高砷含水层沉积物矿物学特征及砷的活化

利用X射线衍射和X射线荧光分析、沉积物序列提取试验及矿物饱和度的计算,对采自江汉平原中部沙湖地区典型高砷含水层钻孔沉积物样品矿物学进行了分析,并讨论了控制含水层中砷释放和迁移的地球化学机制.对矿物在沉积物与土壤中的分布及组成的对比分析,在一定程度上指示了矿物赋存环境和/或高砷水形成的环境背景:土壤与沉积物中高岭石以低于其他3种粘土矿物的含量普遍存在,指示了含水层沉积物形成过程江汉平原存在一定的湿热古气候环境;沉积物绿泥石含量低于土壤中绿泥石,恰恰反映了土壤比沉积物略强的碱性环境;沉积物中黄铁矿的存在,显示了含水层局部的强还原性环境,指示地下水中广泛存在的Fe2+容易与二价硫发生沉淀并结合砷.砷主要以无定形铁锰氧化物结合态(平均在31％以上)形式存在,其次以碳酸盐和有机质结合态存在.无定形铁锰氧化物的还原溶解可能是控制砷迁移到地下水中主要的地球化学机制.相对高含量的绿泥石容易在含水层中发生风化,其溶解过程可以将铁释放到地下水中,从而成为影响地下水中砷活化的潜在因素.     

Formation and erosion of sediment cover in an experimental bedrock‐alluvial channel

Sediment grains in a bedrock‐alluvial river will be deposited within or adjacent to a sediment patch, or as isolated grains on the bedrock surface. Previous analysis of grain geometry has demonstrated that these arrangements produce significant differences in grain entrainment shear stress. However, this analysis neglected potential interactions between the sediment patches, local hydraulics and grain entrainment. We present a series of flume experiments that measure the influence of sediment patches on grain entrainment. The flume had a planar bed with roughness that was much smaller than the diameters of the mobile grains. In each experiment sediment was added either as individual grains or as a single sediment pulse. Flow was then increased until the sediment was entrained. Analysis of the experiments demonstrates that: (1) for individual grains, coarse grains are entrained at a higher discharge than fine grains; (2) once sediment patches are present, the different in entrainment discharge between coarse and fine grains is greatly reduced; (3) the sheltering effect of patches also increases the entrainment discharge of isolated grains; (4) entire sediment patches break‐up and are eroded quickly, rather than through progressive grain‐by‐grain erosion; (5) as discharge increases there is some tendency for patches to become more elongate and flow‐aligned, and more randomly distributed across the bed. One implication of this research is that the critical shear stress in bedrock‐alluvial channels will be a function of the extent of the sediment cover. Another is that the influence of sediment patches equalizes critical shear stresses between different grain sizes and grain locations, meaning that these factors may not need to be accounted for. Further research is needed to quantify interactions between sediment patches, grain entrainment and local hydraulics on rougher bedrock surfaces, and under different types of sediment supply. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring water flow in a clay-shale hillslope from geophysical data fusion based on a fuzzy logic approach

Seismic and electrical resistivity tomography allow subsurface characterization from acoustic P-waves (Vp), shear S-waves (Vs) velocities, and electrical resistivity (ρ). Both geophysical methods were used to monitor water flow during a controlled rainfall experiment on a clay-shale hillslope located in the Laval catchment at Draix (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France). The objectives of the rainfall experiment were to analyse the water infiltration processes and identify possible water pathways by combining multi-method observations. The seismic data provide information on fissure density and the electrical resistivity data provide information on soil water content within the hillslope. Changes of the Vp and electrical resistivity fields with time show some similar pattern. To go further in the analysis of the water flow a geophysical data fusion strategy based on fuzzy set theory is applied. The computed fuzzy cross-sections based on expert hypotheses show the possibility for the material to be saturated during the rainfall experiment. The data fusion process is repeated in time for each acquisition set. The relative difference between the obtained fuzzy cross-sections is calculated and reveals possible locations where water may be transferred within the hillslope.     

