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S.C. Komor

Publications and source records attributed to S.C. Komor.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2005

Relation of pathways and transit times of recharge water to nitrate concentrations using stable isotopes

Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope values of precipitation, irrigation water, soil water, and ground water were used with soil-moisture contents and water levels to estimate transit times and pathways of recharge water in the unsaturated zone of a sand and gravel aquifer. Nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate) concentrations in ground water were also measured to assess their relation to seasonal recharge. Stable isotope values indicated that recharge water usually had a transit time through the unsaturated zone of several weeks to months. However, wetting fronts usually moved through the unsaturated zone in hours to weeks. The much slower transit of isotopic signals than that of wetting fronts indicates that recharge was predominantly composed of older soil water that was displaced downward by more recent infiltrating water. Comparison of observed and simulated isotopic values from pure-piston flow and mixing-cell water and isotope mass balance models indicates that soil water isotopic values were usually highly mixed. Thus, movement of recharge water did not occur following a pure piston-flow displacement model but rather follows a hydrid model involving displacement of mixed older soil water with new infiltration water. An exception to this model occurred in a topographic depression, where movement of water along preferential flowpaths to the water table occurred within hours to days following spring thaw as result of depression-focused infiltration of snow melt. In an adjacent upland area, recharge of snow melt occurred one to two months later. Increases in nitrate concentrations at the water table during April-May 1993 and 1994 in a topographic lowland within a corn field were related to recharge of water that had infiltrated the previous summer and was displaced from the unsaturated zone by spring infiltration. Increases in nitrate concentrations also occurred during July-August 1994 in response to recharge of water that infiltrated during May-August 1994. These results indicate that the largest ground water nitrate concentrations were associated with recharge of water that infiltrated into the soil during May-August, when most nitrogen fertilizer was applied.

Ground Water↗
USGS1999

Comparison of the stable-isotopic composition of soil water collected from suction lysimeters, wick samplers, and cores in a sandy unsaturated zone

Soil water collected from suction lysimeters and wick samplers buried in the unsaturated zone of a sand and gravel aquifer and extracted from soil cores were analyzed for stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope values. Soil water isotopic values differed among the three sampling methods in most cases. However, because each sampling method collected different fractions of the total soil-water reservoir, the isotopic differences indicated that the soil water at a given depth and time was isotopically heterogeneous. This heterogeneity reflects the presence of relatively more and less mobile components of soil water. Isotopic results from three field tests indicated that 95–100% of the water collected from wick samplers was mobile soil water while samples from suction lysimeters and cores were mixtures of more and less mobile soil water. Suction lysimeter samples contained a higher proportion of more mobile water (15–95%) than samples from cores (5–80%) at the same depth. The results of this study indicate that, during infiltration events, soil water collected with wick samplers is more representative of the mobile soil water that is likely to recharge ground water during or soon after the event than soil water from suction lysimeters or cores.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1997

Boron contents and isotopic compositions of hog manure, selected fertilizers, and water in Minnesota

Boron-isotope (δ 11 B) values may be useful as surrogate tracers of contaminants and indicators of water mixing in agricultural settings. This paper characterizes the B contents and isotopic compositions of hog manure and selected fertilizers, and presents δ 11 B data for ground and surface water from two agricultural areas. Boron concentrations in dry hog manure averaged 61 mg/kg and in commercial fertilizers ranged from below detection limits in some brands of ammonium nitrate and urea to 382 mg/kg in magnesium sulfate. Values of δ 11 B of untreated hog manure ranged from 7.2 to 11.2o/oo and of N fertilizers were −2.0 to 0.7o/oo. In 22 groundwater samples from a sand-plain aquifer in east-central Minnesota, B concentrations averaged 0.04 mg/L and δ 11 B values ranged from 2.3 to 41.5o/oo. Groundwater beneath a hog feedlot and a cultivated field where hog manure was applied had B-isotope compositions consistent with the water containing hog-manure leachate. In a 775-km 2 watershed with silty-loam soils in southcentral Minnesota: 18 samples of subsurface drainage from corn ( Zea mays L.) and soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) fields had average B concentrations of 0.06 mg/L and δ 11 B values of 5.3 to 15.1o/oo; 27 stream samples had average B concentrations of 0.05 mg/L and δ 11 B values of 1.0 to 19.0o/oo; and eight groundwater samples had average B concentrations of 0.09 mg/L and δ 11 B values of −0.3 to 23.0o/oo. Values of δ 11 B and B concentrations, when plotted against one another, define a curved mixing trend that suggests subsurface drainage and stream water contain mixtures of B from shallow and deep groundwater.

