Estimating groundwater storage changes in the Mississippi River basin (USA) using GRACE

Based on satellite observations of Earth’s time variable gravity field from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), it is possible to derive variations in terrestrial water storage, which includes groundwater, soil moisture, and snow. Given auxiliary information on the latter two, one can estimate groundwater storage variations. GRACE may be the only hope for groundwater depletion assessments in data-poor regions of the world. In this study, soil moisture and snow were simulated by the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) and used to isolate groundwater storage anomalies from GRACE water storage data for the Mississippi River basin and its four major sub-basins. Results were evaluated using water level records from 58 wells set in the unconfined aquifers of the basin. Uncertainty in the technique was also assessed. The GRACE-GLDAS estimates compared favorably with the well based time series for the Mississippi River basin and the two sub-basins that are larger than 900,000 km². The technique performed poorly for the two sub-basins that have areas of approximately 500,000 km². Continuing enhancement of the GRACE processing methods is likely to improve the skill of the technique in the future, while also increasing the temporal resolution.     

Neotectonics of the upper Mississippi embayment

Although the upper Mississippi embayment is an area of low relief, the region has been subjected to tectonic influence throughout its history and continues to be so today. Tectonic activity can be recognized through seismicity patterns and geological indicators of activity, either those as a direct result of earthquakes, or longer term geomorphic, structural, and sedimentological signatures. The rate of seismic activity in the upper Mississippi embayment is generally lower than at the margins of tectonic plates; the embayment, however, is the most seismically active region east of the Rocky Mountains, with activity concentrated in the New Madrid seismic zone. This zone produced the very large New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.

Geological and geophysical evidence of neotectonic activity in the upper Mississippi embayment includes faulting in the Benton Hills and Thebes Gap in Missouri, paleoliquefaction in the Western Lowlands of Missouri, subsurface faulting beneath and tilting of Crowley's Ridge in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri, subsurface faulting along the Crittenden County fault zone near Memphis, Tennessee, faulting along the east flank of the Tiptonville dome, and numerous indicators of historic and prehistoric large earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone.

Paleoearthquake studies in the New Madrid seismic zone have used trenching, seismic reflection, shallow coring, pedology, geomorphology, archaeology, and dendrochronology to identify and date faulting, deposits of liquefied sand, and areas of uplift and subsidence. The cause of today's relatively high rate of tectonic activity in the Mississippi embayment remains elusive. It is also not clear whether this activity rate is a short term phenomenon or has been constant over millions of years. Ongoing geodetic and geological studies should provide more insight as to the precise manner in which crustal strain is accumulating, and perhaps allow improved regional neotectonic models.     

Seismotectonic implications of sand blows in the southern Mississippi Embayment

We explore seismically-induced sand blows from the southern Mississippi Embayment and their implications in resolving the question of near or distal epicentral source region. This was accomplished using aerial photography, field excavations, and cone penetration tests. Our analysis shows that three sand blow fields exhibit a distinct chronology of strong ground motion for the southern embayment: (1) The Ashley County, Arkansas sand blow field, near the Arkansas/Louisiana state border, experienced four Holocene sand venting episodes; (2) to the north, the Desha County field experienced at least three episodes of liquefaction; and (3) the Lincoln–Jefferson Counties field experienced at least one episode. Cone penetration tests (CPT) conducted in and between the sand blow fields suggest that the fields may not be distal liquefaction associated with New Madrid seismic zone earthquakes but rather are likely associated with strong earthquakes on local faults. This conclusion is consistent with the differences in timing of the southern embayment sand venting episodes and those in the New Madrid seismic zone. These results suggest that active tectonism and strong seismicity in intraplate North America may not be localized at isolated weak spots, but rather widespread on fault systems that are favorably oriented for slip in the contemporary stress field.     

Geological influences on the Lower Mississippi River and its alluvial valley

Studies of photographs, maps, and channel morphology permit identification of greatly different Mississippi River reaches. From this, it becomes apparent that this large alluvial river is not monotonous in appearance, and therefore, it is not completely controlled by hydrology and hydraulics. In fact, the Mississippi River has reacted to uplift, faults, clay plugs, outcrops of Tertiary clay, and Pleistocene gravel in its bed, and tributaries. This classic example of a large alluvial river has major geological controls on its shape, pattern, and magnitude of change through time. In addition, the same controls plus the effect of plutonic intrusives and fault zones have significantly affected smaller rivers and the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River.     

