Modern sedimentation and hydrology in Lake Tyrrell,Victoria

Lake Tyrrell is a large ephemeral salt lake, the level of which is controlled by climate and groundwater. Up to a metre of water fills the basin during the wetter and cooler winter season, but evaporates during the summer, precipitating up to 10 cm of halite. Each year essentially the same pool of ions is redissolved by this annual freshening. The small percentage of gypsum precipated (< 2%) in the surface salt crust reflects the low calcium content of the brine which, in turn, is a function of the negligible net discharge of calcium from the groundwater system. The small influx of fine‐grained clastic sediment to the lake floor comes from surface runoff, wind, and reworking of older sediment from the shoreline.

The Lake Tyrrell basin lies in a setting in which three different groundwater types, identified by distinct salinities, interact with surface waters. A refluxing cycle that goes from discharging groundwater at the basin margin, to surface evaporation on the lake floor, to recharge through the floor of the lake, controls the major chemical characteristics of the basin. In this process, salts are leached downward from the lake floor to join a brine pool below the lake. This provides an outlet from the lake, especially under conditions that have been both drier and wetter than those of today. Enhanced discharge occurs under drier conditions, when the enclosing regional groundwater divide is lowered, whereas a rise in lake level increases the hydraulic head over that of the sub‐surface brine and promotes an increase in brine loss from the lake.

Sulphate‐reducing bacteria in a zone of black sulphide‐rich mud beneath the salt crust help prevent gypsum from being incorporated into the recent sedimentary record. However, below the upper 5 to 10 cm zone of bacterial activity, discoidal gypsum is being precipitated within the mud from the groundwater. These crystals have grown by displacing the mud and typically “float” in a clay matrix; in some zones, they form concentrations exceeding 50% of the sediment. The occasional laminae of more prismatic gypsum that occur within the upper metre of mud have crystallised from surface brines. The scarcity of these comparatively pure prismatic‐crystal concentrations probably is a function of unfavourable chemical conditions in the lake brine and of the role that sulphate‐reducing bacteria have played.     

Authigenic Gypsum in Gas-Hydrate Associated Sediments from the East Coast of India (Bay of Bengal)

Authigenic gypsum crystals, along with pyrite and carbonate mineralization, predominantly calcites were noticed in distinct intervals in a 32 m long piston core, collected in the gas hydrate- bearing sediments in the northern portion of the Krishna-Godavari basin, eastern continental margin of India at a water depth of 1691 m. X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrum studies confirm presence of pyrite, gypsum, calcite, and other mineral aggregates. The occurrence of gypsum in such deep sea environment is intriguing, because gypsum is a classical evaporite mineral and is under saturated with respect to sea water. Sedimentological, geochemical evidences point to diagenetic formation of the gypsum due to oxidation of sulphide minerals (i.e. pyrite). Euhedral, transparent gypsum crystals, with pyrite inclusions are cemented with authigenic carbonates, possibly indicating that they were formed authigenically in situ in the gas hydrate-influenced environment due to late burial diagenesis involving sulphate reduction and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). Therefore, the authigenic gypsums found in sediments of the Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi offshore regions could be seen as one of the parameters to imply the presence of high methane flux possibly from gas hydrate at depth.     

沿高度变刚度复合墙板结构弹塑性分析

本文研究沿高度变刚度混凝土灌芯纤维石膏墙板结构(以下简称复合墙板结构)在水平荷载作用下的受力机理,建立简化计算模型,推导出了复合墙板结构的受力破坏路径,并建立了各阶段内力计算方法及计算公式。通过实例计算,得到沿高度均匀结构以及非均匀结构在水平荷载情况作用下位移的曲线与非均匀结构的受力破坏路径。结果表明,沿高度适当改变灌芯方式,侧移曲线更趋合理;各区段结构破坏路径均是石膏板先开裂且先达到极限状态。     

稳定盐膏层井眼的不饱和有机盐水钻井液新技术

从力学和物理学角度分析,人们一般采用油基钻井液、饱和盐水钻井液或欠饱和盐水钻井液钻盐膏层,但油基钻井液因为自身缺陷无法大规模使用,而且井下经常出现事故或复杂情况。在成本可接受的情况下,采用适当密度的不饱和有机盐钻井液,可使钻井液在满足地层盐岩适当溶解的同时又具有较强的抑制性,从而达到盐膏层井眼稳定的目的。在室内进行了以密度为1.30 g/cm3和1.36 g/cm3有机盐水溶液为基液配制而成的两套钻井液常规性能、抗污染性能和盐溶量实验,认为两套钻井液都能够满足盐膏层的钻井需要,且在Y5-2井也进行了现场试验,表明与同构造上的其它完成井相比,无事故或复杂情况,综合成本低。     

黄土高原450kaBP前后荒漠草原大迁移研究

1IntroductionChinese loess has been studied by a lot of researchers and its important scientific significance is realized in restoring the Quaternary environment and correlating the climatic changes between oceans and continents (An etal., 1985; Kukla, 19…     

Gypsum–anhydrite transformations in Messinian evaporites of central Tuscany (Italy)

