Quaternary reactivation of flexural-slip folds by diapiric activity: example from the western Ebro Basin (Spain)

In the western sector of the Ebro Basin two types of structures deform the Quaternary terraces and pediments developed by the Ebro River and its tributaries: (1) folds up to 10 km long in the lower levels of fluvial terraces and (2) normal listric faults that produce tilting and rollover anticlines of the Quaternary deposits. Both types of structures are linked to the geometrical and lithological features of the Tertiary beds that underlie the Quaternary deposits. Quaternary folds, whose axes are parallel to the strike of the Tertiary beds, are the result of reactivation of Tertiary large-scale (60 km long) folds due to diapirism of their gypsum cores, where the gypsum units reach a maximum thickness of 3 000 m. This reactivation produced flexural-slip in some beds on the limbs of the folds, bringing about the folding of the overlying Quaternary terraces. The mechanism of Quaternary folding involves layer-parallel shear in alternating Tertiary units and folding linked to detachments and reverse layer-parallel faults. Normal listric faults are widespread throughout the studied area. They are partly parallel to low dipping Tertiary beds and are the result of a NNE-SSW tectonic extension, compatible with minor structures and focal mechanisms of recent earthquakes. The relationship between the two kinds of Quaternary structures indicates that diapirism of the gypsum cores of the anticlines was activated by extensional tectonics.     

Les eaux thermales des granites de Galice (Espagne): des eaux carbogazeuses aux eaux alcalines (Thermal waters from granites of Galicia (Spain): from CO2-rich to high-pH waters)

Thermal waters from Galicia, Spain, range from CO₂-rich, low-pH to high-pH, sulfide-rich waters, going through intermediate waters. In order to explain the variations of their chemical composition, we present a discussion of the major factors governing the water composition. We eiscuss especially the isochemical recrystallization of a granite. It is shown that the equilibrium mineral association of the water-alkali granite system is unique. For chalco-alkaline granites, two different associations are possible, depending on the chemical composition of the granite. The effect of an addition of CO₂ is also discussed.

Some criteria allowing a distinction between fully equilibrated and non-equilibrated waters are presented.

Finally, the composition of Galician waters is explained by different initial CO₂ contents and by different values of the degree of the granite-water reaction progress (ξ).

Résumé

Les eaux thermales de Galice (Espagne) vont des eaux riches en CO₂ aux eaux typiquement alcalines en passant par différents intermédiaires. Pour comprendre l'évolution de la composition chimique de ces eaux, nous avons été conduits à discuter, de façon plus générale, des facteurs majeurs qui fixent la composition minéralogique résultant d'une recristallisation isochimique du granite. Nous avons pu montrer que les granites alcalins se transformaient toujours en la même association minérale, tandis que les granites calcoalcalins pouvaient donner naissance à deux associations d'équilibre différentes. L'apport de CO₂ au système eau-roche peut faire passer d'une association minérale à l'autre, et, si le CO₂ est en grande quantité, à une association contenant un minéral de moins et du CO₂ en excès. On propose également, pour les solutions géothermales, des critères d'équilibre ou de non équilibre, basés sur la composition en éléments majeurs. La variation de composition des eaux de Galice peut alors s'interpréter par des teneurs variables en CO₂ et des degrés d'avancement différents de la réaction d'interaction eau-granite.     

Contrǒle des concentrations d'aluminium dissous dans les eaux des sources thermales

We analized about 100 hot springs of different regions in France for dissolved Al. In an area where the chemical composition of the springs for major elements is about the same and the emergence temperatures are different, we usually observe correlations between dissolved Al and temperature. This correlation is positive in the case of high pH hot springs (Pyrénées). On the contrary, the correlation is negative for the CO₂ rich waters of the Massif Central (Vichy). We also observe intermediate patterns, where Al concentrations are roughly independant of the temperature.Using a set of consistant values of thermodynamical data for ions and minerals of Al, we find that the observed correlations between Al and temperature are related to the solubility of a mineral which is generally kaolinite.     

Acquisition des ions alcalino-terreux par les eaux thermales carbogazeuses

Nous présentons différents arguments tendantàmontrer qu'une proportion importante deséléments alcalinoterreux présents dans les sources thermominérales du Massif Central français est acquise en subsurface lors de la remontée de l'eau. Au cours de ces réactions subsuperficielles, le rapport Na/K est peu modifié. Les hautes teneurs en Ca²⁺ et Mg²⁺ de ces eaux ne constituent pas un argument suffisant pour rejeter l'information fournie par le géothermomètre Na/K.Nous montronségalement que l'utilisation des rapports isotopiques du strontium comme indicateur d'origine doite?tre menée avec précautions.     

