Daily scale modelling of aquifer–river connectivity in the urban alluvial aquifer in Langreo, Spain

Evaluating aquifer–river interactions is naturally complex, particularly within urban settings. This is largely due to the difficulties involved in quantifying most elements of the water balance. The ability of numerical models to deal with several dynamic variables simultaneously makes them valuable tools to address this kind of problem. An applied, modeling-based approach to investigate the spatial and temporal variations of aquifer–river connectivity within a shallow urban aquifer is presented. Model development is based on comprehensive field campaigns in Langreo, Spain. Two calibration runs (for summer and winter conditions) were carried out in order to evaluate the spatial distribution of recharge rates. The model suggests that baseflows are largely negligible in comparison with total streamflows. This is mostly attributed to the abrupt nature of the catchment, which prevents the existence of sufficiently large alluvial systems to a great extent. Modelling results also show that aquifer–river connectivity at the study site is constrained by urban pumping as well as by seasonal fluctuations.     

Evaluation of changes in ecological security in China’s Qinghai Lake Basin from 2000 to 2013 and the relationship to land use and climate change

Ecological security evaluation is an important way to identify the need for improvement in a watershed and to assess the degree of regional sustainable development. Using a driver–pressure–state–exposure–response model, a comprehensive system of ecological security indicators was developed, and it was demonstrated in a case study of the main ecological problems facing the Qinghai Lake Basin. Indicators of the status of the natural ecological environment, socioeconomic pressure, and the degree of environmental damage were chosen to develop the model, and comprehensively evaluated the basin’s ecological security in 2000, 2004, 2009, and 2013 to reveal changes in the ecological security in response to changing climate and land use. The overall ecological security of the basin improved from 2000 to 2013, with considerable restoration and reconstruction of the ecosystem. From 2000 to 2004, environmental deterioration increased slightly as a result of pollution caused by human activities, excess land reclamation for agriculture, land desertification, and grassland degeneration. However, the obvious effect of ecological protection policies, such as conversion of farmland into grassland and stall feeding of livestock instead of grazing, led to improvement of the ecological environment from 2004 to 2013. Ecological security in the basin increased with increasing precipitation during the study period.     

A comparative evaluation of heuristic and bivariate statistical modelling for landslide susceptibility mappings in Ghurmi–Dhad Khola, east Nepal

Landslides are one of the major natural disasters that occur in the Himalayan range with recurring frequency, causing enormous loss of life and property every year. Preparation of landslide inventory maps and landslide susceptibility zonation maps are the important tasks to be taken into account initially for safe mitigation measures. The present paper focuses on landslide susceptibility maps of the Ghurmi–Dhad Khola area, east Nepal, using Geographic Information System. For this purpose, the landslide susceptibility maps are prepared by using the heuristic and bivariate statistical methods. The parameters considered for the study are slope angle, slope aspect, elevation, distance from drainage, geology, land cover, rock and soil type, and distance from faults and folds. The landslide susceptibility zonation map produced from the heuristic method shows that 42.59 % of the observed landslide falls under the very high susceptible zone and 33.00 % under the high susceptible zone. Likewise, the landslide susceptibility zonation map produced from the bivariate method depicts that 44.19 % of the observed landslide falls under the very high susceptible zone and 31.59 % under the high susceptible zone. Both the landslide susceptibility zonation maps are identical, and success rates of both the maps are above 80 %. While comparing the landslide susceptibility maps obtained from two different methods, about 78 % of the study area falls in the identical susceptible zones. Special attention should be taken into consideration for the construction works in the areas which have been spatially agreed as very high and high susceptible zones from both techniques. Moreover, these maps can be used for slope management, land use planning, disaster management planning, etc., by the concerned authorities.     

