The role of fracture coatings on water imbibition into unsaturated tuff from Yucca Mountain

Studies dealing with fracture flow at Yucca Mountain have generally assumed that any water flowing down in a fracture will be absorbed by the porous matrix. However, a thin lining of low permeability material on the fracture walls may significantly impede imbibition into the matrix of unsaturated tuff. In this research, imbibition was measured across the fracture surfaces in the laboratory. Samples were collected from surface outcrops of Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring members of the Paintbrush tuff near Yucca Mountain. Sorptivity, a convenient measure of imbibition, was used to investigate the changes in hydraulic properties as a result of fracture coatings. Results from experimental analysis of Topopah Spring tuff showed decreased sorptivity across coated fracture surfaces. Statistically, the coatings on the Tiva Canyon samples do not significantly affect sorptivity. Scanning Electron Microscope analysis shows that coatings on the s grit Tiva Canyon samples are made up of iron, aluminum and to some extent magnesium. Coating material on the Topopah Spring samples is made up of calcium, magnesium, aluminum and iron. Coating significantly reduces the sorptivity for the Topopah Spring tuff. Numerical results are presented to show the effect of fracture coatings on water infiltration down a vertical fracture in simulated tuff. For the Topopah Spring tuff, the wetting front in the coated fracture travels deeper in the fracture and less into the matrix compared to the wetting front in the uncoated fracture. For the Tiva Canyon tuff, the wetting front in the uncoated fracture travels deeper in the fracture and less into the matrix as compared to the wetting front in the coated fracture

Evaporation from three water bodies of different sizes and climates: Measurements and scaling analysis

Evaporation from small reservoirs, wetlands, and lakes continues to be a theoretical and practical problem in surface hydrology and micrometeorology because atmospheric flows above such systems can rarely be approximated as stationary and planar-homogeneous with no mean subsidence (hereafter referred to as idealized flow state). Here, the turbulence statistics of temperature(T)and water vapor (q)most pertinent to lake evaporation measurementsover three water bodies differing in climate, thermal inertia and degree of advective conditions are explored. The three systems included Lac Le´man in Switzerland (high thermal inertia, near homogeneous conditions with no appreciable advection due to long upwind fetch), Eshkol reservoir in Israel (intermediate thermal inertia, frequent strong advective conditions) and Tilopozo wetland in Chile (low thermal inertia, frequent but moderate advection). The data analysis focused on how similarity constants for the flux-variance approach, CT/Cq, and relative transport efficiencies RwT/Rwq, are perturbed from unity with increased advection or the active role of temperature. When advection is small and thermal inertia is large, CT/Cq 1)primarily due to the active role of temperature, which is consistent with a large number of studies conducted over bare soil and vegetated surfaces. However, when advection is significantly large, then CT/Cq >1 (orRwT/Rwq < 1). When advection is moderate and thermal inertia is low, then CT/Cq �1. This latter equality, while consistent with Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST), is due to the fact that advection tends to increase CT/Cq above unity while the active role of temperature tends to decrease CT/Cq below unity. A simplified scaling analysis derived from the scalar variance budget equation, explained qualitatively how advection could per¬turb MOST scaling (assumed to represent the idealized flow state)

Testing Logselfsimilarity of Soil Particle Size Distribution: Simulation with Minimum Inputs

Particle size distribution (PSD) greatly influences other soil physical properties. A detailed textural analysis is time-consuming and expensive. Soil texture is commonly reported in terms of mass percentages of a small number of size fractions (typically, clay, silt and sand). A method to simulate the PSD from such a poor description or even from the poorest description, consisting in the mass percentages of only two soil size fractions, would be extremly useful for prediction purposes. The goal of this paper is to simulate soil PSDs from the minimum number of inputs, i.e., two and three textural fraction contents, by using a logselfsimilar model and an iterated function system constructed with these data. High quality data on 171 soils are used. Additionally, the characterization of soil texture by entropy-based parameters provided by the model is tested. Results indicate that the logselfsimilar model may be a useful tool to simulate PSD for the construction of pedotransfer functions related to other soil properties when textural information is limited to moderate textural data

Radio Science Investigation on a Mercury Orbiter Mission

We review the results from {\it Mariner 10} regarding Mercury's gravity field and the results from radar ranging regarding topography. We discuss the implications of improving these results, including a determination of the polar component, as well as the opportunity to perform relativistic gravity tests with a future {\it Mercury Orbiter}. With a spacecraft placed in orbit with periherm at 400 km altitude, apherm at 16,800 km, period 13.45 hr and latitude of periherm at +30 deg, one can expect a significant improvement in our knowledge of Mercury's gravity field and geophysical properties. The 2000 Plus mission that evolved during the European Space Agency (ESA) {\it Mercury Orbiter} assessment study can provide a global gravity field complete through the 25th degree and order in spherical harmonics. If after completion of the main mission, the periherm could be lowered to 200 km altitude, the gravity field could be extended to 50th degree and order. We discuss the possibility that a search for a Hermean ionosphere could be performed during the mission phases featuring Earth occultations. Because of its relatively large eccentricity and close proximity to the Sun, Mercury's orbital motion provides one of the best solar-system tests of general relativity. Consequently, we emphasize the number of feasible relativistic gravity tests that can be performed within the context of the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism - a useful framework for testing modern gravitational theories. We pointed out that current results on relativistic precession of Mercury's perihelion are uncertain by 0.5 %, and we discuss the expected improvement using {\it Mercury Orbiter}. We discuss the importance of {\it Mercury Orbiter} for setting limits on a possible time variation in theComment: 23 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Detecting Microscopic Black Holes with Neutrino Telescopes

