The creep of potash salt rocks from Saskatchewan

Summary The results of creep tests on the Esterhazy-and the Patience-Lake-types of potash salt rocks from Saskatchewan, Canada are presented. The investigations involved over 6 years of time-dependent experiments in uniaxial compression using potash from the Rocanville and the Lanigan mines of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. A creep test at a given load would last from 2 to 8 months, with most tests conducted over a 4-month period.Since the yield stress of both types of potash lies between 9 and 11 MPa, there is very little creep below 11 MPa. Between 11 and 13 MPa, creep strain production increases sharply through plastic deformation. Above about 13 MPa, however, plastic creep is dominated by brittle creep caused by microcracking. As a result, the lateral and volume creep strain curves may then display the transient and the steady-state, or all three stages of creep, while the axial strain, which is not affected by microcracking, usually attenuates for the whole duration.Two different interpretations of the results are offered. Identifying the last (the fourth) month of testing with the steady-state model, the stress dependence of the steady-state rate has been established for both rock types. A unimodal rate model for the axial strain and a bimodal model for the lateral strain are suggested. The alternate interpretation proceeds on the assumption that under 13 MPa, both the axial and the lateral strain can be modelled through the power function formulation of transient strain.     

Developments in budget remote sensing for the geosciences

Acquiring outcrop, landform or other surface topography data in the field for the geosciences has always been challenging. Accessibility is often a problem, time is usually limited and an ideal spatial and temporal coverage often has to be compromised to be more manageable. However, emerging technologies, and some re-inventions of rather older ones, can overcome many of these constraints in a very exciting and budget-friendly manner. This article briefly introduces and reviews four major recent developments in budget remote sensing, specifically the use of blimps, kites, drones or UAVs (including quadcopters), and structure from motion (SFM) software. Both scientific and applied case studies are given and some possibilities for future studies are highlighted. Overall, the potential for these technologies to revolutionise the geosciences is clear and should be opportunistically embraced by scientists, resource and hazard managers and educators alike.     

Morphologic and stratigraphic evolution of muddy ebb-tidal deltas along a subsiding coast: Barataria Bay, Mississippi River delta

The Barataria barrier coast formed between two major distributaries of the Mississippi River delta: the Plaquemines deltaic headland to the east and the Lafourche deltaic headland to the west. Rapid relative sea‐level rise (1·03 cm year^?1) and other erosional processes within Barataria Bay have led to substantial increases in the area of open water (> 775 km² since 1956) and the attendant bay tidal prism. Historically, the increase in tidal discharge at inlets has produced larger channel cross‐sections and prograding ebb‐tidal deltas. For example, the ebb delta at Barataria Pass has built seaward > 2·2 km since the 1880s. Shoreline erosion and an increasing bay tidal prism also facilitated the formation of new inlets. Four major lithofacies characterize the Barataria coast ebb‐tidal deltas and associated sedimentary environments. These include a proximal delta facies composed of massive to laminated, fine grey‐brown to pale yellow sand and a distal delta facies consisting of thinly laminated, grey to pale yellow sand and silty sand with mud layers. The higher energy proximal delta deposits contain a greater percentage of sand (75–100%) compared with the distal delta sediments (60–80%). Associated sedimentary units include a nearshore facies consisting of horizontally laminated, fine to very fine grey sand with mud layers and an offshore facies that is composed of grey to dark grey, laminated sandy silt to silty clay. All facies coarsen upwards except the offshore facies, which fines upwards. An evolutionary model is presented for the stratigraphic development of the ebb‐tidal deltas in a regime of increasing tidal energy resulting from coastal land loss and tidal prism growth. Ebb‐tidal delta facies prograde over nearshore sediments, which interfinger with offshore facies. The seaward decrease in tidal current velocity of the ebb discharge produces a gradational contact between proximal and distal tidal delta facies. As the tidal discharge increases and the inlet grows in dimensions, the proximal and distal tidal delta facies prograde seawards. Owing to the relatively low gradient of the inner continental shelf, the ebb‐tidal delta lithosome is presently no more than 5 m thick and is generally only 2–3 m in thickness. The ebb delta sediment is sourced from deepening of the inlet and the associated channels and from the longshore sediment transport system. The final stage in the model envisages erosion and segmentation of the barrier chain, leading to a decrease in tidal discharge through the former major inlets. This process ultimately results in fine‐grained sedimentation seaward of the inlets and the encasement of the ebb‐tidal delta lithosome in mud. The ebb‐tidal deltas along the Barataria coast are distinguished from most other ebb deltas along sand‐rich coasts by their muddy content and lack of large‐scale stratification produced by channel cut‐and‐fills and bar migration.     

