Subsurface transport in water and gas

Current designs for nuclear-waste repositories rely primarily upon subsurface geologic barriers for long-term containment. Because water and air are generally considered to be the mechanisms most likely to transport radioactivity to the surface environment, flow and transport models are important tools in repository assessment. Most models assume that the geologic medium can be treated as a continuum. A substantial body of recent work has focused on applying these models to difficult-to-solve problems, such as the simulation of variably dense or variably saturated flow and transport, large and complex flow systems, sharp solute concentration fronts, and fractured rock systems. The complex chemical interactions between the transport fluid and solid particles within the system have been analyzed using geochemical flow models, most of which assume that the system is at chemical equilibrium. The role of colloids in contaminant transport is a relatively new area of research. The large-scale effects of small-scale variability within the geologic system have been the subject of intense investigation. Inherent limitations of the continuum approach have prompted the design of models in which the flow occurs in discrete fractures. The difficulty and complexity of simulating transport has led to the development of network transport models, which represent the flow field as a series of 1-D path segments. The widespread use of models for prediction and analysis has prompted investigations of their reliability and relative merits.     

Natural analogues

Natural analogues, which are occurrences of materials or processes which are analogous to expected materials or processes in a waste repository, are used to clarify the ability of the geologic environment and engineered system to contain the waste. It is hoped that natural analogues can provide data and insight on processes which generally occur on temporal or geometric scales which are too large to be studied in laboratory or field experiments. Natural analogues have been described for the study of transport and migration of radionuclides through the backfill and host rock, and the stability of backfill, shaft seals, waste forms, and waste containers. Natural analogues have also been suggested as an aid in predicting overall repository performance.     

Geochronology and sedimentology of the lower Passaic River,New Jersey

In an attempt to characterize localized rates of sediment accretion, 10 sediment cores were collected from the lower reach of the Passaic River, a major tributary of Newark Bay, New Jersey. Sediments were assayed for ²¹⁰Pb activity at predetermined depths and the rate of sediment accretion (cm yr^?1) was estimated from the least squares regression of the log of unsupported activity versus depth. Sediment accretion rates, derived from ²¹⁰Pb measurements (R_Pb) were used to predict the depth interval within the core containing sediments deposited around 1954; subsequent ¹³⁷Cs analyses were focused on this depth interval. Sediment accretion rates derived from ¹³⁷Cs measurements (R_Cs) were extrapolated from the depth of the 1954 horizon. Lead-210 derived sediment accretion rates in cores collected from a sediment bench extending along the inside bend on the southern shore of a meander in the river, ranged from 4.1 cm yr^?1 to 10.2 cm yr^?1 and averaged 6.8 cm yr^?1. The R_Cs estimates for cores from this area ranged from 3.8 cm yr^?1 to 8.9 cm yr^?1 and averaged 6.6 cm yr^?1. The R_Cs for cores collected in a more hydrologically dynamic reach of the river upstream of the sediment bench, were only 0.41 cm yr^?1 and 0.66 cm yr^?1. The results of this investigation indicate that this reach of the lower Passaic River is an area of high sediment accumulation, retaining much of the sediment load deposited from upstream and downstream sources. The rates of sediment accretion in the lower Passaic River are among the highest reported anywhere in the Newark Bay estuary.     

A new interpretation of measured ionic diffusion coefficient in compacted bentonite-based materials

Previous model based on free-water properties to interpret the measured diffusion coefficient in compacted bentonite-based materials is demonstrated to be inadequate. A model considering ionic diffusion in clay surface (bound) and interstitial (free) water is presented to interpret the measured diffusion coefficients and to explain the possible reasons for the discrepancies in the data. The measured diffusion coefficient is determined by the predominant diffusion pathway, which depends on the charge of diffusing species, soil fabric, diffusion time and by the starting concentration condition of the method used.     

Erosion rates in the southern oregon coast range: Evidence for an equilibrium between hillslope erosion and sediment yield

The relationship of hillslope erosion rates and sediment yield is often poorly defined because of short periods of measurement and inherent spatial and temporal variability in erosion processes. In landscapes containing hillslopes crenulated by alternating topographic noses and hollows, estimates of local hillslope erosion rates averaged over long time periods can be obtained by analysing colluvial deposits in the hollows. Hollows act as local traps for a portion of the colluvium transported down hillslopes, and erosion rates can be calculated using the age and size of the deposits and the size of the contributing source area. Analysis of colluvial deposits in nine Oregon Coast Range hollows has yielded average colluvial transport rates into the hollows of about 35cm³cm^?1yr^?1 and average bedrock lowering rates of about 0.07 mm yr^?1 for the last 4000 to 15000 yr. These rates are consistent with maximum bedrock exfoliation rates of about 0.09 mm yr^?1 calculated from six of the hollows, supporting the interpretation that exfoliation rates limit erosion rates on these slopes. Sediment yield measurements from nine Coast Range streams provide similar basin-wide denudation rates of between 0.05 and 0.08mm yr^?1, suggesting an approximate steady-state between sediment production on hillslopes and sediment yield. In addition, modern sediment yields are similar in basins varying in size from 1 to 1500 km², suggesting that erosion rates are spatially uniform and providing additional evidence for an approximate equilibrium in the landscape.     