The last 750 ka in loess–palaeosol sequences from northern France: environmental background and dating of the western European Palaeolithic

This study presents an overview of Middle Pleistocene loess–palaeosol sequences (LPS) in northern France and discusses the palaeoclimatic significance of the pedosedimentary record in the context of western European LPS and of global climatic cycles for the last 750 ka. In this area, the oldest loess deposits (early Middle Pleistocene) are preserved in sedimentary traps (leeward scarps of fluvial terraces and dissolution sinkholes). They result from local deflation processes reworking Pleistocene sandy fluvial deposits or relicts of Tertiary sands. A large extension of typical calcareous loess over the landscape, the Loess Revolution, is then observed during MIS 6, with heavy mineral assemblages testifying to long-distance transport from the polar desert area of the dried eastern Channel. A correlation scheme is proposed between the global records of northern France in continental environments and both global palaeoclimatic records and other main western European LPS. After 30 years of research, northern France LPS stand as a fundamental archive of the impact of interglacial–glacial climatic cycles as well as millennial events. Finally, these works provide a robust chronoclimatic framework for the study of the western European Late Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic and for the relative dating of the various fluvial terraces that they fossilise.     

Anthropogenic versus climatic control in a high-resolution 1500-year chironomid stratigraphy from a southwestern Greenland lake

We performed a high-resolution study of chironomid assemblages in a sediment core retrieved from Lake Igaliku in southern Greenland. The well-dated core is located within the former Norse Eastern Settlement and covered the last 1500 yr. The comparison of chironomid stratigraphy (PCA axis scores) with instrumental temperature data, land use history and organic matter in the sediment over the last 140 yr suggested that the primary changes in chironomid fauna in 1988 ± 2 yr were driven by the shift to modern agriculture in the catchment. This unprecedented change in chironomid fauna was most likely triggered by a shift in in-lake processes. Within the instrumental period, subtle variations in the chironomid assemblages that occurred before 1988 ± 2 yr were significantly correlated with summer temperatures even in times of traditional extensive sheep farming in the catchment. The relevance of the chironomid-derived climate signal over the last 1500 yr was supported by its good concordance with previous studies in west Greenland and in the Arctic. The chironomid assemblage therefore appeared to be a valuable proxy for climate changes within the Norse colony area. Synchronous changes in Norse diet and chironomid-reconstructed climate give new insights into the interplay of Norse society with climate.     

Evaluation of Statistical Distributions for the Parametrization of Subgrid Boundary-Layer Clouds

In numerical weather prediction and climate models, planetary boundary-layer (PBL) clouds are linked to subgrid-scale processes such as shallow convection. A comprehensive statistical analysis of large-eddy simulations (LES), obtained for warm PBL cloud cases, is carried out in order to characterize the distributions of the horizontal subgrid cloud variability. The production of subgrid clouds is mainly associated with the variability of the total water content. Nevertheless, in the case of PBL clouds, the temperature variability cannot be completely discarded and the saturation deficit, which summarizes both temperature and total water fluctuations, provides a better representation of the cloud variability than the total water content. The probability density functions (PDFs) of LES saturation deficit generally have the shape of a main asymmetric bell-shaped curve with a more or less distinct secondary maximum specific to each type of PBL clouds. Unimodal theoretical PDFs, even those with a flexible skewness, are not sufficient to correctly fit the LES distributions, especially the long tail that appears for cumulus clouds. They do not provide a unified approach for all cloud types. The cloud fraction and the mean cloud water content, diagnosed from these unimodal PDFs, are largely underestimated. The use of a double Gaussian distribution allows correction of these errors on cloud fields and provides a better estimation of the cloud-base and cloud-top heights. Eventually, insights for the design of a subgrid statistical cloud scheme are provided, in particular a new formulation for the weight of the two Gaussian distributions and for the standard deviation of the convective distribution.     

Dune fields on Mars: Recorders of a climate change?

Dunes have similar morphologies on the Earth and Mars. The main differences between Martian and terrestrial dunes are their size, which is larger on Mars, and their duration of formation, which is longer on Mars. As the characteristic time of Martian dunes is in the same order as that of the Martian climatic oscillations, Martian dunes could be recorders of past winds regimes and past climates. In order to test this hypothesis, we performed a morphological study of 550 dune fields with high resolution images and we inferred the directions of the dune formative winds from the orientation of the dune slip faces. Our study shows that 310 dune fields record one to four distinct wind directions with some geometric patterns that do not exist on the Earth such as barchans built by opposite wind directions coexisting in the same dune field. Our study demonstrates that the inferred formative wind directions are only partially in agreement with the current wind-patterns predicted by General Circulation Models (GCM). Several possible causes for the misalignment between dunes and GCM outputs are discussed: these include the local variation of the global circulation due to local topographic effects or the possibility that these dunes could be in a transient geometry or fossil. Such bedforms are considered indeed to be not in equilibrium with the present-day atmospheric conditions. This latter hypothesis is supported by the presence, in some ergs, of closely spaced dunes showing nearly opposite slip face orientations. Therefore, we propose that Martian dune fields are constituted, in some cases, by active and fossil dunes and therefore have the potential to preserve information on paleoclimates over extensive periods.     

