Fluid permeability of sedimentary rocks in a complete stress–strain process

The permeability of sedimentary rocks during triaxial compression tests was investigated to relate it to the complete strain–stress process. It was found that the permeability was not constant, but varied with the stress and strain states in the rocks. Prior to the peak strength, the permeability decreases with increasing load. A dramatic increase in permeability occurs during the strain softening period. In the present study, in situ measurements of fluid flow and pressure in floor strata was carried out in a double longwall mining face in the Yangzhuang colliery. These measurements show that both the strata pressure and the position with respect to the mining face influence the hydrogeologic properties. The permeability increased in the floor strata behind the mining face because those mining induced fractures opened as the strata pressure decreased. To better understand this change in hydraulic behavior around the mining faces, 3-D numerical modeling was carried out. The model provides the general picture of the stress distribution and failure zone both in the floor and roof strata. The field and model results demonstrate the importance of changes in the stress and strain states on the hydrogeology of a site.     

地质图空间数据库建设中的拓扑关系处理

拓扑关系是空间数据库的核心。主要阐述拓扑关系的基本概念，详细介绍MAPGIS和ARC/INFO两大模块中，拓扑关系具体表现形式、处理方法及处理过程中的注意事项，形成了一套较为完善的工作流程，提高了工作效率，为今后的信息化提供了行之有效的工作方法。     

A Comparison of Two-Phase Dynamic Upscaling Methods Based on Fluid Potentials

Although a number of methods for calculating dynamic pseudo-functions have been developed over the years, there is still a lack of understanding as to why a certain method will succeed in some cases but fail in others. In this paper, we describe the results of an assessment of several upscaling methods, namely the Kyte and Berry (KB) method, the Stone method, the Hewett and Archer (HA) method and the Transmissibility-Weighted (TW) method. We have analyzed the equations for deriving the methods and investigated the results of numerical simulations of gas displacing oil, in a variety of models to enable us to gain new insights into these, and related, upscaling methods. In particular, some novel observations on methods based on fluid potential are presented and the issue of using predicted fluid mobilities as a criterion of accuracy of an upscaling method is clarified.     

Experimental Study on Mine Spoils During Superficial Geochemistry Processes

Based on the mineral and chemical compositions of spoils taken from the Shilu Cu-Mo deposit and Hetai gold deposit, the leaching and batch experiments were made on spoils taken from these two deposits using the leaching column designed by the authors. The experimental results showed that it is not always true that the mine drainage is acidic. Its acidity depends on acid-buffering capacity of gangue, host rock and its alteration mineral assemblage. The composition of the drainage water is related with the interaction between superficial or underground water and solid materials in the spoils, including minerals, hydroxides and amorphous substances. The leaching extent of the element is related with its occurrence form in the deposit. The preferential flow results in leaching-out of heavy metals in large amounts. So it is important to prevent the generating of preferential flow in the system. The results will provide very important grounds for the comprehensive management of land and ecological rehabilitation of the mine site.     

Lithosphere structure of European sedimentary basins from regional three-dimensional gravity modelling

A three-dimensional (3D) density model, approximated by two regional layers—the sedimentary cover and the crystalline crust (offshore, a sea-water layer was added), has been constructed in 1° averaging for the whole European continent. The crustal model is based on simplified velocity model represented by structure maps for main seismic horizons—the “seismic” basement and the Moho boundary. Laterally varying average density is assumed inside the model layers. Residual gravity anomalies, obtained by subtraction of the crustal gravity effect from the observed field, characterize the density heterogeneities in the upper mantle. Mantle anomalies are shown to correlate with the upper mantle velocity inhomogeneities revealed from seismic tomography data and geothermal data. Considering the type of mantle anomaly, specific features of the evolution and type of isostatic compensation, the sedimentary basins in Europe may be related into some groups: deep sedimentary basins located in the East European Platform and its northern and eastern margins (Peri-Caspian, Dnieper–Donets, Barents Sea Basins, Fore–Ural Trough) with no significant mantle anomalies; basins located on the activated thin crust of Variscan Western Europe and Mediterranean area with negative mantle anomalies of −150 to −200×10⁻⁵ ms⁻² amplitude and the basins associated with suture zones at the western and southern margins of the East European Platform (Polish Trough, South Caspian Basin) characterized by positive mantle anomalies of 50–150×10⁻⁵ ms⁻² magnitude. An analysis of the main features of the lithosphere structure of the basins in Europe and type of the compensation has been carried out.     

Study and review on crust-mantle velocity structure in Bohai Bay and its vicinity

Introduction Bohai Bay, along with its adjacent areas, is one of the seismically active areas in North China. Understanding its crust/upper-mantle structural characteristics and lateral heterogeneity of the medium in this area is of great significance to the study of seismogenic environment, thus improvimg the level of earthquake prediction. For years, scientists have studied the area by gravity and magnetic methods (FENG, et al, 1989), geothermal field (WU, et al, 1988; TIAN, ZHANG, 19…     

MODELING THE FATE AND TRANSPORT OF HYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN AN UNSTEADY RIVER-ESTUARINE SYSTEM

1 INTRODUCTION Extensive literature (Brown et al., 1985; Sawhney et al., 1981; Bierman and Swain, 1982; Connolly, 1980; Lopez-Avila and Hites, 1980; O扖onnor, 1988) described lots of sorbed pollutants or toxic substances in bed sediments of rivers, even after the effluent was halted for a long time. This is particularly true for hydrophobic organic compounds that can be sorbed on the particles and accumulated in the river bed sediments (Karickhoff et al., 1979). Pollution events of…     

