Preliminary evaluation of hydrochemistry of the Kalambaina Formation, Sokoto Basin, Nigeria

Hydrochemical investigations in the Kalambaina Formation have been initiated to determine potability and suitability of the shallow groundwater for domestic and agricultural uses. This limestone formation is an extensive aquifer supplying water to livestock and domestic wells in its outcrop areas. The aquifer is recharged by rainfall and discharges mainly into the Sokoto–Rima River system and lakes at Kware, Gwadabawa and Kalmalo in Nigeria. Because recharge to the aquifer is mainly from rainfall, the quality of the groundwater is controlled essentially by chemical processes in the vadose zone and locally by human activities. Water samples were taken at 11 sites comprising boreholes, dug wells and a spring and were chemically analysed for their major ion components. Hydrochemical results show water of fairly good quality. It is, however, hard and generally of moderate dissolved solids content. Concentration of the total dissolved solids is between 130 and 2,340 mg/l. Concentrations of ions vary widely but a high concentration of K⁺ is found in places. NO₃⁻ is on the higher side of the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits, indicating pollution in such areas. Groundwater chemistry is predominantly of two facies, namely the calcium–magnesium–bicarbonate and calcium–magnesium–sulphate–chloride facies. These facies probably evolved primarily as a result of dissolution of calcium and magnesium carbonates as well as some human/land-use activities.     

Neogene echinoids from the Cayman Islands,West Indies: regional implications

The first fossil echinoids are recorded from the Cayman Islands. A regular echinoid, Arbacia? sp., the spatangoids Brissus sp. cf. B. oblongus Wright and Schizaster sp. cf. S. americanus (Clark), and the clypeasteroid Clypeaster sp. are from the Middle Miocene Cayman Formation. Test fragments of the mellitid clypeasteroid, Leodia sexiesperforata (Leske), are from the Late Pleistocene Ironshore Formation. Miocene echinoids are preserved as (mainly internal) moulds; hence, all species are left in open nomenclature because of uncertainties regarding test architecture. All Miocene taxa are recorded from single specimens apart from the 27 assigned to Brissus. Schizaster sp. cf. S. americanus (Clark) is compared to a species from the Oligocene of the south‐east USA. Brissus sp. cf. B. oblongus is close in gross morphology to a taxon from the Miocene of Malta. Leodia sexiesperforata is identified from fragments with confidence, being the only extant Antillean sand dollar with elongate ambulacral petals that is limited to carbonate substrates. The Miocene echinoids of Grand Cayman, although of limited diversity, are mainly comprised of genera common in comparable mid‐Cenozoic carbonate environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coenotypes in Submerged Paleoforests in the Qianhu Bay, Fujian Province

The paleoforest remains studied are distributed within a range of 18000 m^2 in the intertidal zone of the Qianhu Bay, Fujian Province. Eighty-nine ancient tree stumps can be clearly recognized in the paleoforest remains. Microscopic studies of 10 relatively low-carbonized stump samples definitely showed four species： Glyptostrobus pensUi （Staunt） Kouch, Schima superba Gardn., Cinnamomum Schaeffer, and Litsea Lam. The 14^C dating of some samples yielded the ages of 42560±350 to 〉43000 a B. P., corresponding to the late Late Pleistocene.     

Plio-Pleistocene mammals from Mille-Logya,Ethiopia, and the post-Hadar faunal change

We describe the non-primate mammalian fauna from the late Pliocene to earliest Pleistocene deposits of Mille-Logya in the Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia, dated to c. 2.9–2.4 Ma, and divided into three successive units: Gafura, Seraitu, and Uraitele. We identify 41 mammalian taxa (including rodents), the most diverse group being the Bovidae, with 17 taxa. While the Gafura assemblage still resembles those from the earlier Hadar Formation, the younger Seraitu assemblage documents a major turnover. While there is little change in the species present across this interval, the relative abundances of various taxa change dramatically, with suids being largely replaced by open-country bovids (Alcelaphini and Antilopini). We interpret this faunal change as reflective of an environmental shift, contemporaneous with the replacement of Australopithecus afarensis by Homo in the area.     

