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Coal-rock interface recognition technology is one of the key technologies for intelligent mining in coal mines. Based on high-frequency radar wave detection technology, high-precision detection of coal-rock interfaces can be achieved with mining, but there are still safety risks for equipment caused by rib spalling and roof caving in ultra-high mining heights (≥6 m) in mines, as well as spatial restrictions on equipment passing through during sudden changes in mining height (mining height ≤2 m). Based on previous work, this paper proposes a rapid dynamic detection system and method for coal-rock interfaces in mines using nodal GPR. The main contents include: ① Explaining the principle of the nodal GPR observation system in mines, designing a coal-rock interface recognition observation system plan and radar antenna sensor installation method based on the actual environment of the mine working face; ② Studying and proposing a nodal acquisition control system and information interaction transmission design plan to achieve dynamic data acquisition, control, and storage; ③ Studying and proposing enhanced processing methods for sensor detection data and coal-rock interface recognition algorithms based on nodal acquisition methods and radar reflection echo characteristics of coal-rock interfaces, which can effectively achieve intelligent recognition and tracking of coal-rock interfaces, as well as calculation of coal seam thickness and spatial coordinates. To verify the feasibility of this method, multiple geological radar antenna sensors with a center frequency of 1.5 GHz were used for physical model verification experiments, and a comparative analysis of nodal data acquisition and continuous data acquisition results was conducted. The experimental results show that both nodal and continuous acquisition methods can effectively identify coal-rock interfaces. Compared with continuous acquisition methods, the nodal detection method proposed in this paper can achieve rapid and dynamic repetitive data acquisition, with a single acquisition time controlled within 10 seconds, an average error of 1.07 cm for coal seam thickness detection results, a maximum error of 1.47 cm, and an average error percentage of 7.64%. This method provides technical support for dynamic high-precision detection of coal-rock interfaces in intelligent mining in mines.

The focus of coal development in China has been strategically shifted westward. That realize green mining of coal resources and coordinated ecological development becomes one of the important measures to ensure national energy security. Most of the coal seams in the western region are buried shallowly, with thin overlying bedrock and thick coal seams, which is beneficial for large-scale underground mining or open-pit mining. However, the climate in the region is arid with little rainfall and fragile ecological conditions, which caused significant damage to the mining area and surrounding ecological environment on a large scale and with high intensity. Due to the unclear understanding of the evolution mechanism of ecological damage during the mining process and the post mining restoration mechanism, there is no mature restoration theory and method to guide it, which has become a major challenge restricting the high-quality development of coal in the region. We are focuse on the above-mentioned difficulties, which consider accurately surveying the geological and hydrogeological conditions and the ecological evolution characteristics of the entire coal mining cycle working face, that be helpful for elucidating the mechanism of overlying soil and rock damage caused by mining, the law of water resource loss and accumulation and cyclic transportation, the mechanism of ecological damage evolution and bearing capacity, and revealing the soil and rock layers, water resource circulation, and mechanism of ecological self-adaption in the post-mining area. By using the plant-microbial combination restoration method, a water-soil ecological three-dimensional coupling remediation theory was constructed for the synergy between artificial and natural restoration in underground and open-pit mines, and a new thinking on the mechanism of ecological restoration was proposed. That development of fissures is like loosening soil in farmland becomes a new opportunity for ecological restoration in shallow buried deep mining area, which promote the redistribution of water-soil-life. Meanwhile, utilizing microbial remediation technology to promote the coordinated forward direction development of water retention-quality improvement-capacity enhancement, practicing the thinking of developing “golden mountains and silver hills” and recreating “green mountains and clear waters” in the western fragile ecological area.

The fragile ecological environment in the western coal mining areas of China, compounded by intensive mining activities, has led to water and soil erosion, soil degradation, and damaged root systems. With a low plant water use efficiency, the ecological restoration becomes challenging, making the improvement of water use efficiency a key aspect in the ecological restoration or reconstruction of western mining areas. Soil water is a critical factor limiting the ecological restoration of arid and semi-arid coal mining areas, as it connects atmospheric water, surface water, groundwater, and vegetation growth, serving as an important carrier for water circulation and nutrient transport. Efficient and rational utilization of soil water is crucial to the success of ecological restoration. Therefore, investigating plant root water utilization strategies plays a significant role in the ecological restoration of western coal mining areas. This paper analyzes the main research methods of plant water use at home and abroad, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different methods, and reviews the corresponding research progress. In the damaged ecological environments of arid and semi-arid coal mining areas, the application of plant-microbe combined microbial remediation technology can improve plant water use efficiency and enhance plant water use strategies. At the same time, the microbial inoculation reduces the proportion of water absorption by plants from shallow soil layers, effectively increasing the absorption and utilization of water from deep soil layers by plants, thereby enhancing plant water use efficiency. This enables the inoculated plants to exhibit a higher ecological adaptability in the arid and semi-arid coal mining areas. This paper analyzes the current research progress and existing problems of plant water use in the western coal mining areas, discusses the improvement of water use strategies through microbial remediation in mining areas, and proposes the impact of different plant combinations on water use strategies and their research focuses in the ecological restoration of western arid coal mining areas. This lays a solid foundation for achieving green, sustainable, and high-quality development in the arid and semi-arid coal mining areas, and has important ecological application value.

Abstract Globally, studying the impact of coal mining on groundwater remains challenging. This is because the exploitation of coal resources and the sustainable development of groundwater resources involve economic, social, and environmental aspects. Over the last few decades, the number of publications on groundwater-related studies in coal mining areas has increased. However, they are not currently reviewed in a widely visible manner through bibliometric analyses. This study investigated groundwater research in coal mining areas worldwide using scientometric analysis based on 1196 articles from the Web of Science database to provide a global perspective and gain quantitative insight into research frontiers and trends in the field by mapping existing knowledge. We analyzed the key contributors and development processes of coal mine groundwater research and identified four research frontiers based on scientometric mapping results with an understanding of the research field: numerical modeling, conceptual modeling and mechanisms, feedback mechanisms between anthropogenic-environmental systems and groundwater systems, ground subsidence management, groundwater quality evaluation and risk assessment, and groundwater resource management in coal mines. Finally, we summarize the current challenges and propose methods to promote the green mining of coal resources and the sustainable development and management of groundwater resources.

