Groundwater residence times and flow paths in fractured rock determined using environmental tracers in the Mission Tunnel; Santa Barbara County,California, USA

Multiple geochemical tracers [ion chemistry, stable isotopes of water, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), tritium] and a 25-year-long record of discharge were used to understand residence times and flow paths of groundwater seeps in the fractured rock aquifer surrounding the Mission Tunnel, Santa Barbara, California. Tritium data from individual seeps indicate that seep waters are a mixture of >45-year-old (recharged prior to the nuclear bomb tests) and young groundwater. CFC data support this interpretation, however, a two-end member mixing model cannot completely explain the age tracer data. Microbial degradation and partial re-equilibration complicate the CFC signal. Spectral analysis of precipitation and groundwater seepage records shows that seepage lags precipitation by 3 months. This delay is related to the advancement of the wetting front and increasing the number of active flow paths. Additionally, the amount of seepage produced by precipitation is less during extended periods of drought than during normal or wet periods, suggesting antecedent conditions strongly affect flow through this fractured rock aquifer.     

Dissolution rates and activation energy for dissolution of brucite (001) : A new method based on the microtopography of crystal surfaces

Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM) was used to develop a method which can provide quantitative kinetic data of crystal growth and dissolution. Based on observations of single crystal faces in monolayer resolution, morphology and temperature dependent growth and dissolution rates can be obtained. From these kinetic data activation energies can be calculated and compared with existing theories. The experimental method works by extracting grown or dissolved terrace areas and step densities from image sequences taken at different temperatures. As an example, the method is applied for dissolution on the brucite (001) surface in acidic water (pH 2.7) within the temperature range of 21 to 35°C. At these conditions the dissolution rate depends nonlinearly on the step density and gives evidence for interstep interaction. The calculated activation energy for dissolution is 60 ± 12 kJ mol⁻¹. With this high activation energy, dissolution cannot be regarded as a transport-controlled process, and is therefore surface controlled.     

Stability and dynamics of the continental tectosphere

Continental cratons overlie thick, high-viscosity, thermal and chemical boundary layers, where the chemical boundary layers are less dense than they would be due to thermal effects alone, perhaps because they are depleted in basaltic constituents. If the continental tectosphere is the same age as the overlying Archaean crust, then the continental tectosphere must be able to survive for several billion years without undergoing a convective instability, despite being both cold and thick. Since platforms and shields correlate only weakly with Earth's gravity and geoid anomalies, acceptable models of the continental tectosphere must also satisfy this gravity constraint. We investigate the long-term stability of the continental tectosphere by carrying out a number of numerical convection experiments within a two-dimensional Cartesian domain. We initiate our experiments with a tectosphere (thermal and chemical boundary layers) immersed in a region of uniform composition, temperature, and viscosity, and consider the effects on the stability of the tectosphere of (1) activation energy (used to define the temperature dependence of viscosity), (2) compositional buoyancy, and (3) linear or non-linear rheology. The large lateral thermal gradients required to match oceanic and tectosphere structures initiate the dominant instability, a “drip” which develops at the side of the tectosphere and moves to beneath its center. High activation energies and high background viscosities restrict the amount and rate of entrainment. Compositional buoyancy does not significantly change the flow pattern. Rather, compositional buoyancy slows the destruction process somewhat and reduces the stress within the tectosphere. With a non-Newtonian rheology, this reduction in stress helps to stiffen the tectosphere. In these experiments, dynamical systems that adequately model the present ocean-continent structures have activation energy E*≥180 kJ mole⁻¹ — a value about one third the estimate of activation energy for olivine, E*≈520 kJ mole⁻¹. Although for E*≈520 kJ mole⁻¹, compositional buoyancy is not required for the tectosphere to survive, the joint application of longevity and gravity constraints allows us to reject all models not containing compositional buoyancy, and to predict that the ratio of compositional to thermal buoyancy within the continental tectosphere is approximately unity.     

Cenozoic landscape evolution of the Kruger National Park as derived from cosmogenic nuclide analyses

In contrast to active tectonic settings, little is known about the potential feedback between surface processes and climate change in tectonically inactive cratonic regions. Here, we studied the driving forces of erosion and landscape evolution in the Kruger National Park in South Africa using cosmogenic nuclide dating. ¹⁰Be‐derived catchment‐wide erosion rates (~2 and ~10 mm ka^?1) are similar in magnitude to erosion and rock uplift elsewhere in South Africa, suggesting that (1) rock uplift is solely the isostatic response to erosion and (2) the first‐order topography is likely of Cretaceous age. The topographic maturity is promoted by widespread exposure of rocks resistant to erosion. Our data, however, suggest that local variations in rock resistance lead to transient landscape changes, with local increases in relief and erosion rates.     

