THE COMPILATION OF A DTM AND A NEW SATELLITE IMAGE MAP FOR KING GEORGE ISLAND,ANTARCTICA

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Fault zone evolution and its controls on ore-grade distribution at the Jian Cha Ling gold deposit, western Qinling region, central China

The Jian Cha Ling gold deposit is sited in folded and faulted Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the uplifted Mian-Lue-Yang block, adjacent to the Mianlue suture zone within the West Qinling mineral province, along the northern margin of the South China craton. Early Mesozoic gold mineralization at Jian Cha Ling, which has a pre-mined resource of about 536,000 oz Au, is controlled by the so-called F ₁ ⁴⁵ fault. The fault is a generally steeply N-dipping, WNW-trending deformation zone that is the result of dislocation along bedding planes, early foliation and axial planar surfaces of regional folds. The fault zone marks the contact between serpentinized, lower greenschist-facies dunites, harzburgites and minor gabbroic units in the footwall, and a metasedimentary sequence in the hanging wall that is dominated by metadolomite, metalimestone and phyllitic schists. Brittle–ductile deformation, partitioning of strain along pre-existing zones of weakness, and the formation of intrashear zone lozenges contributed to the development of a complex fault zone geometry. Variations in both dip and strike of discrete dislocation surfaces related to oblique, sinistral–reverse movement along the F ₁ ⁴⁵ fault zone focussed auriferous hydrothermal fluids along three dominant structural orientations. Gold was preferentially deposited along shallowly NNE-dipping and shallowly to moderately NNW-dipping fault segments, and is also associated with shallowly WSW-dipping, dolomite-dominated vein sets. Disseminated, economic gold grades (>4 g/t Au) are restricted to the footwall ultramafic rocks to within about 5 to 10 m of the contact with the hanging wall. Gold is related to laminated, realgar- and orpiment- bearing sheeted veins and hydrothermal breccias, as well as slickolites and fault gouge. Gold-bearing vein sets are located within the relatively undeformed, ultramafic intrashear zone lozenges. Gold-related alteration is dominated by extremely fine-grained, arsenic-bearing sulphide minerals and dolomite, with additional white mica and clay minerals. The structural setting of the deposit, combined with published data on the geological evolution of the West Qinling mineral province, suggest that the Jian Cha Ling gold deposit developed in an uplifted basement block during the final phases of northward subduction and suturing of the South China craton with the South Qinling orogen along the Mianlue Suture Zone, during the changeover from a compressional to transpressional tectonic regime in Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic times.     

Scheme for development of monitoring networks for springs in Bavaria, Germany

The present groundwater monitoring network in Bavaria consists mostly of wells and only a small number of natural groundwater springs, all of which are analyzed for mainly the common physical and chemical constituents in groundwater. In order to develop a long-term groundwater management plan for all the groundwater resources of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Office for Water Management intends to establish a separate spring-monitoring network throughout the 11 groundwater provinces of the state. As a first step, significant physicochemical parameters that show considerable annual fluctuation (after monitoring 1–3 years) were determined at 21 springs or spring systems to create a basic data set to guide future monitoring. A selection procedure was developed around four parameters: (1) geological units, which includes the principal aquifers; (2) rate of spring discharge; (3) land utilization within a catchment; and (4) approximate size of the subterranean catchment. However, in the initial phase of the study, only the first three parameters were investigated. These parameters established a matrix for evaluating each groundwater region of Bavaria to aid in the selection of additional springs for the proposed monitoring network. Electronic Publication     

Pyrite-induced hydroxyl radical formation and its effect on nucleic acids

Background  

Pyrite, the most abundant metal sulphide on Earth, is known to spontaneously form hydrogen peroxide when exposed to water. In this study the hypothesis that pyrite-induced hydrogen peroxide is transformed to hydroxyl radicals is tested.     

Parallel 3-D Simulation of a Fault Gouge Using the Lattice Solid Model

Despite the insight gained from 2-D particle models, and given that the dynamics of crustal faults occur in 3-D space, the question remains, how do the 3-D fault gouge dynamics differ from those in 2-D? Traditionally, 2-D modeling has been preferred over 3-D simulations because of the computational cost of solving 3-D problems. However, modern high performance computing architectures, combined with a parallel implementation of the Lattice Solid Model (LSM), provide the opportunity to explore 3-D fault micro-mechanics and to advance understanding of effective constitutive relations of fault gouge layers. In this paper, macroscopic friction values from 2-D and 3-D LSM simulations, performed on an SGI Altix 3700 super-cluster, are compared. Two rectangular elastic blocks of bonded particles, with a rough fault plane and separated by a region of randomly sized non-bonded gouge particles, are sheared in opposite directions by normally-loaded driving plates. The results demonstrate that the gouge particles in the 3-D models undergo significant out-of-plane motion during shear. The 3-D models also exhibit a higher mean macroscopic friction than the 2-D models for varying values of interparticle friction. 2-D LSM gouge models have previously been shown to exhibit accelerating energy release in simulated earthquake cycles, supporting the Critical Point hypothesis. The 3-D models are shown to also display accelerating energy release, and good fits of power law time-to-failure functions to the cumulative energy release are obtained.     

