Topographic monitoring of a middle estuary mudflat, Humber estuary, UK – Anthropogenic impacts and natural variation

Annual topographic surveys were carried out at the Saltend mudflat (Humber estuary, UK) between 1998 and 2006. These surveys formed part of an ongoing monitoring programme to examine the potential effects on the mudflat topography of the construction and operation of a waste water treatment works (WwTW) development by Yorkshire Water. Of particular concern was the potential disruption to the sedimentological regime within the special protection area (SPA) and candidate special area of conservation (cSAC) which could affect the invertebrate communities and ornithological functioning of the site. In addition to the development of the WwTW located to the extreme north-west of the site, a port extension removing 10 ha of the Saltend intertidal mudflat (outside the SPA but immediately south east of the WwTW) also occurred between 1999 and 2006. Minimal change was noted across the site following the construction and operation of the WwTW between 1998 and 2000. However, the construction of the bund in closer proximity to the SPA and cSAC masked any potential impact the WwTW could have had across the site after 2000. Profiles and contour mapping indicate that significant mudflat accretion occurred in the immediate area of the bund, with a general increase recorded across the western section of the site since 2000. In contrast the alternations to channel planform and subsequent rapid accretion of the mudflat to the east of the jetty, being a significant distance from the developments, are attributed to natural cyclical changes.     

Physical and biological development of a newly breached managed realignment site, Humber estuary, UK

As part of the Humber flood defence upgrade works (Urgent works) undertaken by the Environment Agency, the Paull Holme Strays site was identified as one of twelve potential managed realignment sites within the Humber catchment. The site was breached in September 2003, creating 80 hectares of new intertidal habitat. Initial accretion monitoring commenced in December 2003 with annual surveys of invertebrate colonisation commencing in October 2004. The present study gives details of the physical development of the newly created mudflat within the site, together with invertebrate colonisation and benthic community change over time. Comparisons between the newly created habitat and the existing mudflat outside the old sea wall are made. The macrofaunal communities found within the area as a whole are considered to be characteristic of the area with low species diversity, high abundance and small body size. The community within the managed realignment site is still in an early successional stage with low abundance and diversity in comparison with other sites within this part of the Humber. However the community biomass increased considerably between 2004 and 2005. Colonisation within the managed realignment site is still primarily concentrated in the areas around the two breach sites and is thought to be restricted in other areas due to infrequent tidal inundation.     

Physical and biological development of a newly breached managed realignment site,Humber estuary,UK

As part of the Humber flood defence upgrade works (Urgent works) undertaken by the Environment Agency, the Paull Holme Strays site was identified as one of twelve potential managed realignment sites within the Humber catchment. The site was breached in September 2003, creating 80 hectares of new intertidal habitat. Initial accretion monitoring commenced in December 2003 with annual surveys of invertebrate colonisation commencing in October 2004. The present study gives details of the physical development of the newly created mudflat within the site, together with invertebrate colonisation and benthic community change over time. Comparisons between the newly created habitat and the existing mudflat outside the old sea wall are made.The macrofaunal communities found within the area as a whole are considered to be characteristic of the area with low species diversity, high abundance and small body size. The community within the managed realignment site is still in an early successional stage with low abundance and diversity in comparison with other sites within this part of the Humber. However the community biomass increased considerably between 2004 and 2005. Colonisation within the managed realignment site is still primarily concentrated in the areas around the two breach sites and is thought to be restricted in other areas due to infrequent tidal inundation.     