某地下空间承压含水层抽水试验及成果分析

由于地下水突涌风险,地下空间在施工作业中有必要通过抽水试验确定承压含水层的水文地质参数。依据勘察报告的初步评价,基坑开挖15.5m时,场地内第⑦1层承压含水层有可能产生突涌,为确保工程安全施工,需开挖前进行承压含水层抽水试验,取得场地承压含水层水文地质参数及降水引起的沉降特征,为地下空间设计和施工提供可靠依据。本次布设抽水井、观测井、分层沉降标组、孔隙水压力观测孔及地面沉降观测点,依据抽水试验技术要求获取渗透系数、抽水影响半径等相关水文地质参数。最后,针对工程场地内承压水情况及特点进行分析,提出基坑开挖时的承压水降压建议方案。     

Sedimentary evolution of a Late Pleistocene temperate red algal reef (Coralligène) on Rhodes,Greece: correlation with global sea‐level fluctuations

Autochthonous red algal structures known as coralligène de plateau occur in the modern warm‐temperate Mediterranean Sea at water depths from 20 to 120 m, but fossil counterparts are not so well‐known. This study describes, from an uplifted coastal section at Plimiri on the island of Rhodes, a 450 m long by 10 m thick Late Pleistocene red algal reef (Coralligène Facies), interpreted as being a coralligène de plateau, and its associated deposits. The Coralligène Facies, constructed mainly by Lithophyllum and Titanoderma, sits unconformably upon the Plio‐Pleistocene Rhodes Formation and is overlain by a Maerl Facies (2 m), a Mixed Siliciclastic‐Carbonate Facies (0·2 m) and an Aeolian Sand Facies (2·5 m). The three calcareous facies, of Heterozoan character, are correlated with established members in the Lindos Acropolis Formation in the north of the island, while the aeolian facies is assigned to the new Plimiri Aeolianite Formation. The palaeoenvironmental and genetic‐stratigraphic interpretations of these mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate temperate water deposits involved consideration of certain characteristics associated with siliciclastic shelf and tropical carbonate shelf models, such as vertical grain‐size trends and the stratigraphic position of zooxanthellate coral growths. Integration of these results with electron spin resonance dates of bivalve shells indicates that the Coralligène Facies was deposited during Marine Isotope Stage 6 to 5e transgressive event (ca 135 to 120 ka), in water depths of 20 to 50 m, and the overlying Maerl Facies was deposited during regression from Marine Isotope Stage 5e to 5d (ca 120 to 110 ka), at water depths of 25 to 40 m. The capping Aeolian Sand Facies, involving dual terrestrial subunits, is interpreted as having formed during each of the glacial intervals Marine Isotope Stages 4 (71 to 59 ka) and 2 (24 to 12 ka), with soil formation during the subsequent interglacial periods of Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 1, respectively. Accumulation rates of about 0·7 mm year^?1 are estimated for the Coralligène Facies and minimum accumulation rates of 0·2 mm year^?1 are estimated for the Maerl Facies. The existence of older red algal reefs in the Plimiri region during at least Marine Isotope Stages 7 (245 to 186 ka) and 9 (339 to 303 ka) is inferred from the occurrence of reworked coralligène‐type lithoclasts in the basal part of the section and from the electron spin resonance ages of transported bivalve shells.     

