Web-based application for estimating water quality impacts due to environmental dredging

A Web-based dredge plume simulation software has been developed for estimating sediment transport and contaminant release from dredging operations. This application software comprises a near-field source model and far-field sediment transport model, combined with the settling analysis of flocculent particles. It is designed to run on all computing platforms with a standard Web browser and is accessible over the Internet. This paper describes its internal software structures and the major features of the application software. In addition, an example application of sediment transport in the Savannah River, GA, is included to illustrate typical input and output screens and to demonstrate the accuracy of the model. The water quality assessment software developed herein will greatly enhance the ability of the predictive tool for estimating sediment transport and resuspension during dredging operations.     

Bedload transport and bed resistance associated with density and turbidity currents

Turbidity currents in the ocean are driven by suspended sediment. Yet results from surveys of the modern sea floor and turbidite outcrops indicate that they are capable of transporting as bedload and depositing particles as coarse as cobble sizes. While bedload cannot drive turbidity currents, it can strongly influence the nature of the deposits they emplace. This paper reports on the first set of experiments which focus on bedload transport of granular material by density underflows. These underflows include saline density flows, hybrid saline/turbidity currents and a pure turbidity current. The use of dissolved salt is a surrogate for suspended mud which is so fine that it does not settle out readily. Thus, all the currents can be considered to be model turbidity currents. The data cover four bed conditions: plane bed, dunes, upstream‐migrating antidunes and downstream‐migrating antidunes. The bedload transport relation obtained from the data is very similar to those obtained for open‐channel flows and, in fact, is fitted well by an existing relation determined for open‐channel flows. In the case of dunes and downstream‐migrating antidunes, for which flow separation on the lee sides was observed, form drag falls in a range that is similar to that due to dunes in sand‐bed rivers. This form drag can be removed from the total bed shear stress using an existing relation developed for rivers. Once this form drag is subtracted, the bedload data for these cases collapse to follow the same relation as for plane beds and upstream‐migrating antidunes, for which no flow separation was observed. A relation for flow resistance developed for open‐channel flows agrees well with the data when adapted to density underflows. Comparison of the data with a regime diagram for field‐scale sand‐bed rivers at bankfull flow and field‐scale measurements of turbidity currents at Monterey Submarine Canyon, together with Shields number and densimetric Froude number similarity analyses, provide strong evidence that the experimental relations apply at field scale as well.     

Structural analysis of the Lombard thrust sheet and adjacent areas in the Helena salient,southwest Montana,USA

The Helena salient is a prominent craton–convex curve in the Cordillera thrust belt of Montana, USA. The Lombard thrust sheet is the primary sheet in the salient. Structural analysis of fold trends, cleavage attitudes, and movement on minor faults is used to better understand both the geometry of the Lombard thrust and the kinematic development of the salient.Early W–E to WNW–ENE shortening directions in the Lombard sheet are indicated by fold trends in the center of the thrust sheet. The same narrow range of shortening directions is inferred from kinematic analysis of movement on minor faults and the orientations of unrotated cleavage planes along the southern lateral ramp boundary of the salient. As the salient developed, the amount and direction of shortening were locally modified as listric detachment faults rotated some tight folds to the NW, and as right-lateral simple shear, caused by lock-up and folding of the Jefferson Canyon fault above the lateral ramp, rotated other folds northeastward. Where the lateral ramp and frontal-oblique ramp intersect, folds were rotated back to the NW. Our interpretation of dominant W–E to WNW–ESE shortening in the Lombard sheet, later altered by local rotations, supports a model of salient formation by primary parallel transport modified by interactions with a lateral ramp.     

求解非稳定对流占优水质模型的非标准Galerkin有限元法

在求解非稳定地下水溶质运移模型时,若对流项占优,则模型表现出双曲方程的特性。针对这种特性,采用非标准Galerkin有限元方法进行求解是解决这类问题的有效途径。分别采用Wavelet-Galer-kin有限元方法、迎风有限元方法和特征有限元方法对强对流溶质运移模型进行了求解,并将其结果与标准Galerkin有限元和解析解进行对比。结果表明:标准Galerkin有限元方法会产生强烈的数值振荡;Wavelet-Galerkin有限元方法的时空定位效果好;迎风有限元方法能够有效降低数值振荡现象,但迎风因子对解的影响较大,而且会带来时间延迟;特征有限元方法能够提高解的精度,故可以认为特征有限元方法是求解强对流地下水溶质运移模型的首选方法。     

