Factors controlling stable oxygen,hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios in regional groundwater of the eastern United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Increasing groundwater salinity and depletion of the aquifers are major concerns in the UAE. Isotopes of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon concentrations in groundwater were used to estimate evaporation loss using the isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen, and using a carbon isotope to trace inorganic carbon cycling in two main aquifers in the eastern part of the United Arab Emirates. The δD‐δ¹⁸O of groundwater samples plotted on a line given by: δD = 4 δ¹⁸O + 4 ·4 (r² = 0·4). In comparison, the local meteoric water line (LMWL) has been defined by the line: δD = 8 δ¹⁸O + 15. In order to better understand the system investigated, samples were separated into two groups based on the δD‐δ¹⁸O relationship. These are (1) samples that plot above the LMWL (δD = 6·1 δ¹⁸O + 12·4, r² = 0·8) and which are located predominantly in the north of the study area, and (2) samples that plot below the LMWL (δD = 5·6 δ¹⁸O + 6·2, r² = 0·8) and which are mostly distributed in the south. Slopes for both the groups are similar and lower than that for LMWL indicating potential evaporation of recharging water. However, the y‐intercept, which differs between the two groups, suggests evaporation of return flow and evapotranspiration in the unsaturated zone to be more significant in the south. This is attributed to intense agricultural activities in the region. Samples from the eastern Gravel Plain aquifer have δ¹³C and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) values in the range from ? 10 to 17‰, and 12–100 mg C/l, respectively, while the range for those from the Ophiolite aquifer is from ? 11 to ? 16.4‰, and 16–114 mg C/l respectively. This suggests the control of C‐3 and C‐4 plants on DIC formation, an observation supported by the range δ¹³C of soil organic matter (from ? 18·5 to ? 22·1‰.) Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gravel washing wastes from Jarama river deposits (Spain): an undervalued natural raw material

This work presents the main characteristics of 97 quarry wastes, collected in 23 gravel pits, from the Jarama river area, Madrid province, Spain. In this area, more than 2.5 × 10⁶ ton of silty-clay waste are generated every year, and no applications have as yet been defined for them. This work is the first systematic study of the fine fractions generated from the Jarama river quaternary deposits, playing part in the comprehension of this complex terrace systems. Quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase, calcite, and complex mixtures of phyllosilicates, such as smectite, illite, kaolinite, chlorite and illite/smectite mixed layer, have been detected. Two sets of waste which are recognized according to the calcite content, have been directly related with the terrace level beneficed in the Jarama river, and the position along the valley. Calcite concentrates in the wastes produced in the lower course, where Henares and Tajuña tributaries promote an extensive change in the geochemistry of underground water, and locally, in the petrology of quarried conglomerates. This clear distinction by location between calcite-bearing and calcite-free wastes is essential for potential applications, such as soil conditioning, raw materials for brick or tiles, etc. The wastes studied can be considered as a potential source of industrial raw materials because of their uniformity and large volume. This suggestion is now being carried out, with an attempt at assessing the possibilities of using these mining wastes as ceramic raw materials.     

念青唐古拉山主峰地区第四纪砾石层砾组分析

通过对念青唐古拉山脉主峰地区的第四纪砾石层的砾组分析,作者从基岩地层和砾性分析、砾度和砾态分析中,阐述了念青唐古拉山脉北坡和南坡不同成因的第四纪砾石层的来源、成因及搬运方式。念青唐古拉山主峰地区的3次冰期砾石层中,每次冰期的冰碛物中的砾石在岩石成分、砾度、球度、风化程度上都有明显差异。这种差异反映了青藏高原隆升过程中对念青唐古拉山不同岩石的剥蚀作用。      

考虑碎石桩排水能力复合地基中孔压长消解析解

由于地震作用时间较短,且碎石桩渗透能力和土体渗透能力相比并不是无限大,因此本文考虑碎石桩排水能力研究了碎石桩桩体材料由地震引起的孔压的长消规律。根据比奥固结理论综合考虑碎石桩的排水能力和相应的初始条件及边界条件,推导出了能够真实反映碎石桩排水减压作用在地震期超孔隙水压力产生、扩散、消散过程中的贡献作用的一般解析解公式。同时讨论了碎石桩渗透能力的不同对抗震液化的影响作用。     

Chronic offshore loss of nourishment on Nice beach,French Riviera: A case of over-nourishment of a steep beach?

