Platinum-group minerals in quaternary gold placers in the upper Chindwin area of northern Burma

In the Chindwin Basin in northern Burma, there is a system of five Pleistocene terraces in which gold placers with low concentrations of platinum-group minerals (PGM) occur. Samples were taken from four sites in the Chindwin Basin and one from near an ophiolite occurrence on the northeast side of the Chindwin Basin; they were studied under the microscope, with a scanning electron microscope, and an electron microprobe. The main minerals were Pt-Fe and Os-Ir-Ru alloys, usually in a ratio between 2 and 5. In most cases, the shape of the grains allowed a quick distinction between the two types. Sperrylite, laurite, irarsite, cooperite, tulameenite, and isomertieite occur infrequently as individual mineral grains and sometimes as inclusions in the alloy grains. Braggite, platarsite, hollingworthite, bowieite, keithconnite, cuproiridsite, malanite, stibiopalladinite, geversite, kashinite, several unnamed PGM, and Fe, Ni, and Cu sulfides were observed as inclusions, mainly in the Pt-Fe alloys and also to a lesser extent in the Os-Ir-Ru alloys. Lamellar and myrmekite-like intergrowths, oriented exsolution lamellae, and idiomorphic inclusions of sulfides in the alloys indicate a magmatic origin of the PGM. The origin of the PGM is assumed to be ophiolites in northern Burma. A continual decrease in mean grain size occurred during transport.

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Platingruppenminerale in quartären Goldseifen im oberen Chindwingebiet in Nord-Burma

Zusammenfassung Im Gebiet des Chindwin Basin in Nordburma ist ein System von fünf pleistozänen Terrassen ausgebildet, in denen Goldseifen mit geringen Anteilen an PGM auftreten.PGM-Konzentrate von vier Vorkommen des Chindwin Basin und eine weitere Probe aus der Nähe eines Ophiolithvorkommens im Nordosten des Chindwin Basin wurden mit optischer Mikroskopie, Rasterelektronenmikroskopie und Mikrosonde untersucht.Hauptmineralien sind Pt-Fe-Legierungen und Os-Ir-Ru-Legierungen in einem Verhältnis von 2: 1 bis 5: 1. Ihre Morphologie kugeliger oder plattiger, teilweise idiomorpher Körner erlaubt in den meisten Fällen eine rasche Identifizierung der beiden Typen. Sehr selten treten als Einzelminerale, aber auch als Einschlüsse in Legierungen, Sperrylith, Laurit, Irarsit, Cooperit, Tulameenit und Isomertieit auf. Braggit, Platarsit, Hollingworthit, Bowieit, Keithconnit, Cuproiridsit, Malanit, Stibiopalladinit, Geversit, Kaschinit, einige unbekannte PGM und Fe-, Ni- und Cu-Sulfide wurden nr als Einschlüsse, hauptsächlich in Pt-Fe-Legierungen, weniger in Os-Ir-Ru-Legierungen, beobachtet.Lamellare und myrmekitische Verwachsungen, orientierte Entmischungen und idiomorphe Einschlüsse von Sulfiden in Legierungen weisen auf eine magmatische Entstehung der PGM hin. Die Herkunft der PGM wird in Ophiolithen Nordburmas vermutet. Beim Transport hat eine kontinuierliche Abnahme der mittleren Korngrösse stattgefunden.

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With 8 Figures     

Laboratory Validation of Ultra-Soft Soil Deformation Model

Ultra-soft soil with high moisture content will experience large strain deformation under one-dimensional compression with little or no gain in effective stress. Such deformation behaviour does not comply with Terzaghi’s effective stress gain theory. The e-log s_v^￠ \sigma_{v}^{\prime } relationship of ultra-soft soil is non-linear with large compression index in the first order of log cycle. This paper proposes three compression indices (C_c1^* C_{c1}^{*} , C_c2^* C_{c2}^{*} and C_c3^* C_{c3}^{*} ) for stresses covering three log cycles. Good prediction of settlement magnitude is possible with these newly proposed compression parameters for ultra-soft soil. In addition, implicit finite difference model applying the large strain theory is also proposed and validated with results from laboratory measurements. The time factor curves for ultra-soft soil with large strain compression are also proposed and validated.     

Spatially filtered ridge regression (SFRR): A regression framework to understanding impacts of land cover patterns on urban climate

Understanding the impacts of land cover pattern on the heat island effect is essential for sustainable urban development. Conventional model fitting methods have restricted ability to produce accurate estimates of the land cover‐temperature association due to the lack of procedures to address two important issues: spatial dependence in proximal spatial units and high correlations among predictor variables. In this study, we seek to develop an effective framework called spatially filtered ridge regression (SFRR) to estimate the variations in the quantity and distribution of land surface temperature (LST) in response to various land cover patterns. The SFRR effectively integrates spatial autoregressive models and ridge regression, and it achieves reliable parameter estimates with substantially reduced mean square errors. We show this by comparing the performance of the SFRR to other widely adopted models using Monte Carlo simulation followed by an empirical study over central Phoenix. Results highlight the great potential of the SFRR in producing accurate statistical estimates, providing a positive step toward informed and unbiased decision‐making across a wide variety of disciplines. (Code and data to reproduce the results in the case study are available at: https://github.com/cfan13/SFRRTGIS.git .)     

