A Framework for Quantitative Assessment of Impacts Related to Energy and Mineral Resource Development     

Seth S. Haines  Jay E. Diffendorfer  Laurie Balistrieri  Byron Berger  Troy Cook  Don DeAngelis  Holly Doremus  Donald L. Gautier  Tanya Gallegos  Margot Gerritsen  Elisabeth Graffy  Sarah Hawkins  Kathleen M. Johnson  Jordan Macknick  Peter McMahon  Tim Modde  Brenda Pierce  John H. Schuenemeyer  Darius Semmens  Benjamin Simon  Jason Taylor  Katie Walton-Day 《Natural Resources Research》2014,23(1):3-17

Natural resource planning at all scales demands methods for assessing the impacts of resource development and use, and in particular it requires standardized methods that yield robust and unbiased results. Building from existing probabilistic methods for assessing the volumes of energy and mineral resources, we provide an algorithm for consistent, reproducible, quantitative assessment of resource development impacts. The approach combines probabilistic input data with Monte Carlo statistical methods to determine probabilistic outputs that convey the uncertainties inherent in the data. For example, one can utilize our algorithm to combine data from a natural gas resource assessment with maps of sage grouse leks and piñon-juniper woodlands in the same area to estimate possible future habitat impacts due to possible future gas development. As another example: one could combine geochemical data and maps of lynx habitat with data from a mineral deposit assessment in the same area to determine possible future mining impacts on water resources and lynx habitat. The approach can be applied to a broad range of positive and negative resource development impacts, such as water quantity or quality, economic benefits, or air quality, limited only by the availability of necessary input data and quantified relationships among geologic resources, development alternatives, and impacts. The framework enables quantitative evaluation of the trade-offs inherent in resource management decision-making, including cumulative impacts, to address societal concerns and policy aspects of resource development.  相似文献   

Response to Owen,H.G. (2014), Discussion on “Aldiss,D.T., Under-representation of faults on geological maps of the London region: reasons,consequences and solutions” [Proc. Geol. Assoc. 124 (2013) 929–945]     

Don T. Aldiss 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2014

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Xenon isotope systematics, giant impacts, and mantle degassing on the early Earth     

Robert O. Pepin  Don Porcelli   《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2006,250(3-4):470-485

The relationships between the major terrestrial volatile reservoirs are explored by resolving the different components in the Xe isotope signatures displayed by Harding County and Caroline CO₂ well gases and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). For the nonradiogenic isotopes, there is evidence for the presence of components enhanced in the light ^124–128Xe/¹³⁰Xe isotope ratios with respect to the terrestrial atmosphere. The observation of small but significant elevations of these ratios in the MORB and well gas reservoirs means that the nonradiogenic Xe in the atmosphere cannot be the primordial base composition in the mantle. The presence of solar-like components, for example U–Xe, solar wind Xe, or both, is required.For radiogenic Xe generated by decay of short-lived ¹²⁹I and ²⁴⁴Pu, the ¹²⁹Xe_rad/¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ ratios are indistinguishable in MORB and the present atmosphere, but differ by approximately an order of magnitude between the MORB and well gas sources. Correspondence of these ratios in MORB and the atmosphere within the relatively small uncertainties found here significantly constrains possible mantle degassing scenarios. The widely held view that substantial early degassing of ¹²⁹Xe_rad and ¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ from the MORB reservoir to the atmosphere occurred and then ended while ¹²⁹I was still alive is incompatible with equal ratios, and so is not a possible explanation for observed elevations of ¹²⁹Xe/¹³⁰Xe in MORB compared to the atmosphere. Detailed degassing chronologies constructed from the isotopic composition of MORB Xe are therefore questionable.If the present estimate for the uranium/iodine ratio in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) is taken to apply to all interior volatile reservoirs, the differing ¹²⁹Xe_rad/¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ ratios in MORB and the well gases point to two episodes of major mantle degassing, presumably driven by giant impacts, respectively  20–50 Ma and  95–100 Ma after solar system origin assuming current values for initial ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I and ²⁴⁴Pu/²³⁸U. The earlier time range, for degassing of the well gas source, spans Hf–W calculations for the timing of a moon-forming impact. The second, later impact further outgassed the upper mantle and MORB source. A single event that degassed both the MORB and gas well reservoirs at the time of the moon-forming collision would be compatible with their distinct ¹²⁹Xe_rad/¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ ratios only if the post-impact iodine abundance in the MORB reservoir was about an order of magnitude lower than current estimates. In either case, such late dates require large early losses of noble gases, so that initial inventories acquired throughout the Earth must have been substantially higher.The much larger ¹²⁹Xe_rad/¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ ratio in the well gases compared to MORB requires that these two Xe components evolve from separate interior reservoirs that have been effectively isolated from each other for most of the age of the planet, but are now seen within the upper mantle. These reservoirs have maintained distinct Xe isotope signatures despite having similar Ne isotope compositions that reflect similar degassing histories. This suggests that the light noble gas and radiogenic Xe isotopes are decoupled, with separate long-term storage of the latter. However, without data on the extent of heterogeneities within the upper mantle, this conclusion cannot be easily reconciled with geophysical observations without significant re-evaluation of present noble gas models. Nevertheless the analytic evidence that two different values of ¹²⁹Xe_rad/¹³⁶Xe₂₄₄ exist in the Earth appears firm. If the uranium/iodine ratio is approximately uniform throughout the BSE, it follows that degassing events from separate reservoirs at different times are recorded in the currently available terrestrial Xe data.  相似文献   

