Case Histories of Shallow Time Domain Electromagnetics in Environmental Site Assessment

Time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) soundings were utilized in site assessment studies for the purpose of accomplishing two objectives: (1) measuring the migration of brines from oil and gas field evaporation pits, and (2) mapping the continuity of clay strata. Both case histories are representative of common objectives in site assessment. The data for both examples were analyzed by one-dimensional ridge regression inversions.
Both case histories illustrate that TDEM is an effective method for determining the lateral and vertical resistivity distribution (geoelectric section) of the subsurface in the depth range from about 5 m to 100 m, and it is known from other investigations that depths of investigations up to 2500 m can be achieved with TDEM.
Frequently, the lateral extent of contaminant plumes emanating from localized sources are of limited areal extent. The case history involving the use of TDEM to map a brine plume shows that a TDEM measurement has a relatively small zone of influence, so that meaningful information about the lateral and vertical extent of the plume can be obtained. Both case histories demonstrate the ability of TDEM to determine geoelectric sections below layers of low resistivity.     

Embryo dune development drivers: beach morphology,growing season precipitation,and storms

For development of embryo dunes on the highly dynamic land–sea boundary, summer growth and the absence of winter erosion are essential. Other than that, however, we know little about the specific conditions that favour embryo dune development. This study explores the boundary conditions for early dune development to enable better predictions of natural dune expansion. Using a 30 year time series of aerial photographs of 33 sites along the Dutch coast, we assessed the influence of beach morphology (beach width and tidal range), meteorological conditions (storm characteristics, wind speed, growing season precipitation, and temperature), and sand nourishment on early dune development. We examined the presence and area of embryo dunes in relation to beach width and tidal range, and compared changes in embryo dune area to meteorological conditions and whether sand nourishment had been applied. We found that the presence and area of embryo dunes increased with increasing beach width. Over time, embryo dune area was negatively correlated with storm intensity and frequency. Embryo dune area was positively correlated with precipitation in the growing season and sand nourishment. Embryo dune area increased in periods of low storm frequency and in wet summers, and decreased in periods of high storm frequency or intensity. We conclude that beach morphology is highly influential in determining the potential for new dune development, and wide beaches enable development of larger embryo dune fields. Sand nourishment stimulates dune development by increasing beach width. Finally, weather conditions and non‐interrupted sequences of years without high‐intensity storms determine whether progressive dune development will take place. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Molluscan assemblages of seagrass-covered and bare intertidal flats on the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania, in relation to characteristics of sediment and organic matter

The Banc d'Arguin, a non-estuarine area of shallows and intertidal flats off the tropical Saharan coast of Mauritania, is characterised by extensive intertidal and subtidal seagrass beds. We examined the characteristics of intertidal seagrass (Zostera noltii) meadows and bare areas in terms of the presence and abundance of molluscs (gastropods and bivalves). To explain observed differences between molluscan assemblages in seagrass and bare patches, some aspects of the feeding habitat (top-5 mm of the sediment) and of food (organic materials) of molluscs were examined. The novelty of this study is that phytopigments were measured and identified to assess source and level of decay (freshness) of organic material in the sediment and to study their importance as an explanatory variable for the distribution of molluscs. Over an area of 36 km² of intertidal flats, at 12 sites, paired comparisons were made between seagrass-covered and nearby bare patches. Within seagrass meadows, dry mass of living seagrass was large and amounted to 180 ±10 g AFDM m^− 2 (range 75–240). Containing twice the amount of silt per unit dry sediment mass, seagrass sediments were muddier than bare areas; the relative amount of organic material was also larger. The total number of species of bivalves and gastropods amounted to 27, 14 of which were found only in seagrass areas, 4 only in bare and 9 in both types of habitat. Among the three numerically most abundant species, the bivalves Anadara senilis, Dosinia hepatica and Loripes lacteus, the first was numerically most abundant in bare and the other two in seagrass-covered areas. Bare intertidal areas had greater mean total biomass of molluscs (80.5 g AFDM m^− 2) than seagrass meadows (30.0 g AFDM m^− 2). In both habitats, the bulk of the biomass was made up by A. senilis. Excluding this species, bare mudflats contained on average only 3.1 g AFDM m^− 2 and seagrass meadows 6.9 g AFDM m^− 2. As compared to previous surveys in 1980–1986, the biomass of A. senilis had increased almost 10-fold and D. hepatica, previously found in very small numbers, had become the most numerous species. However, the total biomass excluding that of A. senilis was similar. Concentrations of phytopigments were similar to those observed at temperate mudflats, indicating that the Banc d'Arguin might not be as oligotrophic as previously thought. Per unit of dry sediment mass, smaller amounts of phytopigments were found in bare than in seagrass areas. Per unit of dry organic material, bare sediments contained most (fresh) phytopigments. This suggests that in seagrass-covered meadows the organic material is more degraded than in bare sediments. Overall, the composition of phytopigments, quite surprisingly, indicated a benthic-diatom-dominated trophic system. Multivariate statistics revealed that patterns of zoobenthic assemblages were correlated with patterns of a combination of four environmental parameters: grain size of the sediment, amount of fresh phytopigments and amounts of leaves and roots of seagrass.     

