The hydrochemistry of a semi-arid pan basin case study: Sua Pan,Makgadikgadi, Botswana

This study presents results on the fluid and salt chemistry for the Makgadikgadi, a substantial continental basin in the semi-arid Kalahari. The aims of the study are to improve understanding of the hydrology of such a system and to identify the sources of the solutes and the controls on their cycling within pans. Sampling took place against the backdrop of unusually severe flooding as well as significant anthropogenic extraction of subsurface brines. This paper examines in particular the relationship between the chemistry of soil leachates, fresh stream water, salty lake water, surface salts and subsurface brines at Sua Pan, Botswana with the aim of improving the understanding of the system’s hydrology. Occasionally during the short wet season (December–March) surface water enters the saline environment and precipitates mostly calcite and halite, as well as dolomite and traces of other salts associated with the desiccation of the lake. The hypersaline subsurface brine (up to TDS 190,000 mg/L) is homogenous with minor variations due to pumping by BotAsh mine (Botswana Ash (Pty) Ltd.), which extracts 2400 m³ of brine/h from a depth of 38 m. Notable is the decrease in TDS as the pumping rate increases which may be indicative of subsurface recharge by less saline water. Isotope chemistry for Sr (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr average 0.722087) and S (δ³⁴S average 34.35) suggests subsurface brines have been subject to a lithological contribution of undetermined origin. Recharge of the subsurface brine from surface water including the Nata River appears to be negligible.     

Iron porphyrins in the Permian Kupferschiefer of the lower Rhine Basin, N.W. Germany

Immature samples of the Permian Kupferschiefer from the Lower Rhine Basin in N.W. Germany were analysed for tetrapyrrole pigment type and abundance. The sediment, thought to have been deposited in a marine regime with enhanced salinity, was found to contain high concentrations of metalloporphyrins. The porphyrins are complexed to nickel (Ni) and oxovanadium (V=0), but high abundances of iron (Fe) porphyrins were also detected using UV/visible spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The presence in the latter of series of aetioporphyrins, cycloalkanoporphyrins, di-cycloalkanoporphyrins and benz-cycloalkanoporphyrins was confirmed by accurate mass measurements; HPLC co-injection of deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (C₃₂ DPEP) with the demetallated iron porphyrins indicated its presence in the sediment as an iron complex. The study provides the first evidence for the occurrence of Fe porphyrins in geological samples other than coals and lignites, and reports the highest concentrations in sedimentary organic matter to date.     

Creep behaviour of frozen soils in uniaxial compression tests

The stress—strain behaviour of frozen soils is often described by means of creep curves from uniaxial or triaxial creep tests. Ten or twelve tests of similar samples are required to obtain a good relationship between stress σ, strain ε, temperature T and time t or strain rate ε. To reduce the required number of samples it is possible to apply the compression load in creep tests stepwise. Therefore creep curves for different stress levels can be obtained from one sample.

In this paper the bearing capacity of cylindrical samples of frozen medium sand under constant uniaxial compression stress and under stepwise increased stresses is compared. It is shown how to use these different creep curves to describe the stress—strain behaviour of frozen soils.     

Membrane Ozonation in Wastewater Treatment

The utilization of porous membranes in mass transfer processes of gaseous ozone to water was investigated. With this approach a direct control of the interface between gas and liquid is possible. Furthermore it prevents foam formation in the presence of surfactant pollution, which constitutes a problem in conventional ozonation methods. Different organic and inorganic membrane materials and geometrical arrangements were utilized and ozone transfer under varied experimental conditions was determined. Typical transfer rates obtained in the experiments were 10 g ozone per membrane square meter and hour, but under optimized conditions higher values were possible. A theoretical model was successfully applied to the results obtained. A peculiarity of the method is its inherent ozone dose control in relation to the volume flow of water.     

