kita uebaru natural rock slope failure and its back analysis a large landslide occurred in kita uebaru or asato area of nakagusuku village in okinawa island japan on 10 june 2006 after a rainy period of about 9 days the total rainfall was 126 mm from june 8 till the time of the landslide this period this landslide destroyed several buildings and roads and the total travel distance of the landslide was about 110 m in this article the authors were concerned with the initiation conditions of kita uebaru landslide and post failure motions of the landslide body the observations made in the landslide area structural geology analyses and outcomes of geotechnical investigations are described first then possible causes of the landslide are investigated through back analyses using as inputs the geological structure and the strength properties of planes of discontinuities involved in the sliding processes the final part of the article is concerned with the simulation of post failure motions of the landslide body the results of the investigations and back analyses indicate that the failure plane was bi planar and the heavy torrential rainy period for about 3 days was the main cause of initiation of the landslide the mechanical model presented in this article was capable of capturing the overall features of the landslide body following the initiation of the failure

a mineralogical and geochemical study of three brazilian coal cleaning rejects demonstration of electron beam applications abstract the background and anthropogenic levels of hazardous elements in the surface soil of a coal mining area depend on the geological setting of the region and the underlying soil material but may also be influenced by water borne or aeolian transport of sediment from adjacent coal related waste piles very few studies have focused on the chemical and mineralogical composition of brazilian coal cleaning rejects ccrs which may represent significant sources of soil or water contamination in this study we have investigated the quantitative distribution of minerals and potentially hazardous elements in ccrs and a run of mine coal from the brazilian states of rio grande do sul and santa catarina the major minerals identified by x ray diffraction xrd high resolution transmission electron microscopy hr tem and field emission scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive x ray analysis techniques fe sem eds are kaolinite quartz mixed layer illite smectite pyrite jarosite melanterite gypsum rutile and calcite while minor minerals include barite hematite siderite sphalerite and goethite galena magnetite zircon and many other species may also occur as accessory trace minerals pyrite and jarosite are relatively abundant in some cases making up to around 4 or 5 of the mineral matter with jarosite melanterite and gypsum probably formed by complex interaction of oxidation products from fe sulfides and clay or carbonate components initiated by exposure and storage of the host material such atmospheric exposure promotes sulfide oxidation that releases substantial sulfate loads as well as ca 2 k mg 2 cl and al 3 metals with the most severe discharges were zn cu mn co ni and cd most of the trace pollutants in the ccrs displayed a ph dependent solubility being immobile in near neutral samples but mobile under the low ph conditions associated with oxidized material the results highlight the complex interactions among mineral matter components of the ccrs during storage and the potential for release of potentially hazardous elements in association with longer term exposure and storage

biogenic sulfur emissions from the subantarctic and antarctic oceans measurements of the atmospheric distributions of dimethylsulfide dms sulfur dioxide so2 methanesulfonate msa non seasalt sulfate nss so42 and methylmercaptan mesh were made over the drake passage and the coastal and inshore waters west of the antarctic peninsula during the 1986 austral fall season dms concentrations were also measured in the surface ocean and vertical profiles were obtained at several locations in the inshore water areas surface seawater concentrations of dms were on the order of 2 nmol l 1 similar to values observed in temperate latitudes the vertical profiles showed maximum values at depths between 5 40 m dms concentrations in the atmosphere were near 4 nmol m 3 96 parts per trillion by volume pptv close to the global average for remote oceanic regions the sea to air flux of dms ranged between 1 5 mol m 2 d 1 with the highest values found in the open ocean areas the total sea to air flux of dms from the southern ocean is estimated to be 0 2 tmol yr 1 mesh was detected occasionally at concentrations up to 0 15 nmol m 3 3 6 pptv the average aerosol msa concentration 0 27 nmol m 3 was surprisingly high relative to the level of nss so42 0 31 nmol m 3 both compounds were found predominantly in fine particles the nss so42 values were extremely low comparable to winter values reported for the south pole so2 concentrations were also very low 0 45 nmol m 3 11 pptv consistent with the low levels of nss so42 the residence time of dms in the antarctic marine atmosphere is estimated to be about 2 3 days during clear weather and about 6 7 days during overcast conditions photooxidation of dms in the southern ocean atmosphere may lead to a higher yield of msa and a lower yield of so2 compared to other world ocean areas

topo stress based probabilistic model for shallow landslide susceptibility zonation in the nepal himalaya while dealing with slope stability issues determining the state of stress and the relation between driving force and resisting force are the fundamental deterministic steps gravitational stresses affect geologic processes and engineering operations in slopes considering this fact a concept of topo stress evaluation is developed in this research and used to produce a shallow landslide susceptibility map in a model area the topo stress introduced in this research refers to the shear stress induced by the gravitational forces on the planes parallel to the ground surface weight of the material on a slope and friction angle of the jointed rock mass are the two fundamental parameters that are considered to govern topo stress in this study considering topo stress as a main factor for initiating shallow landslides a gis based probabilistic model is developed for shallow landslide susceptibility zonation an ideal terrain in central nepal is selected as the study area for this purpose two event based shallow landslide inventories are used to predict accuracy of the model which is found to be more than 78 for the first event landslides and more than 76 for the second event landslides it is evident from these prediction rates that the probabilistic topo stress model proposed in this work is quite acceptable when regional scale shallow landslide susceptibility mapping is practiced such as in the himalayan rocky slopes

nanominerals and ultrafine particles from coal fires from santa catarina south brazil abstract coal mining in santa catarina south brazil impacted the environment by means of a large number of coal waste piles emplaced over the old mine sites and the adjacent areas of the criciuma urussanga and sideropolis poor disposal of coal cleaning rejects represents significant environmental concerns due to their potential influence on soils and river sediments as well as on the surface and groundwater in the surroundings of these zones in this research advanced analytical techniques were performed to provide an improved understanding of the complex processes related with sulfide rich coal waste oxidation spontaneous combustion sequences of mineral formation and the transport mechanisms of hazardous elements by neoformed soluble nanominerals and ultrafine particles the results showed the presence of massive amorphous si al fe ti zr oxy hydroxides and fe hydr oxides with goethite and hematite with various degrees of crystallinity containing hazardous elements such as cr hf hg mo ni se pb th u zr and others several of the neoformed nanominerals found in the burned coal rejects are the same as those commonly associated with coal mine drainage in which oxidation of sulfides plays an important role to environment and human health this is the first brazilian coal spontaneous combustion research

gaseous emissions and sublimates from the truman shepherd coal fire floyd county kentucky a re investigation following attempted mitigation of the fire abstract the truman shepherd coal mine fire floyd and knott counties kentucky has been the subject of several field investigations over the last four years during july and november 2011 and january 2012 field investigations we measured gas emissions collected minerals and characterized the nature of the fire new vents opened over the course of the study and have continued to open since january 2012 coincident with the eastward advance of the fire this is the first study of kentucky coal fires where the original vents were able to be studied in addition to new vents on each subsequent trip neoformed minerals associated with the vents are primarily ammonium sulfates and ammonium chlorides with minor zeolites btex emissions especially benzene vary considerably ranging from relatively low to comparable to those from very large fires such as the ankney coal fire in wyoming vent emission data collected displays a general trend of decreasing carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions from july through january the projected annual greenhouse gas and mercury emissions from the fire are 65 69 t of co 2 4 51 t of co 5 73 t of ch 4 and 1 667 kg hg the november 2011 co co 2 ratios are indicative of more complete combustion than at any other time during the study possibly indicative of decreased moisture in the system

