Impact of changing climate and land use on the hydrogeology of southeast Australia ∗

Anthropogenic climate change is the Earth's most serious large-scale environmental concern. While the projected changes of global temperatures, rainfall and surface water have been modelled in a sophisticated manner, the impact on groundwater resources is much less well constrained. In southeast Australia, the decrease in rainfall amount and an increase in temperature that are predicted by climate models are generally assumed to reduce the amount of recharge to the groundwater systems. However, the increase in recharge that has resulted from clearing of the native vegetation will almost certainly produce a greater impact on the groundwater system, increasing quantity and potentially improving quality. Additionally, the impact on recharge of changes to rainfall frequency rather than just total amount is not well documented. Overall our understanding of the impacts of climate change on groundwater systems is insufficiently advanced to make firm predictions. Indirect impacts of climate change, particularly the projected increased demand for groundwater or surface water to supplement surface water supplies also will have a major impact that may be greater than the direct effect of climate change.     

水-岩-气相互作用引起的水化学动态变化研究--以桂林岩溶试验场为例

利用多参数自动记录仪对桂林岩溶试验场的降水量、水位、水温、pH值和电导率进行了监测,数据采集间隔根据参数变化的程度由2min到1h不等。结果发现,岩溶裂隙水在洪水期间pH值呈降低趋势,而电导率呈升高的不寻常变化。与此相反,对于岩溶管道水,同样是在洪水期间,它的pH值是升高的,而电导率呈正常的降低。考虑到Ca2 和HCO-3分别为地下水中主要的阴阳离子(>90%),及它们与电导率的线性关系,计算得到了洪水期间方解石的饱和指数(SIc)和水的CO2分压(Pco2)的变化情况。发现洪水时裂隙水的Pco2高于正常情况的Pco2,而它的SIc值比正常情况低。与此相对,对于管道水,尽管同一洪水期间其SIc降低,但Pco2也降低。从这些结果,可以推断,至少有两个关键的过程控制着洪水期间的水化学变化。一个是雨水的稀释作用,另一个是水-岩-气的相互作用。然而,对于裂隙水来说,后者的作用可能更重要,即在洪水期间,高浓度的土壤CO2溶解于水中,则更具侵蚀性的水能溶解更多的石灰岩,从而增强水的电导率。而对于管道水,雨水的稀释作用更重要,因为研究区较高的pH和低电导率的雨水能更快地通过管道流出,所以,要了解岩溶系统水化学的变化,仅考虑水-岩相互作用是不够的,我们还必须重视CO2气体对岩溶系统中水化学变化的影响。总之,水-岩-气相互作     

运城盆地地下水同位素年龄特征及其演化过程和可持续利用

通过分析运城盆地地下水的碳同位素组成,结合水化学特征,揭示了盆地深层承压地下水的补给期为22～3 ka BP （现代碳百分比(a¹⁴C) 6~38 pmC）。浅层地下水（71~89 pmC）由现代水或现代水和老水混合组成。深层地下水氢氧同位素组成特征（δ¹⁸O~-10‰; δ²H~-70‰）表明地下老水在气候较冷的环境下受到补给,而浅层地下水的氢氧同位素组成（δ¹⁸O~-8‰; δ²H～-51‰）特征与现代西安降水组成相似。浅层地下水NO^-₃平均含量（31mg/L）比深层地下水（1.8 mg/L）高,硝酸盐的δ¹⁵N－δ¹⁸O_NO3 组成 (0‰～5‰）揭示了硝酸盐的主要来源为综合肥料。此外,浅层地下水的TDS由于蒸散发、矿物溶解,可达8.5 g/L（平均2.0 g/L）,深层地下老水TDS可达1.8 g/L（平均1.1g/L）水质相对较好。研究区目前主要开采深层地下水,受断裂带影响,浅层地下水已经侵入中深层地下水并与之发生混合,严重影响了中深层地下水的水质。如果发生大规模的浅层地下水与中深层地下水混合,会造成中深层地下老水的NO^-₃、TDS等含量越来越高。     

In the field with Joe: early excursions of the Freelance Geological Society

Fieldwork in the twenty-first century is the subject of health and safety legislation and paperwork, as we don our luminous jackets and protective helmets. Sometimes, the geology can feel like an afterthought. Contrast this with the Freelance Geological Society in the late 1940s and after, in the field most weekends, collecting, climbing and caving, in a post-war world with abundant quarries and mines.     

A diffuse bubble-like radio-halo source MRC 0116+111: imprint of AGN feedback in a low-mass cluster of galaxies

We present detailed observations of MRC 0116+111, revealing a luminous, miniradio halo of ∼240-kpc diameter located at the centre of a cluster of galaxies at redshift   z = 0.131  . Our optical and multiwavelength Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Very Large Array radio observations reveal a highly unusual radio source: showing a pair of giant (∼100-kpc diameter) bubble-like diffuse structures, that are about three times larger than the analogous extended radio emission observed in M87 – the dominant central radio galaxy in the Virgo cluster. However, in MRC 0116+111 we do not detect any ongoing active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, such as a compact core or active radio jets feeding the plasma bubbles. The radio emitting relativistic particles and magnetic fields were probably seeded in the past by a pair of radio jets originating in the AGN of the central cD galaxy. The extremely steep high-frequency radio spectrum of the north-western bubble, located ∼100 kpc from cluster centre, indicates radiation losses, possibly because having detached, it is rising buoyantly and moving away into the putative hot intracluster medium. The other bubble, closer to the cluster centre, shows signs of ongoing particle re-acceleration. We estimate that the radio jets which inflated these two bubbles might have also fed enough energy into the intracluster medium to create an enormous system of cavities and shock fronts, and to drive a massive outflow from the AGN, which could counter-balance and even quench a cooling flow. Therefore, this source presents an excellent opportunity to understand the energetics and the dynamical evolution of radio jet inflated plasma bubbles in the hot cluster atmosphere.     

