On the causes of pressure oscillations in low‐permeable and low‐compressible porous media

Nonphysical pressure oscillations are observed in finite element calculations of Biot's poroelastic equations in low‐permeable media. These pressure oscillations may be understood as a failure of compatibility between the finite element spaces, rather than elastic locking. We present evidence to support this view by comparing and contrasting the pressure oscillations in low‐permeable porous media with those in low‐compressible porous media. As a consequence, it is possible to use established families of stable mixed elements as candidates for choosing finite element spaces for Biot's equations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deformation induced decoupling between U-Pb and trace elements in titanite revealed through petrochronology and study of localized deformation

In this contribution, we analyzed a pair of mafic samples collected from a recently identified shear zone and its proximal footwall from the Manicouagan Imbricate Zone (MIZ) of the central Grenville Province, Québec, Canada. Titanite petrochronology, metamorphic phase equilibria modelling, trace element thermometry, and electron backscattered diffraction data were used to define a Pressure-Temperature-time-Deformation path for the two samples. An interconnected dislocation network within titanite grains, as outlined with Kerneled Average Misorientation maps, are spatially correlated with variation in the U-Pb system but not with that observed for trace element These results suggest that the U-Pb system was decoupled from trace and rare earth elements and that deformation, rather than interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation reactions or re-crystallisation, was the main driver for this decoupling. In addition to highlighting a potential pitfall of titanite petrochronology, our P-T-t-D path reveals that ductile shear zones were active later than previously suggested within the MIZ.     

Astrometry of Iapetus, Ariel, Umbriel, and Titania from eclipses and occultations

Highly accurate astrometric positions obtained from eclipses and occultations of planetary satellites are reported. These measurements may be used to test existing ephemerides, to improve upon them, and to fit system constants such as satellite masses and planetary zonal harmonics. Eclipse and occultation photometry of 5 uranian satellite mutual events has resulted in precise astrometry for 3 of these moons. Relative satellite positions were determined with an uncertainty of less than 10 milli-arcseconds for 4 of the events. These observations plus two additional data from C. Miller and N.J. Chanover (private communication) indicate that predictions based on the SPICE [Acton, C.H., 1996. Planet. Space Sci. 44, 65-70] ephemeris URA083 and those from the LA06 ephemeris in a paper by Arlot et al. [Arlot, J.-E., Lainey, V., Thuillot, W., 2006. Astron. Astrophys. 456, 1173-1179] are significantly more accurate than predictions generated by Christou [Christou, A.A., 2005. Icarus 178, 171-178] using the GUST86 ephemeris in the along-track component of motion. The observations indicate that Ariel, Umbriel and Titania are lagging behind their predicted positions for all of the ephemerides, but by varying distances and significance levels. Analysis of data recorded by Hidas et al. [Hidas, M.G., Christou, A.A., Brown, T.M., 2008. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 384, L38-L40] suggests a similar lag for Oberon. Photometry recorded during the ingress portion of a saturnian eclipse of Iapetus on 2007 May 5 indicates that the middle of the event occurred at geocentric UTC 02:14:58. At that moment the center of the satellite disk facing the Sun was intersected by a solar-centered ray refracted at a minimum altitude of 240 km above the 1-bar pressure level in the planet's atmosphere. The uncertainty in the timings due to observational scatter was only 5 s which equates to 16 km of Iapetus motion, but other factors increased the overall uncertainty to 111 km or 16 milli-arcseconds at the distance of Saturn from the Sun. The astrometric result is fit very well by the SPICE ephemeris SAT288.     

Did tidal deformation power the core dynamo of Mars?