gas exchange and co2 flux in the tropical atlantic ocean determined from 222rn and pco2 measurements measurements of sup 222 rn vertical profiles and pco sub 2 in the surface water and the atmosphere were made simultaneously in the tropical atlantic ocean as part of the tto tas program the gas exchange rate or piston velocity was determined from the sup 222 rn profiles and the delta pco sub 2 between the surface ocean and the atmosphere was determined from the pco sub 2 measurements the net flux of co sub 2 across the sea air interface was calculated from these two data sets the piston velocity ranged from 1 4 to 6 9 m d and was correlated with wind speed the slope of piston velocity versus wind speed was estimated to be between 0 3 and 1 1 m d m s the delta pco sub 2 ranged from minus 35 mu atm at 15 degree n 55 degree w to 64 mu atm at 5 degree s 28 degree w with the zero delta pco sub 2 isopleth located at about 10 degree n the high delta pco sub 2 values can be explained by lateral advection of surface water from the east with heating and biological consumption of co sub 2 and alkalinity during transit the net flux of co sub 2 was into the ocean north of 10 degree n latitude with values reaching a maximum of 1 4 mol m sup minus 2 yr sup minus 1 at 15 degree n 50 degree w south of 10 degree n more the net flux was out of the ocean reaching a maximum value of 2 7 mol m sup minus 2 yr sup minus 1 at 8 degree s 28 degree w the average net flux from 10 degree n to 10 degree s was 1 3 mol m sup minus 2 yr sup minus 1 out of the ocean which is equivalent to 0 15 gigatons of carbon per year if the flux determined applied throughout the year 56 refs 16 figs 4 tabs ss less

temporal variations in marine chemical concentrations in coastal areas of eastern antarctica and associated climatic causes abstract snow pit and a firn core samples obtained from coastal areas in the eastern lambert basin of eastern antarctica enabled us to investigate the temporal variations in soluble marine ion concentrations and the possible mechanisms influencing their variations the concentrations of seasonal sea salt ions na cl and mg2 at the coastal site lh406 were maximal in the spring and minimal in the summer broad maximal values also occurred in the winter and minimal values occurred in the summer in the interior site zg050 the sea ice extent sie in the indian ocean sector of eastern antarctica followed similar temporal distribution patterns two sulfur compounds so42 and msa experienced seasonal variations similar to those observed for sea salt ions at the lh406 site however distinct variations were reported at the zg050 site the variations in nssso42 levels in the zg050 snow pit that occurred over a 14 year period were positively correlated with variations in sie however this relationship was different from that at the western lambert basin the change in direction of the supplementary prevailing wind during 1994 1995 produced a significant change in the concentrations of marine ions a change in the source region may be the primary cause of this difference

impact of faults on landslide in the atharamura hill along the nh 44 tripura the present study is aimed at assessing the relationship between existing faults and occurrence of landslides the geophysical techniques like geothermal imaging of fault zone soil electrical resistivity data and field verification identify the fault characteristic the present study reveals two prominent faults in the atharamura hill i e one north south extended faults and the other east west extended faults the change in the geothermal characteristic along the fault structural data dip strike and most significantly the locations of landslide close to faults provide strong correlation of the landslide and the existing faults the soil electrical resistivity data are low along the faults the subsurface resistivity profile clearly delineates the faults

dimethyl sulfide concentrations in the surface waters of the australasian antarctic and subantarctic oceans during an austral summer dimethyl sulfide dms was measured in surface seawater samples collected between tasmania and antarctica in the australasian sector of the southern ocean during the 1988 1989 austral summer the mean dms concentration in subantarctic waters for january was 20 5 nmol l 1 decreasing to 4 0 nmol l 1 in the antarctic convergence during december and january the australasian antarctic divergence appears to be an area of high primary productivity as the concentration of dms in these surface waters remained relatively constant at 18 5 nmol l 1 samples collected on the shelf and in coastal waters of prydz bay east antarctica show a distinct rise in dms concentration on all voyages with a maximum concentration of 122 nmol l 1 recorded in january near davis

rainfall induced landslide susceptibility zonation of puerto rico landslides are a major geologic hazard with estimated tens of deaths and 1 2 billion in economic losses per year in the us alone the island of puerto rico experiences one or two large events per year often triggered in steeply sloped areas by prolonged and heavy rainfall identifying areas susceptible to landslides thus has great potential value for puerto rico and would allow better management of its territory landslide susceptibility zonation lsz procedures identify areas prone to failure based on the characteristics of past events lszs are here developed based on two widely applied methodologies bivariate frequency ratio fr method and logistic regression lr method with these methodologies the correlations among eight possible landslide inducing factors over the island have been investigated in detail both methodologies indicate aspect slope elevation geological discontinuities and geology as highly significant landslide inducing factors together with land cover for the fr method and distance from road for the lr method the lr method is grounded in rigorous statistical testing and model building but did not improve results over the simpler fr method accordingly the fr method has been selected to generate a landslide susceptibility map for puerto rico the landslide susceptibility predictions were tested against previous landslide analyses and other landslide inventories this independent evaluation demonstrated that the two methods are consistent with landslide susceptibility zonation from those earlier studies and showed this analysis to have resulted in a robust and verifiable landslide susceptibility zonation map for the whole island of puerto rico

a combined hillslope hydrology stability model for low gradient clay slopes in the italian dolomites abstract the temporal trend of displacement of a landslide on a low gradient clay slope in the italian dolomites as a function of precipitation was simulated with a combined hydrological slope stability model based on groundwater and surficial displacement observations piezometric records and lithological profiles from boreholes suggest the occurrence of preferential groundwater flow through a very permeable top layer of about 1 m thickness which overlies a less permeable compact clay layer penetrated by dead end cracks to simulate groundwater levels in this system a linear reservoir model with two outlets was applied where the upper outlet drains the permeable top layer and the lower outlet drains the dead end cracks in the clay layer the reservoir was assigned a bottom boundary level varying in time this was done to represent an inferred yearly fluctuation of a matric groundwater level due to regional flow which controls the thickness of the unsaturated part of the clay layer absorbing water from the cracks groundwater output from the model was used in a visco plastic stability model to simulate the velocity of landslide movement taking into account a phenomenon of strength regain that occurs in the clays along the slip surfaces calibration and validation on 3 years of groundwater and displacement data showed that both models yield good results thus good estimates of cumulative landslide displacement were obtained as a function of precipitation the general concepts underlying the models offer possibilities for regionalization because from a geological point of view this landslide is typical of many others in the dolomites

mechanism of the anlesi landslide in the three gorges reservoir china abstract many gentle dip translational rock slides have taken place in the three gorges reservoir china in order to study the mechanism of these translational rock slides the authors use the anlesi landslide as a typical case study to investigate in detail field investigations show that the slip zones of the anlesi landslide were formed from a white mudstone in jurassic red strata x ray diffraction and infrared ray analysis showed that the main mineral components of the slip zones are montmorillonite illite feldspar and quartz laboratory tests indicate that the slip zone soils are silty clay of medium swelling potential the shear strength decreasing significantly as the slip zone attracts water and saturates the main factors contributing to the anlesi landslide are recent tectonic activity incompetent beds and intensive rainfall recent tectonic activity had caused shear failure along the incompetent beds and joints within the sandstone with the effect of intensive rainfall water percolates to the incompetent beds along tectonic fissures resulting in swelling of the soil material and high groundwater pressures within fissures in the strata as a consequence the anlesi slope is prone to slide along these incompetent beds flac3d software was used to simulate the mechanism of the anlesi landslide considering the rheological properties of soil and rock the simulation results demonstrate that the stress displacement and failure area changes with simulated creep time the maximum displacement in the x direction reaches 7 59 m after 200 year simulated creep therefore the mechanism of the anlesi landslide can be illustrated considering the rheological properties of jurassic red strata