Multimolecular data processing and display in organic geochemistry: The evaluation of petroporphyrin GC-MS data

A novel method for handling and presenting multimolecular abundance data, derived from gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses (GC-MS), is introduced. The method facilitates carbon number labeling of compounds, specifically in the case of porphyrins, by means of a porphyrin-index, which is part of a novel identification code for porphyrins. Identification code, relative abundance and structure information of each compound recognised are stored in a database, which affords a variety of characteristic displays and tables upon manipulation. The combined facilities allow the direct comparison of samples of different origin, maturity and/or palaeoenvironment. Correlation studies, such as oil/oil or oil/source rock, are also facilitated by comparison of characteristic “fingerprint” histogram patterns. The ability of the method is exemplified through analysis of the porphyrin distributions of Boscan oil, La Luna shale, Gilsonite bitumen and Serpiano shale.     

Use of biological marker distributions to study thermal history of the Permian Kupferschiefer of the Lower Rhine Basin

In the Central European Zechstein Basin, the Permian Kupferschiefer has been deposited under marine anoxic conditions. From a lagoon at the southwest border of the Zechstein Sea, today part of the Lower Rhine Basin, 30 core samples have been studied by means of organic geochemical methods. Within the area investigated, the depth of the Kupferschiefer horizon increases from about 350 m in the south to about 1000 m in the north. Furthermore, the Kupferschiefer has been thermally affected in the western part by the intrusive body of the so-called Krefeld High. This geological situation opens the possibility to investigate differences of short term and long term temperature effects on the biological marker distribution within a sediment layer of a largely uniform faciès type. Depth related changes in the hopane, sterane and diasterene/diasterane distributions are compared to those changes induced by the Krefeld High. The composition of aromatic steroid hydrocarbons is used to discuss time-temperature effects. It is shown that depth related values of maturation parameters can only be interpreted by taking into account post-depositional tectonic events. Samples from tectonic horst structures show higher maturation values than one would expect from the present day depth.

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Zusammenfassung Aus dem Bereich der heutigen Niederrheinischen Bucht wurden an 30 Kernproben des Kupferschiefers organischgeochemische Untersuchungen durchgeführt. Innerhalb des Untersuchungsgebiets nimmt die Teufe des Kupferschieferhorizonts von 350 m im Süden auf über 1000 m im Norden zu. Organisch-geochemische Reifeparameter zeigen an, daß der Kupferschiefer im Westen durch den Intrusivkörper des Krefelder Gewölbes thermisch beeinflußt worden ist. Aufgrund dieser Situation bietet sich die Möglichkeit, Unterschiede im Einfluß von kurzzeitigen und langzeitigen Temperatureinwirkungen auf die Verteilung von Chemofossilien in einem faziell einheitlichen Horizont zu studieren. Teufenabhängige Variationen der Hopan-, Steran-, Diasteran- und Diasterenverteilungen lassen sich mit den zusätzlich durch den Intrusivkörper verursachten Veränderungen vergleichen. Die Verteilungsmuster der aromatischen Steroide werden zur Deutung von Zeit-Temperatur-Effekten im Verlauf der Diagenese herangezogen. Die ermittelten Meßwerte der Reifeparameter lassen sich nur interpretieren, wenn postsedimentäre tektonische Bewegungen nach der Ablagerung des Kupferschiefers in Betracht gezogen werden. Die aus Horsten stammenden Proben zeigen höhere Reifegrade an als entsprechend ihrer heutigen Teufe zu erwarten.

