The effects of climate changes on aquifer storage and river baseflow

Abstract

The effects of changes in climate on aquifer storage and groundwater flow to rivers have been investigated using an idealized representation of the aquifer/river system. The generalized aquifer/river model can incorporate spatial variability in aquifer transmissivity and is applied with parameters characteristic of Chalk and Triassic sandstone aquifers in the United Kingdom, and is also applicable to other aquifers elsewhere. The model is run using historical time series of recharge, estimated from observed rainfall and potential evaporation data, and with climate inputs perturbed according to a number of climate change scenarios. Simulations of baseflow suggest large proportional reductions at low flows from Chalk under high evaporation change scenarios. Simulated baseflow from the slower responding Triassic sandstone aquifer shows more uniform and less severe reductions. The change in hydrological regime is less extreme for the low evaporation change scenario, but remains significant for the Chalk aquifer.     

Some Feldspars, Nephelines and Analcimes from the Square Top Intrusion, Nundle, N.S.W.

The Square Top intrusion, near Nundle, New South Wales, revealsin its mineralogy and chemistry the transition of analcime-olivinetheralite to analcime tinguaite. Chemical, X-ray, and opticaldata are presented on 2 plagioclases, 9 alkali feldspars, 2nephelines and 3 analcimes, from various members of the differentiationsequence. With differentiation, plagio-clase becomes enrichedin Ab and, to a lesser extent, in Or. The coexisting alkalifeldspars initially reveal enrichment in Ab and trend from sanidineto lime anorthoclase; subsequently in the tinguaites, the sanidinesbecome enriched in Or. Nephelines in the lower theralites havehighly sodic compositions and become slightly enriched in Kin the later differentiates. Replacement of Si by NaAl in theanalcimes decreases with progressive differentiation. The rapidcooling of this relatively small intrusion assisted fractionalcrystallization, and resulted in the preservation of disorderedplagioclase and alkali feldspars. The Square Top feldspar crystallizationtrends are compared with trends presented by Tuttle and Bowen(1958). The location of the feldspar boundary curve in the Ab–An–Orsystem and some general relationships in the undersaturatedportion of the Ne–Ks–Qz system, including the heteromorphicfelsic assemblages developed from the lowest temperature liquids,are also discussed.     

The response of idealized aquifer/river systems to climate change

Abstract

A study of the effect of changes in climate on aquifer storage and river recharge using a simple model of an idealized aquifer/river system shows the combined influence of aquifer properties and climate change scenario on the system response. The study shows that changes in the seasonal distribution of recharge may have a critical effect on low flows in rivers supported by baseflow. However, rivers supported by slowly responding aquifers may show a considerable delay in response to climate change allowing an opportunity for water resources planning over an extended period.     

Lineages and Fractionation Trends in Undersaturated Volcanic Rocks from the East Otago Volcanic Province (New Zealand) and Related Rocks

The petrology of the East Otago Volcanic Province (late Miocene),including the Dunedin Complex, is dominated by undersaturatedsodic lavas and shallow intmsives whose compositions range fromalkali basalt, basanite, and nephelinite to trachyte and phonolite.A range of relatively potassic volcanic rocks is also developedin the Province. The degree of undersaturation and ratios suchas (FeO+Fe₂O₃):MgO and K₂O:Na₂O vary widely in rocks with comparabledifferentiation indices. Chemical and mineralogical data onwhole rock-glass pairs and variants of shallow intrusives inthe Province, assessed in conjunction with similar data fromother volcanic provinces, demonstrate the production of trachyticliquids from alkali basaltic parents and of phonolitic liquidsfrom basanitic parents. Fractionation trends in both sodic andpotassic series, defined by variation in differentiation indexand normative nepheline, indicate that the degree of undersaturationof the derivative salic liquids is dependent on that of theparent; the slope of the fractionation trend lines is influencedby additional factors, including Po₂. The unequivocal productionof phonolite from trachyte in the East Otago Province has notbeen demonstrated. The mafic variants of theralites from Waihola and a basanite-pegmatoidassociation from Omimi are similar in composition, but the mostsalic differentiates from these differentiation sequences displaypronounced differences in their KO:Na₂O ratios, tending towardsleuco-theralitic (cf. lugarite) and malignitic compositionsrespectively. A multicomponent spectrum of fractionation lineages is suggestedfor individual differentiated bodies and for lava series. Sodiclineages include: (I) alkali basalt–hawaiite–mugearite–benmoreite–trachyte;(2) a more undersaturated series from basanite through nephelinehawaiite, nepheline mugearite, and nepheline benmoreite, tophonolite; (3) a nephelinite series, more restricted in compositionalrange. The relatively high Fe: Mg ratios characterizing themugearitic variants are sometimes exhibited by members of themore potassic series in which, however, Fe:Mg ratios tend tobe characteristically lower. This feature is correlated withthe frequent occurrence of kaersutitic amphibole or its resorptionproducts, indicative of intratelluric fractionation under relativelyhydrous conditions and probably relatively high Po₂. Certainnepheline trachyandesites from East Otago are described in detail.Trachy-basalt-trachyandesite-tristanite-trachyte and sanidinebasanite-nepheline trachyandesite-nepheline tristanite-phonolitelineages are also proposed, and the nomenclature of these moreseries discussed.     

