Grossular activity-composition relationships in ternary garnets determined by reversed displaced-equilibrium experiments

Activity-composition relationships of Ca₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ (grs) in ternary Ca-Mg-Fe garnets of various compositions have been determined by reversed displaced equilibrium experiments at 1000° C and 900° C and pressures of 8 to 17 kbar. The mixing of grs in garnet is nearly ideal at 30 mol% grs, with positive deviations from ideality at lower grs contents. Models of garnet mixing currently in the literature do not predict this trend. Analysis of the present reversals, in conjunction with a garnet mixing model based solely on calorimetry measurements on the binary joins, indicates that a ternary interaction constant for a ternary asymmetric Margules model (Wohl 1953) cannot be constrained. Apparently, some aspects of the garnet binary joins are still not well-known. An alternative asymmetric empirical model, based on analysis of pseudobinary joins of constant Mg/Mg + Fe(Mg #), reproduces the data well and is able to predict grs activity coefficients for garnets with grs contents between 3 and 40 mol% and Mg numbers between 0 and 0.60. The grossular activity coefficient, _grs, is given by:

Shape analysis and multispectral classification in geological remote sensing

This paper discusses the usage of mathematical morphology in image processing of remotely-sensed data for geologic interpretation. Particular attention is given to noise-reducing transformations of spectral bands before and after different methods of classification, and to the usage of textural context. The development of a viable processing strategy requires a multidisciplinary approach and expert knowledge in different areas: (a) geology, geomorphology, and vegetation in a study area, (b) properties of the sensor for imagery photointerpretation, (c) spectral/spatial properties of the digital data within an integrated dataset (remote sensing and ancillary data), and (d) data-processing tools including mathematical morphology theory. Examples of geometric characterization of Canadian LANDSAT scenes are described in which shape measurements are obtained using a PC-based hybrid image-processing and geographic information system, termed ILWIS, which was developed at ITC, in the Netherlands. Classes from supervised and unsupervised classification are compared to guide in geological mapping. Classes over individual occurrences of broad vegetation-landform units are studied to aid in environmental mapping. Field knowledge is the context necessary to construct expert procedures to drive sequences of data-processing steps toward a target result such as optimal classification, enhancement, or feature extraction. The interaction between expert rules and the image-processing steps can be based on synthetic measurements of shape to quantize the information either spatially or spectrally. Many useful geometrical transformations of spatially-distributed data are extensions or generalizations of spatial analysis functions typical of geographic information systems.     

The effect of crystallization on the rheology and dynamics of lava flows

The dynamics of a lava flow is studied by a two-dimensional model describing a viscous fluid with Bingham rheology, flowing down a slope. The temperature in the flow is calculated assuming that heat is transferred through the plug by conduction and is lost by radiation to the atmosphere at the top of the flow. Taken into account is that the increasing crystallization takes place in the flow as a consequence of cooling. The lava viscosity and yield stress are expressed as a function of crystallization degree as well as of temperature: in particular it is assumed that yield stress reaches a maximum value above the solidus temperature, according to experimental data. Dynamical variables, such as velocity and thickness of the flow, are calculated for different values of the maximum crystallization degree and the flow rate. The model shows how the lava flow dynamics is affected by cooling and crystallization. The cooling of the flow is controlled by the increase of yield stress, which produces a thicker plug and makes the heat loss slower. The increasing crystallization has two opposing effects on viscosity: it produces an increase of viscosity, but at the same time produces an increase of yield stress and hence reduces the heat loss and keeps the internal temperature high. As a consequence, lava flows are significantly affected by the dependence of yield stress on temperature and scarcely by the maximum crystallization degree.     

Terrestrial,meteoritic, and lunar titanium isotopic ratios revaluated: evidence for correlated variations

Variations in the titanium isotopic ratios of various solar system materials have been reported by three laboratories. In this work we compare these data (including some new Allende inclusion values reported here) on a common basis. The data of all three groups for terrestrial samples have been found to be consistent within about ten parts per ten thousand for all ratios. The considerable disagreement in reported titanium isotopic anomalies for Allende materials has been investigated by renormalization of all published high-precision titanium isotopic ratio data to various bases in order to assess the nature, number, and loci of possible anomalies. On this basis, variations appear to be present in⁴⁶Ti and⁴⁷Ti, as well as in⁵⁰Ti. All materials reported to date can be divided into two main groups, with the only exceptions being about 10% of Allende inclusions. All but one of the materials reported to date are interpretable as mixtures of a material similar to C-1 and varying amounts (up to about 0.5% of⁵⁰Ti) of a material characterized by⁵⁰Ti/⁴⁶Ti?6 and⁴⁶Ti?⁴⁷Ti+⁴⁸Ti+⁴⁹Ti. Inclusion EK 1-4-1 requires a further component (up to about 0.5%⁴⁶Ti) characterized by⁴⁶Ti/⁴⁷Ti? 1.3and⁴⁷Ti?⁴⁸Ti+⁴⁹Ti+⁵⁰Ti.     

