Influence of vegetation on aeolian sand transport rate from a backshore to a foredune at Hasaki, Japan

The influence of vegetation on aeolian sediment transport rate in the region from a backshore to a foredune was investigated at the Hasaki Coast in Japan, where an onshore wind was predominant and the creeping beach grasses Carex kobomugi and Calystegia soldanella were major species. The comparison of cross-shore distributions of the cross-shore component of aeolian sand transport rate with and without vegetation, which were estimated on the basis of the beach profile changes and a mass conservation equation, showed that the creeping grasses influenced the aeolian sand transport rate. The landward aeolian sand transport rate rapidly decreased landward from the seaward limit of vegetation when the grasses grew. The aeolian sand transport rate reduced by 95% with a vegetation cover of 28%. On the other hand, when the grasses were absent, the landward aeolian sand transport rate did not decrease near the seaward vegetation limit, but near the foot of the foredune.     

Simplified Method for the Assessment of the Stiffness Anisotropy of Rocks at Small Strains

Summary A new, practically applicable method for characterizing the stiffness anisotropy of rocks is presented. The anisotropy of geo-materials is often ignored in engineering applications, with potentially serious ramifications, because of the number of parameters required for characterization. The elastic anisotropy has often been considered to be a function of mathematical symmetry, and the restrictions due to layering, microcracking and granularity of the materials have not been considered in the assessment of the anisotropy. The practicality of the method proposed here is achieved by rationally reducing the number of independent anisotropy parameters, typically 9 for orthotropic anisotropy, to a system of 4 independent parameters through a systematic theoretical and experimental analysis of these structural restrictions. These 4 parameters are shown to be sufficient for describing the anisotropy of some rocks and sands at small strains, and parameter determination by back-analysis is demonstrated to be stable using appropriate measurement systems involving 9 elastic wave velocities even when the directions of anisotropic axes are unknown and the velocity data contains appreciable error.     

Genealogy of hypoplasticity and barodesy

This article is an attempt at providing an insight into the development of hypoplasticity (including barodesy, which is a recent development of hypoplasticity) as a theory elaborated since 1977, when the first version was published by the first author, until present. The multiplicity of the many versions published since then is hard to overlook. This article presents a review and insight into the evolution of a theory and the struggle to formulate a satisfactory constitutive law. Among the many proposed versions, we focus on those ones that can be seen as changes of paradigm. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variability in bedform morphology and kinematics with transport stage

Bedform geometry is widely recognized to be a function of transport stage. Bedform aspect ratio (height/length) increases with transport stage, reaches a maximum, then decreases as bedforms washout to a plane bed. Bedform migration rates are also linked to bedform geometry, in so far as smaller bedforms in coarser sediment tend to migrate faster than larger bedforms in finer sediment. However, how bedform morphology (height, length and shape) and kinematics (translation and deformation) change with transport stage and suspension have not been examined. A series of experiments is presented where initial flow depth and grain size were held constant and the transport stage was varied to produce bedload dominated, mixed‐load dominated and suspended‐load dominated conditions. The results show that the commonly observed pattern in bedform aspect ratio occurs because bedform height increases then decreases with transport stage, against a continuously increasing bedform length. Bedform size variability increased with transport stage, leading to less uniform bedform fields at higher transport stage. Total translation‐related and deformation‐related sediment fluxes all increased with transport stage. However, the relative contribution to the total flux changed. At the bedload dominated stage, translation‐related and deformation‐related flux contributed equally to the total flux. As the transport stage increased, the fraction of the total load contributed by translation increased and the fraction contributed by deformation declined because the bedforms got bigger and moved faster. At the suspended‐load dominated transport stage, the deformation flux increased and the translation flux decreased as a fraction of the total load, approaching one and zero, respectively, as bedforms washed out to a plane bed.     

