RESOLVING ANISOTROPY IN LAYERED MEDIA BY JOINT INVERSION*

A finite number of layers must normally be used to represent the electrical properties of a horizontally-layered region. It is well known that these representative layers must include anisotropy. Applying the concept of joint inversion to DC resistivity and magnetotelluric (electromagnetic) data from a structure consisting of many fine layers, we show how the resistivities in the horizontal and vertical directions can be separately determined in each layer. The results are related to the contrasts existing in the interbeds which comprise the composite layers. The method has applications in both engineering and exploration.     

Exploration and discovery in Yellowstone Lake: results from high-resolution sonar imaging, seismic reflection profiling, and submersible studies

‘No portion of the American continent is perhaps so rich in wonders as the Yellow Stone’ (F.V. Hayden, September 2, 1874)Discoveries from multi-beam sonar mapping and seismic reflection surveys of the northern, central, and West Thumb basins of Yellowstone Lake provide new insight into the extent of post-collapse volcanism and active hydrothermal processes occurring in a large lake environment above a large magma chamber. Yellowstone Lake has an irregular bottom covered with dozens of features directly related to hydrothermal, tectonic, volcanic, and sedimentary processes. Detailed bathymetric, seismic reflection, and magnetic evidence reveals that rhyolitic lava flows underlie much of Yellowstone Lake and exert fundamental control on lake bathymetry and localization of hydrothermal activity. Many previously unknown features have been identified and include over 250 hydrothermal vents, several very large (>500 m diameter) hydrothermal explosion craters, many small hydrothermal vent craters (1–200 m diameter), domed lacustrine sediments related to hydrothermal activity, elongate fissures cutting post-glacial sediments, siliceous hydrothermal spire structures, sublacustrine landslide deposits, submerged former shorelines, and a recently active graben. Sampling and observations with a submersible remotely operated vehicle confirm and extend our understanding of the identified features. Faults, fissures, hydrothermally inflated domal structures, hydrothermal explosion craters, and sublacustrine landslides constitute potentially significant geologic hazards. Toxic elements derived from hydrothermal processes also may significantly affect the Yellowstone ecosystem.     

Grain-size trends, basin subsidence and sediment supply in the Campanian Castlegate Sandstone and equivalent conglomerates of central Utah

Reconstructions of grain-size trends in alluvial deposits can be used to understand the dominant controls on stratal architecture in a foreland basin. Different initial values of sediment supply, tectonic subsidence and base-level rise are investigated to constrain their influence on stratal geometry using the observed grain-size trends as a proxy of the goodness of fit of the numerical results to the observed data. Detailed measurements of grain-size trends, palaeocurrent indicators, facies and thickness trends, channel geometries and palynological analyses were compiled for the middle Campanian Castlegate Sandstone of the Book Cliffs and its conglomerate units in the Gunnison and Wasatch plateaus of central Utah. They define the initial conditions for a numerical study of the interactions between large-scale foreland basin and small-scale sediment transport processes. From previous studies, the proximal foreland deposits are interpreted as recording a middle Campanian thrusting event along the Sevier orogenic belt, while the stratal architecture in the Book Cliffs region is interpreted to be controlled by eustatic fluctuation with local tectonic influence. Model results of stratal geometry, using a subsidence curve with a maximum rate of ≈45 m Myr^?1 for the northern Wasatch Plateau region predict the observed grain-size trends through the northern Book Cliffs. A subsidence curve with a maximum rate of ≈30 m Myr^?1 in the Gunnison–Wasatch Plateaus best reproduces the observed grain-size trends in the southern transect through the southern Wasatch Plateau. Eustasy is commonly cited as controlling Castlegate deposition east of the Book Cliffs region. A eustatic rise of 45 m Myr^?1 produces grain-size patterns that are similar to the observed, but a rate of eustatic rise based on Haq et al. (1988) will not produce the observed stratal architecture or grain-size trends. Tectonic subsidence alone, or a combined rate of tectonic subsidence and a Haq et al. (1988) eustatic rise, can explain the stratal and grain-size variations in the proximal and downstream regions.     

