Groundwater mixing between different aquifer types in a complex structural setting discerned by elemental and stable isotope geochemistry

Karst aquifers are well known for their intricate stratigraphy and geologic structures, which make groundwater characterization challenging because flowpaths and recharge sources are complex and difficult to evaluate. Geochemical data, collected from ten closely spaced production wells constructed in two karst aquifers (Bangor Limestone (Mb) and Tuscumbia Limestone/Fort Payne Chert (Mftp)) in Trussville, north‐central Alabama, illustrate two distinctive groundwater end‐members: (1) higher major ion, dissolved inorganic carbon, conductivity, alkalinity concentrations, heavier δ¹³C ratios (max: −10.2 ± 0.2‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB)) and lower residence times (mean: 19.5 ± 2 years, n = 2) of groundwater in the Mb aquifer and (2) lower constituent concentrations, lighter δ¹³C ratios (min: −13.4 ± 0.2‰ PDB) and longer residence times of groundwater (mean: 23.6 ± 2 years, n = 4) in the Mftp aquifer. Summer and fall data and the binary mixing model show aquifer inter‐flow mixing along solution fractures and confirms the distinctive groundwater geochemistry of the two aquifers. Lowering of static water levels over the summer (drawdown from 2 to 5.2 m) leads to more reducing groundwater conditions (lower Eh values) and slightly enriched δ¹⁸O and δD ratios during the fall [δ¹⁸O: −4.8 ± 0.1 to −5.4 ± 0.1‰ Vienna Standard Mean Oceanic Water (VSMOW), n = 9; δD: −25.4 ± 1 to −27.4 ± 1‰ VSMOW, n = 9] when compared with summer season samples (δ¹⁸O: −5.1 ± 0.1 to −5.7 ± 0.1‰ VSMOW, n = 11; δD: −25.0 ± 1 to −30.6 ± 1‰ VSMOW, n = 11). GIS analyses confirm the localized origin of recharge to the investigated aquifers. The combination of GIS, field parameters and geochemistry analyses can be successfully used to identify recharge sources, evaluate groundwater flow and transport pathways and to improve understanding of how groundwater withdrawals impact the sustainability and susceptibility to contamination of karst aquifers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic reflection imaging of an oceanic detachment fault: Atlantis megamullion (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 30°10′N)

We present multichannel seismic reflection data collected over the Atlantis megamullion, at the eastern ridge-transform intersection of Atlantis fracture zone on the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and over its conjugate crust. These data image for the first time the internal structure of a young, well-developed megamullion dome formed by tectonic extension across a long-lived oceanic detachment fault. The exposed, corrugated detachment-fault surface exhibits a sharp, coherent reflection that contrasts with less organized reflectivity of surrounding basaltic seafloor. At the termination of the megamullion the fault is imaged ∼13 km along-strike beneath a volcanic hanging-wall block at a sub-seafloor depth of 0.2-0.5 s two-way travel time, reaching north as far as 30°19′N. The eastward dipping of the fault beneath the hanging-wall block is estimated to be ∼6-14°. The corrugated fault surface is underlain by a continuous, strong, and relatively smooth reflection (D) at 0.2-0.25 s sub-bottom below the central axis of the dome. This reflection deepens up to 0.6 s sub-bottom beneath the western slope and it appears to intersect the seafloor on the eastern slope. We suggest that Atlantis massif formed by sequential slip on two different detachment faults that merged at depth, with breakaways as little as ∼2 km apart. The initial detachment is represented by reflection D, and the second corresponds to the presently exposed fault surface. In this interpretation, much of the sliver between the faults is interpreted to be strongly serpentinized peridotite with reduced seismic velocity; it lies in contact with less altered, higher-velocity mantle below the first detachment, resulting in the strong, smooth character of reflection D. Mantle rocks exposed in the megamullion indicate that the feature formed during a period of extreme tectonic extension and probably limited magmatism. In conjugate crust corresponding to termination of the megamullion, observed sub-bottom reflections are interpreted as base of seismic layer 2A. This layer is as thick as or thicker (∼570-900 m) than layer 2A in normal Atlantic crust, and it suggests that relatively normal crustal accretion occurred by the time the megamullion stopped forming.     