The 4.5 km-long gravel beach fronting the exclusive resort of the city of Nice, on the French Riviera, in southeastern France, was artificially nourished from 1976 to 2005 to the tune of 558,000 m³, making this long-term operation one of the most significant for gravel beaches in the world. Nourishment has ranged from nil in certain years (1979, 1980, 1983–85, and 2001–2002) to a peak of over 97,000 m³ in 2000. Analyses of 50 transects covering the beach highlight no significant change in net beach width over this 30-year period of massive gravel nourishment. A Principal Components Analysis and a Cluster Analysis used to detect patterns in the 87 beach-width measurement dataset show no clear spatial trends in transect groups that can be interpreted in terms of the morphology of the beach and the steep inner shoreface. Significant wave height off Nice shows no change over the period 1979–2005. Since there is no possibility for alongshore gravel leakage on the strongly embayed Nice beach, the relative stability in beach width clearly implies loss of recharged gravel offshore. Gravel loss following nourishment is favoured by: (1) the steep inner shoreface inherited from the geological context of Nice beach at the flanks of the southern Alps, and (2) the practise of artificial beach widening through flattening, in summer, of a narrow (5–15 m-wide) mobile zone of the profile in order to enhance the ‘carrying’ capacity of this highly touristic beach. Beach widening and flattening following nourishment bring close to the very steep inner shoreface zone several cubic metres of gravel for each metre of beach that may be permanently lost downslope during autumn and winter storms. Recharged gravel is redistributed alongshore and offshore leakage is probably enhanced where small narrow submarine canyon heads impinge on the beach, resulting in a very narrow shoreface. Mean beach width shows an oscillating alongshore pattern that may be due to the influence of these canyons as pathways of gravel loss offshore. However, there is no correlation between mean beach width and distance to the 10-m isobath, used as a surrogate for inner shoreface width. Storms are associated with plunging waves that are particularly effective and concentrated, on this almost tideless shore, over the narrow mobile zone of the beach profile where a series of steep reflective berms are built during storms. The high dynamic pressures associated with this narrow zone of concentrated wave breaking, and energy reflection from the steepened profile, are deemed to contribute to the permanent downslope loss of gravel. This situation of long-term gravel loss is probably accepted by the beach management authority because of the low cost of obtaining nourishment material and the advantages derived from a temporarily wider beach in terms of recreational space.     

Water accumulation in soil by gravel and sand mulches: Influence of textural composition and thickness of mulch layers

The use of gravel and sand as mulch has been an indigenous farming technique for crop production for over 300 years in the semiarid loess region of northwest China. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of texture and thickness of gravel and sand mulch layers on soil water storage by field experiments. The texture experiment consists of three commonly used gravel mulch types: pebble, mixed pebble and sand, fine sand; and the thickness experiment consists of 1, 2 and 3-layers of 2 cm pebbles. Each treatment has three replications. The results indicate that gravel-sand mulches were more effective in conserving soil water, as compared with the bare soil treatment, and the mixed pebble and sand mulch was more effective to conserve soil water than the sole pebble or sand mulch. Soil water content increased with mulch thickness (the number of gravel layers), 1-layer treatment had an average soil water content of 10.85% at 0-60 cm soil layer after a rainfall of 10 mm, 2.42% and 4.92% less than the 2-layers and 3-layers treatments. From May to October in 2004, two and three layers of pebbles conserved 9.8 ± 6.6 mm and 20.0 ± 14.3 mm more water, respectively, as compared with the one layer of 2 cm pebbles at the soil depth of 0-100 cm.     

Holocene alluvial environments at Barking,Lower Thames Valley (London,UK)

Deposit modelling based on archived borehole logs supplemented by a small number of dedicated boreholes is used to reconstruct the main boundary surfaces and the thickness of the main sediment units within the succession of Holocene alluvial deposits underlying the floodplain in the Barking Reach of the Lower Thames Valley. The basis of the modelling exercise is discussed and the models are used to assess the significance of floodplain relief in determining patterns of sedimentation. This evidence is combined with the results of biostratigraphical and geochronological investigations to reconstruct the environmental conditions associated with each successive stage of floodplain aggradation. The two main factors affecting the history and spatial pattern of Holocene sedimentation are shown to be the regional behaviour of relative sea level and the pattern of relief on the surface of the sub-alluvial, Late Devensian Shepperton Gravel. As is generally the case in the Lower Thames Valley, three main stratigraphic units are recognised, the Lower Alluvium, a peat bed broadly equivalent to the Tilbury III peat of Devoy (1979) and an Upper Alluvium. There is no evidence to suggest that the floodplain was substantially re-shaped by erosion during the Holocene. Instead, the relief inherited from the Shepperton Gravel surface was gradually buried either by the accumulation of peat or by deposition of fine-grained sediment from suspension in standing or slow-moving water. The palaeoenvironmental record from Barking confirms important details of the Holocene record observed elsewhere in the Lower Thames Valley, including the presence of Taxus in the valley-floor fen carr woodland between about 5000 and 4000 cal BP, and the subsequent growth of Ulmus on the peat surface.     