soil water balance model for precipitation induced shallow landslides precipitation infiltration is one of the most significant triggering factors for slope failure occurrence in many places around the world knowledge of the mechanisms leading to precipitation induced slope failures is of great importance to the management of landslide hazard in this study a soil water balance model is developed to estimate soil water flux during the process of infiltration from rainfall data with consideration of storm periods and non storm periods two important assumptions in this study are given 1 instantaneous uniform distribution of the degree of saturation and 2 a linear relationship between evapotranspiration and the related degree of saturation for storm periods the brooks and corey model estimates both the soil water retention curve and soil water parameters the infiltration partition is employed by an infinite series solution of philip in conjunction with the time compression approximation for none storm periods evapotranspiration can be derived for the moisture depletion of soil water this study presents a procedure for calculating the safety factor for an unsaturated slope suffering from precipitation infiltration the process of infiltration into a slope due to rainfall and its effect on soil slope behavior are examined using modified mohr coulomb failure criterion in conjunction with a soil water balance model the results indicate that the matric suction which is closely related to slope stability is affected by the degree of saturation controlled by rainfall events

partitioning of mineralogical and inorganic geochemical components of coals from santa catarina brazil by industrial beneficiation processes abstract comparative studies of the mineral matter and trace elements in 12 pairs of run of mine rom and clean coal products from beneficiation plants in santa catarina southern brazil have been carried out using low temperature oxygen plasma ashing x ray diffraction and chemical analysis techniques with the aim of evaluating the effect of coal preparation on the mineralogy and chemical composition of the final coal products the results show that substantial reductions in mineral matter and ash percentages are associated with beneficiation of coals mined from the different deposits these reductions are accompanied by changes in the percentages of fe2o3 in the respective coal ashes due to the reduction in the proportion of pyrite in the mineral matter and also by a reduction in the percentage of na2o possibly due to ion exchange within the clay minerals the relative proportions of quartz clay minerals and minor phases such as calcite and feldspar mainly albite within the mineral matter are not however significantly changed by the beneficiation processes the concentrations of most trace elements in the beneficiation products are similar to the respective concentrations in the relevant rom materials or are reduced to an extent similar to that of the total mineral matter percentage for the respective coal samples this suggests an association mainly with the clay rich mineral matter the concentrations of as and pb however are reduced to a greater extent for most samples by the beneficiation processes consistent with a pyrite association concentrations of ge u and zr are higher in many of the clean coals than in the respective run of mine materials suggesting the possibility of preferential association at least for some deposits with the organic rich fractions of the coals concerned

a study of the sulfur cycle in the antarctic marine boundary layer atmospheric sampling was conducted aboard r v polar duke from march 21 to april 27 1986 in the southern drake passage and in the coastal waters west of the antarctic peninsula average atmospheric concentrations n 6 of sulfur dioxide so2 vapor aerosol methanesulfonate ch3so3 and aerosol non sea salt sulfate nss so4 were 0 36 0 22 and 0 34 nmol m 3 respectively cascade impactor data indicated that more than 85 of the masses of both ch3so3 and nss so4 were on particles of 0 25 m mean aerodynamic radius average concentrations n 8 of ch3so3 and nss so4 in precipitation were 0 09 and 0 57 m respectively box model calculations based on this limited data suggest a total sulfur removal rate from the local marine boundary layer of 0 3 7 2 mol m 2 day 1 this removal approximately balances the oceanic source of dimethylsulfide dms sulfur of 1 2 4 4 mol m 2 day 1 100 estimated by berresheim 1987 from data obtained during the same cruise the box model calculations also suggest that heterogeneous so2 oxidation may be the major pathway for dms to sulfate conversion 75 and or that other sources of sulfate may not be negligible observed mineral aerosol and 222rn concentrations were low but slightly elevated above pure remote marine background levels suggesting a weak but discernible continental character in sampled air uncertainties are large owing to the limited sampling time study area and numbers of samples obtained but overall the sulfur cycle in the coastal antarctic marine boundary layer appears not to differ remarkably from that in other remote marine regions

ammonium and non sea salt sulfate in the epica ice cores as indicator of biological activity in the southern ocean sulfate so42 and ammonium nh4 flux records over the last 150 000 years from both antarctic epica ice cores european project for ice coring in antarctica are presented the ice core record from dome c is influenced by the indian sector of the southern ocean so whereas dronning maud land is facing the atlantic sector generally they reflect the past atmospheric aerosol load and thus potentially reveal the fingerprint of marine biogenic sources from the so the most important feature of both the nssso 4 2 as well as nh4 flux records is the absence of any significant glacial cycles in contrary to the distinct transitions for mineral dust and sea salt aerosol over the last 150 000 years this finding challenges the iron fertilization hypothesis on long time scales as the significant changes in dust e g from the last glacial maximum toward the holocene have neither an impact on nssso 4 2 nor on nh4 fluxes found in interior antarctica the inter site correlation of both species is weak r 2 0 42 for the nssso 4 2 flux and r 2 0 12 for the nh4 flux respectively emphasizing the local source characteristics of biogenic aerosol from the so millennial variability in nh4 and nssso 4 2 is within the uncertainty of our flux estimates correlation with mineral dust and sea ice derived sodium shows only a very weak influence of dust deposition on those insignificant changes in nssso 4 2 flux for the atlantic sector of the southern ocean but also small transport changes or terrigeneous sulfate contributions may contribute to those variations at edml c 2009 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

the fossil vertebrates from lano basque country spain new evidence on the composition and affinities of the late cretaceous continental faunas of europe a newly discovered fossil locality at lano basque country has yielded a vertebrate assemblage of probably maastrichtian age comprising fishes amphibians reptiles and mammals it considerably enlarges our knowledge of the late cretaceous continental faunas of europe hitherto based on a much less complete record some taxa are recorded for the first time in europe and the fauna also contains the oldest known representatives of some groups amphisbaenians salamandrids the lan assemblage reveals an original fauna comprising both forms related to asian and north american groups and elements with gondwanan affinities

hydrological triggering conditions of landslides in varved clays in the french alps abstract in this paper the meteorological and hydrological conditions are analyzed which trigger shallow and deeper landslides in glacio lacustrine deposits varved or laminated clays in the french alps the hydrological system of these landslides consists of a colluvial cover which supplies water into the fissures of the underlying varved clays from these fissures water can infiltrate more or less horizontally into the silt layers of the varved clays a combined reservoirs model was used to simulate the water fluctuations in the colluvial cover and the fissures both the water level in the fissures and the residence time of water in the fissures are mainly controlled by the amount of water storage in the colluvial cover simulations over the last 25 years show that almost each year the fissures are completely filled with water for several months a year infiltration experiments in the field show that infiltration into the varved clays occurs mainly by horizontal infiltration into the silt laminae calculated infiltration rates from these fissures into the silt layers show that the mean yearly residence time of water in the fissures is not sufficient to fully saturate the clay mass each year it is therefore concluded that the triggering of the landslide movements is mainly controlled by the development of positive pore water pressures in the fissure system and that the rise of pore water pressures induced by the matrix system of the varved clays only plays a minor role the calculations also show that drainage of the colluvial cover is a very efficient measure to stabilize the deeper landslides

mineral speciation and fate of some hazardous contaminants in coal waste pile from anthracite mining in portugal the coal anthracite a in douro coalfield nw of portugal has been exploited for many years and has been mainly used as fuel supply by a thermal power plant the mining activities inevitably impacted the environment which includes a large number of coal waste piles emplaced over the old mine sites and adjacent areas of the douro coalfield the disposal of coal mining residues represents significant environmental concerns due to their potential influence on soils and sediments as well as on the surface and groundwater of the surrounding areas in the present study the development of sequential extraction combined with various advanced analytical techniques was performed to provide an improved understanding of the complex processes related with sulfide rich coal waste oxidation sequences of mineral formation and the transport mechanisms of hazardous elements by specific neoformed soluble minerals the results showed the presence of amorphous iron oxy hydroxides and goethite with various degrees of crystallinity containing hazardous elements such as as cr hg mo se pb u and others some of the neoformed minerals found in the coal waste material are the same as those commonly associated with coal acid drainage in which oxidation of sulfides plays an important role the precipitated neoformed minerals include pickeringite blodite and a mixture of epsomite pickeringite and hexahydrite as these sulfates may dissolve after the first rain they may release above mentioned elements into surrounding water bodies

