Contemporary kinematics of the Upper Rhine Graben: A 3D finite element approach

The Upper Rhine Graben (URG), a Cenozoic intra-plate rift situated in the Alpine foreland, is presently characterised by relative slow tectonic deformation and low to medium seismicity. Concurrently, it is a region with a significant amount of ongoing subsidence in two recent depocentres (0.1 to 0.2 mm/a geological, 1 mm/a geodetical rate). In this paper, the recent kinematic behaviour of the URG is simulated using a 3D finite element model, containing three lithospheric layers (upper mantle, lower crust and upper crust) with different rheological properties. First order fault structures (e.g. border faults) are implemented as frictional contact surfaces within the upper crustal layer. The stresses generated by applying lateral displacements over a time period of 10 ka are insufficient to obtain a match between predicted and observed stress magnitudes. Therefore, a technique of “combined pre-stressing” has been developed to avoid unrealistic deformation and unrealistic stress magnitudes within the model. The stress magnitudes and stress directions predicted are calibrated against in-situ stress measurements and stress indicator data. For benchmarking of the modelling results, the vertical surface displacements predicted are compared to surface uplift derived from geological and geomorphological data. Furthermore, predicted fault slip rates are compared to available geological and geodetical data. Parameters derived from the calculated stress tensor, such as fracture potential and the regime stress ratio are also analysed in order to describe the possible kinematic behaviour of the URG. The modelling results suggest that the URG is currently being reactivated as a sinistral strike–slip system with the central segment of the URG forming a restraining bend and the two recent depocentres situated in releasing bend settings. The modelling results suggest that both sinistral shearing and mantle uplift are active mechanisms driving the recent kinematics of the URG and that the recent subsidence within the two depocentres is re-enforced by ongoing mantle uplift additionally.     

Numerical simulation of the fracture process in cutting heterogeneous brittle material

The process of cutting homogeneous soft material has been investigated extensively. However, there are not so many studies on cutting heterogeneous brittle material. In this paper, R‐T^2D (Rock and Tool interaction), based on the rock failure process analysis model, is developed to simulate the fracture process in cutting heterogeneous brittle material. The simulated results reproduce the process involved in the fragmentation of rock or rock‐like material under mechanical tools: the build‐up of the stress field, the formation of the crushed zone, surface chipping, and the formation of the crater and subsurface cracks. Due to the inclusion of heterogeneity in the model, some new features in cutting brittle material are revealed. Firstly, macroscopic cracks sprout at the two edges of the cutter in a tensile mode. Then with the tensile cracks releasing the confining pressure, the rock in the initially high confining pressure zone is compressed into failure and the crushed zone gradually comes into being. The cracked zone near the crushed zone is always available, which makes the boundary of the crushed zone vague. Some cracks propagate to form chipping cracks and some dip into the rock to form subsurface cracks. The chipping cracks are mainly driven to propagate in a tensile mode or a mixed tensile and shear mode, following curvilinear paths, and finally intersect with the free surface to form chips. According to the simulated results, some qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed. It is found that the back rake angle of the cutter has an important effect on the cutting efficiency. Although the quantitative analysis needs more research work, it is not difficult to see the promise that the numerical method holds. It can be utilized to improve our understanding of tool–rock interaction and rock failure mechanisms under the action of mechanical tools, which, in turn, will be useful in assisting the design of fragmentation equipment and fragmentation operations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浅谈鄂北豫南界区的几个地质问题

笔者以近 30年来的地质成果资料 ,从鄂北地层层序与成因 ,古生物类型与生态 ,岩石化学、微量元素、稀土元素、重矿物特征 ,岩浆岩分布 ,地球物理异常及类蛇绿岩、蓝片岩和榴辉岩带的存在等 ,将鄂北地区划分出三个古生物地层构造单元。以枣阳市鹿头镇—广水市郝店镇剪切带、连接新城—广济断裂为界 ,之北是桐柏古生物地层构造区 ,之南是扬子北部边缘古生物地层构造区。以襄樊—广济断裂为界 ,之北是扬子北部边缘古生物地层构造区 ,之南是扬子地台古生物地层构造区     

