minimum age of initiation of collision between india and asia north of everest based on the subsidence history of the zhepure mountain section the collision of india with asia one of the most profound tectonic events to have occurred in past 100 m y is thought to have had geological geochemical and climatological consequences of global extent surprisingly the age of initiation of this collision remains poorly constrained estimates range from the late cretaceous 65 ma to latest eocene 40 ma with little consensus in between this paper reviews the stratigraphic section preserved on zhepure mountain on the north flank of everest mount qomolongma and its implied subsidence history zhepure mountain lies about 65 km south of the indus yarlung zangbo suture and contains the most complete and youngest passive margin shelf sediments in the tethyan himalayas on the basis of the subsidence history of the preserved section there is no evidence of acceleration of the subsidence up to the youngest rocks therefore collision related loading and accelerated subsidence must post date the youngest sediments preserved which date from the earl

a model for flow in the chalk unsaturated zone incorporating progressive weathering summary groundwater from unconfined chalk aquifers constitutes a major water resource in the uk the unsaturated zone in such systems plays a crucial role in the hydrological cycle determining the timing and magnitude of recharge and the transport and fate of nutrients however despite more than three decades of study our physical understanding of this system is incomplete in this research state of the art instrumentation provided high temporal resolution readings of soil moisture status rainfall and actual evaporation from two sites in the pang and lambourn catchments berkshire uk for a continuous two year period 2004 5 a parsimonious physically based model for the flow of water through the chalk unsaturated zone including a novel representation of the soil and weathered chalk layers was developed the parameters were identified by inverse modelling using field measurements of water content and matric potential the model was driven by rainfall and evaporation data and simulated fluxes throughout the profile including the discrete matrix and fracture components down to the water table but not the water table response results showed that the model was able to reproduce closely the observed changes in soil moisture status recharge was predominantly through the matrix and the recharge response was strongly attenuated with depth however the activation of fast recharge pathways through fractures in the chalk unsaturated zone was highly sensitive to rainfall intensity relatively modest increases in rainfall led to dramatically different recharge patterns with potentially important implications for groundwater flooding the development and migration of zero flux planes with time and depth were simulated the simulations also provided strong evidence that for water table depths greater than 5 m recharge fluxes persist throughout the entire year even during drought conditions with important implications for the calculation of specific yield from baseflow estimates and the representation of recharge in groundwater models

coupling and decoupling of crust and mantle in convergent orogens implications for strain partitioning in the crust topographic relief strain partitioning and crust mantle coupling within convergent orogens may be systematically related to the distribution of strength as a function of depth within continental crust this result is obtained by solving analytically for basally driven three dimensional flow within an idealized crust with a laterally invariant depth dependent newtonian viscosity two end member flow states are shown to occur in the first crustal flow is directly coupled to the underlying mantle and is controlled by stresses transmitted vertically through the crust in the second upper crustal to midcrustal flow is decoupled from the underlying mantle and is controlled by stresses transmitted horizontally through the crust this model is applied to deformation of continental crust above plate like mantle that undergoes oblique convergence across a narrow suture if no significant low viscosity zone develops within the crust crustal deformation is coupled to motion of the underlying mantle and a triangular mountain range develops surface shortening occurs at the foot of the mountains normal to the trend of the range while strike slip and extension are partitioned along the axis of the orogen if a low viscosity zone is initially absent but develops during crustal thickening a steep sided flat topped plateau forms crustal deformation is coupled to mantle motions on the plateau flanks but may be strongly decoupled beneath the plateau surface shortening normal to the plateau occurs at the foot of the plateau while surface extension normal to the plateau occurs at the plateau edge if a low viscosity zone is present in the lower crust prior to convergence a wide orogen with low topographic relief develops crustal deformation is decoupled from the mantle except at the edges of the deforming region and surface shortening is partitioned uniformly across the belt this study shows that horizontal and vertical partitioning of strain occur even in the absence of lateral strength variations and that shortening and extension may exist simultaneously in different parts of an orogen similar morphology and strain partitioning can be observed in many real orogenic belts including the eastern alps the tibetan plateau and the lachlan tasman fold belt

dynamics of the india eurasia collision zone we present simple new dynamic calculations of a vertically averaged deviatoric stress field over a depth average of 100 km for asia from geodetic geologic topographic and seismic data a first estimate of the minimum absolute magnitudes and directions of vertically averaged deviatoric stress is obtained by solving force balance equations for deviatoric stresses associated with gravitational potential energy differences within the lithosphere plus a first order contribution of deviatoric stresses associated with stress boundary conditions this initial estimate of the vertically averaged deviatoric stress field is obtained independent of assumptions about the rheology of the lithosphere absolute magnitudes of vertically averaged deviatoric stresses vary between 5 and 40 mpa assuming bulk viscous behavior for the lithosphere the magnitudes of deviatoric stresses together with the magnitudes of strain rates inferred from quaternary fault slip rate and gps data yield vertically averaged effective viscosities for tibet of 0 5 5 1022 pa s compared with 1 2 5 1023 pa s in more rigid areas elsewhere in the region a forward modeling method that solves force balance equations using velocity boundary conditions allows us to refine our estimates of the vertically averaged effective viscosity distribution and deviatoric stress field the total vertically averaged deviatoric stress and effective viscosity field are consistent with a weak lower crust in tibet they are consistent with some eastward motion of tibet and south china lithosphere relative to eurasia and they confirm that gravitational potential energy differences have a profound effect on the spatially varying style and magnitude of strain rate around the tibetan plateau our results for the vertically averaged deviatoric stress argue for a large portion of the strength of the lithosphere to reside within the seismogenic upper crust to get deviatoric stress magnitudes there to be as high as 100 300 mpa in accord with laboratory and theoretical friction experiments indicating that stress drops in earthquakes are small fractions of the total deviatoric stress

recharge of the upper chalk aquifer at a site in hampshire england 2 solute movement abstract this paper describes a field experiment to study the movement of solutes through the unsaturated zone of the chalk using soil physical techniques to calculate water fluxes and sequential soil coring to measure solute concentrations with depth and time deuterium oxide was used as a tracer to follow water movement nitrate leaching beneath spring barley was calculated below the root zone approximately 40 kg ha 1 yr 1 of nitrate nitrogen were leached beyond root depth 1 m in the two study years at concentrations of between 20 and 75 mg l 1 and at a downward velocity of 0 85 m yr 1

