Intrinsic sample methods for mineral exploration and resource assessment

We report on an objective methodology, referred to as intrinsic sample methodology, for the delineation of exploration target areas or resource areas for assessment. Important features of the methodology include (1) identification of recognition criteria for critical genetic factors, (2) synthesis of new variables from enhanced geodata, (3) estimation of logit probability models, and (4) cutting of estimated logit probabilities to delineate exploration targets or resource areas. The methodology is demonstrated on the Walker Lake quadrangle of Nevada and California.     

Late Pleistocene outburst flooding from pluvial Lake Alvord into the Owyhee River, Oregon

At least one large, late Pleistocene flood traveled into the Owyhee River as a result of a rise and subsequent outburst from pluvial Lake Alvord in southeastern Oregon. Lake Alvord breached Big Sand Gap in its eastern rim after reaching an elevation of 1292 m, releasing 11.3 km³ of water into the adjacent Coyote Basin as it eroded the Big Sand Gap outlet channel to an elevation of about 1280 m. The outflow filled and then spilled out of Coyote Basin through two outlets at 1278 m and into Crooked Creek drainage, ultimately flowing into the Owyhee and Snake Rivers. Along Crooked Creek, the resulting flood eroded canyons, stripped bedrock surfaces, and deposited numerous boulder bars containing imbricated clasts up to 4.1 m in diameter, some of which are located over 30 m above the present-day channel.Critical depth calculations at Big Sand Gap show that maximum outflow from a 1292- to 1280-m drop in Lake Alvord was  10,000 m³ s^− 1. Flooding became confined to a single channel approximately 40 km downstream of Big Sand Gap, where step-backwater calculations show that a much larger peak discharge of 40,000 m³ s^− 1 is required to match the highest geologic evidence of the flood in this channel. This inconsistency can be explained by (1) a single 10,000 m³ s^− 1 flood that caused at least 13 m of vertical incision in the channel (hence enlarging the channel cross-section); (2) multiple floods of 10,000 m³ s^− 1 or less, each producing some incision of the channel; or (3) an earlier flood of 40,000 m³ s^− 1 creating the highest flood deposits and crossed drainage divides observed along Crooked Creek drainage, followed by a later 10,000 m³ s^− 1 flood associated with the most recent shorelines in Alvord and Coyote Basins.Well-developed shorelines of Lake Alvord at 1280 m and in Coyote Basin at 1278 m suggest that after the initial flood, postflood overflow persisted for an extended period, connecting Alvord and Coyote Basins with the Owyhee River of the Columbia River drainage. Surficial weathering characteristics and planktonic freshwater diatoms in Lake Alvord sediment stratigraphically below Mt. St. Helens set Sg tephra, suggest deep open-basin conditions at  13–14 ka (¹⁴C yr) and that the flood and prominent shorelines date to about this time. But geomorphic and sedimentological evidence also show that Alvord and Coyote Basins held older, higher-elevation lakes that may have released earlier floods down Crooked Creek.     

我国湖泊沉积环境演变研究中元素地球化学的应用现状及发展方向

全球气候恶化,洪涝、风沙、干旱等自然灾害频繁,科学研究预测区域乃至全球环境演变趋势,并采取有效措施加以防治,成为目前全人类面临的一大课题。要科学的掌握环境变化的规律,就必须研究过去的环境变迁,沉积物无疑是最好的研究对象。而湖泊在其发生发展过程中,直接出露于地表,其沉积物则是最好记录环境变化信息的载体。近几年来元素地球化学在研究湖泊演变历史,揭示湖泊环境变迁等方面取得了很大的进展。根据目前的研究现状,今后的工作应着眼于分析研究引起源泊环境变化的原因,环境演变与人类活动的关系及其演变规律,进而对未来环境演变趋势进行预测和对自然灾害进行防治,或许是今后湖泊沉积物元素地球化学研究的主要方向。     

Morphology and paleoclimatic significance of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville spits

Pleistocene Lake Bonneville of western Utah contains a variety of spits associated with shorelines and other features that formed between 21,000 and 12,000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Field studies in the low-lying mountain ranges of the central portion of Lake Bonneville identified 17 spits of various types. The spits are connected to small mountain ranges and islands, vary in size from 0.02 to 0.5 km², and are composed of coarse-grained, well-rounded, poorly-sorted sedimentary material. Sixteen of the 17 spits have a northeasterly to southwesterly orientation implying that winds were from the northwest to northeast, approximately 180° out of phase with modern winds in the eastern Great Basin. Lake Bonneville spit orientation is best explained as the result of persistent northerly winds caused by the high atmospheric pressure cell of the continental ice sheet and passage of low pressure extratropical storms south of the lake. Similar, strong persistent winds are a common feature of modern continental ice sheets and passing low pressure systems. If so, the North American jet stream tracked south of Lake Bonneville as recently as 12,000 ¹⁴C yr BP, well past the height of the last glacial maximum.     