djadokhta formation correlative strata in chinese inner mongolia an overview of the stratigraphy sedimentary geology and paleontology and comparisons with the type locality in the pre altai gobi because the bayan mandahu redbeds of inner mongolia share similar sedimentary facies and fossil assemblages with the djadokhta formation of pre altai gobi the two units are interpreted as stratigr

spatial and seasonal variations of the snow chemistry at the central filchner ronne ice shelf antarctica the chemical stratigraphy of the surface firn of the central filchner ronne ice shelf was determined in conjunction with stable isotopes from shallow firn cores and snow pit samples collected at 1 1 widely distributed sites and covering a time period of at least 20 years the chemical analysis included ecm profiling and the determination of chloride non sea salt nss sulphate methanesulphonate msa nitrate and partly sodium and bromide throughout the investigated area winter time nss sulphate levels are found to be substantially negative indicating that the sulphate to sodium ratio in airborne sea salt particles is depleted by a factor of 5 approximately in relation to the bulk sea water ratio while winter firn layers appear to be marked by episodic events of large sea salt inputs pronounced annual cycles with maxima in summer firn layers are commonly observed for the ecm signal and for nss sulphate nitrate and msa at all sites for msa however this phase relation is almost reversed for depths greater than 3 4m the mean impurity levels consistently are strongly depleted with increasing distance from the ice edge by about 30 100 km for sea salt 25 100 km for msa and only 10 100 km for nss sulphate however no substantial trend is observed for nitrate it is concluded therefore that the sea salt and the biogenic sulphur compounds deposited on the filchner ronne ice shelf mainly originate from the adjacent weddell sea further important implications of the continental effects are a an atmospheric residence time of nss sulphate apparently exceeding that of msa probably due to the supplementary sulphate production on the ice shelf from biogenic so 2 and b a substantial limitation of the potential of deep ice cores already drilled on the filchner ronne ice shelf in extracting reliable net temporal changes of sea salt and biogenic sulphur species

methanesulfonate in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core in this paper we present measurements of methanesulfonate in the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core methanesulfonate is an atmospheric oxidation product of dimethylsulfide the gisp2 methanesulfonate record contains information about the atmospheric loading of biogenic sulfur over the past 110 kyr and its relationship to climate change the gisp2 data set supports the inferences made from the renland ice core from greenland that the glacial atmosphere over greenland had reduced concentrations of biogenic sulfur compared with the present day hansson and saltzman 1993 we conclude that the flux of biogenic sulfur from the north atlantic ocean must have been lower during glacial times and speculate that this decrease may have been related to differences in phytoplankton speciation the data suggest that changes in direct radiative forcing from biogenic sulfur aerosols would act as negative feedback to the glacial interglacial climate cycles in this region

hydrological and hydrochemical processes observed during a large scale infiltration experiment at the super sauze mudslide france rainfall is one of the major triggering factors of landslides and its pattern controls their temporal behaviour characterization of the groundwater processes and possible preferential infiltration of rainfall is necessary challenging and very relevant for landslide hazard analysis the objective of this paper is to identify the groundwater dynamics matrix flow and preferential flow within highly heterogeneous and fissured reworked black marl material using a large scale infiltration test the artificial rainfall experiment over a 100 m2 infiltration plot monitored with several hydrological hydrochemical and geophysical equipments was carried out on the super sauze mudslide south french alps high resolution groundwater and water quality measurements were collected artificial rainfall was applied over a period of 14 days conservative tracers br and cl were used successively during the infiltration period the mean rainfall intensity was 8 5 mm h 1 with a mean tracer concentration of 100 mg l 1 the hydrodynamic and hydrochemical responses of the tracing experiments allowed us to get a new insight into 1 the horizontal and vertical variability of the rain infiltration in unstable black marl hillslopes 2 the effect of shallow fissuration on the groundwater recharge 3 the role of piston flow on the rate of water level changes and the increase of pore water pressures and 4 the effect of material heterogeneity in the development of preferential water flows and local perched water tables copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

methanesulfonate in the firn of king george island antarctica methanesulfonate was investigated as a potential contributor to the sulfur budget based on analysis of a firn core from collins ice cap king george island antarctica 62 10 s 58 50 w the anion was found to be present at a mean concentration of 0 17 eq l 1 with a maximum of 0 73 eq l 1 dating based on the 18 o profile suggests that the principal peaks of methanesulfonate are associated with snow deposited in summer and autumn a careful examination of msa so 4 2 and nssso 4 2 profiles indicates that two of the three peaks in the msa profile may result mainly from migration and relocation of msa the mechanism responsible for this might be similar to that for deep cores from other antarctic glaciers supporting the migration hypothesis proposed by prior researchers and extending it to near temperate ice due to the post depositional modification the main part of the msa profile of the firn is no longer indicative of the seasonal pattern of msa in the atmosphere and the basis for calculation of the msa nssso 4 2 ratio should be changed the msa nssso 4 2 ratio obtained by a new computation is 0 22 10 higher than that ignoring the effect of msa migration

sineoamphisbaena hexatabularis an amphisbaenian diapsida squamata from the upper cretaceous redbeds at bayan mandahu inner mongolia people s republic of china and comments on the phylogenetic relationships of the amphisbaenia sineoamphisbaena hexatabularis wu et al 1993 is the earliest known amphisbaenian represented by well preserved cranial and postcranial material it reveals a mosaic of generalized lizard like features and amphisbaenian characters most distinctive of the latter are features of cranial consolidation adaptive for a fossorial way of life phylogenetic analyses strongly confirm the monophyly of the amphisbaenia inclusive of s hexatabularis the amphisbaenia is diagnosed by a suite of apomorphic characters the available evidence suggests a probable amphisbaenia macrocephalosauridae relationship within the scincomorpha this is supported primarily by the unique modifications of the palate and temporal region of the skull it is argued here that the amphisbaenia evolved in central asia during the cretaceous in response to the transition from a perennial lacustrine environment to a dry semiarid eolian environment the relatively primitive morphology indicates that s hexatabularis was not permanently subterranean the further derived modifications of later forms are associated with tunneling in an environment of more compact soils

methanesulfonic acid in south polar snow layers a record of strong el nino in this paper we present a detailed study of methanesulfonic acid msa and non sea salt sulfate nss so4 content in recent south polar precipitation these two species are major oxidation products of dimethylsulfide dms which is mainly produced by marine biota the nss so4 content of south polar snow layers deposited over the 1922 1984 time period remained rather stable except short term increases after the mt agung 1963 and the el chichon 1982 eruptions at the opposite the msa profile shows over the same time period several sporadic 0 5 to 2 years increases 2 to 10 times background level taking into account an uncertainty of 1 3 years in the dating of snow layers all these msa events seem to be correlated to major enso el nino southern oscillation events having occured over the last sixty years 1925 26 1941 1957 58 1972 73 and 1982 83 the relatively high msa nssso4 weight ratios r observed in the corresponding snow layers suggest that these events reflect enhanced dms emissions from the antarctic ocean this suggested connection between enso and high dms marine emissions at high southern latitudes is discussed in terms of atmospheric and oceanic circulation

