Plastic buckling of ring-stiffened conical shells under external hydrostatic pressure

The paper describes experimental tests carried out on three ring-stiffened cones that were tested to destruction under external hydrostatic pressure. The cones were carefully machined from EN1A Steel. All three cones failed by plastic non-symmetric bifurcation buckling in a mode commonly known as general instability. In this mode the entire ring-shell combination buckles bodily.The paper also provides a design chart using the results obtained from these three vessels, together with the results of six other vessels obtained from other tests. The design chart allows the possibility of obtaining a plastic knock down factor, so that the theoretical buckling pressures, based on elastic theory, can be divided by the plastic knockdown factor, to give the predicted buckling pressure. This method can also be used for the design of full-scale vessels.     

Statistical estimation of a shock center: Slate Islands astrobleme

Statistical models are proposed for the distribution of directions in three dimensions that are thought to point toward a single source. These models are based on the Fisher distribution. The method of maximum likelihood is used to obtain an estimate of position of the source and to provide corre-sponding confidence regions. When applied to shatter cone data from the Slate Islands, northern Lake Superior, the method yields estimates comparable with those obtained by Stesky and Halls (1982), as well as statistically valid confidence regions.     

江苏省地下水开发利用中的环境地质问题及对策

江苏省地下水在开发利用过程中,由于开采布局不合理和存在＂三集中＂以及水文环境地质条件脆弱等因素,出现水位逐年下降,并形成区域性超采漏斗,致使部分地段地下水资源枯竭、水质咸化和诱发地面沉降、地裂缝、岩溶塌陷等诸多环境地质问题。本文着重分析全省深层地下水开发利用的四个阶段、主采层区域水位降落漏斗的发展过程和因深层水超量开采诱发的水资源枯竭、水质咸化和地面沉降、地裂缝、岩溶塌陷等环境地质问题的发育特征及演化趋势,从地下水资源管理和可持续发展的角度,提出地下水资源合理利用的对策建议。     

内蒙古达里诺尔火山群火山地貌特征及火山岩岩石学特点

在内蒙古自治区锡林郭勒盟与赤峰交界处、达里湖的西北部有一群第四纪火山,数目达上百座,多数为中心式或裂隙-中心式喷发,形成相对高度在50~130m之间的火山锥,它们被称为"达里诺尔火山群",也是世界上海拔较高的火山群之一。因锥体形成后受风化、流水侵蚀等外力作用,多数火山锥已受剥蚀,但相对较新的火山还保留着完整的火山机构,包括火山渣锥、火山口、降落和溅落堆积物、塌陷坑、熔岩流、喷气锥等。达里诺尔火山锥体多由火山碎屑物组成,熔岩则流动迭加在早期形成的多级熔岩台地之上,分布总面积约3100km2,与其它火山岩共同组成了广阔的内蒙古高原。火山区整体呈四周低、中间阶梯状隆起的台地地形,按高程可分为四个阶梯,高度分别为1280m、1360m、1440m和1500m。熔岩台地的展布和火山锥的分布均呈东西走向的条带状,火山群的整体分布主要受东西向天山-阴山基底断裂和北东向大兴安岭-太行山断裂的双重影响,与大地构造关系密切。本群火山锥体虽然大小不一、形态各异,但按锥体形态可将火山锥分为截顶单锥形、复合型、盾形和残余型等四类,其剥蚀程度有明显差异,暗示了火山喷发活动时代的先后关系。锥形及复合型火山位于火山群中部,而盾形火山多沿台地边部分布,残余形火山则分布广泛,表明台地边部火山形成时间较早,晚期火山活动集中于台地中部,而更早期造台地的溢流式拉斑玄武岩喷发规模更大,形成本区基底。达里诺尔火山岩的岩性主要为碧玄岩和碱性玄武岩,少量为粗面玄武岩,虽然SiO_2变化范围较大,但全碱含量变化幅度相对较小,均属钾质系列的碱性火山岩范畴。火山岩斑晶数量少,在镜下为斑状结构,基质多为隐晶质,少量微晶质,明显不同于火山岩之下早期熔岩台地火山岩的基质显晶质结构。火山岩的微量元素呈LREE富集、HREE亏损的右倾型,显示了岩浆低度部分熔融的特征,并且本区与邻区火山岩可能有共同或相似的岩浆源。在岩性相近的基础上,结合火山锥体剥蚀和保留程度显示的火山活动相对时序,暗示本区岩浆成分从碱性玄武质和粗面玄武质逐渐演化为碧玄质,岩浆可能来自软流圈,且来源逐渐变深。     

