Stereological Method for Reducing Probability of Earthquake-Induced Damage in a Nuclear Waste Repository

In Sweden, spent nuclear fuel is planned to be placed in copper/iron canisters and deposited at a depth of approximately 500 m in granitic rock. Earthquakes may induce secondary shear movements in fractures intersecting canister deposition holes, thereby threatening the integrity of the canisters. The extent of a secondary movement is related to earthquake distance and magnitude and to the size of the intersecting fracture. A probability of a canister being intersected by a critically large fracture can be calculated for given fracture size and orientation distributions, assuming that no measures are taken to identify and avoid such fractures. This paper analyses a stereological method of reducing this probability through observations of fractures fully intersecting the drift tunnels overlying the deposition holes. Deposition positions located in the planar extension of such full intersections are rejected. Both exact, numerical solutions and approximate solutions to this stereological problem are derived and the correctness of the solutions is verified by simulations. Also, the cost in terms of unutilised deposition positions is calculated. The probability of critical canister/fracture intersections is a few percent for typical fracture populations determined from field observations at a candidate site for a spent nuclear fuel repository in Sweden. By applying the suggested method, it is demonstrated that this probability can be reduced by a factor of about 35 in a typical case. The expense in terms of unutilised tunnel length is around 10 percent, which is seen as reasonable.     

A Critical Approach to Probability Laws in Geochemistry

Probability laws in geochemistry have been a major issue of concern over the last decades. The lognormal on the positive real line or the additive logistic normal on the simplex are two classical laws of probability to model geochemical data sets due to their association with a relative measure of difference. This fact is not fully exploited in the classical approach when viewing both the positive real line and the simplex as subsets of real space with the induced geometry. But it can be taken into account considering them as real linear vector spaces with their own structure. This approach implies using a particular geometry and a measure different from the usual ones. Therefore, we can work with the coordinates with respect to an orthonormal basis. It could be shown that the two mentioned laws are associated with a normal distribution on the coordinates. In this contribution both approaches are compared, and a real data set is used to illustrate similarities and differences.     

Two-dimensional Conditional Simulations Based on the Wavelet Decomposition of Training Images

Scale dependency is a critical topic when modeling spatial phenomena of complex geological patterns that interact at different spatial scales. A two-dimensional conditional simulation based on wavelet decomposition is proposed for simulating geological patterns at different scales. The method utilizes the wavelet transform of a training image to decompose it into wavelet coefficients at different scales, and then quantifies their spatial dependence. Joint simulation of the wavelet coefficients is used together with available hard and or soft conditioning data. The conditionally co-simulated wavelet coefficients are back-transformed generating a realization of the attribute under study. Realizations generated using the proposed method reproduce the conditioning data, the wavelet coefficients and their spatial dependence. Two examples using geological images as training images elucidate the different aspects of the method, including hard and soft conditioning, the ability to reproduce some non-linear features and scale dependencies of the training images.     

Phreatic Surface in Island Aquifers with Regular Geometry and Time-Independent Recharge and Pumping

The equation of groundwater flow in marine island aquifers in which there is time-independent, spatially-variable recharge and pumping is solved in closed form for rectangular, circular, and elliptical island geometries. The solution of the groundwater flow equation is expressed in terms of the elevation of the phreatic surface within the flow domain. The depth of the seawater-freshwater interface below mean sea level follows from the Dupuit–Ghyben–Herzberg relation. The method of solution presented in this work relies on expanding the hydraulic head and forcing function (recharge and groundwater extraction) as Fourier series that transforms the two-dimensional Poisson-type flow equations into second-order ordinary differential equations solvable using classical theory. The important case of constant recharge (without groundwater extraction) leads to solutions in which the hydraulic head is expressible as the product of a flow factor equal to the squared root of the ratio of recharge over hydraulic conductivity times a geometric factor involving island shape parameters and flow boundary conditions. Estimability conditions for the hydraulic conductivity are derived for the cases of constant recharge and spatially variable recharge with pumping.     