郯庐断裂带（安徽段）对地表水系空间分布形态的影响研究

为了研究郯庐断裂带（安徽段）构造活动对其周边地表水系形态及其发育特征的影响,本文基于DEM数据,利用GIS空间分析功能并结合郯庐断裂带构造运动特征,对郯庐断裂带（安徽段）周边水系的几何分布特征进行研究。研究表明：郯庐断裂带（安徽段）在不同地质历史时期对区内地表水系产生错动影响。受郯庐断裂三叠纪到白垩纪期间左旋走滑运动影响,两条二级水系在大别山区自西北向东南流经郯庐主干断裂及次级断裂时与断裂呈近似直角相交并发生左旋错动。大别山地区的皖河流域与华阳河流域水系受郯庐断裂第四纪以来逆右行平移运动影响流向由东南向同步大幅度拐向南西,表现为右旋扭错;巢湖流域水系受五河—合肥断裂和石门山断裂影响也出现了右旋位错。此外,受郯庐断裂带构造运动形成的合肥盆地和地堑式嘉山盆地的影响,池河的主河道沿合肥盆地东侧的沉降带和石门山断裂与嘉庐断裂之间的嘉山盆地发育。     

218Po法测氡对甘肃疏勒河断裂带中段的稳定性研究

本文以疏勒河断裂带中段遥感地质特征及甚低频电磁异常特征为基础,通过测定断裂带上部地表的氡射气浓度,对疏勒河断裂带中段的稳定性进行了分析和评价。结果表明,疏勒河断裂带中段是一条较为稳定的断裂。     

Stratigraphic evidence for millennial-scale temporal clustering of earthquakes on a continental-interior fault: Holocene Mississippi River floodplain deposits, New Madrid seismic zone, USA

The earthquake cycles that characterize continental-interior areas that are far from active plate boundaries have proven highly cryptic and difficult to resolve. We used a novel paleoseismic proxy to address this issue. Namely, we reconstructed Holocene Mississippi River channels from maps of floodplain strata in order to identify channel perturbations reflective of major displacement events on the high-hazard and mid-plate Reelfoot thrust fault, New Madrid seismic zone, U.S.A. Only three discrete slip events are currently documented for the Reelfoot fault ( AD 900,  AD 1450, and AD 1812). This study extends this record and, thus, illustrates the utility of stratigraphic proxies as paleoseismic tools. We concurrently offer here some of the first quantified response times for tectonically induced channel pattern changes in large alluvial rivers.

We identified at least two cycles of pervasive meandering that were interrupted by channel-straightening responses occurring upstream of the Reelfoot fault scarp. These straightening responses initiated at 2244 BC +/− 269 to 1620 BC +/− 220 and  AD 900, respectively, and each records initiation of a period of Reelfoot fault slip after millennia of relative tectonic quiescence. The second (or New Madrid) straightening response was triggered by the previously known  AD 900 fault slip event, and this initial low sinuosity has been protracted until the modern day by the latter  AD 1450 and AD 1812 events. The first (or Bondurant) straightening response began a period of several hundred to  1400 years of low river sinuosity which evidences a similar period of multiple recurrent displacement events on the Reelfoot fault. These Bondurant events predate the existing paleoseismic record for the Reelfoot fault.

These data offer initial evidence that slip events on the Reelfoot fault were temporally clustered on millennial scales and, thus, offers the first direct evidence for millennial-scale clustering of earthquakes on a continental-interior fault. This carries additional ramifications. Namely, faults that have been quiescent and non-hazardous for millennia could re-enter an enduring period of recurrent hazardous earthquakes with little warning. Likewise, the Reelfoot fault also reveals evidence of temporal clustering of earthquakes on short-term cycles (months), as well as evidence for longer-term reactivation cycles (10⁴–10⁶ years). This introduces the possibility that temporal clustering could be hierarchical on some continental-interior faults.     

