Groundwater protection in fractured media: a vulnerability-based approach for delineating protection zones in Switzerland

A vulnerability-based approach for delineating groundwater protection zones around springs in fractured media has been developed to implement Swiss water-protection regulations. It takes into consideration the diversity of hydrogeological conditions observed in fractured aquifers and provides individual solutions for each type of setting. A decision process allows for selecting one of three methods, depending on the spring vulnerability and the heterogeneity of the aquifer. At the first stage, an evaluation of spring vulnerability is required, which is essentially based on spring hydrographs and groundwater quality monitoring. In case of a low vulnerability of the spring, a simplified method using a fixed radius approach (“distance method”) is applied. For vulnerable springs, additional investigations must be completed during a second stage to better characterize the aquifer properties, especially in terms of heterogeneity. This second stage includes a detailed hydrogeological survey and tracer testing. If the aquifer is assessed as slightly heterogeneous, the delineation of protection zones is performed using a calculated radius approach based on tracer test results (“isochrone method”). If the heterogeneity is high, a groundwater vulnerability mapping method is applied (“DISCO method”), based on evaluating discontinuities, protective cover and runoff parameters. Each method is illustrated by a case study.     

Holocene hydrological cycle changes in the Southern Hemisphere documented in East Antarctic deuterium excess records

Four Holocene-long East Antarctic deuterium excess records are used to study past changes of the hydrological cycle in the Southern Hemisphere. We combine simple and complex isotopic models to quantify the relationships between Antarctic deuterium excess fluctuations and the sea surface temperature (SST) integrated over the moisture source areas for Antarctic snow. The common deuterium excess increasing trend during the first half of the Holocene is therefore interpreted in terms of a warming of the average ocean moisture source regions over this time. Available Southern Hemisphere SST records exhibit opposite trends at low latitudes (warming) and at high latitudes (cooling) during the Holocene. The agreement between the Antarctic deuterium excess and low-latitude SST trends supports the idea that the tropics dominate in providing moisture for Antarctic precipitation. The opposite trends in SSTs at low and high latitudes can potentially be explained by the decreasing obliquity during the Holocene inducing opposite trends in the local mean annual insolation between low and high latitudes. It also implies an increased latitudinal insolation gradient that in turn can maintain a stronger atmospheric circulation transporting more tropical moisture to Antarctica. This mechanism is supported by results from a mid-Holocene climate simulation performed using a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. Received: 7 July 1999 / Accepted: 21 July 2000     

Absolute Calibration of an Ashtech Z12-T GPS Receiver

Dual-frequency carrier phase and code measurements from geodetic type receivers are a promising tool for frequency and time transfer. In order to use them for clock comparisons, all instrumental delays should be calibrated. We have carried out the calibration of one such receiver, an Ashtech Z12-T type, by two different methods: first, by absolute calibration using a GPS simulator; second, by differential calibration with respect to a time transfer receiver that had previously been calibrated. We present the experimental set-ups and the results of the two experiments and estimate the uncertainty budget. An ultimate uncertainty of order 1 ns in the absolute calibration seems to be attainable. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Comments on the origin of dust in East Antarctica for present and ice age conditions

We have studied the distribution of 327 clay mineral particles retrieved from four Antaretic ice smaples corresponding to present and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate conditions. Illite, chlorite, smectite and kaolinite were identified in all samples. Focusing on kaolinite, because of its use as a possible tracer of low latitude soils, we find a significantly smaller amount for LGM samples while the dust concentration in snow during the LGM was about 30 times higher than for present climate conditions. This can be interpreted as change in the contribution of the Australian source with climate.A second approach was based on the modeling of the desert dust cycle using an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) under both present-day and ice age conditions. Unlike mineralogical results, the model suggests the prevalence of the Australian dust source in the deposits over East Antarctica under both present-day and LGM climate conditions. However the model fails to reproduce the strong increase in dust deposits during the LGM. This discrepancy could be partly due to the lack of a higher latitude dust source in the model.The stronger dust input recorded in ice cores for the LGM could be related to an additional active high latitude source (possibly close to South America) overlapping the atmospheric background coming from low latitude areas.     

