Cross Drift Research Articles

Dynamic stress characterization and instability risk identification using multisource acoustic signals in cut-and-fill stopes

The quantitative characterization of rock mass and stress changes induced by mining activities is crucial for structural stability monitoring and disaster early warning. This paper investigates the time–space–intensity distribution of microseismic sources during the pillar-free large-area continuous extraction. Furthermore, it explores a method involving collaborative evolution patterns of the velocity field and spatial b-value to identify stress and structural changes at the panel stope. Results show that anomalous zones in wave velocities and b-values form at the intersections of extraction drifts, strike drifts, cross drifts, and connection roadways influenced by mining activities, as well as in footwall ore-rock contacts, often accompanied by the nucleation of microseismic events. The synergistic use of wave velocity fields and spatial b-value models reveals the relationship between stress migration behavior and stope structure changes due to mining disturbances. The velocity field primarily reflects macroscopic changes in the structure and stress distribution, while spatial b-values further explain stress gradients in specific areas. Additionally, we have advanced the identification of an instability disaster at the connection roadway and cross drift intersection based on increases in wave velocity and abnormal changes in b-value. This paper demonstrates the potential of risk identification using the proposed method, providing insights into predicting geotechnical engineering disasters in complex stress environments.

Analytic Expressions for Radial Diffusion.

I briefly review, compare and contrast two theoretical works that have significantly influenced radial diffusion research thus far, namely, the works of Fälthammar (1965, https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ070i011p02503) and the works of Fei et al. (2006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JA011211). Leveraging Fälthammar's model for magnetic field disturbances, I demonstrate that Fei et al's formulas are incorrect: they underestimate radial diffusion by a factor two in the presence of magnetic field disturbances. This underestimation comes from the erroneous assumption that radial displacements driven by magnetic field disturbances are statistically independent from radial displacements driven by induced electric fields while in fact both displacements are proportional to each other. Fei et al.'s approach is similar to Fälthammar's approach in that they both analyze radial diffusion by pieces, depending on the nature of the driver. Yet, the Fokker-Planck equation requires only one radial diffusion coefficient to characterize statistically a trapped radiation belt population cross drift shell motion. Thus, it is worth questioning the practice that consists of defining the coefficient as a sum of independent contributions. In addition, both theoretical models rely on the assumption that the background magnetic field is primarily dipolar, leading to flawed estimates. To overcome these limitations and to improve radial diffusion quantification, I use a general formulation for the variation of the third adiabatic invariant (1) to describe how to compute a radial diffusion coefficient in the most general way and (2) to highlight the assumptions that need to be questioned.

Wind influence on the exterior ballistics of the bullet movement from the SVD

In the paper the author investigate the dynamics of the movement of the bullet of the cartridge LPS in the air released from the sniper rifle Dragunov. The main influence on the bullet movement in the air has the force of the frontal air resistance, the bullet’s mass and the force caused by the action of the counter wind on the bullet. It is assumed that the force of the frontal air resistance depends on the factor described the aerodynamics properties of the bullet, the cross-section of the bullet, the density of the air and the sound velocity in the air , the velocity of the accompanying or opposite wind and the bullet’s velocity. In addition, its functional relationship contain two dimensionless coefficients that have different values in supersonic and subsonic velocity of the bullet and are determined using the results of experimental studies. The action of the accompanying or opposite wind affects the value of the force of the frontal air resistance of the bullet’s movement and is taken into account through the corresponding force expression. There is a slight difference between the theoretical and experimental results of the kinematic parameters of the bullet. The value of the force caused by the action of the crosswind is proportional to the maximum area of the longitudinal section of the bullet, the air density, and the difference of the wind velocities and cross drift of the bullet, which is elevated to a certain degree. The values of the coefficient of proportionality and degree depend on the nature of the air movement – laminar or turbulent. Analyzing the results of theoretical calculations, we can state that the velocity of the cross drift of the bullet is constantly increasing; the value of the cross drift of the bullet increases according to the nonlinear law. In addition, there are significant differences between the results of theoretical and experimental studies, if the coordinate of the point of zeroing of the trajectory is greater than 700 meters. During the theoretical verification of experimental values, it was established that the value of the average velocity of its cross drift on certain sections of the bullet movement contradicts the laws of mechanics. Consequently, certain values of experimental studies, given in the shooting tables, cause distrust.