Minnesota↗
USGS1996

Arsenic and selenium in soils and shallow ground water in the Turtle Lake, New Rockford, Harvey Pumping, Lincoln Valley, and LaMoure irrigation areas of the Garrison Diversion Unit, North Dakota

The Garrison Diversion Unit project was authorized as part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin program to divert water from Lake Sakakawea to irrigation areas in North Dakota. A special Garrison Commission was created to evaluate an environmental concern that return flow from the irrigation areas might contain metals in toxic concentrations. This report summarizes the results of detailed investigations of the Turtle Lake, New Rockford, Harvey Pumping, Lincoln Valley, and LaMoure irrigation areas. A total of 223 soil samples were collected from the irrigation areas and analyzed for elemental composition. Water extractions were done on 40 of the 223 soil samples using a 1:5 soil-to-water extraction method, and the solution from the extraction was analyzed for elemental composition. A total of 52 ground-water samples were collected and analyzed for inorganic constituents and organic carbon. Average arsenic concentrations in the entire soil column ranged from 1.0 milligram per kilogram in the Harvey Pumping irrigation area to 70 milligrams per kilogram in the New Rockford irrigation area. Average selenium concentrations ranged from less than 0.1 milligram per kilogram in the Turtle Lake, New Rockford, Harvey Pumping, and Lincoln Valley irrigation areas to 6.0 milligrams per kilogram in the Turtle Lake irrigation area. In the Turtle Lake irrigation area, average arsenic and selenium concentrations generally increased with depth through the topsoil, oxidized soil, and transition soil but decreased in the reduced soil at the bottom of the sampled horizons. Average arsenic concentrations in the New Rockford irrigation area follow the same pattern as in the Turtle Lake irrigation area, but selenium concentrations do not show a clear pattern of variation with depth. In the Harvey Pumping and Lincoln Valley irrigation areas, arsenic and selenium concentrations do not appear to vary systematically with depth. No correlation is shown between the concentrations in soils and soil extracts, indicating that, based on conditions of laboratory soil-water extraction experiments, trace-element concentrations in soils are not good predictors of trace-element concentrations in irrigation return flow. Arsenic concentrations in the aquifers ranged from less than 1 microgram per liter to 27 micrograms per liter. Arsenic concentrations generally were larger in the deep part of the aquifers underlying the Turtle Lake and New Rockford irrigation areas than in the shallow part of the aquifers. In the shallow part of the aquifers, where oxidizing conditions prevail, arsenic is strongly adsorbed to soil particles. In the deep part of the aquifers, where reducing conditions prevail, arsenic is more mobile. Selenium concentrations in the aquifers ranged from less than 1 microgram per liter to 4 micrograms per liter. Little difference existed between the selenium concentrations in the shallow part of the aquifers underlying the irrigation areas and the concentrations in the deep part of the aquifers.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1995

Chemistry and petrography of calcite in the KTB pilot borehole, Bavarian Oberpfalz, Germany

The KTB pilot borehole in northeast Bavaria, Germany, penetrates 4000 m of gneiss, amphibolite, and subordinate calc-silicate, lamprophyre and metagabbro. There are three types of calcite in the drilled section: 1) metamorphic calcite in calc-silicate and marble; 2) crack-filling calcite in all lithologies; and 3) replacement calcite in altered minerals. Crack-filling and replacement calcite postdate metamorphic calcite. Multiple calcite generations in individual cracks suggest that different generations of water repeatedly flowed through the same cracks. Crack-filling mineral assemblages that include calcite originally formed at temperatures of 150-350??C. Presently, crack-filling calcite is in chemical and isotopic equilibrium with saline to brackish water in the borehole at temperatures of ???120??C. The saline to brackish water contains a significant proportion of meteoric water. Re-equilibration of crack-filling calcite to lower temperatures means that calcite chemistry tells us little about water-rock interactions in the crystal section of temperatures higher than ~120??C. -from Author

Chemical Geology↗
USGS1994

Geochemistry and hydrology of a calcareous fen within the Savage Fen wetlands complex, Minnesota, USA

