Quantifying flows along hydrological pathways by applying a new filtering algorithm in conjunction with master recession curve analysis

Quantifying the proportion of the river hydrograph derived from the different hydrological pathways is essential for understanding the behaviour of a catchment. This paper describes a new approach using the output from master recession curve analysis to inform a new algorithm based on the Lyne and Hollick ‘one‐parameter’ signal analysis filtering algorithm. This approach was applied to six catchments (including two subcatchments of these) in Ireland. The conceptual model for each catchment consists of four main flow pathways: overland flow, interflow, shallow groundwater and deep groundwater. The results were compared with those of the master recession curve analysis, a recharge coefficient approach developed in Ireland and the semi‐distributed, lumped and deterministic hydrological model Nedbør‐Afstrømings‐Model. The new algorithm removes the ‘free variable’ aspect that is typically associated with filtering algorithms and provides a means of estimating the contribution of each pathway that is consistent with the results of hydrograph separation in catchments that are dominated by quick response pathways. These types of catchments are underlain by poorly productive aquifers that are not capable of providing large baseflows in the river. Such aquifers underlie over 73% of Ireland, ensuring that this new algorithm is applicable in the majority of catchments in Ireland and potentially in those catchments internationally that are strongly influenced by the quick‐responding hydrological pathways. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change and future flows of Rocky Mountain rivers: converging forecasts from empirical trend projection and down‐scaled global circulation modelling

To predict future river flows, empirical trend projection (ETP) analyses and extends historic trends, while hydroclimatic modelling (HCM) incorporates regional downscaling from global circulation model (GCM) outputs. We applied both approaches to the extensively allocated Oldman River Basin that drains the North American Rocky Mountains and provides an international focus for water sharing. For ETP, we analysed monthly discharges from 1912 to 2008 with non‐parametric regression, and extrapolated changes to 2055. For modelling, we refined the physical models MTCLIM and SNOPAC to provide water inputs into RIVRQ (river discharge), a model that assesses the streamflow regime as involving dynamic peaks superimposed on stable baseflow. After parameterization with 1960–1989 data, we assessed climate forecasts from six GCMs: CGCM1‐A, HadCM3, NCAR‐CCM3, ECHAM4 and 5 and GCM2. Modelling reasonably reconstructed monthly hydrographs (R² about 0·7), and averaging over three decades closely reconstructed the monthly pattern (R² = 0·94). When applied to the GCM forecasts, the model predicted that summer flows would decline considerably, while winter and early spring flows would increase, producing a slight decline in the annual discharge (?3%, 2005–2055). The ETP predicted similarly decreased summer flows but slight change in winter flows and greater annual flow reduction (?9%). The partial convergence of the seasonal flow projections increases confidence in a composite analysis and we thus predict further declines in summer (about ? 15%) and annual flows (about ? 5%). This composite projection indicates a more modest change than had been anticipated based on earlier GCM analyses or trend projections that considered only three or four decades. For other river basins, we recommend the utilization of ETP based on the longest available streamflow records, and HCM with multiple GCMs. The degree of correspondence from these two independent approaches would provide a basis for assessing the confidence in projections for future river flows and surface water supplies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Silurian and Devonian systems

