An assessment of land degradation in the Save catchment of Zimbabwe     

Julia Mambo  Emma Archer 《Area》2007,39(3):380-391

The lack of reliable baseline information on land degradation is a hindrance towards its monitoring and mitigation. Of particular interest is the identification of areas susceptible to degradation. In this study, remote sensing and GIS technologies were applied to detect and map susceptibility to land degradation in Buhera district, in Save catchment, Zimbabwe. Data used included Landsat TM and ETM imagery for 1992 and 2002, agro-ecological zones, vegetation cover and population density. The study identified five preliminary categories of degradation susceptibility ranging from very high to low.  相似文献   

Evaluation of Simultaneous Analyte Leaching/Vapour Phase Introduction for Direct Osmium Isotope Ratio Measurements in Solid Samples by Double-Focusing Sector Field ICP-MS     

Ilia Rodushkin  Emma Engström  Douglas C. Baxter 《Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research》2007,31(1):27-38

The analytical performance of a method for Os isotope ratio measurement by double‐focusing, sector field ICP‐MS (ICP‐SFMS) was evaluated. The method is based on several optimised, concurrent processes: Os extraction from samples in hot concentrated nitric acid; separation of Os from the digest solution by the formation of volatile osmium tetroxide accelerated by continuous hydrogen peroxide addition; transport of analyte vapour by an oxygen flow into the ICP; and isotopic determination by ICP‐SFMS. Due to the very efficient utilisation of analyte (approaching 0.5‰), Os isotope ratio measurement could be performed at low pg levels. Combined with an ability to process sample sizes up to 2 g (up to 50 g if the organic matrix of biological or botanical samples is eliminated by ashing), materials with Os concentrations in the low, or even sub pg g^?1 range could be determined by this method. Given that two complete digestion/distillation systems were available for interchangeable use, throughputs of up to fifteen samples per 8 hour shift could be achieved. The method precision, evaluated as the long‐term reproducibility of ¹⁸⁷ Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratio measurements in a commercial Os reference sample containing 0.5 ng Os, was 0.16% relative standard deviation (RSD, 1s). The method has been applied to perform replicate ¹⁸⁷ Os/¹⁸⁸ Os ratio measurements on a suite of fifty reference materials of various origins and matrix compositions, with Os concentrations varying from < 0.1 pg g^?1 to > 100 ng g^?1, yielding an average precision of 3% RSD. Though none of the materials tested are certified for Os content or Os isotope composition, comparison of the obtained data with published Os isotope information for similar sample types revealed close agreement between the two. The method can also be used for the simultaneous, semi‐quantitative determination of Os concentrations.  相似文献   

Sedimentary organic matter distributions,burrowing activity,and biogeochemical cycling: Natural patterns and experimental artifacts     

Emma Michaud  Robert  C. Aller  Georges Stora 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2010