mantle dynamics uplift of the tibetan plateau and the indian monsoon convective removal of lower lithosphere beneath the tibetan plateau can account for a rapid increase in the mean elevation of the tibetan plateau of 1000 m or more in a few million years such uplift seems to be required by abrupt tectonic and environmental changes in asia and the indian ocean in late cenozoic time the composition of basaltic volcanism in northern tibet which apparently began at about 13 ma implies melting of lithosphere not asthenosphere the most plausible mechanism for rapid heat transfer to the midlithosphere is by convective removal of deeper lithosphere and its replacement by hotter asthenosphere the initiation of normal faulting in tibet at about 8 3 ma suggests that the plateau underwent an appreciable increase in elevation at that time an increase due solely to the isostatic response to crustal thickening caused by india s penetration into eurasia should have been slow and could not have triggered normal faulting another process such as removal of relatively cold dense lower lithosphere must have caused a supplemental uplift of the surface folding and faulting of the indo australian plate south of india the most prominent oceanic intraplate deformation on earth began between about 7 5 and 8 ma and indicates an increased north south compressional stress within the indo australian plate a tibetan uplift of only 1000 m if the result of removal of lower lithosphere should have increased the compressional stress that the plateau applies to india and that resists india s northward movement from an amount too small to fold oceanic lithosphere to one sufficient to do so the climate of the equatorial indian ocean and southern asia changed at about 6 9 ma monsoonal winds apparently strengthened northern pakistan became more arid but weathering of rock in the eastern himalaya apparently increased because of its high altitude and lateral extent the tibetan plateau provides a heat source at midlatitudes that should oppose classical symmetric hadley circulation between the equator and temperate latitudes and that should help to drive an essentially opposite circulation characteristic of summer monsoons for the simple case of axisymmetric heating no dependence on longitude of an atmosphere without dissipation theoretical analyses by hou lindzen and plumb show that an axisymmetric heat source displaced from the equator can drive a much stronger meridianal monsoonlike circulation than such a source centered on the equator but only if heating exceeds a threshold whose level increases with the latitude of the heat source because heating of the atmosphere over tibet should increase monotonically with elevation of the plateau a modest uplift 1000 2500 m of tibet already of substantial extent and height might have been sufficient to exceed a threshold necessary for a strong monsoon the virtual simultaneity of these phenomena suggests that uplift was rapid approximately 1000 m to 2500 m in a few million years moreover nearly simultaneously with the late miocene strengthening of the monsoon the calcite compensation depth in the oceans dropped plants using the relatively efficient c4 pathway for photosynthesis evolved rapidly and atmospheric co2 seems to have decreased suggesting causal relationships and positive feedbacks among these phenomena both a supplemental uplift of the himalaya the southern edge of tibet and a strengthened monsoon may have accelerated erosion and weathering of silicate rock in the himalaya that in turn enhanced extraction of co2 from the atmosphere thus these correlations offer some support for links between plateau uplift a downdrawing of co2 from the atmosphere and global climate change as proposed by raymo ruddiman and froehlich mantle dynamics beneath mountain belts not only may profoundly affect tectonic processes near and far from the belts but might also play an important role in altering regional and global climates

a simple model of variable residence time flow and nutrient transport in the chalk summary a basic problem of modelling flow and transport in chalk catchments arises from the existence of a deep unsaturated zone with complex interactions between flow in fractures and water held in the fine pores of the rock matrix the response of the water table to major infiltration episodes is rapid of the order of days however chemical signals are strongly damped suggesting that this water is of varying age with a corresponding mixed history of nutrient loading clearly this effect should be represented in any model of nutrients in chalk systems the applicability of simplified physically based model formulations to represent the dual response in an integrated way has been investigated by a variety of researchers but it has been shown that these approximations break down in application to the chalk mathias et al mathias s butler a p jackson b m wheater h s this issue characterising flow in the chalk unsaturated zone in wheater h s peach d neal c editors hydrology on locar in the pang lambourn special issue of j hydrol doi 10 1016 j jhydrol 2006 04 010 present a dual permeability model that explains the observed response but such complex formulations are not readily incorporated in catchment scale nutrient models this paper reviews previous approaches to modelling the chalk and then presents a pragmatic approach with transport of solute and water through the unsaturated zone treated separately and combined at the water table varying residence times are included through considering the distance between the water table and the soil surface and the history of nutrient application at the surface if an average rate of downwards migration of the nutrients is assumed it is possible to derive a travel time distribution of nitrate transport to the water table using a dtm digital terrain model map of elevation and information on groundwater levels this distribution can then be implemented through difference equations the rationale behind the model and the resulting algorithm is described and the algorithm then applied to a hypothetical case study of nutrient loading located in the lambourn a groundwater dominated chalk catchment in southern england simulated groundwater concentrations are very similar in magnitude and variability to observed chalk groundwater series suggesting that this simple conceptual model may well be able to capture the dominant responses of nutrient transport through the chalk

four year comparison of water contents beneath a grass ley and a deciduous oak wood overlying triassic sandstone in lowland england summary differences in the seasonal water dynamics of a sand soil overlying triassic sandstone have been investigated to a depth of 9 m beneath both a grass ley and a pendunculate oak woodland within clipstone forest nottinghamshire england fortnightly measurements with a neutron probe over a four year period allowed a comparison of the soil rock water content to depths rarely reported in spring the rate of decrease of water content of the uppermost 2 m of soil was much greater under grass than oak woodland in contrast the rate of decrease under oak was greater after leafing out in may while the rate of rewetting in early autumn was lower for this land use until senescence and leaf fall in late autumn in the uppermost 2 m of soil a depth that includes all plant roots the soil moisture minima were between 47 and 58 mm lower under oak than grass in each year of monitoring as a result of both these drier conditions and the comparatively late leaf fall of this species penetration of the winter season wetting front to 2 m was delayed by between one and three months at the oak site relative to grass in years of near average rainfall rewetting at 9 m lags by 10 12 months compared to the surface giving an average penetration rate for the wetting front to this depth of 25 30 mm day 1 with little observable differences between the land uses preferential flow is evident under both sites affecting the profile to 3 m in all years and to at least 6 m following winters experiencing exceptional rainfall

