Geology and the Allied liberation of Normandy: highlights to help mark the 75th anniversary of D‐Day, 6 June 1944

During the Second World War, the Allied invasion of the French coast of Normandy on D‐Day, 6 June 1944, was the greatest amphibious assault in world history. An article in Geology Today (v.11, for 1995, pp.58–63) marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, on 8 May 1945, by describing how British military geologists had participated in planning for D‐Day and in the NW Europe campaign that followed it. The work of these geologists provides a classic case history, revealing that ‘military geology’ has many potential applications. Geological factors influenced site selection for temporary airfields, predictions of trafficability for the Normandy beaches, the development of potable water supplies, and quarrying for road metal—and more besides. This new article helps to mark the 75th anniversary of D‐Day by further details of how geologists and geology contributed to Allied victory.     

Fully coupled elastoplastic hydro-mechanical analysis of unsaturated porous media using a meshfree method

This paper presents the first application of an advanced meshfree method, ie, the edge-based smoothed point interpolation method (ESPIM), in simulation of the coupled hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated porous media. In the proposed technique, the problem domain is spatially discretised using a triangular background mesh, and the polynomial point interpolation method combined with a simple node selection scheme is adopted for creating nodal shape functions. Smoothing domains are formed on top of the background mesh, and a constant smoothed strain, created by applying the smoothing operation over the smoothing domains, is assigned to each smoothing domain. The deformation and flow models are developed based on the equilibrium equation of the mixture, and linear momentum and mass balance equations of the fluid phases, respectively. The effective stress approach is followed to account for the coupling between the flow and deformation models. Further coupling among the phases is captured through a hysteretic soil water retention model that evolves with changes in void ratio. An advanced elastoplastic constitutive model within the context of the bounding surface plasticity theory is employed for predicting the nonlinear behaviour of soil skeleton. Time discretisation is performed by adopting a three-point discretisation method with growing time steps to avoid temporal instabilities. A modified Newton-Raphson framework is designed for dealing with nonlinearities of the discretised system of equations. The performance of the numerical model is examined through a number of numerical examples. The state-of-the-art computational scheme developed is useful for simulation of geotechnical engineering problems involving unsaturated soils.     

Determination of subcatchment and watershed boundaries in a complex and highly urbanized landscape

Urban development significantly alters the landscape by introducing widespread impervious surfaces, which quickly convey surface run‐off to streams via stormwater sewer networks, resulting in “flashy” hydrological responses. Here, we present the inadequacies of using raster‐based digital elevation models and flow‐direction algorithms to delineate large and highly urbanized watersheds and propose an alternative approach that accounts for the influence of anthropogenically modified land cover. We use a semi‐automated approach that incorporates conventional drainage networks into overland flow paths and define the maximal run‐off contributing area. In this approach, stormwater pipes are clustered according to their slope attributes, which define flow direction. Land areas drained by each cluster and contributing (or exporting) flow to a topographically delineated catchment were determined. These land masses were subsequently added or removed from the catchment, modifying both the shape and the size. Our results in a highly urbanized Toronto, Canada, area watershed indicate a moderate net increase in the directly connected watershed area by 3% relative to a topographically forced method; however, differences across three smaller scale subcatchments are greater. Compared to topographic delineation, the directly connected watershed areas of both the upper and middle subcatchments decrease by 5% and 8%, respectively, whereas the lower subcatchment area increases by 15%. This is directly related to subsurface storm sewer pipes that cross topographic boundaries. When directly connected subcatchment area is plotted against total streamflow and flashiness indices using this method, the coefficients of variation are greater (0.93 to 0.97) compared to the use of digital elevation model‐derived subcatchment areas (0.78 to 0.85). The accurate identification of watershed and subcatchment boundaries should incorporate ancillary data such as stormwater sewer networks and retention basin drainage areas to reduce water budget errors in urban systems.     

