Hydraulic Properties of Stony Vadose Zonesa

Hydraulic properties of saturated and unsaturated stony soils were studied on a 3.35 m long column, 1.24 m in diameter, filled with alternating sand and boulder layers. The boulders averaged 6.2 × 15 × 20 cm in size and were laid down on their flat side. Tensiometers and a neutron probe access tube were placed in the column for measuring pressure heads and water contents, respectively. Saturated conditions were obtained by ponding the column. The resulting hydraulic conductivity K was 5.1 m/day. This value could also be calculated from the measured K for the sand alone on separate samples, using a simple equation that takes into account the void ratio of the sand alone and that of the boulder-sand mixture. Unsaturated K was determined by applying water at less than ponded infiltration rates. Resulting relations between the unsaturated K and water content or negative pressure head could also be estimated from the relation between unsaturated K and pressure head for the sand alone and the calculated saturated K of the boulder-sand mixture. The method of Millington and Quirk for calculating the relation between unsaturated K and water content also gave reasonable results. The dispersivity of the boulder-sand column was 18 times that of the sand alone. Pore velocity was accurately estimated as the Darcy velocity divided by the volumetric water content. Hydraulic properties of stony vadose zones are difficult to determine. This work shows that they can be estimated from K relations measured in the laboratory on samples of the soil between the rocks. Knowledge of hydraulic properties of vadose zones is important in predicting movement of water and pollutants to the underlying ground water.     

Weathering of Oil in a Surficial Aquifer

The composition of crude oil in a surficial aquifer was determined in two locations at the Bemidji, MN, spill site. The abundances of 71 individual hydrocarbons varied within 16 locations sampled. Little depletion of these hydrocarbons (relative to the pipeline oil) occurred in the first 10 years after the spill, whereas losses of 25% to 85% of the total measured hydrocarbons occurred after 30 years. The C_6‐30 n‐alkanes, toluene, and o‐xylene were the most depleted hydrocarbons. Some hydrocarbons, such as the n‐C_10–24 cyclohexanes, tri‐ and tetra‐ methylbenzenes, acyclic isoprenoids, and naphthalenes were the least depleted. Benzene was detected at every sampling location 30 years after the spill. Degradation of the oil led to increases in the percent organic carbon and in the δ ¹³C of the oil. Another method of determining hydrocarbon loss was by normalizing the total measured hydrocarbon concentrations to that of the most conservative analytes. This method indicated that the total measured hydrocarbons were depleted by 47% to 77% and loss of the oil mass over 30 years was 18% to 31%. Differences in hydrocarbon depletion were related to the depth of the oil in the aquifer, local topography, amount of recharge reaching the oil, availability of electron acceptors, and the presence of less permeable soils above the oil. The results from this study indicate that once crude oil has been in the subsurface for a number of years there is no longer a “starting oil concentration” that can be used to understand processes that affect its fate and the transport of hydrocarbons in groundwater.     

Does the permeability of gravel river beds affect near‐bed hydrodynamics?

The permeability of river beds is an important control on hyporheic flow and the movement of fine sediment and solutes into and out of the bed. However, relatively little is known about the effect of bed permeability on overlying near‐bed flow dynamics, and thus on fluid advection at the sediment–water interface. This study provides the first quantification of this effect for water‐worked gravel beds. Laboratory experiments in a recirculating flume revealed that flows over permeable beds exhibit fundamental differences compared with flows over impermeable beds of the same topography. The turbulence over permeable beds is less intense, more organised and more efficient at momentum transfer because eddies are more coherent. Furthermore, turbulent kinetic energy is lower, meaning that less energy is extracted from the mean flow by this turbulence. Consequently, the double‐averaged velocity is higher and the bulk flow resistance is lower over permeable beds, and there is a difference in how momentum is conveyed from the overlying flow to the bed surface. The main implications of these results are three‐fold. First, local pressure gradients, and therefore rates of material transport, across the sediment–water interface are likely to differ between impermeable and permeable beds. Second, near‐bed and hyporheic flows are unlikely to be adequately predicted by numerical models that represent the bed as an impermeable boundary. Third, more sophisticated flow resistance models are required for coarse‐grained rivers that consider not only the bed surface but also the underlying permeable structure. Overall, our results suggest that the effects of bed permeability have critical implications for hyporheic exchange, fluvial sediment dynamics and benthic habitat availability. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The zoogeomorphology of case-building caddisfly: Quantifying sediment use

Caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae are an abundant and widespread aquatic insect group characterized by the construction of silk structures, including nets and cases. Case-building caddisfly have the potential to modify the sorting and mobility of sand and fine gravel via: (1) case construction, resulting in altered sediment properties; (2) transporting sediment incorporated into cases over the river bed; and (3) changing the structure of river beds via burrowing activity. To investigate these mechanisms, it is necessary to understand the mass, size distribution and spatial variability of sediment use by case-building caddisfly larvae. We quantified the mineral sediment used by individuals and communities of case-building caddisfly in 27 samples, from three sites on a gravel-bed stream. The mass and size distribution of sediment in individual cases varied between taxa (mass = 0.001–0.83 g, D₅₀ = 0.17–4 mm). The mean mass of sediment used by the caddisfly community was 38 g m⁻² and varied locally. Sediment use was predominantly coarse sand (D₅₀ = 1 mm). 64% of sediment use was attributable to Agapetus fuscipes (Glossosomatidae). Due to within-species variability in case mass, the abundance of most taxa, including A. fuscipes, was only weakly associated with the mass of sediment used by this species, at the river scale. Whilst the caddisfly community used a small percentage of the total sediment available (average 2.99% of the 1–1.4 mm size fraction), A. fuscipes used more fine sediment in their cases at sites where it was more available. Despite variability in local habitat, all sites supported diverse case-building caddisfly communities utilizing mineral sediment. Consequently, geomorphological effects of case-building caddisfly are potentially widespread. The results provide novel insights into the specific grain sizes and quantities of fine sediment used by caddisfly larvae, which represents an important step towards understanding their zoogeomorphic activities. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Geomorphic evolution of the Qingshuigou channel of the Yellow River Delta in response to changing water and sediment regimes and human interventions

Delta channels are important landforms at the interface of sediment transfer from terrestrial to oceanic realms and affect large, and often vulnerable, human populations. Understanding these dynamics is pressing because delta processes are sensitive to climate change and human activity via adjustments in, for example, mean sea level and water/sediment regimes. Data collected over a 40-year period along a 110-km distributary channel of the Yellow River Delta offer an ideal opportunity to investigate morphological responses to changing water and sediment regimes and intensive human activity. Complementary data from the delta front provide an opportunity to explore the interaction between delta channel geomorphology and delta-front erosion–accretion patterns. Cross-section dimensions and shape, longitudinal gradation and a sediment budget are used to quantify spatial and temporal morphological change along the Qingshuigou channel. Distinctive periods of channel change are identified, and analysis provides a detailed understanding of the temporal and spatial adjustments of the channel to specific human interventions, including two artificial channel diversions and changes in water and sediment supply driven by river management, and downstream delta-front development. Adjustments to the diversions included a short-lived period of erosion upstream and significant erosion in the newly activated channel, which progressed downstream. Channel geomorphology widened and deepened during periods when management increased water yield and decreased sediment supply, and narrowed and shallowed during periods when management reduced water yield and the sediment load. Changes along the channel are driven by both upstream and downstream forcing. Finally, there is some evidence that changing delta-front erosion–accretion patterns played an important role in the geomorphic evolution of the deltaic channel; an area that requires further investigation. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Petrology,geochronology,and geophysical characterization of Mesoproterozoic rocks in central Illinois,USA

