On ionospheric disturbances caused by the solar activity of November 1960

Summary On November 1960 a special solar activity occured, producing characteristic disturbances in the ionosphere. Athens center followed this activity by vertical sounding and by Riometer recordings. They are evidences for proton events producing deep absorption in the ionosphere and aurora extending till 38° latitude. Some observations concerning July 1961 solar activity are reported. World wide decrease of the maximum electron density reported during the November period was observed also in Athens. Ionospheric disturbances following vertical sounding observations are of «negative» type.     

The influence of biogeochemical conditions and level of model complexity when simulating cometabolic biodegradation in sorbent-water systems

Eighteen models with different levels of complexity for representing sorption, mass transfer, and biodegradation are used to simulate the biodegradation of toluene (primary substrate) and TCE (cometabolic substrate). The simulations are conducted for hypothetical completely mixed systems of various scenarios with regard to sorbent, microbial composition, and solute concentrations. The purpose of the suite of simulations is to investigate the sensitivity of different modeling approaches in simulating the bio-attenuation of co-existing solutes in sorbent-water systems. The sensitivity of results to the modeling approach depends on the biogeochemical conditions of the system. For example, the results are insensitive to the type of sorption model in systems with low sorption strength and slow biodegradation rates, and insensitive to the biodegradation rate model if mass transfer controlled. Differences among model results are generally greater when evaluated in terms of total mass removal rather than aqueous phase concentration reduction. The fate of the cometabolite is more sensitive to the proper consideration of co-solute effects than is the fate of the primary substrate. For a given system, graphical comparison of a characteristic mass transfer rate coefficient (α_mt) versus a characteristic biodegradation rate coefficient (α_bio) provides an indication of how sensitivity to the different processes may be expected to change with time and can guide the selection of an appropriate level of model complexity.     

Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Complex Groundwater Management Problems

As water quantity and quality problems become increasingly severe, accurate prediction and effective management of scarcer water resources will become critical. In this paper, the successful application of artificial neural network (ANN) technology is described for three types of groundwater prediction and management problems. In the first example, an ANN was trained with simulation data from a physically based numerical model to predict head (groundwater elevation) at locations of interest under variable pumping and climate conditions. The ANN achieved a high degree of predictive accuracy, and its derived state-transition equations were embedded into a multiobjective optimization formulation and solved to generate a trade-off curve depicting water supply in relation to contamination risk. In the second and third examples, ANNs were developed with real-world hydrologic and climate data for different hydrogeologic environments. For the second problem, an ANN was developed using data collected for a 5-year, 8-month period to predict heads in a multilayered surficial and limestone aquifer system under variable pumping, state, and climate conditions. Using weekly stress periods, the ANN substantially outperformed a well-calibrated numerical flow model for the 71-day validation period, and provided insights into the effects of climate and pumping on water levels. For the third problem, an ANN was developed with data collected automatically over a 6-week period to predict hourly heads in 11 high-capacity public supply wells tapping a semiconfined bedrock aquifer and subject to large well-interference effects. Using hourly stress periods, the ANN accurately predicted heads for 24-hour periods in all public supply wells. These test cases demonstrate that the ANN technology can solve a variety of complex groundwater management problems and overcome many of the problems and limitations associated with traditional physically based flow models.     

Bioavailability of Hydrophobic Organic Contaminants: Effects and Implications of Sorption-Related Mass Transfer on Bioremediation

The low bioavailability of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) is one of the key sources of uncertainty in the implementation of in situ bioremediation. Bioavailability of HOCs in the subsurface is affected by sorption/desorption processes in two important ways. First, sorption causes high organic concentrations in microporous regions and impermeable zones to which bacterial access is obstructed. Second, because desorption and immobile zone diffusion must occur before biodegradation can proceed, the overall rate of bioremediation can be limited or even controlled by these mass transfer processes, not by the activity of the degrading microorganisms. Rate models that couple sorption/desorption—related mass transfer processes and biodegradation have been successfully applied to laboratory results and are beginning to offer some insight into the problem. Specifically, the influence of sorption on biodegradation is quantified here by defining a bioavailability factor, B_f. However, many questions remain and predictive modeling is elusive, especially in the context of complicated heterogeneous natural systems. Challenges facing environmental engineers are to develop a better understanding of these processes at both laboratory and field scales and ultimately to use such understanding toward the development of more effective and economical remediation technologies.     