Floodplain construction by recent,rapid vertical accretion: Waipaoa River,New Zealand

The rate of vertical accretion (typically 14–18 mm h⁻¹) during eight floods in the Waipaoa River basin, with recurrence intervals of 5 to 60 years, was determined by relating the floodplain stratigraphy at McPhail's bend to the 1948–1995 flood history. Overbank deposits remaining after a flood that occurred in March 1996 suggest a rate of vertical accretion of 15 mm h⁻¹. By contrast, because the flow velocity across the floodplain was too high to permit deposition from suspension, during the record flood of March 1988 the rate of vertical accretion was only 6 mm h⁻¹. The sequence of deposition is highly discontinuous, and the rapid vertical accretion is a response to a late 19th to early 20th century phase of deforestation in the headwaters that probably initiated a far greater change in suspended sediment yield than in discharge. Cross-section surveys conducted since 1948 indicate that the high suspended sediment load of the Waipaoa River also promoted in-channel deposition, which effected a progressive reduction in bankfull channel width although, due to the overbank deposition, channel capacity remained constant. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Medium timescale stability of tidal mudflats in Bridgwater Bay,Bristol Channel,UK: Influence of tides,waves and climate

This paper presents the results of an 11-year study into mudflat elevation changes within the intertidal zone at Stert Flats in Bridgwater Bay, Somerset. This site is located in the outer Severn Estuary/inner Bristol Channel which is a macro-hypertidal regime dominated by physical processes, characterized by strong tidal currents, high turbidity and a significant degree of exposure to wind generated waves. Two transects of stakes were installed perpendicular to the coast, extending seawards 300 m from the edge of the saltmarsh onto the mudflats, against which variations in accretion or erosion could be measured. The mudflats themselves consisted of an underlying consolidated clay of Holocene age and a surface veneer of fluid mud and/or mobile sand patches which varied both spatially and temporally. Mudflat development was recorded over both short-term (monthly/seasonal) and medium-term (inter-annual) timescales. The results display a significant degree of scatter over all timescales. Such variability in response may be expected in such a dynamic system where noise can be attributed to a combination of factors such as the mobility of surface fluid mud and sand patches and the migration of the underlying ridge–runnel drainage network. Despite this, the expected short-term variations related to neap–spring tidal conditions and seasonal influences were observed at a number of locations on the transects although these were weakly expressed. The over-riding feature of the profiles is a consistent long-term trend of erosion which appears to be masking shorter term trends within the dataset. Viewed over the 11-year period, the changes in mudflat elevation closely match the pattern of the index of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) during the 1990s, suggesting a strong climatic control over mudflat development on a medium-term/decadal scale. Most profiles display a strong erosional trend during the early 1990s when the NAO index was positive. The erosional trend peaked in 1995 at a time during which the values for monthly winter mean significant wave height were notably high. Between 1996 and 2001 the profiles generally record accretion and the data display significant variability. This corresponds with a shift to a strongly negative and then weakly positive NAO index phase. The fact that such a general atmospheric factor correlates so closely with medium timescale elevation change is attributed to relative weakness of biological binding and burrowing at this site, and more-so to the overwhelming dominance of the physical regime, especially the tidal current and the wind–wave regime. Both the background erosional trend and the influence of the index of the NAO in controlling mudflat evolution have important implications relating to coastal management. These are discussed in relation to coastal defence measures, morphological response to major civil engineering projects (e.g. Severn Tidal Power Barrage) and the prospect of climate change, sea-level rise and a possible increase in strength of NAO conditions in the future.     

Improvement of the sediment ecosystem following diversion of an intertidal sewage outfall at the Fraser river estuary,Canada, with emphasis on Corophium salmonis (Amphipoda)

Primary treated sewage effluent from the city of Vancouver, Canada was deposited directly onto the intertidal ecosystem of Sturgeon bank, Fraser river estuary between 1962 and 1988. In response to the degraded sediment conditions an azoic zone developed near the discharge outfall. Effluent discharges into the intertidal zone were almost completely stopped in 1988 with the construction of a submerged outfall. Our studies, conducted between 1994 and 1996, showed considerable improvement in the environment of the mudflat ecosystem, including increased dissolved oxygen, decreased sediment chlorophyll, decreased organic material in the sediment, reduced heavy metals in surficial sediment and increased grain size. The amphipod Corophium salmonis, important in the food web for juvenile salmon and other fish species, recolonized the previously azoic location. At reference stations, C. salmonis density was similar to that observed in previous surveys two decades earlier. Our data strongly suggest that improvement or sediment conditions near the former sewage outfall was a major factor enabling colonization by C. salmonis.     

