Application of the Clean Development Mechanism in the Sanitation Sector: “Proof of Concept”

Greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector account for only 4% of the total production, with wastewater management accounting for accurately 8 to 10% of this contribution. Wastewater disposal and treatment activities, mainly contributes to non‐CO₂ gases such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). Capturing or avoiding these emissions is thus both a concern and an opportunity. The clean development mechanism (CDM) offers an instrument to internalize global climate concerns into the design of wastewater treatment facilities. Properly designed facilities could improve effluent quality and optimize the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, thus ensuring additional revenues to pay for capital, operation and maintenance costs and possibly justify higher levels of wastewater treatment. This document summarizes the experience of the “Rio Frio CDM project” in Colombia, as an example of what is achievable through the CDM application in wastewater treatment upgrade in developing countries. This document summarizes the scope of the project, the methodology used to establish current greenhouse emissions and future reductions, and the estimated financial results.     

Helium isotopes in the Izu Peninsula,Japan: Relation of magma and crustal activity

The relation of magma and crustal activity has been studied from spatial distribution of ³He/⁴He ratios of gas and/or water samples over the Izu Peninsula, where significant crustal deformation associated with seismic swarm activities has been observed since 1970s. The air-corrected values of ³He/⁴He ratios ranged from 3.5 to 8.2 R_A, where R_A is the atmospheric ³He/⁴He ratio = 1.4 × 10^? 6, indicating that helium is mostly of magmatic origin. Among the three pressure sources proposed to explain the crustal deformation, two inflation sources beneath the inland of northeast and the mid east coast of the Izu Peninsula locate in the broad distribution of high ³He/⁴He ratios, which supports relation of magma to the crustal uplift. In contrast, the distribution of ³He/⁴He ratios around the tensile fault assumed in the area of seismic swarms appears not to indicate existence of significant amount of magma below the tensile fault. Alternatively, the results suggest magma below a point several kilometers south of the tensile fault. The seismic swarms are explained either by fluid pressurization of thermal water heated by this magma or by intrusion of magma to the tensile fault moved obliquely from the deep magma reservoir.     

Variation in noble gas isotopic composition of gas samples from the Aegean arc, Greece

In contrast to most other arcs with oceanic plate subduction, the Aegean arc is characterized by continent–continent subduction. Noble gas abundances and isotopic compositions of 45 gas samples have been determined from 6 volcanoes along the arc, 2 islands in the back-arc region and 7 sites in the surrounding areas. The ³He/⁴He ratios of the samples ranged from 0.027R_A to 6.2R_A (R_A denotes the atmospheric ³He/⁴He ratio of 1.4×10⁻⁶), demonstrating that even the maximum ³He/⁴He ratio in the region is significantly lower than the maximum ratios of most oceanic subduction systems, which are equal to the MORB value of 8±1 R_A. Regional variations in the ³He/⁴He ratio were observed both along and across the arc. The maximum ³He/⁴He ratio was obtained from Nisyros volcano located in the eastern end of the arc, and the ratio decreased westward possibly reflecting the difference in potential degree of crustal assimilation or the present magmatic activity in each volcano. Across the volcanic arc, the ³He/⁴He ratio decreased with an increasing distance from the arc front, reaching a low ratio of 0.063R_A in Macedonia, which suggested a major contribution of radiogenic helium derived from the continental crust. At Nisyros, a temporal increase in ³He/⁴He ratio due to ascending subsurface magma was observed after the seismic crisis of 1995–1998 and mantle neon was possibly detected. The maximum ³He/⁴He ratio (6.2R_A) in the Aegean region, which is significantly lower than the MORB value, is not probably due to crustal assimilation at shallow depth or addition of slab-derived helium to MORB-like mantle wedge, but inherent characteristics of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) beneath the Aegean arc.     

