Investigation of groundwater mineralization in the Hammamet–Nabeul unconfined aquifer,north-eastern Tunisia: geochemical and isotopic approach

Detailed hydrogeochemical and isotopic data of groundwaters from the Hammamet–Nabeul unconfined aquifer are used to provide a better understanding of the natural and anthropogenic processes that control the groundwater mineralization as well as the sources of different groundwater bodies. It has been demonstrated that groundwaters, which show Na–Cl and Ca–SO₄–Cl water facies, are mainly influenced by the dissolution of evaporates, the dedolomitization and the cation-exchange process; and supplementary by anthropogenic process in relation with return flow of irrigation waters. The isotopic signatures permit to classify the studied groundwaters into two different groups. Non-evaporated groundwaters that are characterized by depleted δ ¹⁸O and δ ²H contents highlighting the importance of modern recharge at higher altitude. Evaporated groundwaters with enriched contents reflecting the significance infiltration of return flow irrigation waters. Tritium data in the studied groundwaters lend support to the existence of pre-1950 and post-1960 recharge. Carbon-14 activities in shallow wells that provide evidence to the large contamination by organic ¹⁴C corroborate the recent origin of the groundwaters in the study area.     

Valorization of harbor dredged sediment activated with blast furnace slag in road layers

The valorization solutions for dredged sediment have been the subject of a great number of investigations over the previous decades.In the current present study,treatment of polluted dredged sediment fom the commercial port of Sfax,Tunisia,is proposed.An industrial byproduct(blast furnace slag)was used to bind raw sediment for a reuse in road engineering.Following standards of this field,the raw sediment first was identified and classified according to the French technical guidance.Then an environmental assessment was applied due to the presence of heavy metals.The concentrations were measured on the raw sediment particles so as to control the binding effect on heavy metals.Sediment mixtures consisted of a mix of sand and a blast furnace slag activated with quicklime.Different mixtures were tested and some were proposed for sub-layer applications.The Sfax commercial port raw sediment is considered as a sandy loam with a very low fraction of clay.The measured concentrations of heavy metals exceed the recommended thresholds for cadmium,copper,lead,and zinc.These can induce hazardous effects in the case of their dumping into the sea.On the other hand,the concentrations of the detected elements after leaching tests run on raw sediment samples are very low compared to the thresholds;such results highlight a possible recycling of the raw sediment in subgrade layers without any negative impact.Suitable formulations were deduced for road engineering tests relying on the ratio the California Bearing Ratio index and the immediate bearing index.If the obtained ratio exceeds one,the treated sediment can be recycled and used in road layers.     

Silicifications pédogénétiques dans les dépôts hamadiens du piémont de Boudenib (Maroc)

Résumé

— Le système de piémont atlasique du Sud marocain, d’âge tertiaire, est constitué dans le secteur de Boudenib de deux unités distinctes. La llamada de Boudenib forme l’unité inférieure et se caractérise par d’importants encroûtements carbonatés, riches en dolomite et attapulgite. L’unité supérieure de la llamada du Cuir marque une reprise de l’érosion et le dépôt de matériaux relativement peu altérés.

Des silicifications affectent les différents faciès de l’unité inférieure, ainsi que les grès crétacés sous-jacents, et jalonnent une surface d’érosion intra-fonnationnelle. Ces silicifications sont précoces, puisque remaniées dans les dépôts ultérieurs. Les illuviations d’opale et les accumulations gramdaires intercalées entre les concrétionnements successifs de silice attestent d’environnements pédologiques. La silicification plus forte vers la partie supérieure des coupes, ainsi que l’association fréquente des faciés silicifiés avec des niveaux hioturhés et altérés sont également à rapporter à des dispositions pédologiques. Ce sont des silcréles pédogénétiques.

