Cyclic sedimentation and climatically caused sea-level changes in the Late Palaeozoic of Central Europe

Significant short-term fluctuations are characteristic of geological history since Precambrian times. Only the younger Quaternary climatic fluctuations are known in more detail as a result of a high grade time resolution. Climatic change can also be postulated with respect to older, cold periods during which polar inland ice sheets developed. From a discussion of endogene and exogene interpretations it is shown that global climatic changes, and the sea-level changes induced by them, as well as changes in the position and extent of climatic zones throughout the world provide a control mechanism for sedimentation which is consistent with cyclic sedimentation in Late Palaeozoic times, and also if the basin subsides non-cyclically. The model allows an explanation of the development of the Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary cycles without numerous short-term vertical oscillations of the earth's crust. In reality, exogene and endogene controls on sedimentation act together in great variety of combinations.     

Geochemical characteristics of Cocos Plate seamount lavas

A wide compositional continuum of basalts has been erupted from near-ridge seamounts constructed on the Cocos Plate between the Clipperton and Orozco Francture Zones. They range from highly evolved to moderately primitive (3.0–7.8% MgO), LREE-enriched alkali basalts, to moderately evolved to near-primary (5.2–9.5% MgO) tholeiites indistinguishable from N-type MORB. The data set of 159 quench glass analyses exhibits a remarkably consistent variation in both major and trace element composition that is keyed to variations in (La/Sm). Modeling of potential liquid lines of descent at pressures ranging from 1 bar to 8 kbar shows that this covariation is partially due to systematic differences in liquid lines of descent, where the alkaline lavas have undergone substantially more high pressure clinopyroxene fractionation and substantially less low pressure plagioclase fractionation than the tholeiites. In addition, systematic variation in the composition of the more primitive glasses indicates that they were derived from mixing of discrete enriched and depleted melts in the heterogenous seamount mantle source at pressures of 8–10 kbar and greater, and that clinopyroxene may be a residual phase during partial melting. These results show that porous media flow in the seamount mantle source is minor and that melt transport is accomplished primarily through cracking and diking. This study supports suggestions that the general homogeneity of basalt along the EPR is due to mixing in sub-axial magma chambers and mush zones, with additional mixing during partial mantle melting and melt segregation.     

Alluvial gold in Kalimantan, Indonesia: A colloidal origin?

Extensive placer gold deposits occur in Quaternary palaeochannels in the Ampalit and Cempaga Buang drainage basins near Kasongan, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Broad interfluvial Pleistocene terraces surrounding the drainages also contain significant amounts of placer gold. The “channel” and “terrace” gold deposits together cover an area in excess of 180 km².Exploration for gold at Ampalit followed traditional alluvial methods, and assumed that mechanical and gravitational factors were the principal mechanisms affecting gold accumulation and concentration. Gold was considered to be physically reworked from terraces and redeposited in the present drainage channels or underlying, laterally displaced, palaeochannels. However, a comparison of gold grains from the Ampalit drainage channel and adjacent terraces indicates that gold grains in the drainage channels are possibly of colloidal origin and not mechanically transported to their present domain.The morphology of gold grains from the Ampalit drainage is compared with grains from adjacent terraces, using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The latter procedure allows for nondestructive analysis to give true three dimensional surface topography down to nanometre resolution. Evidence from force microscopy supports a colloidal origin for gold aggregates.The average purity of gold produced from the Ampalit dredging operation is 970 fine (970/1000) and the majority of examined gold grains extracted from beneath the drainage channel have a purity of 998 fine. This unusually high degree of purity suggests a selective dissolution/aggregation mechanism. We propose that gold is transported downward and laterally in groundwater percolating through the terrace sands and gravels to the current drainage as a humic acid-stabilised colloid. As the pregnant groundwater migrates toward the present drainage channels, it encounters a sleep chemical gradient and the colloid aggregates. The aggregation process occurs near clay zones within palaeochannel sands and gravels beneath the present river sediments. Here the colloidal aggregates form small grains (usually <1 mm) of extremely high purity.Today, the inherently unstable gold deposits at Ampalit are in a state of both aggregation and dissolution. Identification of low energy zones, location of point bar lags in palaeo and recent drainage channels, and the extrapolation of areas of low energy are not solely valid as exploration guides for gold accumulation in this environment. Exploration methods that also recognise ground water migration and composition, and the geochemical controls of dissolution and aggregation, will improve the ability to identify ore accumulations, thus contributing to improved economics of mining these deposits.     

Determining Paleosol Topography Using Seismic Refraction

The seismic refraction reversed profiling technique has been used to investigate the topography of the last interglacial soil (paleosol S1) within the central Chinese Loess Plateau near Xifeng. The results suggest an essentially flat-lying soil at a depth which varies by only a few meters over an area of more than 10 km². In addition, the results indicate a high-velocity layer at 50-60 m depth which is thought to coincide with a layer of carbonate concretions at the base of paleosol S5. The results agree well with the local loess-paleosol stratigraphy for this area and indicate that the seismic refraction method is a rapid technique for investigating paleotopography.     

A LABORATORY INVESTIGATION OF THE INDUCED POLARIZATION OF THE TRIASSIC SHERWOOD SANDSTONE OF LANCASHIRE AND ITS HYDROGEOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS*

The time-domain induced polarization (IP) of saturated Sherwood Sandstone correlates significantly with the intergranular permeability and the matrix conductivity but only at low electrolyte concentrations (< 500 p.p.m. NaCl). An increase in the magnitude of sandstone IP with increase in the valence of the electrolyte cation is pronounced but occurs only at intermediate concentrations, i.e., between 100 and 2500 p.p.m. Surface IP and resistivity depth sounding measurements, supplemented by data from laboratory measurements, can be used to estimate the groundwater conductivity and hence the salinity in a moderate to strongly saline sandstone aquifer.     

The use and waste of water in a third world city

All over the world, cities that are crossed by large rivers, have the great advantage of being able to meet their water needs. In the humid tropics, such cities should normally not experience water scarcity.Ilorin, the city under study is crossed by two fairly large rivers. The town is just about 100 km² in area with a population less than 500,000. 3km E of the city, is a dam with a storage capacity of 43 million m³. The daily water production to the city is 661/person. When it is realized that less than 25% of the houses in the city have modern sanitary conveniences, then 661/person per day borders on over supply. Yet there is the cry of inadequate water supply from sections of the city.The habits of the city dwellers make them waste water. For example, mouth brushing alone takes about 2.4 I/person when the tap runs continuously. Secondly a bath with a 221 bucket of water is adequate for an adult, but when a shower bath is taken, about 841 will be required for about 15 minutes.This paper has examined the use and waste of water among the physical strata in the city. These strata coincide with the socio-economic strata.For an affluent class, a threshold water requirement of 521 is manageable, whereas in the Government Reservation area, the average is 82 1 (often includes waste). For the indigenous area, about 351 per day for an individual is the need, though the demand might be much higher than this value.     

Acid mine drainage contaminates groundwater of a Tennessee watershed

Water samples were collected from 18 natural springs within the West Fork of the Obey River watershed. Overton County, Tennessee, to determine if groundwater was adversely affected by runoff from abandoned surface coal mines Six springs were found to be affected severely and deemed unfit as a source of potable water Water quality of the remaining springs was essentially unaffected it appeared that proximity to surface mines, elevation at the outflow, and geology of the surrounding strata determined the quality of the groundwater The unit is jointly supported by Tennessee Technological University, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, and the US. Fish and Wildlife Service