Plastic flow strength of jadeite and diopside investigated by microindentation hardness tests

Microindentation hardness tests were performed on jadeite and diopside, being end members of the omphacite solid solution series. At temperatures between 300 and 750 °C, the hardness of jadeite ranges from 7.4 to 8.5 GPa, that of diopside from 4.9 to 6.1 GPa. Jadeite is significantly stronger than diopside in the low-temperature plasticity regime. Normalization of the hardness-derived yield stress with respect to the shear modulus considerably reduces the strength contrast. The normalized Peierls stress is identical for jadeite and diopside. This indicates that jadeite and diopside belong to the same isomechanical group. The hardness-derived yield stress for jadeite as well as for diopside is used to estimate flow law parameters for the low-temperature plasticity regime.     

Simulations of a coupled hydro-chemo-mechanical system in rocks

A coupled hydro-chemo-mechanical numerical model is developed for these coupled phenomena in many engineering fields. The model has been applied to predicting the response of a stressed rockmass column to an injected reactive fluid (reagent) flow. The response includes evolutions of porosity, permeability, reagent and mineral concentrations during dissolution. In the model, the progress of dissolution is defined by the change in porosity ratio and the porosity increases with dissolution assuming there is no precipitation. The numerical evolutions of porosity, permeability, reagent and mineral concentrations during dissolution are validated against steady state solutions. The model results show that these evolutions are regulated to a certain extent by the applied external loadings: an applied extensional stress enhances the progress of the dissolution process while an applied compression stress slows the progress of the dissolution process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.     

昆明市东川区泥石流信息系统的建立及其应用

根据东川区泥石流的成因、泥石流灾害信息源、各类数据的表达方式及泥石流信息系统的应用等，对东川区泥石流信息系统进行了系统分析，在此基础上利用3S技术，在ARCVIEW的AVENUE开发语言支持下，集成各类数据，建立东川区泥石流信息系统，最后讨论了该系统在泥石流危险度区划及灾害趋势分析中的应用。     

中国西部干旱区生态环境演变过程

根据湖沼沉积、黄土沉积和冰积等地质记录，运用地理信息系统、遥感、生态景观学等方法．从万年、千年和百年及百年以下四个时间尺度对中国西部干旱区生态环境演变过程进行研究。结果表明，全新世以来，中国西部干旱区的气候变化经历了多次的相对暖干和相对冷湿交替变化，变化历程较为复杂。早全新世、中全新世、晚全新世气候特点因地因时而异，但总体特征以干旱化为主，280～350a来，降水量有明显的减少趋势，并表现出显著的周期性。但在近半个世纪以来，中国天山地区的气候变化特征表现为气温升高，降水量增加。总的来说，从20世纪80年代以来，新疆的气候趋于好转，植被覆盖状况改善明显，山地森林、草甸、人工绿洲的面积均呈增加趋势。研究结果还表明，在一定尺度的气候背景条件下，地表的植被覆盖对调节绿洲区域气候有着积极的作用，可增加局部地区的降水。     

Relationship between solar radiation and the development and morphology of small cirque glaciers (Maladeta Mountain massif, Central Pyrenees, Spain)

Abstract Spatial and temporal variations in radiative fluxes influence glacier mass‐balance in mountain areas. The primary goal of this study was to assess differences in solar radiation on three glacial cirques located in the Maladeta Mountain massif (Central Spanish Pyrenees), and analyse their implications on glacier development and morphology. A quantitative approach is adopted to obtain the values of solar radiation (direct, diffuse and global radiation), combining several field data parameters (measured at 55 control‐points) with the solar radiation modelling package Ecosim. The data obtained confirm that the morphologies of the glacial bodies developed in the three cirques have a good correlation with the spatial variation on solar radiation inputs, favouring also the conservation (Aneto and Coronas cirques) or total vanishing (Llosás cirque) of the glacial remnants analysed here. The study shows how strongly in this Alpine‐Mediterranean context solar radiation — firstly as a function of latitude and time of year, and locally as a function of topographic slope, aspect and shadowing — controls the mass‐balance and the spatial distribution of melting in small glaciers, having an effect on the development of their morphologies.     

