Significance of Geological Parameters for Predicting Water Inflow in Hard Rock Tunnels

One of the most challenging aspects of tunnelling is prognostication of water inflows. More reliable prediction of groundwater inflow may give considerable economical saving for future tunnel projects and may also prevent damage of environment and installations on the surface. This paper is discussing the significance of eight hypotheses regarding geological parameters for predicting water inflow in tunnels. The respective hypotheses have been tested as part of a recent research project in Norway. Six Norwegian tunnels with different geological conditions were selected for the research; the Romeriksporten, Frøya, T-baneringen, Lunner, Skaugum, and Storsand tunnels. Based on detailed study of these tunnels, the hypotheses are tested by comparing water inflow with geological parameters and factors such as Q value, faulting, rock stress orientation, rock cover, thickness of permeable soil or depth of lake/sea above the tunnel, rock type, and width of weakness zones. It is found that four out of the eight tested hypotheses are supported, two have low to medium support and two are not supported. One unexpected result is that for the tunnels covered by this study, the water inflow was found to increase with rock cover.     

Gondwanan dinosaur evolution and biogeographic analysis

Gondwanan dinosaurs, though less well-known than their Laurasian counterparts,are being discovered and described at an ever accelerating pace. Dinosaurs are known from every major Gondwanan landmass, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India, Madagascar and New Zealand. Much of the Gondwanan dinosaur literature includes speculation on vicariant and dispersal events relating to the fragmentation of Gondwana during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. These prolific biogeographic hypotheses are often inconclusive, speculative in nature, and untestable with the data at hand. To formulate well-supported biogeographic hypotheses, resolved dinosaur phylogenies and sound hypotheses of Earth history are necessary. Other factors, such as taphonomy, depositional setting, and missing taxonomic, temporal and geographic data, also contribute to understanding dinosaur faunal compositions. Additional phylogenetic information, a continuation of the current exploration and discovery, and knowledge of recent advances in tectonic plate reconstructions are paramount to developing a well-supported view of Gondwanan dinosaur biogeography.     

Mathematical Geology in Perspective: Has Objective Hypothesis Testing Become Overlooked?

The meaning of the term Mathematical Geology was contentious at the founding meeting of IAMG in 1968 and has remained so ever since. In North American usage, it has primarily meant statistical applications in geology, and thus is an extension of inventory that has been traditional in geology. To the Leningrad school (originally led by A. B. Vistelius), it is the discipline of testing geological hypotheses mathematically. Although mathematical hypothesis testing has considerable potential for the earth sciences, unfortunately, by comparison with inventory-type studies, it has received very little attention. Reference is drawn to recent papers in which geological hypotheses have been tested mathematically.     

Compositional Data Analysis of Geological Variability and Process: A Case Study

Developments in the statistical analysis of compositional data over the last two decades have made possible a much deeper exploration of the nature of variability and the possible processes associated with compositional data sets from many disciplines. In this paper, we concentrate on geochemical data. First, we explain how hypotheses of compositional variability may be formulated within the natural sample space, the unit simplex, including useful hypotheses of sub-compositional discrimination and specific perturbational change. Then we develop through standard methodology, such as generalised likelihood ratio tests, statistical tools to allow the systematic investigation of a lattice of such hypotheses. Some of these tests are simple adaptations of existing multivariate tests but others require special construction. We comment on the use of graphical methods in compositional data analysis and on the ordination of specimens. The recent development of the concept of compositional processes is then explained, together with the necessary tools for a staying-in-the-simplex approach, such as the singular value decomposition of a compositional data set. All these statistical techniques are illustrated for a substantial compositional data set, consisting of 209 major oxide and trace element compositions of metamorphosed limestones from the Grampian Highlands of Scotland. Finally, we discuss some unresolved problems in the statistical analysis of compositional processes.     

Eustatic control of late Quaternary sea-level change in the Arabian/Persian Gulf

Accurate sea-level reconstruction is critical in understanding the drivers of coastal evolution. Inliers of shallow marine limestone and aeolianite are exposed as zeugen (carbonate-capped erosional remnants) on the southern coast of the Arabian/Persian Gulf. These have generally been accepted as evidence of a eustatically driven, last-interglacial relative sea-level highstand preceded by a penultimate glacial-age lowstand. Instead, recent optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating suggests a last glacial age for these deposits, requiring > 100 m of uplift since the last glacial maximum in order to keep pace with eustatic sea-level rise and implying the need for a wholesale revision of tectonic, stratigraphic and sea-level histories of the Gulf. These two hypotheses have radically different implications for regional neotectonics and land–sea distribution histories. Here we test these hypotheses using OSL dating of the zeugen formations. These new ages are remarkably consistent with earlier interpretations of the formations being last interglacial or older in age, showing that tectonic movements are negligible and eustatic sea-level variations are responsible for local sea-level changes in the Gulf. The cause of the large age differences between recent studies is unclear, although it appears related to large differences in the measured accumulated dose in different OSL samples.     