gps constraints on deformation in northern central america from 1999 to 2017 part 1 time dependent modelling of large regional earthquakes and their post seismic effects we use continuous and campaign measurements from 215 gps sites in northern central america and southern mexico to estimate coseismic and afterslip solutions for the 2009 m w 7 3 swan islands fault strike slip earthquake and the 2012 m w 7 3 el salvador and m w 7 4 guatemala thrust faulting earthquakes on the middle america trench our simultaneous time dependent inversion of more than 350 000 daily gps site positions gives the first jointly consistent estimates of the coseismic slips for all three earthquakes their combined time dependent post seismic effects and secular station velocities corrected for both the co seismic and post seismic deformation our geodetic slip solutions for all three earthquakes agree with previous estimates that were derived via static coseismic offset modelling our time dependent model which attributes all transient post seismic deformation to earthquake afterslip fits nearly all of the continuous gps site position time series within their several millimetre position noise afterslip moments for the three earthquakes range from 35 to 140 per cent of the geodetic coseismic moments with the largest afterslip estimated for the 2012 el salvador earthquake along the weakly coupled el salvador trench segment forward modelling of viscoelastic deformation triggered by all three earthquakes for a range of assumed mantle and lower crustal viscosities suggests that it accounts for under 20 per cent of the observed post seismic deformation and possibly under 10 per cent our results thus point to afterslip as the primary and perhaps dominant mode of post seismic deformation for these c the author s

estimation of natural groundwater recharge in the karoo aquifers of south africa abstract a 3 year project to study the natural groundwater recharge of aquifers in the semi arid karoo formations of south africa was undertaken two typical karoo aquifers at dewetsdorp and de aar were selected for study purposes data were collected from both the saturated and unsaturated zone neutron probe measurements showed that there was no increase in the water content beneath a depth of 1m below the surface even with the exceptionally high rainfall in february 1988 neutron measurements indicated that very little soil matrix flow occurred which implied that most of the recharge occurred along preferred pathways a triangular finite element network was used to determine the relative saturated volume fluctuations svf of the aquifers from the observed water level changes over a period of time which allowed determination of the storativity s and the recharge the main advantage of the method lies in determining recharge and storativity which are both unknowns in the water balance equation and which both contribute to the water level response the svf method showed that the recharge in the karoo formations of south africa varies between 2 and 5 of the annual rainfall in areas which are overlain by a thick soil cover the recharge is less than 3 while recharge in hilly areas with a thin soil cover may be of the order of 5

advances in modelling groundwater behaviour in chalk catchments groundwater in chalk catchments is a major resource that also helps support internationally important habitats and ecosystems its dual porosity and dual permeability properties coupled with large scale structural features such as hard rock layers and marls produce a highly complex hydrogeological system recent impacts from groundwater flooding as well as vulnerability to drought have raised questions over the ability of traditional approaches to model these aquifers current work on near surface hydrological processes has highlighted the importance of the soil and weathered zone for controlling recharge rates in addition karst like features sedimentary deposits and valley bottom processes govern stream aquifer interaction and present a challenge in their representation in any modelling system methods that have and are being developed to incorporate these features and their use in modelling chalk catchments are described these are required in order to address major challenges such as groundwater flooding and drought impacts both of which could become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change

spatial heterogeneity of high resolution chalk groundwater geochemistry underground quarry at saint martin le noeud france chalk groundwater is an important aquifer resource in france because it accounts for a production of 12 million m3 y 1 with a large proportion reserved for drinking water processes occurring in the unsaturated zone uz and the overlying superficial formations have a high impact on chalk groundwater geochemistry and require better understanding the study site is a former underground chalk quarry located near beauvais france that extends over 1200 m in length at a depth ranging from 20 to 30 m the water table intersects the cavity creating 15 underground lake that give access to the chalk groundwater lakes geochemistry has been studied water samples were collected in july 2013 and major ion concentrations were analyzed uz and clay with flints thickness above each lake were estimated qualitatively using an electromagnetic sensor em31 and underground gps the results unexpectedly showed that groundwater quality varied widely in spatial terms for both allochthonous and autochthonous ions e g hco3 ranged from 2 03 to 4 43 meq l 1 no3 ranged from 0 21 to 1 33 meq l 1 principal component analysis indicated the impact of agricultural land use on water quality with the intake of no3 as well as so42 cl and ca2 chalk groundwater geochemistry is compared with the nature and structure of the uz we highlight correlations 1 between thick clay with flints layers and the ions mg2 and k and 2 between uz thickness and na in conclusion this paper identifies various ion sources agriculture clay with flints and chalk and demonstrates different processes in the uz dissolution ionic exchange and solute storage

experimental investigation of solute transport in unsaturated fractured rock an experiment is designed to perform tracer tests in an unsaturated fractured rock with a horizontal fracture data from an intact and an artificial sandstone sample was collected and used to discuss the effect of the fracture on tracer migration the delay time of the tracer in the fracture was further determined in terms of the fracture aperture involved an alternative electrical conductivity or electrical resistance method was developed to measure the change in the tracer concentration with time and space the method causes no disturbance to the flow and concentration fields and is convenient to use the test results show the fluctuations in the tracer concentrations and there were 2 3 peak values of concentration in the monitored sections related to the heterogeneity of the water content and pore distribution also the fracture was found to delay migration of the tracer before it is filled with the tracer solution and quicken the velocity of migration afterwards this results in accumulation of the tracer near the fracture furthermore the delay time of the tracer increases with fracture aperture in a nonlinear manner