Evaluation of grain shear stresses required to initiate movement of particles in natural rivers

Shear stresses were evaluated at different sites on two rivers. The first (the Rulles) is characterized by a pebbly bedload and a meandering bed with riffles and pools. The second (the Rouge Eau) has mainly a sandy rippled bed where meandering is well developed but also flat gravelly sectors without meandering system. Shear stresses calculated from friction velocities (τ*) using a redefined y₁ roughness height parameter were compared with total shear stresses calculated from the energy grade line and the hydraulic radius (τ), Divergence between these shear stresses seems to increase in the presence of bedforms and large-scale irregularities of the channel. The τ*/τ ratio is close to 0·5 in the gravelly sector of the Rouge Eau and reaches 0·65 in the riffles of the Rulles (generally located at the inflexion point of the meanders), while it is less than 0·3 in the pools of the same river (located in the loops) and only 0·2 in the sandy rippled sector of the Rouge Eau. Grain and bedform shear stresses were evaluated at these same sites by different methods. The grain shear stress (τ') represents on average 30 per cent of the total shear stress in the riffles of the Rulles and the gravelly sector of the Rouge Eau, but less than 15 per cent in the pools in the Rulles and the sandy sectors of the Rouge Eau. However, it emerges from experiments conducted with marked pebbles and in situ observations of erosion and transport of sandy and gravelly particles, that the grain shear stresses are underestimated and cannot explain the movements and modifications actually observed. Conversely, shear stresses calculated from friction velocities at the sites where erosion actually occurred (or failed to occur despite very high velocities) provide a better explanation of the observed movements.     

Study of two alteration systems as natural analogues for radionuclide release and migration

U-deposit hosted in hydrothermally altered tuffs in Mexico, together with weathering profiles from Cameroon were studied as natural analogues of radionuclide release and migration. Using petrological and spectroscopic methods (infrared and electron paramagnetic resonance), we have distinguished successive secondary mineral parageneses and the behaviour of radionuclides.

In the U-deposit, the mineral parageneses show that uranium migration is mainly controlled by the redox potential and silica activity of the altering solutions. The high silica content of the solutions is caused by the intense alteration of volcanic rocks. Two types of secondary clay mineral parageneses are evidenced: a kaolinization, intense where uranium is accumulated in the welded tuffs, and a smectitization mainly developed in the underlying weakly welded tuffs.

Several types of kaolinite have been defined according to their genesis (fillings in fissures and feldspar pseudomorphs), their location relative to a breccia pipe where uranium has accumulated (core and rim of the pipe; surrounding rhyolitic tuffs), and particle morphology, structural order and substitutional Fecontent. It is shown that the variations of the concentration of paramagnetic defect centres, always more than ten times as important than those measured in weathering kaolinites, are only correlated to the location of the kaolinites. The highest values correspond to the breccia pipe kaolinites, e.g. kaolinites located in the uranium accumulation zones. Moreover, one or two main defects centres are detected depending on the intimate association of kaolinites with uranium-bearing minerals. Besides, in weathering kaolinites from U-depleted laterites, defect centre concentrations are correlated to the total Fe203 content in bulk samples. This means that the defect centre acts as a memory of the travel of uranium when this element was sorbed onto iron gels in the first stage of weathering.

It is concluded that paramagnetic defect centres in kaolinites might allow an efficient fingerprint of successive irradiations in the natural analogues under study and could be an useful tool to control radionuclides migration through kaolinite-containing clayey materials such as those used for waste repository.

A better understanding of radiation efficiency as well as accurate dose-ratekaolinite-containing clayey materials such as those used for waste reposit estimation are needed for a quantitative tracing of the migration ofA better understanding of radiation efficiency as well as accurate dose-ratekaolin radionuclide elements. With this aim, a simulation has been undertaken withestimation are needed for a quantitative tracing of the migration of various radiations sources. We have determined for each irradiation the parameters of the paramagnetic centres created in order to understand the way they are forming. The knowledge of the parameters governing the formation and the stability of the radiation centres in kaolinites allow to use this mineral as a natural dosimeter.     

