青藏铁路冻土区环境问题对工程安全可靠性影响

本文分析了青藏铁路冻土区主要工程对多年冻土温度、水分特征和冻土环境特征的影响,探讨了冻土区工程环境与冻土环境之间相互作用特点。进而论述了控制外界对冻土工程环境系统的热侵蚀是保证冻土区工程安全可靠性的关键问题。     

青藏铁路冻土区路基工程安全可靠性监测技术研究

通过对冻土区路基工程和冻土之间相互作用过程的分析,提出冻土区路基工程的安全可靠性监测关键技术一是监测方法,二是监测手段,三是数据分析。冻土区路基工程的安全可靠性首先取决于工程周围和工程基底多年冻土的热稳定性,其次取决于发生变形的路基填土厚度及其基底融化层厚度。因此,路基顶面以下不同深度地温监测和年际冻融季节时段路基土层变形监测是冻土区工程长期可靠性监测的主要指标。青藏铁路自然条件的严酷性,要求监测手段具有可靠性和耐久性以及对复杂自然条件变化的适应性。文章提出一种自动观测多年冻土地温和路基变形,并能够实现数据无线传输的现场监测系统设计方案,通过现场试验,证明这种监测系统能够适应青藏高原恶劣的自然条件,减轻了人工监测的劳苦,具有可靠性和耐久性。作者还提出了能够简便判断冻土区工程安全可靠性的监测数据分析方法,对目前冻土区工程安全可靠性分析具有一定的理论指导作用。     

pT-effects of Pleistocene glacial periods on permafrost,gas hydrate stability zones and reservoir of the Mittelplate oil field,northern Germany

During the past two million years low surface temperatures as well as episodically advancing ice sheets from Scandinavia acted on the subsurface pT-regime of northern Germany. Their likely effects on the petroleum system of Schleswig-Holstein were investigated. For the entire Quaternary mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) was reconstructed at a resolution of 1000 years by calibrating oxygen isotope records from ODP-site 659 to the climate of northern Germany of the past 120 kyr. The resulting MAGT trend served as input to an ice sheet model and a permafrost model along a 2D section crossing the petroleum bearing south-western part of Schleswig-Holstein. Here advances and retreats of the Scandinavian ice sheet during Saalian and Elsterian glaciation Stages were reconstructed. Maximum ice thicknesses of up to 1700 m and up to 20 periods of regional permafrost in northern Germany were reconstructed for the past 1.25 million years. Based on a basal heat flow of 50 mW/m² permafrost thicknesses exceeded 100 m during most of these periods, temporarily extending down to depths of more than 300 m. Favourable surface temperatures and long durations of cold periods provided favourable conditions for onshore gas hydrate stability zones at Mittelplate. Implementing these glacial dynamics into 2D basin modelling (PetroMod, IES, Aachen, Germany) of the Mittelplate oil field reveals five phases of gas hydrate stability at depths down to 750 m. The latest of these events occurred during the Weichselian about 20 kyr ago. The effect of the ice sheets on pore pressure in the subsurface strongly depends on the hydraulic boundary conditions at the ice base (e.g. frozen vs. temperate ice sheet base). Excess pore pressure in the reservoir of more than 10 MPa during ice overriding is possible and probable. The calculated temperature effect of the Pleistocene cooling on the Mittelplate reservoir is in the range of 3–7 °C. Even today temperature in the reservoir is still lowered by about 4 °C in comparison to pre-Pleistocene times. Despite the fact that a significant influence of glacial effects on petroleum generation can be ruled out at Mittelplate, we state that pT-effects in reservoirs related to glacial processes in formerly glaciated areas have been underestimated in the past.     

Hydrostatic-system palsas at Toolik lake,Alaska: Field observations and simulation

Stratigraphic and chemical data from the ice core of an ‘anthropogenic palsa’ at Toolik Lake, Alaska, indicate that the mound formed as a consequence of hydrostatic pressure developed in an isolated hydrologic system within the active layer. Survey data for five palsas over a three-year period suggest that growth was essentially complete at the time of the initial survey; a net decrease of summit elevation is apparent in all five mounds, but complete degradation of the palsas would require several decades at observed rates. Because accurate field measurements of thermal and hydrologic evolution in such features are extremely difficult, simulation of the environmental conditions and events involved in palsa growth is an important supplement to field observation. Both analytic and finite-element models yield results that are in substantial agreement with inferences drawn from observational data.     

Lake-ice collapse trenches in Wisconsin,U.S.A.

A series of trenches about a metre deep, 20 to 30 m wide, and as much as 2 km in length occurs in central Wisconsin, along the east shore of proglacial Lake Wisconsin. They are interpreted to be collapse trenches formed when shore ice melted after being buried beneath an expanding outwash plain.     