Savage Fen is a wetlands complex at the base of north-facing bluffs in the Minnesota River Valley. The complex includes 27.8 hectares of calcareous fen that host rare calciphile plants whose populations are declining in Minnesota. Water and sediment compositions in the calcareous fen were studied to gain a better understanding of the hydrologie System that sustains the rare vegetation. Groundwater in the fen is a calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate type with circumneutral pH values. The groundwater composition is the resuit of interactions among water, dissolved and gaseous carbon species, carbonates, and ion exchangers. Shallow groundwater is distinguished from deep groundwater by smaller concentrations of chloride, sulfate, magnesium, and sodium, and larger concentrations of calcium, bicarbonate, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonium. Magnesian calcite is the prevalent carbonate in unconsolidated sedimentary fill beneath the fen and is an important source and sink for dissolved calcium, magnesium, and inorganic carbon. Calcite concentrations just below the water table are small because aerobic and anaerobic oxidation of organic matter increase the partial pressure of carbon dioxide ( P CO 2 ), decrease pH, and cause calcite to dissolve. Thick calcite accumulations just above the water table, in the root zone of calciphile plants, result from water table fluctuations and attendant changes in P CO 2 . Groundwater beneath Savage Fen recharges in lakes and ponds south of the fen and upwells to the surface within the fen. Water at the water table is a mixture of upwelling groundwater and water near the surface that flows downslope from higher elevations in the fen. Changes in oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of shallow groundwater indicate that the proportion of upwelling groundwater in shallow groundwater decreases downgradient in the calcareous fen. Encroachment of reed grasses into the calcareous fen may reflect human-caused disturbances in the recharge area.

Minnesota↗
USGS1994

Bottom-sediment chemistry in Devil's Lake, northeast North Dakota

Devils Lake is a 200 km 2 terminal lake that contains sodium sulfate type water. Dissolved solids concentrations range from about 3,500 mg/L to 10,000 mg/L depending on location To investigate geochemical processes in the bottom sediments of Devils Lake, sediment cores were collected at two sites in the western half of the lake during a period of bottom water oxygen depletion. The upper 10 cm of the sediments consist of about 60 weight percent silicates (quartz, feldspar, and clays) 35 weight percent carbonates and 5 weight percent organic material. At depths between 1 and 3 cm in the sediments bacterial sulfate reduction and associated degradation of organic material cause minima in sulfate concentrations and δ 13 C values of dissolved inorganic carbon and maxima in alkalinity, ammonia, phosphate, and sulfide concentrations and δ 34 S values of dissolved sulfate. Downward increases of sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium concentrations result from upward diffusion of ions from saline pore water and dissolving sulfate minerals below 30 cm depth in the sediments. High magnesium calcite 8 mole percent MgCO 3 is the most abundant carbonate at the sediment surface. With increasing depth abundances of high magnesium carbonate decrease and abundances of low magnesium calcite aragonite and dolomite increase. Carbon isotope compositions of bulk carbonates range from δ 13 C = -0.7 to +0.5%. These values are close to equilibrium with dissolved inorganic carbon in lake water ( δ 13 C = -2%) but far from equilibrium with dissolved inorganic carbon in pore water ( δ 13 C = -16.3- -10/0%). Disequilibrium between pore water and carbonates suggests that the carbonates did not recrystallize substantially in the presence of pore water. Therefore the change of carbonate mineral proportions with depth in the sediments is due mainly to temporal changes in the proportions of endogenic, detrital, and biologic carbonates that were deposited on the lake bottom rather than postdepositional carbonate diagenesis.

North Dakota↗
USGS1992

Bidirectional sulfate diffusion in saline-lake sediments: Evidence from Devils Lake, northeast North Dakota

Chemical and isotopic gradients in pore water in Devils Lake indicate that maximum rates of sulfate reduction occur between 1 and 3 cm depth in the bottom sediments. Dissolved sulfate diffuses into the sulfate-reduction zone upward from deeply buried saline pore water at an average rate of 1.4 x 10 -5 μmol ⋅ cm -2 ⋅ s -1 , and downward from the overlying water column at an average rate of 2.4 x 10 -5 μmol ⋅ cm -2 ⋅ s -1 . The result is a bidirectional flux of sulfate into the sulfate-reduction zone. Upward-diffusing sulfate provides a ready supply of electron acceptors for sulfate-reducing bacteria even at fairly great depths in the sediments. The abundance of electron acceptors enables sulfate-reducing bacteria to outcompete methanogenic bacteria for organic material and thereby suppress methane production. Suppression of methanogenesis may be widespread in sulfate-rich lakes and wetlands and may limit methane fluxes from these water bodies to the atmosphere.