A New Species of Ginkgo with Male Cones and Pollen Grains in situ from the Middle Jurassic of Eastern Xinjiang, China

Well-preserved Ginkgo pollen organs are analyzed from the Middle Jurassic Xishanyao Formation of the Turpan–Hami Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China, and are described as a new species, Ginkgo hamiensis Z.X. Wang et B.N. Sun sp. nov. The immature male cones are cylindrical and catkin-like, with two longitudinal stripes on the stalk. The pollen sacs are shaped like a long oval with two pollen sacs fused together for each microsporophyll, and the microsporophyll tip is a triangular cystidium. The pollen grains are oblong or fusiform and monocolpate; both ends are blunt or sharp. By comparison with previously reported fossil records of Ginkgo plants, we determined that the current fossils are different from all other reported species; thus, the present fossil is referred to as a new species of Ginkgo. The reproductive organs of the Ginkgo fossils described herein can provide valuable information for the study of Ginkgo plants. Further, there are two probable evolutionary trends in the Ginkgo pollen cones. One trend is that the number of pollen sacs changed from three or four during the Jurassic and Cretaceous to two at the present day; the other is that the number of pollen sacs has remained two from the Middle Jurassic to the present day. In addition, the pollen cones described herein are similar to the pollen cones of the extant Ginkgo, which strongly indicates that the morphology of Ginkgo plants may have remained highly conserved over millions of years.     

The Characteristics and Causes of Land Subsidence in Tanggu Based on the GPS Survey System and Numerical Simulation

Land subsidence is a severe hazard threatening Tanggu, a flat lowland area, and evidences of land subsidence can be seen throughout the city. A new reasonable GPS network was set up in this area from 2008 to 2010. The monitoring data show that land subsidence was serious and two main subsidence cones were obviously formed in the region. One emerged at Hujiayuan, with the maximum rate reaching 60 mm/a, and the influence region enlarged prominently from 2005 to 2010. The other one occurred at Kaifaqu, which became obvious only after 2005, and it showed a decreasing tendency with time. To analyze the causes of ground settlement, a correlation between groundwater withdrawal and land subsidence was firstly made. The results confirmed that over-exploitation of groundwater was the major cause for the severe settlement in Hujiayuan. Meanwhile, the subsidence of Kaifaqu was also related to groundwater withdrawal before 2005. However, the relationship became unconspicuous after 2005. To find the cause of this abnormity, a three-dimensional finite element numerical model, coupled with groundwater flow and subsidence, was built. The simulation results indicate that the subsidence induced by high-rise buildings is serious, but the affected range is limited and it also shows a decreasing trend with time, corresponding to the subsidence characteristics at Kaifaqu. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this hazard induced by engineering construction besides groundwater withdrawal, as more high-rise buildings are under construction in Tanggu.     

Geology and age of the Glikson impact structure,Western Australia

The Glikson structure is an aeromagnetic and structural anomaly located in the Little Sandy Desert of Western Australia (23°59'S, 121°34′E). Shatter cones and planar microstructures in quartz grains are present in a highly deformed central region, suggesting an impact origin. Circumferential shortening folds and chaotically disposed bedding define a 19 km-diameter area of deformation. Glikson is located in the northwestern Officer Basin in otherwise nearly flat-lying sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate of the Neoproterozoic Mundadjini Formation, intruded by dolerite sills. The structure would not have been detected if not for its strong ring-shaped aeromagnetic anomaly, which has a 10 km inner diameter and a 14 km outer diameter. We interpret the circular magnetic signature as the product of truncation and folding of mafic sills into a ring syncline. The sills most likely correlate with dolerites that intrude the Boondawari Formation ～25 km to the north, for which we report a SHRIMP U?–?Pb baddeleyite and zircon age of 508?±?5 Ma, providing a precise older limit for the impact event that formed the Glikson structure.     

