Impact of Seasalt Deposition on Acid Soils in Maritime Regions

The characteristics of seasalt deposition and its impact on acid soils in maritime regions are reviewed. It is pointed out that studies involving the impact of seasalt deposition on acid soils have been concentrated on short-term effects on soil and water acidification. A deep consideration of long-term effects on soil acidification in maritime regions is still needed.

Episodic Orogeny Deduced from Coeval Sedimentary Sequences in the Foreland Basin and Its Implication for Uplift Process of Longmen Mountain,China

Longmen Mountain located at the boundary between the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau,representing the steepest gradient of any edges of the plateau.Three endmember models of uplift process and mechanism have been proposed,including crustal thickening,crustal flow,and crustal isostatic rebound.Here we use coeval sedimentary sequences in the foreland basin to restraint uplift process and mechanism in the Longmen Mountain.The more than 10,000 m thick Late TriassicQuaternary strata filled in this foreland basin and can be divided into six megasequences that are distinguished as two distinct types.The first type is the wedge-shaped megasequences which are sedimentary response of strong active thrust loading events,characterized by a high rate of subsidence and sediment accumulation,coarsening-upward succession and a dual-sourced sediment supply.This type includes Late Triassic,Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene megasequences.The second type is the tabular megasequences,characterized by the low rate of subsidence and sediment accumulation,finingupward succession,and a single-sourced sediment supply,which is sedimentary response of isostatic rebound and erosion unloading.This type includes the Early to Middle Jurassic,Middle Cretaceous and Neogene to Quaternary megasequences.Basing on sedimentary,active tectonic,geomorphic evidence,we infer that the direction has been reversed from SSWdirected sinistral strike-slip to NNE-directed dextral strike-slip during 40-3.6 Ma,and since 3.6 Ma,the Longmen Mountain thrust belt belong to times of isostatic rebound and erosional unloading with NNEdirected dextral strike-slip.This suggests that crustal isostatic rebound is a primary driver for uplift and topography of the present Longmen Mountain.The Wenchuan(Ms8.0) earthquake,which ruptured a large thrust fault with NNE-directed dextral strikeslip along the range front,is an active manifestation of this crustal isostatic rebound process with dextral strike-slipping and shortening.This process may be the cause for the Wenchuan Earthquake and the apparent paradox of high relief,little shortening,the relative dearth of historical seismicity in the region.

The formation and evolution of the Qiaojia pull-apart basin,North Xiaojiang Fault Zone,Southwest China

Sedimentary sequences with drastic thickening over short distances have been observed in Qiaojia County,Yunnan Province,Southwest China.These are related to a pull-apart basin controlled by the Xiaojiang strike-slip fault.Our field investigations include determining the surface characteristics of the Qiaojia basin which consists of three terrace sequences and a series of alluvial fans.Several drill holes were used to reveal the internal structure of the basin.The results suggest that the basinal sediments are over 300 m thick.From bottom to top,they can be classified into five different units.We inferred that the units of lacustrine sediments are deposited in a paleolake which was formed by a paleo-landslide.Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating(AMS ^(14)C dating) was used to estimate the ages of the terrace and lacustrine sediments.We use the results to infer that the paleo-lake has existed about 15,000 years and that the Qiaojia basin was uplifted at an average rate of 3.3 mm/a.Furthermore,we then model the evolution process of the basin and interpreted 6 phases of development.

Characterization of Catalytic Cracking Catalysts Regenerated by Gasifying Deposited Coke

Partially or fully regenerated catalytic cracking catalysts were prepared by gasifying the coke deposited on coked catalysts with a gaseous mixture of oxygen and steam in a fixed fluidized bed （FFB）. The resultant samples were characterized by different methods such as the nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis, the X-ray diffractometry, the infrared spectroscopy, the ammonia temperature-programmed desorption （NH3-TPD） method, the X-ray fluorescence （XRF） analysis, the transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （TEM-EDX）, the thermal-gravimetric analysis （TGA） and the differential thermal analysis （DTA）. The results showed that exposure of catalyst to steam for about 10 minutes at temperature ≥ 800 ℃ could not cause too much destruction of the catalysts, and an amount of coke equating to about 0.27 m% was enough to block approximately all acid sites in micro-pores of the zeolite catalyst. Coke didn＇t show equal reactivity during coke burning-off that could be accelerated by the catalytic action of nearby metal atoms. However, when the carbon content on the catalyst reached about 2.44 m%, the catalytic action of metals on the catalyst was not evident. The severe thermal and hydrothermal environment during exposure of the catalyst to steam at a temperature in the range of about 860--880 ℃ for 30 minutes could lead to collapse of pore structure and transformation of crystal phase and consequently decrease of the surface area and acid amount on the catalyst.

Molecular dynamics simulation of the deposition process of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) films

The deposition process of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) film greatly affects its frictional properties. In this study, CH3 radicals are selected as source species to deposit hydrogenated DLC films for molecular dynamics simulation. The growth and structural properties of hydrogenated DLC films are investigated and elucidated in detail. By comparison and statistical analysis, the authors find that the ratio of carbon to hydrogen in the films generally shows a monotonously increasing trend with the increase of impact energy. Carbon atoms are more reactive during deposition and more liable to bond with substrate atoms than hydrogen atoms. In addition, there exists a peak value of the number of hydrogen atoms deposited in hydrogenated DLC films. The trends of the variation are opposite on the two sides of this peak point, and it becomes stable when impact energy is greater than 80 eV. The average relative density also indicates a rising trend along with the increment of impact energy, while it does not reach the saturation value until impact energy comes to 50 eV. The hydrogen content in source species is a key factor to determine the hydrogen content in hydrogenated DLC films. When the hydrogen content in source species is high, the hydrogen content in hydrogenated DLC films is accordingly high.