Testing the Concept of Drift Shadow at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

If proven, the concept of drift shadow, a zone of reduced water content and slower ground-water travel time beneath openings in fractured rock of the unsaturated zone, may increase performance of a proposed geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. To test this concept under natural-flow conditions present in the proposed repository horizon, isotopes within the uranium-series decay chain (uranium-238, uranium-234, and thorium-230, or {sup 238}U-{sup 234}U-{sup 230}Th) have been analyzed in samples of rock from beneath four naturally occurring lithophysal cavities. All samples show {sup 234}U depletion relative to parent {sup 238}U, indicating varying degrees of water-rock interaction over the past million years. Variations in {sup 234}U/{sup 238}U activity ratios indicate that depletion of {sup 234}U relative to {sup 238}U can be either smaller or greater in rock beneath cavity floors relative to rock near cavity margins. These results are consistent with the concept of drift shadow and with numerical simulations of meter-scale spherical cavities in fractured tuff. Differences in distribution patterns of {sup 234}U/{sup 238}U activity ratios in rock beneath the cavity floors are interpreted to reflect differences in the amount of past seepage into lithophysal cavities, as indicated by the abundance of secondary mineral deposits present on the cavity floors

Infiltration and Seepage Through Fractured Welded Tuff

The Nopal I mine in Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico, contains a uranium ore deposit within fractured tuff. Previous mining activities exposed a level ground surface 8 m above an excavated mining adit. In this paper, we report results of ongoing research to understand and model percolation through the fractured tuff and seepage into a mined adit both of which are important processes for the performance of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Travel of water plumes was modeled using one-dimensional numerical and analytical approaches. Most of the hydrologic properly estimates were calculated from mean fracture apertures and fracture density. Based on the modeling results, we presented constraints for the arrival time and temporal pattern of seepage at the adit

On the role of soil water retention characteristic on aerobic microbial respiration

Soil water status is one of the most important environmental factors that control microbial activity and rate of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition. Its effect can be partitioned into effect of water energy status (water potential) on cellular activity, effect of water volume on cellular motility, and aqueous diffusion of substrate and nutrients, as well as the effect of air content and gas-diffusion pathways on concentration of dissolved oxygen. However, moisture functions widely used in SOM decomposition models are often based on empirical functions rather than robust physical foundations that account for these disparate impacts of soil water. The contributions of soil water content and water potential vary from soil to soil according to the soil water characteristic (SWC), which in turn is strongly dependent on soil texture and structure. The overall goal of this study is to introduce a physically based modeling framework of aerobic microbial respiration that incorporates the role of SWC under arbitrary soil moisture status. The model was tested by comparing it with published datasets of SOM decomposition under laboratory conditions.</p

Stratigraphy of the PB-1 well, Nopal I uranium deposit, Sierra Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico

The Nopal I site in the Pena Blanca uranium district has a number of geologic and hydrologic similarities to the proposed high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, making it a useful analogue to evaluate process models for radionuclide transport. The PB-1 well was drilled in 2003 at the Nopal I uranium deposit as part of a DOE-sponsored natural analogue study to constrain processes affecting radionuclide transport. The well penetrates through the Tertiary volcanic section down to Cretaceous limestone and intersects the regional aquifer system. The well, drilled along the margin of the Nopal I ore body, was continuously cored to a depth of 250 m, thus providing an opportunity to document the local stratigraphy. Detailed observations of these units were afforded through petrographic description and rock-property measurements of the core, together with geophysical logs of the well. The uppermost unit encountered in the PB-1 well is the Nopal Formation, a densely welded, crystal-rich, rhyolitic ash-flow tuff. This cored section is highly altered and devitrified, with kaolinite, quartz, chlorite, and montmorillonite replacing feldspars and much of the groundmass. Breccia zones within the tuff contain fracture fillings of hematite, limonite, goethite, jarosite, and opal. A zone of intense clay alteration encountered in the depth interval 17.45-22.30 m was interpreted to represent the basal vitrophyre of this unit. Underlying the Nopal Formation is the Coloradas Formation, which consists of a welded lithic-rich rhyolitic ash-flow tuff. The cored section of this unit has undergone devitrification and oxidation, and has a similar alteration mineralogy to that observed in the Nopal tuff. A sharp contact between the Coloradas tuff and the underlying Pozos Formation was observed at a depth of 136.38 m. The Pozos Formation consists of poorly sorted conglomerate containing clasts of subangular to subrounded fragments of volcanic rocks, limestone, and chert. Three thin (2-6 m) intervals of intercalated pumiceous tuffs were observed within this unit. The contact between the Pozos Formation and the underlying Cretaceous limestone basement was observed at a depth of 244.40 m. The water table is located at a depth of {approx}223 m. Several zones with elevated radioactivity in the PB-1 core are located above the current water table. These zones may be associated with changes in redox conditions that could have resulted in the precipitation of uraninite from downward flowing waters transporting U from the overlying Nopal deposit. All of the intersected units have low (typically submillidarcy) matrix permeability, thus fluid flow in this area is dominated by fracture flow. These stratigraphic and rock-property observations can be used to constrain flow and transport models for the Pena Blanca natural analogue

Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database.

In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (~76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76% of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (~40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it

EMSL Pore Scale Modeling Challenge/Workshop

Report covers the background for the workshop, objectives, important research directions, necessary capabilities and overall recommendations

Agroforesterie et services écosystémiques en zone tropicale

Respectueux de l’environnement et garantissant une sécurité alimentaire soutenue par la diversification des productions et des revenus qu’ils procurent, les systèmes agroforestiers apparaissent comme un modèle prometteur d’agriculture durable dans les pays du Sud les plus vulnérables aux changements globaux. Cependant, ces systèmes agroforestiers ne peuvent être optimisés qu’à condition de mieux comprendre et de mieux maîtriser les facteurs de leurs productions. L’ouvrage présente un ensemble de connaissances récentes sur les mécanismes biophysiques et socio-économiques qui sous-tendent le fonctionnement et la dynamique des systèmes agroforestiers. Il concerne, d’une part les systèmes agroforestiers à base de cultures pérennes, telles que cacaoyers et caféiers, de régions tropicales humides en Amérique du Sud, en Afrique de l’Est et du Centre, d’autre part les parcs arborés et arbustifs à base de cultures vivrières, principalement de céréales, de la région semi-aride subsaharienne d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Il synthétise les dernières avancées acquises grâce à plusieurs projets associant le Cirad, l’IRD et leurs partenaires du Sud qui ont été conduits entre 2012 et 2016 dans ces régions. L’ensemble de ces projets s’articulent autour des dynamiques des systèmes agroforestiers et des compromis entre les services de production et les autres services socio-écosystémiques que ces systèmes fournissent