Some Observations on the Use of Data from Historical Documents in Debris-Flow Studies

The knowledge of past events is important for the assessment of debris-flow hazard. Amongst the sources of information, documents from historical archives are particularly important in sites where the debris flows cause damage to urban areas and transportation routes. The paper analyses the availability of historical documents on debris flows in Northeastern Italy and discusses factors that can influence the building of time series from archive data both at regional and single basin scales. An increased number of debris flows was observed in the studied region for the last decades. This could be due both to an increased frequency of the events and to a larger availability of information: the analysis carried out indicates that the latter factor is probably the most influencing. The importance of factors, which affect the collection of data, including the conservation of documents and the presence and fragility of the elements at risk, is stressed in view of a wise use of historical data on debris flows.     

泥石流汇流槽可靠度分析

汇流槽是泥石流治理工程中常用的工程措施之一。文章基于汇流槽的倾倒破坏、滑移破坏及地基破坏模式，通过对汇流槽设计影响强烈的岩土参数、几何特征、荷载因素等敏感因子的求解方法及分布特征分析，从汇流槽的抗倾稳定、抗滑稳定和基底应力要求三方面建立极限状态方程。对于每个极限状态方程，在泰勒级数对非线性极限状态方程线性化后，运用一次二阶矩的理论，先假定失效点P^＊，求解出相应的均值和方差。然后根据可靠的定义，得到相应的可靠度指标，通过迭代法求解真正失效点的可靠度指标βi。最后根据3个状态方程相互独立的假定，得出整个结构的可靠度指标β。该方法在平川泥石流防治工程中得到了成功的运用。这对于可靠度设计方法在泥石流防治工程中的运用进行了有益的探讨。     

Observations And Modelling Of The On-Ice And Off-Ice Air Flow Over The Northern Baltic Sea

Two cases of on-ice and off-ice air flow characterizing the opposite weather situations over the ice-edge zone in the northern Baltic Sea are analysed on the basis of aircraft observations, and modelled using atwo-dimensional mesoscale model. The stable boundary layer (SBL) during theon-ice flow exhibited little thermal modification, but a low-level jet (LLJ) was generated at the 250-m high top of the SBL. In the model, the LLJ was associated with inertial oscillations in space, while the baroclinicity explained the shape of the wind profile well above the SBL. Although the observed LLJ was most pronounced over the ice, the modelling suggests that it was not generated by the ice edge but by the coastline some 400 km upwind of the ice edge, where a much more drastic change in the thermal stratification and surface roughness took place. The generation, maintenance, and strength of the LLJ were very sensitive to the parameterization of turbulent mixing in the SBL. In the case of the off-ice flow, the modification of the air mass and the development of a convective boundary layer (CBL) both over the ice and open sea were reasonably well modelled. Sensitivity runs suggested that it was essential to take into account the effects of subgrid-scale leads, a forest in the archipelago (which was crossed by the air flow), and water vapour condensationinto ice crystals. The heat flux from leads was particularly important for the heatbudget of the CBL, and the observed growth of the CBL was partly due to theeffective mixing over the rough and relatively warm forest.     

欧北-大湾地区火山岩储层成因机制的研究

从分布、成分组成、形成机制等几个方面探讨了辽河油田东部凹陷中段最主要的火山岩储层－－粗面岩的成因机制，并对其成为该区良好储层的原因进行了探讨，通过对比说明了另一类火山岩－－玄武岩不含油的原因，并建立了成因模式，最后得出结论：粗面岩呈喷发状态产出，由于其硅质含量高，流动性小，容易在构造高部位形成巨厚的火山岩锥或火山岩钏，从而造成其大部分在水上，结晶较好且储层物性极佳，同时因其裂缝发育，这些因素结合起来使其成为良好的会层。从供油方式来看，其成藏方式属于侧生式，而从生储盖组合方式来看，其属于自生、自储、自盖式成藏组合。同时给出了其成藏模式。     

离散裂隙渗流方法与裂隙化渗透介质建模

流体渗流模拟的连续介质方法通常适用于多孔地质体，并不一定适用于裂隙岩体，由于裂隙分布及其特征与孔隙差异较大。若流体渗流主要受裂隙的控制，对于一定尺寸的裂隙岩体，多孔介质假设则较难刻划裂隙岩体的渗流特征。离散裂隙渗流方法不但可直接用于模拟裂隙岩体非均质性和各向异性等渗流特征，而且可用其确定所研究的裂隙岩体典型单元体及其水力传导（渗透）张量大小。主要讨论了以下问题：（1）饱和裂隙介质中一般的离散流体渗流模拟；（2）裂隙岩体中的REV（典型单元体）及其水力传导（渗透）张量的确定；（3）利用离散裂隙网络流体渗流模型研究裂隙方向几何参数对水力传导系数和REV的影响；（4）在二维和三维离散裂隙流体渗流模型中对区域大裂隙和局部小裂隙的处理方法。调查结果显示离散裂隙流体渗流数学模型可用来评价不同尺度上的裂隙岩体的水力特征，以及裂隙方向对裂隙化岩体的水力特征有着不可忽视的影响。同时，局部小裂隙、区域大裂隙应当区别对待，以便据其所起的作用及水力特征，建立裂隙化岩体相应的流体渗流模型。     