AMS Radiocarbon Age of the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt

Accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon ages of the Roxana Silt (loess) along the Upper Mississippi Valley of Wisconsin and Minnesota indicate that loess sedimentation of the Roxana Silt occurred between about 55,000 and 27,000 ¹⁴ C yr B.P. However, due to local environmental controls, the basal age at any given site may range from 55,000 to 35,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The radiocarbon ages presented here are in agreement with previous radiocarbon ages for the Roxana Silt in its type area of west-central Illinois, but indicate that long-term sedimentation rates along the bluffline of the Upper Mississippi Valley were very slow (4-8 cm/1000 yr) compared to long-term sedimentation rates along the bluffline of the type area (40-70 cm/1000 yr). Comparison of radiocarbon ages for midcontinent middle Wisconsinan loess deposits indicates that sedimentation along the Mississippi River valley may have preceded loess sedimentation along the Missouri River valley by as much as 20,000 yr or that basal ages for middle Wisconsinan loess along the Missouri Valley are erroneously young. The bracketing ages for the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt indicate that the Mississippi River valley was receiving outwash sedimentation between 55,000 and 27,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.     

川滇黔地区MVT铅锌矿床分布、特征及成因

位于扬子地台西南缘的川滇黔铅锌多金属成矿区是中国重要的铅、锌、银、锗生产基地,目前在该成矿区已经发现大、中、小型铅锌矿床和矿点400多处。经过对比研究,这些矿床的赋矿围岩为震旦系一二叠系碳酸盐岩,矿体明显受控于断裂构造,并伴随有强烈的白云岩化和方解石化,以低温、低盐度为特征,成矿时代可能为中生代,成矿物质主要来自地层本身。它们为受热对流循环流体经过成矿物质萃取、搬运和卸载而成矿,是大陆边缘造山带东侧伸展带中的产物,属于比较典型的密西西比河谷型铅锌矿床。     

Sources of elevated salinity in the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer, south-central Louisiana, USA

Salinization is a process impacting groundwater quality and availability across much of southern Louisiana, USA. However, a broad divergence of opinion exists regarding the causes of this elevated salinity: updip-migrating marine waters from the Gulf of Mexico, saline fluids migrating up fault planes, movement of water from salt domes, and/or remnant seawater from the last major marine transgression. The Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) in south-central Louisiana is recharged by the Mississippi River, and there are discharge zones to the west and east. Recharge waters from the Mississippi River are fresh, but Cl⁻ levels in the western portions of the aquifer are as high as 1000 mg/L. The aquifer is an important source of water for several municipalities and industries, but prior to this study the source(s) of the elevated salinity or whether the salinization can be remediated had not been determined.The low Br/Cl ratios in the groundwaters are consistent with a saline endmember produced by subsurface dissolution of salt domes, not a marine source. The H and O isotopic systematics of the aquifer waters indicate meteoric sources for the H₂O, not marine waters or diagenetically-altered deep brines. The westward salinization of aquifer water represents a broad regional process, instead of contamination by point sources. Mapping of spatial variations in salinity has permitted the identification of specific salt domes whose subsurface dissolution is producing waters of elevated salinity in the aquifer. These include the Bayou Choctaw and St. Gabriel domes, and possibly the Bayou Blue dome. Salinization is a natural, on-going process, and the potential for remediation or control is slight, if not non-existent.     

密西西比河流域监测、修复管理经验对我国流域生态保护修复的启示

美国流域保护修复的研究与实践开始较早,并在密西西比河的修复与治理上取得了良好成效,对我国流域生态保护修复工作具有一定借鉴意义。介绍了密西西比河的管理模式,并对美国在密西西比河开展的具有代表性的长期生态监测及修复管理工作进行了总结,总结了对我国流域生态保护修复工作的7点启示: ①建立和完善流域生态系统监测与评价指标体系; ②建立流域综合监测网络,进行全流域持续监测; ③建设流域生态信息平台,加强数据共享; ④以流域为单元开展生态状况调查和评估; ⑤建立和完善监测、评估、规划、实施循环体系; ⑥提升对流域生态系统的科学认知; ⑦加强流域协调治理,创新我国流域生态保护修复管理体系。旨在为我国广泛开展流域保护修复工作提供一个覆盖河源头至河口的流域监测与修复管理案例。     