L’étude micrographique montre que la silicification procède par épigénie des argiles et des carbonates, ainsi que par des cristallisations dans les vides. C’est à partir des vides existants (fentes, bioturbations et porosité intergranulaire) que se développe la silicification, montrant ainsi le rôle primordial des circulations. En particulier, l’épigénie des carbonates par la silice semble limitée par la diffusion de la silice à partir des vides, où le renouvellement des solutions est assuré. Les séquences de cristallisation des différentes formes de silice (allant de l’opale vers les quartz automorphes) peuvent être interprétées en terme d’évolution du milieu au cours de la silicification. Au fur et à mesure que des dépôts de silice se font sur les parois des vides, les solutions nourricières sont isolées de la roche encaissante, elles se chargent alors moins en cations étrangers, et la cristallisation de plus grands cristaux peut intervenir.

Les silicifications se développent pendant une période de stabilité tectonique et s’installent dans un paysage de glacis et sous des climats chauds à saisons alternées. Leur reconnaissance à l’échelle régionale peut constituer un repère lithostratigraphique précieux.     

Silicifications de nappe dans les formations carbonatées tertiaires du piedmont atlasique (Hamada du Guir,Maroc)

Résumé

Les formations tertiaires du système de piedmonts atlasiques du Sud marocain montrent de nombreuses silicifications qui affectent les différents faciès de la série : les grès calcaires, les conglomérats, les calcaires lacustres, aussi bien que les faciès plus argileux. Les accidents siliceux sont de tailles et de faciès variés, allant d’échardes millimétriques à des masses pluri-décimétriques. Dans les faciès argileux (torba), ce sont des plaquettes et des tubules de silice translucide. Dans les calcaires, ce sont surtout des faciès silexoïdes, à morphologies variées et à contours irréguliers. Dans les grès calcaires, ce sont des silicifications scoriacées, quelquefois disposées suivant un réseau de conduits anastomosés,

La pétrographie révèle que les dépôts de silice dans les vides forment une part importante des silicifications. Les silicifications translucides des faciès argileux sont entièrement formées de concrétions de calcédoine. Dans les grès calcaires, les silicifications résultent de la cimentation des grains de quartz détritiques par des dépôts de silice fibreuse et d’opale, après dissolution du ciment calcaire primaire. Dans les calcaires, certaines silicifications correspondent à la cimentation de micro-brèches karstiques par des quartz géodiques; même les plages qui apparaissent très homogènes, formées de quartz microcristallin, révèlent une porosité primaire importante. Il y a alternance de phases de dépôt de silice et de dissolution de la matrice calcaire. A côté de ces dépôts dans les vides existent aussi des épigénies, c’est à dire le remplacement de la matrice calcaire avec préservation des structures, sans formation de vides. Néanmoins, ces épigénies sont limitées à la bordure de vides à dépôts de silice.

Les silicifications sont dues à des processus diagénétiques tardifs. L’essentiel de la silice est constitué par des dépôts dans des vides ce qui permet de faire des hypothèses sur la nature des solutions nourricières. La régularité des dépôts tout autour des vides indique un milieu saturé, au sein d’une nappe. En raison de la solubilité relativement faible de la silice dans les eaux superficielles, des débits importants sont nécessaires pour renouveler constamment la silice précipitée des solutions. Ceci conduit à envisager des climats relativement humides à l’époque de la silicification, ainsi que l’existence de reliefs et de paysages incisés pour générer les écoulements de nappe suffisants.     

Crystallization of oxidized, moderately hydrous arc basalt at mid- to lower-crustal pressures: implications for andesite genesis

