Methodology of hydrogeological characterization of deep carbonate aquifers as potential reservoirs of groundwater. Case of study: the Jurassic aquifer of <Emphasis Type="Italic">El Maestrazgo</Emphasis> (Castellón,Spain)

A methodology for the characterization of deep carbonate aquifers has been developed and applied to El Maestrazgo Jurassic aquifer in Castellón, Spain. Characterization of these aquifer formations, located at more than 300 m deep, consisted of a previous phase of compilation, analysis and synthesis of the existing information about the area, followed by a coordinated combination of different speciality studies: geology, stratigraphy, structural analysis, hydrogeology, hydrochemistry, geophysics and remote sensing. Geological studies included geological mapping, definition of stratigraphical units and facies and structural analysis. The aim of the hydrogeology study was to define aquifer formations, recharge area, aquifer points inventory and groundwater flow directions for the establishment of piezometric and water quality observation nets. Special techniques were applied, like thermal infrared aerial images and the evaluation of submarine groundwater discharge by means of natural radium isotopes. Hydrochemical techniques, including majority elements characterization and stable isotopes (¹⁸O, ²H and ³H) determination, allowed classifying hydrochemical facies and establishing a renewal pattern for water within the system. Geophysics was useful in determining the aquifer geometry, the features of the basement and the petrophysical characteristics of the geological formations. Preliminary results show an important tectonic complexity and the possibilities for groundwater uses in the area of study.     

Phase Equilibria in the Metamorphic Rocks of St. Paul Island and Cape North, Nova Scotia

A suite of schists—one from the garnet zone, 19 from thestaurolite zone, 2 from the kyanite isograd, and one from thekyanite zone—were separated into their constituent minerals.Chemical analyses of one chlorite and of 23 sets of coexistingbiotites and garnets were carried out by photometric and titrametricprocedures. Plots of garnet-biotite tie-lines from divariantassemblages on appropriate phase diagrams result in intersectingtie-lines which cannot be ascribed to experimental error. Theoreticalconsiderations argue that at equilibrium, at the same pressureand temperature or at constant pressure and varying temperature,tie-lines of divariant assemblages should not intersect. Possibleexplanations require that diffusion equilibrium of Fe and Mgbe restricted to volumes smaller than that of a hand specimenor that P as well as T varies considerably. Emission spectrographicdeterminations of Fe and Mg in biotite indicate that the Fe/Mgratio varies among biotites little more than a centimeter apart.Such a variation would argue more in favor of a lack of diffusionequilibrium.     

Structure and petrology of an alpine peridotite on Cypress Island,Washington, U.S.A

A study of the structural petrology of a peridotite exposed on Cypress Island in Skagit Co., Washington, U.S.A. has been carried out. The Cypress peridotite is, by virtue of its composition, structure and associations, typical of ultramafics of the alpine type. It contains relict layering and accumulative textures which show it to have originated by crystal settling from a magma of unknown initial composition. Parallelism of lineations and b-axes of folds in the layering with well-developed [100]-maxima in the fabrics of olivine crystals is considered to have arisen through a penetrative deformation of the mass accompanied by plastic flow or recrystallization of the olivine. An indication of the minimum temperature of the deformation is provided by cross-cutting veins of pyroxenite which have not participated in the folding. The most satisfactory interpretation of the overall fabric of the peridotite is that it was deformed, possibly during intrusion, as a crystal mush, and that filter pressing due to compaction of the solid particles by plastic flow or recrystallization removed all but a small percentage of the magmatic fraction which then crystallized following cessation of the movements.