Characterising thermal water circulation in fractured bedrock using a multidisciplinary approach: a case study of St. Gorman’s Well,Ireland

A hydrogeological conceptual model of the source, circulation pathways and temporal variation of a low-enthalpy thermal spring in a fractured limestone setting is derived from a multidisciplinary approach. St. Gorman’s Well is a thermal spring in east-central Ireland with a complex and variable temperature profile (maximum of 21.8 °C). Geophysical data from a three-dimensional(3D)audio-magnetotelluric(AMT) survey are combined with time-lapse hydrogeological data and information from a previously published hydrochemical analysis to investigate the operation of this intriguing hydrothermal system. Hydrochemical analysis and time-lapse measurements suggest that the thermal waters flow within the fractured limestones of the Carboniferous Dublin Basin at all times but display variability in discharge and temperature. The 3D electrical resistivity model of the subsurface revealed two prominent structures: (1) a NW-aligned faulted contact between two limestone lithologies; and (2) a dissolutionally enhanced, N-aligned, fault of probable Cenozoic age. The intersection of these two structures, which has allowed for karstification of the limestone bedrock, has created conduits facilitating the operation of relatively deep hydrothermal circulation (likely estimated depths between 240 and 1,000 m) within the limestone succession of the Dublin Basin. The results of this study support a hypothesis that the maximum temperature and simultaneous increased discharge observed at St. Gorman’s Well each winter is the result of rapid infiltration, heating and recirculation of meteoric waters within a structurally controlled hydrothermal circulation system.

     

Integrated smart robot with earthquake early warning system for automated inspection and emergency response

Natural Hazards - Earthquakes as a natural hazard have caused substantial economic losses and human life loss in many countries. Taiwan, which is located on the western Circum-Pacific seismic belt,...     

An assessment of uncertainties in VS profiles obtained from microtremor observations in the phased 2018 COSMOS blind trials

Journal of Seismology - Site response is a critical consideration when assessing earthquake hazards. Site characterization is key to understanding site effects as influenced by seismic site...     

The effect of providing probabilistic information about a tornado threat on people’s protective actions

National Weather Service issues deterministic warnings in a tornado event. An alternative system is being researched at National Severe Storms Laboratory to issue Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI). This study investigated how providing the uncertainty information about the tornado occurrence through PHI changes people’s protective actions. In an experiment, visual displays of the probabilistic information and deterministic warnings were presented to fifty participants to report their expected protective actions in different scenarios. It was found that the percentage of people who expected to immediately take shelter right after receiving the weather information increased exponentially as their proximity to the threat decreased. When there was more chance that the information about occurrence of a particular tornado was false rather than true, in scenarios that the likelihood of the threat occurrence was less than 50%, providing it through PHI lowered the percentage of people who immediately took shelter. The ordinal logistic regression models showed that the probability of taking protective actions significantly changes by providing the uncertainty information when people have less than 20 min lead time before getting impacted by the threat. When the lead time is less than 10 min, the probability of immediately taking shelter increases to 94 from 71%, and when the lead time is more than 10 but less than 20 min, that probability increases from 53 to 70%, if they are provided with the probabilistic information. Presenting the likelihood of any tornado formation in the area did not have significant effect on the people’s protective actions.     

Impact melting of the largest known enstatite meteorite: Al Haggounia 001, a fossil EL chondrite

