加拿大地盾麻粒岩区的含金铁建造：一个太古代的深部金成矿体系

在加拿大地盾的苏必利尔省东部，金产于混合岩化副片麻岩区的变质铁建造之中。位于距英云闪长岩入体１００ｍ的主要金矿点，经受了类矽卡岩的变质作用，该变质作用出现于麻粒岩级变质作用的晚期。尽管矿化作用产于高级变质围岩之中，但它具有许多低级太古宙绿岩带金矿化作用的特征，例如：（１）富Ａｕ、Ａｓ、Ｓ、Ｓｂ、Ｗ、Ｕ和ＦｅＯ；（２）贱金属／金比值低；（３）金在毒砂中作为包体存在；（４）位于长英质侵入体附近；（５）富铁的碎裂围岩；（６）相近的成矿时间（大约２６５０Ｍａ）。这种金矿化出现于变质作用的峰期附近，并代表了晚太古代广泛发育的地壳深部成矿作用体系。本文的主要结论是太古代金矿化作用的主要特征与深部地壳地质作用有关，而不是与上部地层如绿岩带的淋滤作用有关。     

更多的证据表明厄尔尼诺现象与地震活动性有关

在1988年就有迹象表明,1964至1987年间南太平洋区振荡指数(SOI)五个极小值跟南纬20°至40°沿东太平洋洋脊(EPR)的间歇性地震活动相关。这个地区是地球上扩张最快的众多洋脊之一(图1),该处巨大能量通过海底火山和热液活动释放出来。现在另一次厄尔尼诺(南部振荡)期可能快要结束,此刻正是补充检验地震活动及南太平洋区振荡指数值的时侯。观察到的巧合往往是发现(新事物)的前提,并促使我们加倍注意对可用资料的再检查。尽管厄尔尼诺和震群这两类不同现象各自的复现期和持续时间均不规则,     

Summary results from a pilot study conducted around an oil production platform on the Northwest Shelf of Australia

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) conducted a pilot study around the Harriet A oil production platform on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. We evaluated hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity, fluorescent aromatic compounds (FACs) in bile and immunodetection of CYP1A-like proteins in two Australian tropical fish species, Gold-Spotted Trevally (Carangoides fulvoguttatus) and Bar-Cheeked Coral Trout (Plectropomus maculatus) to assess exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons associated with produced formation water (PFW). Additionally, the incidence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria isolated from the liver and bile of all fish captured was examined. Low EROD activity was found in both species, with EROD activity in C. fulvoguttatus showing significant site differences. FACs and CYP1A protein levels in C. fulvoguttatus showed a clear trend in hydrocarbon exposure consistent with hydrocarbon chemistry data: Harriet A>Harriet C>reference site. P. maculatus showed elevated levels of FACs at Harriet A as compared to the reference site and demonstrated detectable levels of CYP1A-like proteins at these two sites. Hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were found in the liver and bile of both species, yet there was no correlation by sites. Our results demonstrate that C. fulvoguttatus and P. maculatus have potential as indicator species for assessing the effects from exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons. Both FACs and CYP1A are providing warning signs that there is potential for biological effects on fish populations exposed to PFW around the Harriet A production platform.     

Discretizing the fracture-matrix interface to simulate solute transport

This article examines the required spatial discretization perpendicular to the fracture-matrix interface (FMI) for numerical simulation of solute transport in discretely fractured porous media. The discrete-fracture, finite-element model HydroGeoSphere ( Therrien et al. 2005 ) and a discrete-fracture implementation of MT3DMS ( Zheng 1990 ) were used to model solute transport in a single fracture, and the results were compared to the analytical solution of Tang et al. (1981) . To match analytical results on the relatively short timescales simulated in this study, very fine grid spacing perpendicular to the FMI of the scale of the fracture aperture is necessary if advection and/or dispersion in the fracture is high compared to diffusion in the matrix. The requirement of such extremely fine spatial discretization has not been previously reported in the literature. In cases of high matrix diffusion, matching the analytical results is achieved with larger grid spacing at the FMI. Cases where matrix diffusion is lower can employ a larger grid multiplier moving away from the FMI. The very fine spatial discretization identified in this study for cases of low matrix diffusion may limit the applicability of numerical discrete-fracture models in such cases.     

