Environmental factors and the development of Bath Spa,England

Thermal water springs at Bristol and Bath in west England have come under close scrutiny since the closure of Bath Spa in 1978. In order to protect the hot springs from dewatering and loss of pressure due to largescale quarrying and deep drilling, it is necessary to identify the sources and routes whereby the thermal water travels to its resurgences in the Avon valley. Control over deep water movements is exercised by the structure and size of the aquifers and aquicludes, modified by zones of Quaternary—Recent fracturing along which water movements have not been restricted or blocked by mineralization.     

Quantitative analysis of springs

Growing demand for groundwater resources and stringent environmental concerns has led to large groundwater investigations, including characterization of aquifer systems that are hydraulically connected to springs. A pumping test is one of the most reliable means of quantifying hydraulic characteristics and the response of natural springs to pumping because it yields results that, in general, are representative of a larger area than are results from a single point observation. Recharge to the aquifer sustaining discharge from springs must be evaluated prior to the utilization of springs. The spring hydrograph is analyzed, as the shape of a hydrograph is a reflection of the response of the aquifer to recharge. The form and rate of recession provide significant information on the storage, lithological composition, and structural characteristics of the aquifer system sustaining the spring. Water tracing techniques have been developed and used over a period of centuries to delineate catchment boundaries, estimate groundwater flow velocities, determine areas of recharge, and identify sources of pollution of spring water.     

Uses of springwater

The many uses of springwater around the world span history. Springwater has been used for basic survival, medicinal purposes, and for man's entertainment, pleasure, and dalliance. Hippocrates and ancient Greek physicians were versed in the health benefits of mineral water therapy. In early recorded history, the Egyptians, Arabians, and Mohammedans discussed the use of mineral waters for healing the ill. Mythology and legend date the thermal springs of Bath, England, to 800 BC. Hannibal refreshed himself with bubbling springwater at Vergeze on his way to attack Rome in 218 BC. Therapeutic application of mineral waters was very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Significant expenditures were made throughout Europe and the United States to develop lavish resorts and vacation spots at the famous mineral springs. The Romans may have initiated the uses of mineral waters, but the French are traditionally the modern developers and promoters of bottled waters. Evian was exported to the United States as early as 1905. Mountain Valley, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has been bottled since 1871. Poland Spring water of Maine has been distributed since the mid-1800s. Springwater has become the health drink of today. Uses of springwater through time, famous springs and famous consumers of springwater, and the therapeutic attributes of springwater are summarized in the following paper. Research included technical, nontechnical, and trade information. The paper provides a retrospective of historical aspects of the development of springwaters, a concise summary of medicinal characteristics of springwater, and insight to commercial enterprise of bottled water.     

Discovery of the Avon – Solent Fracture Zone and its relationship to Bath hot springs

 The hot springs of Bristol and Bath and two geothermal wells at Southampton are located on a 155-km-long Avon–Solent Fracture Zone extending in a NW–SE direction from the Severn Estuary to the English Channel. Initiated during the Variscan earth movements and reactivated in Miocene times, the structure, which extends across the English Channel to France, is still active. With this discovery, it should now be possible to throw fresh light on the origin and movement of the thermal water at Bath and thus to protect the hot springs from derogation by limestone quarrying. Received: 16 October 1995 · Accepted: 13 February 1996     

地质信息可视化的应用——城市环境地质研究之发展方向

随着21世纪人类城市化建设的发展，城市环境地质研究成为水工环地质研究领域的一个重要组成部分，城市建设中的最主要问题是水资源问题和环境地质问题。城市水资源问题有：城市后备水源地的研究，以及应急水资源地和地下水库的研究。城市环境地质问题主要包括：（1）围绕城市建设和发展的一般性资源、地质环境问题；（2）城市地质作用产生的地质环境问题；（3）城市人口密集区及工业区的土壤和水体有机污染问题。解决城市环境地质问题的关键是对地下空间地层岩性及构造条件的研究，通过这些基础条件研究分析城市地质环境和地下水资源问题。可视化研究技术通过对城市地质体在地下空间的相对位置、形态、物化特征等三维构模处理，使这些城市赖以存在的地质基础条件可为非专业的决策层所理解，并在城市发展的规划中体现这些大自然所赋予人类的地下空间资源的价值。应用三维可视化技术对城市环境地质研究是一个全新的研究领域，目前尚没有系统完整的应用先例。三维可视化技术将在城市化环境地质研究中，开拓一个崭新的环境地质研究时代，成为城市环境地质研究的发展方向。     

