Ammonium Silicate Stability Relations

A method has been developed to control ammonium fugacity, \(f_{{\text{NH}}_{3}}\), at elevated temperatures and pressures. The method uses an internal nitrogen buffer, the assemblage Cr + CrN, in conjunction with a traditional external hydrogen buffer. In this manner, all gas fugacities in the system N-O-H can be calculated.The Cr + CrN buffer has been applied to study equilibria between buddingtonite (ammonium feldspar), ammonium muscovite, sillimanite, and quartz at a constant gas pressure of 2,000 bars. Two of the five relevant reactions were measured experimentally; from these data, it is possible to calculate isothermal sections at 500, 600, and 700° C.Below 600° C, ammonium muscovite is stable even at extremely low levels of \(f_{{\text{NH}}_{3}}\), while buddingtonite requires \(f_{{\text{NH}}_{3}}\;\geqq\;10^4\) bars. Release of NH₃ during progressive metamorphism can be achieved by three processes: thermal decomposition, dehydration, and cation exchange. Within the crust, \(f_{{\text{NH}}_{3}}\) predominates over \(f_{{\text{N}}_{2}}\) by several orders of magnitude; but on the surface, nitrogen released as NH₃ by metamorphism will be oxidized to N₂. Biological materials provide important intermediate storage for nitrogen compounds during the nitrogen cycle.     

Improved numerical dissipation for time integration algorithms in structural dynamics

A new family of unconditionally stable one-step methods for the direct integration of the equations of structural dynamics is introduced and is shown to possess improved algorithmic damping properties which can be continuously controlled. The new methods are compared with members of the Newmark family, and the Houbolt and Wilson methods.     

Sedimentationszyklen und stratigraphisch-fazielle Probleme der Randfazies des Unteren Muschelkalkes (Kernbohrung Mersch/ Luxemburg)

Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von einem Vergleich randnaher Normprofile und der faziellen Analyse eines vollständigen Bohrprofils wird für die Randfazies des Unteren Muschelkalkes ein Sedimentationsmodell entwickelt, das auf der Basis klimatisch und epirogenetisch bedingter Untergliederungen des Profils neue Parallelisierungsmöglichkeiten mit beckenwärtigen Faziesbereichen eröffnet.Hervorstechendste Merkmale des Bohrprofils sind rhythmisches Auftreten von Magnesit — der als sedimentäre Bildung bislang nur in Zusammenhang mit chloridischen Evaporiten bekannt war —, eine sedimentologisch und geochemisch begründete zyklische Gliederung sowie intensive Bioturbation und zugleich durchgehende Vergipsung.Die Zyklen sind formal gekennzeichnet durch Koppelung von tonigem Sandstein mit geringen Eisen- und hohen Magnesiumgehalten einerseits und von rotem Ton und Silt mit hohen Eisen- und niedrigen Magnesiumwerten andererseits. Die Zyklen werden als Wechselfolge von litoralen Sedimentationsphasen in subtropischem Klima und Abschnürungsphasen mit Hungersedimentation in aridem Klima interpretiert. Der syndiagenetisch gebildete Magnesit ist dabei Tonsedimentationsphasen genetisch zugeordnet. Anhand der Verteilung der vier nicht-detritischen Hauptminerale Dolomit, Gips, Anhydrit und Magnesit wird der Diageneseablauf rekonstruiert.Nach einer Diskussion der Bildungsumstände und der Korrelierbarkeit bieten sich die Werksteinzone der Randfazies und die Spiriferinabank der Beckenfazies als sedimentologische Zeitmarke an.

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A depositional model of the marginal facies of the Lower Muschelkalk (Middle Triassic) is developed by comparison of near-marginal profiles and a facies analysis of a complete drilling record. It is based upon climatologically and epirogenetically caused partitions of the profile and opens new possibilities of correlation with basinal areas.Significant features of the drilling record are rhythmic occurrences of magnesite in sediments only known in connection with chloridic evaporites, a cyclic deposition based on sedimentological and geochemical criteria, and intensive bioturbation with a gypsification throughout.The cycles are formally marked by the correlation of clayey sandstone with low iron and high magnesium contents at the one hand and of red clay and silt with high iron and low magnesium values at the other hand. The cycles are interpreted as an alternation of littoral sedimentation under a subtropical climate and of stages of lagoonal conditions or emersion under an arid climate. The magnesite syndiagenetically formed is genetically attached to stages of clay sedimentation. The process of diagenesis is reconstructed studying the distribution of four main non-detrital minerals: dolomite, gypsum, anhydrite, and magnesite.After discussion of the depositional conditions and the possibilities of correlation, the Werkstein-Zone of the marginal facies and the Spiriferina-Bank of the basinal facies are thought to be sedimentological time markers.