three dimensional analysis of a deep seated landslide in central taiwan the unstable slope which is located at lushan central taiwan slid when heavy rainfall occurred in recent decades posing a threat to a nearby village slope stability analysis in three dimensions is more realistic and can advance comprehension of the sliding mechanism the landslides caused by two heavy rainfall events are simulated in sequence using finite element modeling the three dimensional 3d modeling is established according to the data of extensive investigations including field reconnaissance borehole drilling laboratory experimentation and monitoring of groundwater tables and displacements in particular it requires skills for the generation of a sliding surface and the division of the 3d model the difference in lithology and a joint set initiated the instability of the slope forming the fractures on the slope the sliding surface with greatest depth over 100 m has not yet extended to the lower slope resulting in greater displacements on the upper and middle slopes than those on the lower slope the 3d numerical modeling not only reasonably simulates the displacements induced by the rainfall events but also enables 3d visualization and details of the sliding mechanism also it is capable of revealing the features that cannot be explained in a 2d analysis

mechanism and failure process of qianjiangping landslide in the three gorges reservoir china the qianjiangping landslide is a large planar rock slide which occurred in july 14 2003 shortly after the water level reached 135 m in the three gorges reservoir china the landslide destroyed 4 factories and 129 houses took 24 lives and made 1 200 people homeless field investigation shows that the contributing factors for the landslide are the geological structure of the slope the previous surface of rupture the water level rise and continuous rainfall in order to reveal the mechanism and failure process of the landslide numerical simulation was conducted on qianjiangping slope before sliding based on the characteristics and the engineering conditions of the landslide the topography and the geological profiles of qianjiangping slope before sliding is reconstructed the seepage field of qianjiangping slope before sliding was simulated with the geostudio software the results show that ground water table rises and bends to the slope during the rise of water level and the slope surface becomes partially saturated within the period of continuous rainfall using the ground water table obtained above the failure process of qianjiangping slope is simulated with the flac3d software the results demonstrate that the shear strain increment displacement and shear failure area of the slope increased greatly after the water level rose and continuous rained and the landslide was triggered by the combined effect both of water level rise and continuous rainfall the development of shear strain increment displacement and shear failure area of the slope shows that the landslide was retrogressive in the lower part of the slope and progressive in the upper part of the slope

landslide hazards and mitigation measures at gangtok sikkim himalaya landslides and other mass movements are serious geo environmental hazards in the himalayas massive landslides killing tens of thousands of people with catastrophic damages have occurred in the eastern himalayan state of sikkim which shares common borders with tibet nepal and bhutan this paper describes the investigations carried out on recent landslides in gangtok sikkim india with emphasis on the triggering mechanisms that have contributed to the release and creep of natural slopes in the region it is believed that the intense rainfall in the region not only contributes to rapid erosion and weathering of the rock mass but also increases the groundwater level that leads to reduction in the stability of natural slopes a landslide instrumentation programme that includes placement of settlement pillars and piezometers is underway to predict the behaviour of landslides in the area

depositional environments and fades transitions of dinosaur bearing upper cretaceous redbeds at bayan mandahu inner mongolia people s republic of china campanian redbeds near bayan mandahu consist of six lithosomes which in turn comprise twelve lithofacies the distribution of these lithosomes along a 12 km escarpment resolves into three coeval paleogeographic zones representing a proximal to distal depositional gradient zone 1 the most proximal consists of alluvial lacustrine and eolian sediments it is interpreted as an eolian influenced distal alluvial fan or braid plain environment farther basinward zone 2 is dominated by structureless eolian sandstones and caliche profiles with minor occurrences of alluvial lacustrine and eolian dune deposits it is interpreted as a zone of vertically aggrading eolian sand stabilized by vegetation and a high water table zone 3 the most distal is dominated by eolian dune and structureless eolian deposits with lacustrine and interdune fluvial deposits it is interpreted as the southern margin of an eolian dune field that was dominated by transverse and barchan dunes u shaped mature caliche profiles ca

interpreting recent accumulation records through an understanding of the regional synoptic climatology an example from the southern antarctic peninsula in this study we correlate temporal features within the electrical conductivity acidity traces of four shallow firn cores obtained from the southern antarctic peninsula to synoptic scale variations in the regional climate as depicted by a numerical weather prediction model it is demonstrated that the three high acidity features present within the 1992 93 accumulation correspond to periods of significant precipitation a hypothesis supported by the association of these events with strong onshore winds ideal for transporting the biogenically derived sources of precipitation acidity to the core sites the longitudinal location of depressions within the bellingshausen sea is shown to be the principal factor governing the volume of precipitation that they give over the western peninsula annual accumulation in the model is 25 lower than revealed by the cores although there are too many uncertainties to provide a definite reason for the deviation the smoothed model orography and inaccurate land sea mask are believed to be significant factors it is postulated that the acidity pattern within southern peninsula cores may reveal an el nino southern oscillation signal

impact of reservoir impoundment caused groundwater level changes on regional slope stability a case study in the loess plateau of western china due to its impact on regional groundwater levels the impoundment of a reservoir is an important consideration for assessing the stability of surrounding slopes this study presents a method for risk assessment and control of landslides in regions where groundwater levels can be affected by reservoir water levels the method is illustrated with a case study of the hongzhuang reservoir in yanan city northern shaanxi province china a groundwater numerical model was developed using modflow and the groundwater flow fields were calculated for different reservoir water levels safety factors were then obtained and the slope stability was analyzed moreover a probabilistic slope analysis was performed by monte carlo simulation to evaluate the reliability of slope stability and the probability of slope failure finally a reasonable reservoir water level was determined according to the acceptable risk level and a comprehensive risk mitigation method was proposed considering water level control relocation and drainage measures

the analysis of rainfall induced slope failures at iva valley area of enugu state nigeria this paper analyses the dominant mechanisms of slope failures and identifies potential obstacles to landslide hazard reduction at the iva valley area enugu nigeria the landscape is replete with landslide scars and gullies of varied sizes and the slope deposits comprise unconsolidated friable sands inter bedded with thin units of montmorillonitic claystone forty three landslide events were identified in the study area with most being shallow short run out movements with slip surface depth 2 m the study found the landslides mainly occur in the beginning of rainy season characterized by short duration high intensity rainfall an integrated approach comprising field mapping laboratory tests and numerical analyses reveals that the barren nature of the slopes prior to the outset of rainy season high rainfall intensity erosion overgrazing soil characteristics and the site s unique lithologic sequence are the main causes of instability shearing tests under several conditions showed that the soils strongly strain soften until low steady state strength is achieved a computer code based on this strength reduction technique used input parameters obtained from the field and laboratory studies to simulate a landslide with similar structure travel distance and distribution area it is noted that urbanization has gradually increased the vulnerability of the society s poor to landslide hazards as they now erect unplanned residence tents and blocks on the slopes this work is part of a regional study aimed at finding ways of protecting the vulnerable by generating data that could be used to build future landslide susceptibility map

nanominerals and ultrafine particles in sublimates from the ruth mullins coal fire perry county eastern kentucky usa abstract mineral sublimates from the ruth mullins fire in abandoned underground and surface mines in the high volatile a bituminous middle pennsylvanian hazard no 7 coalbed perry county kentucky were examined by optical mineralogy x ray diffraction xrd and high resolution transmission electron microscopy hr tem optical examination revealed the presence of salammoniac and a fine unidentified fibrous mineral xrd also showed the presence of salammoniac along with trace amounts of quartz kaolinite and possibly phengite both cubic and dendritic salammoniac forms were observed with hr tem gypsum jarosite with cubic pseudomorphs after pyrite and fe minerals including cr bearing hematite in association with jarosite were observed with hr tem dehydration of jarosite can lead to the formation of less hydrous fe sulfates and hematite

sea ice structure and biological activity in the antarctic marginal ice zone ice cores obtained during october november 1981 from weddell sea pack ice were analyzed for physical chemical and biological parameters frazil ice which is associated with dynamic turbulent conditions in the water column predominated 70 both floe thickness and salinity indicate ice which is less than 1 year old chemical analyses particularly with regard to the nutrients revealed a complex picture phosphate values are scattered relative to the dilution curve nitrate and silicate values are lower than expected from simple scaling with salinity and suggest diatom growth within the ice nitrite values are higher in the ice than in adjacent waters frazil ice formation which probably concentrates algal cells from the water column into ice floes results in higher initial chlorophyll a concentrations in the ice than in adjacent waters this mechanical concentration is further enhanced by subsequent reproduction within the ice ice core chlorophyll ranged from 0 09 to 3 8 mg m3 comparable to values previously reported for this area but significantly lower than values for antarctic coastal fast ice the dominance of frazil ice in the weddell is one of the major differences between this area and others consequently we believe that ice structural conditions significantly influence the biological communities in the ice