Solution for a plane strain rough‐walled hydraulic fracture driven by turbulent fluid through impermeable rock

The impact of turbulent flow on plane strain fluid‐driven crack propagation is an important but still poorly understood consideration in hydraulic fracture modeling. The changes that hydraulic fracturing has experienced over the past decade, especially in the area of fracturing fluids, have played a major role in the transition of the typical fluid regime from laminar to turbulent flow. Motivated by the increasing preponderance of high‐rate, water‐driven hydraulic fractures with high Reynolds number, we present a semianalytical solution for the propagation of a plane strain hydraulic fracture driven by a turbulent fluid in an impermeable formation. The formulation uses a power law relationship between the Darcy‐Weisbach friction factor and the scale of the fracture roughness, where one specific manifestation of this generalized friction factor is the classical Gauckler‐Manning‐Strickler approximation for turbulent flow in a rough‐walled channel. Conservation of mass, elasticity, and crack propagation are also solved simultaneously. We obtain a semianalytical solution using an orthogonal polynomial series. An approximate closed‐form solution is enabled by a choice of orthogonal polynomials embedding the near‐tip asymptotic behavior and thus giving very rapid convergence; a precise solution is obtained with 2 terms of the series. By comparison with numerical simulations, we show that the transition region between the laminar and turbulent regimes can be relatively small so that full solutions can often be well approximated by either a fully laminar or fully turbulent solution.     

Active capture and anomalous adsorption: New mechanisms for the incorporation of heavy noble gases

Abstract— Active capture is a new process for the incorporation of large quantities of heavy noble gases into growing surfaces. Adsorption in the conventional sense involves surface bonding by polarization (Van der Waals forces). What is referred to as “anomalous adsorption” of heavy noble gases involves chemical bonds and can occur when other (more chemically active) species are not available to preempt sites with unfilled bonds. Anomalous adsorption has been observed under conditions of fracture, vacuum deposition and ionizing radiation. Active capture depends upon anomalous adsorption to retain noble gases on a surface long enough to be captured in a growing surface film as it is deposited. The fundamental principle may be the impingement onto the growing film with sufficient energy to liberate surface electrons (work function energy of a few electronvolts) so that they are retained by anomalous adsorption long enough to be entrapped in the growing surface. Trapping efficiencies of ?1% have been observed for Kr and Xe in laboratory experiments, implying a fundamentally new mechanism for the incorporation of heavy noble gases onto surfaces. It may play a role in explaining the large concentrations of planetary noble gases contained in phase‐Q.     

A spectroscopic study of the peculiar galaxy UGC 5600

We present our observations of the galaxy UGS 5600 with a long-slit spectrograph (UAGS) and a multipupil field spectrograph (MPFS) attached to the 6-m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope. Radial-velocity fields of the stellar and gaseous components were constructed for the central region and inner ring of the galaxy. We proved the existence of two nearly orthogonal kinematic subsystems and conclude that UGC 5600 is a galaxy with an inner polar ring. In the circumnuclear region, we detected noncircular stellar motions and suspected the existence of a minibar. The emission lines are shown to originate in H II regions. We estimated the metallicity from the intensity ratio of the [N II]λ6583 and Hα lines to be nearly solar, which rules out the possibility that the polar ring was produced by the accretion of gas from a dwarf companion.     

EFFECTS OF FISH OIL,DHA OIL AND LECITIHIN IN MICROPARTICULATE DIETS ON STRESS TOLERANCE OF LARVAL GILTHEAD SEABREAM（SPARUS AURATA）

The effects of natural fish oil,DHA oil and soybean lecithin in microparticulate diets on stress tolerance of larval gilthead seabream(Sparus aurata)were investigated after 15 days feeding trials.The tolerance of larval gilthead seabream to various stress factors such as exposure to air(lack of dissolved oxygen),changes in water temperature(low)and salinity(high) were determined.This study showed that microparticulate diet with natural fish oil and soybean lecithin was the most effective for in-creasing the tolerance of larval gilthead seabream to various stresses,and that microparticulate diet with natural fish oil and palmitic acid(16:0)was more effective than microparticulate diet with DHA oil and soybean lecithin.