Photosynthetic responses of selected Antarctic plants to solar radiation in the southern maritime Antarctic   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Pedro Montiel  rew Smith  Don Keiller 《Polar research》1999,18(2):229-235

The effects of UV-B exclusion and enhancement of solar radiation on photosynthesis of the two phanerogams which occur in the maritime Antarctic, Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis , and the moss Sanionia uncinats were investigated. Data on air temperature and solar radiation illustrate a drastic seasonal variation. Daily O₃ column mean values and UV-B measured at ground level document the occurrence of the O₃"hole" in the spring of 1997, with a concomitant increase in UV-B. The grass, D. antarctica , exhibited a broad temperature optimum for photosynthesis between 10–25°C while photosynthesis did not saturate even at high irradiance. The high water use efficiencies measured in the grass may be one of the features explaining the presence of this species in the maritime Antarctic. The net photosynthesis response to intercellular CO₂ (A/c_i) for D. antarctica was typical of a C₃ plant. Exposure to a biologically effective UV-B irradiance of 0.74 W M^-2 did not result in any significant change in either the maximum rate of photosynthesis at saturating CO₂ and light, or in the initial carboxylation efficiency of Rubisco. (V_c,max). Furthermore while ambient (or enhanced) solar UV-B did not affect photochemical yield, measured in the field, of C. quitensis and D. antarctica , UV-B enhancement did affect negatively photochemical yield in S. uncinata . In D. antarctica plants, exposure to UV-B at low irradiances elicited increased flavonoid synthesis. The observed effects of UV-B enhancement on the moss (decreased photochemical yield) and the grass (increase in flavonoids) require further, separate investigation.  相似文献   

Experimental characterization,design and modelling of the RBRL seismic‐isolation system for lightweight structures          下载免费PDF全文

Marco Donà  Alan Hugh Muhr  Giovanni Tecchio  Francesca da Porto 《地震工程与结构动力学》2017,46(5):831-853

The Rolling‐Ball Rubber‐Layer (RBRL) system was developed to enable seismic isolation of lightweight structures, such as special equipment or works of art, and is very versatile, a great range of equivalent natural frequencies and coefficients of damping being achievable through choice of the system parameters. The necessity to have a simple and effective design procedure has led to a new parametric experimentation at Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) on the rolling behaviour of the RBRL system and load–deflection behaviour of the recentering springs. The experimental results, together with theories for the rolling resistance of a loaded steel ball on a thin rubber layer and the lateral load–deflection behaviour of cylindrical rubber springs, are used to develop a general design method for the RBRL system, which allows the system to be tailored to the specific application. Sinusoidal test results are presented for the small‐deflection behaviour of the system, influenced by the presence of a viscoelastic depression on the rubber tracks beneath each ball, and an amplitude‐dependent time‐domain model is proposed, based on these results and on the steady‐state behaviour of the system. The model is validated through comparison with previously performed shaking‐table tests. Attention is here restricted to uniaxial behaviour. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Evaluation of the Global Mean Sea Level Budget between 1993 and 2014     

Don P. Chambers  Anny Cazenave  Nicolas Champollion  Habib Dieng  William Llovel  Rene Forsberg  Karina von Schuckmann  Yoshihide Wada 《Surveys in Geophysics》2017,38(1):309-327

Evaluating global mean sea level (GMSL) in terms of its components—mass and steric—is useful for both quantifying the accuracy of the measurements and understanding the processes that contribute to GMSL rise. In this paper, we review the GMSL budget over two periods—1993 to 2014 and 2005 to 2014—using multiple data sets of both total GMSL and the components (mass and steric). In addition to comparing linear trends, we also compare the level of agreement of the time series. For the longer period (1993–2014), we find closure in terms of the long-term trend but not for year-to-year variations, consistent with other studies. This is due to the lack of sufficient estimates of the amount of natural water mass cycling between the oceans and hydrosphere. For the more recent period (2005–2014), we find closure in both the long-term trend and for month-to-month variations. This is also consistent with previous studies.  相似文献   

Geochemical provenancing of igneous glacial erratics from Southern Britain,and implications for prehistoric stone implement distributions     

Olwen Williams-Thorpe  Don Aldiss  Ian J. Rigby  Richard S. Thorpe 《Geoarchaeology》1999,14(3):209-246

Sixteen basic and intermediate composition igneous glacial erratics from Anglian (pre-423,000 years) deposits in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, southern Britain, were selected for chemical and petrographic analysis in order to determine their original source outcrops. Major and trace element compositions suggest that seven samples (plus two uncertain) originated in the Lower Carboniferous volcanics of the Scottish Midland Valley (SMV), four came from the Upper Carboniferous quartz dolerite association which crops out in Scotland, northern England (Whin Sill) and extends to Norway, and one came from the northern England Cleveland Dyke. One sample of altered dolerite is ambiguous but has some similarity to the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) age lavas of the SMV, and one meta-basalt sample may be from southwest Scotland or Scandinavia. These results identify specific outcrops which provided glacial erratics within currently accepted ice trails in the United Kingdom, and provide the first supporting evidence based on geochemistry, rather than petrography, for these ice movements. The distribution and provenance of glacial erratics are of importance in archaeological studies, because erratics provided a potential source of raw material for stone implement production. There is a marked geographical correlation between the distribution of prehistoric stone implements of quartz dolerite in the United Kingdom, and directions of ice movements from quartz dolerite outcrops within Britain. This correlation lends support to the hypothesis that prehistoric man made extensive use of glacial erratics for implement manufacture, as an alternative to quarrying at outcrops and subsequent long-distance trade. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  相似文献