Peat mounds of southwest Tasmania: Possible origins

Small mounds of peat rise several metres above the level of the water‐table at Melaleuca Inlet and Louisa Plains on the buttongrass plains in southwest Tasmania. Possible origins of the peat mounds have been explored by pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a set of samples taken from a vertical section of one peat mound at Melaleuca. The peat accumulation is entirely of Holocene age although the mound is underlain by sapric peats preserving a cold climate palynoflora of probable Late Pleistocene age. Peats at and near the base of the mound accumulated under a heath sedgeland during the earliest Holocene while after about 7630 a BP the peat‐forming vegetation was shrub‐dominated. The radiocarbon data indicate two main phases of overall peat accumulation, between 7630 and 5340 a BP (Middle Holocene) and between 4450 and 450 a BP (Late Holocene), that were interrupted by a wildfire which burnt into the surface peats. The maintenance of high surface and internal levels of moisture almost certainly was the critical factor behind the low incidence of in situ fires burning into the surface peats on the mound. The perennial influx of groundwater below the mound is a possible origin that fits well with our observations, although the expansion and contraction of soils cannot be discounted as an initiating factor. Enhanced nutrient input from birds may have helped promote growth in the peat‐forming communities. The data do not support the mounds being eroded remnants of a former blanket peat cover or being due to periglacial activity. The peat mounds of southwest Tasmania deserve maximum protection because of their rarity in the Australian landscape and, it seems, elsewhere.     

Aminostratigraphy and sea-level history of the Pleistocene Bridgewater Formation,Mount Gambier region,southern Australia

A geochronological framework based on amino acid racemisation (AAR) and constrained by previously reported optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages is presented for the evolution and paleosea-level record of the Pleistocene Bridgewater Formation of the Mount Gambier region, of southern Australia. Within the study area, the Bridgewater Formation is represented by late early Pleistocene [Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 23 at 933 ka] to Holocene barrier shoreline successions deposited during sea-level highstands. Regional monotonic uplift (0.13 mm yr^–1) and pervasive calcrete development during the Pleistocene have preserved the sequence of calcarenite (mixed quartz-skeletal carbonate sand) shoreline complexes from denudation. AAR analyses confirm that the barriers generally increase in age landwards and correlate with sea-level highstands associated with interglacials as defined by the marine oxygen isotope record. AAR analyses on the benthic foraminifer Elphidium crispum have proved more reliable than the whole-rock method in extending the age range of AAR dating of these relict shoreline successions. Paleosea-levels from the coastal plain are as follows: MIS 7, –9 ± 2 m; MIS 9, 4 ± 1 m; and a minimum sea-level of 2 ± 2 m is derived for MIS 11. Paleosea-level could not be determined for MIS 15, 19 or 23 as diagnostic sea-level indicators were not identified within these sedimentary successions. Dismal Range, dated at 933 ± 145 ka (MIS 23), represents a correlative feature to the East Naracoorte Range but is some 25 km seaward of the Kanawinka Fault compared with the same barrier at Naracoorte. Mingbool Range (788 ± 18 ka) is of similar age to the West Naracoorte Range (MIS 19) and formed as an arcuate shoreline complex that became attached to the higher relief of the area represented by the Mount Burr Volcanic Province. The higher topographical relief resulted from crustal doming of the Oligo-Miocene Gambier Limestone caused by the intrusion of magma associated with the volcanic province. The AAR age of 788 ± 118 ka for Mingbool Range indicates that the Mount Burr volcanics predate the deposition of this shoreline complex.     

Vulnerability assessment in karstic areas: validation by field experiments

Several methods have been developed for vulnerability mapping in karstic areas. These methods need additional validation by field experiments. Several tests have been carried out in the Swiss Jura with natural and artificial tracers. The protective role of some intrinsic properties of the system, such as glacial deposits covering karst, epikarst storage and system dilution effect, have been clearly demonstrated. Use of three tracers in parallel showed the reactivity of the epikarst: all tracers arrived at the same time, but their relative concentration stayed clearly different. A classification of contamination scenarios into four classes is proposed. It is shown that the relevance of some intrinsic properties depends on the considered scenario class. The hydrodynamic state of the aquifer influences greatly flow velocities and can strongly modify contaminant concentrations at the output of the system. The spatial repartition (point vs diffuse) and the quantity of contaminant entering the system will also influence the output response. Hence, results from tracing experiments cannot be used straightforward for obtaining a representative value of flow velocity, dispersion or recovery rate.