Al-O--Al paramagnetic defects in kaolinite

Trapped holes located on Al-O-Al bonds in kaolinite were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) at 9.3 and 35 GHz applied to well-crystallized, X-ray irradiated and oriented samples. The Q-band EPR spectrum is characterized by three clearly separated groups of 11 quasi-equidistant superhyperfine lines centered at g_xx=2.040±0.0005, g_yy=2.020±0.0005 and g_zz=2.002±0.001. In each of these groups, the 11 superhyperfine lines exhibit intensities according to the ratios 12345654321. An angular dependence of the Q-band EPR spectrum with respect to the magnetic field is demonstrated by measurements on oriented films of kaolinite. An appropriate numerical treatment of the EPR spectra is described, which allowed extraction of the SuperHyperfine Structures (SHFS). X-and Q-band spectra have also been simulated. It is concluded from these experiments that only one type of center is present. This center, labelled the B-center in the literature, is very probably a hole trapped on oxygen (O^- center) atoms coupled to two octahedral aluminium.     

High-resolution characterization and integrated study of a reservoir formation: the danian carbonate platform in the Aquitaine Basin (France)

This paper provides an example of an integrated multi-scale study of a carbonate reservoir. The Danian Lower R2 carbonate reservoir is located in the South of the Aquitaine Basin (France) and represents a potential underground gas storage site for Gaz de France. The Danian Lower R2 reservoir was deposited as a prograding carbonate platform bordered by a reef barrier. The effects of sedimentary and diagenetic events on the reservoir properties, particularly dolomitization, were evaluated. In this study, the reservoir quality has been assessed by seismic analyses at the basin scale, by log-analysis at the reservoir scale, by petrographic methods and by petrophysical tools at the pore-core scale.Two dolomitization stages, separated by a compaction event with associated fracturing and stylolites, have been identified. These diagenetic events have significantly improved the Lower R2 carbonate reservoir properties. It is demonstrated that the reservoir quality is mainly controlled by the pore-geometry, which is determined by various diagenetic processes. The permeability values of the reservoir range over 4 orders of magnitude, from 0.1 to 5600 mD and the porosity values range between 2 and 42%. Reservoir unit 4 (a karstic dolomite) shows the best reservoir properties with average porosity values ranging between 11.1% and 19.3% and an average permeability ranging between 379 and 766 mD. Reservoir unit 2 (a fine-grained limestone) shows the worst reservoir properties. The cementation factors range from 1.68 to 2.48. The dolomitic crystal carbonate texture (mainly units 3 and 4) shows the highest value of the cementation factor (1.98–2.48) and formation factor (9.54–36.97), which is due to its high degree of cementation. The saturation exponents vary between 1.2 and 3.4. Using these experimental electrical parameters and the resistivity laterolog tool we predicted the water saturation in the various reservoir units. The permeability was predicted by combining the formation factor with the micro-geometric characteristic length. The best fit is obtained with the Katz and Thompson's model and for a constant of 1/171.     

Preparation and characterization of subcellular fractions suitable for studies of xenobiotic metabolism from leaf sheaths of a marine seagrass: Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus) Delile

The capacity of the mammalian liver microsomal P-450-dependent systems to metabolize a wide variety of endogenous and exogenous compounds is thought to reflect the presence of multiple forms of P-450 haemoproteins with broad and overlapping substrate specificity. In plants, the functions and specificity of cytochrome P-450 systems are less well known.This study was designed to prepare and characterize subcellular fractions from fresh sheaths (basal parts of leaves) of a mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus) Delile, the aim being the preparation of a microsomal fraction suitable for studying xenobiotic metabolism. The purity of the different fractions obtained by centrifugation, as well as the recovery of different organelles, was determined using enzyme markers (cytochrome c oxidase, alkaline phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphatase) and morphological examination by transmission electron microscopy. Some assays of enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism (cytochrome c reductase, laurate hydroxylase, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase and glutathione-S-transferase) were also performed on different fractions of the preparation. The subcellular distribution for drug metabolism and marker enzymes showed a loss of endoplasmic reticulum in the pellet obtained after the first centrifugation, but the microsomal fraction was relatively free of mitochondria and fragments of the plasma membrane.Some assays are still being performed to avoid the small loss of endoplasmic reticulum experienced with the first pellet. However, the microsomes prepared in this study from sheaths of Posidonia oceanica appear suitable for further investigation of xenobiotic metabolism.