To increase the detection accuracy of soil structure and moisture content in reconstituted soils under complex conditions, this study utilizes a 400 MHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to examine a study area consisting of loess, sandy loam, red clay, and mixed soil. The research involves analyzing the single-channel waveforms and two-dimensional images of GPR, preprocessing the data, obtaining envelope information via amplitude envelope detection, and performing a Hilbert transformation. This study employs a least squares fitting approach to the instantaneous phase envelope to ascertain the thickness of various soil layers. By utilizing the average envelope amplitude (AEA) method, a correlation between the radar’s early signal amplitude envelope and the soil’s shallow dielectric constant is established to invert the moisture content of the soil. The analysis integrates soil structure and moisture distribution data to investigate soil structure characteristics and moisture content performance under diverse soil properties and depths. The findings indicate that the envelope detection method effectively identifies stratification boundaries across different soil types; the AEA method is particularly efficacious in inverting the moisture content of reconstituted soils up to 3 m deep, with an average relative error ranging from 2.81% to 7.41%. Notably, moisture content variations in stratified reconstituted soils are more pronounced than those in mixed soil areas, displaying a marked stepwise increase with depth. The moisture content trends in the vertical direction of the same soil profile are generally consistent. This research offers a novel approach to studying reconstituted soils under complex conditions, confirming the viability of the envelope detection and AEA methods for intricate soil investigations and broadening the application spectrum of GPR in soil studies.

Coal mining has a certain influence on and causes disturbances in groundwater. To investigate the variation trend of groundwater around the open-pit mine in grassland area, taking Shengli No. 1 open-pit mine as an example, the impact and variation trend of groundwater level in Quaternary aquifer around the mine area was studied by using the data of hydrological monitoring wells. The results show that the water level around the mining area varies from one year to the next. Since 2008, the water level has experienced a process of reduction, stability and increase. Compared with the background water level value, the current water level of each monitoring well is lower than the background water level. The influence radius calculated by Kusakin formula ranges from 94.15 m to 906.80 m, and the aquifer is heterogeneous. On the basis of the correlations between changes in waterline in monitoring wells and the stope distance, the disturbance radius of open-pit mining on surrounding diving water in grassland area is less than 2000 m. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the alteration of diving waterline and its influencing factors, the main factors affecting the variation in the phreatic water level are atmospheric precipitation, evaporation, groundwater usage and dewatering water. All factors act on the diversification of diving water level synthetically. The internal waste dump of an open-pit mine has a positive effect on the surrounding groundwater recovery. The aim of this study is to reveal the impact of open-pit mining on surrounding groundwater and providing scientific basis for future mining in other open-pit mines.

To study the relationship of external dump of opencast coal mine impacting on surrounding micrometeorological factors, and then provide the foundation acknowledge for the ecological restoration in mining area, the airflow movement and water distribution around the mine area were regarded as the influencing factors to furtherly explore the ecological effects of the scale and form of the external dump. Taking Hongshaquan open-pit coal mine as an example, using Fluent fluid simulation software, adopting large eddy simulation and component transfer model, the external dump models with different heights and angles were established for simulation. The monthly temperature and dew point data of the area in 2020 were obtained through the regional meteorological station where Hongshaquan open-pit coal mine located, thereby reaching the monthly condensation height of the area. By analyzing the cloud diagrams of air velocity and moisture mass fraction under different conditions, the influence law of different sizes of external dump on the surrounding air flow movement and water distribution was obtained, and compared with the condensation height in the area. The numerical simulation results showed that: with the increasing dump height, the air climbing speed increased slowly, while the maximum climbing height increased, as well as the moisture mass fraction on the windward slope and the dump top ascended. More and more obvious Karman vortex street phenomenon was formed along the leeward slope. The number of vortices increased and the influence range became larger. Both of the airflow velocity and moisture mass fraction in the vortex area increased and reached their maximum values. The increase in the angle of the external dump presented a significant impact on the maximum climb height of the airflow, but showed little impact on the surrounding micrometeorological factors. Under the condition of 360 m limit height, when the external dump Angle reached the critical value of 26°, the maximum airflow climbing height would reach the summer condensation height in this area. Alternatively, under the condition of 22° limit Angle of the outer dump, when the height of the outer dump reached the critical value of 380 m, the maximum climbing height of airflow would reach the summer condensation height of the region, thereby promoting the precipitation around the mining area