Hydrogeochemistry and Origin of Thermal Groundwater in Bedrock Aquifers in Tianjin, China

INTRODUCTIONThermalgroundwaterisfoundtohaveoccurredinthebedrockcarbonateaquifersofLowerPaleozoicandMeso toNeo ProterozoicErathemsnearTianjin ,China .Thebedrockaquifersexistinthelayersbetweenabout 10 0 0mandmorethan 4 0 0 0mbelowthelandsurface .Thethermalwaterhasbeensuccessfullydevelopedoverthepast2 0yearstoprovideasourceofhotwaterforavarietyofresidentialandindustri alpurposes.Geothermalwellstappingtheaquifersarecapa bleofproducingcommercialquantitiesofhotwaterwiththetemperaturesranging…     

Laboratory Investigations of the Hydro-Mechanical–Chemical Coupling Behaviour of Sandstone in CO2 Storage in Aquifers

This paper is devoted to experimental investigations of the hydro-mechanical–chemical coupling behaviour of sandstone in the context of CO₂ storage in aquifers. We focused on the evolution of creep strain, the transport properties and the elastic modulus of sandstone under the effect of CO₂–brine or CO₂ alone. A summary of previous laboratory results is first presented, including mechanical, poromechanical and hydro-mechanical–chemical coupling properties. Tests were then performed to investigate the evolution of the creep strain and permeability during the injection of CO₂–brine or CO₂ alone. After the injection of CO₂–brine or CO₂ alone, an instantaneous volumetric dilatancy was observed due to the decrease in the effective confining stress. However, CO₂ alone had a significant influence on the creep strain and permeability compared to the small influence of CO₂–brine. This phenomenon can be attributed to the acceleration of the CO₂–brine–rock reaction by the generation of carbonic acid induced by the dissolution of CO₂ into the brine. The original indentation tests on samples after the CO₂–brine–rock reaction were also performed and indicated that the elastic modulus decreased with an increasing reaction time. The present laboratory results can advance our knowledge of the hydro-mechanical–chemical coupling behaviour of sandstone in CO₂ storage in aquifers.     

Anisotropic Scaling Models of Rock Density and the Earth’s Surface Gravity Field

In this paper we consider an anisotropic scaling approach to understanding rock density and surface gravity which naturally accounts for wide range variability and anomalies at all scales. This approach is empirically justified by the growing body of evidence that geophysical fields including topography and density are scaling over wide range ranges. Theoretically it is justified, since scale invariance is a (geo)dynamical symmetry principle which is expected to hold in the absence of symmetry breaking mechanisms. Unfortunately, to date most scaling approaches have been self-similar, i.e., they have assumed not only scale invariant but also isotropic dynamics. In contrast, most nonscaling approaches recognize the anisotropy (e.g., the strata), but implicitly assume that the latter is independent of scale. In this paper, we argue that the dynamics are scaling but highly anisotropic, i.e., with scale dependent differential anisotropy. By using empirical density statistics in the crust and a statistical theory of high Prandtl number convection in the mantle, we argue that is a reasonable model for the 3-D spectrum (K is the horizontal wavevector and K is its modulus, k _z is a vertical wavenumber), (s,H _z ) are fundamental exponents which we estimate as (5.3,3), (3,3) in the crust and mantle, respectively. We theoretically derive expressions for the corresponding surface gravity spectrum. For scales smaller than ≈100 km, the anisotropic crust model of the density (with flat top and bottom) using empirically determined vertical and horizontal density spectra is sufficient to explain the (Bouguer) g _z spectra. However, the crust thickness is highly variable and the crust-mantle density contrast is very large. By considering isostatic equilibrium, and using global gravity and topography data, we show that this thickness variability is the dominant contribution to the surface g _z spectrum over the range ≈100–1000 km. Using estimates of mantle properties (viscosity, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, etc.), we show that the mantle contribution to the mean spectrum is strongest at ≈1000 km and is comparable to the variable crust thickness contribution. Overall, we produce a model which is compatible with both the observed (horizontal and vertical) density heterogeneity and surface gravity anomaly statistics over a range of meters to several thousand kilometers.     