Cosmic‐ray exposure age and heliocentric distance of the parent body of the Rumuruti chondrite PRE 95410

We measured concentrations and isotopic ratios of noble gases in the Rumuruti (R) chondrite Mount Prestrud (PRE) 95410, a regolith breccia exhibiting dark/light structures. The meteorite contains solar and cosmogenic noble gases. Based on the solar and cosmogenic noble gas compositions, we calculated a heliocentric distance of its parent body, a cosmic‐ray exposure age on the parent body regolith (parent body exposure age), and a cosmic‐ray exposure age in interplanetary space (space exposure age) of the meteorite. Assuming a constant solar wind flux, the estimated heliocentric distance was smaller than 1.4 ± 0.3 au, suggesting inward migration from the asteroid belt regions where the parent body formed. The largest known Mars Trojan 5261 Eureka is a potential parent body of PRE 95410. Alternatively, it is possible that the solar wind flux at the time of the parent body exposure was higher by a factor of 2–3 compared to the lunar regolith exposure. In this case, the estimated heliocentric distance is within the asteroid belt region. The parent body exposure age is longer than 19.1 Ma. This result indicates frequent impact events on the parent body like that recorded for other solar‐gas‐rich meteorites. Assuming single‐stage exposure after an ejection event from the parent body, the space exposure age is 11.0 ± 1.1 Ma, which is close to the peak of ~10 Ma in the exposure age distribution for the solar‐gas‐free R chondrites.     

Ion microprobe analyses of oxygen three‐isotope ratios of chondrules from the Sayh al Uhaymir 290 CH chondrite using a multiple‐hole disk

Abstract– The ion microprobe is the only technique capable of determining high‐precision stable isotope ratios in individual tiny extraterrestrial particles (≤100 μm in diameter), but these small samples present special analytical challenges. We produced a new sample holder disk with multiple holes (three holes and seven holes), in which epoxy disks containing a single unknown sample and a standard grain are cast and polished. Performance tests for oxygen two‐isotope analyses using San Carlos olivine standard grains show that the new multiple‐hole disks allow accurate analysis of tiny particles if the particles are located within the 500 μm and 1 mm radius of the center of holes for seven‐hole and three‐hole disks, respectively. Using the new seven‐hole disk, oxygen three‐isotope ratios of eight magnesian cryptocrystalline chondrules (approximately 100 μm in diameter) from the Sayh al Uhaymir (SaU) 290 CH chondrite were analyzed by ion microprobe at the University of Wisconsin. Five out of eight chondrules have nearly identical oxygen isotope ratios (Δ¹⁷O = ?2.2 ± 0.6‰; 2SD), which is consistent with those of magnesian cryptocrystalline chondrules in CH/CB and CB chondrites, suggesting a genetic relationship, i.e., formation by a common (possibly impact) heating event. The other three chondrules have distinct oxygen isotope ratios (Δ¹⁷O values from ?6.4‰ to +2.2‰). Given that similar variation in Δ¹⁷O values was observed in type I porphyritic chondrules in a CH/CB chondrite, the three chondrules may have formed in the solar nebula, similar to the type I porphyritic chondrules.     

P - V - T equation of state of stishovite to the mantle transition zone conditions

In-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments were conducted using the SPEED-1500 multi-anvil press of SPring-8 on stishovite SiO₂ and pressure-volume-temperature data were collected at up to 22.5 GPa and 1,073 K, which corresponds to the pressure conditions of the base of the mantle transition zone. The analysis of room-temperature data yielded V₀=46.56(1) ų, K_{T 0}=296(5) GPa and K _T =4.2(4), and these properties were consistent with the subsequent thermal equation of state (EOS) analyses. A fit of the present data to high-temperature Birch-Murnaghan EOS yielded (K_T /T) _P =–0.046(5) GPa K^–1 and = a + bT with values of a =1.26(11)×10^–5 K^–1 and b =1.29(17)×10^–8 K^–2. A fit to the thermal pressure EOS gives ₀=1.62(9)×10^–5 K^–1, ( K _T / T) _V =–0.027(4) GPa K^–1 and (²P /T ²) _V =27(5)×10^–7 GPa K^–2. The lattice dynamical approach by Mie-Grüneisen-Debye EOS yielded ₀=1.33(6), q =6.1(8) and ₀=1160(120) K. The strong volume dependence of the thermal pressure of stishovite was revealed by the analysis of present data, which was not detectable by the previous high-temperature data at lower pressures, and this yields ( K _T / T) _V 0 and q 1. The analyses for the fictive volume for a and c axes show that relative stiffness of c axis to a axis is similar both on compression and thermal expansion. Present EOS enables the accurate estimate of density of SiO₂ in the deep mantle conditions.     

