澜沧江典型对比流域水力侵蚀快速调查与评价

根据水力侵蚀面蚀和沟蚀两种不同侵蚀形态发生过程尺度空间大小不一的侵蚀特点,确定了研究区面蚀和沟蚀的不同调查评价方法.面蚀的发生过程空间尺度小,选用小区调查方法进行,而沟蚀的发生过程尺度空间大,在典型调查小流域尺度进行全面调查.然后在两种尺度下,分析形成沟蚀和面蚀的影响因素,进行沟蚀程度和面蚀强度分级,并把研究成果展延到澜沧江凤庆河流域和晓街河流域.最后,以在典型调查小流域的研究结果为对照判别依据,判断风庆河和晓街河流域的土壤侵蚀状况.结果显示,澜沧江典型流域的面蚀强度差异不大,沟蚀是造成不同流域土壤侵蚀和沟道输沙差异的主要水力侵蚀形式.     

Fault induced permanent ground deformations: Experimental verification of wet and dry soil, numerical findings’ relation to field observations of tunnel damage and implications for design

Few building codes contains provisions fault surface ruptures and accompanying soil deformations which constitutes a great risk to human lives, buildings and infrastructure. A numerical and experimental comparison show a fair agreement of result. Analysis of “real” scale show the how water increases the incompressibility of wet soil causing shear deformations to become larger and conjugate ruptures to appear for reverse faults. Field observations and numerical analysis indicates that horizontal compression of soil surrounding underground structures should be taken into account in design.     

Effect of surface stress on magneto-elastic surface waves in finitely conducting media

This paper deals with the investigation of the effect of surface stress and conductivity on the propagation of surface wave in isotropic, homogeneous, elastic media under the action of a primary magnetic field. Formulation of the general surface wave propagation problem has been made, and the corresponding frequency equation has been derived. Frequency equations for Rayleigh wave, surface shear wave and Stoneley wave have been deduced from that of general surface wave as special cases. The effects of surface stress and magnetic field on the wave velocities and attenuation factors of Rayleigh wave and surface shear wave are shown by numerical calculations and graphs. Some important wave velocity equations, as obtained by other authors, have been deduced as special cases from the wave velocity equation for Stoneley wave. It is found that the combined effect of surface stress and magnetic field modulates the wave velocity ratios and attenuation factors of Rayleigh wave and surface shear wave to a considerable extent.     

Experimental study of surface texture and resonance mechanism of booming sand

The sound-producing mechanism of booming sand has long been a pending problem in the blown sand physics. Based on the earlier researches, the authors collected some silent sand samples from Teng- ger Desert, Australian Desert, Kuwait Desert, beaches of Hainan Island and Japanese coast as well as the soundless booming sand samples from the Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang to make washing ex- periments. In the meantime the chemical corrosion experiment of glass micro-spheres, surface coating experiment and SEM examination were also conducted. The experimental results show that the sound production of booming sand seems to have nothing to do with the presence of SiO2 gel on the surface of sand grains and unrelated to the surface chemical composition of sand grains but is related to the resonance cavities formed by porous (pit-like) physical structure resulting from a number of factors such as wind erosion, water erosion, chemical corrosion and SiO2 gel deposition, etc. Its resonance mechanism is similar to that of Hemholz resonance cavity. Under the action of external forces, nu- merous spherical and sand grains with smooth surface and porous surface are set in motion and rub with each other to produce extremely weak vibration sound and then become audible sound by human ears through the magnification of surface cavity resonance. However the booming sands may lose their resonance mechanism and become silent sand due to the damping action caused by the invasion of finer particles such as dust and clay into surface holes of sand grains. Therefore, clearing away fine pollutants on the quartz grain surface is an effective way to make silent sand emit audible sound.     

Scalar advection schemes for ocean modelling on unstructured triangular grids

Several schemes for scalar advection on unstructured triangular grids are assessed for possible use in ocean modelling applications. Finite element, finite volume and finite volume–element approaches are evaluated. A series of tests, including a numerical order of convergence analysis, idealized rotating cone and cylinder experiments, and transport of a tracer through the Stommel Gyre representation of ocean basin-scale circulation, are carried out. Volume element Eulerian–Lagrangian and third-order Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin schemes are recommended for use in tracer studies. Taylor–Galerkin and second-order Runge–Kutta discontinuous Galerkin are found to be robust and accurate second-order schemes. When positivity is required, a fluctuation redistribution scheme was found to be an easily implemented, accurate, and computationally efficient approach. Responsible editor: Phil Dyke     

Evolution of the variability of surface temperature and vegetation density in the great plains

This study focuses on how the variability of land surface temperature and vegetation density at the SGP ARM-CART site changes over episodic (day to day) and seasonal time scales using AVHRR satellite data. Four drying periods throughout the year are analyzed. Land surface temperature had an erratic relationship with time exhibiting no deterministic pattern from day-to-day or season-to-season. Furthermore, it did not exhibit spatial pattern persistence. On the other hand, vegetation density had a consistent spatial pattern and temporal decay during average length drying periods (less than 7 days) as well as within a season. However, there were distinct differences in the seasonal pattern of variation between winter and growing seasons. In addition, the paper highlights a methodology to quantify the relationships that exist at the land surface between the primary parameter of interest and the controlling variables.     

Suspended sediment load transport in the Mississippi River basin at St. Louis: temporal scaling and nonlinear determinism

This study investigates the dynamic behavior of suspended sediment load transport at different temporal scales in the Mississippi River basin. Data corresponding to five successively doubled temporal scales (i.e. daily, two‐day, four‐day, eight‐day and 16‐day) from the St. Louis gaging station in Missouri are analyzed. The investigation is focused on identifying possible low‐dimensional deterministic behavior in the suspended sediment load transport dynamics, with an aim towards reduction in model complexity. The correlation dimension method is used to identify low‐dimensional determinism. The suspended sediment load dynamics are represented through phase‐space reconstruction, and the variability is estimated using the (proximity of) reconstructed vectors in the phase space. The results indicate the presence of low‐dimensional determinism in the suspended sediment load series at each of the five temporal scales, with the variables dominantly governing the dynamics in the order of three or four. These results not only suggest the appropriateness of relatively simpler models but also hint at possible scale invariance in the suspended sediment load transport dynamics. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.