基于STIRPAT模型的江苏省能源消费碳排放影响因素分析及趋势预测

定量分析碳排放的影响因素,对降低区域碳排放具有重要的指导意义。利用STIRPAT模型,定量分析江苏省能源消费碳排放量与人口、富裕度（以人均GDP表示）、技术进步（以能源强度表示）和城镇化水平之间的关系,通过岭回归拟合后发现,人口数量、人均GDP、能源强度、城市化水平每变化1%,江苏省能源消费碳排放量将分别发生3.467%、(0.242+0.024 lnA)%、0.313%和0.151%的变化。在以上研究的基础上,设置8种不同的发展情景,分析了江苏省未来能源消费碳排放量的发展趋势。结果表明,当人口、经济保持低速增长,并保持高技术增长率时,有利于控制江苏省的能源消费碳排放量,2020年江苏省的能源消费碳排放量预测值为202.81 MtC。     

稳定同位素在天然气水合物地球化学勘查中的应用简介--以"布莱克海隆"海区为例

介绍了国外在布莱克海隆（包括ODP164航次994、995、997站位）进行天然气水合物勘查过程中应用稳定同位素的研究实例；通过对这3个站位样品的甲烷、CO2、DIC（dissolved inorganic carbon)、有机碳以及自生碳酸盐的δ^13C分析，指出浅部（0－30m)甲烷和DIC的δ^13C值随深度迅速降低又迅速升高的变化可以作为天然气水合物存在的地球化学指标。994站位孔隙水δ^18O值深度从0.30‰下降到-0.37‰；氢同位素δD随深度略有下降（从11‰到-12‰），这与水合物形成时氢氧重同位素相对富集于固相有关，表明天然气水合物的存在。997站位δ^37Cl从海底沉积物表层以下30m处为接近海水的最大值0，至钻孔底746.85m处降为-3.68‰，可能也与天然气水合物的形成有关。     

DISCONTINUOUS FLOW OF TURBID DENSITY CURRENTS Ⅱ. INTERNAL HYDRAULIC JUMP

Traveling and stationary internal hydraulic jumps in density currents with positive or negative entrainment coefficients were analyzed based on simple assumptions. An expression of internal hydraulic jumps with entrainment coefficients was derived. Experimental data, published in literature, of stationary internal hydraulic jumps in turbid, thermal and saline density currents including measured values of water entrainment were used to compare with theory. Comparison was also made of traveling internal hydraulic jumps between measured data and theory.     

Crustal transect from the North Atlantic Knipovich Ridge to the Svalbard Margin west of Hornsund

The crustal structure along a 312 km transect, stretching from the axial mountains of the North Atlantic Knipovich Ridge to the continental shelf of Svalbard, has been obtained using seismic reflection data and wide angle OBS data. The resulting seismic V_p and V_s models are further constrained by a 2-D-gravity model. The principal objective of this study is to describe and resolve the physical and compositional properties of the crust in order to understand the processes and creation of oceanic crust in this extremely slow-spreading counterpart of the North Atlantic Ridge Systems. V_p is estimated to be 3.50–6.05 km/s for the upper oceanic crust (oceanic layer 2), with a marked increase away from the ridge. The measured V_p of 6.55–6.95 km/s for oceanic layer 3A and 7.10–7.25 km/s for layer 3B, both with a V_p/V_s ratio of 1.81, except for slightly higher values at the ridge axis, does not allow a clear distinction between gabbro and mantle-derived peridotite (10–40% serpentized). The thickness of the oceanic crust varies a lot along the transect from the minimum of 5.6 km to a maximum of 8.1 km. The mean thickness of 6.7 km for the oceanic crust is well above the average thickness for slow-spreading ridges (<10 mm/year half-spreading rate). The areas of increased thickness could be explained by large magma production-rates found in the zones of axial highs at the ridge axis, which also have generated the off-axial highs adjacent the ridge. We suggest that these axial and off-axial highs along the ridge control the lithological composition of the oceanic crust. This approach suggests normal gabbroic oceanic crust to be found in the areas bound by the active magma segments (the axial and off-axial highs) and mantle-derived peridotite outside these zone.     

Three-dimensional admittance analysis of lithospheric elastic thickness over the Louisville Ridge

Using bathymetry and altimetric gravity anomalies, a 1° 9 1° lithospheric effective elastic thickness(Te) model over the Louisville Ridge and its adjacent regions is calculated using the moving window admittance technique. For comparison, three bathymetry models are used: general bathymetric charts of the oceans, SIO V15.1,and BAT_VGG. The results show that BAT_VGG is more suitable for calculating T e than the other two models. T e along the Louisville Ridge was re-evaluated. The southeast of the ridge has a medium Te of 10–20 km, while Te increases dramatically seaward of the Tonga-Kermadec trench as a result of the collision of the Pacific and IndoAustralian plates.     

Earth pillar formation on the Mountain Pine Ridge,Belize

The roadcuts of Belize's Mountain Pine Ridge feature numerous coarsely textured earth pillars less than 10 cm in height. Preferential impregnation of iron occurs over a buried pebble resulting in a dripline. The higher concentration of iron along the buried pebble's dripline is later oxidized and exposed to the surface by rainsplash erosion. For slopes greater than five degrees, the intensity of sheetwash erosion is great enough to remove pillars. Earth pillar genesis thus seems a function of laterization, slope angle, and sheetwash intensity.