Geological resources and environmental carrying capacity evaluation review,theory, and practice in China

Evaluations of resources and environmental carrying capacities (GRECC)are the premise of land space planning and use control.Resource allocations and environmental capacity are the basic conditions that restrict development in a region.In this paper,based on a systematic review of China's geological environment,groundwater resources,mineral resources,other geological resources and the environmental carrying capacity research status,the relationship between the natural resource environmental system and the socio-economic system is studied.Then a "coordination theory of resources and environmental carrying"is proposed.Next,on the basis of an evaluation experiment performed at different scales and for different types of regions,the technical methods for an evaluation of the geological resources and environmental carrying capacity at the regional (inter-provincial)and provincial scales in China are established for the first time.This paper presents a standardized method based on technical ideas, evaluation methods,and index systems for geological resource and environmental carrying capacity evaluation.Finally,an evaluation of the groundwater resource carrying capacity in China is used as an example for the demonstration of the groundwater resource background and use of state evaluation methods.

Late Quaternary fluvial terrace formation in the Luan River drainage basin,north China and its possible linkages with climate change and tectonic activation

The Luan River is the most important water system in north-eastern Hebei Province,China and is located in the transitional zone of the Eastern Yan Mountains,North China Plain and Songliao Plain.The well-developed river terraces of its tributary,the Yixun River,provide excellent information for studying neotectonics and climate change.There are seven terraces in the lower reaches of the Yixun River,numbered T7-T1.The optically stimulated luminescence dating results of 23 samples show that terraces T7-T2 formed at 111.36±5.83 ka,78.20±4.45 ka,65.29±4.15 ka,56.44±3.07 ka,40.08±2.66 ka,and 13.14±0.76 ka,respectively.A comparison with the oxygen isotope curves of deep-sea sediments reveals that the sediment formation of each terrace corresponded to cold periods of marine isotope stages MIS 4 and MIS 2 and the relatively cold periods of MIS 5e,MIS 3,and MIS 1.Since the Late Pleistocene,the incision rate of the Yixun River has ranged from 0.371-1.740 mm/a.During the formation of T7-T6,T5-T4,T4-T3,and T3-T2,the incision rate was low.However,in the two stages during which T6-T5 and T2-T1 formed(13.14±0.76 ka to 0.58±0.08 ka and 10.79±0.64 ka to 0.16±0.01 ka),these rates reached 1.554 mm/a and 1.592-1.740 mm/a,respectively.At approximately 30 ka,the activity of the Langying Fault increased,leading to footwall uplift.The river gathered in the north of Langying to form the ancient Erdaowan Lake,which resulted in the drying of the river in the lower reaches of the Yixun River during the last glacial maximum without forming river deposits.In the Early Holocene,headward erosion in the lower reaches of the Yixun River was enhanced,which resulted in the disappearance of the lake,and incised meandering formed due to increased neotectonism.Based on the analyses of river incision and the formation of ancient lakes and incised meandering,it was inferred that there have been three periods of strong tectonism in the river basin since the Late Pleistocene.

A comparative study of the main factors controlling geohazards induced by 10 strong earthquakes in Western China since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008

Determining the main controlling factors of earthquake-triggered geohazards is a prerequisite for studying earthquake geohazards and post-disaster emergency response.By studying these factors,the geomorphic and geological factors controlling the nature,condition,and distribution of earthquake-induced geohazards can be analyzed.Such insights facilitate earthquake disaster prediction and emergency response planning.The authors combined field investigations and spatial data analysis to examine geohazards induced by seismic events,examining ten earthquakes including the Wenchuan,Yushu,Lushan events,to elucidate the main control factors of seismic geohazard.The authors observed that seismic geohazard occurrence is usually affected by many factors,among which active nature of the seismogenic fault,seismic peak ground acceleration(PGA),topographic slope and geomorphic height differences,and distance from the fault zone and river system are the most important.Compared with strike-slip earthquakes,thrust earthquakes induce more high-altitude and high-speed remote landslides,which can cause great harm.Slopes of 0°–40°are prone to secondary seismic geohazards,which are mainly concentrated 0–6 km from the river system.Secondary geohazards are not only related to seismogenic fault but also influenced by the associated faults in the earthquake area.The maximum seismic PGA and secondary seismic geohazard number are positively correlated,and the horizontal and vertical ground motions play leading and promoting roles in secondary geohazard formation,respectively.Through the research,the spatial distribution of seismic geohazards is predicted,providing a basis for the formulation of emergency response plans following disasters.

