Planning and design considerations in karst terrain

This article discusses the various steps that the authors feel are necessary to the successful progression of an engineered project sited in karst terrain. The procedures require a multidisciplined approach with liaison and cooperation among the various parties to the project. Initially, the prospective owner must have sufficient understanding of the potential engineering problems to incorporate the engineering geologist into the early stages of any planned acquisition. The first step in an investigation should include a review of the available geologic information, aerial photo interpretation, consultation with the State Geological Survey, and a geologic reconnaissance of the prospective site and surrounding area. A go-no-go decision as to purchase can often been made at an early time. Although, in some instances, more study is needed for a particularly intriguing property. The second stage should consider the various planning alternatives that are feasible based upon the limited available information. At this stage planning/purchase decisions can be made as to purchasing options, value of the property, design constraints, and the possible economic penalties that could be associated with the potential site construction. Various planning and construction alternatives should be considered in this phase of the work. The third stage should include a site investigation program of moderate size, consisting of test pits and/or exploratory borings. The borings should be drilled using water as the drilling fluid, with an experienced crew and qualified technical inspection. The authors find the use of geophysical techniques can be extremely misleading unless used in conjunction with exploratory drilling. Successful evaluations using geophysical procedures occur only under ideal conditions. The geotechnical viability of the plan and preliminary design should be investigated in the fourth phase. Additionally, the physical parameters required for the design of structures founded atop cavities can be obtained at this time. Several support schemes which incorporate cavity roof thickness, rock strength, and cavity space are discussed. Possible construction procedures include excavation and dental concrete, grouting, piers or piles to sound rock, or moving to another area. The relative economies of these procedures are discussed in relation to the size and depth of the soil or rock cavity, possible future cavity formation, magnitude of loading and acceptable safety factors.     

Geochemistry of tertiary alkaline rocks of the Eastern Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province,Texas

The Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province (TPMP) is an alkalic field that was active between 48-17 Ma. Rocks of two subprovinces in the eastern alkalic belt of the TPMP, the Big Bend region and the Davis Mountains, have been analyzed for major and trace element concentrations in order to determine what magmatic processes operated to influence the compositional evolution of the magmas, and to explore what relationship existed between the silica-oversaturated evolved rocks and the silica-undersaturated mafic rocks. Similar compositional trends exist in both subprovinces, implying that the evolved rocks are genetically related to the mafic rocks, and that the differentiation processes were broadly reproducible spatially and temporally.Four stages of evolution have been identified: Stage I, alkali basalt to trachyte; stage II, trachyte to quartz trachyte; stage III, quartz trachyte to rhyolite/comendite; and stage IV, rhyolite/comendite to high-silica rhyolite/comendite. These stages were identified by discontinuities in trends on variation diagrams; within stages I and II, more than one subtrend exist.Stage I can best be modeled as the result of simple crystal fractionation with minor magma replenishment. Two subtrends within this stage indicate that variations in the processes or their rates may have occurred. Stage II exhibits both closed- and open-system behavior. The open system behavior consists of combined fractionation-assimilation and episodic mixing of stage II and stage I magmas. Stages III and IV evolved under open system processes of combined fractionation-assimilation, with the assimilant having compositional characteristics of a shale-dominated sedimentary assemblage.The four stages and subtrends within the stages occur in both subprovinces. Further, some subtrends comprise rocks that differ in age by as much as 10 m.y. In each subprovince, the stratigraphy indicates a random interlaying of rocks of the different stages, generally erupted from more than one center. That contemporaneous magmas of different stages existed in a given subprovince is indicated by the interfingering of their erupted products. These constraints argue against a single magma production-evolution scheme. Rather, the data suggest that magmas of the different stages were produced more than once during the evolution of the eastern TPMP, and that during any given time, production and evolution of magma of all stages were occurring.     

Composition and reactivity of some river sediments from the Mackenzie Valley,N.W.T., Canada

Sediments from the Mackenzie Valley — two suspended and one river bottom — were analyzed for major and minor elements, mineralogy, particle size, and ability to release trace metals when subjected to mild leaching. Copper and zinc in suspended sediments and cadmium in bottom sediment occurred largely (70 to 84 percent for Cu, 72 to 98 percent for Zn, 75 to 81 percent for Cd) in a form that could not easily be separated from the sediments by 0.1M HC1 and EDTA solutions. Cadmium was present in suspended sediments in low concentrations, and was present totally in sorbed leachable form. Iron, manganese, cobalt and chromium were separable from the particulate phase by mild leaching. It was found that approximately 70 hours were required for an apparent steady state concentration to be attained in such leachings. Reaction of these sediments with Beaufort Sea water (salinity 22.3 parts per thousand) indicated that both iron and manganese were released from sediments to sea water to a very small degree. Copper, lead, and zinc, however, were absorbed by sediments from sea water.     

