Riparian perspectives of international cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin

No Abstract.  .     

A three-dimensional approach to fault seal analysis: fault-block juxtaposition & argillaceous smear modelling

Three‐dimensional (3D) numerical modelling of fault displacement enables the building of geological models to represent the complex 3D geometry and geological properties of faulted sedimentary basins. Using these models, cross‐fault juxtaposition relationships are predicted in 3D space and through time, based on the geometries of strata that are cut by faults. Forward modelling of fault development allows a 3D prediction of fault‐zone argillaceous smear using a 3D application of the Shale Gouge Ratio. Numerical models of the Artemis Field, Southern North Sea, UK and the Moab Fault, Utah, USA are used to demonstrate the developed techniques and compare them to traditional one‐ and two‐dimensional solutions. These examples demonstrate that a 3D analysis leads to significant improvements in the prediction of fault seal, the analysis of the interaction of the sealing properties of multiple faults, and the interpretation of fault seal within the context of sedimentary basin geometry.     

Sediment concentration changes in runoff pathways from a forest road network and the resultant spatial pattern of catchment connectivity

Hydrological connectivity is a term often used to describe the internal linkages between runoff and sediment generation in upper parts of catchments and the receiving waters. In this paper, we identify two types of connectivity: direct connectivity via new channels or gullies, and diffuse connectivity as surface runoff reaches the stream network via overland flow pathways. Using a forest road network as an example of a landscape element with a high runoff source strength, we demonstrate the spatial distribution of these two types of linkages in a 57 km² catchment in southeastern Australia. Field surveys and empirical modelling indicate that direct connectivity occurs primarily due to gully development at road culverts, where the average sediment transport distance is 89 m below the road outlet. The majority of road outlets were characterised by dispersive flow pathways where the maximum potential sediment transport distance is measured as the available hillslope length below the road outlet. This length has a mean value of 120 m for this catchment. Reductions in sediment concentration in runoff plumes from both pathways are modelled using an exponential decay function and data derived from large rainfall simulator experiments in the catchment. The concept of the volume to breakthrough is used to model the potential delivery of runoff from dispersive pathways. Of the surveyed road drains (n=218), only 11 are predicted to deliver runoff to a stream and the greatest contributor of runoff occurs at a stream crossing where a road segment discharges directly into the stream. The methodology described here can be used to assess the spatial distribution and likely impact of dispersive and gullied pathways on in-stream water quality.     

The dynamics of chironomid assemblages and vegetation during the Late Quaternary at Laguna Facil, Chonos Archipelago, southern Chile

We compare high-resolution pollen and chironomid records from the last 15,000 yr in Laguna Facil, southern Chile. Major vegetation and chironomid changes are recorded between ca 14,900 and 14,700 cal. yr BP. During the Lateglacial, changes in the chironomid stratigraphy lag behind changes in the pollen stratigraphy suggesting that the chironomids are responding to changes in the tree canopy or in soil chemistry brought about by vegetational development. At about 7200 cal. yr BP there is a change in the chironomid stratigraphy in advance of changes in the vegetation. This suggests that the response is to regional climatic change. The relatively close correlation of the chironomid and pollen stratigraphies with changes in charcoal concentrations also implicates the importance of fire and/or vulcanism in influencing the dynamics of forest and limnological systems. There is no clear evidence of cooling during the Younger Dryas chronozone in Laguna Facil.     

Detecting trends in seagrass abundance using aerial photograph interpretation: Problems arising with the evolution of mapping methods

In the late 1970s and early 1980s an inventory of seagrass distribution in southeast Australia was made from multiscale aerial photographs using a simple analog mapping method, referred to here as theCamera lucida technique. Four priority estuaries were remapped in 2003, also using multi-scale aerial photographs, but using a geographic information system (GIS)-based analog mapping technique. We quantified the degree of error that arose when estimates of seagrass distribution were compared for the two techniques be ressessing. with GIS, the same aerial photographs used earlier for four estuaries: Port Hacking, Bermagui River, Merimbula Lake, and St Georges Basin.Camera lucida produced a larger estimate of total seagrass area than GIS in all four locations: 8% of total seagrass area or 12.9 ha in Port Hacking, 15% or 5 ha in Bermagui River, 20% or 38.0 ha in Merimbula Lake, and 243% or 502.2 ha in St Georges Basin. The consistent and moderate discrepancy in Port Hacking, Bermagui River, and Merimbula Lake was attributed mainly to differences betweenCamera lucida and GIS, such as the tendency ofCamera lucida to overestimate seagrass area by amalgamating disjunct seagrass patches into continuous meadows. The large discrepancy at St Georges Basin was attributed to interoperator error; i.e., the operators who mapped photographs taken in 1979 had widely differing interpretations of the aerial photographs. A 20-yr trend was calculated for each estuary using either theCamera lucida or revised GIS value as the start point. Perceived management status of the seagrass depended greatly on the initial data used. In St Georges Basin, a catastrophic decline (65%, 553.9 ha) occurred based on theCamera lucida-GIS comparison but only a small decline (14.7%, 51.8 ha) when all photos were GIS assessed, In view of the technical developments in habitat mapping, evaluation of change in seagrass abundance using remote sensing needs an assessment of intra-operator error, inter-operator error, and systemic error before maps produced by superseded technology are considered useful baselines.     

