What should these rivers look like? Historical range of variability and human impacts in the Colorado Front Range,USA

Historical range of variability (HRV) describes the range of temporal and spatial variations in river variables such as flow regime or channel planform prior to intensive human alteration of the ecosystem. In mountainous river networks, HRV is most usefully applied to spatially differentiated geomorphic process domains with distinctive form and process. Using the Colorado Front Range as an example, three examples of how knowledge of HRV can assist river management and restoration are discussed. The examples involve instream wood load and channel morphology, beaver colonies and valley‐bottom form and process, and flow thresholds in regulated rivers. The question of what a river should look like – that is, what range of process and form the river included prior to intensive human alteration – can be addressed by (i) placing the river within a process domain, (ii) establishing correlations between form parameters that can be remotely sensed and reach‐scale process and form, so that the spatial extent, connectivity, and rarity of process domains within a river network or a region can be quickly assessed, (iii) inferring characteristics of the river prior to intensive alteration by documenting characteristics of the least altered reference rivers and by using proxy indicators of pre‐alteration conditions, and (iv) establishing process thresholds that must be exceeded to maintain form (e.g. flow thresholds to mobilize bed sediment). Once this context has been established, resource managers can better evaluate the options for restoring altered riverine form and function. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fundamental procedure and calculation formula for evaluating gravel liquefaction

Field investigations following the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake identified 118 liquefaction sites, most of which are underlain by gravelly sediment in the Chengdu Plain and adjacent Mianyang area, in the Sichuan Province. Gravel sediment in the Sichuan province is widely distributed; hence it is necessary to develop a method for prediction and evaluation of gravel liquefaction behavior. Based on liquefaction investigation data and in-situ testing, and with reference to existing procedures for sandy soil liquefaction evaluation, a fundamental procedure for gravel liquefaction evaluation using dynamic penetration tests (DPT) is proposed along with a corresponding model and calculation formula. The procedure contains two stages, i.e., pre-determination and re-determination. Pre-determination excludes impossible liquefiable or non-liquefiable soils, and re-determination explores a DPT-based critical N120 blows calculation model. Pre-determination includes three criteria, i.e., geological age, gravel contents, gravel sediment depths and water tables. The re-determination model consists of five parameters, i.e., DPT reference values, gravel contents, gravel sediment depths, water tables and seismic intensities. A normalization method is used for DPT reference values and an optimization method is used for the gravel sediment depth coefficient and water table coefficient. The gravel liquefaction evaluation method proposed herein is simple and takes most influencing factors on gravel sediment liquefaction into account.     

山西榆社盆地新近系马会组砾岩层砾组特征及其地质意义

通过对山西榆社盆地新近系中新统马会组砾岩层的分布特征、剖面特征和砾组特征分析,结合盆地内部和四周山区的岩性特征分析,阐述了砾岩层本身的性质、成因、来源和搬运方式等,探讨砾石沉积时盆地的水动力条件、气候环境、地貌特征和构造条件等。研究表明,马会组砾岩层为榆社盆地新近纪河湖相沉积的底砾岩,其中所含的3层砾岩在成因、来源、搬运和沉积环境上具有较好的一致性。马会组砾岩层为多期次、多来源、非稳定的冲湖积成因,为湖泊水进期的沉积物,指示干冷向温湿转变的气候环境;砾石的主要来源是盆地内部的基底地层及其东缘、北缘和西缘的山区;砾石遭受了较强的物理化学作用,还存在一定的生物作用;含量较少的花岗岩砾石经受了较长距离的搬运,其他岩性砾石经受了近—中距离的搬运。榆社盆地为喜马拉雅运动二幕晋东地区山地相对抬升形成的山间盆地,砾石沉积时已形成了中间低、四周高的盆地雏形。     

粗粒土三轴试验数值模拟与试样颗粒初始架构初探

试样颗粒初始架构是粗粒土室内三轴试验中一个难以人为控制的因素。基于元胞自动机方法,结合粗粒土的室内三轴试验开发了能制备不同颗粒初始架构粗粒土试样的HHC-CA模型,该模型制备的粗粒土试样表征了粗粒土各粒组分布的不均匀性和随机性,再借助FLAC3D进行粗粒土三轴数值模拟试验,并探讨了试样剪切带内的砾石含量和试样砾石含量对内摩擦角的影响。数值模拟结果表明,同一粒径级配下,粗粒土的内摩擦角值与剪切带内的砾石含量呈增函数关系;试样砾石含量的增加可能会出现内摩擦角减小的现象,但同一粒径级配下的内摩擦角均值随试样砾石含量的增加而明显增大。     

流滑型崩岸河岸侧蚀模式初探

流滑型崩岸是冲积河流河岸常见的一种崩塌形式,其发展速度快、破坏力强;该类崩岸主要取决于水流的直接冲刷,河岸崩退过程中水面与岸顶高差较小.依据此类崩岸的特征,基于水流冲刷分析,在基础层面上初步探讨并建立了流滑型崩岸的河岸侧蚀模式.结合水槽试验与土工离心模拟试验,对该模式进行了分析研究,初步率定了模式中的河岸侧蚀系数,计算...     

