Properties of iron at the Earth's core conditions

Summary. The phase diagram of iron up to 330 GPa is solved using the experimental data of static high pressure (up to 11 GPa) and the experimental data of shock wave data (up to 250 GPa). A solution for the highest triple point is found ( P = 280 GPa and T = 5760 K) by imposing the thermodynamic constraints of triple points. This pressure of the triple point is less than the pressure of the inner core–outer core boundary of the Earth. These results indicate that the density of iron at the inner core–outer core boundary pressure is close to 13 g cm⁻³, which lies close to the seismic solutions of the Earth at that pressure. It is thus concluded that the Earth's inner core is very likely to be virtually pure iron in its hexagonal close packed (hcp) phase.
It is shown that four properties of the Earth's inner core determined from seismology are close in value to the corresponding properties of hcp iron at inner core conditions: density, bulk modulus, longitudinal velocity, and Poisson's ratio. The density–pressure profile of hcp iron at inner core conditions matches the density–pressure profile of the inner core as determined by seismic methods, within the spread of values given by recent seismic models.
This indicates that the Earth is slowly cooling, the Earth's inner core is growing by crystallization, and the impurities of the core are concentrated in the outer core. The calculated temperature at the Earth's centre is 6450 K.     

Thresholds of geographic environmental elements in sediment yield of drainage basins

Threshold of environmental elements in drainage basin sediment yield refers to, under effect of climate, underlying surface and human activity, a turning point of abrupt changes in drainage sediment yield related to environmental element characteristics. Previous studies on threshold of sediment yield of relevant drainage basins were mainly concentrated on impact of natural zones with a few researches on impact of other environmental elements. Particularly studies on compound environmental element threshold in drainage basin sediment yield remain blank today. Studies indicate that sediment yield in drainage basins is affected by compound interactions and complex actions. Based on single element analysis, the present paper gives quantitatively compound threshold of environmental elements affecting sediment yield of the drainage basin between Hekouzhen and Tongguan in the middle Yellow River by the method of multi-variant, polynomial formula regression analysis.     

Reporting Bias as a Result of Core Loss at Las Cruces: A Case Study

The most important copper minerals of the Las Cruces deposit in the pyrite belt of southern Spain are supergene enrichment zone sulphides of which chalcocite is the most significant. The deposit is overlain by 140 metres of barren marls and has been explored only by drilling. Drill cores have been split and assayed, but it became clear that there was a substantial problem related to core recovery which affects, in particular, some of the higher grade material. Much of the chalcocite is present in a friable and unconsolidated form and its progressive loss is evident visually in many core samples. The result of this loss of chalcocite is that there is a systematic downward bias on copper assays, leading directly to under-reporting of the copper resource. Studies of the assay data indicate the likely degree of under-reporting, but there is no simple way in which the reported resource estimates can validly be corrected.     

用钢粒取心钻进钻穿孤石的方法

本文通过在厦门地区大直径桩孔钻遇“孤石”的施工实践，总结了一套利用钢粒取心钻进“孤石”的技术方法，有效地解决了钻进“孤石”效率低，易偏斜，事故多的技术难题。     

ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION IN THE TAIHU LAKE SEDIMENT

The concentrations of major elements and some trace elements were determined at 8 core locations in Taihu Lake. The chemical composition of the cores was related to the sediment particle size-chronology and location of sampling site.Concentrations of Al, Mg, K, Ca and Na, the major mineral species in the sediments, were generally uniform, with only slight fluctuation influenced by water waves and current. Surface enrichment of Cu, Zn, and Ni at some locations was observed to be greater than that of the sediments accumulated 100 years ago. The enrichment of these elements is attributed to anthropogenic input in recent years. Concentration profiles for Mn and Fe are related to the migration of these elements in the pore water.     

Transport of suspended matter in a bar-built Danish estuary

The river Varde Å discharges into the bay of Ho Bugt on the western coast of Jutland forming a small, bar-built estuary. This paper deals with tidal fluxes of water and sediment in the Varde Å estuary.The inflowing water at flood tide is part of a turbidity maximum in the northern part of the bay. At high tide slack water the suspended material deposits inside the estuary. During ebb-tide it is resuspended, and the estuary bottom is washed clean coinciding with the influx of relatively pure freshwater from the drainage area.From one station in the estuary mouth, current velocities and concentrations of suspended material have been measured during 10 tidal periods covering all four seasons. It is shown how these data can be used in a quantitative calculation of the transport of water and suspended material through the cross-section of study.A model has been formulated which—based on half-tidal periods—quantifies the transport of water and suspended material through the estuary mouth.The model is calibrated on the basis of measurements made during the above-mentioned 10 tidal periods. The rather small number of measurements is to some extent compensated for by a carefully pre-arranged selection of tidal periods.The model is discussed in relation to the prediction of net suspended transport through the estuary mouth in different weather and tidal situations.     

Environmental records of lacustrine sediments in different time scales: Sediment grain size as an example

Understanding the past is the key to know thepresent and to predict the future. As a core project ofthe International Geosphere Biosphere Program, PastGlobal Changes (PAGES) aims to reconstruct theevolution history of global climate, global environ-ment and global ecosystem with resort to all kinds ofnatural records, so as to reveal the change rules(change processes, change amplitude and change rate)of the global environment and thus provide scientificbasis for predicting climate changes p…     

Comparison of the dynamic response of a saturated soil between two models

The dynamic response of marine sediment to ocean surface waves is treated extremely by marine geotechnical and coastal engineers. In the area of conventional hydrodynamics, the assumption of im-permeable rigid seabed has been used as the boundary of water waves theories and the waves parameters de-duced from the theory have not referred to the interac-tion of water waves and seabed. In the area of soil mechanics, many engineers regard the response as slow loading according to the Zienkewiczs[1…