A numerical study of the influence from pre‐existing cracks on granite rock fragmentation at percussive drilling

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pre‐existing, or structural, cracks on dynamic fragmentation of granite. Because of the complex behavior of rock materials, a continuum approach is employed relying upon a plasticity model with yield surface locus as a quadratic function of the mean pressure in the principal stress space coupled with an anisotropic damage model. In particular, Bohus granite rock is investigated, and the material parameters are chosen based on previous experiments. The equation of motion is discretized using a finite element approach, and the explicit time integration method is employed. The pre‐existing cracks are introduced in the model by considering sets of elements with negligible tensile strength that leads to their immediate failure when loaded in tension even though they still carry compressive loads as crack closure occurs because of compressive stresses. Previously performed edge‐on impact tests are reconsidered here to validate the numerical model. Percussive drilling is simulated, and the influence of the presence of pre‐existing cracks is studied. The results from the analysis with different crack lengths and orientations are compared in terms of penetration stiffness and fracture pattern. It is shown that pre‐existing cracks in all investigated cases facilitate the drilling process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards monitoring groundwater‐dependent ecosystems using synthetic aperture radar imagery

Mapping of groundwater‐dependent ecosystems (GDEs) relies largely on assumption‐laden evaporation models, and few global, direct, and real‐time monitoring techniques exist. We propose a new synthetic aperture radar imagery‐derived index, SARGDE, to identify and monitor these ecosystems across Australia. The index captures vegetation reliance on groundwater during dry periods by estimating the relative stability of foliage and branch structure from the vertical/horizontal cross‐polarized band and InSAR coherence. SARGDE is tested over two contrasting study sites in Australia. To build and verify the index, a total of 90 Sentinel‐1 interferometric wide images are processed and stacked in two data‐cubes. GDE response to the SAR signal is explored using a non‐linear dimension reduction algorithm. Relevant statistical parameters are derived from data‐cubes and combined to form the index. As the index relies on a 1‐year time series of globally, freely available, and cloud‐insensitive SAR imagery, SARGDE offers unprecedented capabilities for large‐scale, annual monitoring of GDEs. Such monitoring will aid reconciliation of human and ecosystem groundwater needs by acting as a systematic monitoring tool, helping policy makers to assure ecosystem sustainability where impacts related to mining, agriculture, or climate change may occur.     

Improvement of the solute transfer in a conceptual unsaturated zone scheme: a case study of the Seine River basin

For predicting the evolution of solute concentrations in groundwater and testing the impact of remediation policies, a coupling between the agronomical model STICS and the hydrogeological model MODCOU was implemented. When applied to the Seine River basin, this model accurately represents the temporal evolution of average nitrate concentrations in the aquifer, but with large local errors. We propose an improvement to the simple unsaturated zone (UZ) scheme NonsatSW used in STICS–MODCOU. The modifications are based on a comparison with the mechanistic model Metis considered as a reference as it solves Richards' equation. A more realistic saturation profile and a varying percolation rate are integrated in NonsatSW. This new model, named NonsatVG, is assessed by comparing it with NonsatSW and Metis. In an ideal case, NonsatVG generates a solute transfer and a dispersion closer to that of Metis than of NonsatSW. In real cases, without additional calibration, NonsatVG and Metis simulate better the average transfer velocities of the observed nitrate profiles. Furthermore, modifications in NonsatVG give a direct relationship between the depth of the water table and the saturation profile. We obtain, therefore, as in Metis, an evolution of the solute transfer velocity depending on the piezometric level. These dynamics are not simulated in NonsatSW. Despite a modified water transfer through the UZ, NonsatVG is also as valid as NonsatSW in the modelling of water transfer to the saturated zone. Finally, an application to the Seine basin shows that solute transfer velocities are lower with NonsatVG than with NonsatSW, but are in better agreement with literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Mesoproterozoic in the Nordic countries

During the Mesoproterozoic, central Fennoscandia and Laurentia （Greenland） were characterized by a weakly extensional stress regime, as evident from episodic rapakivi granites, dolerite dykes, continental rift intrusives, sandstone basins and continental flood basalts. Along the southwestern active margin of Fennoscandia, the 1.64-1.52 Ga Gothian and 1.52-1.48 Ga Telemarkian accretionary events resulted in oceanwards continental growth. The 1.47-1.42 Ga Hallandian- Danopolonian event included high-grade metamorphism and granite magmatism in southern Fennoscandia. The pre-Sveconorwegian 1.34-1.14 Ga period is characterized by bimodal magmatism associated with sedimentation, possibly reflecting transcurrent tectonics. The Sveconorwegian orogeny involved polyphase imbrication of terranes between 1.14 and 0.97 Ga, as a result of a collision between Baltica and another major plate, followed by relaxation and post-collisional magmatism between 0. 96 and 0. 90 Ga. Recent geologic data support classical models restoring the Sveconorwegian belt directly to the east of the Grenville belt of Laurentia at 1.0 Ga. Fragments of Paleo-to Mesoproterozoic crust showing late Grenvillian-Sveconorwegian （1.00-0.92 Ga） magmatism and/or metamorphism are exposed in several tectonic levels in the Caledonides of Scandinavia, Svalbard and East Greenland, on both sides of the inferred Iapetus suture. Linking these fragments into a coherent late-Grenvillian tectonic model, however, require additional study.     

