Geohazards due to technologically enhanced natural radioactive wastes

Human activities can modify naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) into technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) as a result of industrial activities. Most of these industries do not intend to work with radioactive material a priori. However, whenever a uranium- or thorium-bearing mineral is exploited, NORM-containing by-products and TENORM-contaminated wastes are created. The industrial use of NORM can result in non-negligible radiation exposure of workers and members of the public, exceeding by far the radiation exposure from nuclear technologies. For decades, millions of tons of NORM have been released into the environment without adequate control or even with the lack of any control. Various technologies have been developed for the control of NORM wastes. The paper discusses the merits and limitations of different NORM-waste management techniques, such as Containment, Immobilization, Dilution/Dispersion, Natural Attenuation, Separation, and - as an alternative - Cleaner Technologies. Each of these methods requires a comprehensive risk-benefit-cost analysis.     

Nutrient budgets for European seas: a measure of the effectiveness of nutrient reduction policies

Socio-economic development in Europe has exerted increasing pressure on the marine environment. Eutrophication, caused by nutrient enrichment, is evident in regions of all European seas. Its severity varies but has, in places, adversely impacted socio-economic activities. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of recently adopted policies to reduce anthropogenic nutrient inputs to European seas. Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets were constructed for three different periods (prior to severe eutrophication, during severe eutrophication and contemporary) to capture changes in the relative importance of different nutrient sources in four European seas suffering from eutrophication (Baltic Proper, coastal North Sea, Northern Adriatic and North-Western Black Sea Shelf). Policy success is evident for point sources, notably for P in the Baltic and North Seas, but reduction of diffuse sources has been more problematic.     

The Energy Budget of Snow and Ice at Breidamerkurjökull, Vatnajökull, Iceland

Measurements of the energy and mass budgets have beenmade at the equilibrium line ofBreidamerkurjökull, a southern outlet glacier ofVatnajökull, Iceland. The glacier's surface wasmelting for most of the measurement period, whichallowed for a reliable closure of the energy budget.Sensitivity studies focussed mainly on potentialeffects of measurement errors, site-specificmicrometeorological conditions, surface developmentand different parameterization of the turbulentfluxes. Although the high stability and a roughnessdisturbance imposed certain restrictions, thesestudies confirmed the applicability of theMonin–Obukhov framework for the evaluation of turbulentfluxes.The characteristics of the energy and mass budgets arediscussed with respect to various time scales andsignificant weather conditions. Due to the maskingglacial boundary layer, warm fronts appearedcomparatively weak compared to the more vigorous coldfronts. The latter were often associated with leeeffects and give striking signals in the turbulent fluxes.Transition from snow to ice induced a distinct changein the regime because of related albedo and roughnesseffects.A compilation of the major energy budget components atglaciers all over the world confirms the maritimeregime at Vatnajökull.     

Field application of close‐range digital photogrammetry (CRDP) for grain‐scale fluvial morphology studies

In situ measurement of grain‐scale fluvial morphology is important for studies on grain roughness, sediment transport and the interactions between animals and the geomorphology, topics relevant to many river practitioners. Close‐range digital photogrammetry (CRDP) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) are the two most common techniques to obtain high‐resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) from fluvial surfaces. However, field application of topography remote sensing at the grain scale is presently hindered mainly by the tedious workflow challenges that one needs to overcome to obtain high‐accuracy elevation data. A recommended approach for CRDP to collect high‐resolution and high‐accuracy DEMs has been developed for gravel‐bed flume studies. The present paper investigates the deployment of the laboratory technique on three exposed gravel bars in a natural river environment. In contrast to other approaches, having the calibration carried out in the laboratory removes the need for independently surveyed ground‐control targets, and makes for an efficient and effective data collection in the field. Optimization of the gravel‐bed imagery helps DEM collection, without being impacted by variable lighting conditions. The benefit of a light‐weight three‐dimensional printed gravel‐bed model for DEM quality assessment is shown, and confirms the reliability of grain roughness data measured with CRDP. Imagery and DEM analysis evidences sedimentological contrasts between gravel bars within the reach. The analysis of the surface elevations shows the effect variable grain‐size and sediment sorting have on the surface roughness. By plotting the two‐dimensional structure functions and surface slopes and aspects we identify different grain arrangements and surface structures. The calculation of the inclination index allows determining the surface‐forming flow direction(s). We show that progress in topography remote sensing is important to extend our knowledge on fluvial morphology processes at the grain scale, and how a technique customized for use by fluvial geomorphologists in the field benefits this progress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards understanding paleosols in Southern Levantine eolianites: Integration of micromorphology, environmental magnetism and mineralogy

