Fluoride ions in groundwater of the Turkana County,Kenya, East Africa

Acta Geochimica - Groundwater samples were evaluated throughout Turkana County (Kenya, East Africa) while looking for drinking water sources. Some samples showed high concentrations of fluoride...     

Buried Late Weichselian thermokarst landscape discovered in the Czech Republic,central Europe

Pronounced climatic warming associated with the Late Weichselian Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition caused considerable environmental changes throughout the former periglacial zones (in Europe ~53°–46°N). During permafrost degradation and subsequent ground subsidence (i.e. thermokarst processes), the landscape changed rapidly. In this study we investigated a flat mid‐altitude area in south Bohemia, Czech Republic, lying close to the southern limit of the Weichselian permafrost. We discovered palaeo‐lake basins with sedimentary infillings up to 11 m in depth. According to radiocarbon and palynostratigraphical dating, these basins were formed at the onset of the Late Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition, whereas the smaller depressions were formed later. We suggest that the basins resulted from thermal and fluvio‐thermal erosion of the former permafrost and represent remnants of discontinuous gullies and possibly collapsed frost mounds (pingo/lithalsa scars). The formation of this a fossil thermokarst landscape was climatically driven and multiple phased, with the major phase during the climatic warming and wetting at the onset of GI‐1e (Bølling) and the minor phase during GI‐1c (Allerød). This study enhances knowledge of the palaeogeography of the former European periglacial zone by showing that Late Pleistocene thermokarst activity could have had a significant impact on the evolution of the landscape of at least some regions of central Europe along the southern limit of the continuous permafrost zone. The research also points to a similar history for the physical transformation of the landscape of the former European periglacial zone and current thermokarst landscapes and could be a valuable source of information with respect to the future transformation of the Arctic under conditions of ongoing global warming.     

Les auditeurs polonais des cours de minéralogie de René Just Haüy au Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle,Paris

The paper analyses a list of thirty-four Poles, listeners to the mineralogy lectures given by R.-J. Haüy at MNHN in Paris. These students played an important role in the history of Polish Earth Sciences (S. Staszic and F. Drzewiński), but also in other scientific fields (J. Markowski, I. Ab?amowicz, F. Drzewiński, M.A. Paw?owicz, J.K. Skrodzki, E.K. Nowicki), and even in political and cultural life of Poland (A. Downarowicz, J. Weyssenhoff, S. Plater, J. Bieliński, F. Potocki). This paper presents later relations between R.-J. Haüy and his Polish students. A possibility of the Poles' attendance to mineralogy lectures given at other Parisian scientific institutions, like the ‘École des mines’ and the ‘College de France’, is also discussed. To cite this article: R. Tarkowski, P. Daszkiewicz, C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Isotopic and geochemical characteristics of groundwater in the Senegal River delta aquifer: implication of recharge and flow regime

Groundwater and surface water samples were collected to improve understanding of the Senegal River Lower Valley and Delta system, which is prone to salinization. Inorganic ion concentrations and environmental isotopes (¹⁸O, ²H and ³H) in groundwater, river, lake and precipitation were investigated to gain insight into the functioning of the system with regard to recharge sources and process, groundwater renewability, hydraulic interconnection and geochemical evolution. The geochemical characteristics of the system display mainly cation (Ca²⁺ and/or Na⁺) bicarbonated waters, which evolve to chloride water type; this occurs during groundwater flow in the less mineralized part of the aquifer. In contrast, saline intrusion and secondary brines together with halite dissolution are likely to contaminate the groundwater to Na–Cl type. Halite, gypsum and calcite dissolution determine the major ion (Na⁺, Cl⁻, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, SO₄ ²⁻ and HCO₃ ⁻) chemistry, but other processes such as evaporation, salt deposition, ion exchange and reverse exchange reactions also control the groundwater chemistry. Both surface water and groundwater in the system show an evaporation effect, but high evaporated signatures in the groundwater may be due to direct evaporation from the ground, infiltration of evaporated water or enriched rainwater in this region. The stable isotopes also reveal two types of groundwater in this system, which geomorphologically are distributed in the sand dunes (depleted isotopes) and in the flood plain (enriched isotopes). Consideration of the ³H content reinforces this grouping and suggests two mechanisms of recharge: contribution of enriched surface water in recharging the flood plain groundwater and, in the sand dunes area where water table is at depth between 8 and 13 m, slow recharge process characterized the submodern to mixed water.     

