Some aspects of head‐variance evaluation

We compare two methods of evaluating head covariance for two‐dimensional steady‐state flow in mildly heterogeneous bounded rectangular aquifers. The quasi‐analytical approach, widely used in stochastic subsurface hydrology, is based on the Green's function representation, and involves numerical four‐fold integration. We compare this approach with a numerical solution of the two‐dimensional boundary‐value problem for head covariance. We show that the finite differences integration of this problem is computationally less expensive than numerical four‐fold integration of slowly‐convergent infinite series. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The effects of crude oil and remediation burning on three clones of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora loisel.)

Burning has been employed as an oil spill remediation technique in coastal marshes, even though the combined and interactive effects of oil and burning on vegetation are poorly understood. Variation among clones of perennial marsh grasses in response to these perturbations is not known. We performed a greenhouse experiment designed to assess the effects of Venezuelan crude oil alone and of oil followed by burning on three clonal genets ofSpartina alterniflora. The fully-crossed 6-mo experiment involved five dosages of oil (0 l m⁻², 4 l m⁻², 8 l m⁻², 16 l m⁻², and 24 l m⁻²) and two burn treatments (burned or unburned) applied to ramets from three clones. All oil-only dosages reduced survival, but burning after oiling (oil + burn treatments) increased survival relative to oil-only groups in all except the highest two oil dosages. Higher oil-only treatments also reduced ramet densities and inhibited density increases over 6 mo. Burning after treatment with the 16 l m⁻² oil concentration allowed increased production of new ramets, but burning exacerbated the negative impacts on ramet density at the oil concentration of 24 l m⁻². At some intermediate oil dosages, burning remediated the negative effects of oil on aboveground biomass production and growth in height. There was a significant effect of oil-only treatments on numbers of flowering ramets produced, in which two clones responded with decreased flower production and one exhibited increased flowering. There was no main effect of oil + burn on flowering. There were significant among-clones differences in all response variables to one or both treatments. Our experiment demonstrates that burning of oiledS. alterniflora marshes may have little measurable effect at low levels of Venezuelan crude oil, can remediate the effects of oil at intermediate oil concentrations, but can increase the negative impacts at high concentrations of oil. These results indicate that oil spills have the potential to adversely affect genetic diversity inS. alterniflora populations by eliminating some sensitive clonal variants or changing the relative dominance of genets. These results suggest certain clones may be better suited for phytoremediation or restoration planting following oil spills.     

The use of proxy chemical records in Coral skeletons to ascertain past environmental conditions in Florida Bay

This paper will discuss the use of chemical proxies in coral skeletons to reconstruct the history of salinity (from the δ¹⁸O of the skeleton) and nutrients in the water (from the δ¹³C) in Florida Bay between 1824 and 1994. Monthly salinity and water temperature data collected since 1989 were used to establish a correlation between salinity, temperature, and the δ¹⁸O of the skeleton of the coralSolenastrea bournoni from Lignumvitae Basin in Florida Bay. This relationship explains over 50% of the variance in the δ¹⁸O of the skeleton. Assuming that interannual variations in the temperature of the water are small, we have applied this relationship to the δ¹⁸O measured in the coral skeleton collected from Lignumvitae Basin which has a record between 1824 and 1993. These data provide a revised estimate of salinity variation in Lignumvitae Basin for the period when historical records for salinity were not available, and show that the highest salinity events occurred in the past 30 yr. Using the relationships between the salinity in Lignumvitate Basin and other basins, obtained using a modern dataset, we are able to estimate ranges in salinity for other portions of Florida Bay. Skeletons of specimens of the coral speciesSiderastrea radians collected from other areas of Florida Bay show similar patterns in the δ¹⁸O over the past 10 yr, indicating that corals in most portions of Florida Bay are recording salinity variations in their skeletons and therefore support the idea that salinity variations in different portions of Florida Bay can be related. Fluorescence analysis of the coral from Lignumvitae Basin shows a large change in the magnitude of the 10-yr signal coincident with the construction of the railway, confirming that this event had a significant impact upon Florida Bay. The δ¹³C of the coral skeletons reveals a long-term history of the oxidation of organic material, fixation of carbon by photosynthesis (algal blooms), and the intrusion of marine water into the bay. Since the construction of the railway from Miami to Key West there has been a long-term decrease in the δ¹³C of the coral skeleton from Lignumvitae Basin, suggesting the increased oxidation of organic material in this area. This decrease in δ¹³C appears to have reached a minimum value around 1984 and has increased since this time in the western portions of Florida Bay. The increase may be related to the algal blooms prevalent in the area or alternatively could result from intrusion of more marine water. In the eastern areas, a small increase in the δ¹⁸C between 1984 and 1988 was followed by further decline suggesting more oxidation of organic material. We have also attempted to use the concentration of barium in the coral skeleton as a proxy indicator of the nutrient status in Florida Bay.     

