secondary porosity features in soil was validated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From clergymen to computers—the advent of virtual palaeontology

Palaeontology was established as a science in the Victorian era, yet has roots that stretch deeper into the recesses of history. More than 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle deduced that fossil sea shells were once living organisms, and around 500 ad Xenophanes used fossils to argue that many areas of land must have previously been submarine. In 1027, the Persian scholar Avicenna suggested that organisms were fossilized by petrifying fluids; this theory was accepted by most natural philosophers up until the eighteenth century Enlightenment, and even beyond. The late 1700s were notable for the work of Georges Cuvier who established the reality of extinction. This, coupled with advances in the recognition of faunal successions made by the canal engineer William Smith, laid the framework for the discipline that would become known as palaeontology. As the nineteenth century progressed, the scientific community became increasingly well organized. Most fossil workers were gentleman scientists and members of the clergy, who self‐funded their studies in a new and exciting field. Many of the techniques used to study fossils today were developed during this ‘classical’ period. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is to expose a fossil by splitting the rock housing it, and then conduct investigations based upon the exposed surface ( Fig. 1 ). This approach has served the science well in the last two centuries, having been pivotal to innumerable advances in our understanding of the history of life. Nevertheless, there are many cases where splitting a rock in this way results in incomplete data recovery; those where the fossils are not flattened, but are preserved in three‐dimensions. Even the ephemeral soft‐tissues of organisms are occasionally preserved in a three‐dimensional state, for example in the Herefordshire, La Voulte Sûr Rhone and Orsten ‘Fossil Lagerstätten’ (sites of exceptional fossil preservation). These rare and precious deposits provide a wealth of information about the history of life on Earth, and are perhaps our most important resource in the quest to understand the palaeobiology of extinct organisms. With the aid of twenty‐first century technology, we can now make the most of these opportunities through the field of ‘virtual palaeontology’—computer‐aided visualization of fossils.

Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint A split nodule showing the fossil within, in this case a cockroachoid insect. Fossil 4 cm long (From Garwood & Sutton, in press ).     

Dust acoustic soliton and double layers with streaming dust and superthermal particles

Dust acoustic waves are investigated in plasma system containing dynamic and streaming dust, supertherrmal electrons and ions. Linear and nonlinear studies are carried out and elaborated with the help of parameters taken for Saturn’s F-ring. An energy integral equation is obtained by using the Sagdeev potential approach, and results are displayed by solving it analytically and numerically. The dependence of nonlinear structures on κ values, the ratio of electron to dust equilibrium densities μ _ed , Mach number M, and dust streaming speed v _d0 have been presented. The streaming speed appears as a destructive partner for the Mach number M in the pseudoenergy equation and hence plays a dominant modifying role in the formation of nonlinear structures. It plays a destructive role for some of the solitons and works as a source, for the emergence of new solitons (region). Formation of double layers are also investigated and shown that the amplitude, width and existence of double layers structures are predominantly affected by the presence of superthermal electrons, ions, and streaming dust beam.     

The nuclear structure and associated electron capture rates on odd-Z nucleus 51V in stellar matter

The Gamow-Teller strength distribution function, B(GT), for the odd Z parent ⁵¹V, N?Z=5, up to 30 MeV of excitation energy in the daughter ⁵¹Ti is calculated in the domain of proton-neutron Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (pn-QRPA) theory. The pn-QRPA results are compared against other theoretical calculations, (n, p) and high resolution (d, ²He) reaction experiments. For the case of (d, ²He) reaction the calibration was performed for 0≤E _j ≤5.0 MeV, where the authors stressed that within this excitation energy range the ΔL=0 transition strength can be extracted with high accuracy for ⁵¹V. Within this energy range the current pn-QRPA total B(GT) strength 0.79 is in good agreement with the (d, ²He) experiment’s total strength of 0.9±0.1. The pn-QRPA calculated Gamow-Teller centroid at 4.20 MeV in daughter ⁵¹Ti is also in good agreement with high resolution (d, ²He) experiment which placed the Gamow-Teller centroid at 4.1±0.4 MeV in daughter ⁵¹Ti. The low energy detailed Gamow-Teller structure and Gamow-Teller centroid play a sumptuous role in associated weak decay rates and consequently affect the stellar dynamics. The stellar weak rates are sensitive to the location and structure of these low-lying states in daughter ⁵¹Ti. The calculated electron capture rates on ⁵¹V in stellar matter are also in good agreement with the large scale shell model rates.     

Gamow-Teller strength distribution in proton-rich nucleus 57Zn and its implications in astrophysics

Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions play a preeminent role in the collapse of stellar core in the stages leading to a Type-II supernova. The microscopically calculated GT strength distributions from ground and excited states are used for the calculation of weak decay rates for the core-collapse supernova dynamics and for probing the concomitant nucleosynthesis problem. The B(GT) strength for ⁵⁷Zn is calculated in the domain of proton-neutron Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (pn-QRPA) theory. No experimental insertions were made (as usually made in other pn-QRPA calculations of B(GT) strength function) to check the performance of the model for proton-rich nuclei. The calculated B(GT) strength distribution is in good agreement with measurements and shows differences with the earlier reported shell model calculation. The pn-QRPA model reproduced the measured low-lying strength for ⁵⁷Zn better in comparison to the KB3G interaction used in the large-scale shell model calculation. The stellar weak rates are sensitive to the location and structure of these low-lying states in daughter ⁵⁷Cu. The structure of ⁵⁷Cu plays a sumptuous role in the nucleosynthesis of proton-rich nuclei. The primary mechanism for producing such nuclei is the rp-process and is believed to be important in the dynamics of the collapsing supermassive stars. Small changes in the binding and excitation energies can lead to significant modifications of the predictions for the synthesis of proton rich isotopes. The ?? ⁺-decay and electron capture (EC) rates on ⁵⁷Zn are compared to the seminal work of Fuller, Fowler and Newman (FFN). The pn-QRPA calculated ?? ⁺-decay rates are generally in good agreement with the FFN calculation. However at high stellar temperatures the calculated ?? ⁺-decay rates are almost half of FFN rates. On the other hand, for rp-process conditions, the calculated electron capture (?? ⁺-decay) rates are bigger than FFN rates by more than a factor 2 (1.5) and may have interesting astrophysical consequences.     

Fusion in a Staged Z-pinch

A Staged Z-pinch (H.U. Rahman, F.J. Wessel, N. Rostoker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74:714, 1995), configured for a 100 ns, 2 MJ implosion accelerator, is studied using the 2-1/2 D, radiation-MHD code, MACH2. The Z-pinch is configured as a cylindrical, high-atomic number plasma shell that implodes radially onto a co-axial, plasma target, for example: Xenon onto a 50:50 mixture of Deuterium-Tritium. During implosion a shock develops in the plasma liner, producing a conduction channel at the Xe/DT interface as the mass Xe accumulates, and preheating the DT target. During subsequent acceleration and compression the Xe/DT interface remains stable, even as the outer surface of the Xe shell develops RT instabilities. At peak implosion the simulated fusion-energy yield is 7.6 MJ, producing an energy gain of 3.8.     

A new ophiolite occurrence in NW Sudan – constraints on Late Proterozoic tectonism

Mafic–ultramafic sequences in the Jebel Rahib fold-and-thrust belt of NW Sudan comprise the metamorphosed equivalents of obducted oceanic lithosphere. Primary features like pillow-structures, quenchtextures, igneous layering and primary minerals like chromian spinels and pyroxenes are partly preserved. Geochemical investigations confirm the field evidence and reveal the occurrence of harzburgites, ophiolitic chromites, gabbros, gabbroic cumulates and basalts of primitive tholeiitic compositions resembling transitional MORBs. The age of low-grade overprint of the basaltic rocks can be limited to 860–740 Myr (K–Ar). The existence of an ophiolite, as well as its close interfingering with highly deformed basin sediments, provides unambiguous evidence for a cycle of extensional and compressional tectonics in NW Sudan during Pan-African times. Consequently, the concept of an older, stable Proterozoic, or even Archaean, ‘African Craton’onto which the juvenile Pan-African Nubian Shield assemblages were accreted, needs revision.     

Levels and distributions of organic source tracers in air and roadside dust particles of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The concentrations of n-alkanes, unresolved complex mixture (UCM), petroleum molecular markers, other tracers of cooking and burning emissions, and natural background in atmospheric particles and roadside dust particles were measured at eight locations in the city center and the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Atmospheric particles were collected using high-volume filtration (PM-10, GFF) over 24 h average periods. Road dusts were swept up, dried and sieved. Both types of samples were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol mixture (3:1 v/v) by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then fractionated by column chromatography and the alkanes subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Total extracts were also analyzed directly by GC–MS after silylation. The molecular distributions of compounds as well as diagnostic geochemical ratios were determined in order to identify the sources of the organic compounds. Samples collected from a rural area and lubricating oils were also analyzed for comparisons. Anthropogenic and biogenic sources such as vehicular emissions, waxes of higher plants, food cooking operations, and biomass and domestic refuse burning processes contributed to the organic matter content of atmospheric and to lesser extent, roadside dust particles.     

Variations of Surface Air Temperature Over the Land Areas in and Around the Bay of Bengal

The inter-annual variation and linear trends of the surface air temperature in the regions in and around the Bay of Bengal have been studied using the time series data of monthly and annual mean temperature for 20–40 years period within 1951–1990. The study area extends from Pusma Camp of Nepal in the north and Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia in the south and between 80--100 ° E. The annual variation of temperature has also been studied using the mean monthly temperature for the variable time frames 1961–1975, 1976–1990 and 1961–1990. The trend of temperature has been analyzed using linear regression technique with the data from 1961–1990, which showed that the warming trend is dominant over the study areas except for a few stations. It has been found that Nepal shows predominant warming trends. Bangladesh and the adjacent areas of India and the northern part of Bay of Bengal adjacent to the Bangladesh coast have shown strong warming trends of the annual temperature with maximum at Dhaka (0.037 °C/year). The near equatorial zone, i.e., southern India, Sri Lanka and part of Thailand and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) shows warming trends in the annual mean temperature with strong warming at Pamban and Anuradhapura (around 0.04 °C/year). The cooling trends have been observed at a few stations including Port Blair, Yangoon and Cuttack. Further analysis shows the presence of prominent ENSO scale of variations with time period 4–7 years and 2–3 years for almost all the stations. The decadal mode with T >7 years is present in some data series. The results of the variations of temperature with respect to the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) show that SOI has some negative correlation with temperature for most of the stations except those in the extreme northeast. It has been found that positive anomaly of temperature has been observed for El Niño events and negative anomaly for the La Nina events.