Determination of the conduit structure in a karst aquifer based on tracer data—Lurbach system,Austria

A structure model was used to analyse solute‐transport parameter estimates based on tracer breakthrough curves. In the model system, groundwater flow is envisioned to be organised in a complex conduit network providing a variety of short circuits with relative small carrying capacities along different erosion levels. The discharge through the fully filled conduits is limited owing to void geometries and turbulent flow; thus, a hierarchic overflow system evolves where conduits are (re‐)activated or dried up depending on the flow condition. Exemplified on the Lurbach–Tanneben karst aquifer, the applicability of the model approach was tested. Information derived from multi‐tracer experiments performed at different volumetric flow rates enabled to develop a structural model of the karst network, under constraint of the geomorphological and hydrological evolution of the site. Depending on the flow rate, groundwater is divided into up to eight flow paths. The spatial hierarchy of flow paths controls the sequence of flow path activation. Conduits of the topmost level are strongly influenced by reversible alteration processes. Sedimentation or blocking causes an overflow of water to the next higher conduit. Flow path specific dissolutional denudation rates were estimated using the temporal development of the partial discharge. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of shapes of the bodies on the dynamics of planetary and star systems

The dynamics of planetary and star systems including perturbing forces due to the flattering and quadrupole distortion of the bodies is studied. The analytical model describing the perturbations which influence on the orbital motion of extrasolar planetary systems is presented. The calculations of the secular evolution of the mean orbital elements have shown that the effects related to the shape of the body are more important than the ones due to the quadrupole distortion.     

Apparent stress scaling for tectonic and induced seismicity: Model and observations

A macroscopic model of seismic sources provides a scaling relationship for the apparent stress, treated as a function of three independent parameters: seismic moment, rupture area size, and average slip acceleration. These parameters represent three different factors: kinematic, geometric and material. This relationship allows us to distinguish and explain the following statistical characteristics of the log apparent stress versus log seismic moment plot. The regional trends, represented by a series of 1/2 slope lines, are related to the averaged shape of slip velocity pulses, so they reflect kinematic characteristics of the rupture process. The global trend, represented by the 1/6 slope line, is expected to characterize sets of events of wide range of rupture area sizes and assumes dependence of rupture area size on total slip, so it is related to the rupture initiation, propagation and arrest conditions; therefore, it reflects earthquake rupture dynamics. Additional shiftings among the trend lines obtained for the smallest induced tremors, larger tectonic earthquakes, and slow tsunami earthquakes, reflect differences between the intact rock failure and the frictional slip failure, that is, between fracture energies of these different earthquake classes.     

Different modes of the Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary inversion in the North German and Polish basins