Roles of climate changes and human interventions in land degradation: a case study by net primary productivity analysis in China’s Shiyanghe Basin

The Thornthwaite Memorial, Synthetic, and Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach (CASA) models, with inputs from SPOT-VGT-S10 NDVI data, meteorological data (precipitation, temperature, solar radiation), and land use data were used to estimate the values of net primary productivity (NPP) from 1999 to 2007 in China’s Shiyanghe Basin. The human appropriation of NPP, which represents the difference between potential NPP predicted using the climatic models and actual NPP calculated using the CASA model, served as the indicator of human intervention in the evolution of productivity of the land. Analysis showed that 78.9% (~9,172 km²) of the degradation occurring in the Shiyanghe Basin was caused by human activities versus 15.0% (~1,752 km²) that was caused by climatic factors, whereas 16.9% (~6,404.5 km²) of the vegetation restoration resulted from human activities versus 49.7% (~18,881 km²) that resulted from climate changes. Human activity played a key role in vegetation restoration in the central areas of the basin and in determining land degradation in the southwestern and northeastern areas. In addition, climate significantly controlled the vegetation restoration in the southwestern and northeastern areas and controlled land degradation in the central area.     

Impact of regional geology, land use and flow path on stream water chemistry in a small watershed

Stream water chemistry is dependent on the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the watershed. Understanding the governing mechanism of the stream water chemistry in a watershed is the first step for the water quality management. The study area drains a total catchment area of 1.46 km^2 and consists of forest （80%）, upland （15%） and rice paddy field （5%）. The studied area has two distinctive bedrocks, quartzite and schist. We periodically collected the stream water samples at mainstream and tributaries and the pH, electrical conductivity （EC）, alkalinity and the concentrations of cations and anions of the collected stream water samples were determined in the field and laboratory. The all collected water samples were nearly neutral and the EC and concentrations of Na, K, Ca, Sr, Si and HCO3 of the stream water samples collected from the schist terrain had greater values than those from the quartzite terrain. The mainstream running along the boundary of schist and quartzite terrains had the intermediate values of the tributaries. The stream water samples collected in and near the upland showed a high concentration of NO3^- than those of forest regardless the lithology. The stream pathway was also directly reflected on the chemistry of stream water. The stream water drained in the forest of quartzite terrain had the lowest values of alkalinity, EC and concentrations of cations and anions but the stream water drain in the upland of schist terrain had the highest values of EC and concentrations of cations and anions, especially NO3^-.     

Dinosaur eggs in the Upper Cretaceous of the Coll de Nargó area,Lleida Province,south-central Pyrenees,Spain: Oodiversity,biostratigraphy and their implications

The Coll de Nargó area (Lleida Province, south-central Pyrenees) has yielded thousands of dinosaur eggs distributed in more than 30 levels across 370 m of Upper Cretaceous Tremp Formation deposits. Two stratigraphic units yielding dinosaur eggshells, eggs and clutches, can be distinguished. Multiple eggshells were collected from up to 75 different in situ clutches, located in consecutive stratigraphical levels throughout the Mas de Pinyes section. Four different oospecies have been recognized: Megaloolithus aureliensis, Megaloolithus siruguei, Megaloolithus cf. baghensis and Cairanoolithus cf. roussetensis. In absence of typical biochronological markers, fossil eggshells may have potential as a tool for dating. Based on these ootaxa, three oozones can be established along the stratigraphic section. The lower assemblage is composed by M. aureliensis, M. siruguei and Cairanoolithus cf. roussetensis; the middle one consists only of M. siruguei, while the upper oozone is characterized by M. cf. baghensis. Results suggest that the age of Coll de Nargó rocks ranges from the latest Campanian to the beginning of the Late Maastrichtian. Also reported is the first evidence of the oogenus Cairanoolithus outside of France, where it was regarded as an endemic ootaxon. The Coll de Nargó area is considered to be one of the most important dinosaur nesting areas in Europe recurrently used by several dinosaurs during a long time span. Finally, the presence of fossilized eggshell membrane in several specimens from Coll de Nargó contributes to understanding the taphonomic process of megaloolithid eggs in this area.     

