Assessing the engineering properties of concrete made with fine dune sands: an experimental study

Sand dunes cover an area of 16.6% of the total area of Egypt. This paper presents the results of an extensive laboratory testing that was carried out to determine the engineering properties of concrete. The concrete fine aggregate is fine dune sands obtained from three sites in the Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt. All samples were classified as poorly graded sand according to the Unified Soil Classification system. Fineness modulus values of the studied dune sands range from 0.89 to 0.97. The percentage of sulfates and chlorides are very low and nearly negligible. Sodium and calcium hydroxides were recorded in some samples with scarce concentration. Organic impurities were not recorded. The degree of workability of the studied dune sands ranged from low to medium, which are suitable for normal reinforced work without vibration and heavily reinforced section with vibration. The measured compressive strength of concrete decreases with increasing dune sand content.     

Sedimentary processes,stratigraphic sequences and middens: the link between archaeology and geoheritage—a case study from the Quaternary of the Broome region,Western Australia

The cliffed and active dune coastal region of Broome provides an excellent record of Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy of desert environments interfacing with the Indian Ocean. The Mesozoic Broome Sandstone is the basal stratigraphic unit in the area and is overlain by Pleistocene red desert quartz sand (Mowanjum Sand). Modern coastal processes of waves, wind and tide have resulted in distinctive sedimentary bodies (stratigraphic units) clearly linked to the sedimentary environment. The Mowanjum Sand, reworked by coastal winds, generates the landward-ingressing orange quartzose Churchill Sand, or reworked by waves and abraded to white sand with the addition of carbonate grains that form the beaches (Cable Beach Sand) and with eolian action, coastal dunes or inland-ingressing white dunes (Shoonta Hill Sand). These sedimentary bodies and stratigraphic units form a template with which to locate and interpret archaeological middens and Indigenous occupation over the past 5000?years in a context of coastal occupation, coastal stability, mean sea-level changes, climate changes, and availability of marine food and freshwater. Shell middens and stone artefacts form definitive layers or horizons in relation to the stratigraphy, in places in situ, and elsewhere reworked as sheets and plumes; understanding their inter-relationships has enabled the unravelling of the archaeological history and relating Indigenous occupation to biofacies and lithofacies. The array of sedimentary, biofacies and stratigraphic units are of national geoheritage significance in their own right. The addition of archaeological deposits as stratigraphic units provides a link between geoheritage and archaeology, where the archaeological materials are viewed as part of the complex stratigraphic story, part of the coastal history, and part of the geoheritage story.     

湖北宜昌重要地质遗迹资源特征及发展模式探讨

本文系统总结了湖北宜昌地区省级及省级以上地质遗迹资源,认为该地区地质遗迹分布规律主要可概括为两个方面,一是受控于地形和河流的综合作用,以各类地貌景观遗迹为特点;二是各个地质时代地层剖面齐全,古生物化石产地聚集.其中可归类为世界级地质遗迹点为5个,均以"古生物化石"为核心,分别为三峡地区埃迪卡拉生物群、长阳寒武纪清江生物...     

Conserving Quaternary geoheritage in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has a rich and varied Quaternary geoheritage. Landforms and sediments from the last glacial phase of the Late Pleistocene are most prevalent, though the record extends from the last interglacial (MIS 5e) to the Holocene. The glacial record in the region continues to play a crucial role in the development of models of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet, with many sites having international significance. It is the role of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to legally protect and conserve this important Quaternary heritage, and a programme of statutory designation of these sites as Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs) has been in place for over twenty years. ASSIs are selected from the Pleistocene and Holocene themes of the Earth Science Conservation Review, the process through which geological sites in Northern Ireland are assessed to determine their importance to science, and so to geoconservation. This produced a significant series of reports that have contributed much to the grey and white literature for the Quaternary in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Quaternary geoheritage is recognised in the local planning system and existing and potential UNESCO Global Geoparks further serve to promote and protect this aspect of Northern Ireland's natural heritage. This paper summarises the Quaternary history of Northern Ireland, how ASSIs are selected to reflect this and how they are monitored and managed. It also considers how to ensure continued protection and recognition for Quaternary sites and features in the region.     

