An increased global supply of minerals is essential to meet the needs and expectations of a rapidly rising world population. This implies extraction from greater depths. Autonomous mining systems, developed through su...An increased global supply of minerals is essential to meet the needs and expectations of a rapidly rising world population. This implies extraction from greater depths. Autonomous mining systems, developed through sustained R＆D by equipment suppliers, reduce miner exposure to hostile work environments and increase safety. This places increased focus on ＂ground control＂ and on rock mechanics to define the depth to which minerals may be extracted economically. Although significant efforts have been made since the end of World War II to apply mechanics to mine design, there have been both technological and organizational obstacles. Rock in situ is a more complex engineering material than is typically encountered in most other engineering disciplines. Mining engineering has relied heavily on empirical procedures in design for thousands of years. These are no longer adequate to address the challenges of the 21st century, as mines venture to increasingly greater depths. The development of the synthetic rock mass （SRM） in 2008 provides researchers with the ability to analyze the deformational behavior of rock masses that are anisotropic and discontinuous-attributes that were described as the defining characteristics of in situ rock by Leopold Mfiller, the president and founder of the International Society for Rock Mechanics （ISRM）, in 1966. Recent developments in the numerical modeling of large-scale mining operations （e.g., caving） using the SRM reveal unanticipated deformational behavior of the rock. The application of massive parallelization and cloud computational techniques offers major opportunities： for example, to assess uncertainties in numerical predictions： to establish the mechanics basis for the empirical rules now used in rock engineering and their validity for the prediction of rock mass behavior beyond current experience： and to use the discrete element method （DEM） in the optimization of deep mine design. For the first time, mining-and rock engineering-will have its own mechanics-based Ulaboratory.＂ This promises to be a major tool in future planning for effective mining at depth. The paper concludes with a discussion of an opportunity to demonstrate the application of DEM and SRM procedures as a laboratory, by back-analysis of mining methods used over the 80-year history of the Mount Lvell Copper Mine in Tasmania.展开更多
The undulation and characteristics of the Lehmann discontinuity at the base of the Low Velocity Zone in the upper mantle are significant for understanding the coupling between the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and co...The undulation and characteristics of the Lehmann discontinuity at the base of the Low Velocity Zone in the upper mantle are significant for understanding the coupling between the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and corresponding geodynamic processes. Vertical waveform data from six earthquakes with focal depths between 75 and 150 km and magnitudes Mb 5.0–6.0 since 2004 were collected from the short-period Hi-net array. Selected waveform data were processed for each event network pair using the Nth-root slant stack method to retrieve the SdP conversion phases from the possible 220 km(Lehmann) discontinuity. The conversion points related to the SdP phases show that there is a clear and flat velocity interface around 230 km, suggesting that there is a sinking of the Lehmann discontinuity beneath Tonga with no obvious undulation. The 230 km depth of the Lehmann discontinuity in this location could be explained by an hypothesis of transition in the deformation mechanism from dislocation creep to diffusion creep.展开更多
Triplicate waveform modeling is used to resolve SH （Vs） and P （Vp） wave velocity structures in the upper mantle transition zone （TZ） beneath northwestern （NW） Tibet. Focal depth move out stacking is proposed t...Triplicate waveform modeling is used to resolve SH （Vs） and P （Vp） wave velocity structures in the upper mantle transition zone （TZ） beneath northwestern （NW） Tibet. Focal depth move out stacking is proposed to enhance the identification of triplicate phases, and can be used to test consistency of our data. Our results show that the Vs and Vp structures are decorrelated, and that a large Vs jump occurred across the 660-km discontinuity, with a small Vs gradient above it. Conversely, the Vp model is characterized by a relatively small contrast across the discontinuity, accompanied by a high Vp gradient in the TZ. There seem no significant depth anomalies of the 660-kin discontinuity in both models. The seismic structures in TZ beneath NW Tibet are similar to recent studies beneath the central Qiangtang and western Lhasa terrains. Taking the lower TZ structures under India as references, Vs is normal but Vp appears slightly high, and thus a high ratio of Vp/Vs was indicated beneath NW Tibet. Combined results with experiment information from mineral studies, we suggest that the differential anomalies of Vp and Vs can be attributed to a chemical heterogeneity, such as increased A1 content in the lower TZ. Considering the tectonic evolution of Tibet, the chemical heterogeneity may be associated with subduction or detachment of the Tethys oceanic slab.展开更多