新生界松散含水层抽水试验止水方法的研究——以祁东煤矿南部采区水文地质探查工程为例

两淮煤田绝大部分是被厚数百米的新生界松散层掩盖,其中含有若干个含水层,为掌握这些含水层的富水性和水文地质特征,需要对含水层进行抽水试验.新生界松散含水层抽水试验止水方法有多种,通过对祁东煤矿南部采区水文地质探查工程SQ9孔新生界底部“四含”抽水试验止水方法的研究,提出了一种简便而有效的止水方法.     

大气环流模式（GCMs）在东南诸河流域的适用性评价

采用秩评分方法,选取NCEP再分析资料作为“实测”依据,以10个统计特征值为基础,评估了21个GCMs对东南诸河流域17个气候要素的模拟效果．结果显示：气候变量表现出不同的统计特征,GCMs对不同气候变量的模拟效果并不一致．与地面气象站点实测值对比,CSIRO：MK30、GFDL：CM21、GFDL：CM20、INM：CM30对降水和地面气温的模拟效果相对较好;流域高空气候要素的模拟效果更佳的模式有CGCM2．3．2、GISS：EH、BCCR：BCM20、GFDL：CM20对;综合所有气候变量,BCCR：BCM20、GFDL：CM20、CGCM2．3．2、GISS：EH的表现更优．优选出的GCMs可以为东南诸河流域气候变化的进一步研究提供科学依据．     

大气环流模式（GCMs）在东南诸河流域的适用性评价

采用秩评分方法,选取NCEP再分析资料作为“实测”依据,以10个统计特征值为基础,评估了21个GCMs对东南诸河流域17个气候要素的模拟效果．结果显示：气候变量表现出不同的统计特征,GCMs对不同气候变量的模拟效果并不一致．与地面气象站点实测值对比,CSIRO：MK30、GFDL：CM21、GFDL：CM20、INM：...     

Propagation of water waves over permeable rippled beds

Unsteady two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and Navier-Stokes type model equations for porous flow were solved numerically to simulate the propagation of water waves over a permeable rippled bed. A boundary-fitted coordinate system was adopted to make the computational meshes consistent with the rippled bed. The accuracy of the numerical scheme was confirmed by comparing the numerical results concerning the spatial distribution of wave amplitudes over impermeable and permeable rippled beds with the analytical solutions. For periodic incident waves, the flow field over the wavy wall is discussed in terms of the steady Eulerian streaming velocity. The trajectories of the fluid particles that are initially located close to the ripples were also determined. One of the main results herein is that under the action of periodic water waves, fluid particles on an impermeable rippled bed initially moved back and forth around the ripple crest, with increasing vertical distance from the rippled wall. After one or two wave periods, they are then lifted towards the next ripple crest. All of the marked particles on a permeable rippled bed were shifted onshore with a much larger displacement than those on an impermeable bed. Finally, the flow fields and the particle motions close to impermeable and permeable beds induced by a solitary wave are elucidated.     

An empirical model of subcritical bedform migration

The ability to predict bedform migration in rivers is critical for estimating bed material load, yet there is no relation for predicting bedform migration (downstream translation) that covers the full range of conditions under which subcritical bedforms develop. Here, the relation between bedform migration rates and transport stage is explored using a field and several flume data sets. Transport stage is defined as the non‐dimensional Shields stress divided by its value at the threshold for sediment entrainment. Statistically significant positive correlations between both ripple and dune migration rates and transport stage are found. Stratification of the data by the flow depth to grain‐size ratio improved the amount of variability in migration rates that was explained by transport stage to ca 70%. As transport stage increases for a given depth to grain‐size ratio, migration rates increase. For a given transport stage, the migration rate increases as the flow depth to grain‐size ratio gets smaller. In coarser sediment, bedforms move faster than in finer sediment at the same transport stage. Normalization of dune migration rates by the settling velocity of bed sediment partially collapses the data. Given the large amount of variability that arises from combining data sets from different sources, using different equipment, the partial collapse is remarkable and warrants further testing in the laboratory and field.