Evaluation of distributed BMPs in an urban watershed—High resolution modeling for stormwater management

The urban environment modifies the hydrologic cycle resulting in increased runoff rates, volumes, and peak flows. Green infrastructure, which uses best management practices (BMPs), is a natural system approach used to mitigate the impacts of urbanization onto stormwater runoff. Patterns of stormwater runoff from urban environments are complex, and it is unclear how efficiently green infrastructure will improve the urban water cycle. These challenges arise from issues of scale, the merits of BMPs depend on changes to small‐scale hydrologic processes aggregated up from the neighborhood to the urban watershed. Here, we use a hyper‐resolution (1 m), physically based hydrologic model of the urban hydrologic cycle with explicit inclusion of the built environment. This model represents the changes to hydrology at the BMP scale (~1 m) and represents each individual BMP explicitly to represent response over the urban watershed. Our study varies both the percentage of BMP emplacement and their spatial location for storm events of increasing intensity in an urban watershed. We develop a metric of effectiveness that indicates a nonlinear relationship that is seen between percent BMP emplacement and storm intensity. Results indicate that BMP effectiveness varies with spatial location and that type and emplacement within the urban watershed may be more important than overall percent.     

Rainfall–runoff responses on Arctic hillslopes underlain by continuous permafrost,North Slope,Alaska, USA

The Arctic hydrologic cycle is intensifying, as evidenced by increased rates of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and riverine discharge. However, the controls on water fluxes from terrestrial to aquatic systems in upland Arctic landscapes are poorly understood. Upland landscapes account for one third of the Arctic land surface and are often drained by zero‐order geomorphic flowpath features called water tracks. Previous work in the region attributed rapid runoff response at larger stream orders to water tracks, but models suggest water tracks are hydrologically disconnected from the surrounding hillslope. To better understand the role of water tracks in upland landscapes, we investigated the surface and subsurface hydrologic responses of 6 water tracks and their hillslope watersheds to natural patterns of rainfall, soil thaw, and drainage. Between storms, both water track discharge and the water table in the hillslope watersheds exhibited diel fluctuations that, when lagged by 5 hr, were temporally correlated with peak evapotranspiration rate. Water track soils remained saturated for more of the summer season than soils in their surrounding hillslope watersheds. When rainfall occurred, the subsurface response was nearly instantaneous, but the water tracks took significantly longer than the hillslopes to respond to rainfall, and longer than the responses previously observed in nearby larger order Arctic streams. There was also evidence for antecedent soil water storage conditions controlling the magnitude of runoff response. Based on these observations, we used a broken stick model to test the hypothesis that runoff production in response to individual storms was primarily controlled by rainfall amount and antecedent water storage conditions near the water track outlet. We found that the relative importance of the two factors varied by site, and that water tracks with similar watershed geometries and at similar landscape positions had similar rainfall–runoff model relationships. Thus, the response of terrestrial water fluxes in the upland Arctic to climate change depends on the non‐linear interactions between rainfall patterns and subsurface water storage capacity on hillslopes. Predicting these interactions across the landscape remains an important challenge.     

Oxygen‐18 dynamics in precipitation and streamflow in a semi‐arid agricultural watershed,Eastern Washington,USA

Understanding flow pathways and mechanisms that generate streamflow is important to understanding agrochemical contamination in surface waters in agricultural watersheds. Two environmental tracers, δ¹⁸O and electrical conductivity (EC), were monitored in tile drainage (draining 12 ha) and stream water (draining nested catchments of 6‐5700 ha) from 2000 to 2008 in the semi‐arid agricultural Missouri Flat Creek (MFC) watershed, near Pullman Washington, USA. Tile drainage and streamflow generated in the watershed were found to have baseline δ¹⁸O value of ?14·7‰ (VSMOW) year round. Winter precipitation accounted for 67% of total annual precipitation and was found to dominate streamflow, tile drainage, and groundwater recharge. ‘Old’ and ‘new’ water partitioning in streamflow were not identifiable using δ¹⁸O, but seasonal shifts of nitrate‐corrected EC suggest that deep soil pathways primarily generated summer streamflow (mean EC 250 µS/cm) while shallow soil pathways dominated streamflow generation during winter (EC declining as low as 100 µS/cm). Using summer isotopic and EC excursions from tile drainage in larger catchment (4700‐5700 ha) stream waters, summer in‐stream evaporation fractions were estimated to be from 20% to 40%, with the greatest evaporation occurring from August to October. Seasonal watershed and environmental tracer dynamics in the MFC watershed appeared to be similar to those at larger watershed scales in the Palouse River basin. A 0·9‰ enrichment, in shallow groundwater drained to streams (tile drainage and soil seepage), of δ¹⁸O values from 2000 to 2008 may be evidence of altered precipitation conditions due to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in the Inland Northwest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change and future flows of Rocky Mountain rivers: converging forecasts from empirical trend projection and down‐scaled global circulation modelling