Fossil Taiwannia from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of western Liaoning,Northeast China and its phytogeography significance

Fossil Taiwania was discovered from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Lingyuan City, western Liaoning Province, Northeast China. It is identified as a new species, Taiwania lingyuanensis sp. nov.. The present specimen is preserved as impressions with well defined leaf shoots system and reproductive structures. Leaves are dimorphic, spirally and imbricately arranged. They are scale-like on the main and cone-bearing branchlets, and subulate to falcate-subulate on the juvenile or sterile shoots. The seed cones are singly elliptic, ovate or elongate-ovate and terminally borne on ultimate shoots, bearing 22–24 scale-bracts complexes imbricately and helically arranged around the cone axis, the bracts are broadovate, rhomboidal or hexagonal with entire margins. Both the leafy shoots morphology and reproductive structures are similar to extant Taiwania. Furthermore, geological distribution and molecular biological evidences support that Taiwania is probably originated from the eastern Asia at least in the Early Cretaceous and widely distributed in the North Hemisphere thereafter.     

The formation of circular littoral cones from tube-fed pāhoehoe: Mauna Loa,Hawai'i

Pyroclastic cones along the southwest coast of Mauna Loa volcano, Hawai'i, have a common structure: (a) an early formed circular outer rim 200–400 m in diameter composed mostly of scoria and lapilli, and (b) one or more later-formed inner rims composed almost exclusively of dense spatter. The spatter activity locally fed short lava flows that ponded within the outer rims. Based on various lines of evidence, these cones are littoral in origin: relationships between the cones and associated flows; the degassed nature of the pyroclasts; and (although not unequivocal) the position of the cones relative to known eruptive vent locations on Mauna Loa. Additional support for the littoral interpretation comes from their similarity to (smaller) littoral cones that have been observed forming during the ongoing Kilauea eruption. The structure of these Mauna Loa cones, however, contrasts with that of standard Hawaiian littoral cones in that there is (or once was) a complete circle of pyroclastic deposits. Furthermore, they are large even though associated with tubefed phoehoe flows instead of 'a'. The following origin is proposed: An initial flow of tube-fed phoehoe into the ocean built a lava delta with a base of hyaloclastite. Collapse of an inland portion of the active tube into the underlying wet hyaloclastites or a water-filled void allowed sufficient mixing of water and liquid lava to generate strong explosions. These explosions broke through the top of the flow and built up the outer scoria/lapilli rims on the solid carapace of the lava delta. Eventually, the supply of water diminished, the explosions declined in intensity to spattering, and the initial rim was filled with spatter and lava.     

Subsurface structure under a basaltic monogenetic volcano near the active Atera fault

In this study, we examined the subsurface structure in the vicinity of the active Atera fault beneath at least one monogenetic volcano that forms the Sakashita body of the Ueno basalts, central Japan. Microgravity and seismic reflection surveys over an area of about 3×3 km (horizontal)×1 km (vertical from surface) revealed that (1) a low-density body interpreted as the damaged zone of the Atera fault reaches a depth more than 200 m below sea level; and (2) a weak zone of crust that may exist about 1.5 km southwest of the Atera fault in a direction parallel to it. By combining the shape of the Sakashita body and (2), we propose that a dyke extending in a NW–SE direction with several vent alignments in the same direction may exist along this weak zone. This suggests that the studied area was governed in the NW–SE compressional and NE–SW extensional stress field when the Sakashita body formed.