Source rock potential assessment of the Huai Hin Lat Formation,Sap Phlu Basin, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand

The Huai Hin Lat Formation has a high-potential resource, and the Ban Nong Sai part was researched and sampled. To achieve this goal, petrographic analysis(kerogen types), geochemical analysis(total organic carbon content, TOC), vitrinite reflectance(Ro), and Rock–Eval(RE) pyrolysis were carried out in this study. According to the findings, types Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and Ⅳ were identified using a modified Van-Krevelen diagram because the higher mature source rock showing hydrogen index(HI) and oxygen index(OI) are continuously depleted and raised. However,microscopic observation describes macerals as primarily sapropelic amorphinite, therefore, type I is important. The TOC was determined to be between 1.90% and 7.06%,which is considered very good to excellent. The original total organic carbon(TOCo) was decided to use its maceral components to determine how to convert extremely mature TOC to TOCo. It varies between 5.13% and 10.74% and reaches a maximum of 57.21% which is comparable to TOC. At 0.82%–1.04%, 443–451 ℃, 0.50%–38.10%, and69.00%–99.59% are the vitrinite reflectance(Ro), maximum temperature(Tmax), production index(PI), and transformation ratio(TR), respectively. Late peak maturity refers to a mixture of oil and gas, whereas most TR ratios refer to the main gas phase. Similarly, the petroleum residual shows no indication of gas trapped at a volume of6309.50 mcf/ac-ft. In summary, source rock potential was assessed within a suitable risk range defined by Tmax(445.70 ℃), Ro(0.91%), TR(90.63%), TOC(8.15%),shale thickness(46 m), and kerogen type(type I).

Soft ground tunnel lithology classification using clustering-guided light gradient boosting machine

During tunnel boring machine(TBM)excavation,lithology identification is an important issue to understand tunnelling performance and avoid time-consuming excavation.However,site investigation generally lacks ground samples and the information is subjective,heterogeneous,and imbalanced due to mixed ground conditions.In this study,an unsupervised(K-means)and synthetic minority oversampling technique(SMOTE)-guided light-gradient boosting machine(LightGBM)classifier is proposed to identify the soft ground tunnel classification and determine the imbalanced issue of tunnelling data.During the tunnel excavation,an earth pressure balance(EPB)TBM recorded 18 different operational parameters along with the three main tunnel lithologies.The proposed model is applied using Python low-code PyCaret library.Next,four decision tree-based classifiers were obtained in a short time period with automatic hyperparameter tuning to determine the best model for clustering-guided SMOTE application.In addition,the Shapley additive explanation(SHAP)was implemented to avoid the model black box problem.The proposed model was evaluated using different metrics such as accuracy,F1 score,precision,recall,and receiver operating characteristics(ROC)curve to obtain a reasonable outcome for the minority class.It shows that the proposed model can provide significant tunnel lithology identification based on the operational parameters of EPB-TBM.The proposed method can be applied to heterogeneous tunnel formations with several TBM operational parameters to describe the tunnel lithologies for efficient tunnelling.

UAV-mounted Ground Penetrating Radar: an example for the stability analysis of a mountain rock debris slope

This paper describes scientific research conducted to highlight the potential of an integrated GPR-UAV system in engineering-geological applications.The analysis focused on the stability of a natural scree slope in the Germanasca Valley,in the western Italian Alps.As a consequence of its steep shape and the related geological hazard,the study used different remote sensed methodologies such as UAV photogrammetry and geophysics survey by a GPR-drone integrated system.Furthermore,conventional in-situ surveys led to the collection of geological and geomorphological data.The use of the UAV-mounted GPR allowed us to investigate the bedrock depth under the detrital slope deposit,using a non-invasive technique able to conduct surveys on inaccessible areas prone to hazardous conditions for operators.The collected evidence and the results of the analysis highlighted the stability of the slope with Factors of Safety,verified in static conditions(i.e.,natural static condition and static condition with snow cover),slightly above the stability limit value of 1.On the contrary,the dynamic loading conditions(i.e.,seismic action applied)showed a Factor of Safety below the stability limit value.The UAV-mounted GPR represented an essential contribution to the surveys allowing the definition of the interface debris deposit-bedrock,which are useful to design the slope model and to evaluate the scree slope stability in different conditions.

