Using multivariate statistical analysis of groundwater major cation and trace element concentrations to evaluate groundwater flow in a regional aquifer

Groundwater samples were collected from 11 springs in Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada and seven springs from Death Valley National Park in eastern California. Concentrations of the major cations (Ca, Mg, Na and K) and 45 trace elements were determined in these groundwater samples. The resultant data were subjected to evaluation via the multivariate statistical technique principal components analysis (PCA), to investigate the chemical relationships between the Ash Meadows and Death Valley spring waters, to evaluate whether the results of the PCA support those of previous hydrogeological and isotopic studies and to determine if PCA can be used to help delineate potential groundwater flow patterns based on the chemical compositions of groundwaters. The results of the PCA indicated that groundwaters from the regional Paleozoic carbonate aquifers (all of the Ash Meadows springs and four springs from the Furnace Creek region of Death Valley) exhibited strong statistical associations, whereas other Death Valley groundwaters were chemically different. The results of the PCA support earlier studies, where potentiometric head levels, δ¹⁸O and δD, geological relationships and rare earth element data were used to evaluate groundwater flow, which suggest groundwater flows from Ash Meadows to the Furnace Creek springs in Death Valley. The PCA suggests that Furnace Creek groundwaters are moderately concentrated Ash Meadows groundwater, reflecting longer aquifer residence times for the Furnace Creek groundwaters. Moreover, PCA indicates that groundwater may flow from springs in the region surrounding Scotty's Castle in Death Valley National Park, to a spring discharging on the valley floor. The study indicates that PCA may provide rapid and relatively cost‐effective methods to assess possible groundwater flow regimes in systems that have not been previously investigated. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2017年四川九寨沟MS7.0地震及余震定位研究

采用特定震源台站校正定位方法对九寨沟M_S7.0地震及其余震进行了精定位研究,结果显示九寨沟地震主震深度为19km左右,余震主要分布于5~15km深度范围;与单事件定位方法相比,其余震展布和断层的线性特征更吻合,更具有平面特征;与双差定位法相比,精定位事件覆盖范围更广。精定位结果显示,断层整体为虎牙断裂西北向的延伸,根据余震分布和特定震源区的校正项分布,认为此发震断层应分南、北两段;余震区长度为40km左右,西北段宽度为10km左右,东南段宽度为6.5km左右。     

九寨沟M_S7.0地震地电阻率变化时空演化分析

本文应用归一化变化速率(NVRM)方法,研究了2017年九寨沟M_S7.0地震周边800km范围内25个地电阻率台站2012—2018年的连续观测数据,分析了震中区周围的地电阻率时、空演化过程.结果显示:(1)25个台站中共有14个台站在震前出现了地电阻率变化,结合本次地震震源机制等分析其时空变化,认为邻近地震破裂带的临夏、通渭、武都和宝鸡台地电阻率在震前出现了下降—折返回升型的变化,符合前人已总结的强地震前地电阻率的变化过程.(2)地震发生前震中区周围大区域内出现了地电阻率负异常变化,且以震中区为中心呈条带分布,异常区的长轴方向与地震断裂带走向或地震烈度分布的长轴方向几乎垂直,与地震主压应力轴方向吻合.本文认为九寨沟M_S7.0强震发生之前,震中区周围出现的区域性地电阻率异常空间丛集现象是很好的中期和短临前兆;地电阻率震前异常动态演化、各向异性等特征对认识本次强震发震断层活动以及震源区应力场分布有启示意义.     

九寨沟M7.0地震多个震源机制中心解的确定

2017年8月8日21时19分在四川省阿坝藏族羌族自治州九寨沟县发生M7.0地震,对该区域造成一定的人员伤亡和财产损失。该地震发生后,多家地学研究机构和研究人员用不同的资料和方法产出了该地震震源机制解。本研究通过收集他们使用的不同资料和方法得出同一地震的多个震源机制解,找出两个震源机制解空间旋转角差别的表达方法,用Levenberg─Marquadt算法使非线性问题转化成线性问题进行迭代求解,求出了该地震的中心震源机制解。     

