The stellar mass spectrum of the open cluster NGC 3293

We have obtained and analyzed UBVRI CCD frames of the young, 4–10 Myr, open cluster NGC 3293 and the surrounding field in order to study its stellar content and determine the cluster’s IMF. We found significantly fewer lower mass stars, M≤2.5M _⊙, than expected. This is particularly so if a single age for the cluster of 4.6 Myr is adopted as derived from fitting evolutionary models to the upper main sequence. Some intermediate-mass stars near the main sequence in the HR diagram imply an age for the cluster of about 10 Myr. When compared with the Scalo (The stellar initial mass function. ASP conference series, vol. 24, p. 201, 1998) IMF scaled to the cluster IMF in the intermediate mass range, 2.5≤M/M _⊙≤8.0 where there is good agreement, the high mass stars have a distinctly flatter IMF, indicating an over abundance of these stars, and there is a sharp turnover in the distribution at lower masses. The radial density distribution of cluster stars in the massive and intermediate mass regimes indicate that these stars are more concentrated to the cluster core whereas the lower-mass stars show little concentration. We suggest that this is evidence supporting the formation of massive stars through accretion and/or coagulation processes in denser cluster cores at the expense of the lower mass proto-stars. R.W. Slawson and E.P. Horch are guest investigators at the University of Toronto Southern Observatory, Las Campanas, Chile.     

黄河黑山峡大柳树坝坝址岩体渗漏量及灌浆量数值模拟研究

大坝坝址岩体的渗漏研究对于大坝的安全运营至关重要。在进行渗漏治理的措施中,灌浆是常见的一种,但目前确定灌浆的各项参数,如配合比,孔距等,需通过灌浆试验花费大量的人财物力及时间才能确定。为快速查清每一种灌浆方案所灌浆量,本文针对模拟坝址水库渗漏灌浆效果的三维数值模拟开展了计算研究。在对大柳树坝坝址岩体地质情况及渗漏情况分析的基础上,将蓄水前的地下水运移规律模拟出,与实际通过钻孔平硐资料及分析得出的实际地下水运移规律做比较,验证对地下水运移规律的假设;然后将蓄水后的地下水运移规律模拟出,确定地下水的运移规律,了解地下水运移的方向,验证与根据实际情况初步判断的地下水运移方向是否吻合;最后通过数值模拟确定在一定灌浆浆液配合比的情况下所需灌浆量与实际的灌浆试验结果做比较。得出结果与实际灌浆试验结果吻合,证明通过数值模拟,建立浆液配合比与灌浆效果之间的关系,在类似情况快速地选取配合比是可行的。     

大体积混凝土的施工控制要点

以邢台市七里河大桥为例,基于施工中采取的施工工艺,针对大体积混凝土出现温度裂缝的病害,提出了相应的施工控制要点。     

一个两时间层分裂显格式海洋环流模式(MASNUM)及其检验

A two-time-level, three-dimensional numerical ocean circulation model（named MASNUM） was established with a two-level, single-step Eulerian forward-backward time-differencing scheme. A mathematical model of large-scale oceanic motions was based on the terrain-following coordinated, Boussinesq, Reynolds-averaged primitive equations of ocean dynamics. A simple but very practical Eulerian forward-backward method was adopted to replace the most preferred leapfrog scheme as the time-differencing method for both barotropic and baroclinic modes. The forward-backward method is of second-order of accuracy, computationally efficient by requiring only one function evaluation per time step, and free of the computational mode inherent in the three-level schemes. This method is superior to the leapfrog scheme in that the maximum time step of stability is twice as large as that of the leapfrog scheme in staggered meshes thus the computational efficiency could be doubled. A spatial smoothing method was introduced to control the nonlinear instability in the numerical integration. An ideal numerical experiment simulating the propagation of the equatorial Rossby soliton was performed to test the amplitude and phase error of this new model. The performance of this circulation model was further verified with a regional（northwest Pacific） and a quasi-global（global ocean simulation with the Arctic Ocean excluded） simulation experiments. These two numerical experiments show fairly good agreement with the observations. The maximum time step of stability in these two experiments were also investigated and compared between this model and that model which adopts the leapfrog scheme.     