泰国清莱地区三叠纪南邦群碎屑锆石LA-ICP-MSU-Pb年龄及其地质意义

对于中国滇西和东南亚地区古特提斯缝合带对比一直存在诸多争议。在泰国清莱地区三叠纪南邦群中采集4件碎屑岩样品,进行岩石学、地球化学和锆石U-Pb测年研究。岩石学和地球化学研究表明,该套碎屑岩的源岩主要为基性—中基性岩石,卷入少量长英质岩石,物源区大地构造背景为岛弧带。所测得最古老锆石U-Pb同位素年龄为3269Ma±29Ma,绝大多数年龄集中形成3个峰值：280～250Ma、500～440Ma和1200～1100Ma,指示清莱地区三叠纪南邦群碎屑物源区主要为清莱岛弧火山岩带西部条带和前泥盆纪变质岩系。碎屑锆石年龄图谱的对比结果表明,原特提斯构造阶段之前,南邦地体与西澳大利亚发育类似构造—热事件;在原特提斯构造阶段之后,其构造—热事件特征与扬子构造域相类似,指示古特提斯洋的主洋盆应该在南邦地体以西,支持清迈构造带代表古特提斯主洋盆的观点。

Delineation of groundwater potential zones in Theni district,Tamil Nadu,using remote sensing,GIS and MIF techniques

Integration of remote sensing data and the geographical information system （GIS） for the exploration of groundwater resources has become a breakthrough in the field of groundwater research, which assists in assessing, monitoring, and conserving groundwater resources. In the present paper, various groundwater potential zones for the assessment of groundwater availability in Theni district have been delineated using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Survey of India toposheets and IRS-IC satel- lite imageries are used to prepare various thematic layers viz. lithology, slope, land-use, lineament, drainage, soil, and rainfall were transformed to raster data using feature to raster converter tool in ArcGIS. The raster maps of these factors are allocated a fixed score and weight computed from multi influencing factor （MIF） technique. Moreover, each weighted thematic layer is statistically computed to get the groundwater potential zones. The groundwater potential zones thus obtained were divided into four categories, viz., very poor, poor, good, and very good zones. The result depicts the groundwater potential zones in the study area and found to be helpful in better planning and management of ground- water resonrces.

A robust behavior of Feed Forward Back propagation algorithm of Artificial Neural Networks in the application of vertical electrical sounding data inversion

The applications of intelligent techniques have increased exponentially in recent days to study most of the non-linear parameters. In particular, the behavior of earth resembles the non- linearity applications. An efficient tool is needed for the interpretation of geophysical parameters to study the subsurface of the earth. Artificial Neural Networks （ANN） perform certain tasks if the structure of the network is modified accordingly for the purpose it has been used. The three most robust networks were taken and comparatively analyzed for their performance to choose the appropriate network. The single- layer feed-forward neural network with the back propagation algorithm is chosen as one of the well- suited networks after comparing the results. Initially, certain synthetic data sets of all three-layer curves have been taken tk^r training the network, and the network is validated by the field datasets collected from Tuticorin Coastal Region （78°7＇30＂E and 8°48＇45＂N）, Tamil Nadu, India. The interpretation has been done successfully using the corresponding learning algorithm in the present study. With proper training of back propagation networks, it tends to give the resistivity and thickness of the subsurface layer model of the field resistivity data concerning the synthetic data trained earlier in the appropriate network. The network is trained with more Vertical Electrical Sounding （VES） data, and this trained network is demon- strated by the field data. Groundwater table depth also has been modeled.

Generalized equation for calculating rock cutting efficiency by pulsed water jets

One of the promising methods for rock cutting technology is the use of high-speed water jets.In order to improve the cutting capacity of water jets without increasing the hydraulic power of equipment,pulsed water jets are basically used to increase the rock cutting efficiency.However,there are no mature recommendations for selection of rational parameters,and the relationship between indicators of rock cutting efficiency and parameters of pulsed water jet is still not established.In this context,we aimed at developing a generalized equation for calculating rock cutting efficiency,in which all the major parameters in consideration of rock cutting process are included.Then,a calibration of the rational parameters of rock cutting by pulsed water jets was conducted.The results are likely helpful for increasing productivity and reducing energy consumption.