Groundwater-flow modeling in the Yucatan karstic aquifer, Mexico

The current conceptual model of the unconfined karstic aquifer in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, is that a fresh-water lens floats above denser saline water that penetrates more than 40 km inland. The transmissivity of the aquifer is very high so the hydraulic gradient is very low, ranging from 7–10 mm/km through most of the northern part of the peninsula. The computer modeling program AQUIFER was used to investigate the regional groundwater flow in the aquifer. The karstified zone was modeled using the assumption that it acts hydraulically similar to a granular, porous medium. As part of the calibration, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) karstic features play an important role in the groundwater-flow system; (2) a ring or belt of sinkholes in the area is a manifestation of a zone of high transmissivity that facilitates the channeling of groundwater toward the Gulf of Mexico; and (3) the geologic features in the southern part of Yucatan influence the groundwater-flow system. The model shows that the Sierrita de Ticul fault, in the southwestern part of the study area, acts as a flow barrier and head values decline toward the northeast. The modeling also shows that the regional flow-system dynamics have not been altered despite the large number of pumping wells because the volume of water pumped is small compared with the volume of recharge, and the well-developed karst system of the region has a very high hydraulic conductivity. Electronic Publication     

Analogue study of particle segregation in pyroclastic density currents, with implications for the emplacement mechanisms of large ignimbrites

Abstract Analogue flume experiments were conducted to investigate the transport and sedimentation behaviour of turbulent pyroclastic density currents. The experimental currents were scaled approximately to the natural environment in three ways: (1) they were fully turbulent; (2) they had a very wide range of particle sizes and associated Rouse numbers (the ratio of particle settling velocity to effective turbulent eddy velocity in the current); and (3) they contained particles of two different densities. Two sets of surge‐type experiments were conducted in a 5 m long, water‐filled lock‐exchange flume at five different volumetric particle concentrations from 0·6% to 23%. In one set (one‐component experiments), the currents contained just dense particles; in the other set (two‐component experiments), they contained both light and dense particles in equal volume proportions. In both sets of experiments, the population of each component had a log‐normal size distribution. In the two‐component experiments, the size range of the light particle population was selected in order to be in hydrodynamic equivalence with that of the dense particles. Dense particles were normally graded, both vertically and downstream, in the deposits from both sets of experiments. The mass loading (normalized to the initial mass of the suspension) and grain size of the dense component in the deposits decreased with distance from the reservoir and were insensitive to initial total particle concentration in the currents. On the other hand, in the two‐component experiments, the light particles were extremely sensitive to concentration. They were deposited in hydrodynamic equivalence with the dense particles from dilute currents, but were segregated efficiently at concentrations higher than a few per cent. With increasing particle concentration, the large, light particles were carried progressively further down the flume because of buoyancy effects. Deposits from the high‐concentration currents exhibited reverse vertical grading of the large, light particles. Efficient segregation of the light component was observed even if the bulk density of the current was less than that of the light particles. In both sets of experiments, marked inflexions in the rate of downstream decline in mass loading and maximum grain size of the dense component can be attributed to the presence of two different particle settling regimes in the flow: (1) particles with Rouse numbers >2·5, which did not respond to the turbulence and settled rapidly; and (2) particles with Rouse numbers <2·5, which followed the turbulent eddies and settled slowly. The results are applied to the transport and sedimentation dynamics of pyroclastic density currents that generate large, widespread ignimbrites. Field data fail to reveal significant departures from aerodynamic equivalence between pumice and lithic clasts in three such ignimbrites: the particulate loads of some large ignimbrites are transported principally in turbulent suspensions of low concentration. In some ignimbrites, the well‐developed inflexions in curves of maximum lithic (ML) size vs. distance can be attributed to the existence of distinct high and low Rouse number particle settling regimes that mark the transition from an overcharged state to one in which the residual particulate load is transported more effectively by turbulence.     

