Field characterization and data integration to define the hydraulic heterogeneity of a shallow granular aquifer at a sub-watershed scale

Providing a sound basis for aquifer management or remediation requires that hydrogeological investigations carried out to understand groundwater flow and contaminant transport be based on representative data that capture the heterogeneous spatial distribution of aquifer hydraulic properties. This paper describes a general workflow allowing the characterization of the heterogeneity of the hydraulic properties of granular aquifers at an intermediate scale of a few km². The workflow involves characterization and data integration steps that were applied on a 12-km² study area encompassing a decommissioned landfill emitting a leachate plume and its main surface water receptors. The sediments composing the aquifer were deposited in a littoral–sublittoral environment and show evidence of small-scale transitional heterogeneities. Cone penetrometer tests (CPT) combined with soil moisture and electrical resistivity (SMR) measurements were thus used to identify and characterize spatial heterogeneities in hydraulic properties over the study area. Site-specific statistical relationships were needed to infer hydrofacies units and to estimate hydraulic properties from high-resolution CPT/SMR soundings distributed all over the study area. A learning machine approach was used due to the complex statistical relationships between colocated hydraulic and CPT/SMR data covering the full range of aquifer materials. Application of this workflow allowed the identification of hydrofacies units and the estimation of horizontal hydraulic conductivity, vertical hydraulic conductivity and porosity over the study area. The paper describes and discusses data acquisition and integration methodologies that can be adapted to different field situations, while making the aquifer characterization process more time-efficient and less labor-intensive.     

Late Mesozoic compressional to extensional tectonics in the Yiwulüshan massif,NE China and their bearing on the Yinshan–Yanshan orogenic belt: Part II: Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and gravity modeling

Granitoids play an important role in deciphering both crustal growth and tectonic evolution of Earth. In the eastern end of the Yinshan–Yanshan belt of North China Craton, the Yiwulüshan massif is a typical region that presents the tectonic evolution features of this belt. Our field work on the host rocks has demonstrated two phases of opposite tectonics: compressional and extensional, however, the deformation is almost invisible in the intrusive rocks. To improve the understanding of the tectonic evolution of the Yiwulüshan massif and the Late Mesozoic tectonics of East Asia, a multidisciplinary study has been carried out. In this study, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and gravity modeling have been applied on these Jurassic plutons (Lüshan, Jishilazi and Guanyindong), which intrude into the Yiwulüshan massif. According to laboratory measurements and microscopic observations on thin sections, the AMS of the Yiwulüshan massif is characterized by secondary fabrics, indicating that the intensive post solidus deformation has reset the (primary) magmatic magnetic fabrics. A relatively gentle NW dipping magnetic foliation has been identified with two distinct groups of magnetic lineations of N34°E and N335°E orientations, namely L_M1 and L_M2, relatively. Gravity modeling reveals a southward thinning of the massif with a possible feeding zone rooted in the northern part of the massif. Integrating all results from structural observation, geochronological investigation, AMS measurement and gravity modeling, two tectonic phases have been identified in the Yiwulüshan massif, posterior to the Jurassic (180–160 Ma) magmatism in the Yinshan–Yanshan area. The early one concerns a Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (~ 141 Ma) compressional event with a top-to-the-south to southwest sense of shear. The second one shows an Early Cretaceous (~ 126 Ma) NW–SE ductile extensional shearing. At that time, sedimentary basins widened and Jurassic plutons started to be deformed under post solidus conditions. In fact, the NW–SE trend of the maximum stretching direction is a general feature of East Asian continent during Late Mesozoic.     

Quantum-thermodynamic treatment of intrinsic anharmonicity; Wallace’s theorem revisited

Wallace (in Thermodynamics of crystals, 1972) developed a theorem, rooted in rigid lattice dynamics, which incorporates intrinsic anharmonic effects in solids. The practical application of this theorem in mineral physics is computationally involved and this is the main reason for the theorem not getting the attention it deserves. Because intrinsic anharmonicity is an important issue at the extreme conditions in planetary mantles, we derived a method which removes the computational obstacles in applying this theorem. We extended the theorem to incorporate details of the phonon spectrum and tested our algorithm on forsterite (Mg₂SiO₄). Using a least squares inversion technique applied to all available experimental data, we show that it results in an accurate representation of thermodynamic properties and sound wave velocities of Mg₂SiO₄ in its complete pressure–temperature stability range. We also show that the accuracy of our results is not significantly affected by the use of a different equation of state.     

The Globalization of a Panethnopolis: Richmond District as the New Chinatown in San Francisco

This paper briefly reviews the sociological literature on the “New” Chinatown phenomenon stressing its structural location vis-à-vis the “Old” Chinatown and the homeland. It defines the New Chinatown as a panethnopolis, that is a global neighborhood with a majority population of Chinese immigrants and of other ethnic groups of mostly Asian descent. It analyzes more particularly the formation, development, and integration of San Francisco’s Richmond District’s New Chinatown into both the city where it is located and the network of transglobal sites to which it belongs. It provides an interpretation of the New Chinatown as a cultural enclave within the context of globalization theory.     

