Formation and evolution of Emeishan basalt saprolite in vadose zones of Touzhai landslide source rockmass

In order to explain the formation process of slope hazards, and to identify the key factors leading to instability of a slope, Emeishan basalt saprolite in vadose zones of the Touzhai landslide in Zhaotong, Yunnan, was studied. The formation and evolution of Emeishan basalt saprolite was examined using, amongst other techniques, field investigations, thin section analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, chemical analysis, physical and water-physical property tests of rock masses. Field observations revealed that the majority of the weathered rock blocks were presented as a concentric layer structure in which an internal corestone was enveloped with several layers of external saprolized crust. Chemical and mineralogical analysis identified that iron was the most sensitive element and that the weathering progress usually started with the oxidation of Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺ in rock blocks. Alkaline elements such as Si, Ca, Mg, Na and K were also dissolved and Fe and Al were concentrated in saprolized crusts. Results indicated that loss on ignition (LOI) also increased significantly. SEM results showed that the weathering intensity of the basalt blocks decreased gradually from the outside to the inside, and the mineral morphology significantly differed on both sides of the weathering front. The saprolized crusts presented cellular microstructure features due to the generation of micropore and clay minerals. Thin section analysis showed that plagioclase was relatively more stable than pyroxene and chlorite during weathering. With a centripetal propagation of the weathering front, saprolized crusts became thicker and corestones became smaller; fresh Emeishan basalt blocks gradually turned into saprolized blocks. Due to the loose structure and low strength of saprolite, the quality of the Emeishan basalt mass significantly deteriorated, this being a potentially important factor which caused the Touzhai landslide to occur.     

A back-propagation neural-network-based displacement back analysis for the identification of the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide in China

Xigeda formation is a type of hundred-meter-thick lacustrine sediments of being prone to triggering landslides along the trunk channel and tributaries of the upper Yangtze River in China. The Yonglang landslide located near Yonglang Town of Dechang County in Sichuan Province of China, which was a typical Xigeda formation landslide, was stabilized by anti-slide piles. Loading tests on a loading-test pile were conducted to measure the displacements and moments. The uncertainty of the tested geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide over certain ranges would be problematic during the evaluation of the landslide. Thus, uniform design was introduced in the experimental design, and by which, numerical analyses of the loading-test pile were performed using Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC^3D) to acquire a database of the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide and the corresponding displacements of the loading-test pile. A three-layer back-propagation neural network was established and trained with the database, and then tested and verified for its accuracy and reliability in numerical simulations. Displacement back analysis was conducted by substituting the displacements of the loading-test pile to the well-trained three-layer back-propagation neural network so as to identify the geomechanical parameters of the Yonglang landslide. The neural-network-based displacement back analysis method with the proposed methodology is verified to be accurate and reliable for the identification of the uncertain geomechanical parameters of landslides.     

Geomorphologic map of the 1<Superscript>st</Superscript> Mutnaya River,Southeastern Kamchatka,Russia

The Kamchatka Peninsula–situated in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”–has 29 active and over 400 extinct volcanoes. Since it is situated in the northeastern extremity of Russia, in subarctic climate, the volcanic landforms are overprinted by the 446 glaciers. This research focuses on the 1^stMutnaya catchment which drains the southern slopes of two active volcanoes: Avachinsky and Koryaksky. Those volcanoes are a permanent threat for the cities of Petropavlovsk and Elizovo, which are the 2 of 3 cities of the peninsula. Hence, most of the studies carried out in the area dealt with the natural hazards and only few focus on landscape evolution. Thus, the purpose of this study was to elaborate a cartographic approach which integrates classic geomorphology with state of the art GIS and remote sensing techniques. As result, different landforms and related processes have been analysed and included in the first general geomorphologic map of the 1^stMutnaya catchment.     

Limit equilibrium method (LEM) of slope stability and calculation of comprehensive factor of safety with double strength-reduction technique

When the slope is in critical limit equilibrium(LE) state, the strength parameters have different contribution to each other on maintaining slope stability. That is to say that the strength parameters are not simultaneously reduced. Hence, the LE stress method is established to analyze the slope stability by employing the double strengthreduction(DSR) technique in this work. For calculation model of slope stability under the DSR technique, the general nonlinear Mohr–Coulomb(M–C) criterion is used to describe the shear failure of slope. Meanwhile, the average and polar diameter methods via the DSR technique are both adopted to calculate the comprehensive factor of safety(FOS) of slope. To extend the application of the polar diameter method, the original method is improved in the proposed method. After comparison and analysis on some slope examples, the proposed method's feasibility is verified. Thereafter, the stability charts of slope suitable for engineering application are drawn. Moreover, the studies show that:(1) the average method yields similar results as that of the polardiameter method;(2) compared with the traditional uniform strength-reduction(USR) technique, the slope stability obtained using the DSR techniquetends to be more unsafe; and(3) for a slope in the critical LE state, the strength parameter φ, i.e., internal friction angle, has greater contribution on the slope stability than the strength parameters c, i.e., cohesion.     