estimation of groundwater recharge to chalk and sandstone aquifers using simple soil models abstract on the assumption that the water draining below the root zone is potentially available for groundwater recharge two current uk methods for estimating annual groundwater recharge have been compared with a new soil model using data from four sites under permanent grass in the uk two sites representative of the chalk aquifer at bridgest farm hampshire and fleam dyke cambridgeshire and two sites on the triassic sandstone at bicton college devon and bacon hall shropshire a four root layers model frlm the penman grindley model and the uk meteorological office rainfall and evaporation calculation system morecs were used the new soil model was run with potential evaporation as input both from the morecs and from the penman monteith equation the models were run for the chalk sites both with and without a bypass flow of 15 of rainfall bypass was not considered for the sandstone sites the performance of the models was tested against neutron probes measurements of soil moisture deficits in addition the annual groundwater recharge estimated from the models was compared with the published values obtained from the zero flux plane method generally the penman grindley model was more successful in predicting the time for soil to return to its field capacity than in predicting the magnitude of the soil moisture deficit the annual groundwater recharge was predicted with reasonable accuracy the morecs relatively tended to overestimate the soil moisture deficits and to delay the time at which the soil returns to its field capacity the consequences were underestimates of annual groundwater recharge owing either to the higher values of potential evaporation calculated from the morecs or tothe high available water capacity values associated with the soils under consideration the new soil model frlm predicts the soil moisture deficits successfully and hence is reliable in estimating the annual groundwater recharge the model is capable of doing this with potential evaporation input calculated either from the morecs or from the penman monteith equation the model also demonstrated that the inclusion of 15 of rainfall as bypass flow is viable for chalk sites

mechanisms of groundwater recharge and pesticide penetration to a chalk aquifer in southern england abstract in order to assess the potential for enhanced agrochemical contamination of shallow groundwaters a field study was established on the upper chalk in hampshire uk two instrumented sites 380 m apart were established on a hillslope one on the interfluve with a deep water table 18 m depth the other on the dry valley bottom where the groundwater was close to the surface 4 m depth hourly measurements of water potentials in the unsaturated zone to 3 0 m depth identified very different groundwater recharge processes between the two sites in response to the same storm event on the interfluve site with the deep water table only matrix flow through the chalk unsaturated zone at 3 m depth was identified in contrast at the dry valley bottom with a shallow water table both rapid preferential flow and matrix flow processes were observed at a 3 m depth the correlation between groundwater depth measurements and unsaturated profile moisture content measurements demonstrated the importance of the capillary fringe in sustaining a higher moisture content in the unsaturated zone at the shallow groundwater site the resulting reduced water storage capacity for vertical drainage fluxes meant that little water was required to wet the shallow profile before rapid preferential flow events demonstrated by rapid water potential responses occurred however where the groundwater was deeper intermediate storage sites located on chalk surfaces and at chalk ped block contact points remained empty and unsaturated water potential profiles showed that rainfall pulses were attenuated as these sites absorbed the downward water fluxes consequently preferential events at these deep groundwater sites are rare the importance of these intermediate storage sites in controlling recharge processes is highlighted the potential mass load of pesticide transported to the shallow groundwater in preferential events during 1996 7 was determined using bromide tracer studies water balance calculations and measured groundwater pesticide concentrations an estimated 0 1 of the applied pesticide reached the shallow groundwater along preferential pathways in 1996 7 calculations under a worst case scenario showed that this value did not increase beyond 0 2 of pesticide applied

modelling flow and heat transfer through unsaturated chalk validation with experimental data from the ground surface to the aquifer abstract during the winter and spring of 2000 2001 large floods occurred in northern france somme river basin and southern england patcham area of brighton in valleys that are developed on chalk outcrops the floods durations were particularly long more than 3 months in the somme basin and caused significant damage in both countries to improve the understanding of groundwater flooding in chalk catchments an experimental site was set up in the hallue basin which is located in the somme river basin france unsaturated fractured chalk formation overlying the chalk aquifer was monitored to understand its reaction to long and heavy rainfall events when it reaches a near saturation state the water content and soil temperature were monitored to a depth of 8 m and the matrix pressure was monitored down to the water table 26 5 m below ground level the monitoring extended over a 2 5 year period 2006 2008 under natural conditions and during two periods when heavy artificial infiltration was induced the objective of the paper is to describe a vertical numerical flow model based on richards equation using these data that was developed to simulate infiltrating rainwater flow from the ground surface to the saturated aquifer the marthe computer code which models the unsaturated saturated continuum was adapted to reproduce the monitored high saturation periods composite constitutive functions hydraulic conductivity saturation and pressure saturation that integrate the increase in hydraulic conductivity near saturation and extra available porosity resulting from fractures were introduced into the code using these composite constitutive functions the model was able to accurately simulate the water contents and pressures at all depths over the entire monitored period including the infiltration tests the soil temperature was also accurately simulated at all depths except during the infiltrations tests which contributes to the model validation the model was used to calculate the aquifer recharge over a long period that included droughts and floods the calculated recharge is realistic as it makes it possible to simulate the corresponding monitored groundwater level data which increases confidence in the modelling approach

subduction of the indian lithosphere beneath the tibetan plateau and burma abstract subduction of the indian lithosphere under eurasia plays an important role in the tectonic evolution of the tibetan plateau and surrounding regions to improve our knowledge of pertinent mantle structures through tomographic imaging we combine p wave arrival time data from temporary arrays in tibet and stations of the chinese seismograph network with reprocessed data from the international seismological centre the new images reveal considerable spatial variations in mantle structure along the collision zone and the horizontal distance over which presumed continental indian lithosphere slides northward beneath the plateau decreases from west where it underlies the himalayas and the entire plateau to east where no indication is found for present day underthrusting beyond the himalayan block and indus tsangpo suture p wavespeed appears low in the shallow mantle beneath much of central and eastern tibet these observations suggest that indian lithosphere underlies only the southwestern part of the plateau and that the central and northeastern part is underlain by lithosphere of asian origin the continental parts of the indian plate that currently underthrust or subduct below the plateau appear generally detached from the oceanic slab fragments that subducted longer ago and that have been detected deeper in the mantle except perhaps in the central part of the collision zone 80 90 e this suggests that ongoing india eurasia collision must increasingly be driven by other forces such as subduction of the indian plate further west and east e g beneath indochina our images reveal structures associated with eastward subduction along the burmese arc southeast of the eastern himalayan syntaxis the tengchong volcanic complex in southwest china is marked by slow wave propagation to 150 km depth suggesting a causal link to subduction along the burmese arc the low velocities beneath the red river fault region extend to greater depth and may be related to upper mantle processes further southeast

