Geology of five small Australian impact craters

Here we present detailed geological maps and cross-sections of Liverpool, Wolfe Creek, Boxhole, Veevers and Dalgaranga craters. Liverpool crater and Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater are classic bowl-shaped, Barringer-type craters. Liverpool was likely formed during the Neoproterozoic and was filled and covered with sediments soon thereafter. In the Cenozoic, this cover was exhumed exposing the crater's brecciated wall rocks. Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater displays many striking features, including well-bedded ejecta units, crater-floor faults and sinkholes, a ringed aeromagnetic anomaly, rim-skirting dunes, and numerous iron-rich shale balls. Boxhole Meteorite Crater, Veevers Meteorite Crater and Dalgaranga crater are smaller, Odessa-type craters without fully developed, steep, overturned rims. Boxhole and Dalgaranga craters are developed in highly foliated Precambrian basement rocks with a veneer of Holocene colluvium. The pre-existing structure at these two sites complicates structural analyses of the craters, and may have influenced target deformation during impact. Veevers Meteorite Crater is formed in Cenozoic laterites, and is one of the best-preserved impact craters on Earth. The craters discussed herein were formed in different target materials, ranging from crystalline rocks to loosely consolidated sediments, containing evidence that the impactors struck at an array of angles and velocities. This facilitates a comparative study of the influence of these factors on the structural and topographic form of small impact craters.     

Important observations and parameters for a salt water intrusion model

Sensitivity analysis with a density-dependent ground water flow simulator can provide insight and understanding of salt water intrusion calibration problems far beyond what is possible through intuitive analysis alone. Five simple experimental simulations presented here demonstrate this point. Results show that dispersivity is a very important parameter for reproducing a steady-state distribution of hydraulic head, salinity, and flow in the transition zone between fresh water and salt water in a coastal aquifer system. When estimating dispersivity, the following conclusions can be drawn about the data types and locations considered. (1) The "toe" of the transition zone is the most effective location for hydraulic head and salinity observations. (2) Areas near the coastline where submarine ground water discharge occurs are the most effective locations for flow observations. (3) Salinity observations are more effective than hydraulic head observations. (4) The importance of flow observations aligned perpendicular to the shoreline varies dramatically depending on distance seaward from the shoreline. Extreme parameter correlation can prohibit unique estimation of permeability parameters such as hydraulic conductivity and flow parameters such as recharge in a density-dependent ground water flow model when using hydraulic head and salinity observations. Adding flow observations perpendicular to the shoreline in areas where ground water is exchanged with the ocean body can reduce the correlation, potentially resulting in unique estimates of these parameter values. Results are expected to be directly applicable to many complex situations, and have implications for model development whether or not formal optimization methods are used in model calibration.     

CLASSIFICATION:OLDTIMERS AND NEWCOMERS

Classification and regression techniques are among the most used tools by chemometricians.Withclassification,the two classic methods are discriminant analysis and SIMCA.In this paper we discuss theconnection between these two methods and introduce two new ones of the same family:DASCO(discriminantanalysis with shrunken covariances)and RDA(regularized discriminant analysis).We demonstrate on bothsimulated and real data sets that their performance is superior to the old favorites.This is especially truein small-sample/high-dimension settings typical in chemistry.     

Modeling Management Practice Effects on Pesticide Movement to Ground Water

The assessment of agricultural impacts on water quality are now being redirected to include both ground water and surface water. Mathematical models have enhanced the ability of scientists'to evaluate these impacts. A variety of public domain models are available that can aid in evaluating the effects of managerial activities on pesticide movement to ground water. However, the ideal non-point source (NPS) pollution management model does not exist. Current models fail to adequately describe the transport of chemicals to ground water and, simultaneously, the effect of managerial practices on transport mechanisms. Much more work is necessary to develop a model that can describe water quality impacts of agricultural practices in a holistic framework that includes ground water and surface water concerns.     

Screening of one-well hydraulic barrier design alternatives

This study develops a robust method for screening one-well hydraulic barrier design alternatives that can be easily computed without a numerical simulation model. The paper outlines the general method and shows its implementation with hydraulic barriers using a single pumping well. For such barriers, the method is easily computable with spreadsheets and/or charts depicted within the paper and posted online. The method applies the potential flow theory, which leads to using a curvilinear coordinate system for all types of calculations. For contaminant transport calculations, the method applies the boundary layer theory. For calculations of aquifer remediation, the method refers to bulk characteristics of the domain. As an example, the method has been applied to calculate the possible containment of a wide part of the coastal plain aquifer in Israel, which is contaminated by entrapped kerosene (a light nonaqueous phase liquid).     

