Experimental study of migration of potassium ion through a two-layer soil system

A barrier system based on the hydraulic trap design concept for a landfill was proposed. To study the field scenario in which a clay liner is underlain by a granular layer functioning as a secondary leachate drain layer, a laboratory advection–diffusion test was performed to investigate factors controlling the transport of contaminants in a two-layer soil system. The soils used for this study were Ariake clay and, the underlying layer, Shirasu soil from the Kyushu region of Japan. Potassium (K⁺) was selected as the target chemical species with an initial concentration of 905 mg L⁻¹. The effective diffusion coefficients (D _e) of K⁺ for Ariake clay and Shirasu soil were back-calculated using an available computer program, Pollute V 6.3. Values of D _e derived from this experiment are consistent with previously published ones. The Ariake clay has lower D _e than the Shirasu soil. The hypothesis that mechanical dispersion can be considered negligible is reasonable based on both the observation that the predicted values well fit the experimental data and the analyses of two dimensionless parameters. Parametric analyses show that transport of K⁺ through soils is controlled by advection–diffusion rather than diffusion only, whereas at low Darcy velocity (i.e., ≤10⁻⁹ m s⁻¹), transport of K⁺ will be controlled by diffusion. Applications of the test results and parametric analysis results in practical situations were reviewed.     

Weathering of Valle Ricca stiff and jointed clay

The study proposes a weathering model of Pliocene–Pleistocene stiff and jointed blue-grey clay transforming into yellow clay. Physical, mineralogical, chemical and textural changes, as well as the weathering profile were investigated in a quarry of central Italy. Based on geological records and inferences, these changes are likely to have occurred within a time-span of about 50,000 years BP, upon overburden stress unloading and in a stress regime that is locally controlled by suction. Weathering propagated into the clay at a rate of about 0.3 mm/year and was enhanced by the enlargement of the pre-existing tectonic discontinuities and by the formation of new joints. A mass loss of about 22–25 wt.% was calculated. Considering Fe and P as immobile elements, the individual oxides contribute to mass loss in the following order: SiO₂ > CaO = CO₂ > Al₂O₃ > MgO > K₂O > S > Na₂O > TiO₂ > MnO. The Fe₂O₃ / (Fe₂O₃ + FeO) ratio varies from 9–29% in the blue-grey clay to 75–82% in the yellow one. Oxidation and/or dissolution of 7 Å-Fe²⁺-bearing clay minerals, mica-like minerals and calcite and parallel increase of smectite and Fe-hydroxides play a critical role in the chemical changes and explain the higher plasticity of the yellow clay with respect to the blue-grey one. The role of water during the weathering process was inferred to occur in cyclical steps: 1) seepage of meteoric water; 2) dissemination of highly oxidizing meteoric water; 3) triggering of oxidation and dissolution of minerals; 4) water evaporation; 5) partial migration of the elements contained in the aqueous solution and consequent deposition of minerals in the joints.     

The effect of stratigraphic heterogeneity on areal distribution of land subsidence at Taiyuan, northern China

Taiyuan city has experienced serious land subsidence since the 1950s, with the maximum accumulated subsidence of 2,960 mm and a total affected area of 585 km² by 2003. Tectonic settlement was found to contribute about 1% and the major cause is over-exploitation of groundwater. The spatial–temporal relationship between the areal distribution of land subsidence and that of groundwater drawdown from 1956 to 2000 indicates that although land subsidence centers overall match groundwater depression cones, there are local deviations, and that although the time series curves are similar, land subsidence always lags behind groundwater level decline, with different lag time at different sites. The major findings of this work on the control of stratigraphic heterogeneity on the spatial pattern of land subsidence at Taiyuan include: (1) land subsidence centers shift from the corresponding groundwater depression cones to the sides with thicker accumulated clay layers; (2) under the same pumping rate, land subsidence at places with more clay interlayers and thinner individual interlayers is greater and the lag time shorter; and (3) land subsidence is closely related to the physical properties of clay soils. The Interbed Storage Package-1, a modular subroutine of MODFLOW was employed to simulate the areal distribution of individual layer compression. The modeling results show that compression of different clay layers has different contribution to land subsidence. Pumping groundwater from water-bearing zones close to the most compressible clay layers should therefore be carefully controlled.     