Anatomy of shelf deltas at the edge of a prograding Eocene shelf margin, Spitsbergen

Abstract Although shelf‐edge deltas are well‐imaged seismic features of Holocene and Pleistocene shelf margins, documented outcrop analogues of these important sand‐prone reservoirs are rare. The facies and stratigraphic architecture of an outcropping shelf‐edge delta system in the Eocene Battfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen, is presented here, as well as the implications of this delta system for the generation of sand‐prone, shelf‐margin clinoforms. The shelf‐edge deltas of the Battfjellet Formation on Litledalsfjellet and Høgsnyta produced a 3–5 × 15 km, shelf edge‐attached, slope apron (70 m of sandstones proximally, tapering to zero on the lower slope). The slope apron consists of distributary channel and mouth‐bar deposits in its shelf‐edge reaches, passing downslope to slope channels/chutes that fed turbiditic lobes and spillover sheets. In the transgressive phase of the slope apron, estuaries developed at the shelf edge, and these also produced minor lobes on the slope. The short‐headed mountainous rivers that drained the adjacent orogenic belt and fed the narrow shelf, and the shelf‐edge position of the discharging deltas, made an appropriate setting for the generation of hyperpycnal turbidity currents on the slope of the shelf margin. The abundance of organic matter and of coal fragments in the slope turbidites is consistent with this notion. Evidence that many of the slope turbidites were generated by sustained turbidity currents that waxed then waned includes the presence of scour surfaces and thick intervals of plane‐parallel laminae within turbidite beds in the slope channels, and thick spillover lobes with repetitive alternations of massive and flat‐laminated intervals. The examined shelf‐edge to slope system, now preserved mainly below the shelf break and dominated by sediment gravity‐flow deposits, has a threefold stratigraphic architecture: a lower, progradational part, in which the clinoforms have a slight downward‐directed trajectory; a thin aggradational zone; and an upper part in which clinoforms backstep up onto the shelf edge. A greatly increased density of erosional channels and chutes marks the regressive‐to‐transgressive turnaround within the slope apron, and this zone becomes an angular unconformity up near the shelf edge. This unconformity, with both subaerial and subaqueous components, is interpreted as a sequence boundary and developed by vigorous sand delivery and bypass across the shelf edge during the time interval of falling relative sea level. The studied shelf‐margin clinoforms accreted mostly during falling stage (sea level below the shelf edge), but the outer shelf later became estuarine as sea level became re‐established above the shelf edge.     

A consideration of the dune:antidune transition in fine gravel

Hydraulic data defining the dune:antidune transition in fine gravel are compared with potential flow theory, and information is drawn from published experiments and field‐based studies. Attention is given to both transitional bedforms and the development of downstream‐migrating antidunes. In the latter case, most data pertain to sand beds and not to gravel. Empirical data provide some weak support for the theoretical notion that the transition occurs at progressively lower Froude numbers at greater relative depths. Although a critical Froude number of 0·84 may reasonably be applied for the beginning of the dune to antidune transformation, lag effects (and a possible depth limitation) ensure that transitional bedforms may persist across a broad range of Froude numbers from 0·5 to 1·8. This latter observation has great relevance for palaeohydraulic estimates derived from outcrop data. Whereas the application of theoretical bedform existence fields, based upon potential flow theory, to fine gravel was previously purely speculative, the addition of experimental and field data to these plots provides a degree of confidence in applying stability theory to practical geological problems. For the first time, laboratory data pertaining to downstream‐migrating gravel antidunes are compared with theory. These bedforms have been reported from certain experimental near‐critical flows above sand or gravel beds, but have been observed infrequently in natural streams. However, there are no detailed studies from natural rivers and only a few contentious identifications from outcrops. Nevertheless, the limited hydraulic data conform to theoretical expectations.     

Strike-slip fault bridge fluid pumping mechanism: insights from field-based palaeostress analysis and numerical modelling

We present a finite-element study of stress perturbation in evolving compressive and extensional strike-slip fault bridges. The results are compared with a fracture study of a compressive bridge at St Donats, UK. Horizontally interbedded calcareous mudstone and bioclastic calcilutite at St Donats have a distinct vertical permeability anisotropy. This sedimentary sequence behaves as a set of horizontal aquifers. The fluid flow in these aquifers is sensitive to mean stress gradients. Paleostress analysis of field fracture data, verified by finite-element modelling, indicates a rotation of σ₁ towards parallelism with boundary faults inside the growing compressive bridge. Boundary faults and bridge faults recorded numerous fluid flow events. The modelled mean stress pattern shows a regional maximum within the bridge and local maxima/minima pairs at boundary fault tips.Finite-element modelling of an extensional bridge indicates that σ₃ rotates towards parallelism with boundary faults. The mean stress pattern is similar to the pattern in compressive bridge but with maxima and minima locations interchanged. The stress patterns are reestablished by each stress build-up preceding the rupturation of the boundary faults throughout the development stages of strike-slip fault bridges. Mean stress gradients developed pre-failure control the fluid flow in fractures of the strike-slip fault system at and after the end of each stress build-up and the fluid flow in boundary faults post-failure. Fracture reactivation and new fracture generation within an evolving bridge is a process consisting of multiple successive events that retain the storage capacity of the bridge. Rupture and sealing of the main bounding-faults is a step-wise process that opens and closes fluid conduits between areas with different pressures.