To predict future river flows, empirical trend projection (ETP) analyses and extends historic trends, while hydroclimatic modelling (HCM) incorporates regional downscaling from global circulation model (GCM) outputs. We applied both approaches to the extensively allocated Oldman River Basin that drains the North American Rocky Mountains and provides an international focus for water sharing. For ETP, we analysed monthly discharges from 1912 to 2008 with non‐parametric regression, and extrapolated changes to 2055. For modelling, we refined the physical models MTCLIM and SNOPAC to provide water inputs into RIVRQ (river discharge), a model that assesses the streamflow regime as involving dynamic peaks superimposed on stable baseflow. After parameterization with 1960–1989 data, we assessed climate forecasts from six GCMs: CGCM1‐A, HadCM3, NCAR‐CCM3, ECHAM4 and 5 and GCM2. Modelling reasonably reconstructed monthly hydrographs (R² about 0·7), and averaging over three decades closely reconstructed the monthly pattern (R² = 0·94). When applied to the GCM forecasts, the model predicted that summer flows would decline considerably, while winter and early spring flows would increase, producing a slight decline in the annual discharge (?3%, 2005–2055). The ETP predicted similarly decreased summer flows but slight change in winter flows and greater annual flow reduction (?9%). The partial convergence of the seasonal flow projections increases confidence in a composite analysis and we thus predict further declines in summer (about ? 15%) and annual flows (about ? 5%). This composite projection indicates a more modest change than had been anticipated based on earlier GCM analyses or trend projections that considered only three or four decades. For other river basins, we recommend the utilization of ETP based on the longest available streamflow records, and HCM with multiple GCMs. The degree of correspondence from these two independent approaches would provide a basis for assessing the confidence in projections for future river flows and surface water supplies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内蒙古自治区重要矿种成矿规律综述

2007~2013年开展的内蒙古矿产资源潜力评价项目,对铁、铜、铅锌、金、银、钨、钼、铬、镍等重要矿种进行了区域成矿规律总结,为矿产资源潜力评价提供了基础资料。文章即是对该项工作部分成果的概括总结。主要进展包括:在全国Ⅲ级成矿区带划分的基础上,首次进行了覆盖全自治区的Ⅳ级成矿亚带的划分,共划分出34个Ⅳ级成矿亚带;对内蒙古铁、铜等11个重要矿种的主要矿床类型及成矿特征进行了概述,对其时空分布规律做了归纳,认为全区70%以上的矿床数量和资源储量均集中在Ⅲ_5、Ⅲ_6、Ⅲ_8、Ⅲ_10和Ⅲ_11五个成矿区带。此外,不同矿种甚至同一矿种,由于成矿地质背景的差异,在不同的三级区带中的分布也不一样。主要成矿期为元古宙和中生代,次为太古宙和晚古生代,不同矿种的重要成矿期也不完全相同。从区域演化的角度探讨了构造与成矿的关系,认为不同的构造演化阶段形成不同的矿床类型和不同矿种的矿床,其中,古大陆边缘裂谷带以白云鄂博式铁_稀土元素矿床为代表,而大兴安岭岩浆岩带则以产出与燕山期中酸性火山侵入杂岩有关的多金属矿产为特点。     