continuous deformation of the tibetan plateau from global positioning system data global positioning system velocities from 553 control points within the tibetan plateau and on its margins show that the present day tectonics in the plateau is best described as deformation of a continuous medium at least when averaged over distances of 100 km deformation occurs throughout the plateau interior by ese wnw extension and slightly slower nne ssw shortening relative to eurasia material within the plateau interior moves roughly eastward with speeds that increase toward the east and then flows southward around the eastern end of the himalaya crustal thickening on the northeast ern and eastern margins of the plateau occurs over a zone 400 km wide and cannot be the result of elastic strain on a single major thrust fault shortening there accommodates much of india s penetration into eurasia a description in terms of movements of rigid blocks with elastic strain associated with slip on faults between them cannot match the velocity field

analysis of water level response to rainfall and implications for recharge pathways in the chalk aquifer se england summary water table response to rainfall was investigated at six sites in the upper middle and lower chalk of southern england daily time series of rainfall and borehole water level were cross correlated to investigate seasonal variations in groundwater level response times based on periods of 3 month duration the time lags in days yielding significant correlations were compared with the average unsaturated zone thickness during each 3 month period in general for cases when the unsaturated zone was greater than 18 m thick the time lag for a significant water level response increased rapidly once the depth to the water table exceeded a critical value which varied from site to site for shallower water tables a linear relationship between the depth to the water table and the water level response time was evident the observed variations in response time can only be partially accounted for using a diffusive model for propagation through the unsaturated matrix suggesting that some fissure flow was occurring the majority of rapid responses were observed during the winter spring recharge period when the unsaturated zone is thinnest and the unsaturated zone moisture content is highest and were more likely to occur when the rainfall intensity exceeded 5 mm day at some sites a very rapid response within 24 h of rainfall was observed in addition to the longer term responses even when the unsaturated zone was up to 64 m thick this response was generally associated with the autumn period the results of the cross correlation analysis provide statistical support for the presence of fissure flow and for the contribution of multiple pathways through the unsaturated zone to groundwater recharge

oblique stepwise rise and growth of the tibet plateau two end member models of how the high elevations in tibet formed are i continuous thickening and widespread viscous flow of the crust and mantle of the entire plateau and ii time dependent localized shear between coherent lithospheric blocks recent studies of cenozoic deformation magmatism and seismic structure lend support to the latter since india collided with asia 55 million years ago the rise of the high tibetan plateau likely occurred in three main steps by successive growth and uplift of 300 to 500 kilometer wide crustal thrust wedges the crust thickened while the mantle decoupled beneath gently dipping shear zones did not sediment infilling bathtub like of dammed intermontane basins formed flat high plains at each step the existence of magmatic belts younging northward implies that slabs of asian mantle subducted one after another under ranges north of the himalayas subduction was oblique and accompanied by extrusion along the left lateral strike slip faults that slice tibet s east side these mechanisms akin to plate tectonics hidden by thickening crust with slip partitioning account for the dominant growth of the tibet plateau toward the east and northeast

recharge of the upper chalk aquifer at a site in hampshire england 1 water balance and unsaturated flow abstract measurements of the annual cycle of changes in water content and potential in the 40 m thick unsaturated zone of upper chalk at a site in southern england are described measured evaporation continued at the penman potential rate until the soil moisture deficit reached 175 mm this suggested that a root constant of 200 mm would be more appropriate than the much lower values generally used the field capacity concept could not be reconciled with the timing of renewed water recharge and the reasons for this are discussed the mechanisms of water flow through the unsaturated zone of the chalk are examined and it is shown that at this upper chalk site matrix flow is the dominant recharge mechanism

the role of crustal strength variations in shaping orogenic plateaus with application to tibet 1 the tibetan plateau is the type example of a large orogenic plateau formed as a result of continent continent collision the morphology of the plateau and its margins suggests that preexisting variations in crustal strength have influenced the growth of the plateau we have developed a three dimensional numerical model of deformation in a viscous crust in order to investigate the effects of lateral heterogeneities on plateau growth the model includes a two layer crust and allows for lateral variation of viscosity in both the upper and lower layers model results indicate that crustal strength variations have a dramatic effect on the morphology and dynamics of a developing plateau a region of strong crust is characterized by a very steep plateau margin that propagates extremely slowly does not accommodate significant shortening strain and is subparallel to local upper and lower crustal velocities a weak crustal region develops a gently sloping margin uplift propagates rapidly across the weak zone and crustal material within the plateau is diverted toward the low strength region with a relatively simple distribution of strength variations corresponding to strong tarim and sichuan basin crust and a weak southeastern corner our model produces a plateau with many similarities to the tibetan plateau including the overall morphology rotation around the eastern syntaxis and e w extension analysis of model results suggests that e w extension of the central plateau may be related to the rapid eastward flow of crustal material into a weak zone in the se corner without significant change in plateau elevation

late cenozoic uplift of southeastern tibet the age of surface uplift in southeastern tibet is currently unknown but the initiation of major river incision can be used as a proxy for the timing of initial uplift the topographically high eastern plateau and gently dipping southeastern plateau margin are mantled by an elevated low relief relict landscape that formed at a time of slow erosion at low elevation and low tectonic uplift rates prior to uplift of the eastern tibetan plateau thermochronology from deep river gorges that are cut into the relict landscape shows slow cooling between ca 100 and ca 10 20 ma and a change to rapid cooling after ca 13 ma with initiation of rapid river incision at 0 25 0 5 mm yr between 9 and 13 ma a rapid increase in mean elevation of eastern tibet beginning at this time supports tectonic climate models that correlate the lateral eastern expansion of high topography in tibet with the late miocene intensification of the indian and east asian monsoons

the significance of flow in the matrix of the chalk unsaturated zone the significance of flow in the matrix of the chalk unsaturated zone in comparison with flow in fractures has been the subject of much debate in this article important elements of the literature are discussed in detail and several simple modelling analyses based on steady state flow are presented a study of the sensitivity of solute spreading to fracture spacing in models that ignore matrix flow shows that this latter assumption is generally incompatible with observed solute profiles unless unrealistically small fracture spacings are assumed the effect of air phase continuities e g bedding planes on matrix flow has also been examined these discontinuities are frequently interrupted by points of connectivity between matrix blocks an issue therefore is the relationship between connectivity and its effect on inter block conductance a simple analysis of the laplace equation shows that just 1 connectivity represents an effective pathway equivalent to 18 of the local rock hydraulic conductivity obviously when there is no fracture flow solute spreading is significantly reduced however dual permeability model simulations show that matrix flow reduces solute spreading in the presence of persistent fracture flow all of the above studies suggest that flow in the matrix of the chalk unsaturated zone is significant and that ignoring it may result in a serious misunderstanding of the system