Origin and anatomy of two different types of mass–transport complexes: A 3D seismic case study from the northern South China Sea margin

Integration of 2D and 3D seismic data from the Qiongdongnan Basin along the northwestern South China Sea margin has enabled the seismic stratigraphy, seismic geomorphology and emplacement mechanisms of eight separate, previously undocumented, mass–transport complexes (MTCs) to be characterized. These eight MTCs can be grouped into two types:(1) Localized detached MTCs, which are confined to submarine canyons and cover hundreds of km², consist of a few tens of km³ remobilized sediments and show long striations at their base. They resulted from small-scale mass-wasting processes induced by regional tectonic events and gravitational instabilities on canyon margins.(2) Regional attached MTCs, which occur within semi-confined or unconfined settings and are distributed roughly perpendicular to the strike of the regional slope. Attached MTCs occupy hundreds to thousands of km² and are composed of tens to hundreds of km³ of remobilized sediments. They contain headwall escarpments, translated blocks, remnant blocks, pressure ridges, and basal striations and cat-claw grooves. They were created by large-scale mass-wasting processes triggered by high sedimentation rates, slope oversteepening by shelf-edge deltas, and seismicity.Our results show that MTCs may act as both lateral and top seals for underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs and could create MTC-related stratigraphic traps that represent potential drilling targets on continental margins, helping to identify MTC-related hydrocarbon traps.     

黄海冷水团海域微型异养鞭毛虫与细菌的弱耦合关系

A study was carried out to investigate the grazing pressure of heterotrophic nanoflagellates(HNF) on bacteria assemblages in the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass(YSCWM) area in October, 2006. The results show that the HNF abundance ranges from 303 to 1 388 mL-1, with a mean of 884 mL-1. The HNF biomass is equivalent to 10.6%–115.6% of that of the bacteria. The maximum abundance of the HNF generally occurred in the upper 30 m water layer, with a vertical distribution pattern of surface layer abundance greater than middle layer abundance, then bottom layer abundance. The hydrological data show that the YSCWM is located in the northeastern part of the study area, typically 40 m beneath the surface. A weak correlation is found between the abundances of HNF and bacteria in both the YSCWM and its above water layer. One-way ANOVA analysis reveals that the abundance of HNF and bacteria differs between inside the YSCWM and in the above water mass. The ingestion rates of the HNF on bacteria was 8.02±3.43 h-1 in average. The grazing rate only represented 22.75%±6.91% of bacterial biomass or 6.55%+4.24% of bacterial production, implying that the HNF grazing was not the major factor contributing to the bacterial loss in the YSCWM areas.     

Application of rock mass index (RMi) to the rock mass excavatability assessment in open face excavations

Earthwork and surface excavation activities play an important role in construction projects. Selecting the best technique to loosen the overburden material within the surface excavation in open mining and geotechnical projects is of great importance from economical and technical viewpoints. Surface excavation includes direct digging, ripping and blasting. To select the most effective method and plan for excavation, geotechnical investigation is very important. It is also a big help in avoiding conflict between contractors and clients when they do not reach mutual agreement regarding the price of rock and soil excavation. There are many engineering classification systems used to assess rock masses for excavation purposes. All of these systems consider several geotechnical parameters to assess the earth masses. This study reviews these systems and then offers a new categorization based on the Rock Mass index (RMi) classification system and block volume to assess excavation in rock masses. The original dataset was obtained from the literature review as well as the surface excavation in Upper Gotvand dam and Hydro Power Plant (HPP). The offered system was also validated through the data extracted from the surface excavation in Sardasht dam and HPP in Iran.     

Mammalian femora across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in eastern Montana

