Yucca Mountain, the proposed site for the high-level nuclear waste repository, is located just south of where the present
water table begins a sharp rise in elevation. This large hydraulic gradient is a regional feature that extends for over 100 km.
Yucca Mountain and its vicinity are underlain by faulted and fractured tuffs with hydraulic conductivities controlled by flow
through the fractures. Close to and parallel with the region of large hydraulic gradient, and surrounding the core of the
Timber Mountain Caldera, there is a 10- to 20-km-wide zone containing few faults and thus, most likely, few open fractures.
Consequently, this zone should have a relatively low hydraulic conductivity, and this inference is supported by the available
conductivity measurements in wells near the large hydraulic gradient. Also, slug injection tests indicate significantly higher
pressures for fracture opening in wells located near the large hydraulic gradient compared to the opening pressures in wells
further to the south, hence implying that lower extensional stresses prevail to the north with consequently fewer open fractures
there. Analytical and numerical modeling shows that such a boundary between media of high and low conductivity can produce
the observed, large hydraulic gradient, with the high conductivity medium having a lower elevation than the water table. Further,
as fractures can close due to tectonic activity, the conductivity of the Yucca Mountain tuffs can be reduced to a value near
that for the hydraulic barrier due to strain release by a moderate earthquake. Under these conditions, simulations show that
the elevation of the steady-state water table could rise between 150 and 250 m at the repository site. This elevation rise
is due to the projected shift in the location of the large hydraulic gradient to the south in response to a moderate earthquake,
near magnitude 6, along one of the major normal faults adjacent to Yucca Mountain. As the proposed repository would only be
200–400 m above the present water table, this predicted rise in the water table indicates a potential hazard involving water
intrusion.
Received: 7 June 1996 / Accepted: 19 November 1996 相似文献
We have measured the concentration of in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al from bare bedrock surfaces on summit flats in four western U.S. mountain ranges. The maximum mean bare-bedrock erosion rate from these alpine environments is 7.6 ± 3.9 m My−1. Individual measurements vary between 2 and 19 m My−1. These erosion rates are similar to previous cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) erosion rates measured in other environments, except for those from extremely arid regions. This indicates that bare bedrock is not weathered into transportable material more rapidly in alpine environments than in other environments, even though frost weathering should be intense in these areas. Our CRN-deduced point measurements of bedrock erosion are slower than typical basin-averaged denudation rates ( 50 m My−1). If our measured CRN erosion rates are accurate indicators of the rate at which summit flats are lowered by erosion, then relief in the mountain ranges examined here is probably increasing.
We develop a model of outcrop erosion to investigate the magnitude of errors associated with applying the steady-state erosion model to episodically eroding outcrops. Our simulations show that interpreting measurements with the steady-state erosion model can yield erosion rates which are either greater or less than the actual long-term mean erosion rate. While errors resulting from episodic erosion are potentially greater than both measurement and production rate errors for single samples, the mean value of many steady-state erosion rate measurements provides a much better estimate of the long-term erosion rate. 相似文献
The varve data-set from a freeze-core taken in the deepest part of Baldeggersee was subjected to different multivariate statistical
analyses in order to estimate the amount of variance in the varve thickness measures explicable by past climate and by the
trophic state of the lake. A comparison of two different time-periods (1902 to1992 versus 1920 to 1980) revealed that the
lake restoration programme since 1982 has had a significant impact on the formation of the seasonal layers. Results of the
partitioning of the variance in the varve thickness measures showed that about two thirds of the variance are unexplained
by a climate and trophic state model and that trophic state explains 6%, whereas climate accounts for about 28% of the variance
before the effect of lake restoration had a strong impact on the varves. Among the climate parameters the amount of annual
precipitation is a strong predictor for explaining the thickness of both dark layer and total couplet thickness, whereas summer
precipitation is important for the thickness of the light layer. 相似文献
