Analysis of the spatial variation of heavy metals in the Guadiana Estuary sediments (SW Iberian Peninsula) based on GIS-mapping techniques     

J. Delgado  J.M. Nieto  T. Boski 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2010

This work reveals the usefulness of the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping techniques to show the distribution of pollutants along an estuarine environment, as the final stage of a thorough study. In the case of study, the environmental quality of the sediments in the Guadiana river estuary was determined by means of a complete geochemical characterization consisting on the calculation of enrichment factors for the most important metals and metalloids (compared with the local background of non-contaminated sediments). The obtained results were depicted in “enrichment distribution maps” which evidenced a distribution of the elements in two groups: Group-I, elements with natural origin (Al, Fe, Mn, Co, and Cr) distributed homogeneously along the basin, and Group-II, elements associated to anthropic origin (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn) with clear punctual sources besides a high concentration all over the estuary. The enrichment factors for the elements of Group-II are indicative of the existence of a noticeable diffuse historical mining pollution associated with the acid mine drainage generated in the internal zones of the basin, which could overlap minor pollution inputs from other human activities. The obtained results lead us to a reconsideration of the traditionally thought “unpolluted” environment when it was compared to nearby estuaries.  相似文献   

Scaling regimes of local slope versus contributing area in digital elevation models     

Ede J. Ijjasz-Vasquez  Rafael L. Bras 《Geomorphology》1995,12(4)

Four scaling regimes are observed in Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) when the average local slope is calculated for pixels grouped according to the values of the contributing area. Threshold criteria, proposed by various researchers to identify the extent of the channel network, are examined relative to the slope-area scaling diagram. The scaling response observed in DEMs is reproduced with a landscape evolution and channel network growth model originally developed by Willgoose et al. (1989). The threshold criterion proposed in this model is a useful tool to separate two different slope-area scaling regimes observed in DEM data.  相似文献   

Results from a new model of river basin evolution   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Garry Willgoose  Rafael L. Bras  Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1991,16(3):237-254

This paper briefly describes a model of the erosional development of catchments and their channel networks. The model differentiates between the dominant transport processes in hillslope and channels. The development of channels and hillslopes occurs in an integrated manner as a function of physically observable mechanisms. The growth of a river basin is qualitatively described. The model concepts are used to study the basin during periods of growth (transient periods), as well as during dynamic equilibrium. This leads to hypotheses about the relationship between slopes, relief, tectonic uplift, erodability, runoff, and catchment area. It is shown that the model leads to very reasonable and desirable behaviour of hillslopes during retreat and degradation.  相似文献   

ENCORE: the effect of nutrient enrichment on coral reefs. Synthesis of results and conclusions   总被引：10，自引：0，他引：10  

Koop K  Booth D  Broadbent A  Brodie J  Bucher D  Capone D  Coll J  Dennison W  Erdmann M  Harrison P  Hoegh-Guldberg O  Hutchings P  Jones GB  Larkum AW  O'Neil J  Steven A  Tentori E  Ward S  Williamson J  Yellowlees D 《Marine pollution bulletin》2001,42(2):91-120