Recycling in the Puerto Rican mantle wedge, Greater Antilles Island Arc

Abstract The initial volcanic phase of Cretaceous island arc strata in central Puerto Rico, at the eastern end of the extinct Greater Antilles Arc, comprises a 6‐km thick pile of lava and volcanic breccia (Río Majada Group). Preserved within the sequence is a conspicuous shift in absolute abundances of the more incompatible elements, including Th, Nb, and the light rare earth elements (LREE: La, Ce, Pr and Nd). The compositional shift is marked by a decrease in La/Sm from averages of 2.11 in the lowest third of the pile (Formation A) to 1.48 at the top (Formation C), and by a distinctive flattening of LREE segments of chondrite‐normalized REE patterns. i⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ?_Nd average about 0.7035 and 8.2, respectively, in early Formation A basalts. These ranges normally overlap samples from later Formations B and C. Isotope compositions of the latter group are more variable, however, and several samples are considerably more radiogenic than Formation A basalts, such that i⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr averages almost 0.7042 while ?_Nd‐values decrease to 7.5 in Formation B and C basalts. Theoretical models of non‐modal melting processes in both amphibole peridotite and spinel lherzolite sources provide insight into the origin of depleted Th, Nb, and LREE abundances in Puerto Rican basalts. Low Nb concentrations less than normal mid‐oceanic ridge basalts in Formation A basalts indicate the wedge was slightly depleted by low‐volume decompression fusion due to induced convection in the back‐arc region prior to entry of the source into the arc melting zone. However, depleted patterns in Formation C basalts cannot be generated by relatively greater degrees of decompression fusion in the back‐arc, because addition of the La‐enriched slab‐derived component to more depleted source material invariably produces elevated rather than decreased La/Sm. Refluxing of Formation A harzburgitic residua is similarly precluded. In contrast, the observed patterns are readily reproduced by multistage melting models involving hybridized sources containing normal Formation A lherzolite source material blended with recycled, unrefluxed harzburgite residua. Successful models require hybrid sources containing large volumes of recycled harzburgite (up to 50%) during generation of Formation C basalts. Slightly elevated radiometric Sr and Nd isotopes in a few flows from Formation C are attributed to partial refluxing of the hybrid sources within the wedge.     

Crystal-rich mass flow deposits related to the eruption of a sublacustrine silicic cryptodome (Early Permian Collio Basin, Italian Alps)

Sedimentological, granulometric and petrographic data are presented from a detailed study on a crystal-rich mass flow deposit, which is presumably related to the eruption of a sublacustrine cryptodome. The deposit forms a prominent intercalation in the Lower Permian Collio Formation in the Italian Alps north of Brescia. Outcrops of the 10–20-m-thick volcaniclastic deposit (Dasdana I Beds, DB) can be traced over 12 km from east to west. The DB consists of a thick, crystal-rich, sandy–gravelly lower subunit representing a sequence of amalgamated Bouma-a(b) divisions overlain by a thin, well-bedded, sandy–muddy subunit that is rich in outsize porphyritic silicic fragments. Modal and computer-aided image analyses reveal that the crystal-rich lower subunit contains up to 80% of volcanogenic crystals. Some samples contain up to 60% of porphyritic fragments, which have a phenocryst content of about 20%. The wide textural range from cryptocrystalline, poikilomosaic, to rarer medium-grained granophyric groundmass, the irregular to lensoid shapes of the porphyritic fragments, and the presence of basement and sedimentary clasts suggest that the DB originated from a sublacustrine eruption of a partially extrusive cryptodome (ca. 1.6 km³). Two other porphyritic felsic cryptodomes (Dosso dei Lupi, Dosso del Bue), described briefly here, emplaced into the Collio Formation sometime after the DB event, and expose flat bases and tilted sediments at their sides. Textures observed in these domes are comparable to those found in the DB porphyritic fragments.     

Cretaceous length of day perturbation by mantle avalanche

These last 10 years, numerical models of mantle convection have emphasized the role of the 670 km endothermic phase change in generating avalanches that trigger catastrophic mass transfers between upper and lower mantle. On the other hand, scientists have emphasized the concomitance of large-scale worldwide geophysical and tectonic events, which could find their deep thermal roots in the huge mass transfers induced by the avalanches. In particular, the paleontological records show two periods of length of day (l.o.d.) shortening between 420 and 360, and 200 and 80 Myr BP. This last event is synchronous with a strong true polar wander and a global warming of the upper mantle. In order to study the potential effects of the avalanche on the main component of the Earth’s rotation, the Liouville equation has been solved and the l.o.d. evolution has been calculated from the perturbations of the inertia tensor. The results show that the inertia tensor of the Earth’s is mainly sensitive to the global transfers through the 670 km discontinuity. The l.o.d. perturbations will be synchronous with the global thermal effects of the avalanche. These theoretical results allow proposing a self-consistent physical mechanism to explain periods of the Earth’s rotation acceleration. Within this context, the l.o.d. shortening during the Cenozoic and Cretaceous brings one more clue to the possible participation of a mantle avalanche in generating the concomitant large scale events which have occurred during this very particular period of the Earth’s history.