An improved implicit numerical integration of a non‐associated,three‐invariant cap plasticity model with mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening for geomaterials

The Sandia GeoModel is a continuum elastoplastic constitutive model that captures many features of the mechanical response for geological materials over a wide range of porosities and strain rates. Among the specific features incorporated into the formulation are a smooth compression cap, isotropic/kinematic hardening, nonlinear pressure dependence, strength differential effect, and rate sensitivity. This study attempts to provide enhancements regarding computational tractability, domain of applicability, and robustness of the model. A new functional form is presented for the yield and plastic potential functions. This reformulation renders a more accurate, robust, and efficient model as it eliminates spurious solutions attributed to the original form. In addition, we achieve a high‐performance implementation, because the local iterative method is allowed to recast residual vectors with a uniform dimensionality. The model is also furnished with a smooth, elliptical tension cap to account for the tensile yielding. Moreover, an efficient algorithm is introduced, which decreases the computational cost by differentiating the updated shear yield surface from the cap surface based on the trial relative stress state. Finally, various numerical examples including a large‐scale boundary value problem are presented to demonstrate the fidelity of the modified model and to analyze its numerical performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Timing of gold mineralisation in the Ballarat goldfields,central Victoria: Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar results

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data for muscovite separates and hydrothermally altered whole‐rock samples from the Ballarat West and the Ballarat East goldfields indicate that mesothermal gold mineralisation at Ballarat occurred during several episodic pulses, ranging in age from the Late Ordovician to the Early Devonian. Initial formation of auriferous structures in the Ballarat goldfields coincided with folding and thrusting associated with the development of the western Lachlan Fold Belt between 460 and 440 Ma. Subsequent fault reactivation and magmatism resulted in remobilisation and additional mineralisation between 410 and 380 Ma, and around 370 Ma. The results presented herein are in agreement with findings for other major gold deposits in central Victoria and further constrain the history of deformation, metamorphism and mineralisation in the western subprovince of the Lachlan Fold Belt.     

Fission track data from the Bathurst Batholith: Evidence for rapid mid‐Cretaceous uplift and erosion within the eastern highlands of Australia

Apatite fission track thermochronology reveals that uplift and erosion occurred during the mid‐Cretaceous within the Bathurst Batholith region of the eastern highlands, New South Wales. Apatite fission track ages from samples from the eastern flank of the highlands range between ca 73 and 139 Ma. The mean lengths of confined fission tracks for these samples are > 13 μm with standard deviations of the track length distributions between 1 and 2 μm. These data suggest that rocks exposed along the eastern flank of the highlands were nearly reset as the result of being subjected to palaeotemperatures in the range of approximately 100–110°C, prior to being cooled relatively quickly through to temperatures < 50°C in the mid‐Cretaceous at ca 90 Ma. In contrast, samples from the western flank of the highlands yield apparent apatite ages as old as 235 Ma and mean track lengths < 12.5 μm, with standard deviations between 1.8 and 3 μm. These old apatite ages and relatively short track lengths suggest that the rocks were exposed to maximum palaeotemperatures between approximately 80° and 100°C prior to the regional cooling episode. This cooling is interpreted to be the result of kilometre‐scale uplift and erosion of the eastern highlands in the mid‐Cretaceous, and the similarity in timing of uplift and erosion within the highlands and initial extension along the eastern Australian passive margin prior to breakup (ca 95 Ma) strongly suggests these two occurrences are related.     

Hard-rock aquifers in tropical regions: using science to inform development and management policy

An overview of progress during the past 30 years in the hydrogeologic understanding of groundwater in hard-rock aquifers of tropical regions is presented. Geographically, the paper concentrates upon and contrasts Tropical Africa and Peninsular India, where very extensive areas of weathered hard-rock aquifers occur, but its conclusions are more widely applicable. This scientific understanding forms the basis for a critical discussion of key policy issues for the development and management of the water resources of these aquifers, given their major importance for economical and sustainable water-supply provision, in the context of efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals for rural drinking water and improved livelihoods.     

