Quantitation of Nonextractable Anthropogenic Quantitation of Nonextractable Anthropogenic Sediments after Chemical Degradation

Four highly contaminated sediment samples obtained from three sampling locations of the Teltow Canal, Berlin, were investigated by quantitation of extractable and nonextractable organic contaminants. The selection of the anthropogenic contaminants (including chlorinated and brominated naphthalenes, 2, 4, 6‐tribromoaniline, phthalates, tri‐n‐butylphosphate, 2, 2, 4‐trimethyl‐1, 3‐pentanediol diisobutyrate, bisphenol A, butylated nitrophenols, 4‐nitrobenzoic acid, galaxolide, and tonalide) based on the results of extended GC‐MS screening analyses applied to the extracts of the sediment samples as well as to the extracts derived from selective chemical degradation procedures. In detail, alkaline hydrolyses, BBr₃‐treatment and RuO₄‐oxidation were applied to the pre‐extracted sediment samples in both a separate and a sequential mode.     

Anthropogenic Radionuclides in the Caspian Sea

Analysis and interpretation of the distribution of anthropogenic radionuclides ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, and ^239,240Pu in the Caspian Sea water are presented. These radionuclides are shown to be of environmental importance and to be useful for studying water mass dynamics.     

Anthropogenic nutrient load of the Baltic Sea

The discharge of nutrients is investigated in relation to their sources and effects in two case studies. The reduction of 47% in the phosphorus load from Denmark to marine areas between 1989 and 1993 has resulted in significantly lower phosphorus concentrations in most Danish coastal waters, and tendency to decrease can be seen in the Belt Sea and Kattegat as well. No general changes in nitrogen concentrations have been observed. This is due to the fact that more than 80% of the nitrogen load in Danish waters originate from diffuse agricultural sources.In the Pomeranian Bight strong nutrient gradients are generated by the mixing of Odra river water and coastal water. The spreading of the river plume could be exactly observed especially in winter, when biological activity is low. In general, different types of distribution, transport and modification patterns can be described.The annual input of nutrients from the catchment area to the Baltic Sea was estimated to be around 1000 kt N and 46 kt P. As a result, winter concentrations of phosphate and nitrate are characterized by positive overall trends in the surface layer in all subregions of the Baltic Proper for the period 1969 to 1993. These trends stem mainly from the strong increase in the 1970ies and early 1980ies. Thereafter, the concentrations of both nutrients fluctuate strongly around a high level. The drastic decrease in fertilizer consumption since the late 1980ies mainly caused by the great economic changes in the countries of the former East Bloc is not yet significantly reflected in decreasing winter concentrations, but first signs already have been found in the decrease in averaged phosphate concentrations in winter, especially in the Arkona and Bornholm Seas.     

Anthropogenic transformation and economic use of Lake Vygozero

Stages of anthropogenic transformation of Vygozero are demonstrated. Hydrographic and hydrologic characteristics are given to the Vogozersko-Ondskoe Reservoir and its drainage area at different stages of its development. The current state and dynamics of the economic use of the reservoir and its watershed are estimated with the use of GIS-technologies (databases and GIS “Water Users of the Republic of Karelia”).     

Anthropogenic pressures on productive soils in Corlu and Cerkezkoy

Unplanned land use is mainly arising from previous regional (local) planning policies based on economic growth, which resulted in the misuse of the land. The fertile lands are converted to industrial/urban areas along with forest areas converted to agricultural zones which directly affect the flora and fauna in a negative way. This study aims to identify the land use transformations by using Remote Sensing and GIS due to prior socio-economic return focused politics resulting in environmental degradations. Additionally, this paper presents an analysis of the transformation of fertile lands into industrial/urban zones with respect to Land Capability Classes. The study area is one of the most urbanized and industrialized zones in Turkey. The reason behind this transformation lies solely in the fact that the aforementioned area is quite appealing to industrialization due to its easy access to infrastructure and its compliance with the spatial requirements. Up until now the development plans of the region have been prepared with a socioeconomic agenda promoting the economic growth while disregarding the ecological and environmental balance, which unfortunately boosted the large-scale degradation of the environment. Although the focus area is within a zone suitable for industrialization, this region also takes place within a wide river basin (Ergene River Basin) making it an ideal location for highly productive crop cultivation (LUC Classes 1 to 4), which is a rare commodity in long term.     