The lowermost Mississippi River: a mixed bedrock‐alluvial channel

In this study, the distribution of channel‐bed sediment facies in the lowermost Mississippi River is analysed using multibeam data, complemented by sidescan sonar and compressed high‐intensity radar pulse seismic data, as well as grab and core samples of bed material. The channel bed is composed of a discontinuous layer of alluvial sediment and a relict substratum that is exposed on the channel bed and sidewalls. The consolidated substratum is made up of latest Pleistocene and Early Holocene fluvio‐deltaic deposits and is preferentially exposed in the deepest thalweg segments and on channel sidewalls in river bends. The exposed substratum commonly displays a suite of erosional features, including flutes that are quantitatively similar in form to those produced under known laboratory conditions. A total of five bed facies are mapped, three of which include modern alluvial deposits and two facies that are associated with the relict substratum. A radius of curvature analysis applied to the Mississippi River centreline demonstrates that the reach‐scale distribution of channel‐bed facies is related to river planform. From a broader perspective, the distribution of channel‐bed facies is related to channel sinuosity — higher sinuosity promotes greater substratum exposure at the expense of alluvial sediment. For example, the ratio of alluvial cover to substratum is ca 1·5:1 for a 45 km segment of the river that has a sinuosity of 1·76 and this ratio increases to ca 3:1 for a 120 km segment of the river that has a sinuosity of 1·21. The exposed substratum is interpreted as bedrock and, given the relative coverage of alluvial sediment in the channel, the lowermost Mississippi River can be classified as a mixed bedrock‐alluvial channel. The analyses demonstrate that a mixed bedrock‐alluvial channel boundary can be associated with low‐gradient and sand‐bed rivers near their marine outlet.     

The Olmsted fault zone, southernmost Illinois: A key to understanding seismic hazard in the northern new Madrid seismic zone

Geological deformation in the northern New Madrid seismic zone, near Olmsted, Illinois (USA), is analyzed using integrated compressional-wave (P) and horizontally polarized-wave (SH) seismic reflection and regional and dedicated borehole information. Seismic hazards are of special concern because of strategic facilities (e.g., lock and dam sites and chemical plants on the Ohio River near its confluence with the Mississippi River) and because of alluvial soils subject to high amplification of earthquake shock. We use an integrated approach starting with lower resolution, but deeper penetration, P-wave reflection profiles to identify displacement of Paleozoic bedrock. Higher resolution, but shallower penetration, SH-wave images show deformation that has propagated upward from bedrock faults into Pleistocene loess. We have mapped an intricate zone more than 8 km wide of high-angle faults in Mississippi embayment sediments localized over Paleozoic bedrock faults that trend north to northeast, parallel to the Ohio River. These faults align with the pattern of epicenters in the New Madrid seismic zone. Normal and reverse offsets along with positive flower structures imply a component of strike-slip; the current stress regime favors right-lateral slip on northeast-trending faults. The largest fault, the Olmsted fault, underwent principal displacement near the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 to 70 million years ago. Strata of this age (dated via fossil pollen) thicken greatly on the downthrown side of the Olmsted fault into a locally subsiding basin. Small offsets of Tertiary and Quaternary strata are evident on high-resolution SH-wave seismic profiles. Our results imply recent reactivation and possible future seismic activity in a critical area of the New Madrid seismic zone. This integrated approach provides a strategy for evaluating shallow seismic hazard-related targets for engineering concerns.     

Significant resistivity changes in the fault zone associated with the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, west-central Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the possible influence of an earthquake on the resistivity distribution in a fault zone. We collected resistivity image profiles across a proposed fault trace prior to the 7.3 magnitude 1999 shallow earthquake in the Chi-Chi area of Taiwan. Significant positive resistivity anomalies were observed in the hanging wall after the earthquake. However, there were negligible resistivity changes in the footwall. From an examination of geoelectric phenomena and surface rupture in the fault zone, it is believed that geoelectric anomalies are associated with abrupt displacement along the active Chelungpu fault. This result indicates a potential for resistivity methods to provide a basis for the monitoring of an active fault.     