Dehydration of ethyl lactate over alkaline earth phosphates: Performances, effect of water on reaction pathways and active sites

In this work, alkaline earth phosphates have been prepared by co-precipitation and evaluated in gas phase dehydration of ethyl lactate to acrylic acid and ethyl acrylate. These solids, which were previously shown to be active for the dehydration of lactic acid, appeared more efficient. Indeed, it was shown that the decarbonylation/decarboxylation route leading to acetaldehyde was strongly inhibited compared to conversion of lactic acid and molar selectivity values to dehydration products reaching 87% were obtained. Furthermore, it was shown that the deactivation of the catalysts could strongly be slowed by addition of water vapor to the feed. The reaction pathways have been studied in the presence and absence of water and it was shown that acrylic acid was mainly formed by a simultaneous dehydration/hydrolysis reaction. The characterization of the catalysts surface from the results of XPS, cross polarization NMR, DRIFT and TEM showed the presence of a surface amorphous layer containing POH species. In situ DRIFT measurements have revealed that formation of POH groups was favored under water vapor and that these species interacted with reactants or reaction products at the reaction temperature.

Chemistry of Water Collected from an Unventilated Drift, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

AbstractWater samples (referred to as puddle water samples) were collected from the surfaces of a conveyor belt and plastic sheeting in the unventilated portion of the Enhanced Characterization of the Repository Block (ECRB) Cross Drift in 2003 and 2005 at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The chemistry of these puddle water samples is very different than that of pore water samples from borehole cores in the same region of the Cross Drift or than seepage water samples collected from the Exploratory Studies Facility tunnel in 2005. The origin of the puddle water is condensation on surfaces of introduced materials and its chemistry is dominated by components of the introduced materials. Large CO2 concentrations may be indicative of localized chemical conditions induced by biologic activity.

Vapor‐phase transport in the near‐drift environment at Yucca Mountain

A key issue regarding the performance of the potential high‐level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is the likelihood of precipitation percolating a vertical distance of ∼300 m through fractured unsaturated rock into drifts containing waste packages. Water enhances waste package corrosion and is required for transport of released radionuclides. To evaluate the propensity for seepage into tunnels at Yucca Mountain, a 5‐m‐diameter, 2.7‐km‐long tunnel, commonly referred to as the Cross Drift (CD), was excavated in 1998, branching off from the main Exploratory Studies Facility tunnel. Sections of this tunnel have been isolated from ventilation for extended periods over the last 4 years. We present continuous measurements of relative humidity and temperature and periodic observations of liquid water in the CD over two periods. During this observation duration the terminal section of the drift was partitioned into four sections by bulkheads, and ventilation to these sections was minimized to a few days. We compare these observations to results from analytical and numerical models to investigate processes associated with the movement of water vapor between the tunnel bore and the surrounding fractured rock formation. Observations from this effort indicate that fractures can be primary paths for unsaturated zone vapor flow in the immediate vicinity of emplacement drifts. Observations, measurements, and analysis indicate the need for a model that includes fracture‐dominated vapor transport as a significant contributor to total water flow into the drifts.

Origin, timing, and temperature of secondary calcite–silica mineral formation at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