Chemical Variations in the Palisade Sill

Walker (1940) considered that the chemical data of the differentiatedPalisade sill could not be treated in variation diagrams becauseof the narrow range of SiO² weight per cent. The present workexamines the same data using a recent graphical technique whichis not subject to such limitations. The results show that thechemical variation is almost exactly that required by crystalfractionation of olivine and pyroxene from a single, relativelyhomogeneous, parent magma. Most other hypotheses of differentationare either unnecessary or not in accordance with the chemicaldata. Generally, the results confirm Walker's earlier conclusionswhich were based mainly on petrography ansd field relations.     

中国现代人类起源:来自南方化石地点的年代学证据

现代人类起源的时间和地点是当前古人类学研究和争议的热点。文中评述了 2 0多年来第四纪测年技术取得的进展及其对现代人类起源研究的影响。基于新生碳酸盐岩铀系测年 ,研究了中国南方柳江人洞等多个晚期人类化石地点的年代 ,结果远大于原认为的 2 0～ 30ka。晚期智人在中国出现的时间很可能不晚于西亚和南非 ,中国 4 0～ 1 0 0ka间人类化石的“缺环” ,很可能只是测年技术系统误差造成的假象。上述年代学新证据不支持中国现代人类全部来自非洲的假说。对岩溶洞穴遗址进一步的综合研究 ,有可能为破解有关现代人类起源的诸多疑点提供重要的以至一锤定音的证据     

古生态学研究方法

本文系统介绍了当前国际古生态学研究的新方法、理论和发展趋势,总结出10个主要方面,即实证古生物学、形态功能分析、埋藏学、定量古生态学、遗迹学、古生态—岩相综合分析、群落古生态学、生态地层学、地球化学在古生态中的应用和陆相地层的古生态学.作者较详细地介绍了这10个方面的研究方法和目前国际上的研究现状和主要成果.     

Residential mobility within metropolitan Lagos

This paper examines the initial residential patterns of two groups in Lagos and their subsequent mobility pattern. Explanatory factors for the patterns depicted are advanced. Burgess' hypotheses on residential mobility are tested and found to be partially confirmed. There is, however, an increasing tendency for people to settle at the periphery of the city in recent periods. The outward residential mobility pattern depicted is as a result of factors other than those stipulated by Burgess. These results are of importance for the planning of the city.     

New U/Th ages for Pleistocene megafauna deposits of southeastern Queensland,Australia

Arguments over the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna have become particularly polarised in recent years. Causes for the extinctions are widely debated with climate change, human hunting and/or habitat modification, or a combination of those factors, being the dominant hypotheses. However, a lack of a spatially constrained chronology for many megafauna renders most hypotheses difficult to test. Here, we present several new U/Th dates for a series of previously undated, megafauna-bearing localities from southeastern Queensland, Australia. The sites were previously used to argue for or against various megafauna extinction hypotheses, and are the type localities for two now-extinct Pleistocene marsupials (including the giant koala, Phascolarctos stirtoni). The new dating allows the deposits to be placed in a spatially- and temporally constrained context relevant to the understanding of Australian megafaunal extinctions. The results indicate that The Joint (Texas Caves) megafaunal assemblage is middle Pleistocene or older (>292 ky); the Cement Mills (Gore) megafaunal assemblage is late Pleistocene or older (>53 ky); and the Russenden Cave Bone Chamber (Texas Caves) megafaunal assemblage is late Pleistocene (～55 ky). Importantly, the new results broadly show that the sites date prior to the hypothesised megafaunal extinction ‘window’ (i.e., ～30–50 ky), and therefore, cannot be used to argue exclusively for or against human/climate change extinction models, without first exploring their palaeoecological significance on wider temporal and spatial scales.     

On some problems connected with the determination of recent vertical crustal movements from repeated levellings and gravity measurements

Besides systematic instrumental and environmental effects in high-precision levellings and gravimetry, some theoretical problems are decisive in the evaluation and interpretation of recent vertical crustal movements. In view of the increased accuracy of recently developed portable instruments for absolute gravity measurements, some global effects on gravity may no longer be neglected, necessitating additional time-dependent reductions for polar motion effects. Another problem concerns the evaluation of recent vertical crustal movements from repeated geodetic measurements: a rigorous treatment of the problem demands both repeated levellings and gravity measurements; only under additional hypotheses can these limitating prerequisites be eliminated.     