In-depth understanding of the diurnal variation of soil respiration and its influencing factors at different depths under different land use patterns in desertified open-pit mines is crucial to assessing the carbon cycle of ecosystems in ecologically fragile open-pit mines. Taking the Hongshaquan open-pit mine as the research object, the EGM-5 portable infrared gas observation system was used to monitor and obtain the diurnal respiration rate of soil at different depths under different land use types and obtain related influencing factors. Also, the variation law and characteristics, as well as their main influencing factors of soil respiration under different land use types were got. The results showed that: ① There are significant differences in diurnal soil respiration among the five representative types of land features. The daily average soil respiration rates at 10 and 30 cm depths are ordered as artificial forest > Hongshaquan > reclamation area of dump > tamarisk forest > southern line, at 10 cm depth are 5.72, 0.98, 0.34, 0.08 and −0.08 μmol/(m2·s), respectively, and at 30 cm depth are 5.14, 2.18, 0.77, 0.40 and −0.05 μmol/(m2·s), respectively. The southern line is carbon sink, and the other four types of land features are carbon sources. ② The diurnal variation of soil respiration rate is obvious. The diurnal variation of soil respiration in different soil layers and Hongshaquan at 10 cm depth in the reclamation area of the dump site shows a “double peak” trend. The diurnal variation of soil respiration at 10 and 30 cm depths in tamarisk forest shows a “multi-peak” trend. ③ On the diurnal scale, the soil respiration rate at 10 cm depth in the dump reclamation area, the artificial forest and Hongshaquan is significantly positively correlated with soil temperature (P < 0.05) and soil water content (P < 0.01). The diurnal respiration of soil in the forest and the southern line is weak, and the daytime soil temperature in the tamarisk forest and the southern line limits soil respiration, while the nighttime and early morning soil temperature promotes soil respiration. Soil temperature and soil water content can better explain the variation of soil respiration rate of 50.5%−97.3% for the five feature types in the mine area, while only 11.3% for 10 cm in the southern line. ④ There are differences in the relationship between soil respiration and soil carbon content in tamarisk forest and southern line, and the relationship between the soil respiration and soil carbon content of the other three types of land features. The tamarisk forest and southern line soil respiration have a significant negative correlation with inorganic carbon (SIC) (r=0.69, P < 0.01), the soil respiration rate is negative due to inorganic processes, and SIC is the key factor of soil carbon sink. However, the soil respiration in dump reclamation area, artificial forest and Hongshaquan all have a strong negative correlation with dissolved active organic carbon (DOC). The soil respiration in southern line and tamarisk forest also has a strong positive correlation with soil organic carbon (SOC). SOC and DOC are important factors of soil carbon sources. To sum up, the soil respiration rates of different types of land features and different depths in the Hongshaquan mining area are significantly different, and the responses of soil respiration to soil temperature and other environmental factors are different at different depths. It is preliminarily clarified that SIC is an important factor for soil carbon sinks, while SOC and DOC are important factors for soil carbon sources. The results can provide basic data for carbon emissions and carbon cycle in the mining area.

To improve the accuracy of microseismic inversion, seismic anisotropy and moment tensor source should be carefully considered in the forward modelling stage. In this study, 3D microseismic anisotropy wave forward modelling with a moment tensor source was proposed. The modelling was carried out based on a rotated-staggered-grid (RSG) scheme. In contrast to staggered-grids, the RSG scheme defines the velocity components and densities at the same grid, as do the stress components and elastic parameters. Therefore, the elastic moduli do not need to be interpolated. In addition, the detailed formulation and implementation of moment-tensor source loaded on the RSG was presented by equating the source to the stress increments. Meanwhile, the RSG-based 3D wave equation forward modelling was performed in parallel using compute unified device architecture (CUDA) programming on a graphics processing unit (GPU) to improve its efficiency. Numerical simulations including homogeneous and anisotropic models were carried out using the method proposed in this paper, and compared with other methods to prove the reliability of this method. Furthermore, the high efficiency of the proposed approach was evaluated. The results show that the computational efficiency of proposed method can be improved by about two orders of magnitude compared with traditional central processing unit (CPU) computing methods. It could not only help the analysis of microseismic full wavefield records, but also provide support for passive source inversion, including location and focal mechanism inversion, and velocities inversion.

Calcium sulfate bone cement (CSC) is extensively used as a bone repair material due to its ability to self-solidify, degradability, and osteogenic ability. However, the fast degradation, low mechanical strength, and insufficient biological activity limit its application. This study used magnesium polyphosphate (MPP) and constructed a composite bone cement composed of calcium sulfate (CS), MPP, tricalcium silicate (C3S), and plasticizer hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). The optimized CS/MPP/C3S composite bone cement has a suitable setting time of approximately 15.0 min, a compressive strength of 26.6 MPa, and an injectability of about 93%. The CS/MPP/C3S composite bone cement has excellent biocompatibility and osteogenic capabilities; our results showed that cell proliferation is up to 114% compared with the control after 5 days. After 14 days, the expression levels of osteogenic-related genes, including Runx2, BMP2, OCN, OPN, and COL-1, are about 1.8, 2.8, 2.5, 2.2, and 2.2 times higher than those of the control, respectively, while the alkaline phosphatase activity is about 1.7 times higher. Therefore, the CS/MPP/C3S composite bone cement overcomes the limitations of CSC and has more effective potential in bone repair.

Abstract Permeability of coal reservoirs influence the extraction of coal gas from coal seams. Twelve coal samples were collected at an anticline and a syncline of the No. 3 coal seam in the Sihe coal mine. Porosity, permeability, pore size, vitrinite reflectance, and liquid nitrogen adsorption of the samples were evaluated. Structural curvatures at the sample locations, and the distance between the sampling locations and the nearest faults were calculated based on seismic data. The influences of the evaluated parameters on permeability were analyzed. Major factors that influence permeability of the No. 3 coal seam were extracted using principal component analysis (PCA). Based on the porosity–permeability model derived from the Archie formula and classic Kozeny–Carman equation, we deduced that the permeability of coal increased with an increase in porosity. With an increase in average vitrinite reflectance, permeability decreases first and then increases. PCA results showed that coal permeability was regulated by three key components representing three modes. The first component included pore size, depth, and pore complexity accounting for 52.59% of the variability indicating that it was the most important in controlling permeability. The second component included specific surface area, structural curvature, and porosity, and the third component comprised of specific surface area, porosity, and average vitrinite reflectance. Overall, pore diameter and complexity had significant effects on coal permeability. The results show that researchers and stakeholders must consider the interactions among multiple factors rather than single factors to understand the influences on permeability to facilitate efficient utilization of coalbed methane resources.