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Résumé Une conception de la formation du facies marginal du Muschelkalk inférieur est développée sur la base d'une comparaison entre les profils normés de la région de sondage Mersch/Luxembourg et l'analyse facielle du profil complet de la carotte de ce sondage. A partir des divisions en partie causées par les climats et par des mouvements épirogénétiques, cette conception donne une nouvelle possibilité de corrélation avec le facies situé plus au centre du bassin sédimentaire.Le forage étudié est caractérisé par la présence rythmique de magnésite, qui, jusqu'à présent, était seulement connu en tant que formation sédimentaire, avec des évaporites, par une répartition cyclique basée sur des observations sédimentologiques et géochimiques et par une bioturbation intensive ainsi qu'une gypsification générale.Les cycles sont caractérisés formellement par le couplage d'un grès argileux à faible teneur en fer et à forte teneur en magnésium d'une part et d'argile rouge à forte teneur en fer et à faible teneur en magnésium d'autre part. Les cycles sont interpretés comme une séquence alternante comprenant une sédimentation littorale en climat subtropical et une sédimentation lagunaire ou d'émersion en climat aride. La magnésite formée syndiagénétiquement est donc coordonnée à une phase sédimentaire argileuse. Le cours de la diagénèse est reconstruit à partir de l'étude de la répartition des quatre minéraux principaux non-détriques: dolomite, gypse, anhydrite et magnésite.A la suite de la discussion des conditions de formation et des possibilités de corrélation la « Werkstein-Zone » du facies marginal et la « Spiriferina-Bank » du facies central apparaissent comme des indicateurs sédimentologiques chronostratigraphiques.

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Die wachsende Bedeutung der Ingenieurgeologie im Zeitalter der Umweltzerstörung

Zusammenfassung Die Entwicklung der Technik führt zu immer größeren Bauprojekten im Bereich des Talsperrenbaus, Verkehrswegebaus, Untertagebaus, Bergbaus und Grundbaus. Diese großen Bauprojekte stellen in vielfacher Hinsicht eine erhebliche Belastung der Natur sowie eine Beeinträchtigung ihres Gleichgewichts dar und rufen teilweise unvorhergesehene Wechselwirkungen von Bauwerk und Baugrund hervor. Die technische Entwicklung überrollte die Natur so stürmisch, daß ihre ökologischen Folgen weder von den Wissenschaftlern noch von den Praktikern erkannt und bedacht wurden. Die Aufgaben, die sich in diesem Rahmen dem Ingenieurgeologen stellen, bestehen nicht nur in der möglichst genauen Erfassung der geologischen Parameter zur Gewährleistung der Sicherheit des Bauwerks, wirtschaftlich vertretbarer Baukosten unter optimaler Berücksichtigung geologischer Gegebenheiten, sondern sie haben auch die Vorhersage der Wechselwirkungen von Bauwerk und Baugrund sowie von Störungen des oft erstaunlich labilen Gleichgewichts von Geo-, Bio- und Atmosphäre einzubeziehen. Dabei spielen oft rezente geologische Vorgänge eine bisher in der Ingenieurgeologie viel zu wenig gewürdigte Rolle. Die Notwendigkeit, die Ingenieurgeologie schon bei der allerersten Planung, beim Entwurf und der Bauwerksüberwachung mitbestimmen zu lassen, wird an einzelnen Projekten erläutert.