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Résumé Dans le bassin du Zechstein d'Europe Centrale, les Kupferschiefer permiens ont été déposés dans des conditions marines anoxiques. Dans un paléo-lagon situé à la bordure sud-ouest de la mer du Zechstein, et qui fait partie aujourd'hui du Bassin du Bas-Rhin, 30 échantillons, provenant de carottes, ont fait l'objet d'une étude de géochimie organique. Dans la région ainsi étudiée, la profondeur de l'horizon des Kupferschiefer augmente, du sud au nord, de 350 m à 1.000 m. D'autre part, les Kupferschiefer ont subi, dans leur partie ouest, l'influence thermique du corps intrusif du «Dôme de Krefeld». Cette situation géologique fournit la possibilité d'étudier les effets à long terme et à court terme de la température sur la distribution des marqueurs biologiques au sein d'un niveau sédimentaire de faciès uniforme. Les modifications dans la répartition de l'hopane, du stérane et du diastérène/diasterane en fonction de la profondeur sont comparées à celles qui sont provoquées par le Dôme de Krefeld. Les effets temps-température sont discutés à partir de la composition des hydrocarbures stéroïdes aromatiques. Les auteurs montrent que la valeur des paramètres de maturation liés à la profondeur ne peuvent être interprétés sans que l'on prenne en considération les événements tectoniques postsédimentaires. Des échantillons provenant de structures en horst montrent un degré d'évolution plus élevé que celui auquel on s'attend d'après leur profondeur actuelle.

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Carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of alkyl porphyrins from the Triassic Serpiano oil shale

The carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of seven of the most abundant alkylporphyrins from the Serpiano oil shale (marine, Triassic) were determined. For the C31 and C32 butanoporphyrins, values of delta 13CPDB and delta 15NAIR averaged -24.0% and -3.1%. In contrast, the C31 and C32 methylpropanoporphyrins, DPEP, and a C30 13-nor etioporphyrin had delta 13C and delta 15N values averaging -27.5 and -3.3%, respectively. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic values for kerogen averaged -30.8 and -0.9, whereas those for total extract averaged -31.6, and -4.0%. The butanoporphyrins apparently derive from a biological source different from that giving rise to the other porphyrins, their 13C enrichment not being related to carbon isotopic fractionation accompanying diagenetic reactions. The delta 15N values for all the porphyrins indicate that the depletion of 15N observed in the kerogen is of primary origin. Consistent with the very high abundance of hopanoids and methyl hopanoids in the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction, it is suggested that cyanobacterial fixation of N2 may have been the main cause of 15N depletion.     

Linking archival and remotely sensed data for long-term environmental monitoring

The broad objective of this paper is to illustrate how archival, historical and remotely sensed data can be used to complement each other for long-term environmental monitoring. One of the major constraints confronting scientific investigation in the area of long-term environmental monitoring is lack of data at the required temporal and spatial scales. While remotely sensed data have provided dependable change detection databases since 1972, long-term changes such as those associated with typical climate scenarios often require longer time series data. The lack of data in readily accessible and usable formats for periods predating commercial satellite products has for a long time restricted the scope of environmental studies to temporally brief, synoptic overviews covering short time scales, thereby compromising our understanding of complex environmental processes. One way to improve this understanding is by cross-linking different forms of data at different temporal scales. However, most remote sensing based change research has tended to marginalize the utility of archival and historical sources in environmental monitoring. While the accuracy of data from non-instrumental records is often source-specific and varies from place to place, carefully conducted searches can yield useful information that can be effectively used to extend the temporal coverage of projects dependant on time series data. This paper is based on an ongoing project on environmental monitoring in the world's largest Ramsar site, the Okavango Delta, located on the northeastern fringes of Southern Africa's Kalahari–Namib desert in northern Botswana. With a database covering over 150 years between 1849 and 2001, the primary objectives of this paper are to: (1) outline how modern remotely sensed data (i.e., CORONA and Landsat) can be complemented by historical in situ observations (i.e., travellers’ records and archival maps) to extend temporal coverage into the historical past, (2) illustrate that different forms of declassified Cold War intelligence data (i.e., CORONA) can be constructively exploited to further scientific understanding and (3) provide a conceptual framework for collating and disseminating data at regional and international levels through electronic media.     

Das Klimaproblem der permokarbonen Eiszeit unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Forschungen Fritz v. Kerners

Ohne Zusammenfassung