http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001545

The presence of natural voids and cavities in subsurface karstic limestones causes severe problem for civil engineering and environmental management.The presence of such features hinders the extension of urbanizations particularly in the new metropolitan.The eastern part of Saudi Arabia contains various types of karstic limestone,sinkholes,solution cavities and voids.In this context,geophysical methods particularly electrical resistivity technique is used as a cost-effective solution for investigating subsurface caves,voids,and shallow weathered zones.2-D electrical resistivity data sets have been acquired along seven profiles in the new urbanization at Al Hassa area.Data processing has been carried out taking into consideration the response of synthetic models,which simulates physical models of the most common karstic features in the area.The results are very useful to determine the extension of shallow weathered zones and to locate different cavities underneath them.The hard limestone bedrock can also be detected and traced along the surveyed profiles.     

内蒙古中西部宝音图群云母片岩的变质P- T轨迹与锆石年代学研究

位于内蒙古中西部地区的宝音图群,主要由云母片岩、斜长角闪岩、石英岩和大理岩等组成。其中云母片岩中发育典型的巴罗式递增变质带,目前对于该递增变质带的研究非常薄弱。本文对宝音图群的云母片岩开展了系统的岩相学、矿物化学、相平衡模拟以及锆石U-Pb年代学的研究。岩相学研究结果显示,三个云母片岩样品具有不同的峰期矿物组合,分别为石榴子石+白云母+黑云母+斜长石+石英,十字石+白云母+黑云母+斜长石+钛铁矿+石英,石榴子石+蓝晶石+白云母+黑云母+斜长石+钛铁矿+石英。此外,样品LS93和LS07存在晚期红柱石的叠加。相平衡模拟研究限定三个云母片岩的峰期温度压力分别为：577℃、0.73 GPa, 620℃、0.78 GPa和670℃、0.8 GPa,具有递增型特征,其峰期温度压力指示的地热梯度为18～20℃/km,为典型的中压相系;此外,三个样品的P-T轨迹均显示早期升温升压直至峰期阶段,随后降温降压的顺时针型,反映地壳加厚和后期抬升的演化过程。云母片岩中的锆石发育典型的变质边结构,变质边的Th/U=0.004～0.02,锆石U-Pb年代学结果显示该变质年龄为398±6 Ma,代表峰期或近峰期阶...     

工程开挖活动诱发堆积层滑坡变形机理及加固效果分析

位于川西高原雅砻江两河口水电站库区的杜米村移民安置点由于切坡建房,诱发后山斜坡强烈变形,威胁移民安置点和S220省道安全。首先,基于现场调查、测绘、钻探、槽探等勘查手段,查明了滑坡发育的工程地质条件和变形特征;通过对滑体和滑带土开展室内直剪、反复剪试验,以及对滑床基岩进行抗压强度试验,结合反分析,合理确定了滑坡稳定性计算参数。然后,采用有限元程序Phase2建立滑坡数值计算模型,模拟再现了滑坡在开挖前、开挖后、降雨后的应力、变形特征和稳定性变化过程,在此基础上分析了滑坡的变形机理。研究认为：不良的地形地貌、地质结构和地下水是滑坡发生的内在因素,坡脚开挖是滑坡变形启动的诱发因素,后期持续降雨入渗是滑坡变形加剧直至失稳破坏的直接因素;开挖导致滑体前缘抗滑力降低、滑带和开挖边坡坡脚产生剪应力集中是滑坡变形启动的力学机制,而饱水和持续剪切变形导致滑带土强度不断衰减接近饱和残余状态是滑坡变形加剧的本质原因;滑坡的变形破坏模式为牵引式蠕滑-拉裂。最后,采用有限元强度折减法对加固治理后的滑坡稳定性进行了计算分析。结果表明：天然条件下滑坡变形主要出现在桩后填土,降雨条件下变形范围扩大至强变形区,地震条件下变形范围进一步扩大至整个滑坡范围;三种工况下滑坡的稳定系数均能达到设计要求,表明加固设计方案和工程结构参数是合理的。研究成果可为类似滑坡工程案例的机理研究及防治提供参考。     