It has been well reported that earthquakes can cause changes in groundwater chemistry and isotopes, and much of those changes were occurred in wells or hot springs; however, changes in cold spring caused by local small earthquakes have received less attention. Here, we collected continuous monitoring of the X10 spring (September 2018 to December 2019), investigated the hydrogeochemical characteristics of the spring by using water chemistry analysis and isotope methods. We compared the changes in water chemical ion concentrations and hydrogen-oxygen isotope ratios with the surrounding seismic activity, and the results show that 1) major chemical ion concentrations in X10 springs have an annual dynamic pattern of being high in winter and low in summer, and this change may be related to the seasonal effect of snowmelt; 2) the spring water originates from long-distant meteoric water, snowmelt, and bedrock fissure water and is affected by rock weathering and evaporation; 3) the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios and HCO3− concentration in groundwater are sensitive to local small seismic activity. We considered that small earthquakes can change the permeability in fault zones or aquifers, leading to mixing of groundwater with different chemical composition and isotopes. Our study demonstrates that the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes are more sensitive to seismic activity than the commonly used chemical constitutents, and that the sensitive constitutents vary in different observation wells or springs; therefore, combined monitoring of isotopes and water chemistry should be considered in the future to capture hydrogeochemical precursor signals caused by earthquakes.

The influence of soil particle size and soil layer thickness on the permeability characteristics of open-pit dump was investigated, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the irrigation water consumption for the land reclamation and ecological restoration of open-pit dump. The surface soil outside the open-pit mine dump was selected as the research object, the particle size and soil thickness as the influencing factors, and the 0.5, 1, and 2 mm particle size and 5, 10, 15, and 20 cm soil layer thickness as experimental schemes. According to the principle of soil column experiment, the permeation law of topsoil under the conditions of different particle sizes and soil layer thicknesses was studied by the constant head method. In addition, the cumulative infiltration rate was simulated by the finite element steady-state seepage numerical method from the permeability rates and permeability coefficients of different experimental groups calculated by the soil column experiment, and compared with the physical results. The simulation results are basically consistent with the physical results. Then the gray system theory was used to study the relative correlation of particle size and soil thickness to permeability characteristics. The research results show that under the condition of the same particle size, the permeation rate decreases with the increase of the thickness; under the condition of the same thickness, the permeation rate increases with the increase of the particle size. The relative degree of correlation of particle size and soil layer thickness with permeability coefficient is 0.894 7 and 0.571 6, respectively, and the relative degree of correlation of particle size with permeability coefficient is greater.

How to detect grain moisture content storage inefficiently, non-destructively, and quickly is a critical task in the storage process of the modern grain industry. The influence of media with different moisture content on the propagation and attenuation of electromagnetic wave energy is the premise and basis for applying electromagnetic wave technology in detecting grain moisture content. To explore the applicability of electromagnetic wave technology in detecting grain moisture content, we used ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology and auto regressive and moving average (ARMA) power spectrum analysis method to detect and study the moisture content of the typical national grain depots and local grain depots. The results show that GPR technology could realize the moisture content of stored grains and solve the problems of detection distance, non-destructive, and detection dead ends. Compared with the actual test data, the correlation is above 90%, the error can be controlled within 0.5%, and the measurement accuracy is higher, within ±0.3%. The continuous distribution profile of stored grain moisture content was obtained using the ARMA method. The moisture content distribution range of the rice barn was 10-14%, showing the regularity of the moisture content distribution in the middle layer > upper-middle layer > lower-middle layer > bottom layer > grain surface layer. It indicates that the GPR technology has particular advantages in food safety detection and provides data support for real-time detection of food storage safety.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), acting as a source of energy, has effects on cellular activities, such as adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. In this study, ATP-loaded calcium sulfate hemihydrate/calcium citrate tetrahydrate cement (ATP/CSH/CCT) was successfully prepared for the first time. The effect of different contents of ATP on the structure and physicochemical properties of ATP/CSH/CCT was also studied in detail. The results indicated that incorporating ATP into the cement did not significantly alter their structures. However, the addition ratio of ATP directly impacted the mechanical properties and in vitro degradation properties of the composite bone cement. The compressive strength of ATP/CSH/CCT gradually decreased with an increasing ATP content. The degradation rate of ATP/CSH/CCT did not significantly change at low concentrations of ATP, but it increased with a higher ATP content. The composite cement induced the deposition of a Ca-P layer in a phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH = 7.4). Additionally, the release of ATP from the composite cement was controlled. The ATP was controlled releasing at the 0.5% and 1% ATP in cement by the diffusion of ATP and the degradation of the cement, whereas it was controlled by the diffusion process merely at the 0.1% ATP in cement. Furthermore, ATP/CSH/CCT demonstrated good cytoactivity with the addition of ATP and is expected to be used for the repair and regeneration of bone tissue.

CO2 geological storage projects are an essential tool for China to achieve the double carbon target of energy savings and emission reductions. In order to safely and effectively control the implementation of injection projects and monitor the dynamics of CO2 injection, multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary monitoring tools are required. Among them, microseismic monitoring is a key technology for predicting reservoir dynamics and reflecting reservoir geomechanical behavior. Such monitoring has been carried out previously for reservoirs in other countries, but experimental projects are also gradually being developed in China. In this paper, we focus on the research and analysis results of microseismic monitoring of carbon storage projects in various work areas. For different reservoir conditions, we explore combinations of the monitoring implementation methods in China, comparing the differences in each work area. We propose a joint well and ground microseismic monitoring method and a multi-spatial and multi-physical field coupling research system for use in the implementation of domestic demo projects for the future research and development of microseismic monitoring of carbon storage projects. The monitoring program can meet the requirements for certain periodic repeated or continuous observations and can intelligently assess the risk and handle the alert behavior. The foundation is laid for the development of the future microseismic monitoring technology to achieve the goal of developing cost-controllable, permanent, and real-time monitoring equipment. The application of the monitoring system in China has been effective, and this experience can contribute to the development of injection engineering in the future.