large scale crustal deformation of the tibetan plateau the topography velocity and strain fields calculated from a three dimensional newtonian viscous model for large scale crustal deformation are generally in good agreement with results from geological geodetic and earthquake studies in and around the tibetan plateau provided that the model rheology incorporates a weak zone within the deep crust beneath the plateau equivalent to a viscosity of 1012 pa s within a 250 m thick channel or 1018 pa s within a 15 km thick channel model studies and observations show a plateau at 5 km elevation with steep topographic gradients across the southern and northern plateau margins and more gentle gradients across the southeastern and northeastern margins rapid shortening strain is concentrated along the lower portions of the northern and southern plateau margins at rates 20 mm yr model results show north south shortening 10 mm yr in reasonable agreement with gps data 5 8 mm yr of north south shortening across the northern two thirds of the plateau and east west stretching 10 15 mm yr across the eastern half of the high plateau in reasonable agreement with seismic geologic and gps data upper crustal material moves eastward from the plateau proper into a lobe of elevated topography that extends to the south and east clockwise rotation of material around the east himalayan syntaxis at rates up to 10 mm yr occurs partly as a result of dextral shear between indian and asian mantle at depth and partly as a result of gravitational spreading from the high plateau to the south and east there is little difference in model surface deformation for assumptions of moderately weak or extremely weak lower crust except in southern and northern tibet where margin perpendicular extension occurs only for the case of an extremely weak lower crust our results suggest that the tibetan plateau is likely to have gone through a two stage development the first stage produced a long narrow high orogen whose height may have been comparable to the modern plateau the second stage produced a plateau that grew progressively to the north and east east west stretching eastward plateau growth and dextral rotation around the east himalayan syntaxis probably did not begin until well into the second stage of plateau growth perhaps becoming significant after 20 m y of convergence

the geological evolution of the tibetan plateau the geological evolution of the tibetan plateau is best viewed in a context broader than the india eurasia collision zone after collision about 50 million years ago crust was shortened in western and central tibet while large fragments of lithosphere moved from the collision zone toward areas of trench rollback in the western pacific and indonesia cessation of rapid pacific trench migration 15 to 20 million years ago coincided with a slowing of fragment extrusion beyond the plateau and probably contributed to the onset of rapid surface uplift and crustal thickening in eastern tibet the latter appear to result from rapid eastward flow of the deep crust probably within crustal channels imaged seismically beneath eastern tibet these events mark a transition to the modern structural system that currently accommodates deformation within tibet

mechanisms of water storage and flow in the unsaturated zone of the chalk aquifer abstract it is known that the volumes of water draining from some chalk catchments in recessions are significantly greater than can be explained by gravity drainage from fissure porosity the most likely source of this water is slow drainage from the matric porosity above the water table this paper suggests that the location of this storage is in the irregularities on the fissure surfaces studies of resin impregnated blocks of chalk failed to reveal the presence of hydrologically significant microfissures or macropores that could be the source of additional drainage ultrasonic measurements at varying values of effective stress show no indication of changes in the acoustic transmission properties that could be attributed to closure of microfissures drainage and mercury intrusion measurements indicate that there is significant storage on block surfaces the drainage measurements confirm that the storage is of the order of magnitude about 0 3 needed to explain the slow drainage this additional storage explains why the water table is slow to respond after recharge events and why the chalk is resilient to drought the presence of storage in the unsaturated zone implies that the position of the water table may not be an accurate indicator of groundwater resources the concept of filling and draining of irregularities on fissure surfaces also leads to a new model for the generation of fissure flow in the unsaturated zone of the chalk this suggests that fissure flow can be generated at any depth in the profile and in a sequence of uniform vertical permeability is likely to originate near the water table rather than high in the unsaturated zone

estimating infiltration recharge using a response function model abstract rainfall infiltration influences both the quantity and quality of groundwater systems the knowledge of the process of infiltration recharge is of great importance to the management of groundwater systems and the hydraulically connected streams in this study a response function model is developed to estimate soil water flux at the water table or the process of infiltration recharge from rainfall and evaporation data the gamma probability density function is modified to represent the travel time distribution of infiltrating water by rainfall events the travel time distribution is used to determine the recharge process according to the effective infiltration of a rainfall event the effective infiltration is the amount of soil water pushed down into groundwater by infiltrating water of a rainfall event and is evaluated based on the vadose zone soil water balance superposition is employed to compute the recharge rate produced by a sequence of rainfall events estimations of soil water flux at different groundwater depths are compared with lysimetric observations in the field good agreements between the estimated and observed results confirm the reliability of the response function model for predicting infiltration recharge processes

analysis of rainfall recharge relationships abstract understanding the recharge process and its relationship with rainfall is of critical importance to the management of groundwater systems and enormous effort has been made to estimate the amount and process of recharge by infiltration using precipitation data in the present research in situ lysimeter experiments and numerical simulations were used to study the relationships between rainfall and recharge by infiltration at different groundwater depths four lysimeters 1 5 3 4 5 and 5 m deep were installed in the field to measure the infiltration recharge rates under conditions of fixed water tables at the bottoms of the soil columns annual infiltration recharges at different groundwater depths were obtained through the lysimeter measurements the effect of rainfall pattern and annual rainfall distribution on infiltration recharge was simulated at various groundwater depths using a numerical model based on soil water dynamics and comparisons of the simulated and observed recharges showed very good agreement relationships between rainfall and infiltration recharge at different groundwater depths were investigated using the lysimeter measurements and computer simulations groundwater systems were classified into three categories i e shallow water table intermediate water table and deep water table based on the relationship between rainfall and infiltration recharge at different groundwater depths