An ostracod-conductivity transfer function for Tibetan lakes

About 145 freshwater to hypersaline lakes of the eastern Tibetan Plateau were investigated to develop a transfer function for quantitative palaeoenvironmental reconstructions using ostracods. A total of 100 lakes provided sufficient numbers of ostracod shells. Multivariate statistical techniques were used to analyse the influence of a number of environmental variables on the distributions of surface sediment ostracod assemblages. Of 23 variables determined for each site, 19 were included in the statistical analysis. Lake water electrical conductivity (8.2%), Ca% (7.6%) and Fe% (4.8%, ion concentrations as % of the cations) explained the greatest amounts of variation in the distribution of ostracod taxa among the 100 lakes. Electrical conductivity optima and tolerances were calculated for abundant taxa. A transfer function, based on weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WA-PLS), was developed for electrical conductivity (r ² = 0.71, root-mean-square-error of prediction [RMSEP] = 0.35 [12.4% of gradient length], maximum bias = 0.64 [22.4% of gradient length], as assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation) based on 96 lakes. Our results show that ostracods provide reliable estimates of electrical conductivity and can be used for quantitative palaeoenvironmental reconstructions similarly to more commonly used diatom, chironomid or pollen data.     

Measuring whether municipal climate networks make a difference: the case of utility-scale solar PV investment in large global cities

With cities being responsible for up to 70% of energy-related carbon emissions, municipal governments worldwide are becoming increasingly aware of their responsibility to act. Many large cities have committed to mitigation by becoming member of a municipal climate network, such as the C40 or the Compact of Mayors. However, there is no consistent assessment of whether membership of such networks translates into measurable outcomes. To fill this gap, we propose the use of novel outcome variables, combining financial data with geospatial information. As a starting point, this paper compares utility-scale investment in photovoltaics (PV) within the administrative boundaries of large global cities, combining the Bloomberg New Energy Finance database with information from Google Maps. We analyse 512 global cities with a population of above 1 million, and consider the impact of 5 networks and 2 reporting platforms. The results suggest that membership of the C40 network has a positive effect on utility-scale solar PV investment, while no such evidence is found for any of the other networks or reporting platforms under study. Based on our findings, we recommend that municipal climate networks increase their efforts to trigger city regulation that is conducive to solar PV investment. More generally, measuring early indicators, such as low-carbon investment, can help municipal climate networks in their role as ‘commitment brokers’ for climate action on the ever-more important city level.

Key policy insights

• Cities have considerable policy space to foster utility-scale solar PV investment within their administrative boundaries.

• While some large global cities exhibited significant growth in utility-scale solar PV, many others with good solar potential did not have a single project by the end of 2016.

• Outside of China (where city boundaries often include rural areas), Tokyo tops the list with utility-scale solar PV projects by far, followed by San Diego and Rome.

• Membership of the C40 network appears to make a positive difference to PV investment, unlike other networks or reporting platforms.

• Outcome measures like low-carbon investment can be used more generally to assess the climate action performance of cities.

     

A Meta‐Analysis on the Return on Investment of Geospatial Data and Systems: A Multi‐Country Perspective

The availability, quality and accessibility of Geographic Information (GI) have significant socio‐economic and environmental benefits, but the collection and maintenance of GI require substantial investments. Cost‐benefit assessments (CBAs) attempt to justify the costs of geospatial data investments, applying different methodologies and focusing on diverse areas. Therefore, the Returns on Investment (ROI) vary considerably across studies, regions and sectors. The objective of this study is to explain some of the variation in the average ROI of GI by conducting a meta‐analysis of 82 cost‐benefit assessments between 1994 and 2013. In a first step, CBAs are systematically reviewed and relevant information is extracted. Particular emphasis is given to investment conditions and study characteristics. In a second step, multivariate regression methods are used to assess the size, significance and direction of individual effects. The results suggest that regional factors have the largest impact on the profitability of GI. Returns in Australia and New Zealand, for example, are four times larger than in Europe. In addition, small‐scale regional investments have a 2.5 times lower return than large‐scale international investments. Overall, the expected benefits of GI investments are approximately 3.2 times larger than the costs.