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Summary Technical development leads to dams, roads, tunnels, mines and foundations of always larger dimensions. Various aspects of these projects represent a serious encumbrance of nature and an impairment of her equilibrium and can cause unforeseen interactions between structure and the earth. Development has taken place so quickly, that the ecological consequences have not been recognised or considered in many cases — neither by the scientists nor by the practitioners. The tasks, confronting the engineering geologists in this regard, consist not only in an exact investigation of the geological parameters to guarantee the safety of the construction project and to achieve project costs by taking into consideration the geological conditions, but must encompass the recognition of the interactions of construction and the earth as well as the disturbance of the often astonishingly fragile equilibrium of the geo-, bio- and atmosphere. Specifically recent geological processes are often not accounted for, despite their possibly disadvantageous effects. The necessity, that the engineering geologist contributes in all project stages from the first planning, to the design upto the surveillance of the construction, is stressed by giving examples.

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Résumé Le développement technique a conduit à des projets de construction toujour plus grands dans le domain des barrages, des routes, des tunnels, des mines et des fondations. Ces grands projets représentent sous beaucoup d'aspects une immense contreinte pour l'environnement naturel, un préjudice pour son équilibre et conduisent parfois à une interaction imprévue entre la construction et le sol. Le développement fut si rapide que les conséquences écologiques ne furent pas reconnues et prises en compte, ni par la science ni par la pratique. Les taches, qui se présentent au géologue ingénieur sur le terrain, comprennent non seulement l'investigation exacte des paramètres géologiques dans le but d'assurer la securité de la construction pour des frais raisonnables tout en prenant en compte d'une façon optimale les conditions géologiques, mais aussi la prévision de ces interactions entre l'ouvrage et le sol, ainsi que les perturbations de l'équilibre de l'environnement géologique, biologique et atmosphérique, équilibre qui est souvent éxtrêmement fragile.Les phénomènes géologiques récents ne sont que très peu considérés dans ces études. La necessité de la participation du géologue ingénieur dès le début des études pendant la conception et la surveillance de l'ouvrage est illustrée à l'aide de projets particuliers.

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Zur Bilanz des Buntsandsteinbeckens (Korngrößenverteilung und Gesteinsbruchstücke)

The Lower Triassic Buntsandstein red beds in Germany were deposited in a river system discharging into a northern basin of varying salinity. In this basin, the main direction of material transport was probably towards the Southeast (Poland), where occasional outlets were open. The median grain size of the fluvial sandstones decreases towards the North (fig. 6): Near the delta, they are finer than the sandstones in the northern basin. This observation together with the differences in feldspar and rock fragments composition indicate that the river system did not contribute to the basin sandstones. Characteristic rock fragments made it possible to estimate the influence of an eastern tributary. The sand size rock fragments can only in part be traced back into conglomerates that occur near the Bohemian Forest, in the Black Forest, and in the Vosges. Most of the debris of the fluvial sandstones derived from the southern rim of the Paris basin, though according to a material balance, a major contribution came from the “Vindelician Ridge” (S. Germany). Abrasion of the rock fragments due to transport is shown by their grain size distribution.     

Die Bedeutung der Süddeutschen Großscholle in der Geodynamik Westeuropas

The crustal plate of Southern Germany models, in a highly instructive way, the real behaviour of continental crustal plates in the immediate foreland of an active orogenic mountain belt. The frontier line between alpidic and outer-alpine strain pattern crossed this first order tectonic unit. During Upper Tertiary times, the crustal plate of Southern Germany shows an anticlockwise rotation of the direction of maximal principal stress (from NNE/SSW through NNW/SSE to NW/SE), nearly contemporaneous to the transition from alpine Flysch-to Molasse-to postorogenic sedimentation. From prae-Upper Cretaceous to Oligocene, NNE-SSW-plate movement follows a direction more or less parallel — not perpendicular — to the North Atlantic midocean ridge. Since the Pliocene, the axis of tectonic transport (a in rock fabrics nomenclature) turns to a more northwesterly-southeasterly position, so nearly becoming to the well known sea-floor spreading concept. But, at that time, alpine orogenesis comes to an end. Today, neither in the Alps nor in their foreland, any adequate subduction zone to counterbalance the opening of the North Atlantic (as supposed by means of paleomagnetic data) still exists. Since early Pliocene time, the Southern Germany crustal plate shows, in spite of the overburden by thick Molasse sediments, neither any subsidence nor underthrusting the Alps, but, on the contrary, uplifting in a magnitude up to more than fivehundred meters, while the opening of the North Atlantic seems to continue. So we find some serious inconsistencies between the so called new global tectonics and the tectonic evolution of the Southern Germany crustal plate.     

