Mapping the geometry of an aquifer system with a high-resolution reflection seismic profile

A high-resolution P-wave seismic reflection survey was conducted in the area of Lambro Park within the city of Milan (northern Italy). Several high permeability channel sequences were identified and the stratigraphy of the infill was accurately mapped. The seismic signature imaged a previously undefined unit and also established the lateral correlation of some depositional units within the three major aquifer groups along the survey line. The complexity of the acoustic framework and the reduced depth of the source location limited effective elastic-wave generation. The geological setting also caused propagation of strong coherent noise patterns. Further interference, observed in the recorded data, was due to the traffic noise from the nearby highway. The attenuation of the undesired events required the design of specific filters and their multistep implementation. The results of forward modelling based on borehole information and of noise tests were crucial factors in the design of the processing parameters and in the stratigraphic interpretation of the final stacked section.     

The Application of Combined Seismic and Electrical Measurements to the Determination of the Hydraulic Conductivity of a Lake Bed

The hydraulic properties of lake beds control the interactions between lakes and ground water systems, but these properties are normally difficult to measure directly. The authors'method combines seismic reflection and electrical measurements to map the relative hydraulic conductivity of lake bed sediments. A shipboard seismic profiling system provides sediment thickness, while a towed electrical array yields longitudinal conductance and electrical chargeability. The sediment's leakance (hydraulic conductivity/thickness) can be calculated from the longitudinal conductance data. Leakance may then be converted to relative hydraulic conductivity through the seismically derived sediment thicknesses. Simultaneously acquired electrical chargeability provides an independent measure of clay content. The seismic and electrical systems are computer automated and yield production rates of approximately five line-kilometers/hour or 300 electrical soundings/hour. The systems provide continuous hydraulic information along the ship track rather than the point information derived from coring.
The procedure and systems have been used to map the bed of Lake Michigan offshore from an area of heavy pumpage. This location has been chosen to test the method because lake water has intruded the aquifer in plumes largely controlled by lake bed hydraulics. Mapping these plumes onshore permits the inference of the spatial distribution of offshore hydraulic conductivities. Offshore seepage measurements and numerical, chemical transport modeling of this site have confirmed the reliability of the geophysically derived hydraulic conductivities and have also demonstrated the improvement in numerical results achieved through the availability of spatially determined hydraulic conductivities.     

中国大别山双河超高压变质大理岩的氧、碳同位素

中国大别山双河超高压变质岩板中发育了一系列大理岩层和透镜体 ,其δ18O值介于 1 1 1‰～ 2 0 5‰ (SMOW)间 ,δ13 C值介于 1 .0‰～ 5 .7‰ (PDB)间 .详细调查表明 ,大理岩的氧、碳同位素值在厘米尺度上表现出均一化 ,但在大于1m的范围内则不均一 .与已经同地幔中的碳发生均一化的挪威榴辉岩相大理岩不同 ,双河超高压大理岩的碳同位素则保留了沉积碳酸盐岩的特征 ,而且表现出白云石含量与δ13 C间的负相关关系 .与原岩相比 ,双河大理岩18O有所亏损 .这种亏损来自 3种可能的地质过程 :( 1 )在超高压变质作用前曾与亏损18O的水发生过氧同位素交换 ;( 2 )在超高压变质过程中发生过脱碳酸盐作用 ;( 3)在退变质过程中与围岩片麻岩在接触部位发生过有限的氧同位素交换 .氧、碳同位素研究表明 ,超高压变质岩的俯冲和折返过程历时较短 ,且在该过程中 ,流体的活动性极为有限 .     

Results from field testing A curved box girder bridge using simulated earthquake loads

This paper presents the results of a unique field test on a curved highway overpass. In the test, large horizontal loads were applied to the superstructure of the bridge and quickly released, causing the bridge to vibrate. The resulting large-amplitude vibrations were intended to be similar to the vibrations caused by earthquakes (horizontal accelerations of up to 25 per cent of gravity were measured on the bridge deck). Well-defined lateral, longitudinal, vertical and torsional vibration modes were identified from the test data. The vibration modes were used to verify an analytical model of the bridge's dynamic response. For this paper, the model was verified using only the fundamental vibration mode, which was primarily a horizontal vibration mode. Using a system identification procedure, the dynamic response model was adjusted until its frequency and mode shape matched the measured frequency and mode shape. Parameters in the verified model were compared with the same parameters calculated from information in the structural drawings. Because the fundamental mode represents a horizontal mode, the bridge parameters identified in this paper were those parameters which strongly influence the horizontal response of the bridge.     

Investigating the effect of data quality on time domain electromagnetic discrimination

Using field data and numerical simulations we investigate the effect of data quality on time domain electromagnetic discrimination. Data quality decreases when measurements contain responses not accounted for by our mathematical modelling. This can include instrument noise, inaccurately reported position and orientation information, geologic contributions to the signal, and loss of validity of the forward modelling. Survey design is critical to data quality in order to have sufficient sampling of data anomalies, and also to ensure that each target is illuminated such that both the axial and transverse components of the polarization can be excited and measured. For dipole model based discrimination algorithms, success is contingent upon the accuracy with which the components of the polarization tensor can be estimated. Field data from different survey modes are analysed to identify noise sources and provide quantitative estimates of the noise in each survey. Inversion results show that increased noise levels lead to greater spread in recovered parameters. Monte Carlo simulations are performed in order to investigate the importance of other data quality factors. Analysis of inversion results from the simulations show that anomaly size, signal to noise ratio, positioning error, line spacing and station spacing all play a role in the spread of recovered parameters. Through the analysis of our simulation results we propose a figure of merit as a means of quantifying different data quality factors with a single number and relate this number to the accuracy with which parameters can be estimated.     