Dynamics of lava flow fronts, Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano has effused basaltic andesite lava flows nearly continuously since September, 1968. The two different kinds of material in flows, lava and lava debris, have different rheologic properties and dynamic behavior. Flow morphology depends on the relationship between the amount and distribution of the lava and the debris, and to a lesser extent the ground morphology.Two main units characterize the flows: the channel zone and the frontal zone. The channel zone consists of two different units, the levées and the channel proper. A velocity profile in the channel shows a maximum value at the plug where the rate of shear is zero, and a velocity gradient increasing outward until, at the levées, the velocity becomes zero. Cooling produces a marked temperature gradient in the flow, leading to the formation of debris by brittle fracture when a critical value of shear rate to viscosity is reached. When the lava supply ceases, much of this debris and part of the lava is left behind after the flow nucleus drains out, forming a collapsed channel.Processes at the frontal zone include levée formation, debris formation, the change in shape of the front, and the choice of the flow path. These processes are controlled primarily by the rheological properties of the lava.Frontal zone dynamics can be understood by fixing the flow front as the point of reference. The lava flows through the channel into the front where it flows out into the levées, thereby increasing the length of the channel and permitting the front to advance. The front shows a relationship of critical height to the yield strength (τ₀) surface tension, and slope; its continued movement is activated by the pressure of the advancing lava in the channel behind. For an ideal flow (isothermal, homogeneous, and isotropic) the ratio of the section of channel proper to the section of levées is calculated and the distance the front will have moved at any time t_x can be determined once the amount of lava available to the front is known. Assuming that the velocity function of the front {G(t)} during the collapsing stage is proportional to the entrance pressure of the lava at the channel-front boundary, an exponential decrease of velocity through time is predicted, which shows good agreement with actual frontal velocity measurements taken on two flows. Local variations in slope have a secondary effect on frontal velocities.Under conditions of constant volume the frontal zone can be considered as a machine that consumes energy brought in by the lava to perform work (front advancement). While the front will use its potential energy to run the process, the velocity at which it occurs is controlled by the activation energy that enters the system as the kinetic energy of the lava flowing into the front. A relation for the energy contribution due to frontal acceleration is also derived. Finally the entrance pressure, that permits the front to deform, is calculated. Its small value confirms that the lava behaves very much like a Bingham plastic.     

The distribution of agricultural soil leachates in the unsaturated zone of the British chalk

In Europe the Chalk constitutes a major source of potable water supply. Its outcrop forms extensive tracts of agricultural land, where the groundwater resources largely originate as infiltrating excess rainfall. Research on the unsaturated zone of the aquifer beneath such cultivated land should allow an assessment of nutrient leaching losses from the associated highly permeable soils and the prediction of future groundwater quality trends. Pore-water profiles for nitrate and numerous other constituents from a site of exceptionally detailed study are presented and compared to results from sites elsewhere in eastern England to demonstrate the impact of modern arable agriculture. Environmental isotopes have also been investigated in depth to aid the study. The problems in evaluating the evolution of the unsaturated zone profiles are discussed. Presented at the International Symposium, International Association of Hydrogeologists, “Impact of Agricultural Activities on Ground Water Quality and Quantity,” Prague, Czechoslovakia, September, 1982.     

Hillslope gullying in the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region, Great Britain: Responses to human impact and/or climatic deterioration?

In the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region of Great Britain there is evidence for heightened hillslope instability during the late Holocene (after 3000 cal. BP). Little or no hillslope geomorphic activity has been identified occurring during the early Holocene, but there is abundant evidence for late Holocene hillslope erosion (gullying) and associated alluvial fan and valley floor deposition. Interpretation of the regional radiocarbon chronology available from organic matter buried beneath alluvial fan units suggests much of this geomorphic activity can be attributed to four phases of more extensive gullying identified after 2500–2200, 1300–1000, 1000–800 and 500 cal. BP. Both climate and human impact models can be evoked to explain the crossing of geomorphic thresholds: and palaeoecological data on climatic change (bog surface wetness) and human impact (pollen), together with archaeological and documentary evidence of landscape history, provide a context for addressing the causes of late Holocene geomorphic instability. High magnitude storm events are the primary agent responsible for gully incision, but neither such events nor cooler/wetter climatic episodes appear to have produced gully systems in the region before 3000 cal. BP. Increased gullying after 2500–2200 cal. BP coincides with population expansion during Iron Age and Romano-British times. The widespread and extensive gullying after 1300–1000 cal. BP and after 1000–800 cal. BP coincides with periods of population expansion and a growing rural economy identified during Norse times, 9–10th centuries AD, and during the Medieval Period, 12–13th centuries AD. These periods were separated by a downturn associated with the ‘harrying of the north’ AD 1069 to 1070. The gullying episode after 500 cal. BP also coincides with increased anthropogenic pressure on the uplands, with population growth and agricultural expansion after AD 1500 following 150 years of malaise caused by livestock and human (the Black Death) plagues, poor harvests and conflicts on the Scottish/English border. The increased susceptibility to erosion of gullies is a response to increased anthropogenic pressure on upland hillslopes during the late Holocene, and the role of this pressure appears crucial in priming hillslopes before subsequent major storm events. In particular, the cycles of expansion and contraction in both population and agriculture appear to have affected the susceptibility of the upland landscape to erosion, and the hillslope gullying record in the region, therefore, contributes to understanding of the timing and spatial pattern of human exploitation of the upland landscape.     

Coastal processes and environmental hazards: the Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venetian (Italy) littorals

The Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venice (Italy) coastlands have experienced significant saltwater contamination of the phreatic aquifer, coastal erosion, hydrodynamic changes and relative sea level rise processes due to natural and man-induced factors. These factors expose coastal areas to morpho-hydro-geological hazards, such as soil desertification, frequency and degree of flooding, littoral erosion, and the silting of river mouths and channels. Man-made interventions and actions, such as beach mining, construction of coastal structures and exploitation of aquifers without an adequate knowledge of the hydrology setting and an adequate management program, worsen these natural hazards. Uncontrolled human activity induces environmental damage to the overall coastal plains. The coastal plains play an important role in the social/economic development of the two regions based on land use, such as agriculture, horticulture, breeding, and tourism, as well as industry. Results of investigations on saltwater contamination, sea level rise and morphological changes recently performed in these two coastal areas are presented here.