The origin of secondary calcite–silica minerals in primary and secondary porosity of the host Miocene tuffs at Yucca Mountain has been hotly debated during the last decade. Proponents of a high-level nuclear waste repository beneath Yucca Mountain have interpreted the secondary minerals to have formed from cool, descending meteoric fluids in the vadose zone; critics, citing the presence of two-phase fluid inclusions, argued that the minerals could only have formed in the phreatic zone from ascending hydrothermal fluids. Understanding the origin, temperature, and timing of these minerals is critical in characterizing geologically recent fluid flux at the site, and has significant implications to whether waste should be stored at Yucca Mountain. Petrographic and paragenetic studies of 155 samples collected from the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) and repository block cross drift (ECRB) tunnels indicate that heterogeneously distributed calcite with lesser chalcedony, quartz, opal, and fluorite comprise the oldest secondary minerals. These are typically overgrown by intermediate-aged calcite, often exhibiting distinctive bladed habits. The youngest event recorded across the site is the deposition of Mg-enriched (up to ∼1 wt%) and depleted, growth-zoned calcite intergrown with U-enriched opal. The cyclical variation in Mg enrichment and depletion is probably related to climate changes that have occurred during the last few million years. The distribution of secondary minerals is consistent with precipitation in the vadose zone. Fluid inclusion petrography of sections from the 155 samples determined that 96% of the fluid inclusion assemblages (FIAs) contained liquid-only inclusions that formed at ambient temperatures (<35°C). However, 50% of the samples (n = 78) contained relatively rare FIA that contain both liquid-only and liquid plus vapor inclusions (herein termed two-phase FIAs) that formed at temperatures above 35°C. Virtually all of these two-phase FIAs occur in paragenetically old calcite; rare two-phase inclusion assemblages were also observed in early fluorite and quartz, and early–intermediate calcite. Homogenization temperatures (≡ trapping temperatures) across Yucca Mountain are generally 45 to 60°C, but higher temperatures reaching 83°C were recorded in calcite from the north portal and ramp of the ESF. Cooler temperatures of ∼35 to 45°C were recorded in the intensely fractured zone. Multiple populations of two-phase FIAs from lithophysal cavities in the ESF and ECRB cross drift indicate early fluid cooling with time from temperatures >45°C in early calcite, to <35 to 45°C in paragenetically younger calcite. Freezing point depressions range from −0.2 to −1.6°C, indicating trapping of a low salinity fluid. The majority of intermediate calcite and all outermost Mg-enriched calcite contains rare all-liquid inclusions and formed from ambient temperature (<35°C) fluids. Carbon and oxygen isotope data reveal a consistent trend of decreasing δ 13C (from 9.5 to −8.5‰) and increasing δ 18O (from 5.2 to 22.1‰) values from paragenetically early calcite to Mg-enriched growth-zoned calcite. Depleted δD values (−131 to −90‰) of inclusion fluids from intermediate and the youngest Mg-enriched calcite indicate derivation from surface meteoric fluids. Recalculation of δ 18O H 2 O values of −12 to −10‰ is consistent with derivation from paleometeoric fluids. Results of integrated U-Pb dating (opal and chalcedony) and fluid inclusion microthermometry indicate that two-phase FIAs that trapped fluids of >50°C are older than 6.29 ± 0.30 Ma. Two-phase FIAs in paragenetically later calcite, which formed from fluids of 35 to 45°C, are older than 5.32 ± 0.02 Ma. There is no evidence for trapping of fluids with elevated temperatures during the past 5.32 my. The youngest Mg-enriched calcite intergrown with opal began to precipitate between about 1.9 to 2.9 Ma and has continued to precipitate within the past half million years. The presence of liquid-only inclusions and the consistent occurrence of Mg-enriched calcite and opal as the youngest event indicate a minor, but chemically distinct, ambient temperature (<35°C) fluid flux during the past 2 to 3 my.

Geochemistry of rock units at the potential repository level, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

The compositional variability of the phenocryst-poor member of the 12.8 Ma Topopah Spring Tuff at the potential repository level was assessed by duplicate analysis of 20 core samples from the cross drift at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Previous analyses of outcrop and core samples of the Topopah Spring Tuff showed that the phenocryst-poor rhyolite, which includes both lithophysal and nonlithophysal zones, is relatively uniform in composition. Analyses of rock samples from the cross drift, the first from the actual potential repository block, also indicate the chemical homogeneity of this unit excluding localized deposits of vapor-phase minerals and low-temperature calcite and opal in fractures, cavities, and faults. The possible influence of vapor-phase minerals and calcite and opal coatings on rock composition at a scale sufficiently large to incorporate these heterogeneously distributed deposits was evaluated and is considered to be relatively minor. Therefore, the composition of the phenocryst-poor member of the Topopah Spring Tuff is considered to be adequately represented by the analyses of samples from the cross drift. The mean composition as represented by the 10 most abundant oxides in wt.% or g/100 g is: SiO 2, 76.29; Al 2O 3, 12.55; FeO, 0.14; Fe 2O 3, 0.97; MgO, 0.13; CaO, 0.50; Na 2O, 3.52; K 2O, 4.83; TiO 2, 0.11; and MnO, 0.07.

