Groundwater dating with 3H and SF6 in relation to mixing patterns,transport modelling and hydrochemistry

A comprehensive study of a sandy aquifer of deltaic origin in southern Poland included water chemistry, isotopes, dissolved trace gases and transport modelling. Tritium, sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) and freons (F‐11, F‐12 and F‐113) showed the presence of modern waters in the recharge areas and shallow confined parts of the aquifer. The presence of older Holocene waters farther from the recharge areas was indicated by lack of ³H, SF₆ contents ≤0·02 fmol l⁻¹ and relatively low ¹⁴C values. The discharge from the system is by upward seepage in the valley of a major river. Pre‐Holocene waters of a cooler climate, identified on the basis of δ¹⁸O, δ²H, ¹⁴C, Ne and Ar data, were found in some distant wells. Concentrations of N₂, Ne and Ar determined by gas chromatography were used for calculating the noble gas temperatures, air excess needed for correction of SF₆, and nitrogen content released by denitrification process. The time series of ³H content available for some wells supplied quantitative information on age distributions and the total mean ages of flow through the unsaturated and saturated zones. The derived ³H age distributions turned out to be very wide, with mean values in the range of about 30 to 160 years. For each well with determined ³H age, the SF₆ data showed either a lower age range or the possibility of a lower age as expected due to shorter travel times of SF₆ through the unsaturated zone, which most probably also resulted in different types of age distributions of these tracers. Freons appeared to be of little use for individual age determinations. A quantitative estimation of two‐component mixing from SF₆ ³H relations is not possible unless the travel time of ³H through the unsaturated zone is comparable to that of SF₆. The ratio of integrals of the response function over the age range with tracer and the whole response function yields the ratio of water with tracer to total flow of water. That ratio is a tracer‐dependent function of time. Transport modelling of SF₆ tracer done with MT3D code yielded initially large discrepancies between calculated and measured tracer concentrations. Some discrepancies remained even after calibration of the transport model with SF₆. Simulation of tritium contents with a calibrated transport model yielded reasonable agreement with measured contents in some wells and indicated a need for further investigations, particularly in the eastern part of the aquifer. The existence of distinct hydrochemical zones is consistent with the tracer data; young waters with measurable ³H and SF₆ contents are aerobic and of HCO₃ Ca or HCO₃ SO₄ Ca types. Slightly elevated Na and Cl contents, as well as the highest concentrations of SO₄ and NO₃ within this zone are due to anthropogenic influences. Anaerobic conditions prevail in the far field, under the confining cover, where pre‐bomb era Holocene waters dominate. In that zone, dissolved oxygen, NO₃ and U contents are reduced, and Fe, Mn and NH₄ contents increase. In the third zone, early Holocene and glacial waters occur. They are of HCO₃ Ca Na or HCO₃ Na types, with TDS values higher than 1 g l⁻¹ and Na content higher than 200 mg l⁻¹, due to either small admixtures of ascending or diffusing older water or freshening of marine sediments, a process that is probably occurring till the present time. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Petrology, geochronology, and tectonics of shear zones in the Zermatt–Saas and Combin zones of the Western Alps

Metre to tens‐of‐metre wide, steeply dipping, greenschist facies shear zones that cut blueschists and eclogites of the Combin and Zermatt–Saas Zones at Täschalp and in adjacent areas of the western Alps were sites of extensive recrystallization driven by fluid flow and deformation. Rb–Sr data imply that these shear zones formed at 42–37 Ma with a systematic younging of structures northward toward, and into, the hangingwall of the Mischabel Structure. Shearing commenced at 400–475 °C and 400–500 MPa and continued as pressures and temperatures fell to 300–350 °C and 300–350 MPa. Individual shear zones were active for 2–3 Myr with later lower grade stages of shearing concentrated into narrow zones. Fluids that infiltrated the shear zones were water rich (X_H2O > 0.9). Alteration zones around albite veins and at the margins of serpentinite bodies are penecontemporaneous with these shear zones and formed at approximately the same conditions. The eclogites were exhumed from c. 64 km at 44 Ma to 14–16 km at 42–41 Ma implying exhumation rates of 2–5 cm yr^?1. Rapid exhumation was probably achieved by extension aided by buoyancy, following subduction of continental crust, and rapid erosion. The shear zones form part of a regional‐scale extensional system responsible for a significant portion of the exhumation of the subducted oceanic crust.     