Coversand and Pleistocene palaeosols in the Landes region,southwestern France

New sections in the coversand of the Landes region, southwestern France, show at least two main depositional phases corresponding to the Upper Pleniglacial and the Lateglacial, which are separated by palaeosols. The lower palaeosol, a gleyic to histic cryosol overlying a net of sand wedges and dated to ca. 23 ¹⁴C ka BP, testifies to a short occurrence of permafrost. Impeded drainage due to the frozen subsoil is assumed to be the main factor involved in lowered aeolian transport and soil formation. Pollen analysis indicates a shrub tundra‐type environment. The overlying coversand unit is associated with small transverse ridges or sheet‐like deposits, and corresponds to the maximal extension of the sands, Upper Pleniglacial in age. An incipient podzol developed on the dunes under a boreal pine forest, and has been dated to 11.5–12 ¹⁴C ka BP, i.e. to the Allerød period. This has been buried by the second coversand unit during the Younger Dryas, typified by abundant denivation features and root imprints. Although preliminary, the chronology of sand deposition in the Landes region appears thus to be roughly similar to that found for the other European coversands, showing that all were the result of similar western European climatic changes, i.e. repeated episodes of increasing aridity related to the Upper Pleniglacial and the Younger Dryas episode. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of plagioclase-melt equilibria in anhydrous silicate melts at 1-atm

Many models for plagioclase-melt equilibria have been proposed over the past 30 years, but the focus is increasingly on the effects of water content and pressure. However, many geological and petrological applications concern low pressure and low water systems, such as the differentiation of large terrestrial basaltic magma chambers, and lunar and asteroidal magmatism. There is, therefore, a justified need to quantify the influence of anhydrous liquid composition on the composition of equilibrium plagioclase at 1-atm. With this in mind, a database of over 500 experimentally determined plagioclase-liquid pairs has been created. The selected low pressure, anhydrous, experiments include both natural and synthetic liquids, whose compositions range from basalt to rhyolite. Four equations are proposed, derived from this data. The first is based on a thermodynamically inspired formalism, explicitly integrating the effect of temperature. This equation uses free energies and activities of crystalline anorthite available from the literature. For the activity of anorthite in the liquid phase, it is found that current models of the activity of individual oxides are insufficient to account for the experimental results. We have therefore derived an empirical expression for the variation of anorthite activity in the liquid as a function of melt composition, based upon inversion of the experimental data. Using this expression allows the calculation of plagioclase composition with a relative error less than 10%. However, in light of the fact that temperature is not necessarily known for many petrological applications, an alternative set of T-independent equations is also proposed. For this entirely empirical approach, the database has been divided into three compositional groups, treated independently for regression purposes: mafic–ultramafic, alkali-rich mafic–ultramafic, and intermediate-felsic. This separation into distinct subgroups was found to be necessary to maintain errors below acceptable limits, but results across group boundaries were found to be comparable. Overall, 50% of plagioclase compositions are predicted to within 2% of the experimentally derived value, and 90% to within 5%, representing a significant improvement over existing models.     

Petroleum prospects of Lamu Basin,South-Eastern Kenya

The hydrocarbon potential of the sub-surface Lamu basin (SE Kenya) offshore sedimentary rock sequences of Mesozoic age formed the premise of this study. Major similarities and some differences in structural styles can be seen between the offshore Lamu and the Gondwana basins along the margins of Indian Ocean and Carnarvon basin along Australia’s North West Shelf, where oil pools have been discovered. The existing well results and recent 2-D seismic data have been interpreted to identify various structural styles and play fairway segments, which bolster the possibility that the Karroo to late Tertiary sedimentary mega-sequences (～3000–13000 m thick), suitable for hydrocarbon exploration, could be visualized in both the onshore and offshore Lamu basin areas. Similarly, major reservoir-seal and potential source intervals have been identified in the present study. The hydrocarbon indicator from the well-log data shows that oil potential in complex multiple petroleum systems, ranging in age from Triassic to Tertiary, have tested gas deposits. Well control of only one exploratory well per 25,000 sq km in the offshore Lamu basin shows evidence of the existence of at least two active petroleum systems. The Lamu basin has evolved consequent to a complex tectonic activity related to continental rifting and block faulting of the Lamu-Anza and Central African rift systems. An attempt has been made to recommend the probable prognostic structural leads, which are controlled by NW-SE trending faults sympathetic to the Anza-Lamu rift systems, for future essential sub-surface features of source rocks, reservoir rocks and the cap rocks in the Lamu basin.