Lithium is a key strategic metal in the 21st century and an important raw material in the new energy sector. With rapid growth of the market demand for lithium, the high-efficient extraction of lithium resources is of important economic significance. Taking zeolite as the carrier and using chemical grafting and electrospinning technologies, a kind of nanofiber containing crown ether (CE) was synthesized to adsorb Li(I) from the salt lake brine. This realizes the selective adsorption of Li(I) while retaining specific vacancies of epoxy groups in CE. The adsorption mechanism of nanofibers containing zeolite carriers and CE for Li(I) was revealed by the use of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density functional theory (DFT). The results show that after dsp3 hybridization of the outer orbit (2s) of Li(I), outer electrons on the nanofibers containing zeolite carriers and CE mainly migrate to the orbit for coordination with Li(I) thereat, thus realizing the capture of Li(I). The novel adsorbing material can reach adsorption equilibrium within 2.5 h and the adsorption kinetics for Li(I) conforms to the pseudo-second-order model and a maximum adsorption capacity of 8.6 mg/g. It can be found that the correlation coefficient fitted by Langmuir adsorption isotherm model is closer to 1, and the calculated maximum adsorption capacity is closer to the adsorption capacity obtained experimentally, therefore, it can be concluded that the adsorption process is more consistent with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model, and the adsorption process can be regarded as monolayer adsorption. The adsorption capacity remains at 7.8 mg/g after 5 adsorption–desorption cycles, showing favorable stability and a strong ability to be regenerated. The research provides insights into the adsorption and recovery of Li(I) from the salt lake brine.

Abstract A quantitative analysis of the porosity, pore size distribution, and fractal dimensions of pores is significant for studying the pore structure characteristics of coal. This study utilized 12 anthracite coal samples from the Sihe mining area to explore the pore structure characteristics of the coal therein. Hundred randomly selected points on each sliced coal sample were imaged via scanning electron microscopy, and a total of 1200 images were used for the analysis. The porosity and fractal dimensions of the coal samples were analyzed via digital image processing and box-counting dimension methods. This method is characterized by extensive graphical analysis, and the results are based on statistical methods. These were also used to analyze the structural and development characteristics of the microscopic pores in the coal. The results reveal that the surface porosity obtained via digital image processing was 16.11% lower than that measured experimentally. The fractal dimension and porosity of the pore surface were fitted to a natural logarithmic curve. The rate of change in the pore fractal dimension depends on the porosity such that, to some degree, a greater porosity is associated with more complex pore structures, a higher degree of micropore development, and improved pore connectivity.

For the safe development and utilization of hot dry rock resources, it is essential to understand the distribution characteristics of underground faults. However, the commonly used reflection attribute analysis method has an insufficient resolution, and the diffraction attribute analysis method is affected by multiple solutions. Moreover, both are highly dependent on the interpreters’ experience and take a long time. Therefore, based on the classical U-Net model, a diffraction attribute fusion model (DAF-U-Net) with 27-layer convolution is proposed. The DAF-U-Net network takes four-channel diffracted attributes as an input and underground fracture distribution as an output. The new network adds a spatial attention and channel attention mechanism to improve the positioning and extraction ability of the U-Net model for the attribute characteristics of diffractions. After optimizing the diffraction attributes of hot dry rock slices in the Gonghe basin, Qinghai, the slices are input into the network to train the model. According to the prediction and identification results of the network model, the DAF-U-Net network has a high reliability in predicting fracture distributions. It has a specific reference role in the subsequent exploitation of hot dry rock.

Lithium, as the lightest alkali metal, is widely used in military and new energy applications. With the rapid growth in demand for lithium resources, it has become necessary to improve the effectiveness of extraction thereof. By using chemical grafting and electrospinning techniques, nanofibres containing crown ether were developed for adsorbing Li(I) from the brine in salt lakes, so as to selectively adsorb Li(I) on the premise of retaining specific vacancies of epoxy groups in crown ether. In lithium-containing solution, the adsorbing materials can reach adsorption equilibrium within three hours, and the maximum adsorption capacity is 4.8 mg g−1. The adsorption mechanisms of the adsorbing materials for Li(I) were revealed by combining Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The results indicated that in crown ether, O in epoxy groups was coordinated with Li(I) to form Li–O and four O atoms in the epoxy groups were used as electron donors. After coordination, two O atoms protruded from the plane and formed a tetrahedral structure with Li(I), realising the specific capture of Li(I). By desorbing fibres that adsorbed Li(I) with 0.5-M HCl, the adsorption capacity only decreased by 10.4% after five cycles, proving ability to regenerate such materials. The nanofibres containing crown ether synthesised by chemical grafting and electrospinning have the potential to be used in extracting lithium resources from the brine in salt lakes.

Hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy, as a clean and renewable energy, has potential value in meeting the rapid demand of the social economy. Predicting the temperature distribution of a subsurface target zone is a fundamental issue for the exploration and evaluation of hot dry rock. Numerical finite–element simulation is currently the mainstream method used to study the variation in underground temperature fields. However, it has difficulty in dealing with multiple geological elements of deep and complex hot dry rock models. A Unity networking for hot dry rock temperature (HDRT–UNet) is proposed in this study that incorporates the matrix rock temperature field equation for relating the three parameters of density, specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. According to the numerical geological structures and rock parameters of cap rocks, faults and magma intrusions, a new dataset simulated by the finite element method was created for training the HDRT–UNet. The temperature simulation results in the Gonghe basin show that the predicted temperatures within faults and granites were higher than their surrounding rocks, while a lower thermal conductivity of the cap rocks caused the temperature of overlying strata to be smaller than their surrounding temperature field. The simulation results also prove that our proposed HDRT–UNet can provide a certain evolutionary knowledge for the prediction and development of geothermal reserves.

