Permeability of stratified sands

Summary The permeability of graded sands was studied in the laboratory to determine the influence, if any, of stratification order on permeability (i.e. the position in which finer or coarser layers occur in the flow path). The evidence suggests that the order of stratification does not influence the order of magnitude of permeability of a sand. This order of magnitude is determined by the fine fraction of the sand. However, the order of stratification does have an influence on the finer details (i.e. variation within the same order of magnitude) of permeability. In this regard, an unsorted sand (all fractions mixed together) has the lowest permeability while a sorted one that has the fine fraction at the end of the sequence has the highest vertical permeability. It is also concluded that empirical formulae that use only the effective size, D ₁₀, to estimate permeability yield results that are comparable with those that incorporate sorting in their formulae. However, experimental results show that these formulae do not yield reliable results when used for more denser sands.     

Separating anthropogenic from natural anomalies in environmental geochemistry

Environmental geochemistry has attracted increasing interest during the last decade. In Sweden, geochemical mapping is carried out with methods that allow the data to be used in environmental research, including sampling plant roots and mosses from streams, soils and bedrock. These three sample types form an integrated strategy in environmental research, as well as in geochemical exploration. However, one problem that becomes prominent in geochemical mapping is to distinguish the signals derived from natural sources from those derived from anthropogenic sources. So far, this has mostly been done by using different types of samples, for example, different soil horizons. This is both expensive and time-consuming.We are currently developing alternative statistical solutions to this problem. The method used here is PLSR (partial least squares regression analysis). In this paper, we present an initial discussion on the applicability of PLSR in differentiating anthropogenic anomalies from natural contents.PLSR performs a simultaneous, interdependent principal component analysis decomposition in both X- and Y-matrices, in such a way that the information in the Y-matrix is used directly as a guide for optimal decomposition of the X-matrix. PLSR thus performs a generalized multivariate regression of Y on X overcoming the multicollinearity problem of correlated X-variables. The advantage of PLSR is that it gives optimal prediction ability in a strict statistical sense.Bedrock geochemistry from different lithologies in the mapping area in southern Sweden (Y-matrix) is analyzed together with stream or soil data (X-matrix). By modelling the PLS-regression between these two data sets, separate multivariate geochemical models based on the different bedrock types were developed. This step is called the training or modelling stage of the multivariate calibration. These calibrated models are subsequently used for predicting new (X) geochemical samples and estimating the corresponding Y-variable values. Information is obtained on how much of the metal contents in each new geochemical sample correlate with the different modelled bedrock types.By computing the appropriate X-residuals, we obtain information on the anthropogenic impact that is also carried by these new samples. In this way, it is possible from one single geochemical survey to derive both conventional geochemical background data and anthropogenic data, both of which can be readily displayed as maps.The present study concerns development of data analysis methods. Examples of the applications of the methodology are presented using Pb and U. The results show the share of these contents in different sampling media that is derived from bedrock on the one hand, and from anthropogenic sources, on the other.     

SILTATION RATE IN A TRENCH DREDGED ON FLOODPLAIN IN ESTUARY

I. INTRODUCTIONA discharge of 100--200 m3 / s is needed to be diverted from a tidal reach and utilized as cooling water for a Droposed power plant in the Yangtze Estuary. The diversionchannel is divided into two parts by a levee along the river bank, an open channel stretchinside the levee is connected with a trench dredged on the floodplain, as shown in Pig. 1.Since the flow and sediment regimes in these two stretches are different, analysis is madeseparately for each of them.11. ESTI…     

A summary of sulfur dioxide emission rate measuremnts from Guatemalan volcanoes

Measurements of the sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emission rate from three Guatemalan volcanoes provide data which are consistent with theoretical and laboratory studies of eruptive and shallow magma chamber processes. In particular, unerupted magma makes a major contribution to the measured SO₂ emission rates at Santiaguito, a continuously erupting dacitic volcanic dome. Varying shallow magma convection rates can explain the variations in SO₂ emission rates at Santiaguito. At Fuego, a basaltic volcano currently in repose, SO₂ emission rate measurements are consistent with a high level magma body that is crystallizing and releasing volatiles. At Pacaya, a continuously erupting basaltic volcano, recent SO₂ emission rate measurements support laboratory simulation studies of strombolian eruptions; these studies indicate that the majority of gas escapes during eruptions and little gas escapes between eruptions.Average SO₂ emission rates over the last 20 years for Santiaguito, Fuego and Pacaya are 80, 160 and 260 Mg/d, respectively. On a global scale, these three volcanoes account for 1% of the annual global volcanic output of SO₂. Santiaguito and Pacaya, together, emit 6% of the total annual SO₂ emitted by continuously erupting volcanoes.Even though SO₂ measurements at these volcanoes have been made infrequently and by different investigators, the collective data help to establish a useful baseline by which to judge future changes. A more complete record of SO₂ emission rates from these volcanoes could lead to a better understanding of their eruption mechanisms and reduce the impact of their future eruptions on Guatemalan society.     

