Water contamination and remedial measures at the Troya abandoned Pb-Zn mine (The Basque Country, Northern Spain)

 This article describes a case of contamination of a karstic aquifer by abandoning an underground mine exploiting sulphide ore body. To exploit the ore, the aquifer was drained and the water level declined about 230 m, drying up the spring that had drained the aquifer up to that moment. When the mining activity ceased, the piezometric level recovered and contaminated water began to flow out from a mine adit. The water is high in sulphates and dissolved Fe, although the pH is neutral. When this water reached the nearby creek, the fish population was eliminated, principally due to the presence of toxic metals and the precipitation of Fe hydroxides. The contamination originated in an area of the partially flooded mine rooms where the ore is in contact with both air and water. The acidity generated by pyrite oxidation is neutralized by calcite dissolution. Presently, the mine water is diverted to the old tailings pond which functions as an aerobic wetland. This action has allowed the fish population in the creek to be restored. Received: 20 January 1999 · Accepted: 15 March 1999     

临界包裹体及其在金矿地质研究中的应用

临界包裹体具有在热动力过程中气液相比不变直至均一成一个流体相的特征.它在超临界流体中,当临界体积为一定值时才能形成.它可以在各类岩浆岩、火山岩、深变质岩以及铁、铜、金等多金属矿床中出现.利用临界包裹体的临界均一温度结合该流体体系的相图,可以获得如成矿流体体系的热力学状态、流体基本组分特征、临界压力、盐度、密度等成矿物理化学信息.通过多年研究发现,临界包裹体在中国北方深变质岩区的很多金矿床都有出现,它的临界均一温度都小于纯水的临界温度(374.2℃),表明成矿早期的超临界流体是由一种低盐度CO₂-H₂O体系组成,它可能来自古老的深变质岩.另一种较高盐度的成矿热液来自与矿床毗邻的中生代中酸性小岩体.它们通过超临界流体成矿地质作用,形成了具有中国特色的多源多期多成因金矿床.这在包裹体冷冻法及其成分分析和包裹体水的氢氧同位素分析的结果中也得到证实.     

应用EUROSEM模型对三峡库区陡坡地水力侵蚀的模拟研究

三峡库区坡地资源被广泛利用,但水土保持措施没有被很好地利用。坡地,尤其是陡坡地是库区主要泥沙来源,因此,有效评估土壤侵蚀风险、预测径流和侵蚀速率以及选择合理的水土保持措施在该地区显得非常必要。EUROSEM模型是动态分布式模型,可以在单独地块或小流域中预测水力侵蚀强度,其特点比较适合库区土壤侵蚀预测预报。本研究以在三峡库区秭归县王家桥小流域水土保持试验站的标准径流小区的人工降雨资料为基础,应用EUROSEM模型模拟陡坡地中的侵蚀状况。模拟结果表明,EUROSEM对人工降雨中径流模拟效果较好,但对土壤流失的模拟效果相对较差,更精确地模拟库区陡坡地的土壤侵蚀状况则需要作进一步的研究     

三峡库区巫山移民新城址松散堆积体成因机制研究

以巫山移民新城址松散堆积体成因类型为例 ,对三峡库区分布较广的松散堆积体进行了研究。通过对大量新开挖剖面的调查测绘 ,在许多地段发现了堆积与基岩之间的滑坡主滑带 ,说明了在该区分布较广的松散堆积体成因具有复合性。它是构造和岩溶作用前提下形成的滑坡体、崩塌体、泥石流堆积体和岩溶坍陷堆积体。运用高分辨率浅层地震勘探揭示堆积体发育深度可达 40 m至 6 0 m ,通过面波测试可按波速将之划分为三层。最后 ,建立了松散堆积体形成演化的概念模型 ,并运用目前最新版本的离散元软件 (UDEC3.0 )对其中最为重要的一种类型滑崩堆积体的形成演化过程进行了模拟。结果表明 ,该区的层状岩体在长江河流下切过程中 ,形成了区域性的卸荷松动 ,而在岩体下部形成压碎张裂带 ;地下水沿卸荷拉裂带渗入 ,并与压裂带贯通 ,形成了岩溶发育带 ,为滑坡、崩塌、塌陷等表生改造提供了条件。     

Geomorphological and sedimentological features in Quaternary fluvial systems affected by solution-induced subsidence (Ebro Basin, NE-Spain)

The Quaternary evolution and the morpho-sedimentary features of some of the most important rivers in Spain (Ebro and Tagus rivers among others) have been controlled by subsidence due to alluvial karstification of the evaporitic bedrock. The subsidence mechanism may range from catastrophic collapse to slow sagging of the alluvium by passive bending. In the Ebro Basin, the mechanisms and processes involved in karstic subsidence were studied through the analysis of present-day closed depressions as well as through old subsidence depressions (palaeocollapses and solution-induced basins) and associated deformations recorded in the Quaternary alluvial sediments. The Gállego–Ebro river system is presented as a case study of channel adjustments and geomorphic and sedimentary evolution of fluvial systems in dissolution-induced subsidence areas. In this fluvial system, evaporite dissolution during particular Quaternary time intervals (namely early and middle Pleistocene) have lead to the development of a solution-induced basin, approximately 30 km-long by 8 km-wide, filled by Quaternary deposits with a total thickness in excess of 190 m. The main river response to balance the subsidence in the alluvial plain was aggradation in the central reach of the subsiding area, and degradation both in the upstream reach and in the valley sides where alluvial fans and covered pediments may prograde over the fluvial sediments. The main sinking areas are recognized in the sedimentary record by anomalous thickenings in the alluvial deposits and fine-grained sediments deposited in backswamp and ponded areas.     

Dating Gondwanan continental crust at the Rio Grande Rise,South Atlantic

Crystalline continental rocks and associated crust‐contaminated basaltic rocks were unexpectedly dredged on the crest and at seamounts of the Rio Grande Rise, South Atlantic. Zircon U–Pb ages of one gabbro (ca. 2,200 Ma) and four granitoids (between ca. 1,430–480 Ma) indicate that the breakup of SW Gondwana left behind continental fragments of dominantly African age. These rocks may have been incorporated into the oceanic lithosphere by complex processes including rifting and interaction of the Tristan‐Gough mantle plume with hyperextended continental margins. Until ca. 80–70 Ma, the Rio Grande Rise and an old portion of the Walvis Ridge formed a conjugate pair of aseismic ridges, and the Tristan‐Gough plume was positioned at the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge. The finding of continental rock fragments in one of these conjugate pairs opens new perspectives on the mechanisms of continental break‐up, the nature of this conjugate pair, and the geodynamic evolution of rifted Gondwana margins in the South Atlantic.     

Stellar wind models with Alfvén waves

It is known that stellar winds from late type stars are of mixed thermal and magnetic origin. The stellar wind model presented in this work uses the hydrodynamic equations of mass and momentum conservation and closes the system of equations with a detailed energy equation. Both momentum and energy equations have terms due to the effects of Alfvén waves. A smooth transition between the two regimes for Alfvén wave propagation, the undamped and the damped modes, is achieved by considering the geometrical mean of both wave amplitudes. It will be shown that the initial push on the plasma is provided by the mechanical heating input, and that further out the Alfvén waves take over energetically.