Heat flow in the Ozark Plateau, Arkansas and Missouri: relationship to groundwater flow

Heat flow values were calculated from direct measurements of temperature and thermal conductivity at thirteen sites in the Arkansas-Missouri Ozark Plateau region. These thirteen values are augmented by 101 estimates of heat flow, based on thermal conductivity measurements and temperature gradients extrapolated from bottom-hole temperatures. The regional heat flow profile ranges from 9 mW m⁻² to over 80 mW m⁻², but at least two distinct thermal regimes have been identified. Seven new heat flow determinations are combined with three previously published values for the St. Francois Mountains (SFM), a Precambrian exposure of granitic and rhyolitic basement rocks, average 47 mW m⁻². Radioactive heat production of 76 samples of the exposed rocks in the SFM averages 2.4 μW m⁻² and a typical continental basement contribution of 14 mW m⁻² is implied. Conversely, the sedimentary rock sequence of the plateau is characterized by an anomalously low heat flow, averaging approximately 27 mW m⁻². Groundwater transmissivity values that are based on data from 153 wells in deep regional aquifers demonstrate an inverse relationship to the observed heat flow patterns. The areas of high transmissivity that correspond to areas of low total heat flux suggest that the non-conservative vertical heat flow within the Ozark sedimentary sequence can be attributed to the effects of groundwater flow.     

The geography of tourism in France: definition,scope and themes

Conclusions The substantial body of literature produced in the last two decades bears witness to the marked development of the geography of tourism in France over this period. This research has been strongly influenced by traditional geographic thought and is notable for the logic which underlies it. At the same time much remains to be done, with various avenues for future research being suggested in this paper. French geographers might also look increasingly outwards and to the work of others. By considering new and different methodologies, theories and fields of interest, the conceptual base of the subject might be enlarged and a more systematic approach developed. This need is keenly felt and this opening up is starting to occur, particularly through the exchange of ideas with foreign geographers at meetings of the national or international (IGU) commissions on the geography of tourism.     

The typing of Au and base-metal occurrences by plasma/mass spectrometry: initial results

This paper discusses the application of the newly developed ELAN 250 I.C.P./mass spectrometer to exploration geochemistry. This instrument combines an inductively coupled plasma with a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The combination of these two existing technologies makes it possible for the first time to perform stable-isotope and elemental analysis rapidly and concurrently.Particular attention is paid to the use of lead isotopes to type Au and base-metal occurrences. Data are presented on galena samples obtained from the Geological Survey of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum. Consideration is also given to the potential usefulness of Pb isotopes and trace-element data to type mineral occurrences and to identify new ones.     

Uranium geochemistry in groundwater from tertiary sediments

Dissolved U concentrations and activity ratios (ARs) of the U isotopes in the ²³⁸U decay series were measured in ground and surface waters as part of an investigation to delineate the water quality in a proposed uranium mining area of northwest Nebraska. In oxidizing groundwaters from 67 wells completed in the Tertiary sediments, increasing U concentrations in the direction of groundwater flow generally were associated with a maturation of the formation water as evidenced by evolutionary trends in major ion character. The increased U levels probably are associated with leaching as shown by the positive correlation between U concentrations and total dissolved solids (TDS) (r = +0.83). The inverse relationships between TDS and U ARs (r = ?0.73) and U levels and ARs (r = 0.72) indicate that the decay of excess U-234 is related to maturation of the formation water and to sediment leaching along the flowpath. The data are described by a model which incorporates etching, decay and recoil and suggests that aquifer residence time can be estimated from the TDS level.The levels of soluble U in a reducing uraniferous hydrogeologic unit near Crawford, Nebraska are affected by the proximity of the sample collection to ore. In groundwater samples having similar chemistries (Na-SO₄ + Cl type), similar Ehs, and collected from a close-knit pattern, U concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 2,037 μg l^?1 and ARs ranged from 0.75 to 12.6. This high variability in U levels and ARs is indicative of uranium ore in small areal studies where low ARs almost always are associated with high U concentrations.     