Optical dating of St. Lawrence Iroquoian ceramics from the Mailhot-Curran site,southern Québec

Infrared-stimulated luminescence dating (IRSL) was applied on pottery sherds from the Mailhot-Curran archaeological site (BgFn-2), a Late Woodland period village located in the Saint-Anicet region, southern Québec (Canada). This site witnessed the presence of St. Lawrence Iroquoians and is thought to have been occupied roughly 500 years ago. The main goal of this study is to chronologically constrain the occupation of this site in order to establish a fine chronological sequence for the occupations of various sites found in this area. The IRSL is used to complement previous dating methods used for Mailhot-Curran (radiocarbon and seriation of the archaeological remains).Dating results are reported for ten samples of local ceramics made from Quaternary Champlain Sea clay. Luminescence dating on fine grains was preferentially used, since feldspar luminescence typically emit a decent luminescence signal. Although the latter was rather dim, anomalous fading was measured and luminescence ages were successfully corrected. It is therefore possible to validate the occupation age of this site.     

Evidence of Self‐Organized Criticality in riverbank mass failures: a matter of perspective?

A growing body of field, theoretical and numerical modelling studies suggests that predicting river response to even major changes in input variables is difficult. Rivers are seen to adjust rapidly and variably through time and space as well as changing independently of major driving variables. Concepts such as Self‐Organized Criticality (SOC) are considered to better reflect the complex interactions and adjustments occurring in systems than traditional approaches of cause and effect. This study tests the hypothesis that riverbank mass failures which occurred both prior to, and during, an extreme flood event in southeast Queensland (SEQ) in 2011 are a manifestation of SOC. Each wet‐flow failure is somewhat analogous to the ‘avalanche’ described in the initial sand‐pile experiments of Bak et al. (Physical Review Letters, 1987, 59(4), 381–384) and, due to the use of multitemporal LiDAR, the time period of instability can be effectively constrained to that surrounding the flood event. The data is examined with respect to the key factors thought to be significant in evaluating the existence of SOC including; non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events within the system; an inverse power‐law relation between the magnitude and frequency of the events; the existence of a critical state to which the system readjusts after a disturbance; the existence of a cascading processes mechanism by which the same process can initiate both low‐magnitude and high‐magnitude events. While there was a significant change in the frequency of mass failures pre‐ and post‐flood, suggesting non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events, the data did not fit an inverse power‐law within acceptable probability and other models were found to fit the data better. Likewise, determining a single ‘critical’ state is problematic when a variety of feedbacks and multiple modes of adjustment are likely to have operated throughout this high magnitude event. Overall, the extent to which the data supports a self‐organized critical state is variable and highly dependent upon inferential arguments. Investigating the existence of SOC, however, provided results and insights that are useful to the management and future prediction of these features. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Groundwater mixing between different aquifer types in a complex structural setting discerned by elemental and stable isotope geochemistry

Karst aquifers are well known for their intricate stratigraphy and geologic structures, which make groundwater characterization challenging because flowpaths and recharge sources are complex and difficult to evaluate. Geochemical data, collected from ten closely spaced production wells constructed in two karst aquifers (Bangor Limestone (Mb) and Tuscumbia Limestone/Fort Payne Chert (Mftp)) in Trussville, north‐central Alabama, illustrate two distinctive groundwater end‐members: (1) higher major ion, dissolved inorganic carbon, conductivity, alkalinity concentrations, heavier δ¹³C ratios (max: −10.2 ± 0.2‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB)) and lower residence times (mean: 19.5 ± 2 years, n = 2) of groundwater in the Mb aquifer and (2) lower constituent concentrations, lighter δ¹³C ratios (min: −13.4 ± 0.2‰ PDB) and longer residence times of groundwater (mean: 23.6 ± 2 years, n = 4) in the Mftp aquifer. Summer and fall data and the binary mixing model show aquifer inter‐flow mixing along solution fractures and confirms the distinctive groundwater geochemistry of the two aquifers. Lowering of static water levels over the summer (drawdown from 2 to 5.2 m) leads to more reducing groundwater conditions (lower Eh values) and slightly enriched δ¹⁸O and δD ratios during the fall [δ¹⁸O: −4.8 ± 0.1 to −5.4 ± 0.1‰ Vienna Standard Mean Oceanic Water (VSMOW), n = 9; δD: −25.4 ± 1 to −27.4 ± 1‰ VSMOW, n = 9] when compared with summer season samples (δ¹⁸O: −5.1 ± 0.1 to −5.7 ± 0.1‰ VSMOW, n = 11; δD: −25.0 ± 1 to −30.6 ± 1‰ VSMOW, n = 11). GIS analyses confirm the localized origin of recharge to the investigated aquifers. The combination of GIS, field parameters and geochemistry analyses can be successfully used to identify recharge sources, evaluate groundwater flow and transport pathways and to improve understanding of how groundwater withdrawals impact the sustainability and susceptibility to contamination of karst aquifers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isolated Archosaur teeth from the green sandstone capping the Coralline Limestone (Bagh Group) of the Narmada valley: Evidence for the presence of pre‐Late to Late Maastrichtian abelisaurids in India

