Assessing the potential for significant and episodic recharge in southwestern Australia using rainfall data

Agricultural practices in semi-arid parts of southwestern Australia have increased recharge and raised groundwater levels. As a result, land salinization has occurred. Managers aim to address the problem by reducing recharge, but it is not known whether all recharge is regular and seasonal or whether a substantial component is episodic (i.e. occurs in irregular pulses). Approaches that reduce regular recharge may not be effective at reducing recharge that is episodic. Water balances were used to assess the potential for recharge to be episodic at 53 sites throughout Western Australia. The results show that, for the conditions modeled, a substantial proportion of the recharge in drier parts of the agricultural areas occurred episodically, and that direct episodic recharge could be as important in some semi-arid areas as in arid regions. Therefore, mean annual rainfall is not a strong predictor of the ratio of episodic to total recharge at a site. The model indicates that in agricultural areas, most significant and episodic recharge events occurred over just a few days in winter months, when rainfall was dominated by frontal systems. However, substantial episodic recharge also resulted from large storms during the months of January, February, and March. The implication is that it will be difficult to reduce recharge substantially, and thus control salinity, as long as agriculture relies heavily on shallow-rooted winter-growing plants. Electronic Publication     

Isotopic anomalies of noble gases in meteorites and their origins—III. LL-chondrites

Nine LL-chondrites were studied by a selective etching technique, to characterize the noblegas components in three mineral fractions: HF-HCl-solubles (silicates, metal, troilite, etc.; comprising ～ 99% of the meteorite), chromite and carbon (～ 0.3–0.7%) and Q (a poorly characterized mineral defined by its solubility in HNO₃, comprising ～ 0.05% of the meteorite but containing most of the Ar, Kr, Xe and a neon component of ${}^{20}\text{Ne}{}^{22}\text{Ne}\text{= 10.9 ± 0.8}$). The ${}^{20}\text{Ne}{}^{36}\text{Ar}$ ratio in Q falls wi petrologic type and rising ³⁶Ar content, as expected for condensation from a cooling solar nebula, but contrary to the trend expected for metamorphic losses. Chondrites of different petrologic types therefore cannot all be derived from the same volatile-rich ancestor, but must have formed over a range of temperatures, with correspondingly different intrinsic volatile contents.The CCFXe (carbonaceous chondrite fission) component varies systematically with petrologic type. The most primitive LL3s (Krymka, Bishunpur, Chainpur) contain substantial amounts of CCFXe in chromite-carbon, enriched relative to primordial Xe as shown by high ${}^{136}\text{Xe}{}^{132}\text{Xe}$ (0.359–0.459, vs 0.310 for primordial Xe). These are accompanied by He and by Ne with ${}^{20}\text{Ne}{}^{22}\text{Ne}\text{≈ 8.0}$ and by variable amounts of a xenon component enriched in the light isotopes. The chromite in these meteorites is compositionally peculiar, containing substantial amounts of Fe(III). These meteorites, as well as Parnallee (LL3) and Hamlet (LL4) also contain CCFXe in phase Q, heavily diluted by primordial $\text{Xe}\text{(}{}^{136}\text{Xe}{}^{132}\text{Xe}\text{= 0.317–0.329)}$. On the other hand, LL5s and 6s (Olivenza, St. Séverin, Manbhoom and Dhurmsala) contain no CCFXe in either mineral. This deficiency must be intrinsic rather than caused by metamorphic loss, because Q in these meteorites still contains substantial amounts of primordial Ne.If CCFXe comes from a supernova, then its distribution in LL-chondrites requires three presolar carrier minerals of the right solubility properties, containing three different xenon components in certain combinations. These minerals must be appropriately distributed over the petrologic types, together with locally produced Q containing primordial gases, and they must be isotopically normal, in contrast to the gases they contain. On the other hand, if CCFXe comes from fission of a volatile superheavy element, then its decrease from LL3 to LL6 can be attributed to progressively less complete condensation from the solar nebula. Ad hoc assumptions must of the host phase Q, its association with ferrichromite and the origin of the associated xenon component enriched in the light isotopes.Soluble minerals in LL3s and LL4s contain a previously unobserved, solar xenon component, which, however, is not derived from the solar wind. Three types of ‘primordial’ xenon thus occur side-by-side in different minerals of the same meteorite: strongly fractionated Xe in ferrichromite and carbon, lightly fractionated Xe in phase Q, and ‘solar’ Xe in solubles. Because the first two can apparently be derived from the third by mass fractionation, it seems likely that all were trapped from the same solar nebula reservoir, but with different degrees of mass fractionation.     

