Human alteration of groundwater–surface water interactions (Sagittario River,Central Italy): implication for flow regime,contaminant fate and invertebrate response

Many rivers worldwide are undergoing severe man-induced alterations which are reflected also in changes of the degree of connectivity between surface waters and groundwater. Pollution, irrigation withdrawal, alteration of freshwater flows, road construction, surface water diversion, soil erosion in agriculture, deforestation and dam building have led to some irreversible species losses and severe changes in community composition of freshwater ecosystems. Taking into account the impact of damming and flow diversion on natural river discharge, the present study is aimed at (i) evaluating the effects of anthropogenic changes on groundwater/surface water interactions; (ii) analyzing the fate of nitrogenous pollutants at the floodplain scale; and (iii) describing the overall response of invertebrate assemblages to such changes. Hydrogeological, geochemical and isotopic data revealed short- and long-term changes in hydrology, allowing the assessment of the hydrogeological setting and the evaluation of potential contamination by nitrogen compounds. Water isotopes allowed distinguishing a shallow aquifer locally fed by zenithal recharge and river losses, and a deeper aquifer/aquitard system fed by surrounding carbonate aquifers. This system was found to retain ammonium and, through the shallow aquifer, release it in surface running waters via the hyporheic zone of the riverbed. All these factors influence river ecosystem health. As many environmental drivers entered in action offering a multiple-component artificial environment, a clear relationship between river flow alteration and benthic and hyporheic invertebrate diversity was not found, being species response driven by the combination of three main stressors: ammonium pollution, man-induced changes in river morphology and altered discharge regime.     

Soil water content vertical profiles under natural conditions: matching of experiments and simulations by a conceptual model

The prediction of soil moisture content, θ, as a function of depth, z, and time, t, is of fundamental importance for applications in many hydrological processes. The main objective of this paper is to provide an approach to solve this problem at a local scale in soils with vegetation. The matching of soil moisture vertical profiles observed under natural conditions in grassy plots and their simulations by a conceptual model is presented. Experimental measurements were performed in a plot located in Central Italy, complete with hydrometeorological sensors specifically set up and equipped with a time domain reflectometry system providing the water content, θ_e(z, t). A conceptual model framework earlier proposed for two‐layered soil vertical profiles was modified and adopted for simulations. The changes concern the incorporation of evapotranspiration, the reduction of the original model for applications also to homogeneous soil vertical profiles, and a correction for the differences existing between assumed and observed initial moisture contents. In the model calibration, it was found that the effects of vegetation could be represented adequately by a fictitious soil vertical profile with a more permeable upper layer of saturated hydraulic conductivity, K_s, independent of time. Then, for the validation events, the model simulations in the stages of both infiltration and redistribution/evapotranspiration reproduced appropriately θ_e(z, t) with typical values of root mean square error in the range 0.0017–0.0657. Similar results were obtained by applying the modified two‐layered model for simulations of experimental data observed in three other plots located in Northern Italy and Germany. For all four vegetated sites, the two‐layer profile better matched the experimental data than the assumption of a homogeneous profile. Thus, the conceptual approach based on a two‐layered scheme for representing θ(z, t) in soils with vegetation appears to be appropriate for many hydrological applications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Urbanization effects on shoreline phytobenthos: a multiscale approach at lake extent

To understand how littoral biota respond to anthropogenic disturbances, limnologists seek to detect the scale at which patterns and processes occur. We conducted an extensive study on the shoreline phytobenthos of Lake Garda (Italy) with the following main objectives: (i) to examine the importance of urbanization for species distribution within a set of hierarchical spatial scales (10¹–10⁴ m), and then (ii) to test the spatio-temporal interactions on a reduced set of scales (10¹–10² m, and 10¹–10² days). Results showed that most of the variation in most abundant species and habitat characteristics occurred at the spatial scale of 10¹–10² m. Species richness was positively related with microheterogeneity, but the relationship occurred only at low urbanization and not at highly-urbanized sites where artificial shores were less heterogeneous. The similarity of species assemblages was regulated by two interacting processes, one operating at a fine spatial scale (10² m), reflecting the physical-habitat requirements of the species, and the other one operating at a broader scale (10⁴ m) in relation to the N–S nitrogen gradient. Overall, time explained 73 % of the total variation of species assemblages, space 7 %, and 20 % was explained by the interaction between space and time (the patch scale, 10s of m, and area scale, 100s of m, interacted with the finest temporal scale, 10s of days). This interaction might be explained by the process of species recruitment operating at different rates at the two spatial scales. Since the largest variation in species assemblages was at the temporal scale (due to the seasonal succession of phytobenthos), we recommend collecting at least one sample per season when monitoring littoral habitats.     

南加州地壳的伴随层析成像

使用基于伴随方法的反演策略,研制出了南加州地壳的三维地震模型。该模型涉及到16次层析成像迭代,需要6800次波场模拟和总计80万个中心处理单位小时。与南加州地震中心给出的最初三维模型比较,该新的地壳模型揭示了更强的非均匀性,包括±30%的局部变化。模型说明了诸如沉积盆地和横跨断层的构造反差的浅部特征。也揭示了深部的地壳特征,从而帮助重建诸如俯冲捕获洋壳碎块的南加州构造。新模型有助于对地震危险性做出更实际而准确的评估。