Age and origin of groundwater resources in the Ararat Valley,Armenia: a baseline study applying hydrogeochemistry and environmental tracers     

Schubert  Michael  Michelsen  Nils  Schmidt  Axel  Eichenauer  Laura  Knoeller  Kay  Arakelyan  Alexander  Harutyunyan  Lilith  Schüth  Christoph 《Hydrogeology Journal》2021,29(7):2517-2527

Within the Ararat Valley (Armenia), a continuously growing water demand (for irrigation and fish farming) and a simultaneous decline in groundwater recharge (due to climate change) result in increasing stress on the local groundwater resources. This detrimental development is reflected by groundwater-level drops and an associated reduction of the area with artesian conditions in the valley centre. This situation calls for increasing efforts aimed at more sustainable water resources management. The aim of this baseline study was the collection of data that allows for study on the origin and age distribution of the Ararat Valley groundwater based on environmental tracers, namely stable (δ²H, δ¹⁸O) and radioactive (³⁵S, ³H) isotopes, as well as physical-chemical indicators. The results show that the Ararat Valley receives modern recharge, despite its (semi-)arid climate. While subannual groundwater residence times could be disproved (³⁵S), the detected ³H pattern suggests groundwater ages of several decades, with the oldest waters being recharged around 60 years ago. The differing groundwater ages are reflected by varying scatter of stable isotope and hydrochemical signatures. The presence of young groundwater (i.e., younger that the 1970s), some containing nitrate, indicates groundwater vulnerability and underscores the importance of increased efforts to achieve sustainable management of this natural resource. Since stable isotope signatures indicate the recharge areas to be located in the mountains surrounding the valley, these efforts must not be limited to the central part of the valley where most of the abstraction wells are located.

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Developing a large‐scale water‐balance approach to seasonal forecasting: application to the 2012 drought in Britain     

V. A. Bell  H. N. Davies  A. L. Kay  T. J. Marsh  A. Brookshaw  A. Jenkins 《水文研究》2013,27(20):3003-3012

Seasonal hydrological forecasts, or outlooks, can potentially provide water managers with estimates of river flows and water resources for a lead time of several months ahead. An experimental modelling tool for national hydrological outlooks has been developed which combines a hydrological model estimate of sub‐surface water storage across Britain with a range of seasonal rainfall forecasts to provide estimates of area‐wide hydrological conditions up to a few months ahead. The link is made between a deficit in sub‐surface water storage and a requirement for additional rainfall over subsequent months to enable sub‐surface water storage and river flow to return to mean monthly values. The new scheme is assessed over a recent period which includes the termination of the drought that affected much of Britain in the first few months of 2012. An illustration is provided of its use to obtain return‐period estimates of the ‘rainfall required’ to ease drought conditions; these are well in excess of 200 years for several regions of the country, for termination within a month of 1 April 2012, and still exceed 40 years for termination within three months. National maps of sub‐surface water storage anomaly show for the first time the current spatial variability of drought severity. They can also be used to provide an indication of how a drought situation might develop in the next few months given a range of possible future rainfall scenarios. © 2013 CEH/Crown and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Verteilung und Herkunft der Sedimente in Lotkernen von der Island-Färöer-Schwelle (Nordatlantik)     

Dr. Kay Wohlfeil 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》1983,72(1):137-165

The components from nine sediment cores in the region of the Iceland-Faeroe-Ridge have been analysed. In this region, characterized by very complicated hydrographical and glacial conditions, only the Arctic slope of the ridge shows comparatively clear conditions which make it possible to correlate different parts of the cores. The sedimentation on the Atlantic slope, on the contrary, seems to be less clearly differentiated due to reworking processes. The components of the sand- and pebble-fraction can be divided into an autochthonous group of basalt- and shale-pebbles, derived from the ridge itself, and an allochthonous group, transported over large distances, with quartz, crystalline rocks, sandstone, flint, and chalk as main components. Whereas the autochthonous group shows parts of the cores which can be correlated with each other based on different sedimentation rates, the distribution of allochthonous group varies so strongly that it is impossible to recognize any regularity in sedimentation. Only the flint and the chalk occur in well-defined levels and thus make possible to correlate the cores. The Iceland-Faeroe-Ridge was supplied with allochthonous components from a broad source area which was, however, homogeneous with respect to both its horizontal distribution and the time-span representend in the sediment cores. Maxima of sedimentation were subsequently blurred by reworking processes on both slopes of the ridge. During the periods of glaciation the hydrographic conditions in the North Atlantic area were completely different from those of to-day.  相似文献   