Relationships between hydrosedimentary processes and occurrence of mercury-resistant bacteria (merA) in estuary mudflats (Seine, France)

The Seine estuary (France) is one of the world's macrotidal systems that is most contaminated with heavy metals. To study the mercury-resistant bacterial community in such an environment, we have developed a molecular tool, based on competitive PCR, enabling the quantification of Gram-negative merA gene abundance. The occurrence of the Gram-negative merA gene in relation with the topology (erosion/deposit periods) and the mercury contamination of three contrasted mudflats was investigated through a multidisciplinary approach and compared with a non-anthropized site (Authie, France). The higher abundance of the Gram-negative merA gene in the Seine estuary mudflats indicates a relationship between the degree of anthropization and the abundance of the merA gene in the mudflat sediments. In the Seine mudflats, the maxima of abundance are always located in fresh sediment deposits. Therefore, the abundance is closely related with the hydrosedimentary processes, which thus seem to be determining factors in the occurrence of the Gram-negative merA gene in the surface sediments of the Seine's mudflat.     

Diffuse Emission of Hydrogen from Poás Volcano,Costa Rica,America Central

We report the results of four soil H₂ surveys carried out in 2000–2003 at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, to investigate the soil H₂ distribution and evaluate the diffuse H₂ emission as a potential surveillance tool for Poás volcano. Soil gas H₂ contents showed a wide range of concentration from 0.2 to 7,059 ppmV during the four surveys. Maps of soil gas H₂ based on Sequential Gaussian Simulation showed low H₂ concentration values in the soil atmosphere (<0.7 ppmV) for most of the study area, whereas high soil gas H₂ values were observed inside the active crater of Poás. A significant increase in soil gas H₂ concentration was observed inside the active crater during 2001 and 2002 with respect to year 2000, followed by a decrease in 2003. The observed spatial and temporal variations of soil H₂ concentration have been well correlated with seismicity, microgravimetry and fumarolic chemistry changes which occurred during this study. These observations evidence changes in the shallow magmatic-hydrothermal system of Poás, and it might be related to a potential magmatic intrusion during the period 1998–2004. Therefore, monitoring diffuse H₂ emission of Poás has become an important geochemical tool for the monitoring of its volcanic activity.     

Continuing inflation at Three Sisters volcanic center,central Oregon Cascade Range,USA, from GPS,leveling, and InSAR observations

Uplift of a broad area centered ~6 km west of the summit of South Sister volcano started in September 1997 (onset estimated from model discussed in this paper) and was continuing when surveyed in August 2006. Surface displacements were measured whenever possible since August 1992 with satellite radar interferometry (InSAR), annually since August 2001 with GPS and leveling surveys, and with continuous GPS since May 2001. The average maximum displacement rate from InSAR decreased from 3–5 cm/yr during 1998–2001 to ~1.4 cm/yr during 2004–2006. The other datasets show a similar pattern, i.e., surface uplift and extension rates decreased over time but deformation continued through August 2006. Our best-fit model to the deformation data is a vertical, prolate, spheroidal point-pressure source located 4.9–5.4 km below the surface. The source inflation rate decreased exponentially during 2001–2006 with a 1/e decay time of 5.3 ± 1.1 years. The net increase in source volume from September 1997 to August 2006 was 36.5–41.9 x 10⁶ m³. A swarm of ~300 small (M _max = 1.9) earthquakes occurred beneath the deforming area in March 2004; no other unusual seismicity has been noted. Similar deformation episodes in the past probably would have gone unnoticed if, as we suspect, most are small intrusions that do not culminate in eruptions.     

