High latitude river runoff in a doubled CO2 climate

A global atmospheric model is used to calculate the monthly river flow for nine of the world's major high latitude rivers for the present climate and for a doubled CO₂ climate. The model has a horizontal resolution of 4° × 5°, but the model's runoff from each grid box is quartered and added to the appropriate river drainage basin on a 2° × 2.5° resolution. A routing scheme is used to move runoff from a grid box to its neighboring downstream grid box and ultimately to the mouth of the river. In a model simulation in which atmospheric carbon dioxide is doubled, mean annual precipitation and river flow increase for all of these rivers, increased outflow at the river mouths begins earlier in the spring, and the maximum outflow occurs approximately one month sooner due to an earlier snow melt season. In the doubled CO₂ climate, snow mass decreases for the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers in North America and for rivers in northwestern Asia, but snow mass increases for rivers in northeastern Asia.     

Radiocarbon and δ13C Values Related to Ground-Water Recharge and Mixing

Ground-water levels in the Upper Floridan aquifer beneath the southeastern coast of South Carolina have undergone pumpage-induced declines approaching 20 ft below sea level at the southern end of Hilton Head Island. This scenario suggests the potential exists for the inducement of recharge to the Upper Floridan aquifer across the island, which could affect the quality of water being pumped by wells. However, low radiocarbon concentrations in ground-water samples (0.5 to 1.4 ± 0.1 PMC) indicate that most of the water is relict ground water reflecting prepumpage ground-water flow conditions in the Upper Floridan aquifer. The isotopic data indicate long residence times and water-chemistry evolution more characteristic of ground-water recharge occurring farther inland prior to the commencement of pumpage in the late 1800s. Radiocarbon concentrations (as Percent Modern Carbon) and stable carbon isotope ratios (as δ¹³C in dissolved inorganic carbon) determined during this study and reported in other studies on and around Hilton Head Island varied in a systematic manner. Heavier δ¹³C values (–2.8 to –1.6 per mil) in ground water beneath southern Hilton Head Island reflect ground-water discharge from prepumpage flowpaths originating over 100 miles away, hence a depletion in radiocarbon concentration with corrected ground-water ages no younger than 16,000 yrs BP. In contrast, lighter δ¹³C values (–13.9 to –8.67 per mil) beneath the northern part of the island indicate recent recharge as a result of water-level declines, and recharge in areas off the island that have not changed as a result of pumpage (evidenced by enrichment in radiocarbon with corrected ground-water ages no older than 4,000 yrs BP). This suggests that the δ¹³C composition of ground water in the Upper Floridan aquifer is a useful indicator of mixing between ground waters from different sources, and can be used to delineate recharge-discharge patterns. This approach may be applicable to other aquifers of highly evolved ground-water chemistry in regional carbonate aquifer systems that may be receiving recent recharge. Moreover, this approach could prove useful in delineating the contribution of recent water being captured by pumped wells as part of wellhead protection programs designed to assess aquifer vulnerability from surficial contaminant sources.     

A Sophisticated Ground Water Analytical Tool

Stiff diagrams arc a multivariate method of analysis used to describe the chemical state of ground water. The use of Stiff diagrams to describe multiconstituent contamination sites, such as landfills, has distinct advantages over single constituent analyses. Problems associated with traditional Stiff diagram analyses, such as diagram attentuation, can be addressed by allowing the scale of the diagram to vary with the ionic strength of the analyzed sample. The use of these sliding scale Stiff diagrams reveals the chemical slate of the ground water over wide ranges of constituent concentrations and thus allows for sensitive and sophisticated depictions of complicated contamination sites in a fashion that is extremely difficult to replicate with single constituent analyses. This approach has possible applications for understanding and tracing the mixing and chemical changes in uncontaminated settings.     

The Application of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Fingerprint Characterization in Site Investigation and Remediation

Tremendous resources have been and continue to be spent investigating and remediating petroleum hydrocarbon compounds (PHCs) in soil and ground water. Investigating and planning a remedial strategy for sites affected by PHCs is often a challenging task because of the complex chemical nature of the PHCs. the complex regulatory environment related to PHC cleanup, and the use of analytical methods that provide quantitation but not identification of PHCs. From a technical standpoint, the PHC impacting soil and/or ground water is frequently inadequately characterised, both in identification as well as in is general properties (solubility, toxicity). From a regulatory standpoint, promulgated or recommended total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) cleanup levels generally relate to assumed properties of specific unweathered products and are inconsistent among different agencies and regions. This produces a prime situation for unwillingly spending more resources on investigation or remediation than may be necessary, especially when the PHC in the subsurface has different properties from unweathered products such as gasoline or diesel.
Accurately identifying the PHC and its nature, a process known as fingerprint characterization, is critical to the determination of appropriate regulatory goals and design of cost-effective remedial approaches. This paper presents several case studies in which fingerprint characterization made a significant difference in the project outcome. In each instance the nature of the organic material was better understood, the regulatory cleanup levels were negotiated based on the nature of the material, and a remedial approach was implemented that differed significantly from and was generally less costly than what would have been required without fingerprint characterization data.     