The paper addresses the controversial question of the role of clay-sized dust in the formation of paleosols in coastal eolianites, Israel. At the Habonim type section, the pedocomplex dated by archaeology and luminescence to 45-135 ka ago shows at least three paleosols, not separated by non-soil sediments. The oldest reddish paleosol （apparently related to MIS 5） is magnetically enhanced, leached from carbonates, with signs of bioturbation and strongly aged clay coatings. The reddening is due to very fine, -20 nm, poorly crystallized, superparamagnetic （SP） hematite, as determined by Mossbauer studies. In subsoil, lithorelics of eolianite are found. Over time, the soil surface aggraded due to accelerated fine dust accumulation alongside local slope wash. On younger materials formed magnetically depleted vertisols, dominated by smectite-type expandable paramagnetic clays. In thin sections, vertisols exhibit strong stipple-speckled and striated b-fabric due to shrink-swell processes, impregnative calcite nodules and Fe-Mn redistribution. The uppermost hydric vertisol shows the strongest expression of juxtaposed features of recurrent calcite and Fe precipitation. This paleosol developed on colluvial soil materials, as evidenced by mixing of clay coated and uncoated grains of quartz and calcite allochems. M6ssbauer spectra show high amounts of Fe（III） incorporated in the clay structure, low amounts of SP goethite and absence of SP hematite. Whilst magnetic susceptibility drops in vertisols to minimal values, increase. The latter along ferrimagnetie grain sizes with differences in the hierarchy of microfabric features is taken as indication for lithologic discontinuities which may have resulted from continuous, albeit variable and low-intensity, input of eolian clay from both remote Saharan and local sources, roughly dated to the earlier to middle part of the Last Glacial.     

Relationship between P- and S-wave velocities and geological properties of near-surface sediments of the continental slope of the Barents Sea

Seismic velocities ( V _p and V _s) of compressional (P-) and shear (S-) waves are important parameters for the characterization of marine sediments with respect to their sedimentological and geotechnical properties. P- and S-wave velocity data of near-surface marine sediments (upper 9 m) of the continental slope of the Barents Sea are analysed and correlated to sedimentological and geotechnical properties. The results show that the S-wave velocity is much more sensitive to changes in lithology and mechanical properties than the P-wave velocity, which is characterized by a narrow range of values. The correlation coefficients between S-wave velocity and silt and clay content, wet bulk density, porosity, water content and shear strength are higher than 0.5 while the correlation coefficients of P-wave velocity and the same parameters are always lower than 0.4. Although the relationship between V _s and clay content has been widely described, the data show that V _s is better correlated with silt content than with clay content for the sediments of the area investigated. However, they show different trends. While V _s increases with increasing clay content, it decreases with increasing silt content.     

Petrogenesis of Miller Range 07273, a new type of anomalous melt breccia: Implications for impact effects on the H chondrite asteroid

Miller Range 07273 is a chondritic melt breccia that contains clasts of equilibrated ordinary chondrite set in a fine‐grained (<5 μm), largely crystalline, igneous matrix. Data indicate that MIL was derived from the H chondrite parent asteroid, although it has an oxygen isotope composition that approaches but falls outside of the established H group. MIL also is distinctive in having low porosity, cone‐like shapes for coarse metal grains, unusual internal textures and compositions for coarse metal, a matrix composed chiefly of clinoenstatite and omphacitic pigeonite, and troilite veining most common in coarse olivine and orthopyroxene. These features can be explained by a model involving impact into a porous target that produced brief but intense heating at high pressure, a sudden pressure drop, and a slower drop in temperature. Olivine and orthopyroxene in chondrule clasts were the least melted and the most deformed, whereas matrix and troilite melted completely and crystallized to nearly strain‐free minerals. Coarse metal was largely but incompletely liquefied, and matrix silicates formed by the breakdown during melting of albitic feldspar and some olivine to form pyroxene at high pressure (>3 GPa, possibly to ~15–19 GPa) and temperature (>1350 °C, possibly to ≥2000 °C). The higher pressures and temperatures would have involved back‐reaction of high‐pressure polymorphs to pyroxene and olivine upon cooling. Silicates outside of melt matrix have compositions that were relatively unchanged owing to brief heating duration.     

H/L chondrite LaPaz Icefield 031047 - A feather of Icarus?

Antarctic meteorite LAP 031047 is an ordinary chondrite composed of loosely consolidated chondritic fragments. Its petrography, oxygen isotopic composition and geochemical inventory are ambiguous and indicate an intermediate character between H and L chondrites. Petrographic indicators suggest LAP 031047 suffered a shock metamorphic overprint below ∼10 GPa, which did not destroy its unusually high porosity of ∼27 vol%. Metallographic textures in LAP 031047 indicate heating above ∼700 °C and subsequent cooling, which caused massive transformation of taenite to kamacite. The depletion of thermally labile trace elements, the crystallization of chondritic glass to microcrystalline plagioclase of unusual composition, and the occurrence of coarsely crystallized chondrule fragments is further evidence for post-metamorphic heating to ∼700-750 °C. However, this heating event had a transient character because olivine and low-Ca pyroxene did not equilibrate. Nearly complete degassing up to very high temperatures is indicated by the thorough resetting of LAP 031047’s Ar-Ar reservoir ∼100 ± 55 Ma ago. A noble gas cosmic-ray exposure age indicates it was reduced to a meter-size fragment at <0.5 Ma. In light of the fact that shock heating cannot account for the thermal history of LAP 031047 in its entirety, we test the hypothesis that this meteorite belonged to the near-surface of an Aten or Apollo asteroid that underwent heating during orbital passages close to the Sun.     