Geoheritage at the small scale: tidal-zone bubble-sand structures as diagnostic paleo-environmental indicators,and their geoheritage significance

In identifying sites of geoheritage significance, commonly there has been an emphasis on the larger-scale features. However, the story of geology and the significant features that are critical to unravel geological processes and geological history are commonly small in scale. This contribution focuses on bubble sand and bubble-sand structures as features that are small-scale but nonetheless important to geology, and hence are of geoheritage significance. Bubble sand and bubble-sand structures are ubiquitous on modern beaches and tidal flats, occurring in the uppermost tidal zone of sandy beaches, as a distinct layer in a shoaling beach-to-dune stratigraphy, and are a diagnostic indicator of upper-tidal conditions where a rising tide and a concomitantly rising water-table interacts with the upper swash-zone wave processes. On sandy tidal flats, bubble sand and bubble-sand structures may occur in the mid- to upper-tidal zones; here they are also diagnostic indicators of tidal conditions, forming during a rising tide where a rising water-table forces air upwards to be trapped in moist sand. If found in ancient sequences, bubble-sand structures are a powerful environmental indicator of tidal conditions and, for beach sequences, an indicator of the high-tide level and sea level. Bubble-sand structures have been found in a number of ancient sequences throughout the geological record as far back as the Neoproterozoic, e.g. within beach-to-dune stratigraphy in Pleistocene limestones of the Perth Basin and in southeastern USA, and in tidal-flat sands of the Mesozoic Broome Sandstone of the Canning Basin. The bubble-sand structure is a significant geological tool for use in paleo-environmental and paleo-oceanographic reconstructions, and determination of the position of a paleo-water-table. Given the rarity of their preservation, these occurrences of bubble-sand structures are of geoheritage significance in their own right and, depending on age of sequence and how common they are in the region, they may be nationally significant or globally significant.     

The contribution of Dutch landscape painters to the conservation of geoheritage

Landscape images are a way to register geoheritage, and we have applied it here in a consideration of the landscapes of the Netherlands. Before the 1950s these landscapes were documented chiefly by landscape painters; with useful photographs of limited availability. We have looked through a large number of paintings of Dutch landscapes to assess their geoheritage value, and present here a first reconnaissance.     

Rare earth elements of the Altar Desert dune and coastal sands, Northwestern Mexico

Twenty-one surficial sand samples from the Altar Desert coastal and desert dune systems were analysed for rare earth elements (REE) content. This was done to observe the provenance signatures for four strategic dune localities near the Colorado River Delta, the El Pinacate dune fields, and the beaches of the north of the Gulf of California in the state of Sonora, Mexico. Our goals are to show which mechanisms (i.e., aeolian, marine) exert more influence on the composition of the Altar Desert dune sands. This study also shows the usefulness of REE spatial distribution to determine the relative mobility of the sand. Some sand samples from the dune systems in San Luis Río Colorado (SLRC), Golfo de Santa Clara (GSC), and Puerto Peñasco (PP) displayed dissimilar REE concentrations with respect to the rest of the sand samples from the same sites. These differences can be related to short aeolian transport distance in the sands with high REE concentrations and long aeolian transport distance in the sands with low REE concentrations. Besides, high REE concentration in the sands might be due to their closeness to the Colorado River Delta sediments and to recycled sands derived from granitic rocks. In contrast, all the sand samples from the El Pinacate (EP) site have similar REE concentration values, suggesting that the El Pinacate dune sands are influenced by more selective aeolian processes and less diverse heavy mineral content. The Altar Desert dune sands are derived from granitic sources eroded by the Colorado River. Our results also indicate that the Altar Desert dune sands are low in heavy mineral content (with the exception of Fe and Ti bearing minerals) and enriched in carbonates with phosphates (especially at the PP site) yielding poor correlations between REE and major element concentrations. The REE geographical distribution values in the Altar Desert dune sands indicate that light and heavy REE concentration values are related to aeolian transport, maturity of the sands, their low weathering rates, proximity of the source rocks, and the biogenic debris input from beach sands into the dune.     

The geoheritage significance of crystals

Crystals are very common and, aside from regions of its molten interior, the Earth can be considered to be a crystalline planet with many types of crystals, expressed as thousands of mineral varieties, occurring in diverse environments. Some of these crystals (and minerals) are of geoheritage significance because of their size, composition, shape, zoning, reaction rims, mineral inclusions, fluid and gas inclusions, twinning, dislocations, exsolution, the unusual occurrence or rarity of a crystal attribute, and their form of aggregation, such as desert roses, or druses. If macroscale geological features are assessed as important in unravelling Earth history, and afforded geoheritage significance, then importance should also be given to crystals where similar principles and patterns are present. Some notable crystals of geoheritage significance are the giant gypsum in Mexico and in Spain, the zircon crystals of Jack Hills (the oldest crystals on Earth), the large well‐formed pyrite in Spain, snowball garnets from various locations, and Iceland spar from its type locality.     