The Precambrian basement rocks of the Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Province(EGRP)in central Illinois(midcontinent region of North America)exhibit a complex history of early volcanism,granite emplacement,and intrusion of mafic rocks.A comprehensive suite of dedicated petrographic analyses,geophysical logs,and drill core from four basement-penetrating wells,two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic reflection data,and U-Pb age data from the Illinois Basin–Decatur Project(IBDP)and Illinois Carbon Capture Storage(ICCS)Project site provide new constraints for interpreting the Precambrian basement of the Illinois Basin.These new data reveal the basement to be compositionally and structurally complex,having typical EGRP felsic volcanic rocks intruded by the first reported gabbro in the Precambrian basement in Illinois.Zircons(n?29)from rhyolite give a U-Pb weighted mean average age of 14679 Ma.Zircons(n?3)from a gabbro dike that intrudes the rhyolite yield a concordia age of 107312 Ma,which corresponds to Grenville-age extension and represents the first Grenville-age rock in Illinois and in the EGRP.A high-resolution three-dimensional seismic reflection volume,coincident with the four wells,provides a context for interpreting the petrological data and implies a high degree of heterogeneity for basement rocks at the IBDP–ICCS site,as also shown by the drill cores.The occurrence of Grenville-age gabbro is related to a prominent bowl-like structure observed on local two-dimensional seismic reflection profiles and the three-dimensional volume that is interpreted as a deep-seated mafic sill complex.Furthermore,heterogeneities such as the brecciated EGRP rhyolite and later gabbro intrusion observed in the basement lithology at the IBDP–ICCS may reflect previously unknown distal elements of the 1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift in the EGRP and more likely Grenville-age extension.     

Testing the locality of transport in self-gravitating accretion discs – II. The massive disc case

We present hydrogen emission-line profile models of magnetospheric accretion on to classical T Tauri stars. The models are computed under the Sobolev approximation using the three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative-transfer code torus . We have calculated four illustrative models in which the accretion flows are confined to azimuthal curtains – a geometry predicted by magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Properties of the line profile variability of our models are discussed, with reference to dynamic spectra and cross-correlation images. We find that some gross characteristics of the observed line profile variability are reproduced by our models, although in general the level of variability predicted is larger than that observed. We conclude that this excessive variability probably excludes dynamical simulations that predict accretion flows with low degrees of axisymmetry.     

Humic acids from particulate organic matter in the Saguenay Fjord and the St. Lawrence Estuary investigated by advanced solid-state NMR

Detailed structural information on two humic acids extracted from two sinking particulate matter samples at a water depth of 20 m in the Saguenay Fjord (F-20-HA) and the St. Lawrence Estuary (E-20-HA) (Canada), was obtained by advanced solid-state NMR. Spectral-editing analyses provided numerous structural details rarely reported in geochemical studies. The NMR data account almost quantitatively for the elemental compositions. The two humic acids were found to be quite similar, consisting of four main structural components: peptides (ca. 39 ± 3% vs. 34 ± 3% of all C for E-20-HA and F-20-HA, respectively); aliphatic chains, 14-20 carbons long (ca. 25 ± 5% vs. 17 ± 5% of all C); aromatic structures (ca. 17 ± 2% vs. 26 ± 2% of all C); and sugar rings (14 ± 2% vs. 15 ± 2% of all C). Peptides were identified by ¹³C{¹⁴N} SPIDER NMR, which selects signals of carbons bonded to nitrogen, and by dipolar DEPT, which selects CH-group signals, in particular the NCH band of peptides. The SPIDER spectra also indicate that heterocycles constitute a significant fraction of the aromatic structures. The aliphatic (CH₂)_n chains, which are highly mobile, contain at least one double bond per two chains and end in methyl groups. ¹H spin diffusion NMR experiments showed that these mobile aliphatic chains are in close (<10 nm) proximity to the other structural components. A major bacterial contribution to these two samples could explain why the samples, which have different dominant organic matter sources (terrestrial vs. marine), are similar to each other as well as to degraded algae and particles from other waters. The NMR data suggest structures containing mobile lipids in close proximity to peptides and carbohydrates (e.g., peptidoglycan) as found in bacterial cell walls. Measured yields of muramic acid and d-amino acids confirmed the presence of bacterial cell wall components in the studied samples.