The 3d relief models and structure of the Earth’s upper crust in the Amur region

The analysis of 3D relief models of the lower Amur region and several adjacent areas suggested that the structure of the region is related to the horizontal tectonic layering of the upper part of the Amur plate. When it was dislocated to the northwest at the terminal Cretaceous, some fragments of the upper layers were displaced not strictly synchronously but with some lag relative to the whole plate. This scenario was responsible for the formation of the main morphostructural elements of the region: river valleys, mountain ranges, and graben series. These inferences are supported by field observations and some geological data. The proposed hypothesis can also be applied for several other regions.     

Impacts of Drought, Flow Regime, and Fishing on the Fish Assemblage in Southern Australia’s Largest Temperate Estuary

We analysed a 25-year time series of fishery catch and effort data, and age/size information for four large-bodied, native fish species to investigate the hypotheses that under conditions of reduced freshwater inflows and high fishing pressure: (1) the structure of fish assemblages in the lower Murray River system have changed, (2) species diversity of fishes has declined and (3) population age structures of large-bodied, late-maturing, native fish (Macquaria ambigua, Argyrosomus japonicus, Rhombosolea tapirina and Acanthopagrus butcheri) have been reduced. Annual catches and effort in the lower Murray River system were stable for 25 years, but proportional contribution to the total catch from each of freshwater, estuarine and adjacent marine habitats, and the species within them varied. Fish assemblages generally differed between subsequent 5-year periods, with the exception of 1989–1993 when floods occurred in 4 out of 5 years, and the following 5-year period (1994–1998). Species richness declined steeply over 25 years in freshwater and estuarine habitat and species diversity (Hill’s H ₂) also declined after 2001 in estuarine habitat. Species with rapid growth and early maturation (opportunistic strategists), increasingly dominated catches, whilst species with slow growth and late maturation (periodic strategists) declined. Truncated population age structures suggested longevity overfishing of three periodic strategist species: golden perch (M. ambigua), black bream (A. butcheri), mulloway (A. japonicus) and a fourth species with an intermediate strategy, greenback flounder (R. tapirina). This has implications for management because loss of older/larger individuals suggests reduced capacity to withstand or recover from deteriorated environmental conditions associated with a historically extreme drought in the lower Murray River system. Management of these species should seek to preserve the remnant population age structures and then to rebuild age structures by allowing recruits to become established in the adult population. We recommend that assessment of multi-species fisheries in changeable environments, such as occur in estuaries and other end-river environments, requires a suite of indicators that address changes in fish assemblages and populations.     

Landslide-dam paleolakes in the Central Pyrenees,Upper Gállego River Valley,NE Spain: timing and relationship with deglaciation

The production of a cartographic landslide inventory in the glaciated headwaters of the upper Gállego River, Axial Zone of the Spanish Pyrenees, revealed several paleolakes. These relict lake basins are related to the blockage of drainages by postglacial earthflows and slides, mainly developed on Paleozoic slates. The paleolakes are recorded either by non-dissected infilled basins or by hanging and incised lacustrine terraces that persisted for thousands of years. The development of lakes upstream of landslides, was favored, despite their erodibility, by high-displacement rates and the occurrence of paired landslides on both sides of the valley. Radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages obtained on the lake sediments range between 41.5?±?3.9 ka and 15.1?±?0.3 ka. These chronologies indicate prolonged landslide activity long after the early deglaciation in the upper Gállego River Valley. The landslide-lake dating results support the interpretation that the regional maximum ice extent (MIE) in the Pyrenees occurred during the marine isotope stage 4 (MIS 4), long before the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).     