Storm‐dominated sedimentation in a protected basin fringed by coral reefs,Nara Inlet,Whitsunday Islands,Great Barrier Reef,Australia

Hydrodynamic data and samples of bed sediment were collected from Nara Inlet, a small incised embayment in the Whitsunday Islands, central Great Barrier Reef. Measured tidal currents in the inlet do not exceed 0.2 ms^–1 even at spring tides. Swell waves dominate much of the inner shelf of the Great Barrier Reef but are absent from in the inlet due to the presence of a fringing reef at the inlet mouth. On the silty sand floor of the inlet, particle size decreases towards the inlet head. Most of the bed is too coarse to be remobilised by fair‐weather wave and tides, and we predict that bedload sediment transport thresholds are only exceeded in the inlet during cyclones. The observed distribution of bed sediments is consistent with landward dispersal of sediment under storm conditions. Over 20 m of (presumably Holocene) sediments occurs in the inlet and the seismic character of the infill is consistent with the observed textural variation of the modern sediments. We infer that sediment accumulation on the floor of the inlet has been storm dominated throughout much of the Holocene.     

Effects of intraborehole flow on groundwater age distribution

Environmental tracers are used to estimate groundwater ages and travel times, but the strongly heterogeneous nature of many subsurface environments can cause mixing between waters of highly disparate ages, adding additional complexity to the age-estimation process. Mixing may be exacerbated by the presence of wells because long open intervals or long screens with openings at multiple depths can transport water and solutes rapidly over a large vertical distance. The effect of intraborehole flow on groundwater age was examined numerically using direct age transport simulation coupled with the Multi-Node Well Package of MODFLOW. Ages in a homogeneous, anisotropic aquifer reached a predevelopment steady state possessing strong depth dependence. A nonpumping multi-node well was then introduced in one of three locations within the system. In all three cases, vertical transport along the well resulted in substantial changes in age distributions within the system. After a pumping well was added near the nonpumping multi-node well, ages were further perturbed by a flow reversal in the nonpumping multi-node well. Results indicated that intraborehole flow can substantially alter groundwater ages, but the effects are highly dependent on local or regional flow conditions and may change with time.     

German research in transport geography: Life in the space between objective analysis and political advice1

Transportation has been a bone of public contention for decades, the discussion ranging from traffic-calming measures in individual streets to the continual growth of global transport movements. In the last 20 years transport topics have also received increased attention within the discipline of geography, be it academic, professional or in schools, but the topics addressed by today's transport geography have almost nothing in common with the roots of the field. This means that transport geography is a handed-down, hyphenated sub-branch of geography in name only. In fact, the name refers to a field of geography that is experiencing not only all the birthing pains and uncertainties of a discipline in the process of defining a new direction for itself, but also the sense of excitement and thrill of the new. This paper sets out to show both the role transport geography plays as part of human geography with its concepts and paradigms, and also the role it plays within the political debate on transport. An appeal is made to geographers to become more involved in this branch of our science.     

粉煤灰中污染离子淋释试验及其运移模型

通过对不同介质条件下粉煤灰中污染离子的淋释实验,得出一些离子淋释规律,在此基础上,对粉煤灰中淋释污染离子在地下水中的浓度变化从理论上给出两种数学模型     

Development of Unsteady Windblown Sand Transport

The threshold condition and mass flux of aeolian sediment transport are the essential quantities for wind erosion prediction, dust storm modeling and geomorphological evolution, as well as the sand control engineering design. As a consequence, they have long been the key issues of windblown sand physics. Early researches on aeolian sediment transport focus mainly on steady transport process. While recently, synchronous, high frequency measurements show that wind field in atmospheric boundary layer is always unsteady, showing up as intense fluctuation of wind speed, which thus results in the intense spatial-temporal variability of aeolian sand transport. It has been proven that unsteady sand/dust transport is closely related with boundary layer turbulence and affects significantly the determination of threshold condition and the prediction of aeolian transport rate. The researches of experiment, theory analysis and numerical simulation on unsteady sand/dust transport in recent two decades are reviewed. Finally, open questions and future developments are suggested.     

赤峰—朝阳地区金矿成矿物理化学条件研究

系统论述了区内各大类金矿的成矿温度，成矿压力，各种气体的逸度、ｐＨ值，金离子及其配合物的活度，讨论了金的迁移形式，推测了区内各类矿液中金的沉淀机制。