Calibration shifts in Scintrex CG‐3M gravimeters with an application to detection of microgravity changes at Iwo‐tou caldera,Japan

Calibration shift seriously influences gravity values measured using Scintrex CG‐3M gravimeters. We calibrated three Scintrex CG‐3M gravimeters three times (1999, 2003 and 2006) over eight years, using a calibration line with a gravity difference of 1.38 Gal. The scale factor correction coefficients (calibration factors) obtained here range from 0.9998–1.0005. The calibration factors vary with time by 89 ppm, ?102 ppm and ?126 ppm between the 1999–2003 surveys. The calibration shifts of two of the three gravimeters decreased to about 20 ppm or less in the second interval, the other remained about the same (142 ppm). The results indicate that they shifted at rates on the order of 10 ppm/year even several years after manufacturing. The large shift in calibration factors indicates that they must be corrected using calibrations done before and after the measurements to perform microgravity measurements when gravity differences between a reference gravity site and survey sites are on the order of a hundred milligals (mGal) or more. The results also indicate that the calibration factors change gradually with time, so their interpolation provides a good practical approximation for a specific survey time. We applied the time‐dependent calibration factors to microgravity monitoring at the Iwo‐tou caldera, Japan, where the gravity difference between the base site on the island and the reference site on Honshu (the mainland of Japan) is about 870 mGal mainly due to the 11° latitude difference. Gravity surveys were conducted every two years from 1998–2006. The correction of scale factors estimated from the repeated calibration surveys leads to satisfactory measurements, in which the average of the absolute differences between two Scintrex CG‐3M instruments in five surveys is reduced from 207μGal to 19μGal; for three of those surveys, it is less than 10 μGal. This result demonstrates the importance of repeated calibration surveys.     

Coseismic Damage at an Archaeological Site in Sicily,Italy: Evidence of Roman Age Earthquake Surface Faulting

Archaeoseismology can provide a useful chronological tool for constraining earthquakes and documenting significant evidence that would otherwise be lost. In this paper, we report a case of surface faulting on ancient man-made structures belonging to the archaeological site of Santa Venera al Pozzo situated along the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano in eastern Sicily (southern Italy), which is affected by well-developed tectonic faults. Geological surveys highlight a set of fractures affecting the archaeological ruins, suggesting the occurrence of a capable fault zone across the area. An integrated geophysical survey was carried out in order to identify the main subsurface tectonic discontinuity ascribable to the fault zone. The information derived from different geophysical techniques, such as electrical resistivity tomography, seismic refraction tomography, ground-penetrating radar, and magnetic surveys allowed us to infer that the fractures observed at the surface could have been produced by coseismic rupture. They are conceivably linked to a strong earthquake that probably occurred in the Roman period, around mid-end of the third-century AD; time constraints are inferred through the dating of buildings of the archaeological site.     

The relative role of constructive and destructive processes in dune evolution on Cape Lookout National Seashore,North Carolina,USA

Coastal dunes are dynamic features that are continuously evolving due to constructive (e.g., wind- and wave-driven sediment transport) and destructive (e.g., elevated total water levels during storm events) processes. However, the relative importance of these processes in determining dune evolution is often poorly understood. In this study, ten lidar datasets from 1997 to 2016 are used to determine the relative role of erosion and accretion processes driving foredune change on the coast of Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina, USA. Beach and dune morphometrics reveal that dune toe locations have generally retreated since 1997, while dune crest heights accreted by 0.01–0.02 m/year. We develop three univariate metrics that represent (1) the potential for erosion, i.e., total water level impact hours per year, (2) accretion, i.e., dune building hours per year, and (3) the relative net effect of foredune accretion and erosion processes, i.e., constructive–destructive dune forcing (CDDF) ratio, and test the correlative power of these metrics in explaining changes in foredune morphology. The total water level impact hours per year metric explained as much as 66% and 67% of the variance in dune crest and toe elevations, respectively, across the nearly two decades of dune evolution. The greatest number of dune building hours per year and largest dunes within the study site co-occurred at locations exposed to the dominant cross-shore wind direction as a result of varying shoreline orientation. The CDDF ratio was positively correlated to changes in the dune toe elevation in approximately 70% of dunes within the study site, outperforming the impact and dune building hours per year metrics. Our results show that these three metrics can provide first-order estimates of dune morphometric change across multiple spatial and temporal scales, which may be particularly useful at sites where lidar acquisition is intermittent.     

