Changing drainage patterns in a semi-arid area and their effects on groundwater resources

The magnitude of groundwater resources is poorly correlated with surface catchment area in a group of wadi bottom alluvial aquifers in Northern Oman. It is suggested that this is due to progressive water gap captures across a limestone ridge.     

Developing a large‐scale water‐balance approach to seasonal forecasting: application to the 2012 drought in Britain

Seasonal hydrological forecasts, or outlooks, can potentially provide water managers with estimates of river flows and water resources for a lead time of several months ahead. An experimental modelling tool for national hydrological outlooks has been developed which combines a hydrological model estimate of sub‐surface water storage across Britain with a range of seasonal rainfall forecasts to provide estimates of area‐wide hydrological conditions up to a few months ahead. The link is made between a deficit in sub‐surface water storage and a requirement for additional rainfall over subsequent months to enable sub‐surface water storage and river flow to return to mean monthly values. The new scheme is assessed over a recent period which includes the termination of the drought that affected much of Britain in the first few months of 2012. An illustration is provided of its use to obtain return‐period estimates of the ‘rainfall required’ to ease drought conditions; these are well in excess of 200 years for several regions of the country, for termination within a month of 1 April 2012, and still exceed 40 years for termination within three months. National maps of sub‐surface water storage anomaly show for the first time the current spatial variability of drought severity. They can also be used to provide an indication of how a drought situation might develop in the next few months given a range of possible future rainfall scenarios. © 2013 CEH/Crown and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Frost risk mapping for landscape planning: A methodology

Summary Minimum air temperatures were measured during three winters with a network of stations in open, undulating terrain. It was observed that the change in minimum air temperature with elevation could be predicted from mean nighttime windspeed, total nighttime net radiation loss and a hill-top reference minimum temperature. It was also found that the deviation of temperatures at individual sites could be predicted from a local terrain parameter which reflects the extent of cold air accumulations. Thus a methodology for frost risk mapping has been developed which is based on regional weather dataand local terrain analysis. This paper describes the model and illustrates the regional weather and terrain effects with three-dimensional block diagrams.With 8 Figures     

Magnetic Anisotropy as an Aid to Identifying CRM and DRM in Red Sedimentary Rocks

To further evaluate the potential of magnetic anisotropy techniques for determining the origin of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) in sedimentary rocks, several new remanence anisotropy measurement techniques were explored. An accurate separation of the remanence anisotropy of magnetite and hematite in the same sedimentary rock sample was the goal.In one technique, Tertiary red and grey sedimentary rock samples from the Orera section (Spain) were exposed to 13 T fields in 9 different orientations. In each orientation, alternating field (af) demagnetization was used to separate the magnetite and hematite contributions of the high field isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM). Tensor subtraction was used to calculate the magnetite and hematite anisotropy tensors. Geologically interpretable fabrics did not result, probably because of the presence of goethite which contributes to the IRM. In the second technique, also applied to samples from Orera, an anisotropy of anhysteretic remanence (AAR) was applied in af fields up to 240 mT to directly measure the fabric of the magnetite in the sample. IRMs applied in 2 T fields followed by 240 mT af demagnetization, and thermal demagnetization at 90°C to remove the goethite contribution, were used to independently measure the hematite fabric in the same samples. This approach gave geologically interpretable results with minimum principal axes perpendicular to bedding, suggesting that the hematite and magnetite grains in the Orera samples both carry a depositional remanent magnetization (DRM). In a third experiment, IRMs applied in 13 T fields were used to measure the magnetic fabric of samples from the Dome de Barrot area (France). These samples had been demonstrated to have hematite as their only magnetic mineral. The fabrics that resulted were geologically interpretable, showing a strong NW-SE horizontal lineation consistent with AMS fabrics measured in the same samples. These fabrics suggest that the rock's remanence may have been affected by strain and could have originated as a DRM or a CRM.Our work shows that it is important to account for the presence of goethite when using high field IRMs to measure the remanence anisotropy of hematite-bearing sedimentary rocks. It also shows that very high magnetic fields (>10 T) may be used to measure the magnetic fabric of sedimentary rocks with highly coercive magnetic minerals without complete demagnetization between each position, provided that the field magnetically saturates the rock.     

