A mathematical model of concentrate solids content for the wet drum magnetic separator

Low concentrate density from wet drum magnetic separators in dense medium circuits can cause operating difficulties due to inability to obtain the required circulating medium density and, indirectly, high medium solids losses. The literature is almost silent on the processes controlling concentrate density. However, the common name for the region through which concentrate is discharged—the squeeze pan gap—implies that some extrusion process is thought to be at work. There is no model of magnetics recovery in a wet drum magnetic separator, which includes as inputs all significant machine and operating variables.A series of trials, in both factorial experiments and in single variable experiments, was done using a purpose built rig which featured a small industrial scale (700 mm lip length, 900 mm diameter) wet drum magnetic separator. A substantial data set of 191 trials was generated in this work. The results of the factorial experiments were used to identify the variables having a significant effect on magnetics recovery.It is proposed, based both on the experimental observations of the present work and on observations reported in the literature, that the process controlling magnetic separator concentrate density is one of drainage. Such a process should be able to be defined by an initial moisture, a drainage rate and a drainage time, the latter being defined by the volumetric flowrate and the volume within the drainage zone. The magnetics can be characterised by an experimentally derived ultimate drainage moisture. A model based on these concepts and containing adjustable parameters was developed. This model was then fitted to a randomly chosen 80% of the data, and validated by application to the remaining 20%. The model is shown to be a good fit to data over concentrate solids content values from 40% solids to 80% solids and for both magnetite and ferrosilicon feeds.     

Old inherited origin for the present near-bimodal topography of Africa

Africa’s landscape is dominated by a manifold of second-order epeirogenic structures superimposed on a first-order bimodal topography. Bivariate regression analysis of Africa’s surface topography shows that this is a complexly folded surface with regionally elevated areas in southern and eastern Africa, and a topographically low northern and western Africa. The apparent spatial relationships between these features are analysed using anomaly correlation between surface topography and free-air gravity anomalies. Occurrences of positively correlated features between gravity and topography in Africa are found to be limited to second-order epeirogenic features. Geophysical modelling and geologic evidence indicate that Africa’s bimodal topography is genetically distinct from these second-order features, and linked to sources as deep as the sublithospheric mantle. The age, measured and modelled elevation of the bimodal topography require that topographic uplift of south-central Africa be episodic. We infer from our findings together with relative sea-level changes, that the near-bimodality of Africa’s topography is an ancient feature inherited at least from upper Paleozoic times. Our reconstructed paleotopography suggests that Africa was largely a low-lying continent dominated by its cratons, and that basement distribution disregards the present-day uplift patterns of Africa.     

闪长岩强风化带做高层建筑天然地基的可行性研究

借助于中国工商银行山东省分行营业办公楼的工程实践,将常规勘察与原位测试相结合,运用野外钻探、室内试验、原位测试多种手段,对闪长岩强风化带的物理力学性质进行了测试分析和深入地研究,并通过对承载力、沉降变形的验算,得出其作为高层建筑的天然地基是可行的。实践证明,与桩基础处理方案相比,节省资金近200万元,大大加快了施工进度,减少了基础施工难度,取得了巨大的经济效益与社会效益;同时,也提出了研究岩石风化带所遇到的问题:由于采取原状试样及制样难,导致对其物理力学性质了解不够。     

对目前岩石“全曲线”测试的若干看法

从电液伺服岩石压力试验机工作机理的角度,对目前岩石应力-应变全过程曲线(以下简称“全曲线”)测试中的一些问题进行了分析,提出了自己的看法,目的是为了解决“全曲线”测试的2个问题,即如何测出“全曲线”;如何使测出的“全曲线”真实反映岩石的力学特性,并将其用到工程中。     

兴山县龙王嘴边坡稳定性分析与加固设计

龙王嘴边坡系坡高达70 m、坡角达70 °的高陡岩质边坡。分析了宜-秭公路石峡段龙王嘴高边坡变形的地质条件,在定量评价龙王嘴高边坡稳定性的基础上,进行了该高边坡的施工图加固设计。根据其特点将350 m长的坡段分为A,B,C三个区,分别采取预应力锚索与锚杆加固、挂网喷射混凝土支护和喷射混凝土支护等措施,实践证明,工程治理效果良好。     

