The bedrock topography of the botany basin,New South Wales

The bedrock topography of the Botany Basin has been determined from seismic‐sparker records made in Botany Bay and Bate Bay, and from seismic‐refraction and gravity measurements on the Kurnell Peninsula. Supplementary information has been obtained from boreholes both on land and in the sea.

The Cooks and Georges Rivers formerly constituted the main drainage of the Basin and flowed generally southeastwards (beneath the present Kurnell Peninsula) and joined the Port Hacking River east of Cronulla. The depth of the bedrock channel of the former Georges River is 75–80 m b.s.l. at Taren Point, 90–95 m beneath the Kurnell Peninsula and 110–115 m at its junction with the Port Hacking River channel. The bedrock channel of the former Cooks River is about 30 m b.s.l. at Kyeemagh, its present entrance to Botany Bay, and it joined the Georges River at a location now 90 m b.s.l. beneath the Kurnell Peninsula.

A second drainage system existed in the north and east of Botany Bay and generated the present mouth beneath which the bedrock is now 110 m b.s.l. This channel followed a southeasterly course parallel to the present northern shore of Botany Bay and was separated from that of the ‘Cooks and Georges Rivers’ by a bedrock ridge which extended from beneath Sydney Airport to the northern extremity of the Kurnell Peninsula. Over much of its length this divide had a depth of about 30 m b.s.l.

The formation of the Kurnell Peninsula tombolo led to the diversion of the ‘Cooks/Georges River’ through the mouth of Botany Bay and subsequently led to the development of the bay. This change in the drainage system occurred when the sea was less than 30 m below the present sea level.     

Performance analysis of the spaceborne laser ranging system

The Spaceborne Laser Ranging System is a proposed short pulse laser on board an orbiting spacecraft.^1,2,3,4 It measures the distance between the spacecraft and many laser retroreflectors (targets) deployed on the Earth’s surface. The precision of these range measurements is assumed to be about ±2 cm (M. W. Fitzmaurice, private communication). These measurements are then used together with the orbital dynamics of the spacecraft, to derive the relative position of the laser ground targets. Assuming a six day observing period with 50% cloud cover, uncertainties in the baseline for target separations of 50 km to 1200 km were estimated to be on the order of 1 to 3 cm and the corresponding values in the vertical direction, ranged from 1 cm to 12 cm. By redetermining the measurements of the relative target positions, the estimated precision in the baseline for a target separation of 50 km is less than 0.3 cm and for a separation of 1200 km is less than 1 cm. In the vertical direction, the estimated precision ranged from 0.4 cm to 4.0 cm respectively. As a result of the repeated estimation of the relative laser target positions, most of the non-temporal effects of error sources as exemplified by the errors in geopotential are reduced. The Spaceborne Laser Ranging System’s capability of determining baselines to a high degree of precision provides a measure of strain and strain rate as shown byCohen, 1979. These quantities are essential for crustal dynamic studies which include determination and monitoring of strain near seismic zones, land subsidence, and edifice building preceding volcanic eruptions. It is evident that such a system can also be used for geodetic surveys where such precisions are more than adquate.     

A soil chronosequence in Late Glacial and Neoglacial moraines, Humboldt Glacier, northwestern Venezuelan Andes

Late Glacial and Neoglacial (Little Ice Age) deposits on the Humboldt Massif were analyzed for relative-age dating parameters, including geomorphic and weathering characteristics, geochemical and soil properties. The soil chronosequence, formed in chemically uniform parent materials, provides an important database to study soil evolution in a tropical alpine environment. Extractable and total Fe and Al concentrations, examined to assess their use in relative-age determination, and as paleoenvironmental indicators, provide an important measure of the accumulation and downward profile movement over time of organically-bound Al, ferrihydrite and other crystalline forms (hematite and goethite) of extractable Fe. Ferrihydrite is particularly useful in determining former perched water levels in soils with relation to paleoclimate. The ratios of most Fe extracts are time dependent. The Fe_d/Fe_t ratio, within statistical limits, shows a slow increase from LIA (Little Ice Age) to Late Glacial soils, which closely correlates with other alpine soil studies in the middle latitudes and other tropical alpine locales. Values of Al_d (dithionite) and Al_o (oxalate extractable) generally do not correlate with time; however, Al_p (pyrophosphate extractable) measured against Al_t (total) provides insight on the downward translocation over time of organically-bound Al. Low leaching rates in this chronosequence are further supported by clay mineralogy trends and the geochemical data.     

An integrated approach to investigate saline water intrusion and to identify the salinity sources in the Central Godavari delta, Andhra Pradesh, India

The Central Godavari delta is located along the Bay of Bengal Coast, Andhra Pradesh, India, and is drained by Pikaleru, Kunavaram and Vasalatippa drains. There is no groundwater pumping for agriculture as wells as for domestic purpose due to the brackish nature of the groundwater at shallow depths. The groundwater table depths vary from 0.8 to 3.4 m and in the Ravva Onshore wells, 4.5 to 13.3 m. Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) surveys were carried out at several locations in the delta to delineate the aquifer geometry and to identify saline water aquifer zones. Groundwater samples collected and analyzed for major ions for assessing the saline water intrusion and to identify the salinity origin in the delta region. The results derived from ERT indicated low resistivity values in the area, which can be attributed to the existence of thick marine clays from ground surface to 12–15 m below ground level near the coast and high resistivity values are due to the presence of coarse sand with freshwater away from the coast. The resistivity values similar to saline water <0.01 Ω m is attributed to the mixing of the saline water along surface water drains. In the Ravva Onshore Terminal low resistivity values indicated up coning of saline water and mixing of saline water from Pikaleru drain. The SO ₄ ^?2 /Cl^?and Na⁺²/Cl^?ratios did not indicate saline water intrusion and the salinity is due to marine palaeosalinity, dilution of marine clays and dissolution of evaporites.     

Isotope composition of neodymium in neo-Archean banded iron formations of Karelia and Kola Peninsula

Studies of three deposits of neo-Archean banded iron formations from the West Karelian domain (the Kostomuksha deposit) and from the Central Kola block (the Olenegorsk and Kirovogorsk deposits) showed a pronounced difference in the isotope compositions of Nd from quartz and magnetite–hematite interlayers. The less radiogenic Nd of iron-containing layers compared to that of the quartz component may be considered as an indication of the formation mechanism of the treated banded iron formations. Thus, silicon-containing layers are related to submarine volcanism and iron was supplied to the sedimentation zone from other sources.     

Distribution of hydrological observation network on the rivers of Russia before and after the economic reforms depending on the degree of territorial development

Studied is the relationship between the density of hydrological stations (HS) of the main state observation network on the rivers and the population density commonly used as an indicator of the territory development. Given is the minimal required number of HSs of the main network computed using the objectively substantiated method. The territorial distribution of HS density depending on the population density is analyzed on the basis of the data of 1992 with the number of HSs of the total network that can be taken as minimal required for the main network. For the first time obtained are the regional relations of these characteristics for the time moment when the spatial distribution of HS density was close to the year 1987 to the countrywide highest HS density for the whole observation period. Established is the relationship between the HS density and density of population aggregates.