Our understanding of latest Cretaceous and earliest Paleogene mammalian evolution is based almost entirely on the dental fossil record. Mammalian postcranial fossils are rare and mostly found as isolated elements in latest Cretaceous and earliest Paleogene vertebrate microfossil assemblages of North America. Although placing these fossils in a tooth-based taxonomic framework is difficult, they can provide insight into locomotor diversity and habitat preference to complement diet reconstructions and diversity estimates from dental fossils. Here, we describe 64 femora of mammals recovered from latest Cretaceous (Lancian) and earliest Paleogene (Puercan) localities in eastern Montana. We sorted these based on morphology and size (morphotypes). In some cases, morphotypes were tentatively assigned to dentally based taxa that are known from these strata.Although our resulting femoral dataset is small relative to the study area's dental dataset, we show several key findings. First, there is a greater morphological diversity of multituberculate femora than previously recognized, especially in the latest Cretaceous sample. In contrast, metatherians, which have a high relative abundance in Lancian Hell Creek Formation dental assemblages, are absent from our postcranial samples; eutherian femora are only present in the Puercan assemblages. Second, we record a minor decrease in morphotype richness across the K–Pg boundary that is associated with an increase in mean specimen size, due to the appearance of a few significantly larger-bodied, immigrant taxa. Among the eutherians, there are two specimens of larger-bodied early Puercan archaic ungulates, a very large specimen of a middle/late Puercan taeniodont, pantodont, or triisodontid, as well as a specimen possibly attributed to a “plesiadapiform” archaic primate. Third, preliminary functional morphologic analyses of the more complete specimens suggest that locomotor diversity increased from mainly arboreal or terrestrial/saltatorial multituberculates in the latest Cretaceous to include a fossorial multituberculate and potentially an arboreal eutherian in the early Paleocene. These patterns parallel those previously reported from a dental dataset and indicate that postcranial data are valuable as an independent means to test hypotheses of taxonomic and ecomorphological diversity across the K–Pg boundary.     

Mineralogy and geochemical behaviour during weathering of greenstone belt under tropical dry conditions in the extreme North Cameroon (Central Africa)

Mineralogy, major, trace and rare earth elements of a weathering profile developed on tertiary greenstone belt in the extreme North Cameroon are reported. The aim of which was to investigate mineralogical evolution and element mobilization and redistribution during weathering under dry tropical climate. The weathering profile consists of four main horizons: (1) a spheroidal weathering zone constituted by a corestone–shell complex, (2) a C horizon, (3) a Bw horizon and an Ah horizon. The results indicate that nontronite, a Fe-rich smectite, is the exclusive clay mineral formed in the exfoliated shells and the C horizon. It is associated with kaolinite in the upper horizons. The coexistence of these two clay minerals induced a decrease of CEC and pH which becomes neutral. The weathering index (WI) values reveal that weathering becomes more and more intensive from the corestone up to Bw horizon, which is the most weathered horizon in the weathering profile. Mass balance calculations, using Th as immobile element, indicate that Ti is quite mobile and that Al and Fe are relatively enriched at the bottom and strongly leached at the top of the profile. Alkalis and alkaline earth elements are strong leached through out the profile, except Ca which displays similar trend as Al and Fe. The same goes for LILE (Cs, Sr), TTE (Cr, Co, Ni) and HSFE (Y, Nb, Hf). In opposite, REE are depleted at the bottom and enriched in the upper horizons, with more enrichment for LREE than for HREE. It appears that weathering of greenstone belt causes a fractionation of HREE and induces a concentration of LREEs. Ce and Eu anomalies display opposite behaviour.     

夏季黄海冷水团海域的丙烯酸分布与海洋环境因子和叶绿素a变化之间的关系

海水中主要含硫化合物β-二甲基巯基丙酸内盐(DMSP)降解可产生丙烯酸(AA)和活性气体二甲基硫(DMS)。2011年8月对黄海冷水团海域的AA及相关参量的分布特征进行了研究。结果表明,该海域表层海水中AA的浓度为0~0.208μmol/L,平均值为(0.081±0.075)μmol/L。AA的高值区出现在海域的东南部,可能是受到长江冲淡水的影响。AA的浓度总体上呈现出由南到北递增的趋势,与Chl-a较为一致,表明该海域的AA主要是由DMSP裂解产生的。表层海水中AA与温度表现出明显的负相关性。AA的垂直分布表现为:中层底层表层,这可能是产生AA的浮游植物与消耗AA的细菌共同作用的结果。海域中AA浓度与DMSP或DMS无明显的相关性。AA浓度远高于DMS,AA/DMS平均为106∶1,初步估算出DMSP降解产生的AA约为66.5%。AA/Chl-a平均为126.6 mmol/g,比DMSP/Chl-a高1个数量级,比DMS/Chl-a高2个数量级。