Stratified convection with multiple states

A simplified box model of the cooling of a salt-stratified ocean is analyzed analytically and numerically. A large isothermal basin of salt water has a layer of fresh water at the surface. Beside this is a small basin, cooled from above and connected to the large basin by horizontal tubes at the top, middle and bottom. For small cooling rate, fresh water enters the small basin, is cooled and leaves through the middle tube. For greater cooling rate, the fresh water leaves the small basin through the middle and bottom tube. If the top tube is smaller than the deeper tubes and the fresh water layer is sufficiently shallow, flow in the middle tube reverses at a critical cooling rate. In this case, a mixture of salt and fresh water is cooled and leaves the bottom tube. Increased cooling produces much greater flow rate; consequentially temperature increases rather than decreases in the small basin. A relaxation heat flow condition results in multiple equilibria. One of the stable modes has fresh surface water descending in the small basin and flowing out through the middle and bottom tube. The other has a greater rate of flow of both fresh and salty water (through the middle tube) into the basin with the flow of mixed salty water out of the bottom tube. Implications for deep convection in the ocean are discussed.     

稀土元素对鲁西铜石、铜井、龙宝山杂岩体的同源性制约

20世纪80年代,在山东省平邑县发现归来庄大型金矿床,实现了鲁西黄金找矿的重大突破。此后,鲁西相继发现卓家庄、磨坊沟和龙宝山金矿。近年,又在沂南金矿的深部发现新的矿体,鲁西良好的金矿成矿前景引起了地质学界的广泛关注。目前,鲁西发现的金矿床主要分布在铜石、铜井和龙宝山等燕山期杂岩体的附近。这些岩体在成因上有什么关系值得研究。通过对上述岩体稀土元素的地球化学分析,每种岩体不同期次侵入的岩浆岩的稀土元素分布形式和3种岩体综合稀土元素分布形式均呈向右陡倾的弧形线,且配分曲线形态基本相似,都没有明显的Ce、Eu异常,指示了岩体之间存在同源性,均来自深部同一岩浆房。该认识对于指导鲁西黄金找矿具有一定的意义。     

高烈度地震区岩土体边坡崩塌动力学特性研究

"5·12"汶川特大地震引发的次生山地灾害中以山体崩塌数量最多.本文在对国道213线都江堰至映秀段以及水磨支线公路边坡地震崩塌调查研究的基础上,分析总结了岩土体边坡的崩塌成灾模式、崩塌作用机理以及崩塌自组织临界(SOC)动力学特性.调查范围包括Ⅸ～Ⅺ度地震区,工点105个.对崩塌体方量、崩塌深度进行统计分析后发现,在Ⅸ度区崩塌体方量和崩塌深度都符合负幂律分布,呈现出明显的自组织临界动力学特性;而Ⅹ、Ⅺ度地震区不呈现该崩塌特性,其崩塌动力学性质受地震的强扰作用控制.     

分形几何在岩土力学研究中的过去、现在与未来

首先简略地介绍了分形几何理论及其方法。从岩土材料结构的定量描述、流体在岩土体中的渗流问题、岩土材料强度的分形模型和分形空间的力学特征四个方面叙述了分形理论在岩土力学研究中取得的成果及应用。指出只有将岩土力学系统在欧氏空间的各种基本变量、原理和方法向分形空间推广和拓展,才能产生对岩土材料非线性力学行为的新认识,这也是分形理论在岩土力学研究中进一步深化的基础。     

岩石滞后非线性弹性响应的物理模型

介绍了岩石滞后非线性弹性的几个物理模型。赫兹颗粒接触模型是具有多尺度和滞后特性的经典模型,它预测了岩石中强烈的非线性;软的粘结系统几乎决定了岩石的力学性质,粘结系统中的流体对非线性响应的贡献特别显著,但是目前还没有搞清楚粘结系统和孔隙流体究竟是如何影响非线性响应的;GL模型是一个基于金属位错的物理模型,这是滞后动力行为方面一个开拓性的微观模型;PM模型是一个基于岩石细观尺度的唯象模型,它对理解岩石滞后非线性的机制和尺度是很重要的。     

基于开口同轴法的岩矿石样品介电常数测试

火成岩及变质岩找矿是金属探矿的重要组成部分,围岩与矿体之间存在的电性差别是区分二者的重要标志;另外探地雷达以高频电磁波传播为基础,决定电磁波场波速的主要因素是介电常数,因此以介电常数及电导率为内容的电性参数测试就显得尤为必要.传统岩矿石介电常数测试主要使用同轴传输/反射法,而开口同轴法在岩矿石电性测试方面的工作开展较少...     

青海湖晚更新世沉积物中胶黄铁矿的发现及其环境指示意义

对青海湖南盆沉积中心钻取的一根长18.6 m的高取芯率沉积岩芯(1F)进行磁化率测试显示,该岩芯在8.15～8.96 m和15.50～17.28m两沉积段具有非常高的磁化率.详细的岩石磁学测量和矿物分析表明这两段沉积物中有大量的胶黄铁矿存在,其磁畴特征主要以单畴(SD)为主,并显示少量超顺磁(SP)颗粒特征,这是导致磁...     