Recent uplift and hydrothermal activity at Tangkuban Parahu volcano, west Java, Indonesia

Tangkuban Parahu is an active stratovolcano located 17 km north of the city of Bandung in the province west Java, Indonesia. All historical eruptive activity at this volcano has been confined to a complex of explosive summit craters. About a dozen eruptions-mostly phreatic events- and 15 other periods of unrest, indicated by earthquakes or increased thermal activity, have been noted since 1829. The last magmatic eruption occurred in 1910. In late 1983, several small phreatic explosions originated from one of the summit craters. More recently, increased hydrothermal and earthquake activity occurred from late 1985 through 1986. Tilt measurements, using a spirit-level technique, have been made every few months since February 1981 in the summit region and along the south and east flanks of the volcano. Measurements made in the summit region indicated uplift since the start of these measurements through at least 1986. From 1981 to 1983, the average tilt rate at the edges of the summit craters was 40–50 microradians per year. After the 1983 phreatic activity, the tilt rate decreased by about a factor of five. Trilateration surveys across the summit craters and on the east flank of the volcano were conducted in 1983 and 1986. Most line length changes measured during this three-year period did not exceed the expected uncertainty of the technique (4 ppm). The lack of measurable horizontal strain across the summit craters seems to contradict the several years of tilt measurements. Using a point source of dilation in an elastic half-space to model tilt measurements, the pressure center at Tangkuban Parahu is located about 1.5 km beneath the southern part of the summit craters. This is beneath the epicentral area of an earthquake swarm that occurred in late 1983. The average rate in the volume of uplift from 1981 to 1983 was 3 million m³ per year; from 1983 to 1986 it averaged about 0.4 million m³ per year. Possible causes for this uplift are increased pressure within a very shallow magma body or heating and expansion of a confined aquifier.     

Revised seismic history of the El Pilar fault,Northeastern Venezuela,from the Cariaco 1997 earthquake and recent preliminary paleoseismic results

In light of the July 9, 1997, Cariaco earthquake, it is clearly understood now that damage in the city of Cumaná – located in northeastern Venezuela and frequently destroyed by the largest earthquakes since the first recorded event in 1530 – is strongly enhanced by poor soil conditions that, in turn, are responsible for site amplification and widespread earthquake-induced effects. Therefore, most previous macroseismic studies of historical earthquakes must be revaluated because those localized high-intensity values at Cumaná surely led to the misestimation of past epicenters. Preliminary paleoseismic results, gathered at three exploratory trenches dug across the surface break of the Cariaco 1997 earthquake in 1998, allow us to associate the 1684 earthquake with this recently ruptured fault segment that extends between the towns of San Antonio del Golfo and Río Casanay (roughly between the two gulfs of Cariaco and Paria, state of Sucre). Other major results from the reassessment of the seismic history of this fault are: (a) the 1766 event seems to have generated in a different source to the El Pilar fault because the size of the felt area suggests that it is an intermediate-depth earthquake; (b) damage to Cumaná produced by the 1797 event suggests that this was a local earthquake, perhaps equivalent to the 1929 earthquake, which ruptured for some 30 km just east of Cumaná into the Gulf of Cariaco; and (c) seismogenic association of the 1530 and 1853 earthquakes still remains unclear but it is very likely that these ruptures occurred offshore, as suggested by the rather large tsunami waves that both events have generated, placing their hypocenters west of Cumaná in the Cariaco Trough. This reassessment also sheds light into the El Pilar fault segmentation and the behavior of its seismogenic barriers through time.     