Provenance of Holocene beach sand in the Western Iberian margin: the use of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test for the deciphering of sediment recycling in a modern coastal system

Detrital zircons from Holocene beach sand and igneous zircons from the Cretaceous syenite forming Cape Sines (Western Iberian margin) were dated using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry. The U–Pb ages obtained were used for comparison with previous radiometric data from Carboniferous greywacke, Pliocene–Pleistocene sand and Cretaceous syenite forming the sea cliff at Cape Sines and the contiguous coast. New U–Pb dating of igneous morphologically simple and complex zircons from the syenite of the Sines pluton suggests that the history of zircon crystallization was more extensive (ca 87 to 74 Ma), in contrast to the findings of previous geochronology studies (ca 76 to 74 Ma). The U–Pb ages obtained in Holocene sand revealed a wide interval, ranging from the Cretaceous to the Archean, with predominance of Cretaceous (37%), Palaeozoic (35%) and Neoproterozoic (19%) detrital‐zircon ages. The paucity of round to sub‐rounded grains seems to indicate a short transportation history for most of the Cretaceous zircons (ca 95 to 73 Ma) which are more abundant in the beach sand that was sampled south of Cape Sines. Comparative analysis using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistical method, analysing sub‐populations separately, suggests that the zircon populations of the Carboniferous and Cretaceous rocks forming the sea cliff were reproduced faithfully in Quaternary sand, indicating sediment recycling. The similarity of the pre‐Cretaceous ages (>ca 280 Ma) of detrital zircons found in Holocene sand, as compared with Carboniferous greywacke and Pliocene–Pleistocene sand, provides support for the hypothesis that detritus was reworked into the beach from older sedimentary rocks exposed along the sea cliff. The largest percentage of Cretaceous zircons (<ca 95 Ma) found in Holocene sand, as compared with Pliocene–Pleistocene sand (secondary recycled source), suggests that the Sines pluton was the one of the primary sources that became progressively more exposed to erosion during Quaternary uplift. This work highlights the application of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov method in comparison of zircon age populations used to identify provenance and sediment recycling in modern and ancient detrital sedimentary sequences.     

The application of remote sensing data to diagnose soil degradation in the Dakhla depression – Western Desert,Egypt

Dakhla depression in Egypt’s Western Desert is experiencing two soil degradation processes, notably: soil salinization and sand encroachment. The present study aimed to diagnose the severity of these processes using remote sensing. Soil salinity was determined by spectral regression analysis between tasselled cap spectral transform extracted from a Landsat-8 image acquired in September 2013 along with synchronized soil salinity measurements. Assessment of sand advance rate was conducted by temporal change detection of brilliant crescentic sand dune visualized by Google Earth in old (2002) and recent (2013) images. Results showed that salinized soils (dS/m4<) represent 91% of bare lands and salinization is attributed to aridity, topography and poor drainage. Barchan dunes north and south of Abu Tartur escarpment moved at rates of 5.9 and 3.6 m/year, respectively. The escarpment protected the majority of the depression from massive dune invasion. However, sand encroachment is clearly observed west of the depression.     

Modification of strain wedge method for lateral soil-pile interaction in sandEI北大核心CSCD

A modified strain wedge (SW) method for analyzing the behavior of laterally loaded single piles in sand is proposed. The modified model assumes that the lateral displacements of a pile behind the three-dimensional passive soil wedge are nonlinear, which makes the horizontal soil strain variable with depths instead of a constant value in the original strain wedge model, and also employs two different hyperbolic models, one for describing horizontal stress increment-strain behavior of soil in the wedge, and the other for describing the shear stress-displacement property at the interface between soil and pile shafts. An example is analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the modified method, and a good agreement is obtained. Finally, the effects of modifications on the lateral bearing capacity of pile shafts are discussed. The results show that the problem of overestimating the lateral bearing capacity of piles with strain wedge method can be ameliorated by introducing the assumption of nonlinear lateral displacements of piles. It makes the SW method more convenient and effective in analyzing the behavior of laterally loaded piles by introducing the new relationships of horizontal stress increment-strain and shear stress-displacement.     

Characteristics and Origin of Tight Oil Accumulations in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation of the Ordos Basin, North-Central China

The Upper Triassic oil accumulations in the Ordos Basin is the most successful tight oil play in China,with average porosity values of less than 10% and permeability values below 1.0 mD.This study investigated the geological characteristics and origin of the tight oil accumulations in the Chang 6 member of the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Shanbei area based on over 50,000 petrological,source-rock analysis,well logging and production data.The tight oil accumulation of the Chang 6 member is distributed continuously in the basin slope and the centre of the basin.The oilwater relationships are complex.Laumontite dissolution pores are the most important storage spaces,constituting 30%-60% of total porosity and showing a strong positive relationship with oil production.The pore-throat diameter is less than 1 μm,and the calculated critical height of the oil column is much larger than the tight sand thickness,suggesting that the buoyancy was probably of limited importance for oil migration.The pressure difference between the source rocks and sandstone reservoirs is inferred to have provided driving force for hydrocarbon migration.Two factors of source-reservoir configuration and laumontite dissolution contributed to the formation of the Chang 6 tight oil accumulations.Intense hydrocarbon generation and continuous sand bodies close to the hydrocarbon kitchen are the foundation for the large-scale oil distribution.Dissolution of feldspar-laumontite during the process of organic matter evolution generated abundant secondary pores and improved the reservoir quality.     

