Earth Subsoil Research Articles

Геолого-геофизические исследования Владимира Марковича Новоселицкого

The article is devoted to the memory of Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation Vladimir Markovich Novoselitsky (01.01.1935 – 29.10.2008). V.M. Novoselitsky is a well-known scientist in Russia and abroad in the field of fundamental and applied geophysics. The directions developed by him are related to complex geological and geophysical research and studies of the earth's subsoil – search and exploration of mineraldeposits, geoecological, geotechnical research, forecasting of natural and man-made emergencies. His works remain defining in the theory and practice of exploration geophysics, mining geophysics and ensuring the safety of the population and national economic objects.

Повышение ресурса рабочих колес центробежных насосов шахтного водоотлива

Mining The article discusses the main failure causes of centrifugal pumps used in the mine dewatering plants. The factors causing intensive wear of the impellers used in centrifugal pumps of the CNS-33-66...330 type are analysed, as well as the ways of increasing their serviceability. The gas dynamic cold spraying is recognized as the most promising and efficient method of applying functional coatings, which makes it possible to improve the condition of the surface layer and eliminate surface defects of the initial impeller blanks, which have a significant impact on the serviceability of the parts. The main research trends are outlined in the studied area, and practical recommendations are provided on using the gas dynamic cold spraying methid both in the pump manufacturing process and in their overhaul. It is shown that one of the promising trends in development the gas dynamic cold spraying applications is the creation of multilayer coatings on the impeller blades based on compositions of various metal-ceramic powders. Along with the hardening treatment, this combination will allow to provide the impellers with a set of necessary functional characteristics for the hydro-abrasive wear conditions. technological process as a sequence of changing the natural state of the Earth's subsoil to obtain a certain quantity and quality of mineral products is characterized by departures from the specified normative parameter values, which is due to causes of different nature. Most of these causes are man-made, anf they are created during the performance of specific process operations by the personnel. The article presents an original approach to managing the control over the technological process parameters in a coal strip mine. To reduce the magnitude and probability of the process departures from the normative values, the authors propose to create technical and organizational control loops. Each loop is a closed chain of technical means and organizational tools, which secures up-keeping of the normative technological process state. Production risk is proposed to be used as a criterion to assess the efficiency of the control loops. The methodology allowing to calculate the risk is described. The results of the contour approach application to the technological process control at the Solntsevsky coal strip mine are presented.

Формирование контуров контроля технологического процесса угольного разреза

Mining technological process as a sequence of changing the natural state of the Earth's subsoil to obtain a certain quantity and quality of mineral products is characterized by departures from the specified normative parameter values, which is due to causes of different nature. Most of these causes are man-made, anf they are created during the performance of specific process operations by the personnel. The article presents an original approach to managing the control over the technological process parameters in a coal strip mine. To reduce the magnitude and probability of the process departures from the normative values, the authors propose to create technical and organizational control loops. Each loop is a closed chain of technical means and organizational tools, which secures up-keeping of the normative technological process state. Production risk is proposed to be used as a criterion to assess the efficiency of the control loops. The methodology allowing to calculate the risk is described. The results of the contour approach application to the technological process control at the Solntsevsky coal strip mine are presented.

ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ РОЗВИТКУ ГІРНИЧОРУДНОЇ ПРОМИСЛОВОСТІ УКРАЇНИ У СВІТОВОМУ КОНТЕКСТІ

he main global trends in the development of the mining industry in recent years are considered; a constant increase in the intensity of development of the earth's subsoil and extraction of mineral products in recent decades is shown; the world's largest mining countries are highlighted. It was established that China (23 % of world production), the USA (12 %), Russia (9 %), and Australia (7 %) are the leading countries in terms of production volume. China, the USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Australia are the leaders in terms of the value of mined products. It has been established that in recent years (2015–2021) the growth of mining of lithium, rare earths, niobium, titanium, bauxite, nickel, fluorite, graphite, etc. was especially rapid, while the mining of tin, mercury, antimony, uranium, tantalum, technical diamonds, etc. decreased. It was established that at the end of the 20s, the development of the mining industry was negatively affected by the consequences of the pandemic, but already at the end of 2020, the state of the mining industry began to improve. The role and place of Ukraine in the global mining industry is shown, which ranks 24th in the world in terms of volume of production, and 36th in terms of the value of mined products; and takes leading positions in the production of iron, manganese, titanium, etc. In recent years (2015–2021), the production of iron, manganese, titanium, feldspar, graphite, sulfur, and coking coal has increased significantly in Ukraine, but the production of gallium, bentonite, salt, zircon, coal, and uranium has decreased.

