Search Results (3)

This paper is predominantly intended to explore the distribution rule of the sand body of the Zhuhai Formation on the north slope of the Baiyun Sag. The Zhuhai Formation was deposited during a rifting phase. Influenced by tectonic movements, the investigated area developed a set of contemporaneous normal faults extending in the near W-E direction. The formation of faults alters the palaeomorphology, exerting a certain influence on the distribution of sedimentary sand deposits. To clarify the correlation between faults and sand bodies will be advantageous for an even distribution of sand bodies in the Zhuhai Formation. This paper systematically integrates the results of previous research findings, drillcore logging and analysis, and 3D seismic data. The seismic sedimentology method is adopted to identify three types of fracture systems and four types of associations between the sand body distribution and faults in the investigated area. In line with the difference of the fault inclination and spatial relationship, faults can be divided into three types, namely, the graben-type, transition zone, and syntropy-type. Graben-type fault combinations exhibit the opposite dip. Syntropy-type fault combinations display the same dip. Transition zone faults intersect at a tiny angle. It is noteworthy that the existence of a fault will exert a certain influence on the sediment transport direction and distribution pattern. On the basis of the fault group classification, four associations between the sand body distribution and graben-type, transport-type, syntropy-ladder-type, and syntropy-lifting-type faults are identified by considering taking into account these base shape factors. The syntropy-ladder type is conducive to the extension of the sediment along the source direction. Both graben-type and syntropy-lifting-type faults can accumulate sediments. The transport type changes the direction of the sediment supply. Full article

In Southwest Germany, the renaturation of quarry areas close to settlements is usually based on the planting of native species of trees and shrubs, which are then neither cultivated nor used. This study investigates whether a species-rich agroforestry system based on Ernst Goetsch’s syntropic agriculture approach would be suitable for both renaturation in the form of soil fertility improvement and diverse food crop production under temperate climate. The quarry syntropy project was launched in summer 2019. Two shallow stony sections of a spoil heap of the quarry in Ehningen, Southwest Germany were available for demonstration plots. An interdisciplinary project team was set up both to obtain the official permits from five governmental institutions and to begin the study. The demonstration plots were each divided into three broad strips, which differ in three vegetation types: trees, shrubs, and annual food crops. The tree and shrub areas are mainly used for biomass production for a continuous mulch supply on the entire cultivated area in order to rapidly increase soil fertility. The food crops and also partly the trees and shrubs were intended to provide organically produced food (vegetables, fruit, berries and herbs). Most of the trees (eleven species) were planted in November 2019. In March 2020, soil samples were taken (0–30 cm), and a solar-powered water storage system was installed. Currently, the shrub and annual food crop strips are under preparation (pre-renaturation phase). In this initial phase, the priority is fertility improvement of the topsoil through intensive mulching of the existing grassland stock dominated by top grasses and the legumes hybrid alfalfa (Medicago × varia Martyn) and common bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.). The food crop strip should then start in 2021 after one year of mulching. Depending on the success of growth, the tree strips should then also gain in importance for mulch application in the following years. The strategy is to gradually build up food crop cultivation under organic low-input agricultural practices while simultaneously enhancing the biophysical growth conditions guided by natural succession. Full article

A new approach is presented to defining the amount of information, in which information is understood as the data about a finite set as a whole, whereas the average length of an integrative code of elements serves as a measure of information. In the framework of this approach, the formula for the syntropy of a reflection was obtained for the first time, that is, the information which two intersecting finite sets reflect (reproduce) about each other. Features of a reflection of discrete systems through a set of their parts are considered and it is shown that reproducible information about the system (the additive syntropy of reflection) and non-reproducible information (the entropy of reflection) are, respectively, measures of the structural order and the chaos. At that, the general classification of discrete systems is given by the ratio of the order and the chaos. Three information laws have been established: The law of conservation of the sum of chaos and order; the information law of reflection; and the law of conservation and transformation of information. An assessment of the structural organization and the level of development of discrete systems is presented. It is shown that various measures of information are structural characteristics of integrative codes of elements of discrete systems. A conclusion is made that, from the information-genetic positions, the synergetic approach to the definition of the quantity of information is primary in relation to the approaches of Hartley and Shannon. Full article