Radiometric ages of the Fire Clay tonstein [Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous), Westphalian, Duckmantian]: A comparison of U–Pb zircon single-crystal ages and Ar/Ar sanidine single-crystal plateau ages

The Fire Clay tonstein [Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous), Westphalian Series, Duckmantian Stage]–a kaolinized, volcanic-ash deposit occurring in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia–is the most widespread bed in the Middle Pennsylvanian of the central Appalachian basin, USA. A concordant single-crystal U–Pb zircon datum for this tonstein gives a ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 314.6 ± 0.9 Ma (2σ). This age is in approximate agreement with a mean sanidine plateau age of 311.5 ± 1.3 Ma (1σ, n = 11) for the Fire Clay tonstein. The difference between the two ages may be due to bias between the ⁴⁰K and ²³⁸U decay constants and other factors. The age of the Fire Clay tonstein has important implications for Duckmantian Stage (Westphalian Series) sedimentation rates, correlations with the Westphalian Series of Europe, Middle Pennsylvanian volcanic events, and the late Paleozoic time scale.     

Hydrologic and geoenvironmental characterization of wetlands in quarries of the Vinalopó Mitjà (Alicante, Spain)

This paper deals with the environmental characterization of the “Collao de Candela” enclave (Alicante, SE Spain), which in the early 1980s reported strong mining activity mainly due to the extraction of marls. The subsequent abandonment of such quarries produces floods in depressed areas that are constituted as pools. These anthropogenic wetlands are the object of this research. In order to characterize the geometry of the studied wetlands a bathymetry was carried out. Bathymetric data are very important for water managers tasked with assessing wetlands’ status. A chemical and mineralogical characterization has been carried out on the lithologies in the study area. A study was also conducted of the physical and chemical parameters of the waters contained in these pools during one hydrologic cycle. The climate of the zone, having elevated evapotranspiration measurements, favors a progressive concentration of salts in the pools consequence of runoff water washing, the evaporitic sediments as well as from elevated evaporation. The results obtained justify the environmental protection of these marl-gypsum mining quarries as potential wetlands.     

Constitutive model with time-dependent deformations

In many geological and engineering problems it is necessary to transform information from one scale to another. Data collected at laboratory scale are often used to evaluate field problems on a much larger scale. This is certainly true for geological problems where extreme scale differences are common in time as well as size. This problem is addressed by means of a new constitutive model for soils. It is able to describe the behavior of soils at different deformation rates. The model defines time-dependent and stress-related deformations separately. They are related to each other and they occur simultaneously. The model is based on concepts from elasticity and viscoplasticity theories. In addition to Hooke's law for the elastic behavior, the framework for the viscoplastic behavior consists, in the general case (two-dimensional or three-dimensional), of a yield surface, an associated flow rule and a hardening law. The model is formulated in incremental terms and is therefore suitable for computational modeling and it has been implemented in a computer program used for analyzing the depositional history of an oil field in the Danish part of the North Sea. An important part of the problem in this case was the difference in time scale between the geological process of deposition (millions of years) and the laboratory measurements of mechanical properties (minutes or hours). In addition, the time scale relevant to the production history of the oil field was interesting (days or years).     

Laboratory model tests for cyclic load-induced settlement of a strip foundation on a clayey soil

Laboratory model test results are presented for the cyclic load-induced settlement of a strip foundation supported by a saturated clayey soil. In performing the tests, the foundation was initially subjected to an allowable static load, after which a cyclic load with a frequency of one cycle per second was superimposed on it. The magnitudes of the static load and the amplitude of the cyclic load were varied. Based on the model test results, relationships for the foundation settlement and intensities of the static and cyclic loads are presented.     

Hydrothermal alteration associated with rift zones at Fangataufa atoll (French Polynesia)

 The Mururoa and Fangataufa atoll basement consists of superimposed submarine and subaerial lava flows which have been intruded by late volcanics. The intrusions have developed large hydrothermal alteration haloes throughout the basaltic wall rock. The cuttings of the Natice-1 and Mitre-1 holes, drilled into the submarine volcanic pile at Fangataufa atoll, show a vertical zonation of clay minerals ranging from 270 to 850 m depth. The newly formed clay minerals occurring from top to bottom of the altered pile are: dioctahedral aluminous smectites, saponite, an intimate assemblage of saponite with two random chlorite/saponite mixed layers and an intimate assemblage of one random chlorite/saponite mixed-layer with one ordered chlorite/saponite mixed layer and one chlorite below 816 m depth. These clay mineral assemblages indicate a general increase in the chloritic component with depth. They are associated throughout the pile with secondary carbonates and quartz. The ∂¹⁸O and ∂¹³C of calcite and ∂¹⁸O of clay minerals, on the one hand, and the intimate mixtures of trioctahedral species, on the other, suggest a general cooling with the evolution of a paleogeothermal gradient from approximately 300  °C/km during the crystallization of chlorite to 150  °C/km for the late calcite precipitation. Received: 2 October 1995 / Accepted: 14 January 1997