Tree-Ring-Based Spring Temperature Patterns over the Past Four Centuries in Western Himalaya

A network of 12 tree-ring width chronologies of Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) from the western Himalayan region, India, has been used to reconstruct mean spring (March–May) temperature variations back to A.D. 1600. The most conspicuous feature of the temperature reconstruction is the long-term cooling trend since the late 17th century that ended early in the 20th century. The warmest 30-yr mean for the 20th century was recorded during 1945–1974. However, this warming, in the context of the past four centuries is well within the range of natural variability, since warmer springs of greater magnitude occurred in the later part of the 17th century (1662–1691).     

城市环境地球化学研究综述

近年来地球科学越来越多地面向城市,城市环境受到人类活动的广泛影响,自然及人类活动引起的城市地球化学问题日益受到人们的重视。城市环境地球化学是应用地球化学的原理和方法研究城市生态环境问题,主要研究城市土壤、沉积物、尘埃、地表水、地下水、生物、空气等介质中化学元素及同位素的分布、演化、环境作用及健康效应,重点解决城市地球化学环境质量变化的原理及由此产生的生态环境效应及人体健康效应。城市环境地球化学的主要研究对象是传统工业城市、典型矿业城市及国际化的大都市。在城市地球化学概念出现之后短短的10余年时间内,很多国家开展了城市环境地球化学调查和研究工作,取得了重要的成果和进展,并发展成为环境地球化学与城市环境的重要方向,但仍存在着一定的问题,需要深入研究。目前,城市环境系统的地球化学填图、城市地球化学与环境污染研究、城市地球化学与生态风险研究、城市地球化学与人体健康研究、城市地球化学系统的调控与环境规划等领域是国际城市环境地球化学的热点和前沿。     

Resource use in the tropical karstlands of central Belize

Rural tropical ecosystems are subject to many traditional land uses that employ the indigenous karst resources: rock, water, soil, vegetation, and wildlife. Individual resource pressures often are subtle, but their combined impact can precipitate instability in the tropical karst environment, potentially resulting in disruption of food, water, and fuel supplies. The karst of central Belize was used intensively for some six centuries by Maya farmers, but between the 10th and 19th centuries AD most of it reverted to secondary forest. Commercial logging dominated the 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by the expansion of subsistence and commercial agriculture after 1945. In the 1980s resource use has accelerated as population and other pressures increase. Much karst remains forested, but there is increasing clearance for agricultural uses, particularly for citrus cultivation and small-scale mixed agriculture. Soil depletion has begun to occur, water resources are increasingly taxed, and some wildlife is threatened by habitat destruction and increased hunting. Lime production for the citrus industry has promoted quarrying, water extraction, and fuelwood use. Environmental stresses currently do not exceed the threshold of instability, but the rapidly developing rural economy warrants careful monitoring of resource pressures.     

Residence time distribution in the Kirkgoz karst springs (Antalya-Turkey) as a tool for contamination vulnerability assessment

Lumped parameter modeling of environmental tracer (tritium, CFCs and tritiogenic helium-3) transport in the Kirkgoz karst springs (Antalya-Turkey) appears to be a useful tool for assessing the vulnerability to contamination. Based on tritium observations between 1963 and 2000, the springs revealed a mean residence time (MRT) of 120 years. This suggests an active transport volume of 71 billion cubic meters for the aquifer, a value that is coherent with the estimated void volume of karst aquifer based on the mass of associated travertine deposits. The CFC-11 and CFC-12 MRTs are in agreement with tritium-based MRT, after correcting for excess air effect. Excess crustal and mantle helium flux hindered the use of tritiogenic helium-3 as a potential tracer. The residence time distribution (RTD) indicates a groundwater transport system that is fed by recharges extending back to past several hundred years. This wide RTD suggests that any recent contamination that may have entered the system could progress slowly within the entire aquifer but would be unnoticed in the early period because of the dilution effect of uncontaminated past recharge waters. Once the contamination is recognized, it may last for many centuries ahead even if the contamination practice is stopped. Thus, control of contaminant release to aquifer and monitoring of contaminant level in Kirkgoz springs is an immediate task for the associated public health authorities.     

未来五年我国城市地质工作战略思考

城市地质工作是未来地质工作的重要发展方向,已成为城市规划建设和经济社会发展的重要基础支撑。近10年来,城市地质学理论创新取得明显进展:创新了城市地质工作发展理念,创立了浅层地温能地质学理论体系,构建了城市地质调查和区域工程地质勘查评价体系;城市地质工作得到长足发展:找准了影响城市发展的重大地质问题,完成了一系列城市建设地质条件适宜性评价和重要战略资源勘查评价工作,开展了地质资源环境承载能力监测预警平台建设。"十三五"时期,面对新形势、新要求,我国城市地质工作必须贯彻落实五大发展理念,实施"两快、三高"战略,支撑城市建设和经济社会协调发展。     

Late Holocene evolution of Tiber river delta and geoarchaeology of Claudius and Trajan Harbor,Rome

This study provides new information on the evolution of the Tiber delta during the late Holocene, and describes the record of sedimentation in the Port of Claudius and Trajan. The Tiber flowed into the Tyrrhenian Sea in the area of the Port of Claudius and Trajan between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C. The harbor basins excavated by the Romans during the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. were filled with sediments containing saltwater fauna, then brackish‐water fauna, and finally by alluvial and marsh deposits. The Port of Claudius and Trajan was silted in as a consequence of episodes of alluviation that correlate with environmental events, possibly triggered by global climate changes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Environmental isotope investigation for the identification of source of springs observed in the hillock on the left flank of Gollaleru Earthen Dam,Andhra Pradesh,India

A hydrometric, hydrochemical and environmental isotopic study was conducted to identify the source and origin of observed springs on the foot of the hillock abutting the left flank of the Gollaleru earthen dam, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, India. Water samples (springs, reservoir water and groundwater) in and around the dam area were collected and analyzed for environmental isotopes (\(\updelta ^{18}\!\hbox {O}\), \(\updelta ^{2}\hbox {H}\) and \(^{3}\hbox {H}\)) and hydrochemistry. Reservoir level, spring discharges and physico-chemical parameters (temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, etc.) were monitored in-situ. Isotopic results indicated that the source of springs is from the Owk reservoir and groundwater contribution to the springs is insignificant. Based on hydrometric observations, it is inferred that the springs might be originated from the reservoir level of 209 m amsl. It is found that the lower spring discharges were derived from diffuse sources (seepage) which could be a mixture of reservoir water and the groundwater, while the relatively higher spring discharges were resulted from concentrated sources (leakage) from the reservoir. Thus, the study portraits the usefulness of isotope techniques in understanding the dam seepage/leakage related problems.     

五大连池药泉山矿泉微生物多样性及其地质和环境控制特征

药泉山矿泉是五大连池世界地质公园旅游疗养业赖以生存和发展的重要资源,然而其矿泉水的微生物研究一直是空白。本文在对五大连池药泉山矿泉环境水文地质前期成果的基础上,选择典型季节对该区域的矿泉水进行现场采样和分析,并进一步利用分子生物学PCR-DGGE技术对水样的微生物群落多样性进行了初步的研究与分析。结果表明：研究区的微生物多样性显著,而且不同季节微生物多样性统计参数存在巨大差异;在不同的空间位置夏季微生物多样性变化较大,但是同一位置的总体变化规律基本一致,这说明矿泉水中的微生物对地质特征、环境条件的响应具有良好的一致性;而冬季的微生物多样性统计参数在不同空间位置的变化规律也呈现明显差异,但是其他参数变化不大,对地质空间、环境条件响应微弱。该研究对揭示五大连池矿泉水微观成因具有一定的价值。     

Review: Characterization,evolution, and environmental issues of karst water systems in Northern China

In Northern China, karst systems in widely distributed carbonate rocks are one of the most important water supplies for local inhabitants. Constrained by the specific geological and geomorphological conditions, most karst water in this region is discharged as individual or groups of springs. This paper summarizes the characteristics, chemistry, and environmental quality of these karst systems in Northern China. Five structural models of karst water systems were identified based on the relationships between the karst geological strata and karst groundwater flow fields. These specific structural models may closely relate to the attendant environmental geological issues and consistent risks from pollution. Over the past 40 years, the karst water systems in Northern China have suffered from various environmental problems, including deteriorating water quality, the drying up of springs, a continuous decline in the level of karst water, and so on. Based on the field investigation and previous data, a preliminary summary is provided of the environmental problems related to the development and evolutionary trends of karst water in this region. The results highlight the significant challenges associated with karst water, and it is essential that all segments of society be made aware of the situation in order to demand change. In addition, the study provides a scientific basis for the management, protection, and sustainable utilization of karst water resources.     

