Prevention of Catastrophic Volcanic Eruptions

Giant volcanic eruptions emit sulphate aerosols as well as volcanic ash. Needless to say that volcanic ash causes significant damage to the environment and human at large. However, the aerosols are even worse. They reach the Stratosphere and stay there for months to years reflecting insolation. As a result, air temperature at the Earth's surfaces drops. Even a slight temperature drop may cause severe food shortage. Yellowstone supervolcano, for example, can even make human in the Northern Hemisphere extinct in several hundred thousand years. Therefore, gradual energy release by supercritical geothermal power generation was proposed to prevent such catastrophic eruptions. The necessary technical innovation is drilling into the depth. However, after the innovation, the power generation itself would be profitable. The risk is unpredicted induction of unwanted catastrophic eruptions.ISERME 2017:International Symposium on Earth Resources Management & Environment. 29-30 August 2017, Colombo, Sri Lank

Prevention of catastrophic volcanic eruptions

Giant volcanic eruptions emit sulphate aerosols as well as volcanic ash. Needless to say that volcanic ash causes significant damage to the environment and human at large. However, the aerosols are even worse. They reach the Stratosphere and stay there for months to years reflecting insolation. As a result, air temperature at the Earth's surfaces drops. Even a slight temperature drop may cause severe food shortage. Yellowstone supervolcano, for example, can even make human in the Northern Hemisphere extinct in several hundred thousand years. Therefore, gradual energy release by supercritical geothermal power generation was proposed to prevent such catastrophic eruptions. The necessary technical innovation is drilling into the depth. However, after the innovation, the power generation itself would be profitable. The risk is unpredicted induction of unwanted catastrophic eruptions

Elemental and mineralogical analysis of beachrocks in Southern coastal region Sri Lanka

Beachrock is coastal sediment that has been cemented primarily by calcium carbonate within the intertidal zone in tropical and subtropical regions. Considering that beachrock has the potential to inhibit coastal erosion, we performed laboratory tests to understand the formation mechanism of beachrocks in southern coastal regions of Sri Lanka. The mineralogical composition of beachrock samples were identified by FT-IR spectroscopic technique. The constituents of minerals present in the beachrocks were further confirmed by XRD analysis. Elemental concentrations of beachrock samples have been examined using WD-XRF spectrometry. The formative environment (sea water) was analyzed using EDTA titration, AAS, UV/Vis spectroscopy and Iron Chromatography. The results reveal the presence of minerals aragonite, calcite, orthoclase, quartz, albite, kaolinite and lime in the beachrocks. According to the results, there is a high probability to precipitate CaCO3 from the sea water in southern coastal regions indicating a positive formative environment for beachrocks. Hence, by appropriate regulation of the conditions could foster the development of manmade beachrocks to control the coastal erosion

Prospecting geothermal energy from hot water springs at Padiyathalawa

Being a country with an increasing population, the demand for power is increasing in Sri Lanka. As a result, there will be a power shortage in the country, near future unless alternative power sources will be introduced immediately. Geothermal energy has a tremendous potential in Sri Lanka. However this energy source is not yet fully investigated for its vast range of applications including power generation. Present research is mainly focused on assessing the feasibility of Padiyathalawa hot springs to produce geothermal energy. Geophysical and geochemical explorations were carried out along the prospective area to locate the fracture pattern and the sources of hot springs. Results show that all hot water springs in Padiyathalawa area are originated at a single source with a high fracture density and this zone is suitable for further investigations. In addition, two locations have been identified with out flow temperature of 44 °C that can be used as source area to produced energy combining with another power producing technology. Prospectin

Optimization of the distance between twin tunnels by stress analysis

In this research, the stress characterization around twin-tunnels passing through a hard rock mass mostly consisting of Charnockitic Gneiss, Biotite Gneiss and Garnet Granulitic Gneiss in Kaluganga Development Project was analyzed by Boundary Element Method numerical solutions. The distribution and magnitude of major and minor principal stress contours, mean stress, differential stress, total displacement, maximum shear strain, and strength factor contours around the tunnels were simulated using the “Examine 2D” software. Examine 2D is a plane strain boundary element programme for calculation of stresses and displacements around underground and surface excavations in rock. Modeling results show that the countour values of the strength factor around the tunnel is greater than 1 when the distance between tunnels is 4.2 m which is the actual designed distance between the twin tunnels. When the distance is less than 4.2 m, model results shows that the strength factor reaches 1 in 1.88 m, and the excavation becomes unstable