Geology topics
M. Tuttle
Publications and source records attributed to M. Tuttle.
Denitrification in the recharge area and discharge area of a transient agricultural nitrate plume in a glacial outwash sand aquifer, Minnesota
Recharge rates of nitrate (NO 3 − ) to groundwater beneath agricultural land commonly are greater than discharge rates of NO 3 − in nearby streams, but local controls of NO 3 − distribution in the subsurface generally are poorly known. Groundwater dating (CFC, 3 H) was combined with chemical (ions and gases) and stable isotope (N, S, and C) analyses to resolve the effects of land use changes, flow patterns, and water‐aquifer reactions on the distributions of O 2 , NO 3 − , SO 4 = , and other constituents in a two‐dimensional vertical section leading from upland cultivated fields to a riparian wetland and stream in a glacial outwash sand aquifer near Princeton, Minnesota. Within this section a “plume” of oxic NO 3 − ‐rich groundwater was present at shallow depths beneath the fields and part of the wetland but terminated before reaching the stream or the wetland surface. Groundwater dating and hydraulic measurements indicate travel times in the local flow system of 0 to >40 years, with stratified recharge beneath the fields, downward diversion of the shallow NO 3 − ‐bearing plume by semiconfining organic‐rich valley‐filling sediments under the wetland and upward discharge across the valley and stream bottom. The concentrations and δ 15 N values of NO 3 − and N 2 indicate that the NO 3 − plume section was bounded in three directions by a curvilinear zone of active denitrification that limited its progress; however, when recalculated to remove the effects of denitrification, the data also indicate changes in both the concentrations and δ 15 N values of NO 3 − that was recharged in the past. Isotope data and mass balance calculations indicate that FeS 2 and other ferrous Fe phases were the major electron donors for denitrification in at least two settings: (1) within the glacial‐fluvial aquifer sediments beneath the recharge and discharge areas and (2) along the bottom of the valley‐filling sediments in the discharge area. Combined results indicate that the shape and progress of the oxic NO 3 − plume termination were controlled by a combination of (1) historical and spatial variations in land use practices, (2) contrast in groundwater flow patterns between the agricultural recharge area and riparian wetland discharge area, and (3) distribution and abundance of electron donors in both the sand aquifer and valley‐filling sediments. The data are consistent with slow migration of redox zones through the aquifer in response to recharging oxic groundwater during Holocene time, then an order‐of‐magnitude increase in the flux of electron acceptors as a result of agricultural NO 3 − contamination in the late twentieth century, to which the redox zone configuration still may be adjusting. The importance of denitrification for NO 3 − movement through formerly glaciated terrains should depend on the source areas and depositional environments of the glacial sediments, as well as geomorphology and recent stream‐valley sediment history.
Greigite (Fe3S4) as an indicator of drought - The 1912-1994 sediment magnetic record from White Rock Lake, Dallas, Texas, USA
Combined magnetic and geochemical studies were conducted on sediments from White Rock Lake, a reservoir in suburban Dallas (USA), to investigate how land use has affected sediment and water quality since the reservoir was filled in 1912. The chronology of a 167-cm-long core is constrained by the recognition of the pre-reservoir surface and by 137Cs results. In the reservoir sediments, magnetic susceptibility (MS) and isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) are largely carried by detrital titanomagnetite that originally formed in igneous rocks. Titanomagnetite and associated hematite are the dominant iron oxides in a sample from the surficial deposit in the watershed but are absent in the underlying Austin Chalk. Therefore, these minerals were transported by wind into the watershed. After about 1960, systematic decreases in Ti, Fe, and Al suggest diminished input of detrital Fe-Ti oxides from the surficial deposits. MS and IRM remain constant over this interval, however, implying compensation by an increase in strongly magnetic material derived from human activity. Anthropogenic magnetite in rust and ferrite spherules (from fly ash?) are more common in sediment deposited after about 1970 than before and may account for the constant magnetization despite the implied decrease in detrital Fe-Ti oxides. An unexpected finding is the presence of authigenic greigite (Fe3S4), the abundance of which is at least partly controlled by climate. Greigite is common in sediments that predate about 1975, with zones of concentration indicated by relatively high IRM/MS. High greigite contents in sediment deposited during the early to mid-1950s and during the mid-1930s correspond to several-year periods of below-average precipitation and drought from historical records. Relatively long water-residence times in the reservoir during these periods may have led to elevated levels of sulfate available for bacterial sulfate reduction. The sulfate was probably derived via the oxidation of pyrite that is common in the underlying Austin Chalk. These results provide a basis for the paleoenvironmental interpretation of greigite occurrence in older lake sediments. The results also indicate that greigite formed rapidly and imply that it can be preserved in the amounts produced over a short time span (in this lake, only a few years). This finding thus suggests that, in some lacustrine settings, greigite is capable of recording paleomagnetic secular variation.
Techniques for visualizing urban growth using a temporal GIS database
No abstract available.
Magnetic forward models of Cement oil field, Oklahoma, based on rock magnetic, geochemical, and petrologic constraints
Magnetic forward models of the Cement oil field, Oklahoma, were generated to assess the possibility that ferrimagnetic pyrrhotite related to hydrocarbon seepage in the upper 1 km of Permian strata contributes to aeromagnetic anomalies at Cement. Six bodies having different magnetizations were constructed for the magnetic models, based on geology and on petrologic and geochemical results, supplemented by rock magnetic measurements of shallow-core and outcrop samples. The column of rock through which hydrocarbons have passed is divided into three sulfide zones on the basis of pyrrhotite content, and the column is capped by a 30 m thick zone that contains ferric oxide minerals formed mainly from oxidized pyrite. Red beds unaffected by sulfidization, as well as a zone of rock depleted in hematite but lacking sulfide, surround sulfidic zones.The synthetic magnetic profiles are controlled mainly by pyrrhotite-bearing strata at depths of 200-500 m. The magnetizations of these bodies are calculated from: (1) petrographic estimates of pyrrhotite content relative to pyrite; (2) content of sulfide sulfur determined from chemical analysis; and (3) values for the magnetic susceptibility of monoclinic pyrrhotite. Total magnetizations of the bodies of highest pyrrhotite content range from about 3 X 10 (super -3) to 56 X 10 (super -3) A/m in the present field direction and yield magnetic anomalies (at 120 m altitude) having amplitudes of less than 1 nT to approximately 6 to 7 nT, respectively. Such amplitudes are much lower than those (as high as 60 nT) reported from the original total-field survey over the Cement field.Numerous assumptions were made in the generation of the models, and thus the results neither prove nor disprove the existence of aeromagnetic anomalies related to hydrocarbon seepage at Cement. Nevertheless, the results suggest that pyrrhotite, formed via hydrocarbon reactions and within a range of concentrations estimated at Cement, is capable of causing magnetic anomalies.