The uplift and denudation history of the orogenic belt and the basin–mountain coupling process have directly or indirectly affected the generation, scale, and preservation of sandstone-type uranium deposits in the eastern Junggar Basin by controlling the uranium source, lithology, facies, hydrogeology, post-generation modification, and other mineralization conditions. Taking the eastern Junggar Basin as the research area, this study proposes the constraints on sandstone-type uranium deposits by the tectonic uplift and denudation history of the orogenic belt in the basin using the apatite fission track (AFT), detrital zircon geochronology, and other methods. The results of the AFT age test and thermal path simulation indicate that the orogenic belt in the eastern Junggar Basin underwent four rapid uplifts; (from approximately 300 Ma to approximately 250 Ma, from approximately 130 Ma to approximately 90 Ma, from approximately 65 Ma to approximately 30 Ma, and from approximately 20 Ma to 0 Ma). Moreover, the timing of the uplift has a spatial trend of gradually becoming younger from south to north. The detrital zircon U-Pb age test showed that the sediment source area of the basin is mainly distributed in three age intervals, i.e., 460–390, 360–270, and 190–170 Ma. The comprehensive evaluation of the clastic sediment composition, stratigraphic distribution of the erosion source area, and thermal history showed that a large amount of exposed Carboniferous–Permian granites in the Qinglidi and Karameri Mountain erosion source areas contributed dominant sediment material and uranium sources for the Triassic and Middle and Lower Jurassic strata in the basin. The Ordovician–Early Devonian granites only provided sediment sources for the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic strata in the basin. Altay Mountain contributed some sediment sources for the Middle and Upper Jurassic strata after the magmatic activity and rapid uplift occurred in the Middle Jurassic. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the influence of the tectonic uplift process of the orogenic belt and the transformation of material source areas on uranium mineralization, the granites in the erosion source areas are proposed to contribute both external and internal uranium sources for uranium mineralization. Uranium mineralization mainly occurred in the tectonic retreat period after the rapid uplifts of the Cretaceous and Paleogene. It was terminated by the intensive uplift-induced stratigraphic deformation in the Miocene.

In order to achieve the goal of ecological restoration, plant irrigation, and water retention in the external dump of open-pit coal mine in the arid desert area, it is proposed to use the mudstone in the stripped material to reconstruct the surface aquiclude and improve the water holding capacity of the topsoil. By taking the Hongshaquan Open-Pit Coal Mine as the study object, the red mudstone of mining level +650 was selected as the topsoil aquiclude material through the geological survey. XRD diffraction experiments are used to determine the composition of red mudstone including kaolinite mineral, quartz, potash feldspar, albite, and illite. The moisture content of the red mudstone is 4.16% as measured by the indoor drying experiment. And the particle size of 0.5 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm and the thickness of 5 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm rock samples were selected to conduct the indoor soil column experiment. Three indicators of initial infiltration rate, stable infiltration rate, and average infiltration rate were obtained according to the analysis and calculation of the water column drop rate, wet peak drop rate, and cumulative infiltration rate so that the permeability law and coefficient of each group of tests can be known. The finite element transient analysis theory and numerical simulation method were adopted to verify the results of physical experiments. The research results show that +650 level red mudstone has a strong antiseepage ability, and the smaller the particle size, the better the antiseepage performance. For 0.5 mm and 2 mm particle sizes, as the paving height increases, the water-proof effect is better. The laying height of 1 mm particle size has no obvious influence on the water barrier effect. The physical simulation was confirmed to have the same result trend as the numerical simulation, both of which are quadratic functions with the error within a reasonable range.

Among the various geological disasters that threaten the safe operation of long-distance oil and gas pipelines, water-damage disasters are numerous and widely developed. Especially the pipelines crossing river channels or gullies are vulnerable to scouring hazards from storms and floods. A water-damage disaster physical model was established to investigate the characteristics of the riverbed scour profile and the pipeline force when the pipeline was buried at different depths under the condition of different particle size riverbed sediment. Results indicated that the equilibrium scour depth changed in a spoon shape with the gradual increase of the embedment ratio in general. The equilibrium scour depth formed by the fine sand riverbed was the largest, about 1.5 times the pipeline diameter. When the pipeline was half exposed, the clay riverbed was more resistant to the scour of the river than the riverbed of fine sand and very fine pebbles with a larger particle size. In the riverbed of three particle sizes, fine sand was more difficult to withstand the scour of the river. The scour profile formed by the sand bed around the pipeline and the force and deformation of the pipeline were related to pipeline location and riverbed sediment type. Results of this study might be useful for the safety warning and protection measures of underwater pipeline crossing.

Karst collapse column is a serious geological disaster in China's coal mines. There are various karst collapse columns in coal mine areas, such as Huainan, Huaibei, Xingtai, Lu'an. And they have seriously affected mining safety and geological environment. The present research is focused on analyzing subsidence mechanism and dynamic collapse process. Based on mechanical analysis of thin plate theory, a detailed model of collapse column slipping and bending fracture is constructed to gather the critical conditions of the collapse column roof. The sensitivity parameters analysis shows that both the radius and roof thickness of cave have a great influence on the sliding instability and bending fracture. Meanwhile, the buried depth also affects bending failure. The discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method is used to simulate and analyze the collapse process. The numerical results indicate that the stability of inverted funnel collapse column is dominated by the bending stress of roof strata. The movement of columnar collapse column is mainly caused by sliding instability. However, the funnel collapse column is relatively stable, and does not change in the same condition. The displacement field analysis shows that the collapse range of inverted funnel collapse column is obviously larger than that of columnar collapse column, in which its maximum displacement is approximately 1.5 times that of the columnar collapse column. There is no large area collapse on the upper part of the funnel collapse column, and the block system is relatively stable. The principal stress field analysis proves the above results.