Centrifuge modeling of seismic behavior of a slope in liquefiable soil

Two centrifuge tests were designed to improve the understanding the response of liquefied sandy slopes beyond initial liquefaction. A distinctive dilative behavior of the soil was observed near the slope where static shear stresses are present. The corresponding drops in the piezometric records and simultaneous negative upslope spikes in the acceleration records were measured in the transducer raw data. This dilative response became stronger as the input acceleration increased and tends to limit the downslope accumulation and thus reducing the permanent lateral displacements. Therefore, the maximum permanent displacement was smaller in the model with the larger input motion, because it developed a stronger dilative response. The dilative response was not observed away from the slope, where no static shear stresses are present.     

半地堑反转构造的砂箱实验模拟

设计了两组半地堑反转垢理想砂箱实验模型。实验结果表明，边界条件对半地堑反转构造形成特征有着十分明显的影响。刚性边界条件下，沿着边界断层可以产生一定的反转逆冲现象，反转逆冲的程度与边界断层的倾角大小有关，倾角越缓反转逆冲现象越显著，而在自由边界条件下，边界断层均无反转逆冲现象，只是发生倾角变陡现象。沿半地堑边界断层的反转逆冲作用十分有限，反转逆冲主要通过新生低角度逆冲断层得以实现，地堑内部断层通常不     

科尔沁沙地土壤水分动态分析及其概率密度函数模拟

基于Laio土壤水分动态随机模型(Laio模型),利用2006-2010年5~9月土壤水分连续监测数据及日降水资料,分析科尔沁沙地固定沙丘和沙质草地生长季根系层土壤水分动态及其与降水格局的关系,研究点尺度土壤水分概率密度函数,并对Laio模型涉及的13个参数进行了敏感性分析。结果表明:① 研究区年降水的季节分配极不均匀,主要集中在4~10月的生长季,占全年降水量的93%;0~5 mm降水事件占全年降水事件的73%,但其降水量只占全年降水量的25%;降水间隔期以0~10 d为主,占全年无降水期的38%,其频数最高,占全年间隔期频数的87%。② 固定沙丘和沙质草地根系层厚度分别为0~100 cm和0~70 cm,沙质草地根系层土壤水分显著高于固定沙丘;两类沙地7月份的土壤水分都显著高于生长季其他月份。③ 两类沙地生长季根系层土壤水分均服从正态分布;通过Laio模型得到了两类沙地生长季根系层土壤水分概率密度函数p(s),其峰值及峰值出现的位置和峰的阔度均与观测结果很接近,说明Laio模型能对科尔沁沙地土壤水分概率密度函数进行较好的模拟。④ Laio模型涉及的13个参数中,对p(s)最为敏感的参数是降水频率λ、平均降水量α、最大蒸散量E_max、水分胁迫点s*和凋萎系数s_w,主要影响p(s)曲线的峰值。     

三维地质建模软件发展现状及问题探讨

分析了三维地质建模软件可以明显地提高工作效率与工程质量,建立勘探区的三维地质模型,检查原始数据的正确性,通过各种“虚拟切割”手段检查各种地质要素间的相互关系。探讨了三维地质建模软件开发中所存在的几个问题,包括软件开发团队应适时转为公司机制,审慎选择开源工具,三维地质建模的三维模型数据标准,在勘探规范中增加三维地质建模要求,二、三维联动编辑,选准产品的用户群的与盈利模式等。     

Incremental growth of normal faults: Insights from a laser-equipped analog experiment

