Evidence for the occurrence of hydrogeochemical processes in the groundwater of Khoy plain,northwestern Iran,using ionic ratios and geochemical modeling

Rapid population growth, industrialization, and agricultural expansion in the Khoy area (northwestern Iran) have led to its dependence on groundwater and degradation of groundwater quality. This study attempts to decipher the major processes and factors that degrade the groundwater quality of the Khoy plain. For this purpose, 54 groundwater samples from unconfined and confined aquifers of the plain were collected in July 2017 and analyzed for major cations and anions (Na, K, Ca, Mg, HCO₃, SO_4, and Cl), minor ions (NO₃ and F), and Al. Magnesium and bicarbonate were identified as the dominant cation and anion, respectively. Several ionic ratios and geochemical modeling using PHREEQC indicated that the most important hydrogeochemical processes to affect groundwater quality in the plain were weathering and dissolution of evaporitic and silicate minerals, mixing, and ion exchange. There were smaller effects from evaporation and anthropogenic factors (e.g., industries). Results showed that the high salinity of the groundwater in the northeast area of the plain was due to the high solubility of the evaporitic minerals, e.g., halite and gypsum. Reverse ion exchange and the contribution of mineral dissolution were more significant than ion exchange in the northeastern part of the plain. Elevated salinity of the groundwater in the southeast was attributed mostly to reverse ion exchange and somewhat to evaporation.     

藏南卡鲁雄峰枪勇冰川新冰期冰川发育探讨

山地冰川对气候变化响应敏感,全新世以来,冰川呈加速退缩趋势。冰川地貌是冰川变化最直接的证据。枪勇冰川发源于卡鲁雄峰,位于喜马拉雅山中段北坡雨影区,雅鲁藏布江以南,冰川末端在海拔5000 m附近,冰川面积约为6.63 km2。枪勇沟从外至内共保存有4期冰碛垄,其中以"大枪勇错"外侧的新冰期冰碛垄最为高大,终碛垄高约30 m,且形态清晰。文章基于野外观察及谷歌影像（Google Earth）上冰碛垄的分布范围,恢复并计算了新冰期时枪勇冰川面积约为10.0 km2,较现代冰川扩张了1.5倍。采用VOLTA模型计算了现代冰川的体积为0.21±0.04 km3,平均厚度约为31.7 m。基于纵剖线模型模拟了新冰期冰川表面高程,新冰期冰川平均厚度约为58.5 m,冰川体积约0.59±0.12 km3,是现代冰川体积的2.8倍,体积减小较面积退缩更为剧烈。利用积累区面积比率法（Accumulation Area Ratio Method,简称AAR）,采用AAR值为0.7±0.05,基于现代冰川表面高程和模拟的新冰期冰川表面高程,计算现代冰川和新冰期冰川的物质平衡线高度（Equilibrium Line Altitude,简称ELA）分别为5780±70 m和5660±100 m,新冰期时平衡线高度降低了约120 m。而不利用模型恢复新冰期表面高程时,平衡线降低值为240 m,可能高估约120 m。新冰期时,枪勇冰川扩张受区域降温控制,冰川前进可能是对4.2 ka冷事件的响应。冰碛垄形成时代和大枪勇错孢粉数据表明,冰川可能在2.5 ka左右已经退缩,2.2 ka时退缩加剧。     

Computing the Sensitivity Kernels for 2.5-D Seismic Waveform Inversion in Heterogeneous,Anisotropic Media

2.5-D modeling and inversion techniques are much closer to reality than the simple and traditional 2-D seismic wave modeling and inversion. The sensitivity kernels required in full waveform seismic tomographic inversion are the Fréchet derivatives of the displacement vector with respect to the independent anisotropic model parameters of the subsurface. They give the sensitivity of the seismograms to changes in the model parameters. This paper applies two methods, called ‘the perturbation method’ and ‘the matrix method’, to derive the sensitivity kernels for 2.5-D seismic waveform inversion. We show that the two methods yield the same explicit expressions for the Fréchet derivatives using a constant-block model parameterization, and are available for both the line-source (2-D) and the point-source (2.5-D) cases. The method involves two Green’s function vectors and their gradients, as well as the derivatives of the elastic modulus tensor with respect to the independent model parameters. The two Green’s function vectors are the responses of the displacement vector to the two directed unit vectors located at the source and geophone positions, respectively; they can be generally obtained by numerical methods. The gradients of the Green’s function vectors may be approximated in the same manner as the differential computations in the forward modeling. The derivatives of the elastic modulus tensor with respect to the independent model parameters can be obtained analytically, dependent on the class of medium anisotropy. Explicit expressions are given for two special cases—isotropic and tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media. Numerical examples are given for the latter case, which involves five independent elastic moduli (or Thomsen parameters) plus one angle defining the symmetry axis.     