Glacial stratigraphy of East and Central Jutland

Glaciostratigraphic investigations at one key locality (Haldum), 9 major and about 160 minor localities in East and Central Jutland, Denmark, together with laboratory work, have led to the establishment of a stratigraphy consisting of 10 till units, usually separated by meltwater deposits. The stratigraphy is in some degree supported by thermoluminescence datings. The complete sequence includes one till unit with associated meltwater deposits of Menapian age, three till units with intercalated meltwater deposits of Elsterian age, marine sediments deposited during the Holsteininan, and three till units with intercalated of Elsterian age, marine sediments deposited during the Holsteinian, and three till units with intercalated glaciofluvial sedimants of Saalian age. Eemian deposits are present above this level, and the whole sequence is capped by till and meltwater deposits related to three glacial advances during the Weichselian.     

Vegetation history and environmental development since ca 6000 cal yr BP in and around Ispani 2 (Kolkheti lowlands,Georgia)

The Kolkheti lowlands of western Georgia have a unique vegetation and a rich cultural history. Palynological and macrofossil analysis accompanied by AMS ¹⁴C-dates of the deposits of the Ispani 2 mire near Kobuleti allow the reconstruction of regional vegetation, environmental history and local peatland development within the context of Black Sea level and cultural changes. Comparison of two adjacent peatland cores confirms spatial differences in wetland development. Prior to 5400 cal yr BP, the Ispani basin was a floodplain of an active river system where overbank deposits with fluvially transported Castanea pollen were deposited. Subsequently, a lake or lagoon developed in which reeds expanded. These were succeeded by herb-rich open alder carrs. After 1900 cal yr BP, Carpinus and Fagus expanded on the dry grounds, where formerly Quercus was more abundant. Also Castanea declined. Local reedbeds, that burned regularly, succeeded the alder carr. After 1000 cal yr BP, a percolation bog developed resulting in the formation of 4 m of loose, porous, and largely undecomposed Sphagnum austinii peat with Molinia roots. The upper 50 cm of the analysed section show extensive human impact on the landscape during the 20th century.     

Influence of cluster environments on X-ray cluster morphology

We investigated the influence of environment on cluster morphology by examining the alignment of the cluster position angle with respect to the nearest neighbour cluster. The cluster position angle and ellipticity were measured using high spatial resolution X-ray data taken from the Chandra archive, while the nearest neighbour sample was extracted from the Abell cluster catalogue. We found high confidence for an alignment when neighbour distance (Dn) was less than  70  h ⁻¹  Mpc, while we found no significant variations of the confidence level at various values of Dn less than  70  h ⁻¹  Mpc.     

Water source characterization through spatiotemporal patterns of major,minor and trace element stream concentrations in a complex,mesoscale German catchment

The link between spatiotemporal patterns of stream water chemistry and catchment characteristics for the mesoscale Dill catchment (692 km²) in Germany is explored to assess the catchment scale controls on water quality and to characterize water sources. In order to record the spatiotemporal pattern, ‘snapshot sampling’ was applied during low, mean and high flow, including 73 nested sites throughout the catchment. Water samples were analysed for the elements Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ba, Pb and U using inductively‐coupled‐plasma mass spectrometry, and for electric conductivity and pH. Principle component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to find typical element associations and to group water samples according to their hydrochemical fingerprints. This revealed regional hydrochemical patterns of water quality which were subsequently related to catchment attributes to draw conclusions about the controls on stream chemistry. It was found that various lithologic signals and anthropogenic point source inputs controlled the base flow hydrochemistry. During increased flows, stream waters were diluted causing additional hydrochemical variability in response to heterogeneous precipitation inputs and differences in aquifer storage capacities. The hydrochemical patterns further displayed in‐stream mixing of waters. This implied, that stream waters could be apportioned to the identified water sources throughout the catchment. The basin‐wide hydrochemical variability has the potential to outrange the tracer signatures typically inferred in studies at the hillslope scale and is able to strongly influence the complexity of the catchment output. Both have to be considered for further catchment scale tracer and modelling work. Despite the likelihood of non‐conservative behaviour, the minor and trace elements enhanced the rather qualitative discrimination of the various groundwater types, as the major cations were strongly masked by point source inputs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.