Determination of crustal movements in Turkey by terrestrial geodetic methods

In Turkey, neotectonic activity originated from the collision of the Arabian and Anatolian land masses during the Middle Miocene. As a result of the collision, westward escape of the Anatolian block introduced E-W compression in Western Turkey which began to be relieved by N-S extension. The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is the major active strike-slip fault that was formed under the neotectonic regime. The rates of the motion along this fault estimated by several authors are in the range of 0.4–2.9 cm/a according to kinematic data. In Turkey, the first studies of crustal movements by geodetic methods were started in the west section of the NAF in 1972. So far, individual activities and studies coordinated by multidisciplinary projects have been realized in this region. The results obtained from available geodetic data indicate the motion of the Anatolian block relative to Eurasia.     

2.8-Ma ash-flow caldera at Chegem River in the northern Caucasus Mountains (Russia), contemporaneous granites, and associated ore deposits

Diverse latest Pliocene volcanic and plutonic rocks in the north-central Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia are newly interpreted as components of a large caldera system that erupted a compositionally zoned rhyolite-dacite ash-flow sheet at 2.83 ± 0.02 Ma (sanidine and biotite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar). Despite its location within a cratonic collision zone, the Chegem system is structurally and petrologically similar to typical calderas of continental-margin volcanic arcs. Erosional remnants of the outflow Chegem Tuff sheet extend at least 50 km north from the source caldera in the upper Chegem River. These outflow remnants were previously interpreted by others as erupted from several local vents, but petrologic similarities indicate a common origin and correlation with thick intracaldera Chegem Tuff. The 11 × 15 km caldera and associated intrusions are superbly exposed over a vertical range of 2,300 m in deep canyons above treeline (elev. to 3,800 m). Densely welded intracaldera Chegem Tuff, previously described by others as a rhyolite lava plateau, forms a single cooling unit, is > 2 km thick, and contains large slide blocks from the caldera walls. Caldera subsidence was accommodated along several concentric ring fractures. No prevolcanic floor is exposed within the central core of the caldera. The caldera-filling tuff is overlain by andesitic lavas and cut by a 2.84 ± 0.03-Ma porphyritic granodiorite intrusion that has a cooling age analytically indistinguishable from that of the tuffs. The Eldjurta Granite, a pluton exposed low in the next large canyon (Baksan River) 10 km to the northwest of the caldera, yields variable K-feldspar and biotite ages (2.8 to 1.0 Ma) through a 5-km vertical range in surface and drill-hole samples. These variable dates appear to record a prolonged complex cooling history within upper parts of another caldera-related pluton. Major W-Mo ore deposits at the Tirniauz mine are hosted in skarns and hornfels along the roof of the Eldjurta Granite, and associated aplitic phases have textural features of Climax-type molybdenite porphyries in the western USA. Similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages, mineral chemistry, and bulk-rock compositions indicate that the Chegem Tuff, intracaldera intrusion, and Eldjurta Granite are all parts of a large magmatic system that broadly resembles the middle Tertiary Questa caldera system and associated Mo deposits in northern New Mexico, USA. Because of their young age and superb three-dimensional exposures, rocks of the Chegem-Tirniauz region offer exceptional opportunities for detailed study of caldera structures, compositional gradients in volcanic rocks relative to cogenetic granites, and the thermal and fluid-flow history of a large young upper-crustal magmatic system.     

Die Entstehung der Schichtung in rhythmisch geschichteten Evaporiten

Zusammenfassung Das wesentliche Merkmal rhythmisch geschichteter Evaporite ist der regelmäßige Wechsel von schwerer und leichter löslichen Schichten. Er ist nur mit entsprechenden rhythmischen Konzentrationsschwankungen, speziell in der Oberflächenlösung erklärbar. Diese Schwankungen sind aber nicht durch Temperaturschwankungen, sondern durch Strömungsvorgänge verursacht. Sie sind bei speziellen Annahmen über die hydrodynamischen Auswirkungen des Klimas mit der Barrentheorie bei kontinuierlichem Nachfluß vereinbar. Die Jahresschichtungshypothese ist aber nur begrenzt gültig. In den Endstadien der Salzausscheidung treten gewöhnlich nur noch diskontinuierliche Überflutungen auf, so daß auch keine angenäherte Zeitbestimmung mehr möglich ist.

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Stratification in rhytmic evaporites is expressed in solubility-degrees of the individual laminae. It can be explained by corresponding changes in concentration of surface solutions. Such changes are not created by temperature changes but by sea-currents. Thus, the Bar-theory appears acceptable if certain presumptions as to the hydrodynamic effects of climate are made. The validity of the hypothesis of seasonal stratification, however, is limited since towards the end-stages of salt precipitation, discontinuous brine floods mask the time record.

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Résumé Le caractère essentiel des évaporites formant des couches rythmiques est constitué par l'alternance régulière de couches facilement et difficilement solubles. Celle-ci ne peut s'expliquer que par des variations rythmiques correspondantes de la concentration particulièrement dans la solution superficielle. Ces variations ne proviennent pas de variations de température, mais de phénomènes dus au courant. Elles peuvent être reliées, en partant de considérations spéciales sur les effets hydrodynamiques du climat avec la théorie des barres sous écoulement continu. Cependant l'hypothèse de stratification annuelle n'est valable qu'à un degré limité. Dans les phases terminales de la précipitation du sel il se produit généralement des submersions discontinues de sorte qu'on ne peut plus parvenir à une évaluation approximative du temps.

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