Uranium-series disequilibrium in tuffs from Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as evidence of pore-fluid flow over the last million years

Samples of tuff from boreholes drilled into fault zones in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) and relatively unfractured rock of the Cross Drift tunnels, at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, have been analysed by U-series methods. This work is part of a project to verify the finding of fast flow-paths through the tuff to ESF level, indicated by the presence of ‘bomb’ 36Cl in pore fluids. Secular radioactive equilibrium in the U decay series, (i.e. when the radioactivity ratios 234U/ 238U, 230Th / 234U and 226Ra/ 230Th all equal 1.00) might be expected if the tuff samples have not experienced radionuclide loss due to rock-water interaction occurring within the last million years. However, most fractured and unfractured samples were found to have a small deficiency of 234U (weighted mean 234U/ 238U=0.95±0.01) and a small excess of 230Th (weighted mean 230Th/ 234U 1.10±0.02). The 226Ra/ 230Th ratios are close to secular equilibrium (weighted mean=0.94±0.07). These data indicate that 234U has been removed from the rock samples in the last ∼350 ka, probably by pore fluids. Within the precision of the measurement, it would appear that 226Ra has not been mobilized and removed from the tuff, although there may be some localised 226Ra redistribution as suggested by a few ratio values that are significantly different from 1.0. Because both fractured and unfractured tuffs show approximately the same deficiency of 234U, this indicates that pore fluids are moving equally through fractured and unfractured rock. More importantly, fractured rock appears not to be a dominant pathway for groundwater flow (otherwise the ratio would be more strongly affected and the Th and Ra isotopic ratios would likely also show disequilibrium). Application of a simple mass-balance model suggests that surface infiltration rate is over an order of magnitude greater than the rate indicated by other infiltration models and that residence time of pore fluids at ESF level is about 400 a. Processes of U sorption, precipitation and re-solution are believed to be occurring and would account for these anomalous results but have not been included in the model. Despite the difficulties, the U-series data suggest that fractured rock, specifically the Sundance and Drill Hole Wash faults, are not preferred flow paths for groundwater flowing through the Topopah Spring tuff and, by implication, rapid-flow, within 50 a, from the surface to the level of the ESF is improbable.

An engineering geological appraisal of the Lakhwar Dam, Garhwal Himalaya, India

A 204 m high solid concrete gravity dam is proposed across the River Yamuna in Garhwal Himalaya, India. It will be located on dolerite rocks which have been intruded into the slates of Chandpur Formation. The present study includes the evaluation of the dam foundation by means of drifts, drill holes, water pressure tests and abutment slope stability studies. The water pressure test indicate the necessity of providing a grout curtain below the dam foundation. The analysis of the dam abutments for stability using the Limit equilibrium method indicates that the right abutment slope is kinematically unstable for plane failure mode. The plane failure analysis of the right abutment slope was carried out by modifying the Hoek and Bray (1981, Rock Slope Engineering, 3rd ed., Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, London) technique of plane failure analysis. The analysis reveals that right abutment slope may become unstable during the stripping operation. Based upon the analysis a safe cut slope design for the abutments have been suggested. Subsurface exploration by means of cross drift and drill holes has indicated a sheared contact of slate and dolerite in the foundation area. To avoid the settlement of the dam along this shear zone precautionary measures are suggested.

3D structural analysis of SPDV test room 2 and cross drift intersections at the WIPP

3D structural analysis of SPDV test room 2 and cross drift intersections at the WIPP

Higher Harmonics Generation in Weakly Ionized Plasmas in Time-Varying Crossed Fields

Abstract The linearized Boltzmann equation of kinetic theory for the electrons of a weakly ionized plasma under the action of an alternating electric field E = cos ω t {Ex, Ey, Ez} and a circularly polarized magnetic field BR = B {cos ωBt, sin ωbt, 0} is solved. The direction-dependent part f1 (r, v, t) of the distribution function contains especially higher harmonics with frequencies 2 ωB, ω± ωB , ω±2ωB. These overtone frequencies are generated - unlike the higher harmonics obtained by Margenau and Hartman - by a cross drift mechanism and are present even if the isotropic part f0 of the electron distribution function is assumed to be time-independent. The physical meaning of the various contributions to the distribution function f1 is discussed in detail.