Assessment of changes in the area of the water conservation forest in the Qilian Mountains of China’s Gansu province, and the effects on water conservation

The Qilian Mountains water conservation forest in Gansu province is an important ecological barrier surrounding the oasis in China’s Hexi Corridor. The water they provide is the basis for the existence and sustainable socioeconomic development of those oases. As a result of unsustainable use of the water conservation forest until the 1980s, the oasis ecosystems of the Hexi region were seriously damaged, and the oasis areas experienced deterioration of their ecological environment. In this paper, Landsat images were used to monitor the temporal and spatial changes in area of water conservation in Qilian Mountains of China’s Gansu province and to assess the effect on water conservation by analyzed relationship between water conservation forest area, climatic data and hydrological data. The results showed that the forest covered 15.1% of the study area in 2007 and has followed different trends during the study period. From 1978 to 1990, the forest area decreased; however, from 1990 to 2007, the forest area increased, with a faster rate of increase from 1990 to 2000, and the rate of increase averaged 2,733.89 ha per year since 1990. The water conservation forest appears to play an important role in flood control, runoff regulation, the prevention of soil erosion, and water conservation; and these benefits increase with an increasing area of forest.     

Assessing the impact of climate change on Mogan and Eymir Lakes’ levels in Central Turkey

Global warming is likely to have significant effect on the hydrological cycle. Some parts of the world may see significant reductions in precipitation or major alterations in the timing of wet and dry seasons. Climate change is one of the serious pressures facing water resources and their management over the next few years and decades. As part of the southern belt of Mediterranean Europe, Turkey is highly vulnerable to anticipated climate change impacts. The changes in global climate will seriously affect inland freshwater ecosystems and coastal lakes. Mogan and Eymir Lakes located in Central Turkey are shallow lakes that may be impacted significantly by climate change. The interaction between the lakes and groundwater system has been modelled in order to analyse the response of lake levels to climate change over a planning period of 96 years, beginning from October 2004 and ending in September 2100. The impacts of the emission scenarios of A2 and B1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on lake levels have been analyzed with the help of the lake-aquifer simulation model. The fluctuations in lake levels due to climate change scenarios are compared with the results of a scenario generated by the assumption of the continuation of the average recharge and discharge conditions observed for 1999 and 2004. The results show that very small, but long-term changes to precipitation and temperature have the potential to cause significant declines in lake levels and temporary drying of the lakes in the long-term. The impact of climate change on lake levels will depend on how these water resources are managed in the future.     

Permafrost and taliks and their changes on the south and north banks of the Tuotuo River in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under the climate warming北大核心CSCD

The distribution of permafrost and taliks is very complex in the Tuotuo River Basin(TRB), which is located in interior of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Characterizing the spatial distribution and the thermal stability of permafrost and taliks is of great significance to community activities and engineering construction in TRB. Based on the zonation of permafrost and talik distribution around TRB conducted in the 1980s, the soil temperature and its variation process of permafrost and taliks in the south and north banks of the Tuotuo River were analyzed by using the observation data of five boreholes(N1~N5)along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the north bank and five boreholes(S1~S5)on the first terrace in the south bank. The results showed that, under the climate warming, permafrost and taliks in the north banks experienced significant degradation and warming process. From 2005 to 2020, the permafrost at the N1 borehole has undergone a significant down-draw degradation process, from extremely unstable and high-temperature permafrost to thawed zone. From 2005 to 2013, the annual average ground temperature of the talik at N2 increased at a rate of 0. 3~0. 4 °C·(10a)-1. At Maqutang on the south bank, permafrost prevails from the first-class terrace to the gentle slope of the Kaixinling Mountain, with both through and non-through taliks on the first-class terrace. The spatial distribution and the thermal stability of permafrost and talik in the TRB are further promoted by analyzing the changes in temperatures at boreholes in the basin. However, to meet the requirements of mapping and engineering construction of permafrost and taliks in the TRB, it is still necessary to carry out geological investigation with multiple methods and in-depth research on development mechanism of taliks in the future. © 2022 Nanjing Forestry University. All rights reserved.     