Surface physicochemical properties of semi-anthracitic coal from Painan-Sumatra during air oxidation

Painan coals of West Sumatra were selected as semi-anthracitic coal sample for studying the physicochemical properties such as measurement, evaluation and description of the changes of surface characteristic of coal sample and their oxidation in the atmospheric air at a temperature ranging from 105 to 400 ℃ for 30 min. Several methods are adopted to analyze and discuss several phenomena of the oxidized Painan coal surface during oxidation process for the change in the physicochemical properties as determined by Atomic Force Microscope （AFM）, contact angle, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy （FTIR）, Thermogravimetric and Differential Thermal Analysis （TG-DTA） analyses as well as other supporting analytical equipment. AFM analyses revealed some changes in adhesion force and surface morphology with more adhesion force available between 0.6 and 8.6 nN on polished coal surfaces due to the increased oxidation temperature. The study revealed that the extent of hydrophobicity of coal surface decreased with the increased of oxidation temperature expressed as contact angles at about 80° and 20°. Another phenomenon occurred during the experiment was hydrophilicity index of coal surface increase at approximately 1.3 and 2.9. Oxidation of coal that occurred with increased temperature also indicated an increase in oxygen content from 3.8% to 22.9 wt%. Increased oxygen functional group also noted that oxidation of coal took place during the treatment. We also found that oxidation treatment also affected the combustion properties of coal： decreasing ignition temperature between 452.9 and 317.6, lowering the reactivity of coal at maximum combustion rate temperature, and reflecting their char characteristics as burnt out, ranging from 652.3 to 648.5 ℃.

Optimal placement of two soil soundings for rectangular footings

This study uses a recently proposed algorithm for consideration of soil sounding locations in the bearing capacity estimations of spatially variable soil for rectangular footings.The objective of the study is to assess the possibility of indicating general guidelines for optimal soil sounding locations in the case of two soundings and rectangular footings.The possibility of proposing such general guidelines would be extremely valuable from the engineering practice point of view.Moreover,it would be promising for future studies concerning more complex foundation arrangements.For this reason,numerous scenarios are analyzed for a variety of vertical and horizontal fluctuation scales and a variety of rectangular foundation lengths.For generality of the results,two correlation structures are considered,i.e.the Gaussian and the Markovian ones.The optimal sounding location results are discussed.The observations indicate that,for a specified vertical fluctuation scale,all optimal borehole locations in dimensionless coordinates form a curve.This phenomenon can be utilized in practical applications.The potential applications of the obtained results and the directions for future studies in this area are also discussed.

Complexity analysis of blast-induced vibrations in underground mining: A case study

Blasting in geological bodies is an industrial process acting in an environment characterized by high uncertainties (natural joints, faults, voids, abrupt structural changes), which are transposed into the process parameters (e.g. energetic transfer to rock mass, hole deviations, misfires, vibrations, fly-rock, etc.). The approach to this problem searching for the "optimum" result can be ineffective. The geological environment is marked out by too many uncertainties, to have an "optimum" suitable to different applications. Researching for "Robustness" in a blast design gives rise to much more efficiency. Robustness is the capability of the system to behave constantly under varying conditions, without leading to unexpected results. Since the geology varies from site to site, setting a robust method can grant better results in varying environments, lowering the costs and increasing benefits and safety. Complexity Analysis (C.A.) is an innovative approach to systems. C.A. allows analyzing the Complexity of the Blast System and the criticality of each variable (drilling, charging and initiation parameters). The lower is the complexity, the more robust is the system, and the lower is the possibility of unexpected results. The paper presents the results obtained thanks to the C.A. approach in an underground gypsum quarry (Italy), exploited by conventional rooms and pillars method by drilling and blasting. The application of C.A. led to a reliable solution to reduce the charge per delay, hence reducing the impact of ground vibration on the surrounding structures. The analysis of the correlation degree between the variables allowed recognizing empirical laws as well.

Probabilistic estimate of rock mass static and dynamic demands for underground excavation stabilisation

Excavation damage under high in situ stress depends largely upon the potential block size associated with any violent ejection.The size and shape of the dynamic instability are largely controlled by the location,orientation and extent of the pre-existing geological discontinuities.A new methodology is presented in which the rock mass demand can be expressed in terms of the mass in tonnes of unstable rock that is ejected per unit area of the excavation surface where failure occurs.A probabilistic approach has been implemented to estimate the potential rock mass instabilities and their associated static and dynamic demands.The new methodology considers that the strain energy released by the rock mass during violent stress-driven failure is largely converted into kinetic energy of ejection for blocks.The estimated dynamic demand has been favourably compared with observations of rock mass damage in a number of underground excavations.

青藏铁路通风路基边界条件研究(英文)

In permafrost regions, many methods about active cooling embankment are put forward, one of these representations is ventilated embankment, its cooling effect is the result of the air convection in the duct, and this leads to reducing the annual average ground temperature. The present work in this article is to determine the boundary conditions of the ventilated embankment and natural ground in numerical work. There are several effects which influence boundary conditions, they are: radiation, evaporation, phase change, convection and embankment material etc. Radiation and convection are the main effects in those. We mainly consider sun radiation in this article. The added-surface effect in ventilated embankment lowers its temperature, so the temperature on the wall of the ventilated embankment is different from the temperature in atmosphere. There are two methods in determining the surface temperature, experimental method and experiential method. Detailed research is discussed in the article.