A preliminary investigation into the use of ochre as a remedial amendment in arsenic-contaminated soils

Ochre is an unwanted waste product that accumulates in wetlands and streams draining abandoned coal and metal mines. A potential commercial use for ochre is to remediate As contaminated soil. Arsenic contaminated soil (605 mg kg⁻¹) was mixed with different ochres (A, B and C) in a mass ratio of 1:1 and shaken in 20 mL of deionised water. After 72 h As concentration in solution was ca. 500 μg kg⁻¹ in the control and 1–2.5 μg kg⁻¹ in the ochre treated experiments. In a second experiment soil:ochre mixtures of 0.05–1:1 were shaken in 20 mL of deionised water for 24 h. For Ochres A and C, as solution concentration was reduced to ca. 1 μg kg⁻¹ by 0.2–1:1 ochre:soil mixtures. For Ochre B, as concentration only reached ca. 1 μg kg⁻¹ in the 1:1 ochre:soil mix. Sorption of As was best modelled by a Freundlich isotherm using As sorption per mass of goethite in the ochre (log K = 1.64, n = 0.79, R² = 0.76, p 0.001). Efficiency of ochre in removing As from solution increased with increasing total Fe, goethite, citrate dithionite extractable Fe and surface area.     

Using impacts of deep-level mining to research karst hydrology—a Darcy-based approach to predict the future of dried-up dolomitic springs in the Far West Rand goldfield (South Africa). Part 2: predicting inter-compartmental flow and final groundwater tables

Some of the world’s deepest goldmines operate below dolomitic karst aquifers in the Far West Rand (FWR) goldfield, South Africa. Associated impacts include the continuous dewatering of karst aquifers for over six decades and irreversible changes of the hydrogeological setting. Affecting an area of approximately 400 km² by drawing down the water table up to 700 m, these impacts, and the large amounts of data generated in the process, are used as unique research opportunities to better understand the complex karst hydrology. The focus of this study is on predicting final water table elevations in rewatered aquifers after mining ceases taking the fact that mines hydraulically linked previously disconnected aquifers into account. While part 1 of this series develops the conceptual model, this second part utilises large sets of pertinent data to calculate actual flow rates for predicting the fate of dried up springs after mine closure. Following a Darcy-based approach first applied by Swart et al. (Environ Geol 44:751–770, 2003a) it is not only predicted that the springs will flow again but also shown that linear relationships exist between flow rates through a combined system of karst-fractured aquifers overlying the mine void and the associated hydraulic head driving them. This suggests that—at this scale—porous media-based equations can be meaningfully used to predict flow in non-porous media.     

Haynesville Shale Well Performance and Development Potential

Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale is one of several unconventional gas plays that have been discovered in the U.S. in recent years and promise to dramatically change the course of future domestic energy development. The Haynesville Shale is the deepest, hottest, and highest pressured shale among the big four plays in the U.S. with drilling and completion cost ranging between 7 and7 and 10 million per well. The average Haynesville well has an initial production rate of 10 MMcfd and declines rapidly, producing 80% of its expected recovery during the first 2 years of production. The purpose of this article is to describe the productivity characteristics of Haynesville wells, project future production from the inventory of active wells, and assess production potential based on drilling scenarios. We offer statistical analysis of the wells drilled to date and construct type profiles to characterize the play. We estimate that the current inventory of Haynesville wells will produce 3 Tcf over their lifecycles, and within the next 3 years, cumulative build-out in the region will range between 3 and 9 Tcf. To maintain current gas production levels in the state, we estimate that about 550 shale gas wells per year will need to be brought online over the next 3 years.     

Estimating water balance components of tropical wetland lakes in the Pantanal dry season,Brazil

Abstract

Water balance studies with stable water isotopes have rarely been conducted in remote and tropical wetland areas. As such, little is known regarding the water balance and groundwater–surface water interaction in the Pantanal, one of the largest and most pristine wetlands in the world. We applied MINA TrêS, a water balance model utilizing stable water isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ²H) and chloride (Cl^-) to assess the dry-season hydrological processes controlling groundwater–surface water interactions and the water balance of six floodplain lakes in the northern Pantanal, Brazil. Qualitatively, all lakes exhibited similarity in hydrological controls. Quantitatively, they differed significantly due to morphological differences in controlling groundwater inflow and lake volume. Our approach is readily transferable to other remote and tropical wetland systems with minimal data input requirements, which is useful in regions with sparse hydrometric monitoring.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz