Duluth Complex FC1 Apatite and Zircon: Reference Materials for (U-Th)/He Dating?

The accuracy and validation of geo- and thermochronological dating hinges on the availability of well-characterised age reference materials. The Mesoproterozoic gabbroic anorthosite FC1 from the Duluth Complex, Minnesota is a reference material for zircon U-Pb and a suggested reference material for apatite fission-track dating. We evaluate FC1 as (U-Th)/He reference material, and determine its apatite U-Pb, and zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He age. Our dating results constrain the thermal history of FC1, showing that fast cooling occurred between ~ 1099 and 1040 Ma from ≥ 600 °C to ~ 200 °C. The zircon (U-Th)/He data from air-abraded grains give a robust isochron age of 1037 ± 25 Ma (2s) without overdispersion. The within-grain homogeneity of U and Th, the availability of FC1 zircon, and the absence of radiation-damage effects on the (U-Th)/He age support its use as reference material. Unabraded zircon grains give lower and more dispersed ages, highlighting the usefulness of air abrasion to control for α-ejection in (U-Th)/He dating. Our apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He single-grain ages vary between 180 and 300 Ma. Their wide dispersion argues against the use of FC1 apatite as (U-Th-Sm)/He reference material and makes the interpretation of their low-temperature thermal history complicated.     

Multitracer test approach to characterize reactive transport in karst aquifers

A method to estimate reactive transport parameters as well as geometric conduit parameters from a multitracer test in a karst aquifer is provided. For this purpose, a calibration strategy was developed applying the two-region nonequilibrium model CXTFIT. The ambiguity of the model calibration was reduced by first calibrating the model with respect to conservative tracer breakthrough and later transferring conservative transport parameters to the reactive model calibration. The reactive transport parameters were only allowed to be within a defined sensible range to get reasonable calibration values. This calibration strategy was applied to breakthrough curves obtained from a large-scale multitracer test, which was performed in a karst aquifer of the Swabian Alb, Germany. The multitracer test was conducted by the simultaneous injection of uranine, sulforhodamine G, and tinopal CBS-X. The model succeeds to represent the tracer breakthrough curves (TBCs) of uranine and sulforhodamine G and verifies that tracer-rock interactions preferably occur in the immobile fluid region, although the fraction of this region amounts to only 3.5% of the total water. However, the model failed to account for the long tailing observed in the TBC of tinopal CBS-X. Sensitivity analyses reveal that model results for the conservative tracer transport are most sensitive to average velocity and volume fraction of the mobile fluid region, while dispersion and mass transfer coefficients are least influential. Consequently, reactive tracer calibration allows the determination of sorption sites in the mobile and immobile fluid region at small retardation coefficients.     

Dynamical Evolution of High Velocity Clouds

HI observations of high-velocity clouds(HVCs) indicate that they are interacting with their ambientmedium. The question on the dynamical and thermal stabilization of a cold dense neutral cloud in a hot, thin, and magnetized ambient halo plasma is investigated by plasma-neutral gas simulations.The simulations show the formation of a comet-likehead-tail structurecombined with a magnetic barrier whichexerts a stabilizing pressure on the cloud and hindershot plasma from diffusing into the cloud.     

Identification and assessment of groundwater flow and storage components of the relict Schöneben Rock Glacier,Niedere Tauern Range,Eastern Alps (Austria)

More than 2,600 relict rock glaciers are known in the Austrian Alps but the knowledge of their hydraulic properties is severely limited. The relict Schöneben Rock Glacier (Niedere Tauern Range, Austria), with an extension of 0.17 km², was investigated based on spring data (2006–2014) and seismic refraction survey. Spring-discharge hydrographs and natural and artificial tracer data suggest a heterogeneous aquifer with a layered internal structure for the relict rock glacier. The discharge behavior exhibits a fast and a delayed flow component. The spring discharge responds to recharge events within a few hours but a mean residence time of several months can also be observed. The internal structure of the rock glacier (up to several tens of meters thick) consists of: an upper blocky layer with a few meters of thickness, which lacks fine-grained sediments; a main middle layer with coarse and finer-grained sediments, allowing for fast flow; and an approximately 10-m-thick basal till layer as the main aquifer body responsible for the base flow. The base-flow component is controlled by (fine) sandy to silty sediments with low hydraulic conductivity and high storage capacity, exhibiting a difference in hydraulic conductivity to the upper layer of about three orders of magnitude. The high storage capacity of relict rock glaciers has an impact on water resources management in alpine catchments and potentially regulates the risk of natural hazards such as floods and related debris flows. Thus, the results highlight the importance of such aquifer systems in alpine catchments.     