In the environment of service-oriented architecture, geodata web applications may be offered as services for geodata sharing and interoperability. Service composition has emerged to allow multiple functions, fine granularity, and fast access to applications. In addition, service composition can be invoked any time on the web so as to facilitate easier, faster, and much more cost-effective rebuilding. Hence, there is a need for the development of a geodata service composition web application. To ensure smooth and efficient implementation, in this paper, we first present the semantics behind service orientation for geodata service composition to align the technology environment with its business process. Then, Petri nets are employed to model the geodata service composition, and its structural analysis techniques are used to verify deadlock. Finally, the proposal and the implementation of the architecture for the geodata service composition web application are described. This paper offers compliant support for structural integrity in the geosciences from the design phase to the implementation phase.

Double-perovskite composite oxides (A _2 BB′O _6 ) usually have excellent functional properties and are widely studied and applied. Its electrical, magnetic or other properties can be optimized by doping transition metal elements at its B or B′ site. In this paper, the effects of Mn doping and testing atmosphere on the crystal structures and the electrical conductivities of Sr _2 Fe _1−x Mn _x NbO _6 (SFMN) were systematically investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that the conductivities of SFMN will increase in air while decrease under H _2 /H _2 O(g) atmosphere with Mn content rise. Doping Mn can enlarge the interplanar spacing of SFMN which increases the resistance of electron conduction across the crystal. First-principles calculations and XPS analysis results reveal that the chemical adsorption of H _2 on the surface of SFMN is a key reason for its conductivity increase under H _2 /H _2 O(g) atmosphere. The forbidden band width of the reduced state of Sr _2 FeNbO _6 (1.177 eV) is much smaller than that of the oxidation state (1.426 eV). The analysis results suggest that Fe 3d electron transition and exchange interaction between Mn–O–Mn are mainly two possible mechanisms contribute to the electrical conductivity of SFMN.

Factors such as the hydrogeological conditions, the lithological characteristics of the columns’ components, and the lithological characteristics and stress conditions of the coal seam roof and floor are interrelated and jointly affect column collapse. In this study, the disaster-causing mechanism of column collapse was studied. Based on the system theory, a collapsed column is divided into the column and the surrounding fissure zone as two subsystems for analysis. And, the permeability coefficient of the broken rock under different conditions was measured by a self-designed equipment. The variations of the permeability coefficient for rock samples with different particle diameters, different axial pressures Pa, and different seepage velocities were further studied. Through phenomena analysis and experimental data processing, it was concluded that, under the same pressure state, smaller particle diameter meant smaller permeability coefficient; with the increase of axial pressure, the permeability coefficient decreased; and the larger the water flow velocity was, the smaller the permeability coefficient became. For particle diameter Φ = 2.5–5 mm or larger, the tiny particles formed by randomly washing and breaking in the water flow blocked some of the channels. For particle diameters smaller than Φ = 2.5–5 mm, the smaller permeability coefficient was attributed to the turbulence resulting from non-Darcy flow. The study on the permeability of the fractured rock mass clarified the mechanism of water inrush from the fissure zone of the collapsed column: the collapsed column itself was impermeable, and the permeability of the fissure zone around the collapsed column was related to the lithological characteristics of the rock within the fissure zone and the sequencing of rock strata. When mining coal in areas with collapsed columns, experiments on collapsed columns and fissure zones are prerequisites. This study has a certain referential value for coal mining in this region.

It is important to study the mechanism of water inrush on a seam floor by exploring the rules of permeability variations during rock deformation on the seam floor and in the course of fracturing as well as their responses to characteristics of the macromechanical environment such as mine ground pressure, engineering geology, and fluid mechanics. First, through the analysis of bearing pressure changes in the process of exploiting the working face, a mechanical model for the seam floor above the confined water is established. Based on the graphic data-processing software Mathcad, the computational process and methods for assessing the vertical, horizontal, and shear stresses are provided together with the corresponding variation curve of the rock stratum 5 m below the floor, covering the entire process from a position 120 m away from the working face to a position 280 m behind it. Second, the permeability coefficients of different lithologies are measured in the laboratory. For rock stratum 5 m below the floor, the corresponding external loading path is set up according to its actual stress. The actual dynamic stress environment of the rocks is simulated, and their permeability characteristics are studied. In addition, based on data fitting, the permeability coefficient variations in the mining process are determined for a rock stratum 5 m below the floor. Finally, in accordance with the permeability variation law of the floor of the working face, the seam floor is divided into six areas, namely, the compression and expansion zone, the bed separation and expansion zone, the pressure relief zone, the compression zone, the stable recovery zone, and the stability zone. Thus, the water-resisting performance of the floor can be expressed more objectively.

Coal fires, including both underground and coal waste pile fires, result in large losses of coal resources and emit considerable amounts of greenhouse gases. To estimate the annual intensity of greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of coal resources, estimating the annual loss from fire-influenced coal seams is a feasible approach. This study assumes that the primary cause of coal volume loss is subsurface coal seam fires. The main calculation process is divided into three modules: (1) Coal fire quantity calculations, which use change detection to determine the areas of the different coal fire stages (increase/growth, maintenance/stability and decrease/shrinkage). During every change detections, the amount of coal influenced by fires for these three stages was calculated by multiplying the coal mining residual rate, combustion efficiency, average thickness and average coal intensity. (2) The life cycle estimate is based on remote sensing long-term coal fires monitoring. The life cycles for the three coal fire stages and the corresponding life cycle proportions were calculated; (3) The diurnal burnt rates for different coal fire stages were calculated using the CO2 emission rates from spontaneous combustion experiments, the coal fire life cycle, life cycle proportions. Then, using the fire-influenced quantity aggregated across the different stages, the diurnal burn rates for the different stages and the time spans between the multi-temporal image pairs used for change detection, we estimated the annual coal loss to be 44.3 × 103 tons. After correction using a CH4 emission factor, the CO2 equivalent emissions resulting from these fires was on the order of 92.7 × 103 tons. We also discovered that the centers of these coal fires migrated from deeper to shallower parts of the coal seams or traveled in the direction of the coal seam strike. This trend also agrees with the cause of the majority coal fires: spontaneous combustion of coalmine goafs.