Further examples of ventifacts and unusual patterned ground from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic

Abstract Examples of ventifacts and forms of unusual patterned ground that differ in situation, characteristics and/or origin to types reported previously are described from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic. The ventifacts, represented by clasts projecting from an eroding tillite shore platform, have been grooved by the passage of windblown sand. The patterned ground forms comprise stone polygons on clay loam regolith, stone polygons on peat, peat‐filled desiccation cracks on peat, and clusters of on‐edge clasts (stone packings) on a gravel beach. Aeolian transport of particles is considered responsible for the infill of the polygonal cracks. The clusters of on‐edge clasts are thought to have developed as a result of wave action, in particular backwash and/or undertow. Although these features occupy small surface areas they provide useful information about local geomorphic processes and testify to the marked diversity of such features in nature.     

Postglacial topographic evolution of glaciated valleys: a stochastic landscape evolution model

The retreat of valley glaciers has a dramatic effect on the stability of glaciated valleys and exerts a prolonged influence on the subsequent fluvial sediment transport regime. We have studied the evolution of an idealized glaciated valley during the period following retreat of ice using a numerical model. The model incorporates a stochastic process to represent deep‐seated landsliding, non‐linear diffusion to represent shallow landsliding and an approximation of the Bagnold relation to represent fluvial sediment transport. It was calibrated using field data from several recent surveys within British Columbia, Canada. We present ensemble model results and compare them with results from a deterministic linear‐diffusion model to show that explicit representation of large landslides is necessary to reproduce the morphology and channel network structure of a typical postglacial valley. Our model predicts a rapid rate of fluvial sediment transport following deglaciation with a subsequent gradual decline, similar to that inferred for Holocene time. We also describe how changes in the model parameters affect the estimated magnitude and duration of the paraglacial sediment pulse. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation for 1975 Haicheng and 1999 Xiuyan earthquake processes by DDA+FEM

Introduction The Xiuyan earthquake(MS=5.4)on Nov.29,1999,occurred between Hushan town and Pi-anling town at the southeast end of the aftershocks of Haicheng earthquake(MS=7.3).These two earthquakes′sequences are highly similar in the way that the foreshocks are very frequent,focal mechanisms of the main shocks are about the same and fault strikes are approximately in the same direction.It is important to study these earthquakes for further research on seismogenesis to fore-cast earthquake…     

Signatures in flowing fluid electric conductivity logs

Flowing fluid electric conductivity logging provides a means to determine hydrologic properties of fractures, fracture zones, or other permeable layers intersecting a borehole in saturated rock. The method involves analyzing the time-evolution of fluid electric conductivity (FEC) logs obtained while the well is being pumped and yields information on the location, hydraulic transmissivity, and salinity of permeable layers. The original analysis method was restricted to the case in which flows from the permeable layers or fractures were directed into the borehole (inflow). Recently, the method was adapted to permit treatment of both inflow and outflow, including analysis of natural regional flow in the permeable layer. A numerical model simulates flow and transport in the wellbore during flowing FEC logging, and fracture properties are determined by optimizing the match between simulation results and observed FEC logs. This can be a laborious trial-and-error procedure, especially when both inflow and outflow points are present. Improved analyses methods are needed. One possible tactic would be to develop an automated inverse method, but this paper takes a more elementary approach and focuses on identifying the signatures that various inflow and outflow features create in flowing FEC logs. The physical insight obtained provides a basis for more efficient analysis of these logs, both for the present trial and error approach and for a potential future automated inverse approach. Inflow points produce distinctive signatures in the FEC logs themselves, enabling the determination of location, inflow rate, and ion concentration. Identifying outflow locations and flow rates typically requires a more complicated integral method, which is also presented in this paper.