An invariance in the carbazoles of petroleum

A remarkable invariance in the ratio of 1,3-dimethylcarbazole （DMC） to 1,6-DMC was discovered in crude oils from the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea. The remarkably invariant ratio is kept at a constant of about unity regardless of their concentrations, sources or maturities for the sampies. In combination with the molecular structures of 1,3- and 1,6-DMCs, the invariance might indicate that the nitrogen compounds share a common precursor with a skeleton of 1-methylcarbazole and are formed through methylation at C3 and C6 with an essentially identical rate.     

Geologic and geotechnical effects of an impact caused by an airplane crash

A Turkish Airlines (THY) Boeing 737-400 plane crashed into alluvial soils creating an approximately 13 m deep and 30 m wide crater near the village of Adatepe, Ceyhan in southern Turkey. Effects of the impact on the soils in and around the crater were investigated from both the geological and soil mechanics point of view.

The results show that the impact caused severe deformations in the soils in and around the crater. The soils deformed similar to metamorphic rocks seen at many terrestrial hypervelocity impact craters around the world and became overconsolidated up to a distance of about 10 m from the crater wall as a result of the impact.

Also, the crash was recorded as a 2.7 magnitude earthquake by a nearby microtremor seismograph which provided both the location (epicenter) and time of the crash which was not known immediately after the crash.     

Geochemical and isotopic investigation of the aquifer system in the Djerid-Nefzaoua basin, southern Tunisia

In the Djerid-Nefzaoua region, southern Tunisia, about 80% of agricultural and domestic water supply is provided by the complex terminal (CT) aquifer. However, 20% of this demand is provided by other hydraulically connected aquifers, namely the continental intercalaire (CI) and the Plio-Quaternary (PQ). Overexploitation of the CT aquifer for agricultural practices has contributed to the loss of the artesian condition and the decline of groundwater level which largely increased the downward leakage from the shallow PQ aquifer. Excess irrigation water concentrates at different rates in the irrigation channels and in the PQ aquifer itself. Then, it returns to the CT aquifer and mixes with water from the regional flow system, which contributes to the salinization of the CT groundwater. A geochemical and isotopic study had been undertaken over a 2-years period in order to investigate the origin of waters pumped from the CT aquifer with an emphasis on its hydraulic relationships with the underlying and the overlying CI and PQ aquifers. Geochemistry indicates that groundwater samples collected from different wells show an evolution of the water types from Na-Cl to Ca-SO₄-Cl. Dissolution of halite, gypsum and anhydrite-bearing rocks is the main mechanism that leads to the salinization of the groundwater. Isotopic data indicate the old origin of all groundwater in the aquifer system. Mixing and evaporation effects characterizing the CT and the PQ aquifers were identified using δ²H and δ¹⁸O relationship and confirmed by the conjunction of δ²H with chloride concentration.     

用叠加谱比法研究新疆地区Lg尾波Q值的区域性变化

运用叠加谱比法,对分布于新疆地区的5个台站所记录的51个地震数据进行分析,得出与各射线路径相对应的Lg尾波Q0(Lg尾波在1Hz处的Q)值。结果表明:Q0值呈现出明显的区域性变化特点,与构造活动关系紧密。在较为稳定的塔里木地台,Q0呈现出高值,在350～450之间。在南部构造活动较为激烈的昆仑褶皱系,Q0呈现出较低的值,约为200～250。在构造活动最为激烈的帕米尔地区,Q0值在170～200之间。在北部的天山褶皱系,Q0值约为220～270。准葛尔褶皱系比天山褶皱系的Q0值略高,约为260～290。     

Understory and small trees contribute importantly to stemflow of a lower montane cloud forest