Inversion of DC resistivity data using neural networks

The inversion of geoelectrical resistivity data is a difficult task due to its non-linear nature. In this work, the neural network (NN) approach is studied to solve both 1D and 2D resistivity inverse problems. The efficiency of a widespread, supervised training network, the back-propagation technique and its applicability to the resistivity problem, is investigated. Several NN paradigms have been tried on a basis of trial-and-error for two types of data set. In the 1D problem, the batch back-propagation paradigm was efficient while another paradigm, called resilient propagation, was used in the 2D problem. The network was trained with synthetic examples and tested on another set of synthetic data as well as on the field data. The neural network gave a result highly correlated with that of conventional serial algorithms. It proved to be a fast, accurate and objective method for depth and resistivity estimation of both 1D and 2D DC resistivity data. The main advantage of using NN for resistivity inversion is that once the network has been trained it can perform the inversion of any vertical electrical sounding data set very rapidly.     

Generation of tidal bedding in a circular flume experiment: formation process and preservation potential of mud drapes

Flume experiments aimed to produce flaser bedding were conducted using fine sand and clay in a circular flume. The formation process of mud drapes during the slack-water stage was revealed in detail. When the tidal current declines, a uniform mobile mud layer initially settles from suspension and drapes the entire rippled sand bed (type A mud). When the remaining flow velocity is very low, a more fluid mud begins to settle out (type B mud) that preferentially fills the ripple troughs, the ripples and mud together forming a flat surface. At slack tide, the two-phase mud drape is temporarily stationary. After the onset of the reversed flow phase, most of the type B mud is resuspended, while the type A mud is eroded from the crests, leaving behind a remnant mud drape (flaser) in the troughs that is subsequently buried by migrating ripples. Type B mud generally contains variable amounts of sand derived from eroded ripple crests, but does not show any visible internal sedimentary structures. Type A mud represents the ‘mud drapes’ commonly described in the literature, the temporary existence of type B mud having gone unnoticed because of its low preservation potential. When present, it can be recognized by its sand content and the occurrence of flame structures in ripple troughs. Tidal deposits reflecting the existence and depositional characteristics of both type A and type B mud are found in, for example, the macrotidal Oligocene Ashiya Group, Japan.     

Rare gas isotopic compositions in natural gases of Japan

Isotopic and elemental compositions of rare gases in various types of gas samples collected in the Japanese Islands were investigated. Excess³He was found in most samples. Many samples showed a regionally uniform high³He/⁴He ratio of about 7 times the atmospheric ratio. The He concentrations varied from 0.6 to 1800 ppm, and they were low in CO₂-rich gases and high in N₂-rich gases. Ne isotopic deviations from the atmospheric Ne were detected in most volcanic gases. The deviations and the elemental abundance patterns in volcanic gases can be explained by a mixing between two components, one is mass fractionated rare gases and the other is isotopically atmospheric and is enriched in heavy rare gas elements. Ar was a mixture of mass fractionated Ar, atmospheric Ar and radiogenic Ar, and the contribution of radiogenic⁴⁰Ar was small in all samples. Except for He, elemental abundance patterns were progressively enriched in the heavier rare gases relative to the atmosphere. Several samples were highly enriched in Kr and Xe relative to the abundance pattern of dissolution equilibrium of atmospheric rare gases in water. The component which is highly enriched in heavy rare gases may be released from sedimentary materials in the crust.