The coupling between biogenic reworking activity and reactive organic matter patterns within deposits is poorly understood and often ignored. In this study, we examined how common experimental treatments of sediment affect the burrowing behavior of the polychaete Nephtys incisa and how these effects may interact with reactive organic matter distributions to alter diagenetic transport – reaction balances. Sediment and animals were recovered from a subtidal site in central Long Island Sound, USA. The upper 15 cm of the sediment was sectioned into sub-intervals, and each interval separately sieved and homogenized. Three initial distributions of sediment and organic substrate reactivity were setup in a series of microcosms: (1) a reconstituted natural pattern with surface-derived sediment overlying sediment obtained from progressively deeper material to a depth of 15 cm (Natural); (2) a 15 cm thick sediment layer composed only of surface-derived sediment (Rich); and (3) a 15 cm thick layer composed of uniformally mixed sediment from the original 15 cm sediment profile (Averaged). The two last treatments are comparable to that used in microcosms in many previous studies of bioturbation and interspecific functional interaction experiments. Sediment grain size distributions were 97.5% silt-clay and showed no depth dependent patterns. Sediment porosity gradients were slightly altered by the treatments. Nepthys were reintroduced and aquariums were X-rayed regularly over 5 months to visualize and quantify spatial and temporal dynamics of burrows. The burrowing behaviour of adult populations having similar total biovolume, biomass, abundance, and individual sizes differed substantially as a function of treatment. Burrows in sediment with natural property gradients were much shallower and less dense than those in microcosms with altered gradients. The burrow volume/biovolume ratio was also lower in the substrate with natural organic reactivity gradients. Variation in food resources or in sediment mechanical properties associated with treatments, the latter in part coupled to remineralization processes such as exopolymer production, may explain the burrowing responses. In addition to demonstrating how species may respond to physical sedimentation events (substrate homogenization) and patterns of reactive organic matter redistribution, these experiments suggest that infaunal species interactions in microcosms, including the absolute and relative fluxes of remineralized solutes, may be subject to artifacts depending on exactly how sediments are introduced experimentally. Nonlocal transport and cylinder microenvironment transport – reaction models readily demonstrate how the multiple interactions between burrowing patterns and remineralization rate distributions can alter relative flux balances, decomposition pathways, and time to steady state.  相似文献   

The infusion of sustainability into bilateral fisheries agreements with developing countries: The European Union example     

Emma Witbooi   《Marine Policy》2008,32(4):669-679

The EU's bilateral fishing policy towards developing third countries has evolved over the years to increasingly emphasise sustainability, culminating in 2002 with the release of a ‘fisheries partnership approach’. The Community has begun to operationalise the policy in various West African coastal states, where its new fisheries partnership agreements are intended to function as ‘development vectors’. This paper introduces the EU's new policy, examines its potential implications for the role of sustainability in future bilateral fishing relations and highlights the impetus for it with reference to analysis of the EU's most recent agreement with Senegal based on empirical research.  相似文献   

Heterogeneous aquitard properties in sedimentary successions in the Apennine chain: case studies in southern Italy     

Emma Petrella  Fulvio Celico 《水文研究》2009,23(23):3365-3371

The aim of this study was to analyse the hydrogeologic role of siliciclastic deposits and marly‐clayey‐calcareous successions within the carbonate Apennine chain (southern Italy). The study was carried out along the northern part of the Matese carbonate massif through (1) the hydraulic characterization of siliciclastic rocks in a test site, by means of Lugeon tests, and (2) the identification of the groundwater flow system discharging at an important spring located within a marly‐clayey‐calcareous succession in a second test site, by means of isotopic investigations. The results showed that the investigated siliciclastic deposits and marly‐clayey‐calcareous successions may allow significant groundwater discharge from carbonate aquifers. Thus, they do not everywhere behave as aquitard, contrary to the previous model. Instead, groundwater flows through the upper part of these successions, where stress release fracturing enhanced rock permeability in the near‐surface bedrock. Thus, these successions may locally be a new groundwater source within the southern Apennine chain. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Temporal and spatial variability in shallow- and deep-water populations of the invasive Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea in the Western Mediterranean     

Emma Cebrian  Enric Ballesteros 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2009,83(4):469-474

The invasive green alga Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea represents an important threat to the diversity of Mediterranean benthic coastal ecosystems by interfering with native species and modifying benthic assemblages. The present study deals, for the first time, with the temporal and spatial variability of the biomass and phenology of C. racemosa considering both deep- and shallow-water populations. Two sampling depths (30 and 10 m) were sampled at three different rocky bottom sites every 3 months in the Archipelago of Cabrera National Park (Western Mediterranean). All morphometric variables analysed showed a spatial variation and temporal patterns depending on depth. Between depths, C. racemosa biomass, stolon length, number of fronds and frond length were usually significantly higher at deep-water populations, suggesting that C. racemosa grows better in deep-waters. Deep- and shallow-water populations displayed a high temporal variation although no evidence of seasonal patterns was found, in contrast with what has been reported by other authors. The sources of this variability are still unknown but probably both physical factors and differential herbivory pressures display a key role.  相似文献   