四川省甘洛县高丰铅锌矿床地质特征与成因分析

甘洛县高丰铅锌矿床为近年来扬子地块西南缘川滇黔交界区发现的大型铅锌矿床。矿床地质勘查表明,铅锌矿体主要赋存于震旦系灯影组白云岩层间破碎带中,共圈定6条铅锌矿体,其中Ⅰ-1和Ⅱ-1等2条主矿体延伸长、厚度大、品位富,多呈层状、似层状、脉状、团块状、浸染状分布。矿床受区域性断裂、褶皱构造和层间破碎带的控制,同时具有"层控"和后成的特点。根据同位素年代学信息判断,矿床形成于三叠纪末—侏罗纪的造山期构造运动中;综合同位素地球化学和包裹体地球化学特征,铅锌矿形成于中低温、中等盐度、中浅成的地质环境中;铅锌矿为造山期地下热卤水萃取围岩中的成矿物质,形成含矿流体,并在层间破碎带等减压空间聚集、卸载成矿。研究表明,矿床为受中生代构造活动控制、具有"层控"特点的热液交代充填型铅锌矿床,可与密西西比河谷型(MVT)铅锌矿床类比。     

Clay mineral distributions in and around the Mississippi River watershed and Northern Gulf of Mexico: sources and transport patterns

Maps of the distributions of the four major clay minerals (smectite, illite, kaolinite and chlorite) in and around the Mississippi River drainage basin and in the Northern Gulf of Mexico have been produced using newly acquired data from erodible/alluvial terrestrial sediments and marine surface sediments, as well as from previously published data. East of the Rockies, North America can be divided into four, large, clay-mineral provinces: (1) the north-western Mississippi River watershed (smectite rich), (2) the Great Lakes area and eastern Mississippi River watershed (illite and chlorite rich), (3) the south-eastern United States (kaolinite rich) and (4) the Brazos River and south-western Mississippi River watersheds (illite and kaolinite rich). The clay mineral distributions in surface sediments of the present-day Gulf of Mexico are strongly influenced by three main factors: (1) by relative fluvial contributions: the Mississippi River delivers the bulk of the clay input to the Northern Gulf of Mexico whereas the Apalachicola, Mobile, Brazos and Rio Grande rivers inputs have more local influences; (2) by differential settling of various clay mineral species, which is identified for the first time in Northern Gulf of Mexico sediments; and (3) by oceanic current transport: the Gulf of Mexico surface and subsurface circulation distributes the clay-rich sediments from river mouth sources throughout the Northern Gulf of Mexico.     

Hydrothermal mixing,carbonate dissolution and sulfide precipitation in Mississippi Valley-type deposits

A large number of Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) deposits are located within dissolution zones in carbonate host rocks. Some genetic models propose the existence of cavities generated by an earlier event such as a shallow karstification, that were subsequently filled with hydrothermal minerals. Alternative models propose carbonate dissolution caused by the simultaneous precipitation of sulfides. These models fail to explain either the deep geological setting of the cavities, or the observational features which suggest that the dissolution of carbonates and the precipitation of minerals filling the cavities are not strictly coeval. We present a genetic model inspired by the textural characteristics of MVT deposits that accounts for both the dissolution of carbonate and precipitation of sulfides and later carbonates in variable volumes. The model is based on the mixing of two hydrothermal fluids with a different chemistry. Depending on the proportion of the end members, the mixture dissolves and precipitates carbonates even though the two mixing solutions are both independently saturated in carbonates. We perform reactive transport simulations of mixing of a regional groundwater and brine ascending through a fracture, both saturated in calcite, but with different overall chemistries (Ca and carbonate concentrations, pH, etc). As a result of the intrinsic effects of chemical mixing, a carbonate dissolution zone, which is enhanced by acid brines, appears above the fracture, and another zone of calcite precipitation builds up between the cavity and the surrounding rock. Sulfide forms near the fracture and occupies a volume smaller than the cavity. A decline of the fluid flux in the fracture would cause the precipitation of calcite within the previously formed cavities. Therefore, dissolution of carbonate host rock, sulfide precipitation within the forming cavity, and later filling by carbonates may be part of the same overall process of mixing of fluids in the carbonate host rock.Editorial handling: C. Everett     

河西走廊黑河鼎新至哨马营段河水与地下水转化途径分析

运用美国ＧＥＯＭＥＴＲＩＣＳ公司制造的ＳｔｒａｔａｇｅｃｍＥＨ４电导率成像系统。对黑河鼎新至哨马营河谷地带进行实地调查发现,此段存在一地堑式断层,为东西走向,古道沿此断层形成。河流在此段大部分沿古河道为地下水,自西向东流去,在东部板滩井一带（盐碱沼泽地）以垂向蒸发方式通过地表及植被排泄。古尔乃绿洲的形成与黑河河水通过断层转化成地下水有关。