Origin of the hydrocarbon component of carbonaceous chondrites: the star-meteorite connection

We report the results of an experiment that produced a residue which closely matches the hydrocarbon component of the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. This experiment suggests that the parent material of the meteoritic component originated as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon species in carbon stars during their later stages of evolution. The experiments also indicate that the pathway from those formation sites to eventual incorporation into the meteorite parent body involved hydrogenation in a plasma in the solar nebula or in H II regions prior to the solar nebula. This model is consistent with what is known about the meteoritic hydrocarbon component including deuterium abundance, the observation of cosmic infrared emission bands best attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, and the inherent stability of these molecules that allows their formation in stars and subsequent survival in the interstellar medium.     

Plasma processing of interstellar PAHs into solar system kerogen

Processes resulting in the formation of hydrocarbons of carbonaceous chondrites and the identity of the interstellar molecular precursors involved are an objective of investigations into the origin of the solar system and perhaps even life on earth. We have combined the resources and experience of an astronomer and physicists doing laboratory simulations with those of a chemical expert in the analysis of meteoritic hydrocarbons, in a project that investigated the conversion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formed in stellar atmospheres into alkanes found in meteorites. Plasma hydrogenation has been found in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Astrophysics Laboratory to produce from the precursor PAH naphthalene, a new material having an IR absorption spectrum (Lee, W. and Wdowiak, T.J., Astrophys. J. 417, L49-L51, 1993) remarkably similar to that obtained at Arizona State University of the benzene-methanol extract of the Murchison meteorite (Cronin, J.R. and Pizzarello, S., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 54, 2859-2868, 1990). There are astrophysical and meteoritic arguments for PAH species from extra-solar sources being incorporated into the solar nebula, where plasma hydrogenation is highly plausible. Conversion of PAHs into alkanes could also have occurred in the interstellar medium. The synthesis of laboratory analogs of meteoritic hydrocarbons through plasma hydrogenation of PAH species is underway, as is chemical analysis of those analogs. The objective is to clarify this heretofore uninvestigated process and to understand its role during the origin of the solar system as a mechanism of production of hydrocarbon species now found in meteorites. Results have been obtained in the form of time-of-flight spectroscopy and chemical analysis of the lab analog prepared from naphthalene.     

云南湖泊的水质及沉积物地球化学

云贵高原上的众多湖泊，其经济意义十分重要，1994年10月，对24个湖泊采集水样和沉积物，室内深入研究后提出每个湖泊化学、物理特性以及区域地质、人类活动对水质和沉积类型的影响。云南构造成因的深水湖泊的水质与浅水溶蚀湖盆有区别。一般来说，后者要比前者更具有高营养积聚，并显示出较敏感的湖滨扰动。即便如此，凡是有大型植物生长的浅水湖泊，其水体都呈低营养质特点。除了重硫酸钠型的程海外，其它湖泊均以Ca 2、Mg 2、HCO3-1离子为特征，可能是由周边区域地质环境及碳酸盐类岩层所决定。特殊的电导性和同位素δ18O呈正相关性表明：此为溶解物和18O均由蒸发作用引起的结果。滇东南大型洗水湖呈18O富态；小型深水湖泊18O呈消减态。降雨汇聚径流量显著多于自深水体的小型浅水湖中的18O也呈消减淡化。同位素证据表明：程海表面5m内的18O在减少，此为蒸发量增加、入湖汇流水体性质发生变化及多样性所致。地表冲刷是毁林、农耕、土壤侵蚀以及工业化等方面的结果。湖泊高丰度营养化物质表明：人类活动已严重影响水质。沉积物中低有机质是因为地表冲刷而使愈来愈多的非碳酸盐类和碎屑物组分混入的结果。需要由环境保护来加以控制，以平衡因经济活动而造成的生态感应和对水质的影响。     

盐度对土壤微波辐射的影响

土壤中的水改变微波的介电常数,反过来受改变的介电常数又改变着微波辐射。水中的盐的含量也在某种程度上影响介电特性．当把盐水同土壤混合时,其介电特性同纯水和土壤的混合物不同．人们已开始用混合模型来描述土壤－水－空气系统。利用车载L波段和C波段微波辐射计,进行了一系列的受控条件下的现场实验,其目的是想研究出一种能够分离盐度和土壤湿度影响的数据装置．用这种数据装置估算每个变量的价值并检验拟用的混合模型。混合模型说明观测数据的趋势和取值范围;然而,盐度的观测结果同模型观测的有差异。这些差异与模型结构或现场采样有关,地表附近分布特性的变化也会引起误差。     

考虑基桩嵌岩段侧阻的岩溶区顶板安全厚度计算

为考虑岩溶区基桩嵌岩段侧阻力的影响,提出了一组确定岩溶区桩端顶板安全厚度的计算方法。考虑顶板的整体承载效应,结合弹性力学及第一强度理论,得到了顶板抗弯安全厚度计算式;考虑嵌岩段桩侧摩阻力对桩顶荷载的分担作用,结合格里菲斯判据及摩尔判据,获得了顶板抗冲切和剪切的安全厚度计算公式,进而运用ABAQUS建立了岩溶顶板与基桩整体分析计算模型,有限元计算结果与理论计算值吻合良好。结合工程实例重点分析了顶板厚跨比对抗弯安全厚度的影响,顶板岩层厚度对抗冲切、剪切安全厚度的影响以及嵌岩段侧摩阻力系数?对顶板安全厚度计算的影响。     

The value of subsidence data in ground water model calibration

The accurate estimation of aquifer parameters such as transmissivity and specific storage is often an important objective during a ground water modeling investigation or aquifer resource evaluation. Parameter estimation is often accomplished with changes in hydraulic head data as the key and most abundant type of observation. The availability and accessibility of global positioning system and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data in heavily pumped alluvial basins can provide important subsidence observations that can greatly aid parameter estimation. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the value of spatial and temporal subsidence data for automatically estimating parameters with and without observation error using UCODE-2005 and MODFLOW-2000. A synthetic conceptual model (24 separate cases) containing seven transmissivity zones and three zones each for elastic and inelastic skeletal specific storage was used to simulate subsidence and drawdown in an aquifer with variably thick interbeds with delayed drainage. Five pumping wells of variable rates were used to stress the system for up to 15 years. Calibration results indicate that (1) the inverse of the square of the observation values is a reasonable way to weight the observations, (2) spatially abundant subsidence data typically produce superior parameter estimates under constant pumping even with observation error, (3) only a small number of subsidence observations are required to achieve accurate parameter estimates, and (4) for seasonal pumping, accurate parameter estimates for elastic skeletal specific storage values are largely dependent on the quantity of temporal observational data and less on the quantity of available spatial data.