Vitreous state in nature—Origin and properties

Vitreous materials are quite routinely found in natural settings. Most of them are aluminosilicates, which often occur in large deposits. Considering the geological formations in which naturally occurring vitreous aluminosilicates are found, they have generally remained stable for more than 1 Ma on the earth's surface, even in different geological and climatic environments. These non-crystalline solids played a very important role in the development of ancient human civilizations, long before the introduction of metallic tools. Today, however, the properties of natural glasses are of interest to mankind for completely different reasons. For example, industrial glasses are used today for encapsulating toxic wastes, especially radioactive waste, which remains active for centuries or more, in order to prevent the unwanted transfer of harmful materials to the environment. The chemical compositions of industrially produced glasses are in large part different from the compositions of natural glasses. Little is quantitatively known about the stability of industrial glasses over very long periods of time (>10,000 years). However, the physical and chemical stability of natural aluminosilicate glasses is known to extend over very long periods of time.The advancement of technological design to prevent or at least minimize the melt down of toxic waste during the encapsulation process is currently a major challenge, using glasses of natural chemical composition. Brecciated glass, which is found frequently in natural settings, provides a special clue to the possibility of producing vitreous solids by sintering glass fragments without melting the cullets. It is essential to prevent melting of the cullets because the melt has the potential of chemically reacting with the toxic waste.This paper summarizes the geological, chemical, and physical facts concerning naturally produced glasses, and seeks to establish a recognized database for further research in the domain of understanding the glass-forming processes that occur in nature. Furthermore, the authors hope to stimulate research into the utilization of natural resources that to solve the problem of storing of toxic waste safely.Major and trace element data have been collected over the past 100 years. These data constitute a sufficient basis for the chemical characterization of natural glasses. More information about the major elements is not required, in order to understand the chemical properties of these materials. On the other hand, large gaps in compositional data exist where other related components are concerned: e.g., in the case of “water-species”, with its different forms of bonding in silicates or oxygen (oxygen fugacity), CO₂-, sulphur - or hydrocarbons (methane)-, hydrogen-, chlorine-and fluorine-species. All these components have a significant impact on the properties of glasses, even when present only in minor quantities. Glass textures and crystal morphologies reflect the processes of nucleation and crystal growth in a glass-forming matrix during the cooling and reheating cycles which are currently not thoroughly understood. In nature, the processes that led to the formation of vitreous materials are very different from those used in the production of industrial glasses. The different genetic conditions under which glass formation occurs permit differentiation between magmatic and metamorphic vitreous solids. Sedimentary and biogenetic processes also contribute to the formation of non-crystalline solids.     

Boundary-layer diffusion modelling: The Gaussian plume approach versus the spectral solution

The equation of turbulent diffusion is solved for a vertical area source within the planetary boundary layer. The traditional Gaussian-plume approach is compared with the spectral solution of the diffusion equation used together with the barotropic boundary-layer model of Lettau and Dabberdt (1970). The results of the numerical computations are presented and the differences between the solutions are discussed.     

Sr-gorceixite,a weathering product in rich iron ores from the Córrego do Feijão Mine,Minas Gerais,Brazil

A sulfate-bearing Sr-Ba phosphate (Sr-gorceixite) formed by supergene alteration in rich iron ores from Minas Gerais, Brazil, has been studied by means of microprobe techniques. Analytical data and the structural formula are presented.     

Numerical modeling of toxic nonaqueous phase liquid removal from contaminated groundwater systems: mesh effect and discretization error estimation

Numerical modeling has now become an indispensable tool for investigating the fundamental mechanisms of toxic nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) removal from contaminated groundwater systems. Because the domain of a contaminated groundwater system may involve irregular shapes in geometry, it is necessary to use general quadrilateral elements, in which two neighbor sides are no longer perpendicular to each other. This can cause numerical errors on the computational simulation results due to mesh discretization effect. After the dimensionless governing equations of NAPL dissolution problems are briefly described, the propagation theory of the mesh discretization error associated with a NAPL dissolution system is first presented for a rectangular domain and then extended to a trapezoidal domain. This leads to the establishment of the finger‐amplitude growing theory that is associated with both the corner effect that takes place just at the entrance of the flow in a trapezoidal domain and the mesh discretization effect that occurs in the whole NAPL dissolution system of the trapezoidal domain. This theory can be used to make the approximate error estimation of the corresponding computational simulation results. The related theoretical analysis and numerical results have demonstrated the following: (1) both the corner effect and the mesh discretization effect can be quantitatively viewed as a kind of small perturbation, which can grow in unstable NAPL dissolution systems, so that they can have some considerable effects on the computational results of such systems; (2) the proposed finger‐amplitude growing theory associated with the corner effect at the entrance of a trapezoidal domain is useful for correctly explaining why the finger at either the top or bottom boundary grows much faster than that within the interior of the trapezoidal domain; (3) the proposed finger‐amplitude growing theory associated with the mesh discretization error in the NAPL dissolution system of a trapezoidal domain can be used for quantitatively assessing the correctness of computational simulations of NAPL dissolution front instability problems in trapezoidal domains, so that we can ensure that the computational simulation results are controlled by the physics of the NAPL dissolution system, rather than by the numerical artifacts. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Appraisal of Sri Lankan BB Zircon as a Reference Material for LA‐ICP‐MS U‐Pb Geochronology and Lu‐Hf Isotope Tracing

A potential zircon reference material (BB zircon) for laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) U‐Pb geochronology and Hf isotope geochemistry is described. A batch of twenty zircon megacrysts (0.5–1.5 cm³) from Sri Lanka was studied. Within‐grain rare earth element (REE) compositions are largely homogeneous, albeit with some variation seen between fractured and homogeneous domains. Excluding fractured cathodoluminescence bright domains, the variation in U content for all analysed crystals ranged from 227 to 368 μg g^?1 and the average Th/U ratios were between 0.20 and 0.47. The Hf isotope composition (0.56–0.84 g/100 g Hf) is homogeneous within and between the grains – mean ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf of 0.281674 ± 0.000018 (2s). The calculated alpha dose of 0.59 × 10¹⁸ g^?1 for a number of BB grains falls within the trend of previously studied, untreated zircon samples from Sri Lanka. Aliquots of the same crystal (analysed by ID‐TIMS in four different laboratories) gave consistent U‐Pb ages with excellent measurement reproducibility (0.1–0.4% RSD). Interlaboratory assessment (by LA‐ICP‐MS) from individual crystals returned results that are within uncertainty equivalent to the TIMS ages. Finally, we report on within‐ and between‐grain homogeneity of the oxygen isotope systematic of four BB crystals (13.16‰ VSMOW).     

A geo-environmental map for the sustainable development of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

An engineering and environmental geological map of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal has been elaborated within a project of German-Nepalese cooperation. In the Kathmandu Valley, the major geo-environmental problems arise from haphazard exploitation of geologic resources, local landslide zones, severe problems of garbage disposal, river flooding and a dramatic river pollution. The map was prepared by the use of GIS techniques. It contains all basic geological and environmental data, as geotechnical risk zones (landslide-prone areas or those of poor foundation conditions), areas for preferable extraction of construction material and those not to be allowed to be exploited, areas of immediate need of reforestation in order to prevent landslide or badland development, groundwater protection zones, and suitable garbage disposal sites. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.