The synergistic powers of AEM and GIS geodatabase models in water resources studies

Comprehensive studies of water resources systems require integration of modeling tools and data associated with individual processes. An object-oriented approach is presented here that associates ground water models based upon the analytic element method (AEM) with geographic information system (GIS) geodatabase features using an AEM Model Interface. Each aquifer object contains a prescribed geometry, a mathematical representation in the AEM, and GIS hydrogeologic data. The synergistic understanding inherent in such an approach is illustrated by a study linking local AEM model predictions of water elevation with ground water geodatabase objects. This AEM Model Interface provides a key component in establishing a common object-oriented geodatabase modeling approach linking ground water to a variety of natural and social processes.     

Erosion rates of alpine bedrock summit surfaces deduced from in situ Be and Al

We have measured the concentration of in situ produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al from bare bedrock surfaces on summit flats in four western U.S. mountain ranges. The maximum mean bare-bedrock erosion rate from these alpine environments is 7.6 ± 3.9 m My⁻¹. Individual measurements vary between 2 and 19 m My⁻¹. These erosion rates are similar to previous cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) erosion rates measured in other environments, except for those from extremely arid regions. This indicates that bare bedrock is not weathered into transportable material more rapidly in alpine environments than in other environments, even though frost weathering should be intense in these areas. Our CRN-deduced point measurements of bedrock erosion are slower than typical basin-averaged denudation rates ( 50 m My⁻¹). If our measured CRN erosion rates are accurate indicators of the rate at which summit flats are lowered by erosion, then relief in the mountain ranges examined here is probably increasing.

We develop a model of outcrop erosion to investigate the magnitude of errors associated with applying the steady-state erosion model to episodically eroding outcrops. Our simulations show that interpreting measurements with the steady-state erosion model can yield erosion rates which are either greater or less than the actual long-term mean erosion rate. While errors resulting from episodic erosion are potentially greater than both measurement and production rate errors for single samples, the mean value of many steady-state erosion rate measurements provides a much better estimate of the long-term erosion rate.     

Differential unroofing within the central metasedimentary Belt of the Grenville Orogen: constraints from 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology

An ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronological investigation of upper greenschist to granulite facies gneiss, amphibolite and marble was conducted in the Central Metasedimentary Belt (CMB), Ontario, to constrain its cooling history. Incremental ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar release spectra indicate that substantial differential unroofing occurred in the CMB between 1000 and 600 Ma. A consistent pattern of significantly older hornblende and phlogopite ⁴⁰Ar/³Ar cooling ages on the southeast sides of major northeast striking shear zones is interpreted to reflect late displacement due to extensional deformation. Variations in hornblende ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age plateaus exceeding 200 Ma occur over distances less than 50 km with major age discontinuities occurring across the Robertson Lake shear zone and the Sharbot Lake mylonite zone which separate the Sharbot Lake terrane from the Elzevir and Frontenac terranes. Extensional displacements of up to 14 km are inferred between the Frontenac and Elzevir terranes of the CMB. No evidence for significant post argon-closure vertical displacement is indicated in the vicinity of the Perth Road mylonite within the Frontenac terrane. Variations of nearly 100 Ma in phlogopite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages occur in undeformed marble on either side of the Bancroft Shear Zone. Phlogopites from sheared and mylonitized marble within the shear zone yield ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar diffusional loss profiles, but have older geologically meaningless ages thought to reflect incorporation of excess argon. By 900 Ma, southeast directed extension was occurring throughout the CMB, possibly initiated along previous zones of compressional shearing. An easterly migration of active zones of extension is inferred, possibly related to an earlier, overall easterly migration of active zones of regional thrusting and easterly migration of an ancient subduction zone. The duration of extensional shearing is not well constrained, but must have ceased before 600 Ma as required by the deposition of overlying undeformed Cambrian and/or Ordovician sedimentary rocks.Contribution No. 481 from the Mineralogical Laboratory, University of Michigan     

Turbulent kinetic energy budget in a gravel-bed channel flow

The present experimental investigation focuses on the characteristics of near bed turbulence in a fully rough, uniform open-channel flow over a gravel-type bed. Due to bed topography small scale heterogeneity, the flow is not uniform locally in the near bed region and a double averaging methodology is applied over a length scale much larger than the gravel size. The double-averaged Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) budget derived in the context of the present flow over a gravel bed differs from the TKE budget written for flow over a vegetation canopy. The non-constant shape of the roughness function measured in our gravel bed leads to an additional bed-induced production term which is null for vertical roughness elements, such as simplified vegetation elements. The experimental estimation of the terms of the TKE budget reveals that the maximum turbulent activity takes place away from the reference plane, near the roughness crests. However, within the interface sublayer the work of the bed induced velocity fluctuations against the Reynolds stress is of the same magnitude as the main turbulence production term. Consequently, the characteristics of the TKE budget have similarities with uniform flows over canopies and strongly differ from uniform flows over smooth and transitionally rough flows over sedimentlike beds.     