Mineralisation at the Carrock Fell Tungsten Mine,N. England: Paragenetic,fluid inclusion and geochemical study

Tungsten ore at Carrock Fell Mine comprises wolframite and scheelite in polyminerallic quartz veins which traverse the Grainsgill Granite cupola and surrounding country rocks. In the veins, a wolframite-scheelite-apatite assemblage pre-dates a scheelite-arsenopyrite-pyrite (plus other sulphides) assemblages. Temperatures of mineralisation declined from a peak near 350°C to 170°C, and the hydrothermal fluid contained about 6 weight% NaCl and 3 wt% NaHCO₃. Contemporaneous greisenisation involved loss of Na, Cr, Ca and Ba from granite, but Si and K were retained while B, Be and Al increased slightly. Sn also increased but is always a trace constituent, and F appears to have decreased. Zones of intense alteration contain high concentrations of quartzhosted fluid inclusions resulting from penetration of the granite by fluid chemically similar to that in the vein quartz. The W-rich, Sn-poor nature of the mineralisation may relate to the weakly saline, F-deficient but CO₂-rich fluid chemistry. The alteration and mineralisation processes took place during late cooling of the Lower-Devonian Skiddaw Granite. Cross-cutting quartz-ankerite veins and argillitic zones which may be considerably younger than those producing the tungsten ore, have a distinct mineral suite lacking W and As and including major Pb and Zn. Temperatures at this late stage were below 150°C, and the fluid is estimated to have contained approximately 12 wt% NaCl and 15 wt% CaCl₂.     

Where Are Porphyry Copper Deposits Spatially Localized? A Case Study in Benguet Province,Philippines

To provide guides for exploration of porphyry copper mineralization at a district scale, we examine the spatial association between known porphyry copper deposits and geologic features in Benguet, Philippines. The spatial associations between the porphyry copper deposits and strike-slip fault discontinuities, batholithic pluton margins and porphyry plutons are quantified using weights of evidence modeling. In the training and testing district, the porphyry copper occurrences are associated spatially with strike-slip fault discontinuities, batholithic pluton margins and contacts of porphyry plutons within distances of 3 km, 2.25 km, and 1 km, respectively. In addition, the porphyry plutons are associated spatially with strike-slip fault discontinuities and contacts of batholithic plutons within a distance of 2.25 km and 3 km, respectively. Based on these significant spatial associations, predictive maps are generated to delineate zones favorable for porphyry copper mineralization and zones favorable for emplacement of porphyry plutons in Benguet province, Philippines. Validations of the predictive models demonstrate their efficacy in pointing to zones for subsequent follow-up exploration work.     

The Grader layered intrusion (Havre-Saint-Pierre Anorthosite, Quebec) and genesis of nelsonite and other Fe–Ti–P ores