Thermobaric flow     

A. Kay   《Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans》2001,34(2-4)

Simple model flows demonstrating the combined effect of thermobaricity with either salinity variations or nonlinear temperature-dependence in the equation of state of water are investigated. An inviscid flow exhibits a three-layer behaviour, resulting in the formation of a mid-depth temperature maximum, such as is observed in some high-latitude oceans and deep lakes. This may be subsequently overtaken by nonlinear frontogenesis, which in the viscous case is shown to generate a thermal bar. Thermobaricity shifts the thermal bar towards the cold water, and initially produces a slope in the downwelling plume, but this transient feature disappears as the dominant frontogenesis tilts the plume back to the vertical.  相似文献   

Recent variations in 700 hPa geopotential heights in summer over Europe and the Middle East,and their influence on other Meteorological factors   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

H. Kutiel  P. A. Kay 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》1992,46(2-3):99-108

Summary Recent variations in atmospheric circulation in the eastern Mediterranean are analyzed and discussed. Interdecadal differences in mean monthly 700 hPa geopotential heights for June, July, and August in the period 1951–1980 show a trend of decreasing pressure of the subtropical high pressure belt over the Sahara Desert. The decrease is observed in the magnitude of the high pressure, in its areal extent, and in its northward position. Broader variations in other meteorological variables, such as rainfall regimes, temperature fields, wind variability, and evapotranspiration rates, are discussed in relation to variations in pressure fields and in indices of circulation such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. The trend from the 1950s through the 1970s was towards more temperate summer climate in the region.With 5 Figures  相似文献   

An overview of toxicant identification in sediments and dredged materials   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Ho KT  Burgess RM  Pelletier MC  Serbst JR  Ryba SA  Cantwell MG  Kuhn A  Raczelowski P 《Marine pollution bulletin》2002,44(4):286-293

The identification of toxicants affecting aquatic benthic systems is critical to sound assessment and management of our nation's waterways. Identification of toxicants can be useful in designing effective sediment remediation plans and reasonable options for sediment disposal. Knowledge of which contaminants affect benthic systems allows managers to link pollution to specific dischargers and prevent further release of toxicant(s). In addition, identification of major causes of toxicity in sediments may guide programs such as those developing environmental sediment guidelines and registering pesticides, while knowledge of the causes of toxicity which drive ecological changes such as shifts in benthic community structure would be useful in performing ecological risk assessments. To this end, the US Environmental Protection Agency has developed tools (toxicity identification and evaluation (TIE) methods) that allow investigators to characterize and identify chemicals causing acute toxicity in sediments and dredged materials. To date, most sediment TIEs have been performed on interstitial waters. Preliminary evidence from the use of interstitial water TIEs reveals certain patterns in causes of sediment toxicity. First, among all sediments tested, there is no one predominant cause of toxicity; metals, organics, and ammonia play approximately equal roles in causing toxicity. Second, within a single sediment there are multiple causes of toxicity detected; not just one chemical class is active. Third, the role of ammonia is very prominent in these interstitial waters. Finally, if sediments are divided into marine or freshwater, TIEs perforMed on interstitial waters from freshwater sediments indicate a variety of toxicants in fairly equal proportions, while TIEs performed on interstitial waters from marine sediments have identified only ammonia and organics as toxicants, with metals playing a minor role. Preliminary evidence from whole sediment TIEs indicates that organic compounds play a major role in the toxicity of marine sediments, with almost no evidence for either metal or ammonia toxicity. However, interpretation of these results may be skewed because only a small number of interstitial water (n = 13) and whole sediment (n = 5) TIEs have been completed. These trends may change as more data are collected.  相似文献   

Trace elements in ocean ridge basalts     

R.W. Kay  N.J. Hubbard 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》1978,38(1):95-116

