Seepage driving effect on deformations of San Fernando dams

In the process of flow deformation of an earth dam, the seepage force inside the dam plays a role as a driving force. The seepage force acts just like the gravitational force in terms of pushing soils away from their original locations after liquefaction is triggered. This paper draws attention to this seepage driving effect by presenting a set of fully coupled finite element analyses on the well-known San Fernando dams, with the objective of evaluating the impact of this seepage effect. The results indicate that while this effect is always there, its practical significance depends on a number of factors. In the case of the upper San Fernando dam, which experienced a significant, but restricted, downstream movement during the 1971 earthquake, the seepage driving effect was indeed significant. On the contrary, for the lower dam, which failed and slid into the upstream reservoir during the same earthquake, this seepage effect was relatively less pronounced. The detailed results of the analyses reveal the likely mechanisms of failure and deformation of the two dams and the likely cause behind the difference between their responses during the earthquake.     

考虑渗流力时对太沙基一维固结理论的修正

考虑渗流力的作用，对太沙基一维固结理论进行了修正，给出了向上及向下渗流时固结度的表达式，并分析了固结过程中渗流应力的变化规律。结果表明：渗流力对固结度的影响较大，特别是在时间因素Tv=0.1附近，是否考虑渗流力的影响将导致固结度的差值达30 %，因而渗流力对固结度的影响是不可忽略的。     

神经网络在判别煤矿突水水源中的应用

矿井突水水源的识别是矿井防治水工作的基础，快速准确地判别突水的来源对整个矿井的安全生产起着十分重要的作用。以峰峰矿区梧桐庄矿为例，应用神经网络的方法，对矿井突水水源进行了系统研究。结果表明，运用该方法取得了较好的效果，并可以用此模型来解决类似的评价和判别问题。     

单管高压旋喷注浆技术在砂层加固、止水工程中的应用

就其他工艺在砂层的加固、止水工程中难以解决的问题，提出了单管高压旋喷注浆技术，并通过一些工程实例证实此工艺的可行性。     

Soil moisture potential and water content in the unsaturated zone within the arid Ejina Oasis in Northwest China

Three soil profiles were selected in the Ejina Oasis, northwest China, to determine water content profiles and evolution of soil moisture potentials in the unsaturated zone within the arid area. The total soil moisture potentials have been monitored for about 3 months in 2001 at different depths in the soil profiles. The occurrence and movement of water in the unsaturated zone was analyzed using the zero flux plane (ZFP) method. It is shown that convergent ZFPs and divergent ZFPs may occur at depths between 0.5 and 3.0 m, and that the depth of the ZFPs was controlled by the root zone of plants growing on the land surface. Profiles of the total soil moisture potentials were observed to be coincident with those of the water contents at the three experimental sites. The total soil moisture potential showed a slight increasing trend and the ZFPs tend to vanish from summer to winter as the water extraction by roots decreased. Evapotranspiration through vegetation has an important bearing on the water content and the total potential in the unsaturated zone.     

Pressure State in Deep Crust and Formation Depth of UHP Metamorphic Rocks

INTRODUCTIONSincethediscoveryofeclogiteswithcoesiteanddia mondinclusionsrelatedtothecontinent continentcollision orogenyenvironment,theultrahigh pressuremetamorphism(UHPM )intheDabie Suluhasarousedgreatinterestinmanygeologists (Liouetal .,1994 ;Xuetal.,1992 ) .Experimentalstudieshaveprovedthatsuchmineralsasdia mond ,coesiteandomphaciteoccurredat 2 - 5GPa (andatthecorrespondingtemperatures) (Stevenetal.,1982 ;MirwaldandMasonne ,1980 ) .However,itdoesnotmeanthatthemetamorphicrockscanbe…     

Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.     

The influence of floodplain geohydrology on the distribution of Sarcocornia pillansii in the Olifants Estuary on the West Coast, South Africa

The distribution of Sarcocornia pillansii (Moss) A.J. Scott was determined by water-table depth and electrical conductivity (EC) of the groundwater. Where the groundwater was accessible (<1.5 m) and had a low EC (<80 mS cm⁻¹), S. pillansii extended its roots down to the water-table where a suitable water potential gradient was shown to exist between the soil and roots. In areas where the groundwater was too deep and/or hypersaline, the plants grew on hummocks. The unconfined aquifer below the floodplain is linked to the estuary and although diurnal tidal waves were dampened, water-table level fluctuations were recorded between tidal events. The complex geomorphology of the floodplain influences groundwater flow, in turn affecting the distribution of the salt marsh vegetation.     

Distribution of trace metals in the Odra River system: Water–suspended matter–sediments

Extensive investigations of trace metals concentrations in water, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and bottom sediments of the whole Odra River system were carried out over the years 1997–2000. The vertical distribution of selected metals and their mobility were also studied in the sediment cores from upper and middle river sections. Significant levels of metal contamination were found. Median concentrations (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and As) in the SPM and sediments were (mg kg⁻¹) 7.1 and 8.9 Cd, 128 and 146 Pb, 81 and 119 Cu, 1198 and 1204 Zn, 48 and 54 As, respectively. The highest metal pollution of the Odra River solids was found with cadmium, zinc, lead and arsenic, showing high similarity in their frequency distributions in both SPM and sediments. Cd, Zn and As appear to be of particular concern because of the high levels, that appear to be bioavailable, and their high mobility. The exchangeable and carbonate chemical forms of Cd and Zn reached up to 50% of their total amount. Besides the determination of total metal concentration, the metal chemical forms in river solids were investigated. The results of very wide studies of the Odra River system through 4 years suggest that metal pollution decreased, especially for Zn, Pb and Cu. Among all metals studied in the Odra River sediments, substantial reductions of Cd contamination were observed neither in the period after ’97 flood, nor if compared with the earlier results obtained before ’97. No essential differences of the metal contents were observed among the samples for the same river compartment, from the same locality, taken within the five sampling campaigns. The pattern of spatial and vertical metal distributions in the river solids indicates that a variety of sources might be responsible for the contamination; very intensive, historical and current mining and smelting activities probably are the most important ones.     

Experimental and theoretical study of stability of dense hydrous magnesium silicates in the deep upper mantle

Fluid-undersaturated experiments were conducted to determine the phase relations in the simplified peridotite system MgO-SiO₂-H₂O (MSH) at 11.0-14.5 GPa and 800-1400 °C. Stability relations of dense hydrous magnesium silicates (DHMSs) under fluid-undersaturated conditions were experimentally examined. From the fluid-absent experimental results, we retrieved thermodynamic data for clinohumite, phase A, phase E, and hydrous wadsleyite, consistent with the published data set for dry mantle minerals. With this new data set, we have calculated phase equilibria in the MSH system including dehydration reactions. The dehydration reactions calculated with lower water activities of 0.68-0.60 match the fluid-present experiments of this study above 11.0 GPa and 1000 °C, indicating that considerable amounts of silicate component were dissolved into the fluid phase. The calculated phase equilibria illustrate the stability of the post-antigorite phase A-bearing assemblages. In the cold subducting slab peridotite, phase A + enstatite assemblage survives into the transition zone, whereas phase A + forsterite + enstatite assemblage forms hydrous wadsleyite at a much shallower depth of about 360-km. The slab is subducted with no dehydration reactions occurring when entering the transition zone. The phase equilibria also show the high temperature stability of phase E. Phase E is stable up to 1200 °C at 13.5 GPa, a plausible condition in the mantle of relatively low temperature, i.e., beneath subduction zones. Phase E is a possible water reservoir in the mantle as well as wadsleyite and ringwoodite.