Analysis of ways to reduce the risks of ignition of coalbed methane

The paper presents data on the explosion hazard of methane under different conditions, taking into account the change in its concentration. The main emphasis is on the analysis of methane ignition conditions during drilling and blasting operations. Methods for determining the amount of methane released into the atmosphere during these works are analysed, as well as other factors that determine the conditions for the formation of hazardous situations and negative environmental (climatic) consequences. In addition, the mechanism of coal ignition during methane combustion is analysed. The most dangerous concentrations of oxygen and methane are revealed. Key trends in reducing gas emissions and determining their amount are identified. Measures in the field of environmental protection and integrated development of the Earth's subsoil are proposed.

On the seismic activity of the Upper Kama potassium salt deposit

Introduction. The exploitation of the earth's subsoil on an industrial scale leads to a disturbance of equilibrium state of the geological environment and, as a consequence, to the manifestation of various dynamic events in it: sinkholes, rockbursts, induced earthquakes of various magnitudes, etc. Therefore, the problem of predicting such events or phenomena becomes urgent. About two dozen factors determining the state of geological environment and its dynamic regime have been identified in the course of solving this problem for the territory of Upper Kama (Verkhnekamskoe) potassium salt deposit (VKMKS): structural, tectonic, geomorphological, hydrogeological, hydrochemical, geophysical and others. Based on these factors-features, the zoning of the VKMKS territory was performed and the areas most likely for dynamic events manifestation were established. Among the factors-features stand out the dynamic events, which directly indicate the disturbance places of the geological environment’s equilibrium state. Among the features are the following: number and type of events, epicenters position, their relationship with the structural-tectonic elements of the geological environment’s structure and, first of all, with active faults. The purpose of this work is to compare the characteristics of a dynamic event that occurred in the area of SKRU-2 (Solikamsk mine-2) in 1995, with the geological structure of this area. Research methodology. The results of geological and geophysical studies carried out on the territory SKRU-2 are summarized, the characteristics of tectonic rockbursts are analyzed and the structuraltectonic and seismic data were compared. Research results. The structural-tectonic diagram of SKRU-2 territory was constructed and the relationship between the dynamic event and the structural features of the SKRU-2 territory was evaluated. Summary. The comparison of tectonic rockbursts characteristic and the structural-tectonic location of SKRU-2 territory has shown that the mine area is a nodal structure formed by active faults and complicated by fracture zones. Therefore, the probability of dynamic event focus development in such conditions is very high.

Concept of production facilities’ selection on multilayer oil-gas condensate fields in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District

In the Russian terminology, the production facility is determined as a productive layer or a group of layers, extraction of hydrocarbons from which will be carried out by a unified well network. The gathered experience of multilayer oil and gas fields’ development sometimes demonstrates falsity of decisions in the selection of production facilities applied at the initial stages of development when the volume of initial information necessary for design is very limited. High degree of study is characteristic for drilled fields when decisions concerning selection of production facilities are already determined and only their adjustment is possible. At initial stages, practice of interconnection of a considerable number of layers in an integrated production facility was often applied that brought to insufficiently complete production of separate productive intervals, reducing the efficiency of hydrocarbon raw materials extraction from Earth subsoil. The scheme of production facilities’ selection in multilayer Southern Russian and the Beregovoye oil-gas condensate fields, which consists in the stage-by-stage analysis of each criterion, presented in the article regarding the possibility of layers’ interconnection in united development facilities, is presented in the paper. Decisions of operational objects’ selection by the presented algorithm are approved and have been used in works on the techno-economic justification of oil recovery coefficients on considered fields. The proposed solutions allow one not only to reach high rates of hydrocarbon raw materials’ extraction, but also to avoid decline in economic activity at late development stages of the field caused by the necessity of additional well stock drilling at layers’ separation, which were connected at an initial stage by mistake.