Alteration of a pelagic chalk below a paleokarst surface,Oxford, South Island,New Zealand

A small isolated outlier of Lower Oligocene chalk, which grades upwards into what was originally a sandy marl, has been truncated by a paleokarst surface, which is overlain by cross-bedded, well-sorted glauconitic sands. A sandy clay horizon (probably originally tuffaceous) and a basaltic lava flow of probable Miocene age cap the local sequence. Below the paleokarst surface and roughly parallel to it, the original sediment has been intensely altered to an average depth of 1.5 m. The alteration front is sharply defined, even where it extends along the walls of glauconitic sand-filled fissures in the chalk.In the alteration zone, the chalk has been entirely replaced by silica (opal-CT, largely in the form of lepispheres). The calcareous fraction of the marl has been replaced by montmorillonite and clinoptilolite. Rounded gravel clasts (largely basaltic) in the base of the overlying glauconitic sands also have been replaced (by montmorillonite), which suggests that all alteration followed deposition of the sands. However, neither the glauconite nor any other mineral in the sands appears highly altered. Similarly, the quartz grains show no evidence of dissolution or silica precipitation. Preservation of most silica sponge spicules, the only siliceous microfossils in the chalk, indicates that the source of the silica was extraneous to the carbonate sediments.Migrating interstitial liquid, largely confined to the sands between the impervious cap of sandy clay plus basalt and the porous but less permeable chalk, is inferred to have been the causal agent for the replacement. Silica, and any other components necessary for the formation of opal-CT, montmorillonite and clinoptilolite, were probably derived by chemical alteration of the capping volcanics in a groundwater regimen. Replacement reactions in the chalk and marl presumably were dependent on the original presence of calcium carbonate, and apart from montmorillonitization of volcanic material, occurred only where this compound was present.     

The detection and recognition of underground nuclear explosions

This paper reports on a joint meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society's Joint Association for Geophysics and VERTIC (the Verification Technology Information Centre) held in London in 1992. The topics presented focused on the detection and recognition of underground nuclear explosions. The objective of the meeting was to emphasize the multi-methodological approach that is important in verifying compliance with test-ban treaties. An overview of seismological monitoring was followed by a discussion of the technical and scientific aspects of a global seismic monitoring network, and in particular of the 1991 experiment to test the large-scale international exchange of seismic data between recording stations and data centres world-wide. The current capabilities of satellite remote-sensing were presented, and their use explained in terms of both the provision of information for monitoring the development of foreign nuclear testing programmes and also for providing sufficient information for the evaluation of treaty compliance. A review of radio-isotope sampling showed how the isotopic signature of both air and ground based sampling programmes can be diagnostic of the nuclear source. Finally, previously classified research on the ionospheric effects of underground nuclear explosions was presented, the generated acoustic waves disturbing the ionosphere and producing detectable changes in the reflection of radio and radar signals which have potential as a monitoring technique.     

Are topographic data sets fractal?

The scale invariant properties of fractal sets make them attractive models for topographic profiles because those profiles are the end product of a complex system of physical processes operating over many spatial scales. If topographic data sets are fractal, their power spectra will be well represented by lines in log-log space with slopess such that –3s<–1. The power spectra from a Digital Elevation Model (30 meter sample spacing) of the Sierra Nevada Batholith and from Seabeam center beam depths (425 meter sample spacing) along a flowline in the South Atlantic are curved. Straight sections in the spectra can be identified but the slopes of those sections are strongly dependent upon the particulars of the data analysis. Fractal geometry must be used with caution in the discussion of topographic data sets.     

The role of vegetation and bed-level fluctuations in the process of channel narrowing

A catastrophic flood ire 1965 on Plum Creek, a perennial sandbed stream in the western Great Plains, removed most of the bottomland vegetation and transformed the single-thalweg stream into a wider, braided channel. Following eight years of further widening associated with minor high flows, a process of channel narrowing began in 1973; narrowing continues today. The history of channel narrowing was reconstructed by counting the annual rings of 129 trees and shrubs along a 5-km reach of Plum Creek near Louviers, Colorado. Sixty-three of these plants were excavated in order to determine the age and elevation of the germination point. The reconstructed record of channel change was verified from historical aerial photographs, and then compared to sediment stratigraphy and records of discharge and bed elevation from a streamflow gaging station in the study reach. Channel narrowing at Plum Creel: occurs in two ways. First, during periods of high flow, sand and fine gravel are delivered to the channel, temporarily raising the general bed-level. Subsequently, several years of uninterrupted low flows incise a narrower channel. Second, during years of low flow, vegetation becomes established on the subaerial part of the present channel bed. In both cases, surfaces stabilize as a result of vegetation growth and vertical accretion of sediment.