Web information monitoring and crowdsourcing for promoting and enhancing the Algerian geoheritage

The documentation and management of information concerning geological sites are important activities in all the steps of the geoheritage conservation and its day-to-day management. This documentation is mostly available on the web; it includes varied types of data such as pictures, scientific publications, news, and blog articles. In order to ensure the efficient management of the geoheritage resources, scientists and people involved in the promotion of the geoheritage and geotourism should have access to this documentation and kept updated of the most recent and relevant information. In this study, we propose the development of a web information monitoring system that automates the search and the collection of different types of documents related to the Algerian geosites available on the web. It is designed as a tool that continuously browses the web using the most popular search engines and then disseminates the results to the users through periodic newsletters. This proposed system will also serve to chronologically organize all the pictures of geosites gathered from the web and thus in order to study the evolution of Algerian geosites over time. For this purpose, we use one of the crowdsourcing methods in the field of knowledge management that is games with a purpose (GWAP). The idea here is to involve people in sorting pictures of geosites through a playful interface. The results obtained show that this system is a valuable tool that can assist geoscientists and decision makers in enhancing the geoheritage.     

Pollen diagram from the Nebraska Sandhills and the age of the dunes

Radiocarbon dates of organic alluvium beneath as much as 40 m of dune sand along the Dismal River have led to the suggestion that the Nebraska Sandhills date from the Holocene rather than the last glacial period. On the other hand, the basal layers of lake and marsh deposits in interdune depressions at three localities date in the range of 9000 to 12,000 yr B.P., implying a pre-Holocene age for the sand dunes. A pollen diagram for one of these sites, Swan Lake, indicates prairie vegetation throughout the last 9000 yr, with no suggestion that the landscape was barren enough to permit the shaping of the massive dunes characterizing the area. Sand was not transported across the site during the Holocene, either during the marsh phase, which lasted until 3700 yr B.P., or during the subsequent lake phase. The sand that buries the alluvium along the Dismal River may represent only local eolian activity, or it may indicate that the younger of the two main dune series identified by H. T. U. Smith (1965, Journal of Geology73, 557–578) is Holocene in age, and the older one Late Wisconsin in age.     

Coastal dunes and strandplains in southeast Queensland: Sequence and chronology

Parabolic dunes invade coastal strandplains and overlie prior blown dunes in southeast Queensland. These coastal dune landscapes were produced primarily by real changes in wind strength and frequency. Sand movement began in past glacial ages and in the most recent instance persisted into Holocene time. Four interglacial shores are identified with marine isotope stages 5, 7, 9 and 11, and allow estimation of the ages of the dune and beach sands, by correlation with the EPICA Dome C ice core, as follows: Triangle dune sand, n.d.; Garawongera dune sand, 65 ka; Woorim beach sand, 125 ka; Bribie beach sand, 245 ka; Bowarrady dune sand, 270 ka; Poyungan beach sand, 335 ka; Yankee Jack dune sand, 360 ka; Ungowa beach sand, 410 ka; Awinya dune sand, 430 – 486 ka; Cooloola dune sand, >486 ka.     

安徽“两山一湖”地区地质遗迹资源评价

安徽省“两山一湖”地区地质遗迹资源十分丰富,有层型剖面和极为丰富的古生物化石,有斜贯皖南中部台地的斜坡相沉积,还有极其丰富的构造形迹、岩溶、洞穴、温泉、瀑布、古火山、古冰川等地质景观。其中以黄山、九华山为代表的花岗岩地貌景观、以齐云山为代表的丹霞地貌景观、以清凉峰为代表的火山岩地貌景观和歙县鸡母山侏罗纪恐龙化石最具代表性。通过对区内地质遗迹的分类探讨,叙述了地质遗迹的内容,对区内地质遗迹的开发现状及存在的问题进行了阐述,对地质自然景观资源的开发潜力及开发价值进行了评述。     

A qualitative risk assessment for the impacts of climate change on nationally and internationally important geoheritage sites in Scotland

Climate change is a significant concern for nature conservation in the 21?st century. One of the goals of the 2014 Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme is to identify the consequences of climate change for protected areas and to put in place adaptation or mitigation measures. As a contribution to the process, this paper develops a methodology to identify the relative level of risk to nationally and internationally important geological and geomorphological sites in Scotland from the impacts of climate change. The methodology is based on existing understanding of the likely responses of different types of geosite to specific aspects of climate change, such as changes in rainfall, rising sea levels or increased storminess, and is applied to assess the likelihood of damaging impacts on groups of similar geoheritage features in sites with similar characteristics. The results indicate that 80 (8.8%) of the ～900 nationally and internationally important geoheritage sites in Scotland are at ‘high’ risk from climate change. These include active soft-sediment coastal and fluvial features, finite Quaternary sediment exposures and landforms in coastal and river locations, active periglacial features, sites with palaeoenvironmental records, finite or restricted rock exposures and fossils. Using this risk-based assessment, development of indicative geoheritage climate-change actions have been prioritised for these sites. Depending on the characteristics of the sites, management options may range from ‘do nothing’ to rescue excavations and posterity recording. Monitoring is an essential part of the management process to trigger evidence-based interventions.     

医学地质遗迹概念和评价体系的建立

在分析和研究医学地质学和地质遗迹发展现状的基础上,首次提出了医学地质遗迹的概念,并对其进行了厘定.我国医学地质遗迹主要分布在"东北地区-太行山-黄土高原-武陵山-四川盆地-云贵高原"一线,地形特征复杂,大型断裂构造带集中.依据致病元素将医学地质遗迹分为5类:硒缺乏(克山病、大骨节病)医学地质遗迹、硒中毒医学地质遗迹、碘缺乏(地方性甲状腺肿)医学地质遗迹、氟中毒医学地质遗迹和地球化学元素致癌医学地质遗迹.以自然地质属性和科研价值为主要评价因子,建立了医学地质遗迹评价体系,并以湖北恩施硒中毒地质遗迹为实例进行评价,结果表明该评价体系具有实用性和可操作性.     

Deflection of sand movement on a sinuous longitudinal (seif) dune: use of fluorescent dye as tracer

Sand was marked by fluorescent dye in order to trace sand movement and deposition on a longitudinal (seif) sand dune in the Sinai desert. The wind regime was monitored simultaneously. Tracing the dyed sand was possible after light to moderate sand storms and was graphically represented on maps.The dune was subjected to a seasonally bidirectional wind regime, with the wind hitting the dune obliquely on either side. On the windward flank the sand was transported parallel to the wind direction. On the lee flank sand movement was deflected towards parallelism with the crest line. Sand movement was deflected if the dune had a sharp profile which favored separation of wind flow on the lee flank. The deflection depended on the angle of incidence between the wind and the crest line: when the angle of incidence was < 40°, sand on the lee flank was transported parallel to the crest line; when the angle of incidence was nearly perpendicular to the crest, movement along the lee flank abated and deposition occurred. Where the dune was low, flat and blunt, as in a zibar dune, there was no boundary-layer separation and no deflection of sand movement on the lee flank. The deflected movement along the lee flank resulted in elongation of the longitudinal (seif) dune.     

Conditions favourable for the formation of warm-climate aeolian sand sheets

Aeolian sand sheets are areas of aeolian sand where dunes with slipfaces are generally absent. Sand sheets are ubiquitous to modern, warm-climate sand seas, generally occurring marginal to dune fields, although they may exist within the interior of a sand sea or independent of a dune field. Sand-sheet deposits are recognized in ancient aeolian sequences, where they may account for significant accumulations of low-angle aeolian stratification. We suggest that the occurrence of sand sheets instead of dunes indicates that conditions are outside the range within which dunes form or that one or more factors interfere with dune development while also favouring the accumulation of sand sheets. A study of six modern sand sheets in North America (located at Great Sand Dunes, Gran Desierto, Dumont, Algodones, Padre Island, and Colorado River delta) indicates that the factors favourable for sand-sheet development are: (1) a high water table, (2) surface cementation or binding, (3) periodic flooding, (4) a significant coarse-grained sediment population, and (5) vegetation. These factors are reflected in the nature of stratification and the accessory features of sand-sheet accumulations within the areas of modern sand sheets as well as in their ancient counterparts in the Triassic Dolores and Pennsylvanian-Permian Rico formations.     