A multi-equation spatial econometric model,with application to EU manufacturing productivity growth

A multi-equation spatial econometric model is used to explain variations across EU regions in manufacturing productivity growth based on recent theoretical developments in urban economics and economic geography. The paper shows that temporal and spatial parameter homogeneity is an unrealistic assumption, contrary to what is typically assumed in the literature. Constraints are imposed on parameters across time periods and between core and peripheral regions of the EU, with the significant loss of fit providing overwhelming evidence of parameter heterogeneity, although the final model does highlight increasing returns to scale, which is a central feature of contemporary theory.      

Assessing landslide movements in volcanic islands using near-shore marine geophysical data: south Pico island,Azores

Marine geophysical data from around the submarine flanks of volcanic islands can potentially help to resolve whether large-scale instability of an edifice has been geologically recently active. We use geophysical data to investigate part of the coast of Pico Island of the Azores where, above sea-level, a major slump of Topo volcano has been interpreted previously from arcuate escarpments and a rugged irregular topography seaward of them. Multibeam echo-sounder data collected offshore of this feature show remarkably little evidence for slump fault movements in the island's submarine slope. Mid-slope benches, like those associated with the Hilina Slump of Kilauea, are absent. The high-resolution data extends onto the island's shelf, allowing us to evaluate evidence for continuing activity there. In particular, as the shelf's rock platform will have been last modified by surf erosion during the postglacial period of sea-level transgression, it provides a reference surface of intermediate age (7–19 ka) that can potentially reveal whether any movements occurred in pre-historic times. Where the arcuate escarpments are continued offshore, the modern seabed shows no bathymetric evidence for active faults where the shelf rock platform crops out in the multibeam data. Elsewhere, mobile shelf sediments could be disguising evidence for active faulting so we examined boomer profiles able to image the rock platform beneath them. The data reveal a platform that is steep (6.6°) compared with the dips of platforms that we have studied previously around the coast of adjacent Faial Island and steeper than the platform outside the proposed slump. This suggests that it was created by coastal erosion over a shorter period and hence is consistent with a younger age of the coastline. As with the multibeam data, where escarpments are continued offshore onto the shelf, the rock surface imaged with these boomer data also shows no clear evidence of major slump-related fault displacements. This study therefore illustrates how high-resolution boomer seismic and multibeam data could usefully contribute to hazard assessment of volcanic islands, by helping to evaluate areas with no historical movements. Explanations to reconcile the onshore and offshore data here are also put forward.     

二维小波变换与中值滤波联合去噪方法研究

由于随机噪声是一种频带较宽的干扰波,因此依靠单一的去噪处理方式往往难以获得清晰反映目标体的地震信息。小波变换能够较好的去除高斯噪声,保留有效波中、高频成分,提高记录的信噪比,但去除脉冲噪声的效果却并不理想;中值滤波具有良好的边缘保持特性,虽低频去噪声效果有限,但去除脉冲噪声效果明显。因此可利用二维小波变换与中值滤波优势互补的方法,进行叠前去噪处理,达到去除宽频随机噪声的目的。首先运用二维小波变换的理论,采用自适应门限阀值方法进行去噪,同时结合中值滤波方法联合去噪。模型与实际数据的应用效果表明,联合去噪方法可有效压制噪声能量、保留高频有效信号、提高地震记录信噪比与分辨率。     

The Proterozoic,albitite-hosted,Valhalla uranium deposit,Queensland, Australia: a description of the alteration assemblage associated with uranium mineralisation in diamond drill hole V39

