Assessment of soil factors controlling ephemeral gully erosion on agricultural fields

The soil factor is crucial in controlling and properly modeling the initiation and development of ephemeral gullies (EGs). Usually, EG initiation has been related to various soil properties (i.e. sealing, critical shear stress, moisture, texture, etc.); meanwhile, the total growth of each EG (erosion rate) has been linked with proper soil erodibility. But, despite the studies to determine the influence of soil erodibility on (ephemeral) gully erosion, a universal approach is still lacking. This is due to the complex relationship and interactions between soil properties and the erosive process. A feasible soil characterization of EG erosion prediction on a large scale should be based on simple, quick and inexpensive tests to perform. The objective of this study was to identify and assess the soil properties – easily and quickly to determine – which best reflect soil erodibility on EG erosion. Forty‐nine different physical–chemical soil properties that may participate in establishing soil erodibility were determined on agricultural soils affected by the formation of EGs in Spain and Italy. Experiments were conducted in the laboratory and in the field (in the vicinity of the erosion paths). Because of its importance in controlling EG erosion, five variables related to antecedent moisture prior to the event that generated the gullies and two properties related to landscape topography were obtained for each situation. The most relevant variables were detected using multivariate analysis. The results defined 13 key variables: water content before the initiation of EGs, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, relative sealing index, two granulometric and organic matter indices, seal permeability, aggregates stability (three index), crust penetration resistance, shear strength and an erodibility index obtained from the Jet Test erosion apparatus. The latter is proposed as a useful technique to evaluate and predict soil loss caused by EG erosion. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hillslope hydrology in tropical rainforest steeplands in Brunei

Many remaining areas of tropical rainforest in south‐east Asia are located on landscapes dominated by deep valleys and very steep slopes. Now that logging activities are extending into these steeplands, it is essential to understand how the natural rainforest system behaves if any kind of realistic assessment of the effects of such disturbance is to be made. This paper examines the hydrological behaviour of an undisturbed rainforest system on steep topography in the Temburong District of Brunei, north‐west Borneo. The physical and hydrological properties of the regolith material are generally typical of tropical residual soils. The regolith has a clay texture and a low dry bulk density beneath a superficial litter/organic horizon. The infiltration capacity of the surface soil was several hundred mm h⁻¹. That of the exposed mineral subsoil was an order of magnitude less, similar to the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat) of around 180 mm h⁻¹ at a depth of 150 cm. There was no indication that K_sat reduced with depth except very near the bedrock interface. Soil tensions were measured using a two‐dimensional array of tensiometers on a 30° slope. During dry season conditions, infiltrating rain‐water contributes to soil moisture, and drying of the soil is dominated by transpiration losses. During wet season conditions, perched water tables quickly develop during heavy rainfall, giving rise to the rapid production of return flow in ephemeral channels. No infiltration excess or saturation overland flow was observed on hillslopes away from channel margins. Subsurface storm flow combined with return flow produce stream flow hydrographs with high peak discharges and very short lag times. Storm event runoff coefficients are estimated to be as high as 40%. It is concluded that the most distinctive feature of the hydrology of this ‘steepland rainforest’ is the extremely ‘flashy’ nature of the catchment runoff regime produced by the combination of thin but very permeable regolith on steep slopes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetic properties as indicators of pedogenic and pyrogenic processes at the Upper Paleolithic site of Kostenki 14

In geoarchaeological studies, there is an issue with distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic signals in pedological paleoarchives. With the pedostratigraphy of the Upper Paleolithic site of Kostenki 14, this issue is reflected by problems with the determination of features of pedogenic and pyrogenic processes. This issue was addressed by means of a thorough analysis of the magnetic properties of paleosols accompanied by micromorphological observations. Most of the humic samples were shown to be a result of pedogenesis, but two samples (a Paleolithic hearth sample and a sample from paleosol IIc) had features of intensely burnt material. The difference in the typical intensity of large-scale (natural or human-induced) and local-scale anthropogenic fire allowed for suggesting that the magnetic properties of the burnt sample were the result of an anthropogenically controlled fire event, that is, a hearth. This study shows that the magnetic properties of paleosols can be used to differentiate anthropogenic activity, in particular—burning, from pedogenic processes. This indicator is especially helpful in finding disturbed combustion features when the hearth structure is lost. This methodology used to demonstrate the local human-induced pyrogenic effect at the Upper Paleolithic site can contribute to the discussion of the niche construction effect of human activities in the Pleistocene.     

