Geochemical characteristics of mineral air particles emitted inside a clay atomisation plant which introduces waste recycling processes

The objective of this work is to assess the concentrations of three factions of air particles (settable particles, TSP and PM10) and the levels of several toxic elements in a clay atomisation industry through aerosol sampling at several points inside an industrial plant. Mechanical activities, which produce diffuse emissions, are the main process of discharge of particles in both indoor and outdoor workplace environments in the atomisation plant. The levels of As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Ba and Ni increase in the zones with higher concentrations of particles and lower ventilation. The concentrations of As and F are not influenced by the recycling processes. The levels of Cd and Pb do not show great enrichment in air particles collected inside the atomisation plant although the content of both elements is associated with ceramic muck recycling. Finally, the content of B in waste water is mainly transferred in gaseous phase to the atmosphere during the process of drying by atomisation.     

土地利用/土地覆被变化遥感监测研究

根据1990年和1999年两期TM/ETM 遥感数据,运用遥感分类中的监督分类方法,全面分析乌鲁木齐市的土地利用的数量变化特征和空间变化特征,阐明了区域土地利用变化的区域特点。     

The effects of thermal stress and fluid pressure on induced seismicity during stimulation to production within fractured reservoirs

We use a continuum model of reservoir evolution to explore the interaction of coupled thermal, hydraulic and chemical processes that influence the evolution of seismicity within a fractured reservoir from stimulation to production. Events occur from energy release on seeded fractures enabling moment magnitude, frequency and spatial distribution to be determined with time. Event magnitudes vary in the range ?2 to +2 with the largest event size (~2) corresponding to the largest fracture size (~500 m) and a prescribed stress drop of 9 MPa. Modelled b‐values (~0.6–0.7) also correspond to observations (~0.7–0.8) for response in the Cooper Basin (Australia). We track the hydrodynamic and thermal fronts to define causality in the triggering of seismicity. The hydrodynamic front moves twice as fast as the thermal front and envelops the triggered seismicity at early time (days to month) – with higher flow rates correlating with larger magnitude events. For later time (month to years), thermal drawdown and potentially chemical influences principally trigger the seismicity, but result in a reduction in both the number of events and their magnitudes.     

Peat extraction, conservation and the rural economy in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has a tradition of peat cutting; 78 per cent by area of remaining lowland bogs and 46 per cent of blanket bogs have been cut in the past. Since the early 1980s, machine peat extraction for fuel and horticulture has increased, against a background of changing economic support for agriculture, high rural unemployment and agricultural underemployment. Cutting fuel peat can reduce household fuel costs and some peat fuel is sold to gain income. Horticultural peat is cut mainly for sale. Expansion of machine extraction, with possible environmental impacts, occurred as interest in peatland conservation increased. Potential conflict arises between local economic needs and conservation. Machine cutting for fuel is widespread, but affects only 2.6 per cent of the blanket peat area; horticultural extraction is more localized and is only one-fifth of the extent of fuel extraction. Altitude, distance from roads, land ownership and rights, turbary, religious affiliation, local economic needs and the role of government departments all contribute to explaining the distribution and extent of extraction.     

Effects of waterlogging,salinity and light on the productivity of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Heritiera littoralis seedlings

This study aimed to establish the effects of waterlogging, salinity and light on the early development of mangroves. Seedlings of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L.) Lamk. and Heritiera littoralis Dryand were exposed to 12 weeks of waterlogging, during which time growth and photosynthesis were measured every two weeks. The salinity of the water inundation ranged from fresh water to full-strength sea water (salinity 35). Seedlings were exposed to either full sunlight of 1 500 µmol photon m^–2 s^–1 (SD 397) at midday or shade conditions of 325 µmol photon m^–2 s^–1 (SD 40) of light at midday, to explore whether the plants would be differently affected by prolonged waterlogging in increased salinities and under different light conditions. Heritiera littoralis was more sensitive to waterlogging, salinity and light, displaying a least relative growth rate of 0.127 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.032) under shade, and 0.025 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.021) in full light; while under shade, photosynthesis continued only in fresh water, but photosynthetic yield decreased from 0.7 to 0.4 with increasing duration of waterlogging. By 12 weeks, all H. littoralis seedlings treated with any saltwater mixture had died. Bruguiera gymnorrhiza seedlings maintained a moderate rate of photosynthesis throughout inundation in both shade and full light, with yields of 0.7 and 0.3, respectively. Furthermore, B. gymnorrhiza survived waterlogging in up to 66% seawater, and maintained comparable relative growth rates of 0.164 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.066) with 0.083 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.065) and 0.074 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.036) with 0.052 g g^–1 week^–1 (SE 0.037) under shade and in full light between fresh water and the highest salinity conditions, respectively. These results suggest that B. gymnorrhiza is broadly tolerant, making it a potential candidate species for restoring vulnerable mangrove forests.     