North Dakota↗
USGS1990

Deep drilling at the Siljan Ring impact structure: oxygen-isotope geochemistry of granite

The Siljan Ring is a 362-Ma-old impact structure formed in 1700-Ma-old I-type granites. A 6.8-km-deep borehole provides a vertical profile through granites and isolated horizontal diabase sills. Fluid-inclusion thermometry, and oxygen-isotope compositions of vein quartz, granite, diabase, impact melt, and pseudotachylite, reveal a complex history of fluid activity in the Siljan Ring, much of which can be related to the meteorite impact. In granites from the deep borehole, ??18O values of matrix quartz increase with depth from near 8.0 at the surface to 9.5??? at 5760 m depth. In contrast, feldspar ??18O values decrease with depth from near 10 at the surface to 7.1??? at 5760 m, forming a pattern opposite to the one defined by quartz isotopic compositions. Values of ??18O for surface granites outside the impact structure are distinct from those in near-surface samples from the deep borehole. In the deep borehole, feldspar coloration varies from brick-red at the surface to white at 5760 m, and the abundances of crack-healing calcite and other secondary minerals decrease over the same interval. Superimposed on the overall decrease in alteration intensity with depth are localized fracture zones at 4662, 5415, and 6044 m depth that contain altered granites, and which provided pathways for deep penetration of surface water. The antithetic variation of quartz and feldspar ??18O values, which can be correlated with mineralogical evidence of alteration, provides evidence for interaction between rocks and impact-heated fluids (100-300?? C) in the upper 2 km of the pluton. Penetration of water to depths below 2 km was restricted by a general decrease in impact-fracturing with depth, and by a 60-m-thick diabase sill at 1500 m depth that may have been an aquitard. At depths below 4 km in the pluton, where water/rock ratios were low, oxygen isotopic compositions preserve evidence for limited high-temperature (>500?? C) exchange between alkali feldspar and fluids. The high-temperature exchange may have been a post-impact event involving impact-heated fluids, or a post-magmatic event. ?? 1990 Springer-Verlag.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗
USGS1990

Formation of anorthosite-Gabbro rhythmic phase layering: an example at North Arm Mountain, Bay of Isands ophiolite

Rhythmically layered anorthosite and gabbro are exposed in a 4–10-m thick interval at the base of the layered gabbro unit on North Arm Mountain, one of four massifs that compose the Bay of Islands ophiolite, Newfoundland. Within the rhythmically layered interval, up to 37 anorthosite layers 1–2 cm thick alternate with gabbroic layers 7–10 cm thick. Anorthosites are adcumulates (most contain <6ppm Zr) with 98–99% plagioclase (Plag) and 1–2% intergranular clinopyroxene (Cpx), whereas gabbros are adcumulates to mesocumulates (<6–20ppm Zr) with 35–55% Plag, and the balance olivine (Ol) + Cpx ± orthopyroxene (Opx). Average mineral compositions are: Ol mg -number [100 ×Mg/(Mg + Fe)]=84·9, NiO=0·13wt. % Plag An = 87·9; Cpx mg -number = 88·3, TiO 2 =0·20 wt %; and Opx mg -number = 85·7. Rare earth element (REE) concentrations in clinopyroxene and plagioclase are low throughout the rhythmically layered interval (<5 times chondrites). The rhythmically layered interval is sandwiched between thick layers of adcumulate to orthocumulate uniform gabbro with average modal proportions of 54% Plag-39% Cpx-3% Ol-4% Opx. Average mineral compositions are: Ol mg -number = 75·5, NiO = 0·08 wt. %; Plag An=69%6; Cpx mg -number = 81·2, TiO 2 =0·53 wt. %, and Opx mg -number = 77·5. Clinopyroxene and plagioclase REE abundances are systematically higher in the uniform gabbro interval than in the rhythmically layered interval. Calculated fractional crystallization paths and correlated cryptic variation patterns suggest that uniform and rhythmically layered gabbros represent 20–30% in situ crystallization of two distinct magma batches, one more evolved and the other more primitive. When the more primitive magma entered the crystallization site of the NA300–301 gabbros, it is estimated to have been ∼40°C hotter than the resident evolved magma, and may have been chilled by contact with a magma chamber margin composed of uniform gabbro. In this model, chilling caused the liquid to become supercooled with respect to plagioclase nucleation temperatures, resulting in crystallization of gabbro deficient in plagioclase relative to equilibrium cotectic proportions. Subtraction of a plagioclase-poor melagabbro enriched the liquid in normative plagioclase, which in turn led to crystallization of an anorthosite layer. Alternating anorthosite and gabbro layers in the rhythmically layered interval built up by coupled and sustained variations in crystal nucleation and growth rates, and associated variations in liquid compositions at the crystallization front. Relatively stagnant magma-flow conditions may be required to accumulate substantial thicknesses of rhythmically layered cumulates by sustained oscillatory crystallization. The rarity of anorthosite-gabbro rhythmic phase layering on North Arm Mountain may indicate that convective magma currents in the Bay of Islands magma chamber were too vigorous for oscillatory crystallization to commonly occur.

Journal of Petrology↗