Roof-rock contamination of magma along the top of the reservoir for the Bishop Tuff

The Bishop Tuff, a well known Quaternary high-silica rhyolite in east-central California, is widely considered the type example of a vertically and monotonically zoned pyroclastic deposit that represents zoning in the source magma reservoir, inverted during the process of pyroclastic emplacement. However, the deposit of plinian pumice, which forms the base of the Bishop Tuff and represents the initial 10% or so of all magma erupted during the event that produced the Bishop Tuff, contains features at odds with monotonie zoning for the reservoir. Relative to overlying ignimbrite, the plinian deposit contains a reversal in trace-element zoning. Moreover, the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr is significantly higher than that in overlying ignimbrite (about 0.7084 vs 0.7064), and melt inclusions trapped in quartz phenocrysts exhibit notable variability of trace-element concentrations, even within a single host crystal (e.g., U: 10.77 to 8.91 ppm).These data have been previously interpreted as due to processes of chemical fractionation and evolution operating within a magma system closed to chemical interactions with its roof rocks. For example, the reversal in trace-element zoning has been explained by the first-erupted magma being erupted from somewhat below the top of a monotonically zoned reservoir. However, we submit that the reversed zoning and other above-noted features can be explained equally well as consequences of minor assimilation of roof rocks into a magma reservoir that was erupted from the top down.The basal part of the Bishop Tuff exhibits extreme concentrations and depletions of trace elements, relative to the average composition of crustal rocks. For example, the upward decrease of Sr in the Bishop magma reservoir (downward decrease in the ignimbrite) results in concentrations as low as 2–4 ppm. Because of the attendant ‘chemical leverage’, assimilation of < 1 wt.% of Sierra Nevada batholith rocks typical of the area could readily reverse an ‘uncontaminated’ Sr (and other trace elements) trend of zoning and could also substantially raise ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. Small-scale trace-element variability in the uppermost part of the Bishop magma reservoir, as recorded by the above-mentioned melt inclusions, may simply reflect melt heterogeneity produced by the process of assimilation.     

Interceptor Trenches for Positive Ground Water Control

Interceptor trenches are an effective ground water control method at waste management sites. Trenches may be installed without disturbing the wastes, and the withdrawal of ground water recovers contaminants that have left the waste management perimeter. The rapid and steep depression of the piezometric surface on both sides of the trench is positive proof of a barrier to horizontal flow across the trench in the affected permeable units.
Historically, the construction of interceptor trenches has been very difficult. A new and efficient installation method has been developed and successfully utilized for several applications at a petrochemical facility on the Texas coastal plain. Rapid and cost-effective installation is made possible by innovations in sump and trench construction and the tie-in between the two.
The sump is constructed first using standard well construction techniques to drill a 96-inch diameter hole to contain the 42-inch diameter polyethylene pipe sump. A European designed and fabricated trenching machine then excavates the trench, inserts the drainage pipe and backfills with sand and/or gravel in one operation. A specially designed perforated pipe entry door built into the side of the sump barrel provides for efficient and safe connection of the drainage pipe to the specially designed collection sump. The effectiveness of interceptor trenches has been confirmed in full scale applications through the reversal of flow gradients and the prevention of continued horizontal migration of ground water contaminants.     

Stable isotope compositions and water contents of boninite series volcanic rocks from Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands, Japan

Measurements of stable isotope compositions and water contents of boninite series volcanic rocks from the island of Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands, Japan, confirm that a large amount (1.6–2.4 wt.%) of primary water was present in these unusual magmas. An enrichment of 0.6‰ in¹⁸O during differentiation is explained by crystallization of¹⁸O-depleted mafic phases. Silicic glasses have elevated δ¹⁸O values and relatively low δD values indicating that they were modified by low-temperature alteration and hydration processes. Mafic glasses, on the other hand, have for the most part retained their primary isotopic signatures since Eocene time. Primary δD values of −53 for boninite glasses are higher than those of MORB and suggest that the water was derived from subducted oceanic lithosphere.     