Robust kriging—A proposal

Geological data frequently have a heavy-tailed normal-in-the-middle distribution, which gives rise to grade distributions that appear to be normal except for the occurrence of a few outliers. This same situation also applies to log-transformed data to which lognormal kriging is to be applied. For such data, linear kriging is nonrobust in that (1)kriged estimates tend to infinity as the outliers do, and (2)it is also not minimum mean squared error. The more general nonlinear method of disjunctive kriging is even more nonrobust, computationally more laborious, and in the end need not produce better practical answers. We propose a robust kriging method for such nearly normal data based on linear kriging of an editing of the data. It is little more laborious than conventional linear kriging and, used in conjunction with a robust estimator of the variogram, provides good protection against the effects of data outliers. The method is also applicable to time series analysis.     

Practical Application of Theoretical Models to Magnetometer Surveys on Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites — A Case History

Wastes were to be exhumed and removed from a hazardous and chemical waste disposal site. The major disposal practice was shallow burial of wastes in metal drums in parallel trenches. The actual boundaries of the trenches beneath the landscaped cover were not accurately known.
Theoretical two-dimensional models were used to evaluate the application of magnetic methods to define trench boundaries on the disposal site. The models predicted that both the total field and the vertical component anomalies were diagnostic; however, the vertical component anomaly was more focused on the trench boundaries.
A survey with a vertical component fluxgate magnetometer was successful in defining trench boundaries. Observations made along traverses that trended perpendicular to the long axis of the parallel trenches indicated vertical magnetic intensity values with a cyclical pattern of large positive values over trenches and large negative values over intertrench corridors. Vertical magnetic intensity values determined with theoretical two-dimensional models compared favorably to the observed vertical magnetic values. The models were used to constrain the interpretation of the field observations to define trench boundaries; the magnetic survey defined trench boundaries with an accuracy within ± 2 feet.     

Plate tectonics,palaeoenvironments and limestone geomorphology in West-Central Britain

The variety of active, exhumed, and buried limestone landforms of northern England, North Wales, and the Isle of Man arises in part from the way in which Dinantian (Lower Carboniferous) sedimentation was affected by a tilt-block basement structure evolved during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean suture to the north, and partly to subsequent plate tectonic movements associated with the closure of the proto-Tethys ocean, the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and the Alpine orogeny. Landforms created during the Dinantian now form important exhumed and buried landscape features. The Permian half-graben structures of the eastern Irish Sea-Cheshire-Worcester Basins account for many of the contrasts between the upland karsts of the Pennines and the lowland karsts of coastal areas.     

Strontium-calcium ratios in Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera

The $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio and other parameters have been measured in fossil planktonic foraminifera from the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins in order to evaluate the $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio of seawater during the last 75 million years. Results on well-preserved samples indicate that the ratio has increased to its present value by 10–15% during the Cenozoic, and that minima occurred between 55-45 Ma and 10-5 Ma, when the ratio was 15–25% less than at present. The long-term increase may reflect either decreasing deposition of aragonite with a high $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratio in shallow seas, or decreasing seafloor spreading rates and consequently decreasing hydrothermal supply of Ca during the Cenozoic. Other geologic evidence suggests that the Eocene minimum (near 50 Ma) may have resulted from increased aragonite sedimentation, while the Late Miocene minimum (between 10-5 Ma) may have been caused by an increased rate of seawater-basalt exchange when seafloor spreading rates increased on the East Pacific Rise near 10 Ma.     

Migration and retention of elements at the Oklo natural reactor

The Oklo natural reactor, Gabon, permits study of fission-produced elemental behavior in a natural geologic environment. The uranium ore that sustained fission reactions formed about 2 billion years before present (BYBP), and the reactor was operative for about 5 × 10⁵ yrs between about 1.95 to 2 BYBP. The many tons of fission products can, for the most part, be studied for their abundance and distribution today. Since reactor shutdown, many fissiogenic elements have not migrated from host pitchblende, and several others have migrated only a few tens of meters from the reactor ore. Only Xe and Kr have apparently been largely removed from the reactor zones. An element by element assessment of the Oklo rocks' ability to retain the fission products, and actinides and radiogenic Pb and Bi as well, leads to the conclusion that no widespread migration of the elements occurred. This suggests that rocks with more favorable geologic characteristics are indeed well suited for consideration for the storage of radioactive waste.