Extended Born domain integral models of diffusive fields

Diffusive fields in three-dimensional cases, e.g., voluminous inclusions, voids, and cracks in planar metal slabs and conductive orebodies and other obstacles in a half-space earth subsoil, can be modeled via rigorous vector integral formulations that require Green dyads. The latter contain most of the complexity of the embedding environment whilst many situations can be attacked from precalculated discrete sets of such dyads. However, exact models remain computationally costly, and inversion problems (nondestructive evaluation of made structures and geo-electromagnetic probing of the earth) might require faster yet accurate models. Those provided by application of several so-called extended Born approximations are considered herein and their efficiency is illustrated from a number of numerical simulations whose results are compared to existing datasets.

Particle density and the plummet balance

Soil suspensions are usually characterised by the percentage weights of particles settling with velocities between defined limits, such as silt and clay. If percentages were measured sufficiently accurately by both the pipette method and a plummet balance, dry densities of fractions could be calculated and hence their composition inferred. The accuracy and precision of the pipette method were confirmed by the mass balance of particles in peptised suspensions of a red-brown earth subsoil and a kaolinite. Percentages indicated by a plummet balance were corrected for the actual densities of fractions measured separately. Residual differences from the pipette values showed that the balance was accurate but lacked the precision needed to deduce densities to 0.01 mg/mm3. Values of the density of clay fractions were deduced from the means of published percentages obtained by the two methods where replicate suspensions were used and also from the mean difference based on a comparison using 199 soil samples. For the latter, an underestimate of clay percentages indicated by the balance had first to be allowed for. Clay-deduced densities were in the range 2.80–2.83 mg/mm3, compared with 2.84 mg/mm3 measured on the separated subsoil clay. The values are similar, probably because the clays are derived from mica. The density of the separated subsoil silt was 2.64 mg/mm3, less than quartz, because of the presence of feldspar. Such results indicate the potential use of the method if the precision of the balance is improved.

Growth and nutrition of legumes on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil

The phosphate response patterns of tropical and temperate legumes were compared in a glasshouse trial on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil. Differences in growth and P response patterns could be explained by the known differences in tolerance of Al toxicity. The temperate legumes Lotus pedunculatus and Lupinus polyphyllus appeared to be able to tolerate Al toxicity as well as the torpicallegume Lotononis bainsu and more so than Trifolium semipilosum. However Trifolium repens was less tolerant than T. semipilosum. Of the species studied, Lupinus polyphyllus was the only one capable of reasonable growth where no P was added to the soil. The greater seed reserves of Lupinus appeared to contribute substantially to its greater growth and P uptake under conditions of low P input.

Growth and nutrition of legumes on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil

Abstract The phosphate response patterns of tropical and temperate legumes were compared in a glasshouse trial on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil. Differences in growth and P response patterns could be explained by the known differences in tolerance of Al toxicity. The temperate legumes Lotus pedunculatus and Lupinus polyphyllus appeared to be able to tolerate Al toxicity as well as the torpicallegume Lotononis bainsu and more so than Trifolium semipilosum. However Trifolium repens was less tolerant than T. semipilosum. Of the species studied, Lupinus polyphyllus was the only one capable of reasonable growth where no P was added to the soil. The greater seed reserves of Lupinus appeared to contribute substantially to its greater growth and P uptake under conditions of low P input.

Growth and nutrition of legumes on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil

Lucerne, white clover, and lotus were grown with three rates of lime and three rates of phosphate on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil. Lime equivalent to 2000 kg.ha-1 depressed exchangeable aluminium (AI) and manganese levels, and increased growth of all species. The lime response was attributed to alleviation of Al toxicity. Lucerne responded most and lotus least to lime; thus tolerance of Al toxicity decreased in the order lotus > white clover > lucerne. Lime equivalent to 8000 kg.ha-1 further depressed exchangeable Al and Mn levels, but this rate depressed growth in all species except lucerne at the highest rate of P. The growth depression was attributed to an induced P deficiency.