A non-hydrostatic model for the numerical study of landslide-generated waves

This paper proposes and demonstrates a two-layer depth-averaged model with non-hydrostatic pressure correction to simulate landslide-generated waves. Landslide (lower layer) and water (upper layer) motions are governed by the general shallow water equations derived from mass and momentum conservation laws. The landslide motion and wave generation/propagation are separately formulated, but they form a coupled system. Our model combines some features of the landslide analysis model DAN3D and the tsunami analysis model COMCOT and adds a non-hydrostatic pressure correction. We use the new model to simulate a 2007 rock avalanche-generated wave event at Chehalis Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The model results match both the observed distribution of the rock avalanche deposit in the lake and the wave run-up trimline along the shoreline. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate the importance of accounting for the non-hydrostatic dynamic pressure at the landslide-water interface, as well as the influence of the internal strength of the landslide on the size of the generated waves. Finally, we compare the numerical results of landslide-generated waves simulated with frictional and Voellmy rheologies. Similar maximum wave run-ups can be obtained using the two different rheologies, but the frictional model better reproduces the known limit of the rock avalanche deposit and is thus considered to yield the best overall results in this particular case.     

Recharge response and kinematics of an unusual earthflow in Liechtenstein

Landslides - Understanding landslide behavior over medium and long timescales is crucial for predicting landslide hazard and constructing accurate landscape evolution models. The behavior of...     

The rheology of polymineralic rocks — an approach

Deduced from empirical and theoretical work, a model is proposed for the rheology of bi- and polyphase rocks based on the rheology of the components, their volume fractions, and their geometrical distribution. The model is formulated for the common case where some minerals deform by crystall plasticity at steady state and others, stronger ones, deform in the vincinity of the brittle-ductile transition.The model results from a combination of a load-carrying framework model and a two-block model. The first model is valid for the field, where stress is mainly accommodated by interconnecting stronger phases. The second model describes the case where strain is concentrated mainly within the weaker phase. The transition-point from one partial-model to the other depends on the material properties of the minerals involved. With increasing strain, it shifts first to higher then to lower contents of weaker materials, due to an increase of contrast in competence and to the development of a mechanically induced compositional foliation. Finally, the rheology of the resulting well foliated rock is dominated by the rheology of the weakest component.

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Zusammenfassung Basierend auf empirischen und theoretischen Arbeiten wird ein Modell für zwei- und mehrphasige Gesteine vorgestellt, mit dem die Gesamt-Rheologie als Funktion der Rheologien der einzelnen Phasen, ihren volumenmäßigen Anteilen am Gesamtgestein und ihrer geometrischen Verteilung formuliert werden kann.Das Modell entsteht durch die Verbindung zweier Teil-Modelle. Das eine nimmt ein tragendes Gerüst, aufgebaut durch härtere, vorwiegend spröd bis kataklastisch deformierende Mineralien an. Das zweite gilt für den Bereich, wo die Verformung vollständig durch weiche Komponenten aufgenommen wird.Der Übergang vom Gültigkeitsbereich des einen in denjenigen des anderen Teilmodells ist eine Funktion der Materialeigenschaften der beteiligten Mineralien. Er verlagert sich mit zunehmender Deformation zuerst in Richtung höherer, dann in Richtung niedrigerer Anteile von weicheren Komponenten, bedingt einerseits durch einen zunehmenden Kompetenzkontrast, andererseits durch die zunehmende, mechanisch bedingte Ausbildung einer Stoffbänderung. Die Rheologie des schlußendlich vollständig gebänderten Gesteins wird weitgehendst von der Rheologie der weichsten Komponente kontrolliert.

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Résumé L'auteur, à partir de données empiriques et de travaux théoriques, présente un modèle de la rhéologie des roches biet poly-phasées, dans lequel cette propriété apparaît comme une fonction de la rhéologie de chacune des phases, des proportions en volume de celles-ci et de leurs relations géométriques. Ce modèle s'applique au cas le plus répandu dans lequel certains minéraux ont un comportement proche de la transition cassant-ductile, tandis que les autres fluent plastiquement à contrainte constante à l'intervention de processus intra-cristallins.Le modèle est la synthèse de deux modèles partiels. Le premier correspond au cas où la phase compétente forme un squelette absorbant la plus grande part de la contrainte («load-carrying framework model»). Le deuxième s'applique au cas où la déformation se concentre presque uniquement dans la phase incompétente («two bock model»). La transition d'un modèle partiel à l'autre dépend des propriétés physiques de ces deux phases. Lors d'une déformation progressive cette transition se déplace dans un premier temps vers les plus grandes teneurs en matériau moins compétent, en raison de l'accroissement de la différence de compétence. Puis elle glisse, au contraire, vers les plus petites teneurs en raison du développement d'un rubanement compositionnel d'origine mécanique. Finalement la rhéologie d'une roche ainsi entièrement rubanée est déterminée essentiellement par la rhéologie du matériau le moins compétent.

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Jari: A pulp plantation in the Brazilian Amazon

Jari plantation is the largest pulp growing operation in the humid tropics, and occupies about 1000 sqkm previously covered by tropical forest. A study of five sites at Jari in 1980 indicated declining soil fertility, and low productivity of pulpwood. Low pulp production at Jari was caused by several factors, one of which appeared to be low soil fertility. The sams sites were re-evaluated in 1987. There was no discernable trend in either nutrients or productivity since 1980.Although productivity and nutrient stocks may have stabilized, low profitability caused by low pulp production resulted in the sale of Jari in 1982, for a $ 720 million loss. Despite growth rates at Jari which were too low to produce a profit on original investment, another plantation is planned for the eastern Amazon which is 10 times the size of Jari.