Acoustic and electromagnetic properties of soils saturated with salt water and NAPL

Electrical, seismic, and electromagnetic methods can be used for noninvasive determination of subsurface physical and chemical properties. In particular, we consider the evaluation of water salinity and the detection of surface contaminants. Most of the relevant properties are represented by electric conductivity, P-wave velocity, and dielectric permittivity. Hence, it is important to obtain relationships between these measurable physical quantities and soil composition, saturation, and frequency. Conductivity in the geoelectric frequency range is obtained with Pride's model for a porous rock. (The model considers salinity and permeability.) White's model of patchy saturation is used to calculate the P-wave velocity and attenuation. Four cases are considered: light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) pockets in water, dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) pockets in water, LNAPL pockets in air, and DNAPL pockets in air. The size of the pockets (or pools), with respect to the signal wavelength, is modeled by the theory. The electromagnetic properties in the GPR frequency range are obtained by using the Hanai–Bruggeman equation for two solids (sand and clay grains) and two fluids (LNAPL or DNAPL in water or air). The Hanai–Bruggeman exponent (1/3 for spherical particles) is used as a fitting parameter and evaluated for a sand/clay mixture saturated with water.Pride's model predicts increasing conductivity for increasing salinity and decreasing permeability. The best-fit exponent of the Hanai–Bruggeman equation for a sand/clay mixture saturated with water is 0.61, indicating that the shape of the grains has a significant influence on the electromagnetic properties. At radar frequencies, it is possible to distinguish between a water-saturated medium and a NAPL-saturated medium, but LNAPL- and DNAPL-saturated media have very similar electromagnetic properties. The type of contaminant can be better distinguished from the acoustic properties. P-wave velocity increases with frequency, and has dissimilar behaviour for wet and dry soils.     

Neuzeitlicher Schadstofftrend: Polycylische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK) in aquatischen und terrestrischen Sedimenten

A Recent Contamination Trend: Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Aquatic and Terrestrial Sediments Concentrations of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured in aquatic sediments of small, medium‐sized or very large inland lakes, of estuaries as well as in terrestrial sediments from Germany, the UK, Finland, and the USA were plotted in 10 trend curves over the period from 1800 to 1990. The segments of the bore cores were dated for their deposition age. For comparability of the results, the trend is preferentially shown by the guide parameter fluoranthene. Until the 19th century, a constant background value of C_Fluo = 10…50 μg/kg was observed in all regions. Then a steep increase in concentration followed, reaching in the aquatic sediments a maximum in the period 1940 to 1965, while the individual fluoranthene values ranged widely from 90 to 2400 μg/kg. In several regions, a more or less distinct decrease superseded this maximum, although this development did not appear in terrestrial sediments, in one estuary, and in remote forest lakes in Finland. The trend curves reflect the atmospheric deposition of PAHs in airborne dust and in some cases the import through runoff via rivers. Thus, the sediment profiles depict the development of air pollution by pyrogenic contaminants over more than a century. Sediment profiles from rivers can be used only with a high degree of reservation, because of the irregularity and low representativity of the sedimentation.     

The importance of plant root characteristics in controlling concentrated flow erosion rates

While it has been demonstrated in numerous studies that the aboveground characteristics of the vegetation are of particular importance with respect to soil erosion control, this study argues the importance of separating the influence of vegetation on soil erosion rates into two parts: the impact of leaves and stems (aboveground biomass) and the influence of roots (belowground biomass). Although both plant parameters form inseparable constituents of the total plant organism, most studies attribute the impact of vegetation on soil erosion rates mainly to the characteristics of the aboveground biomass. This triggers the question whether the belowground biomass is of no or negligible importance with respect to soil erosion by concentrated flow. This study tried to answer this question by comparing cross‐sectional areas of concentrated flow channels (rills and ephemeral gullies) in the Belgian Loess Belt for different cereal and grass plant densities. The results of these measurements highlighted the fact that both an increase in shoot density as well as an increase in root density resulted in an exponential decrease of concentrated flow erosion rates. Since protection of the soil surface in the early plant growth stages is crucial with respect to the reduction of water erosion rates, increasing the plant root density in the topsoil could be a viable erosion control strategy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Short‐term erosion rates from a 7Be inventory balance