Interacting effects of vegetation, soils and management on the sensitivity of Australian savanna rangelands to climate change

There is an increasing need to understand what makes vegetation at some locations more sensitive to climate change than others. For savanna rangelands, this requires building knowledge of how forage production in different land types will respond to climate change, and identifying how location-specific land type characteristics, climate and land management control the magnitude and direction of its responses to change. Here, a simulation analysis is used to explore how forage production in 14 land types of the north-eastern Australian rangelands responds to three climate change scenarios of +3°C, +17% rainfall; +2°C, ?7% rainfall; and +3°C, ?46% rainfall. Our results demonstrate that the controls on forage production responses are complex, with functional characteristics of land types interacting to determine the magnitude and direction of change. Forage production may increase by up to 60% or decrease by up to 90% in response to the extreme scenarios of change. The magnitude of these responses is dependent on whether forage production is water or nitrogen (N) limited, and how climate changes influence these limiting conditions. Forage production responds most to changes in temperature and moisture availability in land types that are water-limited, and shows the least amount of change when growth is restricted by N availability. The fertilisation effects of doubled atmospheric CO₂ were found to offset declines in forage production under 2°C warming and a 7% reduction in rainfall. However, rising tree densities and declining land condition are shown to reduce potential opportunities from increases in forage production and raise the sensitivity of pastures to climate-induced water stress. Knowledge of these interactions can be applied in engaging with stakeholders to identify adaptation options.     

Geochemical and isotopic constraints on the interaction between saline lakes and groundwater in southeast Australia

Major ion and stable isotope geochemistry allow groundwater/surface-water interaction associated with saline to hypersaline lakes from the Willaura region of Australia to be understood. Ephemeral lakes lie above the water table and locally contain saline water (total dissolved solids, TDS, contents up to 119,000 mg/L). Saline lakes that lack halite crusts and which have Cl/Br ratios similar to local surface water and groundwater are throughflow lakes with high relative rates of groundwater outflows. Permanent hypersaline lakes contain brines with TDS contents of up to 280,000 mg/L and low Cl/Br ratios due to the formation of halite in evaporite crusts. These lakes are throughflow lakes with relatively low throughflow rates relative to evaporation or terminal discharge lakes. Variations in stable isotope and major ion geochemistry show that the hypersaline lakes undergo seasonal cycles of mineral dissolution and precipitation driven by the influx of surface water and evaporation. Despite the generation of highly saline brines in these lakes, leakage from the adjacent ephemeral lakes or saline throughflow lakes that lack evaporite crusts is mainly responsible for the high salinity of shallow groundwater in this region.     

Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of rainfall and dripwater at DeSoto Caverns (Alabama, USA): Key to understanding past variability of moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico

The Southeast and the US Gulf Coast in particular are notably lacking isotope data in the water cycle despite the fact that moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has a considerable influence on both regional and continental rainfall patterns. This study reports time-series of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes acquired over a 3-year period (2005-2008) from GOM-derived rainfall, cave dripwater and shallow groundwaters, and offers valuable insights on the links between factors controlling regional rainfall and the ubiquitous karst hydrology.Amount-weighted mean monthly rainwater δ¹⁸O and δD values in Tuscaloosa, Alabama range from −1.5 to −8.3‰ and −1.2 to −49.5‰, respectively, and show mean seasonal amplitudes of ∼4‰ (δ¹⁸O) and ∼25‰ (δD). In comparison d-excess values display large seasonal amplitudes of 10-20‰ resulting from differences in the degree of evaporation from falling raindrops between summer and winter months, and correlate well with the coeval air temperature (r² = 0.59; p < 0.05). Deviations of the Gulf Coast Meteoric Water Line (GCMWL) slope and d-excess from the global meteoric water line (GMWL) are attributed to different rates of evaporation after condensation, and to humidity contrast between the cloud boundary layer and the surrounding atmosphere in the vapor source region, respectively. Rainfall amounts declined during the study interval from an excessive “wet” year, ascribed to six tropical storms incursions during an unusually active hurricane season in 2005, to an onset of a regional drought during 2007-2008 with monthly rainfall amounts substantially below normal values (30-year monthly means). An interannual trend of ¹⁸O and ²H enrichments is discerned from 2005 to 2008 (1.4‰ and 11.6‰, respectively) coeval with the decline in rainfall amounts.Dripwater samples from nearby DeSoto Caverns show weak δ¹⁸O and δD seasonal variations and record only 20% and 51% of the ¹⁸O and ²H enrichments, respectively, discerned in the rainwater 3-year time-trends. The seasonal and interannual amplitude attenuations in the dripwaters are attributed to a relatively thick overlying bedrock (∼30-40 m) and a relatively large, well-mixed, epikarst-storage reservoir. Residence time of water in the cave’s epikarst is estimated to be 1-3 months based on high-resolution flow-rate data.Our investigation suggests that global atmospheric circulation patterns (ENSO and Bermuda High) likely govern the interannual δ¹⁸O and δD isotope trends discerned in the water cycle compartments but much longer time-series are required to confirm our conjectures. The results of this study form a solid basis for future acquisition and interpretation of climate proxy records from regional speleothems.