The Nature of Platinoid Minerals from Gold Placers of Southern Sikhote-Alin (Primorye)

Doklady Earth Sciences - Gold placers of two streams that drain Permian dislocated terrigenous deposits overlying Cambrian metagabbroids and metadiorites in southern Sikhote-Alin have been studied....     

K‐Ar ages of Cainozoic volcanic suites,Bowen‐St Lawrence Hinterland,North Queensland (with some implications for petrologic models)

Thirty K‐Ar dates on Cainozoic volcanic rocks lying at the north end of the Bowen Basin suggest that several episodes of volcanism took place at major structural weaknesses. The oldest volcanism (ca 54 m.y.) was located outside the basin structure. The main volcanism (Nebo and East Clermont Provinces) extended from early Oligocene (34–35 m.y.) to mid‐Cainozoic time (21–22 m.y.?). Isolated Pliocene activity is tentatively suggested by dates on Mt St Martin (ca 3 m.y.).

Dating of the Nebo central volcano (31–33 m.y.) supports the model of Wellman &; McDougall, with volcanic activity related to migration of Australia northwards over a mantle magma source. Consideration of the Nebo dates with those of other central volcanoes in north Queensland, suggests that central felsic activity was surrounded by broad zones of peripheral eruptives, petrologically zoned from outer undersaturated basalts to inner saturated basalts. These zones (super provinces) delineate the size and profile of underlying magma sources and appear to trend back in time and space to sea‐floor spreading episodes in the Coral Sea—southeastern Papua region (55 m.y.).

The basalt dates also assist in fixing periods of lateritization (mid‐Oligocene) and in determining approximate minimum erosion rates in the northern Bowen Basin since the Eocene (3–5m/m.y.).     

Characterization of uranium-contaminated sediments from beneath a nuclear waste storage tank from Hanford, Washington: Implications for contaminant transport and fate

The concentration and distribution of uranium (U) in sediment samples from three boreholes recovered near radioactive waste storage tanks at Hanford, Washington, USA, were determined in detail using bulk and micro-analytical techniques. The source of contamination was a plume that contained an estimated 7000 kg of dissolved U that seeped into the subsurface as a result of an accident that occurred during filling of tank BX-102. The desorption character and kinetics of U were also determined by experiment in order to assess the mobility of U in the vadose zone. Most samples contained too little moisture to obtain quantitative information on pore water compositions. Concentrations of U (and contaminant phosphate—P) in pore waters were therefore estimated by performing 1:1 sediment-to-water extractions and the data indicated concentrations of these elements were above that of uncontaminated “background” sediments. Further extraction of U by 8 N nitric acid indicated that a significant fraction of the total U is relatively immobile and may be sequestered in mobilization-resistant phases. Fine- and coarse-grained samples in sharp contact with one another were sub-sampled for further scrutiny and identification of U reservoirs. Segregation of the samples into their constituent size fractions coupled with microwave-assisted digestion of bulk samples showed that most of the U contamination was sequestered within the fine-grained fraction. Isotope exchange (²³³U) tests revealed that ∼51% to 63% of the U is labile, indicating that the remaining fund of U is locked up in mobilization-resistant phases. Analysis by Micro-X-ray Fluorescence and Micro-X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy (μ-XRF and μ-XANES) showed that U is primarily associated with Ca and is predominately U(VI). The spectra obtained on U-enriched “hot spots” using Time-Resolved Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy (TRLIFS) provide strong evidence for uranophane-type [Ca(UO₂)₂(SiO₃OH)₂(H₂O)₅] and uranyl phosphate [Ca(UO₂)₂(PO₄)₂(H₂O)_10-12] phases. These data show that disseminated micro-precipitates can form in narrow pore spaces within the finer-grained matrix and that these objects are likely not restricted to lithic fragment environments. Uranium mobility may therefore be curtailed by precipitation of uranyl silicate and phosphate phases, with additional possible influence exerted by capillary barriers. Consequently, equilibrium-based desorption models that predict the concentrations and mobility of U in the subsurface matrix at Hanford are unnecessarily conservative.     