Apollo 17 KREEPy basalt: A rock type intermediate between mare and KREEP basalts

The Apollo 17 KREEPy basalt is a unique lunar volcanic rock, observed only as clasts in the light friable breccia matrix (72275) of Boulder 1, Station 2 at Taurus-Littrow. Its status as a volcanic rock is confirmed by the absence of any meteoritic contamination, a lack of cognate inclusions or xenocrystal material, and low Ni contents in metal grains.The basalt was extruded 4.01 ± 0.04 b.y. ago, approximately contemporaneously with the high-alumina mare basalts at Fra Mauro; shortly afterwards it was disrupted, probably by the Serenitatis impact, and its fragments emplaced in the South Massif. The basalt, which is quartz-normative and aluminous, is chemically and mineralogically intermediate between the Apollo 15 KREEP basalts and the high-alumina mare basalts in most respects. It consists mainly of plagioclase and pigeonitic pyroxene in approximately equal amounts, and 10–30% of mesostatis. Minor phases outside of the mesostatis are chromite, a silica mineral, Fe-metal, and rare olivine; the mesostatis consists primarily of ilmenite, Fe-metal, troilite, and ferroaugite, set in a glassy or microcrystalline Si-rich base.Chemical and isotopic data indicate that an origin by partial melting of a distinct source region is more probable than hybridization or contamination of magmas, and is responsible for the transitional composition of the basalt. The moon did not produce two completely distinct volcanic groups, the KREEP basalts and the mare/mare-like basalts; some intermediate rock types were generated as well. A corresponding spectrum of source regions must exist in the interior of the moon.     

The petrology of basalts from Surtla (Surtsey), Iceland

Surtla is the site of a short-lived submarine vent which built basaltic elastic deposits almost to sea level, in 1963, early in the eruption of Surtsey. Since then wave and current activity have eroded the volcanic pile such that in July 1981 its top was a fairly level plateau 45 m below sea level, and its surface comprised a lag deposit of sparse blocks of lava in a bed mainly of glass granules. This winnowed layer was underlain by a nonreworked, poorly sorted and finer deposit of glassy clasts formed by a combination of disruption by magmatic volatiles, steam explosions and quench brecciation. During the eruption, the explosion violence and associated comminution increased as the pile built up to shallower water depths. It is argued that at times of continuous effusion a cupola of steam was situated over the vent, as indicated by scoriaceous spatter which shows agglutination and “bread-crust” features that can only have developed in conditions more akin to subaerial than hitherto envisaged in a subaqueous eruption.     

Geomagnetic reversal frequency since the Late Cretaceous

Models of geomagnetic reversals as a stochastic or gamma renewal process have generally been tested for the Heirtzler et al. [1] magnetic polarity time scale which has subsequently been superseded. Examination of newer time scales shows that the mean reversal frequency is dominated in the Cenozoic and Late Cretaceous by a linearly increasing trend on which a rhythmic fluctuation is superposed. Subdivision into two periods of stationary behavior is no longer warranted. The distribution of polarity intervals is visibly not Poissonian but lacks short intervals. The LaBrecque et al. [2] polarity time scale shows the positions of 57 small-wavelength marine magnetic anomalies which may represent short polarity chrons. After adding these short events the distribution of all polarity intervals in the age range 0–40 Myr is stationary and does not differ significantly from a Poisson distribution. A strong asymmetry develops in which normal polarity chrons are Poisson distributed but reversed polarity chrons are gamma distributed with indexk = 2. This asymmetry is of opposite sense to previous suggestions and results from the unequal distribution of the short polarity chrons which are predominantly of positive polarity and concentrated in the Late Cenozoic. If short-wavelength anomalies arise from polarity chrons, the geomagnetic field may be more stable in one polarity than the other. Alternative explanations of the origin of short-wavelength marine magnetic anomalies cast doubt on the inclusion of them as polarity chrons, however. The observed behavior of reversal frequency suggests that core processes governing geomagnetic reversals possess a long-term memory.     

The relative mobility of natural (Th,Pb and Po) and fallout (Pu,Am, Cs) radionuclides in the coastal marine environment: results from model ecosystems (MERL) and Narragansett Bay

The relative mobility of nuclides of Pb, Th, Pu, and Cs, which are widely used as geochemical tracers for sedimentation and bioturbation. was investigated in artificial microcosm tanks (MERL) and in Narragansett Bay. Their mobility was characterized by their removal rates from the water column, their affinity toward particles and their degree of penetration into the surface sediments. Pb, Th, and Pu transport was controlled predominantly by the affinity of these elements to particles, and the transport parameters of the particles themselves (i.e. sediment resuspension and mixing rates). Because of its low distribution coefficient, transport of Cs was controlled by molecular diffusion through pore water in the winter, while in summer, Cs transport was enhanced due to bioturbation. The increase with depth of the $\text{Cs}\text{Pu}$ ratio in core profiles of MERL and Narragansett Bay sediments is thus caused primarily by the higher mobility of Cs.     

The growth of large cities in India 1961–1971

The general characteristics and the growth 1961–1971 of class 1 cities (those with more than 100,000 population in 1971) in India are examined. An unexpected correlation shows that the larger cities are more specialized, and growing faster. A factor analysis reduces the original variables to apparently significant factors, but these fail to classify the individual cities convincingly. An alternative simple classification of cities in terms of growth rates and degree of specialization shows strong regional components, dividing India into an emerging system of dynamic interdependent cities, and areas of stagnation and lack of specialization. The only counter to this pattern appears to be cities which are the subject of heavy government investment. Some speculative thoughts are offered on the effects of such investment in backward regions.