Metaphors and models: the ASR bubble in the Floridan aquifer

Studies at the intersection of cognitive science and linguistics have revealed the crucial role that metaphors play in shaping our thoughts about phenomena we cannot see. According to the domains interaction theory of cognition, a metaphoric expression sets up mappings between a target domain that we wish to understand and a familiar source domain. The source domain contains elements ("commonplaces") that we manipulate mentally, like parts of an analogue model, to illuminate the target domain. This paper applies the structure of domains interaction theory to analyze the dynamics of a metaphor in hydrogeology: the so-called bubble formed by water injected into an aquifer during aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). Of the four commonplaces of bubbles--(1) they are discrete; (2) they are geometrically simple; (3) they rise; and (4) they burst--we focus on the first two using both displacement and dispersion (tracer) models for both homogeneous and heterogeneous storage zones patterned from geological studies of the Suwannee Limestone of Sarasota County, Florida. The displacement model easily shows that "bottle brush" better represents the geometric complexity predicted from the known and inferred heterogeneity. There is virtually no difference, however, in the prediction of recovery efficiency using the dispersion model for a bubble (homogeneous flow zone) vs. bottle brush (heterogeneous flow zone). On the other hand, only the bottle brush reveals that unrecovered tracer is located preferentially in the low-permeability layers that lie adjacent to high-permeability channels in the flow zones.     

Contamination of marine biogenic habitats and effects upon associated epifauna

Habitat-forming organisms are frequently used as biomonitors in marine environments due to a widespread ability to accumulate toxic contaminants. Few studies, however, have considered the consequences of these accumulated contaminants on the abundant and diverse fauna associated with these habitats. In this review, we summarize research which has investigated the contamination of biogenic habitats (including seagrasses, macroalgae, ascidians, sponges and bivalve reefs) and the impact of this contamination on the habitat use, feeding behaviour and survival of associated epifauna. In many cases, ecological impacts upon epifauna are not simply predicted by levels of contamination in their habitat, but are determined by the foraging, feeding and reproductive behaviours of the inhabiting organisms. Thus, a thorough understanding of these ecological processes is essential in order to understand the effects of contaminants upon epifaunal communities. The scope of biomonitoring studies which assess the contamination of biogenic habitats should be expanded to include an assessment of potential effects upon associated epifauna. When combined with manipulative field experiments such an approach would greatly assist in our understanding of indirect effects of contaminants in these important benthic habitats.     

Storm-damaged saline-contaminated boreholes as a means of aquifer contamination

Saline water from a storm surge can flow down storm-damaged submerged water supply wells and contaminate boreholes and surrounding aquifers. Using data from conventional purging techniques, aquifer test response analysis, chemical analysis, and regression analysis of chloride/silica (Cl/Si) ratio, equations were derived to estimate the volume of saline water intrusion into a well and a porous media aquifer, the volume of water needed to purge a well shortly following an intrusion event, and the volume of water needed after delay of several or more months, when the saline plume has expanded. Purging time required is a function of volume of water and pumping rate. The study site well is located within a shoreline community of Lake Pontchartrain, St. Tammany Parish, in southeastern Louisiana, United States, which was impacted by two hurricane storm surges and had neither been rehabilitated nor chlorinated prior to our study. Chemical analysis of water samples in fall 2005 and purging of well and aquifer in June 6, 2006, indicated saline water had intruded the well in 2005 and the well and aquifer in 2006. The volume of water needed to purge the study well was approximately 200 casing volumes, which is significantly greater than conventionally used during collection of water samples for water quality analyses.