Long-term statistics of extreme tsunami height at Crescent City

Historically, Crescent City is one of the most vulnerable communities impacted by tsunamis along the west coast of the United States, largely attributed to its offshore geography. Trans-ocean tsunamis usually produce large wave runup at Crescent Harbor resulting in catastrophic damages, property loss and human death. How to determine the return values of tsunami height using relatively short-term observation data is of great significance to assess the tsunami hazards and improve engineering design along the coast of Crescent City. In the present study, the extreme tsunami heights observed along the coast of Crescent City from 1938 to 2015 are fitted using six different probabilistic distributions, namely, the Gumbel distribution, the Weibull distribution, the maximum entropy distribution, the lognormal distribution, the generalized extreme value distribution and the generalized Pareto distribution. The maximum likelihood method is applied to estimate the parameters of all above distributions. Both Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and root mean square error method are utilized for goodness-of-fit test and the better fitting distribution is selected. Assuming that the occurrence frequency of tsunami in each year follows the Poisson distribution, the Poisson compound extreme value distribution can be used to fit the annual maximum tsunami amplitude, and then the point and interval estimations of return tsunami heights are calculated for structural design. The results show that the Poisson compound extreme value distribution fits tsunami heights very well and is suitable to determine the return tsunami heights for coastal disaster prevention.     

The hydrogen peroxide impact on larval settlement and metamorphosis of abalone <Emphasis Type="Italic">Haliotis diversicolor supertexta</Emphasis>

Abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta is an important economic mollusk. The settlement and metamorphosis are two critical stages during its development period, which has direct influence on abalone survival and production. The influence of reactive oxygen species （hydrogen peroxide） on abalone embryo and juvenile development were examined in this study. Larvae of Haliotis diversicolor supertexta were induced to settlement and metamorphose by exposure to seawater supplemented with hydrogen peroxide. They had the best performance at 800 μmol/L. The concentration of 1 000 μmol/L or higher was toxic to the larvae, as the larvae could settle down only at benthic diatom plates without complete metamorphosis. In addition, H2O2 adding time was critical to the larval performance. 24h after two-day post-fertilization was proved to be the optimal adding time. In this paper, two action mechanisms of hydrogen peroxide are discussed： （1） hydrogen peroxide has direct toxicity to ciliated cells, thus cause apoptosis; （2） hydrogen peroxide, as a product from catecholamines＇ autoxidation process in vivo, can reverse this process to produce neuro-transmitters to induce abalone metamorphosis.     

Non-specific immune response of bullfrog <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rana catesbeiana</Emphasis> to intraperitoneal injection of bacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aeromonas hydrophila</Emphasis>

Non-specific immune response of bullfrog Rana catesbeiana to pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila was studied to 60 individuals in two groups. Each bullfrog in bacterium-injected group was injected intraperitoneally （i.p.） with 0.2 ml bacterial suspension at a density of 5.2 × 10^6 CFU/ml, while each one in control group injected i.p. with 0.2 ml sterile saline solution （0.85%, w/v）. Three bullfrogs in both groups were sampled at 0, 1, 3, 7, 11, 15 and 20 days post-injection （dpi） for the evaluation of non-specific immune parameters. It was observed that intraperitoneal injection of A. hydrophila significantly increased the number of leucocytes and that of NBT-positive cells in peripheral blood. Significant increases in serum bactericidal activity and serum acid phosphatase activity were also observed in the bacterium-injected frogs when compared with those in the control group. However, a significant reduction was detected in vitro in phagocytosis activity of peripheral blood phagocytes. No significant difference in changes in the number of peripheral erythrocytes, serum superoxide dismutase （SOD） activity, and lysozyme activity was detected between the two groups. It is suggested that bullfrogs may produce a series of non-specific immune reactions in response to the A. hydrophila infection.     

Assessment of point and nonpoint sources pollution in Songhua River Basin,Northeast China by using revised water quality model

Individual participation of pollutants in the pollution load should be estimated even if roughly for the appropriate environmental management of a river basin. It is difficult to identify the sources and to quantify the load, especially in modeling nonpoint source. In this study a revised model was established by integrating point and nonpoint sources into one-dimensional Streeter-Phelps (S-P) model on the basis of real-time hydrologic data and surface water quality monitoring data in the Jilin Reach of the Songhua River Basin. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH_3-N) loads were estimated. Results showed that COD loads of point source and nonpoint source were 134 958 t/yr and 86 209 t/yr, accounting for 61.02% and 38.98% of total loads, respectively. NH_3-N loads of point source and nonpoint source were 16 739 t/yr and 14 272 t/yr, accounting for 53.98% and 46.02%, respectively. Point source pollution was stronger than nonpoint source pollution in the study area at present. The water quality of upstream was better than that of downstream of the rivers and cities. It is indispensable to treat industrial wastewater and municipal sewage out of point sources, to adopt the best management practices to control diffuse pollutants from agricultural land and urban surface runoff in improving water quality of the Songhua River Basin. The revised S-P model can be successfully used to identify pollution source and quantify point source and nonpoint source loads by calibrating and validating.     

Crest-height distribution of nonlinear random waves

The wave crest is an important factor for the design of both fixed and floating marine structures. Wave crest height is a dominant parameter in assessing the likelihood of wave-in-deck impact and resultant severe damage. Many empirical and theoretical distribution functions for wave crest heights have been proposed, but there is a lack of agreement between them. It is of significance to develop a better new nonlinear wave crest height distribution model. The progress in the research of wave crest heights is reviewed in this paper. Based on Stokes’ wave theory, an approximate nonlinear wave crest-height distribution formula with simple parameters is derived. Two sets of measured data are presented and compared with various theoretical distributions of wave crests obtained from nonlinear wave models and analysis of the comparison is given in detail. The new crest-height distribution model agrees well with observations. Also, the new theoretical distribution is more accurate than the other methods cited in this paper and has a greater range of applications.