一类非线性二阶奇异初值问题的正解

在简单的假定下。建立了一类非线性二阶奇异初值问题C^1[0,1]正解存在的充分必要条件，我们的奇异问题在有奇性。     

西秦岭北缘断裂和海原断裂的走滑转换变形及其与陇山地块的相互作用

根据对调查资料、航卫片判译和已有文献的综合分析，研究了西秦岭北缘断裂（ＸＱＬＦ）东段和海原断裂（ＨＹＦ）南段的走滑转换、变形及其与陇山地块的相互作用。ＸＱＬＦ以几何学结构复杂和多期活动为特征，主带各段呈左阶斜列。ＨＹＦ南段的陇县－宝鸡断裂（ＬＢＦ）由４条断层组成７０ｋｍ的宽带，中更新世以来表现为左旋走滑运动。ＸＱＬＦ和ＬＢＦ在运动过程中均产生走滑挤压或走滑拉伸的转换变形。被上述断裂切割围限的陇山地块，从晚白垩世至早第四纪一直处于强烈的挤压变形状态。中晚第四纪以来，可能还具有顺时针旋转变形和位移。     

A numerical model simulating reactive transport and evolution of fracture permeability

A numerical model is presented to describe the evolution of fracture aperture (and related permeability) mediated by the competing chemical processes of pressure solution and free‐face dissolution/precipitation; pressure (dis)solution and precipitation effect net‐reduction in aperture and free‐face dissolution effects net‐increase. These processes are incorporated to examine coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechano‐chemo responses during a flow‐through experiment, and applied to reckon the effect of forced fluid injection within rock fractures at geothermal and petroleum sites. The model accommodates advection‐dominant transport systems by employing the Lagrangian–Eulerian method. This enables changes in aperture and solute concentration within a fracture to be followed with time for arbitrary driving effective stresses, fluid and rock temperatures, and fluid flow rates. This allows a systematic evaluation of evolving linked mechanical and chemical processes. Changes in fracture aperture and solute concentration tracked within a well‐constrained flow‐through test completed on a natural fracture in novaculite (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2006, in press) are compared with the distributed parameter model. These results show relatively good agreement, excepting an enigmatic abrupt reduction in fracture aperture in the early experimental period, suggesting that other mechanisms such as mechanical creep and clogging induced by unanticipated local precipitation need to be quantified and incorporated. The model is applied to examine the evolution in fracture permeability for different inlet conditions, including localized (rather than distributed) injection. Predictions show the evolution of preferential flow paths driven by dissolution, and also define the sense of permeability evolution at field scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contaminant transport in fractured media: analytical solution and sensitivity study considering pulse,Dirac delta and sinusoid input sources

The analytical solution of one‐dimensional transport for a single species radioactive nuclide, considering the decay term in a single fracture for pulse, Dirac delta, and single sinusoid input sources, has been studied using the Laplace transform method. The dimensionless concentration of the radioactive nuclide in the fracture appears to be a function of space, elapsed time, dispersivity, retardation factor, half‐life of the nuclide, and release time. By comparing different values of groundwater velocity, retardation factor, dispersivity, and release time, the results show that the c/c₀ ratio agrees with the nature of the physical and chemical characteristics of the nuclide in fracture transportation. The dimensionless concentration peak value from a small retardation factor is found to be more sensitive, within a time frame ranging from 10 years to a few hundreds years, than the case with a larger retardation factor for H‐3. Except for a small variation in the peak value, the result is almost the same for pulse and sinusoid inputs when considering the H‐3 nuclide. Analytical solutions during the preliminary screening phase are suitable for performance assessment on radioactive waste disposal sites under a one‐dimensional single fracture condition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于单位四元数的无初值依赖空间后方交会

为解决基于欧拉角的传统空间后方交会算法对初值强烈依赖的问题,提出一种利用四元数描述姿态的解算方法。本算法采用单位四元数描述旋转矩阵,然后对严格的共线条件方程进行线性化,并按照带有约束条件的间接平差进行迭代解算。试验表明本算法的可靠性和稳定性不依赖于像片位置和姿态的初值,并具有迭代次数少和解算时间短等优点。