Chemistry of submarine hydrothermal solutions at 21 °N,East Pacific Rise

The three hydrothermal fields at 21°N latitude, East Pacific Rise, were resampled and an additional one was discovered. Maximum fluid temperatures observed were within a few degrees of 350°C and these waters had concentrations of Mg and sulfate indistinguishable from zero. One field, NGS, which had active 350°C springs in 1979, was inactive when first located in 1981. However, when a chimney was broken open during sampling, water issued at 273°C and continued to flow for at least five days. The chemical composition strongly suggests that these waters cooled conductively from 350°C in the sealed conduit.The major ion data are consistent with the estimates based on extrapolation of the original measurements made on the hot springs from the Galapagos Spreading Center (Edmondet al., 1979a). The fluids have a pH of 3.5 and the sulfide-forming element concentrations show significant inter-field variations. Fe levels range from 0.8 to 2.4 mmoles/kg; the ratio Fe:Mn varies from 0.9 to 2.9 similar to metalliferous sediments on the ridge flanks, but much higher than observed at Galapagos (where sub-surface precipitation of iron sulfides occurs) indicating that the overwhelming proportion of the mass flux from hydrothermal systems occurs at high temperatures. Zn ranges from 40 to 106 μmoles/kg with Cu being substantially lower. Since the ratio of these elements in tholeiites is about unity, there is strong net preferential mobilization of Zn. Lead ranges from 183 to 359 nmoles/kg. Nickel and Be are highly immobile relative to the other trace elements. The abundance of H₂S is about three times that of the total sulfide-forming cations. These data demonstrate that acid solutions at elevated temperatures can transport substantial amounts of ore-forming elements in the presence of large excesses of sulfide.     

Chemical evolution of mid-ocean ridge hot springs

Chemical analyses yielding elemental concentrations of major and minor elements of four hot springs on the East Pacific Rise at 21°N and 10 hot springs from the southern trough of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California provide a basis for thermodynamic modeling of conductive cooling of the hydrothermal endmembers, mixing of the hydrothermal endmember with seawater, and reaction of an EPR-type fluid with sediment of bulk chemical composition corresponding to unaltered sediment from DSDP hole 477 in the Guaymas Basin. Results of the calculations indicate that conductive cooling of endmember fluids within closed chimneys and conduits accounts for the solution composition of one vent on the East Pacific Rise and several vents in Guaymas Basin. Mixing of the hydrothermal fluids with seawater yields a prediction of mineral assemblages closely approximating those observed in samples of chimneys from the East Pacific Rise and drill cores in Guaymas Basin. The hypothesis that Guaymas Basin hydrothermal fluids result from interaction of an EPR-type fluid with sediment cover in Guaymas Basin is supported by calculations which predict an increase in pH to a value similar to Guaymas Basin fluids, an order-of-magnitude decrease in metal concentrations, and an excellent agreement between predicted mineral assemblages as a function of extent of interaction with sediment, and observed mineral assemblage distribution with depth.     

Drought and famine in Ethiopia and Sudan: An ongoing tragedy

Published with permission from Drought Network News, Vol. 2(3), 1990.     

A hybrid modelling of soil–structure interaction problems for deeply embedded structures in A multilayered medium

Dynamic response of deeply embedded structures, such as underground tunnels and deep foundations, in a multilayered elastic half-space are analysed when the structure is excited by a plane P or SV wave propagating at some angle. The scattered field is represented by the sum of three Green's functions, corresponding to two oscillating forces and one oscillating moment at the centroid position of the buried structure. The amplitudes of these two forces and one moment are a priori unknown and are obtained by satisfying displacement and stress continuity conditions across the near-field/far-field boundary. The distinguishing feature of this technique from direct or indirect boundary integral techniques is that in these techniques a distribution of sources of unknown amplitude are considered at the near-field/far-field boundary, and a large number of sources are needed for different combinations of source-receiver arrangements. But in this technique the sources of unknown amplitude are placed at the location of the structure, not at the near-field/far-field boundary and, using the Saint Venant's principle, the scattered field is modelled. Thus, the number of sources required is reduced to only three. Two example problems are solved. The first one is for a deeply embedded footing in a three-layer soil mass and the second one is for a rectangular tunnel in a two-layer soil mass.     

Magnesium in the marine sedimentary environment: Mg---NH4 ion exchange

The release of exchangeable Mg in marine sediments from displacement by ammonium ions was estimated by way of experimentally determining the parameters that govern this ion-exchange equilibrium on solid geochemical phases: smectite, humic acid, illite and opal.

We showed that: (a) both the conditional selectivity constant as well as the solid concentration are important parameters in determining the relative contribution of ammonium-exchangeable Mg from smectite, organic matter, illite and opal; and (b) that, except in the cases where opal or organic matter concentrations are very high, the clays are the dominant carrier phases for labile Mg which is exchangeable by ammonium.

A model, based on the sum of the contributions from the major geochemical phases present in the sediment reliably predicts the amount of Mg released by exchange with ammonium in marine sediments.     

Über das Verhalten der Skelette planktischer Kieselalgen im geschichteten Tiefenschlamm des Zürich- und Baldeggersees

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Potential implications of global warming and barrier island degradation on future hurricane inundation,property damages,and population impacted

Hurricane flooding is a leading natural threat to coastal communities. Recent evidence of sea level rise coupled with potential future global warming indicate that sea level rise will accelerate and hurricanes may intensify over the coming decades. In regions fronted by barrier islands, the protective capacity of these islands may diminish as they are degraded by rising sea level. Here we present a hydrodynamic and geospatial analysis of the relative role of barrier island degradation on potential future hurricane flooding. For the City of Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, hurricane flooding is projected to rise between 20% and 70% by the 2030s, resulting in an increase in property damages and impacted population. These findings indicate that adaptive management strategies should be developed and adopted for mitigating loss of natural barrier islands when these islands act as protective features for populated bayside communities. Finally, this study illustrates a method for applying models to forecast future storm protection benefits of barrier island restoration projects.