Estimation of rock engineering properties using hardness tests

In engineering projects such as tunnels, dams, foundations, and slope stability, the strength and elastic properties of the intact rock affect both the project design and the construction operation. It is sometimes expensive and time consuming to perform direct tests to evaluate the engineering properties (such as strength, modulus of elasticity, and Poisson's ratio) of the intact rock. The purpose of this work is to investigate the relationships between the engineering properties of the intact rock and the different types of hardness (Schmidt, shore scleroscope, abrasion, and total hardness), which are relatively cheap and easy to evaluate. In this study, dolomite, dolomitic limestone, and shale rocks were used. For simplicity, linear statistical analyses were performed. The results show that there are good relationships between the engineering properties of the intact rock and its hardness. Also, the results of this study are compared well with the results obtained by other investigators conducted on different types of rocks.     

Soldier crab paleo-ichnology and its preservation in beach rock along the Pilbara Coast,Western Australia: its geoheritage significance

Ichnofossils, although small-scale geological features, can be of geoheritage significance. The Western Australian soldier crab (Mictyris occidentalis Unno 2008) presents an unusual and unique association between the crab and its ichnology because, as the species progresses through life, its behaviour becomes more complex and its traces commensurably more varied. The links between crab ichnology, life stage, behaviour, and environment are so direct that where traces are preserved they can be used to interpret fossil crab sizes, population structures, behaviour and paleo-environment. In this context the ichnofossils comprise important paleo-ecological and paleo-environmental indicators. Middle Holocene soldier crab ichnofossils occur in 5000 year-old beach rock at Port Hedland, Western Australia. The ichnofossils include rosettes, pustules, pellet-roofed tunnels, back-filled burrows and swirl lamination, air cavities and tidal-current-degraded discard pellets. They provide information on soldier crab population sizes and behaviour, and the nature of the environment along middle Holocene shores. The ichnofossils are of geoheritage significance in their own right for the paleontological and paleo-environmental information they present, however, given the rarity of their preservation, and the location of well-developed beach rock largely restricted to the arid Pilbara Coast, these ichnofossils are an uncommon and significant geological tool for use in paleo-environmental, paleo-ecological and paleoclimate reconstructions. They are of geoheritage significance because of their diagnostic signatures and rarity of occurrence. The limitations of current classifications of traces and ichnofossils, owing to restricted definition of terms, are highlighted by these ichnofossils as several ichnological products in the complex range of soldier crab traces are not possible to classify.     

Morphodynamic implications for shoreline management of the western-Mediterranean sector of Egypt

Although the western-Mediterranean coast of Egypt between Sallum and Alexandria, ~550 km long, has maintained a considerable equilibrium throughout history, developers have built traditional protective structures in an effort to form sheltered recreational beaches without taking into consideration its geomorphologic characteristics, coastal processes and their harmful impact on the coastal environment and human safety. The improper practices in this environmentally valuable region have induced us to undertake an initiative to carry out a morphodynamic analysis to provide a framework for understanding the relationship between coastal morphology and the prevailing dynamic forces. Based on the degree of natural protection or wave sheltering, the study shoreline can be categorized into four distinct morphotypical stretches: (1) high-energy wave-exposed shores and the outer margins of the rocky headlands, (2) moderate to high wave-energy beaches along semi-exposed embayments and bays mostly downdrift of the rocky headlands, (3) low-wave energy at semi-exposed headland lee-sided and pocket beaches, and (4) calm wave-sheltered enclosing water basins for safe anchorages, moorings and recreation beaches. The results deducted will have practical applications for shoreline management initiatives regarding sustained sites suitable for future beachfront development such as safe swimming conditions, sport facilities, water intakes and sheltered areas for vessels. In addition, benefits realized by the understanding of the morphodynamic processes would enhance our awareness of the significance of the role of western coast morphodynamics in supporting sustainable development via shoreline management. As far as sustainability is concerned, the selection of appropriate sites would help avoiding or minimizing the formation of the hard structures needed for creating safe recreation beaches. On a national scale, results reached could provide reliable database for information that can be used in establishing a sustainable shoreline management plan, which is, in turn, an essential part when implementing an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan for this region of attraction.     

Quaternary inheritance of coastal landforms,Cobourg Peninsula,northern territory

In contrast to the abundant evidence of former shorelines on the sea floor of the Sahul Shelf in northern Australia, little evidence has been reported for late Pleistocene coastal landforms along the modern coast of north Australia. Using radiocarbon, thermoluminescence and uranium/thorium dating techniques, however, it can be shown that the present coastal morphology on the Cobourg Peninsula is partly inherited from features both deposited and eroded during the late Quaternary. Shore platforms, in particular, are veneered with ferricretes, some of which can be U/Th dated. In places bedforms are preserved within the ferricrete, suggesting that the platform existed at, and was modified during, the Last Interglacial, and probably formed during earlier interglacials. TL dating indicates that sands around Cape Don were deposited when sea level was lower, but may have been reworked during a Holocene high stand. A sequence of beach ridges at Smith Point indicates Holocene progradation over an earlier planation surface, and also provides support for slight Holocene emergence.     