Recent field prospecting in the Cretaceous sequences of the lower Narmada valley has led to the discovery of three isolated archosaur teeth from the upper part of marine Cretaceous rocks of the Bagh Group. The specimens were recovered by surface prospecting from an oyster‐bearing green sandstone bed occurring at the top of the Coralline Limestone (Coniacian) from a site near Phutibawri village, Dhar District, Madhya Pradesh, India. Of the three teeth recovered from this horizon, two are identified with abelisaurid dinosaurs and the third one with an indeterminate crocodile. The abelisaurid teeth conform to the premaxillary and maxillary tooth morphology of Majungasaurus and Indosuchus. Earlier reports of abelisaurid dinosaurs from India are from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Lameta Group of Jabalpur, Pisdura (Central India) and Balasinor (Western India) and Upper Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian) Kallamedu Formation (South India). As no associated age diagnostic fossils are found, the specimens described here are considered to represent pre‐Late to Late Maastrichtian age based on the known ages of the underlying and overlying formations. The new finds, therefore, document stratigraphically the oldest occurrence of abelisaurid dinosaurs known from the Indian subcontinent.     

2017年九寨沟MS 7.0地震震源深度测定

为了更好地确定2017年8月8日九寨沟M_(S )7.0地震震源深度其发震机理,利用四川、甘肃和青海区域地震台网的观测波形数据,采用多种方法研究了此次地震的震源深度。首先,采用gCAP方法反演了九寨沟M_(S )7.0地震的震源机制解和矩心深度,结果显示,节面Ⅰ走向243°/倾角87°/滑动角-158°,节面Ⅱ走向151°/倾角68°/滑动角-3°,矩震级为M_(W )6.5,矩心深度为8 km;然后,采用ISOLA近震全波形方法反演了此次地震的震源机制解,反演结果与gCAP方法结果相差不大,矩心深度为7 km;最后,通过sPn震相与Pn震相之间的走时差测定此次地震初始破裂震源深度,结果显示深度约为12 km。研究表明,九寨沟M_(S )7.0地震的矩心深度为7—8 km,初始破裂深度约为12 km。     

九寨沟7.0级地震房屋震害现场调查及其破坏特征

2017年8月8日四川省阿坝州九寨沟县发生7.0级地震,震源深度20 km,造成大量房屋不同程度的破坏,引发地质灾害。针对Ⅷ、Ⅸ区的337栋不同结构类型的房屋进行了震害特征分析,给出震害矩阵,揭示各类结构房屋的破坏机理。经过统计,所调查的房屋中3.3%的建筑保持完好,19.9%的建筑发生轻微破坏,51.3%的建筑发生中等破坏,21.1%的建筑发生严重破坏,4.5%的建筑发生毁坏。经过调查,钢筋混凝土框架结构、大跨度空间结构、钢框架结构以及采用木板作为填充墙的穿斗式木构架房屋在本次地震中表现良好。分析表明,经过合理的抗震设计,基本达到了中震可修的抗震设防目标,极大程度地保护了人们的生命及财产安全。