Quality Requirements for Fresh Waters: Water Quality Targets, Water Quality Objectives, and Chemical Water Quality Classification In the Federal Republic of Germany, water quality requirements for the protection of inland surface waters against hazardous substances are formulated on the basis of a quality targets derivation concept developed jointly by the Federal Government and the Federal States. The quality requirements were termed “water quality targets” in order to make it clear that the values derived are orientational values rather than legally binding limit values. The international comparison of quality requirements for surface waters shows that, on the whole, the national quality targets ensure a high level of protection. According to present scientific knowledge, impairments of uses, such as supply of drinking water, or risks to aquatic communities need not to be expected if the quality targets are complied with. A comparison of water quality data with the water quality targets makes it possible, on the one hand, to identify those substances whose inputs must be further reduced; on the other hand, it also shows that, for a number of substances, there is no need at present for concern over their adversely water quality. A further differentiation of the aquatic hazard potential of pollutants allows a water quality classification system to be developed on the basis of the quality targets derivation concept. The basic elements of this water quality classification system are presented, and its application is explained by way of examples. 相似文献
Study of Sorptional Properties of the Cation Exchanger KB-2M with Macroreticular Structure for Recovery of Zinc Ions from Sewage and Rinsing Water Although a number of ion-exchange methods have been employed for the recovery of some transition metals from industrial effluents, knowledge about ion-exchange resins with macroreticular structure is poor. The present paper describes the mechanism of sorption on such exchangers and their application for recovery of zinc from sewage rinsing water. Ion exchanger of macroreticular structure are polymers with long-chained cross-linking agents. We have synthesized carboxylic ion-exchange resins by hydrolysis of copolymerisates of methyl acrylate with different cross-linking agents: divinylbenzene, divinyl sulfide, divinyl ester of ethylene glycol and divinyl ester of di- or triethylene glycol. The sorption process on modifications of the carboxylic resins KB-2 of various structure was studied with different methods: potentiometric titration, infrared spectroscopy, electron microscopy, X-ray structural analysis. The initial zinc concentration in rinsing water was 0.05 mol/L at pH from 3 to 6. For the sorption, 0.2…1.0 g of resin were equilibrated with 100 mL of zinc solution. After equilibrium (12 h), the resin was separated from solution. The zinc ions were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry after stripping with 100 mL of 10% sulfuric acid. The distribution ratio D was calculated (D: mmole of Zn sorbed per gram of resin divided by mmole of Zn per millilitre of solution). By means of infrared spectroscopy, the mechanism of sorption of zinc ions from rinsing water was determined. There may be a possibility of the formation of complexes in the cation-exchange resin phase. It was found out in this paper that the cation-exchanger KB-2M of macroreticular structure is the most effective for the sorption of the Zn2+-ions from sewage and rinsing water. 相似文献
A Competitive Immunoassay for the Determination of the Herbicide Fluazifop in Drinking Water and Groundwater A competitive solid-phase enzyme immunoassay using rabbit polyclonal antibodies was developed for the detection of the herbicide fluazifop [(RS)-2-[4-(5-trifluoromethyl-2-pyridyloxy)phenoxy]propionic acid] in drinking water and groundwater. Present regulatory limits for drinking water in Germany were taken as the critical level. The carrier protein was bovine serum albumin; horseradish peroxidase was used as marker enzyme with 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine as substrate. A high concentration of high-affinity antibodies in the serum, optimization of test conditions (antibody and enzyme tracer concentration, incubation time etc.), and very low cross reactivities to substances of similar structures led to a highly sensitive and specific ELISA with a detection limit below 0.1 μg/L for fluazifop as free acid. On testing the suitability of the assay's use as a screening test with one hundred drinking-water samples, the three samples which had been spiked in the laboratory were recognized as positive with respect to their fluazifop content. Confirmation by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed the test results of two other samples to be false positive. False negative results did not appear. The concentration was in the detection limit region of 0.1 μg/L. 相似文献
The structural feature shown on a remote sensing image is a synthetic result ofcombination of the deformations produced during the entire geological history of an area.Therefore, the respective tectonic stress field of each of the different stages in the complexdeformation of an area can be reconstructed in three steps: (1) geological structures formed atdifferent times are distinguished in remote sensing image interpretation; (2) structuraldeformation fields at different stages are determined by analyzing relationships betweenmicrostructures (joints and fractures) and the related structures (folds and faults); and (3)tectonic stress fields at different stages are respectively recovered through a study of the featuresof structural deformation fields in different periods. Circular structures and related circlular and radial joints are correlated in space to con-cealed structural rises. The authors propose a new method for establishing a natural model ofthe concealed structural rises and calculating the tectonic stress field by using quantitative dataof the remote sensing information of circular structures and related linear structures. 相似文献