Resource partitioning among cladocerans in a littoral macrophyte zone: implications for the transfer of essential compounds

The maintenance of species diversity in a given environment is strongly linked to resource partitioning. Littoral macrophyte zones are heterogeneous environments with high microcrustacean diversity, where zooplankton have dietary access to seston as well as organisms growing on macrophytic surfaces (epiphyton). We conducted a field study in a macrophyte-rich backwater of the river Allier to examine how seston and epiphyton were used as potential food sources by four dominant cladoceran species. Fatty acids were analyzed in these two food sources to assess how their differential uptake affects the trophic trajectory of essential compounds from these resources to cladocerans. Our results showed resource partitioning among the four cladocerans studied; while Eurycercus fed mostly on epiphyton, Daphnia mostly consumed phytoplankton, and Ceriodaphnia and Simocephalus were able to forage on sestonic and epiphytic resources. Based on their polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, it was evident that epiphyton was of higher food quality than seston in this macrophyte-rich backwater system. Variability of PUFA compositions of seston and epiphyton, and diversity of foraging strategies of cladoceran species, which represent the major link between microorganisms and consumers at higher trophic levels, affect dietary energy pathways and point to a variable PUFA transfer efficiency in backwater food webs.     

Bronze Age at Lake Bourget (NW Alps, France): Vegetation, human impact and climatic change

Pollen analyses of three sediment cores performed on the archaeological lake dwellings of Chindrieux and Tresserve (Savoie, France), on the eastern shore of Lake Bourget, enable the reconstruction of vegetation history and human impact during the Bronze Age. Results show a good correlation between lake-level fluctuations and the evolution of anthropogenic indicators. The end of the Neolithic period and the early Bronze Age are characterised by a discreet occupation of the Lake Bourget surroundings, in spite of a warmer climatic condition. The middle Bronze Age, contemporaneous with wetter and cooler conditions, is related to a decrease in pollen of cultivated plants and weed. Farming activities reappear in the late Bronze Age and human impact increases suddenly at the very end of the late Bronze Age. Three anthropogenic phases are clearly visible: a short decrease in anthropogenic indicators and a high lake-level phase occur in the middle of this period of intense farming development. A new decrease in human impact appears at the beginning of the Iron Age.     

Evolution of the REE mineralogy in HP–LT metapelites of the Sebtide complex, Rif, Morocco: Monazite stability and geochronology

REE mineralogy was characterized at the micrometer scale (using scanning electron microscopy) in the four tectono-metamorphic units of the Beni Mzala window, Sebtide Complex, Internal Rif, Morocco, which sample a HP-LT metamorphic gradient from subgreenschist to blueschist/eclogite facies. These tectonic units are composed of garnet-free metapelites (and associated synmetamorphic veins) from the same homogeneous aluminium-rich and calcium-poor protolith. In that context, mineralogical differences between units are assumed to result from contrasted pressure and temperature histories. Light REE-bearing Al-phosphates of the crandallite group with florencite-rich composition and variable goyazite content are the dominant LREE minerals in the lowest-grade units, Tizgarine (300 °C, 3 kbar as peak conditions) and Boquete de Anjera (350 °C, 10 kbar). In the latter unit, metamorphic florencite is associated with MREE-rich monazite. In the schist of the highest-grade units, Beni Mzala 2 (420–450 °C, 12 kbar) and Beni Mzala 1 (550 °C, 16 kbar), associations of allanite-rich epidote and synchisite (a LREE-fluorocarbonate) are found whereas florencite and monazite are no longer observed. At the wall of the quartz–kyanite veins, retrograde monazite-(Ce) with grain size of 20 to 50 μm is the only LREE-bearing mineral. Th–Pb and U–Pb SIMS data on some of these grains yield ages of 21.3 ± 1.7 Ma and 20.9 ± 2.1 Ma, respectively, consistent with previous K–Ar ages obtained on retrograde clay–mica mixtures in rocks from the same locality. The identification of a stability field for monazite in high-pressure aluminous metapelites with an upper thermal-limit below 450 °C as well as the derivation of meaningful U–Pb and Th–Pb SIMS ages demonstrates the monazite potential for dating HP-LT metapelites. However, since, under these conditions, monazite growth occurs below its admitted closure-temperature, these ages must be interpreted on the basis of monazite textural relationships.