Role of barotropic,baroclinic and combined barotropic-baroclinic instability for the growth of monsoon depressions and mid-tropospheric cyclones

A detailed barotropic, baroclinic and combined barotropic-baroclinic stability analysis has been carried out with mean monsoon zonal currents over western India, eastern India and S.E. Asia. The lower and middle tropospheric zonal wind profiles over western India are barotropically unstable. The structure and growth rate of these modes agree well with the observed features of the midtropospheric cyclones. Similar profiles over eastern India and S.E. Asia, however, are barotropically stable. This is attributed to weak horizontal shear, inherent to these profiles. The upper tropospheric profiles, on the other hand, are barotropically unstable throughout the whole region. The features of these unstable modes agree with those of observed easterly waves. The baroclinic and combined barotropic-baroclinic stability analyses show that the baroclinic effects are not important in tropics. Though the barotropic instability of the mean zonal current seems to be res ponsible for the initial growth of the mid-tropospheric cyclones, neither barotropic nor baroclinic instability of the mean zonal current seem to explain the observed features of the monsoon depressions.     

多尺度GTWR城市住宅价格建模与分析

尺度、时间、空间距离一直是制约地理时空加权回归模型求解精度的关键.本文基于欧氏距离约束和路网距离约束,将多尺度扩展到时空地理加权回归方法的建模中,以检验多尺度GTWR模型的改进性能,同时验证路网距离约束在多尺度GTWR模型中的优越性.以2015—2018年成都市主城区商品房社区作为案例对象,将多尺度GTWR与GTWR在拟合优度(R2)、残差平方和(RSS)及AIC等方面进行比较.试验结果表明,与GTWR相比,多尺度GTWR对影响住宅价格的自变量提供了更有效的解释,同时路网距离的使用也提高了模型的合理性.在基于欧氏距离约束和路网距离约束方面拟合优度分别提升了0.123和0.208,RSS和AIC值得到了有效的降低.相比于使用欧氏距离约束的GTWR与多尺度GTWR模型,路网距离约束的GTWR(RD)模型的拟合优度提高了0.007,多尺度GTWR(RD)模型的拟合优度提高了0.092,基于路网距离的计算结果进一步证实了多尺度GTWR模型的正确性,也进一步证明了综合考虑尺度、时空距离后的多尺度GTWR具有很好的通用性.     

Oxygen Uptake During Repeated Exposure to Temperature Change: Physiological Divergence in Panamanian Cognate Pairs and Latitudinally Distant Populations of Decapod Crustacea

Abstract. The emergence of the Isthmus of Panama subdivided the amphi-American biota. In the present study, Pacific and Atlantic populations of four cognate pairs of crabs were used to discern whether exposure to different thermal regimes in habitats, in the putative absence of gene flow, has resulted in physiological divergence. Populations that potentially form a common genetic pool were also used; these were populations of the Atlantic Panama cognate that occur in Belize and Florida. Decreases in water temperature occur periodically in Pacific Panama and Florida, but not in Atlantic Panama or Belize. In this study, physiological divergence in oxygen uptake was assessed in response to repeated exposure to either control and decreased temperature or control and increased temperature. Results indicate that, in only some of the genera tested, exposure to decreases in habitat temperature has resulted in divergence. Partial support is found for the corollary that adaptation to an environment with periods of decreased temperature results in reduced compensation during exposure to elevated temperature.     

Characterizing the zonally asymmetric component of the SH circulation

Much research concerning the Southern Hemisphere (SH) zonally asymmetric circulation has focused on the Pacific-South American mode (PSA) or the major zonal waves. However, these large-scale decompositions may mask important local variability. In this paper the month-to-month variability explained by the zonal waves 1 and 3 is examined, and an alternative representation of the SH circulation is presented based on two quasi-stationary anticyclones in the sub-Antarctic western hemisphere. These anticyclones are related to the zonal waves, but features of their variability are masked by the zonal wave decomposition; in particular, the anticyclones’ strengths are not positively covariant. They are also compared with the leading Principal Components of the SH atmosphere. We show that they capture variance independent of the Southern Annular Mode. Additionally, they explain a generally greater fraction of the variability than the PSA, and in a manner that also includes information regarding spatial variability. These results have implications for analysis of the atmospheric-forcing of western Antarctic climate.