The use of X-ray tomography in the study of water repellents and consolidants

To reduce the weathering rate of natural building stones, a wide variety of water repellents and consolidants are commercially available. Although a lot of research is performed on these products, it remains difficult to determine which product is appropriate to use for a certain type of building stone. Each type of building stone has its own petrographic characteristics (mineralogy, texture, …), leading to typical physical and technical properties which influence its rate of decay. The localisation of the products inside a stone type is not only depending on the properties of the products themselves, but also linked to the texture and structure of the stone. The impregnation depth of the products strongly influences their efficiency and is therefore a key issue in the determination if a product is functional for a certain type of stone. X-ray micro-CT has recently been introduced as a non-destructive material evaluation technique for engineering and geology purposes. The fact that micro-CT can provide information about the internal structure and properties of natural building stones, is a major advantage in the study of their conservation. Firmly linked with more classical research techniques, this non-destructive technique offers an extra dimension to the cultural heritage research.In this paper, non-destructive X-ray computed micro-tomography (micro-CT) turns out to be a powerful tool as it can visualise the presence of water repellents and consolidants inside the stone and can help to detect the influence that these treatments exert on porosity and pore-size distribution. For the visualization of the product its atomic number and density and the amount of product inside the natural building stone is crucial. Besides the contrast in attenuation, the resolution of the micro-CT also needs to be taken into account to obtain a good contrast between stone and product. By doping with 3-bromopropyltrimethoxysilane, more contrast occurs between the stone material and the conservation product. When the amount of product inside the samples is very low and the product is homogeneously spread inside the sample, the doped product is difficult to distinguish from the stone material due to the resolution of the micro-CT. When the amount of doped product inside the stone material reaches a certain threshold value, the dope will appear in the 2D cross-sections derived from micro-CT, creating a good visualization of the products inside the stone samples.     

Natural Attenuation of Fuel Hydrocarbon Contaminants:Correlation of Biodegradation with Hydraulic Conductivity in a Field Case Study

Two biodegradation models are developed torepresent natural attenuation of fuel－hydrocarbon contaminants as observed in a comprehensive natural-gradient tracer test in a heterogeneous aquifer on the Columbus Air Force Basein Mississippi,USA．The first, a first-order mass loss model,describes the irreversible losses of BTEX and its individual components, i．e．,benzene（B）,toluene（T）,ethyl benzene（E）,and xylene（X）．The second, a reactive pathway model,describe ssequential degradation pathways for BTEX utilizing multiple electron acceptors,including oxygen,nitrate,iron and sulfate,and via methanogenesis．The heterogeneous aquifer is represented by multiple hydraulic conductivity（ K） zones delineated on the basis of numerous flowmeter K measurements．A direct propagation artificial neural network（DPN）is used as an inverse modeling tool to estimate the biodegradation rate constants associated with each of the K zones．In both the mass loss model and the reactive pathway model,the biodegradation rate constants show an increasing trend with the hydraulic conductivity．The finding of correlation between biodegradation kinetics and hydraulic conductivity distributions is of general interest and relevance to characterization and modeling of natural attenuation of hydrocarbons in other petroleum-product contaminated sites．     

A sand-production control system for gas production from clayey silt hydrate reservoirs

Sand production is a crucial problem during the process of extracting natural gas from hydrate reservoirs. To deal with sand-production problems systematically, a sand-production control system (SCS) is first proposed in this paper, specialized for pore-distributed clayey silt hydrate reservoirs. Secondly, a nodal system analysis method (NSAM) is applied to analyze the sand migration process during hydrate exploitation. The SCS is divided into three sub-systems, according to different sand migration mechanisms, and three key scientific problems and advances in SCS research in China Geological Survey are reviewed and analyzed. The maximum formation sanding rate, proper sand-control gravel size, and borehole blockage risk position were provided for clayey hydrate exploitation wells based on the SCS analysis. The SCS sub-systems are closely connected via bilateral coupling, and coordination of the subsystems is the basis of maintaining formation stability and prolonging the gas production cycle. Therefore, contradictory mitigation measures between sand production and operational systems should be considered preferentially. Some novel and efficient hydrate exploitation methods are needed to completely solve the contradictions caused by sand production.© 2019 China Geology Editorial Office.     