We first show that 7 out of the 20 giant impact basins of Mars recently reported by Frey [Frey, H., 2008. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35. L13203] trace a great circle on Mars. The other five basins trace another great circle and still the other three basins trace yet another great circle. The latter great circle is in good agreement with the pre-Tharsis equator of Mars that is estimated from modeling crustal magnetic anomalies [Arkani-Hamed, J., 2001. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 3409-3412] and diagonalizing the moment of inertia of Mars after removing the loading effects of Tharsis bulge [Sprenke, K.F., Baker, L.L., Williams, A.F., 2005. Icarus 174, 486-489]. It is shown in this paper that the three great circles were likely the equatorial plane of Mars at certain times and Mars experienced appreciable polar wander. The great circles also indicate that the asteroids that created the basins were satellites of Mars whose orbits decayed in time through spin-orbit coupling with tidally deforming Mars, and eventually impacted on the planet creating the giant basins at around 4 Ga. The orbital dynamics of four largest asteroids show that they could have orbited Mars for several hundred million years if they were retrograde satellites. Continual elliptical straining of otherwise circular fluid streamlines of the liquid core of Mars by tidal deformation could have exerted a strong strain that was large enough to overcome dissipation and excite the elliptical instability inside the core. We investigate the physical properties of the martian core that are required to allow the tidal deformation to power the core dynamo, i.e., the growth time of the elliptical instability to become shorter than the dissipation time. The tidal energy dissipation rate inside Mars caused by even only one of the 4 largest asteroids is found to be over two orders of magnitude greater than the magnetic energy dissipation rate in the core, indicating that if only one of the 4 largest asteroids were orbiting in retrograde sense, it would have likely powered the core dynamo of Mars for several hundred million years.     

Contraction of near-Earth satellite orbits using uniformly regular KS canonical elements in an oblate atmosphere with density scale height variation with altitude

A new non-singular analytical theory for the contraction of near-Earth satellite orbits under the influence of air drag is developed in terms of uniformly regular Kustaanheimo and Stiefel (KS) canonical elements using an oblate atmosphere with variation of density scale height with altitude. The series expansions include up to fourth power in terms of eccentricity and c (a small parameter dependent on the flattening of the atmosphere). Only two of the nine equations are solved analytically to compute the state vector and change in energy at the end of each revolution, due to symmetry in the equations of motion. It is observed that the analytically computed values of the semi-major axis and eccentricity are consistent with the numerically integrated values up to 500 revolutions over a wide range of the drag-perturbed orbital parameters. The theory can be effectively used for re-entry of near-Earth objects.     

四川攀西地区几个小型镁铁-超镁铁岩体含矿性的铂族元素示踪

峨眉山大火成岩省内带,四川攀西地区的杨合伍、黄草坪和清水河等镁铁-超镁铁岩体分布在南北向的安宁河断裂和磨盘山-元谋断裂之间。分析表明,这些岩体无矿岩石与金宝山、杨柳坪、力马河等含矿岩体无矿岩石具有相似的铂族元素组成,普遍较高的Cu/Pd比值暗示这些岩体的母岩浆在侵入到目前层位前经历过硫化物熔离作用。定量模拟计算表明,原始岩浆经过大约0.01%的硫化物熔离作用形成了杨合伍岩体母岩浆,经过0.035%硫化物熔离形成了黄草坪和清水河岩体的母岩浆。根据硫化物熔离情况,认为杨合伍等岩体底部可能形成Ni-Cu-(PGE)硫化物矿床,而黄草坪和清水河岩体之下及附近可能存在Ni-Cu硫化物矿化的岩体。     

辽宁红透山块状硫化物矿床蚀变带元素迁移特征及定量计算

辽宁红透山块状硫化物矿床（MSD）位于华北地台东北部的浑北花岗岩-绿岩地体内,矿区岩石在30～28 亿年期间受到了600～650℃的高级角闪岩相变质。研究结果表明,广泛分布于红透山层状矿体下盘数百米处的和直接产于矿体下盘的堇青-直闪片麻岩,分别代表了变质后的MSD成矿系统以绿泥石化为特征的半整合和筒状不整合海底热液蚀变带。微量元素特征显示,层状堇青-直闪片麻岩的原岩并非同一种岩石,而是由5种不同岩性的岩石组成,筒状堇青-直闪片麻岩的原岩主要由流纹质岩石组成,而在堇青-直闪片麻岩走向上与之过渡的角闪片麻岩和黑云片麻岩则代表了不同岩性蚀变岩的未蚀变原岩。质量变化计算表明,相对于未蚀变原岩而言,两种蚀变岩的成分发生了显著变化,其中层状堇青-直闪片麻岩的Fe、Mg发生了富集,Na、K、Ca、Cu、Pb和Zn等元素被迁出,而筒状堇青-直闪片麻岩的Fe、Mg、Si、Na、Pb、Cu和Zn等元素则发生了富集,K被迁出。重稀土元素（HREE）和高场强元素(Zr、Ti、Nb、Hf和Ta)在海底热液蚀变过程中保持惰性,而Rb、Sr、Ba和轻稀土元素（LREE,尤其是Eu）则被强烈的迁出。这些元素变化特征表明海底热液蚀变以绿泥石化和硅化为特征,同时海底水-岩反应体系具有高水/岩比值。层状堇青-直闪片麻岩可作为红透山矿区成矿潜力评价的重要依据,而含硫化物石英脉的筒状堇青-直闪片麻岩不但本身可成为工业矿体,还可作为上覆层状矿体的近矿找矿标志。     