Macrofaunal involvement in the sublittoral decay of kelp debris: the detritivore community and species interactions

The fauna associated with sea-bed accumulations of decomposing Laminaria saccharina has been studied by year-round SCUBA diving at two sites in the Clyde Sea area. Seasonal changes in density of 64 species are reported. In the autumn, large quantities of kelp are detached by storms. This weed carries with it to the sea bed a large part of its normal fauna. Additional species settle onto the weed from the plankton whilst others migrate onto it from the surrounding sea bed. Peak densities of associated species were recorded in autumn. Litter bag experiments in situ showed that, except during the summer, weed is lost from sea-bed accumulations at a faster rate when macrofaunal animals are excluded. The macrofauna therefore inhibits decomposition. The relative importance of interactive cropping by three macrodetritivores, Psammechinus miliaris (Echinodermata), Platynereis dumerilii (Polychaeta) and Gammarus locusta (Amphipoda) was studied by in situ containment of different species combinations. The presence of Gammarus with Psammechinus resulted in less weed being lost than when Psammechinus was isolated. This is because Gammarus selectively crops rotting weed, retarding frond disintegration by microbes. Platynereis retards microbial colonization of frond tissues ruptured during its feeding by repeated cropping of the same region. Weed would decompose very rapidly were it not for macrofaunal cropping. Macroalgal decay thus differs profoundly from that of vascular plants.     

山东半岛典型海岸带多环芳烃分布特征、来源解析及风险评价

山东半岛海岸带面临着各类复杂的环境问题,尤其是受到了多环芳烃(PAHs)等持久性有机物的污染,本文研究了整个山东半岛典型海岸带62个站点表层沉积物中PAHs的含量及其分布特征,并对其来源和潜在风险进行解析与评价。研究表明,该地区表层沉积物中16种PAHs总含量为0.06~3191.40 ng/g(平均值262.08 ng/g),与国内外海岸带相比,山东半岛海岸带表层沉积物中PAHs整体污染状况处于较低水平,但个别站点的PAHs含量偏高。运用特征比值法、相关性分析及主成分分析法解析研究区PAHs主要来源为木柴、煤炭、油类的燃烧以及油类泄露的联合作用。采用效应区间低值法(ERL)和中值法(ERM)对PAHs进行生态风险评价,结果表明莱州湾周边所有站点及威海、青岛周边个别站点苊、芴浓度位于ERL值与ERM值之间,但多数站点对生态环境潜在负面效应很小。山东半岛典型海岸带中PAHs对生物的毒副作用尚在安全可控范围内,极少对生态环境产生负面效应。     

Up-temperature flow of surface-derived fluids in the mid-crust: the role of pre-orogenic burial of hydrated fault rocks

The Walter‐Outalpa shear zone in the southern Curnamona Province of NE South Australia is an example of a shear zone that has undergone intensely focused fluid flow and alteration at mid‐crustal depths. Results from this study have demonstrated that the intense deformation and ductile shear zone reactivation, at amphibolite facies conditions of 534 ± 20 °C and 500 ± 82 MPa, that overprint the Proterozoic Willyama Supergroup occurred during the Delamerian Orogeny (c. 500 Ma) (EPMA monazite ages of 501 ± 16 and 491 ± 19 Ma). This is in contrast to the general belief that the majority of basement deformation and alteration in the southern Curnamona Province occurred during the waning stages of the Olarian Orogeny (c. 1610–1580 Ma). These shear zones contain hydrous mineral assemblages that cut wall rocks that have experienced amphibolite facies metamorphism during the Olarian Orogeny. The shear zone rock volumes have much lower δ¹⁸O values (as low as 1‰) than their unsheared counterparts (7–9‰), and calculated fluid δ¹⁸O values (5–8‰) consistent with a surface‐derived fluid source. Hydrous minerals show a decrease in δD_(H2O) from ?14 to ?22‰, for minerals outside the shear zones, to ?28 to ?40‰, for minerals within the shear zones consistent with a contribution from a meteoric source. It is unclear how near‐surface fluids initially under hydrostatic pressure penetrate into the middle crust where fluid pressures approach lithostatic, and where fluid flow is expected to be dominantly upward because of pressure gradients. We propose a mechanism whereby faulting during basin formation associated with the Adelaidean Rift Complex (c. 700 Ma) created broad hydrous zones containing mineral assemblages in equilibrium with surface waters. These panels of fault rock were subsequently buried to depths where the onset of metamorphism begins to dehydrate the fault rock volumes evolving a low δ¹⁸O fluid that is channelled through shear zones related to Delamerian Orogenic activity.     

