Application of environmental isotopes to groundwater recharge studies in a semi-arid fractured crystalline basement area of Dodoma, Tanzania

The distribution of ¹⁸O and ²H in various water sources indicates that groundwater recharge is due to local rainfall occurring within the basins. Groundwater recharge takes place under a bypass flow mechanism and matrix diffuse flow and is 3% and 2% of the long-term mean annual rainfall of 550 mm for the Makutapora and Hombolo basins, respectively. Chloride mass balance indicates that 60% and 40% of the total groundwater recharge takes place through macropores and matrix flow, respectively. Sporadic variations in ¹⁸O, ²H and chloride among adjacent boreholes suggest existence of a discrete fractured aquifer and/or dominance of local recharge. The relationship between δ²H and chloride indicates that groundwater salinization is due to the leaching of surficial and soil salts during high intensity rainfall, which causes high surface runoff and flash floods. It has been concluded that the isotopic and chemical character of groundwater in fractured semi-arid areas may provide the most effective complementary means of groundwater recharge assessment and therefore is very useful in the management of the water resources.     

Computerization of Rock Engineering Systems Using Neural Networks with an Expert System

Summary With the Rock Engineering Systems (RES) methodology, rock mechanics and rock engineering problems are studied systematically using a total systems approach, incorporating rock mass properties, interrelated parameters, complex interaction mechanisms and dynamic behavioral modes. In this paper, a method of implementation and computerization of RES is considered, using neural networks together with an expert system. The computerized RES starts with the data processing of rock mass properties and boundary conditions and data base management of rock engineering case records. This step is followed by building and operating parameter interaction matrices with the combined use of backpropagation networks and an expert system. Finally, a simulator for modelling the dynamic process of rock engineering systems using the Hopfield network is incorporated. With the aid of neural networks' learning capability and expert system's symbol-reasoning capability, the RES approach is implemented in an “intelligent” mode.     

阿肯色北部南奥扎克穹丘的相关走向滑动和正断层作用:晚古生代前陆变形

虽然大陆前陆地区的应变低于相邻的边缘造山运动带 ,但由于它们对①同构造期沉积 ,②从造山运动带驱出的碳氢化合物和成矿流体通道及③地下水资源分布具有潜在的控制作用 ,所以前陆岩石构造是十分重要的 ,前陆变形也为克拉通边缘构造史提供了有价值的见解 ,尤其是邻近造山带保存不完整时更是如此。奥扎克穹丘位于晚古生代沃希托褶皱冲断层带前陆 ,形成了北美克拉通南部边缘的侧翼。穹丘以塞勒姆高原和圣弗兰西斯山脉顶部穿过 ,向西南进入阿克玛前陆盆地和沃希托褶皱冲断层带。综合整个区域来看 ,阿肯色北部的奥托克穹丘南翼被描绘成典型的由…     

Geochronologic and paleomagnetic evidence defining the relationship between the Miocene Hiko and Racer Canyon tuffs, eccentric outflow lobes from the Caliente caldera complex, southeastern Great Basin, USA

 Outflow sheets of the Hiko tuff and the Racer Canyon tuff, which together extend over approximately 16 000 km² around the Caliente caldera complex in southeastern Nevada, have long been considered to be products of simultaneous or near-simultaneous eruptions from inset calderas in the west and east ends, respectively, of the caldera complex. New high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology and paleomagnetic data demonstrate that emplacement of the uppermost part of the Racer Canyon tuff at 18.33±0.03 Ma was nearly synchronous with emplacement of the single outflow cooling unit of the much larger overlying Hiko tuff at 18.32±0.04 Ma. Based on comparison with the geomagnetic polarity time scale derived from the sea-floor spreading record, we conclude that emplacement of the first of several outflow cooling units of the Racer Canyon tuff commenced approximately 0.5 m.y. earlier. Only one paleomagnetic polarity is found in the Hiko tuff, but at least two paleomagnetic reversals have been found in the Racer Canyon tuff. The two formations overlap in only one place, at and near Panaca Summit northeast of the center of the Caliente caldera complex; here the Hiko tuff is stratigraphically above the Racer Canyon tuff. This study demonstrates the power of combining ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and paleomagnetic data in conjunction with phenocryst compositional modes to resolve problematic stratigraphic correlations in complex ash-flow sequences where use of one method alone might not eliminate ambiguities. Received: 13 January 1997 / Accepted: 7 May 1997     

Indirect estimation of energy disposition by non-thermal electrons in solar flares

The broad-band EUV and microwave fluxes correlate strongly with hard X-ray fluxes in the impulsive phase of a solar flare. This note presents numerical aids for the estimation of the non-thermal electron fluxes from these correlations, using the SFD (sudden frequency deviation) ionospheric data to measure the EUV flux.     