Characterization of bio-coal briquettes blended from low quality coal and biomass waste treated by Garant■bio-activator and its application for fuel combustion

Experimental research was carried out on the manufacturing of bio-coal briquettes from a blend of two different types of low-quality coal and biomass waste in the absence of coal carbonization,where the third blend of the material was fermented by adding a bio-activator solution before pressurizing the components into briquettes.The coal samples from Caringin-Garut Regency(BB-Garut)had a low calorific value and a high sulfur content(6.57 wt%),whereas the coal samples from Bayah-Lebak Regency(BB-Bayah)had a higher calorific value and a lower sulfur content(0.51 wt%).The biomass added to the coal blend is in the form of fermented cow dung(Bio-Kohe),and it had a calorific value of 4192 kcal/kg and a total sulfur content of 1.56 wt%.The main objective of this study is to determine the total decrease in the sulfur content in a blend of coal and biomass in which a fennentation process was carried out using a bio-activator for 24 h.The used bio-activator was made from Garant■(1:40)+molasses 1 wt%/vol,and its used amount was 0.2 L/kg.Also,the total sulfur content in the blend was 1.00 wt%-1.14 wt%,which fulfills the necessary quality requirements for non-carbonized bio-coal briquettes.The pyritic and sulfate content in the raw coal was dominant,and the organic sulfur,when fermented with Garant■,was found to be less in the produced bio-coal briquettes by 38%-58%.

The biogenic silica variation and paleoproductivity evolution in the eastern Indian Ocean during the past 20 000 a

The biogenic silica of sediment samples from Core CJ01-185 which is collected from the eastern India Ocean off the Sunda Strait is analyzed to evaluate the impact of the opening of the Sunda Strait on a paleoproductivity evolution. The new results indicate that the biogenic silica mass values of Core CJ01-185 show the lowest 0.86% in the last glacial period, and reach its maxima of 1.89% in the late Holocene. Furthermore, the biogenic silica mass accumulation rate(MARBSi) values also vary with much higher during the late Holocene than during the last glaciation. The input of additional terrigenous materials from the Java Sea has enhanced the paleoproductivity and increased the biogenic silica mass and MARBSi values after the opening of the Sunda Strait. It is suggested that the paleoproductivity in the study area is mainly influenced by the southeast monsoon and upwelling before the opening of the Sunda Strait. However, the paleoproductivity is dominated by the terrigenous materials input other than by the southeast monsoon or upwelling in the Holocene.

Sea-Surface Dynamics Changes in the Subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (IODP Site U1314) during Late Pliocene Climate Transition Based on Calcareous Nannofossil Observation

Calcareous nannofossils were observed to reconstruct the surface water conditions during late Pliocene climate transition (2.55 to 2.88 Ma) from the southern Gardar Drift, in the subpolar North Atlantic IODP Site U1314 (56°21.9’1N, 27°53.3’W). A total of 24 species from 14 genera were identified by polarizing microscope observation. The coccolith assemblages are dominated by species belonging to genus Reticulofenestra with different (size-defined) morphotype. Hence, changes in paleoceanographic condition are shown by the size variation of Reticulofenstraspecimens. Before ~2.76 Ma, the studied interval is characterized by the presence of an abundant larger Reticulofenstra group. It indicates warm oligotrophic and stable surface waters. At ~2.76 Ma the abundance of large Reticulofenstra decreased abruptly and alternated with small Reticulofenstra, suggesting collapse of sea surface stability with strong mixing condition. This event coeval with the final closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS) and the onset of intensified North Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG). Subsequently, the size variation of Reticulofenestra specimens exhibits a sequential pattern that is somewhere consistent with the interglacial-glacial cycle. The pattern begins with a gradual increase in size upward during interglacial suggesting warm oligotrophic and stable condition, and ends with an abrupt decrease in coccolith size during glacial suggesting eutrophic or strong mixing condition and destabilized sea surface waters.