Sand movement patterns in the Western Desert of Egypt: an environmental concern

Wind action is the most dominant agent for erosion and deposition in the vast Western Desert of Egypt. Analysis of wind data from seven meteorological stations distributed along the Western Desert reveals that this desert is characterized by high-energy wind environments along the northern and southern edges and low-energy wind environments throughout the rest of the desert. Accordingly, sand drift potential follows the pattern of wind energy. Maximum sand drift potential was observed at the southern edge (571 vector units, which equals 40 m³/m width/year). Sand drift direction was observed towards the southeast except at the southern part of the desert where the trend of sand movement was towards southwest. The major dune type recognized on satellite images was the simple linear type. Linear dunes are generally associated with bimodal wind regime. Rates of sand drift potential and sand dune migration were greatest at East of Owinate region at the extreme southern part of the desert. Measurements of crescentic sand dune advance from two satellite images reveal a maximum advance rate of about 9 m/year at the southern part of the desert. Dune movement creates potential hazard to the infrastructures in this open desert.     

Geoheritage importance of stratigraphic type sections,type localities and reference sites—review,discussion and protocols for geoconservation

Equivalent in principle to type localities and type specimens in biology and paleontology, geological type sections and type localities, whether for sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous units, are critically important sites as long-term reference and research localities and for geo-education of students. Unlike type specimens that are housed in museums or established institutions of learning, most geological type sections and localities are in field settings and, if they are not located in National Parks or other reserves with some legislated protection, run the risk of being destroyed, inundated, buried by earthworks or otherwise modified. The history of the geological sciences in Australia is such that a number of type localities, or stratigraphic type sections, have been destroyed by local government actions, or developers through lack of knowledge of their importance, or lack of knowledge of their existence. Examples of the severe modification or loss of type sections include those of the Maxicar beds, the Tims Thicket Limestone and the Eaton Sand. The UK, a leader in the field of Geoconservation and with a number of global stratotype section and point locations as well as many other type sections identified within its borders, provides models for preserving and managing important geological sites and type sections. Whole-of-government and local governments are involved in the registering and protection of important geological sites. Aspects of the UK model may be adapted to help secure geological type sections and localities in Australia. While some type sections and heritage localities are already protected, to improve the level of protection for more sites we propose a long-term, multi-pronged approach: creation of an inventory of all nominated locations; registration of appropriate sites at Local, State or Federal government levels, where current legislation allows; education of landowners and land managers, both government and non-government to highlight the importance of type sections to science; and securing more geological type sections and localities in some form of reserve.     

石英光释光测年揭示的晚第四纪毛乌素沙地演化

本研究利用石英光释光测年的单片再生法(Single­aliquot Regenerative­dose Protocol,简称SAR)对毛乌素沙地内部西北－东南方向5个风成砂－砂质古土壤剖面进行了年代测定,结合年代框架和剖面沉积相、磁化率及粒度特征探讨了晚第四纪以来毛乌素沙地演化和气候变化。研究表明毛乌素沙地在晚第四纪以来经历了多次沙地固定与活化的交替演化： 距今91.0ka,71.0ka,48.0ka,22.0ka,11.6ka,5.0ka,1.1ka,1.0ka和0.4ka前后风成砂沉积,沙地活化,指示气候干旱,植被覆盖度低; 在距今65ka和全新世适宜期(8.5～5.0ka),沙地固定成壤,砂质古土壤发育,指示气候湿润。另外,剖面中风成砂层数变多、厚度增加、粒径变粗指示了晚第四纪以来毛乌素沙地干旱化趋势加强。     

Episodic Late Holocene dune movements on the sand-sheet area, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GSDNPP) in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, contains a variety of eolian landforms that reflect Holocene drought variability. The most spectacular is a dune mass banked against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which is fronted by an extensive sand sheet with stabilized parabolic dunes. Stratigraphic exposures of parabolic dunes and associated luminescence dating of quartz grains by single-aliquot regeneration (SAR) protocols indicate eolian deposition of unknown magnitude occurred ca. 1290-940, 715 ± 80, 320 ± 30, and 200-120 yr ago and in the 20th century. There are 11 drought intervals inferred from the tree-ring record in the past 1300 yr at GSDNPP potentially associated with dune movement, though only five eolian depositional events are currently recognized in the stratigraphic record. There is evidence for eolian transport associated with dune movement in the 13th century, which may coincide with the “Great Drought”, a 26-yr-long dry interval identified in the tree ring record, and associated with migration of Anasazi people from the Four Corners areas to wetter areas in southern New Mexico. This nascent chronology indicates that the transport of eolian sand across San Luis Valley was episodic in the late Holocene with appreciable dune migration in the 8th, 10-13th, and 19th centuries, which ultimately nourished the dune mass against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.