The Ediacara mineral field is situated 30 km W of Beltana on the western margins of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, and consists of silver‐lead and copper deposits in lower Cambrian carbonate rocks that contain anomalous base‐metal contents throughout the Adelaide Geosyncline. The lower Cambrian rocks, which consist of the basal Parachilna Formation and overlying Ajax Limestone, rest disconformably on the Precambrian, and at Ediacara occupy a shallow N‐S elongate syncline near the hinge zone of the Adelaide Geosyncline. The main primary ore minerals of the silver‐lead mineralization are galena and pyrite, with very minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite, and rare tetrahedrite and pearceite. The gangue consists mainly of silica (both chalcedony and quartz), with minor dolomite and rare barite. The mineralization is stratabound and occurs in conformable zones, the lowest of which commences about 30–50 m above the base of the Cambrian sequence. The host to the silver‐lead mineralization, the Ajax Limestone, can be subdivided into three units which represent a set of lithologies, structures and organic traces indicative of a shallow near‐shore carbonate environment. The silver‐lead mineralization is mainly present in sandy and laminated dolomites which were deposited in an environment ranging from sub‐tidal to bar and channel and tidal flat, respectively. Four types of mineralization have been recognized; disseminated sulphides of syngenetic and/or diagenetic origin and epigenetic concentrations along stylolites, in veins and as breccia fillings. Post‐depositional solution activity has affected a large proportion of the carbonate sequence. The effects of this activity range from stylolites through stylobreccias to solution collapse breccias. The epigenetic concentrations of mineralizations have apparently been formed by the remobilization of the disseminated sulphides during solution activity. The ore and gangue minerals of the epigenetic mineralization display both euhedral forms and distinct colloform banding, and framboidal textures have also been observed in both pyrite and galena. There is evidence of repeated episodic precipitation and no simple paragenetic sequence can be recognized. Fluid inclusions in silica and dolomite associated with the epigenetic mineralization have homogenization temperatures of 159 to 199°C and freezing temperatures that indicate the fluids to be saline brines containing NaCl with CaCl₂ and/or MgCl₂. Sulphur isotope analyses show a range of 8³⁴S values from ‐12.5 to +8.6 per mil, with no evidence of significant differences between the four types of mineralization. The data suggest deposition of the disseminated sulphides as a result of biological reduction of seawater sulphate in a system partially open with respect to sulphate supply. Subsequent remobilization of sulphides apparently involved little or no sulphur isotope fractionation. The Ediacara silver‐lead deposits have many features in common with Mississippi Valley‐type lead‐zinc deposits and appear to have similarities in terms of genesis, in that the epigenetic mineralization has been formed as a result of post‐depositional solution activity during diagenesis in a sedimentary basin. The scale of transport of the metals deposited as the epigenetic mineralization at Ediacara appears, however, to have been very much less than that of the metals in other Mississippi Valley‐type deposits.     

Lithophile elements in Huronian low-Ti continental tholeiites from Canada, and evolution of the Precambrian mantle

Huronian basalts from central Ontario, Canada, dated at about 2450 Ma and associated with an early rifting episode, are classified as siliceous, low-TiNb tholeiites. They display strong enrichment in large-ion lithophile (LILE) and light rare earth (LREE) elements compared to modern oceanic lavas. The tectonic setting and geochemistry resemble Mesozoic rift-related low-Ti flood basalts, including the Ferrar Group of Antarctica, and the Parana and equivalent Etendeka volcanics of south Brazil and Namibia, respectively. High LILE/LREE ratios are also similar to subduction-related island arc tholeiites, and it is suggested that enrichment of the Huronian lithospheric mantle source occurred through ancient subduction of crustal material, probably during formation and consolidation of the Archean continental crust.Melting models suggest that Huronian subcontinental mantle source compositions, derived from least contaminated, aphyric, mafic end-members, had already undergone a complex evolution, including withdrawal of Archean basalts and hydrous enrichment in incompatible components. Despite several subsequent melting episodes and a second, probably magmatic, enrichment event, however, many aspects of the Huronian source signature were preserved, and appeared in later basaltic products of this mantle mass. Keweenawan volcanics, for example, dated at about 1100 Ma, preserve low P, Zr, Ti and HREE abundances.     

Effect of simulated sampling disturbance on creep behaviour of rock salt

Summary This article presents the results of an experimental study of creep behaviour of a rock salt under uniaxial compression as a function of prestrain, simulating sampling disturbance. The prestrain was produced by radial compressive loading of the specimens prior to creep testing. The tests were conducted on an artifical salt to avoid excessive scattering of the results.The results obtained from several series of single-stage creep tests show that, at short-term, the creep response of salt is strongly affected by the preloading history of samples. The nature of this effect depends upon the intensity of radial compressive preloading, and its magnitude is a function of the creep stress level. The effect, however, decreases with increasing plastic deformation, indicating that large creep strains may eventually lead to a complete loss of preloading memory.     