processes of water movement through a chalk coombe deposit in southeast england the processes of water movement through the coombe deposit in a chalk dry valley near eastbourne in southeast england were investigated using simple methods based on regular weekly measurements of rainfall soil water content and soil water potential the drainage flux recharge through the soil was determined using the water balance method during the winter and the zero flux plane zfp method after the appearance of the zfp in the spring the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was derived applying darcy s law in a novel way using the measured potential gradients and weekly drainage fluxes the derived conductivity characteristics were adequate to identify the flow mechanisms to illustrate the difference in behaviour between the horizons of the soil profile and to give some indication of pore water velocities the mean daily drainage flux at 2 85 m depth during the recharge period from 10 october 1980 to 29 may 1981 was 1 6 mm d 1 weekly mean rates of up to 3 7 mm d 1 were observed but peak short term rates must have considerably exceeded this figure it was shown that in the lower part of the coombe deposit when drainage fluxes are large much of the flux passes through a very small proportion of the wetted cross sectional area of the soil this gives rise to pore water velocities of at least 3 m d 1 at a depth of 2 85 m and 0 5 m d 1 between 0 5 m and 2 5 m depth these results show that pollutants may be moved very rapidly through the profile in this and similar material the core sampling techniques normally used to monitor pollutant movement in the chalk are unlikely to succeed in detecting this movement not only because it is transient but also because it occupies only a very small proportion of the water filled pores

self potential as a predictor of seawater intrusion in coastal groundwater boreholes abstract monitoring of self potentials sps in the chalk of england has shown that a consistent electrical potential gradient exists within a coastal groundwater borehole previously affected by seawater intrusion si and that this gradient is absent in boreholes further inland furthermore a small but characteristic reduction in this gradient was observed several days prior to si occurring we present results from a combined hydrodynamic and electrodynamic model which matches the observed phenomena for the first time and sheds light on the source mechanisms for the spatial and temporal distribution of sp the model predictions are highly sensitive to the relative contribution of electrochemical exclusion and diffusion potentials the exclusion efficiency in different rock strata geoelectric heterogeneity largely due to marls and hardgrounds with a relatively high exclusion efficiency was the key factor in controlling the magnitude of the modeled sp gradient ahead of the saline front and its evolution prior to breakthrough the model results suggest that where sufficient geoelectric heterogeneity exists borehole sp may be used as an early warning mechanism for si

evidence for a shallow highly permeable zone in the chalk of hampshire u k abstract studies of the chalk in the u k in the last 10 15 years have shown that it is generally the top 20 50 m below the water table which provides most of the aquifer yield an investigation in hampshire in connection with a river augmentation scheme using seasonal groundwater abstraction shows the chalk in the area to have a particularly thin and well developed 6 m thick zone possessing both high transmissivity and storativity evidence is put forward to support its existence

implications of shortening in the himalayan fold thrust belt for uplift of the tibetan plateau 1 recent research in the himalayan fold thrust belt provides two new sets of observations that are crucial to understanding the evolution of the himalayan tibetan orogenic system first u pb zircon ages and sm nd isotopic studies demonstrate that 1 greater himalayan medium to high grade metasedimentary rocks are much younger than true indian cratonic basement and 2 these rocks were tectonically mobilized and consolidated with the northern margin of gondwana during early paleozoic orogenic activity these observations require that greater himalayan rocks be treated as supracrustal material in restorations of the himalayan fold thrust belt rather than as indian cratonic basement in turn this implies the existence of greater himalayan lower crust that is not exposed anywhere in the fold thrust belt second a regional compilation of shortening estimates along the himalayan arc from pakistan to sikkim reveals that 1 total minimum shortening in the fold thrust belt is up to 670 km 2 total shortening is greatest in western nepal and northern india near the apex of the himalayan salient and 3 the amount of himalayan shortening is equal to the present width of the tibetan plateau measured in an arc normal direction north of the indus yalu suture zone this information suggests that a slab of greater indian lower crust composed of both indian cratonic lower crust and greater himalayan lower crust with a north south length of 700 km may have been inserted beneath the tibetan crust during the cenozoic orogeny we present a modified version of the crustal underthrusting model for himalayan tibetan orogenesis that integrates surface geological data recent results of mantle tomographic studies and broadband seismic studies of the crust and upper mantle beneath the tibetan plateau previous studies have shown that incremental mesozoic and early cenozoic shortening had probably thickened tibetan crust to 45 55 km before the onset of the main cenozoic orogenic event thus the insertion of a slab of greater indian lower crust with maximum thickness of 20 km tapering northward could explain the cenozoic uplift of the tibetan plateau the need for tibetan crust to stretch laterally as the greater indian lower crust was inserted may explain the widespread east west extension in the southern half of the plateau our reconstruction of the himalayan fold thrust belt suggests that indian cratonic lower crust of presumed mafic composition and high strength should extend approximately halfway across the tibetan plateau to the banggong suture from there northward we predict that the tibetan plateau is underlain by more felsic and therefore weaker lower crust of greater himalayan affinity two slab break off events are predicted by the model the first involved neotethyan oceanic lithosphere that foundered 45 35 ma and the second consisted of greater indian lithosphere most likely composed of greater himalayan material that delaminated and foundered 20 10 ma asthenospheric upwelling associated with the break off events may explain patterns of cenozoic volcanism on the tibetan plateau although the model predicts a northward migrating topographic front due solely to insertion of greater indian lower crust the actual uplift history of the plateau was complicated by early middle tertiary shortening of tibetan crust

unsaturated flow and solute transport through the chalk tracer test and dual permeability modelling a tracer test was carried out in the unsaturated chalk at the fleam dyke research site in cambridgeshire uk to investigate the role of the chalk fractures and matrix in unsaturated flow and solute transport the experiment under natural rainfall conditions involved distributing deuterated water on a grass covered lysimeter a cube of volume 125 m3 and on an adjacent 4 m 4 m field plot tracer migration was monitored through regular core sampling and collection of lysimeter drainage water the presence of occasional secondary peaks in sampling of the vertical tracer profile suggested the occurrence of fracture flow allowing some tracer to bypass the chalk matrix however in the 15 months following application none of the tracer was detected in the lysimeter drainage at 5 m depth modelling of the tracer results was undertaken with the 1 d numerical transient dual permeability model macro 5 0 initially developed for macroporous soils modelling results showed that macro 5 0 could reliably simulate transient recharge through the chalk the simulations suggested that fracture flow is important at the site but that it is only initiated at 1 m depth or deeper the extent of fracture flow appeared to be highly variable in different layers of the profile varying between 40 and 85 of the cumulative flux mainly depending on the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the matrix diffusion between the fractures and the matrix tended to equalize solute concentrations in both flow domains although solute bypass through the fractures occurred in some chalk strata besides diffusive exchange the modelling stressed the importance of advective exchange of solutes the results suggest that the chalk aquifer at the fleam dyke site is only moderately vulnerable to pollution even though for moderate rainfall conditions some bypass flow was possible