U-Pb Ages of the Late Early Cretaceous Magmatic Rocks in the Zhalantun Area of Inner Mongolia

A great deal of early-to-mid Early Cretaceous magmatic activities have been recorded in the Zhalantun area of Inner Mongolia,while the late Early to Late Cretaceous magmatic rocks have been barely reported(Guo et al.,2018;Zhang Xiangxin et al.,2017).At present,only a few Late Cretaceous magmatic activities were reported in the Arongqi area,such as volcanic rocks of the Gushanzhen Formation.However,the Gushanzhen Formation lacks accurate isotopic age,and contemporaneous intrusive rocks has not been reported yet.In this work,we collected the volcanic rocks from the Gushanzhen Formation and contemporaneous intrusive rocks in the Zhanlantun and nearby,and aim to figure out the formation ages of volcanic rocks of the Gushanzhen Formation and accompanied intrusive rocks by analyzing zircon U-Pb isotopes(Fig.1).     

Transport process of radionuclides in the East China Sea

Settling particles were collected from six stations at the Okinawa Trough and the East China Sea continental margin. Activities of U, Th, Pu isotopes and ^210Pb were determined for the particles to elucidate their transport processes. Surface sediment samples were also analyzed for their isotopes. There was a tendency for ^210Pb activities to increase almost linearly with depth from 72 m on the continental shelf edge to 1019 m in the Okinawa Trough. Increasing ^210Pb activities in settling particles with depth on the continental margin may be attributable to enhanced ^210Pb scavenging by particles and removal near the front. There also was a clear tendency for total mass fluxes and the radionuclide fluxes to increase with depth, with an especially large increase near the bottom. The ratio of the observed ^210Pb flux to the ^210Pb deficiency flux in the near-bottom traps ranged between 8.9 and 46. These high values show a strong ^210Pb excess which would be attributable to large advective import to the near-bottom and resuspended particles that have settled through the water column but have not been incorporated into the sediments. High variability of radionuclide fluxes occurred in very short time periods. Activities of ^238U, ^232Th, ^230Th, ^228Th, ^210Pb and ^239Pu＋^240Pu in settling particles were significantly higher than those in the underlying surface sediments.     

Numerical Modelling of Dissolving and Driving Exploitation of Potash Salt in the Qarhan Playa ? A Coupled Model of Reactive Solute Transport and Chemical Equilibrium in a Multi-component Underground Brine System

Firstly, the macroscopic chemical equilibrium state of a series of chemical reactions between intercrystal brine and its media salt layer （salt deposit） in Qarhan Salt Lake was studied by using the Pitzer theory. The concept of macroscopic solubility product and its relation with accumulated ore dissolving ratio were presented, which are used in the numerical model of dissolving and driving exploitation of potassium salt in Qarhan Salt Lake. And secondly, with a model forming idea of transport model for reacting solutes in the multi-component fresh groundwater system in porous media being a reference, a two-dimensional transport model coupled with a series of chemical reactions in a multi-component brine porous system （salt deposits） was developed by using the Pitzer theory. Meanwhile, the model was applied to model potassium/magnesium transport in Qarhan Salt Lake in order to study the transfer law of solid and liquid phases in the dissolving and driving process and to design the optimal injection/abstraction strategy for dissolving and capturing maximum Potassium/ Magnesium in the mining of salt deposits in Qarhan Salt Lake.     