Anthropogenic metal contamination and sapropel imprints in deep Mediterranean sediments

Sediment cores from the deep Balearic basin and the Cretan Sea provide evidence for the accumulation of Cd, Pd and Zn in the top few centimeters of the abyssal Mediterranean sea-bottom. In both cores, 206Pb/207Pb profiles confirm this anthropogenic impact with less radiogenic imprints toward surface sediments. The similarity between excess 210Pb accumulated in the top core and the 210Pb flux suggests that top core metal inventories reasonably reflect long-term atmospheric deposition to the open Mediterranean. Pb inventory in the western core for the past 100 years represents 20-30% of sediment coastal inventories, suggesting that long-term atmospheric deposition determined from coastal areas has to be used cautiously for mass balance calculations in the open Mediterranean. In the deeper section of both cores, Al normalized trace metal profiles suggest diagenetic remobilization of Fe, Mn, Cu and, to a lesser extent, Pb that likely corresponds to sapropel event S1.     

Anthropogenic transformation of the aquatic ecosystem of the Lower Volga

Many-year (1981–2009) variations of hydrochemical and hydrobiological characteristics of the state of the aquatic environment in the Lower Volga are presented. The development and transformation of the structural organization of aquatic organism communities are considered against the background of a tendency toward the accumulation of key pollutants and the regional features of those processes are considered. The study has shown that the aquatic ecosystem of the Lower Volga functions with its ecological state disturbed because of the strengthening of ecological regress.     

Anthropogenic Decline of Ancient,Sustainable Water Systems: Qanats

Qanat is an ancient underground structure to abstract groundwater without the need for external energy. A recognized world heritage, Qanat has enabled civilization in arid and semi-arid regions that lack perennial surface water resources. These important structures, however, have faced significant challenges in recent decades due to increasing anthropogenic pressures. This study uses remote sensing to investigate land-use changes and the loss of 15,983 Qanat shafts in the Mashhad plain, northeast of Iran, during the past six decades. This entails obtaining a rare aerial imagery from 1961, as well as recent satellite imagery, over a region with the highest density of Qanats in Iran, the birthplace of Qanat. Results showed that only 5.59% of the Qanat shafts in 1961 remained intact in 2021. The most prominent Qanat-impacting land-use changes were agriculture and urban areas, that accounted for 42.93 and 31.81% Qanat shaft destruction in the study area, respectively. This study also showed that groundwater table decline, demographic changes, and reduction in the appeal of working in the Qanat maintenance and construction industry among the new generation are existential threats to Qanats, and may result in the demise of these ancient structures in the future. Findings of this study can be used for urban planning in arid and semi-arid areas with the aim of protecting these historic water structures.     

Anthropogenic influences on the environmental status of remote mountain lakes

No Abstract.  .     

Anthropogenic Impacts on a Bedrock Aquifer at the Village Scale

This study focuses on assessing groundwater potability in a highly complex and heterogeneous fractured bedrock aquifer having variable overburden cover. Eight monitoring wells were installed in a privately serviced lakeside village, and groundwater was routinely sampled over a 2‐year timeframe for concentration analysis of nitrate, fecal indicator bacteria, stable isotopes, and a total of 41 pharmaceutical compounds. While pollutant concentrations remained low throughout the study, the presence of fecal indicator bacteria and pharmaceuticals was noted at least once (but not always consistently) in most sampling intervals. An interpretation based on the integration of chemical, bacterial, and site characterization datasets suggests that: (1) the fracture network is complex and heterogeneous with limited vertical connectivity; (2) existing pathways are sufficient for the quick and widespread migration of surface contaminants to depth; (3) anthropogenic contaminants from both septic systems and agriculture are likely sourced in the surrounding uplands where overburden is thin; and (4) fecal contamination, as observed over the long term, is ubiquitous at the village scale. Groundwater quality is continually changing in this hydrogeologic environment and the determination of potability on the larger scale is not likely to be adequately captured with infrequent domestic well sampling (i.e., voluntary annual sampling by homeowners).     

