Beaver dam analogues drive heterogeneous groundwater–surface water interactions

Beaver dam analogues (BDAs) are a cost-effective stream restoration approach that leverages the recognized environmental benefits of natural beaver dams on channel stability and local hydrology. Although natural beaver dams are known to exert considerable influence on the hydrologic conditions of a stream system by mediating geomorphic processes, nutrient cycling, and groundwater–surface water interactions, the impacts of beaver-derived restoration methods on groundwater–surface water exchange are poorly characterized. To address this deficit, we monitored hyporheic exchange fluxes and streambed porewater biogeochemistry across a sequence of BDAs installed along a central Wyoming stream during the summer of 2019. Streambed fluxes were quantified by heat tracing methods and vertical hydraulic gradients. Biogeochemical activity was evaluated using major ion porewater chemistry and principal component analysis. Vertical fluxes of approximately 1.0 m/day were observed around the BDAs, as was the development of spatially heterogeneous zones of nitrate production, groundwater upwelling, and anaerobic reduction. Strong contrasts in hyporheic zone processes were observed across BDAs of differing sizes. This suggests that structures may function with size-dependent behaviour, only altering groundwater–surface water interactions after a threshold hydraulic step height is exceeded. Patterns of hyporheic exchange and biogeochemical cycling around the studied BDAs resemble those around natural beaver dams, suggesting that BDAs may provide comparable benefits to channel complexity and near-stream function over a 1-year period.     

Influence of large-diameter pipe pile driving on surrounding marine soils and adjacent submarine pipelines

Abstract

With the large-scale development and utilization of ocean resources and space, it is inevitable to encounter existing submarine facilities in pile driving areas, which necessitates a safety assessment. In this article, by referring to a wharf renovation project as a reference, the surrounding soil response and buried pipe deformation during pile driving in a near-shore submarine environment are investigated by three-dimensional (3D) numerical models that consider the pore water effect. Numerical studies are carried out in two different series: one is a case of a single pile focusing on the effect of the minimum plane distance of the pile–pipe, and the other is a case of double piles focusing on the effect of the pile spacing.     

酸雨的研究进展及厦门酸雨研究的趋势

本文综述了国内外酸雨的研究现状；包括酸雨的来源、成因、模式、影响及防治对策；介绍了酸雨的研究趋势；并着重就厦门地区今后酸雨的研究方向提出也作者的看法。     

The gawler ranges,South Australia: an unusual volcanic massif

The volcanic residuals of the Gawler Ranges together form an extensive massif that in its gross morphology differs markedly from most exposures of silicic volcanic rocks. The upland developed in two stages, the first involving differential fracture‐controlled subsurface weathering, the second the stripping of the regolith. As a result, an irregular weathering front was exposed, with domical projections prominent. These bornhardts are etch forms, and they are of considerable antiquity.

The differential weathering of the rock mass reflects the exploitation of various fracture systems by shallow groundwaters. Orthogonal fracture systems at various scales, sheet fractures and columnar joints control the morphology of the bornhardts in gross and in detail.

The exploitation of the structural base, which was established in the Middle Protero‐zoic, probably took place throughout the Late Proterozoic and the Palaeozoic, though only minor remnants of the Proterozoic land surface remain. The major landscape features developed during the Mesozoic. The weathering which initiated the bornhardts occurred in the Jurassic or earlier Mesozoic, and the landforms were exposed in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary times.

Though structural forms dominate the present landscape, some major and some minor landforms are best explained in terms of climatic changes of the later Cainozoic. The palaeodrainage system, established under humid conditions by the Early Tertiary, was alluviated during the Cainozoic arid phases, and salinas were formed. The sand dunes of the region also reflect this aridity.     

Mais comment s'écoule donc un glacier ? Aperçu historique

Ice and snow have often helped physicists understand the world. On the contrary it has taken them a very long time to understand the flow of the glaciers. Naturalists only began to take an interest in glaciers at the beginning of the 19th century during the last phase of glacier advances. When the glacier flow from the upslope direction became obvious, it was then necessary to understand how it flowed. It was only in 1840, the year of the Antarctica ice sheet discovery by Dumont d'Urville, that two books laid the basis for the future field of glaciology: one by Agassiz on the ice age and glaciers, the other one by canon Rendu on glacier theory. During the 19th century, ice flow theories, adopted by most of the leading scientists, were based on melting/refreezing processes. Even though the word ‘fluid’ was first used in 1773 to describe ice, more the 130 years would have to go by before the laws of fluid mechanics were applied to ice. Even now, the parameter of Glen's law, which is used by glaciologists to model ice deformation, can take a very wide range of values, so that no unique ice flow law has yet been defined. To cite this article: F. Rémy, L. Testut, C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Lake Sediment Core Records of Sulphur Accumulation and Sulphur Isotopic Composition in Central Ontario, Canada Lakes

