Spatial Analysis Techniques as Successful Mineral-Potential Mapping Tools for Orogenic Gold Deposits in the Northern Fennoscandian Shield,Finland

Geoscientific Information Systems (GIS) provide tools to quantitatively analyze and integrate spatially referenced information from geological, geophysical, and geochemical surveys for decision-making processes. Excellent coverage of well-documented, precise and good quality data enables testing of variable exploration models in an efficient and cost effective way with GIS tools. Digital geoscientific data from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) are being used widely as spatial evidence in exploration targeting, that is ranking areas based on their exploration importance. In the last few years, spatial analysis techniques including weights-of-evidence, logistic regression, and fuzzy logic, have been increasingly used in GTK’s mineral exploration and geological mapping projects. Special emphasis has been put into the exploration for gold because of the excellent data coverage within the prospective volcanic belts and because of the increased activity in gold exploration in Finland during recent years. In this paper, we describe some successful case histories of using the weights-of-evidence method for the Au-potential mapping. These projects have shown that, by using spatial modeling techniques, exploration targets can be generated by quantitatively analyzing extensive amounts of data from various sources and to rank these target areas based on their exploration potential.     

The history of the development of procedures for the rapid assessment of environmental conditions to aid the urban regeneration process at London Docklands

A process of urban regeneration of the former industrial dock area of east London by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) recognised the importance of geotechnical and geoenvironmental information. A systematic programme of data collection was implemented and stored in a series of bespoke computer database systems and cartographic registers. These allowed retrieval and manipulation of the data to provide rapid site assessments. The understanding of the natural setting of the area was enhanced as a consequence of the collation exercise. The data stored included geotechnical and environmental information on soil and groundwater. The hydrogeological regime was modelled by computer to determine the consequences of development on groundwater movement. In addition, a cartographic register of historic land use was developed. This gave instant detail on the potential for contamination of a site and became a fundamental tool in the UK planning process of the area. The information from the separate systems was finally combined into a geographic information system.     

ARMA order model detection using minimum of Kurtosis: application on seismic data

The objective of this study is to find the order and coefficients of non-low-phase causal filters for ARMA (auto regressive moving average) filter model, using the Kurtosis minimization criterion. This method is based on the Kurtosis calculation of the treated sample at the input level and its identification at the output of the ARMA model. For this purpose, the order and coefficients of the AR (auto regressive) part are identified using the Yule-Walker algorithm at order two and then extended to order four. To obtain the MA (moving average) part, the AR components are calculated at first from the ARMA filter by deconvolution. Then, spectrally equivalent and minimum phase (SEMP) MA filter is identified using the Durbin algorithm at second and fourth order. Finally, the correct filter is found when the Kurtosis value of the output ARMA filter reconstituted is the closest to the Kurtosis of introduced signal. The proposed method is then tested on simulated processes and applied to real seismic data to perform blind deconvolution and obtain the reflectivity coefficients of subsoil studied.     

ENSO and IOD analysis on the occurrence of floods in Pakistan

Different techniques have been used to discuss the existence of significant relation between the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Various studies present their interaction and influence on the natural disasters (i.e. drought, flood, etc.) over large parts of the globe. This study uses a Markov chain method to investigate the relation between the ENSO and IOD for the period of 62 years (1950–2011) and aggregates their influence on the occurrence of floods in Pakistan. Both data sets show similarities in the formation of transition matrices and expected number of visits from one state to another. The strong values of 2-dimensional correlation and high self-communication of the transition states confirm the existence of a possible relation between ENSO and IOD data. Moreover, significant values of dependency and stationary test endorse the applicability of the Markov chain analyses. The independent analysis shows that strong events of both data sets are co-occurred in the same flood years. During the study period maximum number of floods was observed during summer monsoon season. However, further analysis shows that after 1970, Pakistan observed the highest percentage of floods occurred per year during El Nino, Non-ENSO and positive IOD years. These observations and results demonstrate that climate variability especially ENSO and IOD should be incorporated into disaster risk analyses and policies in Pakistan.     