Source model of the 11th July 2004 Zhongba earthquake revealed from the joint inversion of InSAR and seismological data

We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and broadband seismic waveform data to estimate a source model of the 11th July, 2004 M W 6.2 Zhongba earthquake, Tibet of China. This event occurred within the seismically active zone of southwestern Tibetan Plateau where the east-west extension of the upper crust is observed. Because of limitations in one pair of InSAR data available, there are trade-offs among centroid depth, rupture area and amount of slip. Available seismic data tightly constrain ...     

Reduction of Nitrate Loadings to Ground Water

Non-point source pollution of ground water systems has become a national concern in recent years. Researchers and regulatory agencies are investigating the source and processes of the contamination. Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) traditionally developed to reduce non-point source pollution of surface water resources are being investigated for their impact on ground water quality. This study used the CREAMS model to simulate the long-term effects of seven different BMPs on nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N) loadings to a shallow, unconfined ground water system. Two representative watersheds, 5.8 and 8.9 hectares (14.3 and 22 acres) in area, in the Coastal Plain physiographic region of Maryland were selected for study. Soils in these watersheds belong to the Matapeake silt loam series and have moderate infiltration capacity. Results from this study indicated that BMPs used in conjunction with winter cover (barley) reduced NO₃-N leaching to the ground water system. It was also found that turfgrass reduced surface losses of water and nitrogen, but increased leaching losses of water and NO₃-N significantly. All of the BMPs simulated in this study resulted in leachate NO₃-N concentrations exceeding 10 ppm, the U.S. EPA health standard for public drinking water, indicating a need for alternate practices for reducing nitrate leaching.     

Structural architecture of the Owen Conglomerate,West Coast Range,western Tasmania: field evidence for Late Cambrian extension.

The Owen Conglomerate comprises coarse-grained siliciclastics that were deposited in response to Late Cambrian extension. The identification of normal faults that host thickened accumulations of siliciclastics is used here to support interpretation of syn-fill extension. Local mapping and section construction have identified a series of north-trending, en échelon, segmented normal faults that exhibit changes in along-strike polarity. The Late Cambrian faults are adjacent to sedimentary packages that define half-graben geometries, with an unconformity that defines basal contacts with underlying Mt Read Volcanics and onlap geometries onto the opposing basin margin. Faults that were active during deposition of the Owen Conglomerate were subsequently reversed during D₁ Middle Devonian deformation, with reverse displacement controlling the development of inversion structures defined by north-trending fold structures. Pervasive northwest-trending D₂ deformation extensively overprints earlier deformation features, and has led to the spectacular development of type 1 interference patterns that largely control outcrop distributions along the West Coast Range. Field evidence is documented in support for a simple structural history that accounts for geometries associated with Late Cambrian extension, prior to Middle Devonian inversion (D₁) and subsequent shortening (D₂).     

西秦岭凤太矿集区丝毛岭金矿床地质地球化学特征

西秦岭凤太矿集区丝毛岭金矿床位于八卦庙造山型金矿床西侧5km左右,是一个新探明的剪切带型金矿。其成矿作用过程可分为早期石英-绢云母-硫化物阶段、中期多金属-硫化物阶段和晚期碳酸盐阶段。对早、中期的石英流体包裹体测试结果表明,丝毛岭金矿床成矿流体以富CO2、中温、低盐度为特征,总体上属于中温低盐度CO2-H2O体系,流体包裹体类型的多样性是流体不混溶性的产物。从早阶段到主成矿阶段成矿流体的温度、压力和盐度均有降低,硫逸度增高,有利于金的沉淀富集。H、O、S、C同位素研究结果,以及与八卦庙金矿床的对比分析表明,二者的成矿流体具有相似性和同源性,都是以深部来源为主的多源流体。由于丝毛岭金矿床产出的层位高于八卦庙金矿床,其成矿环境相对开放。     

Ion Probe Study of Silicate Inclusions from Colomera (ⅡE) Iron Meteorite: the Rare Earth Element Perspective

Coupled with a petrographical study, I carried out an ion probe study of rare earth element microdistributions in mineral phases of silicate inclusions from the Colomera ⅡE iron meteorite. Most mineral grains have homogeneous REEs, but show considerable inter-grain variations by a factor of 2 to 100. The whole rock REE abundances for Colomera, estimated by combining REE data with modal abundances, are relatively LREE-enriched with REEs of -10'CI, which suggest that Colomera silicates were highly differentiated and might represent a low degree partial melt (-10%) of a chondritic source. REE geochemistry of Colomera silicate inclusions points to an origin that involves differentiation, dynamic mixing, remelting, reduction, recrystallization, and subsequent rapid cooling near the surface of a planetary body.