Geotechnical Hazards Associated with Desert Environment

The aridity of the Arabian Peninsula's deserts ranges between arid to hyperarid with hot dry climate, scarce precipitation and sparse vegetation. These harsh environmental conditions enhance some geomorphologic processes more than others, cause specific geotechnical problems, and increase desertification.From west to east, the general physiography of Saudi Arabia shows the Red Sea coastal plains and the escarpment foothills called Tihama followed by the Arabian Shield mountains, the Arabian Shelf plateau and finally the Arabian Gulf coastal plains. Sand moves by wind either as drifting sand or migrating dunes in four major sand seas, over the Arabian Shelf, and in the inter-mountain valleys, in the Arabian Shield causing problems of erosion and deposition. Human activities in the deserts may cause more instability to the sand bodies, enlarging the magnitude of the problem. Fine silty soil particles also move by wind, depositing loess mainly in selected areas downwind in the Tihama. These loess deposits subside and may form earth fissures by the process of hydrocompaction upon wetting. The addition of water can be either natural through storms or man-made through human agricultural or civil activities. Extensive sabkhas exist along the coastal plains of both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The sabkha soil may also heave by salt re-crystallization or collapse by wetting. The shallow groundwater brines present in sabkhas also attack and corrode civil structures. Urbanization and excessive groundwater pumping may also deplete the fresh groundwater resources and may cause subsidence, ground fissuring and surface faulting as observed in some locations in the Arabian Shield. Although the average annual precipitation is very low, rain usually falls in the form of torrential storms, collected by dry valley basins and causing floods to unprotected downstream areas on the coastal plains of the Red Sea.The desert environment, being a fragile echo system, needs to be treated with care. Intercommunications between different national and international agencies and education of the layman should help to keep the system balanced and reduce the resulting environmental hazards. In addition, any suggested remedial measures should be planned with nature and engineered with natural materials.     

Observations of particle movement in a monitoring well using the colloidal borescope

The colloidal borescope consists of a set of lenses and miniature video cameras capable of observing natural particles in monitoring wells. Based on field observations of these particles, it appears possible to measure in situ groundwater velocity in a well bore. Field observations have shown that directional measurements using the colloidal borescope are generally in good agreement with expected flow directions. However, the magnitude of flow velocity is higher compared with values based on conventional test methods. High relative flow velocities, even after correction factors have been applied to compensate for well bore effects, are believed to be due to preferential flow zones in the surrounding aquifer. Low flow zones exhibit swirling multidirectional flow that does not allow for a linear velocity measurement. Consequently, groundwater flow velocities measured by the colloidal borescope in heterogeneous aquifers will be biased toward the maximum velocity values present in the aquifer. A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to assess the reliability of the instrument. Based on this work, a seepage velocity correction factor ( ) of 1–4 was found for quantifying groundwater seepage velocity in the adjacent aquifer from observations in a well bore. Laboratory measurements also indicate that preferential flow in the surrounding aquifer dominates flow in the well. Results of this work suggest the possibility of quantifying higher-flow velocities associated with preferential flow zones in the subsurface.     

地球运动的超非线性分析

根据超非线性速度理论，研究了地球的自转状态，得知地球自转的角速度沿半径方向有突变和减小，并由此计算了地壳相对于地核的角速度差值，算得赤道表面每年西移１．７５ｃｍ，符合已报道的观测数据。     

大别山西部熊店加里东期榴辉岩——同位素地质年代学的证据

以UP-Pb单颗粒锆石同位素稀释法、角闪石~(40)Ar—~(39)Ar坪年龄和Sm-Nd全岩及矿物等时线相结合的研究方法,系统地研究了大别造山带西部熊店榴辉岩的峰变质年龄,可能的原岩年龄和退变质年龄,建立了这一榴辉岩的构造-变质时间序列,提出了大别地区存在加里东期榴辉岩的确凿证据。     

Seismotectonic environment of occurring the February 3, 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, Yunnan Province

Introduction The surface rupture and aftershocks of the February 3, 1996 Lijiang earthquake are basically distributed along the N-S-trending Lijiang-Daju fault, which is boundary fault between Lijiang Quaternary, fault controlled basin and Yulong-Haba range (ZHANG, et al, 1997). Corresponding to the surface geological features, the focal rupture of the Lijiang earthquake also shows large component of dip-slip. It is of great difference from that of other earthquakes in west Yunnan, in w…     

大采深岩移观测阶段性分析

为探 讨大 采 深 (780m )的 开采 沉 陷 规 律 ,在 5074工 作 面 上 方 建 立 孟 佃 大 寨 岩 移 观 测 站 ,对 观 测 成 果 的 分 析 ,得 到 如 下结 论 :①大 采 深 开 采情 况 下, 地表 移 动 的 活跃 期( 《规程 》规定 判 断) 存 在 ;或 者 说 地 表 移 动 活 跃 期 的 下 沉 按不速 度小 于 50m m / 月;②随 着 开采 深度 的 加 大 ,地 表 移动 期 推 迟 ,对 地 面 建筑 物 的 破 坏也 比 较 迟 缓;③大 采深 单 一 煤 层的 非充 分 采动 ,地 面建 筑 物受 损程 度 很小 。     

变降深抽水附近地下水非稳定运动的积分方程解

根据完整井变流量抽水附近地下水运动的解析解,利用积分方程的方法,推导出了水井水位降深以任意一种函数关系随时间变化时含水层中地下水非稳定运动积分方程形式的解,并提出了该积分解相应的近似计算方法.最后通过一个实例验证了该方法的实用性.     

Seismotectonic environment of occurring the February 3, 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, Yunnan Province

Lijiang-Daju fault, the seismogenic fault of the 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, can be divided into Lijiang-Yuhu segment in the south and Yuhu-Daju segment in the north. The two segments show clear difference in geological tectonics, but have the similar dynamic features. Both normal dip-slip and sinistral strike-slip coexist on the fault plane. This kind of movement started at the beginning of the Quaternary (2.4～2.5 Ma B.P.). As to the tectonic types, the detachment fault with low angle was developed in the Early Pleistocene and the normal fault with high angle only after the Mid-Pleistocene (0.8 Ma B.P.). Based on the horizontal displacements of gullies and the vertical variance of planation surfaces cross the Lijiang-Daju fault at east piedmont of Yulong-Haba range, the average horizontal and vertical slip rates are calculated. They are 0.84 mm/a and 0.70 mm/a since the Quaternary and 1.56 mm/a and 1.69 mm/a since the Mid-Pleistocene. The movements of the nearly N-S-trending Lijiang-Daju fault are controlled not only by the regional stress field, but also by the variant movement between the Yulong-Haba range and Lijiang basin. The two kinds of dynamic processes form the characteristics of seismotectonic environment of occurring the 1996 Lijiang earthquake.     

Horizontal crustal movement in Chinese mainland from 1999 to 2001

The paper introduces the horizontal crustal movement obtained from GPS observations in the regional networks (including the basic network and the fiducial network) of the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) carried out in 1999 and 2001. This paper is characterized by the acquisition of the horizontal displacement velocities during the period from 1999 to 2001 at the observation stations in the regional networks with datum definition of a group of stable stations with small mutual displacements in east China. Based on the most detailed map of horizontal crustal movement in Chinese mainland, the division of blocks, their displacements and deformations are studied. An approach to analysis of the intensity of the horizontal crustal deformation is proposed. The general characteristics of the recent horizontal crustal movement in Chinese mainland and that before the Kunlunshan earthquake of M=8.1 on November 14, 2001 are analyzed. Foundation item: The National Development and Programming Project for Key Basic Research (95-13-03-07).     

西昆仑康西瓦加里东期孔兹岩系及地质意义

在青藏高原西昆仑地体南部的元古宙片麻岩穹窿南侧 ,发育一条近 EW向规模巨大的康西瓦韧性走滑剪切带 ,韧性剪切带岩石由 7km宽的糜棱岩化的孔兹岩系组成 ,孔兹岩原岩为富铝质泥质沉积岩夹火山岩及大理岩。孔兹岩系的 MORB标准化微量元素蛛网图显示了其为富铝泥质沉积岩 ,具有明显的 Th正异常及 Ce、Zr等大离子的正异常 ,而变质火山岩中出现 Nb、Zr正异常 ;稀土元素含量展示上述两类岩石均具轻稀土相对富集、重稀土相对亏损及 Eu中度亏损的特性。康西瓦孔兹岩形成的温度为 70 0℃ ,压力 6 .8GPa。锆石 SHRIMP同位素年代测试表明 ,孔兹岩的碎屑锆石来源于 6 4 4～ 873Ma或更老的周缘古老变质基底剥蚀区 ,孔兹岩形成于加里东期(42 8～ 4 4 5 Ma) ,并遭受印支期 (2 5 0～ 2 10 Ma)强烈的剪切应变。康西瓦孔兹岩的原岩、微量元素与稀土元素特征、形成的温 -压条件以及生成时代等与南阿尔金孔兹岩系可以类比 ,表明西昆仑地体与阿尔金地体可能原为同一地体。中国已发现的孔兹岩系绝大部分为太古宙及元古宙的产物 ,西昆仑与阿尔金加里东期孔兹岩的发现不仅显示了加里东造山带山根的存在 ,而且提出沿阿尔金断裂系左行平移 6 0 0 km的新证据。