Effect of attachment configuration on the trapping efficiency of Vaseline-coated slide catchers for windblown particles

There are various types of the windblown sediment traps developed for wind tunnel and field studies. One of the main supports expected from these traps is in measuring surface dust concentrations to appropriately derive flux equations. The measurement performance and accuracy of a trap is very important and depends strictly upon the physical characteristics and the behaviors of dust grains with air flows. This paper presents the measurement results of static pressure distribution (SPD) of wind flow around Vaseline-coated slide (VCS) catchers with an aim of finding out whether or not particle trapping efficiency (η) of the VCS is related to the SPD. The SPD was evaluated by a wind reduction coefficient (R _c) in a series of wind tunnel experiments with different VCS settings which have different attachment configurations on a pole. Three VCS configurations were considered: a configuration on a circular plastic pole (CPP) and two configurations on wooden square poles (WSP₁ and WSP₂, respectively). Thus, the primary contribution of this work was to experimentally analyze the effect of the different attachment configurations on the SPD, and the secondary objective was to determine the effect of the SPD on the η. It was shown that spatial correlation and spatial pattern of the R _c were different in the surrounding area of each configuration, and ANOVA and DUNCAN tests indicated that η(s) of WSP₁, WSP₂, and CPP were different at the significant level of P ≤ 0.05 with the mean of 0.94 ± 0.09, 0.63 ± 0.14, and 1.13 ± 0.07, respectively. Additionally, the amount of PM₂₀, PM₄₀, PM₆₀, PM₈₀, and PM₁₀₀ trapped by the configurations of WSP₁, WSP₂, and CPP considerably varied depending upon the particular aerodynamic circumstances associated with every configuration.     

α-Emitting mineral inclusions in apatite, their effect on (U-Th)/He ages, and how to reduce it

U-Th rich mineral inclusions in apatite are often held responsible for erroneously old (U-Th)/He ages, because they produce “parentless” He. Three aspects associated with this problem are discussed here. First, simple dimensional considerations indicate that for small mineral inclusions, the parentless helium problem might not be as serious as generally thought. For example, a mineral inclusion that is 10% the length, width and height of its host apatite needs to be a thousand times more concentrated in U and Th to produce an equal amount of He. Therefore, single isolated inclusions smaller than a few μm are unlikely to contribute significant helium. For larger or more abundant inclusions, the parentless helium problem can be solved by dissolution of the apatite and its inclusions in hot HF. Second, besides creating parentless helium, inclusions also complicate α-ejection corrections. Mathematical exploration of this latter problem for spherical geometries reveals that for randomly distributed inclusions, the probability distribution of single-grain ages is predicted to have a sharp mode at the mean age, with tails towards younger and older ages. Multiple-grain measurements will yield accurate and precise age estimates if 10 or more randomly distributed α-emitting mineral inclusions are present in a sample. Third, thermal modeling indicates that mineral inclusions have a non-trivial but minor (<5 °C) effect on the closure temperature. These predictions were tested on apatites from rapidly cooled migmatites of Naxos (Greece) which contain abundant U-rich zircon inclusions. Thirty-seven samples were subjected to two kinds of treatment. The “pooled” age (i.e., the synthetic multi-grain age computed from a number of single-grain analyses) of four inclusion-free samples (13 apatites), prepared in HNO₃ is 10.9 Ma, close to apatite and zircon fission-track ages from the same rock. (U-Th)/He ages of 14 inclusion-bearing samples dissolved in HNO₃ range between 9 and 45 Ma, with a pooled age of 22.6 Ma. The ages of 19 HF-treated samples range between 5 and 16 Ma, with 10 of 14 single-grain samples between 9 and 13 Ma and a pooled age of 10.9 Ma. These observations agree with the theoretical predictions and support the addition of HF-treated apatite (U-Th)/He dating to the thermochronological toolbox.     