Coral reef degradation resulting from nutrient enrichment of coastal waters is of increasing global concern. Although effects of nutrients on coral reef organisms have been demonstrated in the laboratory, there is little direct evidence of nutrient effects on coral reef biota in situ. The ENCORE experiment investigated responses of coral reef organisms and processes to controlled additions of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N) and/or phosphorus (P) on an offshore reef (One Tree Island) at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. A multi-disciplinary team assessed a variety of factors focusing on nutrient dynamics and biotic responses. A controlled and replicated experiment was conducted over two years using twelve small patch reefs ponded at low tide by a coral rim. Treatments included three control reefs (no nutrient addition) and three + N reefs (NH4Cl added), three + P reefs (KH2PO4 added), and three + N + P reefs. Nutrients were added as pulses at each low tide (ca twice per day) by remotely operated units. There were two phases of nutrient additions. During the initial, low-loading phase of the experiment nutrient pulses (mean dose = 11.5 microM NH4+; 2.3 microM PO4(-3)) rapidly declined, reaching near-background levels (mean = 0.9 microM NH4+; 0.5 microM PO4(-3)) within 2-3 h. A variety of biotic processes, assessed over a year during this initial nutrient loading phase, were not significantly affected, with the exception of coral reproduction, which was affected in all nutrient treatments. In Acropora longicyathus and A. aspera, fewer successfully developed embryos were formed, and in A. longicyathus fertilization rates and lipid levels decreased. In the second, high-loading, phase of ENCORE an increased nutrient dosage (mean dose = 36.2 microM NH4+; 5.1 microM PO4(-3)) declining to means of 11.3 microM NH4+ and 2.4 microM PO4(-3) at the end of low tide) was used for a further year, and a variety of significant biotic responses occurred. Encrusting algae incorporated virtually none of the added nutrients. Organisms containing endosymbiotic zooxanthellae (corals and giant clams) assimilated dissolved nutrients rapidly and were responsive to added nutrients. Coral mortality, not detected during the initial low-loading phase, became evident with increased nutrient dosage, particularly in Pocillopora damicornis. Nitrogen additions stunted coral growth, and phosphorus additions had a variable effect. Coral calcification rate and linear extension increased in the presence of added phosphorus but skeletal density was reduced, making corals more susceptible to breakage. Settlement of all coral larvae was reduced in nitrogen treatments, yet settlement of larvae from brooded species was enhanced in phosphorus treatments. Recruitment of stomatopods, benthic crustaceans living in coral rubble, was reduced in nitrogen and nitrogen plus phosphorus treatments. Grazing rates and reproductive effort of various fish species were not affected by the nutrient treatments. Microbial nitrogen transformations in sediments were responsive to nutrient loading with nitrogen fixation significantly increased in phosphorus treatments and denitrification increased in all treatments to which nitrogen had been added. Rates of bioerosion and grazing showed no significant effects of added nutrients. ENCORE has shown that reef organisms and processes investigated in situ were impacted by elevated nutrients. Impacts were dependent on dose level, whether nitrogen and/or phosphorus were elevated and were often species-specific. The impacts were generally sub-lethal and subtle and the treated reefs at the end of the experiment were visually similar to control reefs. Rapid nutrient uptake indicates that nutrient concentrations alone are not adequate to assess nutrient condition of reefs. Sensitive and quantifiable biological indicators need to be developed for coral reef ecosystems. The potential bioindicators identified in ENCORE should be tested in future research on coral reef/nutrient interactions. Synergistic and cumulative effects of elevated nutrients and other environmental parameters, comparative studies of intact vs. disturbed reefs, offshore vs. inshore reefs, or the ability of a nutrient-stressed reef to respond to natural disturbances require elucidation. An expanded understanding of coral reef responses to anthropogenic impacts is necessary, particularly regarding the subtle, sub-lethal effects detected in the ENCORE studies.  相似文献   

Impact of meteorological data resolution on the forecasted ozone concentrations during the ESCOMPTE IOP2a and IOP2b     

Laurent Menut  Isabelle Coll  Sylvie Cautenet 《Atmospheric Research》2005,74(1-4):139-159

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A quantitative evaluation of Playfair's law and its use in testing long‐term stream erosion models     

Jeffrey D. Niemann  Nicole M. Gasparini  Gregory E. Tucker  Rafael L. Bras 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2001,26(12):1317-1332

Playfair's law (J. Playfair, illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, 1802) requires any two tributaries in a river network to lower at the same rate near their junction. Although this law holds exactly at the junction, it is unclear how well it holds in the vicinity of the junction. This issue has practical importance because Playfair's law has been used to estimate parameters for detachment‐limited models of erosion. If the incision rate of a stream is modelled as βA^mSⁿ, where β is an erodibility parameter, A is the area drained by the stream, and S is the local gradient of the channel, then the ratio of the parameters m/n can be estimated from junctions by assuming that Playfair's law holds over the distance used to determine S for each tributary. In this paper, Playfair's law and associated m/n estimates are evaluated for simulated basins with constant and temporally varying uplift rates (or baselevel lowering rates). The results demonstrate that estimates of m/n may be biased for basins with upward‐concave stream profiles because the local slope must be approximated with an average upstream slope. In addition, when uplift rate varies temporally, knickpoints are shown to travel through the basins with constant vertical velocity. Because incision rates vary within the basin, Playfair's law only holds exactly at the junctions. These effects are more important when slopes are measured over longer distances. Finally, measurement techniques are presented which address these potential biases. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

CodaQ as a combination of scattering and intrinsic attenuation: Numerical simulations with the boundary integral method     

Kiyoshi Yomogida  Rafael Benites 《Pure and Applied Geophysics》1996,148(1-2):255-268