Cratering and penetration experiments in aluminum and teflon: Implications for space‐exposed surfaces

Abstract– Whether a target is penetrated or not during hypervelocity impact depends strongly on typical impactor dimensions (D_p) relative to the absolute target thickness (T). We have therefore conducted impact experiments in aluminum₁₁₀₀ and Teflon^FEP targets that systematically varied D_p/T (=D*), ranging from genuine cratering events in thick targets (D_p << T) to the nondisruptive passage of the impactor through very thin films (D_p >> T). The objectives were to (1) delineate the transition from cratering to penetration events, (2) characterize the diameter of the penetration hole (D_h) as a function of D*, and (3) determine the threshold target thickness that yields D_h = D_p. We employed spherical soda‐lime glass (SLG) projectiles of D_p = 50–3175 μm at impact velocities (V) from 1 to 7 km s^?1, and varied target thicknesses from microns to centimeters. The transition from cratering to penetration processes in thick targets forms a continuum in all morphologic aspects. The entrance side of the target resembles that of a standard crater even when the back of the target suffers substantial, physical perforations via spallation and plastic deformation. We thus suggest that the cratering‐to‐penetration transition does not occur when the target becomes physically perforated (i.e., at the “ballistic limit”), but when the shock pulse duration in the projectile (t_p) is identical to that in the target (t_t), i.e., t_p = t_t. This condition is readily calculated from equation‐of‐state data. As a consequence, in reconstructing impactor dimensions from observations of space‐exposed substrates, we recommend that crater size (D_c) be used for the case of t_p < t_t, and that penetration hole diameter (D_h) be used when t_p > t_t. The morphologic evolution of the penetration hole and its size also forms a continuum that strongly depends on both the scaled parameter D* and on V, but it is independent of the absolute scale. The condition of D_h = D_p is approached at D* > 50. The dependence of D_h on T and V, however, is very systematic. This has led to new and detailed calibration curves, permitting the reconstruction of D_p from the measurement of either crater diameter or penetration‐hole size in Al₁₁₀₀ and Teflon^FEP targets of arbitrary thickness. We also placed witness plates behind penetrated targets to intercept the down‐range debris plume, which is generally a mixture of both target and impactor fragments and melts. These witness plates also reveal that the debris plume systematically and diagnostically depends on D*. Thick targets shed spall debris only, and target thickness must be less than crater depth (T_c) to allow projectile material on the witness plate. Concentric plume patterns, accented by characteristic “hole saw” rings, characterize penetrated Al‐targets at D* = 1–10, but they give way to distinctly radial geometries at D* = 10–20. Most of the target debris occupies the periphery of the plume, while the projectile fragments or melts reside in its central parts. The periphery of the plume is also typically more fine‐grained than its center. At D* > 50, the exit plume is dominated by solid projectile fragments that progressively coagulate and overlap with each other, giving rise to compound craters. The latter have irregular crater interiors on account of the heterogeneous mass distribution of a collisionally produced, aggregate impactor. Similarly, complex craters are observed on LDEF and Stardust and they are produced by aggregate cosmic‐dust particles containing large, dense components within a relatively low‐density, fine‐grained matrix. The witness‐plate observations can also be used to address the enigmatic clustering of impact sites observed on Stardust’s aerogel and aluminum surfaces. We suggest that this clustering is difficult to produce by the collision of particles from comet Wild 2 with the Stardust spacecraft, and that it is more likely due to particle disaggregation in the comet’s coma.     

Cenozoic intra-plate magmatism in the Darfur volcanic province: mantle source, phonolite-trachyte genesis and relation to other volcanic provinces in NE Africa

Chemical and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of Late Cenozoic to Quaternary small-volume phonolite, trachyte and related mafic rocks from the Darfur volcanic province/NW-Sudan have been investigated. Isotope signatures indicate variable but minor crustal contributions. Some phonolitic and trachytic rocks show the same isotopic composition as their primitive mantle-derived parents, and no crustal contributions are visible in the trace element patterns of these samples. The magmatic evolution of the evolved rocks is dominated by crystal fractionation. The Si-undersaturated strongly alkaline phonolite and the Si-saturated mildly alkaline trachyte can be modelled by fractionation of basanite and basalt, respectively. The suite of basanite–basalt–phonolite–trachyte with characteristic isotope signatures from the Darfur volcanic province fits the compositional features of other Cenozoic intra-plate magmatism scattered in North and Central Africa (e.g., Tibesti, Maghreb, Cameroon line), which evolved on a lithosphere that was reworked or formed during the Neoproterozoic.