Degradates provide insight to spatial and temporal trends of herbicides in ground water

Since 1995, a network of municipal wells in Iowa, representing all major aquifer types (alluvial, bedrock/karst region, glacial drift, bedrock/nonkarst region), has been repeatedly sampled for a broad suite of herbicide compounds yielding one of the most comprehensive statewide databases of such compounds currently available in the United States. This dataset is ideal for documenting the insight that herbicide degradates provide to the spatial and temporal distribution of herbicides in ground water. During 2001, 86 municipal wells in Iowa were sampled and analyzed for 21 herbicide parent compounds and 24 herbicide degradates. The frequency of detection increased from 17% when only herbicide parent compounds were considered to 53% when both herbicide parents and degradates were considered. Thus, the transport of herbicide compounds to ground water is substantially underestimated when herbicide degradates are not considered. A significant difference in the results among the major aquifer types was apparent only when both herbicide parent compounds and their degradates were considered. In addition, including herbicide degradates greatly improved the statistical relation to the age of the water being sampled. When herbicide parent compounds are considered, only 40% of the wells lacking a herbicide detection could be explained by the age of the water predating herbicide use. However, when herbicide degradates were also considered, 80% of the ground water samples lacking a detection could be explained by the age of the water predating herbicide use. Finally, a temporal pattern in alachlor concentrations in ground water could only be identified when alachlor degradates were considered.     

Sidewall effects and sand trap efficiency in a large wind tunnel

Aeolian sand transport is a widespread physical phenomenon on the surface of Earth, as well as on Mars and Titan. Accurate measurements of the components of the transport system are necessary if we are to understand the nature of the physical processes. Sand traps are typically used to measure sediment transport rates, and issues associated with the sampling efficiency of traps and the development of reliable traps have received considerable attention in recent decades. In this study, we measured aeolian transport rate at five distances from a wind tunnel sidewall using a vertically‐segmented sand trap. Total transport rates were determined by weighing the bed sediment before and after each experiment, and with and without a trap installed. The following results were obtained: (1) sand transport increased linearly with the distance away from the sidewall, and the appropriate location to measure maximum transport is within the central 20% of the wind tunnel; (2) current methods overestimate the sampling efficiency of sand traps when comparing trap data to transport rate data obtained by weighing sand moved through the entire tunnel because the effects of the sidewalls in decreasing total transport are neglected; (3) the efficiency of the vertically‐segmented trap that we tested ranged from 11.57% to 31.68% using our revised methods, whereas standard methods caused efficiency to be overestimated by 32–72% of the efficiency; (4) using either method, the efficiency of the trap increased exponentially with shear velocity for the range we used. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating strong ground-motion variability using analysis of variance and two-way-fit plots

A statistical method to quantitatively assess the relative importance of unmodelled site and source effects on the observed variability (σ) in ground motions is presented. The method consists of analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the computed residuals with respect to an empirical ground-motion model for strong-motion records of various earthquakes recorded at a common set of stations. ANOVA divides the overall variance (σ ²) into the components due to site and source effects (respectively σ _S ² and σ _E ²) not modelled by the ground-motion model plus the residual variance not explained by these effects (σ _R ²). To test this procedure, four sets of observed strong-motion records: two from Italy (Umbria-Marche and Molise), one from the French Antilles and one from Turkey, are used. It is found that for the data from Italy, the vast majority of the observed variance is attributable to unmodelled site effects. In contrast, the variation in ground motions in the French Antilles and Turkey data is largely attributable, especially at short periods, to source effects not modelled by the ground-motion estimation equations used.     

Random variation of fabric eigenvalues: implications for the use of a‐axis fabric data to differentiate till facies†

Fabric ‘shape’, based on the relative values of three eigenvalues calculated from fabric data, has been used to differentiate sediment facies and infer deformation histories. The eigenvalues are based on samples drawn from parent populations, and as such are subject to statistical variance due to sampling effects. In this paper, the degree of statistical variance in fabric data for two types of subglacial till from Breidamerkurjøkull, Iceland, is investigated using ‘bootstrapping’ techniques, in which empirical ‘confidence regions’ are built up by repeated resampling of the original data. The experiments show that, for each till type, the observed between‐sample variability in the fabrics lies within the boundaries associated with random variations, indicating that the observed range of fabric shapes within each till type is likely to be entirely the product of sampling effects. Differences in fabric shape between till types are generally greater than that associated with random variations, indicating that their fabric shape characteristics, as measured by eigenvalues, are significantly different. Nevertheless, the results suggest that great care should be exercised when using a‐axis fabric data to differentiate sedimentary facies, or to infer subtle differences in physical processes or conditions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & ­Sons, Ltd.