Mechanical compaction and ultrasonic velocity of sands with different texture and mineralogical composition

This study presents the results of experimental compaction while measuring ultrasonic velocities of sands with different grain size, shape, sorting and mineralogy. Uniaxial mechanical compaction tests up to a maximum of 50 MPa effective stress were performed on 29 dry sand aggregates derived from eight different sands to measure the rock properties. A good agreement was found between the Gassmann saturated bulk moduli of dry and brine saturated tests of selected sands. Sand samples with poor sorting showed low initial porosity while sands with high grain angularity had high initial porosity. The sand compaction tests showed that at a given stress well‐sorted, coarse‐grained sands were more compressible and had higher velocities (Vp and Vs) than fine‐grained sands when the mineralogy was similar. This can be attributed to grain crushing, where coarser grains lead to high compressibility and large grain‐to‐grain contact areas result in high velocities. At medium to high stresses the angular coarse to medium grained sands (both sorted sands and un‐sorted whole sands) showed high compaction and velocities (Vp and Vs). The small grain‐to‐grain contact areas promote higher deformation at grain contacts, more crushing and increased porosity loss resulting in high velocities. Compaction and velocities (Vp and Vs) increased with decreasing sorting in sands. However, at the same porosity, the velocities in whole sands were slightly lower than in the well‐sorted sands indicating the presence of loose smaller grains in‐between the framework grains. Quartz‐poor sands (containing less than 55% quartz) showed higher velocities (Vp and Vs) compared to that of quartz‐rich sands. This could be the result of sintering and enlargement of grain contacts of ductile mineral grains in the quartz‐poor sands increasing the effective bulk and shear stiffness. Tests both from wet measurements and Gassmann brine substitution showed a decreasing Vp/Vs ratio with increasing effective stress. The quartz‐rich sands separated out towards the higher side of the Vp/Vs range. The Gassmann brine substituted Vp and Vs plotted against effective stress provide a measure of the expected velocity range to be found in these and similar sands during mechanical compaction. Deviations of actual well log data from experimental data may indicate uplift, the presence of hydrocarbon, overpressure and/or cementation. Data from this study may help to model velocity‐depth trends and to improve the characterization of reservoir sands from well log data in a low temperature (<80–100^o C) zone where compaction of sands is mostly mechanical.     

Sound level produced during rock drilling vis-à-vis rock properties

The process of drilling, in general, always produces sound. Though sound is used as a diagnostic tool in mechanical industry, its application in predicting rock property is not much explored. In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate rock properties such as uniaxial compressive strength, Schmidt rebound number and Young's modulus using sound level produced during rotary drilling. For this purpose, a computer numerical controlled vertical milling centre was used for drilling holes with drill bit diameters ranging from 6 to 20 mm with a shank length of 40 mm. Fourteen different rock types were tested. The study was carried out to develop the empirical relations using multiple regression analysis between sound level produced during drilling and rock properties considering the effects of drill bit diameter, drill bit speed and drill bit penetration rate. The F-test was used to check the validity of the developed models. The measured rock property values and the values calculated from the developed regression model are fairly close, indicating that the developed models could be efficiently used with acceptable accuracy in prediction of rock properties.     

Glacial advances constrained by Be exposure dating of bedrock landslides, Kyrgyz Tien Shan

Numerous large landslide deposits occur in the Tien Shan, a tectonically active intraplate orogen in Central Asia. Yet their significance in Quaternary landscape evolution and natural hazard assessment remains unresolved due to the lack of "absolute" age constraints. Here we present the first ¹⁰Be exposure ages for three prominent (> 10⁷ m³) bedrock landslides that blocked major rivers and formed lakes, two of which subsequently breached, in the northern Kyrgyz Tien Shan. Three ¹⁰Be ages reveal that one landslide in the Alamyedin River occurred at 11–15 ka, which is consistent with two ¹⁴C ages of gastropod shells from reworked loess capping the landslide. One large landslide in Aksu River is among the oldest documented in semi-arid continental interiors, with a ¹⁰Be age of 63–67 ka. The Ukok River landslide deposit(s) yielded variable ¹⁰Be ages, which may result from multiple landslides, and inheritance of ¹⁰Be. Two ¹⁰Be ages of 8.2 and 5.9 ka suggest that one major landslide occurred in the early to mid-Holocene, followed by at least one other event between 1.5 and 0.4 ka. Judging from the regional glacial chronology, all three landslides have occurred between major regional glacial advances. Whereas Alamyedin and Ukok can be considered as postglacial in this context, Aksu is of interglacial age. None of the landslide deposits show traces of glacial erosion, hence their locations and ¹⁰Be ages mark maximum extents and minimum ages of glacial advances, respectively. Using toe-to-headwall altitude ratios of 0.4–0.5, we reconstruct minimum equilibrium-line altitudes that exceed previous estimates by as much as 400 m along the moister northern fringe of the Tien Shan. Our data show that deposits from large landslides can provide valuable spatio-temporal constraints for glacial advances in landscapes where moraines and glacial deposits have low preservation potential.