assessment of landslide susceptibility on the natural terrain of lantau island hong kong steep terrain and the high frequency of tropical rainstorms make landslide occurrence on natural terrain a common phenomenon in hong kong for example more than 800 slope failures were triggered by a rainstorm in november 1993 on lantau island hong kong maps of recent landslides interpreted from aerial photographs in combination with a geographical information system were used to evaluate the frequency and distribution of landslides with particular reference to such physical parameters as lithology slope gradient slope aspect elevation vegetation cover and proximity to drainage line all of which are considered to be influential in the occurrence of landslides a stepwise logistic regression model was obtained between landslide susceptibility and the above mentioned physical parameters the study area has been classified into five classes of relative landslide susceptibility namely very low low moderate high and very high based on this methodology

mechanism of a rainfall induced slide debris flow constraints from microstructure of its slip zone the microstructure of the slip zone of a rainfall induced slide debris flow landslide developed within a volcanic saprolitic soil was comprehensively investigated using optical and backscattered electron microscopy bem techniques and a digital image analysis system the slip zone had generally looser structure with higher relative porosities and greater abundance of discrete kaolinite aggregates than its confining materials particles are generally random or weakly arranged distinct microstructural characteristics suggest that the slip zone has undergone dilation and microstructural destruction the dilative deformation should have began at the tip of tensions crack s where high pore water pressure was generated during heavy rainfall and gradually propagated down the slope under sustained water level in these crack s the soil in the dilated zone should have facilitated shear deformation during which it experienced contraction under undrained conditions rapid and significant increase of pore water pressure within the toe section of the slip zone and sudden release of strain inhibited by the shotcrete cover should have been responsible for the transformation of the fore mass of the slide into a debris flow during sliding particle movement within the slip zone should have taken place as a fluid like particulate flow resulting in a random or weak particle alignment in general

the role of central asia in dinosaurian biogeography dinosaurian biogeography may have been largely controlled by the mesozoic fragmentation of pangea and the reassembly of its fragments into a new boreal supercontinent laurasia although late triassic and early jurassic dinosaurs were globally distributed chinese assemblages were dominated by endemic forms from middle jurassic into early cretaceous time the affinities of aptian albian immigrants to asia were strongest with north america and europe rather than gondwana indicating that the northern and southern hemispheres had by then attained their biogeographic identity this distinctiveness was maintained through cretaceous time europe seems to have been a buffer area between paleolaurasia and gondwana of the northern continents it was the most strongly influenced by gondwana dispersants late jurassic dinosaur assemblages in north america exhibited gondwana affinities but by late cretaceous time they were dominated by forms of asian ancestry

introduction to the special issue commemorating the 30th anniversary of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology with a summary of the museum s early history and its research contributions located just west of drumheller in southern alberta canada the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology rtmp is nestled among outcrops of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed along the red deer river valley fig 1 since it officially opened on 25 september 19851 the museum has become one of alberta s must see tourist attractions a significant contributor to the local economy and earned an international reputation for the quality of its palaeontological collections and the research conducted by its scientists the rtmp is unique within canada in being the only government supported museum dedicated to palaeontology and it is one of the few such institutions in the world fig 1 the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology a front of museum and main entrance circa 2010 looking westwards and with horizontal beds of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed in the walls of the red deer river valley in the distance b aerial photograph oblique angle and looking to the north northeast the museum sits on top of the number 7 coal seam sensu gibson 1977 and at the base of the horsethief member of the horseshoe canyon formation d a eberth pers comm 2015 that stratigraphic position correlates with an age of about 71 5 ma i e late campanian and lies within the upper part of the edmontosaurus regalis pachyrhinosaurus canadensis dinosaur assemblage zone see eberth et al 2013 fig 6 c the iconic running theropod logo that until recently graced the exterior of the museum below a life sized tyrannosaurid sculpture by brian cooley one of many such sculptures by cooley that have been featured at the museum since its opening in 1985 and with the education wing opened in 2003 as the atco tyrrell learning centre in the background d the cretaceous alberta life sized diorama opened in 2007 an example of a rtmp exhibit that relies heavily on discoveries and interpretations by museum researchers in this case work done in the albertosaurus bonebed and at other localities throughout the horseshoe canyon formation all photographs courtesy of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology this special issue of the canadian journal of earth sciences presents a collection of papers commemorating the rtmp s 30th or pearl anniversary our rationale for doing a 30th anniversary volume was two fold first it is an opportunity to showcase the breadth of research conducted by current and former museum scientists as well as by some colleagues having a history of collaboration with the rtmp the 13 invited papers included in this volume are a mix of review and original research papers all thematically focused on the geology and palaeontology of alberta to varying degrees each contribution is the result of work supported by the rtmp and relies on specimens housed in the museum s collections second the 30th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the rtmp s history and its research program as is typical for most institutions the rtmp has done little to formally document its own history this year likely will be the last major milestone for which the original generation of museum staff are still working and available to share their recollections about the museum fieldwork and research already deaths and departures have winnowed away part of the original

a 340 year record of biogenic sulphur from the weddell sea area antarctica detailed records of methanesulphonic acid msa and non sea salt sulpha te nss so have been obtained from ice cores drilled on dolleman island on the east coast of the antarctic peninsula i0 35 2 s 60 55 5 w annual average concentrations of msa arc presented for the period i 652 1992 over this lime span the mean ann ual concen tration of msa is 0 69 eq 1 1 cr 0 33 n 340 the range is 0 13 2 35 eq 1 1 a nd the msa nss s04 2 ratio is 0 22 the high msa concentration reflects the proximity of the weddell sea believed to be a region of high marine phyt0plankton production t he overa ll mean nss so concentration is about 66 of the total sulphate d eposited in the snowfall low frequency variations of msa and oxygen isolope signals correla te closely indicat ing that they may be modulated by similar atmospheric processes positive correlations are observed between the oxygenisotope signature and both l 1sa r 0 4 1 and nss s04 2 r 0 50 signilicant at the 99 level a small negative correlation can be seen between both species and the annual duration or sea ice a t scoria bay laurie island in the south orkneys since 1902 msa r 0 23 and nss so r 0 29 significant at 95 confidence no significant link between high msa concentrations and el nino even ts is observed at this location

model test on rainfall induced loess mudstone interfacial landslides in qingshuihe china loess mudstone interfacial landslide is one of the most prominent landslide hazards that occurred in soil rock contacting zones in the world a semi similar material physical model test was conducted to investigate the startup conditions and sliding mechanism of rainfall induced loess mudstone interfacial landslides based on the landslides which occurred in qingshuihe county inner mongolia autonomous region china when rainwater infiltrates downward along loess strata and gradually gathers near the interface the soil strata near the interface are softened causing frictional constraint reduction the mudstone strata serve as an aquifuge between underlying mudstone and overlying loess strata due to different permeability coefficients as rainfall continues the softened zone is expanded and gradually developed into fluidization ultimately leading to interfacial landslide this instability process is studied and reproduced experimentally through a self designed physical model test in this paper the model test results indicate that startup conditions of interfacial landslides are related to rainfall intensity and duration as well as thickness of overlying loess strata this study also indicates that the more the impact is from the rock at the back of the slope the more likely an interfacial landslide is to occur but this is not a decisive factor to induce the interfacial landslide the gradient of slope is also a potential factor to induce interfacial landslide when the gradient exceeds 24 the cutting layer landslide is likely to occur because impact of gravity is greater than that of interface friction resistance this study exploring startup conditions and the sliding mechanism of rainfall induced loess mudstone interfacial landslides provides a scientific guidance for the prevention monitoring early warning and control for geologic landslide hazards