Theory and Method of Mineral Resource Prediction Based on Synthetic Information

Metallogenic prognosis of synthetic information uses the geological body and the miaeral resource body as a statistical unit to interpret synthetically the information of geology, geophysics, geo-chemistry and remote sensing from the evolution of geology and puts all the information into one entire system by drawing up digitalized interpretation maps of the synthetic information. On such basis, differ-ent grades and types of mineral resource prospecting models and predictive models of synthetic informa-tion can be established. Hence, a new integrated prediction system will be formed of metallogenic prog-nosis (qualitative prediction), mineral resources statistic prediction (determining targets) and mlaeral resources prediction (determining resources amount).     

Rivers, chemical weathering and Earth's climate

We detail the results of recent studies describing and quantifying the large-scale chemical weathering of the main types of continental silicate rocks: granites and basalts. These studies aim at establishing chemical weathering laws for these two lithologies, describing the dependence of chemical weathering on environmental parameters, such as climate and mechanical erosion. As shown within this contribution, such mathematical laws are of primary importance for numerical models calculating the evolution of the partial pressure of atmospheric CO₂ and the Earth climate at geological timescales. The major results can be summarized as follow: (1) weathering of continental basaltic lithologies accounts for about 30% of the total consumption of atmospheric CO₂ through weathering of continental silicate rocks. This is related to their high weatherability (about eight times greater than the granite weatherability); (2) a simple weathering law has been established for basaltic lithologies, giving the consumption of atmospheric CO₂ as a function of regional continental runoff, and mean annual regional temperature; (3) no such simple weathering law can be proposed for granitic lithologies, since the effect of temperature can only be identified for regions displaying high continental runoff; (4) a general law relating mechanical erosion and chemical weathering has been validated on small and large catchments. The consequences of these major advances on the climatic evolution of the Earth are discussed. Particularly, the impacts of the onset of the Deccan trapps and the Himalayan orogeny on the global carbon cycle are reinvestigated. To cite this article: B. Dupré et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

An EFTEM/HRTEM high-resolution study of the near surface of labradorite feldspar altered at acid pH: evidence for interfacial dissolution-reprecipitation

Using an approach combining high-resolution and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM and EFTEM), we have studied with Å to nm-spatial resolution the interfacial region that delimits the near-surface altered zone and non-altered labradorite feldspar after dissolution under acid pH conditions. The interface is characterized by extremely sharp and spatially coincident changes in structure and chemistry. The 500-nm-thick altered zone is depleted in interstitial cations (Ca, Na, K) and Al, a framework element, whereas it is enriched in H, O, and Si. Modeling H⁺-alkali interdiffusion within a 500-nm-thick altered zone shows that volume interdiffusion cannot reproduce the sharp chemical interfaces measured by EFTEM. Based on these new data, we propose that the near-surface altered zone is a result of interfacial dissolution-reprecipitation, and not of preferential leaching of cations and interdiffusion with H⁺. This implies an intrinsic dissolution process that is stoichiometric, where the breaking of bonds and release of interstitial cations and framework elements (Al, Si, and O) to solution occur contemporaneously at equal relative rates from the original fluid–mineral interface.     

Spectral and Multiscale Signal-to-Noise Thresholding of Spherical Vector Fields

The basic concepts of spectral and multiscale selective reconstruction of (geophysically relevant) vector fields on the sphere from error-affected data is outlined in detail. The reconstruction mechanism is formulated under the assumption that spectral as well as multiscale approximation is well-representable in terms of only a certain number of expansion coefficients at the various resolution levels. It is shown that spectral denoising by means of orthogonal expansions in terms of vector spherical harmonics reflects global a priori information of the noise (e.g., in form of a covariance tensor field), whereas multiscale signal-to-noise thresholding can be performed under locally dependent noise information within a multiresolution analysis in terms of spherical vector wavelets. An application of the multiscale formalism to Earth's magnetic field determination is presented.