Saltwater Upconing Due to Cyclic Pumping by Horizontal Wells in Freshwater Lenses

This article deals with the quantification of saltwater upconing below horizontal wells in freshwater lenses using analytical solutions as a computationally fast alternative to numerical simulations. Comparisons between analytical calculations and numerical simulations are presented regarding three aspects: (1) cyclic pumping; (2) dispersion; and (3) finite horizontal wells in a finite domain (a freshwater lens). Various hydrogeological conditions and pumping regimes within a dry half year are considered. The results show that the influence of elastic and phreatic storage (which are not taken into account in the analytical solutions) on the upconing of the interface is minimal. Furthermore, the analytical calculations based on the interface approach compare well with numerical simulations as long as the dimensionless interface upconing is below 1/3, which is in line with previous studies on steady pumping. Superimposing an analytical solution for mixing by dispersion below the well over an analytical solution based on the interface approach is appropriate in case the vertical flow velocity around the interface is nearly constant but should not be used for estimating the salinity of the pumped groundwater. The analytical calculations of interface upconing below a finite horizontal well compare well with the numerical simulations in case the distance between the horizontal well and the initial interface does not vary significantly along the well and in case the natural fluctuation of the freshwater lens is small. In order to maintain a low level of salinity in the well during a dry half year, the dimensionless analytically calculated interface upconing should stay below 0.25.     

Clashing interpretations of REDD+ “results” in the Amazon Fund

Results-based funding (RBF) is a governance concept that is rapidly becoming the mainstream paradigm for international collaborations in the environmental sector. While portrayed as a compromise solution between market-based mechanisms and unconditional donations, the implementation of RBF is revealing new conflicts and contradictions of its own. This paper explores the application of RBF for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) by describing the discursive conflicts between recipient (i.e., Brazil) and donor (i.e., Norway and Germany) countries of the Amazon Fund about what constitutes “results” or “performance.” Although all parties agree that the financial transfers to RBF should be based on past emission reductions in relation to a historical baseline, they hold clashing interpretations about temporal (i.e., past or future) and epistemological (i.e., how to measure) aspects of the results these payments are intended for. Firstly, while Brazil emphasizes that it deserves a reward of USD 21 billion for results achieved between 2006 and 2016, donor countries have indicated an interest in paying only for most recent results as a way to incentivize further reductions. Secondly, while all parties believe that Amazon Fund should support policies to reduce deforestation, donor countries have revealed concerns that the performance of the Amazon Fund projects in generating further reductions has not been measured in a rigorous manner. This suggests that donor countries may consider making changes to current RBF mechanisms or getting involved in new forms of finance.     

Separating contributions from natural and anthropogenic sources in atmospheric methane from the Black Sea region,Romania

The Danube Delta-Black Sea region of Romania is an important wetland, and this preliminary study evaluates the significance of this region as a source of atmospheric CH₄. Measurements of the mixing ratio and δ¹³C in CH₄ are reported from air and water samples collected at eight sites in the Danube Delta. High mixing ratios of CH₄ were found in air (2500–14,000 ppb) and dissolved in water samples (∼1–10 μmol L⁻¹), demonstrating that the Danube Delta is an important natural source of CH₄. The intercepts on Keeling plots of about −62‰ show that the main source of CH₄ in this region is microbial, probably resulting primarily from acetate fermentation. Atmospheric CH₄ and CO data from the NOAA/ESRL (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Earth System Research Laboratory) were used to make a preliminary estimate of biogenic CH₄ at the Black Sea sampling site at Constanta (BSC). These data were used to calculate ratios of CH₄/CO in air samples, and using an assumed CH₄/CO anthropogenic emissions ratio of 0.6, fossil fuel emissions at BSC were estimated. Biogenic CH₄ emissions were then estimated by a simple mass balance approach. Keeling plots of well-mixed air from the BSC site suggested a stronger wetland source in summer and a stronger fossil fuel source in winter.