The Messinian succession of Tuscany (central Italy) contains three evaporitic units. Among the several exposed evaporitic lithofacies, only selenitic gypsum precipitated directly from evaporating brines. All the other facies, nodular microcrystalline gypsum, gypsarenites and gypsum laminites, despite their macroscopic differences, display the same petrographic textures, indicating that they are the product of dehydration of gypsum to give anhydrite which has been successively rehydrated to secondary gypsum. These secondary facies show an entire array of textures ranging from cloudy ameboid (xenotopic) with anhydrite relics, to idiotopic without anhydrite relics, that are here interpreted as a sequence of progressive stages of rehydration. The presence of completely hydrated petrofacies at the core of nodules which display a less hydrated rim suggests that these rocks have undergone at least two cycles of a dehydration–rehydration process. This interpretation is supported by the presence of satin spar veins that are replaced by microcrystalline gypsum. Satin spar itself is considered to be a by-product of anhydrite hydration. The first dehydration–rehydration event affected the entire gypsum deposit, producing a completely hydrated (idiotopic) facies together with satin spar veins; the second affected only veins, fractures and the rims of nodules, turning the first generation of satin spar and idiotopic gypsum into cloudy ameboid gypsum. Sedimentary structures typical of sabkha environments indicate for the youngest formation that the first dehydration and rehydration process occurred syndepositionally. The preservation of primary gypsum facies only at sites with condensed sections, indicate for the oldest two formations that the first dehydration event occurred upon burial. This event has been estimated to have occurred in the earliest Pliocene. After the Early Pliocene, dehydration was favored even at shallow depths, due to an increased heat flow related with the emplacement of local crustal magmatic bodies. Rehydration possibly occurred when these formations were uplifted and exposed to ground and/or meteoric water. The Volterra Basin has undergone alternating subsidence and uplift events, that can account for two dehydration–rehydration processes at least, also driven by alternating circulation, in the tectonic fractures, of fresh and salty water, the latter derived from dissolution of Messinian halite.     

地震勘探技术在石膏矿开发中的应用

在国内首次将地震勘探技术系统地应用于石膏矿床的开发,控制了石膏层赋存状况和构造特征,获得了较为理想的地质效果和经济效益。      

贵州绥阳双河洞国家地质公园洞穴基本特征及成因探讨

106地质大队于1959～1960年曾对双河洞石膏矿进行过地质勘查。1986年～2006年4月,先后有中、法、日等国专家19次进双河洞考察,初步查明了该洞总长度为105.7km,是亚洲第二长洞,在世界上排名第16位。该洞不仅规模宏大,网络复杂,且有一定数量的次生淋滤型石膏矿分布,成为国内外罕见的独特洞穴景观。双河洞自2004年荣获国家地质公园称号以来,已引起国内外专家的广泛关注。该洞的形成,与该区域大范围内下寒武统清虚洞组上部至中寒武统平井组下部白云岩中,含大量硬石膏层有着密切的成因联系。     

Flotation Separation of Trace Elements from Alkaline-Earth Matrices by Co(III) Hexamethylenedithiocarbamate before ICP-AES Determination

A method for the selective separation of Ag, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in traces from solutions of calcite (CaCO₃), dolomite (CaMg(CO₃)₂) and gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O) before their determination by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) is presented. The expected interferences of Ca and Mg on intensities of trace analytes were removed by collecting the elements of interest with cobalt(III) hexamethylenedithiocar-bamate, Co(HMDTC)₃. The flotation of aqueous solutions (1 l) of calcite, dolomite and gypsum was performed at pH 6.0, by 1.5 mg l⁻¹ Co and 0.6 mmol l⁻¹ HMDTC⁻. To minimise the effect of the reaction between Ca/Mg, which restrains the function of the surfactant, careful selection of the most suitable foaming reagent was necessary. The accuracy of the method was established by analysing natural alkaline-earth minerals by the standard addition method as well as using the dolomite reference materials GBW 07114 and GSJ JDo-1. The ICP-AES limits of detection following flotation on different minerals were found to be 0.080 μg g⁻¹ for Cd, 0.105 μg g⁻¹ for Ag, 0.142 μg g⁻¹ for Cu, 0.195 μg g⁻¹ for Cr, 0.212 μg g⁻¹ for Ni, 0.235 μg g⁻¹ for Zn and 0.450 μg g⁻¹ for Pb.     

Diagenetic formation of gypsum and dolomite in a cold‐water coral mound in the Porcupine Seabight,off Ireland

Authigenic gypsum was found in a gravity core, retrieved from the top of Mound Perseverance, a giant cold‐water coral mound in the Porcupine Basin, off Ireland. The occurrence of gypsum in such an environment is intriguing, because gypsum, a classic evaporitic mineral, is undersaturated with respect to sea water. Sedimentological, petrographic and isotopic evidence point to diagenetic formation of the gypsum, tied to oxidation of sedimentary sulphide minerals (i.e. pyrite). This oxidation is attributed to a phase of increased bottom currents which caused erosion and enhanced inflow of oxidizing fluids into the mound sediments. The oxidation of pyrite produced acidity, causing carbonate dissolution and subsequently leading to pore‐water oversaturation with respect to gypsum and dolomite. Calculations based on the isotopic compositions of gypsum and pyrite reveal that between 21·6% and 28·6% of the sulphate incorporated into the gypsum derived from pyrite oxidation. The dissolution of carbonate increased the porosity in the affected sediment layer but promoted lithification of the sediments at the sediment‐water interface. Thus, authigenic gypsum can serve as a signature for diagenetic oxidation events in carbonate‐rich sediments. These observations demonstrate that fluid flow, steered by environmental factors, has an important effect on the diagenesis of coral mounds.