Sedimentary pigments as indicators of cyanobacterial dynamics in a hypereutrophic lake     

Bethany N. Deshpande  Roxane Tremblay  Reinhard Pienitz  Warwick F. Vincent 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2014,52(3):171-184

Lac Saint-Augustin is an urban lake located on the outskirts of Quebec City, one of North America’s oldest cities. Anthropogenic inputs from land clearing, agriculture, highway development and urbanization in the surrounding catchment have resulted in strong impacts on the limnology of the lake throughout the past three centuries. In recent years, this lake has experienced severe eutrophication, including persistent cyanobacterial blooms. In winter 2011, a sediment core was extracted from the deepest area of the lake. A detailed paleopigment analysis was used to assess eutrophication processes in the lake and to determine the timing and appearance of cyanobacterial blooms and their subsequent variability. Extracted chlorophyll a, its degradation products and 11 carotenoid pigments were identified and quantified via reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography to examine relative changes in the phytoplankton. The results revealed large variations in the phytoplankton community structure of Lac Saint-Augustin over the past 356 years. Chlorophyll a concentrations per unit organic matter (OM) increased significantly from the base of the core to present day, rising more than 15-fold from 18.4 µg (g OM)^?1 at the base of the core to 287 µg (g OM)^?1 in the most recent strata. Biostratigraphical analysis revealed three major periods of enrichment, with episodes of cyanobacterial abundance from the 1890s onwards. The greatest changes occurred in the most recent period (from the 1960s to the present) relative to earlier periods, with pigment increases for all phytoplankton groups. The cyanobacterial pigments canthaxanthin, echinenone and zeaxanthin (also a marker for green algae) showed concentrations in the surface sediments that were significantly above values at the bottom of the core, and these differences were large, even giving consideration to the lesser pigment degradation near the surface. Overall, the results indicate that cyanobacterial blooms are not a recent feature of Lac Saint-Augustin but began to occur soon after catchment modification 150 years ago. The pigment records also imply that cyanobacterial and associated algal populations have risen to unprecedented levels over the last few decades of ongoing development of the Lac Saint-Augustin catchment. This study highlights the utility of multiple pigment analysis of lake sediments for identifying the timing and magnitude of anthropogenic impacts.  相似文献   

Comparing the patterns of 20–70 days intraseasonal oscillations over Central Africa during the last three decades     

Alain Tchakoutio Sandjon  Armand Nzeukou  Clément Tchawoua  Brice Sonfack  Tengeleng Siddi 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2014,118(1-2):319-329

In this paper, we used the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) data to compare the intraseasonal atmospheric variability patterns over Central Africa, during the last three decades. The spectral analysis indicates that for the three decades, the intraseasonal variability is dominated by 20–80 days periods band with the center near 40–50 days. The results of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) analysis have shown that the amount of variance explained by the three retained EOFs are 41.6 % for 1981–1990, 44.2 % for 1991–2000 and 42.6 % for 2001–2010. For the three decades, the three leading EOFs retained exhibit high spatial loadings over Northern Congo, Southern Ethiopia, and Southwestern Tanzania. The power spectra of the leading principal components have their peaks near 40 days for the three decades, indicating MJO signal. The PCs time series revealed that the amplitude of intraseasonal oscillations (ISO) globally decreases from decade to another. The plot of ISO and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices revealed that the lowest values of ISO strength generally correspond to the relatively large values of ENSO indices and inversely. The mean ISO strength and ISO fluctuations were highest during 1981–1990, and this period also corresponds to the highest fluctuations of ENSO signal.  相似文献   

Field characterization and data integration to define the hydraulic heterogeneity of a shallow granular aquifer at a sub-watershed scale     

Daniel Paradis  Laurie Tremblay  René Lefebvre  Erwan Gloaguen  Alfonso Rivera  Michel Parent  Jean-Marc Ballard  Yves Michaud  Patrick Brunet 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2014,72(5):1325-1348