Numerical modelling ofSH wave seismograms in media whose material properties are prescribed by a random distribution of many perfectly elastic cavities and by intrinsic absorption of seismic energy (anelasticity) demonstrates that the main characteristics of the coda waves, namely amplitude decay and duration, are well described by singly scattered waves in anelastic media rather than by multiply scattered waves in either elastic or anelastic media. We use the Boundary Integral scheme developed byBenites et al. (1992) to compute the complete wave field and measure the values of the direct waveQ and coda wavesQ in a wide range of frequencies, determining the spatial decay of the direct wave log-amplitude relation and the temporal decay of the coda envelope, respectively. The effects of both intrinsic absorption and pure scattering on the overall attenuation can be quantified separately by computing theQ values for corresponding models with (anelastic) and without (elastic) absorption. For the models considered in this study, the values of codaQ ^–1 in anelastic media are in good agreement with the sum of the corresponding scatteringQ ^–1 and intrinsicQ ^–1 values, as established by the single-scattering model ofAki andChouet (1975). Also, for the same random model with intrinsic absorption it appears that the singly scattered waves propagate without significant loss of energy as compared with the multiply scattered waves, which are strongly affected by absorption, suggesting its dominant role in the attenuation of coda waves.  相似文献   

An audio-magnetotelluric investigation in Terceira Island (Azores)   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Fernando A. Monteiro Santos  Antnio Trota  Antnio Soares  Rafael Luzio  Nuno Loureno  Liliana Matos  Eugnio Almeida  Joo L. Gaspar  Jorge M. Miranda 《Journal of Applied Geophysics》2006,59(4):314-323

Ten audio-magnetotelluric soundings have been carried out along a profile crossing the Serra do Cume caldera in the eastern part of the Terceira Island (Azores). The main objectives of this investigation were to detect geoelectrical features related with tectonic structures and to characterize regional hydrological and hydrothermal aspects mainly those related to geothermal fluid dynamics.Three-dimensional numerical investigation showed that the data acquired at periods shorter than 1 s are not significantly affected by ocean effect. The data was analysed using the Smith's decomposition method in order to investigate possible distortions caused by superficial structures and to estimate a global regional strike. The results suggest that in general the soundings were not distorted. A regional N55°W strike was chosen for the two-dimensional data inversion.The low-resistivity zones (10–30 ohm-m) displayed in the central part of the 2-D geoelectrical model have been interpreted as caused by hydrothermal circulation. The low-resistivity anomalies at the ends of the profile might be attributed to alteration zones with interaction of seawater intrusion. High-resistivity (> 300 ohm-m) values have been related with less permeable zones in the SW of Cinco Picos and Guilherme Moniz caldera walls.  相似文献   

Structural framework and Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of Ponta Grossa Arch, Paraná Basin, southern Brazil     

Michael Strugale  Sidnei Pires Rostirolla  Fernando Mancini  Carlos Vieira Portela Filho  Francisco Jos Fonseca Ferreira  Rafael Corrêa de Freitas 《Journal of South American Earth Sciences》2007,24(2-4):203-227

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Analysis of the precipitation and cloudiness associated with COLs occurrence in the Iberian Peninsula     

R. Nieto  L. Gimeno  J. A. Añel  L. De la Torre  D. Gallego  D. Barriopedro  M. Gallego  A. Gordillo  A. Redaño  G. Delgado 《Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics》2007,96(1-2):103-119

Summary The Iberian Peninsula is one of the regions in the world with higher occurrence of cut-off low systems (COL). The aim of this paper is to analyse the weather events (rainfall and cloudiness layer) associated to COLs in the Iberian Peninsula with tools not previously used: (a) the use of the new multidecadal COLs database developed by Nieto et al (2005) that permit us to study a 41 years period (1958–1998), (b) the checking of the expected weather events (rainfall and cloudiness layer) associated with COLs in a conceptual model (Winkler et al, 2005) and (c) the extensive use of radiosoundings to analyse convective instability in areas inside and close to the COL. Two points of view are used to make the analysis: (1) a source oriented method, when a particular COL is followed and its associated precipitation and cloudiness is analysed over four quadrants in which Iberia was divided and (2) a receptor oriented method, when the precipitation associated to COLs is analysed in given areas, defined by patterns of precipitation. Results reveal that the precipitation and cloudiness patterns associated to COLs in the conceptual model reproduce quite well the main characteristics found over the Iberian Peninsula. The generalized idea that most of the COLs produce intense convective rainfall is show to be misleading. Convective phenomena are important usually when the centre of the COL is located on the Mediterranean region. Most of the rainfall associated with COLs comes from the baroclinic shield; specially in cases located over the west half of the Iberian Peninsula. It is shown that nearly 30% of COLs do not induce any rainfall; most of them located in the southern half of the Peninsula, and mainly during autumn. Only 30% of COLs produce generalized rainfall over the whole analysed territory, being most of them (about 90%) located over the western half of the Iberian Peninsula.  相似文献