Controls on reservoir heterogeneity of tight sand oil reservoirs in Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation in Longdong Area,southwest Ordos Basin,China: Implications for reservoir quality prediction and oil accumulation

Compared to conventional reservoirs, pore structure and diagenetic alterations of unconventional tight sand oil reservoirs are highly heterogeneous. The Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation is a major tight-oil-bearing formation in the Ordos Basin, providing an opportunity to study the factors that control reservoir heterogeneity and the heterogeneity of oil accumulation in tight oil sandstones.The Chang 8 tight oil sandstone in the study area is comprised of fine-to medium-grained, moderately to well-sorted lithic arkose and feldspathic litharenite. The reservoir quality is extremely heterogeneous due to large heterogeneities in the depositional facies, pore structures and diagenetic alterations. Small throat size is believed to be responsible for the ultra-low permeability in tight oil reservoirs. Most reservoirs with good reservoir quality, larger pore-throat size, lower pore-throat radius ratio and well pore connectivity were deposited in high-energy environments, such as distributary channels and mouth bars. For a given depositional facies, reservoir quality varies with the bedding structures. Massive- or parallel-bedded sandstones are more favorable for the development of porosity and permeability sweet zones for oil charging and accumulation than cross-bedded sandstones.Authigenic chlorite rim cementation and dissolution of unstable detrital grains are two major diagenetic processes that preserve porosity and permeability sweet zones in oil-bearing intervals. Nevertheless, chlorite rims cannot effectively preserve porosity-permeability when the chlorite content is greater than a threshold value of 7%, and compaction played a minor role in porosity destruction in the situation. Intensive cementation of pore-lining chlorites significantly reduces reservoir permeability by obstructing the pore-throats and reducing their connectivity. Stratigraphically, sandstones within 1 m from adjacent sandstone-mudstone contacts are usually tightly cemented (carbonate cement > 10%) with low porosity and permeability (lower than 10% and 0.1 mD, respectively). The carbonate cement most likely originates from external sources, probably derived from the surrounding mudstone. Most late carbonate cements filled the previously dissolved intra-feldspar pores and the residual intergranular pores, and finally formed the tight reservoirs.The petrophysical properties significantly control the fluid flow capability and the oil charging/accumulation capability of the Chang 8 tight sandstones. Oil layers usually have oil saturation greater than 40%. A pore-throat radius of less than 0.4 μm is not effective for producible oil to flow, and the cut off of porosity and permeability for the net pay are 7% and 0.1 mD, respectively.     

A late Holocene winter monsoon record inferred from the palaeo-aeolian sand dune in the southeastern Mu Us Desert, northern China

The variation of the Asian winter monsoonal strength has seriously affected the climate and environmental conditions in the Asian monsoonal region, and even in marginal islands and the ocean in the East Asian region. However, relevant understanding remains unclear due to the lack of suitable geological materials and effective proxies in the key study areas. Here, we present a grain-size record derived from the palaeo-aeolian sand dune in the southeastern Mu Us Desert, together with other proxies and OSL dating, which reflect a relatively detailed history of the winter monsoon and abrupt environmental events during the past 4.2 ka. Our grain-size standard deviation model indicated that >224 μm content can be considered as an indicator of the intensity of Asian winter monsoon, and it shows declined around 4.2-2.1 ka, enhanced but unstable in 2.1-0.9 ka, and obviously stronger since then. In addition, several typical climate events were also documented, forced by the periodic variation of winter monsoonal intensity. These include the cold intervals of 4.2, 2.8, 1.4 ka, and the Little Ice Age (LIA), and relatively warm sub-phases around 3.0, 2.1, 1.8 ka, and the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), which were roughly accordant with the records of the aeolian materials, peat, stalagmites, ice cores, and sea sediments in various latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Combined with the previous progresses of the Asian summer monsoon, we preliminarily confirmed a millennial-scale anti-correlation of Asian winter and summer monsoons in the Late Holocene epoch. This study suggests that the evolution of the palaeo-aeolian sand dune has the potential for comprehending the history of Asian monsoon across the desert regions of the modern Asian monsoonal margin in northern China.