Stable isotopic compositions and concentrations of total sedimentary sulphur (S) were determined in cores from 6 lakes in the acid-sensitive Muskoka-Haliburton region of south-central Ontario. The isotopic composition of S in deep sediment (> ~ 20 cm) was approximately constant in all lakes, and indicated a pre-industrial δ ³⁴S value between +4.0 and +5.3‰, which is similar to current bulk deposition. Similarly, total S concentrations in deep sediment were relatively low (1.9–5 mg S g⁻¹ dwt) and approximately constant with depth within cores. All lakes exhibited up-core increases in total S and decreases in δ ³⁴S at a depth corresponding to the beginning of industrialization in the Great Lakes region ( ~ 1900), resulting in a generally reciprocal depth pattern between total S concentration and δ ³⁴S ratios. While initial shifts in total S and δ ³⁴S were likely due to enhanced SO₄ reduction of newly available anthropogenic SO₄, both the magnitude and pattern of up-core S enrichment and shifts in δ ³⁴S varied greatly among lakes, and did not match changes in S deposition post 1900. Differences between lakes in total S and δ ³⁴S were not related to any single hydrologic (e.g., residence time) or physical (e.g., catchment-area-to-lake area ratio) lake characteristic. This work indicates that sediment cores do not provide consistent records of changes in post-industrial S deposition in this region, likely due to redox-related mobility of S in upper sediment.     

Evolution of the fogwater composition in Strasbourg (France) from 1990 to 1999

The chemical composition of fogwater has been studied in the city of Strasbourg (France) from 1990 to 1999. During these years, fogwater samples have been collected and analysed for major ions and trace metals. This paper reports on the analysis of the collected dataset. The analysis revealed a significant decrease in acidity of approximately one pH unit over the course of the study. This decrease in acidity appears to be linked to a decrease in SO_2(g) and the resulting SO₄²⁻. Trace metal concentrations have also strongly decreased over the 10-year period. Pb concentrations, following the elimination of leaded gasoline, decreased by more than one order of magnitude.     

Feasibility and cost of creating an iron-phosphate coating on pyrrhotite to prevent oxidation

 Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs when sulfide minerals are exposed to an oxidizing environment. Most of the methods for preventing AMD are either short-term or high cost solutions. Coating with iron phosphate is a new technology for the abatement of AMD. It involves treating the sulfide with a coating solution composed of H₂O₂, KH₂PO₄, and sodium acetate as a buffer agent. The H₂O₂ oxidizes the sulfide surface and produces Fe³⁺ so that iron phosphate precipitates as a coating on the sulfide surface. Experiments performed under laboratory conditions prove that an iron phosphate coating can be established on pyrrhotite surfaces with optimal concentrations of the coating solution in the range of: 0.2M/0.01M H₂O₂, 0.2M KH₂PO₄, and 0.2M sodium acetate NaAc, depending on the experimental scale. Iron phosphate coating may be a long-term solution to the problem of AMD. The method would be easy to implement; the reagent cost, however, is not low enough, although it is lower than the conventional treatment with lime. Received: 30 March 1995 · Accepted: 6 September 1995     

Field assessment of acid mine drainage contamination in surface and ground water

Both sulfate and conductivity are useful indicators of acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination. Unlike pH, they are both extremely sensitive to AMD even where large dilutions have occurred. The advantage of using sulfate to trace AMD is that unlike other ions it is not removed to any great extent by sorption or precipitation processes, being unaffected by fluctuations in pH. These two parameters are also closely associated as would be expected, as conductivity is especially sensitive to sulfate ions. Therefore, as sulfate analysis is difficult in the field, conductivity can be used to predict sulfate concentration in both AMD and contaminated surface waters using regression analysis. Most accurate predictions are achieved by using equations given for specific conductivity ranges or AMD sources. There is also potential to use conductivity to predict approximate concentrations of key metals when the pH of the water is within their respective solubility ranges.     

Heavy metal retention in secondary precipitates from a mine rock dump and underlying soil, Dalarna, Sweden

This study investigates the retention of heavy metals in secondary precipitates from a sulfidic mine rock dump and underlying podzolic soils by means of mineralogical and chemical extraction methods. The rock dump, which is at least 50 years old, consists of a 5–10-cm-thick leached zone and an underlying 110–115-cm-thick accumulation zone. Optical microscopy and electron microprobe analyses confirm that pyrrhotite weathering has proceeded much further in the leached horizon relative to the accumulation horizon. The weathering of sulfides in the leached zone has resulted in the migration of most heavy metals to the accumulation zone or underlying soils, where they are retained in more stable phases such as secondary ferric minerals, including goethite and jarosite. Some metals are temporarily retained in hydrated ferrous sulfates (e.g., melanterite, rozenite). Received: 28 October 1996 · Accepted: 24 February 1997