The Grader layered intrusion is part of the Havre-Saint-Pierre anorthosite in the Grenville Province (Quebec, Canada). This intrusion has a basin-like morphology and contains significant resources of Fe–Ti–P in ilmenite and apatite. Outcropping lithologies are massive oxide alternating with anorthosite layers, banded ilmenite–apatite–plagioclase rocks and layered oxide apatite (gabbro-)norites. Drill cores provide evidence for stratigraphic variations of mineral and whole rock compositions controlled by fractional crystallization with the successive appearance of liquidus phases: plagioclase and ilmenite followed by apatite, then orthopyroxene together with magnetite, and finally clinopyroxene. This atypical sequence of crystallization resulted in the formation of plagioclase–ilmenite–apatite cumulates or “nelsonites” in plagioclase-free layers. Fine-grained ferrodiorites that cross-cut the cumulates are shown to be in equilibrium with the noritic rocks. The high TiO₂ and P₂O₅ contents of these assumed liquids explains the early saturation of ilmenite and apatite before Fe–Mg silicates, thus the nelsonites represent cumulates rather than crystallized Fe–Ti–P-rich immiscible melts. The location of the most evolved mineral and whole rock compositions several tens of meters below the top of the intrusion, forming a sandwich horizon, is consistent with crystallization both from the base and top of the intrusion. The concentrations of V and Cr in ilmenite display a single fractionation path for the different cumulus assemblages and define the cotectic proportion of ilmenite to 21 wt.%. This corresponds to bulk cotectic cumulates with ca. 8 wt.% TiO₂, which is significantly lower than what is commonly observed in the explored portion of the Grader intrusion. The proposed mechanism of ilmenite-enrichment is the lateral removal of plagioclase due to its relative buoyancy in the dense ferrodiorite melt. This plagioclase has probably accumulated in other portions of the intrusion or has not been distinguished from the host anorthosite.     

Multi-hazard risk mapping and assessment on an active volcano: the GRINP project at Mount Cameroon

To help improve the safety of its population faced with natural disasters, the Cameroon Government, with the support of the French Government, initiated a programme of geological risk analysis and mapping on Mount Cameroon. This active volcano is subject to a variety of hazards: volcanic eruptions, slope instability and earthquakes. Approximately 450,000 people live or work around this volcano, in an area which includes one of Cameroon’s main economic resources. An original methodology was used for obtaining the information to reply to questions raised by the authorities. It involves several stages: identifying the different geological hazard components, defining each phenomenon’s threat matrix by crossing intensity and frequency indices, mapping the hazards, listing and mapping the exposed elements, analysing their respective values in economic, functional and strategic terms, establishing typologies for the different element-at-risk groups and assessing their vulnerability to the various physical pressures produced by the hazard phenomena, and establishing risk maps for each of the major element-at-risk groups (population, infrastructures, vegetation, atmosphere). At the end of the study we were able (a) to identify the main critical points within the area, and (b) provide quantified orders of magnitude concerning the dimensions of the risk by producing a plausible eruption scenario. The results allowed us to put forward a number of recommendations to the Cameroon Government concerning risk prevention and management. The adopted approach corresponds to a first level of response to the authorities. Later developments should make it possible to refine the quality of the methodology.     

Petrology and CHIME geochronology of Pan-African high K and Sr/Y granitoids in the Nkambe area, Cameroon

The Central African Belt in the Nkambe area, northwestern Cameroon represents a collisional zone between the Saharan metacraton and the Congo craton during the Pan-African orogeny, and exposes a variety of granitoids including foliated and massive biotite monzogranites in syn- and post-kinematic settings. Foliated and massive biotite monzogranites have almost identical high-K calc-alkaline compositions, with 73–67 wt.% SiO₂, 17–13 wt.% Al₂O₃, 2.1–0.9 wt.% CaO, 4.4–2.7 wt.% Na₂O and 6.3–4.4 wt.% K₂O. High concentrations of Rb (264–96 ppm), Sr (976–117 ppm), Ba (3680–490 ppm) and Zr (494–99 ppm), with low concentrations of Y (mostly< 20 ppm with a range 54–6) and Nb (up to 24 ppm) suggest that the monzogranites intruded in collisional and post-collisional settings. The Sr/Y ratio ranges from 25 to 89. K, Rb and Ba resided in a single major phase such as K-feldspar in the source. Garnet was present in the source and remained as restite at the site of magma generation. This high K₂O and Sr/Y granitic magma was generated by partial melting of a granitic protolith under high-pressure and H₂O undersaturated conditions where garnet coexists with K-feldspar, albitic plagioclase. CHIME (chemical Th–U-total Pb isochron method) dating of zircon yields ages of 569 ± 12–558 ± 24 Ma for the foliated biotite monzogranite and 533 ± 12–524 ± 28 Ma for the massive biotite monzogranite indicating that the collision forming the Central African Belt continued in to Ediacaran (ca 560 Ma).