Geoscience frontiers最新文献

Climate change is the most phenomenal challenge to humanity, and its roots are intervened with unsustainable industrialization, exercising overexploitation of natural resources. Therefore, the departure from non-renewable to renewables has become inevitable, though thought-provoking. In this respect, we explore how green energy transformation moderates the impacts of multifaceted natural resources on sustainable industrial development in the presence of other covariates involving technological progress, financial development, and economic progress. We compiled data from Group of Seven (G-7) members over the 1995−2018 period and applied panel quantile regression (PQREG) to capture the effects across varying levels of quantiles of sustainable industrial development. Results revealed a positive role of natural gas rents, while coal, forest, and total natural resource rents contributed adverse implications for sustainable industrial development. However, the green energy transformation proved to be the game changer because it not only directly induced sustainable industrial development improvement but also turned the unfavorable effects of coal, forest, and total natural resources into favorable ones by interacting with those multifaceted natural resources. Technological, financial, and economic progress supported sustainable industrial development in G-7 nations, particularly in members with existing middle and upper scales of sustainable industrial development. These findings are robust enough when subjected to different estimation tools. In light of these outcomes, the interaction between green energy transformation and natural resource policy is inevitably critical to attaining natural resource efficiency for sustainable industrial development. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a close policy coordination between advancing green energy technology and allocating natural resource revenue to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a particular emphasis on SDG-7 and SDG-13.

Reliability analysis plays an important role in the risk management of geotechnical engineering. For the random field-based method, it is expected that the uncertainty characterization of geo-material parameters and the realization of random field can be integrated effectively. Moreover, as the increase in measured data size is generally difficult in the field investigation of geotechnical engineering due to limitation of budget and time etc., the statistical uncertainty resulting from sparse data should be paid great attention. Therefore, taking the determination of hyper-parameters for Bayesian-based conditional random field as the breakthrough, this study proposed a reliability analysis framework to achieve the expectation above. In this proposed reliability analysis framework, the present characterization method of statistical uncertainty is improved by setting the lognormal distribution as the prior distribution of scale of fluctuation (SOF). Subsequently, the performance of statistical uncertainty characterization method is tested by a set of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) database about rocks. Then, a case study about the stability analysis of slope is employed to demonstrate the beneficial effect of the proposed reliability analysis framework. It is found that the uncertainty in both the realization of random field and the reliability analysis results can be significantly mitigated by the proposed reliability analysis framework.

In a paper in 1970, Brian Windley first recognised that early terrestrial and lunar anorthosites both have calcic plagioclase, and low TiO₂ and high CaO and Al₂O₃ contents. Despite these similarities, the geochemistry of early terrestrial and lunar anorthosites has not been rigorously compared and contrasted. To this end, we compiled 425 analyses from 212 early terrestrial anorthosite occurrences and 306 analyses from 16 lunar anorthosite occurrences. This was supplemented by a compilation of plagioclase anorthite (An) contents and pyroxene Mg# from early terrestrial and lunar anorthosites. Early terrestrial anorthosites have lower whole-rock An contents but similar Mg# to lunar anorthosites. The CaO contents of lunar anorthosites are higher than those of early terrestrial anorthosites for a given MgO and Al₂O₃ content, early terrestrial anorthosites have higher SiO₂ contents than lunar anorthosites at a given MgO content, and lunar anorthosites have higher Eu/Eu* anomaly ratios yet broadly similar La/Yb and Nd/Sm ratios than early terrestrial anorthosites. Some early terrestrial anorthosites have less fractionated chondrite-normalised rare earth element (REE) patterns and less prominent positive Eu anomalies than lunar anorthosites. Lunar anorthosites have higher plagioclase An contents, yet a similar range of pyroxene Mg# compared to their early terrestrial counterparts. Some early terrestrial anorthosites are more fractionated than some lunar anorthosites. Our interpretations imply that most early terrestrial anorthosites crystallised from basaltic parental magmas that were generated by high-degree partial melting of sub-arc asthenosphere mantle wedge sources that were hydrated by slab-derived fluids, with the remainder being associated with mid-ocean ridge and mantle plume settings. Some of the arc-related early terrestrial anorthosites were influenced by crustal contamination. In addition, early terrestrial anorthosites originated from partial melting of the mantle at various depths with variable garnet residua, whereas lunar anorthosites formed without any significant garnet residua. Lower plagioclase CaO contents and pyroxene Mg# in early terrestrial anorthosites can be explained by higher proportions of clinopyroxene and olivine fractionation in terrestrial magma chambers than in the lunar magma ocean where orthopyroxene and olivine fractionation occurred. Low TiO₂ contents in both terrestrial and lunar anorthosites reflect rutile and/or ilmenite fractionation.

Water temperature is a critical indicator and weathervane of aquatic ecosystems. However, the vast majority of rivers lack long-term continuous and complete water temperature datasets. In this study, ensemble models by combining NARX (nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs) and air2stream were used to reconstruct daily river water temperatures for 27 hydrological stations in the Odra River Basin, one of the largest river systems in Europe. For each hydrological station, both the NARX and air2stream models were calibrated and validated, and the better-performed model was selected to reconstruct daily river water temperatures from 1985 to 2022. The results showed that hybrid modeling by combining NARX and air2stream is promising for reconstructing daily river water temperatures. Based on the reconstructed dataset, annual and seasonal trends of water temperature and characteristics of river heatwaves were evaluated. The results indicated that annual river water temperatures showed a consistent warming trend over the past 40 years with an average warming rate of 0.315 °C/decade. Seasonal river water temperatures indicated that summer warms faster, followed by autumn and spring, and winter river water temperatures showed an insignificant warming trend. River heatwaves are increased in frequency, duration, and intensity in the Odra River Basin, and 6 out of 27 hydrological stations have river heatwaves categorized as ‘severe’ and ‘extreme’, suggesting that mitigation measures are needed to reduce the impact of climate warming on aquatic systems. Moreover, results showed that air temperature is the major controller of river heatwaves, and river heatwaves tend to intensify with the warming of air temperatures.