Numerical Modelling of Dissolving and Driving Exploitation of Potash Salt in the Qarhan Piaya——A Coupled Model of Reactive Solute Transport and Chemical Equilibrium in a Multi-component Underground Brine System

Firstly,the macroscopic chemical equilibrium state of a series of chemical reactions between intercrystal brine and its media salt layer (salt deposit) in Qarhan Salt Lake was studied by using the Pitzer theory.The concept of macroscopic solubility product and its relation with accumulated ore dissolving ratio were presented,which are used in the numerical model of dissolving and driving exploitation of potassium salt in Qarhan Salt Lake.And secondly,with a model forming idea of transport model for reacting solutes in the multi-component fresh groundwater system in porous media being a reference,a two-dimensional transport model coupled with a series of chemical reactions in a multi-component brine porous system (salt deposits) was developed by using the Pitzer theory. Meanwhile,the model was applied to model potassium/magnesium transport in Qarban Salt Lake in order to study the transfer law of solid and liquid phases in the dissolving and driving process and to design the optimal injection/abstraction strategy for dissolving and capturing maximum Potassium/ Magnesium in the mining of salt deposits in Qarban Salt Lake.     

Numerical Modelling of Dissolving and Driving Exploitation of Potash Salt in the Qarhan Playa——A Coupled Model of Reactive olute Transport and Chemical Equilibrium in a Multi-component Underground Brine System

Firstly, the macroscopic chemical equilibrium state of a series of chemical reactions between intercrystal brine and its media salt layer (salt deposit) in Qarhan Salt Lake was studied by using the Pitzer theory. The concept of macroscopic solubility product and its relation with accumulated ore dissolving ratio were presented, which are used in the numerical model of dissolving and driving exploitation of potassium salt in Qarhan Salt Lake. And secondly, with a model forming idea oftransport model for reacting solutes in the multi-component fresh groundwater system in porous media being a reference, a two-dimensional transport model coupled with a series of chemical reactions in a multi-component brine porous system (salt deposits) was developed by using the Pitzer theory.Meanwhile, the model was applied to model potassium/magnesium transport in Qarhan Salt Lake in order to study the transfer law of solid and liquid phases in the dissolving and driving process and to design the optimal injection/abstraction strategy for dissolving and capturing maximum Potassium/Magnesium in the mining of salt deposits in Qarhan Salt Lake.     

On the Elimination of Bias Averaging-Errors in Proxy Records

Knowledge of and insight into past environmental conditions can be obtained by processing and analyzing proxies. The proxies need to be processed as precisely and accurately as possible, otherwise the conclusion of the analysis will be biased. A calibration method which reduces bias errors in the proxy measurements due to averaging is presented. Sampling with nonzero sample sizes causes an averaging of the true proxy signal over the volume of the sample. The method is applied on a linear synthetic record which results in an optimal correction for frequency components ranging from the dc-frequency (DC) to one half of the sample frequency (f _s /2). Next, the method is tested on non-linear synthetic data where the signal is reconstructed reasonably well. Finally, the method is applied to a real vessel density record of R. mucronata from Makongeni, Kenya, and to a real delta deuterium record of ice core EDC from dome C, Antarctica. The method discussed in this paper is a valuable tool for the calibration of proxy measurements; it can be applied as a correction for low resolution measurements and expanded to other types of samples and proxies. Working with small sample sizes (high resolution) amounts to working near the detection limit, where the signal-to-noise-ratio is low. This correction method provides an alternative in which low resolution measurements can be upgraded to minimize the loss of information due to larger sample sizes.     

Permeable Reactive Barrier for the treatment of contaminated surface water in Katedan industrial development area, Hyderabad, India

Permeable Reactive Barrier （PRB） is an emplacement of inert material （s） in the subsurface, designed to intercept a contaminated plume, provides a preferential flow path through the reactive media, and transforms the contaminant into environmentally acceptable forms to attain concentration remediation goals at the discharge of the barrier. The phenomena, which help in remediation within PRB, are adsorption/sorption, precipitation, oxidation/reduction and biodegradation. Various materials like zero-valent iron, zero-valent bi-metals, natural zeolites, organic carbon, fly ash, zeolites, limestone, activated alumina, apatites, etc. have been tried by many researchers to remove organic and inorganic contaminants. In USA, Canada, and many European countries commercial full-scale and pilot scale PRBs are successfully working. The design and installation of full scale PRBs needs laboratory treatability and dynamic flow column experiments？ The concept of PRB is being applied to treat contaminated surface water in the Katedan industrial area, Hyderabad, India. National Geophysical Research Institute （NGRI）, Hyderabad, India, conducted systematic studies in collaboration with Norwegian Geotechnical Institute （NGI）, Norway, to develop PRB technique to decontaminate the surface water pollution due to industrial effluent. A site assessment study in the Katedan Industrial Area, were carried out and water, soil and sediment from the lakes of the area were found to be polluted with high concentrations of heavy metals like As, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni, etc. Adsorption studies at NGRI with synthetic samples and in-situ industrial effluent using different reactive media for removing contaminants like arsenic, chromium, cadmium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc have been carried out and yielded satisfactory results. The performance of zero-valent iron and limestone is encouraging in removing As,     