characteristics of the surface water dms and pco2 distributions and their relationships in the southern ocean southeast indian ocean and northwest pacific ocean oceanic dimethyl sulfide dms is of interest due to its critical influence on atmospheric sulfur compounds in the marine atmosphere and its hypothesized significant role in global climate high resolution shipboard underway measurements of surface seawater dms and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide pco2 were conducted in the atlantic ocean and indian ocean sectors of the southern ocean so the southeast indian ocean and the northwest pacific ocean from february april 2014 during the 30th chinese antarctic research expedition the so particularly in the region south of 58 s had the highest mean surface seawater dms concentration of 4 1 8 3 nm ranged from 0 1 to 73 2 nm and lowest mean seawater pco2 level of 337 50 atm ranged from 221 to 411 atm over the entire cruise significant variations of surface seawater dms and pco2 in the seasonal ice zone siz of so were observed which are mainly controlled by biological process and sea ice activity we found a significant negative relationship between dms and pco2 in the so siz using 0 1 degree resolution dms seawater 0 160 pco2 seawater 61 8 r2 0 594 n 924 p 0 001 we anticipate that the relationship may possibly be utilized to reconstruct the surface seawater dms climatology in the so siz further studies are necessary to improve the universality of this approach

observations and predictions of the behaviour of large slow moving landslides in schist clyde dam reservoir new zealand abstract major remedial works involving toe buttressing pumped drainage gravity drainage and or infiltration protection were undertaken at nine of the seventeen large landslides along the clyde dam reservoir margins prior to lake filling in 1992 1993 all 17 landslides continue to be routinely monitored and inspected as part of the dam safety assurance programme undertaken by contact energy movement of the landslides is monitored by a combination of inclinometers extensometers and survey and is correlated with controlling events including lake filling storms floods prolonged wet periods and earthquakes most monitoring records extend over periods of 15 years with some histories as long as 25 years over 100 years of rainfall records are available for nearby locations very small deformation responses attributable to lake filling occurred at four of the stabilized slides slightly accelerated movement occurred at one slide that had not been stabilized and minor reactivation was detected at three others two landslides have demonstrated movement rate sensitivity to rainfall events neither slide was significantly affected by lake filling monitoring records show that movement of a known active part of the brewery creek landslide is triggered when a key piezometer reaches or exceeds a critical threshold level movement continues until the piezometer drops below that level movement of part of ripponvale landslide increases following prolonged rainfall events the slide was barely affected by lake filling and has not responded to subsequent transient increases in toe inundation levels floods data from zone a of the slide mass which is entirely above the lake shows the slide to be very sensitive to the effects of prolonged wet periods movement rates increase over a period of months and then gradually reduce based on the records to date it can be predicted that the slide will exhibit an increased movement rate when the cumulative rainfall over a period of 3 to 4 months exceeds about 300 mm

analysis of physical testing of rainfall induced soil slope failures rainfall is a significant factor that triggers slope failures around the world this paper reports a series of physical tests which were conducted to simulate rain induced slope failures the experiments dealt with two scenarios including 1 rainwater infiltration into the slope and 2 slope failures induced by artificial rainfall with different initial conditions slope deformation and slope failures were observed and possible mechanisms were interpreted based on the experimental results the results confirm the hypothesis that pore water pressure and water content in a loose soil slope change rapidly and that water infiltration into cracks in the slope has a great impact on landslide development the observed slope failures can be divided into three types overall sliding failure partial sliding failure and flow slide the effect of slope gradient rainfall intensity and distribution of initial suction on the slope deformation and failure process are also summarized for possible applications under the similar conditions

mineralogy and leaching characteristics of beneficiated coal products from santa catarina brazil abstract petrographic mineralogical and geochemical studies have been carried out on beneficiated coal products from mines and preparation plants in the santa catarina basin southern brazil to investigate the range of characteristics exhibited by the materials and the potential impact of their stockpiling and storage on the environment the coals contain varying proportions of vitrinite and inertinite macerals and have vitrinite reflectance values ranging from 0 44 to 1 38 with the exception of one material blended with peat from an external source they have relatively high percentages of ash 30 58 and mineral matter 36 66 the mineral matter consists mainly of clay minerals kaolinite illite and illite smectite together with 15 25 quartz up to 10 feldspar up to 5 calcite and or dolomite and up to 5 pyrite and around 1 anatase and or rutile bassanite is also present in low temperature ash derived from the coals mainly derived from interaction of ca and s associated with the organic matter jarosite is formed by pyrite oxidation in coals that have been exposed in stockpiles for extended periods most of the trace elements in most of the coals have higher concentrations than average values for world coals generally probably due to the relatively high mineral matter content a lower ash product representing a blend of coal and peat has similar to lower concentrations of most elements but higher concentrations of b ba be cd ge and mn which may be associated with the peat component interaction of relatively fresh coals with water in laboratory tests produces leachates with near neutral to mildly acid ph values but leaching of oxidized jarosite bearing coal produces a strongly acid leachate with higher concentrations of cd co cu ni and zn leachates derived from coals in which the pyrite has been oxidized during storage would thus be expected to have a more adverse environmental impact than leachates derived from coals in which such oxidation has not had an opportunity to develop

d insar based landslide location and monitoring at wudongde hydropower reservoir in china differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry d insar has become a useful technique for monitoring ground movement the technique enables the analysis of very small ground movements in continuous large areas and has the advantages of high accuracy high resolution all weather adaptability low cost and inaccessible area coverage thus d insar has been widely used in the investigation of geologic hazards such as subsidence landslide earthquake and volcanic activity in this paper d insar is used to locate and monitor landslide movement in the wide area of wudongde hydropower reservoir in jinsha river china five sar acquisitions are obtained by using the phased array type l band synthetic aperture radar sensor of the advanced land observing satellite detailed moving displacement maps in two time periods are derived by using the d insar technique and potentially moving landslide areas as well as landslide hazard areas are then located the l1r 6 landslide which is in active state is investigated in detail the deforming tendency obtained via d insar is consistent with that obtained via global positioning system gps monitoring error analysis of the d insar results is also conducted finally the grid function interpolation method of error reduction which combines d insar and gps is proposed to reduce the single point error in d insar monitoring and is further verified by the considerable improvement in the accuracy of l1r 6 landslide monitoring

the first greenland ice core record of methanesulfonate and sulfate over a full glacial cycle methanesulfonate msa in ice cores has attracted attention as a possible tracer of past oceanic emissions of dimethylsulfide dms after sulfate msa is the second most prevalent aerosol oxidation product of dms but in contrast to sulfate dms oxidation is the only known source of msa the hypothesis by charlson et al 1987 of a climate feedback mechanism with sulfur emissions from marine phytoplankton influencing the cloud albedo adds to the interest in establishing long records of msa and non seasalt sulfate spanning large climatic changes records of msa and non seasalt sulfate covering time periods from a few years to thousands of year have been extracted from antarctic ice cores ivey et al 1986 saigne and legrand 1987 legrand and feniet saigne 1991 mulvaney et al 1992 but only the record from the vostok ice core legrand et al 1991 covers a full glacial cycle the concentrations of msa and non seasalt sulfate in antarctica have been found to increase under glacial conditions here we present the first northern hemisphere record of msa and the first continuous record of non seasalt sulfate both extracted from the renland ice core east greenland the records are extending from the holocene to the eem interglacial 130 000 years b p the contrast to the southern hemisphere records is striking with a decreasing concentration of msa with the advance of glaciation but an increasing concentration of non seasalt sulfate a strong linear relationship is found in the renland ice core between the ratio of msa to non seasalt sulfate and the temperature with higher ratios associated with warmer climatic stages while the opposite relationship to temperature is found in the vostok ice core a more complicated picture is emerging of the use of msa in ice cores as a quantitative tracer which suggests that previous interpretations can have been overly simplistic