If spacetime has more than four dimensions, ultra-high energy cosmic rays may create microscopic black holes. Black holes created by cosmic neutrinos in the Earth will evaporate, and the resulting hadronic showers, muons, and taus may be detected in neutrino telescopes below the Earth's surface. We simulate such events in detail and consider black hole cross sections with and without an exponential suppression factor. We find observable rates in both cases: for conservative cosmogenic neutrino fluxes, several black hole events per year are observable at the IceCube detector; for fluxes at the Waxman-Bahcall bound, tens of events per year are possible. We also present zenith angle and energy distributions for all three channels. The ability of neutrino telescopes to differentiate hadrons, muons, and possibly taus, and to measure these distributions provides a unique opportunity to identify black holes, to experimentally constrain the form of black hole production cross sections, and to study Hawking evaporation.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

Black Holes from Cosmic Rays: Probes of Extra Dimensions and New Limits on TeV-Scale Gravity

If extra spacetime dimensions and low-scale gravity exist, black holes will be produced in observable collisions of elementary particles. For the next several years, ultra-high energy cosmic rays provide the most promising window on this phenomenon. In particular, cosmic neutrinos can produce black holes deep in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to quasi-horizontal giant air showers. We determine the sensitivity of cosmic ray detectors to black hole production and compare the results to other probes of extra dimensions. With n \ge 4 extra dimensions, current bounds on deeply penetrating showers from AGASA already provide the most stringent bound on low-scale gravity, requiring a fundamental Planck scale M_D > 1.3 - 1.8 TeV. The Auger Observatory will probe M_D as large as 4 TeV and may observe on the order of a hundred black holes in 5 years. We also consider the implications of angular momentum and possible exponentially suppressed parton cross sections; including these effects, large black hole rates are still possible. Finally, we demonstrate that even if only a few black hole events are observed, a standard model interpretation may be excluded by comparison with Earth-skimming neutrino rates.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures; v2: discussion of gravitational infall, AGASA and Fly's Eye comparison added; v3: Earth-skimming results modified and strengthened, published versio

Magnetotransport in the Normal State of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 Films

We have studied the magnetotransport properties in the normal state for a series of La1.85Sr0.15Cu(1-y)Zn(y)O4 films with values of y, between 0 and 0.12. A variable degree of compressive or tensile strain results from the lattice mismatch between the substrate and the film, and affects the transport properties differently from the influence of the zinc impurities. In particular, the orbital magnetoresistance (OMR) varies with y but is strain-independent. The relations for the resistivity and the Hall angle and the proportionality between the OMR and tan^2 theta are followed about 70 K. We have been able to separate the strain and impurity effects by rewriting the above relations, where each term is strain-independent and depends on y only. We also find that changes in the lattice constants give rise to closely the same fractional changes in other terms of the equation.The OMR is more strongly supressed by the addition of impurities than tan^2 theta. We conclude that the relaxation ratethat governs Hall effect is not the same as for the magnetoresistance. We also suggest a correspondence between the transport properties and the opening of the pseudogap at a temperature which changes when the La-sr ratio changes, but does not change with the addition of the zinc impurities

Field Measurements of Terrestrial and Martian Dust Devils

Surface-based measurements of terrestrial and martian dust devils/convective vortices provided from mobile and stationary platforms are discussed. Imaging of terrestrial dust devils has quantified their rotational and vertical wind speeds, translation speeds, dimensions, dust load, and frequency of occurrence. Imaging of martian dust devils has provided translation speeds and constraints on dimensions, but only limited constraints on vertical motion within a vortex. The longer mission durations on Mars afforded by long operating robotic landers and rovers have provided statistical quantification of vortex occurrence (time-of-sol, and recently seasonal) that has until recently not been a primary outcome of more temporally limited terrestrial dust devil measurement campaigns. Terrestrial measurement campaigns have included a more extensive range of measured vortex parameters (pressure, wind, morphology, etc.) than have martian opportunities, with electric field and direct measure of dust abundance not yet obtained on Mars. No martian robotic mission has yet provided contemporaneous high frequency wind and pressure measurements. Comparison of measured terrestrial and martian dust devil characteristics suggests that martian dust devils are larger and possess faster maximum rotational wind speeds, that the absolute magnitude of the pressure deficit within a terrestrial dust devil is an order of magnitude greater than a martian dust devil, and that the time-of-day variation in vortex frequency is similar. Recent terrestrial investigations have demonstrated the presence of diagnostic dust devil signals within seismic and infrasound measurements; an upcoming Mars robotic mission will obtain similar measurement types