Have applications of continuous rainfall–runoff simulation realized the vision for process‐based flood frequency analysis?

Keith Beven was amongst the first to propose and demonstrate a combination of conceptual rainfall–runoff modelling and stochastically generated rainfall data in what is known as the ‘continuous simulation’ approach for flood frequency analysis. The motivations included the potential to establish better links with physical processes and to avoid restrictive assumptions inherent in existing methods applied in design flood studies. Subsequently, attempts have been made to establish continuous simulation as a routine method for flood frequency analysis, particularly in the UK. The approach has not been adopted universally, but numerous studies have benefitted from applications of continuous simulation methods. This paper asks whether industry has yet realized the vision of the pioneering research by Beven and others. It reviews the generic methodology and illustrates applications of the original vision for a more physically realistic approach to flood frequency analysis through a set of practical case studies, highlighting why continuous simulation was useful and appropriate in each case. The case studies illustrate how continuous simulation has helped to offer users of flood frequency analysis more confidence about model results by avoiding (or exposing) bad assumptions relating to catchment heterogeneity, inappropriateness of assumptions made in (UK) industry‐standard design event flood estimation methods, and the representation of engineered or natural dynamic controls on flood flows. By implementing the vision for physically realistic analysis of flood frequency through continuous simulation, each of these examples illustrates how more relevant and improved information was provided for flood risk decision‐making than would have been possible using standard methods. They further demonstrate that integrating engineered infrastructure into flood frequency analysis and assessment of environmental change are also significant motivations for adopting the continuous simulation approach in practice. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Capelinhos 1957–1958, Faial, Azores: deposits formed by an emergent surtseyan eruption

The 1957–1958 eruption of Capelinhos, Faial island, Azores, involved three periods of surtseyan, hydromagmatic activity: two in 1957 and one in 1958. Deposits from this eruption are exposed both in sea cliffs cut into the flanks of the tuff cone and more distally >1 km from the vent. Five lithofacies are identified: lithofacies I is composed of even thickness beds with laterally continuous internal stratigraphy and is interpreted to have been formed by fallout. Lithofacies II consists of beds with internally discontinuous lenses, and has sand-wave structures that increase in abundance toward the outer margins of the tuff cone. This lithofacies is interpreted as having been deposited from pyroclastic surges. Lithofacies III is composed of mantle-bedded deposits with laterally discontinuous internal stratigraphy. This lithofacies is interpreted to have been formed by hybrid processes where fallout of tephra occurred simultaneously with pyroclastic surges. In the outer flanks of the tuff cone, lithofacies III grades laterally into fallout beds of lithofacies I. Lithofacies IV consists of alternating beds of coarse ash aggregates and non-aggregated fine ash, and is particularly well developed in distal regions. Some of this facies was formed by fallout. Alternating beds also occur plastered against obstacles up to 2 km from the vent, indicating an origin from wet pyroclastic surges. The orientation of plastered tephra indicates that the surges were deflected by topography as they decelerated. The distinction between surge and fallout in distal regions is uncertain because wind-drifted fallout and decelerating surge clouds can generate similar deposits. Lithofacies V consists of scoria lapilli beds interpreted to be fallout from hawaiian-style fire-fountaining in the later stages of the eruption. Juvenile pyroclasts within hydromagmatic deposits are predominantly poorly vesicular (25–60% of clasts <30% vesicles). However, on both micro- and macroscopic scales, there is a wide range in clast vesicularity (up to 70% vesicles) indicating that, although fragmentation was predominantly hydromagmatic, vesiculation and magmatic-volatile-driven fragmentation operated simultaneously.     

Mean flux estimation and cospectra of airborne carbon dioxide and water vapour eddy flux measurements in the planetary surface layer

CO₂ and H₂O eddy-flux measurements derived from airborne vertical wind and concentration data are examined to determine the accuracy of the eddy-flux estimate in moderately unstable conditions within the surface layer. Integral scale estimation is used to determine the minimum length of a sample required to achieve a given accuracy. Cospectral analysis is used to examine the scales responsible for the transport of water vapour and carbon dioxide in the surface layer. Cospectra are found to broaden as the sampling altitude increases, a well known result. At low altitudes, the cospectrum is found to become negative for large scales. A significant fraction of the flux is carried by this range of scales, which suggests that scales larger than the boundary-layer height may play an important role in the transport at low altitudes.     