Emplacement age and thermal footprint of the diamondiferous Ellendale E9 lamproite pipe, Western Australia

The diamondiferous Ellendale 9 (E9) pipe is a funnel-shaped maar-diatreme volcano consisting of inward-dipping tuff sequences intruded by lamproite plugs and dykes. The host rocks for the E9 pipe are Permian sandstones. The multiple lithological contacts exposed within the mined maar volcano provide a natural laboratory in which to study the effect of volcanic processes on U–Th–Pb–He systematics. Zircon from the regional sandstone and E9 lamproite display a bimodal distribution of ages on (U–Th)/He–U/Pb plots. The zircon U/Pb ages for the E9 pipe (n?=?52) range from 440 to 2,725 Ma, while the cluster of (U–Th)/He ages for the lamproite dyke zircon indicate that dyke emplacement occurred at 20.6?±?2.8 Ma, concordant with a maximum emplacement age of about ≤22 Ma from phlogopite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar. These ages indicate a xenocrystic origin for the zircon entrained in the E9 dyke. The U/Pb ages of detrital zircon from the regional sandstone host (373–3,248 Ma; n?=?41) are indistinguishable from those of the lamproite zircon xenocrysts, whereas the detrital zircon in the host sandstone yield (U–Th)/He ages from 260 to 1,500 Ma. A thermochronology traverse across the E9 lamproite dyke reveals that the zircon (U–Th)/He ages in the host sandstone have not been significantly thermally reset during dyke emplacement, even at the contact. The capability of the zircon (U–Th)/He method to distinguish deep, mantle source lithologies from upper crustal source lithologies could be used in geochemical exploration for diamonds. Pre-screening of detrital samples using etching and helium assay methods will improve the efficiency and decrease the cost of greenfields exploration.     

Complete chemical analyses of metamorphic hornblendes: implications for normalizations,calculated H2O activities,and thermobarometry

Twenty-two hornblendes separated from amphibolites and granulites of the Grenville Orogen of Ontario have been quantitatively analyzed for major and minor elements by electron microprobe, for FeO/Fe₂O₃ by wet chemistry, and for H₂O by manometric measurement as H₂. Hornblende formulae were calculated on the basis of 24O+OH+Cl+F. Most samples are magnesio-hornblendes, ferroan pargasitic hornblendes and ferroan hastingsitic hornblendes, with weight fractions of Fe³⁺/(Fe²⁺+Fe³⁺) ranging from 0.15 to 0.50. An oxy-amphibole component of 0–25 mol%, with an average value of 17 mol%, is obtained for these complete analyses. When compared with structural formulae determined solely from microprobe data, normalization based on 13=Si+Ti+Al+Fe+Mn+Mg cations provides the best approximation to hornblende formulae calculated from the complete analyses. Less satisfactory agreement is obtained from a normalization scheme based on 15=Si+Ti+Al+Fe+Mn+Mg+Ca, while worst agreement is obtained from normalization to 23 oxygens assuming all Fe is Fe²⁺. No normalization scheme based on microprobe data alone consistently replicates the measured FeO, Fe₂O₃, and H₂O; accurate determination of these values requires complete chemical analysies. Ionic solution models previously have been proposed to evaluate the activity of Ca₂Mg₅Si₈ O₂₂(OH)₂(a _Trem) in hornblende for use in equilibria that constrain the activity of H₂O (a _{H 2}O) in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Application of ionic models to typical hornblendes produces low a _Trem (usually<0.01), consequetly yielding extremely low a _{H 2}O. If an oxy-amphibole component is present, the calculated a _Trem and H₂O is further reduced. An oxy-amphibole component of 25% reduces the calculated H₂O activity and that of any hydroxyl-amphibole component by 50% below that calculated with simplified assumptions regarding X _OH in the hydroxyl site (i.e., X _OH=1, or X _OH=1–X _Cl–X _f). Thus, methods of amphibole normalizations appear to have a substantial effect on calculated amphibole and H₂O activites. Before quantitative hornblende thermobarometry can be calibrated and applied, the amounts of FeO, Fe₂O₃ and H₂O must be measured in order to fully characterize hornblende solid solutions.Contribution No. 478 from the Mineralogical Laboratory, University of Michigan