青藏铁路清水河地区路基下伏多年冻土地温变化特征研究

基于埋设在青藏铁路清水河地区路基中两个断面内的共8个地温测试孔3年来的地温观测资料,研究了该地区铁路路基下伏高原多年冻土融化特征,分析了多年冻土上限的变化规律以及填筑铁路路基施工对下伏多年冻土赋存条件的影响。研究表明,由于受到填筑路基时赋存在路基填料内的热量的影响,铁路路基下伏多年冻土近地表的地温变化特征与天然地面下的多年冻土的地温变化特征有明显的不同,且向阳面与被阴面差别较大。多年冻土的上限在施工初期会有一个明显的下移沉降,随着时间的推移,虽然残存在路基中的热量逐渐消散,多年冻土上限下降会逐渐稳定。由于受到太阳辐射和路基边坡形状及融化夹层的影响,多年冻土上限会逐渐稳定,但不会在短时期内上升到天然地面下多年冻土的上限水平。     

Peatland development at the arctic tree line (Québec, Canada) influenced by flooding and permafrost

In this study, we documented the Holocene history of a peat plateau at the arctic tree line in northern Québec using stratigraphic and macrofossil analyses to highlight the effects of geomorphic setting in peatland development. Paludification of the site began about 6800 cal yr BP. From 6390 to 4120 cal yr BP, the peatland experienced a series of flooding events. The location of the peatland in a depression bounded by two small lakes likely explains its sensitivity to runoff. The proximity of a large hill bordering the peatland to the south possibly favored the inflow of mineral-laden water. The onset of permafrost aggradation in several parts of the peatland occurred after 3670 cal yr BP. Uplifting of the peatland surface caused by permafrost stopped the flooding. According to radiocarbon dating of the uppermost peat layers, permafrost distribution progressed from the east to the west of the peatland, indicating differential timing for the initiation of permafrost throughout the peatland. Most of the peatland was affected by permafrost growth during the Little Ice Age. Picea mariana macroremains at 6450 cal yr BP indicate that the species was present during the early stages of peatland development, which occurred soon after the sea regression.     

Evolution of the freeze-thaw cycles in the source region of the Yellow River under the influence of climate change and its hydrological effects

As an important water source and ecological barrier in the Yellow River Basin, the source region of the Yellow River (above the Huangheyan Hydrologic Station) presents a remarkable permafrost degradation trend due to climate change. Therefore, scientific understanding the effects of permafrost degradation on runoff variations is of great significance for the water resource and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin. In this paper, we studied the mechanism and extent of the effect of degrading permafrost on surface flow in the source region of the Yellow River based on the monitoring data of temperature and moisture content of permafrost in 2013–2019 and the runoff data in 1960–2019. The following results have been found. From 2013 to 2019, the geotemperature of the monitoring sections at depths of 0–2.4 m increased by 0.16°C/a on average. With an increase in the thawing depth of the permafrost, the underground water storage space also increased, and the depth of water level above the frozen layer at the monitoring points decreased from above 1.2 m to 1.2–2 m. 64.7% of the average multiyear groundwater was recharged by runoff, in which meltwater from the permafrost accounted for 10.3%. Compared to 1960-1965, the runoff depth in the surface thawing period (from May to October) and the freezing period (from November to April) decreased by 1.5 mm and 1.2 mm, respectively during 1992–1997, accounting for 4.2% and 3.4% of the average annual runoff depth, respectively. Most specifically, the decrease in the runoff depth was primarily reflected in the decreased runoff from August to December. The permafrost degradation affects the runoff within a year by changing the runoff generation, concentration characteristics and the melt water quantity from permafrost, decreasing the runoff at the later stage of the permafrost thawing. However, the permafrost degradation has limited impacts on annual runoff and does not dominate the runoff changes in the source region of the Yellow River in the longterm.     

Freshwater Ostracodes in Quaternary Permafrost Deposits in the Siberian Arctic

Ostracode analysis was carried out on samples from ice-rich permafrost deposits obtained on the Bykovsky Peninsula (Laptev Sea). A composite profile was investigated that covers most of a 38-m thick permafrost sequence and corresponds to the last ca. 60 kyr of the Late Quaternary. The ostracode assemblages are similar to those known from European Quaternary lake deposits during cold stages. The ostracode habitats were small, shallow, cold, oligotrophic pools located in low centred ice wedge polygons or in small thermokarst depressions. In total, 15 taxa, representing 7 genera, were identified from 65 samples. The studied section is subdivided into six ostracode zones that correspond to Late Quaternary climatic and environmental stadial-interstadial variations established by other paleoenvironmental proxies: (1) cold and dry Zyrianian stadial (58–53 kyr BP); (2) warm and dry Karginian interstadial (48–34 kyr BP); (3) transition from the Karginian interstadial to the cold and dry Sartanian stadial (34–21 kyr BP); (4) transition from the Sartanian stadial to the warm and dry Late Pleistocene period, the Allerød (21–14 kyr BP); (5) transition from the Allerød to the warm and wet Middle Holocene (14–7 kyr BP); and (6) cool and wet Late Holocene (ca. 3 kyr BP). The abundance and diversity of the ostracodes will be used as an additional bioindicator for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Siberian Arctic.     

Investigation of mountain permafrost in the Kozia Dolinka valley,Tatra Mountains,Poland

The Kozia Dolinka valley lies at an altitude above 1900 m a.s.l. on the northern slope of the main ridge of the High Tatra Mountains. Mountain permafrost occurrences were studied with the use of BTS, infrared imaging, water and ground temperature measurements and DC resistivity soundings. The data suggest the existence of isolated patches of permafrost. The lowest observed bottom temperature of winter snow values was in the order of-10C. DC soundings revealed the existence of a high resistivity layer of limited extent. Permafrost seasonal monitoring was conducted with resistivity soundings. Measurements were carried out in spring-autumn 1999, when a distinct change in permafrost thickness was observed.