Stemflow (Sf) measurements in tropical rain and montane forests dominated by large trees rarely include the understory and small trees. In this study, contributions of lower (1‐ to 2‐m height) and upper (>2‐m height and <5‐cm diameter at breast height [DBH]) woody understory, small trees (5 < DBH < 10 cm), and canopy trees (>10‐cm DBH) to Sf per unit ground area (Sf_a) of a Mexican lower montane cloud forest were quantified for 32 days with rainfall (P) during the 2014 wet season. Rainfall, stemflow yield (Sf_y), vegetation height, density, and basal area were measured. Subsequently, stemflow funneling ratios (SFRs) were calculated, and three common methods to scale up Sf_y from individual trees to the stand level (tree‐Sf_y correlation, P‐Sf_y correlation, and mean‐Sf_y extrapolation) were used to calculate Sf_a. Understory woody plants, small trees, and upper canopy trees represented 96%, 2%, and 2%, respectively, of the total density. Upper canopy trees had the lowest SFRs (1.6 ± 0.5 Standard Error (SE) on average), although the lower understory had the highest (36.1 ± 6.4). Small trees and upper understory presented similar SFRs (22.9 ± 5.4 and 20.2 ± 3.9, respectively). Different Sf scaling methods generally yielded similar results. Overall Sf_a during the study period was 22.7 mm (4.5% of rainfall), to which the understory contributed 70.1% (15.9 mm), small trees 10.6% (2.4 mm), and upper canopy trees 19.3% (4.4 mm). Our results strongly suggest that for humid tropical forests with dense understory of woody plants and small trees, Sf of these groups should be measured to avoid an underestimation of overall Sf at the stand level.     

Towards more systematic perceptual model development: a case study using 3 Luxembourgish catchments

The synthesis of experimental understanding of catchment behaviour and its translation into qualitative perceptual models is an important objective of hydrological sciences. We explore this challenge by examining the cumulative understanding of the hydrology of three experimental catchments and how it evolves through the application of different investigation techniques. The case study considers the Huewelerbach, Weierbach and Wollefsbach headwater catchments of the Attert basin in Luxembourg. Subsurface investigations including bore holes and pits, analysis of soil samples and Electrical Resistivity Tomography measurements are presented and discussed. Streamflow and tracer data are used to gain further insights into the streamflow dynamics of the catchments, using end‐member mixing analysis and hydrograph separation based on dissolved silica and electrical conductivity. We show that the streamflow generating processes in all three catchments are controlled primarily by the subsolum and underlying bedrock. In the Huewelerbach, the permeable sandstone formation supports a stable groundwater component with little seasonality, which reaches the stream through a series of sources at the contact zone with the impermeable marls formation. In the Weierbach, the schist formation is relatively impermeable and supports a ‘fill and spill’‐type of flow mechanism; during wet conditions, it produces a delayed response dominated by pre‐event water. In the Wollefsbach, the impermeable marls formation is responsible for a saturation‐excess runoff generating process, producing a fast and highly seasonal response dominated by event water. The distinct streamflow generating processes of the three catchments are represented qualitatively using perceptual models. The perceptual models are in turn translated into quantitative conceptual models, which simulate the hydrological processes using networks of connected reservoirs and transfer functions. More generally, the paper illustrates the evolution of perceptual models based on experimental fieldwork data, the translation of perceptual models into conceptual models and the value of different types of data for processes understanding and model representation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of expansion ratio on the critical Reynolds number in single fracture flow with sudden expansion

Flow in a single fracture (SF) is an important research subject in groundwater hydrology, hydraulic engineering, radioactive nuclear waste repository and geotechnical engineering. An abruptly changing aperture is a unique type of SF. This study discusses the relation between the values of the critical Reynolds number (Re_c) for the onset of symmetry breaking of flow and the expansion ratio (E) of SF, which is defined as the ratio between the outlet (D) and inlet (d) apertures. This study also investigates the effect of inlet aperture d on Re_c for flow in an SF with abruptly changing apertures (SF‐ACA) using the finite volume method. Earlier numerical and experimental results showed that flow is symmetric in respect to the central plane of the SF‐ACA at small Reynolds number (Re) but becomes asymmetric when Re is sufficiently large. Our simulations show that the value of Re_c decreases with the increasing E, and the relationship between the logarithm of Re_c and E can be described accurately using either a quadratic polynomial function or a logarithmic function. However, the relationship of Re_c and d for a given E value is vague, and Re_c becomes even less sensitive to d when E increases. This study also reveals that the hydraulic gradient (J) and flow velocity (v) follow a super‐linear relationship that can be fitted almost perfectly by the Forchheimer equation. The inertial component (J_i) of J increases monotonically with Re, whereas the viscous component (J_v) of J decreases monotonically with Re. The Re value corresponding to equal inertial and viscous components of J (named as the transitional point Re) decreases when E increases, and such a transitional point Re should be closely related to the critical Reynolds number Re_c, although a rigorous theoretical proof is not yet available. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new approach to estimate canopy evaporation and canopy interception capacity from evapotranspiration and sap flow measurements during and following wetting