The clustered nucleation and growth processes of garnet in regional metamorphic rocks from north-west Connecticut,USA

Serial sectioning and imaging with a flatbed scanner yielded the three-dimensional size and spatial distribution of garnet porphyroblasts in two garnet schists and one staurolite-bearing schist from the Everett Formation, north-west Connecticut. The dominant garnet-producing reaction in all samples was chlorite+quartz=garnet+H₂O. The appearance of staurolite, and additional garnet growth in the staurolite-bearing sample, was due to the reaction chloritoid=garnet+staurolite+chlorite. Statistical measures of garnet spatial distributions, using the pair correlation function (PCF), indicate that garnet crystals are weakly to strongly clustered at length scales between 2 and 10 mm. Such clustered nucleation may reflect minor bulk compositional variations. Covariance measures between garnet size and nearest-neighbour distance, using the mark covariance function (MCF), suggest a very weak correlation between crystal size and nearest-neighbour distance for length scales of 2 mm or less. These statistical data suggest that if diffusional gradients were present around growing garnet crystals, they did not influence nucleation and growth patterns at length scales greater than c. 2 mm. Compositional maps, through the garnet centres, show that the smaller crystals have lower Mn core compositions relative to larger crystals, consistent with progressive nucleation during pro-grade metamorphism. Radius-rate plots calculated from compositional X-ray maps show similar growth rates for garnet crystals of different size, consistent with an interface-controlled growth model for garnet. The presence of minor diffusional gradients around growing garnet cannot be entirely dismissed, but the lack of observable reaction rims, the clustered spatial distribution and the radius-rate data are most consistent with an interface-controlled garnet growth model.     

Influence of environments of coal deposition on phosphorous accumulation in a high latitude, northern Alaska, coal seam

Although phosphorus is a very important biogenic element, its concentration in coal is generally low. Phosphorus (P) concentrations typically range from 0.001% to 0.229% in raw coals of the contiguous 48 states [Glick, D.C., Davis, A., 1984. Variability in the inorganic content of United States coals—a multivariate statistical study of final report, Part 10 (DOE-30013-Flo) to the US Dept. of Energy under contract no. DE-AC22-80PC 30013, 404 pp.]. Some Alaskan coal seams contain horizons that are unusually high in phosphorus. The present paper focuses on a bituminous coal from northern Alaska, where 0.15 m subsections of this coal seam have shown high phosphorous in certain subsections. In order to investigate the lateral extent of such high phosphorous bands in coal, the authors obtained three drill cores up to 3 km apart from the coal seam. A detailed investigation of the cores was undertaken to determine the nature and mode of occurrence of phosphorous minerals. Maceral composition allowed interpretation of environments of coal deposition. Acid-extractable phosphorous analysis of the subsections identified the high phosphorous horizons. Electron microprobe analyses identified the phosphorous mineral as crandallite. Correlation of high phosphorous intervals with corresponding environments of deposition suggests that phosphorous precipitation is promoted by an oxidizing environment with a lowered water table during the peat stage. A study of thin sections from high phosphorous samples showed that crandallite is associated with structured vitrinite and as cell fillings in fusinite. The study confirms the potential for using high phosphorous horizons for the correlation of coal seams, as noted in previous work by the authors (Rao and Walsh, 1997). A high phosphorous horizon is found at 0.45 m above the bottom of the seam in all of the drill holes, indicating a uniformity of the coal forming environment and the availability of crandallite constituent elements over the entire 3 km. The uniformity of high phosphorous concentrations through the top 2 m of the three drill holes also shows a distinct correlation.     