文摘An increased global supply of minerals is essential to meet the needs and expectations of a rapidly rising world population. This implies extraction from greater depths. Autonomous mining systems, developed through sustained R＆D by equipment suppliers, reduce miner exposure to hostile work environments and increase safety. This places increased focus on ＂ground control＂ and on rock mechanics to define the depth to which minerals may be extracted economically. Although significant efforts have been made since the end of World War II to apply mechanics to mine design, there have been both technological and organizational obstacles. Rock in situ is a more complex engineering material than is typically encountered in most other engineering disciplines. Mining engineering has relied heavily on empirical procedures in design for thousands of years. These are no longer adequate to address the challenges of the 21st century, as mines venture to increasingly greater depths. The development of the synthetic rock mass （SRM） in 2008 provides researchers with the ability to analyze the deformational behavior of rock masses that are anisotropic and discontinuous-attributes that were described as the defining characteristics of in situ rock by Leopold Mfiller, the president and founder of the International Society for Rock Mechanics （ISRM）, in 1966. Recent developments in the numerical modeling of large-scale mining operations （e.g., caving） using the SRM reveal unanticipated deformational behavior of the rock. The application of massive parallelization and cloud computational techniques offers major opportunities： for example, to assess uncertainties in numerical predictions： to establish the mechanics basis for the empirical rules now used in rock engineering and their validity for the prediction of rock mass behavior beyond current experience： and to use the discrete element method （DEM） in the optimization of deep mine design. For the first time, mining-and rock engineering-will have its own mechanics-based Ulaboratory.＂ This promises to be a major tool in future planning for effective mining at depth. The paper concludes with a discussion of an opportunity to demonstrate the application of DEM and SRM procedures as a laboratory, by back-analysis of mining methods used over the 80-year history of the Mount Lvell Copper Mine in Tasmania.
基金sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41074065)SinoProbe-Deep Exploration in China (Grant No. SinoProbe-07-04)
文摘The undulation and characteristics of the Lehmann discontinuity at the base of the Low Velocity Zone in the upper mantle are significant for understanding the coupling between the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and corresponding geodynamic processes. Vertical waveform data from six earthquakes with focal depths between 75 and 150 km and magnitudes Mb 5.0–6.0 since 2004 were collected from the short-period Hi-net array. Selected waveform data were processed for each event network pair using the Nth-root slant stack method to retrieve the SdP conversion phases from the possible 220 km(Lehmann) discontinuity. The conversion points related to the SdP phases show that there is a clear and flat velocity interface around 230 km, suggesting that there is a sinking of the Lehmann discontinuity beneath Tonga with no obvious undulation. The 230 km depth of the Lehmann discontinuity in this location could be explained by an hypothesis of transition in the deformation mechanism from dislocation creep to diffusion creep.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40604009, 40574040, 40704011 and 40974061)
文摘Triplicate waveform modeling is used to resolve SH （Vs） and P （Vp） wave velocity structures in the upper mantle transition zone （TZ） beneath northwestern （NW） Tibet. Focal depth move out stacking is proposed to enhance the identification of triplicate phases, and can be used to test consistency of our data. Our results show that the Vs and Vp structures are decorrelated, and that a large Vs jump occurred across the 660-km discontinuity, with a small Vs gradient above it. Conversely, the Vp model is characterized by a relatively small contrast across the discontinuity, accompanied by a high Vp gradient in the TZ. There seem no significant depth anomalies of the 660-kin discontinuity in both models. The seismic structures in TZ beneath NW Tibet are similar to recent studies beneath the central Qiangtang and western Lhasa terrains. Taking the lower TZ structures under India as references, Vs is normal but Vp appears slightly high, and thus a high ratio of Vp/Vs was indicated beneath NW Tibet. Combined results with experiment information from mineral studies, we suggest that the differential anomalies of Vp and Vs can be attributed to a chemical heterogeneity, such as increased A1 content in the lower TZ. Considering the tectonic evolution of Tibet, the chemical heterogeneity may be associated with subduction or detachment of the Tethys oceanic slab.