Impacts of sediment retention by dams on delta shoreline recession: evidences from the Krishna and Godavari deltas,India

River deltas are the major repositories of terrestrial sediment flux into the world's oceans. Reduction in riverine inputs into the deltas due to upstream damming might lead to a relative dominance of waves, tides and currents that are especially exacerbated by coastal subsidence and sea‐level rise ultimately affecting the delta environment. Analysis of multi‐date satellite imagery and maps covering the Krishna and Godavari deltas along the east coast of India revealed a net erosion of 76 km² area along the entire 336‐km‐long twin delta coast during the past 43 years (1965–2008) with a progressively increasing rate from 1·39 km² yr^?1 between 1965 and 1990, to 2·32 km² yr^?1 during 1990–2000 and more or less sustained at 2·25 km² yr^?1 during 2000–2008. At present the Krishna has almost become a closed basin with decreased water discharges into the delta from 61·88 km³ during 1951–1959 to 11·82 km³ by 2000–2008; and the suspended sediment loads from 9 million tons during 1966–1969 to as low as 0·4 million tons by 2000–2005. In the case of the Godavari delta, although the water discharge data do not show any major change, there was almost a three‐fold reduction in its suspended sediment loads from 150·2 million tons during 1970–1979 to 57·2 million tons by 2000–2006. A comparison of data on annual sediment loads recorded along the Krishna and Godavari Rivers showed consistently lower sediment quantities at the locations downstream of dams than at their upstream counterparts. Reports based on bathymetric surveys revealed considerable reduction in the storage capacities of reservoirs behind such dams. Apparently sediment retention at the dams is the main reason for the pronounced coastal erosion along the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the past four decades, which is coeval to the hectic dam construction activity in these river basins. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.     

Recent uplift and hydrothermal activity at Tangkuban Parahu volcano,west Java,Indonesia

Tangkuban Parahu is an active stratovolcano located 17 km north of the city of Bandung in the province west Java, Indonesia. All historical eruptive activity at this volcano has been confined to a complex of explosive summit craters. About a dozen eruptions-mostly phreatic events- and 15 other periods of unrest, indicated by earthquakes or increased thermal activity, have been noted since 1829. The last magmatic eruption occurred in 1910. In late 1983, several small phreatic explosions originated from one of the summit craters. More recently, increased hydrothermal and earthquake activity occurred from late 1985 through 1986. Tilt measurements, using a spirit-level technique, have been made every few months since February 1981 in the summit region and along the south and east flanks of the volcano. Measurements made in the summit region indicated uplift since the start of these measurements through at least 1986. From 1981 to 1983, the average tilt rate at the edges of the summit craters was 40–50 microradians per year. After the 1983 phreatic activity, the tilt rate decreased by about a factor of five. Trilateration surveys across the summit craters and on the east flank of the volcano were conducted in 1983 and 1986. Most line length changes measured during this three-year period did not exceed the expected uncertainty of the technique (4 ppm). The lack of measurable horizontal strain across the summit craters seems to contradict the several years of tilt measurements. Using a point source of dilation in an elastic half-space to model tilt measurements, the pressure center at Tangkuban Parahu is located about 1.5 km beneath the southern part of the summit craters. This is beneath the epicentral area of an earthquake swarm that occurred in late 1983. The average rate in the volume of uplift from 1981 to 1983 was 3 million m³ per year; from 1983 to 1986 it averaged about 0.4 million m³ per year. Possible causes for this uplift are increased pressure within a very shallow magma body or heating and expansion of a confined aquifier.     

Results of repeated leveling surveys at Newberry Volcano, Oregon, and near Lassen Peak Volcano, California

 Personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory conducted first-order, class-II leveling surveys near Lassen Peak, California, in 1991 and at Newberry Volcano, Oregon, in 1985, 1986, and 1994. Near Lassen Peak no significant vertical displacements had occurred along either of two traverses, 33 and 44 km long, since second-order surveys in 1932 and 1934. At Newberry, however, the 1994 survey suggests that the volcano's summit area had risen as much as 97±22 mm with respect to a third-order survey in 1931. The 1931 and 1994 surveys measured a 37-km-long, east–west traverse across the entire volcano. The 1985 and 1986 surveys, on the other hand, measured only a 9-km-long traverse across the summit caldera with only one benchmark in common with the 1931 survey. Comparison of the 1985, 1986, and 1994 surveys revealed no significant differential displacements inside the caldera. A possible mechanism for uplift during 1931–1994 is injection of approximately 0.06 km³ of magma at a depth of approximately 10 km beneath the volcano's summit. The average magma supply rate of approximately 1×10^–3 km³/year would be generally consistent with the volcano's growth rate averaged over its 600,000-year history (0.7–1.7×10^–3 km³/year). Received: 10 September 1998 / Accepted: 4 December 1998     