Effect of thermal treatment on energy dissipation of granite under cyclic impact loading

High temperature treatment causes thermal damage to rocks in deep mining.To study the thermal effect on the energy dissipation of rocks during the dynamic cyclic loading,cyclic impact loading experiments of heat-treated rocks were carried out using the splitting Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB)experimental system.The correlations among the energy dissipation,energy dissipation rate,impact times,accumulated absorbed energy per volume,failure mode and temperature were analyzed.The results show that the reflected energy under the first impact increases and finally exceeds the absorbed energy when the temperature increases;however,the total reflected energy decreases above 200℃.The absorbed energy under the first impact and the total absorbed energy all decrease as the temperature increases,the rates of which decrease accordingly.And the same phenomenon appears for the transmitted energy and the rate of the transmitted energy.On the contrary,the rate of the reflected energy increases with the rising temperature.When the temperature increases,the fewer impact times are needed to destroy the sample.In addition,the failure modes are different when the rock is treated at different temperatures;that is,when the temperature is high,even though the absorbed energy is low,the sample breaks into powder after several impacts.

Solar cycle distribution of major geomagnetic storms

We examine the solar cycle distribution of major geomagnetic storms （Dst ≤ -100 nT）, including intense storms at the level of -200 nT〈 Dst ≤ -100 nT, great storms at -300 nT〈 Dst ≤-200 nT, and super storms at Dst ≤ -300 nT, which occurred during the period of 1957-2006, based on Dst indices and smoothed monthly sunspot numbers. Statistics show that the majority （82%） of the geomagnetic storms at the level of Dst≤ -100 nT that occurred in the study pe- riod were intense geomagnetic storms, with 12.4% ranked as great storms and 5.6% as super storms. It is interesting to note that about 27% of the geomagnetic storms that occurred at all three intensity levels appeared in the ascending phase of a solar cycle, and about 73% in the descending one. Statistics also show that 76.9% of the intense storms, 79.6% of the great storms and 90.9% of the super storms occurred during the two years before a solar cycle reached its peak, or in the three years after it. The correlation between the size of a solar cycle and the percentage of major storms that occurred, during the period from two years prior to maximum to three years af- ter it, is investigated. Finally, the properties of the multi-peak distribution for major geomagnetic storms in each solar cycle is investigated.

Short-Term Period Variation of Relative Sunspot Numbers

We use wavelet transform to analyze the daily relative sunspot number series over solar cycles 10-23. The characteristics of some of the periods shorter than - 600-day are discussed. The results exhibit not only the variation of some short periods in the 14 solar cycles but also the characteristics and differences around solar peaks and valley years. The short periodic components with larger amplitude such as ～27, ～ 150 and ～360-day are obvious in some solar cycles, all of them are time-variable, also their lengths and amplitudes are variable and intermittent in time. The variable characteristics of the periods are rather different in different solar cycles.

Geoeffectiveness of the coronal mass ejections associated with solar proton events

The intensity-time profiles of solar proton events（SPEs） are grouped into three types in the present study. The Type-I means that the intensity-time profile of an SPE has one peak, which occurs shortly after the associated solar flare and coronal mass ejection（CME）. The Type-II means that the SPE profile has two peaks： the first peak occurs shortly after the solar eruption, the second peak occurs at the time when the CME-driven shock reaches the Earth, and the intensity of the second peak is lower than the first one.If the intensity of the second peak is higher than the first one, or the SPE intensity increases continuously until the CME-driven shock reaches the Earth, this kind of intensity-time profile is defined as Type-III. It is found that most CMEs associated with Type-I SPEs have no geoeffectiveness and only a small part of CMEs associated with Type-I SPEs can produce minor（–50 n T ≤ Dst ≤–30 n T） or moderate geomagnetic storms（–100 n T≤ Dst ≤–50 n T）, but never an intense geomagnetic storm（–200 n T ≤ Dst 〈-100 n T）. However,most of the CMEs associated with Type-II and Type-III SPEs can produce intense or great geomagnetic storms（Dst ≤-200 n T）. The solar wind structures responsible for the geomagnetic storms associated with SPEs with different intensity-time profiles have also been investigated and discussed.

The properties of solar active regions responsible for ground level enhancements during solar cycles 22 and 23

This is a study designed to analyze the relationship between ground level enhancements（GLEs）and their associated solar active regions during solar cycles 22and 23.Results show that 90.3%of the GLE events that are investigated are accompanied by X-class flares,and that 77.4%of the GLE events originate from super active regions.It is found that the intensity of a GLE event is strongly associated with the specific position of an active region where the GLE event occurs.As a consequence,the GLE events having a peak increase rate exceeding 50%occur in a longitudinal range from W20 to W100.Moreover,the largest GLE events occur in a heliographic longitude at roughly W60.Additionally,an analysis is made to understand the distributional pattern of the Carrington longitude of the active regions that have generated the GLE events.