Quality assessment and hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater in Agastheeswaram taluk, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India

The present study investigates the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater quality in Agastheeswaram taluk of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 69 groundwater samples were collected during pre- and post-monsoon periods of 2011–2012. The groundwater quality assessment has been carried out by evaluating the physicochemical parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, HCO3-, Cl-, SO42-, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+ and K+ for both the seasons. Based on these parameters, groundwater has been assessed in favor of its suitability for drinking and irrigation purpose. Dominant cations for both the seasons are in the order of Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+ while the dominant anions for post monsoon and pre monsoon have the trends of Cl- > HCO3- > SO42- and HCO3- > Cl- > SO42-, respectively. Analytical results observed from various indices reveal that the groundwater quality is fairly good in some places. Analytical results of few samples show that they are severely polluted and incidentally found to be near the coasts, estuaries and salt pans in the study area. The Gibbs plot indicates that the majority of groundwater samples fall in rock dominant region, which indicates rock water interaction in the study area. The United States salinity(USSL) diagram shows that the groundwater is free from sodium hazards but the salinity hazard varies from low to very high throughout the study area. This reveals that the groundwater is moderately suitable for agricultural activities. The observed chemical variations in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons may be the effect to rock-water interactions, ion-exchange reactions, and runoff of fertilizers from the surrounding agricultural lands.

An interpretation of wave refraction and its influence on foreshore sediment distribution

To analyze the grain size and depositional environment of the foreshore sediments, a study was undertaken on wave refraction along the wide sandy beaches of central Tamil Nadu coast. The nearshore waves approach the coast at 45° during the northeast(NE) monsoon, at 135° during the southwest(SW) monsoon and at 90° during the non-monsoon or fair-weather period with a predominant wave period of 8 and 10 s. A computer based wave refraction pattern is constructed to evaluate the trajectories of shoreward propagating waves along the coast in different seasons. The convergent wave rays during NE monsoon, leads to high energy wave condition which conveys a continuous erosion at foreshore region while divergent and inept condition of rays during the SW and non-monsoon, leads to moderate and less energy waves that clearly demarcates the rebuilt beach sediments through littoral sediment transport. The role of wave refraction in foreshore deposits was understood by grain size and depositional environment analysis. The presence of fine grains with the mixed population, during the NE monsoon reveals that the high energy wave condition and sediments were derived from beach and river environment. Conversely, the presence of medium grains with uniform population, during SW and non-monsoon attested less turbulence and sediments were derived from prolong propagation of onshore-offshore wave process.These upshots are apparently correlated with the in situ beach condition. On the whole, from this study it is understood that beaches underwent erosion during the NE monsoon and restored its original condition during the SW and non-monsoon seasons that exposed the stability of the beach and nearshore condition.

泰国北部中三叠世放射虫硅质岩及其地球化学和沉积环境意义(英文)

Bedded cherts collected from northern Thailand, including Chiang Dao,Lamphun and Den Chai contain Middle Triassic radiolarian faunas.The faunas from Chiang Dao can be divided into two assemblages.The first assemblage includes Eptingium and other co-occurring species such as

Spherical-earth finite element model of coseismic slip distribution during the 2010 Mentawai earthquake

The moment magnitude(MW)7.8 earthquake occurred along the Mentawai seismic region of Sunda Trench on 25 October 2010,which is classified as the tsunami earthquake.The GPS inversion results under the assumption of simple horizontal layered medium show that the slip near the trench is not apparent,which is inconsistent with our understanding of tsunami earthquake.Here,we construct a spherical-earth finite element model(FEM)to investigate the coseismic slip distribution of the 2010 Mentawai earthquake by geometrically combining the subducting plate with a precise subduction interface.The FEM-based coseismic slip distribution shows that there are three major slip patches on the fault interface,one is located on the shallow region and the other two are located on the deeper part of the fault plane.The largest slip patch is located near the trench with the depth less than 10 km,and the maximum amplitude is about 12 m.This significant near-trench slip is consistent with the tsunami earthquake studies.A more realistic domain of FEM is used to change the coseismic slip distribution,thus significantly improving the fitting degree of the data model.These findings suggest that the FEM-derived Green's function is essential to image a more robust and realistic coseismic slip distribution of the large earthquake in the subduction zone.

Geomechanical design of a room and rib pillar granite mine

The geomechanical and stability design of an underground granite mine located in Canal San Bovo （Trento district, Northeastern Italy） was described. The exploitation of the granite, which is used in the ceramic industry, was carried out by the rooms and rib pillars method. The rooms are 12 m wide while the pillars are 11 m wide and they cross the main discontinuity set of the rock mass in the perpendicular direction. To verify the stability condition of an underground mine, it is necessary to carry out the calcula- tions that are able to check both the local and global stability of the rock mass. In the studied example, this approach has been applied with the development of analytical and numerical parametric analyses and it has permitted to get the best orientation and to design the size of rooms and pillars.