Groundwater–surface water interactions in a river estuary and the importance of geomorphology: Insights from hydraulic,thermal and geophysical observations

This study presents the groundwater flow and salinity dynamics along a river estuary, the Werribee River in Victoria, Australia, at local and regional scales. Along a single reach, salinity across a transverse section of the channel (~80 m long) with a point bar was monitored using time-lapse electrical resistivity (ER) through a tidal cycle. Groundwater fluxes were concurrently estimated by monitoring groundwater levels and temperature profiles. Regional porewater salinity distribution was mapped using 6-km long longitudinal ER surveys during summer and winter. The time-lapse ER across the channel revealed a static electrically resistive zone on the side of the channel with a pronounced cut bank. Upward groundwater flux and steep vertical temperature gradients with colder temperatures deeper within the sediment suggested a stable zone of fresh groundwater discharge along this cut bank area. Generally, less resistive zones were observed at the shallow portion of the inner meander bank and at the channel center. Subsurface temperatures close to surface water values, vertical head gradients indicating both upward and downward groundwater flux, and higher porewater salinity closer to that of estuary water suggest strong hyporheic circulation in these zones. The longitudinal surveys revealed higher ER values along deep and sinuous segments and low ER values in shallow and straighter reaches in both summer and winter; these patterns are consistent with the local channel-scale observations. This study highlights the interacting effects of channel morphology, broad groundwater–surface water interaction, and hyporheic exchange on porewater salinity dynamics underneath and adjacent to a river estuary.     

Erosion and accretion processes in a muddy dissipative coast,the Chao Phraya River delta,Thailand

Seasonal variation in seabed elevation in the muddy intertidal zone of the Chao Phraya River delta, an area of serious coastal erosion for 40 years, was assessed using information on waves and tides predicted by numerical simulations. The study area is under the influence of the Southeast Asian monsoon climate and lies in the innermost part of a sheltered gulf, across which a low‐gradient slope has developed. Observations, aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a prototype breakwater on mitigating coastal erosion, indicated that the seasonal variation in the seabed elevation, typically about 30 cm, was caused primarily by seasonal changes in wave direction and height. The breakwater seems to have contributed to a net rise in the seabed level at sites behind the structure. Seabed erosion was most apparent during the northeast monsoon, when waves are weak. Erosion under this low wave energy state was attributed to the combined effect of wave breaking and the low tidal level. A difference in the observed seabed accretion rate between the transitional intermonsoon period and the succeeding southwest monsoon period was attributed to the direction of the wave energy flux; offshore sediments seem to have been supplied efficiently to the study area by waves during the transitional period. Another potential cause of seabed erosion and accretion during the wet southwest monsoon season was the discharge of water and sediments from local canals associated with intense tropical rainfall; this discharge seems to be linked to land use in the coastal area. The results of this study show the importance of monitoring across‐shore sediment transport for better understanding of coastal erosion processes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Annual and spatial variations of chemical and physical properties in the Ross Sea surface waters (Antarctica)

Temperature, salinity, meltwater percentage, water column stability, dissolved oxygen and nutrients were measured in seawater samples collected at three fixed depths (0, 20, 100 m) in 104 stations located in three different areas of the Ross Sea (Antarctica), during four Italian Antarctic surveys carried out between 1998 and 2006. Nutrient data were used to quantify the nutrient removal, which appears particularly high in 2006, especially in polynya area. The N:P and Si:N disappearance ratios were studied to estimate the dominant phytoplanktonic community. No significant differences in the nutrient drawdown ratio were observed, in fact the N:P ratio was always below the Redfield standard ratio.