Hydraulic characterization and hydrological behaviour of a pilot permeable pavement in an urban centre,Brazil

Considering all the alterations on hydrology and water quality that urbanization process brings, permeable pavement (PP) is an alternative to traditional impermeable asphalt and concrete pavement. The goal of the PP and other low impact development devices is to increase infiltration and reduce peak runoff flows. These structures are barely used in Brazil aiming stormwater management, one of the big hydrological issues in cities throughout the country, with increasing urbanization rates. The main objective of this paper is the hydraulic characterization of a PP and the assessment of its hydrological efficiency from the point of view of the infiltration process. The study focuses on a pilot area in a parking lot in an urban area (Recife, Brazil). Soil elements filling the voids between concrete elements were sampled (particle size density, water contents) and tested with water infiltration experiments at several points of the 3 m × 1.5 m surface pilot area. Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters algorithm was applied to the infiltration experiment data to obtain the hydraulic characteristics of the soil composing the PP surface layer, the concrete grid pavers (with internal voids filled with natural soil) permeability being neglected. Results show that the soil hydraulic characteristics vary spatially within the pilot area and that the soil samples have different hydraulic behaviours. The hydraulic characteristics derived from Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters analysis were implemented into Hydrus code to simulate runoff, infiltration and water balance over a year. The numerical simulation showed the good potential of the PP for rainfall–runoff management, which demonstrates that PP can be used to retrofit existing parking infrastructure and to promote hydrological behaviour close to natural soils. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Petrogenesis of the early Cretaceous Valle Chico igneous complex (SE Uruguay): Relationships with Paraná–Etendeka magmatism

The early Cretaceous (130 Ma) igneous complex of Valle Chico (SE Uruguay) is made up of felsic plutonic and subordinate volcanic rocks and dykes cropping out over an area of about 250 km². This complex is strictly linked with the formation of the Paraná–Etendeka Igneous Province and the first stages of the South Atlantic Ocean rifting. The plutonic rocks range from quartz-monzonite to syenite, quartz-syenite and granite. The volcanic rocks and the dykes range from quartz-latite to trachyte and rhyolite; no substantial differences in term of chemical composition have been found between plutonic and volcanic rocks. Only a sample of basaltic composition (with tholeiitic affinity) has been sampled associated with the felsic rocks. The Agpaitic Index of the Valle Chico felsic rocks range from 0.72 to 1.34, with the peralkaline terms confined in the most evolved samples (SiO₂>65 wt.%). Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr₍₁₃₀₎ of the felsic rocks range from 0.7046 to 0.7201, but the range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of low-Rb/Sr samples cluster at 0.7083; ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd₍₁₃₀₎ ratios range from 0.5121 (syenite) to 0.5117 (granite). The tholeiitic basalt show more depleted isotopic compositions (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr₍₁₃₀₎=0.7061; ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd₍₁₃₀₎=0.5122), and plots in the field of other early Cretaceous low-Ti basaltic rocks of SE Uruguay. The radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd of the Valle Chico felsic rocks require involvement of lower crustal material in their genesis either as melt contaminant or as protolith (crustal anatexis). In particular, most of the Valle Chico (VC) felsic rocks define a near-vertical array in Sr–Nd isotopic spaces, pointing toward classical EMI-type composition; this feature is considered to reflect a lower crust involvement as observed for other mafic and felsic rocks of the Paraná–Etendeka Igneous Province. Decompression melting of the lower crust related to Gondwana continental rifting before the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean or the presence of thermal anomalies related to the Tristan plume may have induced the lower crust to partially melt. Alternative hypothesis considers contamination of upper mantle by a mafic/ultramafic keel composed of lower crust and uppermost mantle after delamination and detachment processes. This interaction may have occurred after the continent–continent collision during the last stages of the Panafrican Orogeny. This “lower crust” model does not exclude active involvement of upper crust as contaminant, necessary to explain the strongly radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr₍₁₃₀₎ isotopic composition of some VC SiO₂-rich rocks. Mineralogical (sporadic presence of pigeonite, Ca–Na and Na clinopyroxene, calcic- and calco-sodic amphibole) and geochemical evidences (major and trace element as well as Sr–Nd isotopic similarities with the felsic early Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the Arequita Formation in SE Uruguay) allow us to propose for the VC rocks a transitional rock series (the most abundant rock types are of syenitic/trachytic composition) preferentially evolving towards SiO₂-oversaturated compositions (granite/rhyolite) also with a strong upper crustal contribution as melt contaminant. This conclusion is in contrast with previous studies according which the VC complex had clear alkaline affinity. Many similarities between VC and the coeval Paresis granitoids (Etendeka, Namibia) are evidenced in this paper. The genetic similarities between VC and the rhyolites (s.l.) of SE Uruguay may find counterparts with the genetic link existing between the early Cretaceous tholeiitic-alkaline Messum complex and the quartz latites (s.l.) of the Awahab Formation (Etendeka region, Namibia).     

Petrology of potassic alkaline ultramafic and carbonatitic rocks from Planalto da Serra (Mato Grosso State), Brazil

The Planalto da Serra igneous rocks form plugs, necks and dykes of carbonate-rich ultramafic lamprophyres (aillikites and glimmerites with kamafugitic affinity) and carbonatites (alvikites and beforsites). Phlogopite and/or tetraphlogopite, diopside and melanitic garnet are restricted to aillikitic rock-types, whereas pyroclore occurs only in carbonatites. Aillikites and carbonatites are altered to hydrotermalites, having chlorite and serpentine as dominant minerals. Planalto da Serra igneous rock association has kamafugitic affinity (i.e. effusive, ultrapotassic. High LREE/HREE fractionation, incompatible elements data and Sr-Nd isotopes, suggest that the K-ultramafic alkaline and carbonatite rocks originated from a variably metasomatized mantle source enriched in radiogenic Sr. Crustal contamination is negligible or absent. Age values of 600 Ma rule out the geochronological relationship between the investigated intrusions and the Mesozoic alkaline bodies from the Azimuth 125° lineament. The TDM model ages allow to conclude that Planalto da Serra magma is derived from the partial melting of a mantle source metasomatised by K-rich carbonatated melt during the Early to Late Neoproterozoic. On the basis of alkaline magmatism repetitions at 600 Ma and 90–80 Ma we question the subsistence of a stationary mantle plume for so long time.