Morphometry of Quartz Aggregates in Granites: Fractal Images Referring to Nucleation and Growth Processes

Knowledge of mineral aggregate morphologies is of importance to analyze characteristic differences in rock-forming features. For quantifying these differences, the fractal geometry of quartz aggregate cuts digitized from polish sections of different types of granites has been studied. As an approach to measure fractal dimension (D), a power-law dependence of square of aggregate cuts on their linear size has been used. The D values thus calculated mainly increase from 1.48–1.62 for amazonite granites to 1.63–1.70 for alaskite granites and 1.75–1.81 for standard granites. To account for the data of morphometry, the model of nucleation and growth as applied to silicate melt freezing has been considered. For comparison between the nature and model textures, the fractal properties of cluster cuts in the system of overlapping spheres randomly distributed with random radii have been investigated through computer simulation. It has been demonstrated that the distributions of quartz aggregates in granites may be simulated by homogeneous or heterogeneous Poisson models, and both order of crystallization and metamorphic recrystallization should be taken for explaining textural variability. The results of the simulation have enabled the granitic texture to be discussed with respect to the random configuration of the spatial percolation cluster.     

Correlation Analysis of the Ultrasonic Emission from Loaded Rock Samples – the Study of Interaction of Microcracking Nucleation Centres

Summary.  The locations of fractures within loaded rock samples are distributed irregularly because of the presence of inhomogeneities in the rock sample, the existence of primary microcracks and non-uniformly distributed stress. In the case of brittle fracture, the positions of these fractures can be determined by locating the foci of ultrasonic events that occur during fracturing. In some cases, the foci cluster into clouds that are restricted spatially and are referred to as nucleation centres. The purpose of this research was to determine the mutual relationship between the various nucleation centres, by cross-correlating the time-series of ultrasonic events produced by microcracking in the individual, separate nucleation centres. An additional goal was to assess the effect of the existence of such nucleation centres on the autocorrelation parameters. This study showed that the separate nucleation centres did not appear to influence one another even during the final stages of fracturing. Until now, autocorrelation analysis of acoustic emission time sequences has been applied to evaluate the mutual influence of individual events that occur in the whole sample volume, regardless of their location. In a previous study, it was found that before the total fracturing of the sample, the autocorrelation parameters changed significantly due to the increase in mutual relationship between successive events. In this study the separated nucleation centres determined by locating the ultrasonic events were subjected to autocorrelation analysis. It was demonstrated that, in the case of critical loading of the sample, the mutual influence between the events of a given nucleation centre can be observed. The experiments have demonstrated that the autocorrelation has a precursory nature and have shown that there is a significant difference in the autocorrelation parameters calculated between the set of all recorded events, and the specific sub-set. These differences must be taken into account when applying statistical predictions, for example, in the study of rock bursts. Author’s address: Jan Vilhelm, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague, Czech Republic     

Vesicle layering in solidified intrusive magma bodies: a newly recognized type of igneous structure

 We report a novel type of layering structure in igneous rocks. The layering structure in the Ogi picrite sill in Sado Island, Japan, is spatially periodic, and appears to be caused by the variation in vesicle volume fraction. The gas phase forming the vesicles apparently exsolved from the interstitial melt at the final stage of solidification of the magma body. We call this type of layering caused by periodic vesiculation in the solidifying magma body "vesicle layering." The presence of vesicle layering in other basic igneous bodies (pillow lava at Ogi and dolerite sill at Atsumi, Japan) implies that it may be a fairly common igneous feature. The width of individual layers slightly, but regularly, increases with distance from the upper contact. The layering plane is perpendicular to the long axes of columnar joints, regardless of gravitational direction, suggesting that the formation of vesicles is mainly controlled by the temperature distribution in the cooling magma body. We propose a model of formation of vesicle layering which is basically the same as that for Liesegang rings. The interplay between the diffusion of heat and magmatic volatiles in melt, and the sudden vesiculation upon supersaturation, both play important roles. Received: 15 February 1996 / Accepted: 24 June 1996     

The damage mechanics of brittle solids in compression

The development of microcrack damage in brittle solids in compression is analyzed, using a simple model. The model is developed from recent detailed analysis of the initiation, propagation and linkage of microfractures from pre-existing cracks, voids, or other inhomogeneities. It describes the evolution of damage with strain and from it a criteria for failure can be established. The results are used to construct failure surfaces in stress space which combine information about brittle failure with data describing the onset of plastic yielding. Such failure surfaces are constructed for a number of rocks and are compared with previously published experimental data.     

Ice Nucleation of Cirrus Clouds Related to the Transported Dust Layer Observed by Ground-Based Lidars over Wuhan,China

Cirrus clouds related to transported dust layers were identified on 22 occasions with ground-based polarization lidar from December 2012 to February 2018 over Wuhan (30.5°N, 114.4°E), China. All the events occurred in spring and winter. Cirrus clouds were mostly located above 7.6 km on top of the aloft dust layers. In-cloud relative humidity with respect to ice (RH_i) derived from water vapor Raman lidar as well as from ERA5 reanalysis data were used as criteria to determine the possible ice nucleation regimes. Corresponding to the two typical cases shown, the observed events can be classified into two categories: (1) category A (3 cases), in-cloud peak RH_i ≥ 150%, indicating competition between heterogeneous nucleation and homogeneous nucleation; and (2) category B (19 cases), in-cloud peak RH_i < 150%, revealing that only heterogeneous nucleation was involved. Heterogeneous nucleation generally took place during instances of cirrus cloud formation in the upper troposphere when advected dust particles were present. Although accompanying cloud-top temperatures ranged from –51.9°C to –30.4°C, dust-related heterogeneous nucleation contributed to primary ice nucleation in cirrus clouds by providing ice nucleating particle concentrations on the order of 10^?3 L^?1 to 10² L^?1. Heterogeneous nucleation and subsequent crystal growth reduced the ambient RH_i to be less than 150% by consuming water vapor and thus completely inhibited homogeneous nucleation.     

二水硫酸钙结晶动力学研究

主要研究了过饱和溶液中CaSO4 ·2H2 O晶体成核及生长现象 ,同时对垢的形成机理进行了探讨。实验表明 ,成核延迟时间随溶液过饱和度增大而减小 ;CaSO4 ·2H2 O晶体生长属于表面反应控制 ,且与粒径相关 ,当温度为 3 0℃ ,粒径为2 8～ 67μm ,Ca2 + 浓度为 0 .0 3 5mol/L时 ,晶体生长速度在 0 .5× 10 - 8～ 5 .8× 10 - 8m/s之间     

播撒碘化银粒子进行人工防雹的数值试验

本文在二维完全弹性冰雹云数值模式中，引入冰晶浓度和播撒物质AgI粒子的守恒方程，建立了一个二维催化模式，考虑了人工冰核的三种成核机制，即凝华核化（包含凝结—冻结核化）及与云、雨滴的接触冻结核化，模拟了几种不同冰雹云、不同催化方案下的人工防雹催化效果，指出了防雹的最佳催化方案和适宜催化作业的冰雹云条件。