Al Haggounia 001 and paired specimens (including Northwest Africa [NWA] 2828 and 7401) are part of a vesicular, incompletely melted, EL chondrite impact melt rock with a mass of ~3 metric tons. The meteorite exhibits numerous shock effects including (1) development of undulose to weak mosaic extinction in low‐Ca pyroxene; (2) dispersion of metal‐sulfide blebs within silicates causing “darkening”; (3) incomplete impact melting wherein some relict chondrules survived; (4) vaporization of troilite, resulting in S₂ bubbles that infused the melt; (5) formation of immiscible silicate and metal‐sulfide melts; (6) shock‐induced transportation of the metal‐sulfide melt to distances >10 cm; (7) partial resorption of relict chondrules and coarse silicate grains by the surrounding silicate melt; (8) crystallization of enstatite in the matrix and as overgrowths on relict silicate grains and relict chondrules; (9) crystallization of plagioclase from the melt; and (10) quenching of the vesicular silicate melt. The vesicular samples lost almost all of their metal during the shock event and were less susceptible to terrestrial weathering; in contrast, the samples in which the metal melt accumulated became severely weathered. Literature data indicate the meteorite fell ~23,000 yr ago; numerous secondary phases formed during weathering. Both impact melting and weathering altered the meteorite's bulk chemical composition: e.g., impact melting and loss of a metal‐sulfide melt from NWA 2828 is responsible for bulk depletions in common siderophile elements and in Mn (from alabandite); weathering of oldhamite caused depletions in many rare earth elements; the growth of secondary phases caused enrichments in alkalis, Ga, As, Se, and Au.     

Crystallization and Degassing in the Basement Sill, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

The Basement Sill is part of the Ferrar Large Igneous Provinceexposed in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. The sill is330 m thick in the Bull Pass area and 450 + m thick in the Daisarea, 12 km to the west, and is characterized by phenocryst-freelower and upper margins and an orthopyroxene-rich central ‘tongue’(opx 1–5 mm in size). Halogen variations in apatite froma suite of samples collected along vertical transects throughthe sill were examined to evaluate the process of crystallization-induceddegassing (i.e. second boiling) and its effects on magma chemistry.Apatite grains from any given sample are generally unzoned withrespect to Cl and F concentrations, but may vary by 20–30mol% in the halogen site between grains. Overall average Cl/Fmass ratios increase with height from the lower margin to thecenter of the sill, and then decrease to near zero towards thetop margin where the rocks are relatively oxide-rich. The Cl/Ftrend parallels those of bulk MgO and grain size. The uppermargin contains abundant mafic pegmatoids and the apatite inthese segregations has lower Cl/F ratios compared with thatin the host-rocks, although REE show no measurable difference.Numerical modeling illustrates that a cooling and crystallizingsill initially develops two separate vapor-saturated zones atthe lower and upper margins owing to the irreversible heat lossto the cooler country rock. Vapor separating from the lowerzone migrates upward into hotter silicate liquid, where it isresorbed, thus increasing the Cl/F mass ratio of the liquid.This process leads to saturation and precipitation of apatitefrom the liquid with a higher Cl/F ratio than would otherwiseoccur. Volatile enrichment can also aid compaction and graingrowth in the central part of the sill. In contrast, the relativelyFe-rich, Cl-poor nature of the upper zone rocks suggests thatthese rocks may have crystallized from more evolved, degassedsilicate liquid, possibly compacted out of the underlying crystalmush. In addition, as vapor sourced from the lower and centralparts of the sill ascends into the cooler upper zone of thesill, the vapor may be localized (along with late interstitialsilicate liquid) to form pegmatoids at temperatures at whichCl is less favored in apatite and can be leached from existingapatite by the ascending vapor, the latter causing the observeddecrease in the Cl/F mass ratio of apatite in the (evolved)pegmatoids. KEY WORDS: Ferrar Igneous Province; halogens; fluid; apatite     

Glacial lake levels and Eastern Great Lakes Palaeo‐Indians

This article investigates changing lake levels in the late Pleistocene eastern Great Lakes in order to gain insights into the Early Palaeo‐Indian occupations. Significant new information bearing on lake level history is provided, notably the first well‐documented deposits of a high water level above modern in the ca. 11,000–10,300 B.P. period in the southern Lake Huron basin. The lake level information, along with paleoenvironmental and site data, reinforces site age estimates to the 11th millennium B.P.; suggests significant numbers of sites have been inundated by rising water levels; provides specific information on the setting of archaeological sites such as placing the Parkhill site adjacent to a large lake estuary; indicates reasons for the attractiveness of shorelines to Palaeo‐Indians including persistence of more open areas conducive to higher game productivity; and points to ideal areas for future archaeological site survey, particularly in the Lake Erie drainage. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.