扬子北缘黄陵地区晚中生代盆地演化及其构造意义

扬子北缘黄陵地区古构造应力场于晚中生代经历发生了重大转变,是扬子板块与华北板块在三叠纪碰撞造山之后陆内构造变形的体现。由黄陵背斜周缘晚中生代盆地充填记录所反映出这一变革的起始时间为中侏罗世晚期。早侏罗世-中侏罗世早期,盆地内沉积了以桐竹园组为代表的河流-湖泊相岩层,由沉积碎屑成分和古水流统计所得出的物源区为北部的秦岭地区,黄陵背斜上部可能也接受了碎屑沉积;中侏罗世晚期-晚侏罗世,沉积中心发生了改变,表现为仅仅在黄陵背斜西侧的秭归盆地内有所保存,沉积环境以曲流河到辫状河流和三角洲为主,物源区则局限于黄陵背斜;早白垩世初期,周坪盆地和宜昌盆地为沉积中心,近缘冲积扇和辫状河流体系占据主体,物源区依然为黄陵地区,两盆地在黄陵背斜南缘可能相连,黄陵背斜上部的原下侏罗统被剥蚀;早白垩世晚期-晚白垩世,远安盆地逐渐发育,盆地西缘为冲积扇-辫状河流体系,中、 东部则以曲流河-湖泊沉积环境为主体,并间有干旱沙漠环境。原型盆地再造结果显示,早侏罗世-中侏罗世早期盆地展布具有近东西向特点,古地貌总体呈现出北部为山脉、 南部为盆地的格局;中侏罗世晚期以来,盆地呈近南北向,黄陵背斜逐渐形成山脉,盆地位于其东西两侧。两期盆地沉积特征反映了扬子北缘古构造应力场由近南北向转变为近东西向的过程。     

藏北丁固—加措地区中-上更新统高台阶砾石层的厘定及其意义

西藏北部丁固-加措地区,分布一套零星出露的、固结—半固结状态的砂砾岩层,在综合研究其岩石组合、沉积特征、地质时代、区域地质特征的基础上,将其厘定为一个非正式岩石地层单位——高台阶砾石层,该砾石层对研究区内第四系地质演化具有重要意义。     

Gold- and diamond-bearing White Hills Gravel,St Arnaud district,Victoria: age and provenance based on U – Pb dating of zircon and rutile

Investigation of coarse (>2 mm) heavy-mineral concentrates from the White Hills Gravel near St Arnaud in western Victoria provides new evidence for the age and provenance of this widespread palaeoplacer formation. A prominent zircon – sapphire – spinel assemblage is characteristic of Cenozoic basaltic-derived gemfields in eastern Australia, while a single diamond shows similar features to others found in alluvial deposits in northeastern Victoria and New South Wales. Dating of two suites of zircons by fission track and U – Pb (SHRIMP) methods gave overlapping ages between 67.4 ± 5.2 and 74.5 ± 6.3 Ma, indicating a maximum age of Late Cretaceous for the formation. Another suite of minerals includes tourmaline (schorl – dravite), andalusite, rutile and anatase, which are probably locally derived from contact metamorphic aureoles in Cambro-Ordovician basement metapelites intruded by Early Devonian granites. U – Pb dating of rutile grains by laser ablation ICPMS gave an age of 393 ± 10 Ma, confirming an Early Devonian age for the regional granites and associated contact metamorphism. Other phases present include pseudorutile, metamorphic corundum of various types, maghemite and hematite, which have more equivocal source rocks. A model to explain the diverse sources of these minerals invokes recycling and mixing of the far-travelled basalt-derived suite with the less mature, locally derived metamorphic suite. Some minerals have probably been recycled from Mesozoic gravels through Early Cenozoic (Paleocene – Eocene) drainage systems during various episodes of weathering, ferruginisation and erosion. Comparison between heavy-mineral assemblages in occurrences of the White Hills Gravel may allow distinction between depositional models advocating either separate drainage networks or coalescing sheets. Such assemblages may also provide evidence for the present-day divide in the Western Uplands being the youngest expression of an old (Late Mesozoic – Early Cenozoic) stable divide separating north- and south-flowing streams or a much younger feature (ca 10 Ma) which disrupted mainly south-flowing drainage.