The mean transmission properties of a fault with imperfect facial contact

A model of a fault where the two faces do not exactly conform is characterized by a distribution of approximately circular contacts; elsewhere, the faces are stress-free. This contrasts with most earlier models, which have assumed the contact geometry to be equivalent to a plane distribution of approximately circular cracks. The contact regions in the present model are taken to be sparsely distributed, and averaged interface conditions are derived that are accurate to second order. At lowest order they agree with established formulae for the normal stiffness of non-conforming surfaces. These averaged, or mean, conditions are expected to hold at wavelengths long compared with the radii and spacing distance of the contact points. Unsurprisingly, they are equivalent to the continuity conditions for a thin elastic layer whose properties are given here in terms of the parameters of the contact surface.     

10Be exposure age constraints on the Late Weichselian ice‐sheet geometry and dynamics in inter‐ice‐stream areas,western Svalbard

The Late Weichselian ice sheet of western Svalbard was characterized by ice streams and inter‐ice‐stream areas. To reconstruct its geometry and dynamics we investigated the glacial geology of two areas on the island of Prins Karls Forland and the Mitrahalvøya peninsula. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure dating of glacial erratics and bedrock was used to constrain past ice thickness, providing minimum estimates in both areas. Contrary to previous studies, we found that Prins Karls Forland experienced a westward ice flux from Spitsbergen. Ice thickness reached >470 m a.s.l., and warm‐based conditions occurred periodically. Local deglaciation took place between 16 and 13 ka. At Mitrahalvøya, glacier ice draining the Krossfjorden basin reached >300 m a.s.l., and local deglaciation occurred at c. 13 ka. We propose the following succession of events for the last deglaciation. After the maximum glacier extent, ice streams in the cross‐shelf troughs and fjords retreated, tributary ice streams formed in Forlandsundet and Krossfjorden, and, finally, local ice caps were isolated over both Prins Karls Forland and Mitrahalvøya and their adjacent shelves.     

Sustainable groundwater resources, Heretaunga Plains, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

 The Heretaunga Plains, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, is underlain by Quaternary fluvial, estuarine-lagoonal, and marine deposits infilling a subsiding syncline. Within the depositional sequence, river-channel gravels form one of the most important aquifer systems in New Zealand. An interconnected unconfined–confined aquifer system contains groundwater recharged from the Ngaruroro River bed at the inland margin of the plain, 20 km from the coast. At the coast, gravel aquifers extend to a depth of 250 m. In 1994–95, 66 Mm³ of high quality groundwater was abstracted for city and rural water supply, agriculture, industry, and horticulture. Use of groundwater, particularly for irrigation, has increased in the last 5 years. Concern as to the sustainability of the groundwater resource led to a research programme (1991–96). This paper presents the results and recommends specific monitoring and research work to refine the groundwater balance, and define and maintain the sustainable yield of the aquifer system. Three critical management factors are identified. These are (1) to ensure maintenance of consistent, unimpeded groundwater recharge from the Ngaruroro River; (2) to specifically monitor groundwater levels and quality at the margins of the aquifer system, where transmissivity is <5000 m²/d and summer groundwater levels indicate that abstraction exceeds recharge; (3) to review groundwater-quality programs to ensure that areas where contamination vulnerability is identified as being highest are covered by regular monitoring. Received, January 1998 / Revised, August 1998, March 1999 / Accepted, April 1999     

Cyprus umbers: Chemical precipitates on a Tethyan ocean ridge

Iron-rich mudstones (umbers), directly overlying pillow lavas of the Troodos Massif, Cyprus, are interpreted as precipitates connected with late stages of volcanism on a Cretaceous ocean ridge. Chemical composition of the basal sediments allies them with the basal iron-rich sediments of the East Pacific Rise. Overlying radiolarites and chalks are more comparable to normal pelagic sediments. Sedimentary features and stratigraphic relations suggest rapid deposition of umbers, relative to the overlying sediments.