Potentially mineralizable nitrogen, decomposition rates and their relationship to temperature for five Queensland soils

The procedure of Stanford and coworkers was used to quantitatively relate net nitrogen mineralization in five Queensland semi-arid soils to temperature. The concentration of potentially mineralizable nitrogen (No) (1) ranged from 67 �g nitrogen g-1 for a red earth subsoil to 256 for a recently cultivated cracking clay surface soil, (2) was directly proportional to total soil carbon, (3) was greater in surface than in subsurface soil, and (4) was greater in subtropical than tropical soils. Expressed as a fraction of total nitrogen (No/Total N), it ranged between 8 and 21%, and was directly proportional to cation exchange capacity, perhaps implicating expanding lattice clays in stabilization of cell lysates and metabolites. The mineralization rate constant (k) was directly proportional to total carbon, the fuel for microbially mediated reactions in soil. The average k for surface soils was interpolated to be 0.058, 0.031, and 0.018 week-1, corresponding to half-lives of 11.9, 22.4 and 38.5 weeks, at 35�, 25� and 15�C, respectively; these values are similar to those reported for U.S.A. and Chilean soils. The Arrhenius relationship between k and temperature for surface soils (log k = 6.14-2285/T) was similar to that reported by Stanford for U.S.A. soils, and indicates that this relationship might be a general one.

Hydroxyl interaction with an alkaline clay soil during column leaching

A study was made of the diffusion of hydroxide ions, added as leachant, from the inter-aggregate pores of a red-brown earth subsoil into the microporous fabric of the aggregates themselves, and then out again when the columns were leached with water. Electrical conductivity and pH were monitored within the column, in the leachate, and in extracts of the soil. The effects of flow rate, aggregate size, neutral salt content, change of cation, and the state and concentration of the hydroxide were considered. In systems having calcium as the dominant cation, the hydroxyls were able to freely enter the fabric and to react with edges of clay particles. In systems with sodium dominant both of these processes were actively inhibited. Strong anion exclusion, arising in the double layers at clay surfaces, operates in sodium but not in calcium systems. Leaching with water, which by hydrolysis reverses the edge adsorption of hydroxyl, revealed a low reservoir of hydroxide ions in sodium systems but a large one, resulting in strong buffering at high pH, in calcium. It is contended that other anions, although less mobile and less reactive than hydroxyl, will also respond to double layers in their approach and their entry to clay soil fabric. Consequently, any ionic solutes, introduced in the leaching stream or produced by root processes, will sometimes be impeded in penetrating soil fabric, just as such solutes are impeded in leaving it.

Foundations, Professors and “Economic Education”

RECENTLY I RECEIVED from American Economic Foundation, 295 Madison Avenue, New York 17, an illustrated folder by Fred G. Clark and Richard Stanton Rimanoczy entitled What Are Tools? The authors state that piece of mechanical equipment is a tool of production. Then they go on to include among such tools not only roof over equipment, walls around it and floor under it, but also the land under floor. And then they add: A coal mine, an oil well, a forest, an ore deposit, or any other natural resource becomes a tool of production to men who extract from nature raw materials which go into manufacturing. By thus putting all land and, in general, all natural resources into category of tools, authors turn reader away from considering a very fundamental question. This fundamental question is whether an income derived from man-made equipment that cannot come into existence at all unless there is both labor and saving, is on no stronger an ethical and social utility basis than is an income one can receive just because others must pay him for his permission to work on and to live on earth, in those locations made productive and desirable because of geological forces and community development, and for his permission to withdraw fuels and minerals from earth's subsoil deposits. Lest this statement seem to some readers not entirely clear, we may illustrate by reference to case of New York City.1 New York is situated on a great natural harbor. If there were none to use harbor except a few pioneer farmers on Manhattan Island trading their surplus produce for textiles and other goods of Europe, landing space for a very few boats or perhaps for a single one would be all that would be needed. But as rich interior of North American continent was settled, with its mines of iron ore, copper and coal, its prairie and river-bottom wheat and corn land, and its other resources, more and more goods were produced to be poured through port of New York into foreign countries. And, of course, more and more foreign goods were wanted in exchange, which could most advantigeously pass through