Enhanced pumping test using physicochemical tracers to determine surface-water/groundwater interactions in an alluvial island aquifer,river Rhône,France

Groundwater extracted from the Barthelasse Island aquifer, surrounded by the river Rhône (southeastern France), contributes to the drinking water supplies of 180,000 inhabitants. Owing to its location close to the river and the presence of two backwaters (oxbow lakes), the pumped groundwater is highly vulnerable to river pollution. A pumping test was conducted over 24 h to analyse and quantify the water exchange processes between the river, backwaters and groundwater. During the pumping test, isotopic (δ¹⁸O, δ²H and ²²²Rn), hydrochemical and hydrophysical monitoring of the groundwater was undertaken. Hydraulic heads were measured in pumping wells and at a piezometer located between the wells. Discrete water samples were collected at several observation points in the field, including the backwater and river. The results show mixing between three end-members, as defined by the deuterium excess and silica concentration, led by river Rhône water which had been affected by water–rock interactions over time and mixing with surface evaporated waters. The pumped water resulted from mixing between three end-members, all of which depended on the river Rhône but differed in terms of residence time in the system. Although the groundwater pumping wells are close to each other (<70 m) and have similar depths, the changes in the contributions from end-member waters at each well were different during the pumping test. Comparing isotopic tracers and geochemistry made it possible to quantify the different hydrological compartments that contribute to the groundwater pumped from the boreholes, which is critical in constructing a conceptual flow model.

     

Optimized groundwater management applied to a large-yield (10 M m3/year) well field in France

Hydrogeology Journal - The strong impact of population increase and the effects of climate change on drinking-water resources mean that it is essential to optimize the management of groundwater....     

A LA-ICP-MS Comparison of Reference Materials Used in Cassiterite U-Pb Geochronology

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is used to compare the suitability of four cassiterite (SnO₂) materials (SPG, Yankee, AY-4 and Jian-1), and three matrix-mismatched reference materials (NIST SRM 612, NIST SRM 614 and 91500 zircon) for normalisation of U-Pb and Pb-Pb isotope ratios in cassiterite. The excess variance of ages determined by LA-ICP-MS is estimated to be ±0.33% for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb vs. ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb isochron ages and ± 1.8% and for U-Pb ages. Incorporation of this excess variance in cassiterite ages is necessary for realistic uncertainties. ²⁰⁷Pb-²⁰⁶Pb ages are advantageous for dating Precambrian cassiterite such as SPG compared with U-Pb ages as matrix effect on instrumental mass fractionation of Pb isotopes are generally considered to be minor. We note minor bias in ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb vs. ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb isochron ages (~ 0.6%) when using either the NIST SRM 614 or 91500 zircon reference materials and emphasise the requirement for uncertainty propagation of all sources of error and reference materials with comparable U and Pb mass fraction to the cassiterite. The ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb isotopic ratios from normalisation to matrix-mismatched reference materials show varied results, which emphasises the need to use matrix-matched reference materials for calculating U-Pb ages. When cross-calibrated against each other, LA-ICP-MS U-Pb ages of the ca. 1535 Ma SPG, ca. 245 Ma Yankee and ca. 155 Ma Jian-1 cassiterites are all consistent with their ID-TIMS values.     

An assessment of uncertainties in VS profiles obtained from microtremor observations in the phased 2018 COSMOS blind trials

Journal of Seismology - Site response is a critical consideration when assessing earthquake hazards. Site characterization is key to understanding site effects as influenced by seismic site...     

Partial Melting Experiments of Peridotite + CO2 at 3 GPa and Genesis of Alkalic Ocean Island Basalts

