Establishing constraints on groundwater ages with Cl,C, H,and noble gases: A case study in the eastern Paris basin,France

Groundwaters from the Tithonian/Kimmeridgian, Oxfordian and Upper Dogger aquifers, within the eastern part of the Paris basin (France), were characterised using ³H, ¹⁴C and ³⁶Cl, and noble gases tracers, to evaluate their residence times and determine their recharge period. This information is an important prerequisite to evaluating the confinement properties of the Callovo-Oxfordian clay formation sandwiched between the Oxfordian aquifer and the Dogger aquifer, currently being investigated by the French nuclear waste management agency (Andra) for radioactive waste disposal. Data presented in this paper are used to test 4 hypotheses.     

Numerical Modeling of Thermal Conductive Heating in Fractured Bedrock

Numerical modeling was employed to study the performance of thermal conductive heating (TCH) in fractured shale under a variety of hydrogeological conditions. Model results show that groundwater flow in fractures does not significantly affect the minimum treatment zone temperature, except near the beginning of heating or when groundwater influx is high. However, fracture and rock matrix properties can significantly influence the time necessary to remove all liquid water (i.e., reach superheated steam conditions) in the treatment area. Low matrix permeability, high matrix porosity, and wide fracture spacing can contribute to boiling point elevation in the rock matrix. Consequently, knowledge of these properties is important for the estimation of treatment times. Because of the variability in boiling point throughout a fractured rock treatment zone and the absence of a well-defined constant temperature boiling plateau in the rock matrix, it may be difficult to monitor the progress of thermal treatment using temperature measurements alone.     

An experimental study of partial melting and fractional crystallization on the HED parent body

We have performed an experimental and modeling study of the partial melting behavior of the HED parent body and of the fractional crystallization of liquids derived from its mantle. We estimated the mantle composition by assuming chondritic ratios of refractory lithophile elements, adjusting the Mg# and core size to match the density and moment of inertia of Vesta, and the compositions of Mg‐rich olivines found in diogenites. The liquidus of a mantle with Mg# (=100*[Mg/(Mg+Fe)]) 80 is ~1625 °C and, under equilibrium conditions, the melt crystallizes olivine alone until it is joined by orthopyroxene at 1350 °C. We synthesized the melt from our 1350 °C experiment and simulated its fractional crystallization path. Orthopyroxene crystallizes until it is replaced by pigeonite at 1200 °C. Liquids become eucritic and crystal assemblages resemble diogenites below 1250 °C. MELTS correctly predicts the olivine liquidus but overestimates the orthopyroxene liquidus by ~70 °C. Predicted melt compositions are in reasonable agreement with those generated experimentally. We used MELTS to determine that the range of mantle compositions that can produce eucritic liquids and diogenitic solids in a magma ocean model is Mg# 75–80 (with chondritic ratios of refractory elements). A mantle with Mg# ~ 70 can produce eucrites and diogenites through sequential partial melting.     

3. Solar System Formation and Early Evolution: the First 100 Million Years

The solar system, as we know it today, is about 4.5 billion years old. It is widely believed that it was essentially completed 100 million years after the formation of the Sun, which itself took less than 1 million years, although the exact chronology remains highly uncertain. For instance: which, of the giant planets or the terrestrial planets, formed first, and how? How did they acquire their mass? What was the early evolution of the “primitive solar nebula” (solar nebula for short)? What is its relation with the circumstellar disks that are ubiquitous around young low-mass stars today? Is it possible to define a “time zero” (t ₀), the epoch of the formation of the solar system? Is the solar system exceptional or common? This astronomical chapter focuses on the early stages, which determine in large part the subsequent evolution of the proto-solar system. This evolution is logarithmic, being very fast initially, then gradually slowing down. The chapter is thus divided in three parts: (1) The first million years: the stellar era. The dominant phase is the formation of the Sun in a stellar cluster, via accretion of material from a circumstellar disk, itself fed by a progressively vanishing circumstellar envelope. (2) The first 10 million years: the disk era. The dominant phase is the evolution and progressive disappearance of circumstellar disks around evolved young stars; planets will start to form at this stage. Important constraints on the solar nebula and on planet formation are drawn from the most primitive objects in the solar system, i.e., meteorites. (3) The first 100 million years: the “telluric” era. This phase is dominated by terrestrial (rocky) planet formation and differentiation, and the appearance of oceans and atmospheres.     

Correlation of reefal Oxfordian episodes and climatic implications in the eastern Paris Basin (France)

Oxfordian reefal episodes of Lorraine and Burgundy have a long time been considered as contemporaneous. Biostratigraphic data and sequential evolutions peculiar to each region indicate their structural autonomy during Oxfordian times. A north‐south‐oriented well‐logging transect shows that, during the Middle Oxfordian, a shallow reefal platform developed in Lorraine while thin deeper deposits occurred in Burgundy. In spite of their different ages, reefal episodes of Middle Oxfordian in Lorraine and Upper Oxfordian in Burgundy exhibit a broadly similar vertical evolution of coral communities. During the Late Oxfordian, the contemporaneous occurrence of a diversified assemblage in the Burgundy region, a colder coral assemblage characterized by eurytopic genera and the decrease in seawater isotopic temperatures in Lorraine can be explained by a shift in trophic conditions, a climatic change related to structural rearrangements in this strategic place and a modification of oceanic circulations between the arctic and the Tethyan regions.     

The James Webb Space Telescope and its Infrared Detectors

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was conceived as the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope. The instrument suite provides broad wavelength coverage and capabilities aimed at four key science themes: 1) The end of the dark ages: first light and reionization, 2) The assembly of galaxies, 3) The birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and 4) Planetary systems and the origins of life. To accomplish these ambitious goals, JWST's detectors provide state-of-the-art performance spanning the λ = 0.6–28 μm wavelength range. In this paper, we describe JWST with an emphasis on its infrared detectors.     

The Contribution of Sound Waves and Instabilities to the Penetration of the Solar Differential Rotation Below the Convection Zone

The response of a layer to a horizontal shear flow at its top the surface was studied numerically as an initial value problem. The geometry was Cartesian and the conservation equations were solved with the help of the Zeus-3D code. In the initial state, the pressure, p, and density, ρ, of the layer were assumed to be related by a polytropic equation of index 1.14, which best approximates the solar values in the region of interest. The values of p and ρ at the lower boundary of the layer, namely r=R _l=0.4 R _⊙, were taken to be the solar values. The upper boundary was chosen to be the base of the solar convection zone, r=R _c=0.7 R _⊙. The shear flow at the surface, v _φ(R _c), was proportional to the solar differential rotation, and acoustical oscillations were present in the layer. It is shown that if the initial state is stable, a dynamical coupling between sound waves and the shear flow transmits the surface flow to the inner regions of the layer, even in the absence of dissipation. The shear flow in the sublayer below the one at the surface is proportional to v _φ(R _c), to the time, and to the strength of the oscillations. The constant of proportionality is calculated from the numerical integrations, performed for times of the order of 100 hr. Extrapolation of these results to longer times shows that the surface shear flow is transmitted to the inner regions in a time of the order of of 30 000 years. If the initial state is unstable to the vertical shear, the region of maximum instability depends also on the horizontal shear, and is located away from the equator (where the vertical shear is maximum). As a consequence, the longitudinal flow below the surface shows two equidistant maxima across the equator, located at intermediate latitudes.