Shore platform development around Lord Howe Island, southwest Pacific

This paper describes the morphology of near-horizontal basalt and calcarenite shore platforms around Lord Howe Island as well as the lithological and process environment in which they occur. The morphology of platforms around the island is highly varied. For instance, they occur at a wide range of elevations between low-tide level and several metres above the highest tides, and their width ranges between just a few metres to over 100 m. However, common to most platforms is that they have near-horizontal surfaces that terminate abruptly in a steep scarp at their seaward edge. Correlations indicate that the variability in platform elevation and width is attributable to variability in key parameters of erosion, such as rock resistance and shoreline water depth. Whereas wider platforms occur in rocks of lesser resistance, platform elevation is shown to increase both as rock resistance and the depth of water at the shoreline increases. Wave exposure has a significant control on platform width in some instances, but an over-arching relationship was not detected. Most platforms around the island appear to have developed over the Holocene and a conceptual model is proposed to account for the varied morphology of platforms that have developed over this period. Resistant plunging cliffs occur along about 18% of the rocky coastline of Lord Howe Island and represent the starting point for the model. Where cliffs have yielded to wave erosion platforms have been initiated at an elevation controlled predominantly by rock resistance and shoreline water depth. At Lord Howe Island narrow platforms up to about 20 m wide in exposed locations generally occur about 4 to 6 m above high tide level, and have apparently been subject to very infrequent erosion. Shore platforms about 20 to 40 m wide have generally formed in less resistant rocks, are somewhat lower at about 2 to 3 m above high tide level, and have been subject to more frequent erosion over the Holocene. Most basalt platforms around the island fall within these first two categories, but there are some instances of platforms about 50 m wide. These platforms have formed in rocks of comparatively low resistance and are relatively low in elevation occurring close to the level of high tide. An interesting feature of some of these wide platforms is that, unlike the morphology of narrower platforms, raised ramparts sometimes occur on their outer edge.     

Effects of tides on a sloping shore: groundwater dynamics and propagation of the tidal wave

The influences of tides on a coastal environment with a sloping shore are investigated by means of field observations and groundwater flow modelling. The Belgian western coastal plain consists of a wide shore, dunes and polders where diurnal tides with large amplitude occur. The effects of tides on the groundwater flow are studied using the MOCDENS3D code. First, MOCDENS3D is validated to accurately simulate the propagation, attenuation and lag of a tidal wave in an aquifer. Then groundwater flow and influences of tides are modelled for a cross-section along the French–Belgian border. This gives an exhaustive insight into the spatial and temporal varying groundwater flow and propagation of the tidal wave in the aquifer. Simulation shows that there are two interfering flow cycles. The first is a shallow tidally fluctuating flow cycle on the shore due to the interaction of the gently sloping shore and the tidally oscillating sea level. The second is a deeper flow cycle from the dunes towards the sea. Further, it is indicated that the propagation and attenuation of the tidal wave follows a complex pattern with lateral as well as vertical components. The interaction between tides and shore topography also influences the salinity distribution.     

Effects of laughing gull and shorebird predation on the intertidal fauna at Cape May,New Jersey

The intertidal flats of the Cape May, New Jersey shore of Delaware Bay are populated by large numbers of laughing gulls and migrating shorebirds during the spring and early summer. Exclusion of birds from a shallow slough and a sand bar had only minor effects on the infaunal benthic invertebrate assemblage at either site. The Cape May beaches provide a rich source of food in the form of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) eggs; foraging on this item may be more profitable than probing the sediment for infauna. Gemma gemma, a small, thick-shelled bivalve, composed over 98% of the benthic infauna at both sites in 1980, and this species may be resistant to predation by certain shorebirds, as suggested by Schneider (1978).     

Long-term biological effects of petroleum residues on fiddler crabs in salt marshes

In September 1969, the Florida barge spilled 700,000L of No. 2 fuel oil into the salt marsh sediments of Wild Harbor (Buzzards Bay, MA). Today the aboveground environment appears unaffected, but a substantial amount of moderately degraded petroleum still remains 8-20cm below the surface. The salt marsh fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax, burrow into the sediments at depths of 5-25cm, and are chronically exposed to the spilled oil. Behavioral studies conducted with U. pugnax from Wild Harbor and a control site, Great Sippewissett marsh, found that crabs exposed to the oil avoided burrowing into oiled layers, suffered delayed escape responses, lowered feeding rates, and achieved lower densities. The oil residues are therefore biologically active and affect U. pugnax populations. Our results add new knowledge about long-term consequences of spilled oil, a dimension that should be included when assessing oil-impacted areas and developing management plans designed to restore, rehabilitate, or replace impacted areas.     

舟山群岛东侧海域蟹类群落结构及其与环境因子的关系

根据2018年4月（春季）和10月（秋季）在舟山群岛东侧海域（29°10′25.54"～30°45′00"N,122°53′3.88"～124°48′28.31"E）开展的渔业资源底拖网调查所获得的蟹类数据,研究了该海域蟹类资源的种类组成、优势种、生物多样性等群落结构特征,同时分析了蟹类数量分布及其群落结构与温、盐等环境因子之间的关系。结果表明,调查海域春、秋季蟹类种类共有40种,隶属于12科,23属;其中,春季优势种为双斑鲟（Charybdis bimaculata）,秋季优势种为双斑鲟和三疣梭子蟹（Portunus trituberculatus）,均为广温、广盐性种类;秋季丰富度指数（D）及Shannon-Wiener多样性指数（H'）高于春季,而Pielou均匀度指数（J'）则相差不大;独立样本T检验方法显示,春、秋两季渔获量之间存在显著性差异（p<0.01）;根据聚类分析与非度量多维标度排序分析,春、秋季蟹类均可划分为4个组群,SIMPER分析结果显示,秋季群落相似性大于春季;典范对应分析结果表明,底层水温和表层盐度是影响调查海域蟹类群落结构及数量分布的主要环境因子。