Effects of restricted recharge in an urban karst system

Urban karst systems are typically considered more vulnerable to contamination and excess storm discharge because of potential source areas, increased sediment loading, and focusing of water from impervious surfaces. However, urban hydrology can lead to unexpected patterns, such as pirating of recharge into man-made storm systems. Valley Creek Basin in southeastern Pennsylvania, presents such an urban karst system. Four springs were monitored for suspended sediment, water chemistry, and storm response for an 18-month period. The baseflow suspended sediment concentrations were low, less than 4.0 mg/l. Furthermore, trace metal analysis of baseflow water samples and spring mouth sediment showed only low concentrations. The response to storms within the system was rapid, on the order of 1–3 h. The maximum water stage increases at the urban springs were typically less than 15 cm, with springs from more commercialized areas showing <2 cm increase. A nearby retention basin, in contrast, had water level rises of 100 cm, suggesting that pirating of recharge into stormwater systems occurs. Thus, the concept of an urban karst system as a contaminant conduit is not the only one that applies. In Valley Creek Basin, reduced infiltration due to paving led to smaller storm response and less contaminant input, and the smaller capture area due to diversion of stormwater led to short flow paths and rapid storm response. Although contaminant levels have not increased due to urbanization, the springs may be at risk for future contamination. Short flow paths may reduce flushing, which means that the system will not cleanse itself if contamination occurs.     

我国城市地质调查研究现状及发展方向

城市化是世界各国发展的共同趋势,是人类文明和进步的标志。论文简述了国内外城市环境地质工作的发展历史,着重论述了城市地质工作的现状及发展方向,指出我国城市环境地质中存在的问题。如地面沉降,地裂缝,岩溶塌陷等地质灾害及水资源短缺,城市废弃物处置以及特殊岩土环境问题。     

Structural geology controls on groundwater flow: Lembang Fault case study, West Java, Indonesia

Field evidence has shown that Lembang Fault (West Java, Indonesia) can act as a groundwater flow barrier. There are outcrops along the footwall comprising consolidated brecciated rock with very low permeability, springs and hot springs occurring along down-thrown hanging-wall rock adjacent to the fault, and a high permeability layer of old and young Tangkuban Parahu eruptive materials (hanging wall) juxtaposed against the low permeability of the older volcanic layer of Bukit Tunggul unit (footwall). Two different environmental tracers were utilized in the study: electrical conductivity measurement and stable isotope analysis. Hydraulic head was measured at some wells along the fault and water electrical conductivity measurements were carried out in a small catchment, the upper part of Cikapundung River basin, which is located just north of Bandung City. Water samples for stable isotope composition analysis were taken from 19 observation wells distributed randomly inside the basin. All analysis data lead to the recognition that Lembang Fault blocks the groundwater flow. No indication was found for water being recharged at higher elevation in the northern part of Bandung Basin, which means the recharged water in Mount Tangkuban Parahu area does not reach Bandung Plain.     

我国城市地球化学热点领域研究进展及展望

城市地球化学主要研究城市化进程中的生态环境地质问题,运用地球化学的原理和方法,通过研究城市及城市群的地下水、地表水、土壤、大气及其降尘、生物等环境体系中化学元素和部分有机物的分布、演化、环境作用及健康效应,区分污染源,对未来环境演变趋势作出预警并给出治理方案。我国城市地球化学研究的热点和前沿主要集中在城市生态环境多目标地球化学调查评价、城市环境污染及生态风险评价（估）、城市生态环境对人体的健康效应、城市隐伏活动断层的地球化学探测、城市地球化学系统的调控等领域,并取得了一定进展,但仍存在着一定的问题,需要深入研究。     

我国城市地质研究的历史演化与发展前景的认识

城市地质以调查研究和解决与城市建设及发展有关的各种资源、环境等地质问题为其基本任务。它随时代发展和国家需要侧重点有所不同。 2 1世纪是人类共同追求可持续发展的世纪 ,保护和合理利用资源环境已成为我国的一个重大战略问题。