Resource depletion calculated by the ratio of the reserve plus cumulative consumption to the crustal abundance for gold

The magnitude of the world's mineral consumption has increased sharply, and there is no sign that growth is likely to stop in the near future. Currently, new discoveries and technology add to the reserves of varous mineral commodities at a rate that has exceeded depletion. As a result, life expectancies have remained nearly constant. However, it is questionable whether this condition is sustainable in the future. Therefore, most of our attention to the future has been focused on potentially recoverable resources. The potentially recoverable resources for 35 minerals in the Earth's crust were estimated based on the relationship between crustal abundance and the reserve of currently recoverable gold. The ratio of the reserve plus cumulative consumption to the abundance of gold is appropriate for calculating reserves of other mineral resources because gold has the highest profit margin for exploration of reserves. From an economic perspective, the price of gold is 350 times the mean value of 33 other resources for calculating production versus price. New mining technologies and new processing methods have been developed during the last 20 years as a response to high prices. As a result, five times the reserves available in 1970 have now been discovered, and two times the reserves available in 1970 were consumed during the past two decades. It is questionable whether other mineral commodities can reach the ratio of reserve plus cumulative consumption to abundance that gold does. Using this concept, the limit of the Earth's resources under present technology was calculated for 35 mineral resources, based on the ratio of the reserve plus cumulative consumption to abundance for gold. Even though recoverable tonnage of lead, silver, tin, boron, copper, and mercury from ore deposits in the Earth's crust is relatively low, the abundance of these metals is apparently sufficient for future supplies. However, considering the special situation of gold created by its very high price compared to world production, there is anxiety concerning steep increases in the price or depletion of these metals, which have a shorter lifetime from a geochemical point of view.     

Effect of turbulence and inorganic carbon supply on growth ofDunaliella viridis Teodoresco

Turbulence is known to enhance growth in microalgae. We studied the possible effects of the extra inorganic carbon supplied to the cultures when air bubbling is the source of turbulence. A set of experiments was carried out to separate the effects of the subsidiary action of agitation on growth from those due to possible carbon enrichment from air CO₂ when air bubbling was the source of mixing. It was found that air bubbling does not induce an increase of the concentration of inorganic carbon in HCO ₃ ^– -enriched growth media, and that no differences appear between air-bubbled and CO₂-free air-bubbled cultures. On the other hand, photosynthetic O₂ was accumulated in the medium in non-mixed cultures, which showed higher respiration and lower photosynthetic rates, probably due to photoinhibition induced by oversaturation of O₂. Growth rate, maximal cell density and photosynthetic efficiency were higher in aerated cultures than in non-aerated ones.     

Bayesian Mixture Modelling in Geochronology via Markov Chain Monte Carlo

In this paper we develop a generalized statistical methodology for characterizing geochronological data, represented by a distribution of single mineral ages. The main characteristics of such data are the heterogeneity and error associated with its collection. The former property means that mixture models are often appropriate for their analysis, in order to identify discrete age components in the overall distribution. We demonstrate that current methods (e.g., Sambridge and Compston, 1994) for analyzing such problems are not always suitable due to the restriction of the class of component densities that may be fitted to the data. This is of importance, when modelling geochronological data, as it is often the case that skewed and heavy tailed distributions will fit the data well. We concentrate on developing (Bayesian) mixture models with flexibility in the class of component densities, using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to fit the models. Our method allows us to use any component density to fit the data, as well as returning a probability distribution for the number of components. Furthermore, rather than dealing with the observed ages, as in previous approaches, we make the inferences of components from the “true” ages, i.e., the ages had we been able to observe them without measurement error. We demonstrate our approach on two data sets: uranium-lead (U-Pb) zircon ages from the Khorat basin of northern Thailand and the Carrickalinga Head formation of southern Australia.     

Mapping and measuring the ecological embeddedness of food supply chains

The status of nature in food systems is the subject of this paper, which looks into the ecological embeddedness of the Austrian food system both on the national level and in a regional case study. By a first attempt to measure and map ecological embeddedness, the author intends to contribute to the operationalisation of the embeddedness concept, which is characterised as ambivalent, fuzzy and dynamic (see e.g., [Goodman, D., 2003. The quality ‘turn’ and alternative food practices: reflections and agenda. Editorial. Journal of Rural Studies 19 (1), 1-7; Markusen, A., 1999. Fuzzy concepts, scanty evidence, policy distance: the case for rigour and policy relevance in critical regional studies. Regional Studies 33, 869-884; Hess, M., 2004. ‘Spatial’ relationships? Towards a reconceptualization of embeddedness. Progress in Human Geography 28 (2), 165-186]). The paper starts with a critical outline of the academic discourse on embeddedness in food chain studies. In the second section, general developments in the Austrian food system and their ecological implications are illustrated for the national level. Thereafter in a case study, the author tries to map and measure the ecological embeddedness of two conventional bread chains. The focus on conventional food chains provides a contrast with the growing body of embeddedness studies concentrating on alternative food chains. The author concludes that for both conventional as well as alternative food chains, the mode of ecological embeddedness or the degree of a food chain’s commitment to particular landscapes could become important factors for the maintenance, enhancement and capture of ecological value.     

汾阳市杏花村镇供水井位勘测

传统直流电法勘探方法,在地下水研究中应用于寻找水源、确定地下水的开采量取得了较好的应用效果.本文结合杏花村镇供水井位勘测,详细介绍了地球物理勘探工作的方法,并对测量资料进行了解释,提出了确定供水井井位的建议.     

基于供需成因分析和供需水量平衡的旱情评价方法研究

以水资源的供需差值为旱情综合评价的基础,提出了两种旱情综合评价方法,即供需成因分析评价方法和供需水量平衡评价方法,应用山东省的实际资料对评价方法进行了检验,评价结果与实际相符。     

模糊马尔科夫链状模型在斜坡稳定性预测中的应用

滑坡灾害的突发特征和滑坡运动的不确定性,使得斜坡稳定状态预测成为岩土工程领域内的一个难点。模糊马尔科夫链状模型能够预测序列从某种模糊状态出发转移到其它状态的概率,非常适合斜坡工程的稳定状态预测。文章首先介绍了模糊马尔科夫链的概念、特点及该方法的原理、算法,之后将其应用到实际的边坡稳定状态预测分析中。实际边坡滑动经过稳定状态、基本稳定状态、临界状态、失稳状态,应用模糊马尔科夫原理分析边坡稳定状态变化,进行斜坡变形-失稳过程预测预报。通过实例应用表明,预测结果与实际情况吻合较好。为此,该模型能够准确地对斜坡稳定状态进行预测。     

工业废铁链在煤矿特大动水条件下溃水灾害的应用

在牛儿庄矿特大溃水事故的治理中，利用工业废铁链作骨料，建立短距巷道堵水塞，并进行孔组并列式双液注浆技术，是治理煤矿突水事故的一项行之有效、经济合理的手段与方法，为综合治理水患提供了一条新的途径。