Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic change in Lake Tanganyika: VIII. Hydrological evaluation of two contrasting watersheds of the Lake Tanganyika catchment

This study was conducted to delineate the impact of human activities on stream flow and water chemistry as well as other factors that influence the chemical character of both surface and groundwater in two contrasting watersheds of the Lake Tanganyika catchment. The study sites the Mwamgongo and Mitumba streams along the northern Tanzanian coastline of the lake are representative of disturbed and undisturbed watersheds, respectively, but are quite similar in other characteristics of slope, bedrock geology and size. Separation of stream flow components was undertaken using classical hydrograph analysis along with chemical methods using both Cl and ¹⁸O data. All the data show that groundwater accounts for the predominant source of total stream flow in both the Mwamgongo and Mitumba watersheds (65 and 70% respectively). The streams have an average ¹⁸O of about -3.0% and less than 10 mg/l for Cl. The basin recession constants of 9.4×10^-3-d^-1 and 9.6×10^-3-d^-1 for Mwamgongo and Mitumba, respectively, indicate existence of both fissured and fractured aquifer systems. The chemical data exhibit low values of all determined ions. This supported the hypothesis that natural processes influence the water chemical character of the study area. An Mg–HCO₃ type of water dominates in the two watersheds. Despite their similar size and bedrock character the Mwamgongo watershed has an order of magnitude in sediment transport than the Mitumba one. The data show that the disturbed watershed discharges less groundwater and more sediments, and has a poorer water quality than the forested Mitumba watershed, which lies within the Gombe National Park. The data show that soil erosion processes are more active at Mwamgongo, and that both the surface runoff component of the total stream flow and increased dissolved salt load is greater in the deforested Mwamgongo watershed than in the Mitumba watershed. The chloride and ¹⁸O data complemented each other in delineating the amounts of groundwater in the total stream flow as the results using both data differed insignificantly. It may be concluded that the undisturbed watershed has a higher retention of good quality water and traps more sediments than the disturbed one. In addition, the groundwater component plays a dominant role in the total annual stream flow at each watershed.     

Implosions in Coronal Transients

Coronal events such as flares or coronal mass ejections derive their energy from the energy stored locally in the magnetic field. This leads to the conjecture that a magnetic implosion must occur simultaneously with the energy release. The site of the implosion would show the location of preflare energy storage, and its detection should have a high priority. The Transition Region and Coronal Explorer EUV observations, for example, have sufficient resolution to show the geometry of a flare implosion by following the motions of tracers in the images.     

Observations of the 24 September 1997 Coronal Flare Waves

We report coincident observations of coronal and chromospheric flare wave transients in association with a flare, large-scale coronal dimming, metric radio activity and a coronal mass ejection. The two separate eruptions occurring on 24 September 1997 originate in the same active region and display similar morphological features. The first wave transient was observed in EUV and H data, corresponding to a wave disturbance in both the chromosphere and the solar corona, ranging from 250 to approaching 1000 km s^–1 at different times and locations along the wavefront. The sharp wavefront had a similar extent and location in both the EUV and H data. The data did not show clear evidence of a driver, however. Both events display a coronal EUV dimming which is typically used as an indicator of a coronal mass ejection in the inner corona. White-light coronagraph observations indicate that the first event was accompanied by an observable coronal mass ejection while the second event did not have clear evidence of a CME. Both eruptions were accompanied by metric type II radio bursts propagating at speeds in the range of 500–750 km s^–1, and neither had accompanying interplanetary type II activity. The timing and location of the flare waves appear to indicate an origin with the flaring region, but several signatures associated with coronal mass ejections indicate that the development of the CME may occur in concert with the development of the flare wave.     

Faults in crystalline rock and the estimation of their mechanical properties at the Olkiluoto site,western Finland

Brittle deformation zones at the Olkiluoto nuclear repository site in western Finland play critical roles in the strength and hydrology of the host rock mass. We present a procedure implemented there for incorporating information on deformation zones obtained through boreholes into quantitative engineering design. First, ductile and brittle deformation zones are classified based on their characteristics in drillhole cores as brittle joint clusters, brittle fault zones, or semi-brittle fault zones, with an awareness of the geologic processes that caused the zones to develop as they did. Next, it is shown that the mechanical properties of the brittle deformation zones can be calculated by one of several methods, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. The site geology must be kept in mind at all stages to arrive at meaningful estimates of the mechanical properties of the deformation zones.