Lateral and vertical changes of deformation style in the osen-røa thrust sheet,Oslo region

Changes in deformation style and amounts of shortening in the Osen-Røa thrust sheet of the Oslo Region occur vertically and laterally approaching the thrust front in the south. Deformation in the CambroMiddle Ordovician sequence passes laterally from closely spaced imbricates in the north (50–60% shortening), through triangle, pop-up and imbricate zones toward the south (20–37% shortening) to widely spaced zones of deformation (up to 20% shortening) approaching the thrust front. Changes in deformation style are attributed to changing boundary conditions across the Klekken thrust, declining end-of-orogenic forces and an increase in thickness of competent units in the Ordovician rocks to the south. Vertical changes in deformation style are attributed to the increasing percentage of competent units upward in the Cambro-Silurian sedimentary rocks. In the north, the accompanying decrease in shortening upwards requires a structurally necessary upper detachment horizon to separate folded late Middle Ordovician-Silurian sediments from imbricated early Cambro-Middle Ordovician sediments below; while southward in the Oslo area the upper detachment needs to be placed between Silurian and Cambro-Ordovician units. Finally, in Eiker, with less than 20% shortening, the whole CambroSilurian sequence appears to have deformed as a single unit. In the northern Oslo Region, the upper detachment probably has a backthrust sense of motion above an imbricate stack (passive roof duplex). Further south the upper detachment is probably directed toward the foreland.     

Hydrological impacts of land use–land cover change and detention basins on urban flood hazard: a case study of Poisar River basin,Mumbai, India

Flooding in urban area is a major natural hazard causing loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure. The major causes of urban floods include increase in precipitation due to climate change effect, drastic change in land use–land cover (LULC) and related hydrological impacts. In this study, the change in LULC between the years 1966 and 2009 is estimated from the toposheets and satellite images for the catchment of Poisar River in Mumbai, India. The delineated catchment area of the Poisar River is 20.19 km². For the study area, there is an increase in built-up area from 16.64 to 44.08% and reduction in open space from 43.09 to 7.38% with reference to total catchment area between the years 1966 and 2009. For the flood assessment, an integrated approach of Hydrological Engineering Centre-Hydrological Modeling System (HEC-HMS), HEC-GeoHMS and HEC-River analysis system (HEC-RAS) with HEC-GeoRAS has been used. These models are integrated with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing data to develop a regional model for the estimation of flood plain extent and flood hazard analysis. The impact of LULC change and effects of detention ponds on surface runoff as well as flood plain extent for different return periods have been analyzed, and flood plain maps are developed. From the analysis, it is observed that there is an increase in peak discharge from 2.6 to 20.9% for LULC change between the years 1966 and 2009 for the return periods of 200, 100, 50, 25, 10 and 2 years. For the LULC of year 2009, there is a decrease in peak discharge from 10.7% for 2-year return period to 34.5% for 200-year return period due to provision of detention ponds. There is also an increase in flood plain extent from 14.22 to 42.5% for return periods of 10, 25, 50 and 100 years for LULC change between the year 1966 and year 2009. There is decrease in flood extent from 4.5% for 25-year return period to 7.7% for 100-year return period and decrease in total flood hazard area by 14.9% due to provisions of detention pond for LULC of year 2009. The results indicate that for low return period rainfall events, the hydrological impacts are higher due to geographic characteristics of the region. The provision of detention ponds reduces the peak discharge as well as the extent of the flooded area, flood depth and flood hazard considerably. The flood plain maps and flood hazard maps generated in this study can be used by the Municipal Corporation for flood disaster and mitigation planning. The integration of available software models with GIS and remote sensing proves to be very effective for flood disaster and mitigation management planning and measures.     