Petrology of garnet — cordierite — sillimanite gneisses from the El Tormes thermal dome,Iberian Hercynian foldbelt (W Spain)

The core of the El Tormes thermal dome, situated in the central part of one of the main metamorphic belts of the Iberian Peninsula, is formed by garnet-cordierite-biotite-sillimanite pelitic gneisses. These rocks, that very often are cut by minor intrusions of Al-rich S-type granites, are metatexitic gneisses in which there exists garnet showing different stages of resorption and transformation into an aggregate of cordierite±plagioclase±biotite. The garnet, mantled and corroded mainly by cordierite, has never been found to occur in contact with the prismatic sillimanite of the matrix, thus indicating that the continuous reaction Gr+Sill+Q = Cd has taken place. The presence of corroded biotite inside the garnet-rimming cordierite of the aggregates as well as inside the cordierite of the matrix, which usually includes remmants of sillimanite, indicates that the continuous reaction Bi+Sill+Q = Cd+FK+H₂O has occurred too. Therefore, a realistic net reaction for these aggretates should be represented by the univariant, at a given , equilibrium: Biotite+Sillimanite+Garnet+Quartz = Cordierite+K-feldspar+H₂O (1)The important garnet resorption near the anatectic granitic veins implies that this process is favoured by a decrease in , this factor being otherwise buffered by the reaction (1) assemblage.The most probable P-T path, assuming these conditions, consistent with the AFM projection of the former (inferred) and present assemblages in the aggregates and in the matrix, implies a decrease in P coeval with a decrease in T (Fig. 4, path 2).The most reliable P-T determination for the final stage of garnet breakdown through reaction (1), based on the coexistence of the seven phase assemblage garnet — cordierite — biotite — sillimanite — plagioclase — potash feldspar — quartz plus melt, gives 695° C, 4.3 kbar, = 0.5, The maximum pressure for this process, obtained from the garnet — plagioclase equilibrium, is 6.5±1 kbar at the same temperature.The estimates of the T for the garnet core-garnet included biotite pairs are consistently lower, ca. 550° C, than those obtained for the garnet rim-biotite in aggregates, ca. 645° C, or garnet rim-adjacent cordierite pairs, ca. 695° C.It may, therefore, be supposed that, during their evolution these rocks underwent first an increase in T and then, during the last stages, as garnet and biotite brokedown, a decrease in P and T. This represents an uplift of the core of El Tormes dome under high grade amphibolite to low pressure granulite facies conditions, accompanied by a process of partial melting with local decrase in . It is suggested, from mineral growth-deformation relationships, that this process took place during the late hercynian deformation phases, P-3 or doming stage.     

Pilot-scale field model tests for detecting landfill leachate intrusion into the subsurface using a grid-net electrical conductivity measurement system

The grid-net electrical conductivity measurement system for detecting exact locations of landfill leachate intrusion in the subsurface was developed in this study. Laboratory and pilot-scale field model tests were performed to evaluate the direct application of a grid-net electrical conductivity measurement system for the detection of landfill leachate. A significant increase in electrical conductivity of soil was observed by adding landfill leachate. This can be explained as an increase in electrical conductivity of pore fluid due to an increase in leachate constituents as charge carriers. In pilot-scale field model tests, leachate intrusion locations were accurately identified at the initial stage of landfill leachate release by the grid-net electrical conductivity measurement system. The electrical conductivity of the subsurface before leachate injection lay within a small range of 24.8–43.0 S/cm. The electrical conductivity values in detected points were approximately ten times more than the conductivity values of the subsurface without landfill leachate intrusion. The results in this study indicate that the grid-net electrical conductivity measurement method has a possible application for detecting locations of landfill leachate intrusion into the subsurface at the initial stage, and thus has great potential in monitoring leachate leakage at waste landfills.     