New U-Pb Geochronological Constraints on Formation and Evolution of the Susong Complex Zone in the Dabie Orogen

<正>Objective The Susong complex zone(SCZ)is a relatively lowgrade metamorphic unit mostly with an epidoteamphibolite facies,located in the southernmost part of the Dabie orogen.However,its rock compositions,ages,metamorphic processes and petrogenesis are still     

Transport of perfluorocarbon tracers and carbon dioxide in sediment columns – Evaluating the application of PFC tracers for CO2 leakage detection

Perfluorocarbon compounds (PFCs) have high chemical and thermal stability, low background levels in natural systems, and easy detectability. They are proposed as tracers for monitoring potential CO₂ leakage associated with geological carbon sequestration (GCS). The fate of the PFCs in porous media, and in particular, the transport of these compounds relative to CO₂ gas in geological formations, has not been thoroughly studied. We conducted column tests to study the transport of perfluoro-methylcyclo-pentane (PMCP), perfluoro-methylcyclo-hexane (PMCH), ortho-perfluoro-dimethylcyclo-hexane (ortho-PDCH), and perfluoro-trimethylcyclo-hexane (PTCH) gas tracers in a variety of porous media. The influence of water content and sediment minerals on the retardation of the tracers was tested. The transport of PFC tracers relative to ¹³CO₂ and the conservative tracer sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) was also investigated. Results show that at high water content, the PFCs and SF₆ transported together. In dry and low-water-content sediments, however, the PFCs were retarded relative to SF₆ with the degree of retardation increasing with the molecular weight of the PFC. When water was present in the medium, the transport of CO₂ was greatly retarded compared to SF₆ and the PFC tracers. However, in dry laboratory sediments, the migration of CO₂ was slightly faster than all the tracers. The type of minerals in the sediments also had a significant impact on the fate of the tracers. In order to use the PFC tracer data obtained from the ground surface or shallow subsurface in a GCS site to precisely interpret the extent and magnitude of CO₂ leakage, the retardation of the tracers and the interaction of CO₂ with the reservoir overlying formation water should be carefully quantified.     

Reactive transport of metal contaminants in alluvium—model comparison and column simulation

A comparative assessment of two reactive-transport models, PHREEQC and HYDROGEOCHEM (HGC), was done to determine the suitability of each for simulating the movement of acidic contamination in alluvium. For simulations that accounted for aqueous complexation, precipitation and dissolution, the breakthrough and rinseout curves generated by each model were similar. The differences in simulated equilibrium concentrations between models were minor and were related to (1) different units in model output, (2) different activity coefficients, and (3) ionic-strength calculations. When adsorption processes were added to the models, the rinseout pH simulated by PHREEQC using the diffuse double-layer adsorption model rose to a pH of 6 after pore volume 15, about 1 pore volume later than the pH simulated by HGC using the constant-capacitance model.In PHREEQC simulation of a laboratory column experiment, the inability of the model to match measured outflow concentrations of selected constituents was related to the evident lack of local geochemical equilibrium in the column. The difference in timing and size of measured and simulated breakthrough of selected constituents indicated that the redox and adsorption reactions in the column occurred slowly when compared with the modeled reactions. MINTEQA2 and PHREEQC simulations of the column experiment indicated that the number of surface sites that took part in adsorption reactions was less than that estimated from the measured concentration of Fe hydroxide in the alluvium.