The isotopic effects of electron transfer: An explanation for Fe isotope fractionation in nature

Isotope fractionation of electroplated Fe was measured as a function of applied electrochemical potential. As plating voltage was varied from −0.9 V to 2.0 V, the isotopic signature of the electroplated iron became depleted in heavy Fe, with δ⁵⁶Fe values (relative to IRMM-14) ranging from −0.18(±0.02) to −2.290(±0.006) ‰, and corresponding δ⁵⁷Fe values of −0.247(±0.014) and −3.354(±0.019) ‰. This study demonstrates that there is a voltage-dependent isotope fractionation associated with the reduction of iron. We show that Marcus’s theory for the kinetics of electron transfer can be extended to include the isotope effects of electron transfer, and that the extended theory accounts for the voltage dependence of Fe isotope fractionation. The magnitude of the electrochemically-induced fractionation is similar to that of Fe reduction by certain bacteria, suggesting that similar electrochemical processes may be responsible for biogeochemical Fe isotope effects. Charge transfer is a fundamental physicochemical process involving Fe as well as other transition metals with multiple isotopes. Partitioning of isotopes among elements with varying redox states holds promise as a tool in a wide range of the Earth and environmental sciences, biology, and industry.     

Gold partitioning in melt-vapor-brine systems

We used laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure the solubility of gold in synthetic sulfur-free vapor and brine fluid inclusions in a vapor + brine + haplogranite + magnetite + gold metal assemblage. Experiments were conducted at 800°C, oxygen fugacity buffered at Ni-NiO (NNO), and pressures ranging from 110 to 145 MPa. The wt% NaCl eq. of vapor increases from 2.3 to 19 and that of brine decreases from 57 to 35 with increasing pressure. The composition of the vapors and brines are dominated by NaCl + KCl + FeCl₂ + H₂O. Gold concentrations in vapor and brine decrease from 36 to 5 and 50 to 28 μg/g, respectively, and the calculated vapor:brine partition coefficients for gold decrease from 0.72 to 0.17 as pressure decreases from 145 to 110 MPa. These data are consistent with the thermodynamic boundary condition that the concentration of gold in the vapor and brine must approach a common value as the critical pressure is approached along the 800°C isotherm in the NaCl-KCl-FeCl₂-HCl-H₂O system.We use the equilibrium constant for gold dissolution as AuOH⁰, extrapolated from lower temperature and overlapping pressure range, to calculate expected concentrations of AuOH⁰ in our experimental vapors. These calculations suggest that a significant quantity of gold in our experimental vapors is present as a non-hydroxide species. Possible chloridogold(I) species are hypothesized based on the positively correlated gold and chloride concentrations in our experimental vapors. The absolute concentration of gold in our synthetic vapor, brine, and melt and calculated mass partition coefficients for gold between these physicochemically distinct magmatic phases suggests that gold solubility in aqueous fluids is a function of aqueous phase salinity, specifically total chloride concentration, at magmatic conditions. However, though we highlight here the effect of salinity, the combination of our data with data sets from lower temperatures evinces a significant decrease in gold solubility as temperature drops from 800°C to 600°C. This decrease in solubility has implications for gold deposition from ascending magmatic fluids.     

The spectacular fossils of the ‘water margin’: the Cambrian biota of Chengjiang,Yunnan, China

Shi Nai'an's fourteenth century Chinese epic ‘Water Margin’ tells of the release of 36 heavenly spirits and 72 baleful stars from their captivity beneath a tablet of stone at Mount Longhu in Jiangxi Province. They are reincarnated as the 108 heroes of the Liangshan marsh in Shandong Province, who rise against an unjust world. The virtuous exploits of the ‘108’ were brought to life through the cathode‐ray screens of 1970s television sets, as the TV series The Water Margin introduced heroes like Lin Chong battling his evil nemesis Gao Qiu. Far to the west of Jiangxi Province and several hundred years after the Water Margin during the summer of 1984, a young scientist from Nanjing was working amongst the hills and lakes of southern Yunnan Province. He too overturned a stone slab, releasing from their half‐billion year captivity a cornucopia of new Chinese legends. His name was Xianguang Hou and he had made one of the most momentous fossil discoveries in history, uncovering the exceptionally preserved marine fossils of the Chengjiang biota from the ancient water margin of Cambrian seas.     

The influence of coupled physical swelling and chemical reactions on deformable geomaterials

Coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechanical‐chemical modelling has attracted attention in past decades due to many contemporary geotechnical engineering applications (e.g., waste disposal, carbon capture and storage). However, molecular‐scale interactions within geomaterials (e.g., swelling and dissolution/precipitation) have a significant influence on the mechanical behaviour, yet are rarely incorporated into existing Thermal‐Hydro‐Mechanical‐Chemical (THMC) frameworks. This paper presents a new coupled hydro‐mechanical‐chemical constitutive model to bridge molecular‐scale interactions with macro‐physical deformation by combining the swelling and dissolution/precipitation through an extension of the new mixture‐coupling theory. Entropy analysis of the geomaterial system provides dissipation energy, and Helmholtz free energy gives the relationship between solids and fluids. Numerical simulation is used to compare with the selected recognized models, which demonstrates that the swelling and dissolution/precipitation processes may have a significant influence on the mechanical deformation of the geomaterials.