analysis of baishuihe landslide influenced by the effects of reservoir water and rainfall since the impoundment of the three gorges reservoir in june 2003 a number of new landslides have occurred and existing landslides have been made worse the 1 260 104 m3 baishuihe landslide located at 56 km west of the three gorges dam began to deform more noticeably after the first impoundment in early july 2003 the sliding of the two blocks comprising the landslide one an active block and the other a relatively stable block became apparent after approximately 5 years of monitoring field recordings show that the landslide displacement is affected by the combined effects of the rainfall and water level in the reservoir these effects have been investigated in the present paper including the deformation characteristics movement pattern direction displacement and velocity earmarking the temporal evolution of the active block based on a practical creep model of a large rock slide alert velocity thresholds for pre alert alert and emergency phases have been computed corresponding to the imminence of failure the alert velocity thresholds are being proposed to be included as a part of an early warning system of an emergency plan drawn up to minimize the adverse impact in the event of landslide failure the emergency plan is intended to be implemented as a risk management tool by the relevant authorities of the three gorges reservoir in the near future

landslide fluidization process by flume experiments abstract an almost real size slope model was used to study the generation process of landslide fluidization during torrential rain experiments were conducted by filling an inclined flume with loose sand and spraying water over the flume with a rainfall simulator to induce the sand to collapse both the movement volumetric strain and the pore water pressure of the sand were monitored throughout the experiments from the start of spraying to the cessation of the landslide our experiments showed the following 1 landslide fluidization caused by undrained sudden loading undergoes three stages compaction of the sand layer by the sliding mass from upper slope generation of excess pore water pressure in saturated zone and induction of fast shearing 2 fluidization at the collapse source area also undergoes three stages destruction and compaction of sand layer skeleton by outbreak of shearing increase of pore water pressure in saturated zone and shift to fast shearing but these three stages take place almost simultaneously

evolution of a bank failure along the river danube at dunaszekcső hungary the banks of the river danube are one of the most susceptible areas to mass wasting in hungary in 2007 a large slump began to develop along the danube at dunaszekcs and jeopardized properties on land and navigation in the river several factors such as geological hydrogeological and morphological conditions recurrent flooding and erosion by the danube led to a gradual development of the large rotational slide slope failure has been monitored using gps precise levelling techniques and tiltmeters since october 2007 the expected location of the maximum lateral displacement and extrusion was indicated by gps measurements from the middle of november 2007 the main phase of the slope failure evolution i e the rapid movement on 12 february 2008 was indicated by accelerated tilting of the southern moving block prior to slumping small rise of the relatively stable part of the slope was measured after the rapid movements which may be explained either by the elastic rebound along the slip surface or by the intrusion of some plastic material into the lower section of the slope comparison of geodetic datasets and field observations with the timing of rainfall and water level changes of the danube suggested that hydrological properties subsurface flow processes soil physical properties infiltration and perched water table were primarily responsible for initiation of the studied slump a model of slope failure evolution is proposed here based on the monitoring and field observations

mesoscale characterization of coupled hydromechanical behavior of a fractured porous slope in response to free water surface movement mesoscale characterization of coupled hydromechanical behavior of a fractured porous slope in response to free water surface movement y guglielmi a f cappa a b j rutqvist b c f tsang b and a thoraval c b geosciences azur cnrs unsa ird upmc sophia antipolis france lawrence berkeley national laboratory earth sciences division berkeley usa c ineris ecole des mines de nancy nancy france a corresponding author fax 33 4 92 94 26 10 e mail address guglielmi geoazur unice fr y guglielmi abstract to better understand the role of groundwater level changes on rock slope deformation and damage a carbonate rock slope 30 m 30 m 15 m was extensively instrumented for mesoscale hydraulic and mechanical measurements during water level changes the slope is naturally drained by a spring that can be artificially closed or opened by a water gate in this study a 2 hour slope dewatering experiment was analyzed changes in fluid pressure and deformation were simultaneously monitored both at discontinuities and in the intact rock using short base extensometers and pressure gauges as well as tiltmeters fixed at the slope surface field data were analyzed with different coupled hydromechanical hm codes rocmas flac 3d and udec field data indicate that in the faults a 40 kpa pressure fall occurs in 2 minutes and induces a 0 5 to 31 10 6 m normal closure pressure fall is slower in the bedding planes lasting 120 minutes with no normal deformation no pressure change or deformation is observed in the intact rock the slope surface displays a complex tilt towards the interior of the slope with magnitudes ranging from 0 6 to 15 10 6 rad close agreement with model for both slope surface and internal measurements is obtained when a high variability in slope element properties is introduced into the models with normal stiffnesses of k n faults 10 3 k n bedding planes and permeabilities of k h faults 10 3 k h bedding planes a nonlinear correlation between hydraulic and mechanical discontinuity properties is proposed and related to discontinuity damage a parametric study shows that 90 of slope deformation depends on hm effects in a few highly permeable and highly deformable discontinuities located in the basal saturated part of the slope while the remaining 10 are related to elasto plastic deformations in the low permeability discontinuities induced by complex stress strain transfers from the high permeability zones the periodicity and magnitude of free water surface movements cause 10 to 20 variations in those local stress strain accumulations related to the contrasting hm behavior for high and low permeable elements of the slope finally surface tilt monitoring coupled with internal localized pressure deformation measurements appears to be a promising method for characterizing the hm properties and behavior of a slope and for detecting its progressive destabilization key words fracture rock slope mesoscale in situ poroelastic measurements hydromechanics numerical modeling tiltmeter monitoring damage 1 introduction understanding coupled groundwater and mechanical processes in complex fractured porous rocks is essential for the safety and efficiency of subsurface and slope stability engineering and thus for the security and economic well being of the general public although poorly documented water is often mentioned as a triggering mechanism for failure of rocks with well developed pre existing fractures networks and thus the cause for rock

residual strength of clays in landslides folded strata and the laboratory the post peak drop in drained shear strength of an overconsolidated clay may be considered as taking place in two stages first at relatively small displacements the strength decreases to the fully softened or critical state value owing to an increase in water content dilatancy second after much larger displacements the strength falls to the residual value owing to reorientation of platy clay minerals parallel to the direction of shearing if the clay fraction is less than about 25 the second stage scarcely comes into operation the clay behaves much like a sand or silt with angles of residual shearing resistance typically greater than 20 degrees conversely when the clay fraction is about 50 residual strength is controlled almost entirely by sliding friction of the clay minerals and further increase in clay fraction has little effect the angles of residual shearing resistance of the three most commonly occurring clay minerals are approximately 15 degrees for kaolinite 10 degrees for illite or clay mica and 5 degrees for montmorillonite when the clay fraction lies between 25 and 50 there is a transitional type of behaviour residual strength being dependent on the percentage of clay particles as well as on their nature the post peak drop in strength of a normally consolidated clay is due only to particle reorientation measurements of strength on natural shear surfaces agree within practical limits of variation with values derived from back analysis of reactivated landslides this field residual strength can be recovered by multiple reversal shear box tests on cut plane samples but in high clay fraction materials it is typically somewhat higher than the strength measured in ring shear tests residual strength is little affected by variation in the slow rates of displacement encountered in reactivated landslides and in the usual laboratory tests but at rates faster than about 100 mm min qualitative changes take place in the pattern of behaviour a substantial gain in strength is followed with increasing displacement by a fall to a minimum value in clays and low clay fraction silts this minimum is not less than the slow or static residual but in clayey silts with clay fractions around 15 25 according to tests currently in progress the minimum can be as low as one half of the static value author trrl