Unique Aeolian Bedforms of Mars: Transverse Aeolian Ridges

Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TARs) are among the unique aeolian bedforms of Mars, which witnessed a series of investigation for the last two decades thanks to the high-resolution remote sensing data. This paper summarized the understanding with respect to distribution, morphology, sedimentology, formation hypotheses and formation time of TARs. It is suggested that TARs are a kind of aeolian bedforms with meter-scale height and decameter-scale wavelength. TARs are primarily distributed in the equator and low-latitude regions, being rare in high and mid-latitude regions, and more popular in the south hemisphere than in the north hemisphere. Higher albedo and symmetric cross-sections are the most outstanding features of TARs, being analogous to the megaripples and reversing dunes on the Earth. The grain-size distribution of TARs’ sediments is generally bimodal, with granule cover and low thermal inertia. Three formation hypotheses were proposed for TARs: Megaripple hypothesis, reversing dune hypothesis and dust induration hypothesis, with more evidences supporting the megaripple hypothesis. Similar to dunes, TARs are geologically recent morphology on Mars, but generally predate dunes, formed in the last few million years so that most TARs are indurated or lithified and are immobile. However, contemporary mobileTARs are also developed in some regions. The unique features of TARs make them the mostenigmatic aeolian bedforms of Mars. It is proposed that high-resolution information on TARs sedimentology and integrated regional surveying should be listed in the priorities of future Mars exploration with respect to TARs study.     

Climate and the orbital parameters of the Earth

The discovery of glacial ages in the 19th century triggered the first scientific questions on the evolution of climate through time, and thus corresponds to the dawn of palaeoclimatology. Since then, scientists have attempted to reconstruct past climatic changes and to understand their physical basis. Two competing theories have been suggested to explain the sequence of glacial–interglacial epochs: either the variations of the Earth orbital elements, or the atmospheric composition in carbon dioxide. If the astronomical theory has been largely confirmed since the last 30 years, a physical modeling of the climatic processes at work is still in its infancy. Besides, the most recent results of palaeoclimatology are clearly demonstrating that, more than never, a synthesis of these two old hypotheses is needed.     

Disentangling hominin and carnivore activities near a spring at FLK North (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

FLK North is one of the densest concentrations of fossils found in Olduvai Gorge. A recent taphonomic re-evaluation of the collection excavated by Leakey at the site suggests that it was a palimpsest in which most of the animals were accumulated and modified by carnivores. The lithic tools therefore seem to have an independent depositional history from most of the fauna. The present study, based on new excavations, expands the evidence supporting this interpretation and demonstrates a thicker deposit than was reported by Leakey, including new archaeological levels. It also shows that in the few instances where hominins butchered carcasses, meat, not marrow, was their main target. This argues against passive scavenging hypotheses, which emphasize the dietary role of marrow, and instead underscores the importance of meat in the diet of early Pleistocene hominins.     

Point bar and floodplain formation of the meandering Beatton River, northeastern British Columbia, Canada

This study examines the morphology, sedimentology and genesis of the point bars and floodplain of the Beatton River. The formation of point bars occurs in distinct stages. An initial point bar platform composed mainly of coarse sediment is formed adjacent to the convex bank of a migrating meander bend, and is the base on which develops a single scroll bar of fine traction and suspended load. With continued sedimentation, the scroll bar grows, eventually supporting vegetation and becoming a floodplain ridge. Scroll bars form with greatest size and frequency in rapidly migrating bends, and the shape of the meander bend appears to determine both the location of the initial bar deposit, and its direction of growth up or downstream. Approximately one-half of the floodplain sediment is derived from suspended load, and the initiation of a scroll bar appears to be due to excessive deposition of suspended load in a zone of flow separation over a point bar platform. The critical flow condition for the initiation of a scroll bar does not occur with the same recurrence interval on different shaped meander bends, however, the average recurrence interval within the study reach is approximately every 30 years. Sedimentation rates on point bars and on the floodplain indicate two relatively distinct stages of floodplain alluviation. The most rapid is for surfaces less than 50 years old, although sediment accumulation still persists on surfaces up to 250 years in age. Although frequently flooded, surfaces older than this accumulate very little sediment. Despite 2–3 m of overbank deposition, the amplitude of floodplain ridges is maintained by secondary currents which sweep sediment from the swales towards the ridge crests.     

Is orogenesis a net sink or source of atmospheric CO2?

In global carbon cycle models, orogenesis is often viewed as a sink for atmospheric CO₂, acting on tectonic timescales. However, recent attempts to quantify fluxes for CO₂ produced by metamorphic reactions and released to the atmosphere suggest that these are an order‐of‐magnitude greater than CO₂ uptake by chemical weathering of silicate minerals, and that metamorphic CO₂ is released on millennial timescales. These hypotheses have gained support from both measurements of CO₂ emissions from present‐day orogenic hot springs and chromatographic modelling of carbonation reactions in metamorphic rocks from ancient orogens. In this article I review research that attempts to quantify metamorphic CO₂ release fluxes, focussing specifically on studies conducted in the SW Scottish Highlands.     

