Geotechnical Hazards Associated with Desert Environment

The aridity of the Arabian Peninsula's deserts ranges between arid to hyperarid with hot dry climate, scarce precipitation and sparse vegetation. These harsh environmental conditions enhance some geomorphologic processes more than others, cause specific geotechnical problems, and increase desertification.From west to east, the general physiography of Saudi Arabia shows the Red Sea coastal plains and the escarpment foothills called Tihama followed by the Arabian Shield mountains, the Arabian Shelf plateau and finally the Arabian Gulf coastal plains. Sand moves by wind either as drifting sand or migrating dunes in four major sand seas, over the Arabian Shelf, and in the inter-mountain valleys, in the Arabian Shield causing problems of erosion and deposition. Human activities in the deserts may cause more instability to the sand bodies, enlarging the magnitude of the problem. Fine silty soil particles also move by wind, depositing loess mainly in selected areas downwind in the Tihama. These loess deposits subside and may form earth fissures by the process of hydrocompaction upon wetting. The addition of water can be either natural through storms or man-made through human agricultural or civil activities. Extensive sabkhas exist along the coastal plains of both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The sabkha soil may also heave by salt re-crystallization or collapse by wetting. The shallow groundwater brines present in sabkhas also attack and corrode civil structures. Urbanization and excessive groundwater pumping may also deplete the fresh groundwater resources and may cause subsidence, ground fissuring and surface faulting as observed in some locations in the Arabian Shield. Although the average annual precipitation is very low, rain usually falls in the form of torrential storms, collected by dry valley basins and causing floods to unprotected downstream areas on the coastal plains of the Red Sea.The desert environment, being a fragile echo system, needs to be treated with care. Intercommunications between different national and international agencies and education of the layman should help to keep the system balanced and reduce the resulting environmental hazards. In addition, any suggested remedial measures should be planned with nature and engineered with natural materials.     

Observations of particle movement in a monitoring well using the colloidal borescope

The colloidal borescope consists of a set of lenses and miniature video cameras capable of observing natural particles in monitoring wells. Based on field observations of these particles, it appears possible to measure in situ groundwater velocity in a well bore. Field observations have shown that directional measurements using the colloidal borescope are generally in good agreement with expected flow directions. However, the magnitude of flow velocity is higher compared with values based on conventional test methods. High relative flow velocities, even after correction factors have been applied to compensate for well bore effects, are believed to be due to preferential flow zones in the surrounding aquifer. Low flow zones exhibit swirling multidirectional flow that does not allow for a linear velocity measurement. Consequently, groundwater flow velocities measured by the colloidal borescope in heterogeneous aquifers will be biased toward the maximum velocity values present in the aquifer. A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to assess the reliability of the instrument. Based on this work, a seepage velocity correction factor ( ) of 1–4 was found for quantifying groundwater seepage velocity in the adjacent aquifer from observations in a well bore. Laboratory measurements also indicate that preferential flow in the surrounding aquifer dominates flow in the well. Results of this work suggest the possibility of quantifying higher-flow velocities associated with preferential flow zones in the subsurface.     

地球运动的超非线性分析

根据超非线性速度理论，研究了地球的自转状态，得知地球自转的角速度沿半径方向有突变和减小，并由此计算了地壳相对于地核的角速度差值，算得赤道表面每年西移１．７５ｃｍ，符合已报道的观测数据。     

华北地区煤的显微组分结焦性热台试验

为探讨煤的显微组分的结焦性，对不同变质程度煤的镜质组、壳质组和惰性组分别进行了显微镜热台加热试验．在加热过程中，活性组分经历了３个明显不同的变化阶段，即变形阶段、胶质体形成阶段以及固化阶段．随煤变质程度的增加，镜质组的初变温度和胶质体形成时的温度逐渐增大，而固结温度变化规律不明显；壳质组在低变质阶段因受热而挥发掉，但随煤级增高其变形程度减弱；半镜质组在受热过程中也有变形和少量胶质体形成，而惰性组只发生微弱变化．在低变质阶段，活性显微组分形成的焦炭显微结构以各向同性为主；随变质程度的增高，焦炭显微结构中各向异性成分比例增大     

遥感技术在我国水电建设前期工作中的应用

本文回顾了我国水电遥感工作自８０年代以来的发展状况，详细介绍了我国水电遥感调查工作的内容，方法及其所到得的效益，指出我国水电遥感工作具规模宏大，内容广泛，协同攻关的特点，也存在着遥感资料应用尚不够充分等三方面的不足。够     

Seismotectonic environment of occurring the February 3, 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, Yunnan Province

Introduction The surface rupture and aftershocks of the February 3, 1996 Lijiang earthquake are basically distributed along the N-S-trending Lijiang-Daju fault, which is boundary fault between Lijiang Quaternary, fault controlled basin and Yulong-Haba range (ZHANG, et al, 1997). Corresponding to the surface geological features, the focal rupture of the Lijiang earthquake also shows large component of dip-slip. It is of great difference from that of other earthquakes in west Yunnan, in w…     

大采深岩移观测阶段性分析

为探 讨大 采 深 (780m )的 开采 沉 陷 规 律 ,在 5074工 作 面 上 方 建 立 孟 佃 大 寨 岩 移 观 测 站 ,对 观 测 成 果 的 分 析 ,得 到 如 下结 论 :①大 采 深 开 采情 况 下, 地表 移 动 的 活跃 期( 《规程 》规定 判 断) 存 在 ;或 者 说 地 表 移 动 活 跃 期 的 下 沉 按不速 度小 于 50m m / 月;②随 着 开采 深度 的 加 大 ,地 表 移动 期 推 迟 ,对 地 面 建筑 物 的 破 坏也 比 较 迟 缓;③大 采深 单 一 煤 层的 非充 分 采动 ,地 面建 筑 物受 损程 度 很小 。     

变降深抽水附近地下水非稳定运动的积分方程解

根据完整井变流量抽水附近地下水运动的解析解,利用积分方程的方法,推导出了水井水位降深以任意一种函数关系随时间变化时含水层中地下水非稳定运动积分方程形式的解,并提出了该积分解相应的近似计算方法.最后通过一个实例验证了该方法的实用性.     

Seismotectonic environment of occurring the February 3, 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, Yunnan Province

Lijiang-Daju fault, the seismogenic fault of the 1996 Lijiang M=7.0 earthquake, can be divided into Lijiang-Yuhu segment in the south and Yuhu-Daju segment in the north. The two segments show clear difference in geological tectonics, but have the similar dynamic features. Both normal dip-slip and sinistral strike-slip coexist on the fault plane. This kind of movement started at the beginning of the Quaternary (2.4～2.5 Ma B.P.). As to the tectonic types, the detachment fault with low angle was developed in the Early Pleistocene and the normal fault with high angle only after the Mid-Pleistocene (0.8 Ma B.P.). Based on the horizontal displacements of gullies and the vertical variance of planation surfaces cross the Lijiang-Daju fault at east piedmont of Yulong-Haba range, the average horizontal and vertical slip rates are calculated. They are 0.84 mm/a and 0.70 mm/a since the Quaternary and 1.56 mm/a and 1.69 mm/a since the Mid-Pleistocene. The movements of the nearly N-S-trending Lijiang-Daju fault are controlled not only by the regional stress field, but also by the variant movement between the Yulong-Haba range and Lijiang basin. The two kinds of dynamic processes form the characteristics of seismotectonic environment of occurring the 1996 Lijiang earthquake.