This study focuses on the production of convergent margin calc-alkaline andesites by crystallization–differentiation of basaltic magmas in the lower to middle crust. Previous experimental studies show that dry, reduced, subalkaline basalts differentiate to tholeiitic (high Fe/Mg) daughter liquids, but the influences of H₂O and oxidation on differentiation are less well established. Accordingly, we performed crystallization experiments at controlled oxidized fO₂ (Re–ReO₂ ≈ ΔNi–NiO + 2) on a relatively magnesian basalt (8.7 wt% MgO) typical of mafic magmas erupted in the Cascades near Mount Rainier, Washington. The basalt was synthesized with 2 wt% H₂O and run at 900, 700, and 400 MPa and 1,200 to 950 °C. A broadly clinopyroxenitic crystallization interval dominates near the liquidus at 900 and 700 MPa, consisting of augite + olivine + orthopyroxene + Cr-spinel (in decreasing abundance). With decreasing temperature, plagioclase crystallizes, Fe–Ti-oxide replaces spinel, olivine dissolves, and finally amphibole appears, producing gabbroic and then amphibole gabbroic crystallization stages. Enhanced plagioclase stability at lower pressure narrows the clinopyroxenitic interval and brings the gabbroic interval toward the liquidus. Liquids at 900 MPa track along Miyashiro’s (Am J Sci 274(4):321–355, 1974) tholeiitic versus calc-alkaline boundary, whereas those at 700 and 400 MPa become calc-alkaline at silica contents ≥56 wt%. This difference is chiefly due to higher temperature appearance of magnetite (versus spinel) at lower pressures. Although the evolved liquids are similar in many respects to common calc-alkaline andesites, the 900 and 700 MPa liquids differ in having low CaO concentrations due to early and abundant crystallization of augite, with the result that those liquids become peraluminous (ASI: molar Al/(Na + K + 2Ca) > 1) at ≥61 wt% SiO₂, similar to liquids reported in other studies of the high-pressure crystallization of hydrous basalts (Müntener and Ulmer in Geophys Res Lett 33(21):L21308, 2006). The lower-pressure liquids (400 MPa) have this same trait, but to a lesser extent due to more abundant near-liquidus plagioclase crystallization. A compilation of >6,500 analyses of igneous rocks from the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada batholith, representative of convergent margin (arc) magmas, shows that ASI increases continuously and linearly with SiO₂ from basalts to rhyolites or granites and that arc magmas are not commonly peraluminous until SiO₂ exceeds 69 wt%. These relations are consistent with plagioclase accompanying mafic silicates over nearly all the range of crystallization (or remelting). The scarcity of natural peraluminous andesites shows that progressive crystallization–differentiation of primitive basalts in the deep crust, producing early clinopyroxenitic cumulates and evolved liquids, does not dominate the creation of intermediate arc magmas or of the continental crust. Instead, mid- to upper-crustal differentiation and/or open-system processes are critical to the production of intermediate arc magmas. Primary among the open-system processes may be extraction of highly evolved (granitic, rhyolitic) liquids at advanced degrees of basalt solidification (or incipient partial melting of predecessor gabbroic intrusions) and mixing of such liquids into replenishing basalts. Furthermore, if the andesitic-composition continents derived from basaltic sources, the arc ASI–SiO₂ relation shows that the mafic component returned to the mantle was gabbroic in composition, not pyroxenitic.     

Groundwater management based on GIS techniques, chemical indicators and vulnerability to seawater intrusion modelling: application to the Mahdia–Ksour Essaf aquifer, Tunisia

In arid and semi-arid countries worldwide, conflicts between human development activities and conservation of groundwater resources are widespread and attract many public debates. This research aims to propose groundwater management alternatives for a coastal aquifer by studying its vulnerability and in particularly the risk of seawater intrusion. An additional objective is to propose some agricultural policies aimed to conserve groundwater resources in Mahdia and Ksour Essaf. Intensive groundwater mining, for irrigation and for water drinking, has caused an overexploitation of the water resources. In addition, the degradation of water quality, caused by septic tanks and intensive agricultural activities, has given rise to notable crucial state of the groundwater resources. With the aim of tackling the groundwater degradation problem, integration into a common platform of vulnerability assessment, seawater intrusion modelling and hydrochemical analysis is proposed. This platform can considerably reflect the water resources state in order to propose some solutions reducing the contamination of the Mahdia–Ksour Essaf aquifer. The groundwater management alternatives, proposed in this study, were prepared within a geographical information system.     