This paper considers the Global Thermodynamic Potential (GTP) indicator to perform a unified assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and to systematically reveal the emission embodiment in the production, consumption, and international trade of the Chinese economy in 2007 as the most recent year available with input-output table and updated inventory data. The results show that the estimated total direct GHG emissions by the Chinese economy in 2007 amount to 10,657.5 Mt CO2-eq by the GTPs with 40.6% from CH4 emissions in magnitude of the same importance as CO2 emissions. The five sectors of Electric Power/Steam and Hot Water Production and Supply, Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals, Nonmetal Mineral Products, Agriculture, and Coal Mining and Dressing, are responsible for 83.3% of the total GHG emissions with different emission structures. The demands of coal and coal-electricity determine the structure of emission embodiment to an essential extent. The Construction sector holds the top GHG emissions embodied in both domestic production and domestic consumption. The GHG emission embodied in gross capital formation is more than those in other components of final demand characterized by extensive investment and limited household consumption. China is a net exporter of embodied GHG emissions, with a remarkable share of direct emission induced by international trade, such as textile products, industrial raw materials, and primary machinery and equipment products exports. The fractions of CH4 in the component of embodied GHG emissions in the final demand are much greater than those fractions calculated by the Global Warming Potentials, which highlight the importance of CH4 emissions for the case of China and indicate the essential effect of CH4 emissions on global climate change. To understand the full context to achieve GHG emission mitigation, this study provides a new insight to address China’s GHG emissions status and hidden emission information induced by the final demand to the related policy-makers.

Static correction is an essential step in seismic processing and it has an effect on the later steps of seismic processing, including velocity analysis, data stacking, and seismic inversion. During seismic data acquisition, a receiving point usually sets a geophone several times to receive the seismic data. The same geophone cannot be set at the same receiving point every time. If the geophones have different delay time, then the common receiving-point gather (CRG) will have multiple receiver statics. However, the receiver statics of a CRG are considered the same in conventional static correction. In this paper, based on common attitude gather (CAG), a novel static correction method is proposed to analyze the receiver statics of a CRG. Attitude indicates the tilt angles of the three components of a geophone. According to the different attitudes of geophones, CRG can be divided into multiple CAGs. When the difference technique is used to the novel method and the conventional method, the statics are analyzed with CAGs and CRGs, respectively. A field example demonstrates that the proposed method cannot only enhance the continuity of the event in the shot gather, but also smooth the gaps of the event in the CRG. The results suggest that the proposed method can eliminate the effect of differences in delay time of geophones on static correction.

Total organic carbon (TOC), a critical geochemical parameter of organic shale reservoirs, can be used to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of source rocks. However, getting TOC through core analysis of geochemical experiments is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, in this paper, a TOC prediction model was built by combining the data from a case study in the Ordos Basin, China and core analysis with artificial intelligence techniques. In the study, the data of samples were optimized based on annealing algorithm (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA), named SAGA-FCM method. Then, back propagation algorithm (BPNN), least square support vector machine (LSSVM), and least square support vector machine based on particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO-LSSVM) were built based on the data from optimization. The results show that the intelligence model constructed based on core samples data after optimization has much better performance in both training and validation accuracy than the model constructed based on original data. In addition, R2 and MRSE in PSO-LSSVM are 0.9451 and 1.1883, respectively, which proves that models established with optimal dataset of core samples have higher accuracy. This study shows that the quality of sample data affects the prediction of the intelligence model dramatically and the PSO-LSSVM model can present the relationship between well log data and TOC; thus, PSO-LSSVM is a powerful tool to estimate TOC.

The broken pattern of the overburden strata induced by mining has a non-ignorable effect on overlying strata movement, failure, and safety in mining production. To study the caving pattern of overlying strata and determine the calculation method of fracture pathway parameters due to roof caving induced by coal mining, the trapezoidal broken models were developed to explain and prevent water leakage, and even water inrush, during the mining process. By incorporating the variation of the volume expansion coefficient, a connection among the parameters of the fracture pathways and fracture angles, face width, and mining height could be established, which shows that the larger the degree of the fracture angle is, the smaller the value of the volume expansion coefficient and face width is with a relatively larger mining height. This relationship was also used to determine the eventual evolution configuration of the trapezoidal broken model. The presented approaches may help us to better understand the movement of overburden strata and provide an idea to help settle conflicts related to fracture space calculations induced by coal mining.

A miniaturized bandpass filter (BPF) using defected ground structure (DGS) resonator with the characteristic of harmonic rejection is developed in this paper. The second and third harmonics of the proposed BPF are rejected by the characteristic of stepped-impedance DGS resonator. Moreover, open stubs are established so that two adjustable transmission zeros can independently be created to extend the stopband and improve the rejection level. Finally, a second-order BPF, centered at 1.62 GHz with a stopband extended up to 5.6 GHz and a rejection level better than 20 dB, is designed and implemented for GPS application. A good agreement between simulation and measurement verifies the validity of this design methodology.

A miniaturized dual-mode bandpass filter (BPF) with elliptic function response using slot spurline is designed in this paper. The slot spurline can not only splits the degenerate modes but also determine the type of filter characteristic (Chebyshev or elliptic). To miniaturize the resonator, four sagittate stubs are proposed. For demonstration purpose, a BPF operating at 5.75 GHz for WLAN application was designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the full-wave simulation results.