塔里木盆地西南凹陷古新统巨厚海相石膏岩沉积特征及环境意义

塔里木盆地(简称塔,下同)西南凹陷古新世阿尔塔什组发育巨厚层海相石膏岩,夹薄层泥岩、粉砂岩及灰岩,是塔西南凹陷断续海侵环境下多期次蒸发沉积的产物。野外调查显示,该层海相石膏岩出现于皮拉里、阿尔塔什、麻扎塔格及大山口地区的阿尔塔什组露头剖面。石膏岩在凹陷内分布广泛,在西昆仑山前、南天山山前及麦盖提斜坡带均有发育且沉积厚度比较稳定。石膏岩中主要盐类矿物为石膏、硬石膏。扫描电镜分析发现,石膏岩中尚含石盐、钙芒硝及含钾镁的硫酸盐等;石膏岩样品中石盐、石膏、硬石膏等多呈细晶或自形微晶,推测阿尔塔什组沉积期,古盐湖曾出现过富钾卤水;通过对皮拉里剖面石膏岩样品进行地球化学分析,揭示该地区古新世古盐湖演化过程中出现2个相对富钾峰值。在古盐湖演化过程中,由于多期次特提斯海水的侵入,凹陷内部阿尔塔时期发育了碎屑岩—巨厚层石膏岩—碎屑岩的沉积韵律,古盐湖卤水表现为淡—咸—淡的变化规律。伴随着阿尔塔时期4次大规模的海侵,石膏岩沉积从西昆仑山前扩展到麦盖提斜坡地带,海侵范围也逐渐扩大。在阿尔塔什组顶部发育中厚层灰岩,显示在阿尔塔什组沉积晚期,塔西南凹陷沉积环境从●湖相逐渐向浅海相环境演变。     

前陆盆地钾盐矿床成因及模式——以西班牙北部埃布罗盆地为例

前陆盆地蕴藏有巨量的钾盐资源,而对于其内的钾盐矿床成因和模式还欠缺系统的总结。西班牙埃布罗盆地是由于伊比利亚和欧亚块体碰撞而形成的前陆盆地。始新世晚期(约36 Ma)海水完全从盆地退出后,在极端干旱气候作用下,由于碰撞造山导致盆地的封闭作用,在南比利牛斯前陆盆地系统的前渊带(即埃布罗盆地北部)形成了典型的厚层含钾石盐_光卤石的正常海相蒸发岩序列。后期受到构造挤压作用,钾盐地层以盐底劈的形式出露在背斜核部。埃布罗盆地钾盐成因是构造、气候和物源三者耦合作用的结果,与中国库车前陆盆地有很大的相似性。据此,作者建议可重点关注盆地南北盐丘地带苏维依组蒸发岩以及卤水的迁移方向。     

典型小陆块海相成钾机理——以西西里微陆块钾盐矿床为例

中国大陆是由多个小陆块经多期次离散碰撞拼合而成,而"小陆块是否能成大钾"一直是国内钾盐研究领域关注的科学问题。文章剖析了意大利西西里微陆块的典型海相钾盐矿床形成条件与机理,为中国小陆块成钾研究提供借鉴。在晚中新世墨西拿盐度危机(Messinian Salinity Crisis)最盛期(5.60~5.55 Ma),西西里岛的卡尔塔尼塞塔盆地聚集了高达2亿t的钾盐镁矾矿。通过对卡尔塔尼塞塔盆地钾盐矿的赋存地层格架、矿体特征、成矿模式和机理进行梳理和总结,指出该矿床呈层状赋存于地中海"再沉积下石膏组"的原生石盐岩中,形成于深水、分层的常年性盐湖环境;晚中新世中地中海碰撞挤压的构造活动导致卡尔塔尼塞塔盆地强烈挠曲下凹,形成多个次级成矿凹陷;次级凹陷接受海水的周期性补给;在墨西拿盐度危机最盛期,由于气候变冷变干、直布罗陀海峡关闭、海平面急剧下降,远离补给源的次级凹陷变得更加封闭,从而在5万年的极短时间内经强烈蒸发,聚集为大规模钾盐矿。西西里微陆块尽管陆块小、盆地小,但在满足封闭构造_干旱气候_充足物源三要素耦合的特定时期内,同样形成了大型钾盐矿床。因此,西西里微陆块的钾盐成矿实例证明海相小陆块同样具有形成大型钾矿床的潜力,这对中国海相小陆块汇聚区的找钾工作具有重要的借鉴意义。     

南美安第斯地区成矿区带划分探讨

南美安第斯成矿带是世界上最著名的Cu、Au、多金属巨型成矿带,产有一系列大型-超大型Cu、Au、多金属矿床,是目前世界上最重要的找矿投资热点地区之一。文章在系统收集资料和综合研究的基础上,依据安第斯成矿带的基底组成、构造_岩浆演化、板块俯冲形式、成矿作用以及主要成矿类型的差异,将安第斯地区自北而南划分为3个Ⅱ级成矿省和14个Ⅲ级成矿带,并对各成矿区带的地质与成矿特征进行了概要阐述,为安第斯地区区域成矿规律研究提供了基础,也为中国企业在该地区的矿产勘查、开发投资提供了指导信息。