Ordovician ash geochemistry and the establishment of land plants

ABSTRACT: The colonization of the terrestrial environment by land plants transformed the planetary surface and its biota, and shifted the balance of Earth's biomass from the subsurface towards the surface. However there was a long delay between the formation of palaeosols (soils) on the land surface and the key stage of plant colonization. The record of palaeosols, and their colonization by fungi and lichens extends well back into the Precambrian. While these early soils provided a potential substrate, they were generally leached of nutrients as part of the weathering process. In contrast, volcanic ash falls provide a geochemically favourable substrate that is both nutrient-rich and has high water retention, making them good hosts to land plants. An anomalously extensive system of volcanic arcs generated unprecedented volumes of lava and volcanic ash (tuff) during the Ordovician. The earliest, mid-Ordovician, records of plant spores coincide with these widespread volcanic deposits, suggesting the possibility of a genetic relationship. The ash constituted a global environment of nutrient-laden, water-saturated soil that could be exploited to maximum advantage by the evolving anchoring systems of land plants. The rapid and pervasive inoculation of modern volcanic ash by plant spores, and symbiotic nitrogen-fixing fungi, suggests that the Ordovician ash must have received a substantial load of the earliest spores and their chemistry favoured plant development. In particular, high phosphorus levels in ash were favourable to plant growth. This may have allowed photosynthesizers to diversify and enlarge, and transform the surface of the planet.     

Physiological and isotopic responses of scleractinian corals to ocean acidification

Uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ by the oceans is altering seawater chemistry with potentially serious consequences for coral reef ecosystems due to the reduction of seawater pH and aragonite saturation state (Ω_arag). The objectives of this long-term study were to investigate the viability of two ecologically important reef-building coral species, massive Porites sp. and Stylophora pistillata, exposed to high pCO₂ (or low pH) conditions and to observe possible changes in physiologically related parameters as well as skeletal isotopic composition. Fragments of Porites sp. and S. pistillata were kept for 6-14 months under controlled aquarium conditions characterized by normal and elevated pCO₂ conditions, corresponding to pH_T values of 8.09, 7.49, and 7.19, respectively. In contrast with shorter, and therefore more transient experiments, the long experimental timescale achieved in this study ensures complete equilibration and steady state with the experimental environment and guarantees that the data provide insights into viable and stably growing corals. During the experiments, all coral fragments survived and added new skeleton, even at seawater Ω_arag < 1, implying that the coral skeleton is formed by mechanisms under strong biological control. Measurements of boron (B), carbon (C), and oxygen (O) isotopic composition of skeleton, C isotopic composition of coral tissue and symbiont zooxanthellae, along with physiological data (such as skeletal growth, tissue biomass, zooxanthellae cell density, and chlorophyll concentration) allow for a direct comparison with corals living under normal conditions and sampled simultaneously. Skeletal growth and zooxanthellae density were found to decrease, whereas coral tissue biomass (measured as protein concentration) and zooxanthellae chlorophyll concentrations increased under high pCO₂ (low pH) conditions. Both species showed similar trends of δ¹¹B depletion and δ¹⁸O enrichment under reduced pH, whereas the δ¹³C results imply species-specific metabolic response to high pCO₂ conditions. The skeletal δ¹¹B values plot above seawater δ¹¹B vs. pH borate fractionation curves calculated using either the theoretically derived α_B value of 1.0194 (Kakihana et al. (1977) Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.50, 158) or the empirical α_B value of 1.0272 (Klochko et al. (2006) EPSL248, 261). However, the effective α_B must be greater than 1.0200 in order to yield calculated coral skeletal δ¹¹B values for pH conditions where Ω_arag ? 1. The δ¹¹B vs. pH offset from the seawater δ¹¹B vs. pH fractionation curves suggests a change in the ratio of skeletal material laid down during dark and light calcification and/or an internal pH regulation, presumably controlled by ion-transport enzymes. Finally, seawater pH significantly influences skeletal δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O. This must be taken into consideration when reconstructing paleo-environmental conditions from coral skeletons.