We conducted a laser-equipped analog experiment aimed at quasi-continuously monitoring the growth of a dense population of normal faults in homogeneous conditions. To further understand the way geological faults progressively gain in slip and length as they accumulate more strain, we measured with great precision the incremental slip and length changes that the analog faults sustain as they grow. These measurements show that the analog faults share common features with the natural ones. In particular, during their growth, the faults develop and maintain cumulative slip profiles that are generally triangular and asymmetric. The growth takes place through two distinct phases: an initial, short period of rapid lateral lengthening, followed by a longer phase of slip accumulation with little or no lengthening. The incremental slip is found to be highly variable in both space (along the faults) and time, resulting in variable slip rates. In particular, ‘short- and long-term’ slip rates are markedly different. We also find that slip measurements at local points on fault traces do not contain clear information on the slip increment repeat mode. Finally, while the fault growth process is highly heterogeneous when considered at the scale of a few slip events, it appears homogeneous and self-similar at longer time scales which integrate many slip increments. This is likely to be the result of a feedback between stress heterogeneities and slip development. The long-term scale homogeneity also implies that the long-term faulting process is primarily insensitive to the short-term heterogeneities that are rapidly smoothed or redistributed. We propose a new conceptual scenario of fault growth that integrates the above observations and we suggest that faults grow in a bimodal way as a result of a self-driven and self-sustaining process.     

Hydrogeochemistry and strontium isotopes in the Arno River Basin (Tuscany, Italy): Constraints on natural controls by statistical modeling

In this paper the chemistry of major and trace elements and, for the first time, strontium isotopic ratios measured in running waters from the Arno River Basin (Tuscany, central-northern Italy) and thermal springs discharging in the same hydrographic system are presented and discussed. Classical graphical methods (e.g. mixing diagrams) have here been improved to identify, in a correct statistical sample space, extreme chemical compositions attributable to the action of geochemical processes and/or inherited from specific lithologies (namely contributions or components 1, 2 and 3) to be used in inverse modeling procedures, due to the absence of clear end-members. A linear least squares problem, with non-negativity constraints and distances, as required for compositional data (convex linear mixing) was solved by considering the contribution of the most discriminant variables given by the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios and the concentration of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Sr and Rb. Following such approach, it can be assumed (p < 0.05) that component 1, characterized by a Ca²⁺(Mg²⁺)– radiogenic-rich (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.71274; Rb/Sr = 0.039), represents a dominant feature at basin scale, with a weight ranging from 69% to 100%. Much lower percentages are related to component 2, represented by a Ca²⁺(Mg²⁺)– facies with intermediate ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.70874) and low Rb/Sr (2.8 × 10⁻⁴) ratios and component 3, identified by Ca²⁺– facies with less radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.70827) and low Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ (0.011) ratios. These components are mainly dominated by the dissolution of evaporitic rocks and/or mixing with thermal waters in the southern part of the Arno River Basin and by dissolution of the carbonatic fraction, kinetically favored with respect to that of the silicatic minerals, in the upper reaches of the main course and its tributaries, respectively.     

An empirical model of event scale cohesive bank profile evolution

The highly stochastic nature of riverbank erosion has driven the need for spatially explicit empirical models. Detailed bank profile surveys along a meander bend of the Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania, USA, before and after 28 high flow events over a 2·5 year period are used to develop an empirical model of cohesive bank profile erosion. Two hundred and thirty‐six bank erosion observations are classified as hydraulic erosion or subaerial erosion. Threshold conditions required to initiate bank erosion cannot be defined based on field measurements. Using the near‐bank velocity and the number of freeze–thaw cycles as predictors, regression equations are derived for hydraulic erosion that specify the length, thickness, and location on the bank face of eroded blocks. An empirical discriminant function defines the critical geometry of overhang failures, and the volumes removed by overhang failures are computed using another regression equation. All the regression equations are significant, but have low correlation coefficients, suggesting that cohesive bank erosion has a strong stochastic component. Individual events typically remove small masses of soil (average volume 0·084 m³/m) a few centimeters thick (median = 0·057 m) and a few decimeters in length (median = 0·50 m) from the lower third of the bank. Hydraulic erosion is responsible for 87% of all erosion. When applied to three survey sites not used in its development, the profile model predicts the total volume of erosion with errors of 23%, 5% and 1%. Twenty‐four percent of computed erosion volumes for single events are within 50% of observed volumes at these three sites. Extending the approach to decadal timescales and to entire bends will require three‐dimensional observations of bank failure, and spatially and temporally explicit methods to account for the influence of individual large trees on bank failures and near‐bank hydraulic processes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.