Collating Historic Weather Observations for the East Asian Region:Challenges,Solutions,and Reanalyses

正1.Introduction Historic instrumental weather observations,made on land or at sea from as early as the 17th century(e.g.,Camuffo et al.,2010),are integral to extending our understanding of the decadal and centennial variations of Earth’s climate and for comparison with paleo-proxy data.The potential of such data is shown to best effect when used in dynamical 4D global     

The Petrology of an Adamellite-Porphyrite from the New England Bathylith (New South Wales)

The paper presents an account of the occurrence, petrography,mineralogy, and geochemistry of several intrusions of adamellite-porphyrite,an early member of the New England Bathylith (N.S.W.). The rockis composed of phenocrysts of quartz, andesine, hornblende,biotite, augite (and minor orthopyroxene) which are set in afine-grained quartzofeldspathic groundmass. Compositions ofsilicate phenocrysts (which reveal widespread evidence of cataclasis)accord with coexisting phases of an assemblage appropriate tointermediate rocks. Xenolith mineralogy is similar to equivalentminerals occurring as phenocrysts. The recalculated bulk compositionof a rock represented by the modal andesine, hornblende, biotite,augite, and magnetite of the adamellite-porphyrite is similarto the composition of a biotite–diorite; the compositionof the quartzo-feldspathic groundmass plots in the low-meltingregion of the NaAISi₃O₈-KAISi₃O₈-SiO₂-H₂O system. Evidence ispresented to indicate a hybrid origin for the adamellite-porphyritewhereby disrupted biotite-diorite was invaded and mixed withlow-melting silicic alkalic liquid.     

Peat-marl deposition in a Holocene paludal-lacustrine basin—Sucker Lake, Michigan

Exceptionally thick (over 15 m) deposits of peat which fill the northern end of Sucker Lake basin in northcentral Michigan document the volumetric importance of allochthonous organic material in a modern coal-forming environment. Organic debris that originates in, and is derived from, a highly vegetated floodplain immediately upstream is deposited as a lakeward-prograding lobe that exhibits features typical of most lacustrine Gilbert deltas, but is composed almost entirely of organic material. This system overlies an additional 7 m of nearly pure, brecciated lacustrine carbonate, deposited as shallow lake-margin benches and emplaced into the deep basin centre by gravity sliding prior to deltaic progradation. In the southern end of the basin, bottomset beds of fine silt-size organic phytoclasts onlap distal facies of progradational bench carbonates, which originate (in shallow water) through calcite encrustation about stems of the dominant macrophyte Chara. With continued sedimentation, a stratigraphic succession in which allochthonous organics will overlie pure, allochthonous lacustrine carbonates and in part be overlain by autochthonous carbonates will characterize the northern end of this Holocene system. In the southern end around the basin margins, however, autochthonous carbonates will entirely underlie allochthonous organics. Numerous continuous cores (up to 22 m) through these units document: (1) the importance of sources of allochthonous organic debris in modern coal-forming complexes, (2) the genetic relationship between nearly pure calcareous and nearly pure carbonaceous facies within these paludal-lacustrine settings, and (3) the complexity of interrelationships between the several component facies within such continental sedimentary systems.     

Chicxulub: Testing for post‐impact hydrothermal input into the Tertiary ocean

Abstract Studies of large terrestrial impact craters indicate that post‐impact hydrothermal activity is a likely consequence of the crustal deformation and heating induced by such events. In the case of the Chicxulub basin, where marine conditions were re‐established soon after the impact, significant fluxing of seawater through the crust and hydrothermal venting into the water column might be anticipated. We have carried out geochemical analyses of Tertiary carbonate sediments within the Yaxcopoil‐1 (Yax‐1) drill hole to test for evidence of such post‐impact hydrothermal circulation. Hydrothermal activity is most likely to be found close to thick layers of melt rock inside the collapsed transient cavity, and it is estimated that Yax‐1 is located ?20 km outside this cavity. Consequently, the most likely signature of hydrothermal venting into the water column would be geochemical anomalies attributable to fallout of suspended particulate matter from a submarine hydrothermal plume. Samples of Tertiary biomicrites from depths of 794.01 to 777.02 m have high concentrations of manganese, iron, phosphorous, titanium, and aluminium and low iron/manganese ratios relative to samples from higher in the stratigraphic succession. This geochemical anomaly decreases fairly systematically between 793.13 m and 777.02 m, above which an abrupt change in geochemistry is observed. A mass balance calculation suggests that the anomaly is unlikely to be the result of a decreasing detrital input to the carbonate sediments and the nature of the element enrichments is consistent with expectations for fallout from a distal hydrothermal plume. We conclude that a post‐impact hydrothermal system did develop at Chicxulub, which led to the expulsion of hydrothermal fluids into the Tertiary water column. Preliminary biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic dating on Yax‐1 core suggest that this hydrothermal activity lasted for at least 300 ka.