Anthropogenic relief changes in a long-lasting lignite mining area (‘Ville’, Germany) derived from historic maps and digital elevation models

Humans constitute one of the main geomorphological agents in modern times. As an example, post-mining regions represent a typical landscape of the Anthropocene. Strong relief modifications are particularly obvious with open pit mining. However, many existing mining areas are lacking detailed pre-mining information for the quantification of anthropogenic relief changes, which is a considerable challenge in regions with historic mining activities. Here, the Ville (Rhenish lignite district, Germany) is used to quantify surface mining induced relief changes in one of the oldest and currently largest lignite districts in Europe. Historical maps from first geodetic mapping in 1893 enabled construction of a historic digital elevation model to quantify the relief changes in comparison to elevation data from 2000 and 2015. The vertical accuracy of the historic data is remarkably high, with relief differences < 2 m in areas not affected by mining. In total, 49.2% of the investigated area (184 km²) shows a relief deficit and 14.5% has positive relief differences. Absolute changes account for more than 80 m heightening (dumpsites of overburden) and lowering of the natural relief (pits). Besides these altitudinal changes, overall steeper slopes are significant for the new topography, but levelling exists likewise. The spatial variabilities are discussed in the context of the regional geology and the mining techniques. Undoubtedly, such large-scale anthropogenic relief changes persist for a very long time and will last as a human legacy far into the future. Only the detailed reconstruction of the pre-mining relief offers the ability to clarify the dimension of humans as geomorphological agents and to understand landscape perception. Due to the fact that the impact of open pit mining has such a large vertical and horizontal extension, their consideration as part of anthropogeomorphology can significantly contribute to support future Critical Zone research in the Anthropocene.     

Modeling reactive transport in non-ideal aqueous–solid solution system

The numerical simulation of reactive mass transport processes in complex geochemical environments is an important tool for the performance assessment of future waste repositories. A new combination of the multi-component mass transport code GeoSys/RockFlow and the Gibbs Energy Minimization (GEM) equilibrium solver GEM-Selektor is used to calculate the accurate equilibrium of multiple non-ideal solid solutions which are important for the immobilization of radionuclides such as Ra. The coupled code is verified by a widely used benchmark of dissolution–precipitation in a calcite–dolomite system. A more complex application shown in this paper is the transport of Ra in the near-field of a nuclear waste repository. Depending on the initial inventories of Sr, Ba and sulfate, non-ideal sulfate and carbonate solid solutions can fix mobile Ra cations. Due to the complex geochemical interactions, the reactive transport simulations can describe the migration of Ra in a much more realistic way than using the traditional linear K_D approach only.     

Coupling hydrogeological with surface runoff model in a Poltva case study in Western Ukraine

This paper presents the hydrological coupling of the software framework OpenGeoSys (OGS) with the EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Conceptual models include the Saint Venant equation for river flow, the 2D Darcy equations for confined and unconfined groundwater flow, a two-way hydrological coupling flux in a compartment coupling approach (conductance concept), and Lagrangian particles for solute transport in the river course. A SWMM river–OGS aquifer inter-compartment coupling flux is examined for discharging groundwater in a systematic parameter sensitivity analysis. The parameter study involves a small perturbation (first-order) sensitivity analysis and is performed for a synthetic test example base-by-base through a comprehensive range of aquifer parametrizations. Through parametrization, the test cases enables to determine the leakance parameter for simulating streambed clogging and non-ocillatory river-aquifer water exchange rates with the sequential (partitioned) coupling scheme. The implementation is further tested with a hypothetical but realistic 1D river–2D aquifer model of the Poltva catchment, where discharging groundwater in the upland area affects the river–aquifer coupling fluxes downstream in the river course (propagating feedbacks). Groundwater contribution in the moving river water is numerically determined with Lagrangian particles. A numerical experiment demonstrates that the integrated river–aquifer model is a serviceable and realistic constituent in a complete compartment model of the Poltva catchment.     

CLEAN: project overview on CO2 large-scale enhanced gas recovery in the Altmark natural gas field (Germany)

The joint research project CLEAN was conducted in the years 2008?C2011 by a German research and development (R&D) alliance of 16 partners from science and industry. The project was set-up as pilot project to investigate the processes relevant to enhanced gas recovery (EGR) by the injection of CO₂ into a subfield of the almost depleted Altmark natural gas field. Despite the setback that permission for active injection was not issued by the mining authority during the period of the project, important results fostering the understanding of processes linked with EGR were achieved. Work carried out led to a comprehensive evaluation of the EGR potential of the Altmark field and the Altensalzwedel subfield in particular. The calculated safety margins emphasize that technical well integrity of the 12 examined boreholes is given for EGR without a need for any further intervention. The laboratory and field tests confirm that the Altensalzwedel subfield is suitable for the injection of 100,000?t of CO₂. Numerical simulations provide sound predictions for the efficiency and safety of the EGR technology based on the CO₂ injection. The development and testing of different monitoring techniques facilitate an improved surveying of CO₂ storage sites in general. The CLEAN results provide the technological, logistic and conceptual prerequisites for implementing a CO₂-based EGR project in the Altmark and provide a benchmark for similar projects in the world.     

Assessment of Water Quality in the Elbe River at Low Water Conditions Based on Factor Analysis

An assessment of water quality measurements during a long‐lasting low water period in the Elbe River is presented. Weekly samples were taken from May to December 2003 at a sampling site in the middle part of the Elbe River. For multivariate data analysis, 34 parameters of 46 samplings were considered. As a result of this analysis, 78% of the variance of the data set is explained by five factors. They can be assigned to the following latent variables: season (37.5%) > tributaries (12.7%) > re‐suspension (10.4%) > discharge (9.4%) > complexation (8.5%). For the investigated sampling site, two key processes were identified as dominating factors on the water quality during low water conditions. First, seasonal phytoplankton development caused changes in redox conditions with consequences for re‐solution of pollutants from sediments. Second, tributaries have a higher impact on the main stream, due to changes in mixing processes. Therefore, in addition to flood investigations, monitoring strategies, and management plans should be developed in order to survey changes in water quality during low water conditions.     

A data exploration framework for validation and setup of hydrological models

Over the course of hydrological research projects often a large number of heterogeneous data sets are acquired from sources as diverse as boreholes, gauging stations or satellite imagery. This data then need to be integrated into models for the simulation of hydrological processes. We propose a framework for exploration of geoscientific data and visually guided preparation of such models. Data sets from a large number of sources can be imported, combined and validated to avoid potential problems due to artefacts or inconsistencies between data sets in a subsequent simulation. Boundary conditions and domain discretisations for surface and subsurface models can be created and tested regarding criteria indicating possible numerical instabilities. All data sets including simulation results can be integrated into a user-controlled 3D scene and aspects of the data can be enhanced using a number of established visualisation techniques including thresholding and user-defined transfer functions. We present the application of this framework for the preparation of a model for simulation of groundwater flow in a river catchment in southwest Germany investigated in the scope of the WESS project.