Towards improving the framework for probabilistic forecast evaluation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Leonard A. Smith  Emma B. Suckling  Erica L. Thompson  Trevor Maynard  Hailiang Du 《Climatic change》2015,132(1):31-45

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Pediment response to drainage basin evolution in south-central Arizona     

Phillip H. Larson  Ronald I. Dorn  R. Evan Palmer  Zack Bowles  Emma Harrison  Scott Kelley 《自然地理学》2014,35(5):369-389

The Sonoran Desert portion of the Basin and Range physiographic province contains a number of streams that now flow across once-closed basins. We explore here the research questions of if and how granitic rock pediments respond to the transition from rimming endorheic basins to bordering through-flowing streams. Granitic rock pediments of the northern Usery and eastern McDowell Mountains once graded to the closed Miocene–Pliocene Pemberton basin that occupied the present-day location of the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers. The process of lake overflow, which integrated these rivers, first aggraded fill terraces that, in turn, caused aggradation of a mantle of transported grus on bedrock pediments. Subsequent episodic incision of the Salt and Verde rivers lowered the base level; this led to the development of erosional features such as rolling topography of a degrading pediment mantle; exposure of the former piedmont angle and its associated zones of enhanced bedrock decay and regolith carbonate; and exposure of spheroidally weathered bedrock and emerging tors, some of which experienced 20^th century erosion. The granitic pediments of the former Pemberton Basin, which now transport grus to the Salt and Verde rivers, have actively adjusted to aggradational and degradational events associated with drainage integration and do not appear to be inherited from an ancient wet climatic interval.  相似文献   

Water Flows Toward Power: Socioecological Degradation of Lake Urmia,Iran   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Azad Henareh Khalyani  Audrey L. Mayer  Emma S. Norman 《社会与自然资源》2014,27(7):759-767

Water is an invaluable resource, and equitable access to it is a fundamental human right. Disenfranchised groups often lose access to water resources because their interests are not well represented by decision makers. Excluding these groups from resource management policy often results in myopic decisions that contribute to further ecosystem damage. We describe the ecological degradation of Lake Urmia in Iran, which has recently experienced increased salinity and declining water quantity. The lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site, and supports unique biodiversity in the region. The lake's decline is driven by the destruction of Zagros forests and the government's water policies, which diverted water to more politically connected agricultural land users, increasing social inequity and prompting more deforestation. The most straightforward restoration solution is to discontinue the diversions and allow critical inflows to recharge Lake Urmia, preserving the lake and wetlands for migratory birds, tourists, and local communities.  相似文献   

A conceptual hydrogeological model of ophiolitic aquifers (serpentinised peridotite): The test example of Mt. Prinzera (Northern Italy)          下载免费PDF全文

Stefano Segadelli  Paolo Vescovi  Kei Ogata  Alessandro Chelli  Andrea Zanini  Tiziano Boschetti  Emma Petrella  Lorenzo Toscani  Alessandro Gargini  Fulvio Celico 《水文研究》2017,31(5):1058-1073

The main aim of this study is the experimental analysis of the hydrogeological behaviour of the Mt. Prinzera ultramafic massif in the northern Apennines, Italy. The analysed multidisciplinary database has been acquired through (a) geologic and structural survey; (b) geomorphologic survey; (c) hydrogeological monitoring; (d) physico‐chemical analyses; and (e) isotopic analyses. The ultramafic medium is made of several lithological units, tectonically overlapped. Between them, a low‐permeability, discontinuous unit has been identified. This unit behaves as an aquitard and causes a perched groundwater to temporary flow within the upper medium, close to the surface. This perched groundwater flows out along several structurally controlled depressions, and then several high‐altitude temporary springs can be observed during recharge, together with several perennial basal (i.e., low altitude) springs, caused by the compartmentalisation of the system because of high‐angle tectonic discontinuities.  相似文献