我国旅游地理研究格局及热点分析

以国家自然科学基金2000—2019年资助的560项旅游类课题为数据来源,对课题立项的时空分布、承担单位、负责人等进行统计分析,构建由6个主类和15个亚类组成的旅游地理问题分类体系,运用词频统计和内容分析法,总结我国旅游地理研究格局和热点发展态势。研究发现：2000年至2019年间,自然基金委对旅游类课题的资助力度不断加强,总体呈先缓慢、后迅速增长、再大幅提升后保持平稳发展的态势,资助空间分布呈“东高西低”的特点,课题依托单位明显优势集中,课题承担人则呈离散分布;旅游流、旅游产业发展、旅游交通等研究主题热度逐渐减弱,旅游者行为和感知、旅游的社会文化影响、旅游地空间、典型旅游地保护和开发、旅游生态环境等主题热度明显上升,在此基础上对各热点主题历年变化特征和规律进行归纳总结。本文更新和拓展了以往同类研究发现,对旅游学者进行研究选题和课题申报有参考和指导意义。     

Spinning in circles? A systematic review on the role of theory in social vulnerability,resilience and adaptation research

An increasing number of publications focus on social vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation (SVRA) towards natural hazards and climate change. Despite this proliferation of research, a systematic understanding of how these studies are theoretically grounded is lacking. Here, we systematically reviewed 4432 articles that address SVRA in various disciplinary fields (e.g. psychology, sociology, geography, mathematics) for various hazards, including floods, droughts, landslides, storm surges, wildfires, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions. We focus on the extent to which these studies explicate the frameworks, theoretical constructs or theories they rely on. Surprisingly, we found that about 90% of the reviewed studies do not explicitly refer to a theoretical underpinning. Overall, theories focusing on individuals’ SVRA were more frequently used than those focusing on systems, society, groups, and networks. Moreover, the uptake of theories varied according to the hazard investigated and field of knowledge, being more frequent in wildfire and flood studies and articles published in social science journals. Based on our analysis, we propose a reflexive handling of theories to foster more transparent, comparable, and robust empirical research on SVRA.     

The progress of human geography in China under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China

This paper analyzes the role of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in advancing human geography in China by focusing on five key research areas: land use, urban systems and urban agglomeration, economic globalization, climate change and social and cultural geographies. All NSFC-funded human geography programs related to these five topics from 1986 to 2017 comprise the sample for analysis, and the research topics, content, teams, and peer-reviewed journal publications supported by these programs are investigated. Specifically, this paper analyzes the NSFC’s promotion of the expansion of research topics in response to national developmental needs and the shifting frontiers of human geography research internationally, its enhancement of interdisciplinary research, and its contributions to the assembly of specialized research teams. The paper also reports important progress in Chinese human geography over the past 30 years through the institutional lens of the NSFC, revealing major characteristics and trends in the discipline. The paper concludes by calling for further collaboration between the research community and the NSFC for the development of a locally suitable and globally influential Chinese human geography.     

国家自然科学基金项目资助的地貌学研究现状与效应

通过对2010-2015年国家自然科学基金资助下地貌学研究项目的总体状况、项目类型、依托单位、研究区域、人才队伍、研究热点、成果产出、获奖及社会效应等方面的分析,归纳概括地貌学的研究现状与态势等。结果表明：近5年来,地貌学获得的资助项目呈上升趋势,相关研究不断深入,各类研究团队显著壮大;研究系统已由高等院校为主逐渐发展成高等院校与科研机构并行的格局;不同地域地貌学研究的发展程度、研究对象及热点问题均表现出一定的区域不均衡性;构造、河流水文、黄土、冰川、风沙等是目前中国地貌学研究的主体方向。从资助项目的研究成果和产生效应来看,地貌学研究得到恢复和较快速发展,发表论文的数量和质量稳步提升,资助项目成果获奖层次高、社会效益显著。     

Dehydration experiments on natural omphacites: qualitative and quantitative characterization by various spectroscopic methods