A micro–macro investigation of the capillary strengthening effect in wet granular materials

Wet granular materials are three-dimensionally simulated by the discrete element method with water bridges incorporated between particles. The water bridges are simplified as toroidal shapes, and the matric suction is constantly maintained in the material. A comparison with experimental tests in the literature indicates that the toroidal shape approximation may be one of the best choices with high practicability and decent accuracy. Mechanical behaviours of wet granular materials are studied by triaxial tests. Effects of particle size distributions and void ratios are investigated systematically in this study. The hydraulic limit of the pendular state is also discussed. It gives the capillary cohesion function which is not only determined by the degree of saturation but also positively correlated to relative density and particle size polydispersity and inversely proportional to mean particle size. Furthermore, the capillary strengthening effect is also analysed microscopically in aid of the Stress–Force–Fabric relationship, mainly in fabric anisotropy, coordination number and stress transmission pattern, which revealed the micro-mechanisms of the additional effective stress induced by capillary effect.     

Hydrogeochemistry of two river main floodplain lakes,Hessia, FR Germany

Two lakes, Lake Gänseweiher (LGW) and Lake Fechenheimer Weiher (LFW) occupy groundwater filled abandoned gravel pits which serve as fishing grounds and are part of recreational areas, respectively.Both lakes are cut into a near-surface groundwater aquifer, which is located in the pleistocene River Main gravel terrace t₆. They are sealed at the base by miocene clays and above by overlying flood deposits of the River Main. The latter provide protection from pollutants derived from wet and dry deposition of atmospheric contaminants.Groundwater chemistry determines the pool of dissolved constituents in lake water. The temporal and spatial distribution patterns of chemical compounds in lake water are brought about by endo-biogenic processes, of which the indicators are nitrate-nitrogen and dissolved silica. The latter illustrates an instantaneous response to pulses of diatom blooms.Both lakes are eutrophic (polytrophic) according to the classification guidelines presented in literature.     

Hydraulic Conductivity Tests for Evaluating Compatibility of Lateritic Soil—Fly Ash Mixtures with Municipal Waste Leachate

Long term competent performance of liner systems is a critical issue in the design and construction of waste repositories due to adverse interactions associated with leachate generated by wastes. This study was conducted to verify the efficacy of fly ash stabilization in enhancing compatibility between lateritic soil and municipal waste leachate. Applications investigated include soil mixtures containing 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% fly ash compacted at approximately 2% wet of optimum moisture content with modified proctor energy. Baseline hydraulic conductivity was first established at every level of fly ash content by permeating soil mixtures with tap water before permeation with leachate in a compaction mould permeameter using the falling head test method. Results show that the trend in hydraulic conductivity of specimen containing 0% fly ash was characterized by a gradual but erratic decrease which may suggests partial entry of the leachate cations into the double layer. Conversely, specimens containing fly ash showed a general trend consisting of an initial drop in k (up to an order of magnitude) that was followed by slight decrease sustained until k stabilized and later terminated. Above 10% fly ash content, the relatively high values of k observed was not connected with the reactivity of the soil mixtures with leachate, rather it may be attributed to excessive fly ash content that altered their textural and hydraulic properties. The result of this study is potentially significant in the assessment of fly ash as a compatibility enhancing agent which can be admixed in barrier materials that are susceptible to adverse reactions with the liquid to be contained.     

Long-Term Changes in the Extreme Significant Wave Heights on the Western North Pacific: Impacts of Tropical Cyclone Activity and ENSO

Seasonal extreme wave statistics were reproduced by using the 25-km-grid global wave model of WAVEWATCH-III. The results showed that the simulated wave dataset for the present climate (1979-2009) was similar to Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) wave data. Statistics such as the root mean squared error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC) over the western North Pacific (WNP) basin were 0.5 m and 0.69 over the analysis domain. The largest trends and standard deviation were around the southern coast of Japan and western edge of the WNP. Linear regression analysis was employed to identify the relationship between the leading principal components (PCs) of significant wave heights (SWHs) in the peak season of July to September and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the equatorial Pacific. The results indicated that the inter-annual variability of SWH can be associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the peak season. The CC between the first PC of the SWH and anomalies in the Nino 3.4 SST index was also significant at a 99% confidence level. Significant variations in the SWH are affected by tropical cyclones (TCs) caused by increased SST anomalies. The genesis and development of simulated TCs can be important to the variation in SWHs for the WNP in the peak season. Therefore, we can project the variability of SWHs through TC activity based on changes in SST conditions for the equatorial Pacific in the future.