The phenomenon of carbon isotopic fractionation, induced by the transport of methane in tight sedimentary rocks through processes primarily involving diffusion and adsorption/desorption, is ubiquitous in nature and plays a significant role in numerous geological and geochemical systems. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms of transport-induced carbon isotopic fractionation both theoretically and experimentally is of considerable scientific importance. However, previous experimental studies have observed carbon isotope fractionation phenomena that are entirely distinct, and even exhibit opposing characteristics. At present, there is a lack of a convincing mechanistic explanation and valid numerical model for this discrepancy. Here, we performed gas transport experiments under different gas pressures (1–5 MPa) and confining pressures (10–20 MPa). The results show that methane carbon isotope fractionation during natural gas transport through shale is controlled by its pore structure and evolves regularly with increasing effective stress. Compared with the carbon isotopic composition of the source gas, the initial effluent methane is predominantly depleted in ¹³C, but occasionally exhibits ¹³C enrichment. The carbon isotopic composition of effluent methane converges to that of the source gas as mass transport reaches a steady state. The evolution patterns of the isotope fractionation curve, transitioning from the initial non-steady state to the final steady state, can be categorized into five distinct types. The combined effect of multi-level transport channels offers the most compelling mechanistic explanation for the observed evolution patterns and their interconversion. Numerical simulation studies demonstrate that existing models, including the Rayleigh model, the diffusion model, and the coupled diffusion-adsorption/desorption model, are unable to describe the observed complex isotope fractionation behavior. In contrast, the multi-scale multi-mechanism coupled model developed herein, incorporating diffusion and adsorption/desorption across multi-level transport channels, effectively reproduces all the observed fractionation patterns and supports the mechanistic rationale for the combined effect. Finally, the potential carbon isotopic fractionation resulting from natural gas transport in/through porous media and its geological implications are discussed in several hypothetical scenarios combining numerical simulations. These findings highlight the limitations of carbon isotopic parameters for determining the origin and maturity of natural gas, and underscore their potential in identifying greenhouse gas leaks and tracing sources.

Peninsular Malaysia is already well known for having rare earth (RE) resources. However, pertinent data and information on upstream RE resources and reserve potential in Malaysia are yet to be established. It is vital to identify opportunities and challenges for value addition to rare earth elements (REEs) deposits in Malaysia. Therefore, this study evaluates the potential of Malaysian geological formations to serve as repositories for RE resources, such as rare earth minerals (REMs) and REEs, by elucidating the geological processes that are considered critical to the formation of the various deposit types. This paper concisely reviews possible REE mineralization in alkaline igneous rocks, pegmatites, placer deposits: monazite and xenotime, marine sediments, river and lake sediments, ion adsorption clays (IAC) deposits, and shale/coal deposits found in Malaysia. Comparisons between Malaysian deposits revealed that these deposits are potentially enriched with RE resources showing geological formations across the world. The paper reviews the methods and flowsheets used for the recovery of REMs and REEs from primary, secondary as well as alternative resources, with special consideration to the hydrometallurgical procedures comprising of leaching with acids and alkalis tailed by ion exchange, solvent extraction, or precipitation. The REEs ecosystem of Malaysia has also been discussed by considering the latest information from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), the REEs processing center, the Academy of Science of Malaysia (ASM), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lynas Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Lynas), Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (NRECC), Jabatan Mineral & Geosains (JMG), Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI), and the Malaysian Chamber of Mines. The information on upstream RE resources and recent hydrometallurgical approaches provided in this study will contribute to developing and enhancing midstream and downstream RE-based manufacturing and processing operations in Malaysia.

Volatiles in the mantle are crucial for Earth’s geodynamic and geochemical evolution. Understanding the deep recycling of volatiles is key for grasping mantle chemical heterogeneity, plate tectonics, and long-term planetary evolution. While subduction transfers abundant volatile elements from the Earth’s surface into the mantle, the fate of hydrous portions within subducted slabs during intensive dehydration processes remains uncertain. Boron isotopes, only efficiently fractionating near the Earth’s surface, are valuable for tracing volatile recycling signals. In this study, we document a notably large variation in δ¹¹B values (−14.3‰ to +8.2‰) in Cenozoic basalts from the South China Block. These basalts, associated with a high-velocity zone beneath East China, are suggested to originate from the mantle transition zone. While the majority exhibit δ¹¹B values (−10‰ to −5‰) resembling the normal mantle, their enriched Sr-Nd-Pb isotope compositions and fluid-mobile elements imply hydrous components in their source, including altered oceanic crust and sediments. The normal δ¹¹B values are attributed to the dehydration processes. Remarkably high δ¹¹B values in the basalts indicate the presence of subducted serpentinites in their mantle source. A small subset of samples with low δ¹¹B values and radiogenic isotope enrichments suggests a contribution from recycled detrital sediments, though retaining minimal volatile elements after extensive dehydration. These findings provide compelling evidence that serpentinites within subducted slabs predominantly maintain their hydrous nature during dehydration processes in subduction zones. They may transport a considerable amount of water into deep mantle reservoirs, such as the mantle transition zone.