Test of the vibrational modelling for the λ-type transitions: Application to the α-β quartz transition

Vibrational modelling is at the present time the only known way to predict the heat capacities of the Earth's mantle minerals at high-pressure and high-temperature. To test the validity of this method for λ-type transitions, we have applied it to the α-β quartz transition (T ₀=846±1 K). Raman spectra of quartz were recorded up to 900 K. Measured frequency shifts of the α-quartz Raman modes were then used in conjunction with available high-pressure Raman data to calculate intrinsic mode anharmonicity, through the parameter a _i=(?Lnv_i/?T)_v. Vibrational modelling of the heat capacity at constant volume, Cv, and at constant pressure, Cp, including anharmonic corrections deduced from the a _i parameters, are compared to experimental data. Taking into account the soft-mode associated to the α-β quartz transition, the model reproduces the excess of Cp related to the transition. Then, this study confirms that detecting a soft-mode from vibrational data allows one to predict λ-type transitions. However, when modelling the thermodynamic properties, the contribution of a soft-mode cannot be established from spectroscopic data. Therefore, one needs first to determine this contribution in order to predict the heat capacities of Earth's mantle minerals displaying λ-type transitions. In α-quartz, this contribution has been determined as 0.007% of the total number of the optic modes in the model of the density of states.     

Essai sur la structure des domaines émergés autour de la Méditerranée occidentale

Résumé De travaux menés dans les zones littorales de l'Afrique du Nord et dans tout le S de l'Espagne, l'auteur tire une nouvelle définition des grands ensembles structuraux péri-méditerranéens. Ces ensembles sont, dans les Cordillères bétiques, du N au S: zones externes (Prébétique, Subbétiques, Pénibétiques), zones internes (Flyschs gaditans, Malaguides, Alpujarrides, Nevadides 1). Dans le Rif marocain, symétriquement, on rencontre du S au N: zones externes (Autochtone de l'Atlas, nappes prérifaines et intrarifaines), zones internes (Flyschs nord-rifains, Tétouanides 2), Ghomarides 3), Sebtides 4); la plupart de ces zones se poursuivent vers l'E, jusqu'en Tunisie et en Sicile.Le fait majeur, à souligner au départ, est la parfaite symétrie de la chaîne alpine de la Méditerranée occidentale: les nappes rifaines ne le cèdent pas en importance aux nappes bétiques. Les diverses unités des deux systèmes se raccordent de manière évidente par la courbure de Gibraltar. L'âge du paroxysme tectonique paraît entièrement compris entre Oligocène supérieur et Miocène supérieur, aucune preuve objective n'existant de nappes plus anciennes.La remise en place des divers ensembles structuraux dépend de l'hypothèse générale définie au départ. Il est d'abord fait allusion à l'interprétation classique, par charriages modérés, ne faisant pas appel à des modifications importantes dans l'emplacement des bassins sédimentaires, actuellement visibles en plan. Les objections à ce premier schéma paraissent déterminantes.Une deuxième interprétation, que l'auteur a déjà partiellement esquissée auparavant, sera envisagée: les unités externes (s'empilant sur elles-mêmes) et leurs socles s'enfonceraient sous les zones internes qui, par réaction, seraient poussées vers l'extérieur de la chaîne: chacune des nappes dépasserait la nappe plus basse, au cours de ce mouvement. Dans le cas de l'Espagne, avant les charriages, les domaines sédimentaires des zones internes se placeraient à l'inverse de la disposition actuelle, soit du N au S: Nevadides, Alpujarrides, Malaguides, Pénibétique et Flyschs gaditans (ultras). Du côté marocain, nous aurions de même du S au N: Sebtides, Ghomarides, Tétouanides, Flyschs nord-rifains (ultras). Cela obligerait, au total, à faire rapprocher l'un de l'autre, en profondeur, les bâtis de la Meseta ibérique et de l'Atlas marocain, d'environ 300 à 500 km, l'actuelle largeur de la mer d'Alboran (150 km) ne permettant pas de reloger les domaines de toutes les nappes. Un axe d'enfouissement serait à rechercher sous l'actuelle Méditerranée.Une troisième interprétation, proposée aujourd'hui par l'auteur, considère que la chaîne péri-méditerranéenne montre une cicatrice structurale fondamentale, qui séparerait domaines internes bétiques et rifains, d'une part, domaines bétiques et rifains plus externes, de l'autre. Cette cicatrice se couderait au niveau de Gibraltar. Les nappes internes seraient comme aspirées vers la cicatrice ainsi que, en sens inverse, les nappes externes. La reconstitution paléogéographique finale est fort satisfaisante et l'ampleur des rétrécissements sensiblement diminuée.La position du domaine des Flyschs kabyles, nord-rifains et gaditans, fait enfin l'objet d'un examen nouveau: sans rejeter l'origine ultra, déjà proposée, l'auteur envisage d'autres solutions, qui auraient l'avantage de mieux s'intégrer dans l'image proposée aujourd'hui.