Canopy interception and its evaporation into the atmosphere during irrigation or a rainfall event are important in irrigation scheduling, but are challenging to estimate using conventional methods. This study introduces a new approach to estimate the canopy interception from measurements of actual total evapotranspiration (ET) using eddy covariance and estimation of the transpiration from measurements of sap flow. The measurements were conducted over a small‐scale sprinkler‐irrigated cotton field before, during and after sprinkler irrigation. Evaporation and sap flow dynamics during irrigation show that the total ET during irrigation increased significantly because of the evaporation of free intercepted water while transpiration was suppressed almost completely. The difference between actual ET and transpiration (sap flow) during and immediately following irrigation (post irrigation) represents the total canopy evaporation while the canopy interception capacity was calculated as the difference between actual ET and transpiration (sap flow) during drying (post irrigation) following cessation of the irrigation. The canopy evaporation of cotton canopy was calculated as 0.8 mm, and the interception capacity was estimated to be 0.31 mm of water. The measurement uncertainty in both the non‐dimensional ET and non‐dimensional sap flow was shown to be very low. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrologic and water isotope characterization of a regulated Canadian Shield river basin

Stable water isotope surveys have increasingly been integrated into river basins studies, but fewer have used them to evaluate impact of hydropower regulation. This study applies hydrologic and water isotope survey approaches to a Canadian Shield river basin with both regulated and natural flows. Historical streamflow records were used to evaluate the influence of three hydroelectric reservoirs and unregulated portions of the basin on downstream flows and changes in water level management implemented after an extreme flood year (1979). In 2013, water isotope surveys of surface and source waters (e.g., rainfall, groundwater, snowmelt) were conducted to examine spatial and temporal variation in contributions to river flow. Seasonal changes in relative groundwater contribution were assessed using a water‐isotope mass balance approach. Within the basin, two regulated reservoirs exhibited inverted hydrographs with augmented winter flows, whereas a third exhibited a hydrograph dominated by spring snowmelt. In 2013, spatial variation in rain‐on‐snow and air temperatures resulted in a critical lag in snowmelt initiation in the southern and northern portions of the basin resulting in a dispersed, double peak spring hydrograph, contrasting with 1979 when a combination of rain‐on‐snow and coincident snowmelt led to the highest flood on record. Although eastern basin reservoirs become seasonally enriched in δ¹⁸O and δ²H values, unregulated western basin flows remain less variable due to groundwater driven baseflow with increasing influence downstream. Combined analysis of historical streamflow (e.g., flood of 1979, drought of 2010) and the 2013 water isotope surveys illustrate extreme meteorological conditions that current management activities are unable to prevent. In this study, the influence of evaporative fractionation on large surface water reservoirs provides important evidence of streamflow partitioning, illustrating the value of stable water isotope tracers for study of larger catchments.     

Parallelized combined finite-discrete element (FDEM) procedure using multi-GPU with CUDA

This paper focuses on the efficiency of finite discrete element method (FDEM) algorithmic procedures in massive computers and analyzes the time-consuming part of contact detection and interaction computations in the numerical solution. A detailed operable GPU parallel procedure was designed for the element node force calculation, contact detection, and contact interaction with thread allocation and data access based on the CUDA computing. The emphasis is on the parallel optimization of time-consuming contact detection based on load balance and GPU architecture. A CUDA FDEM parallel program was developed with the overall speedup ratio over 53 times after the fracture from the efficiency and fidelity performance test of models of in situ stress, UCS, and BD simulations in Intel i7-7700K CPU and the NVIDIA TITAN Z GPU. The CUDA FDEM parallel computing improves the computational efficiency significantly compared with the CPU-based ones with the same reliability, providing conditions for achieving larger-scale simulations of fracture.