Detailed soil erosion studies bene?t from the ability to quantify the magnitude of erosion over time scales appropriate to the process. An inventory balance for ⁷Be was used to calculate sediment erosion in a 30·73 m² plot during a series of runoff‐producing thunderstorms occurring over three days at the Deep Loess Research Station in Treynor, Iowa, USA. The inventory balance included determination of the pre‐ and post‐storm ⁷Be inventories in the soil, the atmospheric in?ux of ⁷Be during the event, and pro?les of the ⁷Be activity in the soil following the atmospheric deposition. The erosion calculated in the plot using the ⁷Be inventory balance was 0·058 g cm^?2, which is 23 per cent of the annual average erosion determined using ¹³⁷Cs inventories. The calculated erosion from the mass balance is similar to the 0·059 g cm^?2 of erosion estimated from the amount of sediment collected at the outlet of the 6 ha ?eld during the study period and the delivery ratio (0·64). The inventory balance of ⁷Be provides a new means for evaluating soil erosion over the time period most relevant to quantifying the prediction of erosion from runoff. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flexure of the Indian plate and intraplate earthquakes

The flexural bulge in central India resulting from India's collision with Tibet has a wavelength of approximately 670 km. It is manifest topographically and in the free-air gravity anomaly and the geoid. Calculations of the stress distribution within a flexed Indian plate reveal spatial variations throughout the depth of the plate and also a function of distance from the Himalaya. The wavelength (and therefore local gradient) of stress variation is a function of the effective elastic thickness of the plate, estimates of which have been proposed to lie in the range 40–120 km. The imposition of this stress field on the northward moving Indian plate appears fundamental to explaining the current distribution of intraplate earthquakes and their mechanisms. The current study highlights an outer trough south of the flexural bulge in central India where surface stresses are double the contiguous compressional stresses to the north and south. The Bhuj, Latur and Koyna earthquakes and numerous other recent reverse faulting events occurred in this compressional setting. The N/S spatial gradient of stress exceeds 2 bars/km near the flexural bulge. The overall flexural stress distribution provides a physical basis for earthquake hazard mapping and suggests that areas of central India where no historic earthquakes are recorded may yet be the locus of future damaging events.     

Numerical Simulation of Drag Partition over Rough Surfaces

We present a numerical simulation of drag partition over rough surfaces. A computational fluid dynamics model is applied with high resolution to simulatingturbulent flows over arrays of roughness elements positioned on asmooth surface. The skin drag on the surface and the pressure drag on the roughnesselements are computed. The simulated drag partition compares well with wind-tunnelmeasurements and theoretical estimates for similar rough surfaces. This confirms that the computational approach offers an alternative to wind-tunnel and field experiments in studying drag and drag partition. The model is then applied to studying drag partition over rough surfaces with various roughness configurations. It is shown that drag partition depends not only on the magnitude of the roughness frontal area but also on the sizes and arrangement of roughness elements, because (1) the pressure drag coefficient is sensitive to roughness-element dimensions and (2) the arragement of roughness elements lead to different interferences of turbulent wakes. The impact ofthe latter factor is not insignificant.     

热惯量法在监测土壤表层水分变化中的研究

利用遥感方法监测一定层水深土壤水分变化，关键是建立卫星数据与地表水热变化关系，该文地遥感定量反演土壤水热变化的数值模拟系统及热惯量在其边界，初始条件确定中所起的作用进行的简述，并介绍了热惯量法求解表层水分含量的发展概况，为进一步提高定量化监测方法的地必琢计算精度，该文发展了地表能量平均方程的一种新的化简方法，经过这样的处理，可从遥感图象数据直接得到真实热惯量值，进而得到土壤水分含量分布，通过野外实     

江苏省主要作物农田水分盈亏量的研究

利用江苏省1980～1992年土壤湿度资料，根据土壤水分平衡原理，运用运筹学中的优化技术，结合本省的自然条件和作物生长实际情况，提出有效降水量、下层水分补给量等计算方法，建立了旱地和稻田农田水分盈亏量的计算模式，以便应用实时降水和土壤湿度等资料，计算全省农田水分盈亏量，及时提供农业气象情报服务。     

既有房屋饱和土地基极限承载力增长的探讨

饱和土地基在既有房屋长期荷载作用下,地基土强度参数值随着地基土的排水固结和压密而提高,地基极限承载力也同时增大,如何估算此提高值而挖掘其潜力,传统方法只是借助于统计回归讨论了设计承载力。本文从土力学基本原理出发,借助Prandtl假定,对既有房屋饱和土地基极限承载力的增长进行了探讨。     

红壤丘陵小区域水平上不同时段土壤质量变化的评价和分析

引相相对土壤质量指数的概念，应用地理信息系统技术，为小区域水平上土壤质量时空变化的评价提供了一种方法，并用于千烟洲试验站开垦利用１１ａ后土壤质量变化的评价。统计分析服农田，桔园，牧草地，人工林，天然林等多种土地利用方式下土壤质量变化的特征。