Evaluation of clayed silt properties on the behavior of hydrate production in South China Sea

Gas hydrate is one kind of potential energy resources that is buried under deep seafloor or frozen areas. The first trial offshore production from the silty reservoir was conducted in the South China Sea by the China Geological Survey (CGS). During this test, there were many unique characteristics different from the sand reservoir, which was believed to be related to the clayed silt physical properties. In this paper, simulation experiments, facilities analysis, and theoretical calculation were used to confirm the hydrate structure, reservoir thermo-physical property, and bond water movement rule. And the behavior of how they affected production efficiency was analyzed. The results showed that: It was reasonable to use the structure I rather than structure II methane hydrate phase equilibrium data to make the production plan; the dissociation heat absorbed by hydrate was large enough to cause hydrate self-protection or reformation depend on the reservoir thermal transfer and gas supply; clayed silt got better thermal conductivity compared to coarse grain, but poor thermal convection especially with hydrate; clayed silt sediment was easy to bond water, but the irreducible water can be exchanged to free water under high production pressure, and the most obvious pressure range of water increment was 1.9–4.9 MPa.     

热处理砂岩微观结构及力学性质试验研究

采用核磁共振、电镜扫描、X射线衍射、单轴压缩等试验手段对某砂岩试样不同温度下（25～900 ℃）微观结构及力学性质的变化情况进行研究。研究表明：温度对砂岩试样微观结构具有重要影响,试样总孔隙率随温度的升高而升高,在150 ℃以下,由于中、大孔隙的减少,试样渗透性反而降低;当温度超过600 ℃时,中、大孔隙快速增加,试样渗透性能大幅增加;温度升高导致砂岩试样弹性模量减小、峰值应变增大以及孔隙压密阶段变长,宏观表现为脆性降低、塑性明显增强;热处理条件下,除微观结构的变化会导致砂岩试样力学强度改变外,试样矿物成分对其力学强度也具有十分重要的影响;450 ℃以下,由于矿物成分变化较小,试样力学强度主要受到孔隙度增加的影响,表现为强度随温度升高而降低;450～600 ℃,虽然孔隙率继续增长,但由于主要矿物高岭石发生脱水以及与其他离子形成新相矿物,进而导致试样强度没有随着孔隙增加而降低,反而出现一定的增长;超过600 ℃后,孔隙尤其是大孔隙的急剧增加,导致强度重新开始降低。     

烃源岩不同性质有机酸的分离及其检测方法

烃源岩中的有机酸来源于有机质,但有机质具有不同的赋存形式,有机酸具有不同性质,这将影响有机酸与不同赋存有机质的关系,进而影响分离和检测方法。文章在总结前人对有机质赋存形式和有机酸性质等特征的基础上,提出烃源岩中的有机酸并以非单一的形式存在,具有水溶性、脂溶性和难溶性有机酸三种类型,游离有机质中存在水溶性和脂溶性有机酸,而结合有机质中存在水溶性、脂溶性和难溶性有机酸。因此在检测方法上需采取分步分离的方法,且根据有机酸的性质选取合适的检测方法,即水溶性有机酸利用离子色谱检测,索氏抽提得到的脂溶性有机酸利用气相色谱—质谱检测,通过酸解抽提残渣得到的难溶性有机酸利用红外光谱检测,全面系统地认识烃源岩中有机酸含量和类型等特征。这对进一步探讨烃源岩各种类型有机酸特征和演化规律,深化烃源岩有机质生烃以及有机—无机相互作用等机理都具有重要意义。     

我国红黏土物理力学性能研究现状及展望

采用文献综述研究方法,梳理了红黏土研究成果并进行了评述,对红黏土的物理力学性质进行了归纳和总结,对红黏土的性能改良研究成果进行了汇总,指出红黏土的物理力学性能的差异性根源在于微观结构的个性差异存在,红黏土性能改良的困难在于红黏土的水敏性和热敏性,红黏土性能改良的关键在于控制其含水率。最后指出了研究不足在于普适性理论和知识体系没有构建,改良方法和技术探究应该加强,展望了红黏土性能改良的物理—化学—生物耦合作用的机理及复合技术开发和应用的研究。     

Thresholds for post-wildfire debris flows: Insights from the Pinal Fire,Arizona, USA