A series of natural omphacites from a wide range of P, T occurrences were investigated by electron microprobe (EMP), infrared (IR)-, Mössbauer (MS)- and optical spectroscopy in the UV/VIS spectral range (UV/VIS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and single crystal structure refinement by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to study the influence of hydrogen loss on valence state and site occupancies of iron. In accordance with literature data we found Fe²⁺ at M1 as well as at M2, and in a first approach assigned Fe³⁺ to M1, as indicated by MS and XRD results. Hydrogen content of three of our omphacite samples were measured by SIMS. In combination with IR spectroscopy we determined an absorption coefficient: ε _i,tot = 65,000 ± 3,000 lmol_H2O ^?1 cm^?2. Using this new ε _i,tot value, we obtained water concentrations ranging from 60 to 700 ppm H₂O (by weight). Hydrogen loss was simulated by stepwise heating the most water rich samples in air up to 800°C. After heat treatment the samples were analyzed again by IR, MS, UV/VIS, and XRD. Depending on the type of the OH defect, the grade of dehydration with increasing temperature is significantly different. In samples relatively poor in Fe³⁺ (<0.1 Fe³⁺ pfu), hydrogen associated with vacancies at M2 (OH bands around 3,450 cm^?1) starts to leave the structure at about 550°C and is completely gone at 780°C. Hydrogen associated with Al³⁺ at the tetrahedral site (OH bands around 3,525 cm^?1, Koch-Müller et al., Am Mineral, 89:921–931, 2004) remains completely unaffected by heat treatment up to 700°C. But all hydrogen vanished at about 775°C. However, this is different for a more Fe³⁺-rich sample (0.2 Fe³⁺ pfu). Its IR spectrum is characterized by a very intense OH band at 3,515 cm^?1 plus shoulder at 3,450 cm^?1. We assign this intense high-energy band to vibrations of an OH dipole associated with Fe³⁺ at M1 and a vacancy either at M1 or M2. OH release during heating is positively correlated with decrease in Fe²⁺ and combined with increase in Fe³⁺. That dehydration is correlated with oxidation of Fe²⁺ is indirectly confirmed by annealing of one sample in a gas mixing furnace at 700°C under reducing conditions keeping almost constant OH^? content and giving no indication of Fe²⁺-oxidation. Obtained data indicate that in samples with a relatively high concentration of Fe²⁺ at M2 and low-water concentrations, i.e., at a ratio of Fe^{2+ M2}/H > 10 dehydration occurs by iron oxidation of Fe²⁺ exclusively at the M2 site following the reaction: \( {\left[ {{\text{Fe}}^{{{\text{2 + [ M2]}}}}{\text{OH}}^{ - } } \right]} = {\left[ {{\text{Fe}}^{{{\text{3 + [ M2]}}}} {\text{O}}^{{{\text{2}} - }} } \right]} + {\text{1/2}}\;{\text{H}}_{{\text{2}}} \uparrow . \) In samples having relatively low concentration of Fe²⁺ at M2 but high-water concentrations, i.e., ratio of Fe^{2+ M2}/H < 5.0 dehydration occurs through oxidation of Fe²⁺ at M1.     

Exploitation or 'Wise Use' of the Coongie Lakes,South Australia: Issues arising from a petroleum exploration proposal

The exploitation of natural resources within areas that are valued for their environmental qualities raises competing emotions. This paper considers a proposal to undertake petroleum exploration in an area of recognised environmental value, namely, the Coongie Lakes of far north-east South Australia. In development cases such as this, the level of inquiry needs to address environmental, social, cultural and economic issues from a range of interest groups; therefore, the process of assessment is a crucial factor in minimising conflict and meeting the wishes of the stakeholders. In the example of Coongie Lakes, the chosen method failed. This paper discusses the perspectives of the major stakeholders, the process of assessment undertaken, and the criticisms directed at this process. The apparent inadequacies of the assessment process undertaken are then highlighted, and an alternative assessment procedure suggested.     

渤海湾西北岸泻湖自然演变及其人为陆化

渤海湾西北岸发育有中纬度地区典型的滨外沙坝泻湖及沿岸沙坝泻湖。泻湖不仅是该海岸区域内的一个重要组成部分,同时亦是海岸带自然资源丰富的地带。然而,由于泻湖的自然演变退化,更重要的是人类活动的影响,致使泻湖生境遭到严重破坏,同时也加速了泻湖陆化消亡过程。本文以渤海湾西北岸泻湖为例,讨论了泻湖的自然演变及其人为陆化问题。