Internal Variability Versus Anthropogenic Forcing on Sea Level and Its Components

In this paper we review and update detection and attribution studies in sea level and its major contributors during the past decades. Tide gauge records reveal that the observed twentieth-century global and regional sea level rise is out of the bounds of its natural variability, evidencing thus a human fingerprint in the reported trends. The signal varies regionally, and it partly depends on the magnitude of the background variability. The human fingerprint is also manifested in the contributors of sea level for which observations are available, namely ocean thermal expansion and glaciers’ mass loss, which dominated the global sea level rise over the twentieth century. Attribution studies provide evidence that the trends in both components are clearly dominated by anthropogenic forcing over the second half of the twentieth century. In the earlier decades, there is a lack of observations hampering an improved attribution of causes to the observed sea level rise. At certain locations along the coast, the human influence is exacerbated by local coastal activities that induce land subsidence and increase the risk of sea level-related hazards.     

Anthropogenic transformation of biocenosis structural organization in Lena River mouth area

The structure of hydrobiocenosis communities in Lena River mouth area is studied. The qualitative and quantitative development characteristics of bacterio-, phyto-, zooplankton, and zoobenthos communities of aquatic organisms in this part of the river are examined. The state and structure of hydrobiocenosis suggest that the mouth area of the river functions under moderate pollution of the aqueous medium.     

Anthropogenic dispersion of anionogenic toxicants in groundwater in the European Russia

The result of studying the anthropogenic dispersion of As, Se, Sb, Cr, V, and Mo in subsoil waters in European Russia beyond industrial and urbanized territories are presented. The sources and ways of their penetration into aquifers, the extent and dynamics of dispersion, the contrast of mass fluxes, the forms of their migration and the most typical associations of toxicants are considered.     

Anthropogenic transformation of aquatic environment composition in the Lena river mouth area

Variations in the hydrological-hydrochemical state of the aqueous medium in Lena mouth area. The hydrological regime of the river and variations in qualitative water composition in the mouth area are described in detail. Anthropogenic load is estimated in terms of the inflow and the modulus of inflow of pollutants.     

Assessment of Anthropogenic Impact on River Basins in Southern Kuzbass Mining Areas

The total pollution caused by spreading and fallout of atmospheric aerosols in river catchment areas of a coal-mining region is estimated. The contribution of the emission produced by a coal mine to the total fallout in the territory is assessed. Different types of water pollution in the coal-mining region are analyzed, the principal pollutants are identified, and their contribution to river water quality is assessed.     

Anthropogenic transformations of the hydrological-ecological state of rivers in the Russian Arctic

The dynamics of time and space variations in the composition of the aquatic medium is estimated and correlated with the governing factors of anthropogenic impact. The role of anthropogenic component is shown to be determining in the formation of the hydrochemical regime in Russian Arctic rivers.     

Prediction of Groundwater Quality Trends Resulting from Anthropogenic Changes in Southeast Florida

The effects of surface water flow system changes caused by constructing water‐conservation areas and canals in southeast Florida on groundwater quality under the Atlantic Coastal Ridge was investigated with numerical modeling. Water quality data were used to delineate a zone of groundwater with low total dissolved solids (TDS) within the Biscayne aquifer under the ridge. The delineated zone has the following characteristics. Its location generally coincides with an area where the Biscayne aquifer has high transmissivities, corresponds to a high recharge area of the ridge, and underlies a part of the groundwater mound formed under the ridge prior to completion of the canals. This low TDS groundwater appears to be the result of pre‐development conditions rather than seepage from the canals constructed after the 1950s. Numerical simulation results indicate that the time for low TDS groundwater under the ridge to reach equilibrium with high TDS surface water in the water‐conservation areas and Everglades National Park are approximately 70 and 60 years, respectively. The high TDS groundwater would be restricted to the water‐conservation areas and the park due to its slow eastward movement caused by small hydraulic gradients in Rocky Glades and its mixing with the low TDS groundwater under the high‐recharge area of the ridge. The flow or physical boundary conditions such as high recharge rates or low hydraulic conductivity layers may affect how the spatial distribution of groundwater quality in an aquifer will change when a groundwater flow system reaches equilibrium with an associated surface water flow system.