We document compositions of minerals and melts from 3 GPa partialmelting experiments on two carbonate-bearing natural lherzolitebulk compositions (PERC: MixKLB-1 + 2·5 wt% CO₂; PERC3:MixKLB-1 + 1 wt% CO₂) and discuss the compositions of partialmelts in relation to the genesis of alkalic to highly alkalicocean island basalts (OIB). Near-solidus (PERC: 1075–1105°C;PERC3: 1050°C) carbonatitic partial melts with <10 wt%SiO₂ and 40 wt% CO₂ evolve continuously to carbonated silicatemelts with >25 wt% SiO₂ and <25 wt% CO₂ between 1325 and1350°C in the presence of residual olivine, orthopyroxene,clinopyroxene, and garnet. The first appearance of CO₂-bearingsilicate melt at 3 GPa is 150°C cooler than the solidusof CO₂-free peridotite. The compositions of carbonated silicatepartial melts between 1350 and 1600°C vary in the rangeof 28–46 wt% SiO₂, 1·6–0·5 wt% TiO₂,12–10 wt% FeO*, and 19–29 wt% MgO for PERC, and42–48 wt% SiO₂, 1·9–0·5 wt% TiO₂,10·5–8·4 wt% FeO*, and 15–26 wt% MgOfor PERC3. The CaO/Al₂O₃ weight ratio of silicate melts rangesfrom 2·7 to 1·1 for PERC and from 1·7 to1·0 for PERC3. The SiO₂ contents of carbonated silicatemelts in equilibrium with residual peridotite diminish significantlywith increasing dissolved CO₂ in the melt, whereas the CaO contentsincrease markedly. Equilibrium constants for Fe*–Mg exchangebetween carbonated silicate liquid and olivine span a rangesimilar to those for CO₂-free liquids at 3 GPa, but diminishslightly with increasing dissolved CO₂ in the melt. The carbonatedsilicate partial melts of PERC3 at <20% melting and partialmelts of PERC at 15–33% melting have SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ contents,and CaO/Al₂O₃ values, similar to those of melilititic to basaniticalkali OIB, but compared with the natural lavas they are moreenriched in CaO and they lack the strong enrichments in TiO₂characteristic of highly alkalic OIB. If a primitive mantlesource is assumed, the TiO₂ contents of alkalic OIB, combinedwith bulk peridotite/melt partition coefficients of TiO₂ determinedin this study and in volatile-free studies of peridotite partialmelting, can be used to estimate that melilitites, nephelinites,and basanites from oceanic islands are produced from 0–6%partial melting. The SiO₂ and CaO contents of such small-degreepartial melts of peridotite with small amounts of total CO₂can be estimated from the SiO₂–CO₂ and CaO–CO₂ correlationsobserved in our higher-degree partial melting experiments. Thesesuggest that many compositional features of highly alkalic OIBmay be produced by 1–5% partial melting of a fertile peridotitesource with 0·1–0·25 wt% CO₂. Owing to verydeep solidi of carbonated mantle lithologies, generation ofcarbonated silicate melts in OIB source regions probably happensby reaction between peridotite and/or eclogite and migratingcarbonatitic melts produced at greater depths. KEY WORDS: alkali basalts; carbonated peridotite; experimental petrology; ocean island basalts; partial melting     

A macro‐element model for inelastic building analysis

A three‐dimensional model for approximate inelastic analysis of buildings is presented herein. The model is based on a single macro‐element per building storey. The inelastic properties of the model are characterized by the so‐called ultimate storey shear and torque (USST) surfaces. Different algorithms for the construction of these surfaces, as well as their applications in building modelling, are presented and discussed. Two alternative procedures are developed to integrate the force‐deformation constitutive relationship of the macro‐elements. The first one follows the exact trajectory of the load path of the structure on the USST, and the second uses linear programming without ever forming the USST surface. The accuracy of the model and integration procedure is evaluated by means of the earthquake response of single‐storey systems. The model and integration procedure developed is finally used to compute the inelastic response of a seven‐storey R/C building. The results of this investigation show that the model proposed, although approximate, can be effective in estimating the inelastic deformation demand of a building. It also enables the engineer to capture and interpret important features of the three‐dimensional inelastic response of a structure even before performing any inelastic dynamic analysis. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass fraction spatiotemporal geostatistics and its application to map atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons after 9/11

This work proposes a space/time estimation method for atmospheric PM_2.5 components by modelling the mass fraction at a selection of space/time locations where the component is measured and applying the model to the extensive PM_2.5 monitoring network. The method we developed utilizes the nonlinear Bayesian maximum entropy framework to perform the geostatistical estimation. We implemented this approach using data from nine carcinogenic, particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured from archived PM_2.5 samples collected at four locations around the World Trade Center (WTC) from September 22, 2001 to March 27, 2002. The mass fraction model developed at these four sites was used to estimate PAH concentrations at additional PM_2.5 monitors. Even with limited PAH data, a spatial validation showed the application of the mass fraction model reduced the mean squared error (MSE) by 7–22%, while in the temporal validation there was an exponential improvement in MSE positively associated with the number of days of PAH data removed. Our results include space/time maps of atmospheric PAH concentrations in the New York area after 9/11.     

Multivariate homogeneity testing in a northern case study in the province of Quebec,Canada

In regional frequency analysis, the examination of the regional homogeneity represents an important step of the procedure. Flood events possess multivariate characteristics which can not be handled by classical univariate regional procedures. For instance, classical procedures do not allow to assess regional homogeneity while taking into consideration flood peak, volume and duration. Chebana and Ouarda proposed multivariate discordancy and homogeneity tests. They carried out a simulation study to evaluate the performance of these tests. In the present paper, practical aspects are investigated jointly on flood peak and flood volume of a data set from the Côte‐Nord region in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is shown that, after removing the discordant sites, the remaining ones constitute a homogeneous region for the volumes and heterogeneous region for the peaks. However, if both variables are jointly considered, the obtained region is possibly homogeneous. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the usefulness of the bivariate test to take into account the dependence structure between the variables representing the event, and to take advantage of more information from the hydrograph. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new bioassay for the inspection and identification of TBT-containing antifouling paint

Since the 1960s tributyl (TBT)-based antifouling paints are widely applied to protect ship’s hulls from biofouling. Due to its high toxicity to aquatic ecosystem most of the countries (28 nations in 2008) signed the AFS convention to control the use of harmful antifouling systems on ships. Nevertheless there is currently no simple method to control the presence of organotin in paint. In this study, we propose a bioassay based on the use of a recombinant bioluminescent bacteria to detect directly in paint the presence of TBT. We also propose a simple device as an inspection system to control the absence of organotin in the ship’s hull paint. The presence of organotin could be revealed in less than three hours.