Providing a sound basis for aquifer management or remediation requires that hydrogeological investigations carried out to understand groundwater flow and contaminant transport be based on representative data that capture the heterogeneous spatial distribution of aquifer hydraulic properties. This paper describes a general workflow allowing the characterization of the heterogeneity of the hydraulic properties of granular aquifers at an intermediate scale of a few km². The workflow involves characterization and data integration steps that were applied on a 12-km² study area encompassing a decommissioned landfill emitting a leachate plume and its main surface water receptors. The sediments composing the aquifer were deposited in a littoral–sublittoral environment and show evidence of small-scale transitional heterogeneities. Cone penetrometer tests (CPT) combined with soil moisture and electrical resistivity (SMR) measurements were thus used to identify and characterize spatial heterogeneities in hydraulic properties over the study area. Site-specific statistical relationships were needed to infer hydrofacies units and to estimate hydraulic properties from high-resolution CPT/SMR soundings distributed all over the study area. A learning machine approach was used due to the complex statistical relationships between colocated hydraulic and CPT/SMR data covering the full range of aquifer materials. Application of this workflow allowed the identification of hydrofacies units and the estimation of horizontal hydraulic conductivity, vertical hydraulic conductivity and porosity over the study area. The paper describes and discusses data acquisition and integration methodologies that can be adapted to different field situations, while making the aquifer characterization process more time-efficient and less labor-intensive.  相似文献   

Multi-scale aquifer characterization and groundwater flow model parameterization using direct push technologies     

Bart Rogiers  Thomas Vienken  Matej Gedeon  Okke Batelaan  Dirk Mallants  Marijke Huysmans  Alain Dassargues 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2014,72(5):1303-1324

Direct push (DP) technologies are typically used for cost-effective geotechnical characterization of unconsolidated soils and sediments. In more recent developments, DP technologies have been used for efficient hydraulic conductivity (K) characterization along vertical profiles with sampling resolutions of up to a few centimetres. Until date, however, only a limited number of studies document high-resolution in situ DP data for three-dimensional conceptual hydrogeological model development and groundwater flow model parameterization. This study demonstrates how DP technologies improve building of a conceptual hydrogeological model. We further evaluate the degree to which the DP-derived hydrogeological parameter K, measured across different spatial scales, improves performance of a regional groundwater flow model. The study area covers an area of ~60 km² with two overlying, mainly unconsolidated sand aquifers separated by a 5–7 m thick highly heterogeneous clay layer (in north-eastern Belgium). The hydrostratigraphy was obtained from an analysis of cored boreholes and about 265 cone penetration tests (CPTs). The hydrogeological parameter K was derived from a combined analysis of core and CPT data and also from hydraulic direct push tests. A total of 50 three-dimensional realizations of K were generated using a non-stationary multivariate geostatistical approach. To preserve the measured K values in the stochastic realizations, the groundwater model K realizations were conditioned on the borehole and direct push data. Optimization was performed to select the best performing model parameterization out of the 50 realizations. This model outperformed a previously developed reference model with homogeneous K fields for all hydrogeological layers. Comparison of particle tracking simulations, based either on the optimal heterogeneous or reference homogeneous groundwater model flow fields, demonstrate the impact DP-derived subsurface heterogeneity in K can have on groundwater flow and solute transport. We demonstrated that DP technologies, especially when calibrated with site-specific data, provide high-resolution 3D subsurface data for building more reliable conceptual models and increasing groundwater flow model performance.  相似文献   

Using Multiple-Point Geostatistics for Tracer Test Modeling in a Clay-Drape Environment with Spatially Variable Conductivity and Sorption Coefficient   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Marijke Huysmans  Philippe Orban  Elke Cochet  Mathias Possemiers  Benedicta Ronchi  Katherine Lauriks  Okke Batelaan  Alain Dassargues 《Mathematical Geosciences》2014,46(5):519-537

This study investigates the effect of fine-scale clay drapes on tracer transport. A tracer test was performed in a sandbar deposit consisting of cross-bedded sandy units intercalated with many fine-scale clay drapes. The heterogeneous spatial distribution of the clay drapes causes a spatially variable hydraulic conductivity and sorption coefficient. A fluorescent tracer (sodium naphthionate) was injected in two injection wells and ground water was sampled and analyzed from five pumping wells. To determine (1) whether the fine-scale clay drapes have a significant effect on the measured concentrations and (2) whether application of multiple-point geostatistics can improve interpretation of tracer tests in media with complex geological heterogeneity, this tracer test is analyzed with a local three-dimensional ground-water flow and transport model in which fine-scale sedimentary heterogeneity is modeled using multiple-point geostatistics. To reduce memory needs and calculation time for the multiple-point geostatistical simulation step, this study uses the technique of direct multiple-point geostatistical simulation of edge properties. Instead of simulating pixel values, model cell edge properties indicating the presence of irregularly shaped surfaces are simulated using multiple-point geostatistical simulations. Results of a sensitivity analysis show under which conditions clay drapes have a significant effect on the concentration distribution. Calibration of the model against measured concentrations from the tracer tests reduces the uncertainty on the clay-drape parameters. The calibrated model shows which features of the breakthrough curves can be attributed to the geological heterogeneity of the aquifer and which features are caused by other processes.  相似文献   