transient simulations of flow and transport in the chalk unsaturated zone chalk is a fractured porous medium composed of matrix blocks bounded by interconnected fractures furthermore there are a number of commonly observed and apparently contradictory phenomena these include a fast water table response slow solute migration and very little solute dispersion to the authors knowledge no unified physically based numerical model has been able to reconcile all of these points in this paper these issues were addressed through the development of a transient dual permeability model of flow and transport the behaviour of the model was explored through a hypothetical scenario the one dimensional model featured a fixed water table at 10 m depth a recharge time series derived using the penman grindley model in conjunction with daily precipitation and monthly potential evaporation data from the kennet valley berkshire was applied at the top of the model a conservative solute that could be tritium chloride or nitrate was applied to the recharge for 1 year subsequent years involved the input of clean water the simulations suggested that although transient effects have been previously neglected overlying soil and gravelly chalk layers are likely to cause significant attenuating effects on flow such that most flow occurs through the matrix fracture flow was found to be episodic and infrequent and represented between 17 and 30 of the annual recharge

hydrological processes in the chalk unsaturated zone insights from an intensive field monitoring programme as part of the nerc lowland catchment research programme locar the pang lambourn catchments berkshire uk have been extensively instrumented to provide an improved understanding of the hydrological processes in the unsaturated zone of the chalk a subject of much debate over the past 30 years to quantify the movement of water through the unsaturated zone it is necessary to measure matric potential and water content as well as input and output fluxes from precipitation evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge previous studies have indicated the need for fine temporal resolution data to monitor this system effectively due to the challenges faced in meeting this objective a monitoring scheme was designed that combines a variety of instrumentation to provide the required range accuracy and spatial and temporal resolution of data this paper firstly presents an overview of the monitoring programme and a critical discussion of the instrumentation used subsequently the field data are used to characterise the hydrological properties of the unsaturated zone and to gain insight into recharge processes the interpretation of the data presented in this paper indicate that in the chalk unsaturated zone at west ilsley matrix flow is the dominant recharge mechanism

normal faulting in central tibet since at least 13 5 myr ago tectonic models for the evolution of the tibetan plateau interpret observed east west thinning of the upper crust to be the result of either increased potential energy of elevated crust1 or geodynamic processes that may be unrelated to plateau formation2 3 4 5 6 a key piece of information needed to evaluate these models is the timing of deformation within the plateau the onset of normal faulting has been estimated to have commenced in southern tibet between about 14 myr ago7 and about 8 myr ago8 and in central tibet about 4 myr ago9 here however we report a minimum age of approximately 13 5 myr for the onset of graben formation in central tibet based on mineralization ages determined with rb sr and 40ar 39ar data that post date a major graben bounding normal fault these data along with evidence for prolonged activity of normal faulting in this and other tibetan grabens support models that relate normal faulting to processes occurring beneath the plateau thinning of the upper crust is most plausibly the result of potential energy increases resulting from spatially and temporally heterogeneous changes in thermal structure and density distribution within the crust and upper mantle beneath tibet this is supported by recent geophysical and geological data10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 which indicate that spatial heterogeneity exists in both the tibetan crust and lithospheric mantle

intracrustal detachment within zones of continental deformation geologic mapping of active to recently active geologic structures in panamint valley western united states and in the haiyuan region and northern tibetan plateau china suggests detachment in the middle and lower crust on a scale of tens of kilometres to at least several hundred kilometres detachment occurs similarly in predominantly extensional panamint valley and in predominantly compressional china environments it involves structures with displacements of more than 10 km and displacement rates of more than 3 mm yr perhaps more than 10 mm yr the steeply dipping strike slip faults present in all three areas hunter mountain fault haiyuan fault and altyn tagh fault zone terminate in zones of extension or compression and geometric relations indicate that all structures including strike slip faults are thin skinned and restricted to the upper crust in panamint valley and in the haiyuan region deformation within these systems can be reconstructed in three dimensions displacement on the strike slip faults is absorbed by extension or compression occurring at the termination of the faults so strike slip displacement is roughly equal to and in the same direction as shortening or extension we propose that left slip on the altyn tagh fault zone in northern tibet is similarly absorbed by shortening southeast of the fault zone within the qaidam basin and the nan shan

use of a regional relict landscape to measure vertical deformation of the eastern tibetan plateau 1 field work and topography analysis show that remnant local areas of a low relief landscape or erosion surfaces are geographically continuous across the southeastern tibetan plateau margin we correlate these remnant surfaces as a paleolandscape that formed at low elevation remnants of this paleolandscape are preserved because incision of the fluvial system has been largely limited to major rivers and principal tributaries and has not yet progressed throughout the entire fluvial network the incomplete adjustment of the fluvial system signals initiation of rapid bedrock incision into a developing plateau margin and erosional denudation is concentrated in the major river channels this interpretation contradicts earlier notions that low gradient regional topography is the product of regional elevation reduction by intense landscape dissection due to the presence of several large southeast flowing rivers the modern altitude of the reconstructed paleolandscape or relict landscape constrains the vertical displacement of the plateau surface in response to crustal thickening and subsequent erosion during the lateral growth of the tibetan plateau regional preservation of the relict landscape is consistent with minor surface disruption by late cenozoic thrust faults and folds and supports a model of distributed lower crustal thickening because significant erosion is limited to narrow river gorges an increase in the plateau elevation due to isostatic rebound is minor therefore we propose that the modern elevation of the relict landscape reflects isostatically compensated thickening of the lower crust