Spatial patterns of soil δC reveal grassland-to-woodland successional processes

Many grasslands and savannas around the world have experienced woody plant encroachment in recent history. In the Rio Grande Plains of southern Texas, subtropical woodlands dominated by C₃ trees and shrubs have become significant components of landscapes once dominated almost exclusively by C₄ grasslands. In this study, spatial variation of soil δ¹³C to was used to investigate patterns of transformation. Previous research has shown that grassland-to-shrubland transitions are initiated when discrete, multi-species shrub clusters organized around a honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) tree nucleus established in grassland. It is inferred from space-for-time substitution and modeling studies that as new shrub clusters are initiated and existing clusters enlarge, coalescence will occur, leading to the formation of groves; and that groves will eventually merge to form woodlands. The hypothesis that present-day mesquite groves represent areas where individual discrete shrub clusters have proliferated and coalesced was evaluated by comparing patterns of soil δ¹³C within isolated shrub clusters (n = 6) to those in nearby groves (n = 3). Mean soil δ¹³C within discrete clusters was lowest in the center (−23.3‰), increased exponentially toward the dripline (−20.1‰), and stabilized at a relatively high value approximately 15 cm beyond the dripline (−18.9‰). The spatial structure of soil δ¹³C in groves was consistent with that which would be expected to occur if present-day grove communities were a collection of what once were individual discrete clusters that had fused. As such, it provides direct evidence in support of conceptual and mathematical models derived from indirect assessments. However, spatial patterns of soil δ¹³C suggest that groves are not simply a collection of clusters with respect to primary production and SOC turnover. This study illustrates how soil δ¹³C values can be used to reconstruct successional processes accompanying vegetation compositional change, and its consequences for ecosystem function.     

Metamorphic re-equilibration and metasomatism of highly chromian,garnet-rich peridotitic xenoliths from South African kimberlites

A history of decompression and metasomatism is preserved in a suite of highly chromian, garnet-rich peridotitic xenoliths from the diamondiferous Newlands and Bobbejaan kimberlites, South Africa. A high proportion of the garnets and chromites in these rocks plot in the diamond-facies fields on Cr₂O₃–CaO and Cr₂O₃–MgO wt% plots, and Cr-rich compositions are found in both the harzburgitic and lherzolitic fields. Petrographic evidence suggests that the earliest known mineralogies were those of olivine-bearing, garnet-rich rocks. These were modified by a decompression event that caused recrystallization of garnets and led to orientated spinel and pyroxene inclusions in garnet. Chemical zonation within garnet is divided into (1) external re-equilibration between garnet and matrix; (2) internal re-equilibration between garnet and its inclusions; and (3) metasomatically induced zoning between garnet core and a metasomatic rim. The compositional trajectories associated with zonations (1) and (2) in Ca–Cr plots may be closely modelled by means of sliding, garnet–spinel transition reactions whose slopes vary with bulk Ca composition; at intermediate Ca compositions, the trajectories closely match the slope of the lherzolite line or harzburgite/lherzolite boundary. The decreasing Cr/(Cr + Al) of the garnet in these zonations is in agreement with the evidence for decompression given by the petrographic recrystallization features, and overall decompression of probably 10–20 kb is indicated. We speculate on the age of these events, and consider the possibility of their association with major orogenic events documented by South African crustal rocks at 2.9–2.7 Ga, and events evidenced by peridotite-xenolith Re–Os model ages at 2.8–2.7 Ga.     

Filling Some Black Holes: Modeling the Connection Between Urbanization,Infrastructure, and Global Service Intensity

This empirical article combines insights from previous research on the level of knowledge-intensive service in metropolitan areas with the aim to develop an understanding of the spatial structure of the global service economy. We use a stepwise regression model with the Globalization and World Cities research network's measure of globalized service provisioning as the dependent variable and a range of variables focusing on population, infrastructure, urban primacy, and national regulation as independent variables. The discussion of the results focuses on model parameters as well as the meaning of outliers and is used to explore some avenues for future research.