俯冲带地震诱发机制:研究进展综述

俯冲带作为地球循环体系的关键部位,具有构造活跃、地震多发以及地质条件复杂等特征。基于震源位置,俯冲带地震既可划分为板间和板内地震,也可分为浅源、中源和深源地震。俯冲带内的浅源地震包括板间地震和浅源板内地震,而中源和深源地震皆属于板内地震。在地球浅部,温度与压力低,浅源地震是由岩石发生脆性破裂或沿着先存断层发生不稳定摩擦滑移造成的。随着深度增加,温度和压力的增加使得流行于浅部的脆性和摩擦行为在无水条件下被强烈抑制,岩石从而表现为可抑制地震的韧性行为,使得中-深源地震的诱发机制有别于常规的脆性行为。随着研究的逐渐深入,人们了解到中源地震的诱发机制主要是脱水或与流体相关的致脆以及塑性剪切失稳,而深源地震的成因主要是相变致裂。然而,中-深源地震很可能是两种或两种以上机制共同作用的结果。例如,在中源深度既可能是流体相关的致脆导致脱水源区的脆性围岩产生地震,亦可能是脱水的蛇纹岩本身可能在流体孔隙压的作用下作粘滑滑移,而前者比后者更为重要。孕震带宽度大于"反裂隙模型"预测的亚稳态橄榄石冷核宽度的深源地震可能是由第一阶段的相变致裂和第二阶段的塑性剪切失稳诱发,而孕震带的实际宽度与预测宽度相当的深源地震则可能仅由相变致裂引起。只要过渡带内名义无水矿物中的结构水能释放出来,脱水致脆同样可能触发一些深源地震;而塑性剪切失稳不仅能在中-深源地震触发后的扩展阶段起着主导作用,而且还能单独触发一些中-深源地震,因此能够解释大多数反复发生的中-深源地震活动。     

Are isolated stable rigid clasts in shear zones equivalent to voids?

Particles in shear enclose important information about a rock's past and can potentially be used to decipher the kinematic history and mechanical behavior of a certain outcrop or region. Isolated rigid clasts in shear zones often exhibit systematic inclinations with respect to the shear-plane at small angles, tending towards the instantaneous stretching direction of the shear zone. This shape preferred orientation cannot be easily explained by any of the analytical theories used in geology. It was recently recognized that a weak mantle surrounding the clast or a slipping clast–matrix interface might be responsible for the development of the observed inclinations. Physical considerations lead us to conjecture that such mantled, rigid clasts can be effectively treated as voids that are not allowed to change their shape. The resulting equivalent void conjecture agrees well with numerical and field data and has the following important geological implications. (i) Clasts in shear zones can have stable positions in simple shear without the requirement of an additional pure shear component. (ii) The stable orientation can be approached either syn- or antithetically; hence, the clast can rotate against the applied shear sense. (iii) The strain needed to develop a strong shape preferred orientation is small (γ≈1) and therefore evaluations based on other theories may overestimate strain by orders of magnitude. (iv) The reconstruction of far-field shear flow conditions and kinematic vorticity analysis must be modified to incorporate these new findings.     

耦合PCA-SVM算法的金矿矿床规模预测分析研究

判断矿床(点)的类型是矿床勘探中的重要内容,传统预测金矿成矿规模的方法不仅耗时耗力,而且所需的经济成本较大。为提高矿床规模的勘探效率和准确度,揭示元素与金矿成矿规模的潜在联系,文中提出了耦合主成分分析(principal component analysis,PCA)和支持向量机(support vector machine,SVM)算法的预测分析PCA-SVM(principal component analysis-support vector machine)方法。该方法先通过主成分分析提取数据中的主要特征,再将主要特征带入支持向量机算法,从而训练出最优分类器以预测金矿成矿规模。文中共使用了3 812个金矿样本数据用于学习训练和预测分析,训练准确率为92.3%,测试准确率为88.7%,分别比直接使用支持向量机算法高出14.3%和17.1%。基于PCA-SVM的预测模型,不仅消除了人为主观因素的影响,而且有效提高了勘探过程中矿床预测的准确率和矿床勘探的效率,为地质勘查工作提供依据。     

Tectonic framework of the Precambrian of Madagascar and its Gondwana connections: a review and reappraisal

The Precambrian of Madagascar is divided into two sectors by the north-west trending sinistral Ranotsara shear zone, which continues in the Mozambique belt, probably as the Surma shear zone, and in Southern India as the Achankovil shear zone. South of Ranotsara six north-south trending tectonic belts are recognized that consist largely of granulite and high amphibolite facies paragneisses, phlogopite diopsidites, concordant granites and granulites. North of Ranotsara the central-northern segment is traversed by a north-trending axial 100–150 km wide dextral shear zone of probable Pan-African age, which was metamorphosed under granulite and high amphibolite facies conditions and which has reworked older basement. This shear zone continues across southern India as the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone. Major stratiform basic -ultrabasic complexes occur in the axial zone and in the basement to the west. Well preserved low grade continental margin-type sediments (quartzites, mica schists and stromatolitic marbles) of Kibaran age are present in western Madagascar. Two partly greenschist grade sedimentary groups lie unconformably on high grade basement in north-east Madagascar. Isotopic age data suggest the presence in Madagascar of Archaean, Early and Mid-Proterozoic crustal material that was extensively reworked in Pan-African times.