Influence of random heterogeneity of the friction angle on bearing capacity factor Nγ

ABSTRACT

Probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering have received a lot of attention during the last decade and different methodologies are used to capture the inherent variability of soil in different geotechnical engineering problems. In this paper, numerical simulations are conducted to obtain the bearing capacity factor, N_γ, for a purely frictional heterogenous soil where the friction angle is modelled as randomly distributed throughout the domain and the effect of its spatial variability on N_γ is investigated. A finite element method, based on the upper bound limit analysis was combined with random field theory and linear programming to develop a probabilistic analysis. Monte Carlo simulations were performed and the effect of the variability of the friction angle defined by statistical parameters on the bearing capacity factor was investigated. Results show that the mean bearing capacity factor N_γ of a footing on a spatially variable cohesionless soil is generally higher than the deterministic N_γ obtained from a constant mean value. Increasing the heterogeneity of the friction angle by an increase in the coefficient of variation generally increases this deviation. This can be explained by the nonlinearity of the relationship between N_γ and the friction angle.     

塔里木二叠纪基性-中性-酸性岩浆岩的年代学及其地质意义

塔里木西部柯坪地区出露的早二叠纪玄武岩与盆地内其他地区广泛分布的玄武岩共同构成一个面积约0.25Mkm²的溢流玄武岩省。巴楚地区出露的早二叠纪辉绿岩、正长岩、石英正长岩与石英正长斑岩等多种岩浆岩构成了连续的基性-中性-酸性岩浆序列。野外露头观察表明,巴楚麻扎尔塔格地区的基性-中性-酸性岩浆岩为近同时侵位。柯坪塔格开派兹雷克组顶部层位玄武岩的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄为279.0±4.5Ma, 该年龄值可限定该区二叠纪溢流玄武岩喷发的最晚时限。巴楚麻扎尔塔格石英正长斑岩脉的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄为273.0±3.7Ma, 与前人测定的巴楚辉绿岩脉和正长岩的锆石年龄在误差范围内一致,表明巴楚地区的基性-中性-酸性岩浆岩为近同时侵位,时间在275Ma左右。综合已发表的塔里木二叠纪岩浆岩高精度年代数据,本文提出：整个塔里木大火成岩省岩浆作用的持续时间约为20Myrs; 291~287Ma喷发的巨量溢流玄武岩可能构成塔里木大火成岩省的主体,是地幔柱头部熔融的直接产物; 283~272Ma侵位的巴楚、一间房和塔北地区的其它类型岩浆岩体积较小,为塔里木大火成岩省晚期岩浆作用的产物。     

Provenance of Miocene sandstones in northern Iraq: constraints from framework petrography,bulk-rock geochemistry and mineral chemistry

Modal analysis, bulk-rock geochemistry and phase chemistry of sandstones of the Miocene Fat'ha and Injana formations, northern Iraq, show that the clastics were derived from heterogeneous sources that include basic igneous and metamorphic rocks as well as older sedimentary rocks. The sandstones are generally carbonate-rich lithic arenites. Their geochemistry supports the petrographic results and indicates that they are all Fe-rich, lithic or quartz arkosic sandstones. According to geochemical data, garnets are derived from metamorphic sources, hornblende is of igneous origin, and clinopyroxenes, are produced by basic igneous rocks. Epidote is most probably to be a product of disintegration of metamorphic rocks, essentially, metamorphosed igneous rocks. Rutile geochemistry implies low-grade metamorphic and basic to ultrabasic igneous sources. Chemical composition of chromian spinels indicates that they are derived from Alpine-type peridotite. The ophiolitic-radiolarite belts of Taurus-Zagros as well as the uplifted Cretaceous and Paleocene strata of north and northeastern Iraq are likely to be the major source of clastics to the Fat'ha–Injana basin, a foreland basin formed as a result of the continental Arabian and Turkish/Iranian plates collision.     

Conventional vs. modified pseudo-dynamic seismic analyses in the shallow strip footing bearing capacity problem

The conventional pseudo-dynamic(CPD) and modified pseudo-dynamic(MPD) methods are invoked to obtain the seismic bearing capacity of strip foundations using the limit equilibrium method, with a two-wedge failure mechanism.A spectral version of the conventional pseudo-dynamic method(SPD) is also invoked by considering the ground motion amplification factor, to be a function of the non-dimensional frequency λ/B and soil damping. Numeric analyses show that bearing capacity results obtained by the MPD and SPD methods are generally consistent. Both experience the same general reduction in bearing capacity with the increase of λ/B, with successive ups and downs corresponding to soil′s natural frequencies. For 5λ/B10, SPD and MPD results fluctuated between falling above and below CPD results. For λ/B2.5, SPD and MPD results were consistent with attenuation of the shear wave, while for 10λ/B, amplification was exhibited. Results obtained by the CPD method monotonically decrease, due to the fact that CPD fails to inherently consider site effects and damping, and instead and relies on a single factor to consider the ground motion amplification.