Joint inversion of groundwater flow,heat, and solute state variables: a multipurpose approach for characterization and forecast of karst systems

Characterization of karst systems and forecast of their state variables are essential for groundwater management and engineering in karst regions. These objectives can be met by the use of process-based discrete-continuum models (DCMs). However, results of DCMs may suffer from inversion nonuniqueness. It has been demonstrated that the joint inversion of observations regulated by different natural processes can tackle the nonuniqueness issue in groundwater modeling. However, this has not been tested for DCMs thus far. This research proposes a methodology for the joint inversion of hydro-thermo-chemo-graphs, applying to two small-scale sink-to-spring experiments at Freiheit Spring, Minnesota, USA. In order to address conceptual uncertainty, a multimodel approach was implemented, featuring seven mutually exclusive variants. Spring hydro-thermo-chemo-graphs, for all the variants simulated by MODFLOW-CFPv2, were jointly inverted using a weighted least squares algorithm. Subsequently, models were compared in terms of inversion and forecast performances, as well as parameter uncertainties. Results reveal the suitability of the DCM approach for simultaneous inversion and forecast of hydro-physico-chemical behavior of karst systems, even at a scale of meters and seconds. The estimated volume of the tracer conduit passage ranges from approximately 46–51 m³, which is comparable to the estimate from the flood-pulse method. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the thermograph and hydrograph contain more information about aquifer characteristics than the chemograph. However, this finding can be site-specific and should depend on the analysis scale, the considered conceptual models, and the hydrological state, which are potentially affected by minor unaccountable processes and features.

     

Localized magnetic reconnection as a cause of extraplanar diffuse ionized gas in the Galactic halo

Many observations indicate the occurrence of ionized gas in the distant haloes of galaxies (including our own). Since photoionization by stars (mainly O stars, young stars or evolved low-mass stars depending on the kind of galaxy) does not seem to be exclusively responsible for the ionization of the hydrogen filaments that should otherwise cool fast and recombine quickly, the question arises which extra energy source can produce the quasi-stationary ionization. We show that stationary localized magnetic reconnection in current filaments may contribute to the ionization of the extraplanar halo gas. In these filaments magnetic energy is dissipated. Consequently, the ionized as well as the neutral component is heated and re-ionized on a time-scale significantly shorter than the recombination time-scale. The amount of energy required for efficient re-ionization can in principle easily be provided by the free magnetic energy. We present quasi-static models that are characterized by plasma temperatures and densities that agree well with the observed values for the diffuse ionized gas component of the interstellar medium. Plasma–neutral gas fluid simulations are made to show that the recombination-induced dynamical reconnection process indeed works in a self-regulatory way.     

Self-Generation of Magnetic Fields in Weakly Ionized Astrophysical Plasmas

In weakly ionized astrophysical plasmas, shear flow induced plasma - neutral gas friction yields self-generated magnetic fields of seed-field order. This process is of cosmological importance and relevant for protogalactic systems like Lyα-clouds. In our contribution we illustrate this mechanism by the help of 3-dimensional 2-fluid simulations of primordial rotating gas clumps in Lyα-clouds showing that plasma - neutral gas interactions cause large scale magnetic fields of the order of 10⁻¹⁵G on time scales of the order of 10⁶yrs. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Modifications to the Conduit Flow Process Mode 2 for MODFLOW-2005

As a result of rock dissolution processes, karst aquifers exhibit highly conductive features such as caves and conduits. Within these structures, groundwater flow can become turbulent and therefore be described by nonlinear gradient functions. Some numerical groundwater flow models explicitly account for pipe hydraulics by coupling the continuum model with a pipe network that represents the conduit system. In contrast, the Conduit Flow Process Mode 2 (CFPM2) for MODFLOW-2005 approximates turbulent flow by reducing the hydraulic conductivity within the existing linear head gradient of the MODFLOW continuum model. This approach reduces the practical as well as numerical efforts for simulating turbulence. The original formulation was for large pore aquifers where the onset of turbulence is at low Reynolds numbers (1 to 100) and not for conduits or pipes. In addition, the existing code requires multiple time steps for convergence due to iterative adjustment of the hydraulic conductivity. Modifications to the existing CFPM2 were made by implementing a generalized power function with a user-defined exponent. This allows for matching turbulence in porous media or pipes and eliminates the time steps required for iterative adjustment of hydraulic conductivity. The modified CFPM2 successfully replicated simple benchmark test problems.     

The X-Ray Emission of the Centaurus A Jet

The extended nonthermal X-ray emission of extragalactic jets like Centaurus A can only be explained by in situ particle acceleration. The only energy source in the entire jet region is the magnetic field. Magnetic reconnection can convert the free energy stored in the helical configuration to particle kinetic energy. In the collisionless magnetized jet plasma, the inertia-driven reconnection is operating in a highly filamentary magnetic flux rope, and this results in a continuously charged particle acceleration. The synchrotron radiation of these particles can cause the observed X-ray emission in Centaurus A.