Indigenous perspectives of climate change and its effects upon subsistence activities in the Arctic: the case of the Nets’aii Gwich’in

This paper discusses the relationship between climate change and subsistence behaviors of indigenous peoples in Arctic regions of North America. It is noted that those most affected by such change are, typically, those peoples who continue to carry out subsistence practices through which they acquire a significant percentage of food from the land. It is these very peoples who also may offer valuable observations about changes which they are personally witnessing. A case study example, the Nets’aii Gwich’in community of Arctic Village, Alaska, is presented. Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and villagers’ observations as the primary data source, it is shown that levels of subsistence activity in this community are decreasing. Villagers believe that climate changes are playing a key role in the ability to access country foods. They believe too that there are fewer animals and that the food now available is of poorer quality than in the past. It is concluded that the information and data presented here concerning villager perceptions should be viewed as only part of the explanation for changes in subsistence behaviors. More research in the coming years is called for to further help distinguish the impacts of climate change upon subsistence activities from other social and economic forces which also are playing a role in such indigenous communities.     

Norias,boreholes and the role of the state during the groundwater ‘silent revolution’ in La Mancha,Spain

The ‘silent revolution’ is a phenomenon describing the individualistic behaviour of farmers in the adoption of intensive groundwater abstraction technologies, which in some cases has led to groundwater over-abstraction and environmental degradation in semiarid areas such as La Mancha, Spain. However, a lacuna exists as to the extent to which state politics have affected the development of groundwater abstraction technologies in Spain. With new quantitative and qualitative data from the irrigation community of Manzanares and public irrigation and colonisation plans, this report studies the adoption of groundwater abstraction technology and investigates the historical role of the state in the development of modern groundwater-fed irrigation socio-ecologies in the semiarid area of La Mancha in Spain.     

Forecasting of technogenic placer dynamics in the shore zone of the sea on the basis of numerical modeling: The case of the Val’kumei deposit

As natural placer and primary ore deposits are exhausted, the role of technogenic deposits is increasingly growing. In some cases, technogenic components accumulate in the shore zone of the shelf. The proposed numerical dynamic model is based on data concerning the technogenic tin deposit formed as a product of 50 years of operations at the Val’kumei Mining and Concentrating Combine, which disposed of tin ore flotation tailings in the coastal zone of the Chaun Gulf of the East Siberian Sea. The developed model describes adequately the current placer dynamics and forecasts a change in the morphology and geochemical parameters of a technogenic fan, opening the way to modeling behavior of natural geochemical anomalies in the coastal zone under conditions of active lithodynamics.     

Holocene relative sea level changes in the Västervik-Gamlebyviken region on the southeast coast of Sweden,southern Baltic Sea

We reconstruct the Holocene shore displacement of the Västervik-Gamlebyviken area on the southeast coast of Sweden, characterised by a maritime cultural landscape and archaeological significance since the Mesolithic. Sediment cores were retrieved from four lake basins that have been raised above sea level due to the postglacial land uplift and eustatic sea level changes after the melting of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The cores were radiocarbon dated and analysed for loss on ignition and diatoms. The isolation thresholds of the basins were determined using LiDAR data. The results provide evidence for the initiation of the first Littorina Sea transgression in this area at 8.5 thousand calibrated years before present (cal. ka BP). A relative sea level rise by ∼7 m a.s.l. is recorded between 8.0 and 7.5 cal. ka BP with a highstand at ∼22 m a.s.l. between 7.5 and 6.2 cal. ka BP. These phases coincide with the second and third Littorina Sea transgressions, respectively, in the Blekinge area, southern Sweden and are consistent with the final deglaciation of North America. After 6.2 cal. ka BP, the relative sea level dropped below 22 m a.s.l., and remained at ∼20 m a.s.l. until 4.6 cal. ka BP coinciding with the fourth Littorina Sea transgression in Blekinge. From 4.6 to 4.2 cal. ka BP, the shore displacement shows a regression rate of 10 mm a⁻¹ followed by a slowdown with a mean value of 4.6 mm a⁻¹ until 1.6 cal. ka BP, when the relative sea level dropped below 3.3 m a.s.l. The Middle to Late Holocene highstand and other periods of minor sea level transgressions and/or higher salinity between 6.2 and 1.7 cal. ka BP are attributed to a combination of warmer climate and higher inflow of saline waters in the southern Baltic Sea due to stronger westerlies, caused by variations in the North Atlantic atmospheric patterns.