Mineralogy and Geotechnical Properties of Ultrasoft Soil from a Nearshore Mine Tailings Sedimentation Pond

An engineering geological study was undertaken to determine the engineering properties, and mineralogy of ultrasoft soils (USS) obtained from a nearshore mine tailings sedimentation pond. The USS is a high plasticity clay of high water content and low shear strength. Marine bathymetric and seismic reflection surveys were undertaken in the sedimentation pond located in the foreshore of the Eastern part of the Republic of Singapore. Specimens collected from the bore holes were tested to determine the engineering and mineralogy properties of the USS. Field vane shear tests were undertaken just adjacent to the sampling bore holes to determine the shear strength properties of the USS. The mineralogical properties of the USS were determined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope techniques. The USS is under consolidated soil where higher density and lower water content were found at deeper depth. The USS had three different compression indices under three log cycles of effective stress between 1–10, 10–100, and 100–1,000 kPa. This is the main characteristic of USS, which diverts from reconstituted soil. The outcome of this research is fundamental for understanding the compression behavior and subsequently the development of a constitutive model for USS, typical found in sedimentary pond.     

Rock relationships in the Mogok metamorphic belt, Tatkon to Mandalay, central Myanmar

The Mogok metamorphic belt (MMB), over 1450 km long and up to 40 km wide, consists of regionally metamorphosed rocks including kyanite and sillimanite schists and granites lying along the Western margin of the Shan Plateau in central Myanmar and continuing northwards to the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. Exposures in quarries allow correlation of Palaeozoic meta-sedimentary, early Mesozoic meta-igneous and late Mesozoic intrusive rocks within a 230 km long northerly-trending segment of the MMB, from Tatkon to Kyanigan north of Mandalay, and with the Mogok gemstone district 100 km to the northeast. Relationships among the metamorphic and intrusive rocks, with sparse published radiometric age controls, indicate at least two metamorphic events, one before and one after the intrusion of Late Jurassic to early Cretaceous calc-alkaline rocks. These relationships can be explained by either of two possible tectonic histories. One, constrained by correlation of mid-Permian limestones across Myanmar, requires early Permian and early Jurassic regional metamorphic events, prior to an early Tertiary metamorphism, in the western part of but within a Shan-Thai – western Myanmar block. The second, not compatible with a single laterally continuous Permian limestone, requires pre-Upper Jurassic regional metamorphism and orogenic gold mineralization in the Mergui Group and western Myanmar, early Cretaceous collision of an east-facing Mergui-western Myanmar island arc with the Shan Plateau, and early Tertiary metamorphism in the MMB related to reversal in tectonic polarity following the arc-Plateau collision.     

Factors Influencing Water Consumption in Multifamily Housing in Tempe,Arizona

Central to the Smart Growth movement is that compact development reduces vehicle miles traveled, carbon emissions, and water use. Empirical efforts to evaluate compact development have examined residential densities but have not distinguished decreasing lot sizes from multifamily apartments as mechanisms for compact development. Efforts to link design features to water use have emphasized single-family at the expense of multifamily housing. This study isolates the determinants of water use in large (more than fifty units) apartment complexes in the city of Tempe, Arizona. In July 2007, per bedroom water use increased with pool area, dishwashers, and in-unit laundry facilities. We are able to explain nearly 50 percent of the variation in water demand with these variables. These results inform public policy for reducing water use in multifamily housing structures, suggesting strategies to construct and market “green” apartment units.     

A Robust Texture Analysis and Classification Approach for Urban Land‐Use and Land‐Cover Feature Discrimination

Abstract

Attempts to analyze urban features and to classify land use and land cover directly from high‐resolution satellite data with traditional computer classification techniques have proven to be inefficient for two primary reasons. First, urban landscapes are composed of complex features. Second, traditional classifiers employ spectral information based on single pixel value and ignore a great amount of spatial information. Texture plays an important role in image segmentation and object recognition, as well as in interpretation of images in a variety of applications. This study analyzes urban texture features in multi‐spectral image data. Recent developments in the very powerful mathematical theory of wavelet transforms have received overwhelming attention by image analysts. An evaluation of the ability of wavelet transform in urban feature extraction and classification was performed in this study, with six types of urban land cover features classified. The preliminary results of this research indicate that the accuracy of texture analysis in classifying urban features in fine resolution image data could be significantly improved with the use of wavelet transform approach.     

Biogeomorphic Relationships and Riparian Vegetation Changes Along Altered Ephemeral Stream Channels: Florence to Marana,Arizona

This study examines riparian vegetation cover changes along ephemeral channels due to the emplacement of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal. Two research questions examined are the following: (1) How has riparian vegetation changed over the course of twenty-eight years due to altered flow conditions? (2) How has channel morphology affected changes in vegetation cover? Five Landsat TM images acquired in 1982, 1989, 1996, 2003, and 2010 were classified. The average change of vegetation cover per 0.5-km section over the twenty-eight-year period is approximately 100,436 m² over 25.5-km length of the canal on the upstream section. In addition, the total amount of vegetation cover increase in the twenty-eight years over the 25.5-km length of the canal is approximately 5,122,239 m². Larger streams experienced a greater increase in vegetation cover upslope than smaller streams. In addition, streams of similar width dimensions that were completely closed off resulted in greater vegetation cover than streams that were semiconnected. A significant relationship between changes in vegetation green-up and channel widths was examined. Results from this study suggest that there is a quasi-linear relationship between channel widths and increases in vegetation cover for altered and impounded channels due to the presence of the CAP canal.