The impact of land use change on soil water holding capacity and river flow modelling in the Nakambe River, Burkina-Faso

The annual hydrological regime of the Nakambe River shows substantial changes during the period 1955–1998 with a shift occurring around 1970. From 1970 to the mid-1990s, despite a reduction in rainfall and an increase in the number of dams in the basin, average runoff and maximum daily discharges increased. This paper reviews the hydrological behaviour of the Nakambe River from 1955 to 1998 and examines the potential role of land use change on soil water holding capacity (WHC) in producing the counter-intuitive change in runoff observed after 1970. We compare the results of two monthly hydrological models using different rainfall, potential evapotranspiration and WHC data sets. Model simulations with soil WHC values modified over time based upon historical maps of land use, are compared against simulations with a constant value for WHC. The extent of natural vegetation declined from 43 to 13% of the total basin area between 1965 and 1995, whilst the cultivated areas increased from 53 to 76% and the area of bare soil nearly tripled from 4 to 11%. The total reduction in WHC is estimated to range from 33 to 62% depending on the method used, either considering that the WHC values given by the FAO stand for the environmental situation in 1965 or before. There is a marked improvement in river flow simulation using the time-varying values of soil WHC. The paper ends with a discussion of the role of other factors such as surface runoff processes and groundwater trends in explaining the hydrological behaviour of the Nakambe River.     

Shallow-marine sediment cores record climate variability and earthquake activity off Lisbon (Portugal) for the last 2000 years

Sea Surface Temperature (SST), river discharge and biological productivity have been reconstructed from a multi-proxy study of a high-temporal-resolution sedimentary sequence recovered from the Tagus deposition center off Lisbon (Portugal) for the last 2000 years. SST shows 2 °C variability on a century scale that allows the identification of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA).High Iron (Fe) and fine-sediment deposition accompanied by high n-alkane concentrations and presence of freshwater diatoms during the LIA (1300–1900 AD) (Science 292 (2001) 662) suggest augmented river discharge, whereas higher total-alkenone concentrations point to increased river-induced productivity. During the MWP (550–1300 AD) (Science 292 (2001) 662) larger mean-grain size and low values of magnetic susceptibility, and concentrations of Fe, n-alkanes, and n-alcohols are interpreted to reflect decreased runoff. At the same time, increased benthic and planktonic foraminifera abundances and presence of upwelling related diatoms point to increased oceanic productivity. On the basis of the excellent match found between the negative phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the intensified Tagus River discharge observed for the last century, it is hypothesized that the increased influx of terrigenous material during the LIA reflects a negative NAO-like state or the occurrence of frequent extreme NAO minima. During the milder few centuries of the MWP, stronger coastal upwelling conditions are attributed to a persistent, positive NAO-like state or the frequent occurrence of extreme NAO maxima.The peak in magnetic susceptibility, centered at 90 cm composite core depth (ccd), is interpreted as the result of the well-known 1755 AD Lisbon earthquake. The Lisbon earthquake and accompanying tsunami are estimated to have caused the loss of 39 cm of sediment (355 years of record—most of the LIA) and the instantaneous deposition of a 19-cm sediment bed.     

Stratospheric ozone variability near the IMF sector boundary

Summary We search for the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) sector boundary crossing (SBC) in upper stratospheric ozone. The SBUV data (Nimbus-7) at the 10, 3 and 1 hPa levels are analysed for latitudes 45° N and 55° N for winters of the period December 1979 to December 1982. An effect of the IMF SBC wos only found at the 10 hPa level. These first results concerning the IMF SBC effect in upper stratospheric ozone are rather preliminary.

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¶rt;m uu nu mau () nam aum n () a mam. SBUV ¶rt;a (u-7) a nm ¶rt;au 10, 3 u 1a aauum ¶rt; um 45° u 55° . . ua nu¶rt;a ¶rt;a 1979 – ¶rt;a 1982. m uu a¶rt; m a 10a. mu n mam n uuu a mam m n¶rt;aumu.

     

A multicriteria model for the location of solid waste transfer stations: The case of Ashdod,Israel

Solid waste transfer stations are designed in order to avoid the direct travelling of trucks from individual collection sites to refuse disposal sites. The location of such stations is problematic since they may have to be established within urban areas. There are five groups of locational consideration for transfer stations: Ecological, political, transportation, economic and spatial. The multicriteria evaluation model may be used for a comparative assessment of the many criteria involved. Each group of criteria and each specific criterion are ranked ordinally, and then proposed sites are rated according to each criterion. The final ranking summaries indicate the preferred location. The method was successfully applied to two stations in Ashdod, Israel.This paper is based on an unpublished MA thesis entitled Criteria for the location of solid waste transfer stations in Israel, by Y. Gil, supervised by A. Kellerman, Department of Geography, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 1987 (Hebrew)