Seasonal insect emergence from three different temperate lakes

Knowing the aquatic resources, such as emerging insects, that are entering terrestrial systems is important for food web and conservation studies, especially when water availability or quality is limited. Even though studies concerning benthic macroinvertebrates are numerous, insect emergence from lakes is less studied.To understand if water parameters (e.g., water temperature, oxygen concentration etc) determine insect emergence and the possible seasonal differences, we collected emergent insects from three different lakes in South Germany, during three seasons. We searched for common patterns of insect emergence at the three lakes. Moreover, the relative contribution of insects of aquatic origin to aerial flying arthropods was assessed, with collecting aerial flying arthropods at the shore.Chironomidae constituted the highest number of emerged insects in all lakes, however different patterns of emergence occurred in each lake (unimodal vs. bimodal) with different season-dependent times for the emergence peaks (spring, summer, beginning of autumn). Aquatic insects constituted a considerable proportion (at least 17%) of the aerial flying arthropods at the shore. The variation in insect emergence was explained by water temperature, however not by other water parameters or the nutrient values. Seasonal and spatial differences in insect emergence, should be considered when investigating aquatic-terrestrial interactions and designing conservation plans. A total biomass of up to 1.8 g m⁻² of emerging insects from the littoral zone of Lake Constance can enter the terrestrial system in a year. We also provide length-dry weight relationships for emerged (adult) Chironomidae. These equations are useful to estimate the dry insect biomass from length data and currently such data lack for adult aquatic insects.     

Thecamoebians in Lake Winnipeg: a tool for Holocene paleolimnology

Holocene sediments in Lake Winnipeg are expressed in the lower Lake Agassiz sequence which is unconformably overlain by the Lake Winnipeg sequence. Nine sites, covering the North and South basins and the connecting Narrows, were selected for analysis of Holocene changes in thecamoebian faunae. Only the Lake Winnipeg sequence contains thecamoebians. This study indicates that biologic productivity and consequently the type of organic material in the sediments is the main control on thecamoebian taxa in Lake Winnipeg. Other factors controlling the distribution of thecamoebians are water chemistry and turbidity. Inorganic sediment geochemistry and water temperature do not appear to significantly influence the thecamoebian fauna of Lake Winnipeg. Variations in the abundance of key thecamoebian species along a north-south transect divide Lake Winnipeg into three distinct areas. The North Basin has remained relatively unchanged since the retreat of Lake Agassiz as indicated by the domination of Difflugia manicata throughout its history. This species appears to prefer Cyanophyta and diatoms as its food source. In the Narrows harsh conditions created by turbid waters and lack of algal food taxa result in Centropyxis aculeata replacing Difflugia manicata as the dominant species. In the South Basin three thecamoebian assemblages are recognized. Cucurbitella tricuspis, indicative of eutrophic conditions, dominates the most recent sediments of the South Basin. The underlying sediments are characterized by Difflugia globulus. In Lake Winnipeg this species is not a cold climate (arctic) indicator as suggested elsewhere but instead seems to prefer sediments containing green and yellow-green algal material. A Centropyxis-Arcella Assemblage occurs only at the base of the southernmost core where it is indicative of an early phase of hyposaline conditions as developed in shallow pools during the southward transgression of Lake Winnipeg. This study illustrates the usefulness of thecamoebians as paleolimnological indicators. Environmental changes are more significant in the restricted South Basin resulting in distinct thecamoebian assemblages. In contrast, the North Basin provided a stable environment throughout the late Holocene reflected in only subtle faunal changes.     