A correlary of sea floor spreading is that the production rate of ocean ridge basalts exceeds that of all other volcanic rocks on the earth combined. Basalts of the ocean ridges bring with them a continuous record in space and time of the chemical characteristics of the underlying mantle. The chemical record is once removed, due to chemical fractionation during partial melting. Chemical fractionations can be evaluated by assuming that peridotite melting has proceeded to an olivine-orthopyroxene stage, in which case the ratios of a number of magmaphile elements in the extracted melt closely match the ratios in the mantle. Comparison of ocean ridge basalts and chondritic meteorites reveals systematic patterns of element fractionation, and what is probably a double depletion in some elements. The first depletion is in volatile elements and is due to high accretion temperatures of a large percentage of the earth from the solar nebula. The second depletion is in the largest, most highly charged lithophile elements (“incompatible elements”), probably because the mantle source of the basalts was melted previously, and the melt, enriched in these elements, was removed. Migration of melt relative to solid under ocean ridges and oceanic plates, element fractionation at subduction zones, and fractional melting of amphibolite in the Precambrian are possible mechanisms for depleting the mantle in incompatible elements. Ratios of transition metals in the mantle source of ocean ridge basalts are close to chondritic, and contrast to the extreme depletion of refractory siderophile elements, the reason for which remains uncertain. Variation of ocean ridge basalt chemistry along the length of the ridge has been correlated with ridge elevation. Thus chemically anomalous ridge segments up to 1000 km long appear to broadly coincide with regions of high magma production (plumes, hot spots). Basalt heterogeneity at a single location indicates mantle heterogeneity on a smaller scale. Variation of ocean ridge basalt chemistry with time has not been established, in fact, criteria for recognizing old oceanic crust in ophiolite terrains are currently under debate. The similarity of rare earth element patterns in basalt from ocean ridges, back-arc basins, some young island arcs, and some continental flood basalts illustrates the dangers of tectonic labeling by rare earth element pattern.  相似文献   

Geomorphology in environmental planning,J. M. Hooke, 1988, John wiley and sons,New York,British geomorphological research group symposia series. No. of pages: 274 pp (hardback)     

David Kay 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1990,15(5):489-489

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Origin and age of ultramafic rocks and gabbros in the southern Puna of Argentina: an alleged Ordovician suture revisited     

Udo Zimmermann  Heinrich Bahlburg  Klaus Mezger  Jasper Berndt  Suzanne Mahlburg Kay 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2014,103(4):1023-1036

Ultramafic rocks and gabbros are exposed in the southern Puna (NW Argentina) in tectonic association with continental arc-related Ordovician (volcano) sedimentary successions and granitoids. The origin of this mafic rock suite has been debated for three decades as either representing an Ordovician terrane suture, primitive Ordovician arc-related rocks or relics of the pre-Ordovician basement in tectonic contact with the Ordovician retro-arc basin successions. We present the first U–Pb ages of primary and inherited zircon from gabbros of this mafic–ultramafic assemblage. LA-ICP-MS analyses on cores and rims of these zircon grains yielded a concordia age of 543.4 ± 7.2 Ma for the gabbroic rocks. Other analysed zircons have Mesoproterozoic, and Early Ediacaran core and rim ages indicating that the magmas also assimilated Meso- and Neoproterozoic crustal material prior to final crystallization. The mafic rocks witnessed higher metamorphic grade than associated Ordovician rocks, which are unmetamorphosed or only affected by anchimetamorphism. The gabbros are mostly tholeiitic and enriched in Zr, Th, as well as other incompatible elements and have εNd _t=540Ma ranging from 1.3 to 7.4 with most of the values between 5 and 7. ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios show evidence of weak crustal contamination. The mafic rocks do not reveal any affinity to mid-ocean ridge basalts in their geochemistry but point instead to an emplacement in an active plate margin arc environment. Chromites from ultramafic rocks show typical Ti, Al, Cr#, Fe³⁺ abundances found in magmatic arc rocks. The formation of the gabbros and the associated ultramafic rocks in the southern Argentine Puna is related to the evolution of the margin of the Pampia terrane, including the Puncoviscana basin, during the Late Neoproterozoic and earliest Cambrian. In contrast to previous interpretations, the rocks predate the Ordovician evolution of the Central proto-Andean active margin. Consequently, interpretations assuming these rocks to represent an oceanic terrane suture of Ordovician age have to be dismissed as much as all palaeotectonic models that define Ordovician terranes in the Central Andes based on assumption that the ultramafic rocks and gabbros exposed in the southern Puna mark plate boundaries.  相似文献   

Revisiting the cosmic cooling crisis     

Michael L. Balogh  Frazer R. Pearce  Richard G. Bower  Scott T. Kay 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,326(4):1228-1234

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