Wildfire significantly alters the hydrologic properties of a burned area, leading to increases in overland flow, erosion, and the potential for runoff-generated debris flows. The initiation of debris flows in recently burned areas is well characterized by rainfall intensity-duration (ID) thresholds. However, there is currently a paucity of data quantifying the rainfall intensities required to trigger post-wildfire debris flows, which limits our understanding of how and why rainfall ID thresholds vary in different climatic and geologic settings. In this study, we monitored debris-flow activity following the Pinal Fire in central Arizona, which differs from both a climatic and hydrogeomorphic perspective from other regions in the western United States where ID thresholds for post-wildfire debris flows are well established, namely the Transverse Ranges of southern California. Since the peak rainfall intensity within a rainstorm may exceed the rainfall intensity required to trigger a debris flow, the development of robust rainfall ID thresholds requires knowledge of the timing of debris flows within rainstorms. Existing post-wildfire debris-flow studies in Arizona only constrain the peak rainfall intensity within debris-flow-producing storms, which may far exceed the intensity that actually triggered the observed debris flow. In this study, we used pressure transducers within five burned drainage basins to constrain the timing of debris flows within rainstorms. Rainfall ID thresholds derived here from triggering rainfall intensities are, on average, 22 mm h⁻¹ lower than ID thresholds derived under the assumption that the triggering intensity is equal to the maximum rainfall intensity recorded during a rainstorm. We then use a hydrologic model to demonstrate that the magnitude of the 15-min rainfall ID threshold at the Pinal Fire site is associated with the rainfall intensity required to exceed a recently proposed dimensionless discharge threshold for debris-flow initiation. Model results further suggest that previously observed differences in regional ID thresholds between Arizona and the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California may be attributed, in large part, to differences in the hydraulic properties of burned soils. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

超声波和改性粘土集成技术在去除蓝藻水华上的应用

近年来,改性粘土除藻技术广泛应用于"水华"的治理当中,其原理是藻类与改性粘土絮凝后自然沉降.通过对铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa)、集胞藻(Synechocystis sp.)和小球藻(Chlorella vulgaris)的絮凝比较,发现具气囊的铜绿微囊藻比其他两种藻发生再悬浮的幅度更大,次数更多.针对我国的水华藻类是以微囊藻(Microcystis sp.)等为主的情况,研究超声波和改性粘土集成技术对藻类的去除效果.结果表明,超声波和改性粘土集成技术能将藻类去除率明显提高,该法的絮体稳定性比单一絮凝法明显增强,且对群体形态的藻的去除率提升效果更好.另外,在40kHz、160W超声辐照下,铜绿微囊藻的气囊去除率在95%以上,但细胞壁保持完好,细胞活性不变,藻毒素不会因细胞破裂而释放,因此超声波和改性粘土集成方法,是治理我国蓝藻水华的有效方法.     

Optical properties and surface energy flux of spring fast ice in the Arctic

Over the past decades, sea ice in the polar regions has been significantly affecting local and even hemispheric climate through a positive ice albedo feedback mechanism. The role of fast ice, as opposed to drift ice, has not been well-studied due to its relatively small coverage over the earth. In this paper, the optical properties and surface energy balance of land fast ice in spring are studied using in situ observations in Barrow, Alaska. The results show that the albedo of the fast ice varied between 0.57 and 0.85 while the transmittance increased from 1.3×10?3 to 4.1×10?3 during the observation period. Snowfall and air temperature affected the albedo and absorbance of sea ice, but the transmittance had no obvious relationship with precipitation or snow cover. Net solar shortwave radiation contributes to the surface energy balance with a positive 99.2% of the incident flux, with sensible heat flux for the remaining 0.8%. Meanwhile, the ice surface loses energy through the net longwave radiation by 18.7% of the total emission, while the latent heat flux accounts for only 0.1%. Heat conduction is also an important factor in the overall energy budget of sea ice, contributing 81.2% of the energy loss. Results of the radiative transfer model reveal that the spectral transmittance of the fast ice is determined by the thickness of snow and sea ice as well as the amount of inclusions. As major inclusions, the ice biota and particulates have a significant influence on the magnitude and distribution of the spectral transmittance. Based on the radiative transfer model, concentrations of chlorophyll and particulate in the fast ice are estimated at 5.51 mg/m2 and 95.79 g/m2, which are typical values in the spring in Barrow.