陕西省略阳县杨家坝多金属矿区成矿作用地球化学示踪

本文以陕西省略阳县杨家坝多金属矿区为例,通过对该矿区岩(矿)石和各类脉体的岩相学、稀土和微量元素及流体包裹体地球化学示踪发现,多金属中重晶石的形成及硅化、碳酸盐化、滑石化、纤闪石化、绢云母化和绿泥石化和透闪石岩的含氟浅闪石及隐晶硅质玻璃和微晶硅质,这表明与成矿蚀变有关的热液流体是一种不同于一般地壳流体的富硅、钛、铁、碱质和挥发份,并具备熔体性质的成矿流体。各类样品的稀土元素配分模式明显富集LREE,在Ce、Eu、Yb异常的组合上也各具特征。LREE富集是地幔流体作用的显著特征之一;矿石和脉体的负Ce、正Eu和负Yb异常以及流体包裹体中H2O-C6H6成分,是高温还原地幔流体的重要标志;正Ce和负Eu异常的出现,以及Ce、Eu、Yb异常的减弱和消失则是壳幔混染叠加改造的显示。综合研究表明:矿区成矿过程可能统一受制于秦岭地区碰撞造山背景下具高温还原性质的地幔流体作用,且由此引发壳幔强烈混染的叠加改造作用在成矿过程中发挥了重要作用。     

腾冲地热区高温热泉水中稀土元素特征

腾冲地热区位于印度-欧亚板块碰撞带东北缘,构造和岩浆活动频繁,地热作用明显,热泉广泛分布,是现代热泉研究的天然实验室。热泉水中的稀土元素特征是指示浅层水岩反应的重要指标。由于热泉水中稀土元素含量较低且变化范围大,腾冲地区热泉水稀土元素组成的报道比较罕见。本文尝试研究了腾冲高温热泉水中稀土元素组成特征,并与美国内华达州贝奥沃韦地热田和加利福尼亚希伯地热田热泉水的稀土元素特征进行了对比。本文选取腾冲地区的高温热泉,应用ICP-MS,测试了热泉水中稀土元素。分析结果表明热泉水中稀土元素含量相对较低且变化范围较大,其变化范围为球粒陨石的10-5～10-2倍。稀土元素球粒陨石标准化配分模式整体为轻微右倾型或平坦型,显示轻重稀土分异不明显;δEu既有正异常也有负异常;各热泉点热泉水稀土配分模式之间存在差异。虽然腾冲地热区热泉水的REE含量比美国贝奥沃韦地热田和希伯地热田热泉水的高10倍,两者之间的稀土元素分布特征具有一致性。热泉水中的δEu负异常为深循环的大气降水与具有负铕异常火山岩水岩反应的结果,正铕异常可能是由快速上返的大气降水与蒸发岩中的石膏反应导致。     

利用面向对象分类技术进行地理要素快速更新的方法研究

该文以遥感影像为更新期数据,利用面向对象分类方法,在对象层次进行推理和分析;将更新完成要素作为先验知识,分层更新地理要素;对更新过程中基期地形图专题要素不变信息的利用,主要地理要素提取和更新方法进行了研究。结果表明,该方法兼顾地理要素快速更新的自动化与实用化,具有广阔的应用空间。