Several selected seismic lines are used to show and compare the modes of Late-Cretaceous–Early Tertiary inversion within the North German and Polish basins. These seismic data illustrate an important difference in the allocation of major zones of basement (thick-skinned) deformation and maximum uplift within both basins. The most important inversion-related uplift of the Polish Basin was localised in its axial part, the Mid-Polish Trough, whereas the basement in the axial part of the North German Basin remained virtually flat. The latter was uplifted along the SW and to a smaller degree the NE margins of the North German Basin, presently defined by the Elbe Fault System and the Grimmen High, respectively. The different location of the basement inversion and uplift within the North German and Polish basins is interpreted to reflect the position of major zones of crustal weakness represented by the WNW-ESE trending Elbe Fault System and by the NW-SE striking Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone, the latter underlying the Mid-Polish Trough. Therefore, the inversion of the Polish and North German basins demonstrates the significance of an inherited basement structure regardless of its relationship to the position of the basin axis. The inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough was connected with the reactivation of normal basement fault zones responsible for its Permo-Mesozoic subsidence. These faults zones, inverted as reverse faults, facilitated the uplift of the Mid-Polish Trough in the order of 1–3 km. In contrast, inversion of the North German Basin rarely re-used structures active during its subsidence. Basement inversion and uplift, in the range of 3–4 km, was focused at the Elbe Fault System which has remained quiescent in the Triassic and Jurassic but reproduced the direction of an earlier Variscan structural grain. In contrast, N-S oriented Mesozoic grabens and troughs in the central part of the North German Basin avoided significant inversion as they were oriented parallel to the direction of the inferred Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary compression. The comparison of the North German and Polish basins shows that inversion structures can follow an earlier subsidence pattern only under a favourable orientation of the stress field. A thick Zechstein salt layer in the central parts of the North German Basin and the Mid-Polish Trough caused mechanical decoupling between the sub-salt basement and the supra-salt sedimentary cover. Resultant thin-skinned inversion was manifested by the formation of various structures developed entirely in the supra-salt Mesozoic–Cenozoic succession. The Zechstein salt provided a mechanical buffer accommodating compressional stress and responding to the inversion through salt mobilisation and redistribution. Only in parts of the NGB and MPT characterised by either thin or missing Zechstein evaporites, thick-skinned inversion directly controlled inversion-related deformations of the sedimentary cover. Inversion of the Permo-Mesozoic fill within the Mid-Polish Trough was achieved by a regional elevation above uplifted basement blocks. Conversely, in the North German Basin, horizontal stress must have been transferred into the salt cover across the basin from its SW margin towards the basins centre. This must be the case since compressional deformations are concentrated mostly above the salt and no significant inversion-related basement faults are seismically detected apart from the basin margins. This strain decoupling in the interior of the North German Basin was enhanced by the presence of the Elbe Fault System which allowed strain localization in the basin floor due to its orientation perpendicular to the inferred Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary far-field compression.     

Strike-slip tectonics within the SW Baltic Sea and its relationship to the inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough—evidence from high-resolution seismic data

The SW Baltic Sea occupies an area where crustal-scale regional tectonic zones of different age merge and overlap, creating a complex tectonic pattern. This pattern influenced the evolution of the Mesozoic sedimentary basin in this area. We present an interpretation of new high-resolution seismic data from the SW Baltic Sea which provided new information both on modes of the Late Cretaceous inversion of this part of the Danish–Polish Mesozoic basin system as well as on relationship between tectonic processes and syn-tectonic depositional systems. Within the Bornholm–Dar owo Fault Zone, located between the Koszalin Fault and Christiansø Block, both strike-slip and reverse faulting took place during the inversion-related activity. The faulting was related to reactivation of extensional pre-Permian fault system. Syn-tectonic sedimentary features include a prominent, generally S- and SE-directed, progradational depositional system with the major source area provided by uplifted basement blocks, in particular by the Bornholm Block. Sediment progradation was enhanced by downfaulting along a strike-slip fault zone and related expansion of accommodation space. Closer to the Christiansø Block, some syn-tectonic deposition also took place and resulted in subtle thickness changes within the hinge zones of inversion-related growth folds. Lack of significant sediment supply from the inverted and uplifted offshore part of the Mid-Polish Trough suggests that in this area NW–SE-located marginal trough parallel to the inversion axis of the Mid-Polish Trough did not form, and that uplifted Bornholm Block played by far more prominent role for development of syn-inversion depositional successions.     

Impact of proximity-adjusted preferences on rank-order stability in geographical multicriteria decision analysis

This paper presents a new approach to deriving preferences assigned to evaluation criteria in geographical multicriteria decision analysis. In this approach, the preferences, expressed by numeric weights, are adjusted by distance measures derived from the explicit consideration of a locational structure. The structure is given by locations of decision options and high importance reference objects. The approach is demonstrated on the example of a house selection case study in San Diego, California. The results show that proximity-adjusted preferences for the evaluation criteria can alter significantly the rank order of decision options. Consequently, the explicit modeling of spatial preference variability may be needed in order to better account for decision-maker’s preferences.