“水资源域”概念在美国五大湖的应用(英文)

"水资源域"为在某一时段向河口或某一地点,传送水、水中营养物、泥沙或其它物质的空间范围。这一新概念与"流域"概念既相似又不同:1)流域边界以地貌特征来确定,相对稳定。而水资源域的边界以水文事件中的水和物质传播范围来确定,随时空而变化;2)流域强调给定空间范围内水和物质的时间分布,而水资源域强调水和物质随时间和空间二者相互变化的动态分布;3)水资源域综合考虑了不同尺度的时空即时变化对水资源及物质传播的影响。这一新概念应用遥感、空间分析、追踪及模拟技术分析流域空间模式与过程,为水资源探索、分析、模拟及预测提供了一种全新的方法与途径。该文以美国伊利湖茅密河为例,应用分布式大流域模型计算了水资源域的分布。     

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of 1994 Lake Winnipeg cores

Conventional radiocarbon dating of Lake Winnipeg core samples has produced erroneously old ages due to the incorporation of pre-Quaternary carbon derived from carbonaceous rocks, soils and sediments in the watershed, as well as a hard-water effect resulting from leaching of calcareous rocks and soils. To circumvent these problems and develop a reliable chronology for the Lake Winnipeg core series, a total of 64 samples from the Lake Winnipeg core series were processed to isolate well preserved macrofossils suitable for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. Here we report six radiocarbon ages derived from plant macrofossils and ostracodes, and reconstruct aspects of the depositional environment of each sample based on the associated macrofossil assemblage.     

Holocene sedimentation in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: implications of compositional and textural variations

Two seismic facies were recognized in the sedimentary sequence overlying acoustic basement in Lake Winnipeg. The upper facies, which overlies a regional unconformity, is termed the Lake Winnipeg Sequence. Based on the seismostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and radiocarbon dates of approximately 4000 and 7000 yr BP from material collected directly over the unconformity in the southern and northern parts of the lake, respectively, this facies has been interpreted as representing Holocene sedimentation. Results of compositional and textural analyses of the Holocene sediment (Winnipeg sediment) from thirteen long (>2 m) cores indicate a transgressional sequence throughout the basin. In the South Basin, the generally fining upward sequence is characterized at the base by silt-sized detrital carbonate minerals, quartz and feldspar which decrease in concentration upward. In this basin, the high carbonate content and V/Al and Zn/Al ratios are indicative of a Paleozoic and Cretaceous provenance for sediment derived from glacial deposits through shoreline erosion and fluvial transport, via the Red River. Sedimentation in the central part of the lake and the North Basin is attributed to shoreline erosion of sand and gravel beaches. Consequently, the texture of these sediments is generally coarser than in the South Basin, and the composition primarily reflects a Paleozoic and Precambrian provenance. The basin-wide decrease in Ca, total carbonate minerals, dolomite and calcite concentrations upward in the cores is reflected by a decrease in the detrital carbonate component in all but the most northern cores. Other basin-wide trends show an upward increase in organic content in all cores. An increase in grain size near the top of most cores suggests a major, basin-wide change in sedimentation within the last, approximately 900 years in the South Basin.     

Structure of the Wollaston Lake Reflector (Trans-Hudson Orogen, Canada) from reflection AVO analysis: Fractured diabase intrusion, fluids, or silicified shear zone?

A nearly 160-km long Wollaston Lake Reflector (WLR) observed in seismic reflection profile S2b of the 1994 Lithoprobe Trans-Hudson Orogen transect (THOT) in northern Saskatchewan (Canada) is among the most spectacular and well-recorded features imaged within the crystalline crust. Based on modeling of its normal-incidence reflectivity, the observed bright spot reflector was originally interpreted as a series of tabular diabase intrusions. In order to further elucidate its structure, we reprocessed line S2b and analysed the WLR for the Amplitude Variations with Offset (AVO). By contrast to conventional (approximate) AVO analysis, we used the exact Zoeppritz equations and considered a thin-layer (mixed positive and negative polarities) reflectivity. The results suggest two possible interpretations of the WLR: 1) the reflector caused by a massive mafic intrusion as suggested earlier, in which case the intruded rocks should have anomalous Poisson's ratios of σ ≥ 0.33, and 2) the WLR represents a silicified shear zone, with only moderate (e.g.,  5–10%) alteration of the host rock and σ ≈ 0.2. Although both of these models may to some extent co-exist within the WLR, its brightness, sharpness, great lateral extent and smooth shape favour the second interpretation.In both models, a fractured fluid-filled zone within a major crustal detachment should have played a key role in the formation of the WLR. The association of the reflector with laterally- and depth-migrating fluids is also supported by magneto-telluric measurements of crustal conductivity beneath the WLR. Analogies from the studies of the Kola Superdeep Borehole (Russia), where free or metamorphic fluids were found at comparable depths, also suggest that fluids may contribute to WLR structure and formation.