The Valhalla uranium deposit, located 40 km north of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia, is an albitite-hosted, Mesoproterozoic U deposit similar to albitite-hosted uranium deposits in the Ukraine, Sweden, Brazil and Guyana. Uranium mineralisation is hosted by a thick package of interbedded fine-grained sandstones, arkoses and gritty siltstones that are bound by metabasalts belonging to the ca. 1,780 Ma Eastern Creek Volcanics in the Western Succession of the Mount Isa basin. Alteration associated with U mineralisation can be divided into an early, main and late stage. The early stage is dominated by laminated and intensely altered rock comprising albite, reibeckite, calcite, (titano)magnetite ± brannerite. The main stage of mineralisation is dominated by brecciated and intensely altered rocks that comprise laminated and intensely altered rock cemented by brannerite, apatite, (uranoan)-zircon, uraninite, anatase, albite, reibeckite, calcite and hematite. The late stage of mineralisation comprises uraninite, red hematite, dolomite, calcite, chlorite, quartz and Pb-, Fe-, Cu-sulfides. Brannerite has U–Pb and Pb–Pb ages that indicate formation between 1,555 and 1,510 Ma, with significant Pb loss evident at ca. 1,200 Ma, coincident with the assemblage of Rodinia. The oldest ages of the brannerite overlap with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 1,533 ± 9 Ma and 1,551 ± 7 Ma from early and main-stage reibeckite and are interpreted to represent the timing of formation of the deposit. These ages coincide with the timing of peak metamorphism in the Mount Isa area during the Isan Orogeny. Lithogeochemical assessment of whole rock data that includes mineralised and unmineralised samples from the greater Mount Isa district reveals that mineralisation involved the removal of K, Ba and Si and the addition of Na, Ca, U, V, Zr, P, Sr, F and Y. U/Th ratios indicate that the ore-forming fluid was oxidised, whereas the crystal chemistry of apatite and reibeckite within the ore zone suggests that F⁻ and were important ore-transporting complexes. δ¹⁸O values of co-existing calcite and reibeckite indicate that mineralisation occurred between 340 and 380°C and involved a fluid having δ¹⁸O_fluid values between 6.5 and 8.6‰. Reibeckite δD values reveal that the ore fluid had a δD_fluid value between −98 and −54‰. The mineral assemblages associated with early and main stages of alteration, plus δ¹⁸O_fluid and δD_fluid values, and timing of the U mineralisation are all very similar to those associated with Na–Ca alteration in the Eastern Succession of the Mount Isa basin, where a magmatic fluid is favoured for this style of alteration. However, isotopic data from Valhalla is also consistent with that from the nearby Mount Isa Cu deposit where a basinal brine is proposed for the transport of metals to the deposit. Based on the evidence to hand, the source fluids could have been derived from either or both the metasediments that underlie the Eastern Creek Volcanics or magmatism that is manifest in the Mount Isa area as small pegmatite dykes that intruded during the Isan Orogeny.     

An analysis of climatic and human induced determinants of agricultural land use changes in Shupiyan area of Jammu and Kashmir state,India

The economy of the Jammu and Kashmir state depends mostly on traditional forms of occupation. Unaffected and unaltered by modern day industrial developments and changing times, the indigenous traditional occupations of farming, animal husbandry and horticulture forms the backbone of the state economy. But in the last few decades, Agriculture in the state as well as the study area is receiving a set back and Horticulture is flourishing leaps and bounds. The present study aims to analyze various determinants responsible for this change. Climatic as well as field data was thoroughly analyzed to comprehend the situation. A Mann–Kendall test was done on the climatic data to support the hypotheses. It was observed that initially changing climatic trends proved to be the triggering factor supporting this change, but in due course of time, the determinants took an economic and psychological turn. The perusal of Indian Meteorological Data reveals an increasing trend of annual mean maximum temperature from 16.78 °C in 1985 to 17.58 °C in 1995 and an increase from 5.30 °C to 7.00 °C in the annual mean minimum temperature, and as such acting as a triggering factor for the land use conversion. Further, the mean annual rainfall shows a decrease from 100.75 mm in 1981 to 79.43 mm in 1991. The greater economic returns from horticulture as well as the changing behavioral patterns of people over the time further cemented its growth. The farmers have since persisted with the horticulture activity as it has proven to be an economically a much better lucrative enterprise.     

铺设企业可持续发展之路——用科学发展观统领企业文化建设

企业文化是现代企业竞争力的源泉,是企业经营战略的指南针,是企业核心竞争力的灵魂,是企业创新的源动力。科学发展观的第一要义是发展,落实科学发展观与构建先进文化的出发点和落脚点都是促进企业发展。加强科学发展观统领下的企业文化建设,倡导健康向上的企业文化,营造诚信、创新、敬业、精业的企业文化氛围．对建立和发展社会主义市场经济具有积极的现实意义。科学发展观指导下的企业文化建设应坚持以人为本原则、创新原则及可协调发展原则。构建企业文化应遵循文化发展规律,做到从实际出发,创建特色文化,并将企业文化融于制度建设,保证企业文化能够固化于制、执行到位。科学发展观统领企业文化建设应具备三个特征：高度的战略性、鲜明的时代性、价值的统一性。     

Electrical and electromagnetic surveys to locate possible causes of water seepage to ground surface at a quarry open pit near Helwan city,Egypt

Water seepage to ground surface at a limestone quarry located at Wadi Garawy about 20 km south-east of Helwan city in Egypt posed a real threat to the mining activity at the quarry. The quarry area is known to be very dry for decades and away from water utilities and infrastructures that may cause water leaks to the quarry. Geophysical investigation including 1D Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES), 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and 1D Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) surveys were conducted to characterize the rock sequence and locate what could be a possible source of water seepage to the quarry. The resistivity profiles generated from the VES and TEM surveys mapped the rock units in the area down to depths exceeded 100 m. The ERT profiles acquired from the quarrying zone close to the water seepage spot have imaged the top of groundwater level at few meters below the ground surface at the quarry open pit. The spot of groundwater seepage seemed to occur at an area of limestone dissolution that were filled by finer sediments. The finer sediments acted as a hydrological conduit that allowed an upward seepage of groundwater to ground surface under the capillary action effect.