Extrusion movements of a tunnel head reinforced by finite length bolts—a closed‐form solution using homogenization approach

An analytical model on the general behaviour of a tunnel head, reinforced by finite length bolts is proposed. This model is based on the homogenization method and spherical symmetry assumption. Despite its simplicity, and in consequence its limits of validity, it does allow a quick estimation of the key design parameters: frontal displacement, extension of decompressed zone, ground stresses and bolt tension, and constitutes thereby a very useful and handy tool for design engineers. In particular, the influence of the reinforcement length, as well as other important design parameters, are studied by the proposed model. The charts resulting from the parametric studies are directly applicable. Otherwise, the comparison to a 3D numerical model is also presented in this paper. The first results provide the validation of the analytical solution, at least in terms of average extrusion movements. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐term inversion of prestack seismic data using a weighted l2, 1 mixed norm

We present a new inversion method to estimate, from prestack seismic data, blocky P‐ and S‐wave velocity and density images and the associated sparse reflectivity levels. The method uses the three‐term Aki and Richards approximation to linearise the seismic inversion problem. To this end, we adopt a weighted mixed l_{2, 1}‐norm that promotes structured forms of sparsity, thus leading to blocky solutions in time. In addition, our algorithm incorporates a covariance or scale matrix to simultaneously constrain P‐ and S‐wave velocities and density. This a priori information is obtained by nearby well‐log data. We also include a term containing a low‐frequency background model. The l_{2, 1} mixed norm leads to a convex objective function that can be minimised using proximal algorithms. In particular, we use the fast iterative shrinkage‐thresholding algorithm. A key advantage of this algorithm is that it only requires matrix–vector multiplications and no direct matrix inversion. The latter makes our algorithm numerically stable, easy to apply, and economical in terms of computational cost. Tests on synthetic and field data show that the proposed method, contrarily to conventional l₂‐ or l₁‐norm regularised solutions, is able to provide consistent blocky and/or sparse estimators of P‐ and S‐wave velocities and density from a noisy and limited number of observations.     

Boundary frame contribution in coupled and uncoupled steel plate shear walls

The steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system is a robust option for earthquake resistance due to the strength, stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation that it provides. Although thin infill plates are efficient for resisting lateral loads, boundary frames that are proportioned based on capacity design requirements add significant structural weight that appears to be one of the factors limiting the use of the system in practice. An alternate configuration, the SPSW with coupling (SPSW‐WC), was explored recently as an option for increasing architectural flexibility while also improving overall system economy and seismic performance. The SPSW‐WC, which extensively employs flexural boundary frame contribution, has shown promise in analytical, numerical and experimental studies, but recent research on uncoupled SPSWs suggests that boundary frame contribution should not be considered for carrying seismic design shear. As a result, in the present study, boundary frame contribution in SPSWs was explored with detailed three‐dimensional finite element models, which were validated against large‐scale SPSW‐WC tests. Six‐story systems were considered, and the study matrix included single and double uncoupled SPSWs along with coupled SPSWs that had various degrees of coupling. Variations in design methodology were also explored. The modeling framework was employed to conduct static monotonic and cyclic pushover analyses and dynamic response history analysis. These analyses demonstrate the beneficial effect of coupling in SPSWs and illustrate the need to consider boundary frame contribution in design of coupled SPSWs. In addition, sharing design shear between the infill plate and the boundary frame is more generally shown to not be detrimental if this sharing is done in the design stage based on elastic analysis and the resulting boundary frame provides adequate secondary strength and stiffness following infill plate yielding. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wood and sediment storage and dynamics in river corridors

Large wood along rivers influences entrainment, transport, and storage of mineral sediment and particulate organic matter. We review how wood alters sediment dynamics and explore patterns among volumes of in‐stream wood, sediment storage, and residual pools for dispersed pieces of wood, logjams, and beaver dams. We hypothesized that: volume of sediment per unit area of channel stored in association with wood is inversely proportional to drainage area; the form of sediment storage changes downstream; sediment storage correlates with wood load; the residual volume of pools created in association with wood correlates inversely with drainage area; and volume of sediment stored behind beaver dams correlates with pond area. Lack of data from larger drainage areas limits tests of these hypotheses, but the analyses suggest that sediment volume correlates positively with drainage area and wood volume. The form of sediment storage in relation to wood appears to change downstream, with wedges of sediment upstream from jammed steps most prevalent in small, steep channels and more dispersed sediment storage in lower gradient channels. Pool volume correlates positively with wood volume and negatively with channel gradient. Sediment volume correlates well with beaver pond area. More abundant in‐stream wood and beaver populations present historically equated to greater sediment storage within river corridors and greater residual pool volume. One implication of these changes is that protecting and re‐introducing wood and beavers can be used to restore rivers. This review of the existing literature on wood and sediment dynamics highlights the lack of studies on larger rivers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.