Statistical testing of a new testate amoeba‐based transfer function for water‐table depth reconstruction on ombrotrophic peatlands in north‐eastern Canada and Maine,United States

Proxy reconstructions of climatic parameters developed using transfer functions are central to the testing of many palaeoclimatic hypotheses on Holocene timescales. However, recent work shows that the mathematical models underpinning many existing transfer functions are susceptible to spatial autocorrelation, clustered training set design and the uneven sampling of environmental gradients. This may result in over‐optimistic performance statistics or, in extreme cases, a lack of predictive power. A new testate amoeba‐based transfer function is presented that fully incorporates the new recommended statistical tests to address these issues. Leave‐one‐out cross‐validation, the most commonly applied method in recent studies to assess model performance, produced over‐optimistic performance statistics for all models tested. However, the preferred model, developed using weighted averaging with tolerance downweighting, retained a predictive capacity equivalent to other published models even when less optimistic performance statistics were chosen. Application of the new statistical tests in the development of transfer functions provides a more thorough assessment of performance and greater confidence in reconstructions based on them. Only when the wider research community have sufficient confidence in transfer function‐based proxy reconstructions will they be commonly used in data comparison and palaeoclimate modelling studies of broader scientific relevance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linking organic matter deposition and iron mineral transformations to groundwater arsenic levels in the Mekong delta,Cambodia

Enriched As in drinking water wells in south and Southeast Asia has increased the risk of cancer for nearly 100 million people. This enrichment is generally attributed to the reductive dissolution of Fe oxides; however, the complex expression of As enrichment in these areas is not yet well understood. Here, the coupled sedimentological and geochemical factors that contribute to the extent and spatial distribution of groundwater As concentrations in the Mekong River delta, Cambodia in an avulsed scroll bar sequence are examined. X-Ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to determine Fe and As speciation in redox preserved sediment collected from drilled cores. Dissolved As, Fe and S solution concentrations in existing and newly drilled wells (cores) differed considerably depending on their source sedimentology. The rapid burial of organic matter in the scroll bar sequence facilitated the development of extensive Fe-reducing conditions, and As release into the aquifer. In older features organic C levels are high enough to sustain extensive Fe reduction and provide ample SO₄ which is reduced to sulfide. This S reduction impacts As levels; As is sequestered in sulfide minerals outside of the scrollbar sequence, decreasing pore water concentrations. In contrast, As is depleted in sediments from the scroll sequence, and associated with elevated pore water aqueous concentrations. The concentration and form of organic C in the scrollbar sequence is related to depositional environment, and can facilitate Fe and S mineral transformations, distinct sedimentary environments explain a portion of the inherent heterogeneity of aquifer As concentrations.     

农地利用变化假说与相关的环境效应命题

将用途转移和集约度升降这两种类型的土地利用变化整合在一个过程中,解释变化机制的理论,有古典经济学的地租理论,还有若干理论性假说。这些假说又常常与一些土地利用的环境效应命题联系在一起,扩充为解释人地关系的假说。综述了解释农地利用变化的四大假说（包括基于马尔萨斯人口论的土地面积持续扩张假说、博斯鲁普的需求诱发型集约化假说、吉尔茨的集约度弹性假说、土地利用粗放化假说）和农地利用环境效应的三大命题（包括农地面积扩张造成土地退化、优质土地的集约化间接促使生态脆弱地区环境改善、农地利用粗放化和弃耕促使环境和生态恢复）,以及围绕这些假说和命题的争论和实证研究,旨在为土地利用变化的情景构建、模型模拟及愿景设计提供学术依据。     

Talking hypothetically: the Duhem–Quine thesis, multiple hypotheses and the demise of hypothetico-deductivism

The positivism-inspired hypothetico-deductive method has dominated research practices in geographical sciences for several decades. Notwithstanding its significant contribution, as a widely employed protocol, there is a growing recognition that positivist methods of analysis have failed to accommodate the countless auxiliary assumptions that underlie any geographical research hypothesis, not only in human geography but also in physical geography and geographical information science. The Duhem–Quine thesis has received a significant amount of attention in recent years in scientific and logical theory circles, as a progressive alternative to the hypothetico-deductive method. The thesis’s main attraction to contemporary practitioners of science is that it allows methodologically rigorous ways of resolving inconsistencies between a theoretical system and experience. Under the Duhem–Quine thesis, the use of a multiple organisation of hypotheses in geographical research will militate against an over-dependence on the null-hypothesis which is inconsistent with the fact that conclusions in geographical research are subject to contingent factors such as human participation, measurement error, and ecological fallacies.