A portable extruder for accurate and precise high-resolution subsampling of unconsolidated sediment cores     

Patterson  R. Timothy  Nasser  Nawaf A.  Tremblay  Steven  Galloway  Jennifer M. 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2022,67(2):183-189

Journal of Paleolimnology - We developed a portable extruder for precise and accurate high-resolution subsampling of unconsolidated sediment cores. This extruder is capable of producing subsamples...  相似文献   

Continual long-term monitoring of methane in wells above the Utica Shale using total dissolved gas pressure probes     

Roy  James W.  Bordeleau  Genevi&#;ve  Rivard  Christine  Ryan  M. Cathryn  Malet  Xavier  Brown  Susan J.  Tremblay  Vincent 《Hydrogeology Journal》2022,30(3):1005-1019

Hydrogeology Journal - Monitoring of dissolved methane concentrations in groundwater is required to identify impacts from oil and gas development and to understand temporal variability under...  相似文献   

Cratering and modification of wet‐target craters: Projectile impact experiments and field observations of the Lockne marine‐target crater (Sweden)     

Jens Orm  Maurits Lindstrm  Alain Lepinette  Jesús Martinez‐Frias  Enrique Diaz‐Martinez 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2006,41(10):1605-1612

Abstract— Marine impacts are one category of crater formation in volatile targets. At target water depths exceeding the diameter of the impactor, the zones of vaporization, melting, and excavation of the standard land‐target cratering model develop partially or entirely in the water column. The part of the crater that has a potential of being preserved (seafloor crater) may to a great extent be formed by material emplacement and excavation processes that are very different from land‐target craters. These processes include a high‐energy, water‐jet‐driven excavation flow. At greater water depths, the difference in strength of the target layers causes a concentric crater to evolve. The crater consists of a wide water cavity with a shallow excavation flow along the seabed surrounding a nested, deeper crater in the basement. The modification of the crater is likewise influenced by the water through its forceful resurge to fill the cavity in the water mass and the seafloor. The resurge flow is strongly erosive and incorporates both ejecta and rip‐up material from the seabed surrounding the excavated crater. A combination of field observations and impact experiments has helped us analyze the processes affecting the zone between the basement crater and the maximum extent of the water cavity. The resurge erosion is facilitated by fragmentation of the upper parts of the solid target caused by a) spallation and b) vibrations from the shallow excavation flow and, subsequently, c) the vertical collapse of the water cavity rim wall. In addition, poorly consolidated and saturated sediments may collapse extensively, possibly aided by a violent expansion of the pore water volume when it turns into a spray during passage of the rarefaction wave. This process may also occur at impacts into water‐saturated targets without an upper layer of seawater present. Our results have implications for impacts on both Earth and Mars, and possibly anywhere in the solar system where volatiles exist/have existed in the upper part of the target.  相似文献   

Limit analysis for saturated porous media without fluid flow calculation     

Alain Corfdir 《国际地质力学数值与分析法杂志》2004,28(6):543-561

Application of yield design to porous media usually requires a preliminary calculation of the fluid flow net. The stability analysis is then carried out with seepage forces associated with the flow. We assume here that the flow is steady and that the yield criterion is defined by a function of the effective stress tensor. The formulation that we propose here allows taking into account seepage force in the expression of the kinematic stability conditions by means of hydraulic boundary conditions without calculation of the fluid flow. One obtains a formulation of the kinematic condition similar to the case of classic, non-porous media. The method is illustrated by two examples: a cylinder subjected to fluid flow and a vertical cut. It can be adapted to various boundary conditions and to the case of a criterion defined by a function of a generalized effective stress tensor. We also give a method to derive rigorous lower bounds using approximate fluid pressure field. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Infrared interferometry with single telescopes     

Alain Chelli 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1989,160(1-2):369-371

We examine the merits of three basic interferometric techniques using two-dimensional infrared arrays: speckle interferopmetry, pupil plane interferometry, and speckle holography.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.  相似文献