Planktonic dimethylsulfide and cloud albedo: An estimate of the feedback response

Partial control of climate by the biosphere may be possible through a chain of processes that ultimately links marine plankton production of dimethylsulfide (DMS) with changes in cloud albedo (Charlson et al., 1987). Changes in cloud optical properties can have profound impacts on atmospheric radiation transfer and, hence, the surface environment. In this study, we have developed a simple model that incorporates empirically based parameterizations to account for the biological control of cloud droplet concentration in a first attempt to estimate the strength of the DMS-cloud albedo feedback mechanism. We find that the feedback reduces the global climatic response to imposed perturbations in solar insolation by less than 7%. Likewise, it modifies the strength of other feedbacks affecting surface insolation over oceans by roughly the same amount. This suggests that the DMS-cloud albedo mechanism will be unable to substantially reduce climate sensitivity, although these results should be confirmed with less idealized models when more is known about the net production of DMS by the marine biosphere and its relation to aerosol/cloud microphysics and climate.     

Seafloor hydrothermal activity and spreading rates: the eocene carbon dioxide greenhouse revisited

A suggestion has been made that enhanced rates of hydrothermal activity during the Eocene could have caused a global warming by adding calcium to the ocean and pumping CO₂ into the atmosphere (Owen and Rea, 1984). This phenomenon was purported to be consistent with the predictions of the CO₂ geochemical cycle model of Berner, Lasaga and Garrels (1983) (henceforth BLAG). In fact, however, the BLAG model predicts only a weak connection between hydrothermal activity and atmospheric CO₂ levels. By contrast, it predicts a strong correlation between seafloor spreading rates and pCO₂, since the release rate of CO₂ from carbonate metamorphism is assumed to be proportional to the mean spreading rate. The Eocene warming can be conveniently explained if the BLAG model is extended by assuming that the rate of carbonate metamorphism is also proportional to the total length of the midocean ridges from which the spreading originates.     

Fluid ascent through the solid lithosphere and its relation to earthquakes

The Earth is continuously expelling gases and liquids from great depths—juvenile volatiles from the mantle and recycled metamorphic products. Some of these fluids ascend through liquid rock in volcanic processes, but others utilize fractures and faults as conduits through the solid lithosphere. The latter process may have a major influence on earthquakes, since fluids at near lithostatic pressures appear to be required to activate deep faults that would otherwise remain locked.Fluids can be driven upward through solid rock by buoyancy, but only if present in sufficient concentration to form large-scale domains occupying interconnected fracture porosity. A growing fluid domain becomes so mobilized only when it attains the critical vertical dimension required for hydrostatic instability. This dimension, depending on the ultimate compressive yield strength of the rock, may be as much as several kilometers.Any column of fluid ascending through fractures in the solid lithosphere from a prolific deep source must become organized into a vertical sequence of discrete domains, separated by fluid-pressure discontinuities. This is required because a continuous hydrostatic-fluid-pressure profile extending from an arbitrarily deep source to the surface cannot be permitted by the finite strength of rock. A vertically stacked sequence of domains allows the internal fluid-pressure profile to approximate the external rock-stress profile in a stepwise fashion. The pressure discontinuity below the base of the uppermost hydrostatic domain may be responsible for some occurrences of so-called anomalous geopressures. An ascending stream of fluid that percolates upward from a deep source through a column of domains must encounter a sequence of abrupt pressure decreases at the transitions between successive domains. If supercritical gases act as solvents, the dissolved substances may drop out of solution at such pressure discontinuities, resulting in a local concentration of minerals and other substances.At great depths, brittle fracture would normally be prevented by high pressure and temperature, with all excessive stress discharged by ductile flow. Rock strata invaded by an ascending fluid domain are weakened, however, because cracks generated or reactivated by the high-pressure fluid can support the overburden, greatly reducing internal friction. This reduction of strength may cause a previously stressed rock to fail, resulting in hydraulic shear fracture. Thus, earthquakes may be triggered by the buoyant migration of deep-source fluids.The actual timing of the failure that leads to such an earthquake may be determined by the relatively rapid inflation of a fluid domain and not by any significant increase in the probably much slower rate of regional tectonic strain. Many earthquake precursory phenomena may be secondary symptoms of an increase in pore-fluid pressure, and certain coseismic phenomena may result from the venting of high-pressure fluids when faults break the surface. Instabilities in the migration of such fluid domains may also contribute to or cause the eruption of mud volcanoes, magma volcanoes, and kimberlite pipes.