Heat and mass transfer effects during displacement of deepwater methane hydrate to the surface of Lake Baikal

The present paper focuses on heat and mass exchange processes in methane hydrate fragments during in situ displacement from the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) to the water surface of Lake Baikal. After being extracted from the methane hydrate deposit at the lakebed, hydrate fragments were placed into a container with transparent walls and a bottom grid. There were no changes in the hydrate fragments during ascent within the GHSZ. The water temperature in the container remained the same as that of the ambient water (~3.5 °С). However, as soon as the container crossed the upper border of the GHSZ, first signs of hydrate decomposition and transformation into free methane gas were observed. The gas filled the container and displaced water from it. At 300 m depth, the upper and lower thermometers in the container simultaneously recorded noticeable decreases of temperature. The temperature in the upper part of the container decreased to –0.25 °С at about 200 m depth, after which the temperature remained constant until the water surface was reached. The temperature at the bottom of the container reached –0.25 °С at about 100 m depth, after which it did not vary during further ascent. These observed effects could be explained by the formation of a gas phase in the container and an ice layer on the hydrate surface caused by heat consumption during hydrate decomposition (self-preservation effect). However, steady-state simulations suggest that the forming ice layer is too thin to sustain the hydrate internal pressure required to protect the hydrate from decomposition. Thus, the mechanism of self-preservation remains unclear.     

沿阿穆尔板块西边界的活动断层(蒙古领土)

阿穆尔板块西部边界在蒙古境内的空间位置尚不清楚,并且活动断层构造及其沿线地壳的应力状态研究较少。本文在沿此边界的三个区域——杭爱—肯特构造鞍部、布尔古特地块(鄂尔浑—土拉交汇处)和色楞格地块(包括色楞格凹陷和布伦—努鲁隆起),利用空间图像解译、地形起伏度分析、地质构造资料以及构造压裂和沿裂缝位移资料重建构造古应力,对活动断层进行研究。研究表明,活动断裂继承了古生代和中生代古构造的非均质性。这些断层沿着板块边界并不是单一的带,而是成簇的。它们的运动取决于走向:亚纬向断层是具有一定逆分量的左旋走滑断层,北西向断层是逆断层或逆冲断层,通常具有右旋走滑分量,海底断层是右旋走滑断层,北东向断层是正断层。位于色楞格凹陷和杭爱东部的断裂构造的活动始于上新世。逆断层和走滑断层与上新世情况不符,但多与更新世地貌相符,表明其活动年代较晚,为更新世时期。利用构造断裂和沿断裂的位移,重建活动断裂带变形末阶段的应力应变状态,结果表明断裂在最大挤压轴的北北东和北东方向上以压缩和走滑为主。只有在色楞格凹陷内,以扩张和走滑类型的应力张量为主,且在最小挤压轴的北西走向尤为显著。在南部,杭爱东部(鄂尔浑地堑)内有1个以扩张机制为主的局部区域,说明蒙古中部断裂在更新世—全新世阶段的活动以及现代地震活动主要受与印度斯坦和欧亚大陆汇聚过程相关的东北方向的附加水平挤压的控制。使研究区地壳产生走滑变形、贝加尔湖裂谷发散活动以及阿穆尔板块东南运动的另一个因素是东南方向软流圈流动对岩石圈底部的影响。阿穆尔板块和蒙古地块之间的边界在构造结构上是零碎的,代表了覆盖整个蒙古西部变形带的边缘部分。     

The Contribution of Glacial Melt Water to Annual Runoff of River Volga in the Last Glacial Epoch

Water Resources - The runoff of glacial melt water into the river system of the Volga and farther into the Caspian Sea is evaluated for the epoch of the last glaciation. Melt water entered the...     

Origin of V. Grib pipe eclogites (Arkhangelsk region,NW Russia): geochemistry,Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopes and relation to regional Precambrian tectonics

Mineralogy and Petrology - In this paper, new main and trace elements and isotopic data are presented for 14 coarse-grained eclogite xenoliths from the V. Grib kimberlite pipe in the central part...     

Morphology of Dune-Like Relief in Rivers

Water Resources - Linearized equations of two-dimensional hydraulics have been analyzed by the method of small perturbations within a wide range of alluvial features sizes at large values of Froude...     

Laboratory investigations of the thermal strain of frozen soils, using fiber-optic strain gauges based on Bragg gratings

Measurements of the thermal deformations of frozen soil samples were performed in the cold laboratory in temperature range from 0°C to-12°C.Fiber Bragg Gratings strain and temperature sensors were used to measure the deformation and temperature inside the samples.A number of tests with the samples prepared from Kaolin and Cambrian clay saturated with fresh water,and prepared from fine and silt sand saturated with fresh or saline water,are performed.Thermal deformations of the samples are analyzed depending on the cyclic changes of their temperature.     

Estimating Annual Volga Runoff in the Late Glacial Epoch from the Size of River Paleochannels

Water Resources - Large paleochannels, which are common in the floodplains and terraces of rivers in the Volga Basin, are indicators of an appreciable increase in river flow in the past and can be...     

On a power series solution to the Boussinesq equation

For certain initial and boundary conditions the Boussinesq equation, a nonlinear partial differential equation describing the flow of water in unconfined aquifers, can be reduced to a boundary value problem for a nonlinear ordinary differential equation. Using Song et al.'s (2007) [7] approach, we show that for zero head initial condition and power-law flux boundary condition at the inlet boundary, the solution in the form of power series can be obtained with Barenblatt's (1990) [2] rescaling procedure applied to the power series solution obtained in Song et al. (2007) [7] for the power-law head boundary condition. Polynomial approximations can then be obtained by taking terms from the power series. Although for a small number of terms the newly obtained approximations may be worse than polynomial approximations obtained by other techniques, any desired accuracy can be achieved by taking more terms from the power series.     

Channel morphology and river flow in the northern Russian Plain in the Late Glacial and Holocene

The relicts of large meandering palaeochannels are found throughout the territory of the periglacial zone of the Last (Valdai=Weichselian) Glaciation on the Russian Plain. Channel widths of macromeanders can be 15 times larger than the recent meanders of the same rivers. Palaeolandscape and palaeohydrological reconstructions show that these periglacial river channels were formed under conditions of high spring water flow, up to eight times greater than the modern discharges, when the flow coefficient was close to 0.9-1.0 due to presence of permafrost, summers were dry and streams lacked ground water supply. Permafrost degradation increased soil permeability in spring and increased ground water flow in summer, causing a decrease of annual flow (due mainly to the flood flow decrease in spring). As a result, large periglacial channels were abandoned and transformed into lakes and bogs. Late Holocene channels have much smaller channel widths and meander lengths. These were formed under conditions of lower annual flows and much steadier flow regime.