MM5-HPAC simulation experiments

Summary We evaluate mesoscale model predicted boundary-layer flow and the subsequent HPAC (Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability) dispersion computation. The HPAC software allows for prediction of the effects of surface release of hazardous material into the atmosphere and collateral damage on civilian populations using either observed or numerical weather model data. The advanced mesoscale weather model MM5 was employed in the study. The real-data MM5 model simulations were verified with high-resolution observations from the West Texas Mesonet. MM5 worked well in simulating meteorologically relatively quiescent conditions. We examined the sensitivity of HPAC computations to the MM5 model’s grid resolution, lateral boundary conditions, and input weather data. Results suggest that the MM5-HPAC conjugation can provide useful prediction of airborne transport of hazardous materials near the surface. However, the accuracy of diffusion computations strongly depends on the performance of MM5, which in turn is likely to be a function of weather scenarios. A given state-of-the-art mesoscale model may perform well in some cases but not in others. There is a potential benefit of using several different model winds separately to run HPAC. A composite result of the HPAC runs could give a more comprehensive depiction of the transport of surface hazardous agents.     

On‐line Dangers?: Geographies of Parents’ Fears for Children's Safety in Cyberspace

Children are considered particularly important in debates about the possibilities and dangers of information and communication technologies (ICT). Discourses on ICT contain paradoxical representations of childhood. On the one hand, unlike most other understandings of child/adult relations, these discourses assume children to be equally, if not more, technologically competent than adults. On the other hand, children's very competence at using ICT is alleged to be putting them “at risk” of abuse or corruption. This paper addresses these moral panics about children and ICT by exploring to what extent and why parents are concerned about their children's safety in on‐line space. In doing so the paper reflects on the extent to which anxieties about children in cyberspace replicate concerns about public outdoor space and the way networked computers emerge as different tools in different households.     

Chemistry of peralkaline phonolite dykes from the Grønnedal-Íka area,South Greenland

The chemical variation observed in a suite of fifteen aphyric peralkaline phonolite dykes of mid-Gardar age from the vicinity of the Grønnedal-Íka alkaline complex in south-west Greenland is discussed. From relationships in the system Na₂O-K₂O-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ it is argued that the members of the series are related by the fractionation of feldspar approximating to Ab₅₅Or₄₀An₅ in composition, along with augite and lesser amounts of other ferromagnesian minerals. The bearing of these rocks on phase equilibria in the analogous natural system is discussed, and consideration is given to the possible origins of the initial peralkaline phonolite magma.     

Zeolite and prehnite-pumpellyite facies in south central Puerto Rico

The intermediate lavas and pyroclastic rocks of south central Puerto Rico have been subjected to about four kilometers of burial. Despite shallow burial the mineralogy of these rocks has systematically readjusted. The degree of metamorphism is proportional to permeability; secondary phases appear in greater quantities in porous pyroclastics. In lavas, plagioclase and olivine phenoerysts contain a progressive sequence of alteration phases reflecting temperature and pressure conditions during alteration. The generalized sequence of appearance of secondary phases from low to high rank is as follows: 1. analcime, celadonite, chlorite, and sericite; 2. laumontite and albite; 3. prehnite; 4. pumpellyite; 5. epidote; 6. actinolite. Assemblages containing analcime, heulandite, celadonite, and laumontite belong to the zeolite facies. Remaining assemblages belong to the prehnite-pumpellyite facies.During alteration two major thresholds were crossed. First, calcium-aluminum silicates formed from materials released by decomposition of calcium feldspar. Second, clinopyroxene was decomposed in a process that added considerable mafic material to the reacting system, and made bulk rock compositions approximately equivalent to the composition of the reacting system. Comparison with other regions of similar metamorphic rank and composition indicates that zonation of such sequences on the basis of individual mineral occurrences, especially epidote, is justified only for local regions where the behavior of volatiles was uniform.Based on part of a dissertation (Jolly, 1969) presented to the faculty of the Department of Geology, State University of New York at Binghamton.