The Brown Leucitic Tuff of Roccamonfina Volcano (Roman Region,Italy)

The Brown Leucitic Tuff (BLT) is a poorly to strongly lithified compositionally zoned pyroclastic-flow deposit with a minimum volume of 3 to 5 km³. It erupted from Roccamonfina Volcano about 385000 years ago, after formation of the summit caldera. Individual flow units are grouped into three facies (white, brown, and orange) which primarily differ in pumice color, lithic content, and matrix cementation. Pumices from the BLT range from phonolitic leucite-tephrites to leucite-trachytes (7.0 to 2.2 wt% CaO), covering over half of the total spectrum of High-K Series magmas known from Roman Region volcanoes. White-facies units dominate in lower stratigraphic levels and their pumices have the lowest CaO contents, indicating a general trend toward more basic compositions as the eruption evolved. At higher stratigraphic levels, however, orange- and brown-facies units are interbedded with other whitefacies units, indicating reversals in the dominant compositional progression.BLT pumices have crystal contents of 9.9 to 0.6 vol%, with green salite>plagioclase>sanidine>biotite>titanomagnetite>analcime (after leucite)>apatite>pyrrhotite. In most samples, plagioclase (An_85–95) and sanidine (Or_75–90) have much lower Na₂O contents than usually found in coexisting feldspars, yet these are interpreted as equilibrium pairs. Primary leucite has been almost completely replaced by analcime. All samples also contain xenocrysts of colorless diopside and forsteritic olivine (Fo_83–92). Recurrent alternations from colorless diopside to green salite are present in single clinopyroxene crystals and appear to reflect a complex history of magma mixing.Whole-rock BLT pumice compositions conform closely to High-K Series lavas from Roccamonfina for all elements except Na₂O and K₂O. The former is relatively enriched and the latter relatively depleted in mafic BLT pumices with >5.6% CaO; these differences reflect strong analcimization of abundant groundmass leucite crystals in these pumices. Otherwise, major and trace element data support fractionation of observed minerals in generating the compositional diversity among BLT pumices. Mineral assemblages and compositions of cumulate monzonite and syenite nodules carried to the surface during the BLT eruption correspond closely to the fractionated phases predicted by least-squares modeling.     

Formation of shoshonites from calcalkaline basalt magmas: geochemical and experimental constraints from the type locality

Independence volcano, Montana is a major center of the Absaroka volcanic field, from which absarokite, shoshonite, and banakite were originally defined. One magmatic trend at Independence volcano, from high-alumina tholeiitic basalt through shoshonite to high-K dacite, may be modeled by fractional crystallization of observed phenocryst phases (plagioclase, hypersthene, augite, and magnetite). Trace-element and Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of rocks are consistent with this model.Compositions of partial melts from experiments on four rocks at 1 atm and at 10 kbar demonstrate that rock compositions represent a nearly-anhydrous liquid line of descent at a pressure much closer to 10 kbar than to 1 atm. The line of descent involves crystallization of orthopyroxene, not olivine, resulting in strong enrichment in K₂O with little increase in SiO₂. Crystallization at either lower pressures or with water present, involving olivine, results in enrichment in both SiO₂ and K₂O.High-pressure (10 kbar) fractional crystallization of basaltic magma, resulting in formation of shoshonites, may occur at the base of thick crust (e.g., in continental interiors or in very mature arcs). At least a portion of the relationship between K₂O content of arc-related magmas and depth to the Benioff Zone may be attributed to thickening of crust towards the back-arc, resulting in higher pressures of fractionation in Moho-level chambers.     

Small scale turbulent diffusion determined with underwater flow visualization

Dye plumes were generated at three depths in the seasonal thermocline between 7 and 11 m, 22 km south of Key West on 21 August 1980 and photographed at about 10 second intervals with an underwater camera system. Eleven pairs of consecutive pictures are analyzed to determine the mean current vertical shear and the width of the plumes by positioning reference points relative to the rod attached to the camera system. The relative distances of reference points are calibrated with the stereophotogrammetric method for one pair. The eddy diffusivity is calculated by use of a model of turbulent diffusion developed byTaylor (1921). Its values range from 5 to 25 cm²s^–1 for the plume widths ranging from 33 to 132 cm. The Richardson number is calculated for each pair of pictures with the vertical density gradient estimated from temperature profiles. Its values are higher than the critical value of 0.25 except for one case. The diffusivity was higher by orders of magnitude than the molecular one and indicates the presence of turbulence together with billow like features of the plumes in spite of high Richardson numbers. This suggests that the billow turbulence might be caused by effects of surface gravity waves and not by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.