Complex coastal change in response to autogenic basin infilling: An example from a sub‐tropical Holocene strandplain

Thick bay‐fill sequences that often culminate in strandplain development serve as important sedimentary archives of land–ocean interaction, although distinguishing between internal and external forcings is an ongoing challenge. This study employs sediment cores, ground‐penetrating radar surveys, radiocarbon dates, palaeogeographic reconstructions and hydrodynamic modelling to explore the role of autogenic processes – notably a reduction in wave energy in response to coastal embayment infilling – in coastal evolution and shoreline morphodynamics. Following a regional 2 to 4 m highstand at ca 5·8 ka, the 75 km² Tijucas Strandplain in southern Brazil built from fluvial sediments deposited into a semi‐enclosed bay. Holocene regressive deposits are underlain by fluvial sands and a Pleistocene transgressive–regressive sequence, and backed by a highstand barrier‐island. The strandplain is immediately underlain by 5 to 16 m of seaward‐thickening, fluvially derived, Holocene‐age, basin‐fill mud. Several trends are observed from the landward (oldest) to the seaward (youngest) sections of the strandplain: (i) the upper shoreface and foreshore become finer and thinner and shift from sand‐dominated to mud‐dominated; (ii) beachface slopes decrease from >11° to ca 7°; and (iii) progradation rates increase from 0·4 to 1·8 m yr^?1. Hydrodynamic modelling demonstrates a correlation between progressive shoaling of Tijucas Bay driven by sea‐level fall and sediment infilling and a decrease in onshore wave‐energy transport from 18 to 4 kW m^?1. The combination of allogenic (sediment supply, falling relative sea‐level and geology) and autogenic (decrease in wave energy due to bay shoaling) processes drove the development of a regressive system with characteristics that are rare, if not unique, in the Holocene and rock records. These findings demonstrate the complexities in architecture styles of highstand and regressive systems tracts. Furthermore, this article highlights the diverse internal and external processes and feedbacks responsible for the development of these intricate marginal marine sedimentary systems.     

Comments on the development of rifts and transform faults during continental breakup; examples from the Gulf of Aden and northern Red Sea

A number of basins are observed to extend inland from the coasts on both sides of the Gulf of Aden. The basins are orientated at approximately right angles to the spreading direction and intersect the coasts at the meeting of sheared and rifted continental margins. They appear to be grabens, one wall of which is continuous with the half graben of the neighbouring rifted margin. It is suggested that these were once parts of a number of discrete rifts arranged en-echelon along a zone of lithospheric weakness during the early opening of the Gulf of Aden, which became redundant when transform faults formed. The proposed development of rifts and transform faults is similar to that of a spreading centre, transform fault, spreading centre pattern developed in the freezing wax model of Oldenburg and Brune (1975). The Gulf of Suez at the northern end of the Red Sea is interpreted in a similar way since it has a number of features in common with the basins in the continents adjacent to the Gulf of Aden.     

Last glacial megafaunal death assemblage and early human occupation at Lake Menindee, southeastern Australia

The Tedford subfossil locality at Lake Menindee preserves a diverse assemblage of marsupials, monotremes and placental rodents. Of the 38 mammal taxa recorded at the site, almost a third are of extinct megafauna. Some of the bones are articulated or semi-articulated and include almost complete skeletons, indicating that aeolian sediments rapidly buried the animals following death. New optical ages show the site dates to the early part of the last glacial (55,700 ± 1300 yr weighted mean age). This is close to the 51,200-39,800 yr Australia-wide extinction age for megafauna suggested by Roberts et al. [2001, Science 292:1888-1892], but like all previous researchers, we cannot conclusively determine whether humans were implicated in the deaths of the animals. Although an intrusive hearth at the site dating to 45,100 ± 1400 yr ago is the oldest evidence of human occupation of the Darling River, no artifacts were identified in situ within the sub-fossil-bearing unit. Non-anthropogenic causes, such as natural senescence or ecosystem stress due to climatic aridity, probably explain the mortality of the faunal assemblage at Lake Menindee.     

Comparison of two different models for pile thermal response test interpretation

Thermal response tests (TRTs) are regularly used to characterise the thermal resistance of borehole heat exchangers and to assess the thermal conductivity of the surrounding ground. It is becoming common to apply the same in situ testing technique to pile heat exchangers, despite international guidance suggesting that TRTs should be limited to hole diameters of 152 mm (6 in.). This size restriction arises from the increased thermal inertia of larger diameter heat exchangers, which invalidates the assumption of a steady state within the concrete needed to interpret the test data by traditional line source analysis techniques. However, new methods of analysis for pile heat exchangers have recently been developed that take account of the transient behaviour of the pile concrete. This paper applies these new methods to data from a multi-stage TRT conducted on a